Know Where You’re Going • 1 Peter 1:13-21

38:51 Teaching begins

Notes

Death freaks us out. So we have a coping mechanism: don’t ever think about where we go when we die. We don’t think, period.

But since we received Jesus, we have to change that. Jesus gives us the promise of eternal life. But we’re not there yet. So we really do have to think about where we’re going. We have to know how to get where we’re going. And we need to know the power, the motive, the force, that will get us there.

Peter commands us to hope, to be holy, to fear God, in order to lay hold of life eternal.

I’m reading in 1 Peter 1:13-21.

1. The first command is to know where we are going, to hope.

A. Peter has already said we are born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That hope is to receive the end of our salvation, to be glorified with Christ. When Christ who is our life is revealed then we also will be revealed with Him in glory, says Paul in Colossians 3:4.

B. This is what we are living for with our lives.

1. That is, we are not expecting satisfaction in this life. Everything is futile, says Peter in verse 18. All we inherit from our fathers is futility. You work hard at having a good life, raise children, accomplish something, what is the end result? You die and leave everything behind. You can’t take it with you. All your hard work is for nothing. There is no eternal satisfaction in this life. There is no hope in this life.

2. That’s why in Philippians 3 Paul says that whatever things were gain to him, these he counted as loss for Christ. More than that, he counted all things as garbage in view of the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ. The main goal of his life was to attain to the resurrection from the dead. He let no other consideration get in his way, to mess up his vision of pressing on to the goal. The resurrection is the only hope in this world.

C. So Peter commands us, rest your hope fully upon the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1. We look at life through this grid: I am headed towards the resurrection from the dead. I am not looking to die, I am looking to live.

2. We have to keep asking the question: what compares to the resurrection from the dead and eternal life? Is there anything better? A new job? A new car? A better series on Netflix? How valuable is the resurrection to you? Is there anything more important that is a higher priority?

3. In order to keep this hope you have to think about it. Paul thought about this a lot. He wrote about it a lot.

a. Philippians 3:20-21: For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

b. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

c. There are places like this all through Paul and the rest of the New Testament.

2. Peter gives two ways that we carry out this command to hope. We hope in readiness for action and sobriety.

A. Gird up the loins of your mind means prepare mentally for action.

1. That’s referring to how people dressed in flowy robes. When you prepared to do something like lift something or run, you would take the flowy fabric that would get in your way, and tuck it in your belt that girded your loins, get it?

2. Get set for action in your mind. Action is doing something, takes exertion. You have to be ready to engage in something daring or difficult.

3. That’s because this goal of being glorified with Jesus is daring and difficult. You are opposed by the devil, the god of this world. You have to resist the devil. You have to resist the world. You have to resist your own sinful nature.

4. If this hope is worth everything, and it is, then you need to be prepared in your mind that this is worth every effort that it will take to go there. Otherwise you will say, it’s too hard. You will give up. Lose hope. No! You decide with Peter and with Paul, this hope of resurrection is worth losing all the world and considering it to be garbage. I’m not going to let garbage distract me from eternal life!

B. So then, how you also fix your hope is to stay sober.

1. The opposite to being sober is being intoxicated. That’s why people abuse alcohol and drugs, to be intoxicated. It makes you excited, it’s a thrill, or it stupifies you and makes you unconscious. You intoxicate yourself in order to escape from living a crummy life. Intoxication reduces your physical and mental control. You are not in control anymore, you have handed yourself over to a substance, and that substance is in control.

2. There are many other things like drugs and alcohol that people use to intoxicate themselves. Buying and selling possessions, collecting things, shopping, sexual activity, pornography, looking at things online, anything. Whatever gets you off of your main goal, reduces your control, reduces your readiness for action.

3. The price of intoxicating yourself with anything is that you lose control, you lose readiness, you lose time. It’s a distraction that goes in the opposite direction from where you really want to go. You can’t afford to let anything intoxicate you.

4. So you have to watch out for whatever you allow into your mind. Does it help you be ready for action? Does it keep you awake and sober? Or does it stupify you? Stimulate you? So that you lose control and focus and start going in the opposite direction from your goal? Does this thing make you focus on Jesus, or does it fight against Jesus for who is boss in your soul?

3. In order to be there in the resurrection with Christ we are commanded to take a certain way to glory, the way of holiness.

A. Holiness is essential to God’s nature.

1. There is a negative aspect to holiness. It is absolute purity. Not being mixed with anything that makes it corrupt, that deceives, or kills. Baby formula started killing babies. The reason was that milk farmers in China were making more money for their milk by stretching it. They would mix their milk with water and then put ground-up melamine in to make it thick and white. But when they added water and melamine to milk, it was no longer pure food, and it killed. Holiness is about pure life with no unholy, corrupt thing mixed in.

2. There is a positive aspect to holiness. The kind of life that is holy is characterised by love. 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you; and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. If we are to grow in holiness, then we are to grow in love. Love gives life. Love is pure. If our holiness does not have love in it, then it is not holiness. God is holy, and God is love.

B. That means Jesus is our standard to measure how we are doing in holiness, not people around us, not even people in the church.

1. People in the world are living a futile life, a life not worth anything. They can be self-centred, rude, uncaring, unthankful. None of that determines our behaviour. We have to keep thinking what is the biblical response? What is the holy, loving response, no matter what?

2. People in the church can be just as nasty, self- centred and corrupt as people in the world. Just because some Christian does something doesn’t mean it’s right.

3. So our standard is Jesus. How do we measure up next to Jesus? That means our holiness is also humble.

4. Here is the way to pursue holiness: as obedient children, not conformed to your former lusts which were yours in ignorance.

A. We truly are children of God.

1. We are born of the Spirit of God. God really is our Father who is in heaven. Our new life is made in the image of Christ, the Son of God.

2. Therefore we are not on our own to produce holiness. We do not strive to attain holiness by our own efforts. If we could do this on our own, then Jesus died in vain.

3. We pursue holiness as obedient children. Obedient means listening. We listen to Jesus’ command to abide in Me and I in you. As we yield ourselves to listen to the Holy Spirit our lives will produce holiness. Remember that the fruit of the Spirit abiding in us is love! There’s your holiness.

B. And as we yield to the Holy Spirit He will undo this work of our lives conformed to the former lusts.

1. We are forced into the mould of this world. This world is only lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life. Lust cannot be satisfied. It is impossible to resist the conforming power of the world to make us like everyone else living a futile and empty life. If we could resist this on our own, Jesus died for nothing.

2. But when we received Jesus as our Lord and Saviour those lusts were no longer ours, they belong to the old life that was crucified with Christ. The Holy Spirit lives in us, and we abide in Him. He satisfies us so we no longer live according to lust. We can deny those lusts. He enables us to resist being conformed. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. And He transforms our lives to be holy like Jesus. We will love what He loves, and hate what He hates.

3. This is a process. This is not a light, easy, quick process. It is painful, ongoing, humbling. God is moulding our character, and all the pain, suffering, difficulty, and exertion in this area is absolutely necessary. But we do it with Jesus, not on our own.

5. Now here is the command that furnishes the motive and the power to hope and to pursue holiness: fear God.

A. Fear? Really? Some people are going to think that following Jesus is sick because you live in fear. Be free from that, they say, don’t be scared of anything!

B. The fear of God is different from all other fears.

1. All other fears that we have are unclean. They defile us. They make us unable to face whatever it is we are afraid of. If I am afraid of spiders, then I’m not going to face a big spider. I am going to call for Joanie to come and kill it. I was in the Philippines and I was about to take a shower in the guest house. And in the shower was a huge cockroach eating the soap. I told the housemaid, “There’s a huge cockroach eating the soap!” She went into the bathroom, picked up the cockroach, crushed it in her hand, and looked at me. Went out of the room without a word. Now I was afraid of her, too.

2. But in Psalm 19:9 is says the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. It is pure, not mixed with anything that corrupts, deceives, or kills. Free from moral corruptions or sinister connections of any kind. If you fear God, you cannot continue in any moral corruption.

C. Because God judges impartially according to each one’s work.

1. God assigns rewards and punishments. He judges His creation. As we move towards the future we are moving towards judgment by God. Everyone will appear before God to be judged for what they did. It doesn’t matter who you are, how exalted you are, how powerful you are. God will judge everyone.

2. This is true for unbelievers and Christians. 2 Corinthians 5:9-11 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.

3. Jesus taught the fear of God. Luke 12:4-5 “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

4. What has really motivated me is Romans 8:12-14 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

5. This has motivated me to humble myself before God and say, God have mercy on me, a sinner. Motivated me to pray, please teach me Your ways, that I may know You. You are good and teach sinners in Your way, teach me! Make me a man after Your own heart! Work in me! Because there is no other way than to humble yourself before God in fear and say, help me!

6. God is going to answer that prayer. He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, overflowing in lovingkindness and truth.

6. Here are two ways we fear God: as our Father who is in heaven, and we hold the blood of Christ as precious.

A. We call upon the Father, and He is our Father.

B. Because He is our Father He will discipline us and raise us up as His children.

1. The writer to the Hebrews says, “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.”

2. There is no way that God will have illegitimate sons. They are not acknowledged, they are not accepted. If we do not accept our Father’s discipline, then He will not accept us, He will not acknowledge us.

C. We fear God as we hold the blood of Jesus to be precious, as it says in verse 18.

1. We could not be redeemed with perishable things like silver and gold. That stuff isn’t valuable to God because He made it to be temporary. It isn’t worth anything to Him. Nothing created can redeem you.

2. Only someone pure and holy dying in your place can save you. Someone who is imperishable, not subject to decay, enduring forever. That’s Jesus, the Son of God, who is eternal. He alone is precious and valuable to the Father.

3. Hebrews 9:11-14 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? We hold that blood to be precious.

4. Hebrews 10:26-31 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

7. So what?

A. What do you do? You hear about 47 things you gotta do. And there you are, juggling your spiritual life. Gotta hope, gotta be holy, gotta fear, aww... Plop, plop, plop. There’s my spiritual life, all on the floor. What do I do?

B. You know what I would do? Pray for the fear of the Lord. Start with that. Our problem is not that we fear the Lord, our problem is that we don’t fear Him enough.

C. I’ll show you two hints, if you like.

1. First is Isaiah 11:1-3 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. He gives that godly clean fear. Jesus delighted in that fear. You will, too.

2. Second is Proverbs 2:1-6 My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. If you pray over the word of God, you will discern the fear of the Lord.

D. The Holy Spirit and the scriptures will get you where you need to be: fearing God, pursuing holiness, until you are revealed with Christ in glory.

Let’s pray.