Sermon Transcript
You all know that when a single person gets married, in this marriage ceremony, this wedding ceremony, they always take vows: to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death do us part. Now, you’ve heard those vows before, but the point is, is that they are basically— this couple is basically pledging to be husband and wife. And to leave the single life behind. Now, to say that is to say, okay, we are leaving behind, you know, checking other people out. We’re leaving behind flirting with somebody else so that, you know, maybe they might get to know us and like us and that sort of thing.
We’re leaving behind imagining what life would be like if somebody showed an interest in me and I might then have an interest in them. If you get married, you’re leaving behind dating others. You’re promising that you’re only gonna date each other. That’s it from this day forward. You’re leaving behind doing whatever it is that you wanna do whenever you wanna do it.
Now you’re gonna have to check in with somebody else, you know, and you have something you wanna do and you’re gonna need to check your plans and the schedules and all of that and just get, kind of get together on the same page. In other words, marriage is a from this day forward pledge. And it’s a pledge to live a different life, a new life, to be somebody else’s husband or wife for life. Now, the reason I bring that up is because we’re jumping into 1 Peter chapter 4 this morning. And if you have your Bible, you might want to turn there with us and— or pull out the message notes or the Bible in the pew or whatever you might want to use this morning.
But we’re in 1 Peter chapter 4, and this section of Scripture, we’re just going to look at verses 1 to 7. It really helps us consider the pledge that we have made to the Lord, a from this day forward pledge, a pledge to be only the Lord’s. So, from this day forward, from this day would be the day of salvation. So, if you have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, this passage especially speaks to those who are in union with God in union. And I like that word because the Scripture talks about a person who’s in Christ as being in union with God through Jesus Christ in this relationship.
And if you’re in union with God through Jesus Christ, then the idea here is we’ve got to put behind the old life and make an exclusive commitment to Christ so that we’re not going to live a life of messing around on the side, so to speak. For the past few months, we’ve been thinking about that concept as it relates to us, as Peter describes Christians as strangers and exiles, people that have been adopted into God’s family, people who are aliens on planet Earth, and how we’ve talked about there’s a need for us to make an exclusive commitment to the Lord, a holy commitment to the Lord. In fact, 1 Peter 1:15-17 says, but just as He who called you is holy, so Be holy, and he’s speaking to Christ followers, be holy in all you do, for it’s written, be holy because I’m holy. Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. So, that’s just basically describing that if you’ve made a commitment to Christ, you can’t continue to live like you used to live.
Also, 1 Peter 2:9 says, you’re a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, People belonging to God, so you’re in union with God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. So, this picture is, is that if you’re in union with Christ, with the holy Lord, with the holy Savior, it calls for holy living. Now, that makes complete sense, doesn’t it? I mean, come on, if you get married and you’re going to be in union with this person that you’re marrying, you gotta live different. You gotta live different than you lived before.
And here the picture is, is if you’re in Christ, and by the way, those 2 words, in Christ, the terminology that’s used there is very specific in the Scriptures, especially in Paul’s writings. When it’s talking about somebody who’s in Christ, they’re talking about somebody who’s in union, in union with Christ. He actually sees us as his wife, as his bride. He sees us as his bride, he’s our husband. So we’re in union with Christ, by the way, The Apostle Paul uses those terms, in Christ, he uses those terms 80 times in his 13 epistles that he writes, 80 times.
You know how many times Paul uses the word Christian in his epistles? Answer, zero, not once. Christian’s used 3 times in the New Testament, but the Apostle Paul never uses the word Christian. Why? Because he wants to get across this concept that those who are in Christ are in union.
We’re in a relationship. So this isn’t about a religion. This is about a relationship. And this relationship calls for us to leave an old life behind, specifically to put sin behind us. We’re to put sin behind us.
So, like, you know, like a husband and wife must put sin— or excuse me, not sin. Put singleness— sorry if you’re single. I didn’t mean that. Okay. Put singleness behind you.
I’m not saying if you’re single, you sin. Okay? I’m not saying that at all. All right. Please don’t misunderstand me here.
Put singleness behind you. If you’re married, you got to put singleness behind you. Peter is saying you got to put the old life behind you. You got to put it behind you. Now, this is what he says specifically.
1 Peter 4:1-3, therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because He who has suffered in His body is done with sin. You might underline or highlight those words. Is done with sin, and as a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. This is an amazing section.
So you almost think, I mean, like Peter, haven’t you already said enough about holiness, you know, and living this whole different life and stuff like that? Well, the fact is, is that he brings us up Again, this matter of holy living just says how important this is, that we understand that even as Christ suffered for living a holy life at the hands of sinners, verse 1, because sinners could not tolerate Jesus’ claims, they couldn’t tolerate His teachings, they couldn’t tolerate His lifestyle, in the same way that Jesus was willing to take it on the chin, so to speak, we must have— and I want you to notice in verse 1— the same attitude. The same attitude, the same attitude that is willing to suffer in our body if necessary to be done with sin, to no longer be living in sin. You’ve even heard that term before, right? People are living in sin.
Well, the desire here is that people are not living in sin, even if it means suffering at the hands of sinners. And why would I, you know, take on suffering at the hands of sinners? Well, because the outcome, the end result is better. Let me ask you a question. Do you believe that?
Do you believe that it is better to do what is right in God’s eyes, even if it means suffering at the— in the hands of sinners? Do you believe it’s better to take that suffering and do what’s right in contrast to living the way that you want to live or in sin? Proverbs 14:12 says, there’s a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. If you’re doing things according to your own way, ultimately it’s gonna end up in death. Forever separation from God even begins now.
But if you, Hosea 10:12 says, sow for yourselves righteousness, that is do what’s right, you’re gonna reap the fruit of unfailing love. So it’s kinda like, you know, hey, look at the outcomes. Which one do you want? Do you want, you know, a life that ends up in death? Or do you want a life that grows more and more in love and life?
I mean, for me, it’s not a hard choice to make. And what Peter is saying to us, to anybody who’s a Christ follower, is, well, you need to make a from this day forward pledge. You need to make a from this day forward decision to live the rest of your life, verse 2, to live the rest of your life on earth for God’s will, for God’s desires, rather than evil human desires. Now, what he’s calling for is a resolved commitment, a resolved commitment, a from this day forward kind of commitment. And if you ask me, you know, there are a number of decisions people can make in your life.
Like, for instance, if you decide to get married, that’s a big commitment, right? I mean, think about it, think about it before you make the commitment. A marriage commitment is a big commitment. It’s a pledge that you’re going to be husband and wife for life, for better or worse, richer and poorer, sickness and health. Till death do us part.
That’s a big commitment. But the commitment that’s being asked for here, the commitment that Christians are being charged to make, is an even bigger commitment, an even more important commitment. This commitment where we say to the Lord that we’re in union with, you know what, I’m no longer going to live like I lived before. It’s going to be different. From here on out.
In fact, Peter says, you’ve spent enough time, verse 3, in the past. You spent enough time in the past doing what pagans, what people outside of the body of Christ do, what they choose. Not just doesn’t happen, they choose to do them. Living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. What a list.
Debauchery is just open indulgence in sexual sins. It’s no sexual restraints. It’s satisfying your human sexual desires. Lust, again, another immoral sex matter, is just all about my human desires and attaining my lustful desires, fostering those desires. Drunkenness is excessive alcoholic use.
Orgies is usually connected to drunkenness and sex, carousing or drinking parties. Detestable idolatry just kind of summarizes the whole thing and essentially says it’s just the worship of you, you know, idolatry in that you worship yourself. You don’t worship a god. You don’t worship God, you worship yourself, you worship whatever it is that pleases you, whatever it is that makes you happy, that’s detestable in God’s eyes because you have put other things before the Creator who made us. And Peter is saying the same thing essentially the Apostle Paul said when he said essentially mortify your flesh, crucify the flesh with its passions and evil lusts, Galatians 5:24.
So there’s kind of like a negative here that a person has to choose to make, and that is to crucify the flesh or put the old life behind. But then there’s a positive side of this, and this is like Romans 12:1 where it says, therefore I urge you, brothers, in the view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, or as living sacrifices, holy, holy, and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Laura prayed about our acts of worship that continue even beyond a worship service into the week. Well, we can worship God by putting to death the flesh, that’s the negative, and by presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, that’s the positive.
And notice that he brings up the matter of our bodies. You say, why does he bring up my body? Well, because God cares about what we do with our bodies. See, our bodies encompass our thoughts, our bodies encompass our emotions and our will and our soul, and God cares about what we do with our eyes, and he cares about what we do with our ears, and he cares about what we do with our feet, where we go, what we do, and God cares about what we do with our mouth, the things that we say. Just like the wife who called me up some time ago and said, Dave, I just caught my husband looking at pornography.
Just like she cared about the fact that he was feeding his mind these pornographic images, just as she cared about that, God cares about what it is that we do with our bodies. And he should, as a wife should care about that, because this husband who made a from this day forward commitment to having to hold that commitment, he’s broken that commitment when he’s looking at pornography. There’s some other woman now that he’s essentially connecting with. And as that is not a road that a wife wants a husband to go down, certainly God doesn’t want his children, his bride. He doesn’t want his bride that he is in union with to go down a road that involves any kind of immorality.
And you know what? You think unbelievers would get that. I mean, you think like, yeah, well, that kind of makes sense. And so, if you made that kind of commitment to this person that you love, Jesus, a commitment to put the old life behind and move on into this new life, if you made that kind of commitment, you think like people might say, that’s good. That’s a good commitment to make.
But Peter says, well, that’s unlikely to happen that way. In fact, 1 Peter 4:4 says, they, talking about the pagans again, those who are choosing to do what’s right in their own eyes, not what according to God is right, they think it’s strange that you, you who make this pledge, from this day forward pledge to live a holy life to God, they think it’s strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation. Flood of dissipation, that whole list of sin that you see there in verse 3. They think it’s strange. That you don’t plunge into that same flood of dissipation.
You just get the picture. And so what do they do? They heap abuse on you. You’re going to take it for it. If you make a decision to move beyond sin, to put sin behind you, if you resolve to put sin behind you, you’re going to be abused.
People are going to abuse you for that, at least verbally. If not physically, at least verbally, they’re going to heap abuse on you. Unbelievers are going to see your commitment to live apart from sin as Strange, strange. They’ll say things like, you’re repressed. You’re repressed.
You’re legalistic. You’re judgmental. You’re bigoted. You’re narrow-minded because you believe God’s ways.
Well, it’s okay. It’s okay if you gotta take that kind of suffering. That’s what he’s saying here, verse 1, if you suffer in your body for resolving to make a from-this-day-forward commitment to the Lord to be done with sin, that’s okay. You know, in some ways, this is really crazy when you think about this because even unbelievers are okay with a marriage commitment, aren’t they? I mean, we just read about it in the press.
We read about it with the politicians, and a politician is caught, you know, in an immoral relationship or whatever it is, and they lose their office because even the public rags on and condemns, you know, messing around if you’ve made a marriage commitment. But unbelievers don’t see it that way when it comes to you choosing to not live like you used to live before. They’ll rag on you for making a commitment like that because they don’t see— and I think this is oftentimes the case— I don’t think they see the commitment that you’ve made as something that you’ve made to a person. This isn’t a religion. See, for so many people, when they think about commitments to build a relationship with God, they don’t see it as a relationship.
They see it as a religion. And so with religion, you know, you just kind of, you know, you make a couple commitments, throw your offering in, you’re okay. You’re all right, you know. Hey, I went to church on Sunday, I’m okay. No, no, no, no.
This is about a relationship. This is about a relationship where you’re in union with somebody. You are married to Christ, and that ought to make a complete difference in how you choose to live. Even if you take heat for it, it’s okay. In fact, remind yourself of this, verse 5, but they, talking here about the unbelievers, they’re going to have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
That’s an awful reality, isn’t it? That those who are ragging on you for the commitment you’ve made are going to ultimately stand before God, before Jesus Christ, whether they’re already dead, they’ve already died, or they live up to the time of Christ’s coming. That’s what he’s talking about here. Those who are going to have to give account are going to stand before this Judge, whether they’re living and the dead, all of those who are outside of Christ. Whether they live up to the time Christ comes or they die before Christ comes, it doesn’t matter.
They’re ultimately going to have to give an account to Christ, to the One that they rejected, to the One that they said no to, their Savior. And us remembering that, us reminding ourselves of that, of that coming judgment, hopefully will give us even more incentive to do all that we can to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to who are right now rejecting it. Who right now want nothing to do with Christ, because one of the best things that we could do would be to live for Christ before them, that they might see somebody who genuinely is in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and ultimately come to want that kind of relationship. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? In fact, that was so important to Peter.
Peter says in verse 6, for this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead. So, evidently, some people had heard the gospel, then they had died, so that they, these that heard the gospel, might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. What’s he talking about? He’s saying the reason why we’re so motivated to preach the gospel to others is that so before they die, before they die, they ultimately come to experience criticism for the life they’re choosing to live, but that doesn’t matter. Because they’re living according to God and his Spirit.
And that’s such a better way to live, and it’s such a better way to die. And so Peter was totally motivated by the desire to see people be converted and their lives to be changed and ultimately join in with this crowd that’s going to take some heat. But it’s okay. It’s okay to take heat because the upside’s better than the downside.
What a picture. And really just remembering that reason itself is another wonderful incentive for choosing to put sin behind us, that our life and the opportunity to preach to others can have an eternal impact in the lives of people around us. And we pray it will. We absolutely pray it will. I like what John Piper said.
He said this, if you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risk will be high, and your joy will be full. What’s he saying? He’s saying, hey, listen, the potential impact of your life on other people is worth it. And even if it’s hard, even if it’s challenging, even if, you know, you have people that reject you because of your faith, it’s okay because ultimately this is the path to full joy.
Hebrews 1:8-9 talks about Christ in this regard. It says, the Father says of his Son— the writer of Hebrews says, the Father says of his Son— so God the Father says of His Son, Jesus, You— and He’s speaking now about Jesus. Look at this. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. This is how God wants His children to live.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. So, if you have made an appropriate from this day forward pledge to me, you are a person who loves righteousness and you hate wickedness. Therefore, God, your God— and again, we’re speaking here about Jesus, God the Father, your God. It’s amazing. Concept here.
Your God has anointed you, and what has your God anointed you with? With the oil of gladness beyond your companions. Not everybody is anointed with the oil of gladness in the same measure. Who’s anointed the most with this oil of gladness? Well, in this case, Jesus Christ, of course.
But He is anointed— and notice the connection— He is anointed with the oil of gladness because He loved righteousness, and he hated wickedness. Well, that just comes right back to what John Piper was saying. Your joy is going to be full. The best thing you can do when it comes to joy is make a decision to put sin behind you, because in putting sin behind you, you come to experience gladness and joy and happiness. And that is found in a from this day forward commitment.
So it’s found in resolving to put sin behind you. It’s found in reminding yourself of the dreadful outcome of those who choose not to put sin behind them and living apart from Christ. And it’s found in the reason that hopefully motivates us to live our lives in such a way that through our lives the gospel might be proclaimed and come to have impact on others. You know, as I was working on this message, I was just thinking back on my life and a few milestone moments in my life, and there are 2 that would come right to the top of the list for me. One would be the day I believed in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.
And I think many of us that are sitting here this morning can identify with that, and we would say that was a milestone moment in my life too. I came to believe that Jesus is the Savior. I was separated from God by my sins, but I received the gift of life found in Jesus Christ. My life has never been the same, and I’m grateful. And many of us share that.
The second milestone, big milestone moment for me came to my mind this week was the day I resolved to be a living sacrifice for Christ. Some people call this a rededication commitment. Some people call it a dedication commitment. Some people call it a surrender commitment. You could call it a from this day forward commitment pledge.
Call it whatever you want to call it. It’s an over-and-done commitment. I’m over and done with that. I’m over and done with that life. I’ve spent enough time living that life.
I’m moving into this life. And I really believe 2 of the best decisions a person can make in their life, one is believe in Jesus. That’s a conversion decision, that’s a salvation decision. And the second is this decision that Peter’s talking about here. I’m done with that.
I’m done with the old life. It’s a presentation decision.
Sanctification decision, call it whatever you want to call it. It’s just a decision where you present yourself to God as a living sacrifice, and this presentation decision that’s made at a point in time continues to be made throughout your life. So Peter’s calling us to make a put sin behind you decision, and then he ends his thought here in verse 7 with these words: The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled, so that you can pray. You may know that Jesus, when he was here, talked a lot about the importance of before his coming, because there’s a day coming.
We talk about the end times or the last times, and Peter brings the end of all things is near. So he’s thinking about this time when Jesus is going to come back, second coming we call it. But when Jesus comes back, before he comes back, we are to have a posture of watching and praying. That’s another way of saying of staying alert, alert in our Christian lives. So don’t go get sleepy on this thing, but stay alert in these times that you’re living.
Eugene Peterson translated one of these passages where Jesus was talking about this concept. He translated Matthew 26:41 in The Message Bible this way. He said, Stay alert, be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God, but there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire. When I saw that translation, I thought, I love that translation, especially the last part that translates, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
It’s kind of like this old dog, you know, this old lazy dog there over by the fire. He doesn’t want to do anything. Well, you kind of get the idea though. Peterson is saying we just got to be alert to doing what it is the Lord wants us to be. So a from this day forward commitment is important, but it’s not enough.
It’s not. Would you agree with that? You can make the rededication commitment, the surrender commitment. I suppose some of the students at middle school camp made another commitment to the Lord, and I love camp commitments like that. I think they’re They’re needed.
I think they’re good. I’ve probably made dozens. I have— I’ve lost track of how many of those camp decisions I’ve made, but I’m sure I’ve made many of them, and it’s a good thing. But Peter in verse 7 is saying, but you also must maintain— if you make this decision to put sin behind you, you must maintain vigilance and dependence. You’re going to need to maintain vigilance and dependence to see this commitment become a reality.
And part of that is remembering that we’re living in the times where Jesus could come at any time, okay? The end is near. Jesus could come at any time. So, it’s recognizing that. It’s also recognizing that Jesus said in this time before His coming, things are going to get tough.
This isn’t going to be easy to be a Christian in these times right before Jesus’ coming. In fact, there’s going to be more flak that’s going to come the way of Christ followers for the life that they choose to live, if they’re choosing to live a life that’s going to be pleasing to the Lord. So Peter says, so you need to live in this time before Jesus’ coming, you need to live with clear minds, you need to live with self-control, and you need to live with prayer. So clear minds, well, you need to live with your mind set on things above. You need to live with self-control, self-control actually even beyond your own strength kind of self-control, and you need to live with prayer, which is constant in need and dependence upon God and his supernatural help.
And if you live with a clear mind, self-control, and prayer, it’s going to boost your vigilance and your dependence on the Lord. Now, to me, what that is saying, what’s implicit to what he is saying there is, first of all, you’re going to need the Word of God. You’re going to need to be changed by God’s Word because it is God’s Word that clears our minds, isn’t it? God’s Word transforms our thinking. It clears up our thinking.
We begin to see sin in different eyes. It’s kind of like, you know, getting glasses. I got glasses in 5th grade. I was squinting. The teacher saw me squinting at the chalkboard.
You ever heard of one of those chalkboards? I know none of you like, you know, chalkboards. What’s that? Okay, it’s like a whiteboard. But anyway, so I’m squinting at the board.
She said, you go down to the nurse right now. I went down to the nurse. Nurse said, you need glasses. I didn’t want to have glasses. But, boy, when they gave me classes, it’s like I saw the world.
It all of a sudden gave me a clear view of things that I didn’t know were fuzzy. And that’s what the Word of God will do. The Word of God will clear it up for you. It’ll show you what is and what isn’t sin so that you might not grieve the one that you’re in union with. So we need the Word of God.
We need to also be empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit produces in us the fruit of the Spirit. And guess one of the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit is what?
Self-control. Self-control. So he’s not saying, you guys should just, like, do this in your own strength. No, he’s saying that the work of the Spirit needs to be at its best in you. You need to be surrendered to the work of the Spirit, not grieving the Spirit, not quenching the Spirit.
Where the Spirit wants to take you, saying yes to the Spirit. So make a spiritual commitment to allow the work of the Holy Spirit to completely engulf you, to be— Filled with the Spirit. It just makes sense, doesn’t it? It’s kind of like if you make a commitment to exercise, you’re going to like, you know, I’m going to finally get in shape. I’m going to get it all together in the exercise area.
That’s a great commitment to make. But if you try to make this commitment alone, you’re just going to, you know, it’s been years and years and years and you haven’t been able to pull off, who knows how many other times you made that kind of commitment. It’s probably going to peter out at some point. It’s probably going to— it’s not going to happen for you. You keep the exercise commitment for a little bit, but then, oh, well, you know.
The best exercise commitments are made with other people, with other people that see the need to, you know, exercise. And so you have a partner or you have partners, and you’re kind of like, you know, you’re doing this together. I was at a club working out, and there’s an older guy, 30 years— about 30 years older than me, and he came and he said, hey, Dave, you got to join the spinning class. He was in the spinning class. I didn’t want to join the spinning class.
I used to walk by the spinning class. Look at the people in the spinning class and say, they’re crazy! Look, they’re all sweaty. And I mean, they’re like dripping sweat as they’re riding these cycles, these stationary cycles and all this stuff. You know, I’m just like, I’m not doing that.
But he kept after me, kept after me. 30 years older or so he is. And I remember thinking, hey, if he could do it, I could do it. Yeah, I could do that. So I’ll sign up.
So I got in the spinning class, did that. And I would have never done it had it not been for Dr. Bob. But since Dr. Bob could do it, I thought, hey, I could do it. And actually, I don’t think I ever did as good as him. But anyway, so that’s a whole other story.
But you get the point. Don’t try to do this alone. That’s what Peter is saying. You’re going to need the Word of God to have a clear mind. You’re going to need the Holy Spirit to be a person who lives in control, self-control.
It’s a control that comes through the work of the Spirit. You need the Spirit, and you need to be devoted to prayer. You need to be prayed up. You need to be depending upon the Lord. I mean, why wouldn’t we do that?
It’s like seeking the best counselor. Are you kidding? God, I get to come to the greatest counselor, the greatest trainer, the ultimate doctor, the ultimate spiritual leader. I mean, there’s somebody in your life that you know who’s qualified and they’re willing to help you. Wouldn’t you make the call?
Wouldn’t you say, hey, can we get together? Can we talk about it? Or something like that. Well, here’s God saying, let’s talk.
Come to me. Don’t stay away from me. Let’s connect. Let’s connect on a consistent basis. Some of you have been following our step-grandson’s accident.
This week they had the surgery finally. It’s been about a month. He was in an accident, messed up his leg bad. He’s at Stanford Hospital still. He’s been there, I don’t know, 3, 4 weeks.
But they had the surgery on Monday finally. We’re so thankful. Waited 3 weeks for the surgery. They had to get all the specialists in the room and in the room for a long enough time. The surgery took 10 hours.
Anyway, everything went really, really well in the surgery. No complications afterwards. Stanford put together this amazing team of medical people, and I’ll tell you what, We’re really thankful. Well, now they’re deciding what are they going to do. He’s about ready evidently to get discharged, maybe this week, Lord willing he will.
And they’re considering taking him to one of 2 homes, family homes. This one over here, if they take him here, he’s not going to have many people that are going to be able to help him. If they take him over here, there are many people could be a part of supporting him and caring for him, and they love him and they want to do everything they can. They love him over here too. But there’s a team over here.
So they made a decision. They’re going to take him to the home where there’s a team. There’s a team. See what this is saying? If you make a decision to put sin behind you, that’s good, but that’s not enough.
You’re going to need a team. And there’s a team that’s been prepared. There’s a team that cares about you. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Each one of them cares about you.
Each one of them wants to be vitally connected to you. You’re in union with Christ. Of course they’re concerned. They want to work through the Word of God. They want to work through the Holy Spirit.
They want to work through prayer. All of this is a part of getting past whatever it is that has held you in its grip. You know, so many times people make a decision they’re going to go forward with Christ, but then they try to do it alone. Don’t go down that road. Don’t go down that road.
Do this in team. Don’t leave the Word of God out. When’s the last time you spent some time in the Word of God, allowing the Word of God to transform your thinking?
Don’t leave the Holy Spirit out. Don’t ignore the work of the Holy Spirit. Pay attention to the work of the Holy Spirit. Be responsive to what God wants to do in you.
Don’t neglect prayer. You’re going to absolutely need it. Have you heard of the name William Booth? William Booth is the founder of Salvation Army, and of course, we this last year had a big old thing here at the church where we did our part to support the Salvation Army. It was a wonderful season there over the Christmas.
Holidays and all of that. Well, William Booth was really a difference maker, and I think that part of the reason the ministry continues to this day is just because of the commitment of this man, this man who the ministry got started through. He, on one occasion, said this. He said, the greatness of a man’s power is in the measure of his surrender. I mean, it really comes down to your surrender, our surrender.
Are we completely surrendered to the Lord? Because the Lord takes people who surrender and He uses them. Have you heard of the name Bill Bright? Well, Bill Bright’s the one who founded Campus Crusade for Christ. It’s a ministry that has seen— listen— millions of people come to faith in Jesus Christ.
The ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, Cru— it’s called Cru now, C-R-U— has seen millions of people come to faith in Jesus Christ. Dr. Bright was once asked, why did God use and bless your life so much? What a great question to ask somebody who’s had the ministry impact that his ministry has had. Why has God used you?
Why do you think he’s blessed you so much? You know what his answer was? It was this: When I was a young man, I made a contract with God. I literally wrote it out and I signed my name at the bottom. It said, from this day forward, I am a slave of Jesus Christ.
I’ve thought to myself, if Dr. Bright had not made a from this day forward commitment, what a difference it would be in the world.
Can you just imagine what God might do through our lives if we get serious about this pledge?
It’s not a lot different, except I think it’s of extreme importance, than a pledge that a husband and wife make to each other to leave the single life behind and to pledge to be husband and wife for life, no matter what.
And that’s what Peter’s calling us to. It’s a relationship. A relationship where we say, I’m putting the old behind me, and from here on out, I’m going to do my absolute best to be faithful to the one who loves me. I want to grow in my love for him. I want to grow in intimacy with him that others might come to faith in Jesus Christ, that I might reach God’s redemptive potential, that which He wants to do through my life.
Let’s pray. Father, thanks for this morning and the opportunity to look at a text that so much needs to be understood in our culture today.
I have to believe, Lord, that it grieves Your heart deeply when Christians grieve the Holy Spirit when we as Christians live like the rest of the world so that we might be accepted or whatever it is that drives us, just perhaps just the flesh. But God, there’s a better way, and it’s found in faithful commitment in this relationship with you. And so help each one of us wherever we are in this spiritual journey. Help us take a step forward in that journey. And if for some of us it means making a commitment first to become one of your children through Jesus, then I pray that, that that commitment could be made today, that decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
I pray for that, that there would be some even now that would just say that. And if that’s the desire of your heart, Lord, Lord, help them say it. Help them believe it. Help them receive the gift of life. Help them know that they no longer have to live in separation from you by their sin, but that through Christ their sins can be forgiven and they can be given a brand-new life, start life over.
Be born again.
If that’s your desire, tell God that right now. He’ll hear that prayer. It’ll be the most important decision you’ll ever make in your life.
And if you’ve already made that decision and you’ve never made this presentation decision, this dedication decision, this decision to be done with sin, as Peter says, well, make that decision now. Lord, I want to be done with sin. I know I’m not going to get it perfect, but I pledge to be done with sin. Get me going in the right direction. Change my heart.
I’m going to depend upon you. Father, thank you that when we make decisions like that, they are relational decisions. To grow in our love for you and our love for others. And we thank you that as your love is shed abroad in our hearts and we experience transformation, we love others in greater ways. And so may both happen.
And may it be to your honor and glory, for we pray this in your name. Amen.
