← Back to sermon library

Good evening, everyone. You can 
turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter. We're continuing 
on in my exposition of the book of 1 Peter. Tonight, we'll be 
looking at verses 17 to 21 of chapter 1, verse 17 to 21. If you recall from our previous 
sermons that Peter has gone through a series of instruction in the 
truths of what is all involved in the Christian life and salvation 
as a whole. What does that all mean in verses 
1 through 12? And then in verse 13, he turns 
to practical application of that. How do we live our lives in light 
of all these glorious truths that he's just taught on? And then in this passage here 
in 17 to 21, he sort of takes the entire book and and brings that into one little 
passage here. He gives us the root of the gospel 
message in verse 19 there, being in 18 and 19, redeemed by the 
precious blood of the Lamb, and how we live our lives in light 
of that. So we will read the entire chapter, 
and then we'll pray, and then we'll look at those verses there. 
So 1 Peter 1, beginning at verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus 
Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, 
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge 
of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience 
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace to you and 
peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, 
has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible 
and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven 
for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for 
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you 
greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you 
have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness 
of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, 
though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, 
and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom, having not 
seen, you love. Though now you do not see him, 
yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of 
glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your 
souls. Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched 
carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to 
you. Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of 
Christ who is in them was indicating when he testified beforehand 
the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 
To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us 
they were ministering the things which now have been reported 
to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by 
the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to 
look into. 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 as holy, you also be holy 
in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I 
am holy. And if you call on the Father, 
who without partiality judges according to each one's work, 
Conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in 
fear, knowing that you are not redeemed with corruptible things, 
like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition 
from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as 
of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was ordained 
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these 
last times for you, who through him believe in God, who raised 
him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and 
hope are in God. Since you have purified your 
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of 
the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 
having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, 
through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. Because 
all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower 
of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but 
the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word 
which, by the gospel, was preached to you. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father in heaven, when we come 
to passages of scripture like this that we hope to look at 
tonight, Lord, how can we do justice to the glory of the gospel 
of our Lord Jesus Christ? And Lord, we thank you that, 
as Paul said to the Corinthians, it's not about persuasive words 
of human wisdom, but that it would be a demonstration of the 
Spirit and of power. And Lord, that is our desire 
tonight, that your Holy Spirit be here in much power to aid 
in preaching the Word, and Lord, and to shine a light on the Savior, 
on our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. That whether, if there 
be sinners here tonight who have not come to Christ, have not 
believed on Him, that tonight, they would see the Savior, and 
that He would be exalted, and He would be made much of, Lord, tonight, 
and that they would believe on the Savior. And Lord, if there 
be those, and for the rest, Lord, of Your people, those who have 
believed in the Savior, that tonight would be a means for 
their edification, for their growth in grace and knowledge 
for love of the Savior, Lord, that you would be pleased to 
bless each one of us here tonight through the preaching of your 
word. And, Lord, we look to you and we ask you for aid and for 
assistance in this, and we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, the section that we hope 
to look at tonight there, verse 17 to 21, breaks down into four 
main sections. I'm not necessarily going to 
preach them that way. Tonight I'm going to sort of jump around 
a little bit back and forth through there, but you'll be able to 
follow, I hope. But basically we have the condition 
in verse 17. We have the command in verse 
17a, sorry. We have the command in verse 
17b. We have the reason for the command 
in verse 18 to 21a. And then we have the result in 
verse 21b. So then if we begin there in 
verse 17, The condition, it says, if you call on the father, who 
without partiality judges according to each one's work. The NASB, 
I believe, translates that a little bit better. It says, if you address 
as father the one who impartially judges. So if you call him, if 
you call God, or the impartial judge, your father, then. So 
that's the condition. If you profess to be a child 
of God. And in the Greek language there, 
this word, in the construction that it is, and it's not so much 
an if, but it's rather a since. Since you do this. Since you 
are children of God, since you call him your father, then do 
this. So he's speaking to the believers 
here, and he knows that. And that's why he uses the word 
father here. If you address him as father, 
if you call God your father, And this is not an uncommon concept 
to his readers, and Peter knows that. And his point here is not 
so much to highlight the doctrine of what we call adoption, that 
we are adopted as the children of God there, but because they 
already understand that he's been teaching on that. but it's 
more so how do we respond in light of that. So he's already 
spoken of the inheritance in verse four, and inheritance that 
they will receive. He's really given a lot of focus 
to this in the previous verses here. And obviously, inheritance 
means heirs, and heirs are children, and obviously children by birth 
or children by adoption. So they understand they've been 
adopted as the children of God. Jesus taught the same thing as 
well. We see that throughout the Gospels, Matthew 5, for example, 
verse 48, you shall be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. 
We see all through the Sermon on the Mount. He keeps referring 
to your father in heaven, your heavenly father. And again, I don't want to spend 
much time on the adoption factor, but it is something that as believers 
is really such an encouragement to us that we have been adopted 
by the High King of Heaven, the Creator, as His children, and 
that we have this inheritance. That's been the whole point of 
Peter's teaching so far. But again, here is the condition. 
If you call God your Father, But then look how he explains 
who they're speaking of here. And that's the one who without 
partiality judges. That's how the New King James 
translates it. It's one word. As a noun, the 
impartial judge. we could say in our language 
now. Literally what it says is that 
God does not, or it's the one who does not receive the face 
of a man. That's a very wooden, literal 
translation, does not receive the face of a man. So sometimes 
we say that God is no respecter of persons or something like 
that. God does not judge by outward appearances. That is the point 
here, that God God cannot be bribed. He cannot be bought. We can see that in the next verse 
there. He says, you know, you haven't been redeemed with silver or 
gold. You can't buy off God. God is a perfectly just judge. And when it comes to that, then 
that means that sin must be punished as sin. And that is something 
we have to understand to fully grasp what Peter's trying to 
teach us in this section here. Sin must be punished as sin. 
And it says here then that he will judge according to each 
one's work. So there's a day coming. The Bible tells us, you know, 
the great day of judgment, the Bible talks about. Every single 
person will have to stand before God and have to give an account 
of all their deeds. And this is not just unbelievers. This is all men. Turn to 2 Corinthians 
for a second, chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 9. Paul says here that, therefore, 
we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing 
to him, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 
that each one may receive the things done in the body according 
to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, 
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men But we are well known to 
God, and I trust are well known in your consciences. So if it was only unbelievers 
that had to go before the judgment seat of God, then creation, then 
no one would be able to witness the great grace and forgiveness 
of God. So that's why it's important 
to understand. We all have an account with God, 
and we all will have to one day be called to give an account 
for that. If we look at, if we remember in Philippians chapter 
3, Paul gives a real explanation there in terms of our account 
with God, that we all have an account. And Paul uses the accounting 
terms there. He talks about gains and losses. 
And I find that always so helpful, that if we understand that, the 
gospel becomes so much clearer, easier to understand when we 
think in terms of our account with God. We have a column of 
gains, things that we had to do to earn eternal life. That's 
what Adam had to do in the garden, covenant of works. And then we 
have the lost column, all the sin on there. And that each one 
of us has this account with God. And there's a day coming when 
each one will be called to give an account. Turn to Revelation 
20 for a minute. We see that day pictured there. Revelation 20 verse 11 and following. This is the great white throne 
judgment. And it says, Then I saw a great 
white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth 
and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for 
them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, 
and books were opened. And another book was opened, 
which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according 
to their works by the things which were written in the books. 
The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades 
delivered up the dead who were in them. and they were judged, 
each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast 
into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and 
anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the 
lake of fire." So we have this scene here. We see books being 
opened, and that indicates a record of all of our deeds, that account 
that we have with God. The records are all there. It's all listed, and we are called 
to give an account. And that is a terrifying thought, 
especially for an unbeliever. What a terrifying thought to 
stand before the creator, the judge of all, the lawgiver, the 
judge, and to be called to give an account for how you've lived 
with reference to his law, how have you obeyed that law. And 
it's one of utter disobedience. You think of Paul in Philippians 
3 again. He says, all these things that 
I thought were gain, to me, all the things, the good deeds he 
thought he was doing, I had to count them as lost. They all actually 
counted against him. He had nothing there. Everything was against 
him there. And that's the state that we 
all find ourselves in. But if you are an unbeliever, 
there, then it ought to be terrifying, because his law says you should 
have no other gods before him. Yet you have not lived a life 
of serving him. You've rejected him. You've served 
yourself. You shall not use his name in 
vain. Yet you've done that. You've used his name as a swear 
word. And when you bash your knuckles at work or something, 
or any of the commandments insubordinate to authority, parents' authority, 
murdering, and hatred going together, their adultery, and lusting, 
stealing, lying, coveting. It's, you know, you've broken 
them all. And there you stand on that great 
day, everything exposed, all of creation witnessing that, 
and there's no help, no mediator for you, and nothing you can 
do but receive the punishment for your law-breaking. The wages 
of sin is death, says the Bible, eternal death. In hell, that 
is. So there's no running, there's no hiding. You can't get away. You'll cry out, like the Bible 
says, for the mountains to fall on you and the hills to cover 
you. But there's no escaping the Almighty God. And that day 
is coming. That day is sure. But the good 
news, the gospel that we'll see tonight, is that there is a way 
of escape. to escape that eternal wrath 
of the Lord. And that is through the precious 
blood of Jesus. And we'll see that in a minute. 
Because for believers, it's different. Yes, it will be shown from the 
record books that you too have lived a life of disobedience. 
You have broken all those laws as well. You have not loved the 
Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and 
your neighbor as yourself, to sum it all up. You've broken 
every one of those laws. But as we saw in Revelation there, 
there's a second book. There's another book. It's called 
the Book of Life. And in that book is a list of names as well. And those names are all the elect, 
all of Christ's people, all those who he has redeemed. And from 
our side, we say that it would be all those who have believed 
in the Lord Jesus. So when it comes to your page 
in the record books, when your account is being read, and the 
judge, God, the great judge, is there, and item by item is 
being read out of your sins, And then each time, each one 
receives that stamp of payment, saying, paid in full, paid in 
full, every one. We think of in Colossians chapter 
2, Paul gives us that analogy there of Christ paying in full 
for all that record of debt that we had. Colossians 2.14, he says, 
having wiped out the handwriting, requirement that was against 
us or we would say the the the certificate of debt that was 
against us you know that was contrary to us and he has he 
has taken it out of the way having nailed it to his having nailed 
it to the cross so so that's So just imagine imagine that 
that that day for a minute as your And a multitude of people 
in this book of life, all those who are listed in there, a multitude 
that no one can number as they're being called to account. And 
everyone, as their sins are being read off, if I can use that language. 
I don't know if it's going to be a line by line type of judgment, 
but either way, we see there a multitude and everyone paid 
in full, paid in full. Just imagine the glory that Christ 
will receive on that day there, as creation stands and witnesses 
this judgment here, and multitudes are declared that their sin is 
paid in full by Him, and they have a righteousness granted 
to them. That day will be all about Christ. Christ will be 
receiving the glory on that day, both in the justice and the just 
condemnation of sinners who have rejected Him and who have who 
have not believed in him, and as they are cast into the lake 
of fire, as we saw in Revelation there, that Christ will receive 
the glory for his justice on unbelievers, but Christ will 
receive the glory for his mercy for all those who are in that 
book of life, all those who have believed on him, for that redemption 
that he has done on their behalf, that he has redeemed them And 
that's what, back in 1 Peter again, that's what he says in 
verse 18, a literal reading which helps us to understand maybe 
a little bit better, he says, but you were redeemed, then it inserts 
there, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with 
the precious blood of Christ. Redeemed by the precious blood 
of Christ. And that's what redeemed means, 
is bought and paid for. And that's how it can be said. 
paid in full on your account. I always picture this stamp on 
a statement that says paid in full. You know, that's what we 
will receive from when Christ's atonement has been applied to 
our account, paid in full, because of the death of Christ. That's what the Bible tells us. 
The wages of sin is death. And so the blood of Christ here, 
obviously speaking of His death, that he shed his blood on the 
cross of Calvary and died. And because that death was not 
any ordinary death there. That was a death of cosmic significance, 
a death whereby the wrath of God for sin was satisfied, that 
justice was met, the propitiation was made. That's the word Paul 
uses in Romans, propitiation there, that Christ had paid paid 
the price to satisfy justice. Justice was served so that grace 
could be given. And that's what happened on the 
cross, that Christ took on Himself the punishment of every single 
sin, of every single believer, and He paid it in full. Because 
remember what I said earlier, God is a just judge. Payment 
for sin had to be made. And the payment which the law 
demanded was death, that the payment could not be made in 
any other way. It could not be made with silver or gold. It 
had to be made with death. That's what the lawgiver had, 
the one who made the law, had given that as the punishment, 
death. God as the just judge, he cannot 
be bought off in any way. You cannot bring silver or gold, 
perishable things like that. And now obviously we know, we 
can't come and offer God some change and say, you know, please 
God, forgive me. But the idea is that he's saying you cannot 
be bought off with something that does not meet the terms 
of the law. The law was death. You cannot 
be bought off with anything else. does not want, neither can he 
or will he, except any other sort of something from us on 
our behalf, you know, not some sort of any sacrifice to try 
and appease him. It's, you know, we can't give, 
you know, a certain amount of money to the church or to humanitarian 
work and expect that, you know, that's going to somehow curry 
some good favor with God, you know, or church attendance or 
things like that. You know, it's not about cleaning 
up our life and trying to trying to, you know, become a better 
person so that we can, you know, hopefully the good that we do 
will outweigh the bad and somehow we're balanced on, you know, 
some sort of a scale. And if the good, you know, outweighs 
the bad, then we get to go to heaven. That's not how it works. Turn to Isaiah chapter 1 for 
a minute. We can see, we see God, through 
the prophet, indicting the nation of Israel there in Isaiah chapter 
1 for these exact things that they were trying to do. They 
had left off all true worship of the true God, and they were 
just going through these motions, thinking as long as they did 
that, they were in some sort of a good favor with God. Start 
at verse 10. It says, hear the word of the 
Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, 
you people of Gomorrah. Now, he's not speaking to the 
people of Sodom and Gomorrah, obviously, those cities were long gone, 
he's likening them to that. If you see that in verse 9 there, 
he's likening them to, you know, as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah 
there. So he says, but verse 11, to 
what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says 
the Lord? I've had enough of burnt offerings 
of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood 
of bulls or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before 
me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts? 
Bring no more futile sacrifices, incenses, and abomination to 
me. The new moons, the Sabbaths, and calling of assemblies, I 
cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your new moons 
and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They are a trouble 
to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your 
hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many 
prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. 
So you can see the Israelites there, they thought that they 
were earning God's favor through this religious rituals and outward 
obedience to the law there. The context may be a little bit 
different than we find ourselves in today, but yet the point is 
the same, that we cannot earn favor with God somehow that by 
something that we can we can offer God is but God is the lawmaker 
and he's the judge he's both and and as Lawmaker he determined 
that the punishment for breaking the law would be death and as 
the judge a just judge He will see to it that the punishment 
is dealt out but but God is is gracious. We see that in Exodus, 
God saying to Moses, I delight in forgiving all types of sin 
and iniquity and transgression. You know, God is a God of mercy. He provided a way of salvation, 
you know, and that is through his son, the Lord Jesus there, 
the precious blood there. And as we just looked at there, 
that Christ was declared, he was condemned, in our place. 
That's why we sing the hymn, you know, in my place, condemned 
he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood, hallelujah, what a 
savior. You know, and that is the good 
news. That's the gospel in a nutshell. That the precious blood of Jesus 
Christ, his son, cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Now, 
if you're still in Isaiah, look at verse 18 of chapter 1. "'Come now, and let us reason 
together,' says the Lord. "'Though your sins are like scarlet, 
"'they shall be as white as snow. "'Though they are red like crimson, 
"'they shall be as wool. "'If you are willing and obedient, 
"'you shall eat the good of the land. "'But if you refuse and 
rebel, "'you shall be devoured by the sword, "'for the mouth 
of the Lord has spoken.'" So he says, though, you know, come 
and let's reason together. Though your sins are scarlet, 
they shall be white as snow. So that's the, that's the, you 
know, the gospel, the invitation that goes out to each one. If 
you're an unbeliever here tonight, the answer to your problem, if 
you imagine yourself in that scenario of that great day of 
judgment, standing before the Lord, and all of your sin exposed 
with no one to cover those sins, no one to have it paid in full 
for you, this is the answer. This is the solution to your 
problem, and that is faith. in Christ. That is how Christ's 
work can be applied to your account. It is through faith in Him. And, you know, it's because, 
and that's, when I say, when I said, or we saw that God is 
impartial in regards to His justice. He does not judge on the outside, 
according to, you know, something that someone else, someone offers. 
It's the same thing. when in regards to his mercy, 
he's not impartial, he's no respecter of persons when it comes to his 
mercy. And when I say that, you know, that he's not impartial, 
I mean that he's not, acceptance is not based on something that 
we offer. Acceptance with God is not based 
on something that we can offer to him. Turn to the book of Acts 
for a minute, Acts chapter 10. Acts 10, verse 34. Peter's preaching here to the 
household of Cornelius. Then Peter opened his mouth, 
Cornelius being a Gentile here. So, then Peter opened his mouth 
and said, In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality, 
but in every nation whoever fears him and works righteousness is 
accepted by him. Now jump ahead for a minute to 
verse 43, sorry. To to him all the prophets witness 
that through his name whoever believes in him will receive 
remission of sins so the context here is is is Gentiles being 
being saved as well as as as the Jews and and here Peter Peter 
has come to this realization that whoever believes in him 
will receive remission of sins and and that's and that's that 
word whoever there we see that connected many times to the call 
of to believe in the Lord Jesus, whoever. And that shows us there's 
no prerequisites. There's nothing that we need 
to bring. There's no condition that we first need to meet before 
we can believe. God does not accept you because 
of something that you offer to him. But it's rather you receive 
what he offers to you. He's offering to you the righteousness 
of Christ and the payment, the atonement of Christ for your 
account. That's what faith is, is receiving those things, trusting 
in that. Today, if you will hear his voice, 
do not harden your heart, the writer of Hebrews says there. 
So the day that you stand before God, that great day of judgment, 
or after you die, it's too late at that point. 
There's no second chance. That will be the end. to repent of your sinfulness 
and to trust in Christ is now. It's in this life, it's today. And that's the beauty of this 
word, whoever, no condition, nothing that we need to offer 
to God. I think of the hymn often that 
says, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. 
Naked, come to thee for dress. Helpless, come to thee for grace. 
Foul I too, the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. what 
faith is, is coming with nothing. And that's the beauty of the 
Christian gospel, that we don't need to bring anything. We have 
nothing to bring, but rather we receive that mercy, that grace 
from God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then Peter continues on here 
in explaining Christ here. So he says, we've been redeemed 
with the precious blood of Christ. And then he says, as of a lamb, 
without blemish and without spot. Now, speaking of, you know, he 
calls them the Lamb, referring to Old Testament, the sacrificial 
system there, the daily sin offerings of two lambs every day were brought 
as sin offerings, one in the morning, one in the evening, 
you know, and they pointed forward to that true Lamb of God, Jesus, 
you know, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. You know, we're all familiar 
with the passage in Hebrews that says that the blood of, you know, 
goats and bulls could never take away sin. You know, that was 
all symbolic, the writer of Hebrews tells us. You know, that these 
things pointed forward to that true priesthood of Christ coming 
to make that once for all, that true atonement, that true payment 
for sin. We can turn there for a minute. 
Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews 9, verse 11 and following. But Christ came as High Priest 
of the good things to come, with a greater and more perfect tabernacle, 
not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, not with 
the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered 
the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal 
redemption. For if the blood of bulls and 
goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies 
for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood 
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without 
spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the 
living God. And for this reason, he's the 
mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption 
of the transgressions under the first covenant. So he makes that connection with 
the Old Testament there, but he calls him the spotless lamb, 
or the lamb without spot and without blemish. Sometimes we forget the importance 
of that as well, that the fact that Christ was Spotless he was 
he was he was without blemish meaning. He was sinless, and 
you know I had a discussion with a brother this morning talking 
about Roman Catholicism and and you know we're talking about 
this difference And that's where where they miss the the importance 
of the spotlessness the sinlessness of Christ and the fact meaning 
that Christ fully Kept God's law he obeyed God's law perfectly 
if you remember now when I talked back to that of that statement 
of account. We have a column of the gains 
or the credits, the things that had to be done to earn eternal 
life. And on our account, we have nothing 
in there. We have not one thing that has 
incurred any sort of favor with God. Nothing has done that. But 
as Paul said there, I had to count things that I thought I 
had going for me, I had to count them all as loss. And that's 
where, so on our statement, without Christ, that column is empty. 
There's nothing in there. We have not earned God's favor 
in any way through obedience to that law. But Christ came, 
and Christ perfectly kept that law, and that's the righteousness 
that we need, that needs to be imputed onto our account. The 
charge to our account there is the righteousness of Christ, 
by which we are given entrance into heaven, because Christ has 
earned it. It's important to always remember that too, the 
two-fold work of Christ. Not only did He come and redeem 
us by His blood, making that atonement for sin, that payment, 
taking care of the debt column that we had, all those things 
paid in full, He also gives us a righteousness whereby we can 
stand accepted with the Father because we have kept His law 
on our account because Christ has done it for us. So then just, so continuing on 
then here, he says that, so knowing that you were redeemed from your, 
sorry, knowing that you were redeemed from your aimless conduct 
received by tradition from your fathers, you know, the NASB says 
your futile way of life inherited from your fathers. So it's futile, 
it's empty. You know, when he's speaking 
to the Jewish, His Jewish audience there, you know, we think we 
know that his audience is mixed He's got you know, there's a 
lot of Jews in there probably primarily Jews, but also also 
Gentiles there But when in regards to the Jewish readers when they 
read this, you know Peter's not saying that their sacrificial 
system was you know was wrong It was of course not because 
it was instituted by God It was something that they were called 
to do there, but it was not it was not meritorious and dealing 
with sin it did not earn any sort of favor with God. We just 
saw that in Hebrews, that the blood of bulls and goats, it 
can't take away sin. It couldn't deal with that. It wasn't meritorious, but it 
was symbolic. It was pointing them to the true 
sacrifice for sin, the Lord Jesus, His atonement for sin. It was 
there to point them to Christ. And, you know, so in and of itself, 
it was futile in the sense of taking away sins, of any sort 
of redemption. It could not do that there. Charles Spurgeon, he says, no 
Jew could ever talk of a finished work. The bull was offered, but 
he must bring another. The lamb was offered this morning, 
but another must be offered this evening, another tomorrow, and 
another the next day. The Passover is celebrated with 
holy rites. It must be kept in the same manner 
next year. The high priest has gone within the veil once, but 
he must go there again. The thing is never finished. 
It is always beginning. He never comes any nearer to 
the end. The law could not make perfect 
those who drew near. But see our position. We are 
redeemed from this. Our law is fulfilled, for Christ 
is the end of the law for righteousness. Our Passover is slain, for Jesus 
died. Our righteousness is finished, 
for we are complete in him. And now for the Gentile, the 
Greek readers there, it's the same thing. Anything that they 
did prior to their salvation, to their faith in Christ, was 
futile. It was a life of futility, a 
life of emptiness. But they were redeemed out of 
that. They were taken out of that kingdom of darkness and 
they were transferred into the kingdom of Christ. So then we come to the command. Now again, like I said, I was 
going to sort of bounce around back and forth a little bit, 
so now we're sort of back in verse 17 there. So in light of all this, in light 
of the gospel of Christ, how do we live our lives? And he says, you conduct yourselves 
through the time of your stay here in fear. So living in fear. What is fear? Now we typically 
talk about two different types of the fear. The first is what 
we call slavish fear. And slavish fear is a terror, 
being scared of. There are examples in the Bible 
of coming face-to-face with God, so to speak. We call that a theophany. 
And the result is fear. It's a terror on the part of 
the beholder, falling on their face, becoming prostrate, on 
the ground, and that is the right response. I'm not saying that's 
a slavish fear. I'm just saying that there's 
a terror aspect to coming face-to-face with holiness of God and realizing 
our own unholiness, and that is a terrifying thing, and that 
we see that in these encounters, especially in the Old Testament 
of this, and Paul is a good example of the New as well, of being 
face-to-face with God and being being in terror, but we don't 
experience theophanies in the same way anymore because we have 
the written word of God now. But this slavish fear is a fear 
that is, it stems from a wrong view of God, viewing God as a 
tyrant and carries a big stick and we are his slave, and that 
we must obey God or else we're gonna be crushed by this tyrant, 
that we're gonna feel the blows stick if we don't obey him. And I think Christians can struggle 
with this type of fear as well, that we don't understand, we 
don't look at God in the right way, that we think, oh man, I've 
messed up today and God's gonna get me, I'm gonna feel the blows 
of his big stick. But we have to understand, God 
is a father, he's a loving father, and he's not a God of, he's not 
vindictive, he's not out to get us if we mess up. He's there 
to, we do suffer in various ways, to be sure, in this life. But 
the purpose of that, as we saw earlier in the book of 1 Peter 
here in chapter one, that the purpose is for the testing of 
our faith and strengthening our faith, drawing us closer to him. 
It's not to, God's not out to get us. So that's a slavish fear 
of God. But when we properly understand 
redemption, this being redeemed by the blood of Christ, then 
we don't have this view of God that our acceptance with Him 
is based on our merit, something that we've done. We know our 
acceptance with Him is based on what Christ has done, and 
that never changes. Then we ought to have this other 
type of fear, which is the fear of God, which is a reverential 
fear. it's an awe of God, seeing God as so holy, yet so merciful, 
you know, being amazed at this, being in awe, having this reverence, 
and a proper fear, this right reverence of God, how do we have 
that? It comes from a proper understanding of who He is, like 
I said, you know, a slavish fear, comes from a misunderstanding, 
so then obviously it becomes important that we have the right 
understanding of God, knowing who He is. The fear of the Lord 
is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and 
instruction. Proverbs 1, verse 7. Then they 
will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, 
but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge and did 
not choose the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 1, 28 and 29. Then you 
will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of 
God. For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge 
and understanding." Proverbs 2, 5, and 6. The fear of the 
Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One 
is understanding. Proverbs 9, verse 10. In the 
fear of the Lord there is strong confidence. His children will 
have a place of refuge. Proverbs 14, 26. The fear of 
the Lord is a fountain of life. To turn one away from the snares 
of death, The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, 
Proverbs 15, 33. In mercy and truth, atonement 
is provided for iniquity, and by the fear of the Lord, one 
departs from evil, Proverbs 16, 6. The fear of the Lord leads 
to life, Proverbs 19, verse 23. So notice the common theme there. The fear of the Lord is equated 
with the knowledge of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning 
of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One is 
understanding. Notice the parallelism there. 
So the Bible doesn't give us subjective feelings about what 
the fear of the Lord is going to feel like. Rather, it tells 
us that it's a knowledge. It's knowledge of God. Remember 
these theophanies that we see in the Bible here. It was a result 
of seeing God. Now, as I mentioned, we don't 
have these theophanies anymore because we now have the written 
revelation of God. We can see God, as it were, in 
the scriptures. So we don't have these theophanies, 
but the result of seeing God is what leads to this fear. You know we ought to one man 
says here He says from from this it may be inferred that if we 
wish to have a proper attitude before God We should cease to 
study attitudes and instead seek and study God, you know So it's 
it's it's don't try to figure out what type of attitude or 
feeling that you know, you need to have you know that you should 
be having but rather study who God is what he has done and then 
the Proper attitude will come as a as a result of that, you 
know, and then and then the the practical obedience That will 
follow. When we have a right understanding 
of God, not viewing Him as a slave master, but rather as a loving 
Father that we want to please, we want to obey Him. We live 
in obedience because of what He has done for us. But it's 
not to try to repay Him. And it's not to try to escape 
his big stick, that we don't get punished for misbehaving, 
disobedience, but rather it's out of gratitude for his grace 
and his mercy that he has shown to us. Because when we believe 
in the gospel of Christ, if you remember from last time, we become 
obedient children, in verse 14, He says here, but rather it's 
it was children of obedience as a literal meaning. It's it's 
in regards to our nature He's not so much telling us that we're 
obedient that we're just you know, obeying God as his children 
there But rather that we are it has me to do with our nature 
nature has been changed to a nature of obedience a change of heart 
so But again, it's always important to understand that, you know, 
if you're an unbeliever here tonight, it doesn't start with 
obedience to God, you know, becoming a good person, doing your best 
to keep His commandments. You know, it starts with knowing 
who God is, seeing Him as holy, and then you'll immediately, 
you will be confronted with your own unholiness, that you, you 
know, that you cannot come into the presence of such a holy God. You know, our own, your sin has you're unholy because of your 
sin, you cannot come there, but also learning about God, knowing 
about Him, knowing Him from the Scripture as a gracious God, 
then you cast yourself on His mercy, knowing that there is 
a way, that all of your unholiness can be dealt with. That is by 
believing, trusting in Christ as the Savior, that He has paid 
for it all with His precious blood on that cross there. David 
said, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could 
stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. 
The fear of the Lord, the proper fear of the Lord there. So the 
right fear of the Lord begins with finding forgiveness in Him, 
knowing and trusting in His mercy. And then he says here, Peter 
says again, carrying on, he says that we have to conduct ourselves 
through the time of our stay here in fear. So it's this idea 
of sojourning. I just want to briefly point 
this out again, just another reminder that the idea of sojourning 
is one of having residence in a place without being granted 
citizenship. That's sort of the dictionary 
definition of it there. And that's what Peter's called 
them. He's addressed them as pilgrims in the beginning and 
all through this. this whole section, he's been 
continuing to show them, you are not of this world. This temporal 
world, it's just that, it's temporal, but you're of something much 
better. And our time here is just simply a sojourn, a stay, 
just temporary there. And again, we just need to always 
have that proper perspective of this temporal world. We're 
not citizens of this world. This is not our forever home. 
of heaven, Paul tells us, elsewhere. So we look forward to that new 
heaven, that new earth, wherein righteousness dwells. So that's 
Peter's whole point through this book, is that when things go 
wrong in this life, when we struggle, when we have difficulties, focus. Remember, this is temporal. We're 
headed for glory. And having that right perspective 
at all times is so important in the Christian life and dealing 
with the trials So again, Peter just gives us that one brief 
little reminder again, don't forget, this is temporal. It 
doesn't mean we don't become Gnostics where anything physical 
is wrong and bad. That's not the point here. The 
point is just maintaining that proper perspective. Don't become 
so attached to everything in this life. It's not our future. It's not our forever. So that 
was just a brief reminder there again of that. Now we're going 
to jump ahead to where we sort of left off before in verse 20, 
now speaking a bit more on the nature of Jesus, the Redeemer. Here he says that he was foreknown 
or foreordained before the foundation of the world. So he's not just 
speaking here of Christ as being present as the, as creator, you 
know, prior to the creation of the world, but this is, but the 
concept of Christ as Redeemer was also, you know, part of God's 
plan prior to creation. You know, and we call this the 
covenant of redemptions, and this is the covenant, the inter-Trinitarian 
covenant, you know, wherein God purposed that he would save his 
elect through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, you know, 
something that was decreed in eternity past, you know, before 
the creation of the world. Because the atonement and the 
death of Christ on the cross and all those things, that was 
not an afterthought on God's part. It was not a reaction that 
God did in response to the sin of man, you know, because God 
does not react. determines all things. We call 
that the decree of God, and the decree is what takes place in 
eternity prior to creation, and all things that happen, including 
redemption, the fall of man, everything, was decreed by God, 
yes, and including the fall of man. Now, he did not force the 
will of Adam and Eve to sin. They made that choice from their 
own will, because God is not the author Evil, you know, he 
uses second causes to bring about his purposes and and at times 
those second causes are wicked actions of men, you know But 
but man is still the one responsible for those evil actions. God doesn't 
force the force the will of Man to you know to make evil decisions 
they come about from the sinful nature that man has You know 
evil always originates in the will of man. I think that our 
confession says it says it beautifully It says that you know in in regards 
to God's decree that he doesn't violate the will of man, without 
violation to the will of man. And that's how God carries out 
his decree. Nor is violence offered to the 
will of the creature. So that is how God is not responsible 
for evil, but yet it's part of God's plan. And this plan of 
redemption, we call it the covenant of redemption, You know, God 
uses evil actions of men to bring about his plan, to be sure, but 
all decreed before the foundation of the world. And I want to quote 
a lengthy quote. It's probably familiar to many 
of you from John Flavel. And just to help us to understand 
this covenant, it's just a beautiful quote. And I'm sure if you're 
familiar with it, it won't be a burden to listen to it again. 
And then Flavel just gives us some good exhortation at the 
end there. So this is called the father's 
bargain with the son. And basically what it is, is 
a dialogue between God the father and God the son in negotiating 
the terms of the covenant. This is happening in eternity 
past. So he says, Flavel says, here 
you may suppose the father to say when driving his bargain 
with Christ for you, My son, here is a company of poor, miserable 
souls that have utterly undone themselves and now lie open to 
my justice. Justice demands satisfaction 
for them or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them. 
What shall be done for these souls? And thus Christ returns, 
O my father, such is my love to and pity for them that rather 
then they should perish eternally. I will be responsible for them 
as their surety. Bring in all thy bills, that 
I may see what they owe thee. Lord, bring them all in, that 
there be no after reckonings with them. At my hand shalt thou 
require it. I will rather choose to suffer 
thy wrath than they should suffer it. Upon me, my father, upon 
me be all their debt. The father replies, but my son, 
if thou undertake for them, thou must reckon to pay the last mite. 
Expect no abatements. If I spare them, I will not spare 
thee. Content, Father, let it be so. 
Charge it all upon me. I am able to discharge it. And 
though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all 
my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake 
it. And then Flavel exhorts us at 
the end. He says, And that's what Peter wants us to see and 
wants us to have a proper appreciation of here. You know, 
that's what this whole epistle is about. You know, and that's 
why I said he's packaged this whole, the whole epistle into 
a few verses here so that we can really grasp this. You know, 
that our salvation was planned out in eternity past. You know, 
Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world as 
the Redeemer, manifest in these last times for you. You know, 
Christ did this for you. He redeemed you, saved you from 
an eternity in hell where the rest of the world is headed. 
And he did so by, sorry, and now we're headed for 
glory, all because of what Christ has done for us. That's what 
Peter wants us to understand here. And then we'll be willing 
to suffer for him, as Flavel says here, because we know what 
Christ has done for us, and we have this future hope of glory 
to get us through these trials. So he says your Christ was manifest 
in these last times for you. And for you who believe in God 
through him. And that's the... Christ is the object of our faith. He says that we believe in God 
through Christ. And you know, the forgiveness 
of sins, redemption from the from the kingdom of darkness, 
it's for all who believe, whoever has faith in Christ, whoever 
trusts in Christ as the one who's lived this perfect life for them, 
because they can't. The one who fulfills that gain 
column, that credit column on their account, Christ has done 
that for them. And trusting Christ as the one 
who has who has paid for all their sins so that you don't 
have to. And then as Peter says here as 
well, trusting that he's been raised from the dead and entered 
glory as well, believe in God, sorry, who raised him, Christ, 
from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are 
in God. is in the resurrection as well, 
that God was pleased with the sacrifice that Christ made, that 
it was in fact paid in full, that Christ was resurrected again 
and now has entered glory so that we too can be raised from 
the dead at the last judgment and enter glory with him. And 
again, as I said, that is through faith alone in Christ, nothing 
that we bring, nothing that we offer to him, no silver, gold, 
corruptible things like that, but simply faith receiving what 
Christ has done for us, and that is what we call justification 
by faith alone. Justified means to be declared 
right with God, to have a perfect righteousness that's worthy of 
eternal life, that meets those standards there, and to have 
no unpaid sin on our account that's worthy of eternal damnation, 
you know, so coming from the perfect life of Christ, credited 
to our account, and the payment for our sin made by Christ, and 
those credits, as it were, being credited to our account, imputed 
is the word that we often use, that happens when we receive 
Christ through faith. Nothing is required on our part, 
no amount of penance. When I say penance, I mean sorrow 
over sin, and that sorrow over sin is a fruit that happens, 
to be sure, but it's not a requirement. It doesn't need to happen up 
front, that we experience so much sorrow first. It's no amount 
of penance, no amount of good deeds. It's simply receiving 
what Christ has done, because Christ has done it all. Nothing 
that we need to bring. Jesus himself, he said, I am 
the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except 
through me, through him alone. Nor is there salvation in any 
other, for there is no other name under heaven given among 
men by which we must be saved. You know, there's no other way. 
Jesus is the only way. Jesus is the only one who's met 
those requirements for eternal life, and the only one who provided 
a satisfactory atonement for sin. And then we have the goal 
of all of this, you know, is that our faith and our hope are 
in God. And notice the present tense 
here, that they are in God. It's not, you know, this is not 
something bound in the past. that, you know, something that 
we just do once and then that's it, you know, and it's not something 
that we should do in the future, you know, but this is a continual, 
continually to be doing this here. Our faith and our hope 
are to continually be in God, and that's what Peter wants us 
to learn, you know, from this year, is that when we, you know, 
we understand that when we all must stand before God, we all 
have to come and give an account before Him, that impartial judge, 
the one that we can't, We can't try to buy off, you know, and 
we have to give an account of our actions, you know, but also 
knowing that all of our sinful actions, they've been paid for 
in full by the Son of God Himself, you know, that we've been redeemed 
from the futility of our previous life, out of the kingdom of darkness, 
you know. is our faith in God for our salvation 
and those things, but then we continue to believe in Him and 
trust that He will do as He says, that whoever believes in Christ 
will not perish but have everlasting life, but also that we are now 
adopted. He is now our Heavenly Father 
and that He indeed does love us and does care for us and will 
never let us go. And just trusting that, as Christ 
said, earthly fathers, being sinful, know how to give good 
things to your children, how much more will your heavenly 
father give good things to those who ask him his children? So, 
you know, then we can have that faith that Paul speaks of, you 
know, knowing that all things really do work out for good to 
those who are his. We might not understand why, 
why this is happening to me, this difficulty, but yet we can 
know that this is nothing happens outside of God's plan and God's 
and God is our Father in heaven who loves us and and cares for 
us you know and that that we can have that that that faith 
and that that firm hope that everything in our lives is somehow 
for our good and and again we have this this hope here that 
he says as well this that our hope is in is in him And again, 
as I've mentioned in the past, this hope is not a subjective 
desire or a wish. I hope this happens. I hope that 
I get to go to heaven one day. This is an objective reality. It's based on the promises of 
God. So our ultimate hope is the hope 
of glory, that we as believers will one day be with the Lord 
in the new heaven and the new earth. No more sorrow, no more 
sighing, no tears. It's pure joy, pure bliss, pure 
glory. And that is a reality. That is 
where we are headed as believers. A time when soul and body is 
as real as you and I are here today. It will be that real where 
we will be In the new creation, the presence of our Savior. That is what the new heaven and 
the new earth is. Heaven and earth coming together. 
God and man. God dwelling with man. We see that scene in Revelation. 
The new Jerusalem coming down. God and man dwelling together 
in glory for all eternity. And that is the hope that we 
have as believers. Until then, you know, we fix 
our minds on this hope, our faith, and our hope are continually 
to be in God, you know, until our faith becomes sight, our 
hope becomes reality when we die, and enter into the presence 
of God to be with Him for all eternity. Blessed day that we 
look forward to. Let us close in prayer. O Lord, we do thank You for Your 
Word, and we thank You for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Lord, what a glorious, glorious gospel it is that we have been 
redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. Lord, I pray that 
our hearts would be encouraged today, that our hearts would 
be filled with love for you, love for the Savior, and that 
we would This would have been a means for the growth in grace 
and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for your 
people here today. And Lord, I do pray if there 
are those who have come in among us who do not know the Savior, 
have not trusted in Him, Lord, that you would make it so clear 
today, that it would be so clear, the simplicity of the gospel, 
that we come, nothing in our hands, we bring nothing, Lord. 
We come and we receive everything from Christ, everything that 
we need to stand in right favor with you is being offered to 
us through Christ. Lord, we are so thankful that 
your word tells us whoever believes in the Lord Jesus will be saved. 
Not those who have first found their name in the book of life 
somehow, not those who have cleaned up their act somehow, but those 
who believe. All who believe, all who come 
to me by no means cast out, says our Savior. So Lord, I pray that 
you would make that abundantly clear tonight. If there are any 
who struggle with that and who are trying to sort these things 
out in their hearts, Lord, I just pray that you would work mightily 
by your Spirit in power powerfully Lord to revive the dead hearts 
to shine the light on the Savior and to and to show him that and 
that he would be seen as the bride says of the bridegroom, 
altogether lovely, chief among 10,000, the only way of salvation. Lord, I pray that you will be 
glorified through all this, and I pray that you would bless each 
one of us in this upcoming week. Lord, watch over us, help us 
to live a life in fear as we have been commanded, not a slavish 
fear, not scared of you, but a reverence for you. that we 
would live striving to live to be holy as we are commanded to 
to be holy as you are holy to live a life of obedience to you 
out of thankfulness and gratitude for for what you have done for 
us in in christ lord bless us watch over us be with those who 
are struggling lord among us and and those who those we just 
pray for for healing for those who struggle physically those 
who struggle mentally relationally lord we just Please grant healing, 
and we thank you that you hear our prayers, for we come to you 
boldly before your throne of grace, knowing that we come clothed 
in the righteousness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in 
whose name we pray, amen.