Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
The message of the gospel is a message of grace, hope, and transformation. The power of the gospel stops a person in their tracks, causes them to realize their sin, and turns them to God. The gospel is not about being born into a Christian home, going through catechism, attending church, or being a good moral person. It is about life transformation.
Some will think your lifestyle is strange. Your stance on truth doesn’t change based on the whims of the culture. You may be called bigoted for believing life begins at conception and should be protected. It certainly is not “woke” to believe that gender is assigned by God as he knitted us together in the womb.
Peter’s list of vices is a repulsive reminder of our lives apart from Christ. The sins noted above were not occasional places we visited. We were “living in” them. These offenses characterized our lives and defined who we were. But now things are different. We spent enough time in the past living like pagans chasing after human desires. Now it’s time to follow hard after Christ.
Let me start with a question, “What do you live for?” What is the calling, the initiator, the motivation of your life? Check out this passage from 1 Peter.
A cultural Christian with a half-hearted commitment to Christ is not going to run up against much spiritual resistance. And even when they do, like the Israelites before Goliath, they will turn tail and run. But if you are serious about following hard after Jesus, get ready for the battle. The enemy is actively working to make you fail and fall. So, arm yourself!
Atonement. Perfection of Jesus. Depravity of man. Reconciliation. Substitutionary Atonement. Resurrection. Today’s passage is packed with theology. Let’s read it and then break it down.