So I don't have to live in shame,
I don't have to live in fear,
I don't have to hide,
I don't have to deny my sin.
I can run broken and failing as I am
and know that there's cleansing for me,
there's forgiveness for me.
Well, I want to read 1 Peter 1:1-2
and then tell you what we're going to look at.
"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion
in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
and sanctification of the Spirit,
for obedience to Jesus Christ
and for sprinkling with His blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you."
I want to just think of these
four awesome blessings of God's grace
that Peter wants to root these people in.
If someone asks you who you are,
what would be the first things you say?
How would you describe what you're about?
How would you describe why you do what you do?
Well, here's Peter's description.
Again, he wants them to know
that with this new identity comes these blessings
that we have been given
between the already and the not yet.
Now, if you get ahold of these blessings,
they can quiet your worry,
quiet your fear,
quiet your discouragement,
quiet your shame,
quiet your aloneness,
quiet those feelings of being overwhelmed.
I have been really sobered in the last couple of years
by the amount of my brothers and sisters
who are just overwhelmed,
who are oppressed with worry,
who are discouraged.
And I know we've been through hard things.
But that's why it's so important to know what you've been given.
First thing he talks about is God's foreknowledge.
Long before the world began,
if you're God's children, listen to what I'm about to say.
Your story was written into God's book.
He knew you in that way
because He chose you in that way.
I love this that my little story,
the little story of Paul Tripp
has now been embedded in the larger story of redemption.
Now, why is that important to understand?
It's important to understand so I would live
not just with a "my story" mentality
but with a "God's story" mentality.
How does God's story encourage me?
How does God's story define me?
How does God's story give me a purpose for living?
How does God's story give me hope?
He says by sanctification of the spirit.
Wow, wow, wow, we could talk for days about this,
that God knew that it was not enough to forgive me
because even with forgiveness,
there's still sin living inside of me.
That He needed literally to unzip me
and get inside of me by His Spirit
to not only empower me to do what is right
but to progressively defeat sin
and transform me into the image of my Son.
That means God is at work
doing His work inside of me,
even those days when I don't have the sense enough
to recognize it.
God's active for your spiritual benefit.
In obedience to Christ
that I've been given a purpose,
I've had right and wrong defined for me,
but not only that,
I've been given the power to obey.
Think about this.
Every command that God has given me
is accompanied by His empowering grace.
I can live in a new way.
I don't have to give way to that old way.
And then by the sprinkling of the blood.
I love this.
This is the cleansing power of God's work.
Sin is an irremovable stain,
apart from the cleansing blood.
And so I don't have to live in shame,
I don't have to live in fear,
I don't have to hide,
I don't have to deny my sin.
I can run broken and failing as I am
and know that there's cleansing for me,
there's forgiveness for me.
Don't ever resist confession.
Don't ever resist conviction.
I mean, think about this.
I've been written into God's story.
God is actively working on transforming me.
I've been given an understanding of what is right
and the power to do it.
And there's cleansing for me
until this heart is pure.
That's who you are in Christ.