WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:28.160 1 Peter chapter 1, 17, and if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:38.359 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 00:00:39.420 --> 00:00:40.640 Amen. That's where we'll pause. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:42.679 We don't want to open with a question. 00:00:45.159 --> 00:00:50.219 Should a Christian ever live in fear? 00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:56.939 Should a Christian ever live in fear? 00:00:58.659 --> 00:01:03.379 That's what I want to meditate on here at the beginning of our time in this text. 00:01:03.839 --> 00:01:11.579 I actually posted the question on Facebook earlier this week, really just curious to see what kind of responses might come from it. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.379 I wasn't trying to trick anybody. 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:16.859 That wasn't what my intent was. 00:01:16.859 --> 00:01:24.340 I was actually genuinely curious if anyone might provide a thoughtfully nuanced answer to that question. 00:01:24.340 --> 00:01:27.439 And as you might expect, perhaps some of you saw the post. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:31.040 Of course, none of you seemed brave enough to actually reply to the post. 00:01:31.140 --> 00:01:31.620 That's all right. 00:01:32.320 --> 00:01:34.939 But perhaps you read what some of the comments were on it. 00:01:34.939 --> 00:01:42.480 With only one exception, everyone who commented on the question provided this answer. 00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:44.480 It was a resolute no. 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:50.920 The only exception was the guy that said, well, only those Christians who are married should probably live in fear. 00:01:51.459 --> 00:01:55.039 Speaking of those men that maybe he knows, maybe he was one of those men. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:57.319 But really, it was a resolute no for every one of them. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:00.219 No, there's never a reason for a Christian to live in fear. 00:02:00.219 --> 00:02:05.379 And many of them would quote scripture, important scriptures like 2 Timothy. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:10.579 God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and of a sound mind. 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:19.500 Some quoted Isaiah, really, where we could go in a numerous amount of places in the Old Testament, which would echo fear not. 00:02:19.699 --> 00:02:19.979 Why? 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:22.840 For I am with you. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:25.979 And that answer is a good instinct, isn't it? 00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:31.000 I want to suggest that it's not the only way to answer the question. 00:02:31.519 --> 00:02:39.280 Because it's not the only way that the Bible tackles this issue of fear or this idea of living in fear. 00:02:40.399 --> 00:02:44.519 We read just here in our passage in Luke 1 in this Christmas reading. 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:54.200 There is one sense in which the people recognizing around Zechariah and Elizabeth, they're recognizing something unique and of God is there. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:57.480 And fear fell upon them, it says. 00:02:58.320 --> 00:03:00.939 We see also a different kind of fear for Zechariah. 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:05.900 The angel Gabriel shows up next to the temple and he is overwhelmed with fear. 00:03:06.460 --> 00:03:07.280 Same word. 00:03:08.020 --> 00:03:12.900 But clearly different in the way that it's experienced in those moments. 00:03:12.900 --> 00:03:27.640 Then Zechariah comes to the prophecy that he gives and he says that this child has come to prepare the way for the Christ so that God would fulfill his promises and we would be able to serve him without fear. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:30.400 Different ways. 00:03:30.819 --> 00:03:34.000 Same word that we might experience this. 00:03:34.140 --> 00:03:35.300 Let me give you a couple other passages. 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:37.080 Romans 11. 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:46.260 Paul is talking about unbelieving Israel and he's using this illustration of the branch and God pruning the branch. 00:03:46.620 --> 00:03:51.120 He says that unbelieving Jews were broken off because of their unbelief. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:53.560 And then he writes to the Romans, 00:03:53.760 --> 00:03:56.020 But you stand fast through faith. 00:03:57.320 --> 00:04:02.720 So, he says, do not become proud, but fear. 00:04:04.320 --> 00:04:04.680 Why? 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:10.580 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.280 Now, that sounds a lot like living in fear to me. 00:04:16.340 --> 00:04:17.660 But actually as a command. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:19.879 Let me go to another one. 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:22.680 How about Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:28.439 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, work out your own salvation with, do you remember? 00:04:29.819 --> 00:04:30.920 Fear and trembling. 00:04:31.660 --> 00:04:32.560 Fear and trembling. 00:04:32.740 --> 00:04:33.000 Why? 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:39.660 For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:43.860 Sounds a little bit like living in fear, doesn't it? 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:46.639 How about our call to worship this morning? 00:04:46.939 --> 00:04:49.600 Hebrews chapter 12, verses 28 and 29. 00:04:49.899 --> 00:04:52.480 Let us offer to God acceptable worship. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:53.360 Why? 00:04:54.660 --> 00:04:57.000 We are to do this with reverence and awe. 00:04:57.139 --> 00:04:59.459 It's just another way of saying fear and trembling. 00:04:59.459 --> 00:04:59.899 Why? 00:04:59.899 --> 00:05:00.099 Why? 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:05.159 The writer of Hebrews says, because our God is a consuming fire. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:08.799 Sounds like living in fear, doesn't it? 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:14.860 All three of these texts and others address Christians. 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:19.139 They command that we live in fear in some way. 00:05:19.740 --> 00:05:21.220 Of course, we need to understand what that means. 00:05:21.340 --> 00:05:23.540 But they're commanding that we live in fear. 00:05:23.900 --> 00:05:30.879 And they link this way of life, this fearful way of living to God as a righteous judge. 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:33.740 And then we come to 1 Peter. 00:05:33.860 --> 00:05:37.620 And Peter gives us the same instruction here in verses 17 to 19. 00:05:37.620 --> 00:05:44.560 In view of God as the impartial judge and righteous just judge, 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:52.180 Peter writes in verse 17 that we are to conduct ourselves with fear. 00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:54.480 We're to walk in fear. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:00.060 We're to live in fear throughout the time of our exile. 00:06:01.459 --> 00:06:07.139 It's the third of three imperatives that he issues here in verses 13 to 21. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:15.300 And of course, as we've said over and over, these imperatives are flowing out of the assurances of the believer's salvation. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:17.100 That's a pretty big clue for us here, isn't it? 00:06:17.100 --> 00:06:25.400 The things that Peter is commanding, even that we live in fear or walk in fear or conduct ourselves in fear, 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:32.400 is flowing out of gospel hope and gospel assurance. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:37.879 God's grace secures that gospel assurance. 00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:42.300 Christ's return will bring that gospel hope to completion. 00:06:42.300 --> 00:06:50.220 And Peter's main point in this whole section is that our gospel hope should dramatically affect the way we live practically. 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:54.620 The first one is that we are to focus on God's grace. 00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:55.520 That's verse 13. 00:06:55.780 --> 00:07:00.199 The second one is that we are to pursue holiness as God's children. 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:01.580 That's verse 15. 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:05.900 And then there's this one here in verse 17, an explicit imperative, 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:09.480 that we are to live in fear as we wait for the Lord's return. 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:11.400 Okay, well, here's the question. 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:12.819 What does it actually mean? 00:07:14.579 --> 00:07:24.459 What does it mean to live in fear if there's also an imperative here that says we're to focus all of our hope, 00:07:24.599 --> 00:07:29.759 set it fully on grace, which sounds a lot like faith and assurance and confidence. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:33.739 And how are we to understand these two things together? 00:07:34.919 --> 00:07:35.779 Well, here's what I want to do. 00:07:35.779 --> 00:07:41.659 I want to help us to understand how Peter is using fear in this context. 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:48.299 And then I want you to see two ways that Peter says this should work itself out in our lives. 00:07:48.300 --> 00:07:55.939 If you like grammar and the structure of how this is, we call this a bilateral here. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:59.560 The primary emphasis is right in the middle, right? 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:01.560 Conduct yourselves with fear. 00:08:02.580 --> 00:08:07.939 The supporting statements for that, there's one before it, and then there's one after it. 00:08:08.180 --> 00:08:13.480 Those are the two ways that Peter is telling us that we are to practically live this out. 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:15.980 But the imperative, the main emphasis is right in the middle. 00:08:16.200 --> 00:08:20.879 So we want to understand what that is first, and then we're going to look at how Peter says we're to live this out. 00:08:20.980 --> 00:08:21.900 Okay, so let's think about this. 00:08:22.140 --> 00:08:25.160 What does it actually mean to live in fear? 00:08:25.900 --> 00:08:32.180 And the thing that we need to understand right away is that Peter is not commanding that we feel fear. 00:08:32.179 --> 00:08:41.000 And this is really important because an anxious Christian is a contradiction. 00:08:43.739 --> 00:08:45.879 An anxious Christian is a contradiction. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:58.839 That does not mean that a genuine Christian cannot feel anxiety and will never have anxiety or will never have moments of struggle with mental health or anything like that. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:00.120 That's not what I mean by that. 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:09.340 What I mean is that constant anxiety contradicts the assurance of hope that's at the heart of our faith. 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:23.259 You can't set your hope fully on the grace of God and simultaneously live in the kind of fear that doubts God's faithfulness. 00:09:23.259 --> 00:09:39.899 Whether that's in relation to your eternal salvation or perhaps that's the troubling circumstances of your life that maybe causes you to question the significance of God's love and of his sovereign care and providence in your life. 00:09:40.259 --> 00:09:43.039 Those are serious things we wrestle with on a regular basis. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:44.139 All of us do. 00:09:44.139 --> 00:09:48.639 And the fact that that wrestling takes place is not the problem here. 00:09:48.860 --> 00:09:55.240 But to live in that kind of anxiety is a contradiction to what we say is actually at the heart of our faith. 00:09:55.399 --> 00:09:56.139 Which is hope. 00:09:56.899 --> 00:09:57.419 Assurance. 00:09:58.419 --> 00:09:58.939 Confidence. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:00.679 In God's goodness. 00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:05.379 This will always be a temptation for us in exile. 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:06.080 Won't it? 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:13.379 Which is exactly why later in the letter Peter is going to write that we must cast all of our cares on him. 00:10:14.420 --> 00:10:16.620 All of our anxieties on him. 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:18.340 For he cares for us. 00:10:18.420 --> 00:10:19.900 That's chapter 5 verse 7. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:26.879 So we know here right from the beginning Peter doesn't mean that we are to feel fearful. 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:30.580 Or be controlled by a sense of fear. 00:10:30.580 --> 00:10:34.900 Or never have a sense of confidence and hope in our Christian life. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:35.759 That's not what he's saying. 00:10:36.780 --> 00:10:40.160 Conduct or conduct is the key word in this case. 00:10:41.340 --> 00:10:44.800 He's not concerned with how we feel but how we behave. 00:10:45.900 --> 00:10:53.379 And he insists that our behavior be guided by the principle of fearing God. 00:10:53.379 --> 00:11:00.120 And the kind of fear that Peter refers to here and that Paul referred to in many passages. 00:11:00.419 --> 00:11:05.740 And that we see happening practically in some of those narratives like we've read already this morning. 00:11:05.899 --> 00:11:08.620 That kind of fear is not abject terror. 00:11:10.439 --> 00:11:12.820 But it isn't mere respect either. 00:11:13.580 --> 00:11:16.299 Sometimes we water it down too much. 00:11:16.299 --> 00:11:24.019 We don't fear God the way we respect someone who has accomplished greatness in their field. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:27.459 Or just happens to hold an office that's higher than us. 00:11:27.539 --> 00:11:29.719 We don't fear God in exactly that way. 00:11:29.859 --> 00:11:30.939 It's deeper than that. 00:11:30.979 --> 00:11:32.199 It's more profound than that. 00:11:33.819 --> 00:11:37.419 We revere him as the holy one. 00:11:38.379 --> 00:11:42.179 To whom each of us will give an account of our lives. 00:11:42.179 --> 00:11:50.799 Thus Peter reminds us that God judges impartially according to each one's deeds. 00:11:51.659 --> 00:12:00.739 To conduct yourselves with fear then is to live in light of the judgment of God who is a consuming fire. 00:12:01.319 --> 00:12:07.120 And therefore to live in such a way that we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling. 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:11.120 Literally working it from the inside to the outside. 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:14.799 That gospel hope that has overtaken our hearts. 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:16.720 That is a work of God's grace. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:20.740 We are to let that work itself out practically in the way we live. 00:12:20.940 --> 00:12:27.940 That's what it means to conduct yourselves in fear in light of God as the just judge. 00:12:28.980 --> 00:12:37.700 So Peter's point is that the fear of God is to be the guiding principle of Christian conduct during our time of exile. 00:12:38.340 --> 00:12:39.379 To say it another way. 00:12:39.379 --> 00:12:52.419 You should govern how you live with a constant and conscientious reverence for God and his gracious work in your life. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:56.340 And Peter gives us two ways that this works itself out. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:57.259 Two ways. 00:12:57.860 --> 00:12:58.340 Number one. 00:12:59.539 --> 00:13:03.940 We are to live in fear of dishonoring God's name. 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:05.940 As his people. 00:13:06.500 --> 00:13:07.659 He's speaking to Christians. 00:13:07.659 --> 00:13:13.339 We are to live in fear of dishonoring God's name. 00:13:13.419 --> 00:13:14.779 Look again at verse 17. 00:13:16.379 --> 00:13:23.240 If you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds. 00:13:24.339 --> 00:13:27.259 Conduct yourselves with fear. 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:31.439 I recently shared with our fellowship group. 00:13:31.439 --> 00:13:35.659 I'm sure I've said this a number of times even in services on Sundays. 00:13:36.939 --> 00:13:42.059 About this routine that my dad always had with us when we were growing up. 00:13:42.220 --> 00:13:45.179 I assume he did this with my brother and my sister as well. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:48.559 I know that he did it with me and he probably had to do it a little more often with me. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:56.059 But whenever I was going somewhere without my dad, we went through this thing where he would make me say my name. 00:13:56.359 --> 00:14:00.439 And he wanted me to put particular emphasis on my last name. 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:01.959 Blankenship. 00:14:02.779 --> 00:14:03.919 And of course you know why. 00:14:05.419 --> 00:14:15.299 Wherever I went, whatever I did, he wanted me to remember that everything I did as his son reflected on his name. 00:14:15.299 --> 00:14:17.379 On our family name. 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:32.139 In other words, he wanted me to conduct myself in fear of bringing dishonor to the Blankenship family by acting in a way contrary to our values. 00:14:33.299 --> 00:14:35.799 Every once in a while, dad, he would take this illustration. 00:14:35.959 --> 00:14:40.519 He would take this thing a little bit further in a more profound way. 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:57.340 And he would say something to the effect that if I profess to be a Christian, then I need to remember wherever I am that what I do and what I think and how I live reflects on the name of Christ. 00:14:57.340 --> 00:15:09.759 That as someone who belongs to God, I should conduct myself in fear of ever bringing dishonor to God by acting in a way contrary to his word. 00:15:10.820 --> 00:15:13.040 That's exactly what Peter's saying here. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:21.280 And once again, he's using this family language, isn't he, to describe our relationship to God as his people. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:36.059 In verse 3, if you want to look back there, he writes that God the Father has caused us to be born again through faith in Christ, making us his children, called by his name. 00:15:37.699 --> 00:15:45.939 It's this new birth into God's family that qualifies us for and guarantees our eternal inheritance. 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:46.919 That's his whole point. 00:15:47.199 --> 00:15:49.399 He's using this illustration again and again. 00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:58.199 God the Father has caused you to be born again as his child, therefore giving you his eternal inheritance. 00:15:59.459 --> 00:16:00.740 He's your Father. 00:16:01.319 --> 00:16:06.840 We are his children if we have come to know Christ by faith. 00:16:07.659 --> 00:16:09.459 And he does it again in verse 14, doesn't he? 00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:24.860 He writes that our pursuit of holiness is to be grounded in this fact that as we have become God's children through faith and obedience to the gospel message, we are to then be holy and to pursue it. 00:16:25.700 --> 00:16:32.860 And he's returning to that again here, the same thing, that if we profess to know God as Father, he is our Father. 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:39.800 If we're saying that, if we're claiming to be a Christian, then we need to be careful to live up to the family name. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:44.200 We should live in fear of doing anything. 00:16:44.659 --> 00:16:45.980 I would dishonor him. 00:16:47.100 --> 00:16:49.039 Which leads me to a question. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:58.899 When's the last time that you considered whether or not your life genuinely honors your father? 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:03.839 Not your earthly father. 00:17:04.779 --> 00:17:07.220 Not your family name here. 00:17:08.019 --> 00:17:08.700 That's important. 00:17:08.899 --> 00:17:14.659 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, Solomon tells us. 00:17:14.660 --> 00:17:21.019 But the blankenship name in the end is insignificant. 00:17:21.660 --> 00:17:22.300 It doesn't matter. 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:31.720 When's the last time you considered whether or not the way that you were living actually honors your heavenly father? 00:17:33.120 --> 00:17:40.980 Is the guiding principle of your life and of the decisions that you make that this honors God? 00:17:42.100 --> 00:17:44.360 It brings him glory in my life. 00:17:44.660 --> 00:17:52.120 If you call on him as father, if you're professing to be saved by him through faith in Jesus, 00:17:53.120 --> 00:17:59.800 you have a responsibility then to bring him glory in your time of exile. 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:06.600 And let us not forget the qualification here that Peter makes. 00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:14.480 If you call on him as father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds. 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:23.919 Again, he's speaking to professing Christians here who will stand before their father in judgment. 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:28.800 Heaven and hell is not at stake in that judgment for you. 00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:33.279 Our future inheritance is secured by him, not by us. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:34.940 We have that hope. 00:18:35.580 --> 00:18:41.840 And yet, Peter reminds us, you will still stand before him as judge. 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:45.200 And he is a just judge. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:48.539 He is impartial in his judgments. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:55.960 In other words, your life here will not be judged in comparison to the life of another Christian here. 00:18:57.220 --> 00:18:59.400 It will stand and fall on its own. 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:09.240 Conducting yourself in fear means consciously living to bring honor to God's name, 00:19:09.360 --> 00:19:13.580 knowing that he will eventually call you to account for your life. 00:19:13.579 --> 00:19:22.000 What an immense privilege it is to be God's child, to know him as father. 00:19:23.259 --> 00:19:30.500 What a tremendous responsibility each of us has to represent him faithfully during our time of exile. 00:19:31.259 --> 00:19:32.319 Are we to live in fear? 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:34.119 Well, yeah, in a sense we are. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:40.819 A reverence for God, trembling before him, not wondering whether or not he will be faithful, 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:43.059 but seeking to honor his name. 00:19:43.059 --> 00:19:46.319 And so we're going to live in fear of dishonoring him. 00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:47.659 And then there's the second thing. 00:19:48.460 --> 00:19:58.139 Peter says, live in fear of demeaning or devaluing or degrading Christ's sacrifice. 00:20:00.819 --> 00:20:03.679 Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 00:20:04.179 --> 00:20:08.819 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited by your forefathers, 00:20:08.819 --> 00:20:11.779 not with perishable things like silver and gold. 00:20:13.059 --> 00:20:15.500 But with the precious blood of Christ, 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:18.359 like that of a lamb, 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:22.139 without blemish or spot. 00:20:24.879 --> 00:20:28.259 Live in fear because you have been set free, he says. 00:20:28.259 --> 00:20:31.779 That's what it means to be ransomed. 00:20:31.900 --> 00:20:35.940 To be ransomed means to be set free or rescued from captivity. 00:20:37.299 --> 00:20:43.440 And Peter says that conducting ourselves with fear requires consciously bringing to mind the fact 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:47.319 that we have been set free from something terrible. 00:20:47.319 --> 00:20:58.859 And what we've been ransomed from is the way of thinking and living that characterized our lives before coming to Christ. 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:06.579 Before he caused us in his great mercy to be born again to a living hope. 00:21:06.879 --> 00:21:08.740 That way of life, that way of thinking, 00:21:08.859 --> 00:21:14.059 the worldview that is forced in on us from the moment of our birth in this world. 00:21:15.139 --> 00:21:16.980 He's rescued you from that. 00:21:16.980 --> 00:21:17.299 That way of thinking. 00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:19.339 He's redeemed you from that. 00:21:19.579 --> 00:21:22.460 He's ransomed you from that. 00:21:23.579 --> 00:21:28.799 Again, in verse 14, Peter calls it the passions of our former ignorance. 00:21:29.419 --> 00:21:33.960 Here, he calls it the futile ways we inherited from our forefathers. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:40.559 The passions are those particular behaviors that flow out of a godless worldview. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:44.559 The futile ways is the worldview itself. 00:21:44.659 --> 00:21:47.519 It has more to do with the way we think. 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:50.099 What's governing our lives. 00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:52.839 And then the passions are the behaviors that flow out of that. 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:57.899 Now, ignorance, in this case, it's not talking about lacking intelligence, 00:21:57.980 --> 00:22:04.799 but possessing a worldview that does not comprehend the character and purposes of God. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:09.139 The way of this world, which is ours by nature. 00:22:09.139 --> 00:22:11.059 It's empty, Peter says. 00:22:11.059 --> 00:22:14.139 It's incapable of bringing true fulfillment. 00:22:14.659 --> 00:22:20.139 It is darkness rather than light, and it leads to God's eternal wrath. 00:22:20.140 --> 00:22:24.140 There is this notion. 00:22:24.140 --> 00:22:30.220 It seems to be ever-present among Christians that while holding on to Jesus, 00:22:30.660 --> 00:22:38.060 we need also to open ourselves up to what other worldviews and perspectives and religions may have to offer. 00:22:38.059 --> 00:22:43.119 That we can find something good in that and therefore be supportive of those things 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:47.079 and maybe even be challenged and corrected even in our own thinking. 00:22:50.119 --> 00:22:52.119 Peter is not friendly to that idea. 00:22:54.619 --> 00:22:57.039 We are not to be open to those things. 00:22:57.139 --> 00:22:59.119 We are not to be open to those perspectives. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:01.879 We are not to open ourselves to those traditions. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:04.379 We've been rescued from that, he says. 00:23:05.740 --> 00:23:07.899 You were ransomed from that darkness. 00:23:08.059 --> 00:23:10.980 You were ransomed from those ways of thinking. 00:23:11.319 --> 00:23:15.139 In the final analysis, Peter is saying that these other traditions, 00:23:15.339 --> 00:23:22.179 they're futile and they're vain since they do not lead to faith and trust in the true God. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:25.619 He says you've been rescued from that. 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:31.980 Redeemed and ransomed from the ignorant and futile way of living. 00:23:31.980 --> 00:23:39.360 And the cost of your ransom was higher than you could ever imagine. 00:23:40.299 --> 00:23:42.740 We just sang about it and come behold the wondrous mystery. 00:23:43.799 --> 00:23:46.220 See the price of our redemption. 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:48.880 The Father's plan unfold. 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:51.940 What is the price of our redemption? 00:23:51.940 --> 00:23:55.039 It's of infinite value. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:23:59.519 Ransom demands kidnappings. 00:24:00.860 --> 00:24:03.799 They almost always involve a significant amount of money. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:12.340 Which is what the way of this world, this ignorance, and this futile thinking tends to value above everything else, doesn't it? 00:24:12.339 --> 00:24:18.579 Peter uses that to contrast the value of what has actually ransomed you. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:21.859 He thinks of the thing that's most valuable in this life. 00:24:22.619 --> 00:24:23.579 Silver and gold. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:28.199 And he devalues that to say, remember at the end of the day, that's perishable. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:29.639 It's all going to go away. 00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:30.619 It's going to burn up. 00:24:30.619 --> 00:24:35.419 But what has ransomed you is not perishable at all. 00:24:36.339 --> 00:24:39.959 Rather, it's the precious blood of Christ. 00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:43.439 Like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 00:24:44.899 --> 00:24:52.779 Through the shedding of his blood, Jesus poured out his life unto death for you, a sinner. 00:24:54.139 --> 00:24:57.459 Not because he had to and not because you asked him to. 00:24:57.460 --> 00:25:03.100 But because of his great mercy and love. 00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:09.160 He laid down his life as an atonement in our place. 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:19.460 This is how Jesus fulfilled and surpassed the pictures of redemption that we see all through the Old Testament. 00:25:19.660 --> 00:25:23.740 Namely in the sacrificial system, which is the other comparison that Peter gives here. 00:25:23.740 --> 00:25:29.620 Not only is Christ's atonement more valuable than anything in this life, like silver and gold. 00:25:29.819 --> 00:25:33.539 But he compares it then to a lamb without blemish and spot. 00:25:34.500 --> 00:25:38.900 That old system by which atonement was made. 00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:44.559 Shriner says animals were without defect physically. 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:48.680 But Peter's point was that Jesus was sinless. 00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:54.100 He was a perfect sacrifice because of his sinless life. 00:25:55.340 --> 00:25:59.279 His precious blood or his blood is precious. 00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:04.420 Because it is the means by which you are forgiven. 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:11.900 By which that future inheritance that Peter earlier said is imperishable and undefiled and unfading. 00:26:11.900 --> 00:26:16.600 That God is keeping it in heaven for you while he keeps you and guards you through faith. 00:26:16.940 --> 00:26:20.440 Now all of that is made possible by one thing. 00:26:21.320 --> 00:26:22.500 The blood of Christ. 00:26:23.620 --> 00:26:25.100 And it is precious. 00:26:26.780 --> 00:26:29.220 Because the sinless one died in our place. 00:26:29.700 --> 00:26:34.240 Our sinful souls are then ransomed and counted free. 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:37.579 2 Corinthians 5.21 00:26:37.579 --> 00:26:41.940 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin. 00:26:42.359 --> 00:26:46.880 So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:54.900 To continue in that ignorant and futile way of the world. 00:26:55.579 --> 00:26:59.960 Is to demean and devalue the precious blood of Christ. 00:27:00.299 --> 00:27:02.940 That was shed to save your soul. 00:27:02.940 --> 00:27:04.420 That's Peter's point. 00:27:05.660 --> 00:27:13.100 Live in fear of treating the blood of Christ and what he has done for your salvation like garbage. 00:27:15.600 --> 00:27:22.039 Because to consume ourselves with the perishable pleasures of this life like silver and gold. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:30.279 To open ourselves in some kind of seemingly noble way to the traditions and the lies of this world. 00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:34.440 Is to look at the cross of Christ as if it's meaningless. 00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:37.660 To treat it like trash. 00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:42.720 Knowing what Christ has done to bring us salvation. 00:27:43.940 --> 00:27:47.139 We should fear living in such a way. 00:27:47.140 --> 00:27:50.160 As to hold that in contempt. 00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:58.380 I've told you before about riding on the bus in high school and having a friend. 00:27:59.300 --> 00:28:02.120 I would imagine he's matured beyond this at this point. 00:28:02.259 --> 00:28:04.280 But I hope so. 00:28:04.279 --> 00:28:09.359 He talked about his plan that day when he got off the bus and got home. 00:28:09.460 --> 00:28:14.059 He was going to indulge in pornography for the afternoon. 00:28:14.740 --> 00:28:18.559 Despite the fact that he understood it to be a sinful thing to do. 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:19.920 He was acknowledging that. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:22.259 And yet still saying that. 00:28:22.940 --> 00:28:23.859 That was his plan. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:26.759 Which is a bizarre thing to admit to. 00:28:26.759 --> 00:28:33.460 And I guess sensing that the rest of us found his admission or at least his perspective unusual. 00:28:34.259 --> 00:28:38.339 He immediately tried to say and make it seem better by saying don't worry. 00:28:39.079 --> 00:28:42.539 When I'm done I'll just ask Jesus to forgive me. 00:28:43.940 --> 00:28:45.180 And he wasn't joking. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:50.099 In his mind he was associating Christ atonement. 00:28:50.099 --> 00:28:55.299 With a free pass to essentially do whatever he wanted to do. 00:28:55.299 --> 00:29:00.659 In his mind he just needed to ask for forgiveness when he was done. 00:29:00.740 --> 00:29:05.299 And as long as he did that it was like this magic button that would just make it all okay. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:12.500 Not only did he dishonor God's name as a professing Christian. 00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:18.680 But he treated Christ's sacrifice like trash. 00:29:20.740 --> 00:29:24.720 Now I don't imagine any of you would ever make such a foolish statement. 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:28.000 And I hope that my friend wouldn't make such a foolish statement today. 00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:30.779 If he still claims to be a Christian. 00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:37.880 How many of us though are guilty of conducting our lives in such a way. 00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:41.039 That this is the message that it sends. 00:29:45.299 --> 00:29:47.839 That yeah well I'm a Christian that means I'm forgiven. 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:50.920 I guess I can kind of do what I want to do. 00:29:50.920 --> 00:29:54.300 Never stopping to think. 00:29:57.700 --> 00:30:02.000 That not only is this a terrible reflection on the name of your father. 00:30:03.600 --> 00:30:05.940 But it is so demeaning. 00:30:06.360 --> 00:30:09.200 To what you say is the most important thing about your life. 00:30:11.740 --> 00:30:12.779 Like a prisoner. 00:30:13.820 --> 00:30:16.400 Returning to his captors after being set free. 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:20.560 How often do we return to the way of life. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:24.480 That Jesus shed his blood to save us from. 00:30:26.460 --> 00:30:28.620 Thereby treating the cross with contempt. 00:30:30.820 --> 00:30:31.860 Peter saying. 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:34.160 No Jesus died for that. 00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:37.420 Don't go back to that. 00:30:39.180 --> 00:30:42.120 Don't conform to the passions of your former ignorance. 00:30:42.119 --> 00:30:49.099 You've been set free from the futile ways that you inherited from your forefathers. 00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:54.519 Keep in mind what it took to redeem you. 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:56.779 And live in fear. 00:30:58.059 --> 00:30:59.239 Of ever demeaning. 00:31:00.199 --> 00:31:01.779 The atonement that Christ has made. 00:31:02.579 --> 00:31:03.539 For your salvation. 00:31:03.539 --> 00:31:08.119 According to this text. 00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:08.960 And many others. 00:31:10.399 --> 00:31:11.579 There is a sense. 00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:12.559 In which it is right. 00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:14.059 For Christians to live in fear. 00:31:15.859 --> 00:31:18.379 Or not to be anxious about life. 00:31:18.920 --> 00:31:21.359 Or certainly not to question God's sovereignty. 00:31:21.779 --> 00:31:22.960 Or faithfulness. 00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:26.000 I often think of that Spurgeon quote. 00:31:26.180 --> 00:31:29.119 I rest my head on the pillow of God's sovereignty. 00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:36.739 That should be indicative of your life as a believer. 00:31:37.479 --> 00:31:38.919 Not to live in that kind of anxiety. 00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:40.439 That's not what I mean to say. 00:31:40.500 --> 00:31:41.919 And it's not what Peter means to say here. 00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:45.819 But we are to live in holy reverence of him. 00:31:46.839 --> 00:31:49.519 As the one to whom we will give an account for our lives. 00:31:51.819 --> 00:31:55.159 That begins with obedience to the gospel by faith. 00:31:55.160 --> 00:31:59.720 Because without faith it's impossible to please him. 00:32:01.240 --> 00:32:02.980 For whoever would draw near to God. 00:32:03.100 --> 00:32:04.360 Must believe that he exists. 00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:06.300 And that he rewards those who seek him. 00:32:07.800 --> 00:32:09.060 That's Hebrews 11. 00:32:11.080 --> 00:32:13.660 But for those of us who call on him as father. 00:32:14.180 --> 00:32:16.720 We must conduct our lives in such a way. 00:32:17.340 --> 00:32:18.680 To honor God's name. 00:32:19.320 --> 00:32:21.220 And to treasure Christ's sacrifice. 00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:22.380 And let me tell you. 00:32:22.460 --> 00:32:23.960 That will come at tremendous cost. 00:32:25.160 --> 00:32:29.160 It might cost you some silver and gold in this life. 00:32:31.660 --> 00:32:34.279 Because we want to make sure that we're honoring God's name. 00:32:34.420 --> 00:32:35.860 And treasuring Christ's sacrifice. 00:32:35.960 --> 00:32:37.400 And the way that we go about our business. 00:32:40.580 --> 00:32:44.180 That our source of gain is a just source of gain. 00:32:44.180 --> 00:32:49.500 That we don't give in to the basest of vices. 00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:51.420 Greed. 00:32:51.420 --> 00:32:57.759 It's going to affect the way that men you lead your homes. 00:32:59.980 --> 00:33:02.240 It's going to affect the way that you raise your children. 00:33:02.420 --> 00:33:03.880 Your children may hate you for it. 00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:08.620 But his name is worth it. 00:33:08.619 --> 00:33:15.719 And his sacrifice is more valuable than anything we might obtain in this life. 00:33:16.619 --> 00:33:17.639 Isn't that what Jesus said? 00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:20.659 If you will come after me. 00:33:21.739 --> 00:33:22.639 Deny yourself. 00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:24.799 Take up your cross and follow me. 00:33:24.839 --> 00:33:27.919 For whoever would save his life will lose it. 00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:32.420 But whoever would lose his life for my sake and the gospel's. 00:33:32.519 --> 00:33:33.640 The same will save it. 00:33:34.279 --> 00:33:34.740 He says. 00:33:36.660 --> 00:33:40.960 This is the life that flows out of gospel hope and assurance. 00:33:41.740 --> 00:33:43.360 And living in this kind of fear. 00:33:43.800 --> 00:33:44.180 God. 00:33:45.180 --> 00:33:47.240 Is how any of us are going to thrive. 00:33:47.700 --> 00:33:49.519 In this time of exile. 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:51.240 Let's pray.