In his sermon 'Be Ye Holy,' Trent Moody delves into 1 Peter 1:13-16, emphasizing the call to holy living as a response to the glorious salvation believers have received through Jesus Christ. Moody explains that the word 'therefore' in the passage serves as a pivotal moment, urging believers to live in a manner worthy of their salvation. He outlines five exhortations for believers: be prepared in their minds, be sober, be hopeful, be obedient, and be holy. The sermon underscores the importance of girding up the loins of one's mind, a metaphor for mental readiness and spiritual focus, to navigate trials and live godly lives. Moody stresses the inseparable nature of justification and sanctification, likening them to conjoined twins, and highlights the practical implications of salvation in everyday conduct. He calls on believers to rest their hope on the grace to be revealed at the return of Christ and to live as obedient children of God, distinct from their former ways. The sermon concludes with a powerful exhortation to holiness, reflecting the holiness of God, and encourages listeners to live a life that aligns with their identity as God's children.

Go ahead and be turning in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 1. What a pictorial theology. One, that message was and also this song as we think about this, thinking of the glories of heaven and what Christ has done for us. 1st Peter chapter 1 and I'm going to be preaching on verses 13 through 16. 1st Peter chapter 1, 13 through 16.

Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lust as in your ignorance, But as he who has called you as holy you also be holy in all your conduct Because it is written be holy for I am holy. Let's pray our gracious father As we come to your word this afternoon and we look and think about the glories of Emmanuel's land, we think about the glories of our Lord Jesus Christ and how all of creation, all of the host of heaven, all of the elders, all of the saints are going to be bowing before your throne, worshiping you and singing praises to your holy name. Lord, that truth should do something to us. It should change us.

It should affect us in such a way Lord that we are never the same. And so Father I pray that through your word this afternoon that you would bless your people, that you would challenge your people, and that you would encourage them to live godly lives in this ungodly world. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. So this afternoon what I want to speak to you about are some exhortations to holy living and as a subtitle the believers right response to their glorious salvation.

So I was thinking about what brother Mike said there at the end during communion time and he's speaking about this indescribable gift that we have been given and that's really what I've laid out in the last and the first two messages in 1st Peter about this glorious salvation that we have received through the abundant mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ and the rightful response to that is holy living And that's what Peter is getting to here. He takes a decisive turn in his language whereas in the first 12 verses he lays out this beautiful glorious salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ. And then he says, therefore Based upon this glorious picture, this glorious pictorial theology, if you will, to borrow from Scott's message this morning, and to think about all that Christ has done for us, all that He is, all that He has called us to be, there must be a therefore. And that's where Peter takes us. So as we consider this passage this morning, this afternoon I should say, let us remember the context of this exhortation.

And I want to take just a moment and read, go back and read the fullness of this chapter. So back to verse 1, Peter says this, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while if need be you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith being more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to praise honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ whom having not seen you love though now you do not see him yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating, when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that not to themselves but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desired to look into. Therefore, therefore, I am sure that you've heard it before from others and possibly even myself also, But whenever you come to a passage in the scriptures and you come to this word, therefore, you must stop and ask yourself the question, what is it there for? And I just read to you why it is there. It's because of the abundance of the glory of our salvation that we have received through the abundant mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This great salvation Peter describes to us that God has mercifully brought to us and our heavenly inheritance that is ours in Christ, these things that do not fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you. It is there. What you saw this morning in the book of Revelation, when you see those surrounding the throne and pouring out their worship and their praise to God, that does not fade away. Heaven never becomes silent of praise.

It is constant praise of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as you can see, we are the most highly honored of all of creation. As I mentioned to you a few weeks ago regarding the angels, they do not have the hopes of a salvation. The fallen angels have no hope of salvation. But what causes the angels to look into this great salvation is the fact that God has so highly honored a fallen creation like us, a creature like us.

And in this way we are most honored yet we are not the most honorable or the most worthy. In fact, it is oftentimes the exact opposite of this. We are fallen creatures with wicked hearts. We are born enemies of God and yet by the most abundant mercy of God, we possess what angels desire to look into. And yet, it is this great contrast between the depths of our depravity and the abundance of God's mercy in saving us that makes our salvation so abundantly glorious and so overwhelmingly astonishing to the angels.

And should be such a powerful, powerful motivator to us to live godly lives. Unfortunately, it seems to be the case that most believers do not live and worship in comparative magnitude to the gloriousness of their salvation which has been granted to them in Jesus Christ. Therefore, Peter considered this exhortation here in verse 13, most necessary for the reader of this epistle, most necessary for you and I this morning, that we would understand because of the glorious salvation that there is something that should be the natural outflowing of the understanding of that gloriousness of our salvation. And I believe that if we meditate more on the wonders of our salvation that it would radically change our thinking and our living. You see, we find in this verse that Peter fully understood and taught that our salvation, our glorious salvation, was not only theological in nature.

It's not just that which is to make our heads swim with the glories of it, but it is also most highly practical in our everyday lives. Peter's teaching here are not only for the purpose of giving us grandiose thoughts about God and about salvation and about heaven, But they are intended to make us act upon those things that we know to be true and to live in direct correlation with what we believe. For if the truth be known, you will know what a person truly believes by how they live. I've heard many people speak one way and live another. When the when the rubber hits meets the road and when times of trials come and that's what Peter's talking about, that's when we begin to understand what someone truly believes.

It's easy to talk about the sovereignty of God and the providence of God over all things until your spouse dies, until your child gets sick, until some calamity strikes you or some difficulty faces you. This will not negate the fact that we still live in a fallen flesh, tempered by our own desires, tempted by the devil and by the world. But for the true believer, when there is sin, it will be hated, it will be repented of, and they will continue to fight the good fight of faith. And that's what Peter is driving at. And so what I mean is that not only as our standing before God totally changed because of what Christ did for us through his suffering and death and through his resurrection and through his ascension and through his intercession.

Whereby we are accounted righteous through his perfect life and his death upon the cross in our place, there absolutely will be a change in how we live our lives. It will be a change in how we treat our wives. It'll be a change in how we treat our children. It'll be a change in how we work. It'll be a change in the things that we are entertained by.

It'll be a change in the things that we listen to, whether it be music or teaching, it will change you. Succinctly put, justification never abides alone. Faith without works is dead. Justification is always inseparable from sanctification. I put it this way, they are conjoined twins, clearly distinct but never separated.

They are always together. Where there is justification in a person's life, there will be, no matter how minute, there will be sanctification and that will grow. It will. Peter therefore calls his readers to action. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind.

I'm going to mention to you five things. They all begin with the word be. B-E. And I'm going to read those to you so that you can be thinking through these things as we come to them. I did this just for way of remembrance.

The first thing that Peter calls us to action to do is be prepared in your minds. Be sober. Be hopeful. Be obedient and be holy. Those five things.

So that's where we're going and going pretty quickly. Therefore, he says, gird up the loins of your mind. I like what the ASB says. It says therefore prepare your minds for action. The New King James uses the word gird up.

It is this metaphor that was practiced in former times that depended upon their clothing during those times of a long robe or something draping around them that hung down that they would literally gird up their loins. They would reach down to the backside of this robe and they would pull it around and tuck it into their belt so that they would be unhindered for work or for running or for action. And so Peter is pulling from this metaphor, gird up the loins of your mind. In 1 Kings 18, 46, the Bible says, then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. He prepared himself for action.

He was going somewhere and he needed to do it quickly and he needed to do it efficiently so he girded up his clothing so that he would be unhindered in the path in which he was going. That is what Peter is calling us to do. Gird up the loins of your mind so that you would be unhindered in the path which the Lord Jesus Christ has called you to and this girding and this calling is based upon and the motivation behind this action is the glorious salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. That should motivate us to be prepared for this action. And so Peter's exhortation, gird up the loins of your mind.

Again we need to keep in mind the context of the people to which he is writing and you remember this from previously so quickly I'll just say the historical context is that these are people who have been dispersed. That's what he says in the first part of chapter 1, to the pilgrims of the dispersion. They have been dispersed and they have been persecuted. They had experienced trials. They had been removed from their homes and from their land that they knew and now he is telling them and exhorting them to gird up the loins of your mind.

We have trials and various trials that we may face, albeit not to the historical context that these did. But there are those, see we live in first world trials here in America. As I was speaking to a man earlier this week on Friday, I had to help him repair his sewer line was messed up and he was out of sorts over it, it just really bothered him and I said, yeah, I said it's funny I'm actually going to be preaching a little bit about trials and thinking about the book of James and 1 Peter, he said yes but these are first world trials. He said I love the book of James. He was a brother, He understood this.

Even though these first world trials bothered him and tested him, it was not comparable to what Peter's audience is facing. So either way, we must be mentally prepared to live godly lives even in the midst of our trials, whatever the historical context. And I say this that we had better be girded in the loins or girding up the loins of our minds not only for the things that we have faced in this past year and a half, but what we will most certainly face in the future. I'm thinking of the passage, I believe it's in Jeremiah, that Scott has mentioned before about if you grew weary with his footmen, what will you do with the chariots?" How does that verse go? It's in Jeremiah, I believe.

And so he speaks about growing weary with footmen. What are you going to do when there's horses and chariots involved? If we've grown weary with governmental restrictions over wearing a mask or whatever it may be, we could pick the topic. What are we going to do when real persecution comes? You best be prepared in your minds.

Gird up the loins of your mind so that you will be able to stand. You see your mind or your inner man, that seat of your affections, gird them, gather them in, let them not hang loose and neglected about you, restrain their extravagance and let the loins or the strength and vigor of your minds be exerted in your duty. Disengage yourself from all that would hinder you and go on resolutely in your obedience, " Matthew Henry says. I like the part where he says, disengage yourself from all that would hinder you and go on resolutely in your obedience." What are the loins? These loins are considered the strength and vitality, the procreative power of the body.

In the Old Testament it speaks of children literally coming from the loins of their father. In Hebrews 7, 9 through 10 speaking of the Old Testament he says, even Levi who received tithes, paid tithes through Abraham so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. But here Peter tells us to gird up the loins of our mind. To do not think that, I do not think it is a stretch to say that Peter is calling his readers to gather up the fruit or the strength of their minds. As Matthew Poole puts it, let your mind be attentive.

Let it be prompt and ready, prepared for your spiritual work, restrained from all faults and cares, affections and lust that may entangle, detain, hinder them, and make them unfit for use." Gird up the loins of your mind. This is most useful because most of the battles that we face, let's be honest, it begins right here. It begins in your mind before it ever comes out here. You see this battle begins here. And so why am I taking so much time with this?

It's because remember Peter is writing to a group of believers who are scattered most likely from their home, from their community of faith. They're in different parts of this region here as pilgrims scattered. Can you imagine the tremendous trial of their fate? Can you imagine the things that are going through their minds? Can you imagine the struggle there and the temptation of aggravation and the temptation of, dare I say it, Complaining about our circumstances.

Can you imagine? For instance, in our day there are many Christian, Iraqi Christians who are still scattered from when ISIS attacked them years ago because of their faith. They had to flee their homes and their families and many were killed in the process. I was reading recently, still over a hundred thousand of them, probably many more, that are still scattered from their homeland. It is in the end in times like these that that these types of trials can often results in our thoughts getting away from us.

They can wonder, they can go on to complaining, they can go on to just having your thoughts unraveled before you, and it would be pretty easy to justify certain actions or certain sins of the mind, and it would be challenging. Think of it, we're challenged when our cell phone doesn't have good signal. When the heat isn't working. When the car won't start. Do you think that complaining was a temptation for these believers?

Would it be justified? Numbers 11 verse 1 says, Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, for the Lord heard it and his anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. You see we need to gird up the loins of our mind. We need to be prepared in our minds to live godly lives because trials and temptations of our thoughts can easily and quickly turn sinful.

How do we prepare our minds for these trials? How do we do this? I mean he's calling us to do it, therefore gird up the loins of your mind. How? I believe Romans 12 2 is one of the clearest passages of how to do this.

And then also Psalm 119-11, but he says this in Romans 12-2, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Psalm 119, 11, your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. How is it that the Word of God acts as that buffer or that guard against sin? As God's Word is in us, it guards us. We can think about Numbers 11, verse 1, and how they complained against the Lord, and it displeased the Lord.

That is not the testimony that I want of my life. If someone was ever to write my children or somebody was ever to write and he complained against God and it displeased the Lord, that's not the testimony that I want. God does not like complaining because it denies his sovereignty, it denies his goodness, it denies his wisdom, it denies all that he is because he is controlling all of these events for his purpose. So I believe that in this instance It is just like it was in the early church persecution. The early church was not persecuted because they believed in Jesus per se.

They were persecuted because they refused to say Caesar is Lord. They could have had their religions and bring them in and syncretize them with the Roman religions. The Romans were content with you having other gods, as many gods as you liked, as long as that other God did not keep you from obeying the other gods. Therefore the Christians were seen as bad citizens. They believe that because of this they were going to bring about a plague or a drought or an attack from an enemy.

This reminds me in the present context of Pastor Coates and what he's experienced in Canada. Do you think his mind was prepared? I want to tell you I believe that man's mind was prepared before the trial came. If he had not girded up the loins of his mind he would not have stood in the day of temptation and the day of trial. Is your mind or your or the loins of your mind prepared for battle?

If we could ever get something through all of our minds, it would be this. This world is not a playground. It is a battleground. It is a battleground of our minds. It is a battleground with the world, and it is a battleground with the devil, and he would love nothing more than to make you float through this life thinking that you're on a playground.

I believe that what we see in the future regarding persecution, and I'm no prophet, but I believe that it will be something that will come to us in such a way that we are not seen as being persecuted because of Jesus Christ as much as we are bad citizens. Be prepared in your mind for that twist on the truth. You see the battle over what we have seen in the last year and a half was not about masks. It was not about other things, it was about who is Lord. Who is the head of the church?

Is the government the head of the church and do they have jurisdiction of the worship of God? I don't know, hearing this passage this morning, I did not see any government involved in what I saw in the book of Revelation. It was God's people and there were elders there and there were angels there and creatures there and they were worshiping God. They do not have jurisdiction. The government does not have jurisdiction in the order of worship of God, or to stop the worship of God, and we need to be prepared in our minds for this.

As Calvin put it, Peter intimates that our minds are held entangled by the passing cares of this world and by vain desires, so that they rise not upward to God. Whosoever then really wishes to have this hope, let him learn in the first place to disentangle himself from the world. Let him learn first to disentangle himself from the world and gird up his mind that it may not turn aside to vain affections. Where are your affections? Let us be diligent to do this very thing Because if we are entangled with the things of the world, we will not be able to stand in the day of adversity.

Secondly, be sober. Be sober in spirit. Verse 13, he says, therefore gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober. There are a couple different views regarding this, however I believe that it's pretty clear that he's speaking specifically regarding spiritual sobriety.

It is required to be spiritually sober-minded as we prepare our minds for action. This should be our natural response to this glorious salvation that we are spiritually sober minded. This is the right response. This not only means to refrain from intoxication, which definitely hinders us from holy living. John Guild notes this.

Being inebriated with the cares of this life which choke the word and make it unfruitful and lead men into temptation and many foolish and hurtful lust and from the faith of Christ and likewise being intoxicated with errors and false doctrine which lull men to sleep and render them incapable of serving Christ and his church and turn their heads from faith to fables and are contrary to the words of truth and soberness. You see it's been stated that it includes the idea of steadfastness, self-control, clarity of mind, and moral decisiveness. We must have our priorities in order and not be intoxicated with worldly pursuits and allurements. How challenging is this? This is not something that we naturally are inclined to, or else Peter wouldn't have to give the exhortation and command it.

Be sober! Why? Because I'm naturally not that way. So this is something that we need this exhortation. We need to be inclined to what the Spirit is teaching us through His Word.

Our tendency is to be intoxicated with the cares of this life. Think of the Beatitudes. Think about what Jesus commanded there. It's a constant battle of our mind to be sober, one that can only be one when we are filled with a spirit and filled with the Word of God. Regarding the few men of God who have publicly stood in our present day of the cold to the pressures of the culture and the government, do you think they have any need of sober-mindedness?

You bet they do. They need to be sober in their thinking so that they know how they ought to respond. I'll never forget a man told me one time he said that the errors and the challenges that come into a church through false doctrine are not always easily discernible. They're very difficult to discern because they are mixed with truth. I may have mentioned this to you before, but if I brought up a box of rat poison up here, do you know how much percentage-wise is food?

99.995 food. 0.005 poison. You see, it takes time, it takes sobriety of mind, It takes girding up the loins of your mind to be able to discern truth and error so often, especially those things that come against the church and against your faith and in your life. Are you sober-minded? Are you taking these things seriously?

Are you living as if your life and soul depended upon it? It does. Young people, listen to me. You may think that you can go through life playing games, but life and death is in the balance. Gird up the loins of your mind and be sober.

Be careful, be prepared in your thinking. It's not just about the recipients of Peter's epistle that he is writing, or even the high profile preachers that we have thought about, or the Christians in our rank. Brothers and sisters, it's about you. It is about me. Are you preparing your minds and are you keeping sober in your thoughts?

Second Timothy 4 or 5 says this, but you be watchful, same word as be sober, in your, he says, in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. These are the things that need to be done in the present day now. That preparing for something means you do it before it comes. Now is the day of preparation. Now is the day of sobriety.

Based on what we have seen in the past with brothers and sisters who have gone before us, Peter tells his readers to do these things and they are still true for us. The next exhortation that we see in this passage points us in the same direction but for a different reason. Not only are we to be prepared in our minds and not only are we to be sober, Peter tells us thirdly, be hopeful. Be hopeful. Look at this in verse 13.

Therefore, gird of the loins of your mind, be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. There is something powerful about the understanding of the grace that it will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ when he returns. That thought, that truth prepares you for now. Rest your hope there. It is not this pie in the sky mentality of Jesus is coming back one day.

It is my hope is anchored here. My hope is anchored upon the resurrection or the return and the glorification of Jesus Christ, as he says here at the revelation of Jesus Christ, my hope is resting there because that hope will see you through the most difficult of circumstances. And we prepare our minds and we're sober minded towards this fact. It's not a fantasy, it's not a bedtime story. Jesus Christ is coming again and that the resurrection or the revelation of Jesus Christ, you will see Him.

Rest your hope there. He is coming. There is a day when Christ will come at the revelation of Jesus Christ and look at what he says, you rest your hope upon that grace that is to be brought to you. That is when we are ultimately glorified. We will not only be free from the penalty of sin, from the presence of sin, but from the very power of sin in our lives.

Praise God! Rest your hope there. So be hopeful. What better exhortation could be spoken to a group of believers in the midst of life's most difficult trials? They needed to rest their hope somewhere.

They needed to solidly anchor their soul at this point, upon the grace of God. That is where you anchor yourself. You do not anchor yourself on the command. Did you hear what I said? Don't anchor yourself on the command to gird up the loins of your mind.

You will fail. Do not anchor yourselves on be sober, you will fail. You anchor yourself on Jesus Christ and the grace of God that is to be brought to you at his revelation. And so this helps me no matter what difficulty I face in life and believe me minor first world trials too, whether it be a broken sewer line or whether it be a difficulty at work or in the home or whatever it may be, these things, or let's just say a sickness, if I have something that's challenging me, my hope goes beyond the sickness and beyond the trial, and I say, you know what, I can endure that because I know it ends. That's what helps them get through this trial.

They see an incoming and they rest their hope upon the revelation of Jesus Christ. This helps me to persevere. And that is really what Peter is saying. Preserving in hope. In your trials, preserving in hope.

In hope of what? The grace that will be brought to you when Christ returns. Rest there. Peter tells them to fix it there completely. Their hope is completely fixed upon that grace.

Unlike the uncertainty that could stay with a lifelong sickness or even a terrible job that lasts longer than we hope for, that we thought the hope of the grace that is to be brought to us in Jesus Christ is that sure and steady anchor. There is no uncertainty here. Look these trials and these troubles that you face in this life are temporary. They are temporary. Romans 8, 24 and 25, for we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope.

For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we have hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Hebrews 6 11 and we desire that each one of you show the same diligence in the full assurance of hope until the end. Romans 8 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. That's what Peter's talking about.

It is a hope that goes beyond our circumstance and it anchors us to do and to live as we ought to live. Fourthly, Peter brings us from this practical rule of Christian living to this, be obedient children. And there's two parts in this. The point is part of the reason and the exhortation. Part of the reason and the exhortation as obedient children.

This is what we and what we are and what we should be. We are the children of God. That's what he says, as obedient children. So stop there just for a second. You, if you are a believer in Christ, are a child of God.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God. Let that sink in beloved. You're a child of God. That is reason enough to live a holy life. Now we are the children of God and we ought to act like it.

It is clear to see the difference between an obedient child and a disobedient child, and for my sake I'm not going to point that out. It's easy to determine that. It's easy also to determine the child of God. They live differently. They live like their father.

You know whenever I've seen my children act in a certain way that I don't like, I have to ask myself the question, well My first question is usually, where did they learn that? And then I walk to the mirror and I say, oh yeah, they're just like me. How am I acting like that? But when it comes to the child of God, That likewise should be clearly seen. That is the child of God.

You're not going to be perfect in this life, but you will be distinguished. You will be separate. You will be different. We are the children of God. Matthew Henry says the children of God ought to prove themselves to be such by their obedience to God, by their present constant universal obedience.

As obedient children he says. Not conforming yourselves to the former lust as in your ignorance. You see the negative side of this would be that we should no longer live as we did before we were born again and adopted into the family of God. Don't act this way, you act this way. The old man must die and the new man lives unto God, unto righteousness.

We need to stop acting like the first Adam and we need to start living like the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Not conforming ourselves to our former lust as in our ignorance. When we were ignorant of who God was, when we were ignorant of what Christ did, now that you know Christ and you know God you should live like that. That's how we should live. So our ignorance was this ignorance of who God is.

It was ignorance of His holiness and we lived like our first father Adam. 1st John 3 10 says, In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother? Now that we are the children of God, we should act like God. 1 John 3, 1-3, Behold what manner of love, as I said before, the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God.

Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are the children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is and everyone who has this hope in himself purifies himself just as he is pure." Finally, Peter drops the bomb And apart from Christ, let me just tell you and forewarn you, there is no way we have the ability to even consider obedience to this next exhortation. But it is the right and proper response to those who have been gloriously saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. Be holy. Just the words of that should cause us to pause.

We're walking on holy ground. Be holy. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, Be holy for I am holy. We have been called by a holy God to live a holy life. If you are a believer here today you have been called by the Holy One and you are to reflect His holiness.

This calling is an effectual calling. He who has begun a good work in you will complete it. In other words, it is powerful and always successful. Do you want to understand what he means when he says, rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is this point here.

There is coming a day when you will be holy. Praise the Lord. We are commanded to be holy. You also be holy in all your conduct. This includes every aspect of our lives, whether at home or work or play, with believers or unbelievers, in our civil duties, in our religious duties, all is to be done with holiness.

There is no part of our life that is exempt from this command because there is no part of God that is exempt from holiness and we are his children. We are to be holy. This call is a call to imitate our Father. He is our perfect example and we are to strive for this always knowing that we will always fall short. Paul says in Ephesians 5 1, therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

And then this passage is quoted from this be holy for I am holy. One of the places is Leviticus 20 26 and he says this, and you shall be holy to me for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine. You remember us talking about that slicing of the carrot or of the fruit or whatever it may be and it's separated. You are separated unto God. Be holy unto God.

You should look different from the world. Our aspirations are different, our actions are different, everything's different. And so revisiting this idea of holiness, it's this idea of separation unto God. Could this truly be said about you? Are you separated unto God?

Ask yourself the question, am I different now than I was before? Have I been separated from the world? Are your thoughts different? Are your goals different? How about your lifestyle?

I remember asking a man one time about his Sunday school class, and as we were talking it was concerning the aspirations that we have for our children and what we wanted their future to look like. And he said that the people in his class, They were kind of high school college-aged parents. And he said that the overall consensus of this class is that their desire for their children was that they get a good education and make a lot of money. And I asked him, how is that different from the world's desires for their children? It struck him, there was no difference.

My point is that God has called us to be holy, to be separate, to be separated from the world, to be different. We are God's children and we should act like it. So let me ask you a question. Another question, if you call yourself a Christian, what view of God would your friends and family have based on how you live? Live.

Your language, your music, what you watch, how you dress, your goals and aspirations of life. My friends, your life speaks. What does it say about God? John Gill says, and though holiness equal to God is never to be obtained by a creature, yet so far as it is capable of it, it is desirable. Because we agree both to the nature and will of God by all such who are truly his children who love his name who adore his perfections give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness fear his goodness and obey his will.

Are those your thoughts of God? I just want to point us back just for a moment to something very very important. So please hear me clearly on this point. This sermon is not teaching us to be holy so that we can receive the grace of God and receive the blessings of a heavenly inheritance. It is not.

But rather this sermon is calling us to holy living because we have received the grace of God and a glorious salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. We have been regenerated and are being sanctified by a Holy God and unlike justification which is solely an act of God, sanctification does involve our action and our efforts in cooperation with the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So remember Jesus came to save us from our sins. This not only means the penalty as I said earlier but also the power of sin in your life. So remember there is a deadly ditch if you will on both sides of this spiritual road.

Okay? One in thinking that obedience to the law will save you. Death. Romans 3.20, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. And the other is thinking that because you have been saved by grace, you need not worry about obedience because your sins are forgiven.

Romans 6, one and two, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? So which is right?

You trust in Christ alone to save you for your sins and walk in holiness of life through the power of the Holy Spirit. And you live obedient lives not to gain it because you have received it. This is the way. Walk in it. Distinct but never separate.

This, my friends, is Peter's exhortation to us and the right response to our glorious salvation. Let us pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, when we read those words, be holy for I am holy." I shudder. And then I think of the cross. And I consider that the holy wrath of God was poured out on the Holy Son.

And you call me holy Because his deeds were holy and his death was a total satisfaction of all the requirements of the law and what a glorious thing this is. But Lord on the other hand because of this so great a salvation what I want to live a holy life not only to be called holy but to live holy because of your glorious salvation and because of your abundant mercy. Dear God, please etch these truths into your people. Please, oh God, may they never fall into either ditch but may they walk in the way and may they follow you all the days of their life. And I pray God if there is one here today Lord who truly is concerned because of the things that they are doing.

You tell us in your word that those who are led by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh and so Lord I pray that if there is someone here today who is not doing that and has never done that, has no desire to do that, oh God, would you by your Spirit save them? Oh God, call us to holy living. Call us to your holy son. Help us to see this through the power of your Word and through the Holy Spirit. And we ask it in Christ's name.

Amen.