1 Peter 1:17-21 Arguments for Holy Living pt2
Good morning! We are picking up where we left off last week in 1 Peter, verses 17-21, page 1014 in the pew Bibles.
Last week we left on kind of a cliffhanger, we got the first three points on Arguments for Holy Living, what could the second three possibly be?!
It’s not much of a cliffhanger really, you have the text right in front of you and can read it for yourselves… Let’s read that text, we’ll pray, and then review.
17 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, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 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.
Let’s pray.
So let’s review, what are the first three arguments for holy living based on this text?
Argument #1, We call on Him as Father, so we should act like His children. True faith is not a hollow dream nor empty talk but holy living in the fear of God, holy living in reverence and awe of our Father.
Loving our enemies, doing good, lending without expecting anything in return, being kind to the ungrateful and evil, being merciful just as our Father is merciful; being imitators of God as dearly loved children; we call on Him as Father, we should act like His children.
Argument #2, He judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, and so, we should act accordingly, not to earn our salvation but to prove it. For we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 2 Cor 5:10
Argument #3, Jesus chose us out of the world, we are exiles, therefore don’t start acting like the locals. The world hates the church because it hates Jesus, if we belonged to the world the world would love us as its own but because Jesus chose us out of the world we are not of this world anymore, so stop acting like it.
So because I love three point sermons so much the Lord decided to bless me with two in a row…
This morning we are going to focus on three more arguments for holy living.
I’d like to introduce those three arguments with a quote from Bede the Venerable. What a great name, he sounds like a character in a fantasy book or movie.
He was an actual person though, a Benedictine monk born around the turn of the eighth century in England.
He wrote, “In proportion to the price at which you have been redeemed from corruption of carnal life should be your fear not to grieve your Savior’s heart by a relapse, for the punishments will correspond to the worth of the ransom.”
Bede the Venerable was pointing back to where this argument all started, and that is the great worth of the gospel, the treasure that is the grace that is ours through faith in Christ. And that is where the second three arguments find their basis: when we consider the great worth of our salvation and the great price that was paid for it, we cannot help but aspire to holy living.
So here is Argument #4 from verse 18, 19: 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
Argument #4 is that we have been ransomed and the price was great.
So in considering this argument it would behoove us to have a good understanding of what Peter meant by, “ransomed.”
Jesus said in Mark 10:45, “That He did not come to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.”
The word translated, “ransom,” can be, and has been translated, “redeemed.” These are fine words, churchy words, we sing them all the time. It stands to reason then that we ought to have a strong handle on what they mean.
The word, “lytroo,” translated here, “ransom,” describes deliverance, liberation, it’s the process of setting slaves free, purchasing them from their former masters with the express purpose of setting them free.
Jesus Himself purchased us from our former master: death, and has set us free from the futile ways inherited from our forefathers that only lead to death, so that, we could have new life in Him.
As I said last week, the futile ways of our forefathers have their roots in appearances, devoid of all true foundation, they are selfish, empty and hollow. They may fool our friends but they will never fool our Father. We have been set free from these sinful ways that lead only to death, we have been bought back and the price paid was great.
1 Timothy 2:5,6 says, 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all…
The price paid was not perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
The precious blood of Christ, undefiled by sin, unstained. He is the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world just as John the Baptist proclaimed.
We see the shadow of that Spotless Lamb in the Passover, the blood of the lamb spread on the doorposts of the houses of Israel so that the Angel of Death would pass over them while they were in Egypt.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Sounds like holy living!
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. That also sounds like holy living!
Titus 2:14 says, [Jesus Christ] gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. More holy living!
I could go on forever… actually, we will! But not starting right now…
Argument #4, we have been ransomed, bought back from death, and the price was great.
JP Lange wrote, “The blood of the God-Man is more valuable by far than the blood of many thousand valiant warriors.”
Argument #5 for holy living, Christ was foreknown by God and sent to earth for us.
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you…
This may seem obvious, probably because we talk about it all the time, but hear me out.
Christ coming to ransom us, to redeem us, was not a natural development. Jesus wasn’t just some good guy from the backwoods that thought He could help people by dying on a cross just for telling people to be nice to each other.
Jesus didn’t just show up when the time was right or the conditions were right, like a, “when the student is ready, the master will appear,” type of thing.
It was known and determined by God before Adam took his first breath that Christ would be sent to die on the cross to pay the price of our redemption, it wasn’t a sudden, knee-jerk decision by God, it was the plan from before the beginning.
The plan from before the beginning was to send Christ for us. Believers are the end and aim of the mission of Christ. He was sent so that we might believe, and so we do, and so we owe Him our allegiance and our obedience. We owe Him holy living.
Argument #4, we have been ransomed, bought back from death, and the price was great.
Argument #5, Christ was foreknown by God and sent to earth for us. Our salvation was the plan all along and so we ought to live in holiness.
And finally, Argument #6, God made faith and hope in Him truly possible through Christ and faith results in holy living.
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 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 faith and hope in God through Christ is the first step in holy living.
Hebrews 11:6 says …without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Holy living has faith and hope as its foundation, holy living is the sweet fruit of faith. This may, in truth, be the hardest of the arguments to live with but here goes…
James 2:14-19:
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
James used the word, “works,” we have been using the words, “holy living.” They mean the same thing.
Holy living is the evidence of faith and hope in God through Christ.
If we have faith in Christ, if we have faith in His resurrection, if we have hope in His return, the confident expectation that His return will truly complete our salvation, then we will live lives in pursuit of holy living, the type of lives that He describes in His Word.
God sent Him, God raised Him, God glorified Him, God will send Him back for us, our faith and Hope are in God through Christ, and so, we must live lives that prove it.
We call on Him as Father, and so, we should act like his children.
He judges impartially based on a person’s deeds, and so, our deeds should be worthy of Him according to His Word.
We are exiles in this world because Jesus chose us out of the world, an so, we should not conform to the wicked customs of the land of our sojourn.
We have been ransomed and the price was great, and so, our lives should reflect our gratitude.
Our salvation through faith in Christ was God’s plan from the beginning, and so, we ought to live lives of holiness.
And finally, God made faith and hope in Him possible through Christ, and true faith results in holy living.
There’s an often incompletely understood word that gets used a lot in the church, that word is, “worship.” Worship is often used to describe only singing, maybe even expanded to encompass our weekly services. But that kind of worship is only once a week, that kind of worship, though it is wonderful, is incomplete.
Life is worship. Through holy living we worship our Father. When we don’t pursue holy living as described in God’s Word we worship something else.
17 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, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 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. Amen.
