Sermon Text:

We are continuing to work our way passage by passage through 1 Peter. Peter was writing to believers who were facing increased opposition for their faith. He is writing to encourage them and instruct them on how to respond. In the first 12 verses, Peter reminds them of their identity in Christ and the blessings promised to them. Then, having laid this foundation, beginning in verse 13 he is going to tell them how they should respond to a world that is often hostile to their beliefs.

Interestingly, his advice is different from the advice often given to believers today facing similar circumstances. He offers no strategies or policies. He doesn’t urge them to engage socially or politically in any specific way. In fact, his response isn’t primarily focused on changing their situation at all. Instead, he directs believers to pursue personal holiness. The Bible says the appropriate response to ungodliness in the world is godliness in the church. In other words, we are not to react to the darkness in the world, but to be a light to it, even in suffering by pointing to hope in Jesus Christ.

The word the Bible uses for this godly separation from worldliness is holiness and Peter says the personal holiness of believers was bought with the blood of Jesus. That is the key point for us to see in the text today, the personal holiness of believers was bought with the blood of Jesus.

Verse 13 begins with “therefore”. Everything that follows is based on what he said in the previous 12 verses. He began by laying a foundation upon the truth that they are elect exiles, chosen and loved by God. That they are participating in the promises that the ancient holy ones longed to see, and that even the angels long to see what God is doing in them. Only then does he call them to act.

This is a common pattern in the Bible. Grace always comes before obedience. Commands are always a response to grace. The foundation for the life of a believer is always what God has done in us and for us. All the instruction in the Bible for the Christian life is built on the foundation of God’s love and mercy. Remember, this letter is to those who have been born again through faith in Jesus.  

Only someone whose sinful heart has been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit can do what Peter calls us to do because only those who know God is working all things for their good can suffer joyfully and with a peace that goes beyond all understanding. If we are not more satisfied with Jesus than with the world, holiness will be a burden rather than bring joy. 

Growing up my parents had vegetable and flower gardens. These had to be tended or they would get overgrown and so one of my chores was to pull the weeds and water them. I hated that job. It was hot, dirty, and boring. I didn’t want to do it but I had to, it was a duty. 

Our neighbor across the street had a massive garden and the front of her house was filled with huge flower beds. She would be out there from dusk to dawn pruning, pulling weeds, and watering. I once asked her how she could stand spending all her time on that and she told me it made her happy. I found no satisfaction in the plants so the work was a burden, but for her it was rewarding. That is the way holiness works. The moral law is a burden to those who find no satisfaction in God but it is precious to those who love God.                             

I share all this to say that the first order of business is to know you are a believer in Jesus. You will not suffer for the glory of God if you are living for our own glory. Unconverted men can appear to be faithful so long as they perceive some benefit but when the cost begins to outweigh the benefit, they will fall away. For the true believer, the peace and joy of knowing that we are God’s children is itself the blessing. A true believer doesn’t work to earn God’s love, they work because they have it.

That blessing and the joy which comes from it is what Peter points to beginning in verse 13 saying,

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.

He says to “set your hope fully on set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” and to do this by preparing your mind for action and being sober minded. 

We are not to place any hope whatsoever in this world. We are to set our hope fully on the grace that will come to us when Jesus returns in glory. 100% of our confidence is to be put in the promise that God has made that when Jesus returns we will be raised in glory. 

We often speak about how we were saved when we believed in Jesus. That’s true, we are already saved in one sense, but not yet in another. We have the certainty of heaven, but we are not yet there. The Bible says we are saved, are being saved, and will be saved. 

Believers were justified the moment we believed. When we believe God forgives our sins and declares us to be righteous before him. We are saved from the condemnation of sin.

Next, we are being sanctified which means we are being freed from the power of sin. This is our pursuit of holiness as we are transformed to be more like Jesus. This is what Peter is going to say we should be pursuing now and this is a process that lasts from our justification until we are glorified. 

That is the last step and this is the grace that comes at the revelation of Jesus Christ. On that day we will be freed from the presence of sin. God’s work in us will be complete and we will be with him, perfect and glorious, forever. That is salvation in its fullness, that is the promised grace and our final salvation. Peter says we are not to look to the world, but to set our hope fully on that. The apostle Paul says it this way in Colossians 3:2–4,

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  

I know what it means to set my coffee cup or my plate on the table, but what does it really mean to set my mind or my hope on something? Peter says you do that by preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded.

Look at the emphasis Peter places on the mind. We live in one of the most irrational ages in all of human history. Modern thought has rejected the very idea of objective truth. The elite thinkers no longer admit they are creatures living in a world that imposes a reality on us from outside. We are told every person is now the creator of their own world. 

But the gospel is a proclamation to the world about what is true. It is true that there is a God. It is true that we have sinned against him. It is true that he is going to judge the world and all that is in it. It is true that he sent his son as a savior so that any who would repent and trust in him would be saved from the coming destruction. It is true that all those who trust in the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus will not only be spared judgment, but inherit eternal life.

Last week in the implosion of the Titan submersible we had a tragic reminder that reality will assert itself. The vision and aspirations of even our greatest minds cannot create their own realities. If we are to safely complete our journey we must prepare ourselves with the truth. Because it is built on truth claims Christianity is a rational faith and is necessarily addressed to the mind. What we believe and what we love are all matters of how we think. It is only of any value if it is true.

We cannot have the hope Peter tells us to pursue without disciplined thinking. This does not happen automatically. Sustaining hope requires effort, concentration, and reflection on the truth and it doesn’t happen by accident or through osmosis. Just as the Old Testament prophets searched diligently about the grace that was to come to us, we must do the same thing so we are not discouraged or misled. Only the truth God reveals in his word can equip us with the joy, peace, and wisdom we need to persevere in faith until Christ comes or calls us home. 

The literal translation of what Peter says is that we are to gird up the loins of our mind. In ancient times everyone wore robes and to gird up your loins means that you pulled up your flowing garments from around your legs and tucked them into your belt so you run or work hard without being slowed down or getting tangled up. 

We need to do that with our thinking. Clear out anything that will distract us or slow us down in living the life we are called to. One of the devil’s favorite tactics to tangle us up is to take our attention off what we have and draw our attention to the things we do not have. I like how the puritan preacher Thomas Watson said it. He said,

“The devil blows the coals of passion and discontent, and then warms himself by the fire” 

The way to guard our hearts from this is to guard our minds with the truth. Peter says we are also to be sober minded. We are to keep our minds alert and clear. A drunk person’s senses are dull and they are unprepared for action. Like drugs and alcohol to our body the distractions of this world can seem exciting but they lead to spiritual numbness. If you are focused on fulfilling earthly desires you will be spiritually out of it, intoxicated and lethargic. Rather than being vigilant for his coming, you will be unprepared and dulled to the reality of God. 

We must keep our mind sharp by keeping our focus on the truth of God’s word and his promises. In verse 14 he says,

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 

When we place our faith in Jesus, we are adopted into the family of God. We have been taken out of an abusive home where nobody cared we pursued destructive passions because they did not love us, to a home with a caring Father who instructs and teaches us to love that which is good. We are now God’s children and are being instructed so that we grow up to be like him.

By the blood of Jesus we are declared to be saints, which means holy ones, those set apart for God. By the blood of Jesus we are also being trained in holiness as his children and those who bear his name to the world.

What we thought was freedom in our sin was actually ignorance. Peter says do not pursue those passions but pursue that which makes us like our Heavenly Father and pleases him. We cannot call God our Father and claim to love him if we love what he hates.

My dad doesn’t like snakes. I remember one time I started to gather up all these snakes from the river and was taking them home and keeping them in a container in the garage. He wasn’t too happy when he found them and told me to get rid of them. I tried to tell him my plan but he said “as long as you are under my roof, you are not keeping snakes as pets, get rid of them.” 

God forgives our sins, but he will not allow us to keep them as pets and live under his roof. God does not wink at sin, even among his children. If we repent and confess, he is faithful to forgive us but it is not of faith to presume upon grace in sin. Verse 17 says,

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, 

If we claim God is our Father, we should live in reverent fear. We must not take our relationship with God casually. He isn’t one of our buddy’s. The fear of God Peter speaks of is not terror, it is a recognition of his holiness and divinity and is a component of saving faith. Philippians 2:12–13 says,

12 Therefore, my beloved,  … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.  

This is a healthy fear that is consistent with assurance that we are loved but recognizing our smallness before God. It is sort of like the kind of fear you need to be a good driver. If you are terrified, you will not be a safe driver. You need confidence to drive well. But a good driver understands the responsibility they have when they get behind the wheel. It is a healthy fear that keeps them from being irresponsible and putting themselves or others in danger. 

So Peter isn’t trying to scare us, he is helping us to understand the balance between enjoying grace and being reckless. Proverbs 9:10 says,

10  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.  

When we live our lives before God knowing that there is a day coming when all must give an account and that what we believe and what we do now has eternal consequences, it puts our relationship with God and everyone else in perspective. Knowing God is holy and just is a guard rail on our tendency to be foolish. It is this realization that brought us to the savior and keeps us close to him.

To know God as Father is to know he loves us so our lives in this world should be marked by confidence in his tenderness and love. To know God as holy is to know that what we do matters and we are accountable to God for how we live. Peter sees no contradiction between the grace and justice of God because the two come together perfectly in Jesus and in the cross.

In verses 18 and 19 he explains why we should live in reverent fear and what he says brings us right back to the love of God for his people through Jesus.

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 

We are to pursue holiness in reverent fear because we have been ransomed and not by things that can lose value, but by the most precious and valuable thing in the entire universe, the blood of the Son of God. We are to be holy or separated from the futile ways that we inherited from our forefathers because we have been ransomed by his blood. Those old ways of living were useless. They all end in disappointment, destruction, and death and God himself rescued us from them.

Why should we pursue holiness in reverence? Because Jesus paid for it. He bought your holiness on the cross. Any discouragement about our ability to pursue this holiness should melt away as we hear these words. Jesus died to make you holy.

His blood was not only shed to wash away your sins but to bring you as a son or daughter into the family of God. The life you have is eternal, undefiled, and unfading because it was bought with a price that is eternal, undefiled, and unfading. Why should you pursue holiness with reverent fear? Because God loves you and sent his son to die to save you.

Yes, Peter is commanding believers to pursue holiness. He is telling us what we must do. He says, focus your mind on the truth, live in reverent acknowledgement that you will stand before a holy God who has claimed you, and pursue holiness in all things. But If what you are hearing is go try harder, you are missing it. If what you hear him saying is this is the life of the believer now YOU go do that, you aren’t hearing the point clearly. Do you remember what we said the main point was?

The personal holiness of believers was bought with the blood of Jesus.

Peter is setting a burden upon us; he is writing to solidify our hope. We know we cannot be holy as God is holy in our own power. We know God is a righteous judge. But Peter is telling us we can do this because Jesus has obtained it for you. Believer, you are already holy before God because you are in Christ. You already have the strength needed to live this out in your life, even in the face of suffering, because Jesus paid for that too!

God’s work in us isn’t just something that comes into play on the last day but every day. Remember, we cannot disconnect this section from what came before and what comes after. Peter is encouraging us by reminding us that it is God himself who is doing this work. I like the way theologian Sinclair Ferguson describes it. He says,

“Our transformation into the likeness of Jesus Christ has been God’s purpose for us since before the dawn of creation. It is central to his purposes for us and he will stop at nothing to accomplish it. He will spare nothing to make you like his son. We know that because, in order to accomplish it, “He… did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all (Rom. 8:32).”

We will not be kept to the end by our great devotion to God, but by his great devotion to us through the salvation he provided through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Listen to how Peter connects this beginning in verse 20,

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.  

It was for you and I, believers, that he came and was lifted up on that cross. We didn’t deserve any of it and there was no love for God in our hearts. We were dead in sin, but because of his great mercy he sent his son to die in the place of all those who will ever repent of their futile works and accept his perfect works as their only hope before God. he does this to save us from sin, death, and hell and it is his eternal purpose that all who come to him are made holy.

If you do not yet know him as your savior, it is no accident that you are hearing this message today. If there is no desire for holiness or reverent fear of God in your heart, it is no coincidence that you are listening to this. Repent and believe and receive the eternal life he offers.

If you are someone who knows you are a child of God, then rejoice in his grace, knowing that you can persevere in holiness because the same blood that bought your forgiveness bought your faithfulness.

All glory belongs to God for every aspect of our salvation from start to finish. Have you come to faith and your sins are forgiven? Praise God for he has done it. Are you being transformed by the Spirit and the renewing of your mind by the Word of God? Praise God, that is him at work and if he is doing that, then you have his promise you will stand in glory and without shame on that great day when all people are called to give an account before him.  

All this is for our comfort and is to the praise of the glory of God’s grace. Peter says this grace came to all of us, 

21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.  

We are believers in Jesus through the same power that raised him from the dead and gave him glory. Our confidence comes not from our works, even our good works, but from the truth of his promise. Our faith and our hope are in God who is at work to save us.

This is great news and gives us freedom to pursue the calling of God with joy and peace, knowing he loves us. We walk in reverence, knowing God is an impartial judge, but we walk in assurance knowing that he is at work in our hearts to bring us to glory.

Peter points us away from trying to assess things by what we see and points us toward Jesus. We live here as exiles, but we know God will bring us home to be with him because we are his. Bible teacher Dane Ortland said it this way,

“The evidence of Christ’s mercy toward you is not your life. The evidence of his mercy toward you is his [life]—mistreated, misunderstood, betrayed, abandoned… in your place. If God sent his own Son to walk through the valley of condemnation, rejection, and hell, you can trust him as you walk through your own valleys on your way to heaven.” 

He has proven himself trustworthy and so we need not worry about how it is all going to turn out. We are free to trust and obey knowing there is no condemnation and only grace. We do not need to be anxious because he is with us as we live humbly and quietly pursuing lives of holiness that glorify him. 

Brothers and sisters, do not be distracted by everything going on around you. Instead, focus your mind and attention on Jesus Christ and seek to live quiet and holy lives with reverent fear and joyous hope. Jesus bought this for you we know the payment was accepted because Jesus is risen and is now seated at the right hand of the Father and is making intercession for us. 

When we pursue holiness and trust God, it doesn’t matter what our external circumstances happen to be. God will be glorified and believers will find joy in that. One of the earliest Christian documents we have after the New Testament is a letter written by one of the students of the apostles to someone named Diognetus.

I would like to conclude this morning with his observation on how the early believers lived in a world that did not accept them.

“Christians are not distinguished from other men by country, language, nor by the customs which they observe. They do not inhabit cities of their own, use a particular way of speaking, nor lead a life marked out by any curiosity. …

Instead, they inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities, however things have fallen to each of them. And it is while following the customs of the natives in clothing, food, and the rest of ordinary life that they display to us their wonderful and admittedly striking way of life.     

-Letter to Diognetus (130 A.D.)

May our way of life be striking and wonderful not because of our customs or clothes, but because the love of Jesus Christ shines through us into a dark world.