"20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."
Good Morning my beloved, Welcome to worship this Lord's day! We're so glad to have all of you here with us today. Please know, that we continue to lift all of you up in our prayers. We respectfully ask that you would do the same for us.
As Christians, many people think they have the gospel figured out and are well on our way to living in
accord with the gospel, then suddenly we meet the implications of God’s
holiness. They begin to baffle us, and tragically, at that point, many no longer want to hear what the Bible has to say, because it doesn't fit into our lives. It no longer matches up with the One we thought we knew.
To be a holy person in a corrupt world, we must live intentionally and carefully. We must constantly strive to fight against the lusts of the flesh and the pull of this present world.And, in order to be successful, we must be motivated.
It is my hope that you will not run away from what this text says, but instead, will ask
God for new and greater understanding and affections in
worship and more stronger obedience.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank You for Your Word for Your Word for us today. How thankful we are that You have redeemed us. Thank You for the plan to send Your Son, oh He is precious. Lord, we are so unworthy of such great grace, we struggle to adequately express our gratitude. Though our finite minds cannot fully comprehend the magnitude of our redemption, we can however, rejoice in knowing how much You love us, and we rest in that truth.
There is no price that we could pay to redeem our own souls. How could we ever take for granted such redemption? Help us Lord, that we might live as those who have been redeemed, and freed from sin. May our gratitude shine through our praise and obedience in our lives.
Father, we pray that You would touch the hearts of those who have not yet been redeemed, that they rightly respond to Your call, with a contrite heart, come to You in repentance and receive Christ.
In His precious name we pray
Amen
Today's Message: The Reason For Hope
The condition of the unredeemed man is driven by lust, engulfed in pride and ignorance, having a life that is absolutely useless and that is simply the product of Satan, rather than God and His divine truth.
If we are in Christ, we are a new creation. This should be a difference in the way we live our lives after salvation. God does not require perfection, but I do believe that He does expect us to be serious about it.
Because we are closer than we have ever been to the coming day of our Lord, this would be a great time for you to begin to pull in any sinful loose ends. To get rid of the useless things that occupy your life, to get your priorities right as you anticipate meeting Christ face to face. Because sin leads us from one sin into even greater sin. I believe that one of the reasons for the shallow Christianity we so often see in our day, is that people don’t feel deeply enough about their sin. Where there is no conviction of sin, there can be no need of true repentance. No understanding of a remedy so extreme, as is offered by the outpouring of the blood of Jesus Christ.
I understand that most of us don't like putting ourselves into a position of fear, but the fear of standing before God, giving an account for our lives Christians, our works tested with fire at the judgment seat of Christ. If our work remain, we will receive a reward. However, if our work is burned up, we will suffer loss. I confess, that imagery is scary enough to motivate me to live in fear of the Lord on a daily basis, it should you as well. In fact, I believe that should motivate every true child of God.
In my life, I have seen cancer ravage bodies. I have seen
dementia claim the lives of tortured souls. I have felt the destructive
force of mental and physical abuse. I have seen and experienced
pain and suffering. Sooner or later, illness will touch one of us, or those we love, we cannot escape it, nor can we ever run fast enough. But none of this compares to the pain that Jesus endured when He took on our sins. We all live for a time and then we die, therefore, you need to live your life with discipline. We can’t leave our relationship Christ at church!
That’s why the Lord encourages us in Matthew 6:19-21, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
A life under the direction of the Holy Spirit yields peace, joy and assurance.
If you would, open your Bibles with me to I Peter chapter 1. As we continue our study of this wonderful epistle, I believe that's it’s very important that we focus our hearts on His redemption, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I invite you to follow along with me as I read to set the text in our minds, while we prepare our hearts. Listen for the voice of the Spirit of our Lord. I Peter 1:20-21.
"For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."
I believe that we are in the last days as described in II Timothy 3:1-5, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power."
And in Luke 21:10-11, Jesus said that "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven."
It’s time for believers to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
Verse 20, "For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you." The preciousness of Christ is expressed in that reality of His predestination, His fore-ordination, perfect from before time ever began, and is eternally perfect. Chosen in eternity because of His perfection, revealed in time and manifesting that perfection.
"but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you." "But has appeared," is the Greek word "phaneróō," which means to make visible, to make known, refers to the virgin birth, to the kenosis, the incarnation. The historical event, to make something plain, to make it clear, to make it manifest, to reveal it. The last times are the messianic times, which began when He was born. Christ is precious because He was incarnate perfection.
God planned before the world began that He would send His Son to save sinners. He ordained it well in advance of the creation of the human race. God’s eternal plan involves you. The cross wasn’t God’s last ditch effort, His plan B, put into place after the fall of man. We see in John 17:24, when Jesus prayed "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."
The preciousness of Christ is further described by His resurrection, and His ascension, the divine affirmation of Christ. Verse 21. "who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." God not only raised Him from the dead, "God gave Him glory." This was a divine affirmation of who He was and of the accomplishment of His finished work.
Jesus prayed in John 17:5, "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."
In Closing..
Beloved, the world is becoming increasingly more evil, our children will have to deal with manifestations of sinfulness, that were once more restrained. I encourage you to teach your to taste the holiness of God implanted in their own souls as children
born again by the Holy Spirit, who now bear the family traits from the
Father of holiness. Teach them to immerse themselves in the holy Word of God. In the unshakable hope, and in the truth and beauty of Jesus Christ.
We have a wonderful Savior, a precious Redeemer, predestined, incarnate, risen, ascended. He is the
most precious person ever to live, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin,
the spotless lamb, without blemish. Risen, ascended and highly exalted
and seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And, He did it "for
the sake of you." What a tremendously profound theological statement that is. Jesus died for you, He was raised for you, and He ascended for you, and He will come back for you!
If you are in Christ, your faith and hope are rooted in His resurrection, you’ve been bought with the precious blood of Christ. Redemption is for us, through Christ, applied to us, received by faith so that we become believers in God.
The only way for us to live is in obedience with confident trust in God.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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