Responding to the Lord in Hope, Holiness, and Honor

[0:00] We're moving to 1 Peter chapter 1 at breakneck speed.

[0:18] ! We're going to cover verses 13-17 tonight. We looked at the first 12 verses already.! And tonight we're going to kind of shift the narrative a little bit.

[0:36] Previously we looked at and discussed various aspects of salvation and its important role in God's great gift whereby He grants us forgiveness and eternal life.

[0:52] And the shift I'm speaking of is that once the gift of salvation is received, the recipient is placed under certain obligations and responsibilities.

[1:09] How we respond to these obligations and responsibilities has always been a major concern of the Lord. Our response should embrace hope, holiness, and honor.

[1:26] We're going to be talking about those. That concept is captured in verses 13-17 in 1 Peter chapter 1. Let me read that to you.

[1:38] Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[1:54] 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, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

[2:14] 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.

[2:27] So we begin this portion of Scripture with a series of commands, all found in the five verses that make up tonight's lesson.

[2:42] Command 1, we are told to prepare our minds for action. Command 2, we are told to be sober-minded in spirit. Command 3, we are told to hope fully on the grace that is revealed in Jesus Christ.

[3:01] Command 4, we are told not to be conformed to the passion of our former ignorance. Command 5, we are told to be holy in all our conduct.

[3:18] And Command 6, we are told to conduct ourselves with fear. So first, how should believers respond to these commands?

[3:31] Well, we respond, first of all, with hope. Verse 13, Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[3:56] That's verse 13. Now, I'm going to skip forward just slightly and review the key words in that verse that we are to set our hope on.

[4:13] That is certainly the main emphasis of the verse. Interestingly, the word hope used here in the original language of Greek is a military term.

[4:26] Peter is acting as a military commander would and calling for decisive action for those under his command.

[4:39] And that would be every believer. Every believer is commanded to set their hope. And because it is an order, the expectation is that we will carry that out without complaint and to the fullest.

[5:00] This type of hope goes far beyond mere emotion. We're under obligation to act. That obligation goes beyond the man Peter.

[5:14] It originates with the author of the command, the Spirit of Christ. And that being so, places all believers under a very strict rank order.

[5:28] And there should be no question of following the order to set our hope for it comes from our commander-in-chief, the Lord Jesus. Now, how extensively are we to set our hope?

[5:45] The Scriptures tell us it is to be done without reservation. It's to be done completely in the original language.

[5:58] Captures the words fully and perfectly. The Apostle Paul wrote of three supreme virtues in the life of a Christian.

[6:09] And they are undoubtedly going to be very familiar to all of us in this room. And they're found in one of the greatest chapters. And actually one of the greatest works of literature in the world.

[6:24] And that is 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the great love chapter. And he says there in chapter 13, verse 13, So now faith, hope, and love abide.

[6:38] These three, but the greatest of these is love. Faith is an act whereby we trust the Lord.

[6:50] So is hope, actually. Faith is what we use to trust God in the present. Hope is trusting God in the future.

[7:03] And may I say it is a settled hope. It is not a wish. It's not a wish list that we might read in a fairy tale. We are hoping in the certain reality of things that will take place.

[7:22] The Scriptures have made it clear they're going to happen. Our hope anticipates what God has promised He will do at the right time in the future.

[7:34] Right now, if you haven't noticed, there's a lot of talk about the rapture. In fact, it was supposed to have happened about six weeks ago and then five weeks ago.

[7:51] There's a simple solution here. We don't know. The Lord said only God knows. We don't know. Anyway, it will happen. Someday. It's going to happen.

[8:01] But there's a lot of talk about it. Is it going to happen today? I don't know. I don't know. Is it going to happen tomorrow?

[8:12] I don't know. Is it going to happen in the future? Yeah, it is. And what do I base that on? God's grace, God's Word, and God's faithfulness to His Word.

[8:27] He said to us, the day is coming when it will happen. And we can trust Him completely to carry that out when He said He would.

[8:40] I have hope in the rapture of the church. Out of what He said, everything He ever said He's going to do, He's going to do it.

[8:51] I have hope in the rapture. But the emphasis here is we are to live lives in a state of settled hope. God said, therefore it will come to pass.

[9:08] One of the great expressions of hope comes from the Apostle Paul. And ironically, he uses the example of the great Old Testament patriarch Abraham.

[9:20] Listen to these inspired words in Romans chapter 4. This is verses 16 to 20. Paul said this, that is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all His offspring, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nations.

[10:05] And the presence of God in whom He believed, I hope He believed against hope that He should become the father of many nations as it has been told, so shall your offspring be.

[10:22] He did not weaken in faith since He considered His own body, which was as good as dead since He was about 100 years old. He had Oscar by 10 years.

[10:38] Or when He considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb, no unbelief made Him waver concerning the promise of God, but He grew strong in His faith as He gave glory to God.

[10:55] Well, Abraham had a settled hope that God would one day give him a son. He told him, I'm going to give you a son. That act was humanly impossible.

[11:08] Abraham about 100, Sarah about 90. He was hoping against hope. But Abraham's faith grew stronger and God was honored when He saw Abraham trusting in His promise.

[11:27] Where Abraham got into trouble was when he went along with his wife and decided, we've got to help God out of this predicament.

[11:38] We're too old to have kids, so God's in a bit of trouble here. We're going to help Him out of that. And their solution was this.

[11:51] Sarah offered her handmaiden, Hagar, to have a child for her. I think she must look pretty good. Abraham didn't object, I know, when I read that passage.

[12:03] But let me say this. Fellas, any time you're in a situation and you conclude, well, I need to help God out of this, just pause and realize you're in deep doo-doo.

[12:18] Maybe I just should say deep trouble. The other thing is that if someone comes to you and I've got a woman I want you to meet named Hagar, just run from that too.

[12:29] You don't want to meet anyone named Hagar. I spoke earlier of the rapture of the church. That is all part of the second coming of Christ. In verse 13, we see the words, the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[12:45] That, of course, is how the great book of Revelation opens, where we can study those portions that give us the minute details of the future culmination of redemptive history.

[12:59] We can read about that in the opening words of John's revealing. I'm always amazed. People say, you can't understand Revelation. It's a revealing. Of course, we can understand it.

[13:10] It's meant to be understood. Revelation 1.7, Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him.

[13:24] All the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him, even so, Amen. That ending phrase, even so, Amen, can also be translated, so it is to be.

[13:39] Amen. believers are to live in the expectation of the return of Christ. When we look forward to that event, we are exercising hope.

[13:56] How important is living in this hope of future glory? Consider the words of the Apostle Paul in the book of Titus, a little bitty book packed with information.

[14:08] Titus chapter 2, verses 11 to 14. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.

[15:01] Peter is going to use two more phrases. They deserve at least passing comment. We could have included these in our list of commands.

[15:15] The first phrase is in the first part of verse 13. He says, prepare your minds for action. In the Greek language, this literally means to gird up such as tighten your belt.

[15:31] this is exactly what Roman soldiers did when they were going to go into battle. The worst thing you could do if you're fighting an enemy is to trip on your tunic.

[15:46] He didn't want that to happen. And Paul used these same words to describe the honor of God in Ephesians chapter 6. Every morning before you head out the door or whatever you're doing, you should gird up and prepare for the spiritual battle that you're going to be involved in in this life.

[16:13] The second phrase Peter uses is be sober-minded. First thing I think of is a liquor store. I don't think that's what it has in mind. We can say do not be intoxicated and lose spiritual control of the situation you find yourself in.

[16:34] People will look at that and say, well, I abstain from consuming alcohol. I think what is really in mind here is do not take in or be taken in by the world's sinful system.

[16:47] Our focus must be on Christ, on His return, and that's where we live our lives. Second, believers must respond in holiness.

[17:02] 1 Peter 1 verses 14 to 16, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

[17:16] But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

[17:29] Now, I don't mean to be cute, but when we talk about holiness or carrying on the affairs of life and holiness, we are really on holy ground.

[17:41] It's holy ground. First time I taught that passage, I took my shoes off and taught it, because we're on holy ground. Peter has a unique way of introducing the command to be holy.

[17:59] He says, we can achieve this because we are obedient children. obedience is to be the character of every true believer.

[18:11] We're to live in obedience. This is confirmed in many passages. It's confirmed in John, his gospel, in Luke, Romans, and Ephesians, and 1 John.

[18:27] Obedience is that quality that sets us apart from unbelievers. We find a reference to unbelievers in Ephesians, beginning in chapter 2, verses 1-2.

[18:46] And it starts out and it says, and you were dead. That's quite a way to start out a chapter, isn't it? And you were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked.

[19:03] Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

[19:15] Well, there's no gray area there. Believers are described as sons of obedience. Unbelievers are described as sons of disobedience.

[19:29] I've said many times, and I'll say it many more, holiness and obedience are to be the direction of our life.

[19:42] But in this life, it will not be unto perfection. Some believe that. Mark and I are aware of that with some friends. I've been thinking about that a lot.

[19:54] Mark, I won't mention the name, obviously, but we have a friend who says he doesn't sin anymore. And I thought about 1 John 1 chapter. That's a grievous sin. But holiness is something we strive for, but we won't arrive in this lifetime.

[20:13] Why is that? Well, we find ourselves trapped in bodies of flesh. We're in sinful flesh.

[20:25] Sin dwells. And sometimes sin crops up and is allowed to reign. That does not mean that we are not to pursue holiness.

[20:36] We are. We are to pursue it. pursuing holiness is made possible because God has given us a new heart that is in us, placed there by the reality of being a new creature or a new creation in Christ Jesus.

[20:57] How were we characterized by our old life? Well, we could come up with a comprehensive list. I won't, but you could cover topics like lust, sinful desires, unrighteousness.

[21:15] Those are all trademarks of the sinful life when we were still lost. But when we were regenerated, that was a new life created within us.

[21:27] Along with new life, there were new desires and new power to live it out. But we still live in sinful flesh. And it rears its ugly head from time to time.

[21:38] We know that. And the Apostle Paul talked about this in a very comprehensive passage in the book of Colossians, chapter 3, the first 10 verses.

[21:53] If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

[22:05] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

[22:17] When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

[22:38] On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these, you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them away.

[22:51] Anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, saying that you've put off the old self with its practices and to put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

[23:12] That's sanctification. We're being recreated in the image of Christ every day. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

[23:29] That's in the Bible, Old and New Testament many times. And that's an issue by Peter and a call to holiness for the true believer. Such a call by these New Testament heroes of faith is not something new.

[23:47] It originates in the old and it moves into the new. And that quote comes right out of the Old Testament. It is found in one form or another in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Obadiah, and Zephaniah.

[24:13] If we desire to make a detailed study of the call to believers to be holy just as God is holy, we would make a thorough study of the book of Leviticus.

[24:25] In that great book, there are at least 15 verses of scripture that call believers to a life of holiness. But there's something that we must come to grips with.

[24:39] This call for believers to be holy is also issued to believers in the New Testament. Consider some of these passages. Romans 8, 29, For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers, just as we have borne the image of His Son in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

[25:14] then 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 49, Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

[25:27] And then Colossians 3, 10, which we just read, And we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

[25:41] But this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit, put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.

[25:54] I'm sure you've all recognized that these passages are dealing with the sanctification of the true believer, the recreation of believers into the image of Christ.

[26:06] And what is that image? It's one of supreme holiness. we will not arrive at that in this lifetime, but something amazing happens when we go to be with the Lord.

[26:19] And John wrote about that in his very first epistle. And it's astonishing to me. 1 John 3, 2. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.

[26:36] but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. Amazing.

[26:50] Thus far, we have seen that believers are expected to respond to the Lord in both hope and holiness. The final category we'll look at tonight is believers must respond in honor.

[27:07] 1 Peter 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.

[27:23] We are told in this passage that we'll conduct ourselves with fear. Fear to the believer is not cringing in a dark corner hoping that you won't be discovered.

[27:40] When I was a little kid, I was afraid of the dark. It really doesn't interest me much to be out in the dark even now. I'm usually armed, but I didn't like the dark.

[27:55] I can identify with that. In the life of a follower of Christ Jesus, fear means we approach King Jesus with reverence, with awe, and with respect.

[28:12] That's what that word means for the believer. Our worship at its most basic is to be conducted in with hope and in holiness.

[28:25] But what does the Word of God teach us concerning fear? One usage of the word fear is both instructive and familiar. Found in the book of Proverbs, very familiar to us.

[28:38] Proverbs 9.10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

[28:52] As believers, we are headed to a judgment. this is not the judgment that will determine whether we spend eternity in heaven or hell.

[29:06] For believers, that was decided at Calvary. But judgment is coming and will be conducted by our God that is expressed in the book of 1 Corinthians and elsewhere.

[29:22] In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 10 to 15, according to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else was building upon it.

[29:39] Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

[29:52] Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw or stubble, each one's work will become manifest for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire.

[30:13] And the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. if the work that anyone is built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

[30:28] If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

[30:40] As hard as that last sentence end, it's encouraging. There's still salvation for the believer. Paul here is describing a judgment that every believer will experience.

[30:54] Now, don't confuse this judgment with the great white throne judgment spoken of in the book of Revelation chapter 20. That is the judgment of the unsaved and will culminate with the subject of that judgment being cast into the lake of fire into hell.

[31:14] Their works on earth will not measure up to the work of Christ on Calvary, where he provides an atoning sacrifice for every true believer's sin.

[31:29] The judgment spoken of here in 2 Corinthians and in 1 Corinthians is sometimes referred to as the judgment seed of Christ.

[31:39] If we knew Greek, it's the bema. Mike can tell you there's even a company that makes bemas. Is it bemas? They're toilet seats, but it means seed in Greek.

[31:52] Paul wrote about that in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9 and 10. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seed of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body whether good or evil.

[32:15] I had one preacher preach on that and he said there'll be rewards handed out and there'll be loss of rewards and those will all be revealed on that day.

[32:28] And this judgment is sometimes referred to as the reward seat. Rewards will be handed out by Christ based upon our conduct. There will be loss of rewards based upon our conduct.

[32:44] When we get to 1 Peter chapter 4 we will find out that the Lord's judgment begins where? Where does judgment begin? The household of God.

[32:58] This is the judgment that can result in God's discipline. Now we studied that when we examine the book of Hebrews chapter 12 and have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

[33:15] My son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord. Do not be weary when reproved by him for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.

[33:31] It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom the father does not discipline?

[33:47] If you are left without discipline in which all have participated then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this we have heard earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them.

[34:04] Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirit and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them but he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness.

[34:22] For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

[34:37] You know my dad spanked me two times when I was growing up but I'll tell you what he had a way of looking at me when I did something he'd say son I'm so disappointed in you and I said dad just beat me I'll go get a board out of the garage and just beat me but don't say that that crushed me my mom didn't matter she was too little to inflict much four foot eleven ninety eight pounds discipline can also be carried out by the church we know the words of Christ in the gospel of Matthew if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone that's one on one if he listens to you you've gained your brother but if he does not listen take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses!

[35:51] If you are trained to you whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven and again I say to you if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask it will be done for them by my father in heaven for where two or three are gathered in my name there am I among them you know we use that and say well you know there's two or three of us in church today that's about discipline when there are two or three gathered to discipline he will be there jesus will be with us when christians both love and worship god because we know that he is loving and that he's full of grace and generosity but this same god can also serve his children as their holy perfect disciplining judge the apostle paul gives us the blueprint of how we are to conduct ourselves before the true god first thessalonians chapter 2 verses 10 to 12 you are witnesses and god also how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers for you know how like a father with his children we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of god who calls you into his own kingdom and into his own glory and with that let's go to the lord in prayer and thank you father for the day and your grace and your mercy lord may we take this lesson and take copies home and study it and be better believers because of it better fathers better husbands and lord may you receive all the worship and praise and glory in jesus name amen