We're starting a new section flowing out of all of those glorious gospel indicatives. We're starting into the practical application of what it looks like now to live in light of the gospel. So I'll be reading verses 13 all the way down to the end of the chapter. 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. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. 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, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in these last times for the sake of you who, through him, are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again. not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God, for all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord remains forever. And this Word is the good news that was preached to you. Please remain standing as we pray for a blessing on this Word. How good it is to gather on the Lord's Day to celebrate your triumph in Christ. Lord, even remembering last Lord's Day as we celebrated Pentecost and the pouring out of the Spirit for the equipping of the church, for the mission of God. Father, we find ourselves needy of that same Spirit to be poured out afresh on us, to make the living Word living in us. Father, I pray this morning that all distractions would be removed, and that you would enable us, by your grace, to learn from your word, and that we would be making resolutions, that we might live holy lives, that all of our conduct before a watching world would reflect the great glory of the one who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light, that we might proclaim Your Excellencies, Father. I ask, Lord, that you would be working in the hearts of those who are yet unconverted, that as they hear this good news preached, that they would understand that they too must be redeemed and ransomed, that they too must be forgiven of their sins, and it will not come about by moral improvement. It will not come about by works of the flesh, will only come about by calling upon the name of the Lord. And so, Father, I pray that you would enable these lost, ruined, unregenerate sinners to do so by the power of the Spirit, quickening them to hear Christ calling, and they would repent and believe, and so be saved. Oh, Father, would you help me to tremble even upon what Charles just read? that there are some sitting here this morning, and the wrath of God is upon them. Help me to learn the art of pleading, to weep if necessary. Oh Lord, we are not willing that any should perish, but all should come to a knowledge of the truth. We are not willing that the cup of wrath we just read about would not be poured out upon these people. Oh, that they would see that there is one who has absorbed and drunk to the dregs this cup, unmixed, unmitigated, poured out in full. And they would exchange the wrath they deserve for the righteousness he offers. Father, would you fill us afresh with joy and even hope? Would you help us to long for heaven? Father, we pray now, please bless the preaching of your word. Oh God, please bless the preaching of your word we ask this morning in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. Well, if you have an open Bible, you will realize that the first word of this exhortational section begins with therefore. Now, I'm not gonna preach the entirety of what I read, it's just too rich. We're gonna be looking at the first two imperatives that flow out of all of these rich gospel truths that Peter has laid out for us. And there's a time for basking in the gospel, And then there's a time for walking out the gospel. And if you were to read the Pilgrim's Progress, which I will continue to implore upon you, you will realize that Christian needed these reprievals, that he needed to rest. And it's always a picture of coming together to hear the word of God, whether it's the interpreter or whether it's the shepherds. He needs to come, as it were, and to be refreshed. But there's a danger of basking too long in the refreshment of the gospel and sort of growing fat. We need to now walk out, live out the gospel before the eyes of a watching world, and that's what Peter is doing. He's reminding us, yes, we need to go to the gas station, and we need to be filled with the gospel. We need to be empowered with the gospel. But then with that gospel filling us, we are to go out and to live and to preach and to proclaim God's excellencies. And we'll get there, of course, in chapter two. But Peter is very serious about living out the gospel. And I want us to take this mindset as well. Therefore, verses one to 12, is sort of the ammunition, it's the bread, it's the food, it's the gas, whatever metaphor you want. In light of these truths, this is sort of what Peter's doing, like Paul in Romans chapter 12. In light of the mercies, plural, that God has shown us in Christ, live as a sacrifice, pleasing to God, discerning what is his will. His will is that we would represent Him and fill this world with the glory of Christ as we live in a manner worthy of the gospel, as we live in a manner worthy of the calling, as we live in a manner worthy of God. Have you been born again to a living hope? Do you have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading? Are you being kept by the power of God? Are you eagerly awaiting this salvation that is coming when Christ is revealed? Have you received this great privilege of what the prophets longed for and the angels look and they stoop to belong to? Are you part of this? And if you answer yes to all those questions, therefore. Now the way Peter does this is Very interesting. If you're an underliner or a circler or a marker upper, the main verb in verse 13 is, set your hope upon. Most English translations will say, prepare your minds and be sober-minded. But that's not really how Peter is working this out. We've already seen he loves long sentences, verses three through 12. One long sentence which we broke up into three sermons. Well, verse 13, literally you would say is, therefore, set your hope fully on the grace that we brought to you when Christ is revealed, having prepared or having girded up the loins of your minds by being sober-minded. Okay, and so hope is not a thing in the past, pun intended. Right, verse three. You've been born again to what? Not a dying hope. That's what you inherit in the folly of this world. Your forefathers give you all kinds of dying hopes. Retire comfortably. Live complacently. That's what the world says. Get your PhD, retire, move down to Florida or Arizona, it's all good. Those are dying hopes that you naturally inherit from the worldview of this world. But you've been granted a living hope because Christ has been raised from the dead. And because you have a living hope, you are to live differently. But you will not live differently unless you are constantly setting your hope upon the things that matter for eternity. And that's what Peter's been doing. He's been sort of taking our gaze from the persecutions and the troubles and trials of this world, which often sort of draws to focus upon, and he's saying, soar and lift your eyes up, the way Paul would say in Colossians 3. If then you have been raised with Christ, if you are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, where do you set your mind and your affection and your eyes? On the things that are above, where Christ is. Peter's just echoing, mimicking Paul. So the command to live rightly involves setting our hope fully. Where is your hope set? Is it for your playoff team to win? That's not a bad thing, but that will influence how you live. I'm from Winnipeg. And if the Jets don't make it past round two, you know what it's gonna look like after? A bunch of downtrodden, downcast, sad, miserable people. We can laugh at that, but it's true. Hoping in things that have no eternal consequence, things that will always let you down. Where is your hope? Is it retiring comfortably? Is it getting the job, getting married? I guarantee all of those things, though they might not be bad, will never fully satisfy you. There's always a limit. How does it put a limiter on all the things of this world? Which is why you're always clamoring for more. Shopaholics. Is your hope on that smiley face on the box arriving on your door? Knock, knock, knock, yay, my Amazon package is here. Two hours later, ordering something else. And so Peter says that if we are to live rightly, we must set our hope fully. On what? On grace. Now I was thinking of Titus 2, don't turn there, but this is very similar language. Where Paul says in the past tense, the grace of God in Christ has appeared. And you've put your hope in that grace that has appeared in the coming of Christ. And what Peter's saying is, now look forward to that grace when it is fully consummated, when it comes in its entirety. See, we're always to be fixing our eyes upon grace. In the first coming of Christ, yes, for our justification, we put our faith in that. But now we live in hope. Okay? Faith is when we put our trust in what God has done for us in Christ. Hope is when we put our trust in what God is going to do for us in Christ. Do you see that? That faith and hope are linked. And yes, we walk by faith, but that faith produces hope. And as I quoted Mueller last week, having our eyes fixed on the grace that will be revealed to us when Christ comes will change how you live today. And I'm gonna keep saying it, remember the future. Be serious and sober-minded, intentional, disciplined. Remember the future. That's the glory of reading the book of Revelation. Sammy, a couple weeks ago, all she was talking about was streets of gold. Very good, Sammy. No! I won't be, I hate potholes, I'm from Winnipeg. I look for the day when I will no longer sin, nor be sinned against. All of these things that so plagued me, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, gone. This is what enabled the martyrs to go and to be burned alive and to be beheaded. It's because they knew they had, in the language of Hebrews, a much better and abiding possession. But they're exiles. You're an exile here. You're an alien, a soldier. Don't put your hope in the things of this world. Why? Because the Bible says that all these things are passing, 1 John 2. But whoever does, the will of God abides forever. So, set your hope. This whole section, verses three to the end of the chapter, is bookended by hope. Living hope, verse three. Set your hope, verse 13. Verse 21, your hope is in God because of what Christ has done. Hope gets very little coverage. It does. We talk lots about faith and love, but you know which three abide according to 1 Corinthians 13? Faith, hope, and love. And of course, our hope will be fully realized when Christ returns, but not till then. And so set your hope fully. Set your hope fully on what? The grace that will be fully revealed to you. Can I encourage you to study the book of Revelation or those passages that talk about fullness of joy? In your presence is fullness of joy, and yes, we taste of it in part. We're the firstfruits, Peter, or Charles said as he read Revelation, firstfruits. The down payment is here, but it's only an installment. Set your hope fully on that grace that is being brought to you now and will be brought to you fully then. Christians don't think about heaven enough. They don't think about the new heavens and the new earth. I don't. Probably one's so cantankerous and miserable. So, the first command about living rightly in a world that is broken. How are we to live in the midst of a wicked and evil and perverse generation that hates us and mocks us and slanders us and ridicules us and persecutes us? How are we to live? Setting our hope fully on Christ's return. Is that practical? You better believe it. When you start doing so, you know what Peter says in chapter three? people will take note of how you're living, and they'll ask you about the hope that you have. And then with fear and humility, you can tell them about Christ, whom you have set apart as holy in your heart. So let me encourage you already to be intentional about setting your heart on heaven. I'm talking about flying around with angels talking about no sun because the lamb has become your sun, your source of light, your radiance. Think about that. Do you love hearing the sound of a joyful congregation screaming their guts out, praising God? It pales in comparison to what we will be doing for eternity. Have you thought about that? Sinlessly praising Christ as he ought to be. Well, how do you do that? If we want to live rightly, yes, we set our hope fully on the grace that is going to be brought to us when Christ is revealed. But he uses two participles, ing verbs. First, preparing your minds for action. And if you read the footnote, it says literally, girding up the loins of your mind. Not language we use often in our vernacular, in our parlance. But to Peter's audience, this is something that they knew full well, what he was talking about. See, if you were to go to India, or some other places in the world, it's very hot, and they don't wear jeans that stick to you, they wear robes, if you will. I won't call them man dresses, because that will offend them. But they wear robes. Have you ever tried to run with a robe? I haven't. but I imagine it would be quite impeding. And what Peter is saying is that you're in a war. And if you want to be serious about living rightly for God, you need to be serious about impediments. And this is akin, if you're reading notes, to Hebrews chapter 12. How do you run the race rightly? You're getting rid of all kinds of things that distract you and lull you and cause you to be tripped up. If you're serious about running the race, if you're serious about warfare, you can't be tripping over all kinds of things. First and foremost, your robe. Paul uses this word in Ephesians 6, as we think through the armor of God. It's the first thing he says, actually. Because we have a foe, which we'll look at more in 1 Peter 5, who is seeking to devour whom he will, we need to be sober-minded. Same thing he says here. And Paul says, therefore, gird up your mind, as it were, and put on the belt of truth. Same Greek word. So, you want to set your hope fully? You gotta get rid of all the unnecessary baggage. No one stumbles into holiness. That's a great quote I learned from D.A. Carson many years ago. It doesn't just happen when you're vegging on Netflix. Now, please don't take that as a shot. But you're not gonna grow in holiness by being complacent or lazy. This is a call to be serious. And there's times for it, I get it. I take vacation and we watch like all of the Hobbit and all the, I get it. But we can't let that be our natural disposition. And so what they would do is they would gird it up and tuck it into their belt so they were free. The language of Ephesians six is fighting. See, Paul says to Timothy, when you're called into the kingdom, when you're called to belong to Christ, he calls you like a commander or a captain. And he says you're no longer now to sort of dabble with civilian affairs. See, there's all these metaphors, whether it's running a race or fighting a battle or being a good soldier. You gotta be single-minded, you gotta have a focus. What things are tripping you up? This is where you need to do application, like right now. What things are keeping you from looking for Christ's return? Can I tell you? The things of this world. Do not love the world or the things of this world. You got three enemies working against you. The world, The flesh and the devil, this unholy trinity scheming together to trip you up, to keep you from looking to Christ, to keep you from living a fruitful life. Satan uses the world. He's the prince of the power of the air, Ephesians 2. He's the god of this world, 2 Corinthians 4. He's using materialism and comfort and all kinds of these things to keep us looking horizontal. And the fool has his mind set on the eyes or on the ends of the earth. But the wise man keeps his eyes focused and fixed on Christ. Pilgrim's progress. Christian and faithful. They're about to enter Vanity Fair and, says Budden, they must need to pass through. It's part of God's trying of his saints. You have to. You cannot go and live as a monk in a monastery. You have to go and live and deal with Vanity Fair. But you know what Christian and faithful do? all of these rogues and knaves, I love all those old words, they're offering their wares, all of these harlots and prostitutes of Babylon, of Vanity Fair, saying, come, rest, enjoy what we have to offer you. You know what Christian and faithful do? Put a bunch of fools, says the world. Look, they're like children putting their fingers in their ears. That's what some of us need to be doing. We buy the truth, quoting the proverb. Set your heart fully, firstly, by preparing your minds for action. That's a decent translation because it carries the connotation of warfare or of work. I don't like how some trans or commentators say it's sort of like rolling up your sleeves, but if you want something that's a little more modern. If Tony's gonna start working on engines and he's got his sleeves everywhere, you're probably not gonna do a good job and you're probably gonna either break the motor or yourself. So roll up your sleeves. Christ has called us not to a life of ease and comfort. So how do you roll up your sleeves? How do you prepare your minds for action? How do you gird up the loins of your mind? It's this next word, by being sober-minded. That's how they're linked. There's sort of this movement in Peter's mind. You set your hope fully by girding up the loins of your mind. And how do you gird up the loins of your mind? By being sober. Of course, it has to do with not getting drunk literally, but metaphorically saying your minds must be sober. I don't know if I want to say this, but in my years before I was converted, drunkenness was a sin that I indulged in. And as you're drinking, you become numb, desensitized. your vision and your faculties become blurred, and you no longer think rightly. You begin to stumble. And if you take this into what Peter is saying is we need to be careful of allowing that to happen to us. With literal alcohol? Yes, of course. But the intoxication that we just read about in Revelation 14. This harlot wants you to be drunk on the things of this world. The applause of men. The pursuit of this world. Live in the American dream. Many Christians, they're kind of like Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress. They get sleepy and they drop their scroll. And so Peter's saying, how do you live rightly? You set your mind fully. On the grace. Get rid of everything that hinders. How? By being sober-minded. On what? On what Peter has just said. Grace in all of its fullness is your allotment, your inheritance. Joy, inexpressible and glorified. The salvation of your souls. I went charismatic on you. Got him. It's a fly. But it did get your attention. So how do we live? First, we need to prepare our minds. So let me say it this way, your mind matters. Your mind matters. Go to chapter two quickly. Commentators always break up sections differently, and one of the commentators says that actually this section beginning in 1.13 ends in 2.2. I'm not convinced of that, but of course there are some consistencies. Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation. And you grow up into salvation by the word of God, which redirects your gaze and your focus and your perspective to things that are above. Again, going back to Colossians 3.1. Philippians 3, we're eagerly awaiting the return of our Savior, which radically transforms how we live now. So set your mind on the future, which will affect how you live in the present. Does that make sense? So let me encourage you, husbands and wives, go do the dirty work and say, what is hindering me? What is dulling my senses to heaven? What is intoxicating me in this world and keeping me from fully setting my hope on Christ? I have them. Please don't think I'm there. For me, it's the internet. For a lot of you young kids, you need to be careful about social media. Yeah, I'm the old mid-40s guy ranting and raving. You do understand that Satan knows how to use these things better than me. Everyone knows how to use a phone better than me, but even then, you techie young people, Satan knows how phones work. He knows how you work. And he knows how easy it is for you to crave the approval of your peers. You gotta put that to death. Because one day you will receive the full approval of Christ in the flesh. Remember what Peter said earlier? we will receive praise and glory and honor. It almost sounds blasphemous, but he says that in verse seven. That's the only praise and glory and honor that matter. And you'll forget that if you're not focusing on Christ in the gospel. So, set your hope fully first by girding up the loins of your mind and being sober-minded. Put away anything, put away anything that will lull you to sleep. Another book that I was gonna quote, but I won't because we don't have time, it's The Silver Chair. And there's this scene, well now I'm quoting it. There's this scene where Rillian, the prince, he's the son who is, as it were, gonna become king. And this is a picture of our sonship. And he realizes who he is. They destroy the silver chair, this enchanting magic. And then all of a sudden comes the queen of the underworld. She's really a serpentine, but she's masquerading as an angel of light. And she begins to chant these numbing songs to the main characters. And she puts some green stuff on a fire and it begins to lull them, anesthetize them to reality. And she begins to proclaim a false reality. Lewis is dead on to what's happening in the world. And it's only when Padoglam comes to a realization and he says the words, Aslan, who's a picture of Christ, and they're awoke, as it were. And he puts his foot and he stomps out the fire and he burns his feet and says, C.S. Lewis, that the pain of doing so sharpened his senses. I would encourage you to do the same. As the world is saying, be rich, be comfortable. Stomp those out and it may hurt, but it will awaken you to the future. So first, we think about hope and how it produces a transformed life. Verse 14, holiness. Hope really does work itself out in holiness. That's not just, oh, the pastor's alliterating again. That's just following the flow of the text. When your hope is set rightly, holiness is the inevitable result. It's the fruit. And if you're lacking fruit, may I diagnose your heart? It's because you have set your hope on things that are below, not on things above where Christ is. as obedient children. Going back to chapter one, verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again. It also goes back to verse two. So we love the first part. us filthy Calvinists love talking about God's foreordaining love, setting his love upon us in eternity past, right? We're elect exiles scattered throughout modern day Turkey. Yeah, preach it. Yes, we have been predestined. Or yes, we have been foreknown according to God's electing love. But it says that it's happened in the sanctification of the spirit. So we're pulled out of this kingdom of darkness into the realm of the spirit. And what is to characterize those who have been pulled out of darkness and into this realm of the spirit? Unto, for, for obedience. Literally in the Greek it says children of obedience, and that's a Semitic way of saying, just like there's a son of thunder, remember the sons of thunder, the sons of Boanerges? It was their character. Let's go and burn people down for rejecting you, Jesus. Let's go pick some fights. They're sons of thunder. They're thunderous boys. Well, this is children of obedience. They're made obedient by virtue of their new birth, but it also is how they are to be seen and characterized in the world. People should look upon Christians and say, they are children characterized by obedience, obedience to God, yes, in believing the gospel, and yes, also in obeying the gospel's Kamaz. This is impossible if you're still a child of disobedience. Ephesians 2. A son or daughter of wrath. But if you have been born again, do understand, you've been born again to obedience. It's not an option. I'll take some of the election. Oh, I like the spiritual gifts. Let's pass on the obedience stuff. That's good. Cha-ching. Or whatever sound it makes, tap. No, it's a package deal. As obedient children. And again, Peter does the same thing. He has a verb in verse 15 and a participle that precedes it in verse 14. So the command, be holy. Hope, holiness, linked. But as the Holy One who called you, likewise be holy in all your conduct. Negative, positive. How do you be holy in a negative way? Frowning on people? That's not what I mean. Thee thou hear'st. No, I'm not talking like a 16th century Englishman. What does it mean to be holy? Well, look at it. as obedient children, not being conformed. It's a participle again. Not being conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. See the mind? You can look it up after, it's 1 Thessalonians chapter four. Paul says that these Gentiles live wrongly because they do not know God. And I would say the same to Christians in their journey of sanctification. If we do not know God rightly, we cannot be conformed into his image. Does that make sense? And so negatively, there's a putting off in the language of Ephesians four or Colossians three. Put off those former passions. I don't know what those passions are. You do. Maybe it's lust, maybe it's greed, maybe it's bitterness. I don't know. But Paul says if you wanna be holy, you gotta get rid of some things. And this sort of carries over as you're girding up the loins of your mind and getting rid of all those other impediments. You gotta get rid of those old passions. You have to. You can't play with them. This is what obedient children do. Empowered by grace. Don't forget verses three through 12. Ryan, you're yelling a lot this morning. Okay, I'm sorry. In a soft voice, go and read verses three through 12 to yourself. Do not be conformed. It's in a passive. And I would translate, do not allow yourselves to be conformed. If we're sort of following those old passions, we have no one to blame but ourselves. You're allowing yourself to do that. You struggle with pornography? Well, I need my computer. No, you don't. You're allowing yourself. Get rid of your phone. Oh, but I need... No, you do. You can get an old flip phone. You struggle with shopaholic? Well, you're allowing yourself. Do you struggle with bitterness? You're allowing yourself. Why? Because you're focusing on the person who wronged you rather than upon the Christ who justified you and is returning. It's all a battle for the mind. It really is. Get rid of all those things that keep you fixated, whether good or not good. All those things that keep you horizontal, get rid of them. All those passions of your former ignorance. See, they were steeped in a culture that put all their hope in the now. Why? Because they do not know God, but you do if you're a Christian. And Satan is doing everything he can to keep you from looking to that coming day. He wants to keep you ignorant of God. He wants to keep you ignorant of the gospel. He wants to keep you ignorant of your inheritance. He wants to keep you ignorant of that full salvation. He wants to keep you ignorant of the well done, thou good and faithful servant. He wants to keep you ignorant of all these things. But he can't force it on you. You allow him to. Do not let yourself be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. Cross-reference, Romans 12.2. Do not be conformed to this world. What's the antithesis? Anyone have that memorized? But, be transformed, how? By the renewing of your mind. Peter and Paul, they would have been great preaching partners. Peter's voice gets a little hoarse. Paul, you wanna take over for me? Yeah, I'm down with you. We have the same theology of sanctification. Peter's saying the exact same thing here. Do not let yourselves be conformed to a worldview dominated by this evil generation. Rather, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be sober-minded. Gird your mind. Be ready for action. Well, I think we can keep going, because that's the negative. So don't be the way you used to be. That's the negative way of holiness, of putting off. What do you put on? the likeness of God. Actually turn there, I think we need to. I haven't had you turn yet this morning. Go to Ephesians 4. It's one of my favorite passages when it comes to counseling. This might sort of elucidate. Now, Paul doesn't use the word holiness. No, ah, no, he does, never mind. We'll edit that out. Verse 17. Now this, I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds. That's akin to what Peter's saying, these foolish ways that you've imbibed and inherited from your forefathers. Right? People who don't know God, futility. Vanity of vanities, you might say. They are darkened in their understanding. alienated from the life of God. They have no living hope because they've not been born again. Because of the ignorance in them. It's all with the mind. You want to become holy? You need to know who God is. And we're getting there because God has revealed himself most fully to us in these last days in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. but they are alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality. Now, Paul's writing this to believers. This was who you were. But be very careful of letting it seep and creep back into your life. There are a lot of Christians who are increasingly becoming callous, drunk on the world. Their hearts are being hardened, desensitized, seared. They're giving themselves up to sensuality. Greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you felt Christ. No, you got your nose in the book. That is not the way you learned Christ. If indeed, Paul says, you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus. Keep going. To put off your old self. That's what Peter's saying. You want to be holy? Put off that old self. to put off your old man, literally, which belongs to your former manner of life, same Greek word for manner of life, and is being corrupted through deceitful desires. You hear that? Peter's saying the exact same thing. You know what's happening, Christian? If you're not focusing your gaze on the gospel and the revelation of Christ, you're focusing it elsewhere. You know what happens when you do that? You're becoming corrupt, present tense participle. through desires that are deceitful. Rather, be renewed in the spirit of your minds, or I would translate, let the spirit renew your minds, and put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness that comes from the truth. So how do you become holy? You focus on the truth as it is in Jesus, And as you focus on the truth as it is in Jesus, as Paul, you're conformed into the image of God. Which Peter says, be holy even as the holy one who called you is holy. Peter and Paul are saying the same thing. What is the image of God? R.C. Sproul would say holiness. What is to characterize those who are born afresh into the image of God in Christ? Holiness. What is the one thing that should characterize Christians? This church, your pastor, should. Holiness. So how do you become holy? Mortify that old man. And if you're a woman, mortify that old man. Adam. Men and women have inherited that sinful nature equally. Put him, put her to death. and then put on the Lord Jesus Christ that you might make no provisions for the flesh. This is what holiness is. What is the clearest image or representation of holiness in all of the Bible? Christ. It's Christ. How are you made into the image of Christ? By going back to the truth as it is in Jesus. And this truth is the gospel. That's why Paul's always preaching the gospel. Not just for unbelievers to be converted, but for believers to be sanctified. Remember what I said last week? You need to preach to yourself not only the gospel of justification, but the gospel of glorification. The gospel of heaven. Remember the future as much as you remember the past. Remember that Christ died and was raised, but remember, he's coming back. That's all one gospel message. So maybe I'll close in Ephesians five then. While your finger's there, I don't wanna have you turn too much. Trust me, I'll focus on Peter, but Paul says it very well. Therefore, be imitators of God. So that could almost be say, be holy as God is holy, right? Imitate God. Are you guys tracking with me? Good. Whoever is supplying the coffee, thank you. Be imitators of God as what? As beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. So this is what it looks like, as I've said before. We become like Christ by beholding Christ. And you behold Christ in the gospel. Does that make sense? You learn the truth as it is in Jesus, and then you grow up into the image of God in all righteousness and holiness that comes from the truth. And so get a steady diet of the truth. Be sober-minded. Understand there's a devil who wants to distract you. Plug your ears, unplug the internet or the router or whatever it is, and get on your knees and read this book. Do whatever you can to gather. This is the foretaste of heaven. Not me preaching, us singing. We're gonna have, one day we'll get the table back, we're gonna have a heavenly feast on earth. This feast of the bread and the wine, It preaches to us the gospel of heaven. We're to do this as often as we gather, until what? Until he returns. It's not just between you and Jesus, it's between Christ and his people, celebrating together this heavenly feast on earth, which causes us to say, oh, as much as I love the taste of this, whatever that thing is that's supposed to be bread, oh how I long for that heavenly bread. which Revelation talks about, the manna of heaven. Oh, for the wine of Isaiah 25. So do everything you can. Is something keeping you from the word? Get rid of it! Is something keeping you from gathering regularly? Get rid of it! Is something keeping you from focusing on heaven? Get rid of it, cut it off! And in doing so, says Peter, you will become holy. I'll close it this way. Under the old covenant, God said that he would display his glory to the nations through the people of Israel. And he would do so insofar as they obeyed his revelation, the Torah, the law. You can read about this in Deuteronomy 4. And as the nations saw the people of Israel loving God and living for his glory and keeping his commands, They would ask, they would ask Israel about their God. They would be a light to the nations. They would be a holy priesthood as Exodus 19. And as they lived differently, in accordance with the revelation given them, the nations would inquire and God's glory would spread concentrically to the ends of the earth. Now let me take that and apply it in the New Covenant. As God's people focus on his revelation which he has given himself, and as we obey that, the same thing is true. Now we don't, as it were, look like Israel to the law. Because the law and the prophets find their telos and their end in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophets inquired earnestly into this grace that would be given to us in Christ. So turn your eyes upon Jesus. Can I encourage you just to read the Bible and ask God to reveal Christ more to you? Don't just read it and close it. Beholding by becoming. You'll become holy as you gaze upon the Holy One, Christ. And we see Christ in the gospel. And this has been God's plan ever since Genesis. What happens when God's people do that? we display his holy character and his worth to the ends of the nations. That's why we've been created. And you will find great satisfaction in being an instrument of God's grace and glory to the ends of the earth as you increasingly become like his son, or as Peter says, as you increasingly become holy, as the one who called you is holy. Not by circumcision, not by feasts, not by how you dress like a priest, but by becoming to what all those things pointed to, becoming more like the Lord Jesus Christ, imitating Him. So, I simply call you this morning, be serious. Some of us have not become serious, become complacent, and we've gathered here this morning to be reminded. Set our hope fully, which will affect our holiness wholly. in all your conduct. Last book I wanted to quote, a man named Moses Brown. Great preacher, says Newton. And I was convicted because he was only in the pulpit. His family life was not worthy of imitation. So as you're doing a little meditation on what needs to go, think about it, what needs to go with regards to how I I'm influenced at work, in my home, in public, all of your life, not just your Sunday life, not just your grace group life. This is something I need to do an inventory of. What is keeping me from catechizing my kids more than I am? I know, I'm not gonna tell you what they are. I need to get rid of them. So be holy in all your conduct, and as so, God is glorified in the nations hopefully we'll hear of this message. Father, we thank you for your word. And we would just ask, oh Lord, that you would help us to live in a manner worthy of your holy calling. You're the Holy One of Israel. And so Father, we pray that we would not give false advertising to this world, that we belong to the Holy One and yet live just like the world. Would you help us to be set apart from this world and for Christ? Lord, would you help us, not just to forget about what Peter has said to us this morning, but really to do the plow work and the hard work, Lord, of what needs to go. Would you help us to do a spiritual inventory of the hindrances and the things that blunt our Christian testimony? Would you help us to be serious about our holiness? Would you help us to recoil and run from anything that would smear the beautiful and holy name of Jesus? Father, I'm thankful that you give your children the grace necessary to carry out your commands, that these imperatives are rooted in gospel indicatives, that by your grace, we can actually increasingly become holy, that we can become different from this world. And so Father, I simply want to pray. Would you make us holy? Would you make us holier this week than we were last week? Would you help us, Lord, to really set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ? Lord, we love you and we thank you. As we celebrate this table, Lord, help us to yearn and groan more for the day when we receive the end of our redemption. Lord, we love you and we thank you. Forgive us of our sins and enable us for a life of obedience in all our conduct, we ask, Father. In Jesus' name, amen.