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BY GLENN PEASE
CONTENTS
2. PRACTICAL HOLINESS Based on I Peter 1:13-16
3. EVERLASTING EDUCATION Based on I Peter 1:13‑25
4. THE FEARS OF THE FAITHFUL Based on I Pet. 1:17
5. THE ETERNAL WORD
Based on I Peter 1:15‑25
6. STEPS TO CHRISTIAN MATURITY Based on I Peter 2:1-10
7. A PECULIAR PEOPLE Based on I Peter 2:9
8. CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP Based on I Peter 2:13‑17
9. THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO INJUSTICE I Pet. 2:18
10. MAKING MARRIAGE MARVELOUS
Based on I Pet. 3:1‑7
11. HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL
HUSBAND I Peter 3:7
12. RESPECT IN THE HOME based
on I Pet. 3:7‑12
13. THE AGE OF ANXIETY Based on I Peter 5:7
Peter writes to Christians who are
suffering persecution, and they are soon to experience the full force of the
wrath of Nero. He will lash out at them
in fury. Does he therefore begin with
tears fo despair? Not at all. He begins with a triumphant doxology:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth
into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”
Circumstances cannot crush his confidence in Christ. He refers to Christ 4 times in the first 3 verses. His hope is
not in religion but in a person. His hope is not a dead clump of clay that will
dissolve in the rains of persecution. It is a solid rock that will stand secure
even in the flood of persecution. That is why he begins like a volcano as he
erupts with a fiery flow of gratitude to God.
We can learn from Peter that if we begin
with God and His grace rather than with the gutter and our gripes, we can face
even hellish persecution with heavenly praise. The secret of a heavenly hope is
to begin above the clouds where you know the sun is shining. Then you can come down and face the problems
of life, but if you begin with the problems, you get bogged down and never see
above the clouds. You cannot rise above
them because of the weight of your trials, and hope begins to fade. Hope is like the mainspring of a watch. When it goes, the watch ceases to fulfill
its purpose, and if hope is lost, so is the purpose and meaning of life. Hope is a necessity and not a luxury. We want to examine Peter’s message in these
opening verses to see what the reasons are for having such hope, and what the results
can be if we rely on those reasons.
I. THE REASONS FOR OUR HOPE. v. 2-3
Peter says we are to be ready at all
times to give a reason for our hope.
All of the reasons for our having hope are found in God and not in
ourselves. It is God’s love that
prompts; His grace that provides, and His power that perfects. The reason no great philosophy has satisfied
the hearts of men is because they all begin with man and work up to God, but
Scripture begins with God and works down to man. The only reason for having any hope at all is because of the
salvation plan of God. The whole
Godhead was active on our behalf even before we existed. According to His foreknowledge He elected us
to salvation. Jesus purchased our
redemption on the cross, and the Holy Spirit applied that redemption and
sanctifies us.
You may ask how you know you are one of the elect. All who come are the elect, for no one who
comes shall be cast out. If one does
not come they are condemned, and so not one of the elect. For those who do come, their hope is based
on the fact that God has already accomplished all that is necessary for their
salvation. When George Nixon Briggs was
governor of Massachusetts he had 3 friends of his who visited the Holy
Land. They climbed Golgatha, and they
cut off a stick to use as a cane and brought it back to present to Governor
Briggs. They said, “We wanted you to
know that when we stood on Calvary we thought of you.” He assured them of gratitude, and then he
added, “But I am still more thankful, gentleman, that there was another one who
thought of me there.” He rested his hope on the finished work of Christ.
The
hands of Christ are very frail,
For they were broken by a nail,
But
only they reach heaven at last
Whom those frail, broken hands, hold fast.
We see in verse 3 that the strongest
reason for our hope is in the resurrection.
The cross without a living Savior could not produce a living hope. The resurrection is not a fanciful fiction
or a fantastic fable, but it is the fundamental fact of the Gospel. It is the Rock on which our hope rests. Without it we would be like the heathen who
have no hope. That is what Paul said in
I Cor. 15, for he said that if Christ is not risen then our faith is in
vain.
A king once planned a terrible
torture of his enemy. He had the man
arrested and put in a room with 9 windows on one side. The man thought this was not so bad, but at
midnight he was awaken with the blare of a trumpet, and he heard a crashing
noise. In the morning he discovered
only 8 windows. When the same thing
happened the next night, and the next day there were only 7 windows, the
terrifying truth stuck him. He was in a
room with a moving wall operated by clock work. Each night it advanced one ninth of the way to the other
wall. On the ninth day at midnight he
would be crushed between the walls.
This is a picture of those who have no hope. Paul describes the man who does not believe in the resurrection
as being in just such a condition.
Peter knew this from his own
experience. He made one last desperate
attempt to rescue Jesus in Gethsemane, but Jesus rebuked him and
surrendered. Peter’s hope began to fade
rapidly, and soon after he denied he ever knew Christ. After the crucifixion Peter tried to forget
the whole thing and went back to fishing.
His hopes had been shattered.
But if you go to the book of Acts, you see this same Peter preaching to
thousands on the day of Pentecost. You
see him boldly going before the Sanhedrin and proclaiming that this same Jesus
whom they crucified is alive. Every
sermon he preached stressed the resurrection, for that was the basis for a
lively hope. It was the fact and power
of the resurrection that drove the early church to turn the world upside
down. It is by faith in the resurrected
Lord that we are born again into a lively hope. If we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead,
that becomes the foundation for being saved and having a lively hope.
II. THE RESULTS OF OUR HOPE. v. 5-8
Hope is built on the past, but it
looks forward to the future, and it influences the present. Hope enables us to face the future without
fear, but to also experience the blessings of the future in the now and
here. Hope reaches out into the age to
come and brings back into the present the blessings of eternity. When a person comes home from work and
smells the supper cooking they already begin to experience some of the values
of the meal to come. So those whose
hope is in Christ already experience some of the blessings of the world to
come. One of those blessings is the
confidence that God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to
stand. We rejoice even in trials, and
praise Him who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
We are kept by the power of God
through faith. Kept is a military word
that means to be guarded. It is the
word used when the governor of Damascus “Kept the city with a garrison.” Faith is the bugle that calls forth the
troops to surround the fort. We see the
paradox of hope and joy in the midst of heaviness and trials. We will be persecuted, but we are to rejoice
and be glad for our reward in heaven.
We will have tribulation, but we are to be of good cheer for Jesus has
overcome the world. Paul says in II
Cor. 6:10, “As sorrowful yet always rejoicing.” This is not double talk, but is the confidence and courage we can
have because of our faith and hope in Christ.
We know that suffering is only for a
season, but our salvation is forever.
Our trials are only a parenthesis in the flow of life’s sentence. Persecution even unto death is only a colon
for which you pause shortly, and then hasten on to continue the eloquent
sentence of eternal life. Heaviness of
heart will test the health of our hope.
Persecution has always strengthened the hope of those who faith is
firmly fixed in Jesus Christ. Testing
is good for us, for it drives away the superficial. When life is too easy it can lead us to put our hope in
things. Luther said affliction was the
best book in his library. God help us
to beware of making comfort the goal of our life. A little heaviness may do us
good, for it reveals to us what our hope really is. If we turn to Christ in our
trials we will have hope and hope can turn our lamentations into laughter and
our sorrows into songs. We can have happiness in the midst of heaviness when we
have hope of final victory in Christ.
The proof of our hope is, do we continue to hope even in the
fires of affliction. When Christ
appears will we be standing steadfast and showing the world our confidence in
Him, or will we be running like chicken little for fear that more of the sky will
fall on us? Peter encourages us to
consider our trials just a passing thing, and even if the whole sky should fall
it could do no more than purify us if we stand fast. In verse 8 he says that our hope in Christ should produce in us
such a joy that it cannot be expressed.
The deepest and richest experiences of life cannot be expressed. If we attempt it, it comes out
superficial. Someone said, “True joy is
a solid, grave thing, which dwells more in the heart than in the face.” We might add also, and on the lips. Sometimes silence is the most eloquent way
to express our joy. This is especially
so in times of trial. To try and express
your joy in Christ when you are suffering affliction will almost always sound
superficial.
Then Peter deals with our future
inheritance. The hope for an
incorruptible inheritance in heaven is a powerful factor in the Christian
life. The Christians who have done most
in history have been those who looked beyond history. Our hope in Christ gives us a wider perspective so that we see
things with eternities values in view.
C. S. Lewis said, “It is since Christians have largely ceased to think
of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown
in. Aim at earth and you will get
neither.” Animals can be content to
live only in the present, but for man to be happy he must have three things:
Something to do, something to love and something to look forward to. The third is lacking in the hearts of most
people outside of Christ. There are men
of strong disposition who by grit and sheer will power make it through the
stormy sea of life without loss of hope, but when they reach the harbor of
death there ship sinks anyway, and all was in vain. Prov. 11:7 says, “When the wicked dies, his hope perishes.”
Workmen discovered a dungeon beneath
an old castle in Scotland, and when they entered the dark and damp cell they
saw scratched on the wall, “No hope, no hope.”
This is never the cry of the Christian, for his hope is eternal, and it
does not fade away even in a dungeon.
Ever since Paul and Silas were in the dungeon there have been songs in
the night coming from the tongues of those whose hope is in Jesus Christ. Our inheritance in Christ is both permanent
and pure. The beauty of the earth fades
away. The colored leaves that thrill
the eye are soon faded and dry. They
are soon only good for the fire, but we look for an inheritance where the
beauty and delight never fades, and nothing can defile.
There
is no more pain or crying,
There
is no more death or dying,
As
for sorrow and for sighing,
These
shall flee away.
In verse 9 Peter tells of the ultimate
end of our faith, which is the salvation of our soul. Faith and hope are the two rudders by which God guides our ship
of grace down the river of His redeeming love to the sea of salvation. If anyone is not on that ship now, make
haste to get aboard for the tickets are free, and all are welcome. The only request the Captain of our
salvation makes is that you confess your sins, except His death on your behalf
and commit your life to Him. In Him
alone is there a hope that can take you through all of life’s trials with joy
and assurance of eternal life.
PRACTICAL
HOLINESS Based on I Peter 1:13-16
Peter is
the Apostle of hope, and also the Apostle of holiness. In the first half of this chapter his theme
was hope. Peter does not leave us
perched on the high board of heavenly hope, however, but plunges us immediately
into the pool of the practical. The
biblical writers are almost always concerned with our present earthly
life. What good is hope that does not
result in holiness? What good is
doctrine if it does not lead to duty?
The Apostle Paul, after 11 chapters of doctrine begins the 12th chapter
of Romans with these words: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s
mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to
God-which is your spiritual worship. Do
not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what God’s will is-His good, pleasing and perfect
will.” All of those 11 chapters of
doctrine are worthless if it does not lead to a holy life. It is interesting to notice that Peter and
Paul used the same method. They first
give the basis for the Christian life and hope, and then they enter into the
practical.
Peter begins verse 13 with wherefore,
which is the same as Paul’s therefore.
He is saying that since it is true that we have a great hope, and that
we are sure of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fades not away,
let us live now as if what is to be already is. Like Paul, he stresses two areas of our life that are to be
affected by our hope.
I. THE MENTAL LIFE. v. 13-14
Thought is important in the Christian
life, for Scripture says, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” We are what we think, and if we think poorly
we will live poorly, and we will communicate our faith poorly. We are to be ready at all times to give a
reason for the hope that is within us.
This calls for thinking, and for a mind that is exercised by wrestling
with the Word of God. Our experience is
all we need to save us, but experience needs to be expressed and explained to
others if they are to be saved. We must
learn to communicate our Christian experience in such a way that we convince
rather than confuse.
Let us suppose that I have just
returned from Africa and want to tell you of an exciting experience. When I was ready to get on the ship coming
back to America one of the native dock workers laid down his load and said to
me “kalunga baywana.” I was amazed and
hardly knew what to say, but I replied, “Buto hata nosook.” The smile that came across his face revealed
the truth of what he has said. I sailed
back to America with the hope that many could hear of this experience. Does anyone know what that was all
about? Of course not. What good is an exciting experience if it is
not put in language that can be understood?
What good is it to tell others of our experience in Christ if we do not
speak to them in a language they can understand? The task of communicating the Gospel to our world in a language
they can understand is one of the greatest challenges for the human mind. That is why we have so many new versions of
the Bible, and that is why loving God with all of our mind is so essential.
In verse 13 he urges us to prepare
our minds for action. Paul urged us to be transformed by the renewing of our
mind. The mind is always the greatest
battlefield in any age. The churches
greatest enemies have always come from the realm of ideas. Swords, fire and lions never hindered the
church from growing, but false ideas have.
Heresies have kept millions out of the kingdom, and cults today are
still doing that. Ideas are the great
weapons of warfare, for ideas captivate the mind, and to reach the minds of men
is a far greater objective than any other.
Ronald Youngblood use to say, “The weapons of our warfare are words and
we must wield them well.” This calls
for dedicated minds.
Peter is saying that we must not be
sloppy in our thinking. We are not to
let our minds be tossed and tangled by the winds of the world’s thinking. Loose thinking leads to loose living. A person who is slipshod in his thought life
will stumble across the problems of life like a drunkard stumbles across the
tracks in a freight train yard. The
Christian needs to have a dedicated mind.
Paul said, “Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” “True religion,” Spurgeon said, “is not
unreasonable; it is common sense set to heavenly music.” Sanctification includes the head as well as
the heart.
In verse 14 Peter contrasts the new
life of obedience with the old life of ignorance. The Bible says that to live on a low level where you are being
lead by your lust is not only evil but stupid.
Sin and ignorance go together.
Nothing shuts out the light of God’s love like ignorance and
indifference. Nicolas Ling said,
“Ignorance is voluntary misfortune.”
This is true for Christians. If
they choose not to grow in the knowledge of God by reading and studying His
Word, they must constantly face the risk of being guided by their own desires
rather than by the Spirit of God.
The hope of Christ coming is to
motivate us to watch. Grace came at the
cross, and it continues through the ages and culminates at the second coming.
We serve Him with all we are, not because that will save us, but because of His
mercy and grace. At our best we are
unworthy, but when He comes again He will complete our salvation by grace and
will deliver us from the bondage of the flesh and give us new bodies. By His grace we will enter into eternal
fellowship with the King of Kings. When
Jesus came the first time He brought His spiritual kingdom into the world, and
by entering it our souls are saved.
When He comes again with power and great might the material realm will
also be redeemed, and our bodies will be made incorruptible. It is because of this hope that we want our
whole mental nature dedicated to the task of fulfilling His will. The second area of our life that Peter says
is to be affected by our hope is-
II. THE MORAL LIFE. v. 15-16
The Bible always has a balance in its
teaching in order to keep men from getting one sided. When it stresses faith, it also stresses that faith without works
is dead. When it stresses the right
doctrine, it also stresses the importance of duty. Peter had just stressed the mental life, but lest anyone think
that all Christianity is, is thinking right, he immediately stresses the mental
life. He exhorts, “Be yea holy.” No where are we exhorted with the words be
ye omnipotent, or be ye omniscient, for we cannot be these things, but the fact
that we are commanded to be holy means that it is possible for us to be
such. God does not ask of us what is
not possible, but He not only commands, but demands holiness.
Heb. 12:14 says, “Follow peace with
all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” That is saying that holiness is not for a
hand full of great saints, but it is for all who hope to receive the grace of
Christ. J. B. Chapman said of a certain
man, “Like many people, he seemed to think that religion is a good thing as an
insurance against future judgment, but that getting too much of it is like over
paying the premiums on a life insurance policy.” We need to make it clear that Peter was not teaching sinless
perfection. If this was the case, we
would not need to hope for more grace to be brought at the coming of
Christ. John said, “If we say we have
no sin we lie and do not the truth.”
But as A. J. Gordon has said, “If the doctrine of sinless perfection is
a heresy, the doctrine of contention with sinful imperfection is a greater
heresy.
We need to examine the word holy. In the Old Testament it means separated unto
God. Vessels in the temple were holy
because they were set apart for service to God. In the New Testament the word takes on the meaning of awe. Something holy is not only set apart, but it
is awe inspiring. The English word
comes from the root halig, which means whole or complete, and from which we get
the words holiness and health. Health
we apply to the physical, and holiness to the spiritual. When the body is whole and complete we say
it is healthy. When the soul is whole
and complete we say it is holy. If the
body is right with the laws of nature, we say it is healthy. We do not mean it is free from all germs, or
that it cannot get sick, but we mean that sickness is an outsider that may
invade and strike a blow, but on the whole health reigns.
In the realm of the spiritual for a
man to be holy does not mean he is without sin, but it does mean that sin
rarely defeats him. To be holy is to be
basically righteous. It is to be guided
by the will of Christ. As God acts
always out of righteousness, so the motivation of the believer is to be from
the righteousness of Christ that dwells within. The Bible teaches that we can be all that God wants us to be at
any point in our life. We will not be
perfect, but we can be completely dedicated.
We cannot reach perfection, but we dare not aim any lower than
perfection.
Peter says that our method is to
imitate Christ as our example. He is
the model and pattern of our perfection.
We will never be like Him completely until He comes, but if we do not
imitate Him now we may never see Him. A
butterfly cannot follow the eagle and soar to the mountain heights, but he can
fly. The minnow cannot follow the shark
as he dives the ocean depths, but he can swim.
The Christian cannot follow the Lord in the perfection of his mental and
moral life, but he can commit his thought and conduct to be guided by the Holy
Spirit. A Christian can be as holy as
God expects him to be. We need to let
these two exhortations be guiding rules in our lives as we roll up our sleeves
and get busy using our bodies and minds in practical holiness.
3. EVERLASTING EDUCATION
Based on I Peter 1:13‑25
Abraham Lincoln did not like a lot of things about Christians
and the church, but there are few great men in history who loved the Bible more
than this great leader of our land. In
Fisk University Library in Nashville, Tenn. is a copy of a Bible presented to
Lincoln with this inscription: "To
Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, the Friend of Universal
Freedom, from the Loyal Colored People of Baltimore, 4th of July,
1864."
When this Bible was presented to Lincoln he responded,
"In regard to this great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God
has given to man. All the good Savior
gave to the world was communicated through this book..... All things most desirable for man's welfare,
here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it. To you I return my most sincere thanks for the elegant copy of
the great Book of God which you present."
Lincoln was so immersed in the Bible that his speeches were illustration
of biblical language. He was 10 years
old when the first family Bible was purchased, but before that he read the
Bible in school where that was the only book they had to read. As president he used biblical language and
ideas constantly, and once he gave a lecture on the Bible sponsored by the
Bible Society of Springfield.
Lincoln was greatly disturbed by preachers who used the
Bible to support their own political agenda, such as justifying slavery. He had to be a student of the Word of God to
fight against the abuse of it. The
Bible became the key source of power that first founded our nation of freedom,
and then restored it to freedom again.
If you take the Bible out of the history of our nation, you will have no
heritage to be proud of, for we would be a nation of tyranny and bondage like
so many nations of the world. All that we
treasure as Americans is due to the impact of the Bible on our leaders of the
past.
Theodore Roosevelt was one of our most brilliant and
dynamic presidents, and he said, "Almost every man who has by his life's
work added to the sum of human achievement of which the race is proud, of which
our people are proud; almost every such man has based his life‑work
largely upon the teachings of the Bible."
Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II said, "Nearly all of the
great men of our country have been well versed in the teachings of the
Bible." All of the presidents of
our nation were students of the Bible, for one was not considered educated who
did not know the Bible.
William E. Gladstone, the great statesman and intellectual
giant of England said, "I have known 95 great men of the world in my time,
and of these 87 were followers of the Bible." We could go on to quote many of those great men about their love
for the Bible, but these are sufficient to establish the fact that the Bible
was a powerful influence in the history of the Western world and of our nation.
No one can question our biblical heritage, but now we must face the facts that
the Bible is no longer the highest authority in our land. It still sells like hot cakes, but apparently
it is read as infrequently as hot cakes as well, which is not at all. Studies of Christian youth entering college
reveal that they know little about the Bible.
They know more about movie stars and cartoon characters than they do
about Bible characters.
In many Christian homes the best place to hide money is in
the family Bible, for nobody is ever going to look there. A Catholic author I read complained that
only one priest in a hundred has ever read the Bible from cover to cover, and
the result is that most Catholics do not take Bible reading seriously. Protestants and Catholics alike have taken
for granted that we are a Christian nation, and they have assumed it would stay
that way regardless the place we give the Bible in our education. Now we are reaping what we have sown, and
that is a post‑Christian era where leaders and people alike are ignorant
of the Bible.
No people can be great who neglect the best that God has
given to man, and no year is going to be great in which the Bible does not play
a major role in our lives. To encourage
you to make Bible reading apart of your life we want to look at the two
characteristics of the Word of God that Peter stressed in verse 23, where he
writes of the living and enduring Word of God.
I. THE LIVING WORD.
Life only comes from life.
For a long time man thought life could come from non‑life by means
of spontaneous generation. That theory was
destroyed by facts, and man learned that life can only come from the
living. This is true in the spiritual
realm as well. If you want abundant
life, you will not get it from the world of dead materialism. Jesus came to give us life abundant, and we get
that life from the Living Word of God.
Peter says it is like a seed planted in us, and then it bursts forth
from the soil like a plant or flower, and we are born anew. By means of the truth of the Bible we come
to know Jesus as our Savior. We may read
the Gospel, or we may hear it, but it has only one source, and that is the
Bible. The Bible is alive because the Spirit of God who inspired it uses its
life‑giving truths to inspire those who read and hear it to give them new
life.
Robert Ingersall, the
great skeptic, urged General Lew Wallace to write a book exposing the follies
of Christianity. Wallace began by
studying the Bible. What he discovered
was that the Bible was alive. The truth
of God got into his mind and changed his heart and life. He wrote a book alright, but instead of it
being one of criticism, it was the classic on the beauty and power of the life
of Christ. He wrote the book Ben
Hur. The Bible gave him life and
through him it was channeled to many others.
All of Christian history is the history of the Living Power
of the Word of God. A Bible distributor
in Sicily was held up and the bandit ordered him to build a fire and burn all
of his Bibles. He asked if he could
read a part of each one before he threw it in the fire. The request was granted, and so from the
first he read the 23rd Psalm. The
bandit said that that was a good book and so that one he could save. He then read the parable of the Good
Samaritan out of the next one, and the bandit liked that too, and spared it
from the flames. From the next one he
read the Sermon on the Mount, and from the next he read I Cor. 13, and in each
case the bandit felt it was worth saving.
He also heard the Gospel in realized he was worth saving and that Jesus
died so he could be spared from the fire of judgment. He repented and trusted Jesus as his Savior. He went on to become a minister of the
Gospel to others.
History is filled with stories like this that reveal the
living power of the Bible to transform lives.
Every saved person on the planet is a child of God because of the power
of God's Word. There can be no
salvation unless the truth of the Bible is read or heard, and then
accepted. The Bible is the Living Word
that gives us life in Christ. It is the
source of our nourishment that enables us to grow. The milk of the Word helps us get the basics so we have a solid
foundation. But there is the meat of
the Word that is for mature living. The
Bible has much that is hard to understand because it is designed to be a
challenge to the most brilliant and mature believers. It is to be the source of life for all of life, and so it has to
have food for the newborn and also for the believer of ripe old age, who has
spent a lifetime studying it. You never
get so wise that the Bible is no longer a feast of new and exciting meals for
the soul.
Like all living things the Bible changes with the times and
the circumstances. You can study the
same book a few years after you thought you had studied it thoroughly and it
will speak new truths and give you new insights that fit who you have
become. You don't ever pass up the
Bible, for it stays with you because it is alive. As you change and mature the Bible becomes more relevant to the
issues you face now that you never even thought of before. If you think you can read the Bible and say
you are done with it, you do not know the potential of the Bible. You are never done, for it is a living and
life‑giving power. You can no more
get done needing it than you can get done needing food.
You would think a person was very neurotic if you said,
"have a ham sandwich," and they said, "No thanks. I had one last year." It is just as foolish to not read Hebrews
again because you read it last year.
Your body needs food repeatedly, and so does you mind and soul. We need to feed them on the Living Word that
never gets old or obsolete. It stays
fresh and relevant to whatever stage of life you have reached. A converted African cannibal was reading his
Bible when a European traveler passed by and said to him, "That book is
out of date in my country." The
African responded, "If it was out of date here, you would have been my supper." The greatest proof of the relevance and
power of the Bible is that it goes on changing lives all over the world.
An unknown author sums up the value of the Bible like
this: "This book contains the mind
of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the
happiness of believers. Its doctrines
are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions
are immutable. Read it to be wise,
believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort
to cheer you. It is the traveler's map,
the pilgrim's staff, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's charter. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened,
and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ
is its grand object, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart,
and guide the feet. Read it slowly,
frequently and prayerfully. It is a
mind of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasures."
II. THE LASTING WORD.
The Bible is the living and enduring Word of God. Most living things don't last. They wither and pass away like flowers, but
Peter says in verse 25 that the word of the Lord stands forever. The Bible will be a part of eternity, for it
is God's Word, and God's Word never dies.
It is alive with eternal life.
Jesus said in Luke 21:23, "Heaven and earth shall pass away but my
words shall not pass away." In
Isaiah 40:8 we read, "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word
of our God stands forever." To
know the Bible is to be getting an education that is eternal.
William Lyon Phelps, who was once professor and orator of
Yale University, and director of the Hall of Fame in New York City, said,
"Everyone who has a thorough knowledge of the Bible may truly be called
educated. I believe a knowledge of the
Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without
the Bible." He said that only one
of Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower had a college education, but they
were nevertheless an educated people because they knew their Bible. This great educator concludes, "No
group of people can be rightly described as uneducated who read and know their
Bible.
Henry Van Dyke, who was once professor of English at Princeton
said, "No other book in the world has had such a strange vitality, such an
out going power of influence and inspiration.
No man is poor or desolate who has this treasure for his own." There are thousands of great educators who
would say amen to these quotes. There
is much education that will become obsolete in a few years, and most all will
pass away in time, but to know the Bible is to be educated for eternity, for it
will never pass away. When you know the
Bible you are always up to date on all that matters. To know the mind of Christ is to have ultimate wisdom.
In 1951 at the meeting of the United Bible Societies, Dr.
Gilbert Darling of the American Bible Society told of how special measures had
been taken to preserve various translations of the Bible in case of an all out
atomic warfare. Copies of all important
editions of the Bible were placed in specially made vaults in Colorado, New
Hampshire, and New York City. If every
book in the world would go up in flames, the Word of God would still be
preserved. Satan knows the Bible is the
greatest obstacle to his power in people's lives, and that is why the history
of Bible translation is a history of fire against fire. When John Wycliff gave the common people the
Bible in their language he was so hated that after he was buried for 30 years
his bones were dug up and burned, and then thrown into the river Avon. John Hus was burned at the stake because he
translated the Bible into the Bohemian language. William Tyndale was burned at the stake for translating the Bible
into English.
Once people got the Word of God in their own language they
were no longer in the dark and in bondage to the forces of evil. They were liberated by the light of the Gospel. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth
and the truth shall set you free."
Once you are free to know the will of God you can never be content with
less than liberty in Christ. That is
why the Bible is so hated by those who want to keep people in the dark and in
bondage. Bible education sets them free
forever. The reason we are so blessed
with a free nation is because the founders of our nation were men who were
educated in the Bible.
George Washington said, "Above all, the pure and
benign light of Revelation has had a meliorating influence on mankind, and
increase the blessings of society. It
is impossible to rightly govern the world without the Bible." Thomas Jefferson, who authored the
Declaration of Independence, and who was one of the greatest men America has
ever produced, said, "I have always said, and always will say, that the
studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, and better
fathers and better husbands...The Bible makes the best people in the
world." We have to prove this to
ourselves by giving the Bible a place of priority in our lives. There can be no higher goal for the coming
year than that of giving a greater portion of our time to knowing the Living
and Lasting Word of God. May God help
us all commit ourselves to being busy getting an Everlasting Education.
4. THE FEARS OF THE FAITHFUL Based on I Pet. 1:17