Forest Park Church Sermons

The Christians who have been bought by the blood of Christ, chosen as God’s people, shaped to be a temple for God’s presence, are to live unique and countercultural lives so that the world cannot help but notice. When the world gives in to the desires of the flesh, the Christian abstains from sinful desires. We will examine sinful desires, how we abstain from them, and why.

Through Christ, God is building a spiritual house that grows as people come to him and are converted into living stones. Just like the temple and the priests in the Old Testament who mediated the presence of God to the people, believers in Christ mediate the presence of Christ to the outside world by offering the “spiritual sacrifice” of witness. In what we say and do, we mediate the presence of Christ by testifying to his “excellencies,” so that others might embrace him as Lord and Savior. 

As elect exiles, we sincerely love one another. We will discover in our passage that what commands, enables, motivates, and equips us to love one another sincerely is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Since we are elect exiles who have received a salvation that brings living hope, joy in suffering, and it is a privilege, how do we live as elect exiles? Peter teaches us that as elect exiles we live with hope, we live holy lives, and we live assured lives.

Peter reminds us of the salvation we have received because of God’s great mercy that was displayed for us by Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. This salvation brings a living hope, a joy amid suffering, and a privilege that even angels longed to glimpse.

Our cultural context is increasingly becoming secular. A growing percentage of Americans no longer share a Christian worldview, hold to Christian beliefs and values, or identify with any Christian heritage. We find ourselves living in a post-Christian culture. How do we as Christians live in a post-Christian culture? In the introduction of 1 Peter, we will discover that it does not begin with what we do but with understanding who we are as elect exiles.