1 Peter 1:17-21
Last Sunday night we talked about how we should respond to the great hope that God offered us.
His salvation is for real, we know that because it was long ago predicted by the prophets, it was reiterated by the apostles, and it has always had the angels thumbprints upon it.
It is a real salvation from God.
And last Sunday night Peter told us we should respond accordingly.
We should give God:
Total Commitment – “prepare your minds…keep sober…fix your hope completely”
Total Consecration – “do not be conformed to the former lusts”
Total Conformity – “like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves”
And at the end of our text, Peter makes this statement.
1 Peter 1:16, “because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
What a statement that is!
God expects you to be holy.
God expects, even commands you to be absolutely perfect.
Matthew 5:48
“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
HOW CAN THAT BE?
You see, we often hear that command and simply allow it to role right off our back. We pass it off as impossible and continue down our merry little way.
God said be holy, but surely He didn’t mean be holy.
That’s not possible.
But we talked about this last Sunday night.
2 Peter 1:2-4
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
That verse says perfection is possible.
It says we have been given everything we need in order to be holy.
That helps us get to the real truth of the matter.
It’s really not that we think holiness is beyond our reach.
The true just of it is, that we don’t really want complete holiness.
Now none of us wants to be the first to say that.
No one in church wants to get up and announce, “I don’t really want to be holy.”
But in essence that is what it is.
If God really has given us everything we need to be holy, and we aren’t, then the problem is not that we can’t, but that we won’t.
Very simply put, there are still some aspects of sin we find entertaining.
There are still some remnants of the old life we don’t even want to lose.
There is probably a little rich young ruler in all of us.
Matthew 19:21-22
“Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.”
You see the rich young ruler’s problem wasn’t that he couldn’t, it was that he wouldn’t. He didn’t want to be complete.
If he had wanted to be complete (i.e. perfect) Jesus told him how.
But he didn’t want it.
When we get honest, that really seems to be the boat we sit in doesn’t it?
Oh, it’s easier on the conscience to just pass holiness off as unattainable, and so we have excused our sin.
But that ease of mind doesn’t come from God.
The simple fact is that God commands holiness.
God expects holiness.
Holiness is possible.
The issue is: “WILL I CHOOSE TO BE HOLY?”
Peter knew that was the issue, so after he reminds his readers of this important decision, he gives us another section of scripture devoted to persuading us to be holy.
In our text this morning, we see three reasons why you and I should desire holiness.
We see three reasons why, unlike the rich young ruler, we should be willing to pay whatever the cost to be like Jesus.
And this I can promise you.
If these 3 motivations will dictate our lives, we will choose to be holy.
If we don’t choose to be holy, it is because these 3 motivations aren’t dictating our lives.
#1 THE PROMISE OF RECOMPENSE
1 Peter 1:17
Peter very simply reminds us of one of the things God does.
God is the judge.
Peter says He “impartially judges according to each man’s work”
And so let’s take a second and look at Scripture to see that this is indeed the case.
Hebrews 9:27
“And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”
Romans 2:6-11
[God] “WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
This is a fact in Scripture. God is an impartial judge, and God is a thorough judge.
Some day, He will pour out this righteous judgment on the entire unbelieving world.
Revelation 20:11-12
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”
And by the way, these books: they are the records of your life.
Let me help you understand.
BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE – God will judge you according to what you know.
Matthew 11:21-22
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.”
Luke 12:47-48a
“And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few…”
BOOK OF CONSCIENCE – God will reveal when you knew sin was wrong, even though you didn’t necessarily know the command that forbade it.
Romans 2:15-16
“in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”
BOOK OF HIDDEN THINGS – Things you did that no one knows about.
Luke 8:17
“For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”
BOOK OF WORKS – things you did in open view.
Matthew 16:27
“For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”
BOOK OF WORDS – Every word you speak is recorded for judgment
Matthew 12:36-37
“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
BOOK OF LIFE – what you really did with Jesus.
Revelation 20:15
“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
God’s judgment will be completely poured out on an unbelieving world, and they will be without excuse, for God has all the facts.
But believers will also stand judgment.
2 Corinthians 5:10
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Romans 14:10-12
“But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.” So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”
1 Corinthians 4:5
“Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”
The simple truth is, judgment is a fact.
God will judge every man.
It will happen.
Everything you have done, every word you have spoken, every thought you thought, every choice you made, whether public or private, will be judged.
And payment will be made.
Peter says this is a fact.
And since this is a fact.
“conduct yourselves in fear, during your time of stay on earth”
Because judgment is real, you should fear.
And let’s talk about fear for a second.
In the New Testament there are 3 root words for fear that are used most often.
1) EULABEIA (yoo-lab-i-ah) – respect the power of; reverence
Hebrews 12:28
“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;”
We ought to respect the power of God.
It is similar to the way these guys at Dickens electric work with electricity. They have a respect for it’s power.
For some people, this is the only fear of God they have. They just kind of steer clear of God. They know He is powerful, they just sort of stay away. They aren’t going to intentionally do something like curse Him, but they don’t allow Him to dictate their lives.
2) DELIA (di-lee-ah) – momentary fright.
John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
2 Timothy 1:7
“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”
It would be like the fear, you have of a lion. You are afraid of a lion, but not right now, only if a lion is close. It is a momentary fright.
This is also how some people relate to God. All the fear of God they have is only momentary. They are afraid when they get caught, but other than that, don’t really take God into consideration in their daily choices. They seemingly consider their sin hidden from God.
Isaiah 29:15
“Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, ” Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”
Ezekiel 8:12
“Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.'”
(I see this a lot when I show up and people find out I’m a preacher)
Neither of these two types of fear are what Peter is calling for.
Based upon God’s judgment, he doesn’t just ask you to have a respect for His power, and he doesn’t ask you to be afraid when you are standing there.
The word here is different.
3) PHOBOS – it is where we got our word “phobia”.
Phobia – “an irrational, persistent fear of some thing or situation.”
A phobia is a fear that persistently dictates your actions. A person who is arachnophobic won’t even go to a place where they think spiders are.
Their phobia dictates their actions even when the danger isn’t seemingly present.
That is what Peter says we should have.
We should constantly have a view of the judgment of God on sin, and that fear should continually dictate our actions.
It doesn’t mean we are scared of God.
But we treat Him “as Father”.
A boy who is genuinely afraid of his dad’s punishment will act right even when his dad is not around. That boy has a healthy fear of punishment.
He may respect his dad’s power.
And he may have momentary fright when caught in sin.
But he also lives with punishment in the back of his mind, and it dictates his life.
Peter says, because of God’s judgment, you should fear.
That fear will keep you doing right even when you don’t necessarily feel in danger.
This is what Jesus was talking about. Living with a view of judgment.
Matthew 24:42-51
“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 4″But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. “But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Fear of judgment is a motivator to be holy.
WHY SHOULD I WANT TO BE HOLY?
Fear of judgment.
If you don’t choose to be holy, you obviously don’t have a fear of judgment.
First – The Promise of Recompense
#2 THE PRICE OF REDEMPTION
1 Peter 1:18-19
Peter says this is something else that you should know all the time.
Not only should God’s judgment always be in the back of your mind, but you always ought to know this as well.
The simple truth is.
YOU WERE REDEEMED
You were redeemed “from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers”
You did not redeem yourself.
“you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold”
You didn’t set yourself free. You didn’t pay off your creditors.
Someone else paid your ransom for you.
You were redeemed “with precious blood, as of a Lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
It would do us good to remember where we were before Jesus.
It can be summed up in three words: SLAVE OF SIN
Ephesians 2:1-3
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
We were literally Dead in Spirit, Desiring Sin, and Doomed to Suffer.
That was us.
We had chains, we were in bondage.
We were slaves of sin.
Holiness wasn’t even possible, it was beyond us, we were in prison.
BUT
Jesus came on the scene.
Matthew 1:21
“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Romans 8:1-4
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Jesus came on the scene, and through His precious blood, redeemed us from sin. He paid our debt, He set us free.
He released us from that which kept us from being holy.
Now, since we have received such a gift, don’t you think we should make full use of it?
Would it not be a slap in the face to Jesus, if we return to the sin He died to release us from?
Romans 6:1-2
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”
Romans 6:12-14
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Romans 6:20-23
“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 12:1
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Holiness wasn’t even possible before Jesus freed us from sin, but now it is.
And because He paid such a high price for our freedom, shouldn’t we honor that by walking in it?
It is the attitude of gratitude.
If we are truly thankful for what Jesus did, then we honor Him by making full use of it.
One of the biggest motivating factors I had for being faithful to speak the truth in Africa, was that so many of you had donated money for me to go, and were giving of your time to pray for me while I was there.
If you were willing to pay such a price, the least I could do was show my appreciation by doing what you sent me to do.
That is a motivator for holiness.
If we don’t want to be holy, we don’t fear judgment, but we also aren’t very thankful for freedom.
First – the promise of recompense
Second – the price of redemption
#3 THE PRESENCE OF A RELATIONSHIP
1 Peter 1:20-21
Notice what Peter said in verse 20.
Jesus didn’t have to come, but He did.
He didn’t have to put on flesh, but He did.
WHY?
“for the sake of you”
Hebrews 2:14-15
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
John 1:1-3
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Jesus came for you.
And “through Him” something happens.
You “are believers in God.”
Again, I want you to know how the Greek shows this.
The word for “believe” is PISTOS
It is not a verb, it is an adjective.
It is not talking about what you do, it is talking about what you are.
Because of Jesus, you are a believer.
Because of Jesus, you are a truster.
Because of Jesus, you are a faithful person.
He made you into a believer.
He thrust you into a relationship with God.
“so that your faith and hope are in God.”
Before Jesus, you could not get go God.
Not only were you bound by sin, but you were separated from God.
(THE VEIL)
But Jesus came and not only paid a high price to free you.
He granted you a relationship with God.
Romans 5:1-2
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”
The motivation here is now we have a relationship with God, and just as in any relationship, we desire to please Him.
Because we have a relationship with God, we should be motivated by love to be holy.
We should want to be holy simply because that is what God wants.
1 Corinthians 13:6
[Love] “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;”
John 14:15
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
John 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
John 14:23
“Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”
It should be our desire to be holy and pleasing to the God we love.
Ephesians 5:1-5
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
That is just it.
WHY SHOULD I BE HOLY?
You should fear judgment enough to be holy.
You should be grateful to Jesus enough to be holy.
You should love God enough to be holy.
The rich young ruler didn’t.
He didn’t fear judgment, he wasn’t grateful to Jesus, and he didn’t love God.
HOW ABOUT US?
Are we willing to be holy?
Are we willing to allow fear of judgment to push us to perfection?
Are we willing to allow gratitude to Jesus to make us holy?
Are we willing to love God enough to say no to sin?
1 Peter 1:14-16
“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
