Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:17 — 32.8MB)
Subscribe: RSS
1 Peter 2:4-10
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can download our service on iTunes or tune in for “The Good Word” each day on AM 1230 WSAL or on Hoosier Country 103.7 FM just after 8am. Did you ever wonder why a thrice holy God would, from before the foundation of the world, find it in His heart to reach so far down into sin and sinfulness to rescue any person from eternal damnation, especially at the cost of His own Son’s sinless life? Read Prov. 2:2-4 and you will see this passage delivers to us part of the mother lode and some answers to the question.
- SOME RESPONSIBILITIES OF OUR REDEMPTION! 4-8. First is a continual coming. Nowhere does Scripture ever tell us that coming to Christ just once is all we ever have to come to Him. We are, in fact, to continually come to Him. He is after all our Intercessor to the Father. One reason so many who claim to be Christians, yet, are so weak, uninformed, and uneducated in Scripture is because they think once they have prayed a prayer asking God to save them, they no longer need to come. That is heresy! We are to continually come to Christ! Let’s consider
- SOME RESULTS OF OUR REDEMPTION! 9a. This is a positive viewpoint of our salvation. A person must have the right response to their redemption to present a proper message to the lost and other Christians. Notice that we are chosen. Remember, God chose me!! He wanted you before you are! He sacrificed His Son so He could have you. What are you willing to sacrifice for Him in return? Your redemption has made you “royal.” At the instant of your salvation God adopted you into His family. Since you are now a brother or sister to The King of Kings—that makes you a member of The Royal Family. Our royalty is not just common royalty, it is holy! We are set apart, not isolated, just separated from those who are still unsaved. That is one reason God tells us “to be holy, because I am holy.” All this comes together in the fourth result of our redemption which is; we are a people belonging to God! We are His by our new birth in Christ. Once we see all this we begin to understand that God expects us to fulfill the responsibilities of our redemption by continually coming to Christ for continual construction. As a result we then constantly submit to His perfect laws and the results of our redemption shine through so others see them. When that happens we then see
- THE REASON FOR OUR REDEMPTION. 9b-10. I often tell our folks that God saved you on purpose for a purpose. When I heard that from another pastor I thought, how true that is. God does not save us just to go to heaven; nor does He save us just to set us on a shelf somewhere. Peter uses a powerful statement here to explain why we are responsible for our calling! As one writer puts it “Our official, public declaration that God exists as the only Redeemer of all people is a continual life and lifestyle that is an intentional and deliberate declaration of theExcellencies of an Almighty, Personal God Who redeemed us out of eternal damnation into eternal holiness! It can’t be said better than that.
If we can help you answer your spiritual questions, call us at (574) 643-9419.
