1 Peter 1:13-21
I can remember as a young child going over my Grandfather=s land.
We were either Squirrel hunting or something to that nature but we would travel all back on his many acres of woods.
Back in those old woods there would be clearly what was once some kind of road.
It was clearly evident and I=m sure that those roads had a purpose.
Maybe it was once the way to a neighbor=s house.
Maybe it was just an old logging road.
But now leaves and limbs have just about hidden the old road.
Rudyanrd Kipling had an opening verse to a poem titled AThe Way through the Woods@
The first verse said.
They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago
Weather and rain have undone it again
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods.
In much the same way the preaching of holiness in God=s people has been a subject that has been hidden to an extent.
It is not the road that is taken much anymore and I must say it has been so hidden that few people know what we are talking about when we speak about holiness.
It hasn=t always been this way.
The Puritans of long ago insisted that all life and relationships must become Aholiness to the Lord@
John Wesley told the world that God had raised up Methodism Ato spread scriptural holiness throughout the land.@
Formerly holiness was highlighted throughout the Christian church.
But how different it is today.
To listen to our sermons and read the books we write for each other, and then to watch the zany, worldly, quarrelsome way we behave as Christian people, you would never imagine that once the highway of holiness was clearly marked out for Bible-believers, so that ministers and people knew what it was and could speak of it with authority and confidence.
AWeather and Rain have undone it again.@
Now we have to rebuild and reopen the road, starting really from scratch.
Like Isaac in the OT we need to reopen the wells that have been dug by our forefathers.
Isaac redug those wells that Abraham had built.
Without this water neither his family, nor his servants, nor his cattle, nor he himself, could have survived.
He knew he would find water in them, once he had cleared them of the earth and debris that the Philistines had piled on top of them.
They tell us you can=t grow a church with such preaching.
I say you don=t really grow one without it.
I would like to briefly define what I mean by holiness.
Once I preached on holiness and a lady complained that such preaching made her think of the Monks in the Monastery.
No God wants you to be Holy right where you are.
What is holiness.
Holiness is only for the Christian.
A non-Christian could never be holy. He could never practice any type of holiness.
To God=s holy ones the word Holiness implies both devotion and assimilation.
It is devotion in the sense of living a life of service to God.
Assimilation in the sense of imitating, conforming to, and becoming like the God one serves.
For Christians, this means taking God=s moral law as our rule and God=s incarnate Son as our model.
This is where Holiness must start.
It is us being different in this world.
It is our relationship with Christ making a difference in how we live our lives.
It affects how we work, play, run our homes.
Holiness effects us all and it effects all of us.
But to have the proper motivation I would like to pose the question this morning.
Why be Holy?
Why do we bother?
Why should we be different at the Work Place.
Why should a Christian home be different.
Why should our Worship be different from that of a cult.
Why should the church be different than the Country Club.
I believe that Peter gives us four sure motivations for us to live Holy Lives before the Lord.
I. Because We are Born Again
V. 13
This verse begins Peter=s passage on holiness.
This Wherefore points us back to V.v. 1-12 where he speaks about the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ our Lord
Another words the basis for our holiness or one of the grounds by which we should live a holy life is found in this wonderful salvation that He has given us.
V. 3
Abegotten us again@ - born again.
A. It is a radiant salvation
AA lively hope@
It is hope that is real.
B. It is a rewarding salvation
V. 4
When you think about the fact that we are coheirs with Jesus Christ.
That is how rewarding this salvation is.
All the inheritance that is coming to Christ....We are coheirs.
How marvelous.
I remember as a young child that I only wished that my family was rich.
We were so poor that I had only one pair of jeans that my mom washed every night.
You teenagers are lucky today because holes in the knees are in style.
My mom used to put on the ugliest patch.
By we are heirs of an inheritance.
C. It is a Real Salvation.
V. 5
D. It is a Rejoicing Salvation
V. 6
Our motivation for living a holy life that is pleasing to the Lord is found in the fact that God has given us such a great and wonderful salvation.
Praise be the Lord!
He has given us everything that we need.
I. We are born again.
Second Motivation
II. We have a believing hope.
V. 3, 13
I want you to see a contrast here.
In V. 3 he tells us that we have a Alively hope@
In V. 13 We tells us to Aset your hope@ - they are commanded to hope
The essence of this is ABe what you are! Realize in actual experience what God has made possible by His Grace.@
AAnd hope to the end@ - Grammarian tells us that this is an Aingressive force@ meaning Astart to hope@
Do this on purpose.
Now this hope not only encourages us as downcast Christians but it also prompts us to reorder our priorities to god=s agenda.
This hope should lead us to make changes in our lives.
(1 John 3:2 KJV) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:3 KJV) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Now Peter gives us two actions to encourage, nurture, and condition this Christian hope.
AGird up the loins of your mind@ - means to prepare one=s self mentally, to be alert and ready of one=s spiritual and mental attitudes.
The custom of the day when they wore long robes was to pull them between the legs and then wrap or tie them around the waist so as to prepare for running, fast walking or some other strenuous activity.
When Israel was in Egypt they were to begin their journey to the promised land.
The Israellites were commanded to eat the passover, their last meal in Egypt Agirded@ for travel.
We are to be girded for mission.
Gird our minds.....Renewing our minds.....How?
Bible Study, Quiet Time, Worship, Sunday School, etc.
One of the first things Sam does in the morning is he puts his shoes on.
He wants to be ready at all times to GO.
We are to live as if we are ready to go.
ABe Sober@ This is the other activity which speaks of discipline.
I believe that he is speaking of physcial drunkeness but also something further.
Staying with the idea of the mind...Which I think that he is.
Sometimes we Christian=s get mentally intoxicated.
Our minds are on our careers, recreation, possessions and so on till our minds are intoxicated.
BE SOBER
Aand hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.@
This is the object which this hope is fixed.
This blessing is already being brought to us.
As you become holy you are getting a taste of what heaven is like.
Just like going into Walmart or Sam=s and getting a sample...That makes you want to but the real thing. Holiness here is just a sample.
I. Born Again
II. Believing Hope
III. Because We=re Birthed from Above
V. 14-17
A. We Realize Who our Father is
V. 14
AAs obedient Children@ - we are children in God=s family whose lives are characterized by obedience to our heavenly Father.
ANot fashioning yourselves@ - this is a reminder that obedience to God and holiness of life are radically different from a life that follows Aformer lusts@ whereever they lead.
Doing God=s will is the opposite of doing what remainign sin makes us Afeel like@ doing.
You know I have some characteristics of my Dad.
Big ears....Big head.
But I have some characteristics of my heavenly Father too.
And they are different than what I used to be.
B. We Realize What our Father is.
Vv. 15-16
The Word Holy denotes seperateness, dedicaiton, consecration, and used for persons and things withdrawn from ordinary use.
To say that God is holy means that he is seperated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honour.
Things in the OT that were considered holy were those items that were set apart from ordinary use and devoted to glorifying God.
God has called us to be different.
Holiness in persons dedicated to God are dedicated to a God of absolute moral purity.
We are to be marked by that same purity.
He is not just calling us to be separate from evil. He is calling us to a life of righteousness.
ASo be ye holy in all manner of conversation@
The word Aconversation@ is frequently used by peter
He uses it to refer to the evil pattern of life of unbelievers and the good pattern of life of believers.
To be holy Aas God is Holy@ includes a full and pervading holiness that reaches to every aspect of our personalities.
To a dedicated believer, there is no such thing as >secular= and >sacred=
V. 16
God has always expected this of his children
(Lev 11:44 KJV) For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
C. We Realize what our Father is Doing.
V. 17
What is the judgment that he is speaking of here.
I believe that He is speaking to the fact that God disciplines his children.
And God disciplines consistantly.
God will not compromise with sin.
He is merciful and forgiving, but He is also a loving disciplinarian who cannot permit His children to enjoy sin.
God will give us many gifts and privileges as we grow in the Christian life; but He will never give us the privilege to disobey and sin.
He never pampers His children or indulges them.
He is no respecer of persons.
So what is this to bring.
APass the time of your sojourning here in fear@
sojourning is a pilgrim term.
We are but strangers.
The poet Beckerstetch reminds us:
Our years are like the shadows
On sunny hills that lie,
Or grasses in the meadows
That blossom but to die
A sleep, a dream, a story
By strangers quickly told,
An unremaining glory
Of the things that soon are old.
O Thou who canst not slumber
Whose ligh grows never pale,
Teach us aright to number
Our years before they fail.
But we are to fear him.
This is not fear of a cringing slave before an offended master, but the reverential awe of a son toward a beloved and esteemed father.
It is the Spirit that shrinks from anything that would grieve God.
Do you do this???
I. Born Again
II. Believing Hope
III. Birthed from Above
IV. Bought with a Price
V. 18-21
A. The Price
V. 18-19
AForasmuch@ it seems as though Peter is carrying on his thought.
We should fear God because of the great price that was paid on Calvary for our sins.
Conduct your lives with fear of God=s discipline because you know that God redeemed you out of a sinful manner of life at great cost - with the precious blood of Christ.
If you disregard the cost of redemption you grieve God.
ARedeemed@ - to purchase someone=s freedom for a slave or a hostage held by an enemy.
There were 50 million slaves in the Roman Empire when this was written.
A slave could purchase his own freedom if he could collect sufficient funds or his master could sell him to someone who would pay the price and set him free.
Redemption was a precious thing then.
He redeemed us from a vain life.
Vain - empty, worthless, having no meaningful or lasting results.
V. 19
Aprecious blood@
And coupled with the idea of the ransom is the idea of Christ as a substitutionary sacrifice who bore our peanalty.
AAs of a lamb without blemish and without spot@
The job of the High Preist was never finished.
There never was a blood of a lamb that forgave sins.
Hebrews tells us that when Christ died it was forever and Christ the High Priest sat down.
(Heb 10:11 KJV) And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: (Heb 10:12 KJV) But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Jesus was the substitutionary sacrifice who bore my penalty.
B. The Plan
V. 20
The cross was not a fluke or an accident as if God lost control of the situation.
When God sent Christ to earth...He sent Him to die.
I could only imagine sending Sam off TO DIE.
Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundation of the World.
V. 21
It is because God sent Christ to die and be resurrected that we are ablie to have faith and hope in the Lord.
This God who gives us so great a salvation is the God that is callng us to holiness.
Will you be Holy?
Was there anything said this morning that would cause you to live differently.
If not...Are you saved.
If you are not being sanctified in Christ then it is a sure sign that you are lost.
(Heb 12:14 KJV) Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
No Holiness No Heaven.
In closing I want to give you four reasons Christian to be different.
I. Born Again
II. Believing Hope
III. Birthed from Above
IV. Bought with a Price
Be Holy
