The Life of Christ Part 2

We ask that your Holy Spirit would guide us and lead us , Lord , into all truth , Lord , and that you'd reveal yourself to us , Lord , and that you'd speak something into our lives that would cause us to grow in our walk with you . Lord , we commit ourselves to you , we commit this time to you .

We just want to step out of the way that you would have your way in Jesus' name , Amen . So , 1 Peter , chapter 1 , verse 13 , and we'll read through 17 .

Wherefore , gird up the loins of your mind , be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ , as obedient children , not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts and your ignorance , but as he which has called you is holy . So be holy in all manner of conversation .

That means it speaks of conduct , behavior , Because it is written . Be holy , for I am holy , and if you call on the Father who , without respect , judges according to every man's work , pass the time of your sojourning here in fear . May the Lord add the blessing to the reading

of his word . Be going into part two of the life of Christ . As we often hear this we speak about the life of Christ and we want to have the life of Christ manifested in us , but we also need to speak about what the details are .

It's a very , very simplified version to say we just need the Holy Ghost , that's all we need , and when you get there , you've arrived at the end . No , you've arrived at the beginning , and we're even instructed in the scriptures that we need to be transformed . So we need to go through a metamorphosis . By what ? By having emotions and sensations and feelings .

All those come with life just in general , and the life of the Holy Ghost . But that's not what it is . We're transformed by the renewing of our mind , and so there's a word that needs to go forth to be preached . There's a word that's written in the Scriptures and it needs to be quickened or revealed in our hearts .

It needs to bring correction , it needs to be instruction , because at the core of godly living , the model modern world has put it this way god loves you , and that's the gospel that's preached . God loves you , so believe in him . Okay , we can all see there's a core truth of that . But if that's how we're presenting it like , why should I love him ?

Like I got stuff going on here , I don't need to be troubled by just because somebody loves us , Like okay , why does that demand a response ? No , you're lost , You're on your way to hell . Why are you lost and on your way to hell ? Because God is holy and because God is just and there's a day of reckoning that's coming .

I mean , that's how Paul preached the gospel when he went to the judge he's going to judge the world by one , by the man that he's appointed , Jesus Christ . He didn't go out and say God is love everyone . God loves you , he wants you to have a good life , he wants you to be happy .

God is holy , Right , God is just , and he demands in anyone that's going to live in his home in heaven will also be the same . And so we face a dire circumstance because you and I are not holy . You and I , the condition that we're born in .

We have evil there , on the inside of the inside , that's corrupting our very nature and is causing us to sin and is leading us on a path to hell . And so we have to understand that God is holy and he tells us to be holy .

And this is the core reason and need actually for the history and the story of redemption is that God made man good but man was corrupted , and so God was going to make a way for man to return back to his original condition and relationship , Because when you're not good , when you're evil , you cannot fellowship with God . God can't even look at evil .

He hates evil . And so when we start the gospel from this other direction that the modern world starts it from , it's really just a gospel . It might be good news , but it's not the real good news . God does want to heal our spirits . God does want to heal our lives .

God does want to deliver us from captivity , from bondage to sin , from the pain of our if we've been hurt or damaged in life . He wants to restore us . But that's the effects of the gospel . People want the effects of the gospel .

Without the gospel , they want to go to a church and be told a psychological message that they can be made whole without sacrifice , without blood , without death . Death is required , Not only the death of Jesus Christ , but actually you have to die also . You have to die to that old life and that's part of it .

He calls us to be holy , so we need to be holy . What does it say in all manner of conversation ? What does it mean to be holy ? It means to be set aside , to be separate , to be different . One way of saying it is to be sacred . You know , in the Old Testament they gathered together all the gold and silver of

Egypt and the brass , the bronze , whatever it was , and they took that and they fashioned it into different items for the tabernacle and those were called in the holy things . These were the holy things . Why were they holy ? Because gold is holy , Because , I mean , I think some people would like us to think that but that's not why it was set aside .

It was sacred . It wasn't to be used for common things , for normal things , for regular things . It was only to be set aside for the service of God . So when we're called to be holy that's what it's speaking of we are set aside for the service of God . It means more than that . Also , If you think about holiness , holiness is part of God being light .

God is a consuming fire . Right , God is holy , God is light , God is a consuming fire . So this holiness also speaks of moral perfection . Now we're really sunk . Now we're absolutely sunk because we , even with the Holy Ghost , we cannot achieve moral perfection in this life .

I know there's Methodists and holiness doctrines that make you think that a person can achieve moral perfection , but the Bible , speaking of the perfection of the saints , is not speaking of moral perfection . It's speaking of maturity .

As long as we're in this mortal body , we will always be in the process of sinning and repenting , and so this call to holiness is something that is not merely external . Let's go even a little step further . It's not an external holiness . That's not what God is requiring .

He's not merely looking at us and saying look , as long as you look like what the Bible says and follow these exact rules , you're going to be okay . We would like it to be that way . It would be so simple for us , but it would be so perverted . It would be so against . We would make an idol out of those laws .

We'd make an idol out of those who maintained those laws , because if there's laws , somebody's got to maintain the laws . So you're going to make an idol out of the preachers . You're going to make an idol out of the preachers .

You're going to make an idol out of the deacon back there , Right , it's going to automatically turn into idolatry when it's talking about following specific laws to achieve holiness . That's not what it is . It's an inward work that starts where In the soul and it comes from the inside pushing out .

It is not an external force of the church , even of mom and dad , though that's part of it . The word comes from the external , but that word has to go from the external , has to go to the inside of the inside to bring a change . And that is the kind of holiness that God is looking for . It's a holiness that is in the heart .

You look in the Old Testament , a number of different times , men of God are spoken of and said to have a perfect heart . Well , every one of them . We can point out their faults , we can preach sermons on all of their faults , and yet God looked at their hearts and saw a . He said I see a perfect heart .

It isn't a sinless heart , but what is it and I think I mentioned this the last time I spoke David , David , this king was good because he had a heart in him like David . Yet his heart wasn't perfect like David .

So God must be judging by a slightly different standard and vision and viewpoint than we're judging by , because none of us would look at David's life and say , man , he had a perfect heart . That hombre was rough , he killed thousands times , tens of thousands of people , he committed adultery and he had the husband murdered and tried to cover it up .

So it wasn't even the external behavior that God himself was looking at to declare a man with a perfect heart . What was he looking at ? What was the attitude ? Saul ? Saul is an incredible story to me and you know we have the blessing of hindsight and what God declares over that . But what if we didn't ? What if you just presented ?

What if I told you a story about a man . God told him to go and kill everyone , animals , and destroy everything . All right , and he went , and he did that , mostly Right . He went and he obeyed . Up to a certain point he killed all the people . Well , he saved the king alive . You know he's going to make a spectacle of him . He was going to mock him .

You know he was going to use him as a spectacle . And he saved some of the animals , because you have military men , you got to feed them . So let's save some of those animals , and let's I mean in other cases we could fly upon the spoil . I mean ,

if you defeat an enemy , why not take their stuff ? I mean it makes sense , right . And then you have another guy . We'll tell you about he cheated on his wife . Another guy will tell you about he cheated on his wife and then he realized that he got her pregnant and he's got to cover it up . So what does he do ?

He goes and he murders this woman's husband . All right , now I want you to judge . Who would you choose out of these two people ? As a man , as a human being , you definitely you'd always choose the guy that mostly obeyed God . That's the human judgment . But what did God say ? What was God's choice ? What was God's prayer ?

We all know he told Saul you have rejected the word of the Lord , so God has rejected you . But that wasn't the first statement . That was the first statement was a confrontation . What is the ? What is the sound of the sheep ? Have you obeyed the word of the Lord ? Yep , I obeyed the word of the Lord .

That is the place where he manifested a messed up heart . That is the very place of failure for Saul . You say no , it was when he went . And he didn't kill everyone . It started there , sure , but what was Saul's attitude when confronted by the prophet ? No , I did it , I absolutely did it . What's the bleeding of the sheep and the mooing of the cows ?

Oh well , the people . What did he do ? He didn't blame himself . He didn't take personal responsibility for the sin that he committed . He put it on another person . It's their fault . Well , you're the king . You have to take responsibility . You're the dad in the home . You take responsibility . You're the one that was responsible for them .

Don't say your kid was the problem . You failed to lead your home , Saul . You failed to lead over your responsibility . And what did he do at the end , when he was finally confronted and told the kingdom has been ripped away from you and be given to someone that's better than you Harsh words , what did he say ?

Yeah , I've sinned , but only honor me now , before the people . So what was Saul manifesting ? His concern wasn't with his relationship with God . His concern was what ? The image that he had externally before the people , eternally before the people . Don't let my image be marred in front of the people . What was David ?

I mean , you really can't make up much worse that story about what someone would do . He violated everything that is sacred and holy . And God came and told us , told a parable , and David got angry and said I'm going to kill that guy . And what are the next famous words ?

To me , this is the confrontation of the ages , because we're confronted with the same problem and the same issue and the same thing , Different sins , different issues , different things in life . But what is our initial response ? I did my best . I mean , you know , look , it's difficult . I went most of the way If it wasn't for these other people .

You know , I tried , but those people are problems . No , David didn't say that . Our problems . No , David didn't say that . David , instantaneously , when he was told he was the man , he was the murderer , he was the thief , Instantaneously , it wasn't boy . I mean , I'm the king , I could kill the prophet . There was no hesitation in David .

I yea , I have sinned against the Lord and the Lord only . And what was God's answer ? David took responsibility for his actions immediately and he admitted his fault instantaneously when he was confronted . And what was God's response ? Fear not , you'll not die . I've pardoned your sin , but you're going to pay for it .

You're going to reap what you sow Right , and so , even though David did reap what he sowed through the rest of his life , he had horrible problems within his family . I mean problem after problem . Even so , even despite all that , God's memoriam of David was he had a perfect heart . Can you think about that for a second ?

It's not so much the problem of your sin that makes you unholy Sure , it does . But once you have the Holy Ghost , God settles that . It isn't the problem that you sin . The problem is how do you respond when you do sin , Because we're all going to sin , little ones and big ones . But number one is is your heart to want to do it ?

Number two is is how do you respond when you do do it and you're confronted over it ? And many times we're not even confronted by people , though we are . Sometimes , Many times , we're confronted by the Holy Spirit . And how do we handle it ? Well , you know , look , Lord , I did most of it . I came up most of the way . That's not going to work To God .

That is just like rejecting the word of the Lord . It's part and parcel with that . I've come , I did my best , but Gideon hindered me , or whatever , whatever Any of us . You can blame your kids , blame another person , blame the pastor , blame this one , blame that one . God doesn't want that . He actually hates that . He considers it rejecting the word .

He comes and confronts you over your sin . What is that ? What is he expressing to you ? When he confronts you over your sin ? He could just leave you completely alone , like the rest of the world . He could leave you to your own devices and say I leave you to your devices . That's God's wrath .

Actually , when he leaves you just to go on sinning and go on sinning and go on sinning . That is the departure of the grace of God from you . So what is it when we're confronted over our sin ? That's the love of God expressed to us . The love of God isn't removing all troubles from your life . That's not the love of God .

We think that's what the love of God is , but it's not . That's because our minds are so perverted that we think . You know , the Bible says God is nice and in him is no meanness at all . God is not nice and the fruit of the Spirit is not niceness . And it never says love is nice . It says love is kind . That's different than being nice .

It says love is kind . That's different than being nice . You know , he's a lamb , yes , but he's also a lion , right . And so God is going to be sure to confront us over our sin , and how are we going to respond to him ? I think that's my goodness . I went nowhere near my notes , All right . So that's the first part that we went through .

God is holy , so be holy in all manner of conduct , because it is written be holy , for I am holy . And it says that if you call on the Father who , without respect of persons , judges according to every man's work , pass the time of your sojourning here in fear . God is looking , and he's both judging and discerning our works .

And , of course , for believers , it's not that we're going to be condemned over our works , but what is it it's ? We'll receive our reward based upon our works . You know , it says some are saved , though , as by fire , right their works . They built wood , hay and stubble , and their works are burnt up .

And then some build gold or some precious stones , and the fire will try it and actually purify their works , right ? And so when we look at this , I guess there's one thing we can say and this ties in what I'm going to start to get into next is . There's one thing that we actually have control over , and that's if we forgive other people .

If we don't forgive , then God won't forgive us . So in that way you control your eternal destination . God won't lose a one . That's predestinated seed . But so then we have to flip that on its head is then those who are his predestinated seed will forgive .

Right , but you can be in a position where you , you know you don't forgive , and then you get the fruit of a lack of forgiveness in your life . Hebrews , chapter 12 , 14 through 17 . We'll just get a little bit into this next portion of my notes . Follow

peace with all men and holiness , without which no man shall see the Lord Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God , lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled . Let me pause before I go back to verse 14 , Zoe .

So again we're talking about holiness , and we understand under the gospel of Jesus Christ , that holiness is something that God is creating within us . It's a condition of the heart , right , it's an inward work that he does within us that then permeates to the rest of our being , and sanctification .

That sanctification is like the action verb of holiness or holy , and so you know . The Bible says we're saved through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth . So a part of our salvation experience is an ongoing process of sanctification . So that is not bringing forth merely external holiness .

Anyone can be a parrot and parrot what the outward works of real holiness is . That's not what we're talking about . There's an inward thing that happens that manifests itself outwardly , and so that's what God is doing with us .

So if you're saved truly saved , scriptural salvation the result in your life is a process of cleansing and sanctification , and without that we're not going to heaven to see the Lord . We'll meet him at the great white throne judgment in condemnation , not in salvation . So a necessary part of the salvation process is him creating holiness within us .

We have to be made fit in order to see him , right , Without which no man shall see the Lord . So without peace , without living a life of peace , manifesting a life of peace , not manifesting a life of chaos , a life of peace not manifesting a life of chaos , right , Manifesting a life of peace and holiness , we won't see the Lord .

So it's like it's giving us . Here are the qualifications for you to see the Lord . Would you wish to see the Lord . Brother Chris , Okay , Follow peace with all men and holiness . This is what you must do . We understand it's an inward work , but this is showing the inward work done in your soul is going to produce this .

In order to see the Lord , you have to have these things being manifested in your life . Not by your own efforts , not by your own deeds , not an external , but the internal work that God has done will produce this in your life .

All right , so then go to 15 again , Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God , lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled . Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who , for one morsel of meat , sold his birthright .

For you know how that afterward , when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance , though he sought it carefully with tears . All right . So root of bitterness . I guess it's going to be tough to get very far into this , but we'll just lay a little foundation for next week , Lord willing . So , a root of bitterness .

We think about this . There has to be a seed planted . You don't just get a random root anywhere , and it depends on what kind of plant you're thinking of . You know , if you plant a potato or sweet potato , you know the seed looks a lot like a root , so let's put it that way .

But if we're going to look at it in this direction is to have a root of bitterness . There has to be some form of seed planted there . So there has to be a seed that would produce a root that is bitter . And so you know , perhaps there's a seed planted and it's laying there dormant .

But once the right conditions are met because it's not just a seed you know some of the soil here in Beaufort you plant a seed and it don't do a whole lot . You got to get some , you got to get the right conditions there . And when the right conditions are met , that is when you see that seed that's planted begin to take

root and begin to grow and begin to grow , and so a bitter fruit comes from a seed and a bitter root . So the type of ground affects it , true , but there's many different types of bitter plants and bitter roots . We understand that there's good seed and there's bad seed , there's wheat and there's weeds .

Think of it that way there's good fruit and there's bitter fruit . And so , looking at bitter fruit I mean we can just simplify it because I'm going to have to close shortly but looking at a root of bitterness , there has to be a seed of unforgiveness there in the heart and that will produce a root of bitterness .

And it says when that root of bitterness springs up , it not only troubles you , right , but it actually can defile many people around you . So you know , it's like it's the same idea that an inward something on the inside right , If you plant the right thing on the inside , what will happen ? The right thing will be manifested on the outside .

But if there's a wrong thing planted on the inside , what will happen ? The right thing will be manifested on the outside , but if there's a wrong thing planted on the inside , that's going to produce the wrong kind of life .

And you know , let's just put it this way we as Christians can find ourselves that Paul isn't writing this to heathens , Paul isn't writing this to total unbelievers , he's writing this to the Hebrews , so people that purport to believe the word of God .

And so we as believers can get in this condition as well , where there's the wrong kind of seed , that we've refused to forgive other people or we refuse to own our faults and from that then springs out all kinds of roots of bitterness . And it not only gives you trouble , right ?

I mean think of the emotional pain , the mental pain and the fact that you're literally blocking your own spiritual growth because of it . But then , because you're doing that to yourself , if you're a dad , what's happening to your wife ? Then what's happening to your children ? You know what's happening then from there . First , they're the first impact .

Then what's happening to the people you're in fellowship with , it will go out and absolutely bring defilement and hinder spiritual growth for everybody around you . And I have to quit there . Let's pray , Heavenly Father , we thank you so much for your word .

We pray , Lord , that it would penetrate deep in our hearts , Lord , that it would come to a place that we would realize , Lord , if there's something there that's hindering us . That we would take our own action , that we would take our own steps . That the word says to do .

Lord , Many times we wait for deliverance , when the fact is that deliverance is waiting for us because there's just simple steps that we need to take . Lord . That we would humble our own pride and just deal with whatever it is that we're going through .

Lord , that we would humble our own pride and just deal with whatever it is that we're going through , Lord , that the Holy Spirit would no longer be hindered in our lives . We pray , Lord , that you'd anoint each one , you'd be with each one . Today , we ask in Jesus' name .