Your Former Ignorance - 1Peter 1:13-16

1 Peter 1:13-16

 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober- minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.

Conforming to the world is the most destructive form of ignorance because it opposes God. If we remain in sin, we do so out of ignorance, whether we know the gospel or not.  In fact the one who knows the way of The Lord yet still sins may be more ignorant in the disregarding of that truth.  

Conforming to the image of Christ is what makes us holy, for He is holy. We leave the ignorance of the world for the peace and life of God. 

Religion - James 1:27

James 1:27

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Religion is but a function of man. There are many variations, but there is one way to 

God and He has shared that with us. 

Jesus did not share a religion with us. Religion existed long before He came and has flourished after He left.  He left us with the truth, pure and undefiled. 

Galatians 5:6

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

No Shame - Romans 5:5

Romans 5:5 ESV 

and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Our faith in Christ finds its assurance in the presence of the Holy Spirit. That confirmation is through the word and is experienced in the life we have received. 

The splendor and glory of God is referenced when we refer to Jesus as the word of God. The love of God is made manifest in us through the Holy Spirit.  The living water flows to us and through us, and is given freely without end. 

We become part of that splendor and glory. Jesus was the exact image of God and He shares that righteousness with His brothers and sisters. Clothed as such we approach God with no shame. 

He Believed - Romans 4:17-19

Romans 4:17-19

as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead ( since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.

Moses and Sarah are old and barren, beyond their ability to have a child- "as good as dead".  Yet God promised a child and Moses believed.  

God has made a promise to us, just He did for Moses.  We are told we will have life though we inhabit earthly bodies that are as good as dead. This is the life of God.  

We are barren in our attempt at self righteousness.  We are hopeless without the hope of God, which is a sure and certain.

Moses is our example of faith and the father of our faith.  We are no different from him as we strive to live out our faith in faith. 

Let it be said of us, "He believed"!

Desire - Psalms 37:4-5

Psalms 37:4-5

Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

In each man's heart is the desire for something more. This desire gives us the wings to leave the earth and the limitations of creation.  It is there we can find God, for He has drawn near. 

Our desire can find outlets other than God, but does not replace God as the ultimate fulfillment. In fact, it is only when we find God that are able to truly experience the desires of our heart. 

Not Deceived - 1Timothy 2:13-15

1Timothy 2:13-15 ESV 

For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self- control.

It would seem Paul is stating something which is not part of our typical understanding of what happened in the Garden. By saying Adam was not deceived, he must have eaten the fruit knowing full well the consequence that would follow. 

Perhaps it was love and compassion that caused Adam to partake of the forbidden fruit. Eve transgressed the law, but Adam still loved her. Rather than abandon her, he took and ate the fruit she gave him.  

This is a foreshadowing of the love that God would ultimately demonstrate in His self-sacrifice for His Church, the Bride of Christ.  He would take the punishment for our sins though He was sinless. 

Christ would come through the childbearing of man and would eat the fruit of man's sin, becoming our sin that we might be free of its chains. He was not deceived, for He knew what was inside a man and He knew what we can be. 

We are saved when we believe and continue in our faith in Him who came to us born from the house of David, born of woman and of God. 

Law Brings Wrath - Romans 4:13-15

Romans 4:13-15

 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

There two groups of people in the world. They are the goats or sheep, the ones that will be judged by the law or those freed from that law, which comes from faith. 

When we stand before the judgement throne, this will be the most important thing whether we understand this and believe or not. 

The law remains and stands for all those that reject Christ. They will face the wrath of God. Those that accept Christ and His grace are beyond the law and in the body of Christ. There is no transgression in the kingdom.  The law was not able to accomplish righteousness, but it does stand in judgement.