Called To Holiness. This evening we come face to face with two of of the most daunting verses in all of Scripture.

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1 Called To Holiness (1 Peter 1:13-25 July 24, 2011) This evening we come face to face with two of of the most daunting verses in all of Scripture. You shall be holy for God is holy. And Love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Holiness and love are subjects subject we sing about, talk about but when push comes to shove we struggle mightily with them. Why? We hear Jesus say you must be perfect as your heaving Father is perfect. We hear Paul say that we are dead to sin. We hear them command us to love our neighbor. And we look in the mirror and see someone who struggled with greed and lust and envy and lying, selfishness and more in the past week, day even hour. I am not who I want to be but this question is even more daunting am I who I should be? That can be a crushing thought. 1

2 One author speaks of what such thoughts did to one of the great hymnists of the faith. He writes: I have visited William Cowper s home in the tiny stone village of Olney, England. Cowper wrote some of the church s most popular hymns O for a Closer Walk with God, God Moves in a Mysterious Way His Wonders to Perform, There is a Fountain Filled With Blood and for a time shared a house with John Newton, converted slave-trader and author of Amazing Grace. As I toured the sites where Cowper lived, I realised how little grace he actually experienced. Tormented by fears that he had committed the unpardonable sin and hounded by rumours of an illicit affair. Cowper suffered a nervous breakdown, attempted suicide several times, and was kept straightjacketed in an insane asylum for his own protection. The last quarter of his life, he avoided church entirely. 1 Cowper could not reconcile his Christian faith with the sin in his heart. He knew what he was supposed to be but he also knew what he was. Where as he once wrote lines such as: Redeeming love has been my theme And shall be till I die. He ended his life writing: Where is the blessedness I knew When first I sought the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing dew Of Jesus and his word? What peaceful hours I once enjoyed! How sweet the memory still! But they have left an aching void The world can never fill. Return, O Holy Dove, return Sweet messenger of rest! I hate the sins that made Thee mourn And drove Thee from my breast. We have all been there. Perhaps not straightjacketed in an insane asylum but at least feeling like it. Confused and hurt by the sin in our lives and the lives of other Christians. Usually we manage to suppress these thoughts. But then they surface. Usually after we see just how fallen we are or others we love and trust are. And it can be crushing. If we are honest, every one of us has struggled and will struggle with this. Our passage this evening is a great one filled with practical aids to holiness and love. Ways to live pleasing to God. Ways to show the power of God to the world. 1 Philip Yancey, Reaching For the Invisible God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000) pp

3 We won t be perfect in this life but we can become holier and more like Christ. Peter wants us to know that as Christians we have the power to begin to live as we should in this life and this is our testimony to a watching world. Peter begins with holiness but before we look at this I want to talk about some terms that theologians use. Instead of holiness they usually use the word sanctification. Definition To sanctify something is to make it holy, set it apart for a particular purpose. Christians are being set apart by God in order to glorify Him as redeemed saints. To sanctify something is to make it holy, set it apart for a particular purpose. Christians are being set apart by God in order to glorify Him as redeemed saints. And they usually break sanctification into three areas: Aspects of Sanctification 1. Positional sanctification: Also known as justification, this is the immediate result of trusting in Jesus (Heb 10:10; 1 Cor 6:11). 3

4 Positional sanctification Positional sanctification often called justification refers to our position in Christ and is the immediate result of trusting in Jesus. The moment we trusted in Him our position became innocent. It is a legal pronouncement. It does not mean that you cease from sin but that legally you are sinless. Our filthy rags of sin our mound of guilt was washed away and replaced by the righteousness of Christ. When God weighs our sin it is as if He were weighing the sinless Son Jesus. Aspects of Sanctification 2. Progressive Sanctification: This takes place throughout the life of a believer (2 Cor 3:18; 1 Thess 5:23; Phil 2:12). Progressive Sanctification This takes place throughout the life of a believer. By the power of the Spirit and with tools such as the Word and the church we put to death sin and put on Christ and become more and more what we were called to be. 4

5 Aspects of Sanctification 3. Perfect Sanctification: Also known as glorification (Rom 8:29; 1 John 3:2). Perfect Sanctification Also known as glorification. When we die we finally do actually become perfect. We become what God called us to be. We are actually holy. The good work He is doing in us is finally finished. It is this second sanctification: Aspects of Sanctification 2. Progressive Sanctification: This takes place throughout the life of a believer (2 Cor 3:18; 1 Thess 5:23; Phil 2:12). Progressive sanctification that Peter is mainly talking of in tonight s passage. Becoming what we are called to be. Peter gives us advice about how we can be holy in this life. 5

6 Turn with me to 1 Peter 1:13: 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. Let me remind you of the context, Peter is writing to believers who are called out of the world but still living in the world. 1 Peter 2:9 12: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Basically Peter is calling for them to be a testimony to a lost world about the power of God. He singles out two things that the world can see our holiness and our love for one another. But it is not easy to be holy or to love so Peter tells us how we can do this. We start by preparing our minds. Preparing your minds for action is a vivid word picture. Literally it reads gird up the lions of your mind. In the days of Peter men and women wore long loose fitting robes. Perfect for strolling around a hot climate terrible for running. If you wanted to do some physical activity like running you had to hitch up your robe and tuck it into your belt. The picture is this if you want to be holy and loving it requires you to engage your mind prepare your mind for some strenuous work. Prepare your mind for action. Shake off the mental dust and roll up your sleeves. The second image be sober minded comes from those who have had too much to drink. Peter is telling us to focus our minds tune in stop messing around. Holiness begins with preparing your mind to be holy. Once your mind is prepared girded and sobered it has something to do. Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 6

7 Peter is saying I want you to think for a moment of the third sanctification. Aspects of Sanctification 3. Perfect Sanctification: Also known as glorification (Rom 8:29; 1 John 3:2). I want you to think of where the plan of God is leading. To a perfect you. Glorified, sinless, imperishable, undefiled, unfading. One day you will close your eyes in death. The pain will end. The sin will be done. This fallen world will be no more. You will open your eyes perfect. Perfect body. No sin. No disease. Knowing fully. You will be holy and you will love perfectly. That is what you are becoming. Peter says set your girded up sober mind on that end product what you are to become. Then he says this: 7

8 You know what you are becoming holy and loving so get to work now. Become what you will be: Holy Loving and The world sees your holiness and your love for one another. These are what testify to a lost world concerning the power of God. It is interesting how often these two signs come up concerning our testimony to the world. For example 1 John 3:10: By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. John speaks of the sign of holiness. 1 John 2:15 17: Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. He speaks of the sign of love. 1 John 3:11 18: For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should 8

9 love one another. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Holiness and love. Paul puts them together. Jesus puts them together. Peter uses these same signs. First, he speaks of holiness. Christians are not to just say one day I will be holy now I just coast. I can t be perfect in this life so I just let go and hang on for the ride. Peter says no even now by the power of God you are to be being conformed to the image of God. You have to strive with God to be holy and loving. First He commands us to become holy this is found in verses Remember that mind that you girded up and focused? Now Peter tells us what to focus on if you want to be holy. Consider your call Consider your cost First consider your call. 9

10 Verses 14-16: 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. What does it mean that we are called? Look over at 1 Peter 2:9: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. One of the reasons we were called is to proclaim the excellencies of God. His grace, His mercy, His holiness, His power. However, what if we tell the world about a God who has the power to save us from sin and make us holy and we remain like pigs rolling in the mud? That does not reflect the excellencies of God. One of the great impediments to the salvation of souls is our sin. We don t turn from sin, we still indulge in the passions of the world, we aren t transformed. The world looks at this and says their gospel is not real. So Peter says consider your calling. You were called to be holy to reflect the holiness of God. 10

11 Our testimony has power when our lives are transformed. But this is a difficult transformation. From the moment you are saved you begin a journey from this world to heaven. The trouble is that until we die, we are citizens of two worlds and don t fit in either world. We are no longer comfortable sinning in this world but we are not sinless which eternity demands. Before I was a Christian I fitted this world just fine. I would lie or steal or hurt to get ahead. I sought pleasure. I was never truly satisfied with this world but I was not torn. Then I became a Christian. I became a citizen of heaven. I was forgiven and washed. I repented of my sin and tried to turn from it. But I was still in this world. I felt the pull of this world I still do. But if I indulged in the things of this world my conscience pricked me. It is like getting on a boat that is pulling away from the jetty but you still have one foot on the dock. Peter says you were called to holiness. You were called to show the world the power of God. So take your foot off the dock and put both feet on the boat. You are a citizen of heaven. You were called out of the darkness of this world into His glorious light. You were called to holiness. You are heading to heaven so start acting like it. Use that mind of yours to say no to the passions that you once indulged in through ignorance. Before Christ we would get drunk, womanise, steal, lie whatever gave us pleasure. But God called us out of that life. He had something greater for us. He had a joy that this world knows nothing of. But while we are citizens of heaven we still live in this world we feel the power of this world so we have to consciously say no I am a citizen of heaven I do not live that way. We have to pause and ask God to give us His strength and His Spirit. We have to choose to practice the spiritual disciplines. We have to remember that we are on the side of God not Satan. When the temptations come we say no. 11

12 Peter is painting a picture. You are in a boat in a moving river. If you do nothing you will get swept down the river. But your destination is the other shore. You have to set your head to the other sore and paddle hard. Say no to lust and greed and passions. Say yes to holiness. Because God who is perfectly holy called us out of the sin pit of this world to be holy. God wants us to be like Him we are His children. We are to be holy as He is holy. Peter knows that we will always have some sin in our lives until we get to glory but we must never be content with that. Romans 7 paints a very similar picture to the one Peter paints. Here is the problem Christians have. Romans 7 verse 18: I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. When you read through Romans the natural man the man who is not linked to Christ has no desire to please God and no power to please God. But now, after salvation Paul wants to do what is good he agrees the law is good he desires to do what is good he delights in God s law BUT he still sins he cannot carry out his desire to live according to the law and only do what is good. He wants to be holy and sinless. That is the deepest desire of his heart. Yet, there are times when he finds himself doing what he doesn t want to do. I believe this is the state of every Christian. Desiring to be holy desiring only to please God but finding we sin and we hate this. Dietrich Bonhoeffer described the rising power of temptation even in a believer with these words: In our members there is a slumbering inclination toward desire which is both sudden and fierce. With irresistible power desire seizes mastery over the flesh. All at once a secret smoldering fire is kindled and the flesh burns and is inflamed. It makes no difference whether it is sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame or power or greed for money. At this moment God is quite unreal to us, and only desire for the creature is real. Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God. Is what the flesh desires really sin in this case? Is it really not permitted me, yes expected of me now here in my particular situation to appease this desire? The lust thus aroused envelops the mind and will of man in deepest darkness. The powers of clear discrimination and of 12

13 decision are taken from us. It is here that everything in me rises up against the Word of God. 2 Even as believers we battle temptation. Our sin wants us to conform to the world. But we are in Christ. We can you choose to fight the sin nature. To turn our back on the passions of the world. God gives us the weapons to fight our sin. His Spirit, His Word, His love, His power all are ours to battle sin. Ephesians 6:10-13: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. But one of the greatest weapons is to focus on our calling. We are called to be holy. We dishonour the name of God if we sin. We rob the gospel of power. So choose to be holy. Use the resources of the Spirit to make that choice. Consider your call. And consider your cost. 2 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Temptation (London: SCM Press Ltd., 1961), p

14 One day we will stand before God and all the details of our lives will be laid bare. We were bought at the cost of the blood of the Son of God and on that final day, we will see what we did with the life He purchased for us. Look at verse 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. One of the great and sobering thoughts that hold you to holiness is the thought of standing before the Father as judge. Peter says conduct yourselves with fear. This is not the fear of punishment for there is no condemnation for those in Christ. This is the fear of disappointing God the fear of wasting your life the fear of not becoming what you should be. I remember a pastor telling me about the worst day of his life. As a young man he did something very foolish got picked up by the police and put in a cell. They told him that his father had been called. He began to cry. He had brought dishonor to his dad failed him let him down. He said he would rather have had 50 lashes than let his dad down. That is the fear Peter speaks of. We were bought at a price to proclaim the excellencies of God we will be held to account for what we did with the gift of life and the fear of God the thought of failing to please the One who gave us so much should motivate us to choose holiness. Verses 18-21: Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 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. Once we were citizens of this world captive to its lusts and desires. But we were ransomed from that life. Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:9 11: Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, 14

15 nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. That was us. Captive to the desires of the flesh. Dominated by sin. But we were called, washed, justified, sanctified and one day we will be glorified. But the cost was enormous. Infinitely beyond silver and gold. What it cost was the precious blood of Christ. Nothing else could redeem us from our sin. No power, no cost, no sacrifice. A million angels cannot redeem one lost soul. All the resources, brainpower, riches of all the men of all time cannot redeem one soul. Only the sinless son of God the Lamb without blemish or spot could redeem your soul. The wages of sin is death. And yet the way to overcome death was decided before the foundation of the world revealed in the prophets but only manifest in the last days. Jesus crucified yet raised so we could have hope. But all of this was laid out from eternity past. Adam was told that in the day that he ate the forbidden fruit he would die. He ate the fruit he died spiritually, physically, relationally. But God also made Adam a promise. He promised that One would come who would undo the curse, crush Satan, redeem man. How? the wages of sin is death. How can we be freed from the penalty we deserve? In the days of Moses we are told that: The death of an animal atones for sin pays the wages of sin God is painting a picture. The death of an animal atones for sin. Its life for your life. You read a statement like this and all sorts of questions arise. How? How can the blood of bulls and goats wash away my sin? Is that really all it takes a lamb dies and my horrific sins are atoned for? 15

16 This was a question the rabbis pondered over for century after century. I am sure that Moses and David and Daniel asked this question. How does the blood of a lamb atone for my sin? Finally, after many centuries one day by the Jordan River, John the Baptist pointed and cried Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now the picture becomes clearer. The sacrifice of animals was a picture leading to the Lamb of God Jesus. It is only at the coming of Jesus we find how the plan of God to deal with our sin actually works out. Hebrews 9:22 gives the principle: The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. The wages of sin is death. Our sin means our life is forfeit blood must be shed. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. What only becomes clear as Scripture expands is that in the plan of God there is one way and only one way for us to escape the wrath. Only one blood can truly deal with sin. Hebrews 9:28: Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people. And yet even here the thinking person asks how? How can Jesus death deal with my sin? We know His blood is pure and precious and divine yet how can His death pay for my sin? Where is the justice where is the holiness of God in that? The key is our union with Jesus. Scripture teaches that when we come to Christ we become united with Jesus forever. We are in Him He is in us. What happens to Him happens to us. In my mind I picture myself being placed inside Jesus covered by Jesus. This means that when the wrath of God falls on Jesus my sin is punished. When Jesus hung on the cross I hung there in Him. As His blood was poured out as His life was given up my sin was paid for. Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. 16

17 As Jesus was crucified I was there. And as Jesus died and was raised I died to sin and was raised to newness of life. Colossians 2:12: Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. Romans 6:6: For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. The result is that Jesus shed His blood to pay for my sins. His life for my life. 1 Peter 2:24: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. God s justice is satisfied blood is shed life for life and since we are in Christ His blood pays for our sins. Since I am in Christ God looks at me sees Christ and declares me innocent. Since I am in Christ His death pays for my sins. He had to be sinless without blemish or spot. So the One who died to wipe away my sin is God Himself. No one else could do it. Peter s point is basically that of Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:19 20: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. It cost God His own Son to call you out of the cesspit of the world and wash you. How can you then climb back into the mire of the world? So if you want to be holy focus your mind on these two truths. Your call you were called to be holy to proclaim the excellencies of God. Your cost to make you holy cost the blood of Christ don t waste this precious gift. Remember Peter is telling the saints that a lost world is watching and the two things they see are our holiness and our love for one another. 17

18 One day we will be perfectly holy and perfectly loving but for now: We need to become what we will be holy and loving. Peter moves on to this second command. Verse 22: Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. John tells us if we don t love our brother who we can see how can we say we love God who we can t see. Paul tells us the necessity of love. Listen to these words of Jesus. John 13:34 35: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. This is not easy to love another sinner who abuses your love and fails you in so many ways. Peter gives us the ground from which we find the power to love salvation. Verses 23-25: 18

19 Since you have been born again. Only the saved have the power to truly love. Before we were saved we truly loved one thing ourselves. We had no power to truly love others but when we were born again saved, washed, had our souls purified we have the power to love. Peter then adds verses 23-25: [We are born again] not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. Peter is saying this. The Word of God is what causes us to be born again. And when that happens we gain an inheritance that is imperishable and remains forever. But his point is that we don t get saved alone we get saved as a church and the love we have for one another will last for all eternity. Because we are in Christ we are united to one another. People that humanly speaking have little in common different ethnic, social and family environments united in Christ. And the love we have for one another is a great testimony to the world of the power of Christ. The world knows love when it sees it and it is a powerful testimony to the power of the God to save and transform sinners. Brothers and sisters being holy, loving others these are not easy. Indulging in sin and loving self that is what comes easily. We can suck it up for a time but it won t last. Peter reminds us that we can and must be holy and loving. These are what we are called to. These are our testimony to the world. The power to do so comes ultimately not from within but from above. God called us to holiness. He caused us to be born again. He gives us the power to live holy and love. But, as Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:12 13: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 19

20 God is at work in us but we still have a role in working out our own salvation. How do we do this? Focus on what we will become. The goal of our calling is holy men and women who love perfectly. We need to become what God called us to be. The cost of our calling is the blood of Christ. How can we sin, how can we fail to love when it spurns the blood of Christ shed for us? And knowing that we were saved by the Word and joined to each other for all eternity we should demonstrate our faith in this truth through love. We will struggle to be holy. We will struggle to love. But progressive sanctification means that by the power of God in us we become more holy and more loving more what we will become and this declares to a watching world the reality of our gospel the good news that saves. 20