All I Ever Really Needed to Know 1 Peter 1.18-21 February 21, 2010 Introduction: I imagine that many of you have at some point read the popular and often lampooned short poem by Robert Fulghum entitled, All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. He begins by saying, Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. He then goes on to list some of those very important life lessons, such as, Share everything. Play fair. Don t hit people. Put things back where you found them, and so on. The point is we often forget the most fundamental truths. As you enter school as a fiveyear old, you learn the basics but then somehow as we grow older we allow life to get more and more complicated and we lose sight of those simple, basic truths we learned way back then. The poem is a call back to remember those elementary truths taught to us as children, truths that should have been neither forgotten nor neglected. We re not much different when it comes to our lives as Christians. We can easily forget the basic truths of Christianity. If I were to write my own little poem for us, I would call it, All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned from the Gospel. In the Gospel we find the basic, elementary truths about who God is, who we are, what Christ has done, and how we can be made right with God. These are things fundamental to being a Christian. Yet how often do we forget these simple truths of the Gospel? Sadly, it happens much too often among Bible-believing Christians. We assume if you attend church and identify yourself as a Christian then of course you know the Gospel, much like we d assume if you re an adult that you know your ABC s. We don t go around testing each other to see if we can articulate the Gospel any more than we give pop quizzes to see whether people can recite the alphabet or successfully count to twenty. It s just assumed. But when it comes to the Gospel, is that really a safe assumption? Were I to ask you to come up here and in five minutes or less explain what the Gospel is, how many of you would, public speaking aside, be confident you could do it? Can you articulate the elemental truths needed to communicate what s involved in becoming a Christian? I ve been in the ministry long enough not to be surprised if a good number of you would struggle to give a clear presentation of the Gospel if asked to do so. Needless to say, that s a serious problem. A Christian who can t explain the Gospel is like a librarian who doesn t know the alphabet or a bank teller who can t count. The Gospel is fundamental to our lives personally as Christians and essential to our mission as a church to win the lost to Christ. If we neither understand nor are able to articulate the Gospel, then well be severely handicapped in our growth as Christians and in our ability to fulfill the Great Commission here in Waterloo. 1
Thankfully our text this morning will help us out if we re struggling to remember the basic building blocks of our Christian life and mission. In a few short verses, Peter covers all the essential elements of the Gospel. So the goal of this sermon is two-fold. First, I hope to encourage your hearts as we take the time to review the ABCs of the Christian life, remembering the basic but glorious truths about our salvation. My second goal is to help you learn how to articulate the Gospel better. I want to give you a basic outline you can remember to help you when witnessing to your unbelieving friends and co-workers. So as your open your Bibles with me to 1 Peter 1, let me sum up the main idea of the message is this morning, which is just this: Main idea: The elementary foundation of the Christian life is the gospel. Please follow along with me in your Bibles as I read. Although we ll be mostly focusing on v. 18-21 of 1 Peter, I m going to start reading at v. 17. And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. As I said earlier, this passage is about the Gospel and hits on all the elements of the Gospel message in these few verses. So the four building blocks of the Gospel we re going to discuss this morning are as follows: God, Sin, Christ, and Faith. When proclaiming the gospel, you to need to discuss each of those four areas. Should you leave any of these four building blocks out, then you re likely communicating a truncated or incomplete gospel, which really isn t the Gospel at all. Well, let s begin with the first building block of the Gospel, which concerns the person and character of God. 1. God When proclaiming the Gospel, people must first have an accurate understanding of God. The issue of sin, the person of Christ, and the need for faith all rest upon the fact that first God exists and second, that He is the kind of God the Bibles describes. So whenever you witness to people, you need to begin with God. Our text in v. 18-21 assumes God because He s mentioned in the verses just before it. While I m not going to re-preach those verses again this week, I would like to call your attention to two things they teach about God that are essential to any gospel presentation. First, God is a holy God. Back in v. 15 Peter states that God is holy. This means God is set apart from sin. Everything about God - His character, His thoughts, and His actions - is righteous and pure in every way. God does not sin and cannot stand 2
to have sin in His presence. As a result, if we re to have a relationship with God, then we also need to be holy. God s holiness sets the standard for how we re to be if we hope to be pleasing to Him. That s laid out for us in v. 16 as Peter quotes Lev. 19:2 where God commands, You shall be holy, for I am holy. Just as God is set apart from sin and is without sin, so also should we be without sin. Furthermore, Peter goes on in v. 17 to remind us not only that is God holy but He also is our judge. He says God is our Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds. Every one of us is going to stand before God and He will judge us against the standard of His holiness. If we ve never committed a sin and lived our lives in perfect obedience to God, then we will be rewarded with eternal life. If not, if we ve sinned in any way, even if it was only one little lie, then God will judge us for our sins because he cannot let sin into his presence. And God s judgment against sin is eternal separation from Him in Hell. It is important we re clear on this point because there are many extremely inaccurate understandings of God prevalent in our culture today. There are some who have a diminished view of God s judgment, insisting that God is a loving God who would never send people to hell. Instead, they believe everyone goes to heaven because God is like a loving grandparent who would never punish anyone. Or if they re willing to grant that God will judge sin, they imagine that provided your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you ll die and go to heaven, while hell is reserved only for those really, really bad people like Hitler or Stalin. Even more subtle is the diminished view of God s holiness that comes in places we d least expect it. Walk into almost any Christian bookstore and you ll find books telling you how you can have Your Best Life Now and how you can Become a Better You by simply applying easy-to-grasp principles God has given to help you be happy, healthy, and successful. In those books, God isn t presented as holy, just helpful. Or you might pick up the immensely popular novel The Shack where God in the form of Papa" tells the main character Mack, I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It's not my purpose to punish it; it's my joy to cure it (120). This is a far cry from the God whom Isaiah saw in all of his holiness and declared, Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips! We cannot assume people have a correct understand of God, so we need to start there when we proclaim the Gospel. We need to be clear that God is indeed a holy, righteous God who demands that we be holy. And should we fall short of that expectation, God will judge us for our sins by sending us to hell. 2. Sin So we begin with God, but then we next turn our attention to ourselves and our sin. Let s look back at our passage and see what Peter has to say. In v. 18 he writes, you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers Those to whom Peter was writing learned certain behaviors from their parents and their culture at large. In the ancient world the worship of gods in the temples were 3
an essential part of the culture and would have been a practice passed down from one generation to the next. In our culture, we promote individualism, success, and amassing wealth as signs of living a good life. But whether it is the idolatry of a Roman god or of the American gods of money, sex, fame, and power, they re all false gods. Anything we put in place of the true God as the source of our security, meaning, and happiness is an idol. And every idol of every culture is futile because none of them can deliver on what they promise. Only God can bring us true security, true wealth, true happiness. But when we look to them to do for us what only God can, we sin and therein comes our problem. We ve all sinned, every one of us. Some of us in large ways that have caused great destruction to ourselves and others and sometimes in small ways that nobody knows about. But no matter how you slice it, we ve fallen short of the standard God laid out for us, that we re to be holy as He is holy. None of us come even remotely close to loving God perfectly with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Even the deeds we think are good really aren t because they re tainted with sinful self-centered desires and motivations. As a result, the prophet Isaiah says, All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags which quite literally translated is menstrual cloths. In other words, the most noble, righteous, charitable thing you ve ever done in your life, God regards to be as pure as a used tampon. Our sins of pride and self-centeredness so taint all we do that even in our very best moments, we still fall short of God s holy standard. So as you can see, any way of life we pursue apart from God is ultimately a futile way of life because it is utterly unable to achieve God s standard of holiness for our lives. As a result, every human being deserves death, and not just physical death but eternal death in hell. We all stand under the righteous verdict of God as being guilty of sin and therefore worthy only of His wrath poured out upon us in judgment. Admittedly, that s a pretty bleak picture. But until we grasp the desperate situation our sin has put us in, we re never going to seek a Savior. Only those who realize they re drowning will try to grab a life preserver. Until those whom you proclaim the gospel to understand the gravity of their sin and realize the impending wrath of a holy God, they won t seek a savior because they won t believe they re in any danger. As a result, the Good News of the Gospel must first begin with the bad news that we are sinners who have offended a holy, righteous God. But now let s get to the good news. While God is a holy God who demands we also be holy, and while we have all fallen short of that standard and deserve hell because of our sins, God has sent us His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to save us from our sins. So the third building block of the message of the Gospel concerns Christ. 3. Christ Just about every important theological truth you need to know about Christ is contained in v. 18-21. First, Peter tells us that Christ ransomed (or redeemed us as it s translated in the NIV). This was a term commonly used regarding slaves. In order for a slave to be free, there was a price that needed to be paid to the slave s 4
master. Either the slave could earn enough money over time to pay it himself or someone could pay it for him. So it is with us and God. Our sin has put us in God s debt. We owe God a perfect, sinless life. Since we haven t lived that life, we will face judgment for our sins. And either we must suffer for our sins or have someone else pay that debt for us. The good news of the Gospel is that God gave us His Son Jesus to come and pay that debt for us. How does Jesus do that? How does He redeem us from our debt of sin to God? It begins by understanding that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God. Look at v. 20. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake Jesus was foreknown by God before the world was made. It s the same word used way back in v. 2 where Peter talked about how we were elected according to God s foreknowledge. If you recall, we learned that foreknowledge isn t simply knowing about something before it happens, but it carries with it the idea of determination, or purpose. God didn t just passively foresee that Jesus would redeem us but He determined Jesus would do so before even one atom of the universe was called into being. Furthermore, Jesus is the Son of God and the second Person of the Trinity, who existed eternally with God the Father before creation, although it was not until these last times that Jesus was revealed to us through the incarnation. Or as the apostle John states it, In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:1, 14) Why did the Son of God become a man? Verse 19 tells us, [we were redeemed] with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Jesus lived the perfect, sinless life we should have lived. That s why Peter describes Him as a lamb without blemish. In the Old Testament, a spotless lamb stood for perfection and purity. Since the Israelites were not pure in God s eyes due to sin, God instructed them to take a lamb without blemish and sacrifice it as a substitute in their place to atone for their sins. But animals could never take away our sins. Only a human can take the place of another human. The lambs of the Old Testament pointed ahead to One who d be morally spotless and without blemish in terms of sin. Since Jesus was not guilty of sin, he didn t need to suffer the wrath of God for sin. But He could suffer as an innocent sacrifice for someone else. If I kill a man and have to die by electric chair for my crime, I can t have my dog or cat take my place. But another person who was innocent of the crime could since justice would still be served. That s what Jesus does for us by shedding His blood on the cross. He dies, though He is innocent, while we go free, though we are guilty. And since Jesus is not only a man but also God, His death is of infinite value so that He can die and atone not just for the sin of one man but for all sins of all men. So Jesus redeems us both by His life and by His death. First, He lives the perfect holy life we ought to have lived and He dies the death we ought to have died. As a result, Jesus satisfies God s wrath against our sin by pouring it out upon Jesus on the cross, and Jesus satisfies the righteous requirement of God s Law by obeying it perfectly for us. 5
Of course, the death of Jesus on the cross to die for our sins is not the end of the story. Look at 1 Peter 1:21. He says, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory Easter follows Good Friday. Three days after Jesus died on the cross God raised Jesus from the dead. And not only did God raise Him from the dead but Jesus ascended into heaven and now sits at God s right hand in glory, as God the Father has been pleased to make Jesus Lord over all. So then, when proclaiming the Gospel, we absolutely have to tell people about who Christ is and what He did for us because He is the solution to the problem posed by the effect of our sin on a holy, righteous God. The fact that He s God, that He lived a life without sin, died on the cross in our place, incurring God s wrath for us, and was resurrected from the dead and now sits in glory are all essential elements to the message of the Gospel. Jesus is our Savior and we need to communicate how Jesus was able to save us from God s wrath for our sins. But there is one more element of the Gospel we need to cover. Although Jesus died to satisfy God s wrath against sin, the only way to receive that gracious sacrificial gift of God is through faith. So our last building block of the Gospel we need to consider this morning is that of faith. 4. Faith Peter mentions here in v. 21 how the work of Christ s sacrificial death of the cross is applied to us. Look back in your Bibles with me at v. 21 again, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Peter mentions both believing in God and having faith in God. The terms faith and believing are essentially synonymous and are used interchangeably throughout Scripture. But rather than simply assuming that we all know what it is to believe in something, it s wise to make sure we elaborate on what this means so as to avoid any misunderstanding. Often times we use the word believe in the sense of giving mental assent to some factual truth. For example, you might say, I believe George Washington was the first President of the United States. When you say you believe that, you re saying you recognize that fact to be true. But believing or having faith in Scripture means far more than that. Lots of people will say they believe in God much the same way they believe in George Washington, which basically means they believe in the fact that He exists. But even demons have that kind of belief. James 2:19 says that even demons believe certain factual truths about God, but that doesn t help them. Real biblical belief is close to the idea of trust. For example, it s one thing to say you believe I am a good driver. It is entirely another thing to give me the keys to your car and let me take it for a spin. Biblical belief involves trust. To believe in God is to entrust to God something of value to you, namely your life. When God calls people 6
through the message of the gospel to believe in Christ, He s not merely asking for people to give mental assent to facts about Jesus, although recognizing certain facts about Jesus are important. He s calling them to entrust themselves to Him with their lives. It s a call to stop trusting in their own works or the false idols of the world to provide salvation and entrust their lives to Christ by turning away from those things and living instead for Him. It means giving Jesus the car keys of your life and allowing Him to drive. So when proclaiming the gospel, you need to call people to faith in Christ. Telling people about Christ without inviting them to respond in faith to Christ falls short of a true gospel presentation. In order for the benefits of Christ s life and death to be reckoned to us, we need to receive it by faith. Conclusion So let me wrap this all up by addressing two different groups of people. First, if you are a Christian, then I hope these truths of the gospel were encouraging to you, reminding you of the elementary principles at the heart of our faith. These are things we should never forget, if nothing else because they re the foundation for how we re to understand what it is to be a Christian. But these are also truths we need to grasp and articulate if we hope to be win others to Christ. Every one of us has a responsibility to go and proclaim the Gospel to those whom God has placed in our lives. It is not the job only of the pastor or of the elders of the church. So if nothing else, I hope the four headings of God, Sin, Christ, and Faith are enough of an aid to help you in remembering what the main building blocks of the Gospel are. Use them so that you re equipped to accurately explain the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others. Second, if you re not a Christian then I hope this message has been good news for you. God offers you pardon for your sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus took the punishment you deserved for your sin on the cross and He lived the righteous life you should have lived. All that is necessary for your salvation has been done by Christ. God simply calls you to come and receive it by faith. Faith is more than believing facts about Jesus; it s about entrusting your very life to Him. It means turning from an empty way of life that will only result in death, and surrendering your life to His control. God wants to restore the relationship that has been broken by sin by having you come to Him in faith, so you can know Him know and be with Him for all eternity. If God has spoken to your heart through this message, then pray with me as we all bow our heads together right now Prayer This sermon was addressed originally to the people at Grace Brethren Church of Waterloo, IA by Pastor Rob Borkowitz. Copyright 2010. 7