Let's talk about vacation. Fun topic for everybody
coming up on summertime. In early June, in a
few weeks, I'm gonna be going on a work trip
to San Diego. I work for Cisco Systems and I'm
gonna be manning a booth at one of their big
conferences. And it might not sound like vacation,
having to work every single day, but guess who
doesn't have to take care of four kids for almost
a week and won't have to sleep in a bed and likely
get kicked every night? Me, it's gonna be a vacation,
trust me. And I got my trip plans in order this
past week. I finally got my work schedule so
I know what I'm going to be doing and when I'm
going to be doing it. I got my flight. I got
my hotel. Way overpaid for that, but that's my
company's problem. So at this point, am I ready
for my trip? Am I ready to go? There's a sense
in which I'm ready to go. But what about packing?
Do I need to have my suitcase packed first? That's
probably important to have some clothes. I have
a lot of dietary restrictions because of allergies.
Should I plan out my meals? Am I ready to go
before or after I've done those things? Or what
about my airplane? My airplane is not sitting
on the tarmac at my gate waiting for my trip.
The airline is gonna do that and I've paid for
that to happen, but it's kind of in the future
still. And what about my hotel room? Somebody
could be sleeping in it tonight. I don't know,
it's not ready for me yet. I need the sheets
cleaned. I want it to be in order. So since,
yes, I'm ready. No, not everything is ready.
And here's my point. Planning a trip, as we all
know, takes a lot of steps. And there's various
stages of completion. And many things, even outside
of my control. Again, I can't get the airplane
ready. I can't get the hotel ready. I have a
down payment that those things will be ready
in the future when I get there. Kind of an agreement
between me and these businesses. But the start
of that trip, though it's in the future, having
everything paid for definitely brings me a lot
of hope in the present that I will be able to
do my trip. And that hope is what we're going
to be talking about this morning. Hope about
future events. And John gave us a definition
of biblical hope last week. I need you to keep
it in your mind. It's confident expectation grounded
in the character of God. Biblical hope is confident
expectation grounded in the character of God.
And the backstory that John also gave us last
week is Peter is riding to a group of churches
that are feeling insecure because of cultural
and government oppression. These churches are
going through some serious trials from the powerful
in the city as well as their neighbors. Peter
describes them as exiles and strangers, literally
what the words he uses for them. And they are
being pushed out of their homes. And Peter keeps
reminding them that their inheritance in heaven
is secure, imperishable, and unfading because
nothing else in their lives feels secure. They're
moving from their old religion, which is worship
of Caesar and the Roman pantheon, to a new religion.
Again, getting kicked out of their homes, moving
to a new place. And this morning, we're going
to see how Peter calls us to hope in the same
promises that have been made, just like his original
readers. Well, we don't have the fulfillment
even today of those promises. We are expected
to be acting in accordance with them, that our
hope should be completely set on those promises
and their fulfillment. Let's start with 1 Peter
1, 13. So open up or turn on your Bibles. 13,
therefore, with your minds ready for action,
be sober -minded and set your hope completely
on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. And so in this verse, we receive
a strong exhortation for hope. I would say it
borders on a command. Peter expects us to be
actively constraining our thoughts and expectations
to produce hope. Set your hope completely on
the grace that will be brought to you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ. And we often communicate
hope as a feeling. Sure, you can do that. I feel
hopeful or negatively. I just don't feel like
there's any hope. But remember John's definition.
Biblical hope is not a feeling. It is an expectation.
And expectations can be controlled. Expectations
can be set. So biblical hope expects us to set
and control our expectations. And our expectations
should be on receiving more grace than we currently
have. Grace in Greek is just the word gift. The
Bible writers use it as a shorthand for the gifts
of God, like righteousness and forgiveness, given
to us sinners that we don't deserve. Grace is
giving you something you don't deserve. And grace
is receiving what you do not deserve. And while
we receive grace at the moment of faith in Christ,
there's also a sense in which all the grace necessary
for our salvation is not yet given to us. Back
to my vacation analogy. I can complete some aspects
of my trip right now in planning, which means
I'm prepared for my trip. But that doesn't mean,
again, I'm not sitting at the gate at the airport
ready to board my plane a month early. That's
weird. I have to wait for the airline to prepare
my flight. I have to wait for other things. And
so the common phrase for this in Christian speak
is already not yet. We have received grace. That's
the already part. And we have yet to receive
all of the grace promised to us. That's the not
yet part. And it's difficult to live in that
tension. John said it last week. There are three
tenses to salvation. There's past justification,
present sanctification, and future glorification.
So from this verse, we can say our hope should
be solely in the fact. that we will receive the
grace needed to be, sorry, we will receive the
grace needed to complete the salvation of our
souls. Our sin has been paid for in Jesus' death.
It is being worked out in our lives in the power
of the Spirit, and it is guaranteed by the power
of God to be given to us in the future. And this
is the new covenant. All of that idea wraps up
in the new covenant. And that's what we have.
It's a covenant that God made with us. He's written
his Torah on our hearts and promised to make
us new. And Peter is just pointing us to keep
steadfast in this new covenant hope. The covenant
that we celebrate every week when we do communion
together. The covenant that Jesus instituted
on the cross. And Peter recognizes that it's
difficult to keep this hope up. The long waiting
we are experiencing because two times, He tells
us to be prepared, to get our minds ready. In
Greek, I did this wrong earlier in the first
service, ready your mind for action is what it
says in English. In Greek, that's a non -literal
translation because it literally says, gird up
the loins of your mind. Anybody got loins in
their mind? It means to wrap up your robe around
your waist so you're ready to move fast and move
far. Google... images for girding up your loins.
There's a wonderful diagram on how to do it.
And there's videos too. There's a lot of people
who spend time on this. So I would recommend
that. I don't have time. Get your mind ready
for action. What's that action we're supposed
to be getting ready for? The action of hoping
in the new covenant. So we've set the stage.
Peter has given us our introduction. We have
his core message down. And then there are three
ways we are to cultivate this hope. Point one,
hope forms behavior. Reading in verse 14. As
obedient children, do not be conformed to the
desires of your former ignorance. But as the
one who called you is holy, you also are to be
holy in all your conduct. For it is written,
be holy because I am holy. The formula Peter
here uses is very simple. He encourages them
in their current walk. He calls them obedient
children. They're doing the thing. And then he
outlines expectations of obedience. Be holy in
all of your conduct. And then he explains why
it's required. For it is written. And I know
that quote from Leviticus is heavy. Everybody's
favorite book is Leviticus, right? Be holy because
I am holy. But don't get spun out on it. Peter's
expectation isn't pure holiness. And actually,
neither is Leviticus. Leviticus is 27 chapters
of riveting commands about food laws and social
laws and sacrificial laws and cleansing laws
and priestly duties. But Leviticus is written
to provide a pathway for Israel to get back into
right relationship with Yahweh after they sinned.
God knew they were going to sin. God knew that
they were going to break the laws. So he mercifully
outlines a way to get back into right relationship.
The laws for sacrifice were God's plan for calling
the people to return to him because he knew the
only way for them to grow in holiness was for
them to be near him. He's always been calling
people back to himself. We're just the stubborn
ones not listening. And I want you also to notice
something else about Peter's structure. Peter's
first exhortation in these two verses. is to
set our hope on God's promises in the new covenant,
that we will receive everything through him,
through Jesus. After the hope is founded, after
that expectation is set, Peter then calls us
to obey, not out of duty or obligation, not as
if we're paying off a debt. We are already promised
the free gift of grace based on God's faithfulness,
not our own. We are... Call to obey because our
hope should change us to want to live in the
grace now. Hope should form our behaviors because
it has already shaped our hearts. Hope should
form our behaviors because it has already shaped
our hearts. Obeying the commands to love others,
to sacrifice yourself, to deny yourself must
flow from hope in Jesus. not obligation for penance.
And lastly, and here's the kicker, when our behaviors
are in line with our hope, when those two things
actually work tandem together, our hope grows
because we are seeing the first fruits of our
salvation. When we grow in holiness, loving others
as Christ and denying our flesh and dying to
ourselves, we see God's faithfulness in our lives
to do what he promised us to do. It may just
be a glimpse, but it just can't be denied. So
point one, hope forms behaviors. Point two, hope
frames expectations. Next, we're going to see
Peter focuses our attention on future judgment.
Verse 17, if you appeal to the Father who judges
impartially, according to each one's work, you
are to conduct yourselves in reverence during
your time living as strangers. So the Bible just
assumes every human's behaviors, all of their
actions, all of your works, your emotions, your
thoughts are gonna come under judgment before
God. And God will sit in the judgment seat and
you puny little human will sit underneath him
and he will impartially without preference or
favor decide what you did and what you did is
good, what you did is evil. And this judgment
should bring us hope. That's what Peter is saying.
Reasonable question. Why should judgment bring
us hope? In what way? Does hope come from judgment?
Well, there's two ways. I'm going to deal with
the easy one first because it's easy. The righteous
don't fear condemnation in judgment. If you are
in Christ, there is now no condemnation for you.
That's it. Your sentence is commuted. It's completely
done. Jesus took it. We have hope that Jesus'
work on the cross is enough for us, and we will
pass through judgment unscathed. The next part
is much trickier. Got to look at how Peter's
going to handle this. So first notice, Peter
says, if you appeal to the Father. Anyone here
ever cry for justice? My three -year -old does
it all the time. Dad, it's not fair. She's got
a 16 -month -old brother, really. He's the menace.
Or what about the common protest chant? No justice,
no peace. And I can confidently say, and I'm
pretty sure everybody will agree with me, that
if you don't have justice, everything around
you is disturbed. So the expectation of justice
being delivered should bring us comfort. That's
what that protest cry is. I want peace, give
me justice. And what is hope? but present comfort
from future expectations. So what are those expectations?
So why are these churches appealing for justice?
That's what Peter is saying they're doing. They
are appealing for justice from their father in
heaven because they are being persecuted, threatened,
and slandered. And those people, they deserve
justice because the Christians are innocent.
So what do you think a father's response should
be? Ignore it? Leave it alone? Walk away? I don't
want to get involved. He will rise from his throne
and bring his full power down on those sinners.
The Bible expects those who persecute you will
be judged for sinning against God's anointed,
which means you don't need to worry about justice
for yourself. As the creator and author of life,
he is responsible to bring justice on all who
have rebelled against his authority and desecrated
the life he created. And here is why we should
have hope in this judgment. Your sufferings at
the hands of people will be put back on them.
Their deeds done in secret will be exposed and
judged through fire. Not by your hand, not by
my hand, not according to our standard, but according
to his holy, righteous standard. Because he is
a holy, righteous God. He is kind and generous
and forbearing, but he will not let justice be
ignored. My heart rejoices in the justice of
God being executed upon sinners. Listen to Psalm
109. If this is making you uncomfortable, this
is what the Bible says. For the wicked and deceitful
mouths open against me. They speak against me
with lying tongues. They surround me with hateful
words and attack me without cause. In return
for my love, they accuse me, but I continue to
pray. They repay me evil for good and hatred
for my love. So the psalmist requests this from
God. Let his days be few. Let another take over
his position. Let his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow. Let his children wander
as beggars, searching food far from their demolished
homes. Let a creditor seize all he has. Let strangers
plunder what he has worked for. Let no one show
him kindness. Let no one be gracious to his fatherless
children. That's strong. But listen to the examples
of why he's calling for that. For he did not
think to show kindness, but pursued the suffering
needy and brokenhearted in order to put them
to death. He loved cursing, let it fall on him.
He took no delight in blessing. Let it be far
from him. He wore cursing like his coat. Let
it enter his body like water and go into his
bones like oil. The psalmist is just asking for
what that person did to be returned back to them.
You were vile with your words. Be vile with yourself.
You pursued the needy. You demolished homes.
Let your home be demolished. Let your children
be needy. It is just returning back onto him
what he did to others. Do you long for wickedness
to be judged? Do you delight in justice being
administered? I do. This world is full of injustice.
And I want it to be judged rightly and justly.
And I look forward to avenging of the innocent
bloodshed around us. I want the martyrs in history
to be avenged. Like, they died for Jesus only
because they believed in him. Wickedness perpetrated
on the needy and weak. It makes me sick. I can't
wait for the Lord to act to uphold his holiness.
I will say it again. I will not judge people.
It is not by my hand. It is not by my standard.
It is by God's hand and God's standard in his
time. My job. It's to pray for those who persecute
me, to love them. But I can't ignore what Peter
is saying. Justice is heavy. But when it's understood,
it's not something that we should fear. Just
like all of God's actions, it should be rejoiced
in. Point one, hope forms behavior. Point two,
hope frames expectations. Point three, hope is
founded on knowledge. Reading at verse 18. For
you know that you were redeemed from your empty
way of life, inherited from your ancestors, not
with perishable things like silver or gold, but
with the precious blood of Christ, like that
of an unblemished and spotless lamb. He was foreknown
before the foundation of the world, but was revealed
in these last times for you. Through him you
believe in God, who raised him from the dead
and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope
are in God. The people knew all these things.
Peter says it right at the top, for you know.
The readers had been taught the gospel by the
experts. Yet Peter wanted to remind them. The
gospel teaching here was both the foundation
of their hope and an encouragement to keep on
hoping. In the gospel, as I said it earlier,
we have the establishment of the new covenant.
The covenant that contains the promises for our
salvation. Hope requires firm knowledge to be
maintained. I'm going to hit the high parts of
this because I don't have time to go through
all of it. Verse 18, you were redeemed. Redemption
is an act of someone paying the freedom price
of someone else. It's usually a close family
member. What does that mean for us? Jesus became
human, our kinsman, the new Adam, to pay our
redemption price with his blood. Verse 20, he
was foreknown. God had foreknowledge of Christ's
incarnation, death, and resurrection. Christ's
life and death had been foretold by the prophets
and foreknown in eternity by God. Before any
humans were made, God had laid the plan for our
salvation. Verse 21, through him you believe.
Your belief did not well up with inside of you.
You didn't just... Force it into existence. But
it was God who provided it to you. The father
planned with the son. The father sent the son.
The father called you to himself. The father
gave you belief. Every aspect of your salvation
is a gift. God's faithfulness in bringing about
your salvation is so great that he didn't even
wait for you to do anything. He made the plan,
acted through history, has done all of the work,
and can be trusted to bring it to completion.
Amen? Great question to ask about the Bible when
you're reading it. It's why here? Why did you
put it here? Makes sense, but why here? Peter
is concerned about these churches and knows the
weariness of persecution. That's why he put it
there. That's why he reminded them of the gospel.
He knows that they can lose sight of Christ.
He knows their circumstances can be overwhelming
and cause despair. He knows all of this because
he is in prison in Rome. He's experiencing the
persecution too. When you feel despondent, when
you feel weary, do you meditate on the gospel?
Or do you meditate on all of the shortcomings
of everybody around you? When you are feeling
down, do you meditate on the glories of Christ?
Or maybe you just pick up your phone and start
scrolling. Just like the first century readers,
our hope in God needs to be founded on this knowledge.
And we need to remind ourselves of the gospel
consistently. I was redeemed by Christ's death.
God loved me when I was a sinner. All of his
promises will come true in my life. The feeling
of hope may come and go, just like any other
feeling. But your feelings don't dictate the
faithfulness of the Lord. He made a covenant
with us. And it is founded upon his character
and work. We are only recipients. Don't hope
out of your feelings. Hope in his steadfast love.
So there you go. That is Peter's call to set
our hope completely on the grace that will be
brought through the revelation of Jesus. It is
a hope that forms our behaviors, frames our expectations,
and is founded on knowledge. But before we wrap
up, I need to tackle these last couple weird
quotes from Isaiah. Right at the end, Peter just
drops these two verses in from Isaiah. All flesh
is like grass and all of its glory like a flower
of the grass. The grass withers and the flower
falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
I'll be honest, the Bible is a difficult book
to read. Not only does it expect you to always
submit to whatever it teaches, it can also feel
at times you have to know all of it to even understand
a single part of it. And this is kind of one
of those parts. It's easy to read these verses
from Isaiah. Oh, flesh is like grass and all
of its glory like a flower of the grass. The
grass withers and the flower falls, but the word
of the Lord endures forever. And be like, sure,
I get it. Word of the Lord endures, but also
I don't get it. What's the meaning here? Good
news, I was there too. So I'm gonna lean heavily
on D .A. Carson's commentary for this. Isaiah.
The book of Isaiah, 66 chapters, is broken up
into two parts. The first half, chapters 1 through
39, is all these judgment oracles about Israel's
sin and this call to repentance before the coming
destruction. And then the chapters 40 through
66, there's this big shift in how Isaiah talks
because he changes what he's doing. He envisions
Israel actually in Babylon, in exile. And they've
been deported and they are just despondent. They
got no hope whatsoever. They're struggling to
understand God's promises to them. So here's
the thing that the New Testament authors are
often doing when they bring in these quotes.
They quote a small section because they don't
have the time and space to fill everything. But
they want you to recall the whole chapter because
they're trying to draw some deep parallels with
you. They're going to do a little bit, but they
want you to understand all of it. So between
their words. And the earlier writers, they're
trying to show the similarities. And Peter is
doing that here. Go read Isaiah 40 later. It's
a wonderful chapter. But listen to these couple
of snippets. Verse 10. See, the Lord comes with
strength and his power establishes his rule.
His wages are with him and his reward accompanies
him. That's redemption. All the nations are nothing
before him. They are considered by him as empty
nothingness. That's judgment. Verse 27, Jacob,
why do you say, and Israel, why do you assert,
my way is hidden from the Lord and my claim is
ignored by God? That's hopelessness. Peter isn't
quoting just random two -line poem from the Old
Testament for emphasis. Peter is showing that
the experience of the churches that are being
persecuted is similar to that of the Babylonian
exiles who were taken out of Israel for 70 years.
But not only that. Peter's been inserting Torah
callbacks throughout this whole section. Verse
13, gird up the loins of your mind. Where in
the Torah does it call people to gird up the
loins because they gotta get ready to move? Exodus.
Israel is called to gird up their loins in preparation
for leaving Egypt and they're gonna leave in
the middle of the night. Peter puts the same
covenant expectations from Leviticus on his readers.
Be holy for I am holy. Note. He does not set
the same methods though. Peter uses Passover
language, redemption, blood of a spotless lamb.
And this Isaiah quote is the capstone tying the
experience and expectations of Israel with the
new covenant people of God. Peter uses all of
this imagery to drive this one idea home. You
are the covenant people of the Lord. And just
like your ancestors, you must hold to the promises
of God. God's people often have to live through
exile. Not only Israel, but Abraham never received
his land. David had to run from Saul for years.
Trials like exile doesn't mean you are under
judgment. And John said it last week. Trials
expose things in us. That's what they do. They
expose our idols. They expose our faults. They
expose the hidden works of God. And if I may
add, they expose our enduring hope. So here's
the thing about living from God. Sorry, living
from hope in God. It's imperishable. As long
as he lives and he remains true, your hope is
imperishable. My meaning, he is the one who does
all the things. You just exist. Everything else
can fail. Your way of life can fail. Your culture,
everything about it can just crumble and go away.
Your country can fail. You can die. But if you
live by hope in God, it is imperishable. Living
by hope in the immutable, unfailing, forever
enduring word of the Lord is what our ancestors
did and their ancestors did all the way back.
And as long as God is faithful, Christians will
continue to be sustained by his promises. So
I could probably preach a whole nother sermon
as we kind of move to application, but I won't.
I would... meditate on this. How would this affect
your marriage? How would this affect your parenting,
your work? It should definitely control how you
view and consume media and the news. But I have
one point of application. Verify your hope. Your
actions will reveal your heart. It's the double
-edged sword about being a human. No matter what
you say, your actions will always speak louder.
Peter calls us to holiness. you are also to be
holy in all of your conduct. So is your hope
forming your conduct? Are you pursuing holiness,
not out of obligation, but eager expectation?
Your hope in the new covenant and revelation
of Jesus will come out in your conduct. Listen
to the psalmist in Psalm 119. I delight in your
commands, which I love. I will lift up my hands
to your commands, which I love, and will meditate
on your statutes. If you live out of hopeful
expectation, you can be long -suffering and forbearing
because you know that this life isn't all there
is. You can be gracious to those who fail you
because you know that you also are waiting for
grace to come for you. But this kind of life
is really hard. It's not easy. If you're hoping
in worldly comforts to get you through difficulties,
how are you going to make it through it? Like
seriously. If you're hoping that you can hold
on long enough and tomorrow will be different,
history really is against you on that one. You're
just hoping in hope at that point. You're leaning
into confirmation bias in an effort to placate
your despair. And this is what the world does
day in and day out. It just keeps hopping and
hopping from hope to hope. It can keep your battery
charged for a bit, maybe. But do you know, will
it really sustain you for another year? What
about for five years? How do you know it'll get
you through the next recession? The world and
its promises have a terrible track record. I
don't know why we keep falling for them, but
we do. The only good it provides is a distraction
from the despair inching closer around you. But
we are in Christ. We have a true hope. We have
a hope that is built upon centuries of promises
kept, eternal plans fulfilled for us, and a Savior
that knows our struggle. I'm going to wrap up
by reading some of Psalm 18. The Lord is my rock,
my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock
where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of
my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord
who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from
my enemies. The ropes of death were wrapped around
me. The torrents of destruction terrified me.
The ropes of Sheol entangled me. The snares of
death confronted me, and I... Called to the Lord
in my distress. I cried to my God for help. From
his temple, he heard my voice and my cry reached
his ears. Then the earth shook and quaked. The
foundations of the mountains trembled. They shook
because he burned with anger. He bent the heavens
and came down. The darkness beneath his feet.
He rode on a cherubim and flew soaring on the
wings of the wind. He shot his arrows and scattered
them. He hurled lightning bolts and routed them.
He reached down from on high and took hold of
me. He pulled me out of deep water. He rescued
me from my powerful enemy and from those who
hated me. For they were too strong for me. They
confronted me in the day of my calamity, but
the Lord was my support. He brought me out to
a spacious place. He rescued me because he delighted
in me. With the faithful, you prove yourself
faithful. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Your name
be honored as holy. Father, help us have hope
in your promises. Help us to see how faithful
you are year over year, century over century,
that the work you started in us will be brought
to completion. Though we are weary, though we
are in despair, though we are struggling, God,
please renew us with your hope. Let us see you
acting in our lives. And God, where we are not
hopeful, where we do not look to you, please,
oh God, please work in our hearts. Save us from
the wickedness around us. Save us from our enemy
so that we can rejoice in you, that we can stand
afresh in you and sing your praises.