Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: how will you follow Jesus in prayer and dependence on God this week?
Main Points
In this lesson shaped by Calvary Boise's teaching on 1 PETER: Discovering Holiness, Christ invites us to receive truth with humility, practice repentance, and walk in faithful obedience.
Sin and Salvation
we are doing a series that really lives in between Easter which we celebrated a few weeks ago and Pentecost which we will celebrate. coming in the early weeks of June and the series aligns with a pattern that happened between Jesus and His disciples because after Easter. he rises he rose again he's revealed in his glorious new body to his disciples and he gives them this grand hope that what. he has just accomplished by conquering sin and death will now be the victory that is for anyone who believes in Him and the. disciples like us couldn't wait to get to the next order of business and they said to Jesus is now the time that we're. going to restore the kingdom and he said not yet they're gonna wait and he opened up the scriptures and he spent a number. of days with them revealing to them all of the things about the scripture that pointed them to this new life that he was. going to send them into the world to represent and so we are going to take time as a church which we've been doing. for the last couple weeks asking ourselves for those of us who believe that Easter is not some random calendar holiday but it truly. is the firstborn of all creation Christ risen from the grave the hope now lives in us the same spirit that rose Christ from. the grave is available to any one of us the indwelling of the power of God in us that we should walk in the. newness of life what does that life look like well we spent a couple weeks examining that life the characteristics of the born-again life. not an option it's not some denomination of Christianity some label that some of us where Jesus says you must be born again the. natural life will never inherit the kingdom or the eternal weight of glory that God has waiting for us you must be born anew. by the Spirit of God and so first Peter we've been examining this because it is an amazing letter to this dispersed church the. early believers that lays out the born-again life and what it looks like we spent a couple weeks looking at that and this week. we're going to do that in the Third Way with a topic that is sometimes can be very weighty and almost feel burdensome so. I warn you right now that this next characteristic of the born-again.
Grace and Justification
life is something that you must be marked by and we have to spend some time this morning unpacking because it comes with some. assumptions that we need to make sure we're right about what this looks like we'll find this characteristic or the birthmark of the born-again. believer starting in first Peter chapter 1 verse 13 it says this therefore gird up the loins of your mind be sober and rest. your hope fully upon the grace that is brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children not conforming yourselves to. the former lusts as in your ignorance but as he who called you is holy you also be holy in all of your conduct. because it is written be holy for I am holy now the passage of Scripture this morning starts with the words therefore and we're. gonna get to that but the thing to point out is that this is a word that is used to say based off everything. that has previously been stated we now have the next steps of the theology that was unpacked now mainly speaking Peter is saying you've. been born again by the mercies of God you have a begotten of life again to a Living Hope and with that Living Hope. you have an inheritance in heaven with that Living Hope you have the power of God reserving you until you get there you have. the hope in you that the prophets waited for and we've spent weeks looking at those hopes that all of us have as the. born-again believer and now it says therefore because you're born again because you are marked by the Spirit with the eternal destiny in your. future now very simply born-again believer reminder for those of you who are born again and an invitation to be born again with the. most important characteristic of the born-again life be holy that is what it means now to be marked by the Spirit of God you. have a call on your life as he called you to be holy and before we look into the how we do that and. really get into the sermon of exhortation I start by saying that this can be a burdensome topic the idea of holiness does not. always attract a crowd there's many things that we say about God is an invitation to know him as the street evangelist of our. church go into the streets or you see the bumper stickers you.
Sin and Salvation
get one shot to tell somebody about God and very rarely do you hear someone say hey just so you know there's a God. in heaven and he's holy it's not what we think of as an invitation in typically we say God is love or God is. relationship not religion or God is Savior you can take away your sin and give you a second chance or a new life but. what this is saying is one of the first things you have to know about what God is offering you and the born-again life. is he's calling you he's making you and he's saying be holy so what is it and why does it feel so burdensome at. times you've heard the phrase maybe the believers or churchgoers can come across holier than thou it's almost something that we try to warn. people against well let me spend this morning reminding us that it is good to be holy it is part of your born-again responsibility. to be holy in my reading this week I came across a list of a survey of non churchgoers trying to give a definition. of holiness as I read this hopefully we can define what holiness isn't as we look to what holiness is because we are marked. by it now so I give you the top five answers on the board number one it says holiness is the absence of feeling. there's this idea that spirituality and holiness the heavenly glow is that you have removed yourself from all pleasure of the world and you're. no longer ruled by emotion you're so holy that you have no feeling that's according to the survey that's not what we're going to. talk about this morning number two is holiness means that you are serious all the time there's no laughter there's no fun there's no. excitement holy people have a very stern look upon their face and you can tell that they're holy because they're always serious holiness is. the religious acts of prayer and fasting all the time in other words holiness means nothing but church and I'm the good news this. morning is that's not holiness we're gonna end our church service and I'm gonna give you the promise that you can leave here and. pursue holiness apart from this place meaning what holiness doesn't exist in an hour and a half of your life on Sundays number four. is that the holiness is the judgment of sin but if.
Sin and Salvation
you're really holy if you figure out holiness for your life you are someone who can rightly identify and separate yourself from sinners or. unholy people and finally it says holiness and this is my personal favorite number one answer now long beards and white robes and as. you can see I don't believe that's what holiness is I have a short beard and a purplish blue shirt and based off what. I've just read if this was holiness very few of us would be interested in it very few of you are living up to. it very few of you probably want to be holy so let us set aside the assumptions of holiness and now let's consider why. this is good news the born-again life says be holy as God is holy so what is it we are talking about holiness by. the way is all throughout scripture when we think about who God is and we define him in his love and his compassion as. long-suffering what we're actually saying is that all those characteristics of his are unique and perfected in him which means that yes god is. love and kind long-suffering and compassionate but all of those things are so radically pure and perfect in God that it makes him totally. different than any expression of those things that you'll find in this world and that gets us closer to the idea of holiness in. its most simple understanding is to be set apart and as this verse that we read this morning is quoting an Old Testament reference. to holiness what is it what do we find in the reference we find the law Leviticus chapter 20 where we are getting this. law given to man so that they can be set apart from God and this particular reference is Leviticus 20 25 where the law. says that you are to make a distinction between clean and unclean food set apart some and you eat the clean food because you. are being called to be set apart like God is set apart here is a exhort and an exaltation of the holiness of God. given to us in one of the first songs of worship or what were the early songs of worship in the Bible Exodus chapter. 15 the context of this is that God has just delivered his people from slavery in Egypt one of the most fundamental stories of. the Bible God's people are in slavery for 400 years.
Faith and Obedience
and he raises up one of his servants Moses to go in to be his voice peace his representative his servant to set his. people free and in doing that he gives all of these displays of the glory and the power of God through the plagues that. fall on Egypt and finally in the tenth plague Pharaoh finally says go leave and they are going and they get to the brink. of the Red Sea and the story is that God separates the waters they walk through on dry land as Pharaoh's armies follow them. the water swallows them whole and what they realize what these people realize about the God that has rescued them as he is uniquely. and gloriously different than any deity that they ever heard about in Egypt this is what they say in this moment of worship as. they realize that they have now been set free towards the promised land Exodus chapter 15 verse 11 who is like you O Lord. among the gods and the gods that were represented in Egypt were no God's at all but they were the best version of deity. in the world at the time because Egypt was the great superpower and Egypt tried to show people what God may look like and. what these people realize is the God that there's rescued them is totally unique totally different than anything that ever experienced in the idol. worship of Egypt who is like you majestic in holiness awesome and glorious the holiness of God is what you longed for because what. the holiness of God really gets that is there is something that goes beyond the creation and it taps into the Curry Eider because. god is not found in the creation in his full glory the creation will only give you small previews of his glory and you. were made to know the creator through worship and dwell with and have a relationship not simply with the small previews of glory in. the creation but with the Creator God who made everything in it the heavens and the earth that's what you were made for and. that is why sin is in its purest form the replacement of the God that she were made to worship that is outside anything. in creation and as Paul says in Romans that professing to be wise people go astray in their sin and become fools because they. actually begin to worship the creation rather than the Creator they exchanged.
Sin and Salvation
the holiness and the separate unique glory that only exists outside of creation with some fall of small and an inadequate version of the. glory of God and we all have our ways to break that commandment that says you shall have no other gods before me what. you long for more than anything is to find the holiness of God that it does not exist in this world this is how. CS Lewis says it in mere christianity preachers are not born with desire and less satisfaction for those desires exists a baby feels hunger. well there's such a thing as food and mothers you can attest to this thank God for that because when babies are hungry they. become tiny little animals and we can give them food because their cravings match something we can offer them and he goes on to. give all of these examples where the craving is met with something to fulfill it a duckling wants to swim well there's such a. thing as water men feel sexual desire well there is such a thing as sex if I find myself with a desire which no. experience in this world can satisfy the most probable explanation is that I was made for something outside of this world and you all. of us one of the weights of the human soul is that we long for our Creator that is a longing for holiness a. longing that cannot be satisfied until it is satisfied in the other nests the unique glory of God that is not in the creation. that is what holiness is that is what we have access to now with the spirit dwelling inside of us we are born again. so that we can experience a relationship and longed for that thing inside of us to be satisfied with the Living God and that. is why whether you know it or not you desire holiness you longed for the holiness of God and so what we have to. discover this morning is that the born-again life is marked by the characteristics of people who are in pursuit of and achieving a version. of glory by glory by glory unto salvation working it out and fear and trembling a holy life where we can be a representation. to the world that we live in the born-again life to the answer of the craving of the soul that holiness is actually something. that can be attained by the Spirit of God dwelling in.
Sin and Salvation
you so there are two ways that we'll look at this morning as we've already read in the verses that we've covered 13 14. 15 and 16 there are two things that in those distinctions the other nosov God you're being called to in your life the uniqueness. that God has in his holiness apart from the creation you're being called to in two ways now before I share these two ways. I want to say this the holiness of God is the point of every sermon it is what we find the word coming alive. in us to help us understand and know more and more and more this sermon will not cover every way that we are to. pursue and achieve the holiness of God by the born-again spirit but we're going to look at the ways that were being extorted to. do it this morning in these two ways the first way we're going to look at it is that unique and set apart in. the holiness of God with his spirit dwelling in us makes us uniquely different than we were before we are supposed to be uniquely. different than the fallen nature that we were initially born into every single one of us born of the mother's womb that we celebrate. this morning were born into a fallen nature that doesn't seek the holiness of God but it actually sees the lusts of our flesh. as the word puts it but in the indwelling of the Spirit we are called to be uniquely different now that is one of. the application points of this morning to leave here in pursuit of holiness that continually makes us uniquely different people now that we know. God as we were then before we knew him the second thing the set apart uniqueness of God now dwelling in us is that. we are called to be uniquely the same as God uniquely and think about what we're saying this morning there is a creator that. lives outside of creation imagine the glory that we will know when we see him face to face as we discover the universe continually. blowing our minds with its vastness there is a Creator God who made it and gave us the privileged planet would breathe breath in. our life he exists outside of it in all of his glory and the word says that we're supposed to be the other Ness. like him so you are called if you try to understand.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.