Chapter One
1a. In other words, Peter says I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ, meaning sent by Jesus Christ, on assignment from Jesus Christ.
No one can rightfully claim to be an apostle of Jesus Christ today. It is absolutely impossible for anyone today to meet the Biblical qualifications of an apostle, and therefore it is impossible for anyone today to speak with the authority of an apostle.
Christians today are still under the authority of the apostles of Jesus Christ, who wrote God's word, which has been preserved for us in the New Testament. The New Testament is first and foremost the word of God, given through the apostles to Christians. The Bible is our sole authority.
God's written word is for his people. Sometimes the world gets upset when they hear what the Bible says but they really shouldn't because God is not talking to them. They are reading someone else's mail. God doesn't expect the unsaved to live like the saved. God doesn't expect the non-Christians of the world to live like Christians. The instructions found in the word of God are written to God's people not to those who have rejected Christ.
God has one message for Christ rejecting sinners and it doesn't go beyond this: repent, and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you will have forgiveness and eternal life.
1. Peter addresses Christians as strangers. He calls us strangers because that's what we are; we've become strangers on planet Earth. No matter where we may be in this world we are not home.
The Bible says our citizenship is in heaven, it says our King is in heaven, and the place which Jesus has prepared for us is also in heaven. We have been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of heaven according to the book of Colossians.
A soccer player from England may play for the Chicago fire, but when the World Cup rolls around you can bet he'll be playing for England because that's his home and that's where his loyalty is. We have to be here for now, but we should be working for our homeland and serving our great King Jesus Christ while we are here.
2. If we are saved it is because God chose us before the world was created. If we are saved then the Holy Spirit is making us holy because that's why God saves us.
If we are holy then we are obeying God, not in order to get right with Him, but because the blood of Jesus Christ has already made us right with God. If we are saved, and we are holy, and we are obedient, then we will enjoy the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
3. Our heavenly father raised his son Jesus from the dead, never to die again. And since we are in Christ we also will be raised from the dead never to die again. Through Jesus we have hope. Through Jesus we have purpose. Through Jesus we have everything to live for, and because of Jesus we never have a reason to be discouraged.
Because of Jesus we win. Because Jesus won in the end we too will win in the end. No matter what may happen to us in this life we win because we don't go to hell, and we win because we will be raised from the dead in our physical bodies.
Talk about giving Christians a real, living hope. God says, if you have faith in Jesus, if you have received my son as your Lord and Savior, then I'm going to raise you from the dead. He says, do you want to know how I'm going to do that? Answer: look at how I raised my son because that's how I will raise you. Don't think I can't, don't think I won't; I already did it once so you know I can ,and I will do it again because I said I would, and I do not lie.
Jesus back from the dead never to die again is our living hope; because He lives we will live.
3,4. When you think about it it really doesn't matter what people leave you as an inheritance, because whatever it is will either wear out, break, be stolen, or you will die and leave it to someone else. In the long run any inheritance here on earth will be worthless.
But God has given Christians a priceless inheritance; it's an inheritance that he is keeping for us in heaven, it will never wear out, it will never decay, it will never break, and no one will ever take it from us.
Our inheritance includes forgiveness of all our sins, it includes a reunion with our Christian friends and loved ones, it includes eternal life, joy in the presence of Jesus, perfect health, no death, a physical resurrection from the dead, a new heavens and a new earth to enjoy forever. And that's just the broad outline; I can't even begin to fill in the details because God hasn't given us many details.
5. God guards us through our faith in Jesus Christ. As long as we want Jesus God will protect us.
No one can take us out of Christ and no one can steal our eternal inheritance. In spite of all of our failures God will not kick us out of his family, as long as we want Jesus to be our Lord and Savior. We are saved by God's power through our faith in Christ, and we are kept by God's power through that same faith.
6. Everyone, both saved and unsaved experience pain, sorrow, loss, and disappointment in this world, which is why so many people get drunk, do drugs or find some other way to distract their thoughts off of their misery.
This world is full of trouble for everyone, but a Christian knows that wonderful times are coming. Christians know that the best is yet to come, and the best will last forever. Christians also know that God is somehow using whatever bad they are going through to make them more spiritual, more like Jesus. What I'm saying is that for the unsaved, problems and suffering have no value; their suffering is an end in itself, and no matter how bad it may become it still isn't as bad as what they will experience in hell.
On the other hand our sufferings as Christians are not an end in themselves but rather a means to a greater good, and they also are temporary with the best yet to come. That's why God tells us to be glad even though we have to endure many trials in this life. You say how am i supposed to be glad when things are not the way I want them to be? By keeping your God focus and your eternal perspective.
6,7. How do you know you are saved? How do you know if your faith in Jesus is saving faith? Well, when things go from bad to worse, and you're still clinging to Jesus that's a pretty good sign. When being a Christian cost you something, but you don't walk away from Christ that's a good sign as well. The testing of our faith is the best way to prove its quality, its genuineness.
7. People purify gold by heating it up, because when it melts the impurities rise to the surface and they can be scraped off. Hard times are the means by which our faith is tested and proven to be genuine, and trials also purify our faith.
We're not perfect, but just as imperfections in gold are hidden so too our imperfections are hidden and of course you can't get rid of bad you don't even know you have. Consequently, God allows trouble and that trouble reveals our flaws. Like fire causes the impurities hidden in gold to appear, trials cause us to see our spiritual impurities. We see them, and if we are Christians we repent of them. God uses trouble like fire in order to purify us.
7,8. Jesus is real to Christians. He's not just character in the Bible. Jesus Christ is as real to a Christian as anyone else they know. We haven't seen him, but we know him, and we don't just know him by faith, we know him by experience, we know him personally.
When the Holy Spirit creates faith in a person that person will receive Jesus as Lord and Savior and when they do his spirit literally comes to live inside of them. Consequently our connection to Jesus is stronger, is more intimate, is more personal than our connection to anyone else.
You may feel connected to your neighbor because you live close to them. You may feel connected to your spouse because you live in the same house with them. But the spirit of Jesus isn't just in the same area as you are, he is literally in you.
The Bible says that Christians have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ because his spirit and his soul live within our spirit. You can't get any closer than that, which is why Christians, although they have never seen Jesus love him, and trust him, and enjoy his company.
9. The purpose for our faith in Christ is the salvation of our souls; the purpose of our faith is to avoid going to hell. That very simple and basic truth of Christianity is sometimes overlooked.
In recent years many in evangelicalism have perverted the gospel message by telling people that they should receive Christ so that they will be fulfilled. Evangelicals often say, come to Christ and have joy, come to Christ and be fulfilled, without ever mentioning the real reason that one should come to Christ which is found here in verse nine, and in many other places in Scripture, which is the salvation of their souls.
The message of Jesus Christ that must be proclaimed to lost sinners is: repent and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior so that you will not burn in hell, even though that's what our sins deserve. When someone attempts to receive Christ so that they can be fulfilled, or so that they can have joy, or as many say today so that you can be rich, they are not receiving the true Christ, they are receiving nothing.
You say why do evangelicals pervert the gospel message? Because they want to be popular with the unsaved. It is not popular today, it never has been popular to tell the sinner that they are bound for hell unless they find forgiveness through Jesus Christ. That is very offensive and yet it is the truth.
It is much less offensive to tell a hell bound sinner to receive Christ so that they will be happy. Consequently in their desire to be popular, and to look cool in the eyes of the world, some have compromised the message with terrible results.
Terrible result number one: those who think they have received Christ haven't, and therefore are still lost and on the way to hell. Terrible result number two: these people "receive Christ" to be fulfilled and eventually find out it doesn't work so they renounce their so-called faith and run around telling people that Jesus doesn't work. They say, he didn't make me happy; Jesus did not make me fulfilled! Of course He didn't and that's because you didn't receive Him.
The fact is if one repents and receives Jesus as their savior from hell the byproduct will be peace, and the byproduct will be joy, and the byproduct will be fulfillment, but those are all byproducts of receiving the real Christ for the one legitimate reason which is the salvation of our souls according to verse nine.
9,10,11. The Old Testament prophets didn't understand everything God was saying to them, and saying through them. For example, God was saying that the Savior would die for the sins of man, and yet in other places God was saying that the Savior would live and rule as King forever. Consequently those Old Testament prophets were confused; the word of God did not make sense; how could both be true? How could the savior die for the sins of man and yet still live and reign forever.
We know the answer to that question. We know that the resurrection made both possible. It's true, the Savior did die and pay for our sins, and it's also true that he's been raised from the dead never to die again and one day he will return from heaven and rule forever.
Lesson: it is best to accept God's word even when we can't figure it out. If the word of God seems to teach two different things don't try to reconcile those two things by coming up with a compromise just accept both as true; some day that which seems to be irreconcilable will be reconciled.
12. In other words those Old Testament prophets tried to understand the future things that they wrote about, but God told them that it wasn't for them to understand. We today know what they could not know, and yet there are many things, especially about the end times that we today don't understand, which is why they're so much disagreement concerning the exact details surrounding the end times, there is disagreement between sincere Christians who really love Jesus and who really believe the word of God.
Give heed to the scripture you know, God will take care of the rest of it.
13a. In other words think about the right things.
If we do not prepare our minds to obey God by thinking about the right things then obedience is not going to happen. The Bible says as a person thinks in their heart so are they.
13. Think about Christ and think about the benefits that persevering with him will result in for all of eternity.
Again, what we think about affects how we behave, so focus on Jesus, focus on holiness and focus on eternity because doing those things will help you to live the correct way today.
14. In other words, don't live like you used to live when you didn't know any better. Don't live like you used to live before you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, before you got serious about Jesus. Do not live like the non Christians of the world. I'll take it one step further, do not live like many of the Christians of the world; live like Jesus.
Peter is saying that before you came to Christ you didn't know what God wanted, and you probably didn't care. But now you've repented and Jesus is your Lord and Savior so live the way your Lord wants you to live.
Someone says, I really don't care what God wants. Oh then you're not a Christian! You are a hell bound sinner who may know the facts about Jesus, but you haven't repented and asked Him to be your Lord and Savior because if you did then you would care about what he cares about.
14. Notice he says obey like obedient children. God is our God. God is our creator. God is our Judge, but God is also our Father.
Our father has given us life. Our father provides for us, He protects us, He saves us from hell. Consequently, we ought to do as he says, we should obey our heavenly father out of love, respect, and because he knows whats best for us.
15,16. God is holy. To be holy means to be completely separate from all sin and that's what God is. God is without sin and here he tells us to be without it as well. Christians should not be lax about sin simply because they are forgiven in Christ.
Some Christians have the attitude that sin is no big deal because after all everything is forgiven anyway. But sin is a big deal, it's a big deal with big consequences, no not hell for Christians, but other things. Bad behavior has bad consequences, talking about bad natural consequences, and also God's chastening. Consequently, for God's glory, and our own good he says be holy.
Someone says, I don't have to be holy if I don't want to, I am free! You know, you are correct. You are also free to eat raw pork; you are also free to drive down the wrong side of a highway with your eyes closed, but I wouldn't recommend it because of the bad consequences you will suffer.
When God says, be holy He isn't trying to gyp you out of fun; He is trying to spare you from a miserable life.
17. Remember that Peter is talking to Christians when he says, judgment according to what we have done is coming. God sees how we behave, and he will judge us by his standards of right and wrong, good and evil.
You do realize that many modern preachers wouldn't touch a verse like this with a 10 foot pole because it would make their listeners uncomfortable. I got news for you it makes me uncomfortable too, but if God says something that makes us feel uncomfortable, then that's all the more reason to take heed to it rather then ignore it. We must not ignore the Scriptures that make us feel uncomfortable.
Someone says, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm not used to hearing these things and I don't like what I am hearing. I'm a Christian and you have me feeling uneasy. Correction, I'm not making any of this up; don't drag me into this because it's the word of God not the word of Meurett. Someone says I was told that as a Christian I should never feel uneasy.
Who says that? Who says that Christians should not feel uneasy about committing sin? God certainly doesn't say that; he says we ought to be afraid to stand before him, especially if we have settled for a lukewarm attitude toward Jesus and therefore are not behaving ourselves. Especially if we continually compromise and don't even confess our sins to God.
When God says to Christians, "conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear," He means live holy and confess when you fail. When God says to Christians, "conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear," I certainly can't teach anything to the contrary, because this is God's word.
18,19. I get so weary of Christians who make up excuses for their sin because "Christian professionals" give them the idea that they can. I get so weary of Christians who blame their mother or their father or someone else or something else for their bad behavior today because again "Christian professionals", so-called, tell them that that's okay. I get so weary of "Christian counselors" who suggest that it will take years of therapy and of course a lot of money for a Christian to get to the place where they can think and behave correctly.
I do not like it because it hurts God's people. I do not like it because God has the answers and man too often covers His answers with human reasoning, and that's what that is. Those things have been a thorn in the side of Christianity long enough.
Shut the psychology books, shut the how to books and listen to the word of Almighty God for a change!
The Bible says in verse 18 that we have been redeemed, we have been set free, from the aimless, worthless, destructive, conduct which has been handed down to us from our ancestors. Jesus is bigger then a terrible past. Jesus is bigger then the poor example that was set for us.
Receiving Christ gives us a fresh start. The Bible says Christians have the mind of Christ, the Bible says we are to renew our minds by the word of God and once you start renewing your mind by the word of God your behavior will follow suit.
There are no tricks to correct thinking. There are no techniques; there are no psychological theories and exercises that will sanctify one's thinking and one's behavior.
All those devices are recent inventions borrowed from the world, and I will never understand why any Christian would look to the world, (which doesn't know the first thing about God's word, and whose people are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins), why in the world would any blood bought child of the eternal God look to that for advice on how to behave correctly.
Right thinking and behavior is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian. He changes us, He sanctifies us, when we read the Bible, when we go to church, when we praise and worship Jesus, and when we pray. The blood of Jesus Christ which purchased our salvation has also purchased our sanctification and the Holy Spirit is the agent who works in us to make us more like Jesus.
If more Christians took the money that they invest in counselors and psychologists and invested it in the work of God they would be better off and so would many others. If Christians would take the time they spend in a counselor's office, or a psychiatrist office; if they would take the time they spend reading the latest how-to books, or the latest psychological theory and invest that time in reading the Bible and praying, God the Holy Spirit would sanctify them and change them from the inside out because that's his job and that's what the Bible teaches.
Read the Bible an hour every day and the Holy Spirit will change you in ways that you never thought possible. Someone says I can't afford to set aside an hour a day. You can't afford not to; no one who wants to be what Jesus wants them to be can afford not to do it.
Jesus said to Peter, James, and John, could you not tarry with me for one hour? You mean that you are too busy to give your creator, the God who came to earth, and died a humiliating death on the cross for your sin, the one who paid for your sins so that you won't have to go to hell; you mean you can't give that God, that creator, that savior, that sustainer, who keeps you alive, who has given you everything that you have, you can give him one measly hour out of 24? I suggest that we all can if we make it a priority, and if we do we will be much better off.
18-20. God did not have to scramble after Adam and Eve sinned. God did not hear about them eating the forbidden fruit and say, well I never saw this coming! God didn't say, I've been blindsided by the sin of man and now I have to come up with a plan to save them and their children from hell!
God knew that man, who he created with a free will, would sin and therefore be damned. He knew that long before he created the world. The plan was already in place for Jesus to die on the cross and pay for our sins before he even created Adam.
The Bible says that God isn't willing that any should perish. That's why he came up with a plan that would give each person an opportunity to trust Christ and avoid hell.
21. Many people, of many different religions believe in a God. Some believe in false gods, some believe in the one true God. However, the only way to believe in God, and have it lead to the salvation of your soul is to have faith in Christ and his death on the cross.
People must believe in God through the one mediator Jesus Christ otherwise all their faith is, is an intellectual assent to the fact that there is a God, and that's not enough to save anyone. Want Biblical proof? The demons believe in God, they believe in the true God, they don't believe in allah, Chemosh, Baal, Tamuse, Hare krishna, buddah, or any of the 300 million gods of India; they believe in the one true God and His Son Jesus Christ, but they're not saved.
22a. What is truth? That's what Pontius Pilate asked Jesus. Jesus Himself gave us the answer; he said that God's word is truth. The Bible is truth. Consequently, the only way to purify ourselves is to obey the word of God. Psalm 119:9, says "how can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word." There are no other ways to become like Jesus.
It is inappropriate, which is why it is also a waste of time for Christians to look outside the word of God for spiritual guidance and growth.
Of course we cannot obey enough to make ourselves right with God. However, after we are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ, we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, begin the process of purifying ourselves. In other words, the Holy Spirit works in us to make us more like Jesus. It is a work that begins the moment of our salvation, and does not end until after we die, and the holy word of God is the main instrument that the Holy Spirit uses to bring this great work to pass.
22. The Bible teaches that a true Christian will love other Christians.
Let me tell you what this doesn't mean before I tell you what it does mean. It doesn't mean that a real Christian will like everything that other Christians do. A real Christian doesn't have to turn a blind eye to right and wrong while putting on a phony smile and saying that everything other Christians do is wonderful, just fine. This also doesn't mean that a genuine Christian approves of the lifestyle of others who are Christians in name only but not in practice. That's what this verse does not mean, now let me tell you what it does mean.
This verse means that a genuine Christian who loves Jesus and loves the word of God will love other Christians who love Jesus and love the word of God as well. This is talking about two Christians who are walking with the Lord hitting it off with each other because of their mutual faith and love for Jesus.
There's something wrong with the Christian who doesn't have any standards and therefore gives a sickening sweet approval to the bad behavior of a professing Christian. There is also something wrong with the Christian who doesn't enjoy being around other Christians who clearly love Jesus and clearly love the word of God.
23. There's only one way to get saved and that's to hear the word of God and accept it. No one ever get saved unless they hear a straightforward message about Jesus being the only Savior, the only way for a sinner to avoid hell, and the only way to receive eternal life. No one ever get saved unless someone tells them from the word of God that they must repent, they must turn away from their sin, and they must turn to Jesus and say Lord take control of my life and save me from hell. No one gets saved apart from the word of God therefore no one will be saved unless Christians proclaim the word of God. That is our number one priority, our number one duty as Christians. Go into all the world and preach the gospel (the message of salvation through Jesus Christ) to every single creature. That is what Jesus commanded us to do, and not just preachers but all Christians.
Not everyone is called to preach. Not everyone is called to teach. But every single Christian on the face of the earth is called to support those who are called to preach and teach, to support them through their offerings and through their prayers because if they don't then the job is not going to get done. If we don't do our part, all of us, than we are failing Jesus, we are disobeying the great commission.
When the Bible is taught clearly the holy Spirit takes the word of God and burns it into the souls of the unsaved. They may accept Jesus or they may choose to reject Him but one thing is certain, they will not forget the mark the Holy Spirit put on their soul when they heard the word of God.
24. Someone says why do I need Jesus? Why do I have to get saved? Why do I have to prepare for eternity? Why should I care about those things? Because you're going to die! Every one dies!
We exist forever because we have an immortal soul, but were going to die, which means that we will exist forever someplace other than here, and there's only two places: heaven and hell.
People say I don't have time to worry about things like that I've got shopping to do. I don't have time to worry about things like that because there's a ballgame on. I don't have time to worry about heaven and hell because I'm watching my favorite television show. Well then mister, don't expect anyone to feel sorry for you when you're burning in the Lake of fire. The Bible says prepare to meet thy God, consequently if someone doesn't make that a priority then they have no one but themselves to blame for their eternal torment.
God says our physical life is like grass, our physical life is like the flowers of the field and both of those things don't last too long. Grass, and flowers wither and die and so do we.
It doesn't matter how young you are you could wither and die before the day is over. It doesn't matter how healthy you are you could wither and die before this day is done. My mother told me this story which occurred before I was born; My grandmother was so happy after her doctor's visit; she called my mother all excited reporting that she didn't have cancer after all. She had it made, her future was bright, but that was the last time my mother spoke to her because that evening she died of a stroke. The Bible says, The grass withers, the flowers fall, and people die, sometimes expectantly, and sometimes unexpectedly. In fact most people who die today have no idea that this is their last day on earth.
That's why people need Jesus. That's why people need to get saved. That's why people have to repent and receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Each and every second we live is an eternal version of Russian roulette and people better be ready to go; everyone better be ready to go.
24,25. In stark contrast to everything else including man the word of God stands forever. The word of God is the only reliable anchor for our soul. What it says you can believe. What it says you must believe, or you will surely perish in the flames of hell. Tether your soul to the word of God, to what it says about Jesus Christ being the Savior and you will be eternally safe.
When it comes right down to it the word of God is the only thing that matters in this world today. While other things may be important the word of God is supremely important because if we don't build our life and our eternity upon what it says ultimately nothing else will matter because it will all come crumbling down including our immortal souls.
The Bible says that the word of God stands forever which means that God isn't going to change his mind. You are saved by doing what the word of God says, namely receiving Jesus, and that will never change. God will never say, I've change my mind I'm going to save people a different way. God never calls for a special emergency meeting in heaven and says, I've got some bad news for all you Christians, I know you've probably enjoyed your time here, but your time is up because I've decided to change my word; Jesus my son is not the Savior anymore so all who trusted in him get ready to leave. Never happen; we are secure in Christ because the word of God is secure.
Ch. 2
Evil behavior is one thing and I'm not condoning it; it is bad, it is rotten, it is terrible, God despises it, and it shouldn't be done, but the fact is we are all guilty of behaving badly. The good news is that God remembers we are dust so he has devised a plan whereby our evil behavior can be forgiven and that plan includes an honest admission of guilt which is called confession.
Evil behavior is one thing, but to follow up our evil behavior with deception, and hypocrisy in an attempt to deny that there is evil behavior in our life is spiritually deadly.
God will forgive any sin that is confessed. But God will not forgive one single excuse, which is what deception and hypocrisy leads to; it leads to denial or excuses.
Deceitful people are so foolish. Hypocrites are so foolish. Who do they think they're fooling? People aren't stupid; as a general rule they see through hypocrisy and deceit very quickly and if it continues on for any length of time the deceiver loses all credibility and becomes despised and that's just with people. God of course sees a hypocrite, a deceitful person immediately, in fact he knows what they're going to say before a single word leaves their lips. Consequently, he says to Christians rid yourself of these things
1. Evil speaking refers to slander or being overly critical.
Speaking of being overly critical. It's good for us to remember that none of us are good, at least as God defines goodness. We've all done bad, enough bad to deserve hell according to God so why be overly critical towards others. Rather than being overly critical we should keep in mind that we also depend on God's mercy. Rather then be overly critical we'd be better off praying for those people who we don't think are what they should be.
2,3. The spiritual milk is the word of God. God tells Christians to crave the Bible, to crave the spiritual milk of the word because that's how we grow spiritually. Holy Communion is great, praise and worship is great and so is prayer. But the word of God is our meat and potatoes, and we can't grow without it.
No one has to teach a little baby to drink milk, one taste and they crave more. No one has to tell a true Christian to read the Bible or to be where it is taught. Christians are saved by the word of God when they hear about Jesus; that's their first taste of the milk of Scripture and once they taste it they want more. Every true Christian has tasted the word of God which is why you don't have to tell a healthy Christian to read the Bible; chances are you have to pry them away from the word of God so that they can do other things.
The more we know about God, the more we want to know about God. The closer you are to Jesus, the more you want to hear his word so that you can get even closer. If you don't have a hunger for God's word, if you don't have a craving for God's word, then chances are you haven't been reading God's word. The word of God is spiritual food but unlike physical food which fills us up when we eat it, consuming the spiritual food of God's word leaves us wanting more, leaves us desiring more, creates a deeper hunger in us for the Bible.
4. Jesus was rejected by men, but he was chosen by God, so it doesn't matter how many people reject him, he is still the Savior.
Most people do not follow Jesus today, but God doesn't conduct an opinion poll to determine if Jesus should still be the only Savior, the only mediator between God and man. He is, and what people think about it doesn't matter.
God's attitude toward Jesus should be our attitude toward him. It doesn't matter if living for Jesus makes us popular with people; it doesn't matter if they approve or disapprove. Sure it would be nice to be popular, but our only concern should be doing what is right in the eyes of God. God doesn't look at poll results to see if Jesus should remain the only way to heaven and christians should not allow public opinion to sway them away from serving Christ.
4,5a. The walls of the Old Testament Temple where God dwelt in a unique way were made of stone. With the death of Jesus on the cross that Temple became obsolete. God still has a Temple today, not constructed from ordinary stones, but with living stones, that is, people, that is Christians.
When a sinner repents and receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior the Lord Jesus, by his spirit, enters into them. That's why every Christian, individually, is a physical Temple of God. Each one of us is a temple of God, and that's because God is inside of us. In addition to that we each are a separate living stone in God's over all Temple, which is his church.
5. In the Old Testament, the Levitical priests would offer animal sacrifices to God. Today all Christians are priests, and God instructs us to offer spiritual sacrifices to him.
God wants Christians to offer the sacrifice of holiness, unselfishness, kindness, and good works in general. He wants us to offer the sacrifice of praise, during both good times and bad. He wants Christians to give financially so that the word of God can be proclaimed to more and more people. You say but sometimes I don't feel like doing that. Well those are the times to do it all the more because the extra effort makes it an even greater sacrifice.
6. I have never known a Christian who truly is a Christian who said, I wish I never had repented and received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. What a mistake! I can't stand being a Christian!
Jesus doesn't disappoint. A Christian can backslide to the point where they want nothing to do with Jesus anymore, but it's not his fault; it's their fault. Anyone who gradually slides away from Jesus and gets to the point where they no longer call themselves a Christian has done so because of their own corrupt heart and the sinful lusts which they have allowed to take control of their life.
It is impossible for Jesus to disappoint anyone; he's not capable of doing that. People may not appreciate him, but again that's their fault; they're the ones with the problem not Jesus.
2:7a. In other words, Jesus is important to those who are saved. He is precious, which means valuable, very valuable. Other things may be important, but nothing is more important to a Christian then Jesus. Those who are content to confine Jesus to an hour a week on Sunday better double check to see if they are in the faith because it doesn't look good.
When we as Christians do things that we know please him we are happy. When we displease him then we are sad because he is important to us.
7ab. Did you catch that? Did you notice that the opposite of believing is not unbelieving but rather disobedience. That's because the Bible teaches that good works will accompany saving faith.
The direction of a Christian's life is obedience to God. Christians believe in Jesus and the natural result of that is obedience. Non-Christians don't believe in Jesus, in the sense of having saving faith, in the sense of receiving him as Lord and Savior, therefore the direction of their life is disobedience; they really don't care what Jesus wants, it's not important to them.
7. Reject Jesus if you want, but that doesn't change God's mind about His Son. Most people reject Christ, but he is still the only Savior.
God does not adjust his plan of salvation to fit an individual's desires. He doesn't ask people which road they would prefer to take to heaven. He says, here's the road; it's a narrow road, and as Jesus himself said, few there be that find it, but this is it; the road is Jesus.
8. God has one plan of salvation, one Savior. He has one message of hope, which is repent and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That is the one message of hope. However instead of breathing a sigh of relief and thanking God that hope is available through Jesus Christ most people in the world trip over that message. In other words, they don't like it; they reject the word of God, they reject the word of hope, they reject the Savior of hope, and consequently they die and go to hell.
9. Our Lord's job was to make the way to heaven, which He did on the cross, our job is to tell people that there is a way.
10. Picture this you stand before a firing squad and right before they pull their triggers the governor shows up and says you are pardoned, you can walk away a free man if you would like. He says I have more mercy then you have guilt so it's up to you, you can stay and be punished or walk out free.
God is the governor and Christians are those who have accepted His pardon. Meanwhile people in hell either did not hear about God's mercy through Jesus Christ, or they rejected it.
Life boils down to this: mercy. God's mercy, will we accept it or reject it. Everything for all eternity rests upon what one does with God's mercy.
The big difference between the saved person and unsaved is that the non-Christian will stand before God and receive no mercy. They did not want it so they will not receive it. They will be punished in full, just as their sin deserves. Meanwhile, Christians, who also deserve punishment, will be shown mercy because they're smart enough, and humble enough to say sure I'll take your mercy God, I want Jesus.
11. The Packers seldom were ever penalized for interfering with an opponents receiver last year; why? because the Packers were so slow that they seldom got in the same zip code of the opponents receivers. The only positive by-product of being inept is that they didn't get in trouble with penalties. It's bad that they were unable to defend; but I guess it was good that they did not even get close to the place where they would get in trouble.
Every now and then you hear about someone who gets beat up, or shot outside a bar at 2am, or we hear about a girl who went missing after taking a ride from some guy she met at a late night party. But no one ever gets shot at 2am if they are in their beds sleeping like they should be. No one crashes into a ditch and dies at 3am if they don't get drunk but instead stay home read their Bible and go to bed at a reasonable hour. I'm saying people bring allot of trouble on themselves by being in the wrong places.
Likewise, God is telling Christians to stay away from anything that would steer their physical desires in a direction that is contrary to the Bible. In other words, don't bait your body in the direction of sin.
No one who plays with temptation defeats sin.
We are in a battle for our soul. It is a battle between good and evil and which one will have control of our soul. Who wins, is often decided by what we expose our body to; whether it be good or bad.
The world is filled with things, situations, and people which lead to temptation. Jesus said it is inevitable that temptations will come. Consequently, It is difficult for a Christian to avoid all circumstances that stir up evil desires. It's impossible to avoid all temptations but a Christian can avoid putting themselves in a tempting situation on purpose, and it must be done.
It is much more difficult to restrain evil desires once we've been exposed to the things that stir them up. What I am saying, and what God wants us to do, is to stay away from the things that will move us in the wrong direction because it's a lot easier to avoid sin when we do that.
12. We can't stop people from saying bad things about us, but we can ensure that those bad things are not true. For the sake of Jesus live a good life. Live right for the sake of Jesus so that if someone accuses us of being bad they have to lie to do it.
13,14. When we disobey the law of the land we disobey God because he's the one who established that legal authority.
Christians should be model citizens, who obey all the laws of the land, until such time as those laws command us to disobey the word of God.
15. By doing good we silence those who accuse us of doing bad. Under normal conditions, even in a sin infected world, right is recognized as right, and wrong is recognized as wrong, even by those who have no regard for what is right.
Consequently under normal conditions anyone who accuses us of wrong when we have done right will look foolish.
Unfortunately we are now living in a world which refuses to recognize right and wrong. More and more we are living in a world which refuses to make so called value judgements, except for this: they have no problem denouncing those who by using Biblical standards point out evil. Thats the one exception; they will loudly proclaim that anyone who uses the Scripture to point out what God says is right and wrong is a hater, or a bigot, which I guess makes Jesus a hater and a bigot in their eyes also because He did that more then anyone.
By doing good we silence the ignorant talk of those who speak against us, but only in the eyes of those who still know right from wrong, which is a deminishing remnant. Consequently do not be surprised if there are times when the only one who pats you on the back for doing right is God.
15,16. We have great freedom in Christ; the Bible teaches that. But when it talks about the freedom of a Christian it's not talking about freedom to sin. We have freedom not to sin.
Sin can tempt us, but it cannot control us without our permission. No outside force, not even our own sin nature can force us to sin without our permission. It may not be easy, but as a Christian we can say no to sin. Holiness may be difficult, but difficult does not mean impossible. Christians are free to do what is right.
17a. Show proper respect to everyone. That means show some class. Be gracious in winning and in losing. Refrain from firey rhetoric that demeans others. Even depraved sinners deserve to be treated with dignighty as those who have been created in the image and likeness of God. Point out right and wrong but do it with grace; show some class.
17. We are to honor all rulers because of their position, but we are to reverence only God. Emperor Nero demanded worship; God said you give him honor, you respect him as the ruler, but you worship me and no one else.
We are to honor people, but not in a way that dishonors God. That means we will have to disappoint, and even upset some people some time who want us to put their desires before God's.
18. Christians are called to behave better than anyone else because we belong to, and represent Jesus.
If you recall Jesus did not spit back at those who spit upon him. Instead of spitting back or punching them after they punched him he died and paid for their sins. And the Bible teaches that we must not be bad to those who are bad to us, even if it is hard to hold back. We must act like Jesus, and we can act like Jesus because he is in us, and we should act like Jesus because, as Christians, we dare not misrepresent him.
19,20. People who do wrong deserve to be punished so God's not going to pat them on the back and say, nice job enduring your punishment. But, if we are treated badly for our faith; in other words for doing what is right, then God will say well done.
One well done from Jesus will be more than enough reward for any unjust suffering.
21. Jesus did not do anything wrong, and yet he patiently endured suffering for us. Now it's our turn; if we suffer we are supposed to endure it, even if it is unfair. We are called to endure it without complaint. Jesus did it for us so now we should do it for him.
21,22. The Bible says that Jesus came to take away our sin. He had no sin of his own so that made him qualified to be our sacrificial substitute. Like the Bible says the death of Jesus for our sins was in essence the Just for the unjust.
23. With one word Jesus could have killed, and banished to hell every person who spit upon him, everyone who flogged him, everyone who punched him and mocked him and also all the soldiers who nailed him to the cross. Instead, he took it all, and by doing that he took the punishment for our sin. Jesus knew that some of us would get saved so He endured it all for them.
24. This is not talking about physical healing, although ultimately our physical bodies will be raised from the dead in perfect health because Jesus paid for our sins.
Jesus suffered to pay for our sins. Jesus suffered to heal our souls from sins damage, and to set us free from sin, and hell. One of the extra byproducts of His death will be eternal health, but that does not start until after we are raised.
25. Sheep often wander while they look for grass to eat, and they often get lost as they wander, and by doing that they put themselves in danger. That's why the shepherd has to look for them and bring them back.
Before people become Christians they are like lost sheep. They wander around looking for fulfillment, looking for happiness, not realizing that they are in danger. Danger is an understatement because they are a heart beat out of hell. The unsaved are lost sheep wandering on the edge of hell, and what makes it even worse is that many don't know that they are in danger.
Chapter 3
1,2. A Christian wife must be holy if she wants her unsaved husband to come to Christ. A Christian woman who wants her Christian husband to be more dedicated to Jesus must be dedicated to Jesus herself.
She must respect and honor her husband even when it isn't easy, just as we must respect our political leaders even when it isn't easy, just like we must respect a boss even when it isn't easy.
A christian wife must honor her husband unless he tells her to do something contrary to Scripture. A husband may not want to be holy himself, but he knows what holy is, and therefore his wife must model it for Jesus sake.
3,4. Physical beauty is nice, but spiritual beauty is more important.
A loud, overbearing, contentious attitude in a Christian woman makes her useless to Jesus; it is also unattractive to any man who loves God.
When God sees a Christian woman who is gentle, quiet, and humble he sees a beautiful woman. And beauty doesn't mean a woman can't say what is on her mind; it means whatever she says should be spoken with a gentle spirit. That's not fashionable today, but God doesn't worry about that sort of thing and neither should we.
5,6. God's standards for beauty do not change with times or cultures. 4000 years ago Sarah was beautiful to God because she respected her husbands authority, and because she was godly.
And the one time she was contentious she insisted that Abraham give her a son through Hagar her servant, and Abraham acted like a fool, complied, and the world has been suffering for 4000 years because of it. Abraham through Hagar gave birth to the progenitor of the Arab race which has been a thorn in the side of God's people since day one. The whole arab problem began with a contentious, nagging Sarah, and her husband Abraham's failure to stand for what was right.
Sarah, on that one occasion, didn't act like a woman of God, and Abraham did not lead like a man of God, and the result has been trouble ever sense. I'm trying to point out the importance of these verses, so that they are obeyed.
5. God wants Christian men to marry beautiful Christian women (spiritually beautiful) and not to settle for anything less. Any Christian man who is thinking about marrying an ungodly woman, or a woman who will not let him lead without giving him a hard time is foolish if he goes through with that marriage.
7. Any husband who isn't good to his wife will answer to God for his behavior.
God has given husbands the job of leader in the home. Husbands are responsible for what goes on in the home. If they do not treat their wife with the respect that a child of God deserves then their prayers will not be heard because they are disobeying God, which is sin, which blocks prayer.
If we create problems between us and other people, then we create problems between us and God as well.
7. A Christian husband is commanded by God to endeavor to understand his wife, and be considerate to her. In other words, he should treat her like he would treat Jesus. A husband must be good to his wife. If he is not, then he disobeys God.
8. God does not want his children arguing, instead he wants them to be sympathetic toward each other.
Selfishness and pride cause arguments. Humility causes people to be sympathetic. Unless there is humility in place of pride, and selfishness, people will not get along.
9. It's easy to be nice when people are nice to you. It's much harder when someone is mean, or unreasonable.
It is very natural to respond with evil to those who are being evil. But God does not want us to be natural; he wants us to be supernatural. The Lord asks Christians to be like his son, who returned kindness for evil, not evil for evil.
10. God is not promising us a carefree life with no trouble when he says you will have good days. The good life for a Christian involves being right with God, it involves being obedient, even when it isn't easy. The good life is to have no regrets, regrets from responding in the flesh instead of in the spirit, or regrets from letting our sinful nature control us. No Christian can love life if they are willfully, and knowingly disobedient to God.
11. Christians must make a conscious choice to turn away from evil. The reason we have to turn away from it is because our sin nature naturally takes us in the direction of sin. To have a good life Christians must overcome bad things, not by trying not to do bad, but by trying to do good. The focus should be on the good rather than on avoiding the bad.
12. God listens to the prayers of those who obey him. He does not listen to the prayers of those who don't care about him. He doesn't listen to sinners who refuse to repent. He listens to those who worship him through their obedience.
You say I didn't know that obedience was worship. It is, the Bible says in Romans 12:1 "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship." Obedience is worship; obedience is how Christians enjoy good days.
13. Most people appreciate those who do good things. Acts of kindness usually will cause people to like us. But God's definition of doing good also means standing up for the things He says are right, and standing opposed to the things He says are wrong. And that's when we can start rubbing some people the wrong way. When we live in a world that calls bad good and good bad, as it often does today, we won't fit in very well when we start calling bad bad.
14. Stand for what is right and true, and reject what is wrong and false, even when no one pats you on the back for it. Do it even when it means suffering.
It is inexplicable but true that God gives great joy to his people who suffer for doing what is right.
A Christian who compromises in order to be accepted by a world that doesn't honor God will be miserable. But there is joy in the presence of God for Christians who suffer for doing right. Again that is how Christians enjoy good days.
15. There's no doubt about it; going all-out for Jesus will result in some form of sacrifice and suffering in this world. Just remember, that is our calling. Going all out for Jesus even when it means suffering, or persecution, or sacrifice is our business as Christians. We're not hear to reform the world; we're here to be holy, and if need be suffer for that holiness, and through that suffering testify to the reality of Jesus Christ
15. In other words when we talk about Jesus Christ in the presense of the unsaved we must be kind.
We should never respect the sinners lifestyle, but we should respect the sinner. They've been created in the image of God just like us, and therefore should be treated with dignity. The combination of kindness and the word of God are the things that God uses.
16. In other words, don't give the enemies of Christ ammunition to use against you, or Jesus. Obey God, and consequently keep a clear conscience.
If someone does bad to us and we respond by being bad to them that will hurt our conscience, which is a sure sign that we have committed sin, plus it will give the enemies of Christ ammunition to use against our Savior.
Like it or not, people in the world expect Christians to behave better then anyone else, to be more patient, to be more kind, to be better in general than the average person.
When we as Christians respond sinfully to being sinned against, the world will quickly point a finger in our direction and scoff saying, they represent Christ, but look at their bad behavior.
Many use the bad behavior of Christians as an excuse to reject Jesus, which won't make hell any less real for them if they continue to reject the Savior even though they think it will..
17. It's not a question of will we, or will we not suffer as a Christian. The question is, will we suffer for doing what is right or for doing what is wrong. If we suffer for doing what is wrong then we deserve everything we get. If we suffer for doing what is right then although it is difficult there is joy because we are sharing in the sufferings of Christ.
Suffering for doing wrong leads to misery, but sharing in the sufferings of Christ leads to joy and peace.
18. Talk about suffering for doing the will of God; that's exactly what Jesus did.
God doesn't want anyone to go to hell so Jesus paid for our sins on the cross. Jesus was completely innocent and yet he suffered and died. He did it because it was the father's will; he did it for us. He took our place so that those who trust in his sacrifice and receive him as their Lord and Savior can be saved.
19,20. The spirit of God, the spirit of Jesus was alive and well in Noah. The spirit of Christ in Noah warned sinners before the great flood that they needed to repent or they would surely be punished. Well they didn't repent so now those same souls who died in the flood wait in a spiritual prison, a temporary place of torment. They wait, until they stand before the one who's mercy they rejected, and are thrown into the final hell.
20,21. It is God who saves. It is the blood of Jesus which paid for our sins. It is the death of Christ which redeems us. But according to this verse baptism is closely connected to salvation. On the day of Pentecost Peter said repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.
Faith saves but saving faith under normal conditions includes water baptism. There is a very close tie between salvation and the water baptism of the believer in the Bible. Now, there is no magic in the water. H2O cannot make a soul clean, but there is something lacking in a Christian who hasn't been baptized.
22. Jesus is in his physical body (flesh and bones) He is in heaven in his body right now. That means that heaven is a place. It is a physical place where a physical body can exist and function. You say, that's nice. It is nice because we go to that physical place after we die if we are right with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
After I die I want to go somewhere that I can touch and that's the kind of place heaven is.
Chapter 4
1. Jesus suffered at the hands of sinners because he did good, because he followed his father's will. Jesus warned that all who would live godly in this sinful world would suffer as well. Consequently if we Christians determine that we're done with sin; if they turn their back on sin, then they will suffer in some way at the hands of the world. That's what happened to Christ. That's what Jesus calls Christians to endure as well.
1,2. Everyone, including the most dedicated Christian, still falls into sin. But the one who decides that they are done with sin has come to the point where they are sick of it, and therefore determined not to be a slave to their sinful desires.
Nothing less then a deep hatred for sin is acceptable for God's children; meaning every christian should resolve to live their life to do the will of God.
If we sin, we sin, and then we will confess, but sin should not be the driving force in our life; God should be what drives us.
3. Wild living, allowing sinful desires to go uncontrolled, unchecked, drinking too much, eating too much, wild parties, and moral filth are things that the heathen do. According to Scripture Christians are those who may have used to live like that, but not anymore.
4. A good Christian will never be accepted as one of the boys or one of the girls by the world.
A holy Christian is a normal person to God, but those who are not saved think they are abnormal. To the world someone who actually lives the Bible that they say they believe is strange.
Actually it isn't a terrible thing to be thought of as strange by those who have no regard for scripture because being cool in the estimation of the world should not be the desire of any Christian. Who cares what people who have no regard for Jesus or scripture think? I'm with Jesus, I'm concerned about pleasing God, not people like that.
5. There is a judgment coming for those who have died, and there is a judgment coming for those who will be alive at the return of Christ. God will judge what every person has said, done, or thought so His judgement will be very thorough.
In light of that it is spiritual insanity to try to be acceptable to people who's standards of right and wrong are the very opposite of Gods. Why would any Christian want to do that? Why would any Christian want to be that way? The unsaved will be judged and punished for the wrong things they do so why would any Christian want to be like them. The fact is, we should strive to be as unlike them as we possibly can. The less we are like the world the better off we are.
6a. The gospel of salvation, God's mercy was preached and offered to people who are now dead; the gospel has been preached to people in one form or another by God and his people since the time of Adam. If those people accepted his mercy they went to be with God in paradise.
6. Those who lived for God in past generations were judged by the world to be strange, and often worthy of abuse, but they were accepted by God, because God's definition of normal is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the worlds.
7. The end is near; meaning: were all going to see Jesus very soon. Someone says, I don't believe that, I don't even believe the Bible. So what! A persons unbelief does not change reality and therefore even those who don't believe will stand before Jesus and be judged.
Our appointment with the Judge of the living and the dead is right around the corner, and it could be today. He could return or we could die so live as if this is your last day on Earth. Treat each second as a gift from God and so use it in a way that pleases Him.
If you knew that you had a 50/50 chance of being given 1 million dollars today you'd be excited about it and would live with that possibility in mind. There is a 50/50 chance that this day, actually this minute could be our last so it should be lived with that possibility in mind.
8. When you love someone you do not throw them under the bus when they make a mistake. You do not excuse the wrong they do, but you continue to love them in spite of the wrong they do. God says love covers sin. Christians do not glory in the mistakes of the ones they love.
If you love someone then you hope that there's a good explanation for the seemingly bad which they have done, and if there isn't a good reason you hope that it will never happen again; you try to believe the best about a person if you love them, and you get no pleasure in talking about their mistakes.
9. In those days motels of any sort were few and far between, and since traveling Christians needed to have a safe place to sleep God expected other Christians to take them home, feed them, and give them a place to spend the night. God says do that without complaining. In other words, be kind to other Christians even if it isn't convenient.
Be considerate to the needs of other Christians without making a big deal about it. Don't say you're going to help someone, and then make them pay by forcing them to listen to your groans over how inconvenient it is. I'll help you but I just want you to know that it's a big burden for me. And maybe people don't always say it with words, but sometimes you can see it in their facial expressions.
If a Christian needs help then help them, do it for Jesus, do it because it's what Jesus wants you to do, and don't begrudge the one you're helping because that completely misrepresents the attitude of our Lord.
10. Every Christian can do something to help the cause of Christ and to help others. And because every christian has been given the means to do something by God, (which the Bible refers to as a spiritual gift); because we have been given the means to do something by God, God will judge us on how faithful we were to use whatever we had.
11a. When we talk we should not talk about things Jesus wouldn't talk about, and we shouldn't talk in a manner that he wouldn't use either. Not only that, we should talk about things Jesus did talk about, and he talked a lot about God, and a lot about the Bible, and a lot about mercy, and a lot about repentance.
By the way, Jesus also talked more about hell than anyone else and he talked about hell much more then he talked about heaven. Why then do we seldom hear messages on hell? Why then do preachers seldom speak of hell and the horrors of the people who reject Christ? Jesus talked about it. And the Bible says if anyone speaks it should be as the one who speaks God's words. When we talk we should talk about things that God talks about.
Jesus also talked about being good, and he talked about not getting revenge. He talked about immorality and morality; He pointed out specific sins in specific people, and He also talked about God wanting to forgive even the worst sins. These are all things that should be talked about by Christians in general and especially by preachers in their sermons.
11. Christians ought to serve others, instead of looking to be served. Jesus said the greatest among you is he who serves. God's word tells us to serve with humility, which means not expecting anything in return. And don't worry about not being able to do it because God will give strength to those who choose to live as He commands. We can choose to serve others in order to please Jesus if we want to do it.
God would have us look for ways to serve others today; maybe start with simple little acts of kindness and service. Pray for the ability to discern other people's needs, and then ask God to help you meet those needs.
12. Trouble in this world is normal for dedicated Christians. That obviously isn't a good thing, but the fact is we are meant to go through hard times, and God expects us to endure them by faith until they run their course.
Someone says, why would God allow us to endure troubles since we are his children? Better question, who are we to contradict God? Who are we to question God? Why should we be surprised when trouble comes our way? Jesus said we could expect it. And God through Peter says it here as well. Why should we expect to avoid trouble as Christians when Jesus had so much of it himself?
13. The more we suffer for Christ, and endure it in a holy manner, the more joy we will have when we stand before him.
The Bible says we are to share in the sufferings of Christ. And it's good for us to remember that Jesus continues to suffer for holiness today right along with us. He is literally suffering in us.
Christ is with us through any and all pain, sacrifice, and persecution. Jesus is with us through it all, and not just in the sense of HIm saying, my thoughts are with you during your difficult times; it's much more personal then that. That's what people often say, and that's fine because that's the best they can do, but Jesus is with His people in a literal way; I mean He is with us, and in us, so what hits us literaly hits Him as well.
According to God we are not to curse our suffering, or complain about it, but rather rejoice in it. The Bible says it is for Christ that we suffer, and it is with Christ that we suffer. Always remember that he feels exactly what you are feeling; he experiences the sadness that you experience; he experiences the loss that you are experiencing; he experiences the frustration that you are feeling. Jesus, by his spirit is in us which is why we share in the sufferings of Christ and why he shares in our sufferings.
14. When people mock, or say evil things about you because of your holiness God says you are blessed. You say how can I be blessed by that? You can be blessed because it reveals the fact that the same Holy Spirit who was in Jesus and caused him to be mocked is in you. It's a reminder that you are on the Lord's team.
15. We all know that it is wrong to murder and steal, but I am grateful that God also added meddling to His list, because some christians never think about that sin, and some do not understand how destructive it can be. Meddlers make trouble for others by not minding their own business. Meddling speaks of being too interested in someone else's life, and I've seen it make good people miserable.
I have also observed that most of the time meddlers are self-righteous people who think they know more than others. They think they should tell others how to run their life. But as far as I know there is only one person qualified to tell us how to live and that's God. No wonder God hates the sin of meddling; it attempts to usurp His position as guide for His people.
16. People try to hurt Christians to make them feel bad, but there is nothing bad in suffering for Jesus. There is no shame in suffering alongside of Jesus for doing what is right. In fact we can praise God that we are enough like Jesus to make the world, and Satan notice, and dislike us for it.
17. God wants us to be pure as Christians. Consequently, He examines and judges us, and if we have done wrong he brings guilt, and if we don't respond to guilt He brings trouble with a view to purifying us.
If God allows pain in the life of his children because he loves them just imagine the pain those who reject his mercy, and his son will experience in Hell.
18. If God's people are saved through difficult times, then times will surely be horrible for the lost who rather than choosing to be God's people, God's children, have chosen to be God's enemies. If Christians suffer for the sake of holiness imagine how those who reject God's son will suffer for their wickedness.
19. No matter how much our body suffers, or how bad it may get for Christians on earth it is important that we continue to trust God, and continue to do what is right, even when our perseverance brings more trouble. Just say, Jesus I'm not quitting on you; I'm not going to compromise in order to escape trouble. Jesus I want to be like you, You died for me so I want to live for you. You didn't quit on me when it was difficult so I don't want to quit on you when it gets difficult.
Chapter 5
1. Peter was put in charge of the early church by Jesus, but his high position did not make him haughty ; he was a humble leader. He says that he is an elder among elders, a fellow elder.
No pastor, preacher, or christian should think highly of themselves, Peter didn't. The Bible says that we are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought and according to Scripture every Christian is a sinner saved by grace, every Christian is called to be a servant, and the higher the position the more one must serve.
God doesn't place Christians in positions of high spiritual authority so that they can shove others around. He puts them in positions of authority so that they may serve and be an example of a servant to others.
God through Peter is giving instructions to pastors/preachers beginning in verse two.
2a. When God says feed the flock or shepherd God's flock he is commanding pastors to teach the word of God. Every qualification for a minister mentioned in scripture is concerned with good character with one exception, he must be able to teach. That is far and away the most important part of being a minister. It is absolutely vital because when people are fed the word of God they grow strong. The more of God's word that gets into us the more we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
As a young christian I had a Pastor who told me that his goal was to entertain the people not teach them, I didn't stay in his church very long because I was beginning to starve spiritually.
God does not tell pastors to entertain his people because that's what they want; God doesn't say entertain them, and be just as cut, and funny as you can be so that they will come back for more. God says, teach them the word of God; if they have a heart for God they will want more, if they don't let them go somewhere else.
Are people so in want of entertainment in this country that the church needs to substitute the word of God for silly stories, and entertainment on Sunday mornings; Lord help us all and God have mercy on the Pastors and Preachers who give them what they want instead of what God wants them to have. What people want is not necessarily what they need. If people do not have a heart for God then let them get cable or do some of the many other things people do for entertainment.
2. Ministry is not a career, it is a Divine calling. Consequently those who have been called by God to teach the word of God will do it in one form or another even if they do not get paid for it. They will do it because they are called; they will do it because they feel compelled to do it.
Now having said that I must also say God recognizes that everyone needs money, consequently He instructs those who are taught the word to financially support their teacher, nevertheless money shouldn't be the reason for ministering.
3. Some pastors are overbearing; they bark out orders to individuals and expect them to obey as if they themselves are the Lord God Almighty. And while Preachers are to speak the word of God with authority they must never speak their personal convictions with that same authority.
It's unfortunate that some preachers attempt to exercise all sorts of authority that they actually do not have, and many humble, and unlearned Christians willingly, but wrongly submit.
Jesus did not do that sort of thing. He taught the truth, he taught God's word, and that is it. Jesus led people by example and allowed them to make their own decisions.
4. A good pastor/preacher who obeys God and faithfully teaches the entire word of God, even that which is not considered cool today, will probably not have much money in this life.
Pulpit entertainers receive more money then faithful preachers because the word of God sometimes steps on peoples toes, and they never come back, or they quit giving.
Meanwhile all the pulpit entertainers do is tickle the flesh of their listeners with cuteness and watered down spiritual mush which nether edifies nor offends. A good preachers payday doesn't come as it should until he sees Jesus.
5. Proud people think they are more important than others. They exaggerate their value, and underestimate the importance of others. And because they are proud they want others to serve them, but are unwilling to humble themselves and serve others. God is against people like that; God is against the proud. They think they are special, but to God they are wrong.
6. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God." It is important for Christians to accept whatever God allows to happen in their life. That is what it means to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. I'm not saying it's wrong to try to improve your situation, or to pray for an improvement; that's not wrong at all. However God still says in his word that he wants us to be content no matter what our state may be. That's what it means to humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.
God is either sovereign or he isn't, and the Bible makes it clear that he is, therefore we should accept what he allows with grace, and continue to serve him the best that we can.
It is important, and not just important, it is right for every Christian to trust God even though their life isn't what they thought it would be, or should be.
7. God cares about you even though sometimes it may appear as if he doesn't because of your circumstances. God cares for you even when you are unhappy. People think, Im worried and sad so that means God doesn't care about me. No, if anything it proves that people are too concerned about having things their way rather than trusting in God's sovereignty.
It is scriptural to be honest with God, to tell him about the things which worry you, but it is also scriptural to trust him to handle your situation his way, even if it isn't your way.
8. Peter warns of not letting your spiritual guard down, and he knows first hand what happens when you do. He knows what it is like to let your guard down and immediately become a victim of Satan. On holy Thursday evening in the Garden of Gethsemane he chose not to pray along with Jesus; he let his spiritual guard down, Satan jumped all over him, and consequently he denied Christ three times.
We must not allow ourselves to become lazy Christians. We must keep up the disciplines of prayer, Bible reading, and going to church. If we do not, then we will have weak spots, and you can bet that the devil will exploit them.
I remember watching boxing with my father when I was little; on one occasion when a fighter had a slight cut above his eye my father said, watch the other boxer continue to peck and pound on that little cut and try to open it up and sure enough that's exactly what happened. A good boxer sees a weak spot on his opponent and begins to pound it; he exploits it in hopes of getting a knockout. That's what Satan does if we allow ourselves to have a spiritual weak spot in our life; he will exploit it; he will use it to bring us down spiritually, destroy our joy, and our usefulness to Jesus.
9. God tells Christians to resist Satan. In other words, don't give in to the devil by indulging in sin. No matter how difficult it may be to oppose him, and the ungodly desires he stirs within you continue to persevere.
People wonder how they can defeat the devil. Well it's not by screaming at him, and it's not by rebuking him, and it's not by supposedly banishing him to the pit of hell, as some are fond of trying to do today; we defeat the devil by refusing to give in to his temptations. The Bible says resist Satan and he will flee from you. He'll go hammer someone else who he knows he can defeat.
9. In other words, hang onto your faith, and the faith referred to here is the body of teaching found in Scripture. In other words, cling to what you know the Bible says, and live it knowing that it is true. When we follow the way of truth instead of following the path of sin Satan loses every time.
The devil can't stand the Bible! He can't stand holy Scripture! He can't stand the written word of God because it contradicts and exposes all of his lies. He also can't stand a preacher who clearly communicates the word of God because that feeds God's people, and gives them the strength, and the wisdom to avoid the devil's snares.
10,11. In other words, Satan's attacks will not last forever. He is working hard because he knows that his time is short. He's not stupid; he knows that his evil deeds and his unfair, hideous attacks on all that is good, and all who belong to Jesus will come to a screeching halt one day. He knows what God wants every Christian to know, and that's that good times are coming for God's people.
Christians will not suffer forever. You will not suffer forever. But your good times with Christ will indeed go on forever.
The devil wants to weaken us by getting us to think that holiness isn't worth the trouble. But God says, be strong, keep believing me, because it will be worth it. Some day you will know that it was all worth it; faithfulness to Jesus, faithfulness to the word of God will be worth it, and you will know it, and you will be happy that you did it.
12. Here Peter reassures his readers that what he has written is true. It is true so stand on it, and live it; as I said you will not be disappointed.
No one who takes a stand for what is right, for what is true will be put to shame, or disappointed. On the other hand those who live a lie; those who build their life upon some foolish un-biblical idea because it makes them feel comfortable will be disgraced in the day of the Lord.
13. Peter mentions Mark his son. Mark was actually his son in the faith, his spiritual son. Mark is the one who wrote the gospel of Mark. Mark is the one who went on a missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas in the book of acts. Mark is the one who panicked, who got homesick and walked away from Paul and Barnabas during that missionary trip.
But Mark made a spiritual come back. Mark turned his life around. He gained courage and spiritual fortitude because he persevered with Jesus, and here we see that Mark was a valuable companion to the apostle Peter. By the way, Bible scholars agree that Mark got his first-hand information for his Gospel from Peter. The gospel of Mark could in fact be called the Gospel of Peter.
The point is, don't quit when you fail Jesus. Everyone who knows Jesus is a Mark once in a while and everyone needs to continue to be a Mark by persevering as he did after spiritual failures, even big spiritual failures. Jesus isn't done with any of us as long as we persevere with him.
14. Notice where the peace is; the Bible says it is between Christians.
The key to peace among people is for those people to be committed to Christ. It is impossible for two people who are completely committed to Christ and under the control of the Holy Spirit to not get along.
I don't have to do all sorts of counseling, targeting this error or that error, in an effort to get two people to get along; I certainly do not have to resort to psychology.
Christians need discipleship, weather one on one, or from the pulpit, they need discipleship. Christians need to learn the Bible and become more Christlike because if two people are committed to Jesus, and filled with the Holy Spirit they will get along. If they are not committed to Jesus and are not filled with the Holy Spirit then no amount of counseling of any kind will help.
Christians may not agree on everything, but if they're filled with the Holy Spirit they will disagree in an agreeable manner. God does not ask every Christian to agree on every little thing. God doesn't ask that there be no personality clashes. But God does expect his people to respond to these things in a Christlike manner.
1a. In other words, Peter says I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ, meaning sent by Jesus Christ, on assignment from Jesus Christ.
No one can rightfully claim to be an apostle of Jesus Christ today. It is absolutely impossible for anyone today to meet the Biblical qualifications of an apostle, and therefore it is impossible for anyone today to speak with the authority of an apostle.
Christians today are still under the authority of the apostles of Jesus Christ, who wrote God's word, which has been preserved for us in the New Testament. The New Testament is first and foremost the word of God, given through the apostles to Christians. The Bible is our sole authority.
God's written word is for his people. Sometimes the world gets upset when they hear what the Bible says but they really shouldn't because God is not talking to them. They are reading someone else's mail. God doesn't expect the unsaved to live like the saved. God doesn't expect the non-Christians of the world to live like Christians. The instructions found in the word of God are written to God's people not to those who have rejected Christ.
God has one message for Christ rejecting sinners and it doesn't go beyond this: repent, and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you will have forgiveness and eternal life.
1. Peter addresses Christians as strangers. He calls us strangers because that's what we are; we've become strangers on planet Earth. No matter where we may be in this world we are not home.
The Bible says our citizenship is in heaven, it says our King is in heaven, and the place which Jesus has prepared for us is also in heaven. We have been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of heaven according to the book of Colossians.
A soccer player from England may play for the Chicago fire, but when the World Cup rolls around you can bet he'll be playing for England because that's his home and that's where his loyalty is. We have to be here for now, but we should be working for our homeland and serving our great King Jesus Christ while we are here.
2. If we are saved it is because God chose us before the world was created. If we are saved then the Holy Spirit is making us holy because that's why God saves us.
If we are holy then we are obeying God, not in order to get right with Him, but because the blood of Jesus Christ has already made us right with God. If we are saved, and we are holy, and we are obedient, then we will enjoy the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
3. Our heavenly father raised his son Jesus from the dead, never to die again. And since we are in Christ we also will be raised from the dead never to die again. Through Jesus we have hope. Through Jesus we have purpose. Through Jesus we have everything to live for, and because of Jesus we never have a reason to be discouraged.
Because of Jesus we win. Because Jesus won in the end we too will win in the end. No matter what may happen to us in this life we win because we don't go to hell, and we win because we will be raised from the dead in our physical bodies.
Talk about giving Christians a real, living hope. God says, if you have faith in Jesus, if you have received my son as your Lord and Savior, then I'm going to raise you from the dead. He says, do you want to know how I'm going to do that? Answer: look at how I raised my son because that's how I will raise you. Don't think I can't, don't think I won't; I already did it once so you know I can ,and I will do it again because I said I would, and I do not lie.
Jesus back from the dead never to die again is our living hope; because He lives we will live.
3,4. When you think about it it really doesn't matter what people leave you as an inheritance, because whatever it is will either wear out, break, be stolen, or you will die and leave it to someone else. In the long run any inheritance here on earth will be worthless.
But God has given Christians a priceless inheritance; it's an inheritance that he is keeping for us in heaven, it will never wear out, it will never decay, it will never break, and no one will ever take it from us.
Our inheritance includes forgiveness of all our sins, it includes a reunion with our Christian friends and loved ones, it includes eternal life, joy in the presence of Jesus, perfect health, no death, a physical resurrection from the dead, a new heavens and a new earth to enjoy forever. And that's just the broad outline; I can't even begin to fill in the details because God hasn't given us many details.
5. God guards us through our faith in Jesus Christ. As long as we want Jesus God will protect us.
No one can take us out of Christ and no one can steal our eternal inheritance. In spite of all of our failures God will not kick us out of his family, as long as we want Jesus to be our Lord and Savior. We are saved by God's power through our faith in Christ, and we are kept by God's power through that same faith.
6. Everyone, both saved and unsaved experience pain, sorrow, loss, and disappointment in this world, which is why so many people get drunk, do drugs or find some other way to distract their thoughts off of their misery.
This world is full of trouble for everyone, but a Christian knows that wonderful times are coming. Christians know that the best is yet to come, and the best will last forever. Christians also know that God is somehow using whatever bad they are going through to make them more spiritual, more like Jesus. What I'm saying is that for the unsaved, problems and suffering have no value; their suffering is an end in itself, and no matter how bad it may become it still isn't as bad as what they will experience in hell.
On the other hand our sufferings as Christians are not an end in themselves but rather a means to a greater good, and they also are temporary with the best yet to come. That's why God tells us to be glad even though we have to endure many trials in this life. You say how am i supposed to be glad when things are not the way I want them to be? By keeping your God focus and your eternal perspective.
6,7. How do you know you are saved? How do you know if your faith in Jesus is saving faith? Well, when things go from bad to worse, and you're still clinging to Jesus that's a pretty good sign. When being a Christian cost you something, but you don't walk away from Christ that's a good sign as well. The testing of our faith is the best way to prove its quality, its genuineness.
7. People purify gold by heating it up, because when it melts the impurities rise to the surface and they can be scraped off. Hard times are the means by which our faith is tested and proven to be genuine, and trials also purify our faith.
We're not perfect, but just as imperfections in gold are hidden so too our imperfections are hidden and of course you can't get rid of bad you don't even know you have. Consequently, God allows trouble and that trouble reveals our flaws. Like fire causes the impurities hidden in gold to appear, trials cause us to see our spiritual impurities. We see them, and if we are Christians we repent of them. God uses trouble like fire in order to purify us.
7,8. Jesus is real to Christians. He's not just character in the Bible. Jesus Christ is as real to a Christian as anyone else they know. We haven't seen him, but we know him, and we don't just know him by faith, we know him by experience, we know him personally.
When the Holy Spirit creates faith in a person that person will receive Jesus as Lord and Savior and when they do his spirit literally comes to live inside of them. Consequently our connection to Jesus is stronger, is more intimate, is more personal than our connection to anyone else.
You may feel connected to your neighbor because you live close to them. You may feel connected to your spouse because you live in the same house with them. But the spirit of Jesus isn't just in the same area as you are, he is literally in you.
The Bible says that Christians have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ because his spirit and his soul live within our spirit. You can't get any closer than that, which is why Christians, although they have never seen Jesus love him, and trust him, and enjoy his company.
9. The purpose for our faith in Christ is the salvation of our souls; the purpose of our faith is to avoid going to hell. That very simple and basic truth of Christianity is sometimes overlooked.
In recent years many in evangelicalism have perverted the gospel message by telling people that they should receive Christ so that they will be fulfilled. Evangelicals often say, come to Christ and have joy, come to Christ and be fulfilled, without ever mentioning the real reason that one should come to Christ which is found here in verse nine, and in many other places in Scripture, which is the salvation of their souls.
The message of Jesus Christ that must be proclaimed to lost sinners is: repent and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior so that you will not burn in hell, even though that's what our sins deserve. When someone attempts to receive Christ so that they can be fulfilled, or so that they can have joy, or as many say today so that you can be rich, they are not receiving the true Christ, they are receiving nothing.
You say why do evangelicals pervert the gospel message? Because they want to be popular with the unsaved. It is not popular today, it never has been popular to tell the sinner that they are bound for hell unless they find forgiveness through Jesus Christ. That is very offensive and yet it is the truth.
It is much less offensive to tell a hell bound sinner to receive Christ so that they will be happy. Consequently in their desire to be popular, and to look cool in the eyes of the world, some have compromised the message with terrible results.
Terrible result number one: those who think they have received Christ haven't, and therefore are still lost and on the way to hell. Terrible result number two: these people "receive Christ" to be fulfilled and eventually find out it doesn't work so they renounce their so-called faith and run around telling people that Jesus doesn't work. They say, he didn't make me happy; Jesus did not make me fulfilled! Of course He didn't and that's because you didn't receive Him.
The fact is if one repents and receives Jesus as their savior from hell the byproduct will be peace, and the byproduct will be joy, and the byproduct will be fulfillment, but those are all byproducts of receiving the real Christ for the one legitimate reason which is the salvation of our souls according to verse nine.
9,10,11. The Old Testament prophets didn't understand everything God was saying to them, and saying through them. For example, God was saying that the Savior would die for the sins of man, and yet in other places God was saying that the Savior would live and rule as King forever. Consequently those Old Testament prophets were confused; the word of God did not make sense; how could both be true? How could the savior die for the sins of man and yet still live and reign forever.
We know the answer to that question. We know that the resurrection made both possible. It's true, the Savior did die and pay for our sins, and it's also true that he's been raised from the dead never to die again and one day he will return from heaven and rule forever.
Lesson: it is best to accept God's word even when we can't figure it out. If the word of God seems to teach two different things don't try to reconcile those two things by coming up with a compromise just accept both as true; some day that which seems to be irreconcilable will be reconciled.
12. In other words those Old Testament prophets tried to understand the future things that they wrote about, but God told them that it wasn't for them to understand. We today know what they could not know, and yet there are many things, especially about the end times that we today don't understand, which is why they're so much disagreement concerning the exact details surrounding the end times, there is disagreement between sincere Christians who really love Jesus and who really believe the word of God.
Give heed to the scripture you know, God will take care of the rest of it.
13a. In other words think about the right things.
If we do not prepare our minds to obey God by thinking about the right things then obedience is not going to happen. The Bible says as a person thinks in their heart so are they.
13. Think about Christ and think about the benefits that persevering with him will result in for all of eternity.
Again, what we think about affects how we behave, so focus on Jesus, focus on holiness and focus on eternity because doing those things will help you to live the correct way today.
14. In other words, don't live like you used to live when you didn't know any better. Don't live like you used to live before you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, before you got serious about Jesus. Do not live like the non Christians of the world. I'll take it one step further, do not live like many of the Christians of the world; live like Jesus.
Peter is saying that before you came to Christ you didn't know what God wanted, and you probably didn't care. But now you've repented and Jesus is your Lord and Savior so live the way your Lord wants you to live.
Someone says, I really don't care what God wants. Oh then you're not a Christian! You are a hell bound sinner who may know the facts about Jesus, but you haven't repented and asked Him to be your Lord and Savior because if you did then you would care about what he cares about.
14. Notice he says obey like obedient children. God is our God. God is our creator. God is our Judge, but God is also our Father.
Our father has given us life. Our father provides for us, He protects us, He saves us from hell. Consequently, we ought to do as he says, we should obey our heavenly father out of love, respect, and because he knows whats best for us.
15,16. God is holy. To be holy means to be completely separate from all sin and that's what God is. God is without sin and here he tells us to be without it as well. Christians should not be lax about sin simply because they are forgiven in Christ.
Some Christians have the attitude that sin is no big deal because after all everything is forgiven anyway. But sin is a big deal, it's a big deal with big consequences, no not hell for Christians, but other things. Bad behavior has bad consequences, talking about bad natural consequences, and also God's chastening. Consequently, for God's glory, and our own good he says be holy.
Someone says, I don't have to be holy if I don't want to, I am free! You know, you are correct. You are also free to eat raw pork; you are also free to drive down the wrong side of a highway with your eyes closed, but I wouldn't recommend it because of the bad consequences you will suffer.
When God says, be holy He isn't trying to gyp you out of fun; He is trying to spare you from a miserable life.
17. Remember that Peter is talking to Christians when he says, judgment according to what we have done is coming. God sees how we behave, and he will judge us by his standards of right and wrong, good and evil.
You do realize that many modern preachers wouldn't touch a verse like this with a 10 foot pole because it would make their listeners uncomfortable. I got news for you it makes me uncomfortable too, but if God says something that makes us feel uncomfortable, then that's all the more reason to take heed to it rather then ignore it. We must not ignore the Scriptures that make us feel uncomfortable.
Someone says, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm not used to hearing these things and I don't like what I am hearing. I'm a Christian and you have me feeling uneasy. Correction, I'm not making any of this up; don't drag me into this because it's the word of God not the word of Meurett. Someone says I was told that as a Christian I should never feel uneasy.
Who says that? Who says that Christians should not feel uneasy about committing sin? God certainly doesn't say that; he says we ought to be afraid to stand before him, especially if we have settled for a lukewarm attitude toward Jesus and therefore are not behaving ourselves. Especially if we continually compromise and don't even confess our sins to God.
When God says to Christians, "conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear," He means live holy and confess when you fail. When God says to Christians, "conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear," I certainly can't teach anything to the contrary, because this is God's word.
18,19. I get so weary of Christians who make up excuses for their sin because "Christian professionals" give them the idea that they can. I get so weary of Christians who blame their mother or their father or someone else or something else for their bad behavior today because again "Christian professionals", so-called, tell them that that's okay. I get so weary of "Christian counselors" who suggest that it will take years of therapy and of course a lot of money for a Christian to get to the place where they can think and behave correctly.
I do not like it because it hurts God's people. I do not like it because God has the answers and man too often covers His answers with human reasoning, and that's what that is. Those things have been a thorn in the side of Christianity long enough.
Shut the psychology books, shut the how to books and listen to the word of Almighty God for a change!
The Bible says in verse 18 that we have been redeemed, we have been set free, from the aimless, worthless, destructive, conduct which has been handed down to us from our ancestors. Jesus is bigger then a terrible past. Jesus is bigger then the poor example that was set for us.
Receiving Christ gives us a fresh start. The Bible says Christians have the mind of Christ, the Bible says we are to renew our minds by the word of God and once you start renewing your mind by the word of God your behavior will follow suit.
There are no tricks to correct thinking. There are no techniques; there are no psychological theories and exercises that will sanctify one's thinking and one's behavior.
All those devices are recent inventions borrowed from the world, and I will never understand why any Christian would look to the world, (which doesn't know the first thing about God's word, and whose people are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins), why in the world would any blood bought child of the eternal God look to that for advice on how to behave correctly.
Right thinking and behavior is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian. He changes us, He sanctifies us, when we read the Bible, when we go to church, when we praise and worship Jesus, and when we pray. The blood of Jesus Christ which purchased our salvation has also purchased our sanctification and the Holy Spirit is the agent who works in us to make us more like Jesus.
If more Christians took the money that they invest in counselors and psychologists and invested it in the work of God they would be better off and so would many others. If Christians would take the time they spend in a counselor's office, or a psychiatrist office; if they would take the time they spend reading the latest how-to books, or the latest psychological theory and invest that time in reading the Bible and praying, God the Holy Spirit would sanctify them and change them from the inside out because that's his job and that's what the Bible teaches.
Read the Bible an hour every day and the Holy Spirit will change you in ways that you never thought possible. Someone says I can't afford to set aside an hour a day. You can't afford not to; no one who wants to be what Jesus wants them to be can afford not to do it.
Jesus said to Peter, James, and John, could you not tarry with me for one hour? You mean that you are too busy to give your creator, the God who came to earth, and died a humiliating death on the cross for your sin, the one who paid for your sins so that you won't have to go to hell; you mean you can't give that God, that creator, that savior, that sustainer, who keeps you alive, who has given you everything that you have, you can give him one measly hour out of 24? I suggest that we all can if we make it a priority, and if we do we will be much better off.
18-20. God did not have to scramble after Adam and Eve sinned. God did not hear about them eating the forbidden fruit and say, well I never saw this coming! God didn't say, I've been blindsided by the sin of man and now I have to come up with a plan to save them and their children from hell!
God knew that man, who he created with a free will, would sin and therefore be damned. He knew that long before he created the world. The plan was already in place for Jesus to die on the cross and pay for our sins before he even created Adam.
The Bible says that God isn't willing that any should perish. That's why he came up with a plan that would give each person an opportunity to trust Christ and avoid hell.
21. Many people, of many different religions believe in a God. Some believe in false gods, some believe in the one true God. However, the only way to believe in God, and have it lead to the salvation of your soul is to have faith in Christ and his death on the cross.
People must believe in God through the one mediator Jesus Christ otherwise all their faith is, is an intellectual assent to the fact that there is a God, and that's not enough to save anyone. Want Biblical proof? The demons believe in God, they believe in the true God, they don't believe in allah, Chemosh, Baal, Tamuse, Hare krishna, buddah, or any of the 300 million gods of India; they believe in the one true God and His Son Jesus Christ, but they're not saved.
22a. What is truth? That's what Pontius Pilate asked Jesus. Jesus Himself gave us the answer; he said that God's word is truth. The Bible is truth. Consequently, the only way to purify ourselves is to obey the word of God. Psalm 119:9, says "how can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word." There are no other ways to become like Jesus.
It is inappropriate, which is why it is also a waste of time for Christians to look outside the word of God for spiritual guidance and growth.
Of course we cannot obey enough to make ourselves right with God. However, after we are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ, we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, begin the process of purifying ourselves. In other words, the Holy Spirit works in us to make us more like Jesus. It is a work that begins the moment of our salvation, and does not end until after we die, and the holy word of God is the main instrument that the Holy Spirit uses to bring this great work to pass.
22. The Bible teaches that a true Christian will love other Christians.
Let me tell you what this doesn't mean before I tell you what it does mean. It doesn't mean that a real Christian will like everything that other Christians do. A real Christian doesn't have to turn a blind eye to right and wrong while putting on a phony smile and saying that everything other Christians do is wonderful, just fine. This also doesn't mean that a genuine Christian approves of the lifestyle of others who are Christians in name only but not in practice. That's what this verse does not mean, now let me tell you what it does mean.
This verse means that a genuine Christian who loves Jesus and loves the word of God will love other Christians who love Jesus and love the word of God as well. This is talking about two Christians who are walking with the Lord hitting it off with each other because of their mutual faith and love for Jesus.
There's something wrong with the Christian who doesn't have any standards and therefore gives a sickening sweet approval to the bad behavior of a professing Christian. There is also something wrong with the Christian who doesn't enjoy being around other Christians who clearly love Jesus and clearly love the word of God.
23. There's only one way to get saved and that's to hear the word of God and accept it. No one ever get saved unless they hear a straightforward message about Jesus being the only Savior, the only way for a sinner to avoid hell, and the only way to receive eternal life. No one ever get saved unless someone tells them from the word of God that they must repent, they must turn away from their sin, and they must turn to Jesus and say Lord take control of my life and save me from hell. No one gets saved apart from the word of God therefore no one will be saved unless Christians proclaim the word of God. That is our number one priority, our number one duty as Christians. Go into all the world and preach the gospel (the message of salvation through Jesus Christ) to every single creature. That is what Jesus commanded us to do, and not just preachers but all Christians.
Not everyone is called to preach. Not everyone is called to teach. But every single Christian on the face of the earth is called to support those who are called to preach and teach, to support them through their offerings and through their prayers because if they don't then the job is not going to get done. If we don't do our part, all of us, than we are failing Jesus, we are disobeying the great commission.
When the Bible is taught clearly the holy Spirit takes the word of God and burns it into the souls of the unsaved. They may accept Jesus or they may choose to reject Him but one thing is certain, they will not forget the mark the Holy Spirit put on their soul when they heard the word of God.
24. Someone says why do I need Jesus? Why do I have to get saved? Why do I have to prepare for eternity? Why should I care about those things? Because you're going to die! Every one dies!
We exist forever because we have an immortal soul, but were going to die, which means that we will exist forever someplace other than here, and there's only two places: heaven and hell.
People say I don't have time to worry about things like that I've got shopping to do. I don't have time to worry about things like that because there's a ballgame on. I don't have time to worry about heaven and hell because I'm watching my favorite television show. Well then mister, don't expect anyone to feel sorry for you when you're burning in the Lake of fire. The Bible says prepare to meet thy God, consequently if someone doesn't make that a priority then they have no one but themselves to blame for their eternal torment.
God says our physical life is like grass, our physical life is like the flowers of the field and both of those things don't last too long. Grass, and flowers wither and die and so do we.
It doesn't matter how young you are you could wither and die before the day is over. It doesn't matter how healthy you are you could wither and die before this day is done. My mother told me this story which occurred before I was born; My grandmother was so happy after her doctor's visit; she called my mother all excited reporting that she didn't have cancer after all. She had it made, her future was bright, but that was the last time my mother spoke to her because that evening she died of a stroke. The Bible says, The grass withers, the flowers fall, and people die, sometimes expectantly, and sometimes unexpectedly. In fact most people who die today have no idea that this is their last day on earth.
That's why people need Jesus. That's why people need to get saved. That's why people have to repent and receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Each and every second we live is an eternal version of Russian roulette and people better be ready to go; everyone better be ready to go.
24,25. In stark contrast to everything else including man the word of God stands forever. The word of God is the only reliable anchor for our soul. What it says you can believe. What it says you must believe, or you will surely perish in the flames of hell. Tether your soul to the word of God, to what it says about Jesus Christ being the Savior and you will be eternally safe.
When it comes right down to it the word of God is the only thing that matters in this world today. While other things may be important the word of God is supremely important because if we don't build our life and our eternity upon what it says ultimately nothing else will matter because it will all come crumbling down including our immortal souls.
The Bible says that the word of God stands forever which means that God isn't going to change his mind. You are saved by doing what the word of God says, namely receiving Jesus, and that will never change. God will never say, I've change my mind I'm going to save people a different way. God never calls for a special emergency meeting in heaven and says, I've got some bad news for all you Christians, I know you've probably enjoyed your time here, but your time is up because I've decided to change my word; Jesus my son is not the Savior anymore so all who trusted in him get ready to leave. Never happen; we are secure in Christ because the word of God is secure.
Ch. 2
Evil behavior is one thing and I'm not condoning it; it is bad, it is rotten, it is terrible, God despises it, and it shouldn't be done, but the fact is we are all guilty of behaving badly. The good news is that God remembers we are dust so he has devised a plan whereby our evil behavior can be forgiven and that plan includes an honest admission of guilt which is called confession.
Evil behavior is one thing, but to follow up our evil behavior with deception, and hypocrisy in an attempt to deny that there is evil behavior in our life is spiritually deadly.
God will forgive any sin that is confessed. But God will not forgive one single excuse, which is what deception and hypocrisy leads to; it leads to denial or excuses.
Deceitful people are so foolish. Hypocrites are so foolish. Who do they think they're fooling? People aren't stupid; as a general rule they see through hypocrisy and deceit very quickly and if it continues on for any length of time the deceiver loses all credibility and becomes despised and that's just with people. God of course sees a hypocrite, a deceitful person immediately, in fact he knows what they're going to say before a single word leaves their lips. Consequently, he says to Christians rid yourself of these things
1. Evil speaking refers to slander or being overly critical.
Speaking of being overly critical. It's good for us to remember that none of us are good, at least as God defines goodness. We've all done bad, enough bad to deserve hell according to God so why be overly critical towards others. Rather than being overly critical we should keep in mind that we also depend on God's mercy. Rather then be overly critical we'd be better off praying for those people who we don't think are what they should be.
2,3. The spiritual milk is the word of God. God tells Christians to crave the Bible, to crave the spiritual milk of the word because that's how we grow spiritually. Holy Communion is great, praise and worship is great and so is prayer. But the word of God is our meat and potatoes, and we can't grow without it.
No one has to teach a little baby to drink milk, one taste and they crave more. No one has to tell a true Christian to read the Bible or to be where it is taught. Christians are saved by the word of God when they hear about Jesus; that's their first taste of the milk of Scripture and once they taste it they want more. Every true Christian has tasted the word of God which is why you don't have to tell a healthy Christian to read the Bible; chances are you have to pry them away from the word of God so that they can do other things.
The more we know about God, the more we want to know about God. The closer you are to Jesus, the more you want to hear his word so that you can get even closer. If you don't have a hunger for God's word, if you don't have a craving for God's word, then chances are you haven't been reading God's word. The word of God is spiritual food but unlike physical food which fills us up when we eat it, consuming the spiritual food of God's word leaves us wanting more, leaves us desiring more, creates a deeper hunger in us for the Bible.
4. Jesus was rejected by men, but he was chosen by God, so it doesn't matter how many people reject him, he is still the Savior.
Most people do not follow Jesus today, but God doesn't conduct an opinion poll to determine if Jesus should still be the only Savior, the only mediator between God and man. He is, and what people think about it doesn't matter.
God's attitude toward Jesus should be our attitude toward him. It doesn't matter if living for Jesus makes us popular with people; it doesn't matter if they approve or disapprove. Sure it would be nice to be popular, but our only concern should be doing what is right in the eyes of God. God doesn't look at poll results to see if Jesus should remain the only way to heaven and christians should not allow public opinion to sway them away from serving Christ.
4,5a. The walls of the Old Testament Temple where God dwelt in a unique way were made of stone. With the death of Jesus on the cross that Temple became obsolete. God still has a Temple today, not constructed from ordinary stones, but with living stones, that is, people, that is Christians.
When a sinner repents and receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior the Lord Jesus, by his spirit, enters into them. That's why every Christian, individually, is a physical Temple of God. Each one of us is a temple of God, and that's because God is inside of us. In addition to that we each are a separate living stone in God's over all Temple, which is his church.
5. In the Old Testament, the Levitical priests would offer animal sacrifices to God. Today all Christians are priests, and God instructs us to offer spiritual sacrifices to him.
God wants Christians to offer the sacrifice of holiness, unselfishness, kindness, and good works in general. He wants us to offer the sacrifice of praise, during both good times and bad. He wants Christians to give financially so that the word of God can be proclaimed to more and more people. You say but sometimes I don't feel like doing that. Well those are the times to do it all the more because the extra effort makes it an even greater sacrifice.
6. I have never known a Christian who truly is a Christian who said, I wish I never had repented and received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. What a mistake! I can't stand being a Christian!
Jesus doesn't disappoint. A Christian can backslide to the point where they want nothing to do with Jesus anymore, but it's not his fault; it's their fault. Anyone who gradually slides away from Jesus and gets to the point where they no longer call themselves a Christian has done so because of their own corrupt heart and the sinful lusts which they have allowed to take control of their life.
It is impossible for Jesus to disappoint anyone; he's not capable of doing that. People may not appreciate him, but again that's their fault; they're the ones with the problem not Jesus.
2:7a. In other words, Jesus is important to those who are saved. He is precious, which means valuable, very valuable. Other things may be important, but nothing is more important to a Christian then Jesus. Those who are content to confine Jesus to an hour a week on Sunday better double check to see if they are in the faith because it doesn't look good.
When we as Christians do things that we know please him we are happy. When we displease him then we are sad because he is important to us.
7ab. Did you catch that? Did you notice that the opposite of believing is not unbelieving but rather disobedience. That's because the Bible teaches that good works will accompany saving faith.
The direction of a Christian's life is obedience to God. Christians believe in Jesus and the natural result of that is obedience. Non-Christians don't believe in Jesus, in the sense of having saving faith, in the sense of receiving him as Lord and Savior, therefore the direction of their life is disobedience; they really don't care what Jesus wants, it's not important to them.
7. Reject Jesus if you want, but that doesn't change God's mind about His Son. Most people reject Christ, but he is still the only Savior.
God does not adjust his plan of salvation to fit an individual's desires. He doesn't ask people which road they would prefer to take to heaven. He says, here's the road; it's a narrow road, and as Jesus himself said, few there be that find it, but this is it; the road is Jesus.
8. God has one plan of salvation, one Savior. He has one message of hope, which is repent and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That is the one message of hope. However instead of breathing a sigh of relief and thanking God that hope is available through Jesus Christ most people in the world trip over that message. In other words, they don't like it; they reject the word of God, they reject the word of hope, they reject the Savior of hope, and consequently they die and go to hell.
9. Our Lord's job was to make the way to heaven, which He did on the cross, our job is to tell people that there is a way.
10. Picture this you stand before a firing squad and right before they pull their triggers the governor shows up and says you are pardoned, you can walk away a free man if you would like. He says I have more mercy then you have guilt so it's up to you, you can stay and be punished or walk out free.
God is the governor and Christians are those who have accepted His pardon. Meanwhile people in hell either did not hear about God's mercy through Jesus Christ, or they rejected it.
Life boils down to this: mercy. God's mercy, will we accept it or reject it. Everything for all eternity rests upon what one does with God's mercy.
The big difference between the saved person and unsaved is that the non-Christian will stand before God and receive no mercy. They did not want it so they will not receive it. They will be punished in full, just as their sin deserves. Meanwhile, Christians, who also deserve punishment, will be shown mercy because they're smart enough, and humble enough to say sure I'll take your mercy God, I want Jesus.
11. The Packers seldom were ever penalized for interfering with an opponents receiver last year; why? because the Packers were so slow that they seldom got in the same zip code of the opponents receivers. The only positive by-product of being inept is that they didn't get in trouble with penalties. It's bad that they were unable to defend; but I guess it was good that they did not even get close to the place where they would get in trouble.
Every now and then you hear about someone who gets beat up, or shot outside a bar at 2am, or we hear about a girl who went missing after taking a ride from some guy she met at a late night party. But no one ever gets shot at 2am if they are in their beds sleeping like they should be. No one crashes into a ditch and dies at 3am if they don't get drunk but instead stay home read their Bible and go to bed at a reasonable hour. I'm saying people bring allot of trouble on themselves by being in the wrong places.
Likewise, God is telling Christians to stay away from anything that would steer their physical desires in a direction that is contrary to the Bible. In other words, don't bait your body in the direction of sin.
No one who plays with temptation defeats sin.
We are in a battle for our soul. It is a battle between good and evil and which one will have control of our soul. Who wins, is often decided by what we expose our body to; whether it be good or bad.
The world is filled with things, situations, and people which lead to temptation. Jesus said it is inevitable that temptations will come. Consequently, It is difficult for a Christian to avoid all circumstances that stir up evil desires. It's impossible to avoid all temptations but a Christian can avoid putting themselves in a tempting situation on purpose, and it must be done.
It is much more difficult to restrain evil desires once we've been exposed to the things that stir them up. What I am saying, and what God wants us to do, is to stay away from the things that will move us in the wrong direction because it's a lot easier to avoid sin when we do that.
12. We can't stop people from saying bad things about us, but we can ensure that those bad things are not true. For the sake of Jesus live a good life. Live right for the sake of Jesus so that if someone accuses us of being bad they have to lie to do it.
13,14. When we disobey the law of the land we disobey God because he's the one who established that legal authority.
Christians should be model citizens, who obey all the laws of the land, until such time as those laws command us to disobey the word of God.
15. By doing good we silence those who accuse us of doing bad. Under normal conditions, even in a sin infected world, right is recognized as right, and wrong is recognized as wrong, even by those who have no regard for what is right.
Consequently under normal conditions anyone who accuses us of wrong when we have done right will look foolish.
Unfortunately we are now living in a world which refuses to recognize right and wrong. More and more we are living in a world which refuses to make so called value judgements, except for this: they have no problem denouncing those who by using Biblical standards point out evil. Thats the one exception; they will loudly proclaim that anyone who uses the Scripture to point out what God says is right and wrong is a hater, or a bigot, which I guess makes Jesus a hater and a bigot in their eyes also because He did that more then anyone.
By doing good we silence the ignorant talk of those who speak against us, but only in the eyes of those who still know right from wrong, which is a deminishing remnant. Consequently do not be surprised if there are times when the only one who pats you on the back for doing right is God.
15,16. We have great freedom in Christ; the Bible teaches that. But when it talks about the freedom of a Christian it's not talking about freedom to sin. We have freedom not to sin.
Sin can tempt us, but it cannot control us without our permission. No outside force, not even our own sin nature can force us to sin without our permission. It may not be easy, but as a Christian we can say no to sin. Holiness may be difficult, but difficult does not mean impossible. Christians are free to do what is right.
17a. Show proper respect to everyone. That means show some class. Be gracious in winning and in losing. Refrain from firey rhetoric that demeans others. Even depraved sinners deserve to be treated with dignighty as those who have been created in the image and likeness of God. Point out right and wrong but do it with grace; show some class.
17. We are to honor all rulers because of their position, but we are to reverence only God. Emperor Nero demanded worship; God said you give him honor, you respect him as the ruler, but you worship me and no one else.
We are to honor people, but not in a way that dishonors God. That means we will have to disappoint, and even upset some people some time who want us to put their desires before God's.
18. Christians are called to behave better than anyone else because we belong to, and represent Jesus.
If you recall Jesus did not spit back at those who spit upon him. Instead of spitting back or punching them after they punched him he died and paid for their sins. And the Bible teaches that we must not be bad to those who are bad to us, even if it is hard to hold back. We must act like Jesus, and we can act like Jesus because he is in us, and we should act like Jesus because, as Christians, we dare not misrepresent him.
19,20. People who do wrong deserve to be punished so God's not going to pat them on the back and say, nice job enduring your punishment. But, if we are treated badly for our faith; in other words for doing what is right, then God will say well done.
One well done from Jesus will be more than enough reward for any unjust suffering.
21. Jesus did not do anything wrong, and yet he patiently endured suffering for us. Now it's our turn; if we suffer we are supposed to endure it, even if it is unfair. We are called to endure it without complaint. Jesus did it for us so now we should do it for him.
21,22. The Bible says that Jesus came to take away our sin. He had no sin of his own so that made him qualified to be our sacrificial substitute. Like the Bible says the death of Jesus for our sins was in essence the Just for the unjust.
23. With one word Jesus could have killed, and banished to hell every person who spit upon him, everyone who flogged him, everyone who punched him and mocked him and also all the soldiers who nailed him to the cross. Instead, he took it all, and by doing that he took the punishment for our sin. Jesus knew that some of us would get saved so He endured it all for them.
24. This is not talking about physical healing, although ultimately our physical bodies will be raised from the dead in perfect health because Jesus paid for our sins.
Jesus suffered to pay for our sins. Jesus suffered to heal our souls from sins damage, and to set us free from sin, and hell. One of the extra byproducts of His death will be eternal health, but that does not start until after we are raised.
25. Sheep often wander while they look for grass to eat, and they often get lost as they wander, and by doing that they put themselves in danger. That's why the shepherd has to look for them and bring them back.
Before people become Christians they are like lost sheep. They wander around looking for fulfillment, looking for happiness, not realizing that they are in danger. Danger is an understatement because they are a heart beat out of hell. The unsaved are lost sheep wandering on the edge of hell, and what makes it even worse is that many don't know that they are in danger.
Chapter 3
1,2. A Christian wife must be holy if she wants her unsaved husband to come to Christ. A Christian woman who wants her Christian husband to be more dedicated to Jesus must be dedicated to Jesus herself.
She must respect and honor her husband even when it isn't easy, just as we must respect our political leaders even when it isn't easy, just like we must respect a boss even when it isn't easy.
A christian wife must honor her husband unless he tells her to do something contrary to Scripture. A husband may not want to be holy himself, but he knows what holy is, and therefore his wife must model it for Jesus sake.
3,4. Physical beauty is nice, but spiritual beauty is more important.
A loud, overbearing, contentious attitude in a Christian woman makes her useless to Jesus; it is also unattractive to any man who loves God.
When God sees a Christian woman who is gentle, quiet, and humble he sees a beautiful woman. And beauty doesn't mean a woman can't say what is on her mind; it means whatever she says should be spoken with a gentle spirit. That's not fashionable today, but God doesn't worry about that sort of thing and neither should we.
5,6. God's standards for beauty do not change with times or cultures. 4000 years ago Sarah was beautiful to God because she respected her husbands authority, and because she was godly.
And the one time she was contentious she insisted that Abraham give her a son through Hagar her servant, and Abraham acted like a fool, complied, and the world has been suffering for 4000 years because of it. Abraham through Hagar gave birth to the progenitor of the Arab race which has been a thorn in the side of God's people since day one. The whole arab problem began with a contentious, nagging Sarah, and her husband Abraham's failure to stand for what was right.
Sarah, on that one occasion, didn't act like a woman of God, and Abraham did not lead like a man of God, and the result has been trouble ever sense. I'm trying to point out the importance of these verses, so that they are obeyed.
5. God wants Christian men to marry beautiful Christian women (spiritually beautiful) and not to settle for anything less. Any Christian man who is thinking about marrying an ungodly woman, or a woman who will not let him lead without giving him a hard time is foolish if he goes through with that marriage.
7. Any husband who isn't good to his wife will answer to God for his behavior.
God has given husbands the job of leader in the home. Husbands are responsible for what goes on in the home. If they do not treat their wife with the respect that a child of God deserves then their prayers will not be heard because they are disobeying God, which is sin, which blocks prayer.
If we create problems between us and other people, then we create problems between us and God as well.
7. A Christian husband is commanded by God to endeavor to understand his wife, and be considerate to her. In other words, he should treat her like he would treat Jesus. A husband must be good to his wife. If he is not, then he disobeys God.
8. God does not want his children arguing, instead he wants them to be sympathetic toward each other.
Selfishness and pride cause arguments. Humility causes people to be sympathetic. Unless there is humility in place of pride, and selfishness, people will not get along.
9. It's easy to be nice when people are nice to you. It's much harder when someone is mean, or unreasonable.
It is very natural to respond with evil to those who are being evil. But God does not want us to be natural; he wants us to be supernatural. The Lord asks Christians to be like his son, who returned kindness for evil, not evil for evil.
10. God is not promising us a carefree life with no trouble when he says you will have good days. The good life for a Christian involves being right with God, it involves being obedient, even when it isn't easy. The good life is to have no regrets, regrets from responding in the flesh instead of in the spirit, or regrets from letting our sinful nature control us. No Christian can love life if they are willfully, and knowingly disobedient to God.
11. Christians must make a conscious choice to turn away from evil. The reason we have to turn away from it is because our sin nature naturally takes us in the direction of sin. To have a good life Christians must overcome bad things, not by trying not to do bad, but by trying to do good. The focus should be on the good rather than on avoiding the bad.
12. God listens to the prayers of those who obey him. He does not listen to the prayers of those who don't care about him. He doesn't listen to sinners who refuse to repent. He listens to those who worship him through their obedience.
You say I didn't know that obedience was worship. It is, the Bible says in Romans 12:1 "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship." Obedience is worship; obedience is how Christians enjoy good days.
13. Most people appreciate those who do good things. Acts of kindness usually will cause people to like us. But God's definition of doing good also means standing up for the things He says are right, and standing opposed to the things He says are wrong. And that's when we can start rubbing some people the wrong way. When we live in a world that calls bad good and good bad, as it often does today, we won't fit in very well when we start calling bad bad.
14. Stand for what is right and true, and reject what is wrong and false, even when no one pats you on the back for it. Do it even when it means suffering.
It is inexplicable but true that God gives great joy to his people who suffer for doing what is right.
A Christian who compromises in order to be accepted by a world that doesn't honor God will be miserable. But there is joy in the presence of God for Christians who suffer for doing right. Again that is how Christians enjoy good days.
15. There's no doubt about it; going all-out for Jesus will result in some form of sacrifice and suffering in this world. Just remember, that is our calling. Going all out for Jesus even when it means suffering, or persecution, or sacrifice is our business as Christians. We're not hear to reform the world; we're here to be holy, and if need be suffer for that holiness, and through that suffering testify to the reality of Jesus Christ
15. In other words when we talk about Jesus Christ in the presense of the unsaved we must be kind.
We should never respect the sinners lifestyle, but we should respect the sinner. They've been created in the image of God just like us, and therefore should be treated with dignity. The combination of kindness and the word of God are the things that God uses.
16. In other words, don't give the enemies of Christ ammunition to use against you, or Jesus. Obey God, and consequently keep a clear conscience.
If someone does bad to us and we respond by being bad to them that will hurt our conscience, which is a sure sign that we have committed sin, plus it will give the enemies of Christ ammunition to use against our Savior.
Like it or not, people in the world expect Christians to behave better then anyone else, to be more patient, to be more kind, to be better in general than the average person.
When we as Christians respond sinfully to being sinned against, the world will quickly point a finger in our direction and scoff saying, they represent Christ, but look at their bad behavior.
Many use the bad behavior of Christians as an excuse to reject Jesus, which won't make hell any less real for them if they continue to reject the Savior even though they think it will..
17. It's not a question of will we, or will we not suffer as a Christian. The question is, will we suffer for doing what is right or for doing what is wrong. If we suffer for doing what is wrong then we deserve everything we get. If we suffer for doing what is right then although it is difficult there is joy because we are sharing in the sufferings of Christ.
Suffering for doing wrong leads to misery, but sharing in the sufferings of Christ leads to joy and peace.
18. Talk about suffering for doing the will of God; that's exactly what Jesus did.
God doesn't want anyone to go to hell so Jesus paid for our sins on the cross. Jesus was completely innocent and yet he suffered and died. He did it because it was the father's will; he did it for us. He took our place so that those who trust in his sacrifice and receive him as their Lord and Savior can be saved.
19,20. The spirit of God, the spirit of Jesus was alive and well in Noah. The spirit of Christ in Noah warned sinners before the great flood that they needed to repent or they would surely be punished. Well they didn't repent so now those same souls who died in the flood wait in a spiritual prison, a temporary place of torment. They wait, until they stand before the one who's mercy they rejected, and are thrown into the final hell.
20,21. It is God who saves. It is the blood of Jesus which paid for our sins. It is the death of Christ which redeems us. But according to this verse baptism is closely connected to salvation. On the day of Pentecost Peter said repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.
Faith saves but saving faith under normal conditions includes water baptism. There is a very close tie between salvation and the water baptism of the believer in the Bible. Now, there is no magic in the water. H2O cannot make a soul clean, but there is something lacking in a Christian who hasn't been baptized.
22. Jesus is in his physical body (flesh and bones) He is in heaven in his body right now. That means that heaven is a place. It is a physical place where a physical body can exist and function. You say, that's nice. It is nice because we go to that physical place after we die if we are right with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
After I die I want to go somewhere that I can touch and that's the kind of place heaven is.
Chapter 4
1. Jesus suffered at the hands of sinners because he did good, because he followed his father's will. Jesus warned that all who would live godly in this sinful world would suffer as well. Consequently if we Christians determine that we're done with sin; if they turn their back on sin, then they will suffer in some way at the hands of the world. That's what happened to Christ. That's what Jesus calls Christians to endure as well.
1,2. Everyone, including the most dedicated Christian, still falls into sin. But the one who decides that they are done with sin has come to the point where they are sick of it, and therefore determined not to be a slave to their sinful desires.
Nothing less then a deep hatred for sin is acceptable for God's children; meaning every christian should resolve to live their life to do the will of God.
If we sin, we sin, and then we will confess, but sin should not be the driving force in our life; God should be what drives us.
3. Wild living, allowing sinful desires to go uncontrolled, unchecked, drinking too much, eating too much, wild parties, and moral filth are things that the heathen do. According to Scripture Christians are those who may have used to live like that, but not anymore.
4. A good Christian will never be accepted as one of the boys or one of the girls by the world.
A holy Christian is a normal person to God, but those who are not saved think they are abnormal. To the world someone who actually lives the Bible that they say they believe is strange.
Actually it isn't a terrible thing to be thought of as strange by those who have no regard for scripture because being cool in the estimation of the world should not be the desire of any Christian. Who cares what people who have no regard for Jesus or scripture think? I'm with Jesus, I'm concerned about pleasing God, not people like that.
5. There is a judgment coming for those who have died, and there is a judgment coming for those who will be alive at the return of Christ. God will judge what every person has said, done, or thought so His judgement will be very thorough.
In light of that it is spiritual insanity to try to be acceptable to people who's standards of right and wrong are the very opposite of Gods. Why would any Christian want to do that? Why would any Christian want to be that way? The unsaved will be judged and punished for the wrong things they do so why would any Christian want to be like them. The fact is, we should strive to be as unlike them as we possibly can. The less we are like the world the better off we are.
6a. The gospel of salvation, God's mercy was preached and offered to people who are now dead; the gospel has been preached to people in one form or another by God and his people since the time of Adam. If those people accepted his mercy they went to be with God in paradise.
6. Those who lived for God in past generations were judged by the world to be strange, and often worthy of abuse, but they were accepted by God, because God's definition of normal is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the worlds.
7. The end is near; meaning: were all going to see Jesus very soon. Someone says, I don't believe that, I don't even believe the Bible. So what! A persons unbelief does not change reality and therefore even those who don't believe will stand before Jesus and be judged.
Our appointment with the Judge of the living and the dead is right around the corner, and it could be today. He could return or we could die so live as if this is your last day on Earth. Treat each second as a gift from God and so use it in a way that pleases Him.
If you knew that you had a 50/50 chance of being given 1 million dollars today you'd be excited about it and would live with that possibility in mind. There is a 50/50 chance that this day, actually this minute could be our last so it should be lived with that possibility in mind.
8. When you love someone you do not throw them under the bus when they make a mistake. You do not excuse the wrong they do, but you continue to love them in spite of the wrong they do. God says love covers sin. Christians do not glory in the mistakes of the ones they love.
If you love someone then you hope that there's a good explanation for the seemingly bad which they have done, and if there isn't a good reason you hope that it will never happen again; you try to believe the best about a person if you love them, and you get no pleasure in talking about their mistakes.
9. In those days motels of any sort were few and far between, and since traveling Christians needed to have a safe place to sleep God expected other Christians to take them home, feed them, and give them a place to spend the night. God says do that without complaining. In other words, be kind to other Christians even if it isn't convenient.
Be considerate to the needs of other Christians without making a big deal about it. Don't say you're going to help someone, and then make them pay by forcing them to listen to your groans over how inconvenient it is. I'll help you but I just want you to know that it's a big burden for me. And maybe people don't always say it with words, but sometimes you can see it in their facial expressions.
If a Christian needs help then help them, do it for Jesus, do it because it's what Jesus wants you to do, and don't begrudge the one you're helping because that completely misrepresents the attitude of our Lord.
10. Every Christian can do something to help the cause of Christ and to help others. And because every christian has been given the means to do something by God, (which the Bible refers to as a spiritual gift); because we have been given the means to do something by God, God will judge us on how faithful we were to use whatever we had.
11a. When we talk we should not talk about things Jesus wouldn't talk about, and we shouldn't talk in a manner that he wouldn't use either. Not only that, we should talk about things Jesus did talk about, and he talked a lot about God, and a lot about the Bible, and a lot about mercy, and a lot about repentance.
By the way, Jesus also talked more about hell than anyone else and he talked about hell much more then he talked about heaven. Why then do we seldom hear messages on hell? Why then do preachers seldom speak of hell and the horrors of the people who reject Christ? Jesus talked about it. And the Bible says if anyone speaks it should be as the one who speaks God's words. When we talk we should talk about things that God talks about.
Jesus also talked about being good, and he talked about not getting revenge. He talked about immorality and morality; He pointed out specific sins in specific people, and He also talked about God wanting to forgive even the worst sins. These are all things that should be talked about by Christians in general and especially by preachers in their sermons.
11. Christians ought to serve others, instead of looking to be served. Jesus said the greatest among you is he who serves. God's word tells us to serve with humility, which means not expecting anything in return. And don't worry about not being able to do it because God will give strength to those who choose to live as He commands. We can choose to serve others in order to please Jesus if we want to do it.
God would have us look for ways to serve others today; maybe start with simple little acts of kindness and service. Pray for the ability to discern other people's needs, and then ask God to help you meet those needs.
12. Trouble in this world is normal for dedicated Christians. That obviously isn't a good thing, but the fact is we are meant to go through hard times, and God expects us to endure them by faith until they run their course.
Someone says, why would God allow us to endure troubles since we are his children? Better question, who are we to contradict God? Who are we to question God? Why should we be surprised when trouble comes our way? Jesus said we could expect it. And God through Peter says it here as well. Why should we expect to avoid trouble as Christians when Jesus had so much of it himself?
13. The more we suffer for Christ, and endure it in a holy manner, the more joy we will have when we stand before him.
The Bible says we are to share in the sufferings of Christ. And it's good for us to remember that Jesus continues to suffer for holiness today right along with us. He is literally suffering in us.
Christ is with us through any and all pain, sacrifice, and persecution. Jesus is with us through it all, and not just in the sense of HIm saying, my thoughts are with you during your difficult times; it's much more personal then that. That's what people often say, and that's fine because that's the best they can do, but Jesus is with His people in a literal way; I mean He is with us, and in us, so what hits us literaly hits Him as well.
According to God we are not to curse our suffering, or complain about it, but rather rejoice in it. The Bible says it is for Christ that we suffer, and it is with Christ that we suffer. Always remember that he feels exactly what you are feeling; he experiences the sadness that you experience; he experiences the loss that you are experiencing; he experiences the frustration that you are feeling. Jesus, by his spirit is in us which is why we share in the sufferings of Christ and why he shares in our sufferings.
14. When people mock, or say evil things about you because of your holiness God says you are blessed. You say how can I be blessed by that? You can be blessed because it reveals the fact that the same Holy Spirit who was in Jesus and caused him to be mocked is in you. It's a reminder that you are on the Lord's team.
15. We all know that it is wrong to murder and steal, but I am grateful that God also added meddling to His list, because some christians never think about that sin, and some do not understand how destructive it can be. Meddlers make trouble for others by not minding their own business. Meddling speaks of being too interested in someone else's life, and I've seen it make good people miserable.
I have also observed that most of the time meddlers are self-righteous people who think they know more than others. They think they should tell others how to run their life. But as far as I know there is only one person qualified to tell us how to live and that's God. No wonder God hates the sin of meddling; it attempts to usurp His position as guide for His people.
16. People try to hurt Christians to make them feel bad, but there is nothing bad in suffering for Jesus. There is no shame in suffering alongside of Jesus for doing what is right. In fact we can praise God that we are enough like Jesus to make the world, and Satan notice, and dislike us for it.
17. God wants us to be pure as Christians. Consequently, He examines and judges us, and if we have done wrong he brings guilt, and if we don't respond to guilt He brings trouble with a view to purifying us.
If God allows pain in the life of his children because he loves them just imagine the pain those who reject his mercy, and his son will experience in Hell.
18. If God's people are saved through difficult times, then times will surely be horrible for the lost who rather than choosing to be God's people, God's children, have chosen to be God's enemies. If Christians suffer for the sake of holiness imagine how those who reject God's son will suffer for their wickedness.
19. No matter how much our body suffers, or how bad it may get for Christians on earth it is important that we continue to trust God, and continue to do what is right, even when our perseverance brings more trouble. Just say, Jesus I'm not quitting on you; I'm not going to compromise in order to escape trouble. Jesus I want to be like you, You died for me so I want to live for you. You didn't quit on me when it was difficult so I don't want to quit on you when it gets difficult.
Chapter 5
1. Peter was put in charge of the early church by Jesus, but his high position did not make him haughty ; he was a humble leader. He says that he is an elder among elders, a fellow elder.
No pastor, preacher, or christian should think highly of themselves, Peter didn't. The Bible says that we are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought and according to Scripture every Christian is a sinner saved by grace, every Christian is called to be a servant, and the higher the position the more one must serve.
God doesn't place Christians in positions of high spiritual authority so that they can shove others around. He puts them in positions of authority so that they may serve and be an example of a servant to others.
God through Peter is giving instructions to pastors/preachers beginning in verse two.
2a. When God says feed the flock or shepherd God's flock he is commanding pastors to teach the word of God. Every qualification for a minister mentioned in scripture is concerned with good character with one exception, he must be able to teach. That is far and away the most important part of being a minister. It is absolutely vital because when people are fed the word of God they grow strong. The more of God's word that gets into us the more we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
As a young christian I had a Pastor who told me that his goal was to entertain the people not teach them, I didn't stay in his church very long because I was beginning to starve spiritually.
God does not tell pastors to entertain his people because that's what they want; God doesn't say entertain them, and be just as cut, and funny as you can be so that they will come back for more. God says, teach them the word of God; if they have a heart for God they will want more, if they don't let them go somewhere else.
Are people so in want of entertainment in this country that the church needs to substitute the word of God for silly stories, and entertainment on Sunday mornings; Lord help us all and God have mercy on the Pastors and Preachers who give them what they want instead of what God wants them to have. What people want is not necessarily what they need. If people do not have a heart for God then let them get cable or do some of the many other things people do for entertainment.
2. Ministry is not a career, it is a Divine calling. Consequently those who have been called by God to teach the word of God will do it in one form or another even if they do not get paid for it. They will do it because they are called; they will do it because they feel compelled to do it.
Now having said that I must also say God recognizes that everyone needs money, consequently He instructs those who are taught the word to financially support their teacher, nevertheless money shouldn't be the reason for ministering.
3. Some pastors are overbearing; they bark out orders to individuals and expect them to obey as if they themselves are the Lord God Almighty. And while Preachers are to speak the word of God with authority they must never speak their personal convictions with that same authority.
It's unfortunate that some preachers attempt to exercise all sorts of authority that they actually do not have, and many humble, and unlearned Christians willingly, but wrongly submit.
Jesus did not do that sort of thing. He taught the truth, he taught God's word, and that is it. Jesus led people by example and allowed them to make their own decisions.
4. A good pastor/preacher who obeys God and faithfully teaches the entire word of God, even that which is not considered cool today, will probably not have much money in this life.
Pulpit entertainers receive more money then faithful preachers because the word of God sometimes steps on peoples toes, and they never come back, or they quit giving.
Meanwhile all the pulpit entertainers do is tickle the flesh of their listeners with cuteness and watered down spiritual mush which nether edifies nor offends. A good preachers payday doesn't come as it should until he sees Jesus.
5. Proud people think they are more important than others. They exaggerate their value, and underestimate the importance of others. And because they are proud they want others to serve them, but are unwilling to humble themselves and serve others. God is against people like that; God is against the proud. They think they are special, but to God they are wrong.
6. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God." It is important for Christians to accept whatever God allows to happen in their life. That is what it means to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. I'm not saying it's wrong to try to improve your situation, or to pray for an improvement; that's not wrong at all. However God still says in his word that he wants us to be content no matter what our state may be. That's what it means to humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.
God is either sovereign or he isn't, and the Bible makes it clear that he is, therefore we should accept what he allows with grace, and continue to serve him the best that we can.
It is important, and not just important, it is right for every Christian to trust God even though their life isn't what they thought it would be, or should be.
7. God cares about you even though sometimes it may appear as if he doesn't because of your circumstances. God cares for you even when you are unhappy. People think, Im worried and sad so that means God doesn't care about me. No, if anything it proves that people are too concerned about having things their way rather than trusting in God's sovereignty.
It is scriptural to be honest with God, to tell him about the things which worry you, but it is also scriptural to trust him to handle your situation his way, even if it isn't your way.
8. Peter warns of not letting your spiritual guard down, and he knows first hand what happens when you do. He knows what it is like to let your guard down and immediately become a victim of Satan. On holy Thursday evening in the Garden of Gethsemane he chose not to pray along with Jesus; he let his spiritual guard down, Satan jumped all over him, and consequently he denied Christ three times.
We must not allow ourselves to become lazy Christians. We must keep up the disciplines of prayer, Bible reading, and going to church. If we do not, then we will have weak spots, and you can bet that the devil will exploit them.
I remember watching boxing with my father when I was little; on one occasion when a fighter had a slight cut above his eye my father said, watch the other boxer continue to peck and pound on that little cut and try to open it up and sure enough that's exactly what happened. A good boxer sees a weak spot on his opponent and begins to pound it; he exploits it in hopes of getting a knockout. That's what Satan does if we allow ourselves to have a spiritual weak spot in our life; he will exploit it; he will use it to bring us down spiritually, destroy our joy, and our usefulness to Jesus.
9. God tells Christians to resist Satan. In other words, don't give in to the devil by indulging in sin. No matter how difficult it may be to oppose him, and the ungodly desires he stirs within you continue to persevere.
People wonder how they can defeat the devil. Well it's not by screaming at him, and it's not by rebuking him, and it's not by supposedly banishing him to the pit of hell, as some are fond of trying to do today; we defeat the devil by refusing to give in to his temptations. The Bible says resist Satan and he will flee from you. He'll go hammer someone else who he knows he can defeat.
9. In other words, hang onto your faith, and the faith referred to here is the body of teaching found in Scripture. In other words, cling to what you know the Bible says, and live it knowing that it is true. When we follow the way of truth instead of following the path of sin Satan loses every time.
The devil can't stand the Bible! He can't stand holy Scripture! He can't stand the written word of God because it contradicts and exposes all of his lies. He also can't stand a preacher who clearly communicates the word of God because that feeds God's people, and gives them the strength, and the wisdom to avoid the devil's snares.
10,11. In other words, Satan's attacks will not last forever. He is working hard because he knows that his time is short. He's not stupid; he knows that his evil deeds and his unfair, hideous attacks on all that is good, and all who belong to Jesus will come to a screeching halt one day. He knows what God wants every Christian to know, and that's that good times are coming for God's people.
Christians will not suffer forever. You will not suffer forever. But your good times with Christ will indeed go on forever.
The devil wants to weaken us by getting us to think that holiness isn't worth the trouble. But God says, be strong, keep believing me, because it will be worth it. Some day you will know that it was all worth it; faithfulness to Jesus, faithfulness to the word of God will be worth it, and you will know it, and you will be happy that you did it.
12. Here Peter reassures his readers that what he has written is true. It is true so stand on it, and live it; as I said you will not be disappointed.
No one who takes a stand for what is right, for what is true will be put to shame, or disappointed. On the other hand those who live a lie; those who build their life upon some foolish un-biblical idea because it makes them feel comfortable will be disgraced in the day of the Lord.
13. Peter mentions Mark his son. Mark was actually his son in the faith, his spiritual son. Mark is the one who wrote the gospel of Mark. Mark is the one who went on a missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas in the book of acts. Mark is the one who panicked, who got homesick and walked away from Paul and Barnabas during that missionary trip.
But Mark made a spiritual come back. Mark turned his life around. He gained courage and spiritual fortitude because he persevered with Jesus, and here we see that Mark was a valuable companion to the apostle Peter. By the way, Bible scholars agree that Mark got his first-hand information for his Gospel from Peter. The gospel of Mark could in fact be called the Gospel of Peter.
The point is, don't quit when you fail Jesus. Everyone who knows Jesus is a Mark once in a while and everyone needs to continue to be a Mark by persevering as he did after spiritual failures, even big spiritual failures. Jesus isn't done with any of us as long as we persevere with him.
14. Notice where the peace is; the Bible says it is between Christians.
The key to peace among people is for those people to be committed to Christ. It is impossible for two people who are completely committed to Christ and under the control of the Holy Spirit to not get along.
I don't have to do all sorts of counseling, targeting this error or that error, in an effort to get two people to get along; I certainly do not have to resort to psychology.
Christians need discipleship, weather one on one, or from the pulpit, they need discipleship. Christians need to learn the Bible and become more Christlike because if two people are committed to Jesus, and filled with the Holy Spirit they will get along. If they are not committed to Jesus and are not filled with the Holy Spirit then no amount of counseling of any kind will help.
Christians may not agree on everything, but if they're filled with the Holy Spirit they will disagree in an agreeable manner. God does not ask every Christian to agree on every little thing. God doesn't ask that there be no personality clashes. But God does expect his people to respond to these things in a Christlike manner.