1 Peter 1:13-16

1 Peter 1:13-16 I. The Christian is to gird up the loins of his mind. A. gird: To surround, encircle with a belt or girdle, esp. for the purpose of confining the garments and allowing freer action to the body. Fig. To prepare for action; to brace up for, to, or to do something. B. Note the usage of gird in EXO 12:11; LUK 12:35-37. C. The believer should not allow his thoughts to roam without restraint. 2CO 10:3-5; PHIL 4:6-8. D. The believer's mind is to be in a state of preparation for the coming of the Lord. II. The Christian is to be sober in view of the coming of the Lord. A. sober: Moderate, temperate, avoiding excess, in respect of the use of food or drink; not given to the indulgence of appetite. B. In 1TH 5:4-8 the believer is exhorted to soberness in view of Christ's coming. This soberness is contrasted with drunkenness. 1. Drunkenness is a state of insensitivity. PRO 23:35. 2. The believer must not allow his sensitivity to the coming of the Lord to be dulled by excesses. LUK 21:34-35. 3. The servant who becomes indifferent to the Lord's coming is described as one who becomes drunken. LUK 12:45. 4. (PHIL 4:5) Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. III. The believer is exhorted to hope to the end for the coming of Christ. A. Hope serves as a helmet in battle. 1TH 5:8. B. Keeping one's attention fixed on the coming glory puts present afflictions in perspective. ROM 8:18. C. Hope to the end. 1. Thank God, there is an end. PRO 23:18. 2. Grace will be brought to the believer at the end; his expectation will be realized. COL 3:4; 1JO 3:2. 3. By contrast, the expectation of the wicked perishes in the day of his death. PRO 11:7. D. Believers are to hope to the end for grace to be brought them at the revelation of Jesus Christ. c/w 1PE 1:7. 1. The two-stage theory of Christ's return supposes an invisible return for a secret rapture of the saints from this world years before His revelation/appearing. 2. Why would Christians hope to the end for the grace to be brought them at the revelation of Christ if this grace was given them at the rapture years earlier? 3. We are to be obedient until the appearing of Christ (1TI 6:14-15), not until a secret rapture where we will be perfected years before His appearing. IV. Obedient children live in readiness for Christ's appearing. v. 14 c/w 1TH 1:9-10. A. The second coming and Christian conduct are inseparably linked together. 2PE 3:12-14; 1JO 3:3. B. Without the second coming, the whole Christian religion collapses. 1CO 15:13-14, 23, 32, 58. 1 Peter 1:13-16 6-19-16 Page 1 of 3 V. lust: Pleasure, delight; desire, appetite, relish or inclination for something. A. Lust is coveting which is desiring. ROM 7:7 c/w EXO 20:17 c/w DEU 5:21. B. All lust is not bad. EZE 24:16; GAL 5:17. C. Scripture forbids lusting after evil things. 1CO 10:6; HAB 2:9. VI. While in ignorance, these believers fashioned their lives after their lusts. 1PE 4:2-3. A. Those who know not God are regulated by their lusts. 1TH 4:5. B. These lusts are called the former lusts because they characterized their former life in times past. EPH 2:1-3. C. Being born again and converted, they are called upon to change the pattern of their lives. D. Obedience consists of not fashioning oneself after the former desires, but after the holiness of God. E. To pattern ourselves after God's holiness, we need a knowledge of God as the incomparably Holy One. EXO 15:11; 1SAM 2:2; ISA 57:15. VII. These ungodly lusts are in a believer's flesh and war against his soul. 1PE 2:11; ROM 7:18, 22-23. A. These lusts are marshaled by Satan who is attacking the image of God in the believer. EPH 2:2; 6:11-12; JAM 3:14-15; 1TH 3:5. B. Consider the array of evils Paul calls upon believers to mortify. COL 3:5-9 c/w ROM 7:8. C. Encompassed with such evils, the church has only survived by the prevailing intercession of Christ. LUK 22:31-32; EXO 17:11. VIII. We must not love the lust that is in the world. 1JO 2:15-17. A. The corruption that is in the world is through lust. 2PE 1:4. B. Recall that Satan is the prince of this world that is corrupted through lust. JOH 14:30. C. One cannot preeminently love God and preeminently love the desires of this world. D. Lust allures because of the pleasure it offers. 1. The lusts of the world pass away. HEB 11:25. 2. A fulfilled lust is never as wonderful in the end as it appears in the beginning. 2SAM 13:1-18. IX. If lust is indulged, it will draw the soul into sin. JAM 1:14-15. A. Lusts leads to enticement. B. entice: To stir up, incite, instigate (to a course of action); also to provoke (to anger); to allure, attract by the offer of pleasure or advantage. C. When we are enticed, we are already stirred up, provoked, or allured to action. D. Lust deceives its victim. EPH 4:22. 1. Lust will justify sin. 2. Or lust will convince you the temptation is too powerful. E. Sin is obeyed in its lusts. ROM 6:12. 1. Sin is appealing because of the lust or desire one has for it. 2. Deal with sin at the level of desire and it will not be served. 3. Therefore, lust must be fled at its inception; it must not be allowed to mature. 2TI 2:22. X. Beware of the lust of the eyes as this leads to fulfilling the lust of the flesh. 1JO 2:16; JOB 31:7; NUM 15:39. 1 Peter 1:13-16 6-19-16 Page 2 of 3 A. Eve ate the forbidden fruit after she focused her eyes upon it. GEN 3:6. B. Sexual immorality begins with looking. 2SAM 11:2; EZE 23:14-17; MAT 5:28. C. Covetousness begins with the eyes. PRO 28:22; 23:5. D. Idolatry is eye religion. DEU 4:19; EZE 6:9. E. The believer must set no wicked thing before his eyes. PSA 101:3. F. The believer must watch and pray to guard his eyes. PSA 119:36-37. G. Thank God, He made the eyes to close and the head to turn! XI. Scripture directs us in how to avoid fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. A. The flesh with its lusts was defeated at the cross. GAL 5:24; ROM 6:6, 11-12. B. We must believe in Christ and what He has accomplished if we are to overcome the world. 1JO 5:4-5; EPH 6:16. C. Therefore, the Christian is assured he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh if he walks in the Spirit. GAL5:16. 1. This is an intelligence report about the enemy. 2. Satan and lust CAN be successfully resisted as we submit to God in humility. JAM 4:6-7. 3. Walking in the Spirit is being regulated by the word of God. REV 19:10; PSA 119:1-3, 9, 11; PRO 7:1-5. D. (MAT 26:41) Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. E. Avoid all situations conducive to fulfilling fleshly lusts. ROM 13:14; PRO 4:14-15; 5:8; MAT 5:29-30; EPH 4:27. F. Mortify lasciviousness (that which is inclined to or incites to lust). G. Stand in awe of this Holy God as this is a great deterrent to fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. PSA 4:4; PRO 16:6. 1 Peter 1:13-16 6-19-16 Page 3 of 3