Hope and Holy - Identifying, Wise, Attractional Living

[0:00] Please take your Bibles or your devices and go to 1 Peter, or 1 Peter, chapter 1. If you're visiting with us, you pull out that black Bible in the chair in front of you and go to page 180, towards the back of that Bible, page 180, you'll find 1 Peter, chapter 1.

[0:30] We're going to study this morning verses 13 through 16. I'm going to read starting in verse 1 of chapter 1, but our study will consist of chapter 1 verses 13 through 16.

[0:49] Chapter 1, verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.

[1:14] May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance imperishable and unfiled and unfading reserved in heaven for you who are kept, protected by the power of God through faith, unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

[1:46] In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while since it is necessary, you've been distressed by various trials that the genuineness of your trust, more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[2:10] And though you've not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do not see Him now, but because you believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy, inexpressible and glorious, obtaining as the outcome of your trust the salvation of your souls.

[2:27] As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was destined for you will make careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

[2:45] It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look.

[2:58] Therefore, verse 13, guard your minds for action, keep sober, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[3:12] As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all conduct, because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

[3:28] The title of the book is Pedophilia, A Philosophical Analysis by Stephen Kirshner.

[3:44] This is no joke. Denny Burke, in his blog, said this, quote, In this book, Kirshner questions whether pedophilia should be considered a mental disorder and or morally wrong.

[4:02] His argument is that it can only be considered a mental disorder if, and only if, two conditions are met. One, if the condition causes harm, and two, if the harm results from a dysfunction in a mental mechanism.

[4:18] Kirshner contends that pedophilia is a, quote, unquote, natural function with a, quote, unquote, evolutionary explanation.

[4:29] Thus, it does not meet the second criterion. He further argues that pedophilia doesn't harm the pedophile and that it does not necessarily harm a, quote, unquote, willing child.

[4:41] So pedophilia doesn't clearly violate the first criterion either, end quote. I'm not joking about this. There's a real book you can find that's now describing this.

[4:59] In a day when pedophilia begins to be embraced, when lying doesn't matter, when adultery doesn't matter, and readers who lie and adulterate doesn't matter.

[5:18] When it seems to be so hopeless and godless, this is when Peter's letter to us breaks in.

[5:33] And this is when the call for us as Christians becomes so much more stronger. As we look at Peter's letter, by God's grace, be wise, winsome weirdos in a wicked world, today we will see this, hope and holy, identifying, wise, attractional living.

[6:02] hope and holy. Hope and holy. When we are a people of hope, when we are a people of holiness, that identifies us, and that's wise living, and that is, believe it or not, from Peter's perspective, attractional.

[6:24] Hope and holy, identifying wise, attractional living. statement for you. Based upon the gospel of grace, we must hope fully on final grace, and be holy in all our conduct by God's grace, because it's just who we are as Christians, it's us living out the truth as Christians, and it's attractive to the world.

[6:57] At this point, in verse 13, things change in Peter's letter. For the first 12 verses, he's been giving us just simple, factual statements.

[7:08] This, this, this, this, now, things change. From this point on, commands will dominate Peter's letter. Why?

[7:19] Because, practical Christian living is based on the doctrine of the gospel. So you have gospel doctrine, and then you have gospel living.

[7:30] What we believe, and how we live out what we believe. And that's what Peter does. He sets up these first 12 verses, the gospel of grace.

[7:41] This is what's happening to you now. This is how we're supposed to be. This is how we're supposed to live. This is who we are.

[7:53] Peter will tell his readers how to live out this great salvation, God's great grace. Notice, the first word of verse 13, therefore, therefore, based upon this, therefore, live this way.

[8:10] because our relationship with God and the gospel, that is the basis for this kind of behavior, for this way of thinking, for this way of living.

[8:23] It's the gospel. It's grace. we can live like this as followers of Jesus, no matter the difficulty of our circumstances.

[8:36] We can live lives, winsome lives, by God's grace and because of God's grace. Amen. So there's two points, hope and holy. first point, hope fully on final grace.

[8:51] Hope fully on final grace, verse 13, therefore, growing your minds for action, keeping sober, hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[9:04] hoping fully upon final grace, that is when our relationship with the Father is consummated.

[9:16] Hoping fully on final grace will show itself by us being a people whose minds are prepared for action and lives are under control. That's how it will show itself.

[9:30] Because you have these verbs growing your mind, keeping sober, the actual main command he has here is hope fully. How do you have a full, complete hope on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ?

[9:46] Which we will unpack what that means too. How do you do this? First, notice he says, therefore, girding your minds for action. Literally, girding up the loins of your mind.

[10:01] In the first century, the basic garment was a long, sleeveless shirt of linen reaching at least to the knees, most often to the ankles.

[10:12] It was worn long at all times, but, for active service, you had to do some work, you had to do this or that, you had to go to the store in a hurry, or in a war, or a battle, you would take the thing, tuck it up into your belt, so that way it frees up your legs and you can sprint and run.

[10:32] So he's saying, gird up the loins of your mind, your mind, your mind, it's a way to describe mental alertness. Roll up the sleeves of your mind.

[10:47] Ready to work on the car, you're rolling up your sleeves. Prepare your mind for active work. Jesus said in Luke 12, 35, be alert.

[11:02] Have mental resolve, spiritual alertness. That's how you're going to be able to hope fully. Second way, he says, keep sober.

[11:16] Sobriety, well, originally means get off alcohol. Right? But, to keep sober metaphorically, it denotes self-control and attentive behavior.

[11:32] Drugs, alcohol, prescription drugs these days, right, can impair judgment. You lose control.

[11:43] So the idea is, we should not allow anything to impair our judgment or impair our control. He wants us to stay attentive.

[11:56] So you're girding up the loins of your mind, you're spiritually alert, you're awake, you're attentive. You've got everything about you.

[12:08] You're ready. It's something where he says, we're not allowing anything that can lull us into carelessness, laziness, or idleness, inhibiting our alertness, or self-control, or decisions as Christians.

[12:29] We need to reorient our priorities according to God's agenda, not our own. So the idea is be prepared for action.

[12:42] Have a completely clear mind which brings good, sound judgment. What can intoxicate us? What can distract us?

[12:54] The cares of this life? The threats of sickness? The pressures of persecution? Those things can intoxicate, those things can distract us.

[13:10] From focusing upon God's big picture for us, for God's big picture for us and this life. So you're girding your mind, you're prepared for action, and as you're girding your mind, you're spiritually alert, he says, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[13:31] Fix your hope completely. confident, factual expectation in the midst of the trials and the tribulations of today. In other words, have an eternal perspective on life, adjust your life with this way of thinking, and the only way you can have this thinking is when you are attentive, alert, aware, prepared for action.

[13:55] hope is a dominant theme in his letter. He uses it synonymous with faith, even grace.

[14:09] Later on, chapter 1, verse 21, he'll mention faith and hope together. So fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you.

[14:21] Grace, what is this? The blessings that will come when Jesus returns. Once again, having an eternal perspective, we talked about this earlier on in chapter 1, a couple weeks ago.

[14:38] 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 10, Peter writes this, the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, the earth and its works will be burned up.

[14:53] Verse 11, since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?

[15:08] We're looking for it. We're ready. We're alert. Our hope is put fully at the grace to be brought to us. We're looking.

[15:19] We have an eternal outlook, an eternal perspective. we have the eternal glasses on. Having an eternal outlook will change the way we live our lives in the present time.

[15:34] Why? Because Jesus returns, it brings our marital consummation to an end, when we finally will be with God forever. Your suffering will end.

[15:49] all this stuff will end. It will. We must think this way. We must have an eternal perspective or we will absolutely go absolutely nuts.

[16:06] You go crazy. You read about this guy writing a book about pedophilia and you're like, I can't believe this guy. I can't believe that this guy's even thinking this way.

[16:22] And then people think we're weirdos? What? Really? I'm a weirdo? Because I believe in the book and authority outside of me instead of me being authoritative?

[16:38] What? Really? I'm the weirdo? Oh yes, you are the weirdo. Jesus' return, it brings the marriage to a consummation when we will be with the husband, the church as the bride.

[17:06] Don't you want that? Don't you want to see that happen? The evil that is in this world, the wickedness in this world, the sex trafficking, the human trafficking, the drugs, all these things happening in this world, don't you want that to come to an end?

[17:28] If you're here and you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, this is for you as well. Christianity is about a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, as Christians we look forward to being with our God forever.

[17:45] And God sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ who lived and died and rose so that you can have a relationship with him as well. Repent and put your trust in Jesus and you'll have a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[18:01] That's what we look forward to as Christians. That's why Peter says hope fully on that grace. Focus your hope on the future revelation of Jesus Christ when you will receive his entire grace.

[18:16] In other words, don't set your hope on things that are transitory, corrupt, fading. Don't lose sight of eternity. As we sang just a moment ago, faith shall be sight.

[18:31] that's what we look forward to. That's what we're focusing upon. We have that eternal perspective. Full grace is the incentive for Christian living.

[18:44] Anticipating that grace coming to us in the future. It's a future eternal outlook. This hope is so factually certain, it will bring a certain pattern of conduct.

[18:59] It will affect the way you live. It will infect how you think and how you act. This is the full experience of God's grace toward us, so we should long for it.

[19:12] We should even pray for it. Oh, Lord God, please come. Right? I mean, do we have this eternal perspective? Christian, what is distracting your way of thinking?

[19:27] What is distracting your way of living? maybe it is alcohol. Maybe it is your stuff. What's distracting us?

[19:41] But as we establish ourselves in the truth of the gospel, keeping an eternal, trusting, joyful outlook with the confident expectation, we have future grace coming.

[19:54] we can mentally, emotionally, and may I say psychologically, be ready to live a life of holiness. Since God is our Father, unless we belong to Him, enjoy a loving, fatherly, gracious relationship with Him, and have been changed by Him, we should imitate Him in holiness.

[20:21] Hopefully upon grace, upon future grace, and it leads to our second point, be holy in all conduct. Be holy in all your conduct.

[20:34] Starting in verse 14, as obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts and your ignorance. What do we see here?

[20:46] First, underneath be holy in our conduct, we see that our relationship with God is the basis for holiness. our relationship with God is the basis for holiness.

[21:00] Notice the first word, as, which means like, or, view yourself this way. View yourself this way. What way?

[21:12] View yourself as obedient children. Children of obedience. Our relationship with God is the basis for holiness.

[21:23] Obedient children, that is children who are characterized by obedience. We're part of God's family, so we have God's warmth and care. He's saying, live like the one of whose family you are part.

[21:37] You belong to God the Father through Jesus Christ. Act like it. Be radically different. If the Lord God is our Father, God and we have a relationship with Him, this relationship is the basis for the call for us to be holy.

[21:58] It makes sense because we should view ourselves as children of obedience. Children, His children, we belong to Him. So we need to rethink this whole holiness command.

[22:14] In other words, holiness is not necessarily our goal. Our goal is communion with God, right? Our goal is relationship with God.

[22:27] Our goal is connection with God. This is why Peter mentions Jesus' return, the consummation, the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[22:41] See, lives that display holiness, are simply a showcase of the deep fellowship and relationship we already have with our Father.

[22:53] We are on display. Like when you go into the ring shop, right? Right, Jordan? Oh, is that out loud? When you go into the ring shop, right?

[23:04] He's looking at all those rings. That's us! We're inside the glass piece and people are looking at us. They're watching. us.

[23:16] We're on display. They see us. And our lives that display holiness, it's simply a showcase that we have fellowship, we have a connection, we have a relationship with God the Father.

[23:32] Our relationship with God is the basis for holiness. I mean, think about it. Isn't fellowship with God what we're really after? Isn't that what we really want?

[23:47] This command here highlights and stresses this relationship we have with God to Him, ourselves, His people, the world. And the closer we get to Him, the more beautiful, satisfying, and attractive this relationship becomes.

[24:12] The more beautiful. It's so satisfying. And people say, you're weird.

[24:26] What's this whole thing about? Not all, but some do that. Some say there's something weird about you. You actually live what you believe.

[24:39] That's odd. It attracts them. Notice, continuing on, as obedient children. Children of obedience, who we are, not being conformed or molded to the former lusts in your ignorance.

[24:59] This is actually the negative aspect of His command to be holy. So part of what it means to be holy is not to be molded by sinful desires. What kind of sinful desires?

[25:13] Chapter 2, verse 1, malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, slander. chapter 4, verse 3, the desire of the Gentiles pursued a course of sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

[25:33] Things like that. So Peter here is saying, in this verse 14, do not allow yourselves to be molded by these sinful lusts or desires, and then he mentions former lusts in your ignorance, desires you had during your previous times of ignorance, when you did not know God through the Lord Jesus Christ, before you were a Christian, before you knew Jesus Christ.

[26:03] to be ignorant of God is a moral problem. In other words, those who are ignorant are still culpable. That's why we call it willful ignorance.

[26:18] So he's saying, not allowing yourselves to be molded by lusts, desires, lusts that you had during your previous time of ignorance, before you came to Christ.

[26:32] And what does he mean by lust? Well, it's not simply sexual lusts, but desires or lusts are all kinds of self-indulgences and cravings. Whether it's talking about a Jew or talking about a Gentile, before they were saved, the Jew had their cravings and lusts, before a Gentile was saved, they had their cravings and lusts.

[26:54] Don't be conformed, don't be molded and in shape by those lusts, because that's not who you are. That's not you. Remember when the Spirit of God was regenerated, regenerated your heart and life?

[27:10] Remember when God changed you? That happened. You're this thing called a Christian now. Live like it.

[27:24] Don't slip back into this lifestyle that was abandoned when God totally transformed you by the work of regeneration. God's Spirit has broken the rule of sin in our lives.

[27:39] We should live like it, right? Israel, in the Old Testament, was commanded to abandon their former habits developed in Egypt.

[27:55] Leviticus chapter 18, verse 2. The Lord said, these habits that you had in Egypt, don't do that. You're my people now.

[28:06] You belong to me now. In the same way, followers of Jesus, Christians, were called to cut free from our former habits before being saved.

[28:21] God. As members of this church, people should know us to be totally different. They should know that as you're interacting with neighbors or relatives or you're at the store and they find out you are part of this church, Cottonwood Bible Church, people should say, I know this guy, I know this gal that goes to that church.

[28:49] Those people really live out what they say. That's called the corporate witness of the body. We're corporately witnessing the gospel to our whole community by the way we live.

[29:04] Peter says that's important. It's our relationship with God. That's the basis for holiness. Second point along with be holy, God's holiness is the pattern for holiness.

[29:16] Verse 15, the pattern because excuse me, verse 15, but like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in all conduct.

[29:27] But, the strong contrast, don't be conformed to the cravings, the lusts, and your ignorance before you came to Christ. But, instead, in conformity with this, live in conformity to holiness.

[29:45] In conformity with the holy one who called you. God has called us. Chapter 2, verse 9, you are chosen race, a holy priesthood, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you.

[30:03] Verse 21, of chapter 2, you've been called for this purpose. Chapter 3, verse 9, you've been called for the purpose to inherit a blessing to live like this.

[30:14] chapter 5, verse 10, you have been called to his eternal glory in Christ. We've been called, the holy one has called us.

[30:25] And because he's called you in a specific, affecting way, you've changed. So, Peter made it clear that his readers have changed.

[30:39] They're different now. So, live lives that show the difference. The one who called you to live wisely in this wicked world. The holy one has called you.

[30:50] And he is the pattern for holiness because he's the one who's called you because he's called the holy one. That's why he says, you, yourselves, be holy also.

[31:01] What does holiness mean? It means to be set apart. To be distinct. To be otherness. We don't live, we don't act, we don't speak like those around us.

[31:15] At least we shouldn't. We're set apart. If you have all these things here together, and you take this one, you put it over here, that's a way of thinking about it's holy, it's set apart, it's not with the common thing.

[31:30] Right? So, you set it apart, it's otherness. So, he says, be holy yourselves. God is the pattern, his holiness is the pattern of holiness. He's separate, he's distinct, he is otherness.

[31:45] That was the point of Leviticus. If we go to the book of Leviticus, that was the point to show, I am holy, says the Lord, I'm the pattern of holiness. I'm distinct, I'm otherness, I'm not like the other gods, because there are no other gods.

[32:03] I'm the one and only God. You act like me. Israel was holy because God had chosen her as his own and dealt with her as his own.

[32:19] Same with us. You do this, be holy yourselves in all conduct or all behavior in your manner of life.

[32:30] The word conduct or behavior is used throughout Peter's letter. Chapter 1, verse 15, verse 18, chapter 2, verse 12, chapter 3, verse 1, chapter 3, verse 2, chapter 3, verse 16.

[32:44] He's using it constantly because he wants us to get through our heads. God has brought his gospel of grace into our lives. We're changed.

[32:54] We're different, a different people now. Live lives of wisdom, winsomeness in this wicked world. Since God has called us to be his own, the doctrine of election, and dwells with us by his spirit, we must be different.

[33:15] We should be different. We will be different. By the way, he says, be holy yourselves. Not become because as Christians we are already holy because of our relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[33:33] What does he mean here when he says, be? Demonstrate this reality in terms of your behavior. Because you belong to God. The idea is allowing God to make holiness in you a reality.

[33:47] God, make holiness in me a reality. Make it a reality in my life. To what extent? You're different.

[33:59] We're different in our words, our conversations, our priorities, how we spend our money, how we react, how we work, what we drink, what we watch, what we listen to, what we say, how we treat our spouses, how we treat our children, how we treat other church members, how we treat the unsaved.

[34:20] From how you drive to how you bank, everything, we're different, we're distinct. Our lives display wisdom and winsomeness.

[34:35] It's attractional. It's putting into practice the knowledge of God, wisdom. So our relationship with God is the basis of holiness.

[34:47] God's holiness is the pattern for holiness. And then third point, thank you I, Howard Marshall, God's holiness is the reason for holiness. Verse 16, because it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy.

[35:04] The confirmation. It's been written, Leviticus chapter 11, verse 44 to 45. For I am the Lord your God, consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy for I am holy.

[35:25] You shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God. Thus you shall be holy for I am holy.

[35:36] This is the authority of God's word. The authority of God's word is the confirmation that this must happen in our lives. So the way we are should testify to our trust in God.

[35:53] The way we act should display the very character of God. The way we live should affirm the change ruts in us by God. As Israel was called to be drastically different from the nations.

[36:11] So we should live wisely. We should be drastically different from the people around us. Based upon the gospel of grace, we must hope fully on final grace and be holy in all our conduct by God's grace because it's who we are.

[36:33] It's living out truth and it's attractive to the world. God do this in us as a people, as a church, as members of this local body.

[36:52] Spirit, work in us. Thank you that you enable us. and thank you, Spirit, that there's hope for us to be a people who hope fully on the grace with an eternal perspective and have lives that are distinct and different and otherness from those around us.

[37:17] Take a few moments, if you would, and ponder what we've seen in God's word. we'll have a few moments of silence for us to be able to do that. And after a few moments of silence, we'll worship in our giving.

[37:36] We'll worship by singing two more songs and then we'll have our closing prayer. If you would, just take a few moments to sit, think, ponder what we've seen here in Peter's letter.

[37:49] and amen to part of October.