SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: I would like to focus for our time this morning on verses 17 through 21.
SPEAKER_00: This is part of actually the center of a larger context, beginning in verse 13, going through the end of the chapter.
SPEAKER_00: And we will consider more about that context next time.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I want to approach this passage carefully this morning, because I know that it generates discomfort and wariness in some people.
SPEAKER_00: We are sometimes hesitant to admit it, but the modern church is a microcosm of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Even the evangelical church is a microcosm of our culture.
SPEAKER_00: For good or bad, the trends that we find in our world find their way into the local church.
SPEAKER_00: And the world in which we live does not want to hear about the holiness of God.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And that is sometimes true in the Lord's church.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: But if we tone those down, it clouds our vision of God, and that vision becomes obscured by our own comfort.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to approach this passage carefully, but at the same time, I do not want to minimize the truth of God.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: You don't grow that way.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: That's our goal, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: To become mature, to be growing deeper and stronger.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter knows that.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter 2, verse 2, he addressed that with his first readers.
SPEAKER_00: So we, along with the first readers of this letter, must embrace some truths that frankly are uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: And we do so knowing that God has not taught us something that is harmful or false.
SPEAKER_00: We can trust that he is good.
SPEAKER_00: So when Peter wrote of our obedience to God, he did not write in a way that leads to legalism.
SPEAKER_00: But instead that would lead to righteous obedience.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, that's a theme of this letter.
SPEAKER_00: You can look back at verse 2 and see that the exiles were chosen by God for obedience to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Through the Father's work to grant new life to be born again, we then become children of obedience in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: That's important to notice because it's in direct contrast to those in chapter 2, verse 8, who disobey the word.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: That obedience that Peter talks about is the outgrowth of our living hope.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 3, we read that he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.
SPEAKER_00: It's a living hope because it's founded in the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Because he lives, through faith in him we live.
SPEAKER_00: That living hope secures you.
SPEAKER_00: They were driven from their homes and scattered, dispersed throughout areas that comprise modern Greece and Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: They were not at home.
SPEAKER_00: They were strangers, foreigners who did not belong.
SPEAKER_00: And that image is then transferred to all of us as spiritual exiles.
SPEAKER_00: We don't belong here.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Our time here is spent in exile away from our homeland.
SPEAKER_00: But thankfully, our time in exile is limited.
SPEAKER_00: That's an encouraging thought, because Christ Jesus will return and take us home.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of us won't get that far.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us will conclude our exile before that point.
SPEAKER_00: Our time as ambassadors for Christ may end, and we will be called home.
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
SPEAKER_00: That's good, because it's an end to our exile.
SPEAKER_00: But what we need to understand is that being born again to a living hope secures us for that future.
SPEAKER_00: We must know that truth because it serves as the basis, as a foundation for a series of commands that follow.
SPEAKER_00: We see the first one of those in verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Being secured by God the Father to a living hope serves as a foundation for action.
SPEAKER_00: And there are four commands that follow.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first command.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Don't dwell on the past when things are different, when your citizenship was in a different place.
SPEAKER_00: Don't dwell on past sins and past failures that are covered by Christ's blood.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let the shame and the disappointment of sin drag you down.
SPEAKER_00: Don't become distracted by the circumstances of the present that seek to pull your attention away from the finish line.
SPEAKER_00: Focus on the end because it's secure.
SPEAKER_00: It is sure.
SPEAKER_00: It is kept for you by the power of God, and you are kept for it by the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: So prepare to follow Jesus by determining to focus on that hope.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: That's not something that just happens.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like flipping a light switch and something happens immediately.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, God will complete what he has begun in each of us.
SPEAKER_00: That's promised.
SPEAKER_00: But he uses means in this life to accomplish that.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Peter makes something very clear.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first commandment.
SPEAKER_00: The second commandment is a little bit later, where he tells us to be holy in all of our conduct.
SPEAKER_00: We are given a new identity in our new birth.
SPEAKER_00: We become sons and daughters of the living God, and there we are to live out that new identity.
SPEAKER_00: With that new identity comes a new longing, a new desire motivated by new character.
SPEAKER_00: So, like father, like child.
SPEAKER_00: We are new creations made to exhibit the character of the Father who has given us new birth.
SPEAKER_00: Because of that new character, we can be called children of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, we actively resist conforming to the sinful patterns of life in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: But we also do that out of obedience because God said, Be holy as I am holy.
SPEAKER_00: The new birth means we have a new father.
SPEAKER_00: Having a new new birth to a living hope means we bear the characteristics of our new father.
SPEAKER_00: And as obedient children, we live that out in daily conduct.
SPEAKER_00: So we seek to display the character of the Father in all we do in life.
SPEAKER_00: Whether it's at work or in relationships, when we're playing, even when we're resting.
SPEAKER_00: See, here's a truth we need to grasp.
SPEAKER_00: God intends to justify us and to sanctify us.
SPEAKER_00: In causing us to be born again to a living hope, we are justified.
SPEAKER_00: We are declared righteous.
SPEAKER_00: We are declared to be in a right standing before God in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: That is living out who we are in him.
SPEAKER_00: We obey his word and we are commanded to live out that identity.
SPEAKER_00: But now there's a third command.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, I can't count this morning.
SPEAKER_00: There's a third command.
SPEAKER_00: Conduct yourselves with fear.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where we start to squirm a little bit, especially as Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Because we are told to live out our new identity with fear of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now we understand that God will judge those who do not believe in his son.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptures make that very clear.
SPEAKER_00: And we know that those who are in such a place should fear his judgment.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: You must fear his judgment on your sin.
SPEAKER_00: It's a frightening place to be.
SPEAKER_00: But come to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Come to Christ and escape that fear.
SPEAKER_00: But this is written to Christians.
SPEAKER_00: It's written to Christians.
SPEAKER_00: And the fearing and the judgment expressed here is directed to Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Now someone might say, Oh, well, Pastor, what about John 4, 1 John 4.17?
SPEAKER_00: There is no fear in love, and perfect love casts out fear.
SPEAKER_00: That sounds like a contradiction.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what we need to understand is that context is always king.
SPEAKER_00: So we always have to understand something in its context.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: See, we must remember that in terms of salvation, in terms of eternal judgment or eternal salvation, those who trust in Christ are safe.
SPEAKER_00: They are safe.
SPEAKER_00: None of those who trust in him, who take refuge in him will be condemned.
SPEAKER_00: Apostle Paul told the Romans, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If you have come to Christ in faith, trusting in his sacrifice for your sins, you are eternally safe.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, we have taken that truth and we have applied it across the board to all things in the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: And we have all but removed the concept of judgment of Christians, and we've removed the concept of fearing God.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not the way the Bible treats it.
SPEAKER_00: Just consider a handful of passages quickly.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Goes on to say, Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.
SPEAKER_00: So notice there, there is fear that motivates to action.
SPEAKER_00: There is a judgment that leads to fear that motivates us.
SPEAKER_00: We can point to another one in James chapter 2, verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
SPEAKER_00: Now there's grace there.
SPEAKER_00: There's this law of liberty, this law of freedom.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot miss that, but at the same time, there is a judgment that takes place within that realm of liberty.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter.
SPEAKER_00: Peter addresses it in chapter 4, verse 17, speaking about the church.
SPEAKER_00: For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.
SPEAKER_00: And if it begins with us, what will be for those who do not obey the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: Psalm.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 130, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared.
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness in Christ leads to fear.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 11, speaking of unbelieving Israel, says they were broken off because of their unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: But you, believers in Christ, stand fast through faith.
SPEAKER_00: We are held by him, we are secured by him.
SPEAKER_00: So do not become proud, but fear.
SPEAKER_00: Fear what?
SPEAKER_00: Fear unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: Fear putting yourself in a position where you have convinced yourself that you belong to Christ when you actually don't.
SPEAKER_00: One more.
SPEAKER_00: Philippians 2.12.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on to say, because it is God who is at work within you.
SPEAKER_00: So there we have a tension of human responsibility and God's sovereignty in the same sentence.
SPEAKER_00: Work out your salvation with fear and trembling because God works in you.
SPEAKER_00: But here is an interesting connection where we get this sense of trembling that is connected to that fear.
SPEAKER_00: We have so toned down our concept of fearing God that we have removed any sense of trembling before Him.
SPEAKER_00: It's just become a term that means reverential awe, and that's true.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And why would that be true?
SPEAKER_00: Why would we, as Christians, as those who are secure in Christ, need to fear God and his judgment?
SPEAKER_00: Peter answers that for us in his second book, in 2 Peter 1, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: So when we come to Christ, we are given new birth.
SPEAKER_00: We are born anew, and in that we are given the character and the nature of our Father.
SPEAKER_00: To put it in other words, we are not who we once were.
SPEAKER_00: If you are in Christ, you are not who you once were.
SPEAKER_00: You are a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: You have a new heart, and with that comes new character that displays the heart of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Peter begins in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we are shown the answer to that question.
SPEAKER_00: Fear is related to the impartial judgment given by God.
SPEAKER_00: By the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Stated another way, our Father is also our judge.
SPEAKER_00: That is the reality of this new relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father, who granted us new births, is still, to this very moment, the judge of all the earth, as Abraham called him.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: The word deeds here in the ESV is actually singular in Peter's writing rather than plural, as our translations have.
SPEAKER_00: And that's on purpose because the singular points to all of our life.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking about one particular act of obedience here or one particular act of disobedience and sin here.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about all of our life, from the time we come to Christ until the time we see Him.
SPEAKER_00: He says God is going to judge all of our life impartially.
SPEAKER_00: We have been born again to a living hope, and God secures us in that hope.
SPEAKER_00: But beloved, we are not yet home.
SPEAKER_00: We're not yet home.
SPEAKER_00: We are still spiritual exiles apart from our homeland, and our sinful nature is inescapable in this exile.
SPEAKER_00: We can't get away from it.
SPEAKER_00: But our Father is holy.
SPEAKER_00: And his children are to be holy.
SPEAKER_00: And he will judge whether we live out who we are in him or not.
SPEAKER_00: So we must pursue holiness because our father will be our judge.
SPEAKER_00: Now, understand, our father is a good father.
SPEAKER_00: He is a kind father who is gracious to his children.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Because he is not like that.
SPEAKER_00: He is utterly kind and gracious and perfectly loving, and yet at the same time, he is also just.
SPEAKER_00: And in his justice, he exercises impartial judgment.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means that the rich children of God will not be judged any differently than the poor children.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: But as children, we will be judged.
SPEAKER_00: And the reality of our relationship is that our Father is also our judge.
SPEAKER_00: The tenderness and the compassion and the genuine love of a father is combined with the just and righteous judgment of a judge.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: What we know should motivate us to live with fear.
SPEAKER_00: What we know is to motivate us to holy living.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
SPEAKER_00: Well, for me, my foot instinctively goes to the brake.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: What I know motivates my action.
SPEAKER_00: Similarly as children.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: You know that mom and dad are going to find out what you're doing, and so that motivates a choice, motivates a decision.
SPEAKER_00: What do we know that motivates our fear?
SPEAKER_00: Peter gives us three things.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, we know the cost of our relationship, the blood of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: That's the relationship we're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: And there was a cost to establish that relationship.
SPEAKER_00: The cost was a ransom price.
SPEAKER_00: A price was paid to ransom or to redeem us from a culture, a path, a lifestyle of futility, called here inherited ways.
SPEAKER_00: Inherited ways are often treasured or protected and even celebrated.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we've done this for generations in our family, and so we treasure it.
SPEAKER_00: We keep this going.
SPEAKER_00: Well, when you take that to the culture at large and to this sinful world, those inherited things are worthless and futile.
SPEAKER_00: They do not lead to Christ and they do not lead to holiness.
SPEAKER_00: So God redeemed us out of that so that we might become his children of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: But the ransom was not money.
SPEAKER_00: God did not take a wad of cash and stuff it in a suitcase and hand it over to somebody.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't even use silver or gold.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he calls them things that perish.
SPEAKER_00: Now, money can redeem some things.
SPEAKER_00: If you've ever taken something to a pawn shop to get a little bit of cash, you can redeem that.
SPEAKER_00: You can give cash back and redeem that.
SPEAKER_00: But money cannot redeem a soul headed down the futile road to hell.
SPEAKER_00: The cost of this father-child relationship was blood.
SPEAKER_00: Actual blood from a real person who is God incarnate.
SPEAKER_00: And that blood is precious.
SPEAKER_00: The ransom given was the precious blood of Jesus shed on the cross so that we might be holy.
SPEAKER_00: It was as though he was the perfect Passover Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: Reborn children should never forget the price paid to ransom and purify them.
SPEAKER_00: To say it another way, you are a child of God, speaking to Christians here.
SPEAKER_00: Because you are a child of God, the blood of Jesus must be precious to you.
SPEAKER_00: So fear approaching life, as though the sin for which Jesus shed his blood doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: We know the cost.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: It did not catch God off guard.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't that he got to 30 AD and said, uh-oh, what do we do now?
SPEAKER_00: It's not what happened.
SPEAKER_00: It was not a last-ditch effort.
SPEAKER_00: It was not some unforeseen situation.
SPEAKER_00: No, it says that he, that is Christ as the Lamb, was foreknown from the foundation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: God had an eternal purpose and the plan, an eternal plan that was fulfilled in time.
SPEAKER_00: Before time ever began, before this world and this universe was created, God knew that his son would shed his blood to redeem you.
SPEAKER_00: And at the right time, Christ and the plan of God was revealed for our sake.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: God planned from eternity past to make you holy.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a third truth in verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: We know the power of our relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And that power is the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Back in verse 3, it was the power that raised Christ from the dead that gave us new birth to a living hope.
SPEAKER_00: The same power that gives us new birth is the same power that enables us to live a life of holiness that fears God.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that in a different way.
SPEAKER_00: If we are not living in obedience, if we are not living fearfully, we are living in our own power, not Christ's power.
SPEAKER_00: And if we are living in our own power, we will fail.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And through that, we are to fear him.
SPEAKER_00: So what are we fearing?
SPEAKER_00: We are to fear slandering the price paid for our ransom.
SPEAKER_00: We are to fear slandering the one who paid the price.
SPEAKER_00: We're to know the cost of becoming a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: We're to know God's plan that accomplished that redemption and the power given in that relationship.
SPEAKER_00: So that knowledge then motivates the child of God to fear treating our hope as less than precious.
SPEAKER_00: I heard a pastor one time use the illustration of a father's daughter being kidnapped.
SPEAKER_00: The captor's demand was a million dollars in ransom.
SPEAKER_00: The parents didn't have a million dollars, but they did everything they could to get the money.
SPEAKER_00: They mortgaged their home, they sold their possessions, they begged for money from family and friends, and eventually they obtained the million dollars.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: As he did so, his daughter came out of the building and walked up to him.
SPEAKER_00: She took the suitcase from the hand of her father and turned around to go back to the building.
SPEAKER_00: And as she walked back to the building, she looked over her shoulder and said to her father, You are so gullible.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for the cash, Dad.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way we treat God our Father every time we sin.
SPEAKER_00: So we must fear doing that.
SPEAKER_00: We must fear treating the Father and the Son like trash that can be tossed aside or ignored.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's all sort of serious and heavy and good.
SPEAKER_00: But we can't neglect that Peter doesn't leave us there.
SPEAKER_00: He ends by saying, this is all for a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: So that your faith and your hope might be in God.
SPEAKER_00: You catch that?
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: We are given a hope by the Father.
SPEAKER_00: It's a living hope, it's an active hope, it's a guiding hope.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And so bit by bit, grace by grace, we walk with him in obedience, being conformed more and more to his image.
SPEAKER_00: And there we find that our faith is secure.
SPEAKER_00: And our hope is a living hope in a living God.
SPEAKER_00: Fearing the Father, fearing our Father, the Judge, leads to security in our faith, and it strengthens our hope.
SPEAKER_00: Now that sounds counterintuitive.
SPEAKER_00: It sounds like that's the wrong way to go about things.
SPEAKER_00: Strengthening my faith and supporting my hope does not come through fear.
SPEAKER_00: But God says, uh, yes, it does, actually.
SPEAKER_00: Because if it were another way around, it would be through our work.
SPEAKER_00: It would be through our strength that our faith and our hope are strengthened and confirmed.
SPEAKER_00: But God says, I do things differently.
SPEAKER_00: I work by bringing you to a place where you know who I am.
SPEAKER_00: And you you love me, and you trust me, and at the same time, you fear me.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: That, beloved, is the goodness and the grace of a loving Father.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, these are some hard things.
SPEAKER_00: These are hard truths.
SPEAKER_00: Enable us to embrace them.
SPEAKER_00: Cause to rest in what you've done for us and in who you are.
SPEAKER_00: We acknowledge that we sin.
SPEAKER_00: And it is difficult to really process what kind of an impact that has on you.
SPEAKER_00: But we confess our sin and we tell you we do not want to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And so we receive your forgiveness that comes through confession, and we tell you, Father, we love you, help us to love you more.
SPEAKER_00: We trust you, help us to trust you more.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: In your name we pray these things.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.