The Conduct of Faith, Part 3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. God calls His people to live for a higher purpose than we would on our own. As we abide in Christ and the truths revealed through His Word, He begins to change our desires and our attitudes. Our conduct is an outflow of those heart changes, fruit growing from a healthy vine. Today, Rich continues the series Live as People Who are Free, focusing on 1 Peter 1, 14-17 and verse 22. This passage calls us to no longer be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance, to conduct ourselves with fear throughout the time of our exile. And verse 22 calls us to love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Let's listen in as Pastor Rich takes us deeper into this text. This is the third part of the message called The Conduct of Faith, first preached August 28, 2022. Consume the Word of God.

Consume it. Not only in having His resources, not only do I have His self-disclosure, it's even better. I have Him. He dwells in me in the presence of the Holy Spirit. God has taken up residence in me. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. Together we are the corporate temple of the Holy Spirit. Isn't that a beautiful thing? Really feeling it this morning, folks.

I love doing this with you. We have His resources, His self-disclosure in Himself, His Spirit in us. Walk in step with the Spirit. Filled, sensitive, yielded to the Spirit.

Very, very quickly, the Spirit. He's called the Spirit of Adoption. That means we are co-heirs with Christ and I have His inner witness that I belong to Him. The Spirit is in me, confirming that reality, that position. He is called the Spirit of Truth and He enlightens my understanding to the truth of God's self-disclosure. He's also the Spirit of Power. He gives me regenerative ability to do and be what God has designed me and recreated me to do and be.

That's a lot of resource and that's what I need to be aware of. So, being holy in all your conduct is realized by the grace of God. Also, it is realized simply this, by remembering who I am.

By remembering who I am. Verse 14, as children of obedience. As obedient children, the ESV says, but it says, it's actually literally child of obedience, children of obedience as if obedience were the parent. That becomes our nature right then, right? We are obedient children. That's who I am.

It's an idiom, right? As if obedience were the parent. But He says in verse 22, you've purified your souls by your obedience to the truth.

It's the surrendered trust to God's self-disclosure. Number one, I'm a child of obedience. Number two, I am called. I am called. Verse 15, I am called. But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. What is the calling? The Father has said to you, if you are in Christ, the Father has said to you, come to me. It is the vocation of your life. 2 Peter 1-10, be diligent to confirm your calling and election.

What is that calling and election? Turn over to 1 Peter chapter 2. Here it is, but you are a chosen race. Verse 9, chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. How's that for identity and purpose? Know that verse.

It's a good one. I will never forget. That is a verse that was plastered on the wall in the lobby of the men's dorm of Moody Bible Institute in August of 1982 when I first stepped into that dorm.

That's the first thing I saw. Never forgot. You are called.

It is your vocation. I was going to turn to Colossians 3 and read that. I don't think we have the time to do that this morning. Number three, but I would write that down. Listen, write this down in your notes because I know you're taking notes. I love that about you.

Colossians 3 verses 12 to 17. Write that next to number two that you remember who you are. You are called.

Number three, remember who you are. Number three, you are the father's child. If you call on him as father, this is a statement of dependency and care. This is an appeal to a higher authority.

You are appealing to a higher authority who is able to help you. Actually, I am a child of God. I am loved, accepted by him. I am predestined to full satisfaction and pleasure in his presence. Listen, this is the point of being predestined. It's not up to me to make it there.

Isn't that good news? It's not up to me to make it there. Dad says I'm going to make it.

Hugely comforting. I am my father's child. Remembering who I am, child of obedience, called father's child, and then lastly, you have purified your souls. In other words, Christian, do you recognize that you are not just forgiven?

Said this a million times and I'll keep saying it. You're not just a forgiven sinner who has to try hard to be good now that you've been forgiven. You are a new creation. The seed of the father dwells in you. Know that, study that, contemplate that in the New Testament. You are a, what Peter says in 2 Peter 1, you are a partaker of the divine nature.

That's powerful folks. You're not just. God doesn't forgive us and then leave us up to our own strength and resources to try to be all that we can be. I'm a new creation. I am in him. His righteousness is mine. Holy deeds flow from holy nature. Obedience is the outflow of our confidence in him and the cleansing that he has made in us. And here's what it looks like. So be holy in all your conduct.

And then lastly, I told you we'd come back to this. Verse 22, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Love one another earnestly from a pure heart. What is the conduct of faith? First of all, be holy in all your conduct. You're set apart. You belong to God. Secondly, love one another.

Nothing new there, right? Four main points very quickly. Number one, love one another. Love is the apex of Christian witness. Jesus said it, by this all will know that you are my disciples. By how much truth you can tell them.

Is that what he said? It is the apex of Christian witness. Second point, loving one another is the gospel lived. Loving one another is the gospel lived. As one drawn and transformed by God's gracious love, I then live in the outflow of that. Which takes me to the third point, and that is love is to treat each other as Christ treated us. Now that's caused to stop and think for a moment. If you ask yourself, how do I love this person? The first place you need to go is, how has Christ loved me?

You ready to explain that? While we were still what? Sinners. What did Christ do? He sacrificed himself for me. Listen, when the Bible calls us to love one another, it's not telling us how we ought to feel about each other.

It's not what he's talking about. God didn't send his son Jesus to earth because he felt something. He sent his son to earth to invest in us so that we could move Godward.

Because apart from that, we had no hope. So to treat, to love one another, to treat each other as Christ has treated us, as I have loved you, Jesus said. It's a sacrificial investment in your Godward movement. And two chief qualities, lastly today, two chief qualities of Christian love that reflects the Father's heart. Number one, earnestly. Love one another earnestly. It means intently, with great thought and care.

I've said it before, hear it again. If you want to grow in love, it will happen by getting close to people who are not like you. So to love one another earnestly is meaning continuously that you're committed to it, you're steadfast about it, even when it's difficult, even when you don't feel like it. Do you remember Jesus in the garden? Father, if there's any way that this cup can pass from me. He didn't go to the cross because he had a feeling for you.

He went to the cross because he loved his Father and he was committed to doing the work necessary to bring you to the Father. Love one another earnestly. Lastly today, love one another from a pure heart. Sincerely, that sincere love, an outflow from a heart captivated by God's love. And to love one another sincerely. In other words, if you're showing love to somebody, you're investing them, you're doing something kind to help them. But listen, here's what he means by sincerely.

When you're doing something kind to help somebody, you don't have your earbuds on listening to your favorite radio station, which is WIIFM. What's in it for me? If you're showing kindness and love to someone else because of what you think you're going to get out of it, it loses every bit of its moral value.

You have served yourself. And that's not love. Be holy in all your conduct and love one another earnestly and sincerely. That is the conduct of faith. And that's what free people do.

You can do that because you're free. This is what Peter is emphasizing. And so the next 12 sermons from this series of 1 Peter is going to be 12 characteristics of people who are free. Father, thank you that your love for us was such that your holiness demanded that sin be dealt with. And that evil, that sin runs right through every one of our hearts. Father, we are the objects of your love.

And that sin had to be dealt with. And so you gave us in love. You gave us Jesus to rescue us, to liberate us. Thank you, Father. And because of that, recognizing who we are and what you've done for us and who you are, Father, may we recognize that it only makes sense that we would recognize that we are set apart. We are free. Father, rescue us from being held down by our former passions that we had in our ignorance. Father, we don't want to pick up those chains and carry them.

They're only binding. They're enslaving. Father, free us, I pray this morning, as we recognize the incredible liberty and joy that is ours, the freedom that is ours in Jesus Christ. And may that be manifested, Father, as we love one another earnestly and sincerely as Christ has loved us. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.