Purchased for Holiness

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 is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.

The first thing I want us to see there is obedient children. There's such a significant assumption going on there You've been adopted into the family of God. God has brought you near because he's come near to you. As obedient children, and that's the right kind of child, a child who knows their father, the child who respects their father, the child who sees the goodness of the father and is obedient, assuming the father is good. As obedient children, there's a contrast And the command, do not do this, but do this. Do not be conformed to those inner desires and passions of your former ignorance, but be holy in your conduct. Notice there is the passions of your former ignorance versus holy conduct. And it's good here, your conduct is what's focused on. Because we could just feel like the call to be holy is so overwhelming and so beyond reach. It'd be like, well, I'm just waiting for superpowers from above or some kind of outfit to wear that'll give me superhuman strength to be holy. How to be that different? How to put on something that unique? You don't become a different kind of creature, necessarily, not a human. No, the holy conduct. Really what we're called to do there is put on the behavior that God has not only commanded, but we're putting on the holiness and we're exercising the holiness that God has already done in us. See, God sets us apart. We can go back to chapter one, verse two. In the sanctification of the spirit, the same word is holy there, the Holy Spirit makes us holy. God has already done a work of holiness. The command to be holy in your conduct is simply trying to make sure our behavior, our actions match the work of grace that God has already begun in us. The Holy Spirit sanctifies you and now we're called to live up to what he has done. But notice there's two qualifiers that Peter gives us in verses 15 and 16. as he who called you is holy. God is holy, holy, holy. That's the attribute and characteristic of God we know that's repeated three times. It's a significant characteristic of God. He who is holy, when he calls us to himself, he's clearly gonna call us to his holiness. And then he grounds it in because it is written. As a B and children, we're looking back. And as we looked at last week, the, the old Testament is ours. As he quotes Leviticus, he's saying this, this command is still true for you today because God is still Holy. Notice there's two sources that will determine our behavior. The passions of your former ignorance or the word of God or God himself. There's God and his word and what he has said in his holiness, or there's our passions, our internal desires of our former ignorance. I ask you, what determines what your behavior should be like more? Is it what your internal desires are, or is it the word of God? And those two things are oftentimes contrasted. Are you committed to being true to yourself or to God? I have to tell you, yourself, apart from God, is a liar. Yourself, apart from God, is going to lead you away from God. But thanks be to God for his word. Because notice, it's former ignorance. You're not ignorant anymore. You have God. You know God, and you know his word, and his word should be shaping the passions you now have. Why would we go back? To the things we desired before we knew God, the former ignorance. We, we, we need to be able to know God and his truth. There's a Christian philosopher, Francis Schaeffer, who, who, who said something like there's true truth. And that sounds funny, but it was really important because we all have my truth. We all embrace some subjective truth. We all embrace some idea of this is what I believe to be true. What we have to ask is, is it true, true? Is it aligned with God's truth? When I'm looking inside and the passions I have, are they properly aligned and informed by God and his holiness? It's too easy to want to be pulled back into some desire that we used to have that was ungodly. to want to follow along with some passion. What a high and good calling. Be holy as he who called you is holy. Be holy in your conduct. Be holy as it is written. You should be holy for I am holy. Now I'll be very clear, Christian. God's command is for you to be holy. You cannot be holy enough for God to save you. but God is powerful enough to save you to be holy. I feel the need to maybe define some terms here as we throw terms around. A significant one is legalism. Peter is using the law. He is acting in some way like a legalist in the sense of he's using the law. So we usually think of legalism as something negative and bad. No, Peter is a good, a good legalist, he's practicing what is a right handling of the law just like Jesus does when he handles the law. There's a right way to see the law. There's a wrong way to use the law. The clear right way to use the law is the three purposes of the law. The law helps us see our sins so we know how those passions are wrong. The law helps us see our sin as we look into the good law of God. The law helps curb our behavior, so it shows us what's out of bounds. And the law is a guide to show us what it means to pursue proper righteousness and goodness and holiness. There's a few bad ways we could use the law. This is what we normally call legalism. The first is a work salvation. And this idea is that you must do this in order to be good enough for God to save you. That's false, that is anathema. God loves you while you're a sinner, Christ died for you while you're a sinner, and you believe, and by faith alone you are saved. So any kind of law that says in order to be saved you must do this, that's a dangerous, deadly use of the law. There's another use of the law that It's actually much more common in churches and it's a work sanctification. You're saved by grace through faith, but now start doing all these things and you'll be right. It doesn't say you need to do works to be saved. It just means here's like the list of 10 things you must do now to continue on in that faith. Well, that's not exactly right either. What we normally call legalism is what I call the imposing imposter. That's somebody who wants to take their tradition or their conviction or their opinion and force it upon you because it's what they think is right, therefore it's what you must think is right. And the significant focus there is it's something God hasn't clearly said. You need to behave this way, act this way, not do this, not do that. Those are the three bad legalisms. Notice we have to have the right use of the law here. We have to be able to see how good it is that God would say, be holy. Be holy as he is holy, be holy as he has commanded. And let's put it in the bigger framework. God has given you his own son to die for you, to give you new life. God has given you His own Spirit, the very Spirit of Christ that allows us to cry out to Him as Abba Father, the Spirit that allows us to know Him and go up to Him in prayer. And the same God has given you His Son and His Spirit. He's also given you His Law. Those are three good gifts. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the one God who's worthy of worship, and His Law is the way we know how to worship Him. To be elect exiles means we seek to live a new life, be holy. It means we stop following the desires of our old heart. It means at that point, we also stop following the step-by-step, the ways of this world and their sinful desires that we used to be in step with. It now means we seek to keep in step with the Holy Spirit by obeying his word. Believer, God who is holy, declared you holy, has done a work in you to make you holy, and now commands you to be holy. Why don't you see, that's amazing. God commanding you to be holy, that's just kinda cool. It's not burdensome. That is a good, holy God who gives us a good command. We too often think with the command, oh, how weighty, how difficult, how it's gonna not allow me to do the things I wanna do. Oh, that's good. It's good. Christian, let me just ask you this. If not holiness, what do you wanna do? I ask you not to shame me, but seriously, calculate. What is it I wanna do that would be contrary to God's holiness? Is it better than God and holiness? I say that because we all get sidetracked with some other desire. We all get sidetracked with some other kind of hope or pursuit of happiness. Oh, holiness is the best it gets. There's no higher calling. There's no better calling. This is it. The God who is holy, who makes you holy, says be holy. Are we pursuing holiness in the pure way of God? Holiness, like that hope, is meant to be an all-encompassing. We should desire to be holy at work. It means you'll work as under the Lord, and you'll be the best employee your boss knows. Holiness at home, which means you'll seek to honor God with the way you relate to your roommate, your spouse, your children, your parents. You'll seek to make his commands inform every kind of activity and behavior and desire you have. You'll have holiness in your calendar. The way to really know what you think is holy is what you write in pen on your calendar. What you see as most sacred is what you always do no matter what. Do you have holiness in your calendar? Have you prioritized the things of God that actually help you grow in holiness? It's too easy to think, I can't be that super spiritual. You actually are a new kind of creature. You've been born again. You've been given the Holy Spirit. We now, as we'll look at next week in verse 22, the purity, being purified is so important for the aspect of holiness because,

blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God

, the whole goal. here, be holy. It's living as if before God, quorum Deo, because you are living before God. Set your hope full in the grace, be holy as God is holy. Now, I want you to see, we're going to treat these as separate points, but they're building off the call to be holy. That is fear and faith. Fear and faith.

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 futile 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.

I want you to see that this very high expectation of holiness has two very important significant components. First, God, the father will bring judgment. And secondly, you've been ransomed by the precious blood of God of Christ. The holy God has a holy judgment and the holy God has brought about a holy salvation. It's significant for that holy conduct. Notice there, verse 17, conduct yourselves with fear, go back up to 15, be holy in all your conduct. There's a reverence required in our conduct in order to be holy, and there's a holiness in our conduct that is required for it to be fearful, to have reverence. Notice he gives an if. There's a condition. If you call on him as father, which means you're an adopted child, which means you've believed in his son, which means you're part of the family here. The, the judgment is the judgment for believers. You see how important that is. If you call on him as father, only, only believers can call on him as father truly. And they can only call him as father. If they know that Christ has ransomed them with their, with his blood. It's very important here, as a child, we know God has an impartial judgment. The Father's judgment is always fair. And believer, this is not the judgment if you're going to heaven or hell. The judgment he's referring to here, I don't believe, is a judgment we normally think of when we think of, are we gonna stand before God and we're gonna go to heaven or hell? I believe this is a judgment for Christians after that judgment. If you're not a believer, We do have to talk about that judgment. Every human being made in God's image, which is every human being, will have to stand before God and give an account for how they lived their life with or against God. When we stand before God, all of our sin will be so evident. The law is a mirror now, but when we stand before God, face to face with our sin, all of our sin is Too obvious. And without the blood of Christ to forgive, there is wrath. God is a just God. He punishes every sin perfectly. You will not be punished for sin you do not commit, but you will be punished for every sin you commit. And that should be terrifying. And the only way to be forgiven is by believing in Jesus Christ, his son, who died to take away that judgment. If you're not a believer, that's the judgment I want you to understand here and take account of today because the only hope is to believe in Jesus Christ in that moment, for that moment. You must believe today. Now this judgment Peter's talking about is for believers and notice our conduct is supposed to be holy. He's gonna judge our deeds That's why our conduct needs to be fearful, reverent. If we know God is Father, if we know the Son has purchased us, we are supposed to have a holy conduct and conduct ourselves with fear. I want you to notice here, as we set our hope on the future grace, the future matters. There's a judgment that's going to come at the end that we should be living for. If you ask a Christian, are you living in a way that you'd want to see God? Are you living right now in a way that you would want God to see? Are you living Quorum Deo? Are there things that you practice regularly? Are there things that you entertain that if God were to come at that moment, you would be terrified? God's grace is enough to forgive you. God's grace is enough to free you. If there's things you know that are keeping you from truly enjoying God, if there's things you can think in your life that you know, this is something I don't want to have to give account to God for, I have two simple words for you. Stop it. It's not quite that simple, but it is that simple at the same time. If there's things that you know you're doing that are so out of bounds of God, and the Father will make us give an account of every deed. If there's something you are terrified of others knowing, much less God, standing before him face to face, you put it off. You pray for the grace to set that aside. You seek to mortify that sin that is corrupting and changing you. There is a necessary call, believer, to repent. To see something for what it is and that it's destructive, it's dangerous, it will bring a judgment. The wonderful grace of God allows us to repent. That repentance, that stopping it, it's so important because the Holy Spirit is He who makes you holy. The Holy Spirit's work in your heart is to lift you up to God right now. Your desire should be to be so filled with the Spirit that you'll be lifted up to God to see Him and adore Him and worship Him. Instead of being filled with the Spirit, when we practice sin, we quench the Spirit. We grieve the Spirit. We're adding weights to our own spiritual affections to grow up to God because we won't set aside the sin. There's a way I want you to see the danger, and that's what he's warning us, the danger. If we're gonna keep practicing sin, there is a judgment to come, and there's a way in which now we can seek to repent of it. But I want to look at it at another angle as well. You could live life in such a way that you're looking forward to judgment. We sang it earlier, first verses of where shall I be?

When judgment day is drawing nigh, where shall I be? When God the works of men will try, where shall I be?

Believer, we can't be sinless, but there's a way in which we can live life not ashamed. By entering boldly into the presence of God now with a clear conscience because not only have we been forgiven and saved, but we're seeking to practice sanctification. We're seeking to put off sin and put on righteousness. I believe this is important because Peter's writing to elect exiles that are starting to feel the full weight of the pressures outside, to possibly deny the gospel because of the persecution, because of trouble in the home, with the state, with neighbors. It's important to know it's not the neighbor who's judging you, it's not your boss who's judging you that matters most, it's not your government who's judging you most, it's not, the most important judgment you're looking forward to and living for is facing God. I believe believers need to hear this to know God gives rewards in this judgment. God is watching us in perseverance. Those who are feeling weary in doing good, they feel the burden to submit to an ungodly husband or to love an unfaithful wife, to labor love for disrespectful children, to honor fathers who exasperate them. That is good work that God sees and you want to keep persevering in the midst of that. Knowing God is going to judge impartially. And judgment doesn't always mean punishment. Judgment has a reward. Live knowing that there's a hope, there's a grace we brought to you. It's a full of salvation, but there's also a reward for those who persevere. Oh, to live life in a way that longs to hear the words, well done, good and faithful servant. We have to hear the stick. There's a danger if we're gonna keep practicing sin and God's gonna bring a judgment of those deeds. And it doesn't mean we lose salvation, but there's a judgment. Oh, the carrot, the reward. How good God is. You know, he never punishes sin we did not commit. And he never rewards somebody for obedience they did not practice. But he does always reward obedience practiced. Notice the next full weight of reverence here in that it isn't just that the father brings a judgment, it's you were ransomed. You were purchased, you were set free, you were bought in full. The word here does pull back so very clearly to the exodus of Israel from being enslaved to Egypt. Here though, you're ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, 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. Two important aspects of this ransom, you're ransomed from something and with something. Verse 18, if you believe in Jesus and you know the father as an obedient child, know you've been ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers. Those futile ways would not be that different that I think from verse 14, the passions you had in your former ignorance. You've been ransomed from something. Futility. You're ransomed away from wasting away again in Margaritaville. That's good news. You're ransomed from empty, hollow pursuits of everything you think is going to make you happy. Futility there carries the idea that it's empty, it's fruitless, it's powerless. You're wasting time doing nothing worth doing. God saves you from that. Christ died to pull you out of that darkness. You're ransomed out of futility. You're ransomed out of wasting the precious life that God has given you as an image bearer. Notice what you're ransomed with. There's a contrast again. Not with things that we think are precious, like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Again, the connection here to the exodus is so obvious. It wasn't just the blood of a lamb that was spotless that they put over the doorpost so the judgment would go over. No, this is the eternal, powerful God, the Word of God himself, who came to be flesh, who took on our full human nature and shed his blood on the cross. That blood is not futile. It's full. power, and love, and goodness. It's precious. It's precious because it's God's blood. It's holy blood who calmed down for us, shed for us, to take us out of futility, to take us to God, and take us to His holiness. We must have the reverence of, yes, the Father is going to make a judgment, and that should be fearful and encouraging, but all the passions of our past, Christ died to save us from those. The ways of futility in the past, Christ died to save us from those. I oftentimes teach From Romans 8,

God did not spare his own son, what good thing would he withhold from you?

And that's encouraging for like the exiles because we know if he's given us the best, the most precious gift, his own son who poured out his precious blood for us, there's nothing good he would withhold. But let's think about it in light of this passage. God sent his son to die for you. That is the love of God fully manifest. That's the love of God most truly manifest. And he did so so that you would know he loves you so that you would then be his holy people. If God so loved us, what thing would you want to withhold from him? The holy God who gave us his own son, the son who shed his own blood. This is significant for the call to be holy because we see the God who saved us through Christ's death. He's worthy. He's worthy of our entire lives that he's purchased. Finally, faith. And this is verses 20 to 21. And really, Peter wants to just, he's focusing in on Christ and who he is, so we know how precious that is, how much reverence there is for the Father who's going to judge us, but only after he's purchased us with the blood of his own Son, Jesus Christ. Here, faith. Notice it's written somewhat confessionally. Some people think this is a confession of who Jesus is from the early church.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last days 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.

Now notice there, the faith and hope, we're coming back to where we began, set your hope and the grace to come, your faith and hope are in God because of what Christ has done. Verse 20 shows us two things about Jesus Christ that are absolutely important. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world. The Son has always been with the Father. Christ was foreknown before creation. The Father and the Son have always existed necessarily together as the one God. He is eternal. We call this the preexistence of Christ. The second half, But now he's been made manifest. He's become flesh. He's become known. He's made himself known, and he's made himself known in the most amazing ways. He's forever been the son. He is the only begotten, beloved son of the father within the Godhead. But he became a lamb. Jesus wasn't always a lamb. He became a lamb. It's like he became a lion. He became a priest. He became a prophet. He became a king. All those are ways in which Christ has come down to save us by taking on our nature and manifesting God's salvation. Notice it's all for our sake. The eternal son chose to come down to save a people who would reject him, kill him, And he intentionally did so by becoming the Lamb of God who would take away their sin. Notice verse 21, who through him, and that is there's only one way to be a believer in God. There's no other way to believe in God truly. There's one road and way to God. It's Jesus Christ. Anybody who denies he is the son of God and the one way of God does not know God. There's only one way to know God and only through Jesus Christ are we true believers in the true God. And there I believe the word God is speaking of the father because we're, we're believers in the father through the son. And when we go back to the gospel truths, we began in verse three, the father who raised him so that we have new life. The Father that gave him glory, and remember a couple weeks ago, we looked at the glory that comes is only the glory after the suffering. Oh, and that purpose. That your faith and your hope are in God. Go back to verse 13. Set your hope fully on the grace that is to come. The purpose of what God has said in his word, the purpose of what God has done in our world, Christ becoming like us, dying in our place, rising again. It's so that our faith, our trust, our commitment, our hope, our longing, our desire is in the one true God. How good it is that God has given us all the clarity of what he's done for us so that we trust him, to know that we should set our hope, He is holy and he's a gracious holy God who calls us up into his holiness. He's made us holy by the precious blood of his son. How could he not expect much of us with the way he's loved us? Elect exiles. What a sure salvation we've been given by such a gracious God. What a wonderful high calling. that he has given us as a holy God. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that we can see two different judgments and not just one. We thank you that you did not just bring judgment against sin after your good creation and we, your image bearers, rebelled against you. Thank you that you promised a word of grace that you then have accomplished in Christ and we now know by your spirit. Father, may we know how to live as these elect exiles you've called us to. in holiness. Lord, may we fill the exile in that we're not in step with this world that's in rebellion against you, but we're in step with you and your Holy Spirit. May we be confident of the election and the love and the salvation you've brought to us so that we know how to follow you in obedience. Lord, protect us from any unnecessary guilt, but to know we can cry out to you and confess our sins. Protect us from any ungodly rationalization. Oh, help us to see what a high calling you have given to those you have loved so much. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.