Sermon Tone Analysis

In the first lecture last night, we looked at what Paul wrote in the fourth chapter of I Thessalonians.

What it means to do the will of God is often misunderstood, but Paul could not have been clearer.

He said that doing the will of God means that we avoid fornication and stop cheating one another.

In other words, we must submit ourselves to God’s law.

But then the question is, How do we do that?

The desire to sin, even for believers, is often overwhelming.

So, how do we face temptation and emerge the victor?

Before all else, we have to come to grips with exactly what we’re facing.

Our tendency is to minimize the significance of temptation and sin.

After all, a little “white lie” or a quick glance at a pretty woman won’t hurt anyone.

It’s not like we’re planning a bank heist or the assassination of a President.

So, what’s the big deal?

But remember the ugliness of our sin is not always, or even primarily, determined by how it affects other people.

It hurts us by compromising our holiness before God.

And, even more importantly, it brings into question the holiness of the Holy Spirit, whose work is to sanctify us and make us more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Heidelberg Catechism, in fact, cites this as the reason for the severity of God’s punishment for sin.

It says that “His justice therefore requires that sin, which is committed against the most high majesty of God, be punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment both of body and soul” (Q~/A 11).

God’s most high majesty would certainly include his absolute holiness.

Instead of thinking of temptation and sin as minor annoyances, let’s use more Biblical terminology.

The Bible describes this as a war.

Sin and temptation are on that side.

We, by the grace of God, are on this side.

The world, the flesh and the devil are our mortal enemies.

It’s been this way since Adam first sinned in the Garden of Eden.

God said to the serpent, /And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel/ (Gen.

3:15).

In the New Testament, we have a list of the weapons that we are supposed to use in this war, viz., the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the boots of the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (Eph.

6:10–18).

Most of these things, if not all of them, emphasize the objective truth of Jesus Christ.

That’s what we fight with.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing in this world that never changes.

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Beloved Strangers and Pilgrims

Peter exhortation begins with an appeal to his readers in verse 11 as /dearly beloved/ (ἀγαπητοί).

He expressed his love for the church of Jesus Christ to encourage you toward greater progress.

But his address is really more than just an expression of love.

It occurs twice in I Peter (here and 4:12) and four times in II Peter 3 (vv.

1, 8, 14 and 17), and in each instance it precedes an exhortation for you, as the people of God, to be extremely careful in your theology and circumspect in your walk.

In fact, his second epistle ends like this: /Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

To him be glory both now and for ever/ (II Pet.

3:17–18).

It seems that Peter addressed his readers as /beloved/ when he got down to the nuts and bolts of applying the Christian faith to the lives of believers.

It’s as though this word introduces a very personal message.

At the very least, it shows the apostle’s concern for the church’s growth.

We see this in our text, too.

Not only did Peter identify his readers as /beloved/, but he went on to beseech them as strangers and pilgrims.

Here Peter’s concern comes across both in the verb /beseech/ and in the description of his readers as /strangers and pilgrims/.

The word /beseech/ is a very powerful word.

Even in English it has the idea of begging and imploring.

The Greek word (παρακαλῶ) literally means to call to one’s side.

One person calls another person to his side to comfort him, to exhort him or to instruct him.

In fact, this verb has such a wide range of meanings that the KJV uses no less than ten distinct English verbs to translate it.

The translation in any given instance depends, of course, on the context.

However it’s translated, it highlights the earnestness of the effort.

You call someone to your side, beseech him, comfort him or exhort him because you desire his improvement in one way or another.

And so it was with Peter.

He sought the good of those to whom he wrote.

Further, Peter described his readers as /strangers and pilgrims/.

With this he reminded his readers of their relationship to the world.

What exactly is that relationship?

Peter says that we’re not at home.

Although we live in the world, we’re really here as non-citizens or resident aliens.

We’re foreigners, whose true and proper home is heaven.

Just as the patriarchs who looked for a heavenly city, whose builder and maker is God (Heb.11:8ff.),

Philippians 3:20 says that /our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ/.

In this verse, the word conversation refers to a commonwealth, the administration of a commonwealth, or, more specifically, citizenship in a commonwealth.

Our word /politics/ comes from the word translated /conversation/ (τὸ πολίτευμα) in this verse.

We are citizens of heaven.

Peter explained this in even greater detail in the verses immediately preceding our text.

In verse 4, he said that believers come to the living stone, who was rejected by men, but precious to God.

This, of course, is an allusion to Psalm 118, which predicted the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And as we come to this living stone, according to verse 5, we are made living stones ourselves.

In Christ we are privileged to be part of /an holy priesthood/ and /to offer up spiritual sacrifices/.

And in verses 9 and 10 Peter added even more.

We are nothing less than God’s people — chosen by God, set apart by God, appointed by God to serve him.

We are, as Peter wrote, /a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy/.

You see, this is what you are, if you have embraced Christ’s sacrifice and death by faith.

This incredibly privileged status is yours.

As one commentator wrote, you must, therefore, count yourselves as being gloriously different than those among whom you live.

You must look beyond the scatter­edness and suffering of your lives and see yourselves as God’s chosen vessels.

And then you have to ask yourselves, What should be my attitude and response to this mighty outpouring of God’s favor?

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Fighting the War against the Soul

According to Peter, your first response to God’s grace should be to /abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul/.

In other words, withdrawing from the world is not an option.

You are called upon to engage in holy warfare — a warfare that begins with conquering your sinful desires.

In other words, you must demonstrate your redeemed status by the distinctiveness of your life.

Your life should not look like the life of a worldling.

The fleshly lusts that Peter had in mind are not simply what we might call sensual sins, like fornication or pornography.

Rather, they include all the sins of the flesh that Paul lists, for example, in Galatians 5, viz., adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like (vv.

19–21 NKJV).

In short, we can say that fleshly lusts include anything that pleases you and displeases God.

Moreover, you have to understand that such things are not just dangerous — they’re deadly!

Peter says that they /war against your soul/.

Rush Limbaugh is fond of saying that the whole idea behind war is to kill people and break things.

No one can succeed in war without doing both.

Satan, your adversary and accuser, can be satisfied with nothing less.

Later in this same book, Peter says that /your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour/ (ch.

5:8).

Beloved, if your faith is not in the finished work of Christ, you will be consumed.

You will end up as a casualty in this war, unless you turn to the Lord Jesus in repentance and humility.

There can be no other outcome.

After listing the works of the flesh, Paul reminded us of this very sobering fact: /of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God/ (Gal.

5:21).

But even true believers can be seriously wounded in the battle.

When we give in to fleshly lusts, even for a short time, we allow these lusts to disrupt our fellowship with God, which often makes us doubt the sincerity of our faith as well.