Be What? - [1 Peter 1:13-16]

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Lord, we thank you. We praise you once again for an opportunity to hear from your word Lord, it is a word that you did not have to give to us
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Yet you chose Out of your goodness out of your mercy out of your grace to provide a message to man
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So that we could be saved Lord, we thank you for this word. We ask that you would just bless those who are here tonight
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We ask that you would be with those who are out camping still she would bless the time that they have give them safety and Lord, we just humbly ask you to take this message and allow us to just Learn from it and know you even better and we ask all these things your only precious name.
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Amen I'm gonna take my watch off just because I don't think I can I can see it over there, but Put it up here on the side
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So I'm gonna open the message today We'll get into the text in just a second I'm gonna open the message today with two illustrations and I want you to think about these as they'll probably assist as we go through the text as To what
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Peter was trying to get across? To the people that he wrote the book to initially.
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So the first illustration is this Imagine if you would I know most of us probably have when we were a child imagine
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Being born into a fairly wealthy family For myself again
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Bill Gates from Microsoft. It could be someone like Warren Buffett or the
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Rockefellers or one of those other famous families that you might be aware of Now imagine you were born into this family again, you would have a want for nothing in most cases the wealth and the
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Respect that the family would have you would be pretty much set in life and you would have a security
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Being part of that family Even in times where others may be suffering that you may see in the world now imagine
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Around your 13th birthday 14th birthday, whatever that might be your parents sit you down and they say
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We have something important to tell you your inheritance our money and everything that you had hoped for in the future is
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Going to our pet cat fluffy. So fluffy now gets everything and you now get nothing
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Again growing up. It would be a tragedy. It would be something that you would turn around and say, what do you mean?
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Where is our hope? Where's my hope that I had? What did I trust in as? I had no need in the past and now fluffy will have lots of toys and food.
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I'm sure Now may not be too surprising some of you may have even read that there was a lady recently who donated three million dollars to her dog and 1 million to her beloved son because he did not deserve the rest
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So it's not very far -fetched but think of how that would really bring you to Just despair in a lot of ways you would have no hope you would have lost
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The hope that you had trusted in since you were born and that's all you knew, right?
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You didn't know any hard work. You got everything you needed and now you'll have to fend for yourself It's a it's a very different thing.
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Your hope has been replaced with other memories now you now instead of tranquility you now have doubt and fear and Worry, so let's move off from fluffy and let's say now imagine
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You are a child Very poor your parents died at an early age.
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You probably didn't know them You had nothing you grew up in disease and poverty
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You didn't know where your next meal was coming from you owned nothing Your hope your future.
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Hope was really for just a quick and painless death, which oftentimes would not come Most times people in that situation who suffer through Starvation or disease suffer very painful and horrible deaths
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But imagine now that and again, this is a story just an illustration. So bear with me, but imagine now a king comes by and Decides to adopt you into his house to become his child
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Your world's now turned upside down a lot of ways Your needs have changed your desires have changed your hopes have changed
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You now are given whatever you wish as you mature you get to speak on behalf of the king himself
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You now are living in a palace again without any needs or any wants your future is secure
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Because you're now a child of the king and again, this isn't rare at times
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It has happened where people from poverty have been taken back and and have been adopted by children or by kings and in this case in the second illustration the adopted child now has a hope currently and even a hope into the future it's
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Not just an immediate hope but it is a hope that will be lasting So let me ask you this question.
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Just think about this as to which of these two children. Would you rather be? Would you like to have the immediate pleasure knowing that all your things will go to fluffy or Would you prefer instead?
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To have maybe suffered and had pain trouble Tribulations and yet know that we can have a future hope of glory
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So we'll be talking about some of this as we go through the message today. Keep those two stories in mind
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But I have a couple other questions to ask you first Some of you have our parents here and it probably said this some of you who are not parents have probably heard their parents say this you probably heard things such as Be good
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Right. Your parents have told you be good Be nice be friendly, right some of the bees and Society and the worldview.
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What do they tell us? They tell us to be successful to be rich The military even says be all you can be but the question and what we're going to be talking about today is most important for the
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Christian and that is what does God say we are to be And we'll be looking at that today so the scripture in many places the one we'll be looking at here this evening commands
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God's children to be Holy and the reason for this is quite clear in the scripture it says we are to be holy because God himself is holy and Today we're going to look at holiness and how
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Christians can be holy like our Father in heaven. I would pray for You who are here today
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Christians that you would be encouraged by this. Hope we know that there are many trials There are many tribulations going on in people's lives.
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Not only here in the local church, but around the world And I pray for those here who are not
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Christians that You would be pricked by hearing what future hope we have
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And that you would have a desire to be holy as God is holy For the
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Christian the Bible promises eternal life with our Father our Savior our King yet for the unbeliever
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The scripture is clear that it promises eternal punishment apart from God. I Know which place
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I would rather put my hope in How about you? So let me give you some background information
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We're gonna be looking at the book of first Peter so you can open your Bibles if you like to first Peter, but I want to provide just a little bit of background really quick on the book of first Peter The overall context of the book of first Peter is encouragement to Christians who are being persecuted
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This was a time when Christians were losing their houses losing their families losing their inheritance and Some losing their lives for faith that they had in Jesus Christ, I Have to say that it was not their quote best life now quote
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This persecution continues today in our religious, you know, Mary many region. Excuse me many regions within the world
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And we even see it coming more and more to the u .s. As this country becomes more secular Peter's desire in the book of first Peter was to teach believers that suffering and trials no matter how hard they may be are only
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Temporal the Christian needs instead to focus on the riches and we're not talking monetary riches here
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But the riches promised to the children of God which are eternal and greater than anything we could imagine
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Remember as Christians we are adopted into the family of the king of kings He is the sovereign over all
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How much better is that than even the initial story of the king in my illustration?
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Which may just be Sovereign of a small area. This is the king of kings who has adopted us if we if you are a child of God Peter is often called by historians the
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Apostle of hope He's seen always encouraging Christians to live in a way that is pleasing to God no matter what they face here on earth and Hope is something that is based hope is something that is not based on feelings
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But it's the continued believing in the promises of God that we see in the scripture We have to put our trust and our hope in the work of Jesus Christ as we will see later in our text
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Peter's key theme in the book is for believers to remain focused on the future. Hope Because of the finished work of Jesus Christ his death his resurrection
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And I hope this book will be as encouraging to those back then who read it and heard it As it was for myself as I studied it
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Remember again and you'll hear it over and over as I talk that no matter what your struggles are today There is a hope that is better there is a future hope and That's the hope of heaven
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We serve a great and sovereign God So let's take a look at the text. We'll be studying tonight open with me to your
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Bibles to first Peter chapter 1 verses 13 through 16 and read along with me if you would as I read the text and we'll see why historians call
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Peter the Apostle of hope starting in verse 13 chapter 1 therefore
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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
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But as he who called you is holy You also be holy in all your conduct
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Since it is written verse 16. You shall be holy for I am holy
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Wow, what a great passage packed with scripture packed with doctrine truths and direction
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Peter provides But before we can proceed We have to look at the very first word if you look at the first word in your text
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It's either gonna say something like therefore or wherefore That word in of itself should be telling you in your mind as you're reading through scripture and studying it
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Therefore what Peter? What were you talking about before that? What should we look at?
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What did you want us to know? What comes after usual therefore is some instruction? So we need to know what's important in verses 1 through 12 of chapter 1
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To understand the scriptural context of why and what Peter is trying to tell us so just quickly
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I'm going to give you a little bit of information about verses 1 through 12 and that is Peter exhorting his readers to live godly lives
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As Peter lets the reader know that all of one's hope must be founded upon the work of Jesus Christ and the promises given to the believer
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Does not the scripture say that God cares for his children more than the birds and the flowers? Are we not created differently as mankind is the only created thing made in God's image
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We are an icon of God Peter wants his reader to focus their attention upon the perfect work of Christ and one's future hope of heaven and glory
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Again, no matter the trials that they were facing They were very different from the trials we are facing today
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But we still face trials You're gonna hear me over and over say words such as hope and holy glory future these are key words to Peter's message both in verses 1 through 12 and The verses we'll be looking at here 16 or a 13 through 16.
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I hope you don't get tired of those words One commentator said it clearly when he said the word
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Therefore moves the reader from statement to application and we're going to be looking at the application that Peter has given to us in our text
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Although we're going to be looking at verses 13 through 16 of 1st Peter chapter 1 I'll actually want to turn our attention first to verses 16 15 and 16
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Well, we'll see the key point and the command Peter wants his readers to understand If you take anything away from this message take away what we see and read in verse 15 and 16
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We're to understand that this is a command from God that his children are required to obey. It is not optional
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Look back with me again at your Bibles and Read with me in verse 15 and 16 again as it says verse 15
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But as he who called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct
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Since it is written you shall be holy for I am holy God commands his children to be holy
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So let me ask you the question Do you feel holy today? I know
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I've said it over and over going through the text But for the Greek students again in verse 15 and 16, those are imperatives meaning that is a direct command from God We are to be holy as Christians it's equivalent to a policeman given an order
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You have a choice to obey or not to obey Well, remember there's consequences either way
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But what good is a command if you don't understand what it means? If a police officer told you to essentially modal your dirks
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You would say what how do I do that? What do you mean? Such a command would be hard to obey.
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So we need to first understand What's holiness? What does it mean to be holy?
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It's used often in Christian circles But if a mature if a less mature Christian came to you today and said
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I need to obey this command that God has given me What does it mean to be holy could you answer them again?
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We see this in Christian circles oftentimes, but when people are asked what does holiness mean? They often see it as something that's kind of a theory all out there.
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It's hard to define Again, holiness is not a suggestion or just a good idea that we're to strive for God says in the
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Bible that those who are his children will obey his commands meaning that his children will be holy
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I know many of you will be thinking of different holy things out there and in a postmodern world Can't we just make it say what it what we want it to be.
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Do we really have to define it? I mean we have things such as holy water.
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Holy sand. Holy dirt Holy undergarments, holy utensils.
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Holy oil. Holy cows They could go on The words used so often in various means and for ways
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So I ask you the question. What is holiness? I'd like to take a quote from Warren Worsby He said happiness not holiness is the chief pursuit of most people today including many professed
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Christians What a sad but true quote that is Most of us want happiness
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We want our best life now We want what we deserve. We want the blessings of God But we want happiness not holiness
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And I hope as we look through our text more tonight that you're gonna understand the difference between Happiness and holiness as they are not the same things
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Peter's People that or the audience that Peter wrote to were not often happy But they were striving to be holy
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Spurgeon actually said quote, I believe the holier a man becomes the more he mourns over his unholiness which remains in him
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Do you mourn daily over your unholiness? as Paul did Let's take a quick look at the definition of the word and because I'm an engineer by trade.
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I hate to say this I like my stats and my numbers. So I'm gonna throw you out a couple stats and numbers here
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I looked up a few frequent words Along with the word holy just to see how many times they appeared in the pages of Scripture.
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I looked up the word sin love heaven and holy and Found the results somewhat interesting
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I will have to state as an engineer just because something appears many times doesn't mean that it is important But it's something we should probably understand
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The word sin in the ESV is used 764 times in 656 verses and If you want see me afterwards,
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I can show you the breakdown between Old and New Testament Love is used in the ESV 745 times in 652 verses
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Heaven is used in the ESV 734 times in 690 verses and The word holy is used 698 times in 626 verses
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Nearly 700 times this word holy is used in the scriptures. I think we should best understand what it means
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Erdsman's Bible Dictionary says the following of the word holy It's usually translated from two different words one
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Greek and one Hebrew the Hebrew root word suggests cutting off or separation in Cultic usage separation from the mundane existence and for the service of worship of God in later usage
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It came to mean primarily the separation of holy otherness of God himself in relation to everything creaturely for a little simpler definition
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Tyndale's definition says this holiness is The chief attribute of God and equality to be developed in his people
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The primary Old Testament word for holiness means to cut or to separate Fundamentally holiness is a cutting off or a separation from what is unclean and a consecration to what is pure Endquote so we see from the
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Bible That only God is holy and based on the above definition It's clear why
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God himself would be called holy in the pages of Scripture. It shows his complete difference his otherness his separation
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He cannot be defiled by sin. He is unable to sin It describes
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God's transcendence for those who like the big words We See in the scripture his eminence his closeness to man, but the holiness of God is showing his otherness from his
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Creation that he is the creator and that is what makes him God As we'll see
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God himself is the definition of holiness. It is not the other way around It's one reason
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God commands his children to be holy that if you are a child of the king you are expected to be set Apart separate different and pure from the things that would defile you or that would go against what the king taught
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Remember that only mankind was made in the image of God and because we reflect his image We are to be holy as he is holy you are commanded and expected to reflect him in your life if you are his child
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Are you I found it interesting that Tyndale's Bible Dictionary said that the holiness is the chief attribute of God We do not read in the
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Bible that the angels gathered around the throne said things such as love love love
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Or do we hear them crying out things such as wrath wrath wrath or grace
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Grace grace and as R .C. Sproul had said or even justice justice justice All of those are attributes of God.
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All of those are ascribed to him All of those are things that the angels could have easily stated yet, what did they cry out?
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They cried out. Holy Holy Holy We need to remember that in Hebrew Repeating of words provides emphasis.
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We don't see the angels crying out just holy and we don't see them crying out. Holy. Holy We see them instead crying out.
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Holy. Holy. Holy, which displays just how holy God is Think about even whenever we say the
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Lord's Prayer Hallowed be thy name He's holy be thy name
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We're ascribing holiness to God If you look at all the false gods out there, you see unholy unrighteous and unjust gods.
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That's God with lowercase g That were created by unholy unrighteous and unjust men
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It is God's holiness which sets him apart from all false gods and false religions. What a wonderful God.
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We have a privilege to serve On a side note, you may find it interesting that holiness is also ascribed to every part every one of the
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Trinity Christ, of course the Holy Spirit and God himself are all in the pages of Scripture Said to be holy and yet the
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Bible says only God is holy It's a perfect description of the Trinity A .W.
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Tozer said it well when he said quote God's holiness is not simply the best we know and definitely bettered
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We know nothing like the divine holiness it stands apart unique unapproachable incomprehensible and unattainable
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Holy is the way God is To be holy does not conform to a standard.
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It is the standard Tozer also said the true kiss the true
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Christian ideal is not to be happy It's to be holy I hope this brief overview of God's holiness provides you with some
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Understanding of what the word holy means and why we are to be holy and how it can only be attributed to God So you may be asking yourself, but I thought the
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Bible said God and man are about as far apart as anything could be prior to salvation
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How could God ask us to be holy when the pages of Scripture are clear that the cross to the unsaved is foolishness moronic
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The unregenerate man is at enmity with God. We're at war with him The natural man is dead in his sin and trespasses.
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We have a heart that's deceitfully wicked Those who are not saved are called children of the devil.
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So how can God expect someone in this state of being? To be holy God expects it not of the unregenerate
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But God expects it of his children and you may be asking yourself, but hasn't
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God set a standard That's just too high that will never be able to please him and he's really just a mean cosmic
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God who wants to see us fail so that he can have pleasure in punishing us for it To quote the
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Apostle Paul out of context may it never be I would agree that God's intentions
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And I think you would too are not in this verse Something that we are unable to obtain
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But it's clear from what Peter says We are commanded to be holy And I'm going to break it down into a couple areas as to how we can be holy how man himself can be holy
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But turn with me once again to chapter or to a verse 15 and it says
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But as he who called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct
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Since it is written you shall be holy for I am holy Although we're commanded to be holy by God in these two verses.
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We are commanded to be holy Not by our own strength or ability
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Look in the text. It says as he who called you Just as in your calling of salvation the children of God.
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We did not raise ourselves from the dead as Christ did Instead it is by God's grace his mercy and the pot and his power alone that reached down and saved us
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That permits us to even be holy He's the one that made us alive and it is only by God's power that we can be holy
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It is because of Christ's power over sin and death Through the resurrection and indwelling of the
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Holy Spirit that the children of God could ever even hope to be holy Again our text says he who called you
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It's important to know that we cannot be holy by using our own power if we do we will fail
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Just as any works -based attempt fail in salvation we must lean on the strength and power that can only come from the one who first called us as Children to obey his command to be holy and that is
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God himself Many of you here understand the three stages of salvation and no,
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I'm not preaching something heretical here. I think Steve would stop me first But there are things such as you were once saved regeneration the actual changing of our selves, right?
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Christ saved us in the past You're continuing to be saved in the present.
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That's our sanctification and We have a future hope of ultimate salvation of heaven which comes in glorification
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This command to be holy Can only be applied to our sanctification and ultimately only be come to fruition in our glorification
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We can strive to be holy But until we are with God in heaven where we can no longer sin will we ever ultimately be holy?
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We will continue to struggle on this earth with sin But we must trust in the power of God to work in our lives
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To make us want to be more holy than we are We see again from our text that holiness is not by one's own power
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And now let's look at a second reason How man can be holy as God commands us?
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Secondly as a Christian we are to imitate and Display God's character as his children and that includes his holiness his main attribute
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Verse 16 could not make this point any clearer It says quote since it is written.
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You shall be holy for I am Holy I know that many of you here are afraid to admit
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I'm sure my parents would be too that your children often mimic your own traits And you've probably seen that before Some of those are good traits.
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Some of those are bad traits even adopted children Who may not look like they're adopted parents ideally?
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Grow up to mimic their mannerisms and their traits Children pick up on what they know best and their parents
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Or where most kids get a lot of their information until they grow up as Christians we are to act as our
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Heavenly Father does as we see in the pages of Scripture Says we are to be icons mirrors
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Images of God himself and he made us in his image How can we blasphemy that by not being holy or trying to be holy ourselves?
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by the power of God Again even though children oftentimes will fail and fall short of our expectations
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It's the same with God. He knew from the beginning That Eve was going to take the fruit
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He knew what was going to take place in Sodom and Gomorrah He knew that Moses would fail him so many times in the desert
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He knew Pharaoh was going to hold captive his chosen people He knew that the children of Israel were going to disobey him so many times
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He knew his chosen people would cry out one day to crucify Jesus and demand his death He knew the times the
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Apostles would fail him and he knew that we as his children
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Would at times fall short of his expectations to be holy Augustine said let the acts of the offspring indicate similarity to the
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Father God commands us to be holy and we are to mimic that Look back at the verse and you will see it says
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Quote you shall be holy the word shall says we should have a desire to be holy
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It should be what we want more than anything else is to be like our father It's something that we as Christians will want at all times
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We'll want to it'll become a part of our new nature to be holy to be like our God As I said earlier if you were child of God God expects you to act like a child of his and not like a child of the devil
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Yet there are times we will fall short of his expectations and his holiness, but God's grace his patience and his love
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Will hope to bring us back to his holiness
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So first we saw that it's not by our own power that we are holy We must need to full put our needs fully and trusting in the power of God for his holiness
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And secondly, we saw that we should be holy because God himself is holy and we would want to mimic our father
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Now, let's move to a third reason and that will be to believe the promises of Scripture just briefly
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We need to trust in the promises that Scripture gives us to be holy We ourselves as we saw earlier cannot achieve holiness, but we can fall upon the promises laid out in the pages of Scripture That give us this future hope of glory
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To learn from the mistakes of others and learn from the promises that God has given so long ago in the pages of the
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Bible We can read the Bible and just see how gracious God was towards his children as any father is towards his own children
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His promise is found in the pages of Scripture give the Christian hope no matter what they may be and what may be happening to them
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You might not have a job. You may have illness marriage issues money issues other issues
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But yet you can trust fully in God that he will keep his promise of a future
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Hope of eternal glory in heaven for his children as we read and study the
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Bible more We can see that God has never reneged or called for take backs When it comes to his promises
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God's promises will always become true So those are the three key areas and reasons one should strive to be holy
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We saw that man cannot be holy on their own strength. We must trust in Christ and in God. We saw that a
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Christian That the children of God are to be like their father icons and mirror them And lastly, we saw that we can fall back on the promises of the
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Bible as many did during the persecution as Peter wrote this text So you may be asking yourself now now that I better understand some of this
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I Really would like some practical advice. How can I be more holy? How can
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I live a life that's pleasing to God? And I'm glad you asked I Can assure you you do not want my advice
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But I think you would like to have Peter's advice that I'll share with you and we're gonna look at verses 13 and 14 of our text that we read earlier and that is our practical advice
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So in our remaining time I'll examine just what you need to do to be more holy as we are commanded by God So let's begin to look at this practical advice that Peter Often references in his text as if you read if you read much of Peter He will often reference scripture at the end of advice that he's already given the practical side.
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Then he'll give scripture And what we read in verses 16 were was the scripture that he quoted from Leviticus 11 44 through 45
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So now let's take a step back and look at what practical things Peter says We can do as Christians to be more holy so step back with me to verse 13 first of all
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Many many Christians new Christians or people who are looking for their quote hell insurance quote
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They just want to sit around and do nothing after they've gotten saved. They know that I've got my insurance
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I'm paid up and I have nothing else to do I might as well just sit back and I'll wait for Christ's return as we're promised in the pages of Scripture But you cannot be
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You cannot be more like your Heavenly Father without understanding and studying the Scriptures more and more daily
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We can't have a hope just to win our own minds. We need to understand what God has promised us in the pages
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As silly as it sounds to a majority of you That's exactly what many people call themselves Christians want to do they want to sit and do nothing
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It reminds me of the bumper sticker theology that says let go and let God I Can tell you that Peter would not agree with such a bumper sticker theology and neither should we
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Look with me at verse 13 and we'll see what Peter has to say about let go and let
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God I Will give you a hint. It doesn't say to verse 13 says
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Therefore preparing your minds for action and being sober minded Let your hope full set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ Peter says prepare your minds for action
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He doesn't say anything about becoming a spiritual couch potato The word used here for prepare is often translated elsewhere in the scripture as gird
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It's a similar word that was given to the Israelites when they were told at the night of Passover To gird their loins be ready be ready for action
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Be ready to move at any moment To put it in context Let me tell you a bit about the word prepare a gird and I'm sure most of you know that in the
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Bible times Men wore tunics or robes long -flowing robes usually would go One or two piece would go all the way down to the ankles.
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It was a very loose -fitting garment But oftentimes it would hinder motion a person would not be able to run jump or Do other activities climb maybe it would impede those activities
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Going into battle dress this way would be one of the most difficult things to ever accomplish
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It Was not unusual for men who were getting ready for action or battle for a fight
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To gird up their tunics by taking the four corners turning them around and tucking them into their belt
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Which would be another piece of clothing they would wear on the outside It would help to Stop impeding their motion their action
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It would take their long robe and turn it into almost like a knee -length skirt similar to what the Romans often wore
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It free the person to move I'll tell you that if I saw a person looking at me while girding up their loins
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I'd be doing the same thing and ready to run the other direction Because they are getting ready.
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They're being active. It's something that's coming and Peter is saying here
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That we need to be ready. We need to take action. We can't sit on the let -go let
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God type of theology Peter's not using this word in a literal sense
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He's not telling his readers here to wear tunics and prepare to gird them when we are going into battle
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The phrase is merely a metaphor telling us to gird up our minds or prepare our minds for the future.
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Hope of glory We're to be ready You can be more holy by getting yourself ready for the return of Christ Focusing on that and understanding the eternal hope of glory
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If that's your focus in your mindset, you will not fret the temporal things of this world Look to the eternal
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How silly would it be for a person in that time to gird their loins in preparation for battle and sit down on the couch?
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and watch TV It wouldn't be proper When you took the time and action to gird your loins you were saying both internally and externally you were ready for a fight
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You're ready for action. You weren't sitting there doing nothing And as a
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Christian we are to be ready by being holy Focusing on the things of God You as a child of the
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King are not to rest on what you already know about God and your glorification like the infamous bumper sticker you need to always be ready to battle the worldview as the world becomes more secular and Christianity becomes more of a outcast
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We need to know our Bibles and understand them and know what God wants And we are to be more holy
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We are to focus our attention on the things of Christ By doing this we will have a desire to be more godlike more like his icon his image his mirror
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Some commentators said this portion of scripture could be translated into a today into today's language by saying
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Roll up the sleeves of your mind and get to work. So first you need to be active
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Ready for action by girding up your mind Now, let's turn to the second thing
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Peter says that will help us to be more holy practical side of things
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It's pastor Steve talk talk today earlier this morning The second thing
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Peter says here is to be sober -minded Much the same way we are ready for action by girding up our minds
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We're not to fill our minds with unholy things things of this world things that would distract things that would take away
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Peter's saying here that just as alcohol impedes one's thoughts Reaction times and can often lead to one's own sense of well -being when actually in real danger.
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So the Christian becomes Desensitized to the things of this world if that's all that they focus on if that's all they're ingesting
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If they're not reading the scriptures and taking the scriptures They will not be more holy
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Drinking large quantities and for some of us even small quantities of alcohol can completely remove one's inhibitions
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And modify a person's sense of what is real their own reality One can easily lose sight of what is truly important when our minds become drunk with the things of this world
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It clouds us from what is actually most important of all and that is our future. Hope of glory
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So many who do not have this hope Drown themselves in drugs and alcohol sex and other things to take their minds off of their pain and Yet for the
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Christian we can turn to this hope and glory that we have in Christ You can begin to trust yourself with alcohol if that's what you're taking in and fail instead to hold fast to the things of Christ Peter says you're not to fill your mind with the things that will cloud our thoughts and possibly lead us into temptation
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Instead we're to have sharp minds That can react quickly to discern what is from God and what is not from God This act of being sober minded goes hand -in -hand with the ones with one who is girding up their minds
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You would never go into battle drunk You lose Are the sleeves of your mind rolled up and ready for action is your mind drunk on the things of this world or instead focused?
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On the future hope that God promises in the pages of Scripture Peter shares a third thing that Christians can do to be more holy in times of trouble in times of blessing
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Lastly in verse 13 Peter says that we are to quote set our hope fully on the work of Jesus Christ and our future glory
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When we are active in the things of the things of the Bible and fellowship in with the body of Christ having sober minds
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Our true position as a child of the King and our future hope of glory will be on our minds at all times
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I remember Peter's writing to Christians here who were being persecuted by their faith in Christ Most that survived death had been disowned
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Or continued to fear for their lives, but Peter was telling his readers to be ready for anything
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Even if that was death Yet for the Christian unlike other false religions you have a hope that is eternal not something ends when the body dies
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It's hope We also have to remember that Peter's not saying to his readers to place your future
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Hope in your own works and your own actions not at all Peter's clearly saying that it is not by your own work
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But it is the work of Jesus Christ and what he did on behalf of his children by his death and his burial and resurrection
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The focus is not on ourselves Or what we have done it is all about Christ and his work of justification for the children of God That's why
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Peter says that we are to focus on that in verse 13 So we've seen in verse 13
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That we're to be ready for action by girding up our minds We are to remain sober minded not drunk on the things of this world the poison and other things were to focus on Scripture Then we saw that we were to focus on the work of Christ and our future hope of glory and Peter continues this advice this practical
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Advice as he goes into verse 14 by giving us two additional pieces of advice verse 4
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And it's funny because Mr. Smith preached this morning on obedience Pastor Steve preached this morning on obedience
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And guess what Peter says here as his continued instruction as Obedient children in verse 14.
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It says do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance The section of Scripture is rather basic in an interpretation.
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I'll not spend a large amount of time on it But look with me quickly as it does contain a great deal of insight and how to be more holy
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I Found this one authors quote very interesting. He said quote The logical coherence of the of our passage speaking of verse 14 he is
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Tells us what holiness is Look at verse 14. He says there's obedient children
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That's it That's holiness. He says Holy people are
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God's obedient children Holiness obeys the Word of God because he is our good father in heaven who has secured us forever in his love end quote
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This is key If we're obedient children will want to be holy Peter opens this section by saying as obedient children.
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Let's stop there should be clear that Peter's not talking about just any type of child Here he's not talking about obedience to your parents or your children obedient to you.
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Are you obedient to your parents? From the context we can see that Peter is referring to Christians children of God The Bible is clear that those who are not children of God cannot obey
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God cannot please God They can't follow these commands They see the message of the cross again as moronic.
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We see in the Bible that there are two fathers There's the God as one and Satan as the other and everyone belongs to one or the other
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Who's your father? You're either a child of the king Or you're a child of the usurper the liar
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The one of darkness or Satan when author said it
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Well when he wrote quote obedience does not produce a believer in Jesus Christ But true belief will always produce obedience in a believer in Jesus Christ.
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Let me read that again Obedience does not produce a believer in Jesus Christ.
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It's not a works -based But true belief will always produce obedience in a believer in Jesus Christ You as a child will want to be obedient to your father
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So Peter's not tall or the quote here is not talking about a works -based type of religion or salvation
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But it's that our desire as new children or new creatures in Christ will be to be like our father to be holy
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So to be more holy
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Peter is saying that the children of God need to obey what the Bible tells us It seems rather rudimentary
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Yet in a society with fat pills instant gratification the microwave People want a quick fix they want something to take and Take away the effort and the work involved in being holy
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Yet Peter says we need to be obedient children as Christians. We are representatives of the invisible
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God here on earth How are you representing your father today Are you acting like an obedient child wanting to do the things that please your father?
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Let's go on to the last item Peter says here in verse 14 To aid us in being more holy look quickly look quickly with me as we look at the last portion of Scripture Peter says
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Christians Do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance
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What are some of those passions of former ignorance you may be asking No need to turn there.
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But let me read a sampling from Ephesians 5 3 through 3 through 10 But sexual immorality and all impurity all covetousness
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Must not even be named among you as is proper among Saints Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk
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No a crude joking Which are out of place, but instead let there be
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Thanksgiving For you may be sure of this That everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous?
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That is an idolatry Has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience
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Disobedience Therefore do not become partakers with them
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For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord walk as children of the light
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For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true and Try to discern what is pleasing to the
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Lord Ephesians 5 3 through 10 Peter says that if you are a
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Christian, you cannot be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance your former lust Prior to salvation the word ignorance refers back to your former life
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Before you were a new creature Before your eyes were open to the truth You were dead in your sins and trespasses.
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You did what you wanted to do out of your own sinful nature and desires You did this out of the ignorance of God Not one of us in God's eyes has seen as good before he has saved us and The Bible describes our pre -christian state as one of dead flesh rotting on a corpse
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Before you were saved your life revolved around your sin and not the things of God and Peter is saying here that the child of God Should not fall back into this sinful lifestyle
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Once you have been embraced this newness of life You should focus your eyes on this future hope of Christ Peter wants to stress that Christians have a new light
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That is given to them by the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit so that we would want we would never want to go back
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To the things of our former life Are you going back to those things now? Have you examined yourself as a
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Christian if you continue in the things that God says Are not the things that he is pleased with Would you want to put the chains of sin back on yourself and exchange it for God's glory of heaven?
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for eternity Why would we want to look like the world instead of our own
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Heavenly Father if we call ourselves Christians? John Newton said
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I'm not what I might be I'm not what I ought to be I'm not what
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I wish to be I'm not what I hope to be But I thank
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God I am NOT what I once was And I can say that With the great apostle by the grace of God.
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I am what I am Peter understands that Christians will continue to struggle with sin this by no means says that if we are holy we will be sinless
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Do Christians continue to sin? Yes Are our desires to sin still there?
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Yes, we live in a sinful world Do Christians have the ability not to sin the Bible says yes
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It's only by our own power. It's only by the power of God that this is the case
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That we as sinners can be saved even in our disobedience To try to obey the father's commands
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We sin willingly after becoming a Christian Peter says do not do that We are to examine ourselves and make sure that we are in the faith if we continue in the ways of our former passions
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Our passion should not be the lusts sexual desires foolish talk and crude jokes
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Our passion should be on pleasing our father by obeying his commands and having assurance of What we as children of God and our future hope of glory one of our passions should be to be more holy in conclusion
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Let me just give you three quick things. I'm not even gonna break these down But if you want three quick things, this is what
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Peter is trying to tell us Prepare your minds be ready Be holy
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Control yourselves while here on earth no past passions of ignorance focus on the things of Christ and Three follow
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God's commands Be holy as he is holy. Let's pray
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Lord. We as your children would desire to be holy Lord it is a command as we've seen today that we are to be holy as you are holy
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Lord you are pure You cannot stand sin Lord we should be the same we should strive by your power
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Through your son Jesus Christ to be more holy to be more like you
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Again as a child of you Lord, we should represent you here on earth We should not be of the world
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Although we are in the world And we would pray now Lord that as we leave tonight that we would think about our holiness and your holiness and each day
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Struggle to be more holy so we would see our unholiness and Try to work towards that through your power your strength and we ask these things in your holy and precious name