Identity Transformation - 03

Announcer: Thank you for joining listeners across six continents for leading the way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Up next, a challenge to chase Jesus and experience radical identity transformation. Do keep in mind that leading the way is listener supported. You can learn ways to stand with Dr. Youssef when you give us a call at 866-626-4356 or you can visit the ministry homepage. That's at ltw.org. Join me now in listening to today's teaching.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1 beginning at verse 13 to 21. The first word in verse 13 is the word therefore. When you see the word therefore, you have to ask the question, what is that word therefore is there for? And it is there for a good reason. Peter is saying that in the light of the sevenfold blessings that we have received from the hands of Jesus and because of that sevenfold blessings out of gratitude to God for this sevenfold blessings, we should show evidence of our transformed identity from whatever it is into Jesus. And Peter tells us that our sense of gratitude to God, our sense of thanksgiving to God produces evidence in our lives that manifests itself in six ways. Today we're only going to look at three because of the limitation of time. And in the next message we're going to look at the other three. I hope you're following with me in your Bibles. What are those first three evidence? In thankfulness, we are to be alert. Can you say the word alert with me?
Congregation: Alert.
Dr. Michael Youssef: In thankfulness, we are to be what?
Congregation: Alert.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Secondly, in thankfulness, we are to be holy. Be what?
Congregation: Holy.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Thirdly, in thankfulness, we are to revere the Lord. First of all, in thankfulness to the Lord for saving us, for redeeming us, for calling us, for choosing us, for giving us redemption, we are to be alert. Look at verse 13. Here's that word therefore. Prepare your minds for action and be self-controlled. Set your hope fully on the grace that is to be revealed when Jesus returns. Here, Peter gives us an image that I need to explain to you. In fact, some of the old translations talks about the loins of your minds and all that. I I want to explain to you that picture, that image that Peter has in mind. And And I'm not a very good artist, so I cannot illustrate it, but I'm trying to give you a verbal picture. I know you've seen on television how in some Arab countries these people wear the flowing caftan, right? But that's the clothes that people wore at the time in the early days of where Peter was writing. Now, when you see that, whether it would be civil leaders or political leaders, when you see them wearing this floating white robes, this is an indication of leisure. It's an indication of relaxation. It's an indication of taking it easy. By the same token, you never never never see the soldiers of that same country that the leaders dress that way. You never see their soldiers dressed in that same way. You know why? Because they cannot go to war in these caftans. They will never be able to fight a battle wearing these flowing things because they will fall and stumble all over the place. And when they are relaxed, it's okay. When they are care-free, that's okay. When when they nothing physical to do, that's fine. And Peter looks at that picture. Just imagine that image of that flowing caftan that they were wearing. And he says, when it comes to the spiritual life, because it is a life of constant war against the the evil one, you must take these things and tuck them in a belt of some sort that you need to pull them up and get them under control. Or else in the battlefield, you'll be toast. You see, Peter turns this image into a picture of a truly disciplined, obedient child of God. Peter is saying your life has to come under the control belt of the Holy Spirit. It has to come under the authority of the Holy Spirit. Your thoughts must be collected together and come under the control of the Holy Spirit. Your lifestyle should reflect the attire of the soldier, not the flowing, careless caftan of sin. A thankful believer does not allow evil thoughts to nest in his or her head and mind. A thoughtful, obedient believer is very careful of what he or she reads. An obedient believer extremely careful what he and she watch. An obedient believer is very careful what he says to others or not compromise when nobody else is watching. A believer who is thankful for the sevenfold blessings that we saw is not given to self-indulgence, is not given to self-gratification, is not given to idle gossip, is not given to idleness period, is not given to unfaithfulness with time, money and treasure. In fact, the opposite is true. In giving evidence of a transformed identity, a believer is looking for opportunities to serve, is looking for opportunities to bless others, is looking for opportunities to be self-controlled, is looking for opportunities to extend forgiveness to others, is looking for opportunity to show grace and magnanimity, is looking for opportunity to be selfless like Jesus. Amen. Another image that Peter gives us here is the difference between a totally drunk person and a totally sober person. And he contrasts those two. Please listen to me. Hear me out on this one. I've been around long enough to know this that those who deliberately and self-consciously drink until they get themselves drunk, those who do that, they do that either because they do not want to face reality or because they're afraid of the future. Just test me on this one, okay? But the evidence of a transformed identity of a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is neither loose touch with reality nor afraid of the future. Why? Because we know that the Lord forgave us in the past when we came to him, that he forgives us every single day when we come in repentance, and that he will forgive us, eternally save us when we go to heaven with Jesus. You see, it's past, it's present and future. And therefore, we're not afraid. And that is why we do not regret the past. The past is the past and is covered by the blood. We do not dread the present, nor do we fear the future. One of the evidence of the transformed life is being alert all the time, being sober, spiritually speaking, all the time, being realistic all the time. The first evidence in thankfulness, we are to be what? Secondly, in thankfulness we are to be holy. You better listen to what I'm going to say, okay? Because I know the word holy and holiness is out of fashion. I mean, this is a generation that may not even know what you're talking about when you talk about holy or holiness. A lot of people have their idea that some holy or holiness person is is is short on brain, big lungs, standing on the street corner and just hollering. Others think, you know, to be holy is you kind of wear a halo or or you put on a white robe and head for the mountains or go to a monastery and all of them. No, no, no, no. Holy means to be set aside. That's what means. Holy is to be consecrated or belongs to or set aside to Christ. And when you have been set aside for God's use, you're not going to allow yourself to be used for godless things. That's what holy means. And that is why in the Old Testament you he read about how they made the utensils in the temple to be holy. How can you make some equipment and utensils in the temple to be holy is by setting them aside for only certain use. They cannot be used for anything else. They've been set aside. When we came into this building years ago, we consecrated it. How? By setting it aside for the preaching of the Gospel and only the Gospel. That's what being holy is. That's what being consecrated means. That these things are only to be used for God's purpose. We call the Bible the holy Bible. Why? Because it belongs exclusively to God. And when we belong to God, we show our belonging to God by obedience to his word, to that which belongs to him. This obedience is not sometime obedience. It is not part-time obedience. It's not an occasional obedience. It's not a a seasonal obedience. No, no, no, no. It is a total obedience. It's always obedience. It's daily obedience. It's moment by moment obedience. Now, occasionally we fail because we're living in this sinful world, we're living in this sinful flesh. Every now and again we fail. Of course, and the Bible said if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But when we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us all our sins. But you see, but it doesn't mean because we occasionally fail that we are not continuously obedient. Verse 14, as obedient children as obedient children what? Here's a useful explanation, okay? Let me give it to you in the vernacular so you can understand it. As obedient children, do not imitate the nitwit movie stars but imitate Jesus. As obedient children, don't try to make Jesus look like you. You look like Jesus. As obedient children, don't get your advice from a television talk show hosts. Get your advice from the word of God. As obedient children, don't reflect the selfishness of the world. Reflect the selflessness of Jesus. As obedient children, don't insist on your own way, but insist like Jesus on the will of the father. As obedient children, don't indulge yourself, but give of yourself like Jesus. As obedient children, don't just please yourself, but like Jesus, please the father. As obedient children, don't walk around carrying bitterness and anger and hatred and resentment and grudges in your heart, but like Jesus, forgive. As obedient children, don't just do the minimum that is required at work, but go the second mile just like Jesus. As obedient children, reflect the character of your heavenly father in purity, sincerity, righteousness and in truth. Amen belongs here. I just don't want you to wonder what does that mean? I want to explain it in such a way that we all get it. Let me ask you a question. Do you know what is the number one enemy of holiness in our lives? I'm sure different ones among you thinking different things. What's the number one enemy? It probably is not what you're thinking. I can tell you that the number one enemy of us to be holy and be set aside, consecrated to the Lord Jesus, two words, so what? So what? That's the number one enemy of obedience and therefore holiness. Apathy is a lack of spiritual sobriety. Apathy is equal to spiritual drunkenness. There are so many pathetic people in our culture today. They are a pathetic about apathy. It's like the man who said I am neither for nor against apathy. The evidence of our transformed identity in thankfulness we are alert. In thankfulness we are holy. Thirdly, in thankfulness we revere the Lord. Look at verses 17 all the way to 21. Again, the word reverence or revering is a sort of old-fashioned word just like holiness. We don't use that word very often because we have ceased to revere our parents and those in spiritual authority as the scripture enjoins us to do. We end up not revering God. And yet the Bible tells us that we are to revere your our parents. We are to revere our spiritual authority. But above all, we revere the Lord. A lot of people think fearing of the Lord means trembling and and living in terror. No, no, no, no, no. And I have a theory why is this happening to our generation. I really do because we have ceased to be holy. Therefore, we cease to be reverent and treat God with reverence. And yet Peter insists that if we are going through this identity transformation, if we are surrendering to him day by day, if we living in obedience to him day by day, Peter insists that we cannot be holy or being exclusively belong to God alone or live in total obedience or be set aside for God and godly use or be consecrated totally to God. We cannot without revering God. It just can't happen. It will not happen. It has to bring reverence to God. What does it mean to revere the Lord? Oh, listen to me. It means to treasure him. It means to adore him, not on just Sunday morning in worship, but moment by moment every day. It means to worship him even in the times when we don't understand him. It means that we are totally respecting of him. It means that we are all struck by him. It means that we are so overwhelmed by the sevenfold blessings. We are so overwhelmed so much so that we bow in obedience and reverence. It means that we are constantly so overwhelmed with our sense of unworthiness. Today people think that God is lucky to have them. Now, my beloved friends, we are to be filled with our sense of unworthiness. Be filled with that colossal generosity and grace of God. It means even the most tongue-tied person when they cannot say any word, they are so overwhelmed by his grace, they just lift their hands up in air in total adoration. And Peter never misses an opportunity to remind us as he does here of our redemption. He tells us we could never in live if we live the million lifetimes could ever redeem ourselves. We could never do it. He had to redeem us. He's the only one who could redeem us. You know, in the not so good old days of slavery, used to be this motto no payment, no freedom, no redemption, no liberty. And Peter said what Jesus did for us on that cross is that he redeemed us not with all the money in the world, not with all the gold and silver in the world, but he redeemed us with something far more precious than all of the wealth of the world. His sinless, righteous and precious blood. Yeah, the Old Testament insists that the sacrificial lamb must be without any blemish. No this internal diseases, no outside diseases, no skin disease, no it has to be absolutely without blemish. And God many times rebuked his people for bringing him all that which is inferior to the sacrifice. But the reason for that is because the Old Testament is looking forward and foreshadowing the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ who was not without blemish, physically he was torn, he was bleeding. He was disfigured when he hung on that cross, but he was sinless and perfect and holy. Beloved, Peter wants us to know that Jesus's death is no ordinary death, that Jesus's death was a sacrificial death, that Jesus's death was not an accident, that Jesus's death was planned by the Godhead before all worlds began. When the Bible said that Peter whipped bitterly after he denied Jesus three times and then the cock crowed, and you can see that in everything of what he's writing and he's preaching, that moment it's in the forefront of his. Now, let me tell you something about sin. Peter knew the Lord forgave him, he the Lord cleansed him. He knew that just like Paul who was persecuting and killing Christians in the name of Yahweh. He knew God forgave him. And that is why Paul always says I leave what's behind, I strain forward. I forget what's behind. I forget that sin, that horrible time in the past that covered by the blood of Jesus. Beloved, let me tell you something. Sin in life, particular sin of denial of Christ and and living without Christ, that sin can either pull you back into the life of sin or can propel you forward to serve the Lord. And both Peter and Paul, for them those events when they were in such disobedience to God, to them that's the landmark that constantly drove them to witness, to preach, to tell people about the redemption of Jesus Christ. You see that in all the words of the apostle Peter, at that moment he will never forget. And that is why in Acts chapter 2 verse 23 in the day of Pentecost, he said in with courage he said this man Christ was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge. And you with the help of wicked men put him to death nailing him to a cross. Just think with me of this image that I'm going to share with you. And I really believe it comes from here. Here's Jesus before all worlds, before eternity, he was coexisting with the father in the Holy Trinity. He's the judge. And every eye is going to see him as judge one day and maybe even sooner than we think. But he is the judge sitting on his bench looking at his own son or daughter in the criminal's dock guilty. So he gets out of his judicial robe and he stands there and he takes the punishment for that son or daughter. And then he goes back in his judge's bench. That's our Jesus. He stepped down into our darkness. He took the punishment of everyone who would acknowledge that this was done for them. And then he sits back on the bench. And that is why everyone who have accepted his act of sacrifice on the cross, he's stepping down from the judge's bench. Everyone who accepts that to be for them, they will escape the judgment.
Announcer: A judge stepping down to accept punishment, an incredible illustration of biblical truth that brings the Gospel to light. Thank you for making time in your day for leading the way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Learn ways that God is using him and the ministry teams all around the world to spread the Gospel. Visit ltw.org. You can partner in generosity when you call us as well at 866-626-4356.
Daniel: My name is Daniel. I'm from Montreal, Quebec in Canada. The first time I remember hearing Michael Youssef's teaching was actually I was growing up in my parents' home. Each Sunday night I remember my dad turning the TV on to watch the latest broadcast. What amazed me is that in a world with so much content available to him, he would always tune in to something that was edifying for his soul and something that was biblically inspired content. While my dad and I were never close, I never actually forgot the example that he set on those Sunday nights. And years later I rediscovered the teaching ministry of leading the way. I work in a job where my hands are busy, but my mind is often free. And I really like listening to podcasts and audiobooks. Um, but still today there's an unlimited amount of content to consume through media. I began to grow discouraged with how empty so much of this content is. It was so refreshing to find the leading the way podcast available on Spotify. What amazes me is the amount of new content that's produced and not just new content, but reliable, biblically referenced content. I love hearing new perspective on old passages of the Bible. I love hearing when Dr. Youssef asks questions about the Bible that I myself have never thought of. His many sermons have allowed me to use my free time to go deeper in biblical insight. And when I think how it all started with my dad many years ago, I'm thankful for the truth of Proverbs 22 in verse 6. And I know that even as I'm growing old, I'm not departing from the way in which I should walk that my father gave me. And the recent revival campaigns by leading the way have also given me hope that this same Gospel truth is going to carry on to the next generation and my own children. So may it be so and may we see God continue to work throughout the years. Thank you for your teaching. Thank you for the content. Stay true to God's word. God bless.
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