1 Peter Bible Study #2: Living Hope Leads God’s People to Holy Living

Continue study of 1 Peter, make sure to grab handout in back or front of sanctuary. If you are with us online, there should be a comment with a link that will take you to our digital notes to help you follow along! Like we did last week, let’s tackle this text together and then break it down chunk by chunk.

1 Peter 1:10–21 CSB

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated. 11 They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—angels long to catch a glimpse of these things. 13 Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. 15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. 17 If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers. 18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Briefly recap last week’s lesson as we have a Living Hope in Jesus Christ. We have a salvation story, a secure hope, and a sanctification process. We grow to be more like Jesus because of God’s power and presence in our lives. The goal of our faith, verse 9, is the salvation of our souls. This is only possible because of Jesus Christ! Tonight, we’ll finalize this first section and move towards our section section which shows us how Orthodoxy (right belief) leads to Orthopraxy (right living).

Our Sweet Message (10-12)

The dominant doctrine of Christianity is salvation and this is what sets Christianity apart from every other major religion out there as we celebrate our God coming to save sinners who could not save themselves whereas other religions celebrate what mankind has done to get to God. The whole of the Bible is a story of salvation as God creates, redeems, and restores sinners to Himself. We see this story in the Old Testament and as 1 Peter 1:10 tells us, the prophets even knew that there would come a Messiah - a Savior - who would redeem God’s people. We can think of this in Isaiah 53 with the Suffering Servant. Daniel 7:13-14 and his vision of the coming Son of Man. But we can even go back to Genesis 3 and see this promise of a Snake-Crushing Savior. These Old Testament people longed for the Messiah’s coming. They couldn’t wait for Jesus to come and change everything… but they didn’t get to experience those things. They lived on the other side of the cross while we live on this side of it and can look back with certainty at all that Jesus has done. We can look back at all they prophesied about and see how in Christ all of God’s promises are YES and AMEN

What we see in verse 12 is that the prophets proclaimed the Messiah and this is the message that we are called to proclaim today as well. We are called to share this glorious message that there is a redeemer named Jesus Christ who provides the hopeless with hope, the fatherless with a family, the purposeless with purpose, and the suffering with certainty. This is the best message of all to share and it’s all because our Lord Jesus Christ lives today - we have a living hope - we serve a living Savior. While we may not have answers to all the questions in our brains concerning Jesus and His return, we do know that He has saved us, changed us, has a purpose for us each day of our lives. The angels know a little bit about this - they rejoice whenever a sinner repents (Luke 15:10) but they will never experience this salvation. So many wrongly think that humans become angels whenever they die - that’s not an upgrade, that’s a downgrade! Angels wish they could be in the position that redeemed sinners are in as we can proclaim of the mercy and grace and forgiveness of our Savior - we have a joyous message to share!

How should our identity with Christ impact our interactions with others in this life?

How does this text provide you with unshakeable hope and enduring joy?

What is the ultimate result of faith in God according to this text?

How does this text encourage us to worship Jesus in the good and difficult days of this life?

In the weeks to come we’ll continue walking through this book and be encouraged and challenged to find hope while living in exile and to share this hope with a hopeless world.

Living Holy Because of our Living Hope (13-21)

Is it possible for Christians to have joy in the midst of suffering?

Is it necessary for Christians to have joy in the midst of suffering?

Christians are to have hope at all times because we have a living hope in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Last week we discussed how Jesus is our living hope and how He holds us fast and is our hope in this life and in death as well. Our hope and worth and value is not in self, but in our Savior! Our identity is in Him and in Him alone as verse 1 of this book shares!

How does remembering your identity in Jesus Christ provide you with hope and encouragement to live a holy life?

Jesus doesn’t change and His hope is a lasting hope - this is a command for Christians in verse 13.

How is this hope for holy living different than if it was dependent upon YOUR actions alone?

We would have no hope because we always fall short and there would be a peril in our brain to think that we have to “earn” our salvation each day rather than resting in the fact that our salvation is already won for us!

V. 13

How Do We Live a Holy Life? (13-16)

Know and Obey God’s Word (13-14)

“Roll up your sleeves” is the word picture here

Hope is an imperative command - Bible study tip: Imperatives follow Indicatives. In other words, Biblical commands (imperatives) follow Biblical truths (indicatives). Because of WHAT God has done, we see WHAT we must do. Without the salvation accomplished on the cross by Jesus Christ, the command to have hope is of no use to us because we’re helpless. Our hope is in God’s gift - we have been given hope, therefore the command is to walk in this hope day by day. This means to believe the Gospel and have a certain hope regardless of what today brings - this is our response in faith to the Gospel. Think of the constant strain that would exist if imperatives proceeded indicatives. If we had to do all of these things in order for God to love, choose, adopt, and forgive us. That would be miserable! It’s a blessing in Scripture to see reminder after reminder that God’s truth is unchanging and His commands follow His truth and character. As we remember this truth, we are to set our minds on this hope and be “sober-minded” about it

This means to think clearly about the truth of our salvation. This means that we worship Him alone. We are not to be drunk on earthly priorities and promises… instead, we focus on God and all that He has given to us! Only after we win this battle of the mind will we live right for God’s glory. This is what verse 14 commands of us - we are to be obedient children and live out Romans 12:1-2

Romans 12:1–2 CSB

1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

As you look at Romans 12:1-2 and 1 Peter 1:14, what is our hope to obey and present our bodies as a living sacrifice?

To have a renewed mind and have a changed heart!

Our primary identity is as a member of God’s family - We walk as obedient children even though that means we walk as societal outcasts and persecuted people in this life. We are brought into God’s home as His children as we’ll get into in chapter 2 of 1 Peter as we discover that we are a chosen priesthood and a royal nation. The only way that we can present ourselves in this way is to know and obey God’s Word.

Walk in Holiness (15-16)

Hate What God Hates

Love What God Loves

Measure Everything Through His Word

This section of Scripture is about our living and living a holy life that honors our Savior. We see again that we are called by God and that He is holy and demands that we be holy as well. We’re facing a fundamental problem here as humans whenever God calls on us to be holy as He is holy - what is that fundamental problem?

To be holy is to be set apart from sin and we know that we are all sinners by nature and by choice. We are not holy - in fact Scripture tells us this very clearly

Romans 3:10 CSB

10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.

Romans 3:23 CSB

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

This isn’t good news, but it’s important news. Before Christ we are not righteous, we are not holy, we are sinners… but here we are called to be holy. How is this even possible?

ONLY through the redemption of Jesus Christ!

What, then, does it mean to walk in holiness and to BE holy as God is holy?

Positionally, we are declared righteous by God through the blood of Jesus, but we are now called to walk in holiness and this requires us to live a different life and to do different things than we used to before Christ.

It’s football season, how do you know if someone is a Chiefs fan? Usually they wear Chiefs clothing. They talk about the Chiefs. They go to a game. They know about the Chiefs. Their fandom impacts their living to some extent. How do people know that we are Christians? By the Fruit of the Spirit - the change that the Holy Spirit brings into our life as a result of conversion. This means that whenever we think back to our past before Jesus, we should see genuine change. For some it means that you used to be centered on self and now you’re centered on Christ. You used to never come to church and now you can’t not come to church. You used to care about things that you no longer care about. There is a tangible change in your life. We are called to be a different people - a people who do things God’s way, all the way. Consider what 1 John 2 tells us about this

1 John 2:4–6 CSB

4 The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him: 6 The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.

For us to be holy as God is holy requires us to be saved, to be led by the Holy Spirit, and to stand boldly upon the Word of God - not the traditions of man or the comforts of our past. We keep God’s Word and we walk as He would have us walk. This is what we are supposed to do as a chosen people with a living hope, to live a holy life that is fixed on Jesus and His Word… but we sometimes want to have questions answered for us and one of the most common questions people have about following Jesus is “WHY” would I do that?

Why Should We Live a Holy Life? (17-21)

It is an Act of Worship to God (17)

We see in verse 17 that we are to conduct ourselves in reverence during our time as strangers. Do you remember the context of this book? This book is written to those chosen but scattered… the saved who are stranded around the Roman Empire who are suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ. Why would they continue to live a holy life whenever it costs them dearly?

Because Christ was all to them. There’s an old Chris Tomlin song called “All to Us” that talks about this very truth

Let the glory of Your name be the passion of the church Let the righteousness of God be a holy flame that burns Let the saving love of Christ be the measure of our lives We believe, You're all to us

Let the saving love of Christ be the measure of our lives - this is our call! To make much of Jesus and to work for Him and to conduct our lives in reverence to Him and His mission while we live here as strangers. We live a holy life in this world because it glorifies our Father

Look at a couple of Scripture passages that address this theme of our works and standing before our Father one day

Psalm 1:5–6 CSB

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Ephesians 2:10 CSB

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

2 Corinthians 5:10 CSB

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

This is our hope as followers of Jesus Christ. Yes, we will appear before Christ… but it will to be rewarded as those who have faith in Him because Romans 8:1 reminds us that

Romans 8:1 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,

It is a Way we Point Others to God (18-19)

Not only does this glorify God but it also points other people towards Him! Notice what verse 18 says, we were redeemed from our empty way of life inherited from our ancestors. That’s harsh language, but many in our world need a wakeup call.

Do most people in our world believe that their life without Christ is empty? How do we know that to be true?

Most do not because they feel as though their life is pleasing to self and not empty. Yet, Scripture tells us that the pursuits of the flesh are vain and like chasing the wind - it’s impossible to be satisfied and filled with the things this world promises!

Our text tells us that this used to be our reality, but Christ has redeemed us from this life - to redeem something means to pay for it. In the ancient world slaves could purchase their own freedom often times after a certain number of years of working and accumulating a certain amount of money to pay for it. They could redeem themselves or someone else could redeem them by paying a price… someone who was freed used to be a slave but now was redeemed. This is our story - we could not pay the price for our redemption, but it was paid for us by Jesus! That precious blood of Jesus Christ gives us an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading hope and inheritance. This is good news for today and for tomorrow, but it is also good news for other people around us as we can share with others that we used to be slaves to sin as well but now we are adopted and redeemed sons and daughters of our God! As we live a holy and changed life, we point others to our Savior and Sustainer who shed His blood for sinners like you and me!

It Reassures us of our Eternal Hope (20-21)

The final thing we see that this does is it reassured us of our eternal hope. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead is the same God who will raise us as well if we are in Him. This gives us hope!

This also gives us hope because your salvation and your life itself was not a cosmic accident. We are not the results of random chance… no, we see that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was God’s plan before the foundation of the earth. In other words, this was not God’s reaction to humanity stumbling in the Garden. The text clearly tells us that this was God’s plan before the foundation of the world for His Son to die for us on that cross and to raise from the grave.

Karen Jobes put it like this, “God knew the complete program of redemption before the foundation of the world.”

How does this provide you with hope today in your struggling and suffering?

It helps me to know that I’m not alone - that God knows and has a perfect plan that is truly for my good!

Because of Jesus there is hope for today and for tomorrow. We all know the hymn Because He Lives, there’s a version that provides a praise chorus that gives me the chills every time I sing it

I was dead in the grave I was covered in sin and shame I heard mercy call my name He rolled the stone away

Christian, this is your testimony! Here’s the good news of the Gospel. God is holy and will judge sin and sinners alike… we deserve judgment and separation from God because of our sin… But God who is rich in mercy makes us alive with Christ. He purchases us through the blood of Jesus. We are freed from our old ways of life and we are freed to walk in newness of life - to share our Father’s plan and goodness and grace in this world. As we live as a changed person, this assures us of our eternal home. Dead people don’t walk around - born again people to. Between this day and our last day, we are to grow in holiness and become more and more like Jesus with each step we take. Living Hope Leads God’s People to Holy Living!

Related Media

Related Sermons