Over the next two weeks we will be studying what it means to be holy. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that God would call his church to be holy. In fact, this is made explicitly clear in verses 15 – 16 of our text where it says, “as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” If you claim to be a Christian, to be a member of God’s bride, the church, then you are called to be holy just as your bridegroom is holy himself.

God’s command to be holy is based upon the fact that He who saved us is holy himself. God is simply calling us to be just like him, to be just like our Father in Heaven in our pursuit of holiness. Holiness simply means to be set apart and dedicated to God for his special use. The question this brings up is: “How often are you dedicating yourself to God in your pursuit of holiness?”

Dedication to God is at the center of our pursuit of holiness. When you are dedicated to God you want to be like him – he becomes your pursuit. What you dedicate your heart and mind and life to is what you will pursue. Ephesians 2 teaches us that God chose those whom he would save from before the very foundations of the earth. It also teaches us that the good works of those whom God has saved are the product of that salvation. Holiness is the fruit of genuine salvation.

We need to understand that being saved by God is being selected by him from the pawn shop of Satan, Sin, and Death to become his special instruments of holy reflection on this earth. This selection process – commonly called predestination and election – is similar to when a couple selects a child to adopt to become a member of their family so that that adopted child can reflect the principles and values of their adopted parents in the world they live in. The pursuit of holiness requires that we enter the transformative process of emulating Christ in the world we live in.

The reality is this, holiness is not merely a state of being. Holiness is our new identity in Christ, but holiness is also a way of life. In one sense, Christ makes us holy at the moment of our salvation. But in another sense, we are called to holy living – called to pursue a life that is marked by holy conduct, marked by the character and the identity of our newly adoptive Heavenly Father. 

This is Peter’s aim in our text today; he wants his listeners to pursue the holy conduct that is in keeping with their holy identity. The behavior of their lives should be holy rather than unholy. I am sure we can all agree that it is very difficult to conduct our lives in a holy, God-honoring manner. We struggle with the influence of Satan, Sin, and Death on a daily basis. We also struggle because the world around us does not care about holiness and in most cases, it celebrates all things unholy.

Sometimes the southside of my old unholy character wants to come out and play! I am sure you have felt this. It oftentimes feels like we are outcasts trying to live in a holy, God-honoring manner, amidst a very dark and perverse world that has fallen into the grasp of Satan, Sin, and Death. And sometimes it is as though our old way of living wants to peak its old ugly out and do some unholy things. It is as though we are living in a spiritual warzone that is erupting into the physical world we are traveling through.

That feeling of being an outcast, of not really belonging to this dark world, of being like aliens in a foreign land, that feeling is nothing new for God’s people. Peter is writing this letter to encourage Christians in his day who have been exiled, scattered as outcasts from society (1 Pet. 1:1 – 2). The believers that Peter is writing to, are enduring intense persecution and he wants to encourage them, to strengthen them, to challenge them to conduct their lives in a manner that is holy and honoring to God. Look at the text with me…

13Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

#1: SET YOUR HOPE ON THE GRACE OF GOD (V. 13)

The first thing Peter draws our attention to in regards to this pursuit of holy living is the object of our hope. In verse 13 he says, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Our pursuit of holiness will only be as genuine as the object of our hope. Peter instructs us to set our hope fully, not partially, not sometimes and not when it seems to suit us best, but to set our hope fully at all times on the grace of God in Christ Jesus which will be complete on the day we step into heaven. The grace of God in Christ Jesus must be the object of our hope or else our hope will be false.

False hope results in false holiness. If you and I set our hope on our performance, on politics, on vocational success, or on any other thing apart from Christ, we will not pursue true holiness because we will spend all our resources in any way possible to satisfy the objects of our hope. For instance, maybe you set all your hope on the political system – with religious language of course – and therefore you overlook or accept or even condone through your silence or your participation, the things in that political system that are blatantly unholy. The object of your hope will produce either holiness or unholiness.

Peter understands this temptation to set our hope on anything other than Christ and he understands that his listeners are facing massive barriers in regards to the object of their hope. He understands that when we face trials and temptations and suffering of all kinds, that we will struggle to set our hope on Christ. He understands that our hope is only as strong as the object in which it is set upon. A faulty foundation results in a faulty house. Therefore, a faulty object of hope will result in a faulty life.

Peter has already spoken in great detail about holding onto a genuine living hope in verses 3 – 12. This is what the “therefore” is there for at the beginning of verse 13. In those verses (3 – 12) he reminds his listeners that they can hold onto a living hope, not the dead hope of the world we live in, but the living hope of the gospel which teaches us that God has saved us through the work of Christ at the cross and the empty tomb and that we can find lasting joy, not momentary happiness in the things of this world, but lasting joy in Christ’s finished work over our lives.

According to Peter, the living hope of our salvation, this is what holds us secure amidst trials, and temptations, and suffering of all kinds. It is this living hope that Peter now calls us to hold onto, to literally “set your hope fully on the grace” of God in Christ Jesus (v. 13).

It is this hope – and the object being the grace of Jesus Christ – that prepares our minds for the action of pursuing holiness. It is this hope – again, with the object being the grace of Jesus in his work of salvation – it is this hope, this object, that helps our minds to be sober and clear as we choose holy living over unholy living. 

The question is, where have you set your hope? When the wheels fall off the bus, is your first instinct to drop to your knees and beg God to help you to set your hope on Christ so that you can live in a holy and God-honoring way? Do you make your mind ready for holy action on a daily basis by pursuing the presence of God in prayer and time in his Word? Are you encouraging others in regular community to set their hope on Christ and Christ alone?

#2: DON’T BE CONFORMED TO YOUR FORMER STUPIDITY (V. 14)

Satan, Sin, and Death do not want you to pursue holiness because it reflects the character of God and they hate God and they are at war with him. Your enemies want you to conform back to your former stupidity; they want you stuck in an unholy rut.

Progress in holiness is a declaration of war against all that is unholy. Conformity – regressing back to your old unholy ways of living – that is where the enemy wants you to live so that you are rendered useless in this war. Peter knows this, he knows that conforming and regressing back to our old ways of living is simply surrendering to the unholy choke hold of the enemy.

This is why he now instructs his listeners in verse 14, that “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.” Obedience to God is the pursuit of holiness. Disobedience to God is unholy. Peter correlates disobedience to conformity and obedience to the pursuit of holiness. We are not to be conformed to the unholy passions and desires of our old, stupid, sinful lifestyles.

Peter actually uses the phrase “the passions of your former ignorance”. Our former lives – stuck in the mud of Satan, Sin, and Death was stupidly ignorant because it leads to spiritual death. As new creations in Christ Jesus we are not to let our former stupidity rule our lives. We are new creations in Christ Jesus – set apart as holy instruments for his use – our old stupid, sinful, unholy lifestyles are simply out of character for those who have been saved by Christ.

Every time you and I struggle with obedience, with living in a holy and God honoring way, we are simply reverting back to something that is not in keeping with who we are in Christ Jesus. Do not be conformed but be transformed by the renewing of your mind in holiness to reflect the perfect character of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 12). Every time you struggle with reverting back to and conforming to your former stupidity, you need to seek the presence of God. You need to ask him to help you to be obedient rather than disobediently conforming to your former stupidity.

#3: CONDUCT YOURSELVES WITH GODLY FEAR (V. 17)

The third thing Peter says regarding this pursuit of holiness is that we need to conduct ourselves with Godly fear. This is why he says in verse 17 that “if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.” This makes me think about the things I fear that cause me to live in an unholy way. Think about the power of what you fear.

Fear is a powerful emotion that can cause us to behave in ways that are not in keeping with our new character in Christ Jesus. A holy, reverent, awestruck fear of God is the only antidote to the fear and anxiety that the world wants us to live in. It is the fear of God that puts worldly and fleshly fears to death. You and I are not called to pursue a fear free life. On the contrary, we are called to pursue the right fear filled life. The Christian who fears God alone fears no human entity whatsoever and is now free to pursue holiness.

Satan, Sin, and Death want you to live in fear for your life, in fear for your daily provision, in fear of what happens when one political party or another does not gain control, in fear when you do not feel accepted, in fear when you cannot control your circumstances. All of those demonic and worldly fears will lead to unholiness in your life as you seek to satisfy those fears in ungodly ways.

Peter reminds us that we should fear God as our Good Father because he judges impartially. God judges, not based upon our performance or on someone else’s performance or on the way we felt about certain things. God judges based upon his own holy character. God is impartial – he does not play favorites – because his standard of judgment is based on his perfect character.

Knowing that, we should do as Peter says, we should “conduct [ourselves] with fear” so that we genuinely pursue a holy lifestyle that is pleasing and honoring to God. Once again, Godly fear is the key to putting our earthly fears to death as we pursue true, Christlike holiness.

#4: REMEMBER THE PRICE OF YOUR RANSOM (VV. 18 – 19)

We also need to remember the price of our ransom – the price tag of our purchase should light a fire under our pursuit of holiness. This is why Peter says in verses 18 – 19 “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

When Peter describes the imperishable, perfect, precious blood of Jesus, he is holding up the price tag of our freedom in front of us. It is almost as though he knows that we will try to find value in the unholy things of this world and he wants us to remember what it cost Jesus to purchase us from Satan, Sin, and Death. The ransom letter that was sent by our enemies to Jesus required his shed blood and broken body as he died on that tree on the hill of Calvary.

At one time – if you are a Christian – you lived according to the futile or foolish systems of this world that have been handed down from generation to generation since the Garden of Eden. That looks tasty, eat it. That sounds pleasing, get that. Get an education. Find a good job. Get a good spouse. Have a couple of kids. Align with the right political party. Do whatever your little heart desires. Live to make yourself happy and you will be just like God. All of this was your old way of living while you were headed straight to hell in the shackles of your sin.

And then Jesus stepped in and he grabbed the ransom note and he gladly gave everything to set you free from your foolish and futile lifestyle. This was the price tag for your freedom. This price tag is what is meant to humble us and motivate our pursuit of holiness; it is meant to position us to ask God to help us understand what pleases him and to give us the strength to live in ways that are obedient and holy and honoring to him. Get that price tag into your view and you will pursue true holiness.

#5: BELIEVE & TRUST IN GOD’S ETERNAL PLAN (VV. 20 – 21)

The fifth and final thing Peter says about this pursuit of being holy as God is holy is that we need to believe and trust in God’s eternal plan. This is why Peter says in verses 20 – 21 that Jesus “was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” I believe these final verses are the most profound and significant verses of our text today.

These final two verses are so profound and so significant that a group of five of us literally spent over and hour parsing out the deep ramifications of meaning that are contained in these words. I really need your prayers right now as I try to capture some of the depths of theology that are contained here.

Peter began with a call to set our hope on the right object, that object being the grace of God in Christ Jesus (v. 13). Now he brings us back to that theme of hope, but he adds a deeper layer when he says, “so that your faith and hope are in God” (v. 21). Faith simply means to trust and to believe. Remove trust or remove belief and you have no faith. Trust and belief are to the twin legs of true faith. But the question is what do we place our faith in as we hope in the promise of eternity?

Sure, we would say we place our faith in Christ. But what does that actually mean and how does it relate to our pursuit of holiness? What does it mean to trust and to believe in Christ? Peter uses a set of phrases in verse 20 to help us wrap our minds around what it means to trust and to believe in Jesus, and the depth of these two phrases are absolutely mind blowing.

Look at verse 20 and notice that Peter says that Jesus “was foreknown before the foundation of the world” and that we “through him are believers in God.” Pay attention here, Jesus was foreknown before the foundations of the world just as we, according to Ephesians 2, were foreknown by God before the foundation of the world as well. Notice too that it is “through him”, through Christ, that we are now believers in God and it is also “through him” that God foreknew us before the foundations of the world.

These twin phrases are the glorious truths of the doctrines of election and predestination. God had a plan from before the creation of the world and that plan included your salvation, if you are saved or if you will be saved before he returns, through Christ’s work at the cross of Calvary. Ephesians 2 teaches us that God chose those whom he would save before the creation of the earth. God stands outside time as we know it. For God, time has always been and will always be now. There is no past or future for God, all of time is present and centered on Christ’s work at that cross.

To be foreknown is to be intimately known as a husband and wife knowing each other inside and out. God knows everything about every created being, but he does not intimately draw close to those who do not belong to him. He intimately knew you before the foundations of the earth just as he intimately knows Christ. This means that from our perspective, God applied the shed blood and broken body of his perfect Son to your life before he ever created the world so that he could intimately draw close to you before you even came to know him through salvation.

God was never intimate with your sin just he will never be intimate with anyone’s sin. But he accomplished what was needed to be intimate with you before you became intimate with him. The moment you surrendered to him is the moment that you began to know him as he has always known you.

Is this not what every human longs for the most, deep down inside, tis o be fully known and fully loved and fully accepted without ever doing a thing to earn that intimacy? Isn’t this what grace really is? Isn’t this what it really means to trust and to believe in God’s plan for all of eternity?

Doesn’t this knowledge make you want to honor God in your pursuit of true holiness? Isn’t it true that to pursue holiness is to pursue knowing God intimately as he has always known you intimately? Intimacy with God is the epicenter of holiness. Draw close in intimacy with our holy God and you will become more and more holy.

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, I want to say that there is nothing new under the sun as it pertains to the pursuit of holiness. In my two plus decades of following Jesus and serving his people and proclaiming the gospel to the lost and the found, I sometimes think I have seen it all. My heart has been broken over and over again, not only by my own sin but also by the sins of others who claim to know God.

Let me be clear, there is no sin strong enough to separate you and I from God in Christ Jesus other than the foundational sin of unbelief, which produces the fruit of unholiness. I have witnessed quote-un-quote believers commit some of the most atrocious, ungodly, unholy sins against God and against his bride with no evidence of genuine remorse that results in true holiness. All I can say is that judgment day is coming and God judges impartially.

It is also true that holiness is the fruit of genuine salvation. You will struggle with the effects of Satan, Sin, and Death in this life as a believer. You will sin… sometimes you will sin egregiously. But the fruit of the Spirit at work in you is that you will pursue holiness because holiness is in keeping with the character and presence of Christ who lives in you.

So, Pursue holiness and a God honoring life at all costs. Cut the hand off and gouge the eye out that causes unholiness within you. Labor to set your hope on the right object, on the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Identify and destroy ungodly, unholy stupidity from your past life. Live in godly fear of the righteous and impartial Judge and your worldly fears will be put to death. Keep the price tag of your salvation ever in your view. Live your life in light of knowing that God made a way through Christ to know you intimately before you ever knew him. All he wants now is for you to know him the way he knows you in Christ Jesus so that can walk in holiness as he himself is holy.

This is why you and I are called to be holy as God is holy. This is how you and I pursue being holy as God is holy. Hold onto to the true object of your hope. Do not be conformed by your former stupidity. Conduct your life with godly fear. Focus on your price tag. Know that in Christ you have been fully known and fully loved by God since before time began. Seek to know and love God and you will grow in holiness; you will be holy as your Father in Heaven is holy. – Amen!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).