This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:02] Good morning from Huntington Beach.

[00:00:05] Wherever you may be scattered that wherever you're being tested right now, I want to invite you to open up the Bible with me and turn to the book of First Peter. And we are going to hear from our father in heaven down here on earth today.

[00:00:24] Are you ready to do some Bible study with me here today? This is real, genuine wine Bible study we're about to do. OK. You can't do this while you're cooking your breakfast. You can't do this while you're playing around on other devices. You can't do this while you're hanging in with your kids. What I'm about to tell you right now is not something that you can just kind of hear a little bit relate to and feel good about yourself for the rest of the day. This is the very word of God. This comes from heaven. Everything here you can't relate to unless you have a relationship with God. This word, this text demands your full and undivided attention.

[00:01:08] We're going to look today at first, Peter, chapter one versus 14 to 21.

[00:01:13] And you can download the worksheet from Compas HP dot com slash live. You can print it up. You can take notes. But here's the thing. You don't just need to hear this sermon. You don't just need to take notes on this sermon. You need to think this sermon. You need to gird up the loins of your mind. You need to be sober minded. That's where we came from. We're thinking and setting our hope fully on the future. Grace in the face of Jesus. And here's how you and I are going to live until Jesus comes back. Is he back right now? Well, if he hasn't come back, then here's how you need to live. Like, if you're distracted right now, you're going to have to watch this sermon again. You might have to watch this sermon again just because you need to watch it again. You've got to go to your fellowship group and talk about it. You might need to send me an e-mail with questions. Talk to your friend and ask them some questions. You got to know this so much that you could live it.

[00:02:16] This is first, Peter, Chapter one versus 14 to 21. I'm going to read it for us. And out of respect for God's word, I'm gonna ask if everybody will stand up for our scripture reading here today. Yes, I'm talking to you and I'm asking you to give this text your full and undivided attention. Let us stand for the reading of God's word. Let's pay attention to every word. We're gonna get into the Greek words. We're gonna look up cross references. We're gonna find out what it's like to have a father who's in heaven.

[00:02:48] This is starting in verse 14. 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.

[00:03:10] 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 Rantzen from the feudal 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 for known before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the 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. That's the reading of God's word. Please go ahead and have your seat and notice that last line, your faith and hope. Where are they? Varying God. We're talking about your relationship with God. And we've already been learning some great things from First Peter. We've been learning about the hope that we have, about the faith that's going to be tested and proven in our long distance relationship with Jesus. And then we learned last week about the grace that is yours and the grace that is coming in the future. And what it says here is all of that hope and faith and grace that all brings you into a relationship with God. And what we have in this text that we just read that we're gonna go through now together is one of the greatest descriptions of what it means to have a relationship with God in all of the Bible.

[00:04:52] OK, so that's one of our favorite things to say that Christianity is not a religion. It is a what?

[00:05:01] It's a relationship. Well, what does that mean? Because let me just tell you, there is nothing casual about your relationship with your father in heaven. That's a that's a trendy word right now. It's casual. We like to say that around here, it's basic. It's casual. That's what the cool kids are saying these days. There's nothing basic. There's nothing casual about your relationship with your father because he is in heaven and you are here on earth. And that is something totally different than us to be and have not. Anything that you and I can relate to. Something we're gonna have to learn to think about. See, I've got to go to this exciting event in my life, my wife Chris and I, we got to go to a live recording of a Matt Redmen worship album. And I've shared about this before because for me, it's like I it's like I'm geeking out about it. It's like one of the coolest things.

[00:05:57] I've been listening to Matt Redman's music. I've been worshiping with him for basically all of my adult life to be able to be there when he's recording a brand new set of songs. It was awesome. And I was paying attention to all the interviews he did, all the speaking engagements he had. And one of the things he said is we don't think about having enough. We don't think about God on his throne enough.

[00:06:20] If you open your Bible and you go to Isaiah six and you see the Seraphim are saying, holy, holy, holy. And then you open your Bible and you go to Revelation four and you see what they're saying. And here on Earth, thousands of years of time have gone by. But in heaven, they're still on the same word. Holy, holy, holy. Evangelic creatures and saints of old are battling down and casting down crowns because they're so overwhelmed with the holiness of God, and you and I are living down here not even thinking about him being holy. Then we don't really have a good relationship with God. Because the word they're all focused on when you get to see them when you're in, is his presence, when you behold him in the splendor of his glory is you say holy, holy, holy. Is that what you're thinking about God in your relationship with him?

[00:07:18] That's what you're going to see in him. When you get to behold here. And your breath will be taken away. Just like it is with the Angels and the Saints where they cry out. Holy, holy, holy.

[00:07:33] So look what it says here in verse fifteen. It says, as he who called you is holy. This is a thought that we must have about God. This is the high view of God that God is holy, while as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

[00:07:50] Since it is Rechtin, you shall be holy for I am holy. Now, we've been going through first, Peter, for a few weeks, hopefully you're studying, you're reading, we read through it. You've been going through it with us each week. This is the first it is written we've gotten to hear. This is the first time he's directly quoted other scripture.

[00:08:15] There might be a lot of references, a lot of allusions. But here he says it is written. So he's writing to the scattered, to the tested, to the Christians in a time of trial that they're living in. And what's the first scripture that he quotes to New Covenant blood bought Christian people, the very kiss everybody.

[00:08:39] That's what he quotes. That's his go to. Let's encourage those beleaguered Christians out there. Hey, everybody, remember what Leviticus says. How many people have been encouraging one another with Leviticus through Corona virus?

[00:08:54] He's still holy. And we need to be wholly.

[00:08:59] See if you thought about it like this, if you thought I'm going to heaven today. So you would think, well, that's a place that's other than me, that's a place that's other worldly.

[00:09:08] That's a place where there's no sin. How is somebody like me going to go into a place that's holy? That's what we learned the Book of Leviticus was all about. There's now a holy tabernacle in the midst of the camp. There's a place where God is going to dwell among his people. But he's holy.

[00:09:25] And so here's all these different ways. You've got to approach him in sacrifices and clean this. And in the holiness of your conduct, you got to be holy. If you're going to dwell with God, if you're going to have a relationship with God, then you better be holy, because the only way that anybody comes to God is he is holy.

[00:09:45] And so you got to be holy to.

[00:09:48] D�hring with me to Leviticus, Chapter 20. Let's turn to Leviticus, Chapter 20, everybody, and let's remind ourselves a little bit.

[00:09:56] That's right. That's right. Grab your Bible and go to Leviticus. Well, maybe some of you still remember how you realize, wow, this is actually awesome scripture.

[00:10:06] I know a few people. It became their favorite book of the Bible. Now, that's revival right there when people are loving Leviticus. We'll go to Chapter 20.

[00:10:14] And let's just remember that God was describing for us the land vomiting nations out because of their abominations and how he was calling his people in Israel to be set apart from all the other nations. There's a good definition of being holy to be set apart. You can't be like everybody else. You got to be like God, your father in heaven.

[00:10:40] And so look what he says here in Leviticus, Chapter 20.

[00:10:45] And we're gonna just jump straight to the end of the chapter, verse 22. This is Leviticus 20 22. And this is really a line of reasoning that he started in in Chapter 18 when he described those nations. And he's been saying this now through 18 and 19 and 20. And then he gets to this conclusion. You shall therefore keep all my statutes, all my rules and do them that. The land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out if you don't want to end up like everybody else. Then you got to be set apart. They're going to be vomited out of the land. They're going to be judged, all of those nations, for their abominations if you want to be set apart from everybody else.

[00:11:28] Well, look what he says here.

[00:11:30] First 25, you shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, the unclean bird from the clean, you shall not make yourselves detestable. Here's this whole idea of uncleanness. Uncleanness, get to adverse 26. You shall be holy to me. You have to be set apart to me. For I, the Lord am a holy and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine. What does it mean to have a relationship with God? It means you have been separated.

[00:12:05] You've been separated from your own sin, from the way of the world. From the dominion of Satan. You have been set apart now to be one of God's people. That's what he's saying here. You can't be like the other nations at this time. They had to be really concerned about cleanliness and uncleanliness because God I mean, Leviticus is like going to heaven. It's like God's right there in the camp. You're now in the presence of holiness. Everything now has to be clean and set apart about you.

[00:12:32] If you're going to have a relationship with God, you got to be holy. Is he is holy.

[00:12:39] Now, I wonder if we took a poll.

[00:12:41] Use a word to describe your relationship with God. If we did that poll right here at Compass HB, if we somehow had the technology, everybody on your phone right now, here's your options. A, B, C, D, what word would you tap on to describe your relationship with God? Is the number one word that comes to your mind that God's holy and therefore I need to be holy because that's where Peter goes.

[00:13:08] You've got a relationship with your father and haven't so be wholly as he is, wholly is nothing basic. There's nothing casual. It's set apart. It's clean. I mean, literally, God says I have separated you. That's what it means to be. One of the people of our father in heaven, it is written Be Holy for I am holy.

[00:13:31] Peter doesn't think he needs to explain the book of Leviticus. He's assuming that people know the book of Leviticus and that they understand that that command to be holy applies to them as new covenant Christians. OK. Now, with that idea from Leviticus of holiness. Let's go back to first Peter and he's going to give us here in this text two words that are going to help us think through. What does it mean to be holy? That's our our big picture. That's that's really our high view, that God is holy. And I've been separated to be like God. That's my relationship with God. OK. But now look here in verse 14, it's going to say as obedient children. So this is first, Peter, one 14. As obedient children do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. OK, so let's talk about that word. Passion. Passions came and I put that word up here on the screen and we're gonna get into the Greek and the Greek here of Passions is Epper through MIA. And it means strong desire or it means lust. Now, I we used the word lust sometimes a lot of times, and kind of a way to refer to sexual immorality. But this word is not limited to that.

[00:14:49] This word means you have a drive, you have a strong desire, and you used to have these passions that were according to your former ignorance before you were adopted into the family of God, before you were one of his obedient children, before you were separated and set apart into relationship with God.

[00:15:11] You had you were ignorant in your former life of a relationship with God, and you had these passions that drove you these strong desires, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, the deeds of the flesh. That's how you use. Yeah, don't be conformed to that anymore. What it means to be holding, well, we're done with the old passions. That's what we're putting off.

[00:15:38] That's what we're leaving behind. And then look at the next verse, verse fifteen. He called you as holy. You also be holy and all your conduct. This is a key word and a straw. Let's get this word up on the screen so you can see it here. And a straw fey manner of life or pattern. OK. This is gonna be, again, a key word here. And first, Peter, these are two words you're going to need to know. Passions and conduct. You can fall to one in English, but we're going to have to even look at him in the Greek. Conduct is going to be mentioned multiple times in our texts today. So this is not just one thing you did. This is now where summarizing your lifestyle, the pattern of all the things you do. The manner in the way that you conduct yourself. The way that you decide to live your life. All the things need to be holy in the way that you conduct yourself.

[00:16:34] So you're no longer living in your passions, but you are now being conducting yourself in a way that is holy.

[00:16:44] And now he's really going to summarize this whole idea in Chapter two versus eleven and twelve. Let's jump forward. And first, Peter. And let's look at chapter two, 11 and 12. Find it with me. Read it with me. Beloved, I urge you. I encourage you, Paraka Layo. I call alongside of you as Sojourners and exile's as people who don't really belong here on planet Earth because you've got a relationship with your father in heaven.

[00:17:12] He says this abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. So even as beloved people, Christian people, you still can have a battle going on in your soul with passions that you need to say no to and abstain from and reject.

[00:17:37] And then it says this verse twelve, keep your konda, have your conduct among the gentiles. Honorable.

[00:17:46] There you so you have to abstain from the passions and you have to have this honorable conduct, this manner of life. This pattern of holiness is what he's saying.

[00:18:00] So the day may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Let's put those two verses now up on the screen and you can see there the key words are going to come up, passions and conduct. So if we're going to be holy as God is holy, that means saying no to the passions, saying no to the strong desires, and then conducting ourselves in a in a pattern, in a manner of life that goes along with God's holiness.

[00:18:29] Be holy in all your conduct.

[00:18:32] So we get into this dynamic that is so important for every one of us in our sanctification and our process of being made wholly more like Jesus, less like us. We're being set apart from who we used to be for the purpose of God working in our life. We always have to put things off and put things on, say no to your passions and make sure you conduct you have this kind of conduct wholly konda.

[00:19:00] This is the Christian life.

[00:19:03] If you're not thinking about the fact that you have a relationship with a God who is holy and you can conduct yourself in a holy way, then that is not a good relationship with God.

[00:19:15] And we've got to change that today.

[00:19:18] We've got to think of him primarily as they do in heaven, as holy. And we've got to hear the command that you can't be a part of the passions that everybody else is live in. And you got to be separated, set apart, and you got to conduct yourself in a holy way. So today, we're gonna look at three reasons to be holy if you if you've got to hand out if you're taking notes. We got three points coming at you, three points that have to do with your father. And they're all reasons in your relationship with God that you should be holy. So we've just explained what the goal is. The goal this week is you and I say a no to our passions and conducting ourselves in a holy way. That's pretty straightforward. That's pretty. What are the passions that used to drive you before you were saved? Abstain from them. What are the things that God's commanding you to do as a Christian? Make them your manner of life. Make them your pattern.

[00:20:12] Okay. But here's the why. Here's now we're gonna focus primarily on the motivation. Three different ways to think about our relationship with our father in heaven.

[00:20:25] That should motivate us towards this pursuit of holiness.

[00:20:30] Case, you look back at verse 14 and notice how it's framing it here as obedient children before it ever says be holy.

[00:20:39] It reminds you and this is what we even saw in the Ten Commandments, that before God gave them commands, he reminded them, I brought you out of Egypt.

[00:20:48] You're my people.

[00:20:49] I'm your God commands whenever God expects us to do something. It's always in the context that you already have a relationship with God. So you're going to obey God. You're going to do what God says, whatever this book says. Whatever his scripture says, you need to conduct yourself that way. Why?

[00:21:06] Because you're one of his kids and you want to obey your father and have it. Look what it says in in verse 17 if you call on him as father.

[00:21:18] OK, that's that's referring to our secret place prayer. That's referring to how Jesus taught us to pray. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. So if you pray, if you have a relationship with God, he's your father.

[00:21:36] Then the idea here is, Will, because of that relationship, because you know one who is holy. That's how he describes himself. That's how they describe him in heaven. You like father, like son or like daughter, if that's who I've now been separated into relationship with. And he is holy, then I should be holy. So this is a very simple point. OK. The first reason to be holy no one is your father is OK. So write down that word is if you're taking notes on the handout. All right. That it's that straightforward.

[00:22:09] Now, now, this is not something you can relate to, you were not born wholly.

[00:22:15] You don't have this, like natural your default position as a human being was not holiness. Your default position before you got saved was sin. So this is now learned behavior that we need to conduct ourselves in.

[00:22:30] You hit you.

[00:22:31] You're going to have to study passages like this. You're going to have to learn to think this way. You're going to have to learn to act this way. It's going to take a pursuit of holiness. And what is your motivation?

[00:22:45] That's your father. He's wholly.

[00:22:48] He's the one who adopted you and his love. He's the one who bought you with the blood of Jesus Christ, like we're gonna get to here in a minute. Do you have a relationship with God? Well, that's your motivation. It's personal between you and a holy God. See, we like to talk about our personal relationship with our father. We like to call him ABBA and Daddy and cry out to him when we're in need. But a lot of times we don't really think about who God is. We just think about who we want God to be to us.

[00:23:16] This is not about you. This is about him and you are gonna be there.

[00:23:21] Lord willing in heaven, you're gonna be bound down as low as you can go and you're gonna be crying out.

[00:23:27] Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. God Almighty.

[00:23:32] When you and I get to heaven, we're still going to be using that same one word. And so the more you know God, the more you love God. You would want to be like him. You would. The more you pursue him, the more you would want to represent him. The more you would value the things that he values and thinks the way that he thinks.

[00:23:55] So let's talk about your relationship with God. Has it mostly been about what you receive from God or is it about you becoming more like him?

[00:24:06] And being more about his name being set apart and made holding. Turn with me to the book of Second Corinthians. Let's all go to Second Corinthians, just a few pages over the left from First Peter here.

[00:24:19] Second Corinthians, we're going to go to the end of chapter six, verse 16, Second Corinthians six, 16 is where we're going to start because Paul's making a strong point here to the Corinthians.

[00:24:32] He's making a strong point about being separate, about separating from those who are still in sin, those who are still living in their passions. If you're going to have a relationship with God, then you're going to be not of this world. Remember when when Jesus prayed to the father for us, not when he taught us how to pray in Matthew six, but when he prayed in John 17, he said, sanctify them. By your truth, your word is true. Set them apart, separate them.

[00:25:03] Right. He said, we're gonna be in the world, but not of the world. And that's what Paul's getting to hear. He's saying, hey, as Christians, there needs to be such a distinction like darkness and light between the way we live and the way the people who don't know God. The difference of our relationship with God changes the way we conduct ourself. And here he quotes some scripture and he's really doing a mash up of some greatest hits of the law, prophets and writings here in Second Corinthians six sixteen. What agreement has the Temple of God with idols for? We are the Temple of the living God. We have God's Holy Spirit is in you right now. The Holiness of God is Holy Presence is in you.

[00:25:48] Therefore, as God said, listen to these lines, here's God speaking. I will make my dwelling among them immediately. We should be thinking of Leviticus Hymn Tabernacle lying among us and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, if you want to be one of God's people, here's the conclusion. Therefore, go out from their midst. If you belong to God who is holy, you cannot belong to the passions of this world.

[00:26:17] So go out from their myths. Be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing. Then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you. And you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.

[00:26:31] Let's have a little TTR right now, everybody.

[00:26:34] Let's define the relationship that we have with God. He gets to define it and he defines being a son or a daughter. Him being our father as us being separate.

[00:26:46] Just like he is set apart.

[00:26:48] And then he says this, or here's actually what Paul writes.

[00:26:52] In conclusion, to that mash up of these awesome passages of scripture, he says, Since we have these promises, since you have a God who wants to be your God, who's calling you to be separate, who says I will be a father to you? Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

[00:27:22] So here it is, an action step here. A big response to the promise of having a relationship with God.

[00:27:30] Is that you would then say no to all the passions? Cleanse yourself from all of that sin and that you would have this work of holiness that God's doing, that you would want to bring it to completion. And then it says something very interesting here, very controversial in the church age, in American Christianity and in Southern California, faith, this is controversial right here, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Hey, can we talk about the fear of God for a second?

[00:27:59] Are you, as someone saved by Jesus, already have an inheritance in heaven, already forgiven for all of your sin? Are you, as a Christian to day supposed to fear God?

[00:28:13] What's your answer to that question? Seems like Paul saying that here in Second Corinthians seven one.

[00:28:19] He's saying there's actually going to be a connection between being holy and fearing God. Oh, maybe that might might be why we don't hear a lot of people talking about holiness or we don't see a lot of people live in our holiness because we really don't think we should fear God that much these days, because what really is there to be afraid of if we're already saved? Well, then how come when Paul wants to talk about being separate and being holy, he goes to the fear of God when he's writing a letter to a church? Go back to first Peter, chapter one, and you'll see he makes the same connection here and first, Peter. Chapter one, verse 17. And he and you got to see this because it goes right from him being our father to fearing him.

[00:29:05] This is really important that you have a fear of God, even though he's your father who adopted you in his love and he cares for you completely. I mean, he's taking care of the flowers. He's taking care of the birds. And you're of so much more value to God than they are. He loves you. He cares for the most intimate details of your life. Should you still be afraid of your father? Let's see what Peter says. First Peter, chapter one, verse 17. And if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, then have this conduct. This pattern. This manner of life. Conduct yourselves with keyword.

[00:29:49] What does it say there? Everybody fear throughout the time of your exile. If he's your father, you should conduct yourself with what? Fear. So if you, in your mind, have disassociated father and fear. Well, we got Paul in Second Corinthians and we got Peter here in Chapter one who are clearly writing to Christians like us and they're saying father and fear is a way that we should all learn how to think.

[00:30:25] So let's get real personal right now and let's talk about how you can not base your view of God, your father in heaven, on who your father was here on earth. If your idea of a father comes from the man that you know here on Earth or new here honor. You got to rethink what it means that you have a father in heaven, because I guarantee you your father in heaven is not like your father.

[00:30:55] Here, Honor.

[00:30:57] So a lot of people are bringing what we might refer to as daddy issues. They're bring in their thoughts about what it means to be a father to the text rather than letting the text tell them what it means to have a father who is in heaven. So we had we have people with all kinds of relationships with dads represented in our fellowship of believers here at CompassHB HB, I mean, we have some people whose dads really abandoned them at an early age and they never really had a relationship with their dad. We had other people out of great loving relationship with their dad, but their dad was what we might call a bad dad. He was a pushover. He never disciplined them.

[00:31:35] He loved them. But the love from that dad looked like allowing them to do whatever they wanted to do.

[00:31:43] Well, you have a father who loves you, you should never question whether he loves you or not. He adopted you into the family solely because he chose to love you. He actually gave his one and only son in your place. So surely he loves you if he's given his son. What more could he give?

[00:32:04] He loves you, but it says you should be afraid of him because he's not going to just let you get away with things because you're his kid, because he's too lazy to discipline you, because he doesn't really want to follow up with you about how you're doing and he wants to sit on the couch. That's not our father in heaven.

[00:32:21] No, he judges impartially, according to how you live, how you conduct yourself, even as Christians, it says you should conduct yourselves in fear while you live down here on Earth and you have a holy father in heaven. There should be an attitude, not a fear of judgment. No perfect love casts out all fear of judgment, not a fear of condemnation, because there's no condemnation in Jesus Christ, but a fear of your father, of who he is in His Holiness.

[00:32:54] See, so few dads are really representing this.

[00:32:59] It's hard down here on earth. To find a dad who there's no question that he loves his kids, but his kids aren't getting away with anything at that house.

[00:33:08] He disciplines. That's what love is supposed to look like from a dad to his kids. Is there's instruction and there's discipline. It's hard to find a dad like that here on Earth. But let me tell you here today. That's exactly who your father is in heaven. No matter who your dad was, Your Honor.

[00:33:27] Go with me to Hebrews Chapter twelve. This a few pages, just a few pages to the left. Don't go too far or you'll miss it. Hebrews chapter twelve, Verse five is going to quote Proverbs three here. And then it's going to expound on this idea of a father who loves his kids so that he disciplines them, he corrects their behavior. He takes whatever is out of line with the standard of conduct, and he corrects it and he instructs them to conduct themselves in holiness because it says, this is Hebrews chapter twelve, verse five.

[00:34:05] Have you forgotten the exaltation that addresses U.S. sons?

[00:34:11] My son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastises every son whom he receives. So in the in the proverbs here. And as the Hebrews is going to go on to say, discipline and love is a is what a father does. They go together if they're separated in your mind. We got her. We got to renew our mind through the scripture. We got to learn to think. Right. There's a love and a discipline that go hand-in-hand. From a father to a son, it is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons.

[00:34:58] For what? Son is there?

[00:35:01] Whom his father does not discipline now. Obviously, the writer of Hebrews maybe wasn't writing at our time because there are plenty of suns that don't seem disciplined by their father these days.

[00:35:10] But that's the idea of what dads are supposed to do.

[00:35:13] If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, this is something we're supposed to know, but a lot of us maybe don't. We have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live.

[00:35:37] Four, they disciplined us, our earthly fathers, for a short time, as it seemed best to them. But he, our father in heaven, disciplines us for our good that we may share his theme of the day.

[00:35:50] Everybody, that we may share his what?

[00:35:53] Saying like you mean it, everybody holiness your dad in heaven.

[00:36:00] Wants you to be wholly here, honor.

[00:36:04] And if you're not holy, he's going to discipline you, he's going to correct you. He cares about your conduct to be holy before him. And because he's that kind of dad and because he loves you in that kind of a way, you should have fear for your father in heaven. Let's get this down for a number two.

[00:36:23] Your father is still someone to fear.

[00:36:28] That's your dad.

[00:36:31] Who's adopted, you and his love, and yes, he loves you, but he will love you by disciplining you. You you're you just wait till your father gets home, if you heard those words growing up. If that had meaning to you, if you knew your dad loved you, you knew your dad wasn't going to kick you out of the house.

[00:36:48] He was going to make you sleep in the doghouse knowing your dad loved you. But when he got home, if you weren't act in the right way, he was going to discipline you.

[00:36:56] Well. That's what it's talking about right here. Just because he loves you as your father doesn't mean you do whatever you want or you just think he's going to let you get away with it without correcting you, without disciplining. You know, that's what love from a father actually looks like. So I don't know what your relationship is like with your dad here on Earth, but I can tell you what your relationship is like with your father in heaven. And you need to continue as a Christian to day.

[00:37:26] You need to fear God. Can I get a man from anybody on this? The fear of God is still alive and well as a motivation within our hearts.

[00:37:35] Yes, we. We are not afraid of judgment. We have lost all the guilt and the shame of our sin. We know that we are forgiven. We're not questioning if we have a relationship with our father. But since we have a relationship with our father, our dad isn't somebody you mess with.

[00:37:54] You don't think you can just do something and get away with it? Not in our father's house. Not in our father's world.

[00:38:03] That's not how he operates. If you're gonna call on him as father, if you're going to dare to go into the secret place of the one who is holy in heaven, and you're going to say to him, my father in heaven. Well, you better call on your father with fear during your time down here.

[00:38:21] He will discipline you if you give in to those passions and he has an expectation, a commandment, a standard that you will conduct yourself and be holy as he is holy, because that's the way his family works. That's the way his obedient children live.

[00:38:37] So we need to connect here today.

[00:38:40] This is why you might need to study this swi. You might even need to look up other versus if you think the fear of God is a bad thing. The Bible disagrees with you and you need to connect in your mind today, Father, and fear those two concepts can go together. They do go together in our father in heaven. And that's the way you're going to want to think about him, to conduct yourself in Holiness Liquid. It says here in Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 14, he is just going down a few verses there after it talks about us sharing his holiness. It says strive, pursue for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

[00:39:23] Do you want to see the Lord? You want to behold his glory? Well, there's only one way to have a relationship with our father and heaven be holy as he is holy. So you got to strive. You gotta pursue. Holiness is not going to come naturally down here on planet Earth. No, we're going to have to say no to the natural passions.

[00:39:45] And we're going to have to conduct ourselves. And beholding.

[00:39:50] Yes, let's think this through, why do I want to be holy, because I've got a relationship with God who loves me. Why do I want to be holy? Well, because the father I have a relationship with. He's not okay with me sin in my life. He's going to discipline me. He's going to correct me. He's not just going to let anything go.

[00:40:07] OK. But now let's get to what might be the most profound motivation. Go back to first, Peter. Just a few pages to the right, first Peter, chapter one. And now we're picking it up in verse 18. And these might be familiar words, but don't don't lose me here because there's something that gets lost in translation in this passage that we need to really draw out of the text is we're doing some Bible study. So this is first feeder, chapter one, verse 18 and 19.

[00:40:38] That's where we're going to get our third reason to be holy. And it says knowing here's a way that we're supposed to be thinking. Here's something that we're supposed to be relating to in our in our relationship with our father in heaven, knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal 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. So what you need to understand is that there is a sense of of value in these words, and if you were reading it in Greek, if you were reading Koine Greek, that Peter wrote this to the scattered and tested Christians to encourage them in their suffering. If you and I were reading this in Greek, that idea of value would leap off the page. Okay, but I need you now to see it here in English that you need to write down that word. Ransom does circle that word ransom. It means to be redeemed or it means to be purchased or it means to be bought. So you would have actually need to have if you're we might use ransomed or redeemed and kind of think they're just church words or they're just kind of biblical words. But see, people at that time, they would have literally thought of someone like they were maybe in slavery and somebody actually paid money. They paid something of value. Maybe they bartered, they gave something of value to purchase that person's freedom. Like you were a slave. And now I'm I pay money or I'm going to give something of value so that you could be free from being a slave. That's the idea of that word.

[00:42:28] Like there's a sense of value involved.

[00:42:31] That's why immediately it it says they're in verse 18. It says not with perishable things such as silver gold, which, again, we might miss that because we don't maybe buy things with silver and gold on the daily. We might not be going to the market with our pieces of silver and gold. I mean, who's using loose change anymore these days? Right. We're paying for most things with the chip in our car these days. Right. Well, no, we're talking about a transaction taking place.

[00:43:00] Don't you know God bought you? That's what he's saying here.

[00:43:06] Like, don't you remember when you were in jail, when you had done the crime and you were about to do the time and you had one phone call and you called on God and they put a really high bail out on you and he paid for your bail so you could go free. That's what he's saying here. He's not just saying something spiritual. He's talking about there was a real transaction that took place.

[00:43:31] Now, there's another thing you need to see here in verse 18, because it says when you were ransomed, redeemed, purchased, bought that kind of an idea when God bought you liquidy, bought you from from the futile ways. OK.

[00:43:47] Now, when can you write down if you're taking notes? Futile ways. Another way you could translate that in the Greek is worthless conduct. OK, Ways is the same word we've been looking at for conduct. So we've already read conduct two times here in our text. Well, here it is, a third time. But for some reason, they used a different English word.

[00:44:09] But he's saying that your conduct when you were living in your passions, you know, the old way that was futile, ways that was worthless. Conduct your conduct was worthless. And yet God came and bought you when you were worth nothing. He came and valued you.

[00:44:29] That's what it's saying here.

[00:44:31] Your conduct brought nothing to God.

[00:44:35] It was worthless, it was futile. You know what you inherited from your forefathers. You know what you really got from your dad here on Earth who got it from his dad and mom before him. As you got sinful nature, that's what you got.

[00:44:49] You got worthless conduct. That's what we all get here on planet Earth as human beings. And yet here's what God did as he came and bought you. And he bought you as something not worldly. He didn't spend gold or silver.

[00:45:05] I mean, that would be amazing, even if he bought us with some kind of physical thing. But what he actually bought us with here, it was physical, but it transcends that understanding. Verse 19 with the precious blood of Christ.

[00:45:21] Like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

[00:45:27] Like your soul. Your soul was so lost.

[00:45:31] Your conduct was so worthless. There was nothing here on Earth that could save you, and here God shows up. And what is God willing to pay for your soul? The precious blood of his son.

[00:45:46] His real son is one and only son.

[00:45:51] The one who dwelt with him. In eternity past. The one that he kept saying over and over.

[00:45:59] This is my son with who I am well pleased.

[00:46:07] That son's blood.

[00:46:11] Is what it costs God to purchase your soul. The perfect righteous holy, it says precious here, precious, because there's nothing else like it. It's singular. It's unique. There's only one righteous thing that could be offered. To purchase you. Like a sacrifice like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. So I don't I don't think we always fully understand today. The definition of what it means that there was a sacrifice. And we know he's already quoted.

[00:46:51] He's already thrown down since it is written and he's already referred to Leviticus here in this flow of thought. So now when he gets to like a lamb with a lamb that has no defect. A lamb that is perfect. Well, this perfectly righteous lamb like that kind of a lamb, like a sacrifice. He's taking them back to the book of Leviticus.

[00:47:17] And if you were with us when we studied Leviticus, we saw that if we have a relationship with God, we need to be holy as he is holy. But the way that you get a relationship with God is through atonement.

[00:47:30] That's what we learned.

[00:47:32] And the Book of Leviticus begins with these chapters where they describe different kinds of sacrifices, chapters that the church in America makes fun of as boring and hard to read, chapters. To begin the book of Leviticus. But chapters that explain what Jesus did for you.

[00:47:54] So you're supposed to know that they would go up to the Tabernacle, to the holy presence of God.

[00:48:01] And they would bring that land, that perfect land without any spot or blemish.

[00:48:05] And they would bring that lamb up there to the tabernacle and they would hold out that lamb as a sacrifice and they would put their hand on the head of the lamb and their hand on the head of the lamb means really my sin is now on this sacrifice. And as they put their hand on the head of the lamb, they would then kill the lamb by slitting its throat and the blood of the lamb would be shed.

[00:48:30] And it's like this lamb has to die because of me and my sin. That's what it's saying.

[00:48:39] Jesus was the lamb. His blood was shed, and that was the cost of your soul.

[00:48:50] Is a motivation right there to be holy?

[00:48:53] If you choose later today as a Christian person to go back to your old passions, what you are saying is that my worthless conduct has a higher value to me than the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for my soul.

[00:49:13] It's a statement of value.

[00:49:16] It's a statement of what you esteem. What matters to you, what your life is about. You say you believe in Jesus. Well, here's how we find out whether you believe in Jesus or not.

[00:49:27] Really. Does his death. Does his blood have such a value that it makes you realize I don't have to live worthless conduct anymore?

[00:49:36] I don't have to live in my passions anymore. I can be holy because Jesus. Precious blood has cleansed me from all of that sin. It's forgiven me of all that sin.

[00:49:48] It's made a payment. And when Jesus made that payment, he said to tell a stye it is finished. Paid in full.

[00:49:56] Now, this picture right here of a lamb with your hand on it because your sin is going on the lamb and you have to kill the lamb because it's dying for your sin. That picture is what God wants everybody on planet Earth to understand that picture.

[00:50:14] He wants everybody on planet Earth.

[00:50:17] That's why he put it in Leviticus. But even in your mind, go back further. Go to the Book of Exodus. Go to the Passover. What is the symbol of God delivering his people out of the slavery of Egypt, out of all the passions of the other nations?

[00:50:31] What is he going to deliver you out with? Well, you're going to sacrifice a lamb and you're going to put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost. And anybody who puts the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, the angel of the Lord, when it comes into judge, it will pass over your house and it won't kill what? Your first born son.

[00:50:54] Like, God is just stacking up pictures for us to see what he's going to do with his one and only son to pay for your soul so that you would value it as steam and it would motivate you to live only because look what it costs the father. It cost him the blood of his son.

[00:51:15] Let's go back even further. Let's go back to Genesis, Chapter 22.

[00:51:22] When for 10 chapters, we've been waiting for a promised sun, and here he is, the son of the promised when Abraham was hundred and Sarah was 90. God bless him with Isaac. And he's going to be the son that leads to the nation, that leads to the land, that leads to the fulfillment of all the promises of the covenant of God with Abraham.

[00:51:43] And God says to Abraham.

[00:51:46] Go take your one and only son. Your son, who you love.

[00:51:53] And kill him. Sacrifice him to me.

[00:51:58] You know, when you and I read that story.

[00:52:00] If you're a parent, if you have a son. I mean, that's that's just a tough story.

[00:52:06] That's a tough that's a tough thing to. Why would God ask him to do that? How could I, as a father, look at my son, my son, whom I love and I'm so blessed. I don't have my one and only son. I have two sons. How can I look at my son? I think that I would sacrifice him, that I would kill him, that I would end his life like. What possible purpose could there be? What possible motivation could there be for any father to want to sacrifice his son?

[00:52:37] Especially you got to get in the mind of Abraham. This son is the key to everything, to the inheritance, to the nation, to all of the promises. I mean, that's how the Jewish people thought. Like you was life wasn't even really about you. Life was about what you would pass on to your son. That was the way of thinking. It was all about the son's inheritance. You know, even to this day, the Jewish people, they really know how to celebrate their sons when their son comes of age. I don't know if you ever been to a bar mitzvah here in the States, but if you get to go to Jerusalem with us and you get to see them celebrate these boys as they're like 13, becoming a man is they're like making this transition into manhood.

[00:53:21] I mean, they know how to get down. For that that boy becoming a man, that birthday, that celebration. I mean, it's like you're at the temple. And it's like they hire a band for every kid. And they're like blowing horns and hitting drums. I mean, it's it's music. You can boogie, too. And it's like everybody's they're wearing their nicest clothes because today this boy is becoming a man. And I mean, that celebration that they have for their sons when they come of age, that blows away anything we're doing here in the States. I mean, that is an awesome thing to see. When my son turned 13. I think we got some friends. We went to the park, played some beach ball and made some Little Caesars. Didn't quite compare to what they're doing there among the Jews to celebrate their son.

[00:54:10] And the father sticks it to Abraham in Genesis 22. And he says, take your son, your one and only son, your son, who you love.

[00:54:22] And I want you to travel for three days and I want you to go to this specific Mount Moriah.

[00:54:30] And I want you to kill him.

[00:54:32] And the whole time Abraham by Faith wakes up early in the morning, Abraham's going, Isaac's like, what's going on here, Dad? Where's the sacrifice? I don't see the sacrifice. Abraham's like the Lord will provide the sacrifice. I mean, you're reading this. The tension is mounting. You're feeling it. Is Abraham going to kill his one and only son. And everything in you is saying how messed up that would be for a father to kill his one and only son.

[00:55:01] And that's exactly what happened to purchase your soul. God put that picture. He wanted to create that feeling in you so you couldn't understand just a little bit of what it was going to cost him to buy you. And so when you and I say, yeah, I know you send your son.

[00:55:27] I know you're my father who adopted me and your love. I know your holy. And heaven. And I should fear you. And you had to kill your son to pay for my soul. But I would rather still go back to my worthless conduct.

[00:55:42] Kind of a relationship, is that with your father in heaven? When you would rather sin. Let's celebrate what his son has done. When you don't value the precious blood of Jesus that purchased you, that bought you, that redeemed you, so you no longer have to live in worthless conduct.

[00:56:07] You're no longer a slave. You're no longer a criminal.

[00:56:10] Bail has been posted. The price has been Frade paid. And you can go free and you can now live in your father's way and holy conduct because the blood of Jesus actually matters in your life.

[00:56:29] Reason number three, that you should be holy, you're going to have to be your father's apostrophe s, because we're talking now about your father's son sacrificed his blood for you. That's number three. Your father's son sacrificed his blood for you.

[00:56:45] See this right here versus 18 and 19. This is a statement of value. This is where you find out what does it really mean for you? What does it really matter to you? That your father in heaven. Had to kill his one and only son whom he loved. To buy you out, it's.

[00:57:10] So that righteous blood could be shed to pay for that judgment, could be done in in the sacrifice, could be made to atone for your sin, Jesus takes all that you deserve and you receive.

[00:57:23] Now, the title of son or daughter you get now adopted into the family.

[00:57:29] The father treats his real son like you should be treated. And he's treating you now like Jesus.

[00:57:38] And he would look at you. And he would say, this is my son. This is my daughter with whom I am well pleased. What is the value of that to you?

[00:57:51] You find out what it really matters.

[00:57:54] That you were purchased with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot when it comes down to. Do you live wholly as he is? Wholly.

[00:58:05] Do you put off those passions and abstain from the. And are you holy in all your konda? That's what it means to have a relationship with our father.

[00:58:18] You have. Let me pray for us. Father in heaven. We come to you right now in the name of Jesus. And father, we just want to confess to you. That we have been. Valuing.

[00:58:39] Our sin may be way too much and not valuing. The blood of Jesus nearly enough. So I pray that today you would teach us from your word. I pray that today through this word going forth and yes, Father, I know we all wish we were here right now. We all wish we could hear the men's. We all wish we could feel the conviction of sin.

[00:59:05] Yes, Father, I know that right now. We wish we were gathering together, but I pray that even as this goes out on a video. That your word would go forth with the power of the Holy Spirit, that there would be profound conviction of sin. If we are not walking in a holy way as you are holy, and that today in all of our hearts and all of our minds, that the precious blood of the spotless lamb would be highly valued.

[00:59:35] That we would esteem. Jesus Christ, that we would want to lift his name high, that we would say there is a redeemer Jesus God's own son, the perfect and precious lamb.

[00:59:50] The holy one or the holy one died that we might be redeemed.

[01:00:01] Therefore, we should live wholly as you are.

[01:00:08] Father, we just want to confess. But down here on Earth, we don't think about holiness enough.

[01:00:16] So change our thoughts, make us more like you.

[01:00:20] Let us think as you are in the splendor of Your Holiness. And let us appreciate what it cost for sinners like us to have a personal relationship with the holy God like you. A cost. The precious blood of your one and only son. Your son whom you love.

[01:00:40] So let this be a day where we remember the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. We remember that he had to die so that our soul could be purchased.

[01:00:51] It is highly value.

[01:00:53] The sacrifice of Jesus that it leads to holy living God, please, please, Father, I'm asking you to do a work that only you can do to use your word, to transform and renew our minds.

[01:01:08] To change our lives. To stir up our souls. Now, we might experience a revival from the Bible. That we might have a pursuit of all leanness, that people on Earth Light might live like you are in heaven.

[01:01:21] We pray this in Jesus name a man.