Hope and Holiness
Elect Exiles • Sermon • Submitted
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· 11 viewsWe must put our hope in the future, for by it we will receive strength to remain holy in the present.
Notes
Transcript
If you have your Bibles, please open them to two spots.
Exodus 12:11 and 1 Peter 1:13
Tonight we will continue into our second week in our study through 1 Peter that we are calling “Elect Exiles.”
Peter himself, wrote to those who he called the ‘elect exiles.’ The title ‘Elect Exiles’ is a helpful way for us to understand who we are as Christians in this world that is passing away.
First we are elect - that is we are chosen and saved by God, and as such, we are the most blessed and happy people of all people in the world.
But this blessing doesn’t mean that we won’t have troubles in this world. For while we are elected by God, we are also exiles in the world. For those who don’t know what an exile is, it is a stranger, a wonderer in a foreign land that is not our home.
We will have troubles in this life… I don’t want us to be surprised by this… and Peter doesn’t want his readers to be surprised either.
The term ‘elect exile’ is rich with meanings pulled directly from the OT. For the people of Israel were also elect exiles. And so throughout this book, and even today, Peter will use OT images to describe what it is like to live as Christians, that is, as elect exiles in this world.
With this in mind, let’s stand for the reading of God’s word. We will start in Exod 12:11-13 and then we will read 1 Peter 1:13-21.
11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
13 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. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 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
Intro: Dress for the occasion.
Clearly I am not dressed for the right occasion tonight.
If you showed up to basketball practice wearing flip-flops… your coach would send you back to the locker room to put on shoes
If you showed up to a gym wearing jeans, everyone would think you have lost your mind.
And if you are outside running wearing a mask in the heat of the summer, then you are absolutely crazy.
We all understand, that if we are required to exercise and preform a high level, we must dress for the activity.
Similarly, when Israel was about to flee in the exodus, God told them to dress for the journey.
Remember the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, but God delivered them from their slavery in wonderful ways and give them a land of their own.
But, even though God was going to deliver them, this didn’t mean God was going to give them a magic carpet ride to the promised land… not at all. In fact, as they were about to leave Egypt God gave them these instructions that we read earlier;
11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
God is about to deliver Israel from their slavery… and he is giving them instructions on how to eat the passover meal. But even though God is the one who is going to deliver Israel from their slavery, this doesn’t mean that they have no part to play in this act of redemption. God instructs them to have their belt fastened and sandals on their feet and staff in hand, because soon they will need to run out of Egypt.
With your belt fastened… the KJV is more literal saying they are to have their loins girded…
Robe illustration
This is what it means to have your belt fastened…
Peter borrows this language but applies it to the Christian life when he says;
13 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.
Now the ESV is making this really easy for us to understand when it says “prepare your minds for action” but a more literal translation of this would say “gird up the loins of your mind”
So like the way Israel was to gird up their loins and be prepared to run… so too, we must gird up our minds and be prepare for what will be required of us as elect exiles.
1. Living in the world as elect exiles requires hard work.
1. Living in the world as elect exiles requires hard work.
The Christian life is a life of hard work…
But don’t be confused in what Peter or I am saying. It’s not that we need to do good works in order to be saved. We are saved by grace alone, but if you are in fact saved then it will be evident because you will do good works.
The good works that we are to do does not contribute to our salvation. But the good works that we are to do is proof that we have in fact been saved.
Jesus said it like this.
16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
So if you are a Christian, then you there ill be good fruit that comes from your life. If you are a Christian you will be marked by
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Jesus tells us that this fruit comes from him
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
The Christian life is evident by good fruit that comes from the Spirit of God. But if you think you are saved, and all the while your life is not accompanied with good fruit, well then it you must rightly see that you are not saved.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
If you are banking on grace, but all the while you are living in sin listen to Pauls serious warning…
“those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”
Now, these sins are not too great for God’s grace.
If we are guilty of sin… there is grace to be recieved if we confess our sins to Jesus and turn away from our sins.
But if we are living in sin, make no mistake about it. You will not inherit the kingdom of God.
With this in mind, let’s return to what Peter is saying… there is hard work that must be done in the Christin life.
it is a work of killing sin, and sowing to the spirit so that what we will reap are the fruit of the Spirit.
But what kind of work is this exactly?
13 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.
Prepare your minds for action… sober minded…
So our preparation is not through wearing our work out clothes to be ready for a run… rather the work that Peter is calling us to begins in the mind.
Often times, Christians are considered people of faith who simply do not think. As if faith requires no logic at all. It’s quite the opposite. People of faith are people who think with their minds.
I’m not saying, that people without faith are people who don’t think. Rather, people who are without faith are people who don’t think rightly for they lack the right information.
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
… don’t be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance…
back before you were saved, you lacked the right knowledge. But now we have a new knowledge of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And since we have this knowledge, we must continue to set prepare our minds for action.
So then how specifically are we to prepare our minds for action?
13 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.
2. As exiles, we must prepare for action by setting our hope in Jesus’ return.
2. As exiles, we must prepare for action by setting our hope in Jesus’ return.
Peter says, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Peter elaborates on the measure of our hope when he says,
“Set your hope FULLY on the grace that will be brought to you.”
we set our hope in all kinds of things.
On Monday, how many of you were hoping for cooler weather?
Today during work, I was hoping my work would be fruitful and productive.
Other times, we hope for
good grades
being accepted by a certain person or group of people
we set our hope on the weekend
on a jobs, on riches, on comforts, hobbies
We set our hope in all kinds of things.
But if our hope rests in any of these things… then our minds are not rightly girded…
Or to say it like the ESV does… if our hope is on anything other that Jesus’ return, then our minds are not prepared for action.
Picture me in my robe… if my wife wanted me to run to the store, and I was wearing my PJs and a robe, well I wouldn’t be ready to go out the door would I?
Picture the Israelite who was about to flee at the Exodus… except he is not ready to run… Elaborate
When our hope is in anything other than the grace that is to be revealed when Jesus returns, we are like that Israelite who will not be able to run when trouble comes.
If our hope is in this world, then we will give into the sins of this world when Satan tempts us…
But if our hope is in Jesus’ return, then this hope will motivate us for holiness.
3. Hope in Jesus’ return will motivate us for holiness.
3. Hope in Jesus’ return will motivate us for holiness.
Listen to the way Peter says it,
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Notice the word “obedient”
If we are God’s children, we are to obey him much like we are to obey our earthy parents.
And God call us to be holy because he is holy.
This word holy, or the word holiness…
it simply means to be set apart. For us to be holy, means that we will be set apart from the rest of the world. We will be distinct and different from the world. And the way that we are distinct is through our obedience to God’s Word.
To be clear, there is a need to be set a part and holy, for Peter continues with the imagery of us as God’s children when he says
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,
Our Father is also the Judge. And as the Judge, we will bring impartial judgment according to each one’s deeds…
Do you understand what that means? It means that when he comes, he will come to judge all people with an equal standard. That’s what the word impartial means. It means he will look at your sins, and will judge you for what you have done regardless of who your family is, regardless of what what your if your rich or poor, regardless of if you are a male or female, regardless of whether you have gone to church or not… regardless of who you are, he will judge you based on your deeds.
We see this impartial judgment in Exodus as well
11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
Understand, that if there is no blood over the doorpost of the house of Israel, then God will bring judgment in their homes as well.
There is a need for them to obey God’s commands here in Exodus. And the command requires that a lamb dies in the place to the firstborn son of in each household.
So I want us to notice that there is a call to obedience… but not just obedience, but also blood must be shed if we wish to escape the judgment that is to come.
So too, there has been a ransom from our slavery.
You were ransomed with the precious blood of Jesus.
And that ransom was effective because he was holy…
like a lamb without blemish or spot…
Jesus died in our place, like the lamb who’s blood covered the doorposts of the Israelites.
But he died not just so that we would be forgiven…
But he also died so that we would be delivered from our “futile ways” v 18
That is, he died so that we would be made holy… so that we would be obedient children…
He dies so that we would obey him.
Those who know nothing of holiness in their life know nothing of grace.
Understand, if you are living in sin… it is owing to the fact that you have not been ransomed by the blood of Jesus.
But there is good news. There is mercy and forgiveness for those who repent.
But repentance isn’t just saying you are sorry for sin…
Repentance is also turning away from sin.
So let us repent as it is fitting.
And let us turn to Christ, and set our hope fully on him.