1 Peter 1:13-2:3, What Causes What?

1 Peter chapter 1, we're reading from chapter 1 verse 13 to chapter 2 verse 3, here are the word of the

Lord. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober -minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

Since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. And if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you are ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God.

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

Since you have been born again, not a perishable seed, but of imperishable to the living and abiding word of God for all flesh is like grass and all its glory, like the flower of grass, the grass withers and the flower falls.

But the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation.

If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. And the

Lord had his blessings to the reading of his holy word. Well, I'm a football fan and tomorrow is the big game and I'll be rooting for my team.

I hope my moral support will help them win when

I'm watching a game of two teams I don't really care about. I mean, like last night, I pick one to root for almost as if it makes it more interesting,

I guess, if you're supporting one side. But almost as if if I support them, I cheering for them, that will somehow help them even through the television.

If I consistently chose or rooted for the teams that won,

I better check in whether there's something about the teams I'm choosing that makes them makes them better.

Somehow I'm choosing the better team because rationally, we all know that my cheering for them doesn't cause them to win.

Right. I think we we probably know that. I mean, like last night, the team I chose, Washington, did not win.

Well, see, there's correlation. I could have chose who was the other team, Tampa, and they they would have won.

There's correlation, two things happening at once. And then there's causation. That is one thing causing another.

Do you know what causes what is correlation and causation? And often people get it totally wrong in the

Middle Ages. They noticed that lice were often not found on sick people. And so they concluded that lice cause good health.

The truth was that lice leave a person when they get a fever. Ice cream sales and drownings rise every year at the same time.

But ice cream doesn't cause drowning or vice versa. Both are caused by warm weather.

Every time I've seen an accident on the freeway, you know, I've I've seen the police there. Does that mean the police caused the accident?

When people wear coats like some of you are now or jackets, the weather is cold. It's cold weather caused by people wearing coats.

Both magic and science are about finding causation. What causes something magic sees a correlation to things happening at once.

You say a spell, you drink some kind of potion and you get the result you want. Someone falls in love with you or you get a healing or the curse on bad luck on someone else.

It assumes that the correlation is the causation. A Dr. Pepper commercial spoofs people thinking that they can jinx a field goal kicker by saying this is automatic.

If you say that you'll jinx the kicker and he'll miss the kick. So never say that, at least not for your team.

Jinxes are the superstition of, you know, a lucky T -shirt. Last time Alabama won the national championship, I was wearing my

Alabama shirt. So I'll wear it again, help them win. Those are magic based on correlation. Science insists on seeing causation.

Folk remedies are based on correlation. You know, people notice that if you take something, whatever it is, like maybe like ginseng and then you get some healthy result.

Someone had swelling and they took ginseng and the swelling went down. So they conclude, well, ginseng reduces inflammation. I read an article this week entitled seven proven health benefits of ginseng.

And the first one was that it may reduce inflammation. May means it's not really proven.

Maybe it's that inflammation tends to go down over time. So whether or not you take ginseng, it doesn't affect it.

Or maybe ginseng does reduce some inflammation. Sometimes the folk remedies that observe by correlation, seeing two things happen at the same time, actually are the cause.

In ancient Egypt, about the time of the exodus, people noticed that if they take part of the culticum autumnal plant, also called the autumn crocus, it was good for stopping joint pain.

About 2000 years later, a Byzantine physician in the 6th century AD, about the 500s, noticed that it was particularly effective for gout.

And it is still today in its refined form called colchicine, the primary medication for gout pain.

So in that case, correlation, two things happening, the taking of colchicine and the alleviating of gout pain was indeed causation.

What causes what? What causes what with God? How do we get him to be favorable to us, to be on our side, to give us what we want, to relieve or prevent our pain, temporary or eternal pain?

How do we cause God to do what we want him to do? We're trying to cause him to do something.

And once he does, do we have to do anything back for him? If we can cause him to do what we want, can he cause us to do what he wants?

Or maybe we have to bargain with him. You know, like Martin Luther stuck outside in a thunderstorm when the lightning struck nearby, made a deal with God.

Actually, St. Anne, if I survive the storm, I'll become a monk. That was the deal he made to get

God to act for us today. Sometimes people think, well, we have to promise to do something back for him.

I'll start tithing or I'll go to church more often or I'll stop looking pornography or whatever. What causes what with God?

What does he what does he cause in us? Well, we see that here in this passage in three things that are caused in us by God.

First, hope. Second, love. And finally, a taste.

Hope, love and taste. First, hope is causing us by what

God has done. Therefore, in verse 13, is how it begins. Therefore, yes. What's the therefore?

Therefore, it points back to what we saw last week. The first twelve verses, a salvation so great.

Remember the prophets in the Old Testament search to figure it out. And now the angels long to look at it.

That salvation is caused in verse three by God's great mercy, not by our saying the magic words or making the right decisions.

If we believe that salvation is caused by something we do, maybe by being moral or religious or even just something as small as saying the magic prayer and agreeing with the right doctrines.

If we believe that, then we are legalist. If we believe that what we do causes

God to save us, then we're legalist. Now, we have lots of people today that are legalist with low standards.

That is most time we say legalist, you think, well, they're very strict. You don't smoke, you don't chew and you don't hang with those who do that kind of thing.

We have a lot of legalist in our day, just legalist with very low standards. You say a quick prayer, you try not to be a serial killer, and basically you're in.

That's legalism. It's low standards. Well, further back in verse three, God caused us to be born again.

Babies don't cause themselves to be born and sinners don't cause themselves to be born again. A popular book published in 1977 was

How to Be Born Again. And someone said it must have been written for God because he's the only one who can cause us to be born again.

Here in first Peter chapter one, it says that we're born again because of his great mercy.

That's the cause. His great mercy, not something we've done. So the salvation is caused by God and it causes us to get it when he says is an inheritance, a resurrection, a future and a hope, a new heaven and a new earth.

Blessings, he says, that are kept in heaven for you. Will all that then cause us to live differently?

Already we see that what God has done for us precedes what we are called to do for him.

As some say, the indicative of what God has done precedes the imperative of what we're told to do.

God causes and then we're called to do things. So what are we called to do?

Here in verse 13, therefore, back to starting this passage again, therefore, because of what

God has done that we just summarized, prepare your minds for action.

In other words, get ready to think. Literally, this refers to gird up your robes, tuck it in your tuck in your clothes.

From those days when men wore these long flowing robes, they were comfortable for most things.

But if you wanted to run or to work strenuously, they would get in the way. And so they would tuck them in under their belt.

And in our terms, this would be like saying, get your workout clothes on. Put your running shoes on.

Get ready to work here. Get your mind ready to work. Think.

And the purpose, the goal is in verse 13 to set your hope. Think about where your hopes should be set, what they should be based on, what they should be focused on.

Set your hope on that salvation. He talked about in those first 12 verses to do that. Get ready to think.

Think through the implications of that gospel that we talked about already.

Consider it. Be sober minded. In other words, don't let your mind be muddled with things that give you a fuzzy mind and intoxicate your mind.

Obscure your thinking, your passions for other things, for money, for esteem, for stuff, for lust, the distractions of the world, politics, even sports.

The things that could cause you to to not think clearly about that salvation that angels long to hear about.

Focus on it. Focus on its implications and think through its implications on your life.

Think. Think about it. You know, if God can feed the birds and clothe the flowers, then think what that means about how silly it is to be worried and obsessed with money and food and clothes.

So obsessed that you think, you know, right now you think, I don't have time to get right with God now to seek

God. I don't have time for him now. Maybe when I'm maybe when I'm older and have a lot of money in the bank, then

I can come to church and seek God. If you think like that, you're not being sober minded.

You're not thinking clearly about the magnitude of the gospel, about what it means.

Think clearly. Set your hope not on your money or your business or your career or your family or relationship.

Some so much like some young people, especially all they could think about is the boy or the girlfriend or getting married because they've not thought clearly about what our great salvation shows us should be what we set our hope on.

Therefore, because of his great mercy causing us to be born again, then that mercy should cause us to think clearly about what our hope is set on.

What are we hoping for? Why is our life? Our hopes should be based on wealth.

So we sacrifice the worship of God for making a few extra dollars should be based on politics.

So we're ecstatic. If our favorite politician wins and traumatized, depressed, if the party we hate gets power or on relationships.

And so that's all we can think about. Just that or or even on health, this body.

And so we're living in hysteria over a virus. Not that we should be careless. Sure, wear masks when necessary distance and so on.

But but the reaction of many people in our culture over the last nine months has shown that their hopes are entirely.

On this life. We should think differently. Here set your hope fully.

Notice that fully as completely. Don't spread out your hopes a little bit.

Hedge your bets. Spread out your the betting of your hopes. So maybe on a few different horses.

A little on Jesus. Sure. You can hedge your bets with some set on some set on cash.

Some set on romance. Some set on family. Some set on politics. No, he says, set it fully on the grace that will be brought to you.

It will be brought. You can believe it. You could trust it. It will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In other words, at the resurrection of the dead, when that salvation is fully revealed at the last time, as as inverse back in verse five.

Here it said it entirely on that salvation and think through what it means for all your life, for how you spend your money and your time and what you're focused on.

God caused you to be born again. Now that should cause you to think through all your priorities, what you're really obsessed about, what you're really living for.

What does God's grace cause in you? Let it cause you in verse 14 to be, he says, obedient children.

That is children of obedience, sons and daughters of God who are characterized by obeying him.

Some say that we don't have to obey him. That is, we can if we want.

There's there's correlation between obeying, obeying God and salvation, but not necessarily causation.

Here, though, the grace that we set our hope on because we are saved, that grace should make us

God's obedient children who aren't conformed to the passions of our former ignorance.

You know, like passions for money, greed or passions for sex, for lust, passions for power.

So we're just obsessed with politics, getting our team to be dominant are all those things that dominate people, that they have their their hopes set on maybe passions for their physical safety.

And so we panic at the threat of a virus, those things that dominate the people of our culture of the world around us.

Because they had that's what they had their hope set on. We should be different. Instead, in verse 15, be be holy.

Holy means be distinct. You're separate from the world. Be holy, just as he who called you is holy.

God is different from the world. So be like him. Be as holy as set apart from this world, as distinct as God is.

So be holy. W .H .O .L .L .Y. As in entirely holy.

Be holy, holy in your conduct and in your worldview in that you view life differently.

You view other people differently. Not just as objects for you to consume for your needs.

Let the holiness of the one you have set your hope on rationally make you holy too.

So you think through all the ways that your life should be different.

Because you hope in Jesus. Not in money or family or relationships or politics.

Because in verse 16, you, you children of God, shall be holy.

God says, for I am holy. What causes what?

If, in verse 17, is a conditional sentence. You have to fulfill the condition. If you call the judge of the universe father.

Do you? You call God father? You see yourself as his son or daughter?

If? Well then what should be caused by that? Well then you know that he judges everyone impartially.

Don't you? Like a good judge? A good judge won't let a criminal go unpunished just because the criminal is his child.

Will he? That's what it means to be an impartial judge. Imagine a judge and his judge is seated up before him brought for trial as his own son.

An impartial judge will punish or release, for that matter, that person on trial just the same as anyone else.

So you think you call the God father and therefore you can get away with living the same as the world?

Living sinfully? No. If you call him father and you know he's impartial, then that should cause in you fear.

You tremble at his word. You tremble at the thought of disobeying him. You know he judges.

And you know he'll judge you. Because he's impartial. So at the end of verse 17, because of that, this is what's caused by that.

Conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile. And this life is the time of our exile.

When we're living as strangers in a strange land. During this whole life, if you think it through carefully, let fear of God, fear of God's judgment, shape your whole life.

After all, in verse 18, you were ransomed. That is you were bought back from.

The price was paid for you. Bought with the price of the blood of Jesus. Ransomed out of the feudal.

That is the empty ways, Peter says, the ways inherited from your forefathers. Now here, he probably referring to, because he's talking mostly to the

Gentiles, Christians, to paganism. That's the empty, the feudal ways inherited from their forefathers.

Idol worship. Magic. You know the baseless belief that correlation is causation. For some of us here, some of us actually here were actually indeed bought out of paganism.

Mary was dedicated to the Chinese queen of heaven when she was a small child. Or maybe more so us for our culture.

We were bought into the feudal ways of our forefathers. Living for the dollar, living for the weekend, living for the stuff, the house, the car.

There will all be nothing one day. Think about it. Think about it.

We were not ransomed with perishable, expiring things like duffel bags full of money.

Not even silver and gold. Even that is perishable. Or we were not ransomed by the queen of heaven.

We were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ. He was our, he was our lamb, our sacrificial lamb who took away our sins without spot or blemish.

That is in his life, he was sinless. He's the one who caused us to be bought out of an empty life.

Now think about what that means. And how silly it would be. Now having been bought by him to continue to live for empty, feudal things.

It will eventually be nothing. What causes what? Or it should be, it really should be who causes what?

Who causes the grace our hope is set on? Peter describes him for two verses, beginning of verse 20.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world. That's who caused our grace that we can hope in.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world because he existed before everything was created. He was, he was manifest and that he was revealed.

That is, he's seen in the flesh. In the last times, you could see him in the last times.

That means when he came, he was born, grew as a man, ministered in the flesh.

And in the last times, here is yet more evidence that the last times, some people are obsessed with that.

The last days, the last times began with Jesus, his first coming. The end times began when

Jesus was manifest, when he was revealed, when he lived on earth. Some people don't like that.

They think it's, you mean it's been last times for 2 ,000 years now? They don't like that because they want the last days to be the last few days.

So they can, you know, they could stop working and stop paying their bills and not have to worry about the money running out of the credit cards and the bank foreclosing.

But that's not what it means. The last times means that there aren't any more times after this.

There's no other testaments to Jesus. There's no new eras we can expect or will come.

No prophets getting new revelations in a cave in Arabia or finding golden tablets in the woods of New York.

This is the last era. It began with Jesus when he came the first time, and it will continue until he comes the second time.

Jesus was revealed at the end of verse 20. He says, for your sake, that is you exiles here in this strange land chosen from the world.

Through Jesus, in verse 21, you are believers in God. What caused you to believe?

What caused you to believe in God? Is it your parents? Your own good sense?

You just know a good argument when you hear it and you realize, hey, yeah, that's true. Is it your free will?

Is that what caused you to believe in God? No, he says, you are believers through Jesus.

Look at that verse 21. You are believers through, this is the way you got faith through Jesus.

He caused you to believe in God. As Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11, verse 27, no one knows the father except the son.

And anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. He is the cause of your faith in God.

And here God raised Jesus from the dead and gave him glory. And that glory causes at the end of verse 21, your faith.

And hope. To be in God. Jesus causes you to believe in the father.

And the father causes Jesus to be glorified. And that causes you to set your faith and hope.

In God. And God causes you to love. Who causes your love?

In verse 22, having purified your souls. Of those passions like greed, lust, obsession with politics.

Because Jesus caused you to believe. And so set, so you then set your hope on him.

Then with a sincere brotherly love. Not just fake smiles.

You know, superficial courtesy. During some small talk after the service. Not just wanting to be able to chat amiably.

If you happen to, you know, run into this person at the Walmart. But a sincere philia.

Remember philia? From Hosea? We talked about philia? Remember that? Friendship. And love.

Agape. In verbal form. The Greek form of the Hebrew word chesed. Have a committed covenant love from the heart.

He says earnestly. As really. Notice what Peter is emphasizing.

Really in three different ways. A sincere family love. Earnest love from a pure, pure undivided heart.

Genuine love. Genuineness. The genuineness of God's love for us.

That caused the sun to be manifest and to die for us. That genuineness should cause a genuineness in us.

Of love for one another. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ because.

What's the cause? In verse 23. Love since you have been.

This is the cause. Love because you have been. In verse 23.

Born again. What caused you to be born again? In verse 3. Remember last week,

Peter said it was God. God caused you to be born again here. God caused it through.

Not perishable seed like being physically born. But through the imperishable seed of the living and abiding word of God.

God causes us to be born again through his through his word. And as he said in Isaiah chapter 40.

All flesh. Is grass. All flesh. Is grass.

This people pass away. That's why you don't set your hopes on them.

All its glory. The glorious things that. The people achieve.

They think it's so great winning Super Bowls. All its glory. Is like the flower of grass.

The grass withers. And the flower falls. But the word of the

Lord. Remains forever. And Peter says that word. Is the gospel.

Is the good news about Jesus. That was announced. To you. When someone.

A friend. A parent. An author of a book. A preacher. Told you the good news about Christ.

Ransoming his exiles. When that happened. God used that message.

To cause you. To be born again. You believed. Your faith didn't cause you to be born again.

God did. Through. The message. My chains fell off.

Your voice I knew. I rose. Went forth. And followed you.

What causes what? Well if you think. That what you do. Causes God to do what you want.

That is if you give so much money. Do some good deed. Or if you. You try to do loving things.

Or maybe you get baptized. You say the right prayer. That will then cause God. To save you.

You think like that. Then you're a legalist. That is there's a law. That if we follow it.

Causes God to give us. What we need. That's legalism. But if we think.

That what God does for us. Doesn't cause us to do anything. That God can.

Cause us to be supposedly born again. By his great mercy. That he can give us amazing grace.

And we're not caused by that. To be any different. To be holy like him. To change what we set our hopes on.

To be loving. Even if not always perfectly. If we think we can be saved. And not caused to be any different.

Than we were. Oh we can choose to be sure. We can kind of opt. For the premium

Christian plan. If we want. We can go first class. If we want. But we're not caused to be.

There might be correlation. You know some people being saved. Who also happen to choose to be holy.

And loving. But there's no. There's no causal effect. There's no causal connection.

No causation. If that's what you think. Then you're an antinomian. A believer in.

Easy believism. In salvation is fire insurance. If we think. We can cause

God to do what we want. With our words and actions. We're legalist. Doesn't matter how low our standards are.

We're still legalist. Maybe want to be magicians. Thinking with our words we can. Have power.

If we think that. God doesn't cause us. Necessarily. To do anything.

We're antinomians. God caused you to be born again. And caused you to love.

He also causes you. To taste. His goodness.

So. Chapter 2 verse 1. Same word as really therefore. Because of what he's just described.

In chapter 1. Because God caused us to be born again. Through announcing the gospel to us.

As a result of that. Put away all malice. That is wishing other.

Particularly other born again people harm. That bad things would happen to them. And all deceit. The opposite of the genuineness.

That he just emphasized before. And hypocrisy. That's the fakery of religion.

That's really all about looks. And envy. Wanting what others have. And all slander.

Destroying the reputation of people. With lies. Put all that away.

Put all that away. Like you would. Take off dirty clothes.

Instead in verse 2. Like newborn infants. Like they crave milk.

How do they crave milk? Eagerly. Frequently. Regularly.

You long for the pure. Spiritual milk. And pure there in Greek. Is the opposite of the word deceit.

We were just told to put away. Actually it's really the same word. English should be like putting an un in front of it.

Undeceit. That's the pure spiritual milk. It's undeceitful. Long for, crave the word that lacks deceit.

That is undiluted. People in their day would sometimes water down milk. Or wine to make it go further.

So some preachers today. Like to water down the spiritual milk. With positive motivational speaking.

Maybe life coaching. Strategies for how to have a good relationship. Or raising successful children.

Some like to water it down with politics. Or comedy. Or heart wrenching stories.

Maybe both. If you can smile and laugh. And then cry a little. Well you'll have people in the palm of your hand.

Here though this pure spiritual milk. We should long for isn't watered down by anything. It's pure.

You want it straight. So hold the love life tips. The musings on popular culture. The social commentary.

The political engagement. Because. By the pure stuff.

The pure spiritual milk. It's by that that you grow up. Spiritually. It's by the word of God.

Not all the additives that we try to enhance it with. It's by the word of God that you are kept.

He says to finally be saved. That's what Peter means by. Grow up into salvation.

At the end of verse 2. You are nurtured. For a whole life of growing. With that living hope.

That gets stronger. As long as you live. And so being preserved.

Insured. You are insured to finally be saved. At that last day.

Resurrected. Ransomed from death itself. The word.

Keeps you for that. That's why here. We read it.

We sing it. We pray it. And we preach it. What causes you.

To love the word of God. Here you have a taste. For the pure spiritual milk of God's word.

This is the cause. If indeed. You have tasted that the Lord is good. Notice that in verse 3.

It is a conditional sentence. If indeed. If you really have.

Tasted that the Lord is good. That is if you fulfill the condition. Then the conclusion.

Is true for you. If indeed. If you really have tasted.

That the Lord is good. Then what? If that's true. Then the cause is true.

If it's not true. Then something hasn't been caused in you. If you lift weights.

You'll get stronger. If you're not getting stronger. You're not lifting weights. If you've had

Alabama barbecue. You will want more. If you don't want more. We can conclude that you've never had it.

It's a statement about causes. Not just correlations. If you have tasted here.

If you've tasted that the Lord is good. That will cause you. To want more.

To taste more. Of his goodness. If you tasted that the Lord is good.

And you've tasted it in the pure spiritual milk. That word that is. Was announced to you. The gospel.

Then you will want to taste more. If you don't want to taste more.

If you really don't care. About hearing the word of God. Hearing the gospel from his word. Now we understand that sometimes.

Our desires ebb a little bit. Or we're tired or distracted. But if you never really.

Have any desire. For the word. That's a problem. You know doctors frequently ask patients.

How's your appetite? And I guess if someone said you know. Oh I never eat and I have no desire to. That would be a sign of a problem.

They would get kind of concerned about that. It might mean that you're dead. Now an advantage that physical doctors.

Have over spiritual ones. Is that in physical doctoring. Dead people are a lot easier to detect.

One sign of a spiritually dead person. Is that you have no appetite. They have no appetite for the word of God.

For the worship of God. For the people of God. Not really any appetite for God at all.

Here. Born again people. People have a new heart. Created in them through the word of God.

They long. For the pure spiritual milk. They've tasted it.

And they want to taste more. What causes you to long.

For more of God. If you've tasted. That the Lord is good.

That he is great in mercy. That the precious blood of Christ. Like a lamb without blemish or spot.

Has ransomed you. From all the futile things. That everyone else in this cult. Is running after.

If you've experienced that. Through the gospel. Then you'll want to taste it.

Again. More. And more. You'll want to feed regularly.

Eagerly. On that word. Experience his presence.

Hear the gospel. Like a baby desires milk. You'll want to know

God better. Experiencing salvation. Will cause you. To want him more.

So the question. Has that longing. Been caused in you.