“The Validation of Our Salvation” # 4 1 Peter 1:22-25

TRANSCRIPT

Date: July 21, 2024 Author: Wayne J. Edwards

One of the most theologically conservative professors I had at Columbia International University stunned the class one morning when he made this statement. We were near the end of the quarter, and in each class, he had drilled us about the importance of knowing the right doctrines and holding fast to the truth of God’s unchanging Word. Then he made this astounding statement: “A person can know all the right doctrines, hold all the right theological positions, live by all the right biblical principles, but if his attitude toward others is wrong, he is totally wrong.” Of course, that profound truth was just an echo of what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13: “Love never fails. Whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” This Sunday, we continue our sermon series, “How Should We Then Live?” The goal of these sermons is to understand how God expects His people to live in the world today, i.e., how we are to manifest our eternal salvation. The title of this sermon is “The Validation of Our Salvation—God’s call for His people to show we are Christians by our love.”

One of the most theologically conservative professors I had at Columbia International University stunned the class one morning when he made this statement. We were near the end of the quarter, and in each class, he had drilled us about the importance of knowing the right doctrines and holding fast to the truth of God’s unchanging Word. Then he made this astounding statement:

“A person can know all the right doctrines, hold all the right theological positions, live by all the right biblical principles, but if his attitude toward others is wrong, he is totally wrong.”

Of course, that profound truth was just an echo of what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:

“Love never fails. Whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

This Sunday, we continue our sermon series, “How Should We Then Live?” The goal of these sermons is to understand how God expects His people to live in the world today, i.e., how we are to manifest our eternal salvation. The title of this sermon is “The Validation of Our Salvation—God’s call for His people to show we are Christians by our love.”

Download the following translated Sermon guides:

In the first-century, the anchor was a symbol for hope and steadfastness for Christians suffering persecution. Anchors are found in many inscriptions in the catacombs of Rome, and they were worn by many Christians as a sign that their hope was in Christ alone. The source for this symbol is found in Hebrews 6:19, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.”

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Old Testament Reading – Ezekiel 36:22-32 New Testament Reading – 1 John 3:16-24

Writing to Christians who were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Apostle Peter challenged them to shift their focus from their temporal suffering to their eternal salvation. Thus far, we have looked at the:

The soul is the “person” that inhabits a human body – i.e., we don’t have a soul, we are a soul, and we have a body, for the body dies, but the soul lives forever.

The soul is where all information is received, processed, and evaluated through our worldview. Then we express our feelings, and we exercise our will on all kinds of life issues.

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