Walking in Holiness
Notes
Transcript
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be 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 your conduct,
because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
INTRO:
INTRO:
1. Christians were scattered all over the world because of persecution; but Peter told them to live in hope because there was coming a day that they would be in Heaven.
2. The fact that believers have eternal life in Heaven to look forward to is great, but that does not change the fact that believers have to live in this dark world. It would be easier to just “blend in”, but Peter tells believers to live in holiness. In this text, we are taught how to live in holiness.
Therefore” is referring us back to the previous verses where Peter discussed salvation.
What Peter is saying is, “Because of your salvation, here is how you are to live”. Peter is telling Christians that we walk in holiness. We must be set apart.
How do we do that?
Be Alert
Be Self-Controlled
Be Holy
1. Be Alert
1. Be Alert
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
The first aspect of walking in Holiness it to be alert and on guard.
Prepare your mind
Prepare your mind
MacArthur Study Bible NASB (Commentary)
The ancient practice of gathering up one’s robes when needing to move in a hurry; (such as running into battle)
here, it is metaphorically applied to one’s thought process.
The meaning is to pull in all the loose ends of one’s thinking, by rejecting the hindrances of the world and focusing on the future grace of God
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
We must focus our minds to remain alert.
When I was commuting to seminary, I had to work at this. I would often work 24 hours at Teague EMS. There were times I would get very little sleep. I had to focus on driving. ONCE in class.... it took great effort to stay alert in class.... In fact, my notes reveal some days I wasn’t successful!
This is important:
Be alert.
Be ready to engage in spiritual conflict
Be ready to witness
Be ready to disciple
It means we must Prepare our minds so they are ready for action at a moments notice.
Be sober
Be sober
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Have right thinking!
Sober= calm, collected, Self-controle
We must be in charge of our priorities and not intoxicated with the allurements of the world.
Rest in Grace
Rest in Grace
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Live for the future
Our HOPE is in the Lord!
We look forward to the Lord’s return
Yes, we have grace today
Saving grace
Sustaining grace
Then: Grace will be fully realized!
End of suffering and our spiritual struggle
We will see Him, and As Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus says:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace
Rest our hope fully in that grace!
No struggle in this life can compare to that
Remaining spiritually alert is difficult
It requires effort on our part
It requires study of the Word and correcting our lives in light of it.
It requires repenting when we are confronted with our own sin.
Rest comes when Christ returns to take us home!
2. Be Self-Controlled
2. Be Self-Controlled
Live our lives in a manner that pleases Him!
Our conduct should conform to His standard of Holiness
- Obedience in all things [1 Peter 1:14]
1 Peter 1:14 (NKJV)
as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
We are to live as obedient children. Sounds simple right? The chances of me living my daily life as an obedient child of God is as simple as it was for me and my brothers living as obedient children everyday without fighting, arguing, etc… So how do we live as obedient children?
Stop conforming
Stop conforming
- Avoid conformity to former ignorance [1 Peter 1:14]
DON’T go back!
Upon salvation, we left the world system
We have been made alive and sealed by the Holy Spirit
We are equipped to walk for God’s purpose
Don’t return to the former ways
Stop living in the pattern of the world
They (and we) are told specifically to not return to our past
Former lusts
The unsaved walk driven by their lusts
Their appetites and feelings drive them.
Their deceitful hearts lead them astray
Why do some commit aldutery? Their lusts
Why do some hate and murder? Their lusts
Whey do some dishonor their parents? LUST
Do you see pattern?
That lifestyle should be over for the child of GOD
NO, we don’t change to be saved, we change BECAUSE we are saved.
Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?
No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
such WERE some of you
When saved, our lifestyle of lust should end!
Be Like the Father
Be Like the Father
but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
The Bible, without equivocation, claims that God is holy.
Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne room: Seraphim flying and shouting:
And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”
Paul Tripp said:
It's as if I were to say to you, "I saw this guy at the ballgame who was huge, huge, huge!" You would know right away that this was not an average big guy. Because of my repetitive emphasis on the word "huge" you would be forced to imagine that this guy was the biggest guy I ever saw in my life!
In the same way, "holy, holy, holy" is meant to stretch the boundaries of your imagination. Whatever you think of when you hear that God is holy, you need to know that God is in an entirely different category of holiness; he is much holier than you ever thought holiness could be.”
The Seraph add: “The whole earth is filled with his glory."
His holiness fills the Earth
Holy:
Hebrew word qadowsh which means "to cut."
To be holy means to be cut off, or separate, from everything else.
It means to be in a class of your own, distinct from anything that has ever existed or will ever exist.
Qadowsh means a second thing: to be holy means to be entirely morally pure, all the time and in every way possible.
When you put these two elements of holiness together, you're left with only one conclusion:
that the Lord of hosts is the sum and definition of what it means to be holy. He occupies a moral space that no one has ever occupied before, and as such, we have no experience or frame of reference to understand what he is like because there's nothing like him.
We are told to be holy… be LIKE Him
As His children, people should see Him in us.
We should reflect His holiness to the world!
A child takes time to resemble his father, a little shows in the infant, but as they grow, they often more closely resemble them.
So does a new born child of God. But the Holy Spirit will "conform" him.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Conc
Conc
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be 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 your conduct,
because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”