Rugged Individualism And Faith Series

Rugged Individualism and Faith

(I Peter 5:10-14)

1. A man came up with a great list of titles for future country music songs.

Country Music Song Titles:

1. If You Can’t Live Without Me, Why Aren’t You Dead?

2. I Went Back to My Fourth Wife for the Third Time and Gave Her a Second Chance to Make a First Class Fool Out of Me

3. I’m Ashamed to Be Here, but Not Ashamed Enough to Leave

4. If My Nose Was Running Money, Honey, I’d Blow It All On You

5. You Were Only A Splinter As I Slid Down The Banister Of Life

6. I Would Kiss You Through the Screen door but It’d Strain Our Love

2. Okay, I admit these titles must have been invented by a loser. But, in God’s eyes, the real losers are not those who have been less than perfect, but those who do not think they need God or other people.

3. In previous verses, we saw how important humility is, and how real our battle with the devil is. And the worse part is that pride and demonic influences are great allies. Since the original sin of Satan was pride, and since man, in his pride, will not confess his dependence upon God, the two embolden each other.

Main Idea: Human arrogance and demonic spirits ally themselves in opposition to even the most elementary spiritual truths. WE NEED GOD AND WE NEED OTHER BELIEVERS

I. We Need GOD (10-11)

• this text (vs. 10 and 11) is considered a "benediction" – a closing prayer/blessing

A. We are dependent upon His GRACE (10a)

* Sign seen in a textile mill, “When your thread becomes tangled, call the foreman.” A young woman was new on the job. Her thread became tangled and she thought, “I’ll just straighten this out myself.” She tried, but the situation only worsened. Finally she called the foreman.

“I did the best I could,” she said.

“No you didn’t. To do the best, you should have called me.”

(Donnie Martin, Sermoncentral)

* God is the source of all grace

* Grace means undeserved generosity and favor

* The first sin in Eden was about control and dependence; rather than depend upon God, Eve and then Adam sought to be like God and dependent upon themselves…

Whereas taking responsibility is a good thing, trying to be God is not.

1. COMMON Grace

Matthew 5:45b, "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

2. SAVING Grace

Ephesians 2:8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

B. We are lost without His CALLING (10b)

"a divine summons" (Hendricksen)

Eph. 1:4, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight…"

Romans 8:30, "And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."

C. To receive the blessing of HEAVEN (10c)

• we are not in the dark when it comes to eternal life

• "saved" is not only what we shall be; if we know Christ, it is what now are!

• I John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

• Psalm 73:24, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.”

D. To help us face SUFFERING (10d)

1. Right now our sufferings seem slow, tedious, and major; in light of eternity they are short and momentary; soon God will restore what has been taken or lost…

2. Military field dentistry (WWI); foot pedal pumped drill…

3. Sometimes in this life; sometimes not until heaven

4. God will eventually deliver us…

5. We are to stand firmly against Satan’s attacks, but sometimes we are wounded and knocked down; we become battle weary and traumatized…but we will not remain that way…

E. To properly satisfy our need to WORSHIP (11)

1. Peter breaks into praise and worship; this is natural when we complete our God

2. Human beings were created to worship. Because of how sin has corrupted the human soul, we are tempted to worship false gods, money, or a host of substitutes, things that in themselves are not necessarily bad, but when put in place of God become bad.

3. The worship instinct is not unique to believers; the difference is that believers can worship in spirit and in truth…

WE NEED GOD AND WE NEED OTHER BELIEVERS

II. We Need Other BELIEVERS (12-14)

A. Peter needed SILAS (12a)