God's call to Holiness

All right, all right. Good morning, good morning. Okay, in a second, Zoe's gonna come up and read God's Word to us.

! I hope you have got yourself some Bibles. There's some in the front. Before we read God's Word, here's a

well, here's a small reminder. Hey, this is God's Word. This is what gives life. This is where we encounter God. This is

the Word of the true and living God. And as Zoe reads, let us open our hearts to receive what he's telling us, what he's

calling us today into. So Zoe, would you like to come and read God's Word to us?

Oh. Today we'll be reading from 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 13 to 21. You can follow along in your own Bible. If you're

1 Peter 1:13–21

following along with the church Bible, this is on page 953. Let's read.

Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that

will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to

the passions of your former ignorance. But as he who called you is holy, you also will 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 for fear throughout the time of

your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers,

not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of

the lamb, without blemish or spots. 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. This is the Word of God.

Let us pray, and then we can dive into God's Word. Father, we need you. We need you this morning. God, as we

look at your Word, through your Spirit, would you open up these words into our hearts. May my few words and

opinions serve to draw your people to you, God. And may any word that comes out from my lips that's not true,

that's not helpful, fall on deaf ears, but God, may your Word be rooted deep in our hearts so that we

can love you, so that we would behold who you are and your beauty and your greatness of Jesus Christ.

So, God, would you come and do that work this morning, not for our glory, but for your glory.

Father, we praise you and thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen. So, we're doing a standalone series. So, last week, Oscar did one standalone, today one.

We'll have a retreat next Sunday, and then we'll be diving into the Advent series from December.

So, today we're looking at this passage, 1 Peter. So, let me start off with this. I'm sure most of you

know that the king of UK is King Charles III. He became king around 2022. Now, let us imagine. Let's

imagine this. Imagine is the day of ordination, coronation, whatever. And coronation, right? Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Coronation. And it's the celebration. As people are flocking in, you see King Charles

in all his gold and jewels, dressed up. And there's, as the crown is put on his throne, on his head,

there's a massive celebration across the country. And then, as the king sits on his throne,

people shout and cheer for their king is there. Now, imagine this. The next day, King Charles is seen

in LKF having a drink of a beer with his friends. And he's dead drunk, and his friends has to carry

him home. And the next day, he's seen on the MTR going to work. Even though he has so much money,

he's like, I still need a little bit more. And he's seen going to work. And on the way, he ends up

fighting with someone for a coin that's on the floor. And then he bumps into another person for a cup of

coffee and another brawl starts there. Now, it seems that the whole coronation and the glory and the

gold and jewels did not even happen at all. It seems that his life, him being a king, him being

declared a king, and yet his life seems to be completely unchanged. I mean, his wealth is secured

as a king, and yet he's fighting with people for pennies. It seems that his status has changed.

Who he is has completely changed. And yet his life seems to be unchanged at all. Now, obviously,

that's just an imagination. We're just trying to imagine this. But in reality, that's a lot of how

we Christians tend to live. Very unaware of what God has done, is doing, is doing in Christ,

and who we are in light of that, and live a life that seems to be very unaffected or have

parts of our life that are unaffected by who God is and what he has done. So what today's

passage is seeking to do is, is seeking to call the readers, us, who are Christians that have

been spread around the provinces, to live a life that is different. So if you have a passage,

let's dive straight into it. Let's look at the first verse, verse 13, right? It starts with this.

It starts with, 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 Christ Jesus. Now, what I want us

to do for a few seconds is look at the word, therefore. You see, because every time we see the

word, therefore, in the Bible, we need to question what it is, therefore. In other words, you get it.

Okay, so, and the truth is, there's always a reason why therefore is therefore. So, and here's the thing.

Every time there's a word, therefore, it all, there's something that comes before it. It gives us

the truth and the reality of who God is, and then it calls us into an action. In other words,

which means that every Christian living, everything that we do and don't, every obedience, every

sacrifice that we do always begins with a therefore. Without a therefore in our lives, every Christian

living is just moralistic rules and actions which is put on hopeless sinners.

that are either crushed or are driven into this useless and presumptuous efforts.

We need, therefore, in our Christian life to give us this truth that drives us into a Christian

living. So, what does this, therefore, tell us? So, before verse 13, if you look at their

beautiful 12 verses in 1 Peter, that tells us about this living hope in Christ Jesus, of how we are

in light of our future is secure, it's this great truth of what God has done in Christ Jesus and who

we are in light of that. And now, at the end of that, Peter says, therefore, in light of all of that

truth, all of what Christ has done, therefore, preparing your minds for action. In other words,

it's the equivalent of us saying, rolling up your sleeves, get ready for action, being sober-minded,

set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Christ Jesus. In other

words, live a life that is actively putting our hope in this grace when Jesus will return one day, when all

sins or suffering will be taken away, and when everything will be put right. Now, the question for us this

morning is this, so what does it look like to live a life with such a hope? What does it look like

to live with one eye to the future when Jesus will return? And from verse 14, Peter is going to

unravel that question as we go along. So, if you have your Bible, this is our first thought of the day.

So, first thought is, therefore, pursue holiness. We'll be looking at verses 14 to 16. So, verse 14 to 16,

it says,

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who

called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, your God, you shall be

holy, for I am holy. Now, Peter is very clear here. His call is, be holy in all your conduct.

And he gives a reason for that here, right? He says, because your God is holy, and since He has

called you, you to be holy. Now, we need to ask the question, what does holy mean? And I'm sure you

have heard the phrase, holier than thou, which is used to describe people that are something more pure

and more religiously superior than others. And we tend to think of the word holy as to mean something

that is pure and morally perfect or purity. But the fact is, the word holy actually means separate.

When scripture says that God is holy, it is telling us that God is separate from everyone

and everything else. He alone is the creator God. One commentator puts it like this. He says,

when we say God is holy, we're saying He is altogether and wholly other. In both His character and His deeds,

He is transcendently different from and greater than all His creatures in every conceivable respect.

Therefore, holiness is not solely a reference to moral and ethical purity. It also entails with it

a transcendent and unparalleled beauty. You see, sometimes we make the mistake of thinking God is like

one of us. He isn't. He's on a whole different level. He is transcendent. He's conceivably,

unconsumably, way greater than we can ever imagine and even try to imagine. He is holy.

Now, when Peter calls us to be holy here in this passage, is he calling us to be transcendent and

have unparalleled beauty and be on a whole different level? Well, no, not really. And verse 14 and 15

gives us a hint here. Verse 14 says,

Do not be conformed to your passions of your former ignorance, but be holy in all your conduct.

Now, Peter says, don't be conformed here. Now, he's speaking here to Christians. When he talks about

the passions of your former ignorance, he's talking about the life that they had before knowing Christ.

Peter is calling them to not go back into that previous life and the life that they had before

knowing him. Or he's calling them to be holy or to separate yourself from that life that used to be

there. Now, it's almost like this. Imagine an orphan who is adopted, who's given three meals a day.

He's a son. And yet, at the end of the day, he goes out to steal food because he's scared that he's not

going to get food. But the fact that he's adopted and he's a son means that he no longer has to go back

into that way of life. He can separate himself from stealing food because he's the son of the house.

He's adopted. You see, one of the ways we Christians are described as are orphans that have been adopted

as sons and daughters. I mean, look how Peter addresses the readers in verse 14. He calls them

obedient children. And being conformed to the passions of your former ignorance is like us going

out to steal food again when God has provided everything. Now, it is very easy to spot when we do

that. It's very easy to spot when we start conforming ourselves into our former ignorance because,

according to this, the opposite of being conformed here, according to Peter, is to be holy.

So, in other words, we have to ask ourselves a few questions then. Does our life look different

from the way it used to be? Maybe a few habits have changed. Maybe there are still parts of our lives

that are still untouched. But it's not just comparison with our former life, is it? It's

comparison with the world, the people around that has not known Christ yet. If we were to

take our thoughts and our actions and have it scripted and recorded, would it look different

from the people around us? The things that we do in our personal, when we are alone, in our free

times, would it look different? Do the way we handle success and joy look different? Do the way we

steward suffering and loss look different? Or does the thing that give us joy and satisfaction in life

look different from the people around us? You see, in a very similar way that the adopted orphan does not

need to steal in light of who He is. We, too, are called to be holy, to separate our lives from our

previous life in light of what God has done, is doing, and will do. And to do that in all parts of our

lives, in our jobs, in our desires, in our life pursuits, in our education, in our relationships, in our

singleness, to look different from that of other people around us.

Well, Peter does not just stop there, does he? Because he tries to push this. He really challenges

the reader in this section. Because all of these things are not passive. It's not about, okay, I believe

this and I'm going to be this. It's all about Peter saying, be holy. Be actively thinking about this.

Be actively pursuing this. Be actively holy where God has placed you.

Now, that might look very different for each one of us in our lives. And it might look very painful

because we are sinners, longing, still holding on to things like Kevin said, holding on to things

that we hold there while Christ is calling us. So you might want to ask yourself, what does it look

like for you to pursue holiness in where God has placed you? And here Peter goes on to say,

which leads us to our second thought today, therefore pursue holiness with fear. So let's look at verse 17.

Peter says, and if you call him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deed,

conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile. Now, Peter again calls us into something.

And he says to conduct yourself with fear. Now, we have to ask ourselves again, what does fear mean?

Now, we understand it to mean something very terrible, something scary. We don't want our kids

to fear us because it might mean we have done something terrible and they're scared of us.

But this one is a very different kind of fear. It is a reverential awe of the glory and power of God.

Now, imagine King Charles is in the hall here, right at Viva. And I'm pretty sure a lot of you are stronger

than him and taking him on a fight. I mean, he's 77 years old. That sounds sad. But as sad as in,

we don't want to fight him. But you would still show him respect. You'd still show him some kind of fear

because of his authority and who he is, isn't he? And that he is a king. Now, when we talk about God,

he is infinitely higher than any authorities and anything in all creation and in time. He is

unconceivably higher than all glory, power, might, and wisdom, anything and anywhere, everything in all

creation. In other words, fear of God is having this reverent awe, a respect for all that who he is,

is being in awe of all his power, knowing that he's wholly transcendent and sitting all under

that awesomeness of who he is. By the same time, fear of God also means it's to acknowledge

all that who he is. Imagine King Charles was here and you stand up and you shout at him.

What that says is you're not just only disrespecting him and not fearing, but you're also saying

with your actions that I don't acknowledge that you're a king and you have no authority over me.

In other words, to have fear of God is not just being in awe of who he is, but it's also to

acknowledge that he is God. Is to live in fear of God means that you're saying that he is king

and that he is God and that we are not and in all aspects of our life. You know the very famous verse,

the beginning of wisdom, is there? Fear of God. It starts with that. It's not just being in awe,

it's actually submitting ourselves and acknowledging that he is God, that he is king and I'm not.

In my pursuits, in my careers, in my singleness and dating life, he is God, not me. He has the final say,

not me, even when I don't like what God's word says, that he is king and God.

So what Peter is calling here, the readers, is to pursue holiness in all their conducts,

in all parts of their lives, and to do that with this reverent fear.

This amazing, awesome, in light of who awesome God is.

You see, in our Christian journey, we sometimes tend to fall towards being very passive and apathetic,

without being without passions and seriousness.

But this is very serious to what Peter is calling us.

You see, the way we deal with our sin,

our lifestyles, our pursuit of God,

it becomes very stagnant, passive, and passionless.

Peter here is calling us

to pursue holiness

with reverent fear.

This passage is challenging.

It is very,

it is calling us

into something.

But then, at the same time,

Peter also reminds us

of another truth here.

Look at verse 17.

He says,

conduct yourself with fear

throughout your time

of your exile.

And he's telling us

that we are in exile.

He's reminding us

of the exile

that began all the way

in the beginning of time

in Genesis,

when,

because of our sin,

we could no longer be

in our real home,

which is with God.

There was that time

in that fall

where our relationship

with God was broken,

and we were separated

from the source of life

and all things good,

and we were broken,

our relationships were broken,

our life were broken,

and the Word of God says

we were dead in our sins.

We were not struggling

with sins,

we were dead in our sins.

And the great news

is that while we were

still dead sinners,

Christ died for us,

taking our sins upon Himself,

paying the price

of our transgressions.

He died and rose again,

ascended into heaven,

and with the sure promise

that He will come again,

return,

and everything that we lost

in Genesis

in the beginning

will be restored.

Our true home,

our relationship,

our brokenness,

our true home with God

will be restored.

But right now,

at present time,

we are journeying

through time

as sojourners,

still in exiles,

to that time

when Christ will return.

It's verse 13, right?

To put our hope fully,

set our hope fully,

when one day

this grace will be revealed

in Christ Jesus.

So what Peter is saying here

is this,

is to pursue holiness,

to set yourself life apart

from other people,

to have our life

aligned with who God is

and what He has done,

at the same time

doing this

with this reverent awe

of who God is,

acknowledging who He is,

and having Him

as God and King

of our life,

but at the same time

knowing that

we are not there yet,

that we are still exiles,

we are still on our journey

to our real home

and it's not here.

Churches,

let us think about that.

Do we live our lives,

pursue holiness,

deal with sin

with that kind of attitude?

When there are conflicts

within your friend circles,

and I know conflicts

are difficult and complicated,

but do we still pursue

resolution with fear

of who God is

and in awe

of how He

has forgiven us?

How about

ongoing sins

in our lives?

Have we fallen

into a pattern

and have started

taking things

very lightly

and not really

dealing with our sins?

How about

the plans

and pursuit

of our lives

and careers

of our lives?

Do we look at

our jobs

and career pursuits

and education

as exiles

or do we invest

everything

like our time

and resources

here

rather than

keeping one eye

on our real home

and investing there

with the way

we spend our time

and energy?

What's our heart

attitude

towards life?

What's our heart

attitude

in our pursuit

of holiness?

Now,

it feels like

it's all heavy.

The passage

is really

challenging us

and calling us

to pursue holiness.

To think of our life

is challenging

parts of our lives

that we have

kind of

let the ball drop.

So,

we begin with

the word

therefore.

Now,

I want us

to remember that

because all of this,

the pursuit

of holiness

with fear,

it begins

with

therefore.

It begins

with this

incredible truth

of who God is

and what He has done.

Now,

but amazing thing

what Peter does

at the end here

is Peter actually

takes a U-turn

and he goes back

to therefore

and we're going to

look at verses

18 to 21

because Peter again

steps back

and he starts

reminding us

of the great truths

of the good news

of Jesus Christ

which leads us

to our last thought

today.

Therefore,

pursue holiness

with fear

knowing that.

Look at verses

18 to 21

because it seems

that the Christian

living does not

just start

with a therefore.

It also ends

with a knowing

that, right?

God is good

therefore live

a life of holiness

knowing that

another great truths

of God.

It just,

this tells us

that the Christian

living is surrounded

and centered

around God

and His mighty works

and who He is.

So what does Peter

want us to know

here at the end?

Well, there are two things

here.

Look at verse 18

and 19.

Verse 18,

In other words,

Peter here is saying

that you have been

bought out of your

former life.

Remember verse 14

when Peter says,

don't be conformed

to your former ignorance?

Here,

Peter is saying

that because,

don't do that,

because you have been

bought out of it

by the blood of Christ.

Church,

do you see what

Peter is saying here?

The reason Peter

is giving us

not to go back

into your life

but to pursue holiness

is not because

so that being holy

is going to save you

but he's saying

that because

you have been saved,

because you have been

bought out of it

by the precious blood

of Christ,

don't go back there.

Pursue holiness.

You know,

there's a story

of a well-known pastor,

Paul Washer.

I don't know

how many of you know.

Very serious guy.

Yeah,

you know.

He's very serious.

He talks about a story

where one person

asked him,

how is it

that one soul

is able to save

billions and trillions

of souls

in past,

present,

and future?

That doesn't seem

to add up,

you know.

It's like paying

one dollar

and getting

billions and trillions

of dollars in hand.

It doesn't make sense.

How can one soul

of Jesus Christ

save billions

and trillions

of souls

across history?

And this was his answer.

I'm paraphrasing,

by the way.

And he says this,

imagine a scale.

Imagine a scale

and on one side

you put everything

of all creation,

you put all the money,

all the gold,

you put all the mountains

and planets

and animals

and humans

and music

and poetry

and wisdom

and knowledge,

everything there is,

the whole universe

on one side of scale

and you put

one other side,

you put Jesus

and you weigh it

and Jesus

will still be

infinitely more precious

and more worthy

and more valuable

than all of this creation

put together

at the end of it all

because he is

the son of God.

He is the creator,

king of all kings

and he is the one

where everything

and everything

that we see

was where

through him

and for him

created.

And church,

you

were ransomed

by his

precious blood.

Now I can go on

and give an example

of how

a man gives

a billion dollars

and saves you

out of jail

but nothing

in all creation

comes to close

to Christ

pouring out

his precious blood

to save

sinners

like us,

to save

sinners like me.

And Peter,

the reason

he gives us

to pursue holiness

is that you

have been ransomed

not by gold,

not by silver,

not by anything

most precious

and diamonds

and jewels

but by the most

precious thing

in all creation

that is

the precious blood

of Christ Jesus.

And the second

Peter wants us

to know

is this,

verse 20,

he,

Christ Jesus,

was foreknown

before the foundation

of the world

but was made

manifest in 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.

In other words,

because of what

God did in Christ,

his death,

resurrection,

and glory,

now that your faith

and hope

is in God.

That means

that your faith

and hope

is a living hope.

Because of what

Jesus has done,

your faith

and hope

is fully secured.

What Peter

is saying here

is at the end

of this is,

look,

that you have been

ransomed

by the precious

blood of Christ

and because of

God's work

in Christ Jesus,

your faith

and hope

is not in

material things

and works

and salvation

and whatever

there is.

Look at the last sentence,

your faith

and hope

is in God

and is secured

and is guaranteed

in Him.

Isn't that wonderful?

You know,

first,

in verse 14,

he tells us,

hey,

it's God

who judges,

live with fear.

One day he will judge,

but at the end

he tells us,

but because your faith

is in Christ Jesus,

your faith

and hope

is completely

secured.

Lord.

So,

if you are here

for the first time

or if you're exploring

Christian faith,

here's an invitation

for you

to come to this

holy God

who,

when you put your life

in His hand,

He will ransom you

into His family,

securing not only

your future,

but also giving you

life right now,

calling you

to be His sons

and daughters.

And if you do

call yourself

a Christian

this morning,

let these words

abide in your hearts.

To live,

therefore,

to live in light

of what God

has done

in Christ Jesus

and how we've

been ransomed,

to pursue holiness

in all parts

of our life

with reverent fear,

having our eyes

fixed

on the future

when Christ

will return,

will come,

and when there

shall be no more

sin,

no more suffering,

and all the things

that is wrong

will be put right,

when we will be

finally arriving

in our true home.

And I know

we all came

with a very different

state of heart.

I know that some of us

are going through pain

and struggles

and sufferings

and health problems,

while some of us

are maybe just

struggling with sin.

Or maybe we're

just thinking,

my Christian life

has been stagnant

and it just feels

I'm going nowhere.

Or maybe some of us

are doubting our faith.

Or maybe some of us

are just very far away

thinking,

I think Christ

has already

rejected me.

Well, this passage

calls all of us

come to Him,

the Holy God,

with whom you don't

pursue holiness,

you don't be good

to be saved,

but you be good,

you pursue Him

because He has

pursued us first.

He has ransomed you

with the precious

blood of Christ

while we were

still sinners.

What hand do we have

in our salvation?

What do we offer

in our salvation,

in our saving

of our souls?

nothing is Christ

Jesus who puts

down His life.

And we come

with open arms

in faith and

in hope.

And our faith

and hope is not

vain because now

it's placed in God,

the one who has

been faithful

throughout history.

He has been faithful

with this covenant.

He has been faithful

in Christ Jesus

and He will forever

be faithful.

He is our rock.

He is our cornerstone.

He is the unchanging

one.

He is the Alpha,

He is the Omega.

this is our hope.

Our hope is not

in vain.

It's in living God.

So church,

let us keep our eyes

fixed that one day

Christ will come

and we will be home.

So Watermark Church,

friends,

brothers and sisters,

verse 13,

therefore,

in light of all

that truths,

preparing your minds

for actions

and being so reminded,

set your hope

fully on the grace

that will be brought

to you

at the revelation

of Christ Jesus.

Let us pray.

Father,

we,

as we think

of all of this,

we

can't help

but be lost

of word.

God,

when you just

even think of

while we were

still sinners,

you died for us.

God,

Psalms really

captured what are we,

what are men

that you care

so much about us

and yet,

God,

you have sent

your son,

Jesus Christ,

to die

so that we can live,

that he took

upon our sins

and we take

upon his righteousness,

his life.

God,

what a beautiful

exchange that we

can do this.

God,

in light of all

of that,

may our life

not just be

a life that is

passionless

and passive.

Help our hearts

to pursue you,

to pursue holiness

with reverent awe

of who you are

and what you have done.

God,

knowing that you are

faithful,

you have been faithful

and you will always

be faithful,

fixing our eyes

to that day

when you,

Christ,

will come again

and all our

sufferings

and all our

health challenges

and every suffering

in the world

and all evils

will be put right.

God,

help us to

live a life

of holiness

because you,

God,

you are holy.

So,

Father,

come,

have your way

in our lives

and we glorify you.

In Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.