In his sermon 'Because of That, Be This,' Jason Dohm explores 1 Peter 1:13-21, focusing on how blessings in Christ should lead to a transformed life. Dohm explains Peter's transition from descriptive (indicative) to prescriptive (imperative) language, urging believers to 'gird up the loins of their mind,' be sober, and place their hope fully on grace. The sermon emphasizes the call to holiness, drawing parallels with Romans 12:1-2, and describes holiness as being separated from the profane and becoming like God. Dohm highlights that God, as both Father and Judge, expects fruitfulness and warns against fruitlessness, emphasizing the transformative impact of understanding what believers have been redeemed from and with. The sermon concludes with a call to live as living sacrifices, fully committed to God.

Open your Bibles. As Taylor said, 1 Peter chapter 1, the section we're covering is verses 13 through 21. And while you're going there, just a quick comment about this. It's one of my favorite times. This moment right here is one of my favorite times coming together.

Because it's almost a palpable moment where all through the week we've been working through these words is the goal. That's what the goal is. Fathers would be leading their families in these words. And then we would come to this moment together in the house of worship of God, together worshiping Him. And then we would allow these words to be brought to us as our brothers spent all this time and wrestling in these words.

So it's a special moment. We should have a moment of awe as we consider that this is sharper than any two-edged sword. We don't need the help of anything other than these words. So let these words penetrate our souls before Jason comes up here as he leads us in them. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 13.

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 lusts as in your ignorance, that 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. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through Him believe in God, and raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Oh, and you are the one we appeal to now, Lord.

We eagerly await what you'll do with these words. God, open our hearts and our minds. Bless our brother Jason as he comes and leads us now. In Jesus' name, Amen. So the title of the sermon this morning is, because of that, be this.

And I'm following the flow of thought that Peter is putting before us. And he's said up to this point, because of that. And now he's going to say be this. For the sake of time and simplicity, I'm going to give you an oversimplified summary of verses 1 through 12, everything that leads us into this week's text. And that is this.

Peter has been heaping up, heaping up, piling up one by one, the blessings to be had in Christ. Just piling them up. And it's a long list. And Peter's just been throwing one on top of the other to make you happy. Other to make you happy.

And he's been speaking of the abundant mercy of God. And he's been saying that we've been begotten again to a living hope. We've been born again to a lively hope. This is all in verse 3. And that These mercies of God that he keeps describing verse after verse, piling them up, heaping them up, produce something.

They produce a rejoicing that's inexpressible. That's verse 8. Verse 8. So this heap of blessings that flow out of the abundant mercy of God produce a joy that you can't even get words to adequately describe. Get words to adequately describe.

Now verse 13, therefore, because of the mound of what Peter has piled up for us, the blessings to be had in Christ because of that. Therefore, then be this. Because of all those things which make you wiggle in happiness. Have you got any children like that in your family? Just the ones that when they get happy they cannot sit still.

It's wiggling from happiness. And Peter's been talking about joy inexpressible. The words don't do enough and you just can't sit still because the blessings keep coming in Christ. That's what Peter's been trying to develop in our hearts. Turn in your Bibles to Romans 12, And we're going to look at verses 1 and 2.

They're very dear and well-known verses. Romans 12, 1 and 2. And then we'll go back to Peter and we'll spend all the rest of our time in Peter. But I bring us to Romans 12, 1 and 2 because It is the perfect summary statement of what Peter is teaching in our text today. And Peter is taking what Paul teaches in Romans 12, 1 and 2, and then he unfolds it for us and he expands on it and continues to teach on it in every way.

Romans 12, verses 1 and 2, Paul writes, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 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." Paul here starts by calling his readers brethren. And then he says that the things that he's going to be saying in these verses are grounded in the mercies of God. Do you see that? By the mercies of God.

In other words, without the mercies of God, nothing that I'm getting ready to tell you will even be possible. Without the mercies of God, you can forget it. By the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice. And then he calls that, he calls this offering up of the whole life, bringing up, bringing your body and just presenting it to the Lord as a living sacrifice. Lord, this is yours.

As Paul says in other places, ready to be poured out as a drink offering, Paul calls that a reasonable service. So not the super form of Christianity, but the normal form of Christianity. Being a living sacrifice isn't an elevated level of Christianity. It is Christianity. It's a reasonable service.

And why is the service reasonable? Because of the mercies of God. It's rooted and grounded in the heap that Peter's been trying to press on us. In 1 Peter chapter 1, the pile of blessings that flow from the abundant mercies of God that have caused us to be reborn to a living hope. And then Paul goes on to say that this leaves us with two options and only two options in the world.

Being conformed to the world, The world is always trying to press you. It has all manner of pressures to press you into its own mold, to be conformed to the world, or the alternative to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Your mind has to be changed. It has to be transformed. So a radical, nothing-held-back Christianity is reasonable to Paul.

And now I'm going to bring that over into Peter and what Peter's saying. A radical, nothing held back Christianity is reasonable to Peter. That is the whole flow of his argument. Therefore, in verse 13, because of the mound of blessings, because of the heap of the blessings of an abundantly merciful God, therefore, a radical and nothing held back Christianity is what ought to flow from that. Let's pray as we go to our text.

Oh God, Sanctify us by your truth. Your word is truth. We come to you as living stones. Build us, O God, into a temple of worship. God, let us be a drink offering to be poured out before you.

Let us be living sacrifices. Let us be a holy people transformed by the renewing of our minds. We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. So back to Peter. I've split our text into three parts.

And the first part is just verse 13 because there's so much in it. So let's read verse 13 and then consider it. First Peter chapter 1 verse 13, 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. Because of the heap of blessings, Peter is calling you to three things in verse 13. And there's a big shift that's happening.

It's a shift from the indicative to the imperative. In 1 through 12, it's all been the indicative mood. That just means this, he's been describing. He's been telling you the state of things in Christ. So there haven't been any commands so far.

He's just describing the blessings that flow from an abundantly merciful God to those who are in Christ. So he's just been describing, it's been in the indicative mood but now he shifts in verse 13 to the imperative or to the command mood or mode is probably a better way to say it. Peter is now commanding us based on the foundation that he laid in 1 through 12. Here is his first command, to gird up the loins of your mind. The NASB and the ESV translations render this, prepare your minds for action.

That's what it means to gird up the loins of your mind, to prepare your minds for action. The reason that the NASB and the ESV don't say anything about the loins of your mind is that this is completely fallen out of our vocabulary and our consciousness. But to Peter's original readers, when Peter says, gird up the loins of your mind, they would have known instantly what it meant because they were wearing long robes and restrictive if you wanted to run or fight. So if you wanted to be geared up for action, ready for action, you would gird up your loins, meaning you would take the long robes and you would tuck them into the belt so that your motion wasn't restricted anymore and you were ready for action. You were ready to run or you were ready to fight.

We see this in 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 46. Listen, 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. So in 1 Kings 18 verse 46, the hand of God comes upon Elijah and he needs to run, so what does he do? He girds up his loins. He takes that long robe and he tucks it into his belt so that his motion isn't restricted and he's ready for action.

This is what Peter is talking about. Or Jesus in Luke 12. In Luke 12, Jesus is exhorting his hearers to be ready for his return at any time. In other words, after the resurrection, Jesus isn't going to be there. And everybody after that time though, needs to spend their lives in a condition of readiness.

That's what he's teaching in Luke 12. And so what does he say? In Luke 12, Verse 35, Jesus says, let your waist be girded and your lamps burning. In other words, any second be ready for action. Those who imagine that Christians check their brains at the door don't understand our faith.

In other words, there are some that think that faith stands in opposition to reason, and the Bible teaches that nothing could be further from the truth. Christians are not to check their brains at the door in any way, shape, or form. Our minds are actually to be fully engaged. But that is a very different thing than autonomous reason. So your mind can be fully engaged without saying, I'm an independent entity and nothing outside of my autonomous reason or my independent reason can penetrate.

No, The engagement of the mind that the Bible sets before us is one that is part of being a living sacrifice that says, I am the Lord's. I am bought at a price. And so now every part of me is his. I'm set aside to be his. And anything that would bring him pleasure, and one of the great tools at my disposal in living a life that would honor him is my mind.

God gave it to me to employ it so I could live a life that would honor him. So I come to the scriptures and I hear his word and my mind is fully engaged And now it's part of being a living sacrifice. Paul says we are to cast down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. That's 1 Corinthians 10 verse 15. So it's not that we don't have thoughts, but it's that we take them captive to the obedience of Christ.

Everything that would lift itself up against the knowledge of God, we take it captive. So that the mind is actually the primary front in the battle to not be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by what? By the renewing of our minds. If you have any level of seriousness about not being conformed to the world, not having the pressures that the world will bring to bear on everyone to press them into its mold. If you have any level of seriousness about waging a battle not to be conformed to the world, the mind is the frontier of the battle.

And your mind is going to have to be transformed in order to resist all the pressures that would squeeze us into the mold of the world. So number one, Peter commands us to gird up the loins of our minds, to prepare our minds for action because it's the front for warfare. Number two, Peter commands us to be sober. And this is closely related to readiness of mind. Now, Peter means it in the figurative sense, but we'll start with the literal sense of being sober because it helps us to understand the figurative sense.

In the literal sense, to be sober means that you're not drunk. It means that you're not overrun by the effects of alcohol, right? That's what sober means. What is opposite of sober is drunk. And a state of drunkenness with that comes a total loss of your natural inhibitions.

In other words, God made you with natural inhibitions, Natural processes of the brain that would say, even though I might want to do that, that's a horrible idea. I shouldn't do that. God made you that way. You came with natural inhibitions, natural things that would stop you from doing things that you might want to do but were a terrible idea and will lead to destruction. Well, if you've ever seen anyone in a drunken condition, you know those are gone.

And if you would take video of them and then play it back to them later when they're sober, what would they say? I cannot believe I said that. I cannot believe I did that. I lost my wits. So that kind of soberness helps us to understand what Peter is saying figuratively.

Here's what the Greek means. Calm and collected in spirit. Temperate. Dispassionate. I want to camp on that word for a minute because that's really helpful.

Dispassionate. Not ruled by your passions. That's what it is to be sober. You're not governed by your passions anymore. And The natural inhibitions are in place.

So even if there's something that you want to do, if it leads to destruction, if it leads to dishonoring your God, the inhibition is in place and you can say no to it. This is what it is to be sober, is to have your wits about you. So that later someone can't play the footage and you won't have to say, I can't believe I said that. I can't believe I did that. Soberness.

In the New Testament, there are two lists for elders' qualifications, what a man must be to be considered for church leadership. One is in 1 Timothy chapter 3, the second one is in Titus chapter 1. Sober mindedness is on both of those lists. And so it's a mark of Christian maturity. That's all the qualification lists are, are marks of Christian maturity.

So that an elder doesn't have to be a super Christian. He just has to have the marks of maturity. Do you understand that about those lists? That's critical when you come to those lists that you don't think it's another plane of Christianity altogether. No.

It's just that you can verify in a man's life that he really does have the fruits of the spirit in operation. It's that simple. And so sober-mindedness, this soberness that Peter is talking about, is a mark of Christian maturity. And Peter is calling us to it. He's calling us to a mark of Christian maturity.

So number one, we were commanded to gird up the loins of our mind. Number two, we were commanded to be sober. Number three, we're commanded to rest our hope fully on grace. Peter is commanding you to rest every single ounce of your hope on grace. Why?

Because the grace of God will bear it. Every single ounce. Every ounce of your weight, of the weight of your hopes, can rest comfortably, confidently, surely, on the grace of God. And then we have this precious description where Peter says, on the day of judgment, on the day when everyone who's ever been granted a life will be before God to give an account on the day where nothing within yourself, in and of yourself will sustain you through that day. On the day when you need the grace of God more than any other day of your life, that this grace will be brought to you.

Do you see that in verse 13? This grace, on the day when you need it more than any other day that doesn't mean that there's only grace for one day of your life and that's the day it starts so much earlier but for those who have received his grace on the day when they need it the most the day of judgment the day when we'll all stand before God and we'll have nothing in ourselves that would carry us through the day that this grace will be brought to us on a silver platter. You need it and you'll have it and it will be brought to you. So our hope can rest so fully and Completely on the grace of God. What is hope?

It's not wishful thinking Sometimes we use the word hope like that now I Hope I win the lottery No, No, this is not how Peter is using hope. Peter's not using hope as wishful thinking as if he wants to win the Mega Millions. Peter is using hope as a confident expectation. In other words, there's not one thing suspect about this hope. It's just that it hasn't happened yet, but you can be sure, we can rest a confident expectation fully on the grace of God.

Let's look at verses 14 through 16. Verses 14 through 16. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance. But as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Because it is written, be holy, for I am holy.

Holy for I am holy. Because of the heap of blessings, come out and be separated to God. That's what Peter is saying here. Because of this mound of blessings to be had in Christ, come out and be separated to God. The fatherhood of God is the basis for all these things.

He says, as obedient children, he calls us children. And so all of this is grounded in the fatherhood of God. And so this phrase, obedient children, stands in direct contrast with the sons of disobedience that Paul talks about. In Ephesians 2 and Colossians 3, Paul uses this term of those who are not in Christ and he calls them sons of disobedience. Well now Peter is speaking of those who are in Christ, those who have come out of the kingdom of darkness into a kingdom of light, and he says they're not sons of disobedience anymore, they're obedient children.

Now an interesting thing to note is that there are two Greek words. I mean obviously obedience and disobedience stand in the starkest contrast. And then in both, you have children or sons. And there are two different Greek words used, one by Paul to say sons or children of disobedience. That's one Greek word.

Peter uses a different word for children of obedience or obedient children. And they mean almost exactly the same thing. It just means the offspring of, but one is a term of affection, and that's the term that Peter uses, technon. And it's what you would call your children. It means the same thing.

It's offspring, but it's not nearly so cold a term as offspring. It's a warm term, technon. In English, it would be like my little ones, my little ones, my children. So it means offspring, but it means my offspring that I love, my little ones. Where the word that Paul uses is kind of a cold term that just means The ones that came from them.

And it's a cold term. Well how does this happen? How does someone who was a son of disobedience become an obedient child? An obedient little one of God. It happens through the new birth.

And so the logic that Peter puts before us is you've been adopted. Learn to be like your father. That's the logic of the whole section that we're considering now. You've been adopted. Learn to be like your Father.

Listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians 5.17. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things are new. All things have become new.

Christians are not what they were. Christians are not what they were. Peter says, those lusts that are resident in the flesh, those lusts, you used to conform yourselves to those lusts. In your ignorance, You did not have eyes to see. You did not have ears to hear.

You were ignorant. And so, those lusts you would conform yourselves to them. But now, you've crossed over from being sons of disobedience to children of obedience, obedient children. And you do have eyes to see, you do have ears to hear, you're no longer ignorant. Don't conform yourselves to those lusts any longer.

Here's what Paul says in Ephesians 5 verse 1, very simple short verse. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. That's all Peter's saying here. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. He uses the same word for children that Peter is using, technon, my little ones, as dear children.

Imitate your father. This is what Peter is saying. Now let's take a minute to understand holiness. Because Peter speaks much of holiness in this section. God is three times holy.

He is holy, holy, holy. You see this in Isaiah 6 And you see this in Revelation 4, where these creatures in heaven, both places, Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4, you see the same thing. These creatures that are hard to describe, even when they're described in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4, you really don't know what they're talking about. The authors are struggling to describe for people who haven't seen it what these creatures in heaven are like, but they're before God and they're worshiping him and they're saying, holy, holy, holy. Now go read your Bibles from Genesis to Revelation and try to find one other attribute that is three times repeated like that.

It's done multiple times with holiness. He is holy, holy, holy. But He is never love, love, love. He is never merciful, merciful, merciful. He is never just, just, just.

He is never powerful, powerful, powerful. He is holy, holy, holy. His holiness wraps up the perfections of every other part of his character into this single master attribute. So to become like God at all in any way is to grow in holiness. Do you understand that?

Our mission is to become like him, to be conformed into the image of his son. The express image of God Himself is His Son. So to grow, to become like God at all is to grow in holiness. And Peter quotes Leviticus 11 verses 44 and 45, be holy for I am holy. And in Leviticus 11, in verse 44, it says that, be holy for I am holy.

And then in verse 45, the very next verse, it says it again, be holy for I am holy. Are you getting the picture? This matters to God. He is holy, holy, holy. He's three times holy.

He repeats it. You can go to multiple places in Leviticus and find the same quote, Be holy for I am holy. This is of utmost importance to God. But the place in Leviticus that I want you to consider is Leviticus 20 verse 26. In Leviticus 20 verse 26 God says, 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." Leviticus 20 Verse 26 helps us to understand what God really means when he says, Be holy, for I am holy.

Because though they're the same, They look different in God than us, because we're not God. We can never be God. So holiness looks different in him in a way than it will look to us. God is holy, and we are holy unto him. And so what it looks like for God to be holy is that he is Worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.

This is Merriam-Webster. The definition in Merriam-Webster. Worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. In other words, because that's who God is, He's perfect in goodness and righteousness that makes Him worthy of all worship and complete devotion. And for us, we are separated from everything profane and set aside to be His and to become like him.

So God doesn't have to be set aside from everything profane because he's never been profane in any way. But we have to be extracted from all the profane things to be set aside to be His and to become like Him. What is the scope of this holiness? All your conduct. That's what the text says.

Be holy in all your conduct. In other words, there are no holiness-free zones in life. It's all our conduct. The holiness that we're being called to can never be dependent on our circumstances because it's all our conduct. The holiness that we're being called to can never be dependent on our circumstances.

Because it's all our conduct. The holiness that we're being called to can never be dependent on who we're around. We can't have people that were holy around, that were extracted from the profane and set aside to be gods, but then other people who were not holy around. That would be completely contrary to what Peter is calling us to. Where does this leave little compromises?

Leave little compromises. Where does this leave allowed sins? Sins that your spouse doesn't know about and your neighbors don't and your friends don't. No one does but God does. But holiness doesn't know about gaps for compromise because it's extracted from the profane and set aside to be God's and to become like Him.

And holiness doesn't know about allowed sins that are secret so you can maintain your reputation and your respectability. But you're not really having been extracted from the profane and set aside to be the Lord's. God is perfectly worthy of all worship. He's perfect in goodness and righteousness, so He's holy. We are to be separated from the profane, from the wicked, from unrighteousness, and set aside to be his and to become like our Father.

That is the holiness that we're called to. How important is holiness? Anybody beeping out there? Anybody beeping out there? Jake, remember to cut this out of the audio.

Hey. How important is holiness? Hey. How important is holiness? Listen to Hebrews 12 verse 4.

Hebrews 12 verse 4, Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. The truth of the matter is according to scripture is that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, and holiness must result. Must, must, must result. And if it hasn't resulted, it just betrays that there's no new creation.

There's no rebirth. There's been no being born again because the old things haven't passed away. All things haven't become new. I offer these comments knowing how sinful Christians continue to be, but they are growing in holiness. So you must look at your life and ask the question, am I growing in holiness?

Is there any evidence here if I was on trial for being a new creation could I be convicted? Could I be found guilty of being a new creation that someone could look at my life and say, the old things in his life have passed away. Verses 17 through 21. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, Conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through him believe in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Because of the heap of blessings, conduct yourself in fear. That's what Peter is teaching in this section. Because of this mound of blessings to be had in Christ, conduct yourself in fear. Peter begins this section, and if you call on the Father, and you should, You should call on the Father.

In Matthew 6 verse 9, Jesus' disciples have come and they've said, Lord, teach us how to pray. And in Matthew 6, verse 9, Jesus answers, in this manner therefore pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Jesus teaches us to call on the name of our Father. But Peter says that God being your Father doesn't mean it's OK to be fruitless. Peter doesn't want us to misunderstand God as Father.

Why? Why isn't it okay to be fruitless? Ephesians 2 verse 10. Ephesians 2 verse 10. For we are his workmanship.

He's been fashioning us Making us into something for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. This is what God has in mind with the new birth. Creating us in Christ Jesus. And we become His workmanship. If you're a new creation, that's why.

Because God has been at work forming and fashioning and making out of what wasn't something that is a new creation for good works. So that he would be known as glorious. He would be seen as great. That a world that's looking on could look at your life and say, look what God did with that life. He was this.

And he became that. I used to know him, I used to know her before God put his hand on that life. And there's no resemblance. What kind of a God is this? God wants to put himself on display through his work in my life.

Through his work in your life so that those who knew you back then and what you were like and what you loved and that in the figurative sense you were a drunkard you were frequently out of your wits saying yes to things that would destroy you. And now you look nothing like that. And God would be highly exalted as one who could do that. We should fear fruitlessness. We should be afraid of it.

Because God is a Father who is also a Judge and Scripture says terrifying things about fruitless people. So we should be afraid of it. We should be fearful of fruitlessness because the Bible says terrifying things about fruitless people. This is not works based salvation. This is simply what everyone knows.

That if you're a new creation, then you're new. You look new. You act new. You talk new. You think new.

The old things have passed away. So that if there's no evidence of newness in your life, you should be afraid. Peter says that this judge judges without partiality. The King James renders that without respect of persons. And this would caution us to not think that we're a special case, and to comfort ourselves in fruitlessness, if that's what we see in our lives, because he's a judge that doesn't care who you are.

He judges without partiality. He's not a respecter of persons. So if in your head you think you're a special case and God will deal with you differently then he says he'll deal with other people. The Bible comes to confront us in that. Look at the mercy of God in this, that he would let us know that though God is a father and he is the tenderest of fathers, he is the kindest of fathers, he is the most merciful of fathers, at the same time he is a judge that judges without partiality.

He is not a respecter of persons. So do not deceive yourselves and tell yourself you're a special case. This is incredibly useful for Christians because it would drive us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. To consider ourselves, to examine ourselves, to see whether we are in the faith. And this is incredibly useful for non-Christians who have thought that they would be a special case before God.

He is not a respecter of persons. So we're being taught to fear. Not in a way that would paralyze us, but in a way that would cause us to walk in wisdom, that all our conduct would be holy. What then? Conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.

This is what Peter says. I want to camp on the phrase throughout the time of your stay here. The King James renders that the time of your sojourning. The ESV renders that the time of your exile. So this takes us right back to the very beginning of the chapter where he's writing to those of the dispersion or those who are scattered and it takes us into the mindset of looking for a better country, not being citizens here But having our citizenship somewhere else.

So Peter says, whatever time God gives you here, throughout this time of your pilgrimage, of being a stranger in a place that's not your home, However long God gives you here, it's only a vapor. This is what Peter keeps pressing us back to this. Life is a vapor. You're like a flower of the field. Tomorrow you'll be gone, and your place won't even remember you.

If you're his, if you're in Christ, you're just a pilgrim and a stranger wandering in a place that's not your home and it's a vapor, it lasts a day. So don't wait to be fruitful. Okay this is what Peter is pressing on us. Do not wait to be fruitful. Don't be fruitful tomorrow.

Be fruitful today. J.C. Ryle loves to say this, tomorrow is the devil's day. And he means the same by that as in Little Orphan Annie. Tomorrow is always a day away, right?

When tomorrow comes, then it's not tomorrow anymore. It's today. And tomorrow is just always one day out. And some people have approached fruitfulness that way. And they're going to be fruitful tomorrow and tomorrow is always a day away.

And today is for their comforts and tomorrow is for fruitfulness. Well Peter is coming and He's waging a holy war against the mindset that would have us be fruitful tomorrow. No, be fruitful today. You're just a pilgrim. You're just a sojourner here.

You're just a stranger in a foreign land, and your life is a vapor. It's a day, and then it will be gone. Today is the day to be fruitful. Peter says that two pieces of knowledge will help you be fruitful. This is very important.

He's giving us tools to help us be fruitful. He says there are two pieces of knowledge that will help you be fruitful. And these two bits of knowledge are related to being redeemed or in the ESV to being ransomed. Now being redeemed, the Greek word for redeemed or ransomed, it could be translated either way. They're both great.

Redeemed or ransomed is a technical term for buying the freedom of a prisoner of war. This is what Peter is talking about. If you've been redeemed, then you were a prisoner of war and someone bought your freedom. You were a slave with no ability to obtain your own freedom, but someone bought it for you. Here are these two bits of knowledge.

Number one, what you have been redeemed from. If you are in Christ, what you have been redeemed from, aimless conduct, or the NASB translates it futile way of life, a futile way of life, or the NIV translates it empty way of life. If you are in Christ, if you are a prisoner of war, whose freedom has been purchased for you, You've been purchased from futility, from aimlessness, from emptiness, and brought into a life of beauty, and worth, and purpose. And then Peter says, where this aimless conduct so often comes from, it's so often received by the tradition of your fathers. In other words, natural men pass this down to their natural sons.

An aimless, empty, futile life. If you're not absolutely certain that you are in Christ, listen to me. Bitterly that the decades of their life have gone by and there's nothing to show for it. Many people come to the late years of their life with bitterness of soul. Because now, looking back, they can see what Peter is saying.

That a life outside of Christ is aimless and futile and empty and now the years are gone. Oh may God save us from this, from being to the point where the years are gone and spent for a few pleasures, for a few comforts, for nothing but serving self. And you come to the end and say, I was aimless and futile and empty. I have nothing to show for the one life that I was given. God gave me a life to live to His glory, to be extracted from the profane and set aside to be His, and to become like Him.

And this is how I spent my years. The first bit of knowledge is what you have been redeemed from. When someone in Christ takes the time to think about what they've been redeemed from, it makes them fruitful. Because there's this well of happiness that thinks of what you were and the aimlessness and the futility and the emptiness of that life and what God has replaced it with in making you a new creation, in making all things new in your life, and they want to produce fruit for His glory. Secondly, if you're in Christ, what you have been redeemed with, number one was what you've been redeemed from number two is what you've been redeemed with And he starts with what cannot purchase your soul your soul cannot be purchased with corruptible perishable things.

And to prove it, he names the things of this earth that are the least corruptible and the least perishable. In other words, the things that are closest to incorruptible, closest to the imperishable that the earth can offer, gold and silver, He says you cannot be redeemed with those things. That's the best the earth can do. It's valuable, and we think of them as imperishable. Listen to Psalm 49, 6 through 8.

Psalm 49, 6 through 8. Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their souls is costly." The psalmist says, a rich man, a man who is so rich that he can boast in his riches can't offer God his riches to ransom his brother because the redeeming of a soul is too costly for the riches that you can pile up on earth. Or listen to What Jesus says in Matthew chapter 16 verse 26, for what is it to a man if he gains the whole world? For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

If you gained the whole world, you couldn't give it in exchange for your soul. That's why it's aimless and futile and empty to spend your years trying to pile up whatever amount of riches you could pile up in this life. Because even if you get it all, you can't give it in exchange for your soul. It takes something more precious than gold or silver. It takes the blood of a Passover lamb.

It takes a spotless lamb, a lamb without blemish, a lamb without defect that would be killed. And for the blood of this lamb to be painted on the doorposts, brushed on the doorposts so that the destroying angel would know to pass over you when he's destroying the others. What a freedom to know that the blood of a Passover lamb has been brushed on the doorpost for you, that the destroying angel will know to Passover you when he's destroying the others. This is the gospel. A persistent meditation on what you have been redeemed from and with will make you fruitful.

To set your mind on what those in Christ have been redeemed from and have been redeemed with will make us more fruitful than we've ever been. And if you wanted something concrete to help you gird up the loins of your mind, to make your mind ready for action, or to be sober, or to rest your hope fully on grace, then consider what you've been redeemed from. Consider what you've been redeemed with. Peter says because of that, because of verses 1 through 12, because the heap of blessings that are to be had by the people of God in Jesus Christ be this. Someone whose mind is ready for action.

Someone who's sober minded. Someone who has their hope resting fully on the grace of God. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you offer your body a living sacrifice. Let's pray. Oh Father, the beauty of the things that You teach, press truth on our hearts.

Sanctify us by Your truth, oh God. I pray now for the continued teaching time that You would give men things to say that would round out the teaching, that would improve the things that have come out of this text. I ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.