Be Holy - 1 Peter 1:14-16 Series

How?

You are a human becoming. You are changing into something else. You are being squeezed into one of two molds, and you will come out either in the image of this corrupt world, or in the image of God. And we saw that the forces that will squeeze you into the world’s image are the desires of ignorance. But what kind of forces will make you holy? What can we do to subject ourselves to the kinds of forces that will make us more like God? So we must not be conformed by the desires of ignorance, but rather we must be holy like God. How do we do that? You might be thinking, “I already knew I was supposed to be holy. I already knew I was supposed to be obedient. What good does it do for Peter to just tell me, “Be holy”? I need to know how.” Is Peter going to tell us how to live a holy life? Yes – the whole rest of the book is about how to live a holy life. I would go so far as to say holy living is the most prominent theme in the whole book. That is what the whole book is about. However, the most important principle on how to live a holy life is something Peter has already said. It is those first thirteen verses, which are all about hoping in God.

Hope

Peter is not changing the subject in verse 14. Those first thirteen verses on hope are the foundation for holy living. We will never have the ability to separate ourselves from sin unless we have some better alternative. Trying to live a holy life will never work unless you have your face pressed up against the window so that your heart is filled with joy as you anticipate your future inheritance. If you do not have hope in God’s promises, then the pleasures of this world are all you have, and you will never be able to let go of them. The only way to get the soul to be willing to let go of sinful pleasures is by offering it better pleasures. So if you have not been here the last eight weeks, I would urge you to listen back through those messages, because hope is an absolutely essential ingredient to holiness.

What is it that makes those evil desires so powerful? Ignorance. So now that our ignorance is gone, why are those desires still a problem? Lack of faith, which functions exactly the same way as ignorance. If I know God’s promises and do not trust Him to deliver on them, that is the same as not knowing them at all. So being pressed into a sinful mold is caused by either not knowing the truth or not believing the truth. What is the opposite of that? If I do know and believe the truth about God and His promises, the result will be hope. And hope has the power to press me into the mold of holiness.

Conclusion: Take the Next Step

One last word for those who still feel overwhelmed or discouraged. I know there are some people who think, “Man, if God requires personal holiness in everything in my life, He must be absolutely disgusted with me.” So they just revert to thinking only in terms of positional righteousness in Christ, because when Scripture starts calling for practical holiness in every area of your day to day living, commands like that feel condemning.