WEBVTT 00:00:03.325 --> 00:00:11.316 In 1998, there was a blockbuster movie that came out starring the actor Tom Hanks, called Saving Private Ryan. 00:00:11.316 --> 00:00:27.751 And Saving Private Ryan was a war movie and it was centered around the primary character which was played by Tom Hanks, a guy named Captain John Miller, a guy named Captain John Miller and it starts out with the invasion of Normandy, the D-Day invasion. 00:00:27.751 --> 00:00:30.172 And pretty graphic. 00:00:30.172 --> 00:00:32.493 If some of you remember that movie, it was pretty powerful. 00:00:32.493 --> 00:00:37.237 Some powerful scenes there Just made you so sad for those people who had to die that way. 00:00:37.237 --> 00:00:59.494 But Captain Miller and his platoon, after taking heavy casualties they're part of the success, of course, of taking the beachhead and then he's called in and given a special assignment, and that special assignment is to go find James Patrick Ryan Patrick or a private James Patrick Ryan and to bring him back. 00:00:59.494 --> 00:01:19.587 And the reason being is because this soldier was the last surviving son of four sons that the other three had already died and it was determined that they were going to do everything in their power to bring this one boy back to his mother. 00:01:19.587 --> 00:01:25.590 It's powerful and he and his platoon do that. 00:01:25.590 --> 00:01:27.186 They go, try to find him. 00:01:27.186 --> 00:01:41.188 Of course, as many of you, if you've done any following of history, you know that that invasion, a lot of things went crazy, and Private Ryan was part of the parachuters that came in and he got separated from his group. 00:01:41.188 --> 00:01:42.504 They finally find him. 00:01:42.504 --> 00:01:46.240 He's in this little town trying to protect a bridge. 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:53.986 He's with a bunch of other soldiers that all found each other and they were trying to protect this bridge from the Germans destroying it. 00:01:53.986 --> 00:02:04.790 And so when Captain Miller finds him and says we're bringing you home, your three brothers have died, private Ryan goes no way. 00:02:04.790 --> 00:02:15.764 I'm staying right here because that's where my brothers would want me to be, right here, serving side by side with my other brothers. 00:02:15.764 --> 00:02:19.513 And Captain Miller says okay, then we're going to stay too. 00:02:19.513 --> 00:02:22.266 And so they defend this bridge. 00:02:22.266 --> 00:02:27.206 And if you remember the movie, captain Miller says you stay right at my side. 00:02:27.206 --> 00:02:30.067 Well, the battle is terrible. 00:02:30.067 --> 00:02:31.224 They are greatly outnumbered. 00:02:31.224 --> 00:02:32.564 They fight bravely. 00:02:32.564 --> 00:02:42.450 In the end, just before it looks like the Germans are going to blow the bridge up, the American fighters come in and they save them. 00:02:42.450 --> 00:02:51.719 But in all that happening, in all that fighting, captain Miller is mortally wounded and he's sitting down leaning against a half track and he's dying. 00:02:51.719 --> 00:03:00.812 And, of course, private Ryan's hunched down in front of him and Captain Miller grabs him by his uniform and he pulls him close. 00:03:00.812 --> 00:03:08.332 He just looks at him and he says in his last breath, he says earn this, earn this. 00:03:10.621 --> 00:03:15.393 The very final scene of the movie is a now older Private Ryan. 00:03:15.393 --> 00:03:32.514 He's an old man now and he's at one of the it's actually the American cemetery there in Normandy, where over 9,000 gravestones stand to honor those people that died, those soldiers that died, those American soldiers. 00:03:32.514 --> 00:03:38.473 And he's walking along his family's behind him, his wife and his children and some grandchildren. 00:03:38.473 --> 00:03:42.887 And he walks up to that one monument for Captain Miller. 00:03:42.887 --> 00:03:52.150 And as he's standing there, his wife comes up and looks and she squints and she said Captain John Miller. 00:03:52.150 --> 00:03:57.551 And you realize immediately he never told his wife about what happened. 00:03:57.551 --> 00:04:12.170 And he turns to his wife and he says in almost desperation tell me I lived a good life, tell me I'm a good man. 00:04:15.781 --> 00:04:27.288 Well, if you're just joining us, we're in a series on 1 Peter and two weeks ago Mark Medley kicked it off by talking about who is Peter and I thought it was really good because it helped us understand the man who wrote this epistle. 00:04:27.288 --> 00:04:34.233 And then last week Kelly kicked us off by walking us through the first 12 verses of 1 Peter, chapter 1. 00:04:34.233 --> 00:04:47.826 And he talked about the sermon that was called Living Well in a Culture of Chaos, and it was really a great message because he really showed us how Peter's words established that, what had already been done for us. 00:04:47.826 --> 00:04:50.072 He basically talked about our identity in Christ. 00:04:50.072 --> 00:04:58.726 He talked about the gospel it was all through that section, and I like to think he was really talking about who we are in Christ, our identity in Christ. 00:04:58.726 --> 00:05:00.572 He was laying out the gospel. 00:05:00.612 --> 00:05:10.730 And now we come to the second half of 1 Peter, chapter 1, where Peter's going to talk about certain behaviors that should be evident in the life of a Christian. 00:05:10.730 --> 00:05:20.596 Now you might say okay, scott, why did you talk to us about the movie Saving Private Ryan? 00:05:20.596 --> 00:05:30.012 Well, it's because I wanted something that would be a direct contrast to what Peter tells us in these last few verses in chapter 1. 00:05:30.012 --> 00:05:44.886 You see, in the movie, private Ryan lived the rest of his life trying to earn what was given to him by Captain Miller and the other men of his platoon. 00:05:44.886 --> 00:05:54.350 He spent his whole life trying to be a good man, trying to live a good life, to earn what was given for him. 00:05:54.350 --> 00:06:06.949 And what we're going to read about today in 1 Peter contains a principle that's the exact opposite of what Private Ryan set out to do ever since that day when Captain Miller was killed. 00:06:07.821 --> 00:06:31.050 We're going to read about in Peter is him telling Christians that there are behaviors behaviors that are supposed to be a part of the Christian life and their actions that Christians should do not to earn salvation, but rather because of the outflow of a redeemed life inside of them. 00:06:31.050 --> 00:06:50.468 And it's so important, when we go into these quote how-to sermons where the writer has written us steps and things that should be in our lives, that we all understand we're not earning something, that it's something that comes from within. 00:06:50.468 --> 00:06:54.269 So I want you to keep that in your mind as we go through this section. 00:06:54.269 --> 00:07:02.588 So this morning I'm going to look at six clear, gospel-informed, motivated behaviors all Christians should exhibit in their lives because of what's already been done. 00:07:02.588 --> 00:07:05.466 So let's start in verse 13. 00:07:06.670 --> 00:07:09.846 If you have your Bibles, you can turn to 1 Peter 1, verse 13. 00:07:09.846 --> 00:07:11.189 The first word. 00:07:11.189 --> 00:07:12.411 We're going to stop right there. 00:07:12.411 --> 00:07:28.987 It says therefore Therefore, now I think most of you have been around the kingdom for a while and have done any kind of Bible study or been taught how to study God's word there's a really important thing you're supposed to do when you see a word that says therefore, you ask a question. 00:07:28.987 --> 00:07:33.050 Right, what is the therefore, therefore? 00:07:33.050 --> 00:07:51.612 Well, it's important and, by the way, if you didn't hear Kelly's sermon last week, you should go back and listen to it, because everything I'm about to talk about today was established by what he exposited about those first 12 verses. 00:07:53.002 --> 00:08:07.245 If you think about those first 12 verses, he talked about concepts like being born again, talked about our living hope, the imperishable inheritance, sanctification of the Spirit and all these different phrases. 00:08:07.245 --> 00:08:19.791 They all tie in to what Christ has done within us and the transformation that's happened into us, the gospel that's in us, and so you can't read these things without being informed by that. 00:08:19.791 --> 00:08:26.624 And that's why it's so important that when we read Scripture, we read it all the way through, and that's why it's so important when we read Scripture, we read it all the way through. 00:08:26.624 --> 00:08:36.261 So the first three behaviors are really all mentioned in the first verse, believe it or not, of 1 Peter 1, verse 13. 00:08:36.261 --> 00:08:36.844 Let's read that first verse. 00:08:36.844 --> 00:08:46.000 Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.668 The first point is preparing your minds for action. 00:08:50.529 --> 00:08:53.043 Now, I don't know if you're a fan of the King James Version. 00:08:53.043 --> 00:08:57.721 If you go back to the King James Version, it says something pretty interesting. 00:08:57.721 --> 00:09:01.147 It says gird up the loins of your mind. 00:09:01.147 --> 00:09:03.572 Gird up the loins of your mind. 00:09:03.572 --> 00:09:05.094 That's a phrase you've used this week. 00:09:05.094 --> 00:09:07.364 Right, hey, gird up your loins. 00:09:07.364 --> 00:09:11.633 Excuse me, call a policeman over. 00:09:11.633 --> 00:09:11.874 Right. 00:09:14.961 --> 00:09:20.342 Peter is talking metaphorically about something that they would have recognized immediately what it meant. 00:09:20.342 --> 00:09:24.530 He's really referencing an act of a person. 00:09:24.530 --> 00:09:29.508 You know they wore robes back then, right, and he's referencing the act of taking that robe. 00:09:29.508 --> 00:09:34.668 And there's a specific action that you would do to gird it up so that you would have the ability to move. 00:09:34.668 --> 00:09:40.264 And I actually found online an instruction manual for how to gird up your loins. 00:09:40.264 --> 00:09:44.850 It's funny, but it's true. 00:09:44.850 --> 00:09:46.692 This is really what they did. 00:09:46.692 --> 00:09:53.971 If you notice, he takes the tunic, he lifts it up, gathers it in front, puts it between his legs, comes around, tucks it in. 00:09:53.971 --> 00:09:56.203 Then he grabs a sword and he starts kicking butt. 00:09:56.203 --> 00:10:02.902 But this is literally what it meant to gird up your loins. 00:10:03.504 --> 00:10:07.221 And, of course, the ESV puts this in language we can understand. 00:10:07.221 --> 00:10:09.326 You know the concept of preparing your minds. 00:10:09.326 --> 00:10:10.370 But that's what he's saying. 00:10:10.370 --> 00:10:14.908 He's not metaphorically saying wrap your robe around, you'd start running around. 00:10:14.908 --> 00:10:28.989 He's saying you need to prepare your mind, prepare your mind, you know and it's interesting, by the way, if this is a soldier in battle, did he do this in the middle of the battle? 00:10:28.989 --> 00:10:32.327 No, he did it before the battle. 00:10:32.327 --> 00:10:37.410 And that's what we need to do because we're getting into a battle. 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:42.985 You know, peter's using this as a metaphor to help believers understand that we're in a war against a great adversary. 00:10:42.985 --> 00:10:49.346 A great adversary, and they needed to ready their minds, prepare their minds. 00:10:49.346 --> 00:10:51.753 You notice he said prepare your mind, not your heart. 00:10:51.753 --> 00:10:54.043 Prepare your mind. 00:10:54.043 --> 00:10:56.869 I think it seems clear. 00:10:56.869 --> 00:11:03.091 Peter wanted them to be ready for action, ready to engage a powerful spiritual enemy that was going to come against them. 00:11:04.100 --> 00:11:14.230 And there's many scriptures, by the way, that talk about preparing your mind for these battles, and it's a common theme all the way through the New Testament 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3-5,. 00:11:14.230 --> 00:11:20.192 This same metaphor is being used by Paul, and not specifically about girding up your loins, but this battle. 00:11:20.192 --> 00:11:29.230 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3-5, it says For, though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 00:11:29.230 --> 00:11:33.144 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. 00:11:33.144 --> 00:11:39.965 On the contrary, they, of course, these weapons have divine power to demolish strongholds. 00:11:39.965 --> 00:11:50.231 We demolish arguments and every pretense that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 00:11:50.231 --> 00:11:54.607 We are in a war, whether you want to believe it or not. 00:11:54.607 --> 00:12:09.847 We're in a war and we have to prepare our minds for that war so that we can do exactly this demolish all those strongholds, excuse me, and that means we have to train our minds. 00:12:11.659 --> 00:12:14.330 Okay, scott, how do you train your mind? 00:12:14.330 --> 00:12:20.626 Well, think about that If you're preparing for something I'm going to. 00:12:20.626 --> 00:12:23.894 There's a conference. 00:12:23.894 --> 00:12:33.767 It's a little get-together for this motorcycle group I'm with and we're going to be in a talent show and I'm playing the mandolin in the talent show and I had to learn this tune right. 00:12:33.767 --> 00:12:45.879 When I first picked up my mandolin and started playing, my fingers hurt Bad, but I kept playing and my wife was playing the guitar with me and she's like honey. 00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:46.581 My fingers hurt. 00:12:46.581 --> 00:12:50.669 I said I know, but keep playing, keep playing. 00:12:50.669 --> 00:12:52.234 And now my fingers. 00:12:52.234 --> 00:12:53.724 I've got these calluses on there. 00:12:53.724 --> 00:12:57.131 I had to train that and I was able to finally get. 00:12:57.131 --> 00:12:59.465 So I can play it without crying right. 00:13:00.466 --> 00:13:05.128 But it's a training that you go through, that you have to, and the training of our mind is a similar way. 00:13:05.128 --> 00:13:09.951 You have to do it by repetition and doing things that will constantly remind us about this. 00:13:09.951 --> 00:13:18.249 You know, apostle Paul also talks about this preparing of our mind in Romans 12, which is just a wonderful chapter, by the way. 00:13:18.249 --> 00:13:25.576 If you ever want to just be encouraged and exhorted at the same time, read chapter 12 of Romans. 00:13:25.576 --> 00:13:27.687 But this is what he says in the first two verses. 00:13:27.687 --> 00:13:37.163 I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 00:13:37.163 --> 00:13:39.210 And look what he says in verse 2. 00:13:39.210 --> 00:13:54.190 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that, by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 00:13:54.860 --> 00:13:59.392 Being a Christian involves using both our minds and walking with the Holy Spirit. 00:13:59.392 --> 00:14:02.727 I remember Neil said one time I laughed. 00:14:02.727 --> 00:14:05.027 He said I was a part of a church early on. 00:14:05.027 --> 00:14:22.091 He said that they told us to park our minds at the door and then come in Because it was all about emotion and all that stuff and he was saying listen, that's not what it's supposed to be. 00:14:22.091 --> 00:14:28.068 We're supposed to be together, using our minds right and couple that with the Holy Spirit. 00:14:28.068 --> 00:14:32.748 You need to prepare yourself and we need to be prepared to battle the enemy. 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:36.269 And one of the biggest questions when I say, well, how do I prepare my mind? 00:14:36.269 --> 00:14:40.191 And my question back to you is do you know why you believe what you believe? 00:14:40.191 --> 00:14:58.734 A long time ago in my other church I started a read the Bible in a year thing and I took a survey and I just asked people in the church how many of you have read the Bible from cover to cover? 00:14:58.734 --> 00:15:04.904 I bet you less than 20% put their hands up. 00:15:04.904 --> 00:15:07.571 We base everything we believe on this word. 00:15:07.571 --> 00:15:15.264 We should have read it through cover to cover, not just to check a box. 00:15:15.264 --> 00:15:15.865 We should know what's in it. 00:15:15.865 --> 00:15:17.070 We should know why we believe what we believe. 00:15:17.070 --> 00:15:28.441 You want to know why so many of our young people go and when they go out to college and they leave the house, that suddenly they start to give in to all these things Because they don't know why they believe what they believe. 00:15:28.441 --> 00:15:36.441 It's that handoff of faith that has to come from the parent to the child and it's so difficult, but you've got to know what you've got to know. 00:15:36.642 --> 00:15:37.284 Thank you very much. 00:15:37.284 --> 00:15:37.807 I appreciate it. 00:15:37.807 --> 00:15:41.268 Hey, this is too cold, I'm just kidding. 00:15:41.268 --> 00:15:57.447 Thank you very much, but you prepare your mind in ways, in actual ways and exercises, just like you would prepare anything else. 00:15:57.447 --> 00:16:01.948 The first thing is to saturate your mind with the Word of God. 00:16:01.948 --> 00:16:04.721 Saturate your mind. 00:16:05.163 --> 00:16:16.544 If your Bible reading is restricted only to the devotion, like we're reading the Bible through, if that's the only thing you do, then that's not enough. 00:16:16.544 --> 00:16:18.474 That's not enough. 00:16:18.474 --> 00:16:27.210 If someone says, take this sponge and get it wet, and you take a sponge and you just go, is that wet? 00:16:27.210 --> 00:16:36.068 Well, technically it's kind of wet, but if you put it in there and you squeeze it and then you just let it go and all that water fills in it, now you've got something. 00:16:36.068 --> 00:16:37.600 We used to do that in the pool, by the way. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:40.047 We'd take those little balls and squish it and you'd throw it up. 00:16:40.047 --> 00:16:45.529 It was so much fun, and you get it really heavy and wet. 00:16:45.529 --> 00:16:46.086 I probably shouldn't confess to that. 00:16:46.086 --> 00:16:46.250 It was so much fun and you get it really heavy and wet. 00:16:46.250 --> 00:16:46.706 I probably shouldn't confess to that. 00:16:46.706 --> 00:16:48.652 It was child abuse, I think, with my kids. 00:16:50.801 --> 00:16:53.005 But you saturate your mind with the Word of God. 00:16:53.005 --> 00:16:53.807 How do you do that? 00:16:53.807 --> 00:17:01.462 You read it, you read it and you read it for yourself, and you read it and you pray on it and you meditate on it. 00:17:01.462 --> 00:17:02.504 There's all kinds of things. 00:17:02.504 --> 00:17:04.488 We know how to do it, we know what to do. 00:17:04.488 --> 00:17:05.409 We just don't do it. 00:17:05.409 --> 00:17:20.892 And Peter's saying prepare your minds, know what you know and secondly, control what goes into your mind. 00:17:20.892 --> 00:17:22.094 Control what goes into your mind, man, that's so true. 00:17:22.094 --> 00:17:25.705 You know, I got to admit I'm fasting social media and it's been really a good thing for me to do. 00:17:25.705 --> 00:17:35.240 One of the things that Facebook does is it gets you in those little videos and you start watching the video and then you watch the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the next one. 00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:36.683 Maybe the next one will be better. 00:17:36.683 --> 00:17:37.708 Oh, that made me laugh. 00:17:38.859 --> 00:17:41.142 Half an hour goes by and what have you accomplished? 00:17:41.142 --> 00:17:41.382 Nothing, you. 00:17:41.382 --> 00:17:42.002 And what have you accomplished? 00:17:42.002 --> 00:17:42.403 Nothing. 00:17:42.403 --> 00:17:43.423 You have learned nothing. 00:17:43.423 --> 00:17:44.585 You've accomplished nothing. 00:17:44.585 --> 00:17:48.429 You've simply blown a half an hour letting garbage come into your mind. 00:17:48.449 --> 00:17:51.711 Now, it might not be sin, but it's ridiculous stuff, right? 00:17:51.711 --> 00:17:53.993 That's when the enemy does it. 00:17:53.993 --> 00:17:57.957 He's not going to bombard you with things that you know are obvious sin. 00:17:57.957 --> 00:18:03.059 He's just going to take you away from what you should be focusing on. 00:18:03.059 --> 00:18:07.236 By the way, don't walk out of here and say Scott said every video on Facebook is sin. 00:18:07.236 --> 00:18:09.003 It's not what I said. 00:18:09.003 --> 00:18:11.289 I'm not saying that. 00:18:11.289 --> 00:18:17.066 I am saying that if that's all you do, you're taking your mind away from where you need to receive truth. 00:18:17.066 --> 00:18:21.013 You know it's really important that we do that. 00:18:21.013 --> 00:18:24.545 And, by the way, one of the other things you can do is rehearse what you know. 00:18:24.545 --> 00:18:30.426 One of the things I love to do when I pray is I pray God's plan of salvation back to him. 00:18:30.426 --> 00:18:33.218 I mean, I'll literally rehearse. 00:18:33.218 --> 00:18:41.340 You know, lord, from the very foundation of the earth, you had a plan to redeem me when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. 00:18:41.340 --> 00:18:49.907 You weren't taken by surprise From the very foundation and you had my name written down that book of life from the very foundation, god. 00:18:49.907 --> 00:18:58.765 And then through Israel and through the promises to Abraham, and I'll just go through it and wow, what a perspective gaining thing it does for me. 00:18:58.765 --> 00:19:01.521 It's really important that we do that. 00:19:01.521 --> 00:19:05.080 And, lastly, there's so many more things. 00:19:05.121 --> 00:19:14.228 But the other thing is don't get pulled into discussions or controversies or things that are just useless Useless. 00:19:14.228 --> 00:19:19.755 You know, I've been fasting social media, so I wasn't on social media when the eclipse happened. 00:19:19.755 --> 00:19:28.306 But I've heard, even in the church I've heard, what happened with this whole eclipse thing. 00:19:28.306 --> 00:19:31.703 I mean, people were going crazy over it. 00:19:31.703 --> 00:19:40.746 Oh, this eclipse is going to go across the country and it's going to split the country in half and something about rapture Indiana or whatever. 00:19:40.746 --> 00:19:43.398 I missed it, folks. 00:19:43.398 --> 00:19:45.705 And you know what? 00:19:45.705 --> 00:19:50.267 The next day, the light bill still came in and I had to mow my lawn. 00:19:50.267 --> 00:19:57.204 You get the idea I could spend all that time talking about stuff that doesn't matter. 00:19:57.204 --> 00:20:01.365 What does matter is the gospel and the truth. 00:20:01.365 --> 00:20:03.582 How are we preparing our minds? 00:20:03.582 --> 00:20:04.819 Because, folks, it's going to get worse. 00:20:04.819 --> 00:20:06.877 It's going to get worse. 00:20:06.877 --> 00:20:10.839 We're going to have to know what we know and we're going to have to make sure we're saturating our mind with truth. 00:20:11.701 --> 00:20:14.016 Now the second behavior is listed in the same sentence. 00:20:14.016 --> 00:20:19.288 He says, therefore, preparing your minds for action Again, action, because we have to take. 00:20:19.288 --> 00:20:29.196 You're not just preparing your mind, you're going to be ready to use it, he said, and being sober-minded, so he tells us, prepare our minds for action and then be sober-minded. 00:20:29.196 --> 00:20:32.186 And they may sound like they're the same, but they're very different. 00:20:32.186 --> 00:20:37.522 Our definition of sober, by the way, is a little skewed right. 00:20:37.522 --> 00:20:41.236 When we think of sober-minded, some people think about someone who's just very serious. 00:20:41.236 --> 00:20:43.938 I'm sober, I'm sober-minded. 00:20:43.938 --> 00:20:45.759 That's not what it means at all. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:46.359 I'm sober, I'm sober-minded. 00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:47.060 That's not what it means at all. 00:20:47.080 --> 00:20:51.604 He's metaphorically using a Greek word here, and that Greek word, by the way, is nephantes. 00:20:51.604 --> 00:20:55.386 It's from the verb nepho, which means to be sober. 00:20:55.386 --> 00:20:57.388 Literally means to not be drunk. 00:20:57.388 --> 00:20:58.750 That's what it means. 00:20:58.750 --> 00:21:05.636 But he's using it metaphorically here and I think it's important we understand. 00:21:05.636 --> 00:21:10.728 It means to be free from every form of mental and spiritual drunkenness or excess. 00:21:10.728 --> 00:21:14.262 That's what it means to be sober minded. 00:21:14.262 --> 00:21:25.488 The connotation is that, rather than being controlled by the outside influences, believers should be directed from within through the Holy Spirit, directing our minds and our hearts and our actions. 00:21:25.488 --> 00:21:27.320 That's what he's talking about. 00:21:27.320 --> 00:21:40.247 You know, when you're physically drunk anybody who's been physically drunk before there's something that happens and that is suddenly you're open to a lot of things you weren't open to before. 00:21:41.556 --> 00:21:49.519 My mother-in-law used to say a drunk man says what a sober man thinks, and I think it's true. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:57.878 You watch people that get drunk and all of a sudden they're saying things that you know is in their heart or they're just allowing. 00:21:57.878 --> 00:21:59.565 They have no control anymore. 00:21:59.565 --> 00:22:01.457 You know the whole redneck thing. 00:22:01.457 --> 00:22:03.903 You know, hold my beer and watch this. 00:22:03.903 --> 00:22:07.109 You know, hold my beer and watch this. 00:22:07.109 --> 00:22:07.611 You know it's fuel. 00:22:07.611 --> 00:22:18.095 And I'll tell you in all seriousness, some of the worst mistakes I've ever made in my life were when I was drunk. 00:22:18.095 --> 00:22:19.817 I'm so glad God brought me out of that. 00:22:19.817 --> 00:22:24.647 I could hold my liquor with the rest of them, right, but I couldn't hold my liquor with the rest of them. 00:22:24.647 --> 00:22:26.897 I compromised. 00:22:26.897 --> 00:22:28.061 I told jokes I shouldn't have said, I said, but I couldn't hold my liquor with the rest of them. 00:22:28.061 --> 00:22:28.267 I compromised. 00:22:28.267 --> 00:22:28.974 I told jokes I shouldn't have said. 00:22:28.974 --> 00:22:30.539 I said things I shouldn't have said. 00:22:30.539 --> 00:22:33.959 I did things I shouldn't have done and I repented of that. 00:22:34.800 --> 00:22:35.963 But that's the concept. 00:22:35.963 --> 00:22:45.827 Have we allowed our minds to be controlled by things from the outside, rather from the things within, that's Christ in us? 00:22:45.827 --> 00:22:53.103 You know, the Apostle Paul talks in 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 6-8, and he talks about the same concept of being sober-minded. 00:22:53.103 --> 00:22:58.948 He says so let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 00:22:58.948 --> 00:23:05.318 Same word the fontes For those who sleep sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 00:23:05.318 --> 00:23:16.766 But since we belong to the day, metaphor, metaphor what is the difference between the day and the night Light? 00:23:16.766 --> 00:23:19.461 We belong to the light. 00:23:19.461 --> 00:23:21.720 Let us be sober. 00:23:21.720 --> 00:23:29.394 Same word, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 00:23:29.394 --> 00:23:30.538 It's a contrast. 00:23:30.538 --> 00:23:34.708 Paul is showing between this same thing, the same concept. 00:23:35.976 --> 00:23:48.326 Our mindset as Christians should be that we are going to be those who are mentally and spiritually alert and aware of what's going on. 00:23:48.326 --> 00:23:55.183 And as we walk into a culture that's ever increasingly hostile to the truth, we have to ask ourselves are we being sober-minded? 00:23:55.183 --> 00:23:57.741 Am I being sober-minded? 00:23:57.741 --> 00:24:01.829 Are we free of this mental and spiritual drunkenness? 00:24:01.829 --> 00:24:09.642 Are we addicted to things that take our mind off of God Because they can make us metaphorically drunk? 00:24:09.642 --> 00:24:11.606 You know what? 00:24:11.934 --> 00:24:16.047 If you want to assess how sober-minded you are, ask a couple questions. 00:24:16.047 --> 00:24:24.461 How do I respond during trials when the quote proverbial wheels fall off? 00:24:24.461 --> 00:24:28.749 Is my first response anger or despair? 00:24:28.749 --> 00:24:35.320 Is it desperation or do we turn to God? 00:24:35.320 --> 00:24:48.801 And, by the way, I'm not saying that if something hits you, there might be an initial reaction, but very soon after it you should be on your knees, because that's where the hope comes from. 00:24:48.801 --> 00:24:51.863 What's in our daily thoughts and minds? 00:24:51.863 --> 00:24:53.340 What do we think about every day? 00:24:53.340 --> 00:25:00.042 We think about that 401k, we think about our next vacation. 00:25:00.042 --> 00:25:03.542 Are we allowing the wrong thoughts to come in? 00:25:03.542 --> 00:25:04.861 Are we being sober-minded? 00:25:04.861 --> 00:25:13.105 And, by the way, the way you stay sober-minded is by keeping your focus on God and His Word and the truth. 00:25:14.375 --> 00:25:24.523 And it really all ties into this next third behavior, in verse 13, where he says fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:25:24.523 --> 00:25:36.000 So, if you read this in context, it says therefore okay, everything that Kelly talked about last week, therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded because you're doing this. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:44.083 He says set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:25:44.083 --> 00:25:45.340 You see how those flow together. 00:25:45.340 --> 00:25:47.880 They're all part and parcel. 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:53.625 You can't do one without the other, and those two first actions lead to the second one. 00:25:53.625 --> 00:25:59.220 And being able to do that, by the way, what's that grace to be brought to you? 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:01.546 Well, he says that it's Christ's return. 00:26:01.546 --> 00:26:02.699 Do you realize. 00:26:02.779 --> 00:26:03.765 I went back and read this. 00:26:03.765 --> 00:26:09.486 This is the fourth time in this chapter that he's talked about the return of Jesus Christ. 00:26:09.486 --> 00:26:14.621 The fourth time I see a theme. 00:26:14.621 --> 00:26:15.983 I see a theme. 00:26:15.983 --> 00:26:17.606 What's going on? 00:26:17.606 --> 00:26:18.929 Why is he talking about that? 00:26:18.929 --> 00:26:26.445 And he writes, by the way, to set our hope not just on the events surrounding it, but on the grace that will be brought to you. 00:26:26.445 --> 00:26:27.968 The grace that will be brought to you. 00:26:29.049 --> 00:26:34.419 You know, you could probably say there were three seasons of grace in the history of mankind. 00:26:34.419 --> 00:26:36.343 Three times of grace. 00:26:36.343 --> 00:26:37.506 There was grace passed. 00:26:37.506 --> 00:26:40.459 That, of course, is at the very foundation of the earth. 00:26:40.459 --> 00:26:42.726 God had already put a plan of grace in action. 00:26:42.726 --> 00:26:48.276 You know, he wasn't like, oh man, I was hoping Adam and Eve wouldn't have sinned Shoot. 00:26:48.276 --> 00:26:49.479 Now I got to come up with plan B. 00:26:49.479 --> 00:26:51.124 He didn't do that. 00:26:51.124 --> 00:26:52.467 He had it all together already. 00:26:52.467 --> 00:26:56.402 He had a plan for grace for us from the very beginning. 00:26:57.604 --> 00:27:15.403 And then the grace present, which is really what Peter and the church then and us are living in right now, and that, of course, is the grace that Jesus came and he died and he was resurrected and he took on the sins of the world, and we live under that grace every day. 00:27:15.403 --> 00:27:16.640 Thank you, lord. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:19.282 If there's anything to be praised, that's it right there. 00:27:19.282 --> 00:27:21.462 You can praise that all day long, for the rest of your life. 00:27:21.462 --> 00:27:23.740 That's the grace present. 00:27:23.740 --> 00:27:26.243 But there is a grace future that Peter's talking about here. 00:27:26.243 --> 00:27:32.474 And that's the grace present, but there is a grace future that Peter's talking about here, and that's the culmination of what Christ did. 00:27:32.474 --> 00:27:42.507 When we will finally be with Christ and the enemy, that great serpent will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit. 00:27:42.755 --> 00:27:43.584 I don't know about you, but I want a front row seat for that one. 00:27:43.584 --> 00:27:43.759 Into the bottomless pit. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:51.353 I don't know about you, but I want a front row seat for that one. 00:27:51.353 --> 00:27:55.487 Just think of the pain and the death that being has brought to humanity. 00:27:55.487 --> 00:27:57.460 Just think about it. 00:27:57.460 --> 00:28:06.238 To see that evil finally, once and for all, completely cast away. 00:28:06.238 --> 00:28:10.944 It won't even be a memory, won't that be the most beautiful thing? 00:28:10.944 --> 00:28:13.269 I want a front row seat for that. 00:28:13.269 --> 00:28:18.686 That's way better than the Super Bowl. 00:28:18.686 --> 00:28:24.896 I'll tell you that, because you know who's going to win. 00:28:24.916 --> 00:28:29.719 Grace future is something that Peter's talking about, and what he's saying is setting our hope on this. 00:28:29.719 --> 00:28:35.761 Grace keeps our eyes fixed on that goal and helps us not stray, not stray off the path. 00:28:35.761 --> 00:28:37.301 That's what we're focused on. 00:28:37.301 --> 00:28:47.846 And, by the way, I understand there's a tendency for some to only think about the return of Christ and therefore not worry about what we're supposed to do here and now. 00:28:47.846 --> 00:28:48.707 I'm not saying that. 00:28:48.707 --> 00:28:53.269 I'm not saying that, but I am saying, as an ultimate goal, that's what we should focus on. 00:28:53.269 --> 00:29:03.913 And people who are suffering greatly in this life, those that are suffering well and have strong faith you hear them talk. 00:29:03.913 --> 00:29:05.413 What will they talk about? 00:29:05.413 --> 00:29:11.902 They will talk about what's going to be in the future. 00:29:11.902 --> 00:29:12.884 Talk to some of our saints. 00:29:12.884 --> 00:29:22.905 Every time I talk to Jack Wright, I get encouraged to hear him talk about Jesus. 00:29:22.905 --> 00:29:24.731 He's lived a life of following the Lord. 00:29:24.731 --> 00:29:35.481 He's looking forward to being with his Lord, being reunited with his beautiful wife. 00:29:35.501 --> 00:29:38.011 That's a part of our problem those of us that still don't have that many aches and pains and we're healthy and all that stuff. 00:29:38.011 --> 00:29:38.775 We get focused on all kinds of things. 00:29:38.775 --> 00:29:42.703 This isn't just for people that are over a certain age. 00:29:42.703 --> 00:29:43.665 This is for all of us. 00:29:43.665 --> 00:29:46.563 So for you, young people, I just want to encourage you. 00:29:46.563 --> 00:29:51.220 I know you're not experiencing the pain, all the different things, like I get out of bed every morning. 00:29:51.220 --> 00:29:57.061 I'm like, okay, I ain't like I used to be and I stretch my back a little bit. 00:29:57.061 --> 00:30:00.605 Every year goes by, I get more of those pains, but guess what? 00:30:00.605 --> 00:30:07.161 My focus is still on Jesus, because I don't live for this life. 00:30:07.161 --> 00:30:09.816 I don't live for the things of this life. 00:30:09.816 --> 00:30:12.059 It doesn't bring me anywhere. 00:30:12.059 --> 00:30:14.005 My focus should be on them. 00:30:14.005 --> 00:30:21.017 So we need to keep our eyes on Christ's return and keep it there, and the trials you're going to go through will give you that perspective. 00:30:21.017 --> 00:30:27.500 Some of the saints that are going through some of the most difficult times, like our brother Paul. 00:30:27.500 --> 00:30:29.402 You know I pray for him a lot. 00:30:29.402 --> 00:30:32.980 I hope you guys pray for Paul too, but he's going through a terrible trial. 00:30:32.980 --> 00:30:34.625 But you know what? 00:30:34.625 --> 00:30:35.567 Talk to Paul. 00:30:35.567 --> 00:30:37.298 Ask him where his focus is. 00:30:37.298 --> 00:30:39.224 It's on Jesus. 00:30:41.436 --> 00:30:46.424 The fourth behavior is found in verse 15, and it's a directive to be holy in your conduct. 00:30:46.424 --> 00:30:59.223 Verse 14 through 16 says as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance and that's what it was, ignorance, by the way, ignorance from the fact you didn't understand or know better. 00:30:59.223 --> 00:31:05.055 But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. 00:31:05.055 --> 00:31:09.540 Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. 00:31:09.540 --> 00:31:22.326 Now, what's interesting is all through these first verses in 1 Peter, peter's using a lot of familial metaphors. 00:31:22.326 --> 00:31:25.423 Family metaphors, even the whole concept of being born again. 00:31:25.423 --> 00:31:27.318 Who are we born again to? 00:31:27.318 --> 00:31:29.605 We are born into the family of God, right? 00:31:29.605 --> 00:31:31.157 So born again. 00:31:31.157 --> 00:31:33.465 He talks about God as the father in verse 2. 00:31:33.465 --> 00:31:34.338 He talks about that. 00:31:34.338 --> 00:31:37.095 And in this verse he talks about being obedient children. 00:31:37.095 --> 00:31:45.676 And now, obedient children, we obey our father and our parents, it's natural. 00:31:45.676 --> 00:31:50.675 But the other thing is we kind of mimic our parents, don't we Right? 00:31:51.038 --> 00:32:06.436 A lot of people when my dad was alive, a lot of people, because I moved down here from Canada when I was younger and he would come down to visit and I would introduce him to people who knew me but didn't know him, and after about 20, 30 minutes they'd say man, scott, you're a lot like your dad. 00:32:06.436 --> 00:32:11.161 So one guy said you know, mr Weems, you're a lot like your son. 00:32:11.161 --> 00:32:14.367 I thought, yeah, that's really funny, I'm like him. 00:32:14.367 --> 00:32:17.824 You got it around reversed, but, by the way, it was interesting. 00:32:17.824 --> 00:32:19.736 One time he tells my dad tells a story. 00:32:19.736 --> 00:32:25.748 I was five years old, I was born in Saskatoon, saskatchewan, by the way, I'm a Canadian, by the way. 00:32:25.748 --> 00:32:26.770 There'll be a test. 00:32:26.770 --> 00:32:29.501 You'll get a free coffee if you can spell Saskatoon, saskatchewan. 00:32:29.501 --> 00:32:31.467 Just take it up to the coffee bar. 00:32:31.467 --> 00:32:33.538 Don't use your phone, no cheating. 00:32:35.363 --> 00:32:41.441 My dad and I were walking down the back alley I was five years old, he's holding my hand and we're walking down and there's a fence. 00:32:41.441 --> 00:32:45.166 You know, all these backyards had these fences and we couldn't see. 00:32:45.166 --> 00:32:46.167 My dad tells the story. 00:32:46.167 --> 00:32:47.349 I was too young to remember. 00:32:47.349 --> 00:32:48.617 There was this fence. 00:32:48.617 --> 00:32:49.962 We couldn't see what was on the other side. 00:32:49.962 --> 00:32:53.021 It was like a privacy fence. 00:32:53.021 --> 00:33:05.163 And all of a sudden there was this barking and this dog hit the fence and we both jumped and my dad said my little five-year-old mouth opened up and I said that dang dog, but I did not say dang. 00:33:05.163 --> 00:33:08.362 He said that dang dog, but I did not say dang. 00:33:08.362 --> 00:33:11.848 And my dad looked at me and of course he was going to correct me. 00:33:11.848 --> 00:33:16.539 But then he realized where I learned that word. 00:33:16.539 --> 00:33:18.645 It wasn't in kindergarten, I wasn't going to school yet. 00:33:18.645 --> 00:33:22.239 I learned that from him. 00:33:22.239 --> 00:33:23.944 We learn from our father, right? 00:33:28.914 --> 00:33:32.116 But Peter is saying that we should be holy as our Father is holy. 00:33:32.116 --> 00:33:32.978 What's that look like? 00:33:32.978 --> 00:33:37.780 Now, if you expect me to unpack all of what holiness means in the next five minutes. 00:33:37.780 --> 00:33:38.642 You're not going to get it. 00:33:38.642 --> 00:33:41.804 That's for another 20 sermons. 00:33:42.084 --> 00:33:46.767 But I want to just say there's some things that Peter says that actually informs that. 00:33:46.767 --> 00:33:54.751 In fact, if we jump to 2 Peter 1, he talks about what this really is in different language, but powerful language. 00:33:54.751 --> 00:33:59.896 2 Peter 1, verses 3 through 4, it says His divine power. 00:33:59.896 --> 00:34:09.244 God has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, okay has granted us past tense. 00:34:09.244 --> 00:34:11.186 These are some powerful words. 00:34:11.186 --> 00:34:35.650 This is being transmitted to us so that, through them, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in this world because of sinful desire. 00:34:35.650 --> 00:34:43.108 This is a great statement of reality. 00:34:43.108 --> 00:34:43.710 Peter is saying the same thing. 00:34:43.710 --> 00:34:44.414 He's saying in verse 15. 00:34:44.514 --> 00:34:45.739 God has made us holy. 00:34:45.739 --> 00:34:47.885 And how did he do that? 00:34:47.885 --> 00:34:49.813 You earned it. 00:34:49.813 --> 00:34:51.838