My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,
and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.
If you are new or visiting with us, welcome.
We're glad that you're here.
And we're glad that you're here not because we are trying to fill seats,
but because we are following Jesus together as one community.
And as we follow Jesus together, we've become convinced that there's no one so good
that they don't need God's grace and His forgiveness,
and no one so bad that they can't have it.
Which is why we come back week after week to look at God's Word together,
because we believe that God, in His Word, has something to say to everyone.
If you've been with us, you know we're in the book of 1 Peter,
and the book of 1 Peter is a letter.
It's a letter written by a man named Peter,
and he writes it to Christians who are living in modern-day Turkey in the first century.
And these Christians are struggling, and so Peter writes to them
because they're feeling out of place in the world because they're Christians.
And they're also facing opposition from the world because they're Christians.
And Peter writes to instruct them and to encourage them.
He's encouraging them that Jesus is worth it.
Jesus is worth loving for, and He's worth living for.
He's worth dying for, and He's worth suffering for.
He also writes them to instruct them that they would know how they should live as Christians in the world,
and how they should respond when living as a Christian leads to opposition and suffering.
Now, we've been solely, completely in the encouragement section.
We've now finished chapter 1, verses 1 through 12,
which is all about Peter letting these people know how much God loves them and what He's done for them.
This is typical in the Bible that we'll first find out who we are in Christ
before we ever hear about anything that God wants us to do or demands of us or commands us.
Some people talk about this as the indicative and the imperative.
First, we have the indicative.
We're told what's true about us.
And then the imperative, God tells us what He requires of people who follow Him.
And so we are now in the instruction section.
We are fully out of the encouragement.
We're starting that today with verse 13.
And as we come to this, it raises a lot of tricky questions,
both for people in the church and people outside of the church.
In the church, there's always the tricky question of how do we balance the fact that salvation
is absolutely a free gift of God that we cannot merit in any way,
and God also requires our obedience to Him.
How do we balance, in other words, God's grace and what He requires of us in His law?
For those outside of the church, the question is,
why is it that Christians are concerned so much with behaving in certain ways?
Aren't Christians just a bunch of legalists who think that they're better than other people?
Or maybe Christians are just people who are really uptight.
And if they would understand the glorious world that's outside there for them,
if they would get outside of their shells,
then they would be a lot more fun to be with.
And so it's with that we're going to dive into 1 Peter 1, starting at verse 13.
How do we relate our holiness to our relationship with God?
As we come to this, remember that this is God's Word.
And God tells us that His Word is more precious than gold, even the finest gold.
And it is sweeter than honey, even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.
And that is why we're going to read together, starting at verse 13.
Verse 16.
Verse 20.
I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's Word.
Father in heaven, we thank you again that week after week you speak to us.
And we come admitting that we need that.
We need your instruction and your guidance.
Otherwise, we are helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
So we ask for your help now that you would send your Holy Spirit to assist us.
That you would clear our minds.
That you'd open our eyes.
And that you'd unstop our ears.
And you'd soften our hearts.
That we would know and see and believe and understand everything that is written about you in your Word.
We ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
There was a time when I was in college.
This happens with many people who are in college.
When my parents came to visit.
And this wasn't unusual.
It didn't happen all the time.
Because I was in college in North Carolina.
And my parents were in Maryland.
So it was a little bit of a drive.
And I think at this point in their visit.
I don't know if I'd even met them yet.
They'd been on campus.
But maybe I was in class.
And I ran into one of my classmates.
It was a woman who was in the orchestra with me.
And she said, I saw your parents on campus.
Now, I didn't talk to them.
I didn't meet them.
I've never seen them before.
But I saw your parents on campus.
And I know that they were your parents.
Because they look just like you.
And if you've met my parents, like some of you have.
You know that that's true.
And there's a hot debate.
Because some people will come up to me and say,
Man, I met your mom.
And you look just like your mom.
And then people will come up to me and say,
I met your dad.
And wow, you look just like your dad.
Of course, both of those things can't be true.
At the same time,
all secrets revealed,
all hearts made known,
here's the truth.
I look 100% like my mom.
With one exception,
I have my dad's eyes.
And eyes are really important, right?
They're one of the first things that you see.
So people look at my eyes and they think,
He looks just like his father.
Or they see the rest of me and they think,
He looks just like his mother.
And of course, I have some of my father's mannerisms, too.
Peter is writing to these people.
And he is telling them,
You need to look like your father.
Verse 14.
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.
Verse 16.
Since it is written,
You shall be holy, for I am holy.
And if you call on him as father.
In other words,
if what we've talked about
in the encouragement part of 1 Peter is true,
if God is our father,
if he's coming back for us,
if he has an inheritance that he's prepared for us,
and if he's chosen us and we belong to him,
then we should also look like him.
As many of you know,
I talk about Subarus from time to time.
I drive a Subaru.
And if you were to ask me why I drive a Subaru,
there's many reasons that I could give you.
They're safe.
They have all-wheel drive.
There was that one time that my Subaru was totaled,
but I walked out without a scratch.
There are good cars in Colorado.
Everyone drives them here.
And those would all be good reasons.
Those are not why I drive a Subaru.
I drive a Subaru because in the late 90s,
my father read about this new car coming out
called the Subaru Forester
and how wonderful it was,
and he went out and bought one.
And then as his son,
he raised me to drive Subarus.
You could also ask me why I'm a Presbyterian.
Now, there's lots of good reasons
that I'm a Presbyterian.
I believe it's true.
I believe that what we believe
is what the Bible teaches.
I trust our form of church government.
I'm also a Presbyterian
because my father is a Presbyterian.
And he raised me in the Presbyterian church.
And so when it comes to Subarus
and it comes to Presbyterianism,
I could give you lots of reasons for what I do.
But at the end of the day,
a lot of it has to do with my father.
As Christians,
why do we put off passions of our former ignorance?
Verse 14.
Why is it that we don't gossip or slander people?
I could give you a lot of reasons.
I could tell you that it's not going to help your relationships
and at the end it's going to catch up with you.
I could tell you that it's not going to be worth it.
But the real reason is this.
Our Father God is someone who speaks words
that are both true and life-giving.
And so our words should be true and life-giving as well.
You could ask me why it is that Christians
take marriage so seriously
and discourage divorce so strongly.
And I could give you all kinds of reasons.
I could say,
well, you know,
sociological studies show
that families are in better shape
when certain things happen
in certain orders and circumstances.
And, you know,
it's just there's ways in which this helps society.
Maybe those things are true.
The reason that we take marriage as a covenant
so seriously and discourage divorce so strongly
is because our Father God
is a covenant-keeping God.
And He has a never-stopping,
never-giving-up,
unbreaking,
always-and-forever love
for His people.
And He does not leave them no matter what.
And so we reflect that same kind of love
in our relationships to each other.
Why is it that we as Christians
take our work so seriously?
That we want to work as for the Lord?
Well, I could give you many reasons.
It's really nice to have a paycheck.
And it's helpful to have something to do in the morning.
And that's true.
But the reason that we work
is because our Father God
is the creator of the heavens and the earth.
And He created work
and He gave it to us
to represent His image in the world.
And so that when we work
as people in the military
and we protect the innocent from the wicked,
we are doing the work of God.
When you're an artist
and you are painting,
you are helping reflect
God's beauty and His goodness
into the world
and telling a story that is true.
When you're working as a parent,
you're reflecting God
as a greater parent.
We work because we are looking like
our Father in heaven.
Why do we put off
all forms of sexual sin?
We could say,
well, we think it leads
to certain kinds of health
and it has, you know,
favorable outcomes.
But the real reason is
if we're Christians
because we don't make promises
with our bodies
that we cannot keep
because we serve a God
who in His body
gave it up on our behalf.
And so we use our lives
to sacrifice for other people
rather than taking advantage of them.
We are holy
because our Father God
is holy.
And so our holiness,
our obedience after God,
it's not a form of legalism.
It's not something that we do
to prove that we're better
than other people.
But just like a good child
looks like his father,
God's people are holy
because their God is holy.
That's what 1 Peter is saying here.
As He who has called you is holy,
you also be holy.
In other words,
look like your Father.
Be like your Father.
He's chosen you.
You belong to Him.
And so now look like Him.
This is relational language here
that He's using.
Of course, there's a problem, right?
I look like my parents
because I'm a biological son.
Jesus reflects the Father
because He is the Son.
That's what He tells us
in Matthew 11.
If you've seen me,
you've seen the Father.
We are adopted by God
so we don't look like God.
We don't reflect His character
and His holiness
in the ways that He asks of us.
And so there's a tension there, right?
That's part of the tension of holiness
is that we're asked to grow into
something that we're not.
And so that leads us
to verse 17.
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.
What in the world
does fear have to do with obedience?
If we're not legalists,
if we believe we don't earn
anything from God,
what is Peter trying to say?
First of all, he's saying
just because God is your Father
doesn't mean He's not also the judge.
And there's going to come a time
when He's going to examine
each person's works,
what we've done in this life.
For those people who belong to Him,
who've been chosen by Him
and called by Him,
those works will demonstrate
that they're true children.
Their holiness will show
that they belong to God.
This doesn't mean
that their holiness earned them
favor from God.
It doesn't mean it made them
the children.
But it demonstrates
that God truly chose them
and was at work in their lives.
In other words,
don't take this for granted.
If God is your Father,
don't forget that He's also the judge.
He is working holiness
into your life.
If He has truly chosen you
as His Son,
that holiness will be evident.
And on the last day,
when He looks at your life,
He will say,
yes, that is my child.
That's the person
that I've chosen.
Now, this is still a tension
to try to understand, right?
There's free grace
and there's also obedience.
And everything I said
probably doesn't resolve that for you.
What does the obedience have to do?
Why is He going to look
at our obedience
if He's already given us salvation?
Why is He going to be
not just a father,
but a judge?
And the best way
I can explain it to you
is this.
My father's a Subaru driver, right?
He has the 1998 Red
manual transmission
Subaru Forester.
My dad loves driving
the manual transmission.
At some point,
he decides,
living in the Washington, D.C. area,
I don't like driving
a manual transmission anymore
in Beltway traffic around D.C.
And my youngest son
also needs a car.
So what am I going to do?
I'm going to give to him
the red manual transmission
1998 Subaru Forester.
This is in 2010.
There's only one problem.
I don't know how to drive
a manual transmission.
Try to defend millennials
as much as I can.
Got to call a spade a spade.
So what do I do?
I have to go out
with my father
to learn how to drive
the manual transmission.
We go out to the library
parking lot.
I've already learned
how to drive once.
It's time to learn
how to drive twice.
And it's not easy, right?
If you've learned...
Now, there are some people,
they learn to drive a manual
because they say,
well, I showed up
at the car dealership
and I bought the manual
and I knew I had to get it home.
I know people like that.
I'm not one of them.
I had to learn to drive it, right?
It was frustrating.
There was many failures.
There were many times
when I stalled out the car
and it was scary.
It's not a good feeling
to stall out
and have a car shaking on you, right?
But how else am I going to receive
the manual transmission Forester?
There is nothing
that I did
to merit that car
or earn it.
There's nothing I did
to deserve it.
The reason I received it
is because I'm my father's son.
I didn't pay him anything for it.
It did not benefit my father
in any way
to sit in the passenger seat
while I stalled out.
I had nothing to offer him.
But it was necessary for me
to learn how to drive manual
to receive the car.
There is nothing that we do
to merit or earn
God's gracious gift
of salvation to us.
We receive it
because and only because
we are his sons and daughters.
And our obedience
is necessary.
Holiness,
personal holiness
is non-negotiable.
Another way to look at it
would be this.
Call on him as father
who judges impartially
to each one's deeds.
Conduct yourselves with fear
throughout the time
of your exile.
In other words,
if you have no concern
at all with personal holiness,
holiness,
and you do not have
any grief over your sin,
then you should seriously
question whether God
is your father.
However,
if God is your father,
then you will stay
in the car
and stall out
as many times
as necessary.
holiness and perfection
are not the same thing.
Peter stalled out
over and over again.
He stalled out dramatically.
Peter rolled backwards
multiple yards
at stoplights.
And Peter never left the car.
And I wasn't alone
in that car
trying to figure it out
by myself, right?
I was in the driver's seat.
Who was in the passenger's seat?
My father,
who is there
with his presence
and his instruction.
If we're pursuing holiness,
if we are being holy
as God is holy,
we have him with us
and beside us,
giving us his presence
and his instruction.
Holiness is not perfection.
But those who are Christians
will stay
in the car.
Now this was 2010.
Fast forward
to 2013.
I'm a proficient
manual transmission driver
at this point.
Thank you very much.
I've gotten through
my evangelism phase.
Some of you are familiar
with this.
There's car evangelism
where you put someone
in your passenger seat
and it becomes very clear
after driving with you
for some time
that their odds
of meeting the Lord
are very high.
so they need
to make a decision.
It's urgent.
I'd gotten beyond
that phase.
And I knew how to drive
and I was teaching
at that point
at the school
and my students knew
that I could drive
a manual transmission.
And there was one student
whose father,
not making this up,
was going to give her
for her 16th birthday
a 2013 Chevy Camaro.
kids don't get any ideas.
There's only one problem.
She, as any self-respecting
muscle car driver,
wanted to make sure
she was driving a manual.
She didn't know how.
So she asked me
to teach her.
So now the roles
are reversed.
I said, yes,
you can learn,
you can stall out
on my 1998 Forester
which is just,
handles exactly like
a 2013 Camaro.
You can take part,
in part,
what will one day
be yours in full.
So we went out
to a church parking lot
at the church
where I went.
And she stalled out
and she stalled out again
and I still remember
sitting there
in the passenger seat
and so scared
from stalling out
she started shaking.
So we sat there
for a little bit.
She was physically
shaking all over
and I waited with her
and I said, well,
you ready to try again?
And she tried again
and she tried again
and finally we made it
all the way around
the parking lot.
Later I,
about a year later
I asked her to show me
how far she progressed
and she took me out
in the Camaro
and I thought,
we're going to go out,
we're going to safely
exit the parking lot
and then we're going
to go onto the highway.
She's going to show me
on the highway,
just, you know,
smooth shifting.
We never got to the highway.
She starts like whipping
around curves
in this parking lot,
turfing on grass.
I'm in total shock.
Okay, beside the point.
Point is this,
how did she get beyond
the shaking?
Would have been easy
for her to ask me
to drive her back.
Her father had not
bought the Camaro
at that point
because she could have said,
Dad, what I really want
is the automatic transmission
and yet after failing out
multiple times
she kept working.
Why did she keep
pushing for it?
The reason that she kept
destroying the transmission
on my Forester
was because,
verse 13,
she had prepared
her mind for action
and being sober-minded,
she had set her hope
fully on the 2013
Chevy Camaro
that would be brought to her
at the revelation
of her 16th birthday.
It was her hope
in what was to come
that kept her
pursuing what she wanted.
And even when it was hard,
she did not give up.
She wasn't perfect,
but she stayed in the car.
And she stayed in the car
because her hope
was greater than
what she had to lose.
her hope
was greater
than her fear.
Brothers and sisters,
we pursue holiness
stalling out
over and over again
because our hope
is greater
than our fear.
We prepare
our minds for action
and being sober-minded
set our hope fully
not on a 2013 Camaro,
but something
much greater,
the grace
that would be brought
to us
at the revelation
of Jesus Christ.
There's two commands
in this passage.
One is to be holy
and the other
is to have hope.
How do we remain
steadfast
in becoming holy?
It's because we have hope.
And it's not something easy
even more
than that
15,
16 year old.
Even more difficult
than learning to drive
a manual transmission.
is as obedient children
not being conformed
to the passions
of our former ignorance.
Verse 14.
Holiness is not easy.
But God has given us
a hope
that is large enough
to motivate us
and empower us.
And as our Heavenly Father,
He is with us
with His presence
and His instruction.
Like Peter,
we will fail
over and over again.
Like Peter,
we remain
with Jesus
in the car.
And like Peter,
if we remain
with Him,
we will grow
in grace
and holiness.
We will not look
the same
10 years from now
that we look today.
Peter gives us
a hope
sandwich here.
Verse 13.
Set your hope
fully on the grace
that will be brought to you.
And then verse 18.
Knowing that you were
ransomed
from the futile ways
inherited from your forefathers,
not with perishable things
such as silver or gold,
but with the precious
blood of Christ
like that of a lamb
without blemish
or spot.
There's nothing
that we've done
to earn
our place
as God's children.
There's nothing
that I did
to deserve
the Subaru Forester.
There's nothing
that this daughter did
to deserve
the 2013 Camaro.
It was bought
by their fathers.
How much more
precious
is the blood
of Jesus Christ?
your place
as a son
or a daughter
of God
is not based
on your obedience.
It's not based
on anything
you have done
or anything
you will do.
It's based
on one thing
and that's
Jesus' blood.
And it's the blood
that he spilled
when he died
on the cross
for us
and our sins.
Ransoming us.
This word here
means to buy us
out of slavery.
Buying us
out of the slavery
to sin
by his blood.
Verse 20,
he was foreknown
before the foundation
of the world
but was made
manifest
in the last times
for the sake
of you
who through him
are believers
in God
who raised him
from the dead
and gave him glory
so that your faith
and your hope
are in God.
That's the end
of the hope sandwich.
Verse 13,
set your hope fully.
Verse 21,
your faith
and your hope
are in God
and that hope
is in what?
That God
actually raised
Jesus from the dead
and gave him glory.
We've talked before
about some of the reasons
that we have confidence
in Jesus' resurrection.
One of them
is the witness of Peter.
Peter would have
no reason
to live this life
as a disciple
suffering after
Jesus' death
instead of returning
to the much simpler
life of a fisherman
unless he had actually
seen Jesus
after he'd risen
from the dead.
We talked on Easter
about 1 Corinthians 15
which names
witnesses
who were still alive
at the time
who saw Jesus
after he rose
from the dead.
Paul doesn't summon
what's called
an invisible army.
He doesn't say,
there's just lots of people.
He names names
of people who are alive
who could give testimony
about whether they'd
seen Jesus or not.
Another reason
that we have confidence
in Jesus as the Messiah
who ransomed us
through his blood
and actually rose
from the dead
is that there were
many Messiahs
in the first century
who came
and claimed
to be and do
what Jesus did.
Unless you're
an Old Testament
or New Testament
scholar,
you probably can't
name a single one
of them.
People all over
the world
know the name
of Jesus
because he actually
died.
He actually rose
from the dead.
He lived a perfect
life and his blood
pays the ransom
for our sin.
And so how is it
that we're holy
as Christians?
It's not that we're
better than other people.
It's not that we've
earned something
that other people
haven't earned.
But it's that we have
a Heavenly Father
who has chosen us
and he's called us
to look like him.
And as we struggle
to look like him,
walking the walk
of faith
and failing
many times,
he's given us
a hope to sustain us.
And that hope
is the reality
that Jesus has
actually died
and risen from the dead.
And while he gives
us that hope,
he is with us.
He's given us
his word
and he's given us
his presence.
And so the hope
that motivates us
and propels us
and keeps us going,
it is not a
I hope it will
rain tomorrow
hope.
but it is a
I hope the sun
will rise again
tomorrow hope.
It is a sure
and firm
and steady confidence
that we have.
And so that's
what gives us
the courage
and the ability
to continue
walking with Jesus,
sticking with him
and never,
ever getting out
of the car,
knowing that he's
with us,
he loves us,
and he's chosen us.
Please pray with me.
Dear Father in Heaven,
we thank you
that we belong to you.
And we also confess
that following after you
is challenging
and difficult.
We face many trials
and as we long
and work for holiness,
we fail over
and over again.
We ask that you would
remind us of your grace
and you would remind us
of the blessing
that comes
from staying with you
and that you'd give us
everything we need
to make it through
in this life,
following after you
and growing in your grace.
We ask these things
not because we have
earned them
or deserved them
or merited them
in any way.
And we don't ask them
because we think
that our obedience
helps us
when it comes
to our standing
before you.
But we ask them
because Jesus
was obedient
on our behalf
and ransomed us
from the slavery of sin.
And so we ask it
in his name.
Amen.
this work
of God.
We ask
you