I. I Peter 1:14-16, Matt. 25:34-40, Heb. 12:14
A. God requires a holy lifestyle for his people. We sometimes confuse holiness with piety, which can be merely a hypocritical goodness that masks inner deceit or impurity. A truly holy or Christ-like life reveals the virtues mentioned in 2 Peter 1:5,6: Goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. We are surrounded today by so much hypocrisy and insincerity that we are often unconsciously affected by these influences. To maintain the quality of life that is genuinely and consistently holy in every area.
B. William Longstaff, (1822-1894 Lyrist) after hearing a sermon
on I Peter 1:16, wrote this, his only hymn.
II. Verse 1-read
A. "Speak oft with thy Lord" I Thess. 5:17-18, Romans
8:26-27, II Thess. 1:11- 12, I Tim. 2:8, James 5:13-16. There
are many things in our lives that cause us to desire to pray-but
our goal as Christians should be to always have a
prayerful attitude through consistent use of prayer.
B. "Abide in him always and feed on his word." Psalms
91:1-2, I John 2:21-25, 28-29, Gal. 5:14, Eph. 1:13-14, 5:26,
Phil. 2:14-16, Col. 3:16. These two phrases are almost synonymous
to Christians. In order to abide in him we
must thrive on a steady diet of his word. Without the word to
nurture and guide us we will not be pleasing to him and will not
abide in him.
C. "Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak" John 13:34, Romans 13:8, Isaiah 35:3-4, I Peter 1:22-23 The greatest way that we can express our love for God is to love our brethren. Being a friend not only involves love for his or her soul, but a desire to be with them! If we have no compassion toward our weak brethren, how can we expect God to have compassion on us?
D. "Forgetting in nothing, His blessings to seek"
Psalms 24:4-5, 119:2 How can we expect to receive blessings from
the Lord, if we do not pray to him and seek these blessings?
III. Verse 2-read
A. "The world...............with Jesus alone." Matt.
6:3-7 Many things that have been done, in the name of religion
are simply desires of men to become known by the masses. The resulting
"riches " that they accumulate to be seen of men are
seen of God-but the reward for these is not the eternal reward
that they desire! Our Christian works should never be done with
a desire to bring any earthly honor to ourselves-our concern is
a heavenly one.
B. "Abiding in Jesus........His likeness shall see."
II Peter 1:1, Eph. 3:8-9, I Tim. 4:12. Our ability to win others
to Christ through our daily lives, is sometimes underestimated.
If others cannot tell that we are "different", should
we not examine our lives?
IV. Verse 3-read
A. "Be calm in thy soul, each thought and each motive
beneath his control."
Psalms 23:1-3, Romans 2:10, 5:1, Col. 3:15, I Cor. 9:27. To turn
over control of our lives to God is to restructure our priorities.
God should always be number one in our lives. We must also train
our conscience to discern good and evil-through a careful study
and application of his word.
B. "Thus led by His Spirit, to fountains of love.........fitted
for service above."
Romans 8:14, 12:1, 13:8, I Cor. 2:9, James 1:12, Eph. 6:7-8 Our
life purpose is not one that should service this body or the desires
that are within it, but should be one that has as its goal the
eternal blessings that come to us by fulfilling true and holy
service to God.
If we as Christians are not taking time daily to be holy,
what are we doing with our time that is more important to our
eternal souls?