Sermons – Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

1 Peter 1:22-25 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for

“All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

INTRODUCTION

Christians will suffer various trials (1:6) because we live in a world with sin.

These trials will come because of sin within and sin without.

Sin within produces suffering because sin, by definition, is always off the path of goodness and blessing. Our sin always harms us…sometimes immediately and obviously and sometimes gradually and subtly, but it always causes harm and harm always brings a measure of suffering.

Sin without produces suffering because: 1) it causes the world around us to hurl down its brokenness upon us (tornados, drought, sickness, disease, …) and, 2) it causes unrepentant sinners to act in evil ways (theft, deceit, slander, murder, …).

Peter wrote this letter to help the people of God suffer in ways that honor God.

To this point, he’s given his readers three main ways to honor God in their suffering: 1) remember the gospel and the salvation it produced (1:3-9), 2) hope not in better circumstances but fully in grace (1:13), and 3) be holy (1:14-25).

For the past several weeks we’ve been looking at Peter’s words concerning the third point (be holy). Peter has charged the people of God to honor God in their suffering by living holy lives. Specifically, he’s called them to stop acting on the desires of their flesh, to be morally pure because God their Father is morally pure, to fear God, and, as we saw last week, to love other Christians in sincerity, earnestness, and purity.

As I briefly noted last week, Peter’s charge for Christians to love Christians in their suffering is rooted in the reality that they’d been born again through the word of God. It is the phrase “through the …word of God,” and its remarkable implications, on which we are going to focus this morning. It is through God’s word that God’s people become and remain and thrive as and delight in being God’s people. Let’s pray that God would awaken us to this amazing grace and all that it means for us today.

BEING BORN AGAIN AND THE ORDER OF SALVATION

Before we can understand what Peter means by being “born again…through the living and abiding word of God,” we need to back up a bit and consider the nature of salvation.

As you’ve heard me say many times, when the NT speaks of salvation through faith in Jesus, it is referring to something much bigger than most people realize. For most, salvation means praying a prayer at some point in this life and then going to heaven when they die. Again though, while the bible’s understanding of salvation certainly includes those things, it also includes a great deal more. Salvation, fully manifest includes election, gospel call, regeneration, conversion, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, death, and glorification. All of that is from God and all of that is what it means to be saved.

Now the various NT authors don’t always have all of these in mind every time they speak of salvation (Paul, for instance, often speaks of salvation primarily in terms of justification), but God has given us the entire bible, not just a few paragraphs within it. And from the entire bible, we can easily see each of these ten aspects of salvation.

With that in the way of background, “born again,” for Peter (and John who is the only other NT au...

1 Peter 1:22-25 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for

“All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

INTRODUCTION

In my experience, suffering is one of the most inward-turning experiences we can have. If we’re honest, most of us tend to be pretty selfish people to begin with. On good days we acknowledge and fight against it. On bad days we reluctantly give in to it. But in suffering most of that goes out the door (the fight and even the reluctance). On those days we feel as if our selfishness is certainly understandable, likely reasonable, and possibly righteous.

Remember, this letter, 1 Peter, is about helping God’s people honor God in their suffering. And remember, one of our main means of honoring God is by living in ways that provide significant contrast with the ways the rest of the world lives. Belief in the God of the bible means (necessarily) living differently from those who do not in every area of our lives. It means eating differently, working differently, marrying differently, parenting differently, learning differently, neighboring differently, and it certainly means suffering differently.

In each of these aspects of our lives the “differently” highlights the fact that our trust is in God rather than in the things of the world. In each of these “differentlys” we demonstrate our belief in the superiority of God’s ways above all other ways. In each of these “differentlys” we make clear that we are not citizens of this earth, but citizens of heaven. And, therefore, in each of these “differentlys” we honor God by providing contrast between the way we respond to our circumstances in light of the gospel and the way the world around us responds to the same circumstances in light of the wisdom of this earth and the desires of their flesh.

Again, though, this is especially true when we suffer differently. There are few things that are able to provide the kind of contrast that suffering is able to provide. When everyone else would despair in their suffering, we stand out because we are hopeful. When everyone else would be angry in their suffering, we stand out because we are peaceful. When everyone else fears death in their suffering, we stand out because we know that to die is gain. When everyone else would be fearful in their suffering, we stand out because we have confidence. And where everyone else becomes increasingly selfish in their suffering, we stand out because we increasingly love. That’s Peter’s point here: we suffer well when we love well in our suffering. That is, when we lovingly turn out in our suffering we provide an amazing contrast from those who selfishly turn in. And that contrast, Peter writes, honors God.

Let’s pray that God would help us to be people of contrast, particularly in our suffering, and particularly by loving well in our suffering.

SUFFERING WELL BY LOVING WELL

I hate to admit this, but I’m a bit of a baby when I’m not feeling well. This doesn’t tend to happen all that often, but when it does my tendency is to turn into a 10 year old little boy.

Possibly the worst example of this came many years ago. Gerri was at the hospital being diagnosed with meningitis. If you know anything about meningitis you know that it involves an infection of the brain that tends to produce swelling which tends to produce pain and headaches that are barely survivable.

When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers were gathered together,

against the Lord and against his Anointed’—

for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. – Acts 4:23-31

We have something significant we can learn from our brothers and sisters in Christ from Acts 4. As a way of helping us see what the first century church was experiencing in Acts 4, I want you to imagine a scenario with me. Consider that one day you woke up to another fairly normal day in your life. You get dressed for work, make a pot of coffee, and are having your devotions at the table in your kitchen before the kids are waking up.

All is quiet, except for the bubbling sound you hear of the coffee percolating on the counter behind you. The quietness is interrupted by a quick sound on your phone- a breaking news alert. This news alert says that it is considered hate speech to say that Jesus Christ and Christianity are the only way to God. As you quickly scan through the story you see that this law now makes it a crime for anyone to preach the gospel. This kind of speech is considered outlawed.

You’re stunned and become immediately worried. You’re worried because you don’t know what will happen on Sunday. Will we have an exhortation? What will Pastor Dave say in his sermon? You wonder what he is going to do. What will his response be?

As the week goes on, you continue following the news and you see that this new law is received with a majority approval from American citizens. Sunday morning comes around, and Pastor Dave stands up to preach. He preaches as if he would have preached a month ago if the law had not been in place, sharing what the Bible says and preaches the gospel.

The rest of the day goes by as normal. A few days go by. On Wednesday you hear the bad news. Pastor Dave has been arrested for that sermon he preached. Word begins to go throughout the church as to what happened. And then, you hear something else. You hear that I was fired from my job because I refused to cooperate with the investigation and help prosecute him.

In one week our preaching pastor is arrested and a lay elder is out of work. This scenario may never happen here, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility. This is the type of experience the first century church was going through from their government in Acts 4. Two of their most significant leaders within the infancy of the early church were arrested. What do you think their response was?

The aim of this sermon is keep in front of you some really important truths that we can learn from our brothers and sisters in Christ who were going through persecution and trials from their government. This election year has been one that we haven’t seen before. Christians are having to wrestle with potential situations t...

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

“14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

17 Therefore go out from their midst,

and be separate from them, says the Lord,

and touch no unclean thing;

then I will welcome you,

18 and I will be a father to you,

and you shall be sons and daughters to me,

says the Lord Almighty.’

7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

Introduction

Good morning Grace,

I appreciate Pastor Dave and the elders giving me this opportunity to preach to you this morning. It has been my pleasure to dive into this particular portion of Scripture for the past several weeks, searching for what the Holy Spirit is saying to through Paul.

Our text today is going to be specifically 7:1. But this verse is really a command based off of the previous section we just read.

So, in light of those five verses, here’s what I believe Paul’s main message is in out text.

Believers, in the fear of the Lord, pursue perfect holiness by separating yourselves from the world because God has promised wonderful things for you.

Let’s Pray.

Context

Before we dive into the meaning of this text and how it should affect us, I want us to briefly get a glimpse of the kind of people Paul is dealing with here in Corinth.

Paul had planted this church in Corinth several years prior to this letter. But now his opponents from the East, false teachers, were corrupting their doctrine and slandering Paul. Most of the church had been converted, but there was still a remnant that were hostile to Paul and his teaching. So, he decided to write another letter to correct their behavior and call them to repentance, and also to affirm and celebrate the ones who were staying true to the Word of God.

Here’s what’s going to be vital to understand for our sermon today. Paul is writing to people inside an extremely pagan culture. While the Corinthians seemed to be very artsy in their tastes; they loved literature, art, rhetoric and philosophy. The city was a mecca of paganism and idol worship. The Corinthians were known far and wide for their immorality. In fact, they had coined a term for themselves, corinthiazesthai, (to corinthianize) which meant “to practice fornication,” but its literal translation was “to behave like a Corinthian.” So, to behave like a Corinthian was to practice fornication. Their very identity was rooted in immorality.

They worshipped all of the popular gods of the time. Apollo, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes. Aphrodite’s temple is rumored to have had a thousand consecrated prostitutes.

Throughout the Corinthian letters, Paul describes the city in very colorful terms; immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, greedy, drunkards, revilers, and robbers. And he says in his first letter to the Corinthians, “Such were some of you” (1 Cor. 6). These things characterized their old lives. And this is the world that Paul is writing to.

Now, let’s go to our text.

2 Corinthians 7:1 “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

1 Peter 1:20-21 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, 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.

 

INTRODUCTION

Last week, in 1 Peter 1:18-19, we found more help from Peter to suffer well. In those verses Peter offered help in calling the people of God to remember that Jesus Christ suffered well on our behalf. In particular, Peter reminded the Christians to whom he was writing (which includes you and I, and all who rightly call on God as Father) to remember in our suffering that we’ve been ransomed from the very sin that causes our suffering by the precious blood of Jesus!

Peter’s point was largely that, as we increasingly realize the preciousness of the price paid to rescue us from sin and the One who paid it, we’ll be far less apt to return to the sin we were rescued from. In other words, you and I will suffer. Jesus promised it. The question, then, is not if we will suffer, but if we will do so in a way that honors God. If we have a small view of God and a small view of the price paid to rescue us from our sins, we are exceedingly unlikely to suffer well. If, on the other hand, we have an accurate view of God (infinitely glorious) and an accurate view of the price paid to rescue us from our sins (the precious blood of Jesus), we will certainly remain faithful through our suffering.

In our passage for this morning, we see a bit more about the glory of both our ransom-paying Father and his ransom-being Son—and, consequently, even more help to honor God in hardship. Let’s pray that glory of the Father and Son would become increasingly apparent to us in order that we’d live increasingly holy lives to their glory—come what may.

THE PERSEVERING POWER OF BEHOLDING GLORY

Some of you are suffering right now. Your marriage is struggling, you have a kid who is wayward, someone you love was diagnosed with cancer, an important relationship is deteriorating, your work situation is tenuous, or, perhaps, a Christian friend is angry with you for calling her out on a sin, your boss is on your case for being forward in your evangelism, family relations are strained because of your desire to honor Jesus with your life, or you’re seen as an outsider in your neighborhood because you represent an unwelcomed conscience. Whatever form it might take, everyone in this room is likely suffering or close to someone who is. The question is, how do we suffer in ways that honor God.

We dishonor him when we suffer without hope. We dishonor him when we suffer as if our suffering is pointless. We dishonor him when we suffer as if we’re barely getting the better deal by hanging on. We dishonor God when we suffer without giving any thought to God in our suffering.

Conversely, we honor God when we suffer hoping in his promises that while all suffering is relatively short, the inheritance of the saints is eternally imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. We honor God in suffering when we believe his promises that all things (including our suffering) are for the good of those who love God. We honor God in suffering when we come to realize that the greatest measure of earthly suffering absolutely pales in comparison to heavenly blessing. And we honor God in suffering when we look to him, trust in him, rest in him, and even delight in him during it.

Even as Christians it’s often too easy to suffer poorly, in ways that are dishonoring God, and too hard to suffer well, in ways that are honoring to God. And so, once again, we need help, which is exactly what Peter is after in our passage for this morning: help to glorify God when life is hard—especially when it’s hard for following Jesus.

Specifically, he offers help for suffering by putting on display the magnitude of God’...

1 Peter 1:17-19 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, 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.

 

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, Grace. In order to honor God when life is hard for honoring God, Peter tells us to continue believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ and to order our entire lives around it. Specifically, we are to order our lives around the gospel by hoping fully in grace, being holy, and, as we saw last week, conducting ourselves continually in the fear of God in light of the knowledge that God’s judgment is continually upon us.

In our passage for this morning, Peter expands on the mindset Christians are to have as we conduct ourselves with fear in our suffering. God is fiercely holy and judges his not-yet-morally-pure people continually in light of his holiness. We must, therefore, fear God and conduct ourselves according to that fear. But, Peter writes, we must always do so in full knowledge of the gospel. Specifically, we must do so in the knowledge that even though God’s judgment will reveal remnants of our former futile life, it is not on that basis that he will ultimately judge us; rather, it is on the basis of our having been ransomed by the precious blood of Jesus from our futile life and all its remnants.

Our commitment to expository preaching means that quite often I preach on passages that I probably wouldn’t pick to preach on if left to my own agenda (which is one exceedingly significant reason why expository preaching is so important). This morning, however, is one of those passages that loves to be preached. You’d be hard pressed to find a more succinct summary of the glorious good news of the Christian faith. We’re all in for a treat this morning. I’ve already been feasting all week. I invite you now to join me in the banquet.

Let’s pray that God would cause us to conduct ourselves in the fear of the Lord in our time of exile, but to always do so dominated by the knowledge of our redemption in Christ.

YOU HAVE BEEN RANSOMED

Because all mankind is sinful by nature, by itself God’s holy nature would only be a terrifying thing. We are all guilty of falling short of the holiness God demands. What’s more, the wages of our sin-produced guilt is death. That is a scary reality to consider.

Without any outside intervention, then, the only thing we would know is fear of God as his judgment bore down upon us. But, Peter reminds his readers, Christians are not left to experience God’s unbridled holiness, we are not left in our guilty state, and we are not left without any outside intervention.

1 Peter 1:17-19 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, 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.

Thus, while God’s holiness remains, and remnants of our sin remains, and, therefore, while a healthy fear of God remains as well, fear is not the only thing we feel toward God. Indeed, Peter writes, it is not even the primary thing we are meant to feel toward God. Rather than being dominated by fear, vs.18-19 let us know that there is a deeper reality that is meant to dominate us: the reality that we’ve been ransomed from our sin.

But what exactly does it mean to be ransomed?

What does it mean to be ransomed?

Simply,

1 Peter 1:17-19 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, 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.

INTRODUCTION

Writing to a group of exiled Christians, Peter means this letter to teach them how to honor God in their exile.

How does Peter tell them to honor God in their exile? To this point he’s prescribed two means of doing so: (1) believing in, loving, and relying wholly on the gospel, and (2) living wholly according to the gospel even when everything around them is crashing down because of their believing in and loving and relying wholly on it.

What is the gospel according to Peter? The gospel is the good news that according to the sovereign plan of God, through the bloody obedience of Jesus and the regenerating work of the Spirit, a way was made for sinful mankind to be born again and reconciled to holy God (1:1-3). What is that way? Grace-produced faith in the cross of Jesus. According to God’s mercy we are united with Jesus in his death and resurrection, and thereby saved from our sins and given an everlasting, heavenly inheritance by trusting in Jesus (1:3-9).

The prophets were amazed by this gospel. The apostles were amazed by this gospel. And the angels even still are amazed by this gospel. It is the greatest news that any of us could ever hope to hear (1:10-12).

What does it mean to live according to this good news, particularly in times of persecution? We have already seen that true belief in the gospel means hoping fully in grace and living holy lives (1:13-16). The main point of our text for this morning (and I’m really only going to preach on v.17), is to add a third practical application: conducting ourselves with fear of God.

Of this third application of the gospel, this sermon is meant to answer five questions: 1) What does it mean to fear God, 2) Who is commanded to fear God, 3) When are those people commanded to fear God, 4) Why are they commanded to fear God, and 5) What does it mean to conduct oneself according to the fear of God.

Let’s pray that God would cause all of these things (and more) to work themselves out in us.

CONDUCT YOURSELVES WITH FEAR

Having finished reminding the exiles of the gospel they believed in and commanding them to hope fully in grace and be holy, Peter writes (at the beginning of v.17), “and…”. In light of your belief in the gospel, hope in grace, be holy, and conduct yourselves with fear. Again, this raises five significant questions. The first of which is, what does it mean to fear God. That’s where we’ll turn our attention now.

What does it mean to fear God?

Because I’ve spent some time on this question in recent weeks—most recently in a sermon during missions week—I won’t spend a lot of time on it this morning. However, because it is always important to define terms, I want to offer again the definition I gave in my missions week sermon: for Christians “to fear God is to be given an appropriate understanding of the majesty and glory and power and might of God, coupled with an appropriate understanding of the fallenness and rebelliousness and inferiority and unworthiness of all mankind.”

In other words, fearing God in the sense Peter uses it in v.17 is about viewing God with appropriate awe and wonder and honor and respect, and ourselves in light of all of that. It is no coincidence that Peter, having just finished acknowledging the holiness of God, follows up with a command to fear God. Appropriate awe, wonder, honor, and respect for God (that is, appropriate fear of God) comes primarily from an ...

1 Peter 1:13-16 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. 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.”

INTRODUCTION

Good morning. This sermon is the third and final part of a series intended to answer two questions from 1 Peter 1:13-16: (1) What kind of holiness is Peter calling God’s people to in 1 Peter 1:13-16, and (2) How do we get that holiness.

Two weeks ago we saw that the holiness to which Peter is calling us is as-God-is-holy holiness. We also saw that God is holy in that he is set apart from everything else, and in that he is morally pure. Because we are already set apart by God as holy, what we need, and what Peter commands, is moral-purity holiness.

Last week, then, I gave you the first two of four principles (I originally said six principles, but ended up combining two sets of them for this sermon) meant to answer the question of how we gain moral-purity holiness. This morning we’ll consider the final two.

Please pray with me that the true nature of the holiness to which we are called would be increasingly clear and beautiful and characteristic of our lives.

 

BE HOLY AS GOD IS HOLY

Again, in order to obey Peter’s command—”…as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct”—that is, in order to answer the question of how we become morally-pure holy, I’ve offered four biblical principles.

Very quickly let’s review the first two, which we considered last week.

1. The moral purity which we are commanded to have is nothing other than conformity to the moral nature of God.

Because we are called to as-God-is-holy holiness, Peter’s charge is really for God’s people to conform themselves to God’s moral nature.

If we are to be holy—to be morally pure—we must be clear on what type of moral purity we need.

2. God’s holy word is the only definitive source for knowing God’s moral nature and, therefore, it is the only definitive source for knowing the nature of the moral purity which we are commanded to have.

It is in the bible alone that we find definitive descriptions of God’s moral nature and the specific moral commands that flow from it. Growing in the holiness that Peter commands, then, necessitates knowing all that God’s word says about God’s moral nature and commands.

If we are to be holy—to be morally pure—we must know where to find moral purity and what, specifically, it is.

As I mentioned last week, rightly understood, these first two principles are altogether overwhelming, which is why the next point is so significant; indeed, necessary.

3. God’s grace is our only hope for achieving the moral purity which we are commanded to have.

If we are to be holy—to be morally pure—we must know from where our strength for it comes.

We are incapable of obeying Peter’s command—of being morally pure as God is morally pure—if left to our own strength and devices. But, Grace Church, as you know, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that the children of God are never left to our own strength or our own devices.

God has promised that all who have received his saving grace will also receive his sanctifying grace; all who have been made his children will be made pure. That’s Paul’s point in Romans 8:29: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…”.

It’s also his point in Philippians 1:6: “…he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…”.

Knowing,

1 Peter 1:13-16 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. 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.”

 

INTRODUCTION

In the way of a reminder or, if you weren’t here over the past few weeks, to bring you up to speed, 1 Peter 1:13-16 is meant to teach God’s people that a true understanding of, belief in, and delight in the gospel of Jesus Christ always leads to action. 1 Peter 1:3-9 describes nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:10-12 describes the amazingness of the gospel of Jesus Christ as understood by the prophets, apostles, and angels. And then, once again, 1 Peter 1:13-16 teaches and commands two practical implications of 1:3-12: rightly understood, believed in, and delighted in, the gospel will cause God’s people to (1) increasingly hope fully in the grace of God and (2) live holy lives.

Two weeks ago we considered what it meant to hope fully in the grace of God.

Then, last week, we looked at the nature of the holiness to which we are called: as-God-is-holy holiness. That is, we are to be holy as God is holy. Therefore, we considered that God is holy in that (1) he is utterly set apart from all things and (2) he is completely morally pure. Finally, we saw that Christians are by nature already set-apart holy (because God has set us apart by choosing us in Christ), and that it is only on this basis that we are able to become morally-pure holy.

I concluded the sermon, then, by leaving you with the question of how, specifically, we are to obey Peter’s command to be morally-pure holy. And that’s where we pick up today. My main aim this morning is to begin explaining to you how God has ordained that we become morally pure.

Let’s pray that God would make his word clear and strengthen us to obey it.

BE HOLY AS GOD IS HOLY

Once again, the starting point for this sermon is with the understanding that all Christians, by the very nature of being Christian, are already holy in that we are already set apart by God. What we lack, and what Peter is commanding, then (in v.15), is holiness in the sense of moral purity. And the point of this sermon is to answer the question, from where does that (moral purity) come?

To best answer that question I have six points, each of which builds on the previous one. I’ll start by simply stating each point and then I’ll briefly unpack the first three this week (and then the next three next week).

* The moral purity which we are commanded to have is conformity to the moral nature of God.

* God’s holy word is the only definitive source for knowing God’s moral nature and, therefore, it is the only definitive source for knowing the nature of the moral purity which we are commanded to have.

* God’s grace is our only hope for achieving the moral purity which we are commanded to have.

* God’s purifying grace comes to his people according to his promises.

* God’s purifying grace comes to his people through his various means.

* God begins to give his sanctifying grace through his various means immediately upon our conversion and does not stop until we are finally pure at our death.

 

1. The moral purity which we are commanded to have is nothing other than conformity to the moral nature of God.

If we are to be holy—to be morally pure—we must be clear on what type of moral purity we need.

As I mentioned in the introduction, we saw this last week. This is the essence of what Peter means when he writes, “As he who called you is holy,

1 Peter 1:13-16 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. 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.”

INTRODUCTION

As you may remember from last week, in this passage (1 Peter 1:13-16) Peter instructs and admonishes the Church to go beyond merely understanding, believing, and delighting in the gospel. In addition he commands the Church to live according to the gospel. God’s grace isn’t merely meant to be grasped and received with gratitude, it is also meant to produce a change in our lives.

Specifically, Peter charged his readers, in light of the gospel, to do the good works of (1) hoping fully in grace and (2) living holy lives. Last week we saw what it means to hope fully in grace. This week we’re going to see what it means to be holy.

In simplest terms, then, my aim in this sermon is to explain what Peter means when he commands Christians to “be holy in all your conduct.”

Let’s pray that God would grant us understanding of, love for, and strength to live holy lives.

HOLINESS

Without a doubt one of the most helpful situation reports I’ve read concerning the Western Church’s understanding of practical holiness comes from Kevin DeYoung’s book, The Hole in our Holiness. In the opening pages he writes,

I’ve never understood the attraction of camping. Although I have plenty of friends and relatives who are avid campers, it’s always seemed strange to me that someone would work hard all year so they can go live outside for a week. I get the togetherness stuff, but why do it in tents with community toilets? As an adventure, I sort of understand camping. You strap a pack on your back and go hike God’s creation. Cool. But packing up the van like Noah’s ark and driving to a mosquito infested campground where you reconstitute an inconvenient version of your kitchen and your bedroom just doesn’t make sense. Who decided that vacation should be like normal life, only harder? …

I know there are a lot of die-hard campers in the world. I don’t fault you for your hobby. It’s just not my thing…I’ve been largely ignorant of camping my whole life. And I’m okay with that. It’s one more thing I don’t need to worry about in life. Camping may be great for other people, but I’m content to never talk about it, never think about it, and never do it….

Is it possible you look at personal holiness like I look at camping? It’s fine for other people. You sort of respect those who make their lives harder than they have to be. But it’s not really your thing. You didn’t grow up with a concern for holiness. It wasn’t something you talked about. It wasn’t what your family prayed about or your church emphasized. So, to this day, it’s not your passion. The pursuit of holiness feels like one more thing to worry about in your already impossible life. Sure, it would be great to be a better person, and you do hope to avoid the really big sins. But you figure, since we’re saved by grace, holiness is not required of you, and frankly, your life seems fine without it.

While that may well describe the current perspective of many Christians today, it is not at all how Peter (or any of the rest of the biblical writers) describes the Christian perspective on holiness. Rather than occasional, burdensome, or optional, Peter describes holiness as constant, godly, and necessary.

1 Peter 1:14-16 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.”