WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:02.319 1 Peter chapter 1. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:08.320 I would like to focus for our time this morning on verses 17 through 21. 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:16.800 This is part of actually the center of a larger context, beginning in verse 13, going through the end of the chapter. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:21.120 And we will consider more about that context next time. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:30.079 But I would like to focus primarily on verse 17 through 21 this morning and to kind of walk through how we get to this point. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:01:00.000 So beginning in verse 17, Peter records for us, 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, knowing that you are ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things, like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:16.719 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 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. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:18.000 Amen. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:30.079 I want to approach this passage carefully this morning, because I know that it generates discomfort and wariness in some people. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:41.200 We are sometimes hesitant to admit it, but the modern church is a microcosm of the world. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:46.480 Even the evangelical church is a microcosm of our culture. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:54.239 For good or bad, the trends that we find in our world find their way into the local church. 00:01:54.959 --> 00:02:00.959 And the world in which we live does not want to hear about the holiness of God. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:18.479 We live in a world that does not want to hear about God as a judge, nor does it care to hear about fearing God, because, let's admit it, we get uncomfortable and wary around those kinds of subjects. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:23.280 And that is sometimes true in the Lord's church. 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:37.919 There are likely some here this morning who are uncomfortable and wary about hearing about God's demands for obedience and the expectation to fear Him. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:50.080 The tendency in the church at large has been to tone down those subjects to make them palatable, to make them more comfortable for us to take in. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:03:00.639 But if we tone those down, it clouds our vision of God, and that vision becomes obscured by our own comfort. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:10.800 So I want to approach this passage carefully, but at the same time, I do not want to minimize the truth of God. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:21.439 So as we look at this together, I want you to hear a plea that Pastor John Piper gave to his congregation at one point. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:40.879 He said, What I want to plead for is that you recognize that growing deeper and stronger as a Christian comes not by choosing to embrace only those biblical teachings you are already comfortable with and are easy to understand. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:44.000 You don't grow that way. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:04:04.240 But rather you grow deep and strong by also embracing the teachings you are not comfortable with and that are hard to understand, with the confidence that God has not taught us anything that is false or harmful in the scriptures. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:07.599 That's our goal, isn't it? 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:13.360 To become mature, to be growing deeper and stronger. 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:14.319 And Peter knows that. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:18.639 In chapter 2, verse 2, he addressed that with his first readers. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:27.360 So we, along with the first readers of this letter, must embrace some truths that frankly are uncomfortable. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:36.079 And we do so knowing that God has not taught us something that is harmful or false. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:40.319 We can trust that he is good. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:50.319 So when Peter wrote of our obedience to God, he did not write in a way that leads to legalism. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:54.800 But instead that would lead to righteous obedience. 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:57.120 In fact, that's a theme of this letter. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:04.399 You can look back at verse 2 and see that the exiles were chosen by God for obedience to Jesus Christ. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:12.000 Through the Father's work to grant new life to be born again, we then become children of obedience in verse 14. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:22.720 Then in verse 22, having purified our souls by obedience to the truth, we become children who imitate and live out the character of our Father. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:31.120 That's important to notice because it's in direct contrast to those in chapter 2, verse 8, who disobey the word. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:47.199 But, as we see in chapter 3, verses 15 and 16, those who have honored Christ by setting him apart as holy in their hearts will have good behavior in Christ that puts the world to shame. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:56.079 That obedience that Peter talks about is the outgrowth of our living hope. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:01.360 In verse 3, we read that he has caused us to be born again to a living hope. 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:06.160 It's a living hope because it's founded in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:09.759 Because he lives, through faith in him we live. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:16.000 That living hope secures you. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:21.759 They were driven from their homes and scattered, dispersed throughout areas that comprise modern Greece and Turkey. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:24.480 They were not at home. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:28.959 They were strangers, foreigners who did not belong. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:35.199 And that image is then transferred to all of us as spiritual exiles. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:39.040 We don't belong here. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:52.399 When we come to Christ, we relinquish our citizenship to this world, and our citizenship is transferred to heaven, from which we await our Savior. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:58.160 Our time here is spent in exile away from our homeland. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:01.360 But thankfully, our time in exile is limited. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:06.000 That's an encouraging thought, because Christ Jesus will return and take us home. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:18.639 The passage that Doug prayed for us earlier from John chapter 10 expresses Jesus caring for us and then going away to prepare a place for us so that he will come and take us again. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:21.519 Now, some of us won't get that far. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:26.480 Some of us will conclude our exile before that point. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:32.480 Our time as ambassadors for Christ may end, and we will be called home. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:33.600 That's okay. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:36.879 That's good, because it's an end to our exile. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:46.559 But what we need to understand is that being born again to a living hope secures us for that future. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:56.159 We must know that truth because it serves as the basis, as a foundation for a series of commands that follow. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:58.960 We see the first one of those in verse 13. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:09.519 Where you see the word therefore, it reminds us to look back, to consider the truths of the first 12 verses where Peter goes into depth about our salvation. 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:21.519 Being secured by God the Father to a living hope serves as a foundation for action. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:24.720 And there are four commands that follow. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:36.240 Because you are secure, because he holds you secure, set your hope fully on the grace that will be yours at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:37.600 That's the first command. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:46.799 You are secure, you have been born again, you have a living hope, so set your focus on that future grace, on that certain hope. 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:54.480 Don't dwell on the past when things are different, when your citizenship was in a different place. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:01.200 Don't dwell on past sins and past failures that are covered by Christ's blood. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:05.200 Don't let the shame and the disappointment of sin drag you down. 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:12.240 Don't become distracted by the circumstances of the present that seek to pull your attention away from the finish line. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:16.879 Focus on the end because it's secure. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:18.799 It is sure. 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:24.080 It is kept for you by the power of God, and you are kept for it by the power of God. 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:30.480 So prepare to follow Jesus by determining to focus on that hope. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:40.960 And as your mind is focused on that hope, then God will bit by bit cause all of your being to turn its attention in that direction. 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:44.320 That's not something that just happens. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:49.120 It's not like flipping a light switch and something happens immediately. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:53.440 Yes, God will complete what he has begun in each of us. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:55.039 That's promised. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:59.840 But he uses means in this life to accomplish that. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:09.840 He uses things like reading the scriptures, like prayer and worship and fellowship and preaching and teaching to aid us in focusing on that certain hope. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:15.120 Peter makes something very clear. 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:28.480 If verses 3, 4, and 5, where he outlines in detail what God has done to bring us to faith, if those are true, then we will respond with preparation. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:40.320 If we have been born again to a living hope, then we will be motivated to use the means that God has provided to focus our lives on the finish line. 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:42.639 That's the first commandment. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:48.080 The second commandment is a little bit later, where he tells us to be holy in all of our conduct. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:53.440 We are given a new identity in our new birth. 00:11:53.679 --> 00:12:01.039 We become sons and daughters of the living God, and there we are to live out that new identity. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:07.519 With that new identity comes a new longing, a new desire motivated by new character. 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:10.080 So, like father, like child. 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:18.000 We are new creations made to exhibit the character of the Father who has given us new birth. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:22.799 Because of that new character, we can be called children of obedience. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:30.480 Therefore, we actively resist conforming to the sinful patterns of life in verse 14. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:37.519 But we also do that out of obedience because God said, Be holy as I am holy. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:43.679 The new birth means we have a new father. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:52.159 Having a new new birth to a living hope means we bear the characteristics of our new father. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:56.159 And as obedient children, we live that out in daily conduct. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:01.279 So we seek to display the character of the Father in all we do in life. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:10.639 Whether it's at work or in relationships, when we're playing, even when we're resting. 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:15.120 See, here's a truth we need to grasp. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:22.080 God intends to justify us and to sanctify us. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:27.039 In causing us to be born again to a living hope, we are justified. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:28.960 We are declared righteous. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:33.840 We are declared to be in a right standing before God in Christ. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:46.080 In sanctifying us, he sets us apart for himself and then begins the process of setting us apart from the world in which we live on a daily basis. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:50.159 That is living out who we are in him. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:56.559 We obey his word and we are commanded to live out that identity. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:13:59.039 But now there's a third command. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:01.360 Boy, I can't count this morning. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:03.039 There's a third command. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:07.600 Conduct yourselves with fear. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:14.320 And this is where we start to squirm a little bit, especially as Christians. 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:21.440 Because we are told to live out our new identity with fear of God. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:32.399 Now we understand that God will judge those who do not believe in his son. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:35.759 The scriptures make that very clear. 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:40.639 And we know that those who are in such a place should fear his judgment. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:52.320 So if you are if you are not a Christian today, if you have not placed your faith and trust in Christ, understand that God says you will fear his judgment. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:56.639 You must fear his judgment on your sin. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:00.399 It's a frightening place to be. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:03.519 But come to Christ. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.960 Come to Christ and escape that fear. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.200 But this is written to Christians. 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:14.720 It's written to Christians. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:19.600 And the fearing and the judgment expressed here is directed to Christians. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:26.080 Now someone might say, Oh, well, Pastor, what about John 4, 1 John 4.17? 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:31.600 There is no fear in love, and perfect love casts out fear. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:34.399 That sounds like a contradiction. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:39.200 Well, what we need to understand is that context is always king. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.159 So we always have to understand something in its context. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:51.759 So when we try to do that, we read a little bit further in 1 John 4.17, and we read this for fear has to do with punishment. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:55.759 And whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:08.240 So until we reach the point where we are perfected in love, we cannot use that verse to argue that we should never fear discipline. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:23.440 See, we must remember that in terms of salvation, in terms of eternal judgment or eternal salvation, those who trust in Christ are safe. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:27.279 They are safe. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:36.399 None of those who trust in him, who take refuge in him will be condemned. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:43.039 Apostle Paul told the Romans, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:50.159 If you have come to Christ in faith, trusting in his sacrifice for your sins, you are eternally safe. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:59.759 Unfortunately, we have taken that truth and we have applied it across the board to all things in the Christian life. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:09.279 And we have all but removed the concept of judgment of Christians, and we've removed the concept of fearing God. 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:13.599 But that's not the way the Bible treats it. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.519 Just consider a handful of passages quickly. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:32.960 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10 says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:38.720 Goes on to say, Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:42.400 So notice there, there is fear that motivates to action. 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:47.519 There is a judgment that leads to fear that motivates us. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:51.359 We can point to another one in James chapter 2, verse 12. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:56.880 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:58.960 Now there's grace there. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:02.400 There's this law of liberty, this law of freedom. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:08.319 We cannot miss that, but at the same time, there is a judgment that takes place within that realm of liberty. 00:18:09.519 --> 00:18:10.480 1 Peter. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:15.119 Peter addresses it in chapter 4, verse 17, speaking about the church. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:21.359 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:27.920 And if it begins with us, what will be for those who do not obey the gospel? 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:30.720 Psalm. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:33.119 Psalm 130, verse 4. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:38.400 But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:43.599 Forgiveness in Christ leads to fear. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:53.119 Romans chapter 11, speaking of unbelieving Israel, says they were broken off because of their unbelief. 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:57.599 But you, believers in Christ, stand fast through faith. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.880 We are held by him, we are secured by him. 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:08.720 So do not become proud, but fear. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:10.160 Fear what? 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:12.799 Fear unbelief. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:20.240 Fear putting yourself in a position where you have convinced yourself that you belong to Christ when you actually don't. 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:23.440 One more. 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:25.759 Philippians 2.12. 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:35.759 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but also in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:39.200 And he goes on to say, because it is God who is at work within you. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:45.519 So there we have a tension of human responsibility and God's sovereignty in the same sentence. 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:49.599 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling because God works in you. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:56.960 But here is an interesting connection where we get this sense of trembling that is connected to that fear. 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:10.640 We have so toned down our concept of fearing God that we have removed any sense of trembling before Him. 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:15.680 It's just become a term that means reverential awe, and that's true. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:32.079 To fear God means to be in reverential awe of him, but it also means to come before his holiness and to be so afraid that you are going to die that you fall on your face and you tremble in fear of who he is. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:35.599 And why would that be true? 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:43.920 Why would we, as Christians, as those who are secure in Christ, need to fear God and his judgment? 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:50.400 Peter answers that for us in his second book, in 2 Peter 1, verse 4. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:21:02.400 He says, When we come to Christ, we become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through natural sinful desire. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:06.160 So when we come to Christ, we are given new birth. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:11.599 We are born anew, and in that we are given the character and the nature of our Father. 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:15.279 To put it in other words, we are not who we once were. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:21.119 If you are in Christ, you are not who you once were. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:23.599 You are a new creation. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:29.359 You have a new heart, and with that comes new character that displays the heart of the Father. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.559 That's why Peter begins in verse 17. 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:47.759 And if you call on him as Father, and he's assuming that we do, he's assuming that we are Christians, so I'm making the assumption that you are calling on God as Father because He has caused you to be born again, and if that is you, then live out your days in fear. 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:49.440 Why? 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:53.759 Well, we are shown the answer to that question. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:59.839 Fear is related to the impartial judgment given by God. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.960 By the Father. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:02.319 Verse 17. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:09.759 Stated another way, our Father is also our judge. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.839 That is the reality of this new relationship. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:27.119 Our Father, who granted us new births, is still, to this very moment, the judge of all the earth, as Abraham called him. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:43.359 Just as a human father judges a child in the sense of determining obedience or disobedience and applying discipline, so too our heavenly father judges our life's work. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:53.759 The word deeds here in the ESV is actually singular in Peter's writing rather than plural, as our translations have. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:57.519 And that's on purpose because the singular points to all of our life. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:04.640 He's not talking about one particular act of obedience here or one particular act of disobedience and sin here. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:10.240 He's talking about all of our life, from the time we come to Christ until the time we see Him. 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:16.559 He says God is going to judge all of our life impartially. 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:24.000 We have been born again to a living hope, and God secures us in that hope. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:26.640 But beloved, we are not yet home. 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:31.359 We're not yet home. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:42.480 We are still spiritual exiles apart from our homeland, and our sinful nature is inescapable in this exile. 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:45.519 We can't get away from it. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:48.720 But our Father is holy. 00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:53.119 And his children are to be holy. 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:59.279 And he will judge whether we live out who we are in him or not. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:06.319 So we must pursue holiness because our father will be our judge. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:13.519 Now, understand, our father is a good father. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:19.599 He is a kind father who is gracious to his children. 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:32.480 If you have had an earthly father who was overly harsh or unloving or abusive, you must divorce that kind of thought from your view of your heavenly father. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:35.039 Because he is not like that. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:44.480 He is utterly kind and gracious and perfectly loving, and yet at the same time, he is also just. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:50.799 And in his justice, he exercises impartial judgment. 00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:52.559 What does that mean? 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:58.079 That means that the rich children of God will not be judged any differently than the poor children. 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:06.640 We will not be judged by the color of our skin, the accent with which we speak, or the size of our homes, or the number of cars that we own. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:10.319 But as children, we will be judged. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:16.640 And the reality of our relationship is that our Father is also our judge. 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:29.519 The tenderness and the compassion and the genuine love of a father is combined with the just and righteous judgment of a judge. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:41.440 Those two truths are combined, and Peter calls us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to confirm our new birth by living with fear. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:47.039 What does that mean? 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:58.480 Well, we find out as we go on in verse 18, all the way through verse 21, all of that falls under the word knowing. 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:06.880 What we know should motivate us to live with fear. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:13.119 What we know is to motivate us to holy living. 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:23.119 Now, some might be objecting to that in your mind, so let me just give a couple of examples of how what we know can motivate us. 00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:37.279 This happens to me on almost a weekly basis, and I'm not sure if that's the judgment or the grace of God, where you're driving down the road and you know that right around the corner there is a patrolman. 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:40.640 What do you do? 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:45.599 Well, for me, my foot instinctively goes to the brake. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:46.720 Right? 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:51.599 What I know motivates my action. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:55.759 Similarly as children. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:27:08.799 We know, I grew up in a small town, small towns first, in a town of 100 people counting cats and dogs, and then about 1,500 people, and so everybody knew everything. 00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:20.400 You know that mom and dad are going to find out what you're doing, and so that motivates a choice, motivates a decision. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:27.119 What do we know that motivates our fear? 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:28.640 Peter gives us three things. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:35.680 First of all, we know the cost of our relationship, the blood of Jesus. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:44.960 Now we're talking here, this relationship is this father-child relationship, this divine Father, God, the Heavenly Father, giving new birth to his children. 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:47.279 That's the relationship we're talking about. 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:51.200 And there was a cost to establish that relationship. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.079 The cost was a ransom price. 00:27:54.319 --> 00:28:05.519 A price was paid to ransom or to redeem us from a culture, a path, a lifestyle of futility, called here inherited ways. 00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:11.440 Inherited ways are often treasured or protected and even celebrated. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:16.240 You know, we've done this for generations in our family, and so we treasure it. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:17.359 We keep this going. 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:24.880 Well, when you take that to the culture at large and to this sinful world, those inherited things are worthless and futile. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:29.359 They do not lead to Christ and they do not lead to holiness. 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:34.960 So God redeemed us out of that so that we might become his children of obedience. 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:39.039 But the ransom was not money. 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:45.680 God did not take a wad of cash and stuff it in a suitcase and hand it over to somebody. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:48.400 He didn't even use silver or gold. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:52.079 In fact, he calls them things that perish. 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:55.680 Now, money can redeem some things. 00:28:55.759 --> 00:28:59.680 If you've ever taken something to a pawn shop to get a little bit of cash, you can redeem that. 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:02.640 You can give cash back and redeem that. 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:10.960 But money cannot redeem a soul headed down the futile road to hell. 00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:18.079 The cost of this father-child relationship was blood. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:25.359 Actual blood from a real person who is God incarnate. 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:28.799 And that blood is precious. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:38.400 The ransom given was the precious blood of Jesus shed on the cross so that we might be holy. 00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:45.119 It was as though he was the perfect Passover Lamb. 00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:55.599 Reborn children should never forget the price paid to ransom and purify them. 00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:02.559 To say it another way, you are a child of God, speaking to Christians here. 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:09.440 Because you are a child of God, the blood of Jesus must be precious to you. 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:18.079 So fear approaching life, as though the sin for which Jesus shed his blood doesn't matter. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:23.039 We know the cost. 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:44.000 God the Father sending his son to die, and the Son being willing to shed his blood as a ransom for sinful people was not a surprise. 00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:48.319 It did not catch God off guard. 00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:52.880 It wasn't that he got to 30 AD and said, uh-oh, what do we do now? 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:55.440 It's not what happened. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:58.160 It was not a last-ditch effort. 00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:01.200 It was not some unforeseen situation. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:07.440 No, it says that he, that is Christ as the Lamb, was foreknown from the foundation of the world. 00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:13.440 God had an eternal purpose and the plan, an eternal plan that was fulfilled in time. 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:22.559 Before time ever began, before this world and this universe was created, God knew that his son would shed his blood to redeem you. 00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:32.799 And at the right time, Christ and the plan of God was revealed for our sake. 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:46.960 We ought not to be motivated to holiness only by the cost of this father-child relationship, but by the fact that it was planned from eternity past. 00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:53.759 God planned from eternity past to make you holy. 00:31:55.119 --> 00:32:04.160 That ought to motivate us to be holy and to live in fear of his judgment because we have a position that is then worked out in practice. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:09.359 But there's a third truth in verse 21. 00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:14.480 We know the power of our relationship. 00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:20.240 And that power is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:28.160 Back in verse 3, it was the power that raised Christ from the dead that gave us new birth to a living hope. 00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:34.640 The same power that gives us new birth is the same power that enables us to live a life of holiness that fears God. 00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:38.079 Let me say that in a different way. 00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:48.960 If we are not living in obedience, if we are not living fearfully, we are living in our own power, not Christ's power. 00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:52.799 And if we are living in our own power, we will fail. 00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:11.920 But in this new birth, the Father not only gives us a new heart and a new position, but he gives us the enablement to be who he's called us to be. 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:15.279 And through that, we are to fear him. 00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:17.680 So what are we fearing? 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:24.559 We are to fear slandering the price paid for our ransom. 00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:30.319 We are to fear slandering the one who paid the price. 00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:35.039 We're to know the cost of becoming a child of God. 00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:40.960 We're to know God's plan that accomplished that redemption and the power given in that relationship. 00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:48.640 So that knowledge then motivates the child of God to fear treating our hope as less than precious. 00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:57.200 I heard a pastor one time use the illustration of a father's daughter being kidnapped. 00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:01.920 The captor's demand was a million dollars in ransom. 00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:09.840 The parents didn't have a million dollars, but they did everything they could to get the money. 00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:19.440 They mortgaged their home, they sold their possessions, they begged for money from family and friends, and eventually they obtained the million dollars. 00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:30.239 Father took the suitcase with the million dollars to the agreed-upon meeting place, and he got out of his car and he walked toward the building in which his daughter was being held. 00:34:31.519 --> 00:34:36.239 As he did so, his daughter came out of the building and walked up to him. 00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:41.440 She took the suitcase from the hand of her father and turned around to go back to the building. 00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:47.519 And as she walked back to the building, she looked over her shoulder and said to her father, You are so gullible. 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:49.840 Thanks for the cash, Dad. 00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:59.679 That's the way we treat God our Father every time we sin. 00:35:03.039 --> 00:35:05.280 So we must fear doing that. 00:35:05.920 --> 00:35:13.280 We must fear treating the Father and the Son like trash that can be tossed aside or ignored. 00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:22.559 Now that's all sort of serious and heavy and good. 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:28.320 But we can't neglect that Peter doesn't leave us there. 00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:34.079 He ends by saying, this is all for a purpose. 00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:39.440 So that your faith and your hope might be in God. 00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:43.599 You catch that? 00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:59.760 We know that our Father is our judge, and so that leads us to live with fear, and that fear somehow strengthens our faith and our hope. 00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:09.280 We are given a hope by the Father. 00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:14.159 It's a living hope, it's an active hope, it's a guiding hope. 00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:22.719 And by it, we can prepare for life in a sin-cursed world by focusing on the future hope that will be ours when we see Jesus. 00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:44.559 When we think of what God has done, and we love him with familial love, that love of a child for a loving father, and we stand in fearful awe of his holiness that judges sin, and we grow in the knowledge of his grace that paid the price to ransom us for himself, then we begin to know some of his power, that same power that's at work within us. 00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:56.000 And so bit by bit, grace by grace, we walk with him in obedience, being conformed more and more to his image. 00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:01.840 And there we find that our faith is secure. 00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:08.000 And our hope is a living hope in a living God. 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:23.840 Fearing the Father, fearing our Father, the Judge, leads to security in our faith, and it strengthens our hope. 00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:27.519 Now that sounds counterintuitive. 00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:31.920 It sounds like that's the wrong way to go about things. 00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:38.880 Strengthening my faith and supporting my hope does not come through fear. 00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:42.079 But God says, uh, yes, it does, actually. 00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:48.079 Because if it were another way around, it would be through our work. 00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:55.199 It would be through our strength that our faith and our hope are strengthened and confirmed. 00:37:55.360 --> 00:37:57.840 But God says, I do things differently. 00:37:59.199 --> 00:38:04.079 I work by bringing you to a place where you know who I am. 00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:15.119 And you you love me, and you trust me, and at the same time, you fear me. 00:38:15.679 --> 00:38:27.280 And through that, my spirit brings you closer and closer to me, and the end result is that your faith is strengthened and your hope rests only and fully in me. 00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:37.280 That, beloved, is the goodness and the grace of a loving Father. 00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:39.360 Would you pray with me? 00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:45.199 Lord Jesus, these are some hard things. 00:38:45.920 --> 00:38:47.920 These are hard truths. 00:38:51.119 --> 00:38:53.199 Enable us to embrace them. 00:38:54.320 --> 00:39:01.440 Cause to rest in what you've done for us and in who you are. 00:39:03.119 --> 00:39:05.039 We acknowledge that we sin. 00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:18.719 And it is difficult to really process what kind of an impact that has on you. 00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:25.679 But we confess our sin and we tell you we do not want to do that. 00:39:27.039 --> 00:39:34.880 And so we receive your forgiveness that comes through confession, and we tell you, Father, we love you, help us to love you more. 00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:39.679 We trust you, help us to trust you more. 00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:53.199 Enable us to love you and fear you, so that by that you strengthen our faith and you enable us to experience that living hope. 00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:56.159 In your name we pray these things. 00:39:56.480 --> 00:39:56.960 Amen.