INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
Look at that mud hole, that looks fun as long as someone else is doing the clean up.
Do you remember being a kid and being drawn to mud puddles, water pebbles, and mud holes?
There was something about the mud that as a young boy it had an attraction to me.
Back home one of the most fun times to play was when it was raining. We would play in ditches; throw mud at each other and at other things. We would drag people through mud holes.
When I played football we had Sophomore initiation. We had a swamp behind our field and when it rained hard, the sophomores got drug through the mud hole swamp.
Good times! WE even got the new coaches.
Playing in the mud looks fun even adults like it when they have big trucks to drive through the mud.
One of the hardest things a child can do is have to sit back and watch everyone else have fun.
I remember when I broke my leg. I could not play football or baseball with my friends, all I could do was to watch. That was so hard for me to do.
Staying clean while living in the hog lot can be very difficult at times. We look out and it appears that everyone is having fun playing in the mud.
Last week we looked at how we can stay clean while living in an unclean world.
Today we are going to look at WHY we need to stay out of the mud, WHY we need to stay pure, WHY we need to do the best we can to stay unstained by the world.
If we understand WHY we need to stay out of the mud, it will make it easier to do.
It is so easy for us to take a casual attitude towards sin in our lives, it is so easy to over look what we do and pass it off as weakness, or thoughtlessness.
The world around us is encouraging us to jump in the puddle with them.
Playing in the mud looks fun. Why shouldn’t I play in it also?
Let’s look at some reasons to avoid the mud hole.
Turn to verse 17 with me.
SLIDE #2
1 Peter 1:17(ESV) 17And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
In our text we are told to conduct ourselves in fear.
In the original text, verses 17-21 are one sentence. The structure of the sentence is best understood in the light of this thought.
SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. WE DO NOT BELONG IN THE MUD HOLE.
His children need to be clean.
• SLIDE #4
1. Addressing God as Father has a major implication.
Verse 17 begins with the word “IF”. A better way to translate this word is “since.”
Since we address God as our Father, we are saying that we are going to follow what He tells us to do.
To “address” is to call upon, or appeal to. It is another way of saying that we pray or call out to God as our Father.
SLIDE #5
Jesus said in John 14:15…
John 14:15(ESV) 15“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
When we call out to God, we are acknowledging the fact He is our Father. We need to be clean because we are His children, we belong to Him.
My parents asked me not to bring shame upon their good name by my actions. I wish I could say I never brought shame on them. We realize that what we do reflects upon our family name.
We owe it to our Heavenly Father to live a pure life. There have been times that knowing my actions would bring shame upon Jesus that I was able to refrain from the activity that would do this.
Have you ever stayed away from doing something you should not have because you knew it would make Jesus look bad?
This goes back to verses 15-16, be holy because God is holy.
One reason to stay out of the mud is because we call out to God as our Father, therefore, we should conduct ourselves like one of His family.
SLIDE #6
2. One day the mud hole will be gone.
• The mud hole will dry up someday.
In verse 17 we find another reason for conducing ourselves in fear, one day the mudhole will dry up, or put another way, our residency is temporary.
We examined this thought in verse 1 where Peter called us “exiles”. The phrase, “during the time of your stay on earth” is another way of saying we are strangers in a foreign land, that we are aliens.
I remember getting filthy dirty when I was a young boy. It was fun rolling in the ditch, getting mud everywhere, and then I realized that I was going to have to go home and face my mother. Talk about a long walk home!
One day we will go to our true home, and when we do, we will have to give an accounting of the life we lived here.
I know many people who have done things in their lives that changed the course of their lives forever.
What do we do, what do we have when the mudhole dries up?
When we decide to follow a path of sin for our lives, what do we have to show for it? What good will come out of it?
Think of any sin you want, ask yourself if anything good comes from it? Sure, the sin may be fun for the moment, but what about the long-term effect?
Is the payment worth it?
SLIDE #7
3. Living in the mud hole has implications.
• He’ll see the mud on us.
In verse 17 we find the third reason for us to conduct ourselves in fear during our stay. Our God constantly examines our conduct. He will see the mud on us.
When I came home from my mud party, my mother was going to see what I had been doing, there was no hiding it.
We are told our Father God, impartially judges each one’s work. In many places we find that God judges our works, in this verse work is singular to indicate that God judges the sum and substance of a person’s life.
The word “judges” is a present tense verb which means that God examines or passes judgment EVERY DAY.
God sees what we do and hears what we say. He is all-knowing and ever-present as well as being all-powerful!
Our passage says that God “impartially” judges each one’s work. God does not show favoritism in His judgments; He is no respecter of persons.
God is not influenced by money, power, prestige or position.
God sees things for what they are no matter who you are.
SLIDE #8
1 Peter 4:17(ESV) 17For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
1 John 1:9. We need to understand that when we belong to Jesus, we can confess our sins to Him and He will forgive us, but it is better to not have to do that!
We are told we need to conduct ourselves in fear during our stay on earth.
The fear spoken of here is not a terror type fear, but a reverence for God.
Fear is a trembling anxiety that comes from breaking one of God’s commands. In the context it can mean a fear of displeasing or causing pain on the part of those who we love and who love us.
How many times have you feared hurting someone you loved by your conduct?
Reverence is the attitude of mind of the man who is always aware he is in the presence of God, who speaks every word, who performs every action and who lives every moment conscious that God is watching and passing judgment. God is examining the fruit of our lives.
When we fall short, it pains God; it hurts God because He loves us. Have you ever been disappointed in your child because they did something that was wrong? God feels that when we do not live with an awareness of His presence in our lives.
Let’s turn to verses 18-19
SLIDE #9
1 Peter 1:18-19(ESV) 18knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
SLIDE #10
II. PLAYING IN THE MUD CANNOT COMPARE TO BEING COVERED BY THE BLOOD!
Another compelling reason for me to stay out of the mud of sin is because our freedom was very expensive to purchase. The mud cannot compare to the blood!
SLIDE #11
1. God saved you from the mud hole!
Verse 18 speaks of being ransomed or redeemed. During the time of Jesus, when a person was taken as a slave, either forced by capture or in some other manner, that slave could be bought out of their slavery by paying a high monetary price.
Sometimes when a person was captured and sold into slavery, one of their relatives would search until they found who bought them, and then offer to redeem their loved one.
IF you bought this person’s freedom, you have redeemed them or paid the ransom to free them.
Pawnshops work a bit like this. You take your stereo and they give you money for it and a claim ticket. You take the claim ticket back to the pawn shop to redeem your stereo.
SLIDE #12
2. God gave His best for you.
When we are lost, before we give our lives to Jesus, we are slaves to sin. Sin owns us. Jesus redeems us from the slavery to sin.
He redeems us from our formally futile way of life. It is futile because without Jesus, our life leads no where. Without Jesus, our life has no meaning and without Jesus we are enslaved to sin and therefore will not spend eternity with Him.
Hebrews 10:11 tells us that the blood of goats and bulls cannot take away sin. Jesus did that. He was the perfect spotless Lamb of God.
Unblemished means “without moral defect, no character defect in Himself. To be spotless means He was without physical defect, He was unstained by the world.
SLIDE #13
Hebrews 4:15(ESV) 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
If you have a priceless glass, you would not just use it casually or toss it in the sink or dishwasher. You would treat is special.
You are special because the price paid for you was every high. Do not let people use you like you are a cheap glass, realize you are an expensive priceless crystal! You would not take your crystal to play in the mud, do not do that with yourself either!
Let’s see what verses 20-21 says to us.
SLIDE #14
1 Peter 1:20-21(ESV) 20He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, 21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
SLIDE #15
III. OUR FOUNDATION CAN KEEP US FROM SLIPPING IN THE MUD HOLE!
FIRM FOOTING, NOT A SLIPPERY HOLE.
The last reason for staying out of the mud is that our faith has a firm foundation, it is something we can get firm footing on. It is not a slippery mud hole.
The death, burial, and resurrection were part of God’s plan to save us. It was not some plan carried out in a place or time no one heard of. The plan was established before we were created!
This is part of the firm foundation of our faith. The second part of the firm foundation is the incarnation of Jesus, or in other words, Jesus came to the earth and lived as a man. HE appeared to us! He had an earthy form and life.
He did this for our sake! He did it for our faith and the foundation of our faith!
We need to stay out of the mud because we believe what God did through Jesus. We further believe that we too will be raised when He sends Jesus back.
If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the one and only Son of God, that will have an affect on our conduct on this earth!
Since our faith and hope are in God, we will be different as a result!
CONCLUSION
We need to stay out of the mud because we love God and we are His children.
Playing in the mud may have momentary pleasure, but it always has a long term cost.
Sometimes we forget how special we are to God. We were purchased with the precious blood of Jesus!
You are special in God’s eyes, you are like fine china. Do not allow yourself to be treated or act like a paper plate.
Let’s pray!
