1Peter 1:10-

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Title: Personal holiness

Purpose: In light of such a great slavation how ought the christian to live their lives?

Aim: A Holy God will help a Holy people to get through their hardships

Read 1Peter Ch1:10-16

Introduction:

Robert Murray McCheyne was born Edinburgh in 1813 and became a pastor of St Peters in Dundeee age 22. Edinburgh at this time could be described as a sese pool of sin. So much so that McCheyne first impression of the city was to say “It was a place given to wickedness and hardness of heart," Andrew Bonar his friend said it was "A spiritually dead region,". Yet in the middle of this unholy and corrupt culture there was a man called Robert Murray Mchene who would often get on his knees and pray “Lord me as holy as it possible for a saved sinner to be.” McCheyne was not content to be just saved from hell but he knew that his greatest need was personal holiness, if his soul was to ever mirror Christ and glorify God. I think we all need to make this prayer our own this morning. In fact in our commuinty, in our town, in our world, even in the church we are at crisis point regarding personal holiness. The Western church is coming apart at the sems for lack of personal holiness. What was once the absorbing focus of the evangleical church, now is now old fashioned, outdated, obsolute piece of christian machinary. Yet we must rememebr what Christianity is alll about and you will see personal holines ought to be a central concern to each child of God. For, God who himself is Holy, annoucnes Himself as holy, sends His Holy SOn into the middle of God’s people, He charges them with Holiness, if they are ever to have fellowship with a Holy God. Nothing is more essential in maintaing fellowship with God, than personal holiness. Therefore, this morning Christian, if God seems distant, if He seems detached, if fellowship with God is none exisitent, your christian life is stale, cold, dry. Maybe it’s time for a personal Holiness examination? Perhaps it’s time to say like the Psalmist “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”?

Holiness was something that was heavy of Peters mind for the persecuted church. For, he wants through this passage a Holy God, will help a Holy people to get through their hardships. Therefore he is going to stress the need for personal holiness. Yet, before we look at this our passage invites us to consider:

Firstly. Hush of a Holy God v10

From the dawn of sin, and therin God’s promise of a Saviour (Gen 3:15) Old Testemant phrohets searched relentlessy, asking many questions in order to discover what God’s plan of delievarance (Salavation means) from sin would look like. They where keen to know understand how a Holy God would excute a plan in order to call a people onto Himelf and then command them to be Holy. That Jesus said to His disciples regarding Himself, Matthew Ch13:17 “ Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” So thirsty where they for this knowledge they

enquired v10

The prophets had two primary jobs: 1) They proclaimed God’s Word, and 2) They predicted future events. Peter’s concern is with #2, the prophets as predictors of the future. Which means, i nthe synagogues they actively sought to find the meaning of behind their phrophecys. They v10 “searched” v11 “searched which refers to searching throguh a house or tent in order to find someone or something, or it can also mean searching the Scriptures. That I beelkive is the meaning here. They’re searching the Scriptures for v11 “what manner of time, it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. agnoized, pondered, over Psalm 22. That a Holy God would become less than a worm! We can see them in the synagogue. One phropeht gets up and says “ What does that mean? Will they treat God like an unwanted worm? Beaten, Forsaken even by Himself? maybe another says yes, for I was reading Isaiah Ch53 “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our intiquites”. Perhaps another stands to His feet and asks. I dont understand how could a a Holy God suffer to the extent that he would be willing to be humilated to the point he would be like a sheep led to the slaughter? Can you see them dialoguing, about the v10 “grace that should come onto you”. Grace is God’s unmerited favour to those who least deserve it. Quite simply baffled, that a Holy God would deliver a sinful people onto Himself, call them to be Holy and then walk in fellowship with them. They knew they had written Scripture but they could not grasp its significance.

Over the years people have made predictions about the internet. Not all the predictions were correct in fact some where way of the mark. Bill Gates’ proclaimed in 2004 that spam mail would be eliminated within two years; Newsweek’s 1995 made a prediction that websites would never replace newspapers; and two other 1995 predictions that the Internet would never be able to handle very much traffic. Newsweek also predicted that no one would ever buy anything over the Internet due to a lack of salespeople. Even though each of the predictions was made in good faith, all of them proved that no human really knows exactly what the future will hold. Similar the phorhepts only had little pieces of big puzzle. However thopse little peices were made klnown to them through the Holy Spirit which give a small clue to their big questions. Yet Peter’s audeince have seen the whole puzzle which Peter has [reached ot thm through v12 “the Gospel” which appears 93 times in the Bible. What exactly do Christians mean when they talk about the “gospel of Jesus Christ”? Since the word “gospel” means “good news,” when Christians talk about the gospel, they’re simply telling the good news about Jesus! It’s a message from God saying, “Good news! that a Holy God loves the world enough to give His only Son to die for our sin. That’s an announcement you can’t afford to ignore.

For even the angels are

Mystified at the plan of remdeption v12 “which things the angels desire to look into”

A Holy God suffering in Christ, the glory of his kingdom , and the fact that a sinner can be called a child of God is something v12 “which things the angels desire to look into” The word look is used in the New Testament to speak of very strong desires to peek or peep into the situation. It’s the same word used for Peter and John stooping to look inside the empty tomb on Easter Sunday morning. The angels are so eager to understand God’s grace that they stand on peek and bend down from the battlements of heaven to marvel at the unfolding plan of salvation.

During the 16th century a painter named Tintoretto created a beautiful version of the Last Supper. He painted the scene so that we see Jesus and his disciples gathered around the table. It appears that Jesus has just said, “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” There is a sense of drama and tension in the painting as the disciples struggle to understand. Above the table, an oil lamp gives off clouds of smoke. Tintoretto painted angels in the smoke, watching from above, their faces strangely curious, as they too marvel at what God the Son is about to do. That’s exactly the idea Peter is driving at. Angels marvel at our salavtion. Why? There are no “saved” angels because salvation is not for them, but for us. Jesus died to redeem fallen men and women, not the angels. They know nothing about grace and mercy and forgiveness. They’ve never experienced new life, the new birth, regeneration, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, or the wonder of deliverance from sin. That which we have experienced in Jesus Christ, the angels never knew and will never know. We are far more privileged than they.

So 1 Peter 10-12 reminds us their has been a hush of a Holy God throughout centuires.

What the prophets predicted but could not understand …

What the angels wonder at but never experience …

We understand and experience every single day.

The OT was silent on many ascpect of redemption. Yet the bible is not silent on what God expects from His children if He is to walk in fellowship with them.

Secondly: A call to Holiness

Christianity is supremely about transformation, baring the image of one who created them and redeemed them. Holiness is about learning the way to becoming Christ like so that heart is transformed which in turn expresses itself in Godly behaviour. So Peter says “wherefore” reaches back to all that has been said about salavtion v1-12.

Firstly. Cultivate Holiness 13-14

Gird:

V13 Gird (prepare) your mind. The image of gird is a picture taken from man wearing long flowing clothes who decides to run. In order to run well they would tie the long robes around their waist. What’s Peter saying? As antied clothes will trip you up so an undsicplned mind will make you stumble. You see folks in order to cultivate a life of holiness we need to be disiplined in our thinking. We are going to need spiritual alertness. how do you gird your mind? You Guard your mind with what programs you watch, the newspaper you read, strive against unclean habits furthermore The conversations you involve yourself in will either leave seeds of healthy or unhealthy thoughts? Believers responsibility is to gird your mind. Spiritual alertness, disiplined thinking. Of course yhinking in a new way does not come autiocmaitcally, it requires effort, concentration. It’s going to mean being intential tieing up and letting go of anything that will stop you running well for Jesus.

Sober: exercise self control

To be sober, is to be in control,to be concentrated. Rather the oppostie of sober is drunk. A drunk person doesnt think correctly, they stumble and fall into sin willinly because they are under the influence of darkness. What where their sins? Ch4:3. Rather because the light of Christ lives in the heart they must show spioriutal alertness, not laziness of the mind to carlessly fall into sin. Peter uses the same word in 4:7 and 5:8 to encourage spiritual alertness for prayer and for resisting the devil. He knows how easily Christians can lose their spiritual concentration through ‘mental intoxication’ with the things of this world. He know that many Christians are not sober, but rather possessionns, sports, friends, careers are blidning them to reality fo their High calling in CHrist. Rememebr what chrisitanity sall about, A Holy God, desires fellowship with His children, therefore requires that they be Holy. Our lives should be marked by obeidence to our Heavenly father. For, a Holy Christian is an awesome weapon in the hands of a Holy God. I am notr saying we will not make mistakes, we must know that in these memoments we ask will I ever get outr of this sin, Repenmtance must be stressed in Holiness. Repentance is fundemental. We must focus on repentance in our personal holiness. I dont want to drill us this morning because that wont change our hearts,the Biblcial perspcetive is that it God who changes our hearts and the reality of our changed heart Holy Spoirit comes the life of perosnal holiness, whic hthe image pof god is expresed, likeness of our lord is reflected .

Firstly. Cultivate Holiness

But who is giving this command that the Christian ought to be living a holy, sperated life?

Secondly. Commission to Holyiness v15 “He which has called you is Holy”

The pattern to follow Holiness is to follow God.All Holiness stems from knowing God. To say that God is holy means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honour. Thus, things that were ‘holy’ in the Old Testament were both set apart from ordinary or evil use and devoted to use in glorifying God. So Peter says that God is commissioning his children to pattern their lives to match that of God, so that they will glorify Him. It is a call to dedication, to a life of rightouness, every moemnt, of every day striving to please the Lord, that is if we want to have felowship with God..

I think its fair to say that we live in an age when people have made God who they think He should be. They even think if their defintion of God is sincere enough that He will be with it.

One day God said to Moses tell the Egyptian Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go. Moses stands in the presence of God and said who shall I say sent me . God replied Moses “I am who I am”. In other words God says you want to know who sends you Moses. tell this Pharaoh I am the Holy Great breath-taking God of the Bible . Notice God did not say Moses I am who whoever you think I am – Or I am whatever you think I am as along as you are sincere. On another occasion When Moses said Lord can I just see you. The Lord says Moses you don’t know what your asking no one can look on Me and live. I am so different than you. I am so Holy – sinless and pure. Day and night the angels cry to me Holy Holy Holy. Is the Lord God almighty. Moses if you looked on me you would die. God is not like us. In fact

Folks we have a God whose holiness we cannot exagerate! Yet this Holy God who understands our frame, our nature, is commissioning ewach one of to follow after personal holiness. He is charging each Christian it this morning “Be ye Holy, for I am Holy”. he saying “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” God is saying to each of us I cannot and will not have fellowship with unholiness, worldiness, with darkness. God wants Christ likeness in our lives. He wants a Holy church for it is an awesome weapon in his hand! The purity and holiness we need can only be found i nthe precence of God, it comes from an encounter with God, it comes by the fire of God i nthe human heart. Cleansing and purifying. Friends, God is not asking us to do something we are not able to do “Be ye Holy”. Holy in our conversations, our conduct, our calls on the phone, Holy in our business transcations, our tithing, in our thinking. May our prayer be: Lord whatever is in my life that unlike you, and contary to your holiness may you elmiate from myt life. May you leave no stone untruned in your pursuit of our holiness so that our lives may please God.

Lastly

Thurdly. Calling to holiness v14 “ As obdient children” “All manner of conversation” Reflection “wherefore”

How can the Christian walk in the ways of personal holiness. One word “obedience”. Our lives are to marked by obedience to our Heavenly Father. Our lives or to marked by a submittance to the authority of God on your life. You see the natural man conforms naturally to the world standards in ognorance. “Fashoning yourselves accoring to the former lusts”. His desires lead him naturally into that which is rebellion against God. His passions dominate his life which lead him to disopbeicne against God. Yet peter saying you are not in ignorance. You know what is expcted of you. You cannot say “i did not know any better”. Therefore recongnize sin for sin, what these past uncrontrolled appeties, sinful desires are, they are “lusts” (A craving for anything that takes the place of God) (Ch4:3). In fact Peter command implies that he knew that these dires still remain and have power i nthe hearts of the true Christian. Therefore to crucify the old man, to keep him down, the Christians life out to be charatcerized in one word. “obeience”. Rejcting the previous empty, self centred way of life and ratheer live a life that is marked by obedience to your Lord and Saviour. God is not asking us to be obdeint in our own will. For if we leave it up to us we will fail. Rather

Conclsuion:

As we finish, can I ask you, ae you different from the world? Can people on your social media feeds see someone who is living in obedience to God? Someone that is striving for personal holiness? As the angels look on at you this morning, can they someone who appreacites saalvtion therefore is striving to mirror the Saviour? As they peer over the wall of heaven into your life, can they see someone who understands that the holiness of God is kept in view, regarding every descsion and every action? It was Charles Wesleys ambition to be so when he pennded the hymn

Jesus, thine all-victorious love shed in my heart abroad; then shall my feet no longer rove, rooted and fixed in God.

O that in me the sacred fire might now begin to glow; burn up the dross of base desire and make the mountains flow!

O that it now from heaven might fall and all my sins consume! Come, Holy Ghost, for thee I call, Spirit of burning, come!

4. Refining fire, go through my heart, illuminate my soul; scatter thy life through every part and sanctify the whole.

Perhaps God has been putting his finger on some area of your lfie this morninmg, that is not right before God, that is keeping you back from owning fellowship with Him. It could be God has touched a sore point in your heart that needs repented off, I am going to leave a little time for you sort it out with God and then we will sing.

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