The Saint’s Response to Salvation

One of the sad and recurring
features of the ministry is watching people come to Christ. That’s
not the sad part. Working with people, watching
them come to Christ, seeing that initial excitement, and then
watching it so quickly cool off. watching them begin to plateau,
watching them to begin to take for granted God’s grace and the
opportunities before them, watching them begin to squander and really
to plateau, spiritually speaking, thinking that with this salvation
in hand, they have all they need. There’s no need to grow in grace.
There’s no need to continue to seek Christ. It’s a sad feature
of the ministry and it’s all too common. And that makes it
all that much more sad to watch and witness. Peter was concerned
for that. I think Peter was concerned for
that very thing. He had likely seen many people
come to Christ. Even he himself had a bit of
a crisis, denying the Lord three times when the Lord most needed. the company of a faithful friend. Peter looked out on the landscape
of those to whom he ministered, and he saw many who were likely
also plateauing spiritually. They had heard and perhaps even
seemingly tasted of salvation, and yet They just seemed to become
complacent. I think that that’s exactly what
Paul is writing to in his first epistle when he opens up in that
first great chapter. He’s writing to Christians. He’s
writing to Christians who know the gospel even as he re-articulates
the great truths of the gospel. I think he knows that they have
made a profession of faith. But he also knows the likelihood,
the all too common likelihood of people just beginning to ride
it out and to wait passively for heaven. In fact, I would
say that in our day that describes most Christians. They name the
name of Christ. They’ve come to Christ. They
have made a profession of faith. Perhaps they’ve even been baptized.
Perhaps they’ve even joined a church. But as far as a hard pursuit
of Christ, as far as a hard pursuit of being used of Christ, they
are complacent. They sit idly while needs go
unmet. They’re comfortable with their
level of righteousness. with their level of holiness,
and they just begin to coast. I would suggest to you that it’s
not a comfortable place. It’s not a good place. In fact,
I would suggest that that is a very dangerous place, and I
think that’s exactly what Peter was trying to inform his readers
when he penned this great chapter, chapter 1. By God’s grace, I’m going to
do something today that I never do, and that is to preach an
entire chapter of Scripture. If you would, please turn to
1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, and just beyond the
greeting, we pick it up in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who according to His great mercy
has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance
which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved
in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith
for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. In this, you
greatly rejoice, even though now, for a little while, if necessary,
you have been distressed by various trials. But the proof of your
faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even
though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and
glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you
have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do not see Him
now, but believe in Him, you rejoice greatly with joy inexpressible
and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith
the salvation of your souls. As to this salvation, the prophets
who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful
search and inquiry seeking to know what person or time the
Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted
the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was
revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you
in these things which now have been announced to you through
those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from
heaven, things into which angels long to look. Therefore, gird your minds for
action. Keep sober in spirit. Fix your
hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not
be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance.
But, like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all
your behavior. because it is written, you shall
be holy for I am holy. And if you address as father
the one who impartially judges according to each man’s work,
conduct yourselves in fear. During the time of your stay
upon earth, knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable
things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited
from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb,
unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown
before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these
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. Since you have, in obedience
to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren,
fervently love one another from the heart. For you have been
born again, not of a seed which is perishable, but imperishable,
that is, 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 off, but the word of the Lord abides forever. And this
is the word which was preached to you.” Peter had likely seen a great
swell of profession of faith. Peter was there, you remember,
in Acts 2 at the first great preaching of the gospel, the
giving of the Holy Spirit. Peter was there as thousands
were added on multiple days to their numbers. Peter was there
as the church was founded. Peter was there as the church
began to flourish. Peter had seen many, many conversions. Many times Peter’s own preaching
of the gospel garnered that great harvest of souls. But quite likely,
as is evident from this very passage, why on earth would Peter
write this if he hadn’t seen many souls fall away? If he hadn’t seen many souls
languish in their so-called faith, cool to the very things of God,
to become casual to those things that they once held so precious
and so dear, and just like that seed. just like that seed that
fell among the stones, flourished so quickly and then faded just
as quickly. You’ve seen professing believers
like that. You wonder about them even to
this day. Peter, in writing to these people,
essentially tells them exactly that. Don’t fade. Don’t languish. Don’t plateau in your Christian
faith. If Peter tells us the what in
those first nine verses, verses three through 12, I might have
entitled the latter part of this message, the bulk that we’re
going to talk about today, what now? If Peter tells us the what
of salvation, verses 13 and following tell us what now? God is given
to us salvation, what is our response? How will we respond? What do we do with our newfound
salvation? Let’s look at that salvation
first and briefly. We’ve touched on these passages
in the past, even most recently in our consideration of the concept
of being born again in John chapter 3. We looked at this very same
passage. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how very blessed. Oh, how
very happy. How good is God, Peter says,
who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again. We rejoice in that concept. that
even though we were dead in our sins, God in His almighty power
has the ability to enliven a dead sinner and bring him to life
and grant to him faith and repentance. Samuel Davies, one of the most
godly pastors that early America ever saw, said, men are estranged
from God, engaged in rebellion against Him, and they love to
continue so. We are at war with God in our
natural condition. They will not submit nor return
to their duty and allegiance. God owns every soul and every
soul should belong to God. Davies goes on and says, hence,
there is a need of a superior power to subdue their stubborn
hearts and sweetly constrain them to subjection, to inspire
them with the love of God and an implacable detestation of
all sin. That doesn’t come naturally.
That’s the very work of the spirit in the life of an individual.
And for this purpose, The Holy Spirit of God is sent down into
the world for this purpose. He is at work from age to age
upon the hearts of men. It’s the Holy Spirit that brings
regeneration, new life to a deadened sinner. You say, why? What did he see
in me? Was it some potential that he
saw in me? Was it some goodness? Was it
some family tree? Was it some good thing that I’ve
done? That’s a very common thought,
isn’t it? Was it some hope that God had that if I only save that
guy, maybe he’ll amount to something? Nope. It wasn’t any of that.
It wasn’t because we deserved it at all. It was purely by His
mercy. Look at the passage. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy,
It wasn’t just a little bit of mercy when He looked our way
and inclined Himself to us, when He saw our pitiful condition
and sent His own Son to pay for our sin. It was an immeasurable
amount of mercy. It was a holy God responding
to sinners’ greatest need. According to His great mercy,
He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. to obtain an inheritance. I mean, what Christian can even
begin to wrap his arms around this? An inheritance? You mean
to tell me, even though I was dead in my trespasses and sins,
God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for my sins, and
simply by faith in that finished work on the cross, I can be saved? And then on top of that, after
I die, there’s an inheritance? Peter says. It’s a special kind
of inheritance. It’s imperishable. This one is
never going to rot on the shelf. It’s never going to get wormholes. It’s never going to rust. It’s
never going to fade. Imperishable, undefiled, will
not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. Can you imagine the
thought? That God’s got a place for you if you’ve placed your
faith in Christ. There’s a place up there with
your name tag on it. It’s reserved in heaven for you
who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. There’s a very real sense
in which you already enjoy your salvation. We’ll talk more about
that in a moment. But there’s a very real sense where that
salvation, you’re yet to lay hold of it. And as we talked
about several weeks ago, it isn’t a matter of you hanging on to
God, grabbing hold of His hand and hanging on for dear life,
hoping that you can just stay faithful to the end. It’s God
hanging on to you. You’re protected by the power
of God through faith. ultimately unto that very salvation.
What a joy Peter has as he reminds these professing believers of
the great calling that we have in Christ. Paul did the same
thing. Paul did the same exact thing. In Ephesians chapter 2,
you remember it, you were dead in your trespasses and sins in
which you formerly walked according to the course of the world. according
to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is
now working in the sons of disobedience, you used to be just like them.”
That’s what he says. You were the devil’s pawn. Among
them, those lusts, we all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,
indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. We deserved
God’s wrath. And then the good news. That’s
what Paul’s doing. He’s doing exactly what Peter’s
doing. He’s recounting the glories of salvation. But God, being
rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved
us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, we did nothing
to incline ourselves to God. made us alive together with Christ,
by grace you have been saved. And then get this, as if that
isn’t enough. I mean, we just have to sit and
shake our heads at the truth of the gospel. God, being rich
in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us,
made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved,
and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly
places. I told you a moment ago that
there’s a place already reserved. Do you realize that what Paul
says, in a very real sense, you have a chair in the very throne
room of God? We’ve been seated with Christ.
It’s finished work. Peter wanted to encourage these
saints. He wanted to remind them of what
great things God had done on their behalf. He had caused them
to be born again and they stood already in the steady stream
of the grace of God’s salvation. That’s why he says, if you look
at verse 6, in this, in that salvation, in that the fact that
you’ve been born again purely by the mercy of God, in this
you greatly rejoice and you should We come on Sunday morning, we
may have had a miserable week. We may have had all kinds of
difficulties and different things happen. But when we come and
we recount what God has done in our lives, and we know that
we didn’t deserve to be here, but that God reached down out
of His mercy and saved us, in this you greatly rejoice. Even though now, for a little
while, Trials are temporary. They’ll come and they’ll go.
And that’s what Peter reminds them. Even though now for a little
while, if necessary, sometimes trials are necessary. They’re
part of God’s plan. They’re part of weeding the sin
out of our life. God has a purpose for them, even
if you don’t see it. In this you greatly rejoice,
even though now for a little while, if necessary, You have
been distressed by various trials. There’s trials of all kinds of
shapes, all manner of struggles that humans deal with. Your trials
will not look like others. God has an immeasurable mix to
come your way. And they’re specifically designed
for you. And God allows it. In His sovereignty,
God allows it. Why? Look at the passage. In this you greatly rejoice,
even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have
been distressed by various trials. Why? That the proof of your faith
being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though
tested by fire, may be found a result in praise and glory
and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You know what he
says? God wants you to be real and he wants you to be ready.
And the only way to do that is to put you through trials, to
allow those trials to come into your life, to burn off the dross,
to purify you and make you fitted for heaven. Peter goes on. And in verse 10,
he picks up with this fascinating thought, doesn’t he? as to this
salvation. We’ve been talking about salvation
since verse 3. Born again. All of those things.
The salvation coming to us purely because of His mercy. That’s
the part that’s causing us to rejoice. As to this salvation,
let me tell you something Peter says. Don’t take this for granted. Don’t become casual about your
faith. Let me tell you about this salvation.
The prophets The prophets who prophesied of the grace that
would come to you made careful search and inquiry. You know
what I think one of the key passages he has in mind is Isaiah 52 and
53. The prophets looked at that. They gave prophecies that they
didn’t even completely understand. They made careful search and
inquiry. They were trying to figure out
the prophecy that they had just delivered. The prophets. made careful search and inquiry
seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within
them was indicated as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and
the glories to follow, Isaiah 52, 53. They were looking to
identify who is this Messiah? Who is this suffering servant?
How can we know Him? How will we know Him? What did they discover? Look
at verse 12. It was revealed to them that
they were not serving themselves. Do you hear what he says? God
let them prophesy these things and then didn’t let them figure
it out. He didn’t give them the key to their own prophecies.
He didn’t let them fully understand the nature or the identity of
the Messiah at all. It was revealed to them that
they were not serving themselves, but you. Now Peter is talking
to those to whom he’s writing, but by proxy it’s to us as well.
Those prophets that penned those incredible prophecies told us
about the Lord Jesus Christ, that the Messiah would come.
They were doing so and identifying Him and pointing to Him for our
sake. And can we take that for granted?
Can we be casual about that revelation? Not possible. Peter says you
can’t possibly stand in the place of having been blessed by God,
having His mercy opened to you, where you have been born again
from a state of deadness. You can’t possibly become complacent
about that salvation. Look at the passage. It was revealed
to them. these prophets they were not
serving themselves but you in these things which have now been
announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you
by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven do you get the order of
events you think that it was just some gal who left a tract
on your desk at work you think it was just that buddy who gave
you a booklet no it wasn’t It was the prophets of God who were
sent by the Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit attending
that tract that was written, that booklet that was given to
you, that Bible study or whatever it is that you were taken to.
Those things were orchestrated by the Holy Spirit Himself. That
when the Gospel came to you, it was God standing behind it
all. And then look at the way Peter
closes. If this doesn’t stir you to excitement over the salvation
that you enjoy, nothing will. And these things which have now
been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to
you by the Holy Spirit from heaven, things into which angels long
to look. The angels would love to know
and enjoy the things that have been told to us, the things that
we now enjoy. And sadly, as I said, in so many
people’s case, take for granted. So how do we respond? What do
we do with this salvation? Just sit back and enjoy it? Peter wants to drive the point
home. And he gives us four keys to
the saint’s response to salvation. First of all, the saint’s response
is a grace-filled confidence. Look at verse 13. Therefore,
gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope
completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Most of you know that I wrestle
with the structure of the passage. I want to know the simple sentence.
You know what? You want to know the simple sentence
of this passage? Fix your hope. That’s the passage. That’s the
seminal thought of the passage. Fix your hope and fix it on the
grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
You’ve heard people say before that he’s So heavenly minded,
he’s of no earthly good. There is no such thing. That’s
what he says. Hope is this settled confidence
in our soul that God is going to fulfill his promise, that
if he says he has a place for you in heaven, fix your hope
there. If he says that you’ve already
been seated with Christ in heaven, fix your hope there. One pastor described this Christian
hope. He said that it is firmly grounded
in God’s infallible promises. If God said it, it’s going to
come about, isn’t it? That’s how we have to look at
it. It is therefore a fervent yearning, a confident expectation
and a patient waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises.
There’s a difference between faith and hope, isn’t there?
We sometimes use those two terms interchangeably. Faith relates
to all things, even bad things. But hope has only to do with
good things. You can put your faith in something
completely faulty. But you can’t hope in something
faulty. You can’t hope in the hopeless. Hope has only to do with the
good things of God. Hope always looks forward. Hope always looks at the blessed
promises that God has given. Hope always looks at those things
that God has promised. And in this particular case,
Peter says, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to
you. And we know grace is this unmerited. We know that it’s
at the core of the gospel that God, when he pours out salvation
upon us, he does so by his grace. Undeserved favor. That’s not what he’s talking
about here. This is the gasoline, if you will, for your tank as
a Christian. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to
you, not only at the culmination of your salvation, the course of your salvation,
the end of your salvation, it’s all of God’s grace. Gird your
minds for action. Literally, it is here in the
passage, because I already told you the main thought, the simple
sentence is fix your hope. How do we do that? Having girded
your minds for action. Like girding up, you know, the
image It is of dressing yourself for battle. In the day and age
in which it was written, they would gather their long flowing
gowns, tuck them into their waistbands so that they could run more readily
without being encumbered by their garments. Literally, it is pull
yourself together. Fix your hope on Christ. Gird
up the loins of your mind as one described it. We have this
imagery from time to time in our day and age. Roll up your
sleeves. Get to work. That’s what Peter
is saying. If we’re going to fix our minds
on Christ, the first thing we do is gird up our minds. Stop
thinking about fuzzy thoughts. Stop thinking about things that
don’t glorify God, don’t benefit our calling. One said, cut off
vague, loosely flowing thoughts and speculations that lead nowhere
and only hamper obedience. I would refer to it as spiritual
daydreaming, just kind of meandering through Christian life in our
minds. One pastor said it this way,
be thoroughly courageous. genuine, sincere, avoid loose,
unsubstantial convictions regarding spiritual and eternal things.
Remember, however little the word of truth is revealed to
you, it is God’s greatest and best thought. That it is the
divine record concerning yourself and his dear son. It ought to
make it infinite importance to you. He’s talking about your
quiet times. Don’t take those casually. Settled convictions of divine
truth are of great value. They give stability, contentment
and influence. You want to fix your hope on
Christ, gird up your minds. Keep sober in spirit, Peter says
that sober mindedness, this has nothing to do with alcohol in
this passage. This sober mindedness is the
steadiness. It’s the steadfastness. It’s
the solidity. in which a Christian stands.
We have this tendency as Christians to get all in a dither, carried
away by this and that, whatever the next big thing is in Christianity. We get it all worked up into
a frenzy over the latest craze. We get caught up in the enthusiasm
of it. And then when that’s done, if
something else isn’t quickly on its heels, We begin to lose
momentum, don’t we? And that brings casualness. Peter says, you know what? Be
sober. Be serious. Guard against that
foolishness. Guard against that crazed mentality. Guard against those capricious
thoughts that go nowhere and do nothing. what Spurgeon called earnestness,
preparedness, determination, and hearty resolution. When was
the last time we woke up and said, you know what? I, by God’s
grace, I am going to have a great Christian day. I’m going to have
a great day in the Lord. I’m going to pursue Christ. I’m
going to encourage Christians. I’m going to share my faith.
I am going to fix my hope. But there’s a second. There’s
a second great truth here. Something that we must pursue
as Christians. We can’t just be complacent in
our Christianity. And he says, not only do we need
to have a grace-filled confidence, secondly, we need to have a God-like
holiness. Look at the passage, if you will,
verse 14. As obedient children, Do not
be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance.”
It just talks about that conformity to sin. Just kind of going down
the river with the rest of the folk, living like they live,
same attitudes, same lifestyle, same opinions. It’s essentially
Romans 12 too. Do not conform any longer. to the pattern of this world.
Don’t live like they live. Don’t talk like they talk. Don’t
love what they love. What he says here, the word here
is the word where we get scheme. And it talks about a plan or
a plot. Don’t follow that plot. Don’t
go after that pattern. something fleeting, something
just wishy washy and unstable. Don’t follow that lifestyle.
You said, well, I thought that this was about holiness. It is
about holiness, but until we make a mindset fixed in our mind
about the nature of sin and take a ready course to rid ourselves
of sin, we’re not going to pursue holiness. John Rogers, The godly
pastor of another day said we must forsake evil before we can
do good. He sets the renouncing of our
lusts first before the embracing of holiness. Men put off their
old rags before they put on new apparel. They dig up the weeds
ere they sow or set herbs. Where there remains the love
of any lust or sin, there is no true grace in the heart. Neither
will any grow until that be rooted out. You want to pursue holiness? You want to look and live like
Christ? Get rid of your sin. That’s what
Peter says. As obedient children, do not
be conformed to the former lusts. You said you put them to death.
Put it to death. Do not be conformed to the former
lusts which were yours in ignorance, but like the holy one who called
you, it’s God like holiness. God is our pattern, and he sent
to us Christ as the great model. Like the holy one who called
you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior. Because
it is written, you should be holy for I am holy. What he takes
that from is Leviticus. Over and over again in the great
book of Leviticus, God sets himself forth as the great pattern of
holiness. Would we be righteous? Would
we be like Christ would have us to live? Then God is our pattern. Leviticus 11, 44, I am the Lord
your God. Consecrate yourselves and be
holy because I am holy. Leviticus 19.2, speak to the
entire assembly of the Lord and say to them, be holy because
I, the Lord your God, am holy. Leviticus 20.7, consecrate yourselves
and be holy because I am the Lord your God. This command to be holy is repeated
throughout the scriptures, isn’t it? Paul takes it up in ready
measure. In his epistles, Ephesians 4.24,
put on the new self created to be like God in the true righteousness
and holiness. You should be holy for I am holy. First Thessalonians 4.7. For
God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Romans
6, 12. Therefore, do not let sin reign
in your mortal body, so that you may obey its evil desires. Ephesians 5. Be imitators of
God, therefore, as dearly beloved children, and live a life of
love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a
fragrant aroma, an offering to God. We’ll never be sinless. But we
can never lay off pursuing the great pattern of holiness, which
is God our God himself. God is our model. And given to us in such clear
standing as the Lord Jesus Christ. Thomas Watson, the Puritan, spoke
clearly of God’s holiness when he said God’s holiness consists
of His perfect love of righteousness and His abhorrence of evil. He
is holy in His nature. He is holy in His word. He is
holy in His operations. He is the original pattern of
holiness. He is the cause of all that is
holiness in others. How could we possibly think to
achieve some kind of righteousness without looking to God Almighty
as our pattern? A note from that passage. It’s not just sometimes, it’s
not just when you come to church. It’s not when people can see
you. That’s the easiest time in the world to be holy, is sitting
in here with all of you, right? But like the Holy One who called
you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior. Be different. Be set apart. Be sanctified. As one said, not where and when
and to whom and to what we desire, but at all times, in all places,
towards all persons and all things, as God is holy in all his ways
and works. Called to be different. And now
we begin to see that, you know, this salvation, I guess I was
being a little bit complacent. I had placed my faith in Christ
and I was ready for heaven. I was just going to kind of write
it out. But now I see that I have much to pursue. I’m called to
a grace filled confidence and I’m called to a God like holiness. But there’s a third thing. There’s
a third thing that this passage points us to. We find it in verse
17. It’s a childlike reverence. It’s
a childlike reverence. Look at the passage. He says,
if you address as father and he’s not doubting them, he knows
that they’ve made a profession of faith. What he’s doing is
taking them to that profession of faith. You say you’re a Christian.
OK, that’s fine. You say you’re a Christian. You
say that God is your father. Great. If that’s the case. If you address as father, the
one who impartially judges, oh, by the way, according to each man’s work.
God’s going to look at each one of us. We’re not going to stand
collectively. He’s not going to say, next,
Providence Bible Church, come on in, let’s evaluate each. No,
let’s evaluate the whole group. That’s not how it works. And it’s not like He can be swayed.
If you address as Father the one who impartially judges, He’s
the perfect, most objective judge anywhere. If you address as father the
one who impartially judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourself
in fear. The sad thing is we have this
tendency to think of fear as this thing, well we better go
shaking in our boots walking out of here today. You know what
this fear, this idea of fear points to? Reverence. Worship. What he points to is
that Everything that we do, everything we do ought to be an act of worship. It ought to be unto Christ, right? It ought to be done with a mindset
that I am seeking to glorify God in this realm, in this way,
in this moment, in this relationship. I’m seeking to glorify Almighty
God. One pastor said, the righteous
judge who makes no distinction between high and low, rich and
poor, Jew or Gentile, in the eye of whose holy law all men
are equal. Although fear in and of itself
cannot produce truly good or spiritually right action, yet
it performs a vital function. Fear rings the alarm bell and
rouses the conscience. It blows the trumpet of warning.
It creates pause and opportunity for all better and nobler things
to make themselves heard. You see, if we paused for just
a moment and said, am I worshiping God at this moment? It would just transform our Christian
lives, wouldn’t it? We all came in there, we dressed,
we smell nice, we look nice, we even combed our hair, we look,
you know, we look so godly. But worship is every part of
our being. Worship is everything that we
do. Worship is watching over our
lives as God watches over our lives, watching over our tongues,
watching over our thought lives. It’s everything in us responding
to God. And He’s worth it. He’s worth
evaluating our lives. He’s worth watching Him. As one pastor said, God is clothed
with unspeakable majesty. As we approach Him, we approach
Almighty God Himself. We stand before Him no matter
what we do. And He’s watching. And we want to do it as unto
Him. And then Peter, he drives that
very point home. Back to the passage, if you would.
If you address as Father, the one who impartially judges according
to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your
stay on earth. It’s an interesting thought that
he adds here. And it really is just a train of thought carried
throughout Peter’s epistle. You’re strangers. You’re aliens. You don’t belong here in the
first place. You shouldn’t look like them. You shouldn’t live
like them. It’s temporary. We’re passing through. Conduct
yourselves in fear during the time of your stay here on earth,
knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things. When
God paid for your sin, He didn’t buy it with silver or gold. He
didn’t give a big treasury house full of money. He did it with the very blood
of His own Son. And it was precious. It was precious
to Him. The blood of Christ is the most
precious thing in the world to God. Because it was not only the blood
of an innocent person, it was the blood of His own Son. Paul understands that when he
writes to the Ephesians. We have redemption through His
blood. It was precious blood. Not just any blood would have
done. The blood of all of us collectively wouldn’t have purchased
one soul, but Christ’s one sacrifice did it all. Jesus willfully and
completely accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross.
Jesus was sinless. And because of that, His blood
was perfect, unblemished lamb. B.B. Warfield, speaking here
of redemption, said it this way. The title Redeemer gives expression
not merely to our sense that we have received salvation from
Him, but also to our appreciation of what it cost Him to procure
this salvation for us. It is the name specifically of
the Christ of the cross. Whenever we pronounce it, the
cross is placarded before our eyes, and our hearts are filled
with loving remembrance, not only that Christ has given us
salvation, but that He paid a mighty price for it. There’s a fourth thing that believers
must pursue A fourth thing that cannot let us casually coast
our way to heaven. Not only a grace-filled confidence,
and a God-like holiness, and a child-like reverence, but fourth
and finally, a born-again affection. Look at the passage. Peter’s not doubting their calling.
Peter’s not wanting to put doubt at all in their hearts and minds.
Since you have, in obedience to the truth, you heard the gospel,
you responded in faith. Since you have, in obedience
to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren,
fervently love one another from the heart. A lot of people I would encourage you to do an
experiment this week. When you come across a friend,
have them tell you about their church. What is your church?
Tell me about your church. Well, it’s a beautiful brick
building. We have this new rock wall. We have these, you know, they’ll
begin to tell you about the features, the physical features of their
church. Sometimes they’ll go so far as to say, and the people,
all the people are great people, good cooks. We got these stained glass windows,
this incredible architecture, had it done by professionals,
you know, spent a lot of money on it. Sometimes they’ll go to
talk about spiritual things. Doctrine is a favorite one for
more conservative churches. Oh, let me tell you about our
doctrine. We believe all the things that
are true and only the things that are true. You can’t go anywhere
and find things that are true, but only at our church. But you
know the bottom line, it isn’t about the steeple. It isn’t about
what the building looks like. It isn’t the materials that are
made up. It isn’t even the doctrine. And
it isn’t even really the people. It’s the love that the people
have for one another that is the most distinctive feature
of any church. and it’s sincere love, and it’s
genuine love, and it’s active love, it’s self-giving love.
That command is not a new command. It’s an old command that Christ
reinvigorates when he calls it a new command that I give to
you. As Peter uses it here, this term
brotherly love, What he points to is the strong, natural affection
between a parent and a child. But it’s applied, it goes beyond
that, to tender affection of any kind. We ought to have that
love for one another. We ought to have that same kind
of sincerity, that same kind of tenderness of a mother and
a child. One pastor said it this way, is the badge of Christian
discipleship. It is not knowledge, it isn’t
orthodoxy, nor fleshly activities, but love which identifies a follower
of the Lord Jesus. The mark of a true Christian
is love, love that is genuine, active, not in words, but in
deeds. You see, if you came in today
thinking that you could just continue to coast through heaven,
through life to heaven, rejoicing and happy about your salvation.
You see that really what Peter gives to us is a strong reminder
that we have we have a lot of work to do, don’t we? We need to pursue a grace filled
confidence, a confidence that stands us firmly in this world
in which God has placed us. We need to to cultivate a God-like
holiness and not a one of us has even come close. We need
to cultivate in our lives a child-like reverence. Worship that goes
everywhere it goes in worship. And we need to cultivate perhaps
one of the most difficult of all, a born-again affection.
A life that flows out from us because of what Christ has planted
in us. Let’s examine our hearts before
our almighty God. Our merciful King, we come before
you. Lord, and for those of us who
have placed our faith in Christ, we just rejoice in the salvation
that you have granted to us, not because of anything in us.
But purely out of your mercy. You awakened us from the sleep
of death and have drawn us into your glorious kingdom. Lord God,
we thank you that by your grace we would not grow complacent. We would not just sit back, but
we would be watchful for those areas of our life that have weakened
while we had our eyes off of them. And we pray, Father, that
you would grant us the grace to shore up those areas, whether
it’s confidence, or holiness, or service, or love. In any way,
Father, that we have fallen short and become complacent, we plead
with you for your grace. Stir our hearts, change our lives,
and use us for your glory. It’s in Jesus Christ’s precious
name that we pray. Amen. As we close, if you would
take both your hymnals and bulletins. We’re going to sing 295, crown
him with many crowns. We’re going to sing the first
two verses, and then the third verse will be in the bulletin,
and then we’ll go back to the hymnal for the