How do I live in the face of Trials and Temptations.
1 Peter 1:13-16
Introduction
In this passage of scripture the apostle Peter takes a turn under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Remember: the believers were suffering terrible persecution. They had lost their homes, property, money, Possessions, and friends. They had been forced to run for their lives, possibly carrying only what they could, by hand. They were being persecuted for being a follower of Jesus Christ. They were naturally disappointed and were experiencing the dread of fear.
They needed to be encouraged and strengthened to continue on for Christ. We saw in the first part of this chapter that Peter encouraged them by teaching them the security of the believer in order to stand up to trials and temptations. He had preached the wonder and greatness of salvation. But, now something else was need in order for them to carry on in their faith. Peter’s response is to dedicate our lives to Jesus, in order for that to happen we must prepare our minds.
So today through this passage we will learn “How do I live my life in the face of trials and temptations. What is that we need to focus on in this life, I love the word of God because it really is a living word, I know that so many of us need to regain our focus in this life, and that is what we will learn today.
Read Scriptures: 1 Peter 1:13-16
I. I need to focus on the Grace of God.
Vs. 13 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Remember grace is God’s unmerited, underserved favor given to us as believers. Un-believers never get to experience God’s grace.
Through Jesus Christ and He Himself taking the guilt of our sin and nailing to the cross. When we place our faith fully in Jesus Christ, He takes the guilt of our sin, past, present and future. (Yes I did say future)
We are saved from the wrath of God on sin, which is eternity in Hell. We are not saved from the presence of sin yet. We are still living in this world and in the presence of evil and corruption. We will be delivered on day; we will perfect one day, and never commit sin. But we are not there yet.
There are three things from this passage that I see that will help us to keep our focus on the Grace of God.
1. We need to prepare our Minds for Action. As believers we must gather up and prepare the thoughts of our minds. The human mind is truly a battlefield with the enemy, it is said that the mind is satan’s playground, but I believe it is truly a battlefield, this is were the heat of spiritual warfare takes place. This is where a lot of believers begin their backslide back into the world because they give up in the battle of their minds. We should focus our thoughts on things that are excellent and praiseworthy. I love what the apostle Paul says in Phillippians 4:8 “whatever is true, whatever is honest, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good report, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on such things.”
We should not allow our thoughts to tear down our moral and Godly fiber. We focus on God’s grace by preparing our minds for action.
2. We need to be self-controlled. As believers we need to be self-controlled as we focus on the grace of God. We should not focus on gratifying the flesh or the sinful nature, though drugs or alcohol, food, sex, possessions, authority, power, pornography or even relaxation. We are to be self-controlled, it gives the mental picture of being grounded in the faith, being solid, and steady. Keeping things in the proper place, keeping the main thing the main thing, concentrating our minds on the grace of God.
3. We need to set our hope fully on the grace and salvation of God. Our hope must be kept alive. There is a dead hope and a lifeless hope. A dead hope is the hope that so many people have, the hope that they will be accepted by God when they die. It’s a dead hope because they believe that ultimately God will not reject them because they feel as though their good outweighs their bad. It’s a dead hope because scripture teaches that no one is acceptable by God apart from His grace which we receive by faith in Jesus.
We should as believers set our hope, which is a living hope, on the grace of God.
II. I need to focus on My Obedience to God.
Vs. 14 “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.”
The words in this passage “obedient children” actually means “children of obedience”. This means that believers are to be so obedient to God that obedience becomes the basic characteristic of our lives.
This verse actually contrasts two ways of living. We just mentioned children of obedience. It also speaks of children of evil desires. If you can get this picture in your mind, before you come to Christ you are a child of your own desires. However, after we come to Christ we should be children of obedience to God.
The point is this: the world and its desires should no longer control my thoughts and actions. I need to keep my focus on God’s word and being obedient to Christ.
III. I need to focus on My Personal Holiness.
Vs.15-16 “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’.”
Holiness means to be separated and entirely different from all other people and things. There are three reasons why believers are to live holy lives. God is holy, God is called believers to be holy and scripture demands holiness. (enough said)!
We give away our holiness so often because it is not a focus for us, we focus on so many other things in our lives that destroys our holiness or our set-apartness. How do you live a Holy life, by following God’s word, (when we live according to the word of God, it will separate us from the world.) if anything we do contradicts God’s word then we are compromising our personal holiness.
We have no choice in this matter God is holy, God calls us to be holy and God’s word demands that we be holy.
Conclusion
How is it that we should live in this world, by keeping our focus on the right things, by keeping our focus on God’s grace, by keeping our focus on our Obedience, by keeping our focus on our Personal Holiness.
(Thanks sermoncentral contributors, preachers sermon and outline bible)
