If you would, turn to your Bible, 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. We're gonna be in verse 13 through 21 this morning as we're coming through first Peter together. And before we read it, let's ask God, let's go to him in prayer and ask God to help us. Father, thank you again so much for your word. And I pray God that these words that we just lifted up to you in praise and song, That whatever pleases you, God, that which pleases you, pleases us. God, I pray that that would truly be the cry of our hearts. God, your word is so good. Help us to understand it. Your commandments, Lord. Lord Jesus, you are the Lord. You are the Lord of our lives. Give us hearts to obey your commandments, to long to obey your commandments, humility before you. God, I pray that you would tear down every resistance in our hearts. God, give us light, please. Give us light from your word, in Jesus' name, amen. 1 Peter 1, let's read verses 13 through 21. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it's written, you shall be holy for I am holy. 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 were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God. who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Let me say a few things about the structure of this passage, because I think it'll help you understand it better. There are three sentences here. So we just read this passage, verse 13 through 21. And your English version may not show that as clearly, but there are three sentences here. And there's one imperative. command in each one of these sentences. The first sentence is verse 13. Okay, that's clear to see. And the command is what? Set your hope fully on the graces to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's the command in that sentence. That's the imperative in that sentence. The second sentence is verses 14 through 16, a little longer sentence. And the command there, the imperative there is be holy. It's actually mentioned twice, it's repeated. Be holy, that's the command. And the third sentence is a long one, verses 17 through 21, one sentence there in the Greek, and the imperative is conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. Conduct yourselves with fear. So, in summary, verse 13, the imperative is hope in God. Verse 14 through 16, the imperative is be holy. And in verses 17 through 21, the imperative is fear God. Fear God. So, Greatest Community Church, here are three commands for us to obey. Hope in God. Be holy and fear God. Three commands for us to obey in this passage. Now, before we dig into each one of these commands, I want you to notice that this passage begins with a certain word. Look at the very first word, and it's the word therefore. So this word therefore, it draws our attention back to what came before, which is that great gospel sentence. And that's what I love to call it, that great gospel sentence from verse three all the way to verse 12, one massive sentence full of the gospel truth, full of who Jesus is and what he's done. So it points our attention back to that great gospel sentence in verses three through 12 as it starts out, therefore. Now, in that great gospel sentence, there were no imperatives. There were no commands, just an exaltation of the gospel, no commandments to be found in the great gospel sentence, no imperatives. Then it says, therefore, as if flowing out of everything that we've looked at so far, flowing out of this glorious gospel, are these three imperatives, these three commandments for us to keep. One of the commentators I read, Edmund Clowney, he had this little quote that I loved. He said, the imperatives, or commandments, the imperatives of Christian living always begin with therefore. I love that little phrase. The imperatives of Christian living always begin with therefore. I want you to understand this idea. In scripture, Throughout Scripture, we always see the imperatives rooted in the indicatives. In other words, the indicatives, the facts of the gospel, who Jesus is, what Jesus has done, it's finished. The indicatives always precede the imperatives, the commands, the do's and don'ts. That's true throughout Scripture. This idea around Grace Community Church has often been referred to as the duns that come before the dos. So the done's, what Christ has done, what he's finished, always proceeds, always come before the do's and the don'ts, the commands of scripture. Now that understanding, that idea, that doctrine coming out of God's word has had, I don't know if you know this or not, I know many of you do, some of you who are newer might not know this, it has had a massive impact on our church. I believe it kept us from moralism. in the past, excuse me, if I feel even a little emotional over that, that it kept us from so much moralism, just this do this, don't do that as a way to gain acceptance before God, and that's not the truth of scripture. Rather, Christ has done something, he's finished something. The done's come before the do's. Now I want you to understand why this matters. The Christian faith is not obey God to be saved. The Christian faith is he has saved you, now obey him. The Christian faith is not do this and don't do that to be accepted by God. It's you have been accepted in Christ Jesus, now be a doer of the word. You see the difference there? The Christian faith is not be holy to be his child, but rather it's by his great mercy, he's caused you to be born again, he's made you his child, Now obey him. Now be holy. This order is incredibly important. Christians do not fight for victory. Christians fight from victory. The victory is already won in Christ, and we fight from that place, not for it. This order is very, very important. It's a matter of the difference between true and false Christianity. True Christianity begins with that great gospel sentence according to his mercies, cause you to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to an inheritance. It's incorruptible, it's undefiled, it's reserved in heaven for you. It's kept for you as the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. That's this great gospel since it begins there. And then the Christian faith says, therefore, therefore, hope in God, be holy. and fear God. So with that order in view, with that therefore in view, let's unpack each one of these commandments, each one of these imperatives. Verse 13, as I said, the imperative there is to hope in God. In fact, it's to hope fully in God. Now hope, as we've said before, hope is faith It's very similar to faith in God, it's very similar to trust in God, but it's like faith and trust in God in the future tense. Understand that hope in God is not just to have a positive attitude about life. Now he's just hopeful. He just has a positive attitude. Everything's gonna work out all right. That's not hope. Hope in this word hope, this command for you to hope, there's an assurance attached to it. That my God has said something and it's gonna come to pass. I hope in him, I trust in him. According to what he said, I'm sure about it. That's the idea of hope. Now according to verse 13, hope in what? What future event? And it says here, the grace that would be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. When Jesus comes back, some kind of grace is going to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ when he returns. Now, that was unpacked for us in the great gospel sentence, wasn't it? It was unpacked for us, that you've been born again to that living hope, that inheritance. That inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, it's unfading, it's reserved in heaven for you, and at the revelation of Jesus, it's gonna be brought to you. It's gonna be brought to you. Now this verse says, verse 13, that we are to set our hope fully, fully, Set our hope completely on this revelation. This grace is going to be brought to us at the second coming of Christ. This is a call for his church to not a partial hope. This is not a half-hearted hope. Just as we're not called to a half-hearted love, we're called to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength. It's not a half-hearted love, even so we're not called to a half-hearted hope. Now we have a sinful tendency that our hope in God, there's a sinful tendency for it to fade. But the movement's not usually from fullness of hope to zero hope. The movement is usually from hope in God to this some sort of partial hope. Sure, I'm looking forward. Sure, I'm looking forward to the coming of Jesus, sort of. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know Jesus is coming. I'm looking forward to it. It's this partial hope. You don't reject it outright. You don't disagree with it outright. But it's just not this fullness of hope as it talks about here. The apostle Peter won't accept it. He wants his church full of love for Christ and full of hope in Christ. Now, how can we have this fullness of hope? Now, there's two phrases. in verse 13 that tell us how. Two phrases in verse 13 tell us how we can have, how we can obey this commandment to be full of hope. The first phrase is preparing your minds for action. See that there? And the second phrase is being sober minded. You see that there in verse 13. So these phrases should be understood as showing us how to hope fully in the coming of Christ. How do you do it? How do you hope fully in Christ? By preparing your minds for action, number one, and by being sober. Now, what do these phrases mean? What do these phrases mean? Prepare your mind for action. That's the first phrase. It's literally, some of your versions may even say it, it's literally to gird up the loins of your mind. If you're wearing one of those long, flowing, robe-like looking garments, if you're about to go to work, if you're about to sprint like Elijah did, Elijah had to gird up the loins of his garments. He had to tie it up around his waist so that he could go on this sprint, he could hit it hard. A phrase we might use is, we're about to go to work. You need to roll up your sleeves. So roll up the sleeves of your mind, it says here. Gird up the loins of your mind. Get your mind ready for action. Get your mind ready to think and ready to think deeply. Don't be a lazy thinker. Don't have a lazy mind. Be ready for action. That's the push here. Don't have an unprepared mind. That's that phrase. The second phrase, it says, be sober. Now, that's not just about the overconsumption of alcohol. And be sober is not just a command to be serious. You need to understand the meaning of be sober. To be sober means your thinking and your feeling are aligning with reality. Your thinking and your feeling are aligning with reality. That's what it means to be sober. In other words, you know the phrase, somebody's under the influence. It's the way people talk about drunkenness. Don't be under the influence. Don't be under the influence of anything that's messing with your view of reality. Now, to be under the influence of alcohol can impair your view of reality, right? But it's not the only thing. It's not the only thing. There are other things that you can be under the influence of that can cloud your view of reality, such as slander. Which is why 1 Timothy 3.11 says, it puts them together, it says you can't be a slanderer, but be sober-minded. Not a slanderer, but sober minded, because slander can enter in and all of a sudden the facts, the truth of reality, you can't see it clearly anymore because of the slander. There's other things, emotions, feelings, hard circumstances, things that drive you to where you just can't pick up on the facts of reality. But the command here is to be sober. you need a heavy dose of reality. You remember the demoniac, whenever Jesus healed the demoniac, and he was no longer under the influence of demons, and it says he was what? He was in his right mind. Same word, sober. No longer under the influence of this. I can see clearly, the facts make sense to me. Reality makes sense to me now. It's the same way the word is used in 1 Peter 5, 8. The command is be sober, be watchful, because your adversary, the devil, he prowls around like a lion seeking one to devour. You see, so often we don't see that, that Satan walks around like a lion wanting to devour, and we're ignorant to that truth. We don't see that reality. And he's commanding, you need to see that reality. You need to be sober. You need to be watchful. Now, I want us to try to pull all this together in verse 13. The command is set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus. How? By getting my mind ready, by thinking rightly and deeply and soberly about gospel reality. Now that makes sense, right? The more you're thinking deeply and rightly about reality, like that great gospel sentence, right? The more you're thinking rightly and soberly about those things, the more you will be full of real hope. Doesn't that make sense? Or to say it the other way, when you're not thinking deeply about the truth, you will drift into a half-hearted hope or a hopelessness. Now we get an example of this in Psalm 42, verse five. You don't have to flip there. But in Psalm 42, verse five, it's that place in the Psalms where the psalmist says, why are you cast down on my soul? Why so discouraged within me? So my soul is cast down. Then he commands his soul, hope in God. Why are you cast down my soul? Hope in God. The next verse says, my soul is cast down within me, therefore I remember him. How do I get to that place of hope? I remember my God. How do I get to that place of fullness of hope? I think deeply about that great gospel sentence. I remember my God. I remember who he is. I remember what he's like. I remember what he's done. And through that deep thinking, prepare your mind for action. Be sober minded. Get a dose of reality through the word of God and therefore increase in hope. Real hope. This is why we study the Word of God, right? That it might fuel our hope in God. It's the reason why we read the Bible daily, because it fuels our hope in God. Greatest Community Church, do not be lazy thinkers. Be a people full of gospel reality in your hearts and in your minds. That's your fight. That's how you get to obey this command. Set your hope fully, not half-heartedly, not partially, but fully on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus. Lazy thinkers have little hope. Lazy thinkers have little hope. Now, second command in verses 14 through 16. The command here in verse 14 through 16, the imperative is this. Here's the command, be holy. It says it right there very clearly in verse 15, you see it? He who called you is holy, so you also be holy in all your conduct, right? You see it in verse 16. Since it's written, I am holy, so you also be holy. You shall be holy for I am holy. Be holy, that's the commandment here. Holy, it means to be set apart. Be set apart. Be holy, be set apart. It usually has a negative and a positive, like be set apart from the world and set apart to God. Negative, positive, from the world and to God, be holy. Now the other phrases around be holy in verses 14 through 16, they fill out this call to holiness. Okay, so you got the command sitting right in front of you. Grace Community Church, be holy. But let's fill it out. Let's fill it out with these other phrases that are surrounding us. First thing we notice about this call to holiness, it's a holiness that is marked by obedience to God. You see that in the first phrase, look at it. As obedient children. So the holiness that believers are called to is a holiness of obedience. It's like a child that loves and honors his father. We're called to obey God. Don't be deceived. Christians love this stuff. They love to find a commandment and obey it. It's a call to obedience. Don't be deceived. James 1.22 says, be doers of the word, not hearers only. deceiving yourselves. There's a way to just be here. You're actually just deceiving yourself. So it's a call to obedience. This holiness also we see this in this passage. This holiness is a fruit of salvation. It's not the root of your salvation. Holiness is a fruit of salvation. Now you can see that in the descriptions of a Christian in verses 14 through 16. There's two words that describe the Christian in verses 14 through 16. The first word is children. You see that in the very first phrase. Verse 14, as obedient children. So Christians are called children. The second word is in verse 15, the called. The called, you see that there in verse 15? As he who calls you, as he who calls you is holy. So the Christians are called children and they're referred to as the called. Think about this with me. Christians are adopted, made to be born again, therefore adopted, they become children of God, and Christians are the called. Now this is a reference to effectual calling. This is not God calls you and you can decide whether or not to pick up the phone. This is like God calling Lazarus out of the tomb. Lazarus, come forth, and he came out of the darkness. He came out of the deadness. He came out of the tomb because Jesus called him out of it. He says this later in 1 Peter, that he calls us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. This isn't like ring, ring, you wanna pick it up or not? This is a call out of something. Just like God called light out of darkness, so he calls life out of deadness. This is a call, this is the effectual calling. And again here, if you notice Christians are referred to as children and the called, then you see again the proper order. Do you notice the proper order here? It's not be holy so that you can be adopted. It's also not be holy so that you will be called. Rather, and this order is important, it's important, it's God has called you out of the spiritual tomb, he's adopted you as a child, now be holy. Your holiness is a fruit of your salvation, not the root of your salvation. Your holiness is not the basis of your adoption and call, your holiness is the fruit and the evidence of your call. So it's a holiness as a fruit of salvation. Another thing we see here about holiness. Holiness is marked by a passion for God. Holiness is marked by a passion for God. Now notice in verse 14, we see the negative. If the commandment is be holy, the negative is in verse 14. Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. So positively, be holy, what's the negative side of that? Not being conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. Now, Peter's description of somebody before conversion might sound a little offensive to you. Do you hear what he just called somebody before conversion? He says, your former ignorance. Do you see that there? Your former ignorance. Now, Peter's not making fun of them, okay? This word ignorance, it means without knowledge, without understanding. You are spiritually blind. It's a spiritual blindness. It's the Greek word agnoia. It sounds like agnostic, without understanding. We don't know. In other words, you were ignorant. Before conversion, you were ignorant. In your former ignorance, you didn't know God. You didn't know Christ. You might have known some little facts about God and Christ, but you didn't know Him. You don't know. It's ignorance. Now, you also see here the word passions. You see it? Don't be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. Passions. Now, humans were made, go with me here, humans were made as creatures with desires, creatures with passions. God is the ultimate aim of all human desire, all human passion. But what if humans are ignorant, they don't know, they don't understand the ultimate reason for their desire? Will they cease to have desires? And the answer is no, they won't cease to have desires. They will still have passions. They still have passions, it says here. During their time of ignorance, they still have passions, but their passions are being poured out on lesser things. So what happens in conversion? In conversion, the ignorance of the glory of God is stripped away. The eyes are open to the desirableness of God. Oh man, he is desirable. And their former passions are replaced by a passion for God. Now, what Peter says here, it's clear from what Peter says here in this exhortation that Christians can still be tempted to return to or conform to the passions of their former ignorance. And you might hear that and say, how? You see God in his glory? You know who God is now? He's your passion, he's your desire. How could you go back to the passions of this former ignorance? And I wanna use a metaphor from C.S. Lewis to try to help you see this. C.S. Lewis said this, that we can be like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. This is what we can be like. Your attention is removed from the only one who is worthy of your passions, the only one who is worthy of your desire. He doesn't have your attention anymore, and so what do you do? You begin to drift back to those lesser passions. You start making mud pies in the slum again. So Grace Community Church, again, this is another charge for us. Listen to me, gird up the loins of your mind. Have your mind ready for action. Give deep attention to God. Give deep attention to Christ, to his salvation, so that you don't drift back to these lesser passions. Be set apart, be holy from these former passions. Be holy, be set apart to God. Now we also notice about this holiness, this holiness is described as a God-likeness. It's to be godly, to be like God. We see that in verse 15, you see it? As he who called you is holy, be holy. What do you mean be holy? As he who called you is holy, be holy. You see in verse 16, be holy for I am holy. God says for I am holy. So the call to Christian holiness is given, it's given shape for us to understand it by looking at God's holiness. In other words, what do you mean be holy? I mean, be like God. What do you mean be holy? God's holy, be like him. That's the idea. Now, if you've ever studied the holiness of God, that's a shocking statement to you. If you ever caught a glimpse of the majesty of the glory and the holiness of God, then for God to say, as I'm holy, you be holy, that's shocking. This is not a call just to be different from the world. That bar's too low. That bar's too low. This is a call to be like God. That's setting the bar high, not just be different from the world, but to be like God. Holy as God is holy. Now, obviously, this is not in all of his ways, right? God is all-knowing. God is all-powerful. God is omnipresent. These are his incommunicable attributes, and we are not able nor are we expected to be like God in these attributes. But in his communicable attributes, think about it, his grace, his mercy, his kindness, his hatred of sin, his love, his forbearance, his purposes, his aims, his plans, his desires, the way that he thinks, be like him. Be like him, desire what he desires. Think how he thinks, be godly, be holy, because God is holy. Grace Community Church, again, Again, this is a call to get to know your God. If that's the aim of my holiness to be like God, I need to get to know this God. The whole Bible is a revelation of who this God is. The promises, the commands, the stories all over. It's just this revelation of this is who God is. Read it diligently and get to know your God. Every single day, ponder anew what the Almighty can do. We sing that, right? Ponder anew what the Almighty can do. Do it every single day. And when you do that, you will be conformed, not to the passions of your former ignorance, but be conformed to God, be holy like God. Romans 12 too, it says, do not be conformed to this world. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. What are you taking in? You're taking in world, world, world, world, world. Guess who you're gonna be conformed to? You're gonna be like the world. What are you taking in? What are you taking in? The attributes of God and who He is and what He's like and what He's done. Are you pondering anew every single day? You'll be like God. One more thing about this holiness. This holiness, this call to Christian holiness, is an all-consuming holiness. Now you see that in verse 15. This is the last phrase I want to highlight. In the phrase there in verse 15, it says, in all your conduct. You see that? As he is holy, so you also be holy in all your conduct. That means this is a holiness that's not isolated to religious services. It's not just how you are on Sundays or what you're like in a Bible study. This is a call to an all-consuming holiness. It affects every piece of your life, all of your life, in all of your conduct. When a person becomes a Christian, they're adopted, they're called, no part of their life goes unaffected. Do you notice parts of your life where this piece of my life, this little area of my life right here, it's still submitted to the passions of my former ignorance rather than submitted to God, rather than walking with God. Do you notice that? The Holy Spirit's not gonna let that happen for long. He's not gonna let that happen for long. This is a holiness in all your conduct. So, Greatest Community Church, embrace an all-consuming holiness for the glory of God. That's this command. Third command is found in verses 17 through 21, this long sentence here. And the command is to fear God, to fear God. That's what it says, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, verse 17. Conduct yourselves with fear, so fear God. Now this fear, this is not a terror that's associated with being an enemy of God or coming underneath His punishment. That's a real thing if you don't have Christ. But that's not this fear that Christians are called to here. This is a reverence towards God for who He is. This is a trembling, do you know who He is? Trembling at His Word. This is a trembling at His commandments and awestruck at His presence. This is to fear God, to reverence God, to tremble at His glory. This is a New Testament, New Covenant call to fear the Lord. That's not just an old covenant thing. That's not just Old Testament. This is New Testament, New Covenant call to fear the Lord. Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. Now why does it mention a time frame there? When should I fear God? It says here, throughout the time of your exile. Your elect exiles, we saw that in chapter one, verse one, okay? Your sojourners in this life, you're just passing through to sit in your home. So during the time of your exile, why are we given this framework, this timeframe to fear God during the time of your exile? Does Peter think that when the exile is over and they go to heaven and they're with God, are they gonna stop fearing him then? And I hope you know the answer is no, there's still going to be a trembling at His glory even then. It's as if to say this, a time's coming, a time's coming at the revelation of Jesus, a time's coming when you are going to be brought into the very presence of God. And at that moment, all men, even men who suppress the truth now, all men are going to tremble in fear before this God. Every knee shall bow. But now, In this time of your exile, when you can't see Him, you love Him but you don't see Him, you believe Him but you don't see Him, in this time, don't let your attitude towards God become casual. A time's coming when you'll have no choice, you'll see His glory and tremble, but in this moment where you don't see Him, don't let yourself become casual before this God. Fear Him. Tremble at His word. Do not be flippant with God. Now, Peter mentions two things in verses 17 through 21. He mentions two things that will provoke his readers to a godly fear. Okay? The first thing he mentions is who, and the second thing is what. Okay? So, number one, who God is, that should provoke you to fear God. Who God is, he is father and he is judge. That's in verse 17. Okay? And then the second thing here is what God has done. And that's verses 18 through 21. Fear God, verse 18, knowing something, knowing what? And he goes on to what God has done in Christ to make a ransom for you. So fear God because of who he is, Father and Judge. Fear God for what he's done. He's paid the ransom price, and it's valuable. Oh, it's valuable. Let's dig into those two things. So why fear God? Why fear God? Number one, he's your father and he's your judge. It says it right there in verse 17. If you call on him as father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds. Now, this description of God, it deals with a temptation that's common to men. It deals with a temptation that's common to men. Peter had to deal with it. We see it rampant in our culture, and it's a temptation to think of God too casually, too flippantly. It's the man upstairs mentality. Don't call him that. It's that mentality, he's just a man upstairs, or it's that when I get to heaven mentality. When I get to heaven, I'm gonna ask him this, and tell him this, and let him know about this. No, you won't. Stop thinking about God like that. It's rampant. in our culture. Now, one version of this casual approach to God is an imbalance in our day. It's an imbalance of thinking of God as Father. Now, let me be clear. He is our Father, and yet Jesus was right to add the phrase, in heaven. We're on earth. He's our Father in heaven, in heaven. We've been born again, if you're in Christ Jesus, that means you've been adopted, it means you've been made to be a child of God, a son or daughter of God, and we get to call on Him as Father. That's what it says in verse 17. We get to call on Him as Father. But some people have taken this Bible phrase, Abba Father, Abba Father, and they've concluded that that word means daddy, which it doesn't. And they started addressing God with this improper, this lack of reverence, this lack of fear towards God. And I want to warn us about all these different attitudes that approach God flippantly. He is father and he's judge. I thought about stories from my dad. My dad, I love to hear stories from my dad about how his dad, my grandfather, raised him. I love to hear those stories. My grandfather was a good and loving father to his sons, but my dad and his brothers, they were not willing to treat him casually. Especially when they were disobeying. They trembled to cross him. They trembled to displease him. They feared his judgment if they were disobeying. They feared to sin and walk against him and cross him. They feared that. And listen, think about it. They feared that from a loving, caring father. You see how those go together? Our father, who also judges. And you imagine if my grandfather was all knowing. and all seeing, well, that's our God. That's our Father. Peter reminds them here, who is it that you call on as Father? The one who judges impartially according to each one's deeds. The judge who knows all things. He doesn't need a jury. He doesn't need lawyers. He knows all things. He knows your every thought, your every action, your every intention. He's the omnipotent judge. He doesn't need the executive branch. He will execute all judgment all by himself on his own. He has the power to do it, tremble before him. The way it says in Ecclesiastes is this, be not rash with your mouth. Nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. I love that. Don't be quick to talk with your mouth. Don't even be quick to let it be in your heart. You hear that? Be not rash with your mouth. Let your heart not be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. He's a loving father who sees all and he's the judge of the universe. Fear him. So why fear God? How will Peter provoke a fear of the Lord in his readers? Number one, he's father and he's judge. Number two, look at the ransom he paid for your soul. That's verse 18 through 21. See how it says, knowing, knowing. Look at the ransom he paid for your soul. Now, why do we need a ransom? Why do we need a ransom price? to be paid. Well, the way it says it here is from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers. We need to be ransomed from the futile ways inherited from our forefathers. Futile, empty, empty ways, vain, meaningless ways. So think about this, in our passage, how is life without Jesus, how is life without Jesus described in our passage? Well, we got the word ignorance. We just saw that. You don't know God, who is the source of all joy. And then now we've got the word futile. It's empty. Life without Jesus is empty. It's vain. It's a chasing after the wind. Without Jesus, you don't know the God that can save you and your pockets are empty. You've got nothing to pay your ransom. We need a ransom. Now, how have you been ransomed? He's drawing our attention to the ransom. How have we been ransomed? It tells you how you haven't been ransomed. Look at it, it says, not with perishable things such as silver or gold. You weren't ransomed with perishable things like silver and gold. Psalm 49 verse seven says, no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly. It's costly and can never suffice. There's not enough silver, there's not enough gold, there's not enough money on this planet that's valuable enough. There's not enough of it that's valuable enough to actually pay the ransom that you need. So then how can we be ransomed? How are you ransomed? It says here, something more precious. That's the word. Something more precious or more valuable than money, more valuable than silver or gold. It says, ransomed with the precious blood of Christ. Do you understand that? That Jesus' death on the cross was not merely martyrdom. A price was being paid, a redemption price was being paid for your soul to set you free. A ransom with the precious blood of Christ. Now, the following phrases, they just highlight how precious that ransom price is or how valuable it is, okay? The rest of these phrases just showing you how precious is this ransom, how valuable is this ransom. First phrase says, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. It's referring back to those sacrificial lambs of the Old Testament. Can you imagine it? I've got sin, I've got sin, and what'd God tell me to do? He told me to bring a spotless, blameless, spotless lamb to bring it before that priest. That's what I have to do. Can you imagine how your eyes light up when you notice one? There's one with no spot. Protect it, no spot, it's valuable to me. No spot, it's blameless. Bring it to the priest, watch the priest lay his hands on it, confess my sins over that lamb, and slaughter that lamb in my place. Can you imagine how valuable that is? You were redeemed, not with silver and gold, not with silver and gold, not money, not that stuff, but with the precious blood of Christ Jesus, like a lamb, like a lamb without blemish or without spot. Only it wasn't a lamb. It was the eternal Son of God. And that's what the next verse is about. The next phrase says this, that lamb that was slaughtered for you, it says, He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last time for the sake of you. Who is this lamb that was slain for me? He's the one that was foreknown to God before time began and was revealed in these last times for the sake of you. That's who he is. Remember, foreknown here is not just generally to be known, like God knows something. But it's this idea of beloved. He's been the beloved of the Father from before time began. Jesus, loved by the Father from all of eternity, that's the idea. And the one that was loved, the beloved of the Father before time began, has been made manifest for the sake of you. He was slaughtered like a lamb for the sake of you. How valuable was your ransom? It goes on to say here, you'd be lost without Jesus. Look at the next phrase. Through him, you are believers in God. If he doesn't come, you're not a believer in God. Not in any saving way, but he comes and through him, the one that came and died for sinners, through him, you are believers in God, it says here. You're believers in God, and then, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory. He's the resurrected one. He's the one that's been given glory so that all of your faith, it says here, all your faith and your hope are in God. How valuable is your ransom? Now, a question that I had to ponder, and I want you to ponder too, why would knowing that, the value of the ransom paid. That's good news, isn't it? Why would knowing that produce fear? I mean, look at it in verse 18. So the command is to live out the time of your exile, conduct yourselves with fear. Verse 18, knowing something. Why would me knowing the value of that ransom increase my fear of God? And here's the truth, and you need to know this, the more you see the value of the ransom paid, the more you will fear God. The more you see the value of the ransom paid, the more you will fear God. Now here's the thing, I admit that that's more difficult to understand. You see, here's what makes sense to me. Fear God because he's father and judge. Look at him, look at who he is, tremble before him. That makes total sense to me. But what seems harder to understand is fear God, because look at the goodness and forgiveness. Look at the ransom that he paid. Fear him. That's a little more difficult to understand. But this isn't the only place in Scripture that does this. Listen to Psalm 130, verse 3 and 4. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquity, who could stand? If you, O Lord, should mark iniquity, Who could stand, but look at the next phrase, but with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. Isn't that interesting? With you there's forgiveness that you may be feared. Consider the woman in the gospels that was weeping. She's bowed down at Jesus' feet and she's weeping. Think about her for just a minute. Doesn't that sound like reverence? fear, trembling before her maker as she trembles before Christ. And what produced this trembling love in this woman? What produced it? Jesus says this, she was forgiven much. She was forgiven much. Here's what I think we're talking about. We're talking about a grace and a mercy that so overwhelms the sinner that it just provokes them. Just imagine a goodness of God, a forgiveness, a gospel that so overwhelms the sinner that it provokes them to this beautiful mixture of love and trembling. Love and trembling. Worship and reverence. Fear and thankfulness. And if that feels so foreign to you, if you're like, man, that just seems crazy, I don't understand that, then I wanna encourage you, you need to know, verse 18, knowing, knowing that you were ransomed not with silver and gold, but you were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ. How precious is it? You need to dig in deep of how precious that ransom is, how precious that gospel is, until God causes your heart to tremble. One more little thought experiment. If you were at the coffee shop, and you said, I'd like to order a cup of coffee. And you went to get your wallet, and you go, oh, no, I forgot my wallet. I've ordered the coffee, but I don't have the money to pay for it. And the guy behind you says, here. And he lays $5 down. I'll pay for it. How do you respond to that? Thank you? Man, I really appreciate that. Man, I got you next time. Maybe a little side hug, fist bump. That's how you respond, right? But let's up the value. Up the value. If someone pays out $50,000 to free you from slavery, how do you respond to that? I got a holy kiss coming. He just laid down, not five bucks at a coffee shop, thank you for that, but $50,000 to free me from slavery. The value went up. The way you respond goes up. What if someone laid down a payment far more valuable even than that? The price of their own life. And think about these last two verses. It's not just any life. This isn't just anybody laying down their life for you. It's not just any life. Who is it? It's the life of the Son of God. A life so valuable that it's hard to put it into words. What do you mean it's valuable? He's foreknown before time again. He's the beloved of the Father who was made manifest. Listen to these words. For the sake of you. That's in the text. The foreknown, the beloved was made manifest for the sake of you. Slaughtered like a lamb for the sake of you. Through him, you're believers in God. He's the source of your faith and your hope. He's the source of it all. Man, do you see the value? Now, how do you respond? How do you respond to that? How do you respond to that? You respond with trembling love. You respond with all-consuming holiness. And you respond with fullness of hope. So, Grace Community Church, the Apostle Peter has given us three commands. So, the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Peter, has given us three commands. The text has shown us how to do it. It's shown us how to do it. Now, brothers and sisters, let's obey God's Word. Let's fear Him. Let's fear Him. Let's be holy in all of our conduct. And let's set our hope fully on the grace that's to be revealed to us at the revelation of Jesus. Let's pray. God, thank you again for your word. I pray that you help us, Lord. Help us, Lord, not to get these commandments backwards. But according to your word, God, fill our hearts with remembrance that you paid it all. You finished the work of salvation and we've got nothing to add. God, get rid of all of our arrogance and all of our pride that thinks that we had anything to do with it, Lord. You chose us before time began. You caused us to be born again. You've given us this inheritance that can't fade away. You promised us, Lord, that we'd be kept to the end by your power. This is your work, God, and I pray that you keep that proper order in our mind, Lord, that we would be those that worship you for your glorious gospel, your finished work. But God, I pray that you would cause our hearts to flow out of that with obedience and love and fear and reverence. God, please help us to obey these commandments. I pray that you would get rid of hopelessness or partial hope all over this room, but remind every soul of your word, of your promises and fill us to the brim with hope in you, Lord. God, I pray that you help us to obey this command to be holy. God, help us to resist every temptation to go back to the former passions of our former ignorance. But help us to press in, Lord, to knowing you and knowing you more deeply. And I pray, God, that it would produce holiness in us, God, that we would be like you, we'd be godly like you. And God, I pray that you would teach us what it is to have Christian fear. Teach us to tremble at your word. Make us awestruck in your presence. Help us to obey, in Jesus' name, amen.