Father, we want to thank you for your word. And we ask that even in the reading of it, Lord, our affections would be stirred and we would be reminded that in Christ we have become your children, that we have been adopted into the oikos, the household of God, at great cost to the head. Father, I just pray that as we work through this inspired text from the pen of Peter, that we would find encouragement and instruction and fresh hope. Father, we know that in this gathering there are those who are hurting, those who are struggling, those who can feel acutely perhaps how Peter's original audience may have felt. And so Father, we ask that Peter's words to this original audience would be applied thousands of years later by the Holy Spirit to our hearts. Father, would you fix our eyes on Christ afresh and would we set again our hope fully on this grace that is being brought to us and will be culminated like we read in the book of Revelation this morning already. Father, we pray that as the Word goes out, as it is announced, these glad tidings of salvation, that there would be those who are being born again, that you are granting the gift of new birth to hearts that are dead, and that these hearts receiving new life, entering into a new kingdom, would be overjoyed and ready to obey, eager to do all that Jesus says. And so, Father, we thank you for your word. Would you now guide not only my lips, but my own affections. And would your word have free course this morning? Would it speed forth readily and be glorified? Would it save your elect? And would it encourage them as well, strengthening feeble hands? Father, I ask that in all that transpires this morning, Christ would be supreme, and therefore you would be glorified. Oh Father, let us leave here not merely informed, but truly reformed and transformed. Help us to go out into a dark, cursed, hopeless, and helpless world with the good news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ we ask in his name, amen. Please be seated. So less than 100 years after this letter was written, there was a church father named Justin Martyr. Word has it that he was actually one of the original disciples of the Apostle John, and he was called to stand before the emperor at the time, and given a defense of Christianity. Like Peter's audience, so also the early church was fraught with persecution. God-hating, Christ-rejecting sinners have never loved the gospel apart from grace. And so here is this faithful minister standing before this powerful emperor, and he's to give his apologia. We're gonna see that word later in the third chapter, but he's to give his defense for Christianity. Why do you preach what you preach, and why do you Christians do what you do? It's interesting if you were to read it, he did not merely just give all the intellectual answers. He did not explain the incarnation from a biblical perspective or explain the new birth only. He actually pointed the emperor to examine the lives of the Christians and to observe their radical purity, that they were a different kind of people who loved those who hated them and served those who despised them. that this was a new community. So we're going to see a par oikos, a family, a household within the greater context of a fallen world. People who live transformed lives because they have been transformed by Jesus Christ. The question is, could we offer such an apologia to those who ask us about the hope we have? Would we be able to say, yes, I've been studying my catechisms and listening intently on the expositional series through 1 Peter. I can give you all the right answers, but do our lives back up our lips? And that's what Peter's getting to. He has already laid out for us in the first 12 verses all the glorious realities, the big theology, all of the indicatives of who we are. in Christ. And all those are true, but Peter doesn't wrap up the letter with a benediction and say, now do what you will. He moves, like Paul and the rest of the New Testament writers, from indicative truth realities to imperative commands. How do we now live? Now that we belong to this kingdom, how do we live in the world? And that's what Peter is doing. And so we're going to spend a little time reviewing verses 13 through 16, because they form part of the one long sentence of verses 13 to 17. And really there's only three commands here. I wish I could alliterate them, but I can't, so I'm just gonna stick to the text. And there's three things that Peter says that we are to now live out. And if you think that you don't have the power to, Peter's reminded you that you do. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. They're yours in Christ, that God predestined you, He foreloved you into His family, but also He is giving you the Holy Spirit now to live in the realm of the Holy. We are set apart, sanctified in the Holy Spirit. So the Father elects and calls us to Christ. And we now have the power by the Spirit to obey Christ. He has sprinkled his blood over us, not only to cleanse us from our sins, but that sprinkling of blood is in a covenantal context by which he empowers us to obey the terms of the covenant. And when we do so, We offer an apologia, a defense, that Christianity is not merely lip service or a theory. It is the power of God to live a different life because we are born again to a living hope. And so Peter says, set your hope. You have a new hope. Set your hope fully on what God has promised you in Christ at his revelation, at his return. Okay, we're going to see that all this world has hopes. Everyone in this world is hoping. I really hope the Jets beat the Canadians. Maybe I really hope that there's gonna be no economic depression. Maybe, I don't know. Everyone in this world, whether Christian or non-Christian, has hope. The Muslim is like, I sure hope my good works outweigh my bad works. The Catholic hopes the same thing. And Peter's saying that Christ has delivered you, he's ransomed you, he's bought you out of that realm of hopelessness and futility and vanity. And he's given you not only new life, he's given you new hope. And that's the purpose of gathering together to spur one another on to love and to good works that flow out of the approaching day as it draws near. We are closer, beloved, to salvation than when we first believed, Paul says in Romans 13. A very popular passage. in these days. And so can we say with Justin Martyr, look to the church and see that she's just not a bunch of self-righteous people walking around in different clothes, but she has been radically transformed, and she lives out her new hope, and she's eagerly awaiting Christ to consummate his kingdom, not merely for streets of gold. but that we might see him as he really is. You see, 1 John 3, actually turn there, this just comes to mind. It's only a couple of books over from 1 Peter. While you're turning there, I'll tell you why this is such an important verse to me. Not only because it's the inspired word of God, but when I was in seminary in Toronto, there was an old bus driver, his name was Gil, and I fell in love with Gil, and he was this grumpy old guy. And the pastor was always just fighting against Gil, because Gil just loved the old school ways. And I loved Gil for the old school ways. And he would often recite this verse to me. And when an 85-year-old recites a verse to you and says he's banking his hope on it, you usually listen. Listen to older people. Listen to how God has changed them. I haven't been in Toronto in over 15 years and Gil has long passed and he's with the Lord. And he's left this verse, every time I read it, I think of Gil. See what kind of love, of course he quoted in the old King James, behold what manner of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the sons or the children of God. And such, and so we are. It's emphatic in the Greek. It blows John's mind, and it blew Gil's mind. And it transformed how we live. That we should be called children of God, and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him, hearkening back to John 15. Beloved, we are God's children now. And what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know And listen to that, Peter uses this word a lot. Your obedience flows out of a knowledge. Just as the disobedience of these former pagans was the fruit of their ignorance. You know something, you know you're children of God, because you know the gospel, you know. that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we will see him as he is. This is the verse. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. That word for purify has the same cognate of the word for holy. Where does holiness come from? reflecting upon who Christ is, what he has done, and what it will be like when he returns for his own. I think that meshes well with Peter. And so Peter's explained to us all of the glory that will fully be realized at the revelation of Christ. And that's not just for playing Christian Jeopardy, for answering right questions. It actually informs and transforms how we live. It really does. I've tried imperfectly to think more about it. And I would encourage you to do the same. Your heart will soar above all of the trials of this life. You will not eliminate them. But in the language of Isaiah 40, as you focus and fix all of your hope on the Lord and all of his promises, his steadfast promises, Peter guarantees it will change how you live. He's concerned about how the church is living. And he doesn't just start, you know, sort of slapping them in the back of the head theologically. He says, think about, set your hope fully. Not partially, fully. And as I was jogging through the coulee yesterday, I thought of it this way. Almost all Christian obedience is premeditated. And we think of premeditated murder. Wasn't an accident! I've been stewing and thinking about how I can get revenge on this person. I'm not thinking about that, but I'm stewing and thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is jumping out at me. I'm longing to see him as he is. I'm longing to be rid of this old, wretched body that just is so allured with the things of this world. The sharpness, the bitterness, the anger, the frustration, the gossip, the slander, the envy, All of these things I long to put away, chapter two, verse one, will be put off finally when Christ returns. Set your hope fully. Don't settle with partially. Not just a fleeting moment. And so, can I encourage you to be intentional? I don't know if I should be betraying facts like this, but Christine and I went to go see a financial advisor. And it was just amazing how excited he was about telling us to have a plan for the future. and how we told them as Christians that our goal is not to retire and to live comfortably, but we want to be good stewards. And I thought, man, if I could be half as excited about my future with Christ and let that reflect and inform how I live my life as this guy is about me retiring and not spending $700 at 7-Eleven, which I never would do. I guess people do that. I would live differently. And that's what he was saying. If you have goals, if you're intentional, you will use your money wisely. And I thought, that's the exact same thing here. The person who's always thinking about, if I get to that $1.2 million, which is the magic number to retire at 65, it will change my decisions. The same thing is true on a much higher level. Right? Our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. God's keeping it. $1.2 million, whether I spend it all, I don't have that much, or whether I die, I won't get to enjoy it the way I should. But Peter's saying you have something far better, far more secure. So set your hope fully on that. How? By preparing your minds for action. Being intentional. Being serious. going through your planner and saying, am I intentionally focusing on heaven? Maybe I'll go and buy Randy Alcorn's book on heaven or a short little devotional on heaven. It's excellent. Maybe I'll get around Christians who are longing for Christ's return. But be sober-minded. Get rid of all of those things that draw us away, that turn our gaze away from Christ, that dull our senses, that enshroud our affections. There's an old song that I used to listen to before I was a Christian. It's by Pink Floyd. Don't go and listen to them, but it's called Dazed and Confused. Or is that Led Zeppelin? Maybe it's Led Zeppelin. And I said, I think that would probably characterize the North American evangelical church for the most part. We're just dazed and confused. We're not preparing our minds for action. We're not girding up the loins of our minds. We're just, whatever comes, CRT, whatever, wokeness, whatever. The church is just right because they don't understand that if we want to be holy, there's an intentionality, and all obedience, or most obedience for the Christian is premeditated. So first, Peter says, set your hope fully on the grace that is being brought to you when Christ returns, and you do so by preparing your minds for action, right? I'm in a really sharing mood. I was watching arm wrestling yesterday. Not because I'm aspiring to be an arm wrestler, though you probably wonder. But there was this guy, and he was, there's this jacked, like 300 pound mass of muscle. And so what you do, I'm not an arm wrestler as you can tell, but there's the ref, and he puts their hands together, and this smaller guy, He was ready, and the big guy's probably like, yeah, I'm awesome. And he said go, and before the big guy even knew, he slammed his arm down and he lost. Why? One guy was ready, the other wasn't. So I would encourage us, prepare your minds for action. Get in the word of God. Set your alarm clock. Have others ask you, are you in the word? Catechize your children. Do your family devotions. Please don't see this as legalistic. Please, please, please. Peter's not. He cares about the witness of the church. And so he says, start with your minds and inform your hopes because you will have hopes. And if you're not intentionally in the word of God, you will let the world define hope for you. And Peter says, that's vanity. That characterized you before you knew Christ. So get to know him a bit more. He says, as obedient children, we are to be holy. First command, set your hope fully. Second command, be holy. Simple as that. How? As obedient children. I was excited that I got a book in the mail that I pre-ordered and forgot, and it's a biblical theology written by J. Gary Miller on transformation by becoming conformed into the image of Christ. And in his little section on 1 and 2 Peter, he says that Peter is reminding his audience that this is possible because we are now born again. God is our father in Christ, and now, by the Spirit, we can actually become holy because we're living and the children of God. This is not an impossible thing, Peter is saying. Since you are obedient children, you've been born again as children, and part of that being born again is a desire and an ability to obey. Go and read Romans 6. You were once slaves of unrighteousness. You know what you are now, if you're a Christian? This is ontologically true. This is indicative. If you are a Christian, if you are in Christ, you are now a slave to righteousness. Which is why Paul moves from Romans 7 to Romans 8, and you have the Holy Spirit of God, not only upon you, but within you. Not only to desire to obey, but the ability. Work out your own salvation. with fear and trembling. Why? For you know God is working in you, both to will and to do what is pleasing to Him. So, prepare your minds for action and be sober-minded by setting your grace fully on the grace that will be set or revealed to you. And as you do so, Peter says, holiness. Hope and holiness are linked. There's a chain. Holiness is really just sort of being set apart. And as you set your mind apart, you will become holy. It's as simple as that. Okay, I don't need to re-preach, but if you are in Christ, you have been born again for holiness, for obedience. You see that in verse three? You can let your eyes gaze down, that's okay. I know they're a little glazed over. Look down, it'll wake you up. Verse two, I should say. For obedience and for the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. God foreknew not only that you would become born again, but that you would become an obedient child. That's it. Be holy, even as I am holy. How do you become holy? By looking to God. The way Moses was transformed when he went up on the mount, he came down and his face was radiating the glory of God. He was never the same. And it's this becoming by beholding. How do you become set apart for God? You set yourself apart for God. It's as simple as that. And he transforms us from one degree of glory to another as we gaze upon him, as we look upon who God is. Most fully in, help me out, Jesus. In Jesus, who is the Son of God? Who the prophets prophesied about. You can read about it in Hebrews 1 too. Verse 17, we move to our third imperative. So, set your hope fully, first command. Second, be holy. None of the fake, I can't, I can't. No, you can. If you're an obedient child, you can become holy because that's God's purpose. Thirdly, where we pick up our text this morning and if, You call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds. Here's the imperative, the command, conduct yourselves with fear. Okay, so this is part of our apologetic. How do we live in the midst of a world that hates us and slanders us and even persecutes us? We're setting our hope fully, we're seeking to become holy as the father's holy, and we're conducting our lives in fear or in reverence or respect throughout the time of your exile. So let's think about this for a bit. You call upon Him as Father. And this is probably most likely prayer. And what Peter's saying is, remember who God is when you come to Him in prayer. You pray to this Holy Father. Why do you not live consistently with that? Okay, and Peter's probably drawing from Matthew 6, where Jesus taught His disciples how to pray. Our Father, right, so this is relational. When we're thinking of the fear of God, it's covenantal. This is what you call filial fear. It's relational fear. It's not slavish or servile fear. You're not fearing or cowering of some tyrant or some angry taskmaster, the way Israel feared Pharaoh. That's not what Peter's talking about. It's more like the Father, who you know is holy, and loves righteousness, and always does what is just, and you have such respect and adoration and awe for him, that you would never think about dishonoring his name. We have that at an earthly level, or we should. I remember, so I don't know why there's no filter, but when there was the possibility, and there still is, of maybe going to jail, I remember almost in tears telling my dad. Dad, if I'm in jail, I hope I don't bring dishonor to the case name. But I have to do what I have to do because I don't want to bring dishonor to my father. Okay, so there's an interplay between the horizontal, which we can relate to, but ultimately the vertical. And if I'm cognizant and setting my hope fully on seeing the Father's love for me in Christ, if I'm just so absorbed Why would I play around with sin? Whether it's retaliation, or lust, or greed, or slander, whatever the sin is, I don't want to dishonor him. So it's the story of sort of the Proverbs 1, of this boy, he's running with the wrong crowd, and they're doing all kinds of wrong things, and it comes to his mind that he shouldn't be doing so, and they begin to entice him. How come you aren't joining with us, Johnny? Come on, you coward. to which one of the friends pipes up and says, he's just afraid that his dad's gonna hurt him, or that his dad is going to harm him. And they kept going and kept going, and finally Johnny pipes up and he says, actually the reason I'm doing this is not because I'm worried about me being hurt by my father, but rather my hurting him by my actions. You should see that, a sin, that it really does break the father's heart. He sent his son to die for you. He purposed that you would be an obedient child. And when you live inconsistently, going back into those slavish, useless things that you learned from your ancestors, it actually dishonors him. We can dishonor him as children. We're working through 1st and 2nd Samuel with the kids right now, 2nd Samuel 11. It's the tragic story of David and Bathsheba. David wasn't doing what he should have been doing. And we know all the sordid details of what happens. And if you look at the very end of the chapter, and the Lord was displeased with David. David's a man after God's own heart. David forgot. David got comfortable. David was not preparing himself for action. He forgot the wartime mentality, forgot that there are enemies roaring and seeking to devour. And so David forgot, David fell into sin, and the father was disappointed, displeased. And by God's grace, you go and you read Psalm 51, and here is this man crying out, Against you, not Bathsheba, not Uriah, not the people of Israel, against you and you only have I sinned. I've done what is wrong in your sight. And so here's Peter trying to encourage people to holiness. Don't just remember G-O-D. Remember you have a Father in heaven. Right, and here's something else I thought. That our holiness is not just positional. Okay, do you know what that means? Right, and so here we are before Christ in this state of death. We're in sin, we're under sin, we're disobedient children, we're children of wrath, we're in darkness, we are darkness, that's who we are before Christ. But we're actually elected out of that by the Father and the work of Christ into the sanctification of the Spirit. And that's a position, we're in Christ. And holiness flows out of that. So you would say, it's positional holiness. But remember this, and it's just as important. Your holiness is not merely positional, it's relational. Right, we sing the song. Jesus, I, my cross have taken. Why? Because we're so awesome, like the people who don't? No, you get to the fifth stanza. Think what Father's smile is upon thee. Think what son died to win thee. Child of heaven, canst thou repine? And so here's the author thinking about, yeah, life is hard. What gets him through it? What helps him to live differently? Not repaying evil for evil or slander for slander. No, we entrust ourselves to a faithful judge the way Jesus did in chapter two. Because we remember that God is now our Father. Right? That's the spirit. We cry out, Abba, Father. He's not some angry curmudgeon who's just waiting to drop the boom when we sin. He's actually a feeling father whose heart is broken. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Romans 2. That it's not so much the spank that drives me away from sin, though it's necessary, Hebrews 12, but it's actually the forbearance. and kindness and patience of God that leads Ryan Case to repentance. That's Romans 2.5. So, as you're coming to him, he is father, but he's our father in heaven. He's our holy father, and he hates sin. He hates my sin. How do I know that? One, because his word says so, and two, Because in the very next verses, the father shows his ultimate displeasure for the sin of his children. Right, the cross. This is how meditating on the cross will keep you from sin. It should. If you get the gospel, sin will never be a response to God's grace. Shall we then sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How can we who die to it live in it any longer? And the Spurgeon says, you want to nail those sins, put them to death? Remember the cross they were nailed to as Christ hangs there bearing them for you. Will you dabble in that sin that crucified him? So the cross is a great thing to be mindful of. Before I move on, do you call upon him as father when you pray? Do you pray often? Please don't take this as guilt. But we're gonna get there in chapter four. The end, ta telos, is at hand, en engus. Therefore, be sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Part of girding up your mind is praying. And you're not just praying to some distant deity who's unconcerned about the affairs of your life. You're actually praying to a father who inclines his ear. And if you call upon him as father, remember that he is your holy father. And you know so because of the gospel. But you also know because of what the Bible says is that God still disciplines his children, okay? So Ryan hates certain sins, whether it's your children doing them or my children. It's not like, hey, girls, you belong to dad, it's all good. I'm gonna be spending my time disciplining those who aren't my kids. No, God hates all sin. Right? It should actually terrorize you in the best way possible that you would actually sin in light of this light. And so it says here, and if you call on him as father, participle, this is his nature, who judges impartially. It says the same thing in Romans 2. The impeccable nature, the unchanging standard of God. David sinned and he was forgiven, but God is still holy. And there's consequences. And David was smarting after that. Perhaps every day on the calendar that was circled where his son died, he was reminded that God is impartial, and he's just and he's holy. He is full of grace. But the foundation of his throne is also justice, mishpat, and uprightness, standard. And he will discipline his children that they might share in His holiness. If you belong to this Father, and you call upon Him as Father, invoke His name in prayer, do understand, like we just sang, that He's impartial, and there will be consequences. And so live rightly. I don't like Spanx like anyone else. God is faithful, and He will administer that, but He will also administer rewards. Some people don't agree with this, that's fine. But I'm under the persuasion that we're not saved by our works, but there is also a rewarding, an accounting, which God will dole out. This is why Paul, if you read 2 Corinthians 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, kept him going. 1 Peter 5, the pastor's, I'm longing for a crown. So I wanna be a faithful pastor. I'm already saved. I just want a bigger crown to throw at his feet, and so should you. Sometimes we who focus on grace, because of our sin nature, can sometimes abuse that grace. And I think Peter's saying, be careful about doing that. Yes, he's father, but he's also holy, and he's the judge, and he judges impartially according to each one's deeds, including Christians. Therefore, conduct yourselves. We saw last week, all of your conduct. Not just your Sunday morning conduct, all of your conduct, all of your way of life, I would translate that, with fear throughout the time of your exile. Verse 18, not only knowing that he is holy and he's a perfect judge, but also being reminded of our ransom. See, again, it's a thinking thing. Christians who forget the gospel will begin to dabble in the things of this world. They will begin to retreat back into those foolish ways. They will begin to conduct their lives wrongly. This is why it's so important, says Lloyd-Jones, to do what to yourself every day? Puff yourselves up? No, preach the gospel to yourself every day. I can only do it once a week, and I can't control if you fall asleep or not. But you can preach the gospel to yourself every single day. And it doesn't need to be an hour-long sermon. You don't have to yell in the mirror the way I yell at you from the pulpit. You can preach knowing, aedotes. It's this cognitive aspect again. Holiness doesn't just happen, happenstance. It's not accidental. It's premeditative. You could translate that for you know, or since you know. So that's why we remind you. You keep saying, why do the pastors keep preaching the gospel? Because the pastors need to be reminded and we know so do you. For you know that you were ransomed. That's a great word. Lutra'o. And it has two kind of flavors. Hopefully I'm not going too long. We'll finish soon. And Peter's borrowing from not only the Greco-Roman culture at the time, but he's also borrowing from the rich history of the Old Testament. So let's start with the Greco-Romans, because I think Peter's addressing primarily and predominantly Gentiles in the church, though Jews are present. And so back in those days, slavery was just, it was everywhere, it was ubiquitous, predominant, it was everywhere. It was part of the fabric. of the economy, of society, of culture. It was infused through and through. As evil as it is and was, it was just a part of life. So you can't redo history like people think you can. It was wrong, but it was there. And so most people were slaves, and they were indentured to a master. Doesn't mean they had false teeth. It means that they were under contract to them. that perhaps a prisoner of war, or perhaps they didn't have enough money, they would say, okay, I can't provide for myself, I will be your slave, your doulos. Whether the master was good or evil, didn't matter, they were now that property. And there was only one way they could be freed, by a time, used in Greek, trust me, there's a play on words. Time means cost. And we are redeemed by the Timayos, the precious cost of Christ. And so, people back then would have caught it. And so, if Joe's a slave back then, and he's enslaved to Blake, and Blake is nasty as can be, there's only one way for Joe to be ransomed. Blake loves money. He loves the service of a slave, but there's only one thing he loves even more than that, free service. Money. And so what would happen back then is that money would be brought into the pagan shrine, the pagan temple. And you can, remember this in India? And so what would happen is that money would come in and then the god, small G, would then take a little bit off the top for himself and then give it to Blake. And therefore, Joe is manumitted. He is freed. He's emancipated. However, Though Joe is free now from Blake, he's now a slave of the deity. Interesting, and that's what Peter's picking up on. He's saying once you were slaves to sin, you were slaves to futility. You were slaves to all of these foolish ways inherited from your forefathers. You were slaves to materialism and popularity. Whatever the slavery looks like, every religion, including atheism and secularism, has an enslaving thing to it. Whether it's getting the PhD, or whether it's getting the six-figure income, or the big house, that's slavery. Please see that. Some Christians don't realize, and they work all their life. Not realizing that they have everything they could ever, now I'm not against retirements and houses and PhDs, I'm not against that, but it's not a slavish fear to those things. And so as Joe has been freed from Blake, he is now, as it were, a slave or a servant of the deity, and Peter's saying the same thing. That you have been freed from that slavery to futility, to a vain, dying, empty hope, and you're now a slave to the living God who gives you a living nature with a living hope, because Jesus Christ is living, having been resurrected. Does that help? Okay, and now he's borrowing also from the Old Testament, that God redeemed. And there's two Hebrew words, you're familiar with one, the goel. You can read about that in Ruth. The kinsmen Redeemer, he's the Goel, from the Hebrew, Ga'al. And then there's another one, Pada, it comes from sort of the Passover, or the Day of Atonement, and there's this idea of a purchase, to free not only the slave from his master, but also to his sins. And so Peter's actually borrowing from both. You've been freed not only from your slave master, foolish ways, but also from your sin. And of course they work together. Okay, so how do you live rightly? He says here, as you're praying to God, this holy God, you remember that your emancipation, your freedom from this holy God cost him his holy son. Therefore be holy. Your father is holy, the sacrifice is holy, now your life is to be a holy sacrifice. Romans 12. Conduct yourselves with fear, knowing. that you were ransomed, you were purchased, you were bought from the futile conduct. ESV has ways, that's not a good translation, because you're to conduct yourself. Everyone's conducting themselves in some way. God saved you from that foolish conduct, that foolish way of life. He's given you something far better. If you like to write notes, this Greek word is used in the LXX, the Septuagint, all throughout a wisdom book in the Old Testament. called Ecclesiastes. Vanity, vanities. Life without God is vanity. And so God freed you from that vanity. He's actually made you not only a servant, but he's made you a son. You inherit it from your forefathers. This is important. I was thinking about this, we had a little bit of a conversation on Friday with some people, and what happens when people who have some of these traditions are converted? What do you keep, what do you don't? And I thought this verse was perfect. Whether it's Native American spirituality, or whether it's a Mormon who comes in, or a Muslim. Now I know, don't use those words. No, like what do you keep? What has been influenced by this world? What has been inherited from the forefathers that is futile and vain and worthless. It needs to go. That's not politically correct, Peter. Who cares? Doesn't matter what your background is. There is some enslaving futility that we all have, whether you're male or female or young or old or white or black or fill in the blank. Whether it's rich or poor, there's an enslaving mindset that God has freed us from. Get rid of all those things that entrap you. Why? Because Christ shed his blood and he's given you something so much more. Not with perishable things, such as silver or gold, right? So if I wanted to free Joe, it would cost silver or gold. What did yours cost? Right, you could've said, man, Blake really had a good death grip on Joe, it cost a lot of money. No amount of money could ever free you from your sin or your slavery to the devil. Nothing except the precious blood of Christ. Not precious like, oh, that teddy bear is precious to my daughter. The word is the idea of inestimable value, irreplaceable, one of a kind. There's only one thing. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood, which is why we're saying, are you washed? You can go for swims in liquid gold if you want. It won't take away your sin. but this precious blood, this death of the Lord Jesus Christ, that can free you. Not only forgive you, but free you. See, Christians are all about being forgiven, true, but we've also been freed for obedience, okay? But with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without blemish or spot, and we'll get there. In chapter two, Isaiah 52 and 53 is just coursing through Peter's mind and veins. So go home and read Isaiah 52 and 53. That's what it costs to set you free. You think your sin was a trifling matter to this holy father you now call upon? Your freedom and your forgiveness cost Christ his blood. Why would you sin against that? I... Christina and I often say this, I hope this doesn't embarrass our kids, it probably won't, but I'm in my 40s and I'm a dad, so I embarrass my kids all the time, so I might as well do it publicly. But they'll do something that's just so blatant, and it's like a slap in the face. You parents can identify with that. We birthed them, well, Christina birthed them into the world, I was there cheering her on. We feed them, we clothe them, we love them, we do everything possible, and then all of a sudden, just some blatant high-handed, like, I don't care about you. And all you can do is pray, God help them to get how much we love them. Because then they'll think twice about that. Christina's actually praying the same thing for me. Think about that precious blood. Sin will become repugnant and odious. He was foreknown, same Greek word as in chapter one, verse two. We were foreknown. So Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world. Some translations say chosen, that's okay, but literally he was foreknown. But was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you. Let's tease that out for a couple minutes only. So you have to understand the doctrine of the Trinity. God has always been Father and Son and Spirit before even time was created in the atemporal realm. The Father and the Son and the Spirit have always been in perfect harmony, perfect unity, perfect love. So here's this four-loved Son, okay? You tracking with me? The Father loved the Son infinitely. The Son was foreknown. Not just, I think I have a vague remembrance of who Jesus is. No, this is the inter-trinitarian love the Father and the Son have, and the Spirit meeting the love within the triunity of God. And yet the father's willing to have that son whom he loves, this elect one, this beloved one, the one he is most supremely pleased with, come into the world for the sake of you. That should humble you. For the sake of you. Right, the father and the son, they got, right, when I was watching the arm wrestling, they'd do it, and sometimes the hands would slip, I guess they're so strong, or maybe they're sweaty, and then they'd have to tie it around. The love the father had for the son was tight. And then here come these sinners, lost, ruined, enslaved. And the father says of the four-loved son, of the son he loves infinitely and for eternity, go and die for them. And the father says, here I am. I will do your will. I will take on a body. I will receive their spits and their scourgings. I will endear their slanders and scoffings because you love me, father. And so we're following in Christ's footsteps. The son obeyed because he loved the father. And here are we now into the equation. This four-loved Christ, before the world was ever created, he's manifested in the last times for the sake of you. Who through him are believers in God, and I would say the true God. Not the vain, imaginary gods of the pagans, of the true and the living God, of whom Paul preached in Iconium in Acts 14 or in Athens in Acts 17. Here's the true God. It's not some Johnny-come-lately religion. It's rooted in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You belong to him. How? By circumcision? No, by faith in Christ. We're sons in the Son. We don't have a dying hope in a false God, we have a living hope in the true God. Through Christ you believe in the true God. And the Jews needed to hear that too. Is Jesus the one? Peter says yes. He was the foreknown one, that sort of was announced in Genesis 3.15, and all the way throughout the Old Testament was promised and hinted at and foreshadowed, like we saw in chapter one, verses 10 to 12. Through him you are believers in God, listen, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory. As goes the son, so go the sons. You think this would have mattered to people who are suffering? God loved his son! and he let him suffer. Christ's suffering wasn't the absence or negation of God's love. Neither is ours. And after his sufferings, there were subsequent glories. As for the son, so for the sons and daughters. God raised him from the dead. If you belong to Christ, he will raise you from the dead. That inheritance you long for now will be fully realized. Not only that, God gave him glory. Where is Christ now? He's seated at the right hand. And God has given him all glory, and we will share in that. Verse seven, praise and glory and honor for us when Christ is revealed, so that your faith endure Hope earned God. Starts with hope, verse 13. Ends with hope, verse 21. Holiness flows out of your hope. Hope flows out of where your mind is set. Can I encourage you just to set your hope fully afresh on Christ? Not only what he has done, but what he will bring when he returns for you. You longing for that day? If you are, it will change how you live tomorrow. I promise you that, not because I'm a great preacher, but because I believe this word is true and the Spirit can accomplish it. Let's pray. Father, we want to thank you for your goodness to us. I pray, Father, that you would help us to set our hope fully on Christ's return. Lord, I was thinking of the engagement of how The bride and the bridegroom live so differently once they are engaged. They live only for the other, longing for that day. Father, I pray that we would do that. The way they say no to certain things so they can fit into their beautiful attire. The way they say no to other things so that bliss can be reserved for them alone. Father, we confess that we are being bombarded with all kinds of fashions and influences from this fallen world that wars against you and your Messiah. So would you help us, Lord, to remember that you not only saved us out of a life of futility, but you've also saved us into a life of obedience, a life of meaning. And would you help us now to conduct ourselves with fear? That we would just tremble at the fact that we would ever sin against the Father who sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. So help us to live wisely as temporary residents, as aliens, as elect exiles. Thank you, Father, for giving us Christ that our hope might be truly in you. Help us now by the power of the Holy Spirit to live wisely, fearing you, serving you, because we love you. Father, I pray for any here this morning who maybe have never, ever tasted that the Lord is good because they have never been born again to a living hope. Would today be the day of salvation? Would today be the day They repent of all of their folly and all of their sin, and they put their hope and their trust in Christ and the gospel alone. Father, I pray, would you work in our midst, work in our church, help our lives to be an apologia, to be a defense of the reality of Christ raised and the truthfulness of his gospel. We ask this in his name, amen.