Holy Living
- Date: Sunday, April 11, 2010
- Speaker: Jason Smith
- Series: InsideOut: Living the Gospel in an Upside Down World
- Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13–1:25
- Tags: new birth, Jesus Christ
Last week on Resurrection Sunday, we discovered that God is the one at work creating a new people to glorify His name by being a people who are changed from the InsideOut. From 1 Peter 1:3-12, we came to the understanding that this process begins with the new birth. Without the new birth we are dead, lifeless spiritually and cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Thankfully, for us God took the initiative and breathed new life into those who He has called to Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. This new life is marked by a genuine faith and love for Jesus. It is something that all the prophets of the Old Testament looked forward and that all the angels in heaven long. Why? Because through the new birth God is creating for Himself a people who can truly worship Him in spirit and in truth. They have gone from being helpless in their depravity to being sealed for the day of redemption. They are not united with God through Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection has provided the payment, power, and promise for this new life. Some of you might be saying, “that’s great, but about the here and now? How does the gospel of Jesus Christ change the way that we live our lives now? How does the gospel works its way from the Inside Out? Fortunately for us Peter goes on to answer this very question in 1 Peter 1:13-25.
Peter continues in this passage to point out the way that God works in the lives of those who have a relationship with Jesus Christ. He shows us that the gospel goes beyond just a financial transaction, Jesus paying off our debt that we could not pay, but it is the motivation, means and matter for us to live changed lives from the Inside Out. BIG IDEA: The gospel reality is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ provided the way for sinful people to be changed from the InsideOut leading to HOLY LIVING. Unfortunately, most of us grew up being taught that salvation starts by grace, but that if we just followed this list of rules and regulations that we would experience spiritual maturity. The gospel tells us that God is the one who starts, grows, and completes our transformation from the InsideOut. Let’s look a little more closely at the process by answering three questions related to holy living from 1 Peter 1:13-25: 1) Why do we live holy lives? 2) Where does our holiness originate? 3) How do we live holy lives?
