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THE BOOK OF FIRST PETER
Copyright © 2006 Trumpet Ministries, Inc. All Rights ReservedScripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
The Book of First Peter is a general exhortation to righteous, holy behavior. He reminds these Gentiles that they are members of the royal priesthood.
Peter has some things to say about the Divine judgment of the members of the family of God. Peter is preparing us for the fiery trials that God sends to save us from our sinful nature.
Table of Contents
THE BOOK OF FIRST PETER
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (I Peter 4:17)
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, Who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. (I Peter 1:1,2)
Peter is writing to Gentiles. This is why he refers to them as "strangers."
Pontus refers to the coastal strip of North Asia Minor.
Galatia was a Roman province in Asia Minor.
Cappadocia was a province in the east of Asia Minor.
Asia refers to the region of Asia Minor based on Ephesus.
Bithynia, in Asia Minor, west of Pontus
"Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." A remarkable statement, and one we need to ponder deeply because it goes to the core of the Gospel of the Kingdom.
I realize that in time past the concept of election and foreknowledge was emphasized to the point that people wondered whether or not they were qualified to be saved; whether or not they had been chosen from the beginning.
Today I think we have gone overboard in the opposite direction. The idea now is that salvation is something that is preached to the whole world, and everyone is on the same level and has the same opportunity. This point of view is in line with democratic thinking.
However, it is not in line with Kingdom thinking. The Kingdom of God is structured according to God’s predetermined purposes. As the Lord said, to sit on His right hand and His left is the destiny of those for whom such places have been designated. God’s works have been finished from the foundation of the world.
It also is true that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Both positions are true and scriptural. The problem lies in the fact that we, being bound by the power of time, cannot conceive of God seeing the entire tapestry of history from the beginning. God is not bound by time. Therefore He can move back and forth at any period of history that pleases Him and make His decisions accordingly.
This means that God structures His Kingdom according to His own will. But it also leaves each one of us free to press forward into the fullness of the inheritance, or to follow our sinful nature to destruction. Whoever will do so may come to the Lord. Yet, all things are working for the good of those whom God has predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. These are equally true.
"The sanctifying work of the Spirit." Justification has to do with our being held to be righteous in the sight of God. Sanctification refers to our being delivered from spiritual darkness in body, soul, and spirit.
Justification results from our believing in Christ and obeying Him. When we believe in Christ and keep His commandments, God holds us to be righteous even though we are not keeping the Law of Moses.
Sanctification results from our obeying the Spirit of God as He orchestrates the events in our life. The Spirit leads us from victory to victory over the actions of our sinful nature. Our task is to confess our sins and to turn away from them, as the Spirit directs and enables.
We have been chosen for the purpose of obeying Jesus Christ. As we obey Christ we are sprinkled by His blood, keeping us holy in the sight of God.
As we are justified, sanctified, obedient to Jesus Christ, and sprinkled by His blood, we have grace and peace in abundance.
Grace is the Presence of God in Jesus Christ, continually enabling us to please God in all matters and continually transforming us into the image of Christ.
There is a peace that only the true saints of God experience. It is a deep joy and assurance that God is taking care of us, and nothing of the spirit world or the physical world can separate us from our Rock in whom we trust.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, And into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, (I Peter 1:3,4)
"An inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you."
An inheritance kept in Heaven. It is understandable believers would derive from this verse that our inheritance is Heaven, or eternal life in Heaven. This belief has been part of Gospel preaching for almost its entire history.
Why are we believing differently now? I don’t know, unless it is because we are drawing near to the return of the Lord Jesus to the earth. I suppose it will require one or more generations before we realize that Heaven is not our eternal home.
We lay up our treasures in Heaven. Our inheritance is kept in Heaven for us. Abraham was looking for a city that has foundations; but that city is coming to the earth.
The phrase "go to Heaven" (believe it or not!) does not appear in the New Testament—which it certainly would if we are saved to go to Heaven.
If our inheritance is "kept in Heaven," but is not Heaven itself, then what is our inheritance? What is the goal of salvation?
I have identified eight aspects of the goal of salvation. Let’s see if you are in agreement. These would be that which is symbolized by Canaan, wouldn’t they? Whatever Canaan represents—that is our land of promise.
First, eternal life. God gave His Son that we might have eternal life. If I am not mistaken, the first aspect of eternal life, that which we are pursuing now, is the Presence of God in our life. This includes the destruction of our sinful nature and the growth of Christ in us. Paul spoke of this when he referred to knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection. We are to live by the body and blood of Christ as Christ lives by the Father.
Second, immortality. Let us think of eternal life as the Presence of God in our life, and immortality as the Presence of God in our body. In the present hour we have eternal life in our inward nature, but our body is dead because of sin. Our present body is to be raised from the dead and then clothed with our body from Heaven, which does not have sin residing in it. Paul was seeking the redemption of His body.
Third, an eternal position at the right hand of God in Christ. This does not mean we are resident in Heaven, although we can be in Heaven whenever we wish. We will have the power of multiple presence, as does the Lord Jesus Christ. We can go anywhere we desire. But—just as in the case of the Lord Jesus—we never leave the right hand of God.
Fourth, absolute authority over the works of God’s hands. According to the New Testament, those who overcome the world, Satan, and their sinful nature will sit with Christ on His Throne.
Fifth, the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth. The Father invited the Son to pray that these might be His inheritance. We are coheirs with Him.
Sixth, to be indwelt forever with the fullness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Seventh, to inherit all that God makes new.
Eighth, to worship only the true God and to be God’s son.
The above inheritance sounds like we are going to be busy for eternity. I would rather be busy, living in the Life of God, than laying around on a sofa in a mansion in the spirit realm, having nothing to do and no responsibility. Wouldn’t you?
Who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Peter 1:5)
Here is something we need to think about. In our current understanding we place too much emphasis on our initial acceptance of Christ. It is absolutely true that we do not glide into salvation. There must come a time when we declare that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. It must be a clear-cut decision, established by baptism in water.
Today we are thinking of this initial decision as a ticket that will admit us to Heaven. This is not a scriptural viewpoint. We should think of our initial acceptance of Christ as being the beginning of our life of discipleship. We must work out our salvation as the Spirit of God brings us through the various phases of redemption.
The actual salvation, for which we are being prepared, includes the eight aspects of the inheritance mentioned above. The final act of redemption is our being clothed with a body that does not have a sinful nature. This is the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
What we do not appear to understand is that our discipleship is intended to be a preparation for the redemption of our body. We are not given access to the Tree of Life until we overcome the world, Satan, and our sinful nature. God is not going to give an immature spirit a body like that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you see the wisdom of this?
Can you see the enormous damage done by the preaching of the "rapture"? "Rapture" preaching turns our attention away from the need to attain to the resurrection, to immortality. It is the resurrection that is all-important, not the catching up. No preparation is needed for the catching up; but we must be resurrected before we are caught up, obviously.
Our goal is to attain to the redemption of our body. We attain to the redemption of our body by following the Holy Spirit as He leads us through the program of confessing the sins that come from our sinful nature. Until through the Spirit we overcome our sinful nature, how can God clothe us with a body like that of the Lord Jesus Christ?
You know, we are so far from being ready for the salvation that is to be revealed in the last time that it must be true the Lord is not going to return for a while yet. How many Christians of your acquaintance are pressing into the fullness of resurrection life?
I think we are confused concerning the difference between the resurrection of our body and our being caught up to meet the Lord in the air. These are not the same thing at all. They are not even related, except for the fact that we cannot be caught up until we have been resurrected.
Everyone who has ever lived on the earth will at some point hear the voice of Jesus Christ and come forth from wherever he or she has been interred. There is no question about this; it is what the Lord said.
All right. We are in agreement that everyone who has lived shall be raised from the dead and stand before Christ. This is the resurrection and it operates by the power of God Almighty.
Now what? Now we receive our reward. Our reward depends on the decisions we have made while living on the earth.
Then what? If we have lived as a victorious Christian, obeying the Lord, putting the talents (resources) God has given us to work in the Kingdom of God, our resurrected flesh and bones will be clothed with a body from Heaven—the gold upon the wood of the Ark of the Covenant. Then we will have a body like that of Jesus Christ.
After this takes place, we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air so we can then descend with Him and establish His Kingdom on the earth.
But what if we have not lived as a victorious Christian, or have never heard of Christ? We will judged. We will be rewarded according to our works. If the Lord decides we are worthy of eternal life, we will be brought into the new heaven and earth reign of Jesus Christ. We will be given a role to play in the Kingdom of God.
If the Lord decides we are not worthy of eternal life, we will not be brought into the new heaven and earth reign of Jesus Christ but will be assigned to a place of torment. We will not be given the Presence of Christ in our life or immortality in our body.
What I have just written is the general idea. Some of the details may not be precisely correct. But it is a fact that all of us are going to be rewarded according to our works.
If the goal of salvation were eternal residence in Heaven, then everyone who is saved would receive approximately the same reward—life in Paradise.
But since the goal of salvation comprises the eight aspects I have mentioned above, the rewards and consequences will be as varied as there are people who receive them. We are going to receive exactly what we have done!
If we do not cooperate with the Lord Jesus in the work of judgment taking place now, we will be judged at a later time. If we hope to be raised from the dead at the next appearing of Christ, we have to go through judgment now in preparation for receiving immortality and other rewards and consequences at His appearing.
This is what the Bible teaches. Those who teach otherwise are not leading the Lord’s sheep toward the fullness of their inheritance, as I understand it.
We do not have all of salvation as yet. Salvation shall be revealed in the last time. Meanwhile, you and I are shielded through faith until God’s salvation is revealed.
The Book of Ephesians mentions that we have been sealed until the Day of Redemption. Why we have not seen this before I do not know, except that the coming of the Lord is nearer than before and it now is time to press into the Kingdom of God.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. (I Peter 1:6)
The Book of First Peter has some helpful comments concerning Christian suffering.
A few years back a novelty was introduced into the thinking of Charismatic people. The idea was that if you have faith you do not need to suffer. Charismatic people (of whom I am one) sometimes do not have cross-carrying obedience preached to them. As a result, they are seduced into this sort of error fairly easily.
The truth is, God’s elect, both of the old covenant and the new, experience suffering. We enter the Kingdom of God through much tribulation.
The idea behind the unscriptural "pre-tribulation rapture" into Heaven of the believers in Christ is the hope of escaping suffering. The motive is not to achieve righteousness, or is it a love for God, or a desire to be obedient to God, or a desire to be closer to Jesus. The motive is to find a way to escape suffering.
Christians "suffer grief in all kinds of trials." When Christians fall into deception it often is because they are looking for a way to make their life more pleasant—to make this earth like Heaven instead of the cursed place it actually is.
Why does God bring us into this valley of the shadow of death (which the present world is)? It is to form our character, and also to detect how we will behave under certain conditions in the new world of righteousness. Suffering is an important part of the program of redemption.
The Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience through suffering. We learn obedience through suffering. Those who have been appointed to high places in the Kingdom of God will drink from a bitter cup and be baptized with a fiery baptism.
In order to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus we have to deny ourselves, take up our personal cross, and follow the Lord. Each Christian has a personal cross. It is that source of pain that keeps us from being happy and content in the world.
God permits Satan to put us into some sort of prison. We do not enjoy what we are compelled to do. We are denied the fondest desires of our heart. And this may go on for fifty years!
Often we do not know why we are being subjected to such misery. And worse—we do not know how long it will last. Therefore we have to accept the fact that we will not receive the desires of our heart in the present world. We place our treasures in Heaven and leave them there for now.
Right at this point the believer comes to a fork in the road. One broad highway is well traveled, and seemingly offers us the opportunity to remain a Christian and yet not have to carry a cross. The other path is narrow and bleak—so much so that we are not certain we can bear such denial for our entire lifetime.
I have seen good Christians come to this place of decision. Some choose the broad highway, hoping they can have their cake and eat it too. Others set their face as a flint and start off down the narrow path.
It may be years before the wisdom of either choice becomes evident. But you see, one has built his house on the sand. The other has built his house on the rock. They both are fine houses—until the flood comes. It is the flood that shows us the relative wisdom of our choices.
If you are in a prison with the Lord, don’t break out. To break out of the Lord’s prison you have to break the Lord’s rules. If you are fortunate, the Lord will arrest you again and give you a longer sentence. If you are not so fortunate, the Lord will permit you to live out your life, and then give you the consequences of your choice in the Day of Resurrection.
No one—absolutely no one—breaks the Lord’s rules and comes to a good end. If you can believe it, there are people who leave their wife or husband and enter Gospel work because they think they have found someone more spiritual. They travel around singing, preaching, making tapes—whatever. This may go on for years.
One day they shall stand before Him whose eyes are as flames of fire. They will point to their "ministry," how hard they have worked. You know His response: "Go away. I never knew you."
Because of the overemphasis on grace in our day, many American believers may hear those terrible words. May it not be you or I.
Yes, we may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. So have all of God’s elect down through the centuries.
These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (I Peter 1:7)
Everything points toward the day when Christ is revealed, doesn’t it? The Christian salvation is a hope for a glorious future. I am afraid that in America of the present hour, we are attempting to make the Christian salvation a means of making us happy today. We always should pray that God will help us with our problems right now. But the Divine salvation always has been and always shall be a hope for a better world, no matter what happens to us during our lifetime.
What does our suffering accomplish? It proves that our faith is genuine and will bring us to praise, glory, and honor in the Day of the Lord.
Our faith is proved by suffering. Since our faith is of greater worth than refined gold, we have reason to rejoice when our faith is proved. Life is short at best, and eternity stretches into a limitless future. Therefore the wise individual will guard his faith that it does not fail, for his faith in Christ is a treasure of immeasurable value.
Every pain, every problem, every frustration, every pressure, every persecution is an opportunity to prove that our faith is genuine. Let us be patient and follow the Lord until our days of testing have been completed. We will be eternally glad if we do.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, (I Peter 1:8)
God could reveal Christ to the world at any time of His choosing. I expect most people in the world would turn to Christ if we could look up and see Him. Certainly a daily glimpse of Christ in the heavens would have a negative effect on other religions.
If God wants everyone to be saved and to follow the true religion, why does He not make Christ visible? It is because God is testing our heart. If we have the kind of character God values, we will decide that Christ is what we want even though we do not see Him. It reminds us of the Hebrew young people who said to Nebuchadnezzar, "We don’t know whether our God will deliver us. But know this, O King. Whether He does or not, we are not going to worship your gods."
This is how many of us feel. We have chosen to believe in God and Christ. If there is no God and no Christ, then so be it. But whether there are such Persons or not, we are not going to serve the gods of the present world.
This is what God is looking for—people who hope there is something better than the present scene of war, famine, hatred, treachery, fraud, murder, jealousy, gossip, and everything else that flourishes in the world. We are optimistic that there is in fact a God, a Christ, and a new world of righteousness on the horizon.
God identifies such people by keeping Himself invisible, so they have to go through life believing there is something better than what we see now.
I think this is the reason why there are passages in the Bible that invite an incorrect interpretation, such as the writing of the Apostle Paul concerning Divine grace. The Christian testimony in America has been destroyed because the believers have been taught that because of "grace" they will suffer no serious consequences if they continue to sin. This indeed is the supreme delusion. The opportunity to be deceived has come from God, because people want to believe they can sin and still be approved of God. They are not lovers of the truth.
Out of the current confusion will rise believers who know this is not what Paul meant by grace, and they will seek iron righteousness, fiery holiness, and stern obedience to God—even when Christians all around them scorn them as "legalists."
The Lord knows those who belong to Him, and in the future we will be able to discern who is a true servant of the Lord Jesus.
For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (I Peter 1:9)
The salvation of our soul is obtained as we remain steadfast while our faith is being tested by all kinds of trials.
The goal of our faith is not eternal residence in Heaven. The goal of our faith is the salvation of our soul. But aren’t these one and the same? No, they are not. Heaven is a place. The salvation of our soul is our state of being.
God gave us a spirit, a soul, and a body. Our soul is our unique identity, the essence of what we are. Our Christian life is one long struggle to patiently possess our soul.
What does it mean to lose possession of our soul? It means we have chosen to follow our sinful nature rather than the Spirit of God. As a result, we no longer are in control of our soul. We have lost possession of it. Our soul is being driven by forces other than our will.
We save our soul when we follow the Spirit of God, as He points out to us the dark forces that would urge us to act against our better judgment, and then enables us to turn away from them. Often the Spirit uses much suffering to help us get rid of the sin that is in us. If we are obedient to the Spirit, we save our soul. If we choose instead to obey the sinful nature, we lose possession of our soul.
The goal of our faith is the salvation of our soul. Our soul then is transformed into a life-giving spirit. Then we can stand with the Spirit and invite mankind to come and drink deeply and freely of eternal life.
To lose possession of our soul is to inherit a corrupt body in the Day of Resurrection, and then be sent into darkness—or worse!
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, Trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. (I Peter 1:10,11)
Our perception of Divine grace today composes the supreme delusion. It is the very opposite of what the Apostle Paul meant by grace.
"Grace" is God in Christ forgiving man and enabling him to be transformed in personality until he meets God’s standard concerning the personality and behavior of man.
The Apostle Paul taught grace as the Divine alternative to the Law of Moses, not as the Divine alternative to moral transformation, to the new creation of righteous behavior.
Divine grace, as it currently is perceived, eases or removes God’s requirement that man be made in God’s image in spirit, soul, and body.
Divine grace, as it currently is perceived, is a substitute for moral growth.
Divine grace, as it currently is perceived, permits Christians to continue in sin without serious consequences.
Divine grace, as it currently is perceived, removes the fervency required for the life of victorious living in Christ. It fosters the life of defeated living.
Divine grace, as it currently is perceived, prevents a balanced interpretation of the New Testament, and removes the proper role of the Old Testament as a forerunner of the New.
Divine grace, as it currently is perceived, provides a basis for the current errors, such as the "pre-tribulation rapture" of the believers in Christ, and the prosperity deception.
The Hebrew Prophets spoke of the grace that has come to us under the new covenant. They spoke of a covenant in which the law of God would be written on our heart and mind rather than on tables of stone. The Hebrew Prophets never, never, never pointed toward what passes today for Divine grace. They would have perceived such a covenant as the delusion it is.
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. (I Peter 1:12)
One of the major problems of Dispensational thinking, as I see it, is that of cutting off the Old Testament from the New. It is as though God has now issued a covenant different from and nearly completely unrelated to prior covenants. "Grace" is seen as a new way of relating to God, in which obedience to His commandments is not an essential aspect of righteousness.
The need for the blood atonement is carried over, in current teaching; and certain passages, such as the twenty-third and ninety-first Psalms are embraced as signifying God’s love and protection on our behalf. Also wisdom can be gained from the Book of Proverbs and other Old Testament sources.
But the concept Peter mentions, that the Hebrew Prophets were speaking to those who belong to Jesus Christ, may not be regarded with sufficient importance.
For example, both Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophesied of a new covenant for the House of Israel. The new covenant is primarily the writing of God’s laws on our mind and heart. I have not heard the Christian salvation presented as the writing of God’s laws on our minds and hearts. Have you?
Also, the Prophets did not speak of the elect living forever in Heaven but of the Glory of God filling the earth. The Prophets spoke of Christ governing an earthly Kingdom.
Ordinarily we do not think of the expression "the House of Israel" as applying to us. But it does. We are the House of Israel and the Seed of Abraham if we belong to Christ. All the Messianic prophecies found in the Prophets are addressed to Christ and those who are part of Him, never to Israel after the flesh.
Are we replacing Israel after the flesh? Not at all! The descendants of Abraham were "Israel," not because they were born of the bloodline of Abraham, but because of God’s calling. The Spirit of God, the Spirit of prophecy, rested on Jacob and His descendants. This is the same Spirit that baptizes us into the Body of Christ. It is one elect, one Church.
Is everyone of the bloodline of Abraham part of Christ? No, because the Messianic promises, the one true Olive Tree, have to do with the calling of God, not with the bloodlines. After the appearing of Christ, the promise moved to a remnant of the bloodline of Abraham and a remnant of Gentiles. These belong to Christ and are the House of Israel addressed by Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
There is only one elect of God, one House of Israel, one Olive Tree. The true and only Church of God began with Abraham and is carried on today in everyone in whom Christ, the Olive Tree, is dwelling.
The Spirit of Christ was in the Prophets, the same Spirit that is in every true Christian. Thus there is one Body of Christ, one Servant of the Lord, one Bride of the Lamb, one holy city, the new Jerusalem, one elect of God including all called Jews and Gentiles from every covenant.
Has God finished with the physical people and land of Israel? Not at all. After the full number of Gentiles have been grafted on the Olive Tree, God once again shall visit physical Israel, and the whole true House of Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. God retains the power to save anyone He wants to save at any time and at any place He desires.
Salvation is of the Lord. Selah!
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. (I Peter 1:13)
"Prepare your minds for action"! We need to do this every once in a while, because years of patient cross-carrying obedience can become tedious. We may cease pressing forward in Christ if we are not careful.
"Be self-controlled." Do not let any motivation control you without the approval of your Spirit-directed will.
The grace given us when Jesus Christ is revealed. I define grace as follows: "Grace" is God in Christ forgiving man and enabling him to be transformed in personality until he meets God’s standard concerning the personality and behavior of man."
Divine grace forgives us, and then changes us so we can and will keep the laws of the Kingdom of God. These are the laws that are found in the Sermon on the Mount, and elsewhere in the four Gospel accounts. We are learning to keep them now as our sinful nature is destroyed and Christ is formed in us.
They are the commandments of the Lord Jesus. They shall be kept and enforced during the coming Kingdom Age, and then throughout the new heaven and earth reign of Jesus Christ. This is the purpose and effect of grace.
How can we set our hope fully on the above, which shall be given to us when Jesus Christ is revealed?
We already have been forgiven (justified) through the blood of the Lamb. What other aspect of grace will be given to us when the Lord comes?
If my understanding is correct, the vestiges of our sinful nature, which have been put to death as we have confessed and forsaken them, will be removed entirely from our spiritual nature.
Our flesh and bones will be reassembled, raised to stand on the earth, and then clothed with a sin-free body that has been constructed as we have patiently followed the Lord in cross-carrying obedience.
Perhaps at this time a greater fullness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will come and fill our new, glorified body.
All of the above are, I believe, grace that will be given to us when Jesus Christ is revealed from Heaven.
Because of our hope for such total redemption we are to prepare our minds for action and be self-controlled. We can endure our discipleship because of the tremendous joy that has been set before us.
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance (I Peter 1:14)
Here is a simple, clear commandment. It needs to be stressed more in our day. If people wish to be prepared for the catching up of the saints, jumping up and down at their pews will not make them ready. However, not conforming to the evil desires of their old life will prepare them for the catching up. God will help us to not conform to evil desires if we ask Him in Jesus’ name.
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; For it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." (I Peter 1:15,16)
There is the state of holiness, and then there is the practice of holiness.
God called out Israel from the nations to be holy to Himself. Yet, in many instances they were not holy in practice.
The Tabernacle of the Congregation was holy, but the Tabernacle did not practice holiness, of course.
God calls us to Himself to be a holy people. This places us in the state of holiness. Then the Holy Spirit guides us into actual holiness of behavior. God is holy. If we are to be in His image we must practice spiritually clean behavior in our thinking, our speech and our actions. The program of delivering us from spiritual filth is termed "sanctification."
"Be holy in all you do." There are numerous such commandments throughout the New Testament, but they are ignored to a great extent because of our overemphasis on justification (ascribed righteousness). The purpose of the new covenant, the writing of God’s eternal moral law on our mind and heart, is to sanctify us, to make us holy.
Why must we be holy in all we do?
Because our Father, God, is holy.
What is holiness?
The absence of that which is spiritually unclean.
What is spiritually unclean?
The New Testament tells us what is spiritually unclean. The actions of our sinful nature are unclean. They include all forms of lust, all forms of murder and hatred, all forms of lying.
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
Most spiritual uncleanness, or perhaps all of it in one form or another, is included in the above eight types of personality.
The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. God gives us His Spirit so we will possess the willingness and the strength to turn aside from all unclean characteristics and to embrace all that is of Jesus Christ. This is what salvation is.
Compare this definition of salvation with the current "believe only and you will go to Heaven to live forever." These two different definitions of salvation have little in common. One is scriptural. The other is not scriptural, and the Christian churches need to consider this fact.
We are commanded to "be holy in all you do." The only way in which we can obey such a commandment is to pray continually about everything we do. As we pray and ask for guidance and help, we will receive guidance and help.
Today justification (imputed righteousness) is emphasized and overemphasized. It seems to me that sanctification, the making of us holy in all we do, is neglected. However, the Kingdom of God is not in justification primarily but in sanctification. We are leaving out the part that leads to glorification.
It is time for a reformation of Christian thinking.
Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. (I Peter 1:17)
Reverent fear. Doesn’t perfect love cast out fear? Yes, it does. But how many of us have perfect love? Meanwhile we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Because of the overemphasis on justification (forgiveness of sin), the Christian people tend to be giddy. They have been taught, in spite of the Scriptures to the contrary, that God does not judge their work. They have been completely, eternally justified—they think!
But this is not what Peter says. Peter says the Father judges each man’s work impartially. The inference is clear that "each man’s" includes the works of Christians, their deeds.
If we had been completely, eternally justified then there is no need to live as a stranger in reverent fear. It might be nice if we did, but there is no need to live in reverent fear, because God no longer can see our sinful behavior. This is what is taught so widely today.
The reason we must live as a stranger in reverent fear is that God judges our work. If God did not judge our work impartially, then it would be commendable, but not absolutely essential, to live as a stranger in reverent fear.
This verse in Peter needs to be brought to the attention of the Christian people in America, I believe.
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, (I Peter 1:18)
Peter was addressing Gentiles. Peter is saying that redemption is more than the forgiveness of our sins. Redemption is the means of escaping an empty way of life and entering a way of life filled with the love, joy, and peace of eternal Divine life.
But with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (I Peter 1:19)
The atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is payment in full of the mortgage held by Satan. Our sins have been completely forgiven, but Satan retains the ability to seduce our sinful nature into spiritually unclean behavior.
Since Satan has been so successful in convincing Christians that as long as they are alive on the earth they must sin and that moral deliverance is not possible, Christians often say such things as: "Everyone sins, it is impossible to do otherwise"; "God overlooks our sins, understanding that we are unable to stop sinning"; No one is perfect"; "the purpose of the commandments in the New Testament is to show us how impossible it is to please God by our actions"; "I know I should try to stop sinning, but I can’t help myself."
So Satan and the Christian churches have settled for a compromise. The Christian churches may preach forgiveness, but Satan must be allowed to keep the believers in moral bondage. This is where we are in March of 2004. However, the Lord Jesus has not signed this contract. He agreed to shed His blood for the remission of the sins of the world, with the understanding that one day His enemies would be made His footstool.
When you stop to think about it, if everyone on earth were forgiven by professing faith in Christ, but were not transformed by the Spirit of God, God’s problem with mankind would not be solved, and the Kingdom of God would not be helped one bit.
Why is this? It is because forgiving people does not change them. They will continue to sin while in earth, in Heaven, now, and in the future. They will continue to sin until they are brought through the program of sanctification.
The atoning blood of the Lord Jesus justifies us. We are forgiven. But the purpose of justifying us is that we might proceed with the program of sanctification, the program that makes us holy in personality and behavior. If we do not proceed with the program of sanctification, but remain as we are, then the purpose of our being justified has been thwarted.
Christians will then ask: "Suppose I have been justified but have not made much progress in the work of sanctification. Will I still be saved?"
The problem with this question is, it is the work of sanctification that itself is salvation. How can we be saved if we are not being saved (sanctified)?
What the believer really is asking is, "If I do not turn aside from my sinful nature when it is pointed out by the Holy Spirit, will I go to Heaven or to Hell?
The answer is, we cannot continue in known sin and live in the company of the saints of God in Heaven or anywhere else.
God is ready and willing to forgive us and deliver us.
Christ is ready and willing to forgive us and deliver us.
But if we, when we have been taught how to be delivered, persist in our sinful behavior, there is no more God can do for us. We have chosen our destiny.
If we persist in being cowardly we have chosen the Lake of Fire as our eternal home.
If we persist in being an unbeliever we have chosen the Lake of Fire as our eternal home.
If we persist in being vile we have chosen the Lake of Fire as our eternal home.
If we persist in being a murderer we have chosen the Lake of Fire as our eternal home.
If we persist in being sexually immoral we have chosen the Lake of Fire as our eternal home.
If we persist in being a practitioner of magic arts we have chosen the Lake of Fire as our eternal home.
If we persist in being a worshiper of idols we have chosen the Lake of Fire as our eternal home.
If we persist in being a liar we have chosen the Lake of Fire as our eternal home.
If we choose to be heavenly, we will have a place in Heaven. If we choose to be hellish, we will have a place in Hell.
Current Christian teaching seeks to persuade us that we can continue to serve our sinful nature and yet, by grace, find our place in Heaven when we die. This would be to make Divine grace a means of bringing Satan into fellowship with God. We do not always enjoy being this clear, but the Book of First John states that whoever commits sin is of the devil. When we yield to our sinful nature, our sinful nature being a reflection of Satan’s personality, we are yielding to Satan. We are worshiping Satan. So today’s preaching teaches us Divine grace will make possible fellowship with God while we are worshiping and serving Satan.
It is absolutely true that we have been forgiven through the blood of the Lord Jesus. The blood takes care of our past sins. But we cannot be sinning now and have fellowship with God. Will God have fellowship with sin? Absolutely not!
God holds us guiltless, because of the atoning blood, provided we are walking in the light of His will. But when we neglect the program of salvation, choosing instead to walk in the ways of the world, the blood of Christ no longer covers us.
The purpose of the atoning blood of Christ is not to cover an individual who is living according to his or her sinful nature. Rather the atoning blood of Christ covers that individual who is pressing forward in the program of sanctification, of moral deliverance.
If this were not the case, then we could maintain that we are in a new dispensation that is unrelated to all of God’s methods and goals of the past. Darkness now can have fellowship with Light. God no longer is seeking to make man in His image. He desires only to forgive man and to keep on forgiving man no matter how man behaves.
If this were true, and it most assuredly is not, it were best we never had been born; for the future then would be as hideous as the present—only much more so. There would be no hope, no future worth entering. Man has a sinful nature, and God has decided to forget about that and just keep on forgiving the works of Satan for eternity. Such is the logical conclusion of today’s Christian teaching of Divine grace.
He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. (I Peter 1:20)
The atoning Lamb was chosen before the creation of the world.
God knew that Satan would enter the Garden of Eden. God knew that Adam and Eve would succumb. God could have prevented this from happening. But He did not.
Why did God not prevent the first sin when He so easily could have done so? Because God wants to create in people a resistance to sin so He won’t have to keep on forgiving them and repairing the damage they cause.
We see then, from the very beginning, God’s purpose has been to not only forgive people but to create in them the ability to keep from sinning. As long as man is going to persist in sin, God will not give him access to the Tree of Life. God is willing to forgive, but God is not going to permit a habitual sinner to eat from the tree that gives immortality to the body.
We have to believe in Christ to be justified. We have to overcome Satan, the world, and our sinful nature if we are to be given the right to eat from the Tree of Life.
We see, therefore, that today’s Christian teaching works against God’s purpose. God’s purpose in letting Adam and Eve fall into sin was to use their fall as a basis for ultimately bringing Christ to the earth. Christ could then make an atonement for our sin, but more importantly he could offer a means of deliverance from our sinful nature. By receiving Christ’s Nature into our personality we are able to recognize sin and righteousness, reject the sin and embrace the righteousness.
God will not restore Paradise to the earth, and man to Paradise, until God is absolutely certain that man will not choose to sin. The reason man will not choose to sin in the new world of righteousness is that God has created righteous kings and priests who themselves will not sin, and who will govern the rest of mankind so the people will not sin.
The revelation of Christ is increasing today. We are becoming aware that there are numerous thrones in the spirit realm that have yet to be occupied. It is time now to press into the Kingdom of God. Many who are last in time will be of first rank in the Kingdom.
After Christ and His nobles have been established in their predestined places of authority, it will be time for Christ and His rulers to appear and establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.
We are living in a period of ever increasing moral darkness. But the Divine grace that transforms people is abounding to an even greater extent. It is a time of danger because of ready access to sin. But it also is an hour of unprecedented opportunity as the Lord calls us to be with Him where He is—in the center of God’s Person and will.
Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. (I Peter 1:21)
Through the Lord Jesus Christ we believe in the Father. The Father raised Christ from the dead and glorified Him. Our faith and hope are in the Father, God, who raised Christ from the dead.
It seems to me that our current theology is not clear on the fact that the Father and the Son are two separate Persons. It is true that Christ is the exact representation of the Father. It is true also that whoever has the Son has the Father also.
These facts being eternally true and understood, it is true also that Christ and the Father are two separate Persons.
I am pointing this out because Christ wants to bring us to the Father and reveal the Father to us. It is His joy to reveal the Father to us. We are to be made one in Christ as He and the Father are One. This does not mean we become Christ. We always will be a separate person, a unique identity. But we are on our way to becoming the exact representation of Christ. It also will be true of us that whoever has us has the Son also.
The great move of today, the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles, is that of bringing us into a relationship with Christ that is the same as the relationship of Christ to the Father. It is a step past the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Pentecost. We are to live by the body and blood of Christ just as Christ lives by the Father.
The relationship of Christ to the Father cannot be understood by the study of theology, nor can our relationship to Christ be understood by the study of theology. These relationships have to be experienced. Once they are experienced they are easy to understand.
We worship and serve Christ and the Father just as Christ worships and serves the Father. God is Christ’s Father and our Father. God is Christ’s God and our God. We are to come to a greater knowledge of the Father in these days, and Jesus Christ will make such knowledge possible for us.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. (I Peter 1:22)
When we obey the commandments found in the New Testament we purify ourselves, with the result that we have a sincere love for our fellow believers.
New Christians usually have love for their fellow believers. As the years go by we are brought through circumstances that cause the sin in our personality to be revealed. Then we become critical of one another.
It is possible to keep our first love. But we have to be much more diligent in following the Holy Spirit than is true of most Christian people—at least in America.
I have noticed that when people begin to neglect their salvation, and do not assemble on a regular basis with other Christian people, it often is true that Satan is able to enter them and cause them to be critical of the pastor and others of the church. I have told the people that if they find themselves becoming critical of the church, that should warn them they are getting cold. They need to turn to the Lord and seek Him fervently until the spirit of criticism is driven from them.
Gossiping and criticizing are common among the believers in Christ. It is a rare assembly, it seems, that is able to surmount such roots of bitterness. We who serve as elders must keep exhorting the believers to pray continually, and listen to the Holy Spirit as He directs them to put to death the deeds of their sinful nature.
Satan always is active among religious people. We see Satan acting among the Israelites as they sought to stone Moses and Aaron. We can see it today when churches are filled with strife and division. To keep a spirit of love among us requires constant dedication and watchfulness in prayer.
The more spiritually mature we are, the more love we have for God and our fellow believers.
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (I Peter 1:23)
The New Testament does not speak much about being born again, although you would think it did in that the term is used so frequently. The expression does not appear in the Book of Acts, because the Apostles preached repentance and the forgiveness of sins, not being born again.
I am not certain we are using the term correctly today.
Being born again means more than repenting, believing in the atonement, believing in Christ, and being baptized in water. Being born again means being born of God. It means that the Seed of God, the living Word of God, has been conceived in us.
It really is a new birth. This is not a figure of speech. Divinity is born in us and has all the characteristics of any other kind of seed. The Divine Seed contains within itself all that is necessary to bring forth a person in the express image of God.
If we truly come to Christ, the Divine Nature is conceived in us. It has not come to term; it has only just begun the long, arduous process of becoming an embryo, a fetus, and then a child. After that it is to grow into a person.
We know what it is to be like to be born of human seed. It is the law of God from the beginning that each organism contain seed that will enable the organism to reproduce itself. The human seed grows into a human. The Divine Seed grows into a Divine organism.
I know this thought frightens people and sounds like we are getting above ourselves. I can’t help this. It is a fact: the Seed that comes from God will produce an organism that is like God in every respect.
We conclude, therefore, that after we truly receive Christ, and don’t just go through some kind of mental religious conversion, the Divine Seed is planted in us. Now there are two kind of "persons" in us that are totally distinct. The adamic is the adamic, and the Divine is the Divine.
Our body is dead because of sin. Many unclean spiritual forces inhabit our body. Meanwhile our spirit and soul are being brought down to death so that they may be replaced by a new Life.
Now that we are aware of the struggle, we must choose which personality is to survive and gain mastery. When I say "we" must choose I am speaking of our will. Our will more than any other feature of our personality determines who we actually are.
Our will decides (we decide) each moment of each day to give place to our old adamic personality or to our new Divine personality. Moment by moment we choose. As we pray continually, and meditate in the written Word of God, and sometimes actually hear from the Spirit of God, we are able to divide between our soulish nature and our new spiritual nature. It is not always easy to discern which of the two natures is seeking to guide us.
The fully mature spiritual person is much more able to discern whether he is being motivated by his old nature, or demons, or the Holy Spirit and His new nature.
Everything depends on that new Seed. The Seed is of God. It itself is the Kingdom of God. It is Christ formed in us
My personal belief is that the Seed that has been planted in us will grow forever. It is entirely possible that God Himself is growing; Christ is growing; and we shall be growing with them for eternity.
Redemption is a finite work, having a specific beginning; a specific operation; and a specific conclusion. But our growth into the image of Christ, who is the image of God Himself, has no end, according to my understanding.
As Jesus said, the Kingdom is a small seed, like the seed of a tree. But it grows into a great tree if permitted to survive. So it is that the Word of God is planted in us. But what comes forth is precisely that which the Parent is. So billions of years, as measured by our time, would not nearly be sufficient for the Seed that has been planted in us to fully mature.
The future is unimaginable, isn’t it?
We have been born of an imperishable Seed, through the living and enduring Word of God. There is no limit on what will be brought forth if we remain faithful until the new Seed survives and gains mastery over our personality.
We have a decision, don’t we? If the Seed has germinated in us we can kill it by remaining occupied with the cares of the world.
Or, if we do not remove the stones of hardness and bitterness from our heart, the new plant will die when it is exposed to pressures of one kind or another.
There are those in whom the Seed survives. Among these some take care of the Seed to a certain extent and reap a thirtyfold crop. Some take better care of the Seed and reap a sixtyfold crop.
Then there are those who devote themselves totally to the new Life, always seeing that it is provided for, while the old nature perishes. They crucify their sinful nature with its passions and desires. They reap the fullness of Life that potentially resides in the Divine Seed.
For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you. (I Peter 1:24,25)
Once we understand what is taking place in us we are wise if we pay full attention to the development of the Seed! Our human nature is as grass that today makes a fine show and tomorrow is withered. But the Divine Nature that has been conceived in us increases forever if we will take proper care of it.
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. (I Peter 2:1)
But how do we care for the Divine Seed?
By ridding ourselves of all malice. Worldly people are often characterized by unbelievable malice and meanness.
By ridding ourselves of all deceit. In America in the present hour there sometimes is a lack of integrity. People are two-faced. They are not faithful. They promise one thing and do another. It didn’t used to be this way in America, at least not to this extent. God is not deceitful, and we must rid ourselves of all tendencies to deceive people in order to gain advantage.
We must rid ourselves of all hypocrisy. We must not pretend to be something other than what we are. Christian people often are accused of being hypocrites because they preach and teach how we should behave and then do not practice what they are preaching. Hypocrisy destroys our testimony.
We must rid ourselves of all envy. We are to pray until we are content with our state and our role in the Kingdom of God. Satan is filled with envy, and we are in his image when we ourselves are envious of another person.
We must rid ourselves of all slander. Slander and gossip are prevalent in the Christian churches, because Satan is the accuser of the brothers.
We make possible the growth of the Seed of God in us when we rid ourselves of these satanic characteristics. But how do we do this?
We rid ourselves of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander and sins of every other kind by confessing them when the Holy Spirit points them out to us. We confess them as sin and stop practicing them. Then God forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
There is a point to keep in mind when we are considering moral deliverance, that is, ridding ourselves of malice and other sins. We must be truly convinced they are really sin. This may be especially true of gossip and criticism. We may feel in our heart they are not all that bad, that they are not of Satan. So we may ask for deliverance, but we are not certain we really want to be delivered.
As long as this is true we will not be delivered no matter how much we are prayed for. In order to be delivered we have to confess the behavior as sin; denounce it as evil, fit only for the Lake of Fire; renounce it vehemently, declaring we want nothing more to do with it for eternity. Then we are to turn to the Lord Jesus and ask Him to help us never, never, never to act in this manner even one more time.
When we seek moral deliverance with this kind of determination, we will be delivered.
Sometimes there are deep bondages and we need the help of fellow Christians. As they pray for us, and we truly want to be delivered, we will be delivered.
We are not to wrestle endlessly with sin. We are to kill it through the Spirit of God.
The problem with the current teaching of grace is that it is a sort of trying to do good, knowing we never will really change. Such an attitude will keep us defeated. We have to rise up and denounce our sins with all our might. Then Christ will help us. He wants to see if we really are determined to be released.
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, (I Peter 2:2)
I have presented the picture of the Seed of God being conceived in us, and then developing until it comes forth as a baby. But Peter is picturing us as a newborn baby who needs to "grow up in your salvation." Either picture is correct.
The "pure spiritual milk" is the written Word of God, I believe. It is important for the disciple of Jesus to read the Word of God every day. God speaks to us through His Word. It is by reading the Word that we discover what God is requiring of us.
But I would extend the "pure spiritual milk" to include all sources of the Life of God, including the preaching of the Word, the gifts and ministries given to the Body of Christ, and also the fellowship and exhortations of fervent saints. The idea is to keep away from such impurity as malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
I like the idea that we need to grow up in our salvation. Too often today being "saved" is regarded as a one-time experience that we look back on. This is not a true understanding. Salvation is something we grow in, as we learn to overcome our sinful nature and as Christ is formed in us.
Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:3)
"Taste and see that the Lord is good." From the beginning, Satan has portrayed the Lord as not wanting us to have what is good. Satan seeks to leave the impression that only in him is there that which man desires; only in the spirit of Antichrist, in the spirit of the world, can we find security and pleasure.
The truth is just the opposite. Satan brings us to wretched misery and torment. The Spirit of God brings us to love, joy, and peace.
It seems to me that this is the basic question facing every person born on the earth. Can I trust that God is good and is bringing me to joy? Or do I have to take matters into my own hands, as Satan counseled Eve to do.
Right now, as I look back over a fairly long lifetime, it seems to me that few people, including Christian people, really trust that God is bringing them to love, joy, and peace. They may want to know God and serve God, but letting go of the world and their own self-will is difficult.
This is a shame. If they would only turn loose of the world and their self-will, and commit their way to the Lord, they would find that God really knows what is best for us and is seeking our good. He can be trusted to do this.
It is true that serving the Lord means we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus every day. We have to present our body a living sacrifice in order to find God’s will. Then we have to do God’s will as we understand it. We may be placed in a "prison" of denial for many years. All this is true.
But the end of such discipline is love, joy, and peace.
Sin is a shortcut. We try to lean on our own resources to find a shortcut to love, joy, and peace—some way other than the way of the cross. We may think we have found such a shortcut, but at the end of this road are the ashes of remorse and torment.
Blessed indeed is that individual who makes up his or her mind to go God’s way, even though for a season it seems to be painful and frustrating. But the end of the road is love, joy, peace, and such glory as cannot be contained in our imagination. The greatest marvel, the most spectacular wonder you could imagine, would be as a grain of sand on the beach compared to the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But He always is born in a manger, in the most humble of circumstances. We miss the King because He conceals Himself in the ordinary, tiring, worrisome pursuits of life on the earth. Don’t be fooled. If you are calling on the Lord you are being watched over by powerful angels who are more than able to take care of every situation in which you can possibly find yourself. The King knows those who trust in Him.
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (I Peter 2:4,5)
The idea of Christ being a Stone and we being living stones is interesting, isn’t it? The concept is that of a house for God, a spiritual temple.
This is the meaning of "In my Father’s house are many dwelling places. If this were not the case I would have told you so."
God is building a great house for Himself. Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone, the Beginning of the house of God. Christ went to the cross, and then to Heaven to sprinkle His blood in the Holy Place there. By so doing He prepared a place for us in the Presence of God. Now Christ is preparing a place in us for Himself. This is why He stands at the door of our personality and asks for admittance. We are in Christ, and now He wants to be in us.
There is no more important issue in the Kingdom of God than that of the eternal dwelling place of God. Man was not created to be an individual separate from God. Man was created to be the dwelling place of God.
You know, we have to consider this fact; for in order to be the dwelling place of God, the throne of God, the revelation of God to His creation, we have to give up certain things. The question is, are we willing to give them up or not? We have to come to a clear decision on this point.
In order to be indwelt by the fullness of God we have to give up our right to be an individual separate from God.
We have to give up our right to do what we want to when we want to.
We have to give up our right to go where we want to go and be what we want to be.
Our natural instinct is to draw back when we consider the consequences of being the dwelling place of God. We can no longer be ourselves, in this sense. We are consenting to be an integral part of another Person. We become part of the eternal destiny of Someone else.
Think long and deeply about this, because this is what is required.
Are you ready to find a larger destiny than being you; doing what you want to do; going where you want to go; making your own decisions about what you want and what you don’t want? Are you ready to trust God to this extent? Do you actually want to be part of another, greater Personality? Think about it.
There are the thirty, the sixty, and the hundred. There are those who would like to be part of God. There are those who more fervently would like to be part of God. Then there are those who are totally consumed with the desire to be filled with the fullness of God for eternity.
Which group do you find yourself in? As for me, I marvel that anyone would not want to be filled with the fullness of God for eternity. I am not so pleased with myself that I desire to retain my right to be myself. But then, that is a personal decision.
And to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)
I may be incorrect in this, but I gain the impression that many believers in America desire to get what they can out of God while they preserve their own life. In some instances it sounds as though they are trying to make God their servant.
For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." (I Peter 2:6)
Mount Zion is the hill God has chosen. Zion was a suburb of Jerusalem, chosen by David to be the resting place for the Ark of the Covenant. We have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God.
Jesus Christ is the Beginning of the resting place of God. Those who trust in Christ will never be ashamed, because God has chosen Christ to be the Cornerstone of the house that God is building for Himself.
We enter the resting place of God when we choose to become an integral part of the Lord Jesus Christ. As long as we attempt to save our own life, perhaps professing faith in Christ but not actually giving ourselves wholly to Him, God cannot find rest in us. Christ alone is the House of God, the place of God’s rest. It is only as Christ is formed in us that God can find rest in us.
There are many religions in the world, many spiritually ambitious people. But they lift themselves up in vain. God has chosen Zion, and no other place. Jesus Christ Himself is Zion, and we become part of Zion when we are part of Christ.
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, And, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. (I Peter 2:7,8)
The Lord Jesus is both the Cornerstone and The Capstone of the House of God. He is the Beginning and the End. All is measured from Him and is of Him.
Men without Christ stumble and fall. This is because they are seeking their own will and not the will of God. Even if we profess faith in Christ, if we seek our own will rather than the will of God we will stumble and fall.
Peter says men stumble because they will not believe the message brought to them by the Apostles of Christ. This is because they are seeking their own will rather than God’s will.
Peter goes on to says that these men were destined to fall.
Both Peter and Paul emphasize foreknowledge and predestination. It reminds me of Jesus saying God had planted wheat in the world and Satan had planted weeds.
I am not one to go overboard on predestination. On the other hand, I am committed to teach what the Bible says. And the Bible clearly teaches that God is in control of all things, including what people do and what they don’t do. This concept is so contrary to the American philosophy of government that we scarcely can believe it is true.
But "Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated," before they were born. What do we do with this?
Jesus said, "You did not choose Me. I chose you." "No man can come to Me unless the Father draws Him."
What do we do with these statements? The Book of Acts tells us that some people were ordained to life. Jesus said, "All whom the Father gives Me shall come to Me."
The Potter has absolute power over the clay.
"They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for."
Yes, or no?
God hardens whom He will—speaking of Pharaoh.
The whole idea of Israel being a chosen nation is undemocratic. Why should God select one family of the nations of the earth and reveal Himself to them? How about all the other tribes and races in existence at that time? Why shouldn’t they have the Tabernacle, the holy priesthood, the prophets?
I can only say with the Apostle Paul, "God is the Potter. He does what He will with the clay."
Now, what does this mean to us? Does it mean that God will only hear certain people when they pray? Does it mean no matter how hard I seek God I will not be heard unless God chooses to hear me? What if I am destined to disobey the message? These are immensely practical questions that arise whenever we state that God works in terms of His own will.
I think the answer is as follows: If you have a hunger for God, God put it there. If you want Christ, God put that in your heart. If you hunger and thirst after righteousness, you already are blessed. It is God who works in us to will and to do His good pleasure.
Everyone is free to choose to obey the message of the Apostles. Some will. Some will not. Some will obey thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold. Nothing is preventing you or me from desiring a hundredfold fullness of God. God will not come to us and say, "You have not been destined to receive the hundredfold fullness of God."
"Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you." To whom is the invitation given? To everyone.
But you are not going to persist in asking, seeking, and knocking unless God puts a desire to do so in your heart.
Is the entire plan cast in steel? I don’t think so. I have seen believers come along splendidly, and then choose to go back into the world. Were they destined to fall away? I am not certain. I believe they have disappointed the Lord.
So there always is that door of opportunity. You can go as far as you want to with God. He holds the door open. You can enter and become one of the princes of Judah.
I have heard people speak of a passion for souls. I admit freely I do not have a passion for souls as such, although there are times when God gives me a great love for specific people. But I can say honestly I do have a passion to do the will of God and to be holy. These are as fires in me. But I truly believe this hunger for God’s will and for holiness are gifts of God, and I thank God for them every day.
I do not believe I have these two hungers because I am a good person but because God has given them to me.
Why doesn’t everyone have a passion for God’s will and a passion for holiness? I cannot answer that. Why doesn’t everyone have a passion to be filled with all the fullness of God for eternity? I cannot answer that. I can only believe such passions are gifts of God that He gives to whomever He chooses.
I can’t say much more about foreknowledge and predestination. I know the Bible teaches these doctrines clearly, no matter how our humanistic, democratic mindset recoils at the thought.
So, as Paul says, "How can God judge anyone if He puts His will in some and hardens others"? This is a hard question, isn’t it? I cannot answer it. All I know for certain is that God is righteous and wise in all His works.
If God wants to make some vessels for honorable purposes and some for dishonorable purposes, that is God’s business. If God then proceeds to punish the dishonorable vessels for being dishonorable, then we have to bow before God’s Throne and proclaim His righteousness and mercy.
You see, there are factors of which we are not aware, and we just have to trust in God’s righteousness. (Even if God were not righteous, there is nothing whatever we can do about it except parade around in our vanity and self-assurance!)
I have lived long enough to see that there indeed are tares. There are people whose meanness and selfishness are unbelievable. Yet if any such person chooses to repent and serve Christ, Christ can make a new righteous creation of this individual.
I am a pastor. One time someone that I did not enjoy came into the church. Instantly the Lord said to me, "Do not hinder anyone from coming to My altar."
People do turn. Sometimes the wicked start behaving righteously. Then, God has said, their wickedness shall not be remembered against them.
Sometimes the righteous start acting wickedly. Then, God has said, their righteousness shall not be remembered on their behalf.
Our job is not to examine God’s Word in our pride and decide what is righteous and what is unrighteous. God’s written Word is inerrant, as far as I am concerned. By this I mean, all the generally accepted translations from the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. I have lived by them for nearly sixty years and I have not found a flaw in them.
So when Peter says some stumble because they disobey the message, and this is their destiny, I say, "Amen. So be it." Let God be God and every man a liar.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (I Peter 2:9,10)
Peter is addressing Gentiles who lived in what now is Turkey. He tells these Gentiles they have been chosen by the Lord. This is quite a statement for the Jew, Peter, who withdrew from eating with Gentiles until he was reproved by the Apostle Paul.
But it was Peter who saw the sheet let down and heard three times that he was to eat from unclean animals, and then brought the Gospel message to Cornelius.
Peter goes on to say that these chosen Gentiles, whom he is addressing, are a royal priesthood, that is, people who shall govern and also serve mankind as God’s representatives.
They are a holy nation. They are holy because God has set them apart to be His own special family among the nations of the earth. They now are part of God’s Israel. They have been sprinkled with the blood of the covenant.
They belong to God in a manner not true of other people. Their role is to worship and praise God, for this is the calling of the priesthood. They have been called out of the spiritual darkness with which the earth is filled and now are walking in the light of the Presence of God, having fellowship with the Father and the Son.
At one time they were not part of the family of God. Now they are. Formerly, mercy had not been shown to them. Now it has been.
The concept of Christians being an integral part of Israel, of the holy nation, the royal priesthood, needs to be emphasized in our day, for two reasons. First, the destructive philosophy of Dispensationalism has cut off us Gentiles from our inheritance in Israel.
Second, we view the Gospel as our means of going to Heaven to live forever. We are not stressing our role as members of God’s holy priesthood. It is our responsibility to stand between people and God, to present God to people and people to God. We are the light of the world, the salt of the earth, Jesus said.
Because of the Word and calling of God we now are one with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Ezra, Daniel, and all the other prophets and patriarchs of Israel. We preach and prophesy by the same Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ was in them. The only difference is, Christ has been born and is being formed in us. This was not true of anyone before Christ rose from the dead.
One of the massive errors of our day is that the Israelites were one people of God and we are another. There is no such thing as a Jewish Church and a Gentile Church. There is only the one Church; the one family of God; the one elect; the one holy Olive Tree; the one Body of Christ; the one Servant of the Lord; the one Seed of Abraham; the one new Jerusalem. Until we grasp this concept firmly we cannot possibly understand the Scriptures or the Kingdom of God.
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. (I Peter 2:11)
Years ago the Lord revealed to me that the New Testament was not primarily about imputed righteousness but about actual righteousness of behavior. The doctrine of imputed righteousness was employed by the Apostle Paul to assure the Jews that they could look up from the scroll of the Law of Moses and place their faith in Jesus Christ. God then would ascribe righteousness to them even though they were not obeying the commandments of the Law.
Imputed righteousness was never designed to be a new way of serving God. Imputed righteousness is not the theme of the New Testament. From Matthew through to the Book of Revelation, the theme of the New Testament is actual righteousness of behavior.
We see the exhortation to actual righteousness in the above verse. "Abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul." There are many such commandments in the New Testament. A great number of believers in America absolutely reject these commandments, saying they apply to the Jews or to the unsaved or to people prior to the resurrection of Christ.
The exhortation to abstain from sinful desires was not written to Jews but to Gentiles living in what is now Turkey.
The exhortation to abstain from sinful desires was written to the members of the royal priesthood, that is, the Christian people, not to the unsaved.
The exhortation to abstain from sinful desires was written after the crucifixion of Christ.
There is no question but that there is an appalling spiritual blindness afflicting a significant number of Christian people in America. They say they believe the Bible is the Word of God. But they deny any passage that states Christians are to behave righteously. They have believed "another gospel."
Sometimes they claim that it is impossible for Christians to sin because the sin instantly is forgiven, being under the blood of Christ. If this were the case, Peter would not urge us to abstain from sinful desires, which war against the soul.
According to many believers, it is impossible for sinful desires to war against our soul because a Christian cannot have sinful desires. He lives in a bubble of grace. God has chosen to refer to his sinful desires as righteousness.
You, the reader, may not believe any believer could subscribe to such clearly unscriptural doctrine. The truth is, we may be speaking of the majority of Christian believers in America. It is a profound blindness and apostasy.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (I Peter 2:12)
It is the good deeds of Christian people that are the testimony, the light of the world. Of course the unsaved will accuse us of doing evil. Many Jews accused Jesus of doing evil. Unjust accusations are an important part of the sufferings of Christ, which we are to share.
But when the Lord comes, our good deeds will cause the nations of the earth to glorify God.
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow. (Isaiah 62:1,2)
It is obvious that the righteousness that "shines out like the dawn" is not imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness is not an actual righteousness of behavior but a righteousness imputed to us by the Lord when we place our faith in the atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, it is taught currently, we may be committing every kind of sin, but God sees us as righteous.
Now if we are committing every kind of sin, but God see us as righteous, what do the nations see? Do they see the sin we are committing, or do they see the righteousness that God has imputed to us, a righteousness that exists only in the mind of God?
Obviously, the nations see the sins we are committing. So the righteousness that shines out like the dawn is not imputed righteousness but the actual righteousness of behavior that proceeds from us when Christ has been formed in us.
So it is in America today. We have multitudes of believers who profess to be righteous by imputation. But the American public does not see their imputed righteousness, only their smugness, gossiping, lying, stealing, arrogance, fits of rage, immorality, and other works of the flesh.
This is a horrendous blindness, isn’t it?
When Peter says the pagans will see your good deeds and glorify God, he does not mean the pagans will see our imputed righteousness.
You would think all intelligent Christians could see the truth of this, but they cannot for some reason.
If you think I am mistaken, ask a Christian friend how important it is that a Christian behave righteously.
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, Or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. (I Peter 2:13,14)
Christians are to obey the civil authorities. Their role is to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. The idea is, if the Christian does what is right he will be commended by the authorities.
I have noticed in America that when Christians come into conflict with the civil authorities it is not because the government is seeking to force the Christians to do what is wrong. Rather it will be over issues such as abortion, or homosexuality, or some other behavior of unsaved people which the Christians are resisting.
There currently (December, 2003) are two issues before the Supreme Court. One has to do with the removal of "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. The other involves a student who was not permitted to use a grant to study theology. The grant was issued by the state of Washington. Any other discipline could have been pursued except religion.
This is not a case of Christians not being allowed to live righteously. Rather it has to do with governmental practices in which Christians have chosen to involve themselves.
There have been times in history when governments have attempted to force Christians to disobey God, such as the efforts of the Nazis to compel Christian people to turn Jews over to the police. In this case, the Christian must obey God rather than man.
Ordinarily, however, a civil government is only too pleased when Christian people live according to the New Testament, for then they are peaceful, honest, productive citizens.
Governments have been instituted by the Lord to punish evildoers and to enable the righteous to live in peace. When we behave ourselves and do good deeds we ordinarily will receive a good report from the government and secular society. It is when we attempt to force our values on unsaved people that trouble comes.
Sometimes a government will punish people merely for becoming Christians. This is an evil government. In such instances the believers will become fervent in their faith because of the persecution.
For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. (I Peter 2:15)
If we will live according to the Sermon on the Mount and the other commandments of Christ, we ordinarily will be commended by all secular people of good will. Not in every case, but on some occasions Christians bring trouble on themselves because they do not behave righteously. They are not being persecuted in this instance. Rather they are being punished for their bad behavior.
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. (I Peter 2:16,17)
This is good advice. Sometimes Christians in America use their freedom to do evil. For example, a pastor of a church may not report all the cash that comes in the offering, and hide it from the federal government so he will not have to pay taxes. Every church should insist that at least two people count the offering and record it. This sort of lying and stealing goes on in Christian churches because we are preaching grace instead of righteous behavior.
Sad to say, Christians in America are not known for their Christlike behavior. They defend themselves by saying "Christians are not perfect, just forgiven." In this manner they excuse themselves, thinking God is accepting this. He is not.
There are many Christians in jail in America. You can see them in their cells reading their Bibles. Even then the workers that come in to hold services tell them that they do not have to live righteously because they are saved by grace. Can you imagine the irony of this? The authorities have confined them in jail because of their behavior. Then the chaplains and other workers tell them they do not have to behave righteously, only profess belief in Christ. Can we ever be delivered from this confusion?
Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. (I Peter 1:18)
Some people, including Christians, have bosses who are unjust. Sometimes it is the only job they can get. In this case, it helps to work as unto the Lord. Forget the boss and think about Jesus. Do what the supervisor says, but perform the work diligently, whatever it is, as though Jesus is your Supervisor. This attitude may help you through a difficult situation. God will bless you for this effort.
For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. (I Peter 2:19,20)
If we are treated badly, and we bear up under it patiently because of our faith in God, we have acted righteously. If we are beaten for doing wrong, we do not receive credit for enduring that patiently. But if we suffer for doing good, and endure that without complaining, then God commends us.
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. (I Peter 2:21)
We have been called to suffer patiently, even though we are doing good things. Christ went about doing good and healing all who were bound by the devil. Yet He was abused, mocked, and crucified. He is our example of patient suffering.
"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." (I Peter 2:22)
Christ’s behavior was above reproach. Each person born into the world has a "Jacob" nature. We are full of guile, and supplanters by nature. Our goal is to be conformed to the image of Christ. When we have thus been conformed, the guile will be gone from us. There will be no lie in our mouth.
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. (I Peter 2:23)
Peter is presenting Christ to us as our Example. Christ did not fight evil with evil. He accepted the evil without fighting back and looked to God for justice.
We are to repay evil with good. This is the Nature of God. God is kind to all men. It is the mark of the mature Christian to not resist evil, but to permit himself to be defrauded at times.
"Love your enemies," the Lord commanded. "Pray for those who despitefully use you." Our adamic nature finds this exceedingly difficult. Only the new righteous creation, Christ formed in us, can obey this commandment.
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, That you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:44,45)
The purpose of the grace of God, which is God in Christ, is to make us willing and also able to repay evil with good. Repaying evil with good is the Nature of God. Man repays evil with evil. We cannot repay evil with good until we have been born again, that is, until Christ has been born in us. This is the Kingdom of God that we enter by being born again.
The purpose of being born again is to enable us to repay evil with good, thus being the children of our Father who is in Heaven. Such behavior is required in Heaven. It also is required in the earth, and shall be practiced in the earth when the Kingdom comes.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (I Peter 2:24)
The above verse requires clear explanation.
What does it mean to die to sins?
What does it mean to live for righteousness?
In what way have we been healed by His wounds?
What does it mean to die to sins? When we are baptized in water we are stating that we are taking our place with Christ on the cross. Our entire self, not just our sinful nature, is to be crucified. This marks the end of the adamic creation, as far as we are concerned. When we come up out of the water we are saying that we have risen with Christ and our inward nature has ascended to be with Him at the right hand of God.
So far so good. Then as we go about our life after water baptism we find that the urge to sin, the sinful nature, is still active in us. What now?
We are to maintain our position that we have been crucified with Christ and we owe our sinful nature nothing that we should yield to its urges. Then we confess any act of unrighteousness we have actually done as sin. We denounce it as unworthy of the Kingdom of God. We renounce it, desiring to have nothing more to do with it. Then we ask the Lord to destroy it from our personality so we never practice it again!
This is what it means to die to sins. We are authorized to do this because God has justified us (declared us without the guilt of sin) on the basis of the blood atonement made by Christ on the cross.
What does it mean to live for righteousness? It means to obey the commandments given by Christ and His Apostles, as set forth in the New Testament. As we pray and read our Bible, the Holy Spirit guides us into righteous behavior. We are to be the slave of righteousness, as Paul says in the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans.
In what way have we been healed by the wounds of Christ? We have been healed body, soul, and spirit from all sin and infirmity. Christ died for our complete healing. We accept this by faith. Then, as we walk with the Lord each day, the healing begins to take place. Our spirit begins to be healed. Our soul begins to be healed. Our body begins to be healed. It is a fight all along the way, because the forces of spiritual darkness would keep us from participating in the redemption Christ has purchased for us. Paul prayed that our whole spirit, soul, and body would be kept blameless in anticipation of the return of Christ.
For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (I Peter 2:25)
Christ is the Good Shepherd. When we were astray from Christ we were wandering about, driven by the god of this world. We have returned to the Good Shepherd and He is leading us into green pastures, beside quiet waters. Now there is nothing we need that Christ does not supply.
Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,When they see the purity and reverence of your lives. (I Peter 3:1,2)
Peter is saying that if any husband is not a believer, he may come to Christ if His wife submits to him and leads a godly life.
In America it sometimes is true that the husband is abusive, or an adulterer, or wants his wife to carouse with him.
If he is abusive, she should pray carefully about separating herself from him. God has called us to peace, not abuse.
If he is an adulterer he has broken the marriage covenant. She is free to remarry.
If he wants his wife to carouse with him, the wife should never do anything against her conscience as a Christian.
Marriage vows are extremely serious. Separation or divorce should never be taken lightly. Sometimes separation or divorce causes as many problems as it solves; so the wife needs to think carefully about such an action. Also, separation and divorce are difficult for children.
Sometimes women leave their husbands because the husbands are not "spiritual" enough. They want to find a man who is more "spiritual," and then marry him. This is not acceptable. They both will be punished for this.
It is up to the man to be the rock of the home. His wife will be subject to emotional ups and downs, and he is to make allowance for these and not expect her always to be logical and give a reason for what she says or does.
The man is the priest of the home. He is to give an account to God for his family.
Sometimes the man is weak, and the wife rushes in to fill the gap. This is not wise. It makes her the priest of the home, and this is not in Divine order.
God made the woman to be a support suitable for the man. A woman should never marry until she finds a man she respects. She must accept the fact that her role is to help him fulfill the role God has for him.
If the woman feels she does not want to serve as a helper for a man but has her own destiny to fulfill, then she should not marry.
To be an appropriate support and helper for a man, to bear children, to guide the home, is a full-time occupation. In fact, it is the highest calling for a woman, in that she is bringing servants of God into the world.
In America it often is true that the woman has to work to help with the family finances. This is a very difficult position to be in, but sometimes cannot be avoided. In this case it is incumbent on her husband to share in the work of the household and to help with the children.
Romantic love is idolized in America. It is a fantasy, not based on reality. It is an attraction between two bodies. The bodies marry, and then the inner persons and their wills come to the surface. Soon there is a divorce, because the two people really do not know each other.
The American way of romance, dating, and marriage, based on physical attraction, is not a sound program, as evidenced by the high rate of divorce. If young people are wise they will involve adults in their decision to marry, because it often is true that the adults can see problems that will arise. The young people need to consider these problems before they enter marriage, and wait until they have thought through how they are going to handle the obvious difficulties.
Once two individuals marry, and find they are of opposite temperaments, they need to learn to give and take, and make every effort to stay together. This is extremely important if there are children. If they divorce only because they were not perfectly "happy," and the children suffer from this selfish decision, God will hold the two of them responsible. It is better to remain together and grow in character.
Two people who marry and are continually clashing because they are "incompatible," are in an excellent arena in which to grow in Christ. If they will make the effort to work things out, and stay together, they will grow in Christ and be blessed.
However there are times when the marriage becomes destructive. Then the two people involved should seek the counsel of the elders. Separation or divorce may be in order. Man was not made for the marriage laws. The marriage laws were made for man, to prevent undisciplined sexual behavior.
There cannot be two heads of a household any more than there can be two captains on the bridge of a ship. The woman needs to consider that her husband is the God-ordained head of the home, before she decides to marry.
On occasion a man will tell a woman that if she will marry him he will become a Christian. The woman should never accept this. If the woman is a Christian, and then marries a man who is not a fervent Christian, she will have years of torment. She has placed herself on the path to sainthood.
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. (Peter 3:3,4)
Many years ago in Pentecost we placed much emphasis on dress, especially women’s dress. Now the pendulum (in the Charismatic movement) appears to have swung to the other extreme. Anything is acceptable.
It seems to me that the Lord would be pleased if we went to neither extreme. Anyone with good sense can judge when a girl or woman dresses modestly, according to the local customs. When a girl or woman does not dress modestly, she provides an entrance for Satan. Demons of lust abound in the American culture.
For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, Like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. (I Peter 3:5,6)
The holy women of the past made themselves beautiful with a gentle and quiet spirit. I spoke previously of the right kind of submission.
I do not understand why Peter spoke of the woman giving way to fear, unless it is true that women in particular are attacked by fear. As I think about my experience as a pastor, I believe it is a fact that women tend to be moved to fear in spiritual matters more often than ordinarily is true of men. So the woman is exhorted to do what is right and not give way to fear.
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. (I Peter 3:7)
It is not that the wife necessarily is weaker biologically, it is that she tends to be weaker emotionally. The husband must respect her and be patient until she feels better. It is up to him to be loving and avoid conflict.
What I am about to say applies equally to the husband and wife.
If you begin to feel a dispute arising, it is up to the stronger Christian to give way. You can tell, usually, that if you respond you are going to create an argument. There is a strong temptation to respond. But you know if you do it is going to cause trouble. A weak Christian will answer back, and then the argument will escalate.
When we cause an argument to escalate, we are hindering our prayers and the other person’s prayers. This happens when we are not strong enough to help our partner.
Jesus told us that the peacemakers are blessed and shall be called the sons of God. It is up to the husband to be the peacemaker, to not answer back and cause an argument, thus hindering his wife’s prayer and his own prayers.
Spiritually immature couples have numerous arguments because of their carnal nature.
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. (I Peter 3:8)
Notice that Peter directs us to live in harmony. Living in harmony does not occur just because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to make an effort to avoid arguments, to promote peace as often as we can.
We are to be sympathetic with one another in brotherly love, being compassionate and humble. This is not easy for some of us. We have to pray continually to maintain a right attitude.
As I stated previously, the first sign to us that we are growing cold spiritually is when we notice we are finding fault with the church, with other Christians. This is a red flag of warning, telling us we need to reconsecrate ourselves as disciples of Christ. We need to go to Jesus and ask Him to restore to us our first love.
When an assembling of Christians loses its harmony, when roots of bitterness spring up and there is jealousy and hatred, the testimony of the church has been destroyed. Its lampstand has been removed. It then is time for the elders of the assembling to call the people together, tell them of the problem without blaming anyone, and pray until peace has been restored.
It may be necessary that some of the members leave and attend another church. It is useless to continue until love and peace have been restored.
Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. (I Peter 3:9)
The above verse speaks of maturity in Christ. When we are strong enough spiritually to repay evil with good, to answer an insult with a soft word; when we are able to bless those who offend us and pray for their welfare, we have made headway in the Kingdom of God.
The only manner in which we ever are going to attend to such godliness is by continual prayer, meditating daily in the Word of God, and cooperating with the Holy Spirit as He guides us in putting to death the deeds of our sinful nature. It is the Virtue of Christ, the Divine Nature that is being created in us, that does not repay evil with evil but overcomes evil with good.
The adamic nature may attempt to imitate such Christlike behavior, but under enough pressure and perversity the adamic nature will begin to fight fire with fire. When we attempt to fight fire with fire we always lose, because the wicked are better equipped for this type of warfare.
For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it." (I Peter 3:10,11)
Let me point out once more that the New Testament is an exhortation to righteous behavior. Notice how far removed the above passage is from what often is presented as the Gospel message. If we would love life and see good days we must behave righteously. We must turn from evil and do good. We must seek peace and pursue it.
Nothing about grace! Nothing about the "rapture"! Nothing about going to Heaven! Just plain old righteous behavior. The Bible used to be called the "Good Book." This is because people recognized that the Bible taught us how to live in a righteous manner. Today it is not the Good Book; it is the grace-rapture-Heaven book. We have forgotten that Jesus Christ came to make men holy, to set them free from sin.
Will we ever be able to return to the truth of the Gospel of righteous behavior?
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. (I Peter 3:12)
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. Psalms 34:15,16)
The fact that Peter is quoting from the Book of Psalms is extremely significant. It shows us that the same emphasis on righteous conduct is present in both the old and new covenants.
When we read Psalms 34 today we would say, "The eyes of the Lord are on us and His ears are attentive to our cry, now that we have accepted Christ as our Savior. God will cut off the memory of those who refuse to accept Christ."
Also, in Psalms 24, we would say, "We can ascend Zion’s hill because God through Christ has imputed to us clean hands and a pure heart!"
But this can’t be true because Peter admonishes us to keep our tongue from evil and our lips from deceitful speech. The Apostle Paul commands the saints throughout Achaia to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and Spirit, that they might be God’s children?
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (II Corinthians 7:1)
If we automatically are pure and holy, on the basis of accepting Christ, why is the Apostle Peter quoting Psalms 34 to us?
We have been greatly deceived.
If a Christian is to love life, see good days, have the eyes of the Lord on him, have the Lord’s ears attentive to his prayers, and not have the face of the Lord against him, he must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech, turn from evil and do good, and seek peace and pursue it.
But what if he doesn’t keep his tongue from evil, his lips from deceitful speech? What if he doesn’t turn from evil and do go