If you haven't opened your Bibles yet, would you please do so to 1 Peter chapter 2. At the beginning of chapter 2, Peter told us what type of behaviors we should abstain from. Things like malice, deceit, hypocrisy, and slander. He then revealed to us not only that we are members of another nation, but startlingly, he described it like the nation that God had outlined what he expected his Old Testament people. As we look back, we see it as a foreshadowing of the new Israel of God, made up of peoples from all nations, both Jews and Gentiles alike. The new Israel of God is similarly tasked to fulfill God's desires and do it with a temple made up of living stones. Believers who have membership in a national priesthood who offer sacrifices unto God. All of this was inaugurated at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent. We as the new Israel are called to be holy. who simply because our heavenly father is holy and he expects that of us, his children. Those that are in heaven are surrounded by other believers who have been perfected, reflecting our father's character. We still on this side are called to work out our salvation with trembling and fear, to avoid sin and to live righteous lives. They, in heaven, don't wonder, how am I supposed to interact with peoples who don't have God as their father? In heaven, there's only God. No other gods, small g, or any other sovereigns, or for that matter, any other nations. Peter will now return to that very important question. If I get it. I see myself as a sojourner and a member of new Israel. How am I supposed to live? How am I supposed to interact in a world where there are unbelievers all around me? Whose ethics in some ways may and at times be more or less like ours. Or, how am I supposed to respond to people that are hostile to how I am called to live? So, the first part of this letter has been predominantly theological. Going forward, we shall discover that it is a lot more practical. Would you please rise now? And if you haven't already done so, please turn your Bibles to 1 Peter 1, Chapter 2, Verses 11 and 12. Hear now the word of God. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. This is the word of God. Amen. Please be seated. And as you are being seated, please join me in prayer. Holy Spirit, We turn to you to help us understand and glorify God as we worship Him by studying our Heavenly Father's words. We ask that you help us to be attentive and convict our hearts to conform to our Father's will wherever we are lacking, and to trust in His Son, the Lord Jesus, who intercedes upon our behalf continually, so that by your power, we can reflect our Heavenly Father's character on this land. And we ask this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. So, Peter begins verse 11 with a word we don't use anymore, at least I think, beloved. We don't address each other that way, and when we greet each other anymore, it's probably not using beloved. One does not make a speech these days by beginning with this particular address, does one? Its meaning is more like dear friends, but even that doesn't quite capture Peter's heart when he says beloved. I think the best way to understand it is really an amalgamation of a personal warmth towards his fellow believers, a kinship, and a concern for them. After all, he is addressing his brothers and sisters. This is all very loving and pastoral for a man who began this letter by identifying himself as Peter, an apostle. He then gets right into it. He says, I urge you. The sense of the meaning here is I strongly appeal to you. Now, whatever the appeal is, Peter wants us to consider it with the reality of that wherever we may reside, that this is not our permanent homes. Although we may live in our houses for the rest of our lives, we belong to another place. The point is that Peter is reminding us that our sense of belonging is to another land. And in that land, there is a culture that is created by the laws of the founder and the creator of that city, God himself. You see, I can relate to a lot of this. My grandparents, having escaped the Armenian Genocide in the early part of the 20th century, who found themselves as sojourners and aliens from their ancestral homes, now finding themselves in Egypt. They raised my parents and, of course, their siblings, that although they no longer lived and breathed being in an Armenian village or town, where people subscribed to a common ethic, a common culture, it doesn't mean that we stop being Armenian. They grew up being trained in the ways of our ethnic people, our behaviors and hospitality, our worship of God, our language, our family customs, respect for elders, and so on. If my grandparents hadn't taught my parents the ways of our people, they would have been swallowed up by the greater culture of their age. As I said, I can fully relate to what that generation of aliens and sojourners went through. But for me and my parents, it was in another land, in this country. They raised me in the same manner, but the challenges for them were those of a different host culture and a different age affected by things like technology and different values. All this to say that we are not born with the knowledge of what the culture is of the place that we belong to. We have to be taught. It has to be modeled for us. And we have to invest in learning and practicing the ethics of the place that we belong or come from. One day, we all will go there. But while we are here, we have to learn and live out our lives that reflect the values of the place where our people are sojourning from. So in what Peter is about to urge us to, he wants us to keep in mind that we belong elsewhere and are sojourners. Now the reality is that once we have this knowledge that we belong to or are a people from elsewhere that at times causes us to stand out more than not. Once we have this knowledge, we are not to allow this knowledge, this reality, to cause us to withdraw from the broader culture to find ourselves in, that we find ourselves in, and wherever this may be in the world. There is a proper place and time for education and fellowship. It's called the church that you belong to. This is where we learn more and more about our great God and how he wants us to live and where it is that we love on each other. We encourage one another. The church is the place where we listen to each other's struggles while applying our faith in this land, which is not our own. The church is the place where we go to enjoy God together. And yes, for our own good, this is the place where we at times, if appropriate, we get loving admonishment. This is a proper context of gathering together in our daily lives to experience our fellow sojourners. But we don't withdraw from society. There's a term used for this, and mind you, it's not exhaustive use of the term. I'm only using it in its negative connotation. What I have in mind is bubble, Christian bubble. Perhaps you may have heard this term used before. It's when we as Christians withdraw from society entirely, or should I say, try to the best of our abilities to do so. It doesn't have to mean a particular town or a village. It could mean groups of believers that intentionally stay out of or make at least amount of interaction within their communities with unbelievers. The concept is sort of like an Amish community without necessarily a geographic aspect to it. This is not the outcome or result that Peter is aiming for, nor is he saying this is what life should be like for us or for you. What he is saying in this passage is that we should not look to the broader unbelieving cultures, sinful lifestyles, but instead we should look to our home, the place where we belong. Beloved, as sojourners and aliens, please don't forget who you are. I urge you. I appeal to you. And he continues, don't let the flesh who is at war with you and what you stand for get a hold on you and guide you in your life's choices. Instead, abstain from them. abstain from them. Now fleshly is a term that is well known in the scripture as that of not really the physical, but it's the negative spiritual impulses of our souls. Peter tells us that it is warring against you like a soldier would battle against you. It belongs to the fallen human nature, not the heavenly nature. The fact that Peter has chosen to use military language, waging war, as if a soldier is against you, reminds us that we must be careful to approach the fleshly desires from within with seriousness and battle it with God's grace and not apart from it. Otherwise, we stand a great chance of being captured and losing to our fleshly desires, that is, to commit sin. Do not indulge yourselves in these lusts. Do not feed them. Do not nurture them, Peter says. Abstain from these activities. Remember, we are from another place. We are not a people that do these sinful things. So he says something very interesting here in verse 12. He says to the newly created remnant of Israel, again, both Jew and Gentile, the very same thing that would have been said to the Israel of God pre the church. Keep your conduct among the, look at it, keep your conduct among the Gentiles, honorable, Did you guys catch that? Before we move on, let's just put our finger on the pause button for a second and absorb this. Peter is being consistent in his application of what he has taught us so far. You see, a Gentile was a non-Israelite. He was considered a pagan, an unbeliever. Yes, there were Gentiles, non-ethnic Jews who became believers and members of God's community over a long and arduous process. Although they were few, but once they were accepted, they were ultimately not viewed as Gentiles. Gentile was a term to identify as not the people of God. Let's remember. Peter's addressing believers who are made up of non-ethnic Jews, as well as ethnic Jews, and calls those that are not in their church as Gentiles. Hmm. Peter is consistent, isn't he, in identifying this holy, this new holy chosen race as that of Israel. and those that don't believe as Gentiles. Little did you know that you used to be a Gentile before you got saved. And now you're no longer a Gentile. You're part of Israel. You're an Israelite. I wonder if you got Peter on the side and asked him after you learned of this teaching privately, my cousin is Jewish, but he's rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Are you telling me that he's a Gentile? No. To the new church community? Now, I can't be for sure. But I think based upon this passage, he may have nodded yes. So you and I, We are not to be like the Gentiles, the unbelievers. We are positively to be honorable amongst them. This means that we are to be consistent in how we are to behave in this land the same way we would as if we were in our homeland. Now, there's an area of focus in Peter's thought here. It is that our behavior should exceed the Gentile culture's behavior in areas of life where we have things in common. If the broader Gentile culture values, for example, faithfulness to one's spouse, we should excel them in this particular area. That is an area of overlap. The purpose of this is that when the unbeliever observes us as Christians, they may see our good deeds. And Peter uses the word observe. Now, he uses this word observe later in the letter, in 1 Peter 3, verses 1 and 2, where he points out that it's possible when an unbelieving husband observes her, the wife, the excellent conduct, God may use that, humanly speaking, to bring him to faith. Now, we're going to get back to this in just a moment, but there's an example of that there. Now, this brings us next to the final part of our passage this morning, and it ends up being the most difficult to expound. I'll try real hard not to make this as difficult as it can be. Now, if you remember, he said they may see our good deeds as we excel in our personal lives in areas of common ethical behaviors. Peter says that if, The unbeliever is speaking evil against you as wrongdoers. It may cause him or her to give glory to God on the day of visitation. That he may give glory to God on the day of visitation. That's what we need to really get into. Now there are really two major streams of thought on what this means. Before I begin, let me point out that I'm indebted to Dr. Wayne Grudem in his writings to help me understand this. So the first explanation contends that it is speaking about the visitation, Judgment Day. And on that day, because of our good behavior, the unbelievers will give glory to God. The second explanation looks to a Christian leading a consistently godly life, and this may cause, even in the face of slander and false accusation, in the unbeliever's salvation. So those are the two examples that were going to be streams of thought that we're going to look at. First, let's take a look at the judgment day, final judgment perspective. Now many commentators have been influenced by Isaiah's usage of the term in Isaiah 10.3 where he states, What will you do on the day of punishment, the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth? Now, in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation from the Hebrew text, it reads, it's on the day of visitation. Now, I want to emphasize the day of visitation. And in the Isaiah passage, it's clearly making reference to the final judgment. It is explained that they, the unbelievers, will glorify God by being forced to acknowledge that he, God, has been right all this time, and they have been wrong. Now, the Greek word doxeo, to glorify, yes, we sing a doxology in our worship service. Now, it's used 61 times in the New Testament. However, it is not used for unbelievers being forced unwillingly to admit to God or his people have been right. It is never used in the context of worshiping God. Having this in mind, now let's look at it from the salvific perspective. By the presence of the definite article, the, as in the day of visitation or judgment, has led to some pointing to the last day, understandably so. But in the Greek, there is no definite article. It's indefinite. It's really on a day of visitation. You see the difference? On a day, not the day. Okay. Having said that, it's perfectly legitimate to translate this phrase as a day of visitation. Unless, as Dr. Wayne Grudem argues, it is conclusively proven that visitation does mean the final judgment, the word for visitation can and has been used in a variety of different ways. For example, it can be God delivering blessings, as in Genesis chapter 50, 24 and 25, which I'll read for us. And Joseph said to his brothers, I'm about to die. but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land and to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. God will visit, and this visit will be a blessing that will be given to you. That is a day of visitation that is a positive thing. And in Exodus 13, 19, again, the same verbiage is used. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from there. Again, another positive visitation. Another instance where the word visitation is used for judgment, but not related to the final judgment can be found in Luke chapter nine and, sorry, chapter 19 and verse 44. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side. He's talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. And tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you because you did not know the time of visitation. When God came in time, this is another example of that word used as not the final judgment, but in this case it's used as negative or a judgment of God as opposed to a blessing as we noticed earlier. So these are all examples of the way the word visitation can be used in scripture that does not mean final judgment. Okay. God coming to visit judgment on his people is what we see in this text. So the term that Peter uses, a day of visitation, is not found elsewhere in the scripture. So it may well be unwise to make assumptions that it means the final judgment. It could very simply mean a day. when God visits to provide a blessing or a judgment and context should be what we are looking at in order to make this determination. Now on this day of visitation, the unbeliever or unbelievers who are slandering Christians will eventually come to glorify God. That's what we're being told by this passage. This glorification that is referred to here is simply that of voluntary glorification. It is not forced glorification. It is the type of praise that is offered to those who have been saved. It is in this case a visitation of blessing. If that is the understanding that we should take from this text, then it is talking about a conversion, which naturally leads to giving glory to God by the unbeliever who is converted. Now this is happening within the context of a hypothetical situation, which has happened in the life of the church quite often. Peter says to be holy, and especially when you're in a situation when the unbeliever is slandering you, speaking evil against you, speaking untruths about you, speaking against our faith. It may well be something that God causes to draw that person unto himself and save him. 1 Peter 3, 1 and 2, we see him using the word observe. and it leading to possible salvation. There, Peter is encouraging Christian wives married to unbelieving spouses to lead godly lives so that their conduct may lead to their husband's salvation. And it is because of the contextual geographics of this text, I believe, that he is making reference to us leading lives of holiness that God may use as he visits them to bring them unto salvation. Now, we have to be very careful about what is being said here and what is not being said here. Our good works doesn't save a single one of us. And my good works doesn't save anyone. All of our combined good works, if we stack them on top of each other, will never save a single person. The only thing that does save is faith, faith in Jesus. Trusting in his finished work upon the cross to receive pardon for our sins. To understand what is happening here, we have to focus on some fancy words or fancy terms. There's such a thing as a direct cause and an instrumental cause. Salvation has only one direct cause. It is faith in Jesus, as enabled by the Holy Spirit. But there are many instrumental causes that God may use to bring a person to salvation. Let me offer some. Praying for a person's salvation. Preaching the gospel to a person. A person reading stories about the gospel and the work of God. The testimony offered by one leading a life that has been changed by trusting in Christ. For example, we have the resurrection The resurrection of Christ inextricably changed the lives of the apostles and others and other followers of Christ. So just to drive this home, the resurrection did not save the apostles. It was trusting in Jesus to save them from their sins that brought about salvation. So when Peter's saying, for us to live blameless lives before the unbeliever, this good conduct may be an instrument or an instrumental cause that God uses to bring about salvation in the life of other persons, especially those that may be slandering the Christian life. Now let's bring this all back together. Peter is teaching this to the church in the first century. And the church history spelled out quite well how painful the church experience was in the first couple of centuries. And despite the persecution we faced, the persistent adoption of this teaching was useful as an instrument that led many unto faith in Christ. All this being pointed out, it is in the end a byproduct of what God wants from us. Holiness. No doubt our practice of holiness is helpful, handmaiden to the cause of evangelism, no doubt. God wants and delights in us proclaiming Christ. But the refrain that we hear over and over again from the scripture, that what God wants is loving obedience that produces holiness in our lives. We also have to remember that although holiness produces a natural perfume that attracts people unto God, the opposite is also true, isn't it? When we lead lives that gives into the fleshly desires within, we can produce a repugnant odor that even the unbeliever, even the unbeliever finds offensive. So in conclusion, we are to abstain from these fleshly desires. We have to fight them. Look, if Peter is exhorting us to abstain, it's simply something that as regenerate people we can abstain from. It's something that's possible. But now, this gets to the heart of ability. There's a difference, isn't there? Brothers and sisters, from desire and ability. How many times have we heard the famous words of the Lord? How many times have we said them ourselves? The soul is willing, but the flesh is weak. The truth is, when it comes to spiritual things, mankind cannot please God on his own ability. Once we have been saved, a work of God wrought in us. We know the difference and we desire to be like our Heavenly Father. But we find ourselves struggling within, being at war, if you will. The flesh and its old worldly fleshly desires crop up. This is the work of sanctification, what we're talking about. This is when and where we turn to the Holy Spirit by prayer and ask him to make us more and more like our Savior. Peter, in our passage today, has been speaking about abstaining from sinful desires and living out, not just privately, but publicly, holy lives so that it will bring glory to our great God. This all seems very general so far, doesn't it? He has told us what not to do in the beginning of the chapter, and here he exhorts us to practice holiness. Does Peter have something in mind, do you think? And if he does, what does this specifically look like? Well, as we jump into the practical segment of his writing, next week we'll see some of the things that Peter has in mind. Join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you that you have made us your children and part of the holy race that has come to recognize itself as the new Israel. In the new Israel, you wish to complete all the things that you have asked it to do, to be holy, to be a priesthood of nations. to have a temple, to be the temple wherein which you reside amongst and within us, and for us to know that you will never forsake us or leave us. And we thank you, Heavenly Father, that you have sent your son to make all of this happen, and that your son is now the king of this kingdom that you have created. Help us, Father, to see ourselves the way that we should see ourselves. and help us, Heavenly Father, to remember that this is only temporary. This is not our true home. And as was earlier exposited, that we are looking forward to that new Jerusalem, to that new Israel that will come down and be our abode for an eternity. And it'll be in an eternity where sin will reside no more. And we are so thankful, Father, that we can drink of this water of life at no cost. There is nothing that we have to do to be saved. It is because you have given it to us freely and all by faith and faith in Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father, and we'll be thanking you throughout all of eternity.