Reasons To Live A Holy Life

Transcript

And hello again radio friends. How in the world are you? Doin’ all right? That little greeting establishes the fact that this is indeed your good friend Bob Cook, and I’m glad to be back with you. Oh I look forward to these times when I can sit down and just share the Word of God with you my precious friends. Thank God for the privilege.

We’re looking at 1 Peter 1. And we were just finishing up our comments on verse 15: “Be holy in all kind of lifestyle.” Every part of your lifestyle needs to be touched with the holiness of God. Can you be holy while you’re working in a blacksmith’s shop? Or in a garage? Or in a tailor’s shop? Or in an operating room? Or on the stock trading floor on Wall Street? Can you be holy in non-religious situations? The answer is ‘yes’. Holiness is not a matter of grooming, or looks. Holiness is a matter of character and dynamics. “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” said Paul. A person shining through your life in every situation, makes the difference.

Now he says, “If ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, then pass the time of your sojourn here in fear, for as much as ye know ye were not redeemed with the corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world was manifest, in these last times for you by Him to believe in God.” Now what’s the point of all this?

He said, “The logic of my saying, ‘Be holy,’ is as follows.” Verse 16, based on the Scripture. The Scripture says as it is written — see, that’s the Scripture — “Be holy for I am holy.” That’s the first thing. An adequate reason for doing anything is that the Bible tells you to do it. That’s, that’s the, the basis. What else then? Now he says, “You’re talking to God the Father. You call on the Father.” In other words, your Christian life puts you in touch with the heavenly Father. And He is a judge — that’s the second thing about Him. And He is an impartial judge. He judges, judges according to every man’s word. So that should produce in you and in me a holy awe. “Pass the time of your sojourn here in fear.” That’s a holy awe, not a craven fear. You’re not scared to death — that isn’t that kind of fear. It’s, it’s the kind of reverence and respect and holy awe — that’s what the Bible means when it talks about the fear of God.

Another reason then for being holy is verse 18. You, it cost God something to make you what you are. You’ve been redeemed. And he said, he didn’t use silver and gold, he didn’t have anything to do with your vain lifestyle. You weren’t redeemed by the, by the tradition of your parents, by following the tradition of your, of your parents and those before them. No, it cost God the precious blood of Christ; as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot. The Passover lamb of God is Jesus our blessed Lord, slain from the foundation of world.

Now he says, “You want, you want reasons for being holy? Look at the Bible. It is written, ‘Be ye holy.’” Look at your heavenly Father, He’s the judge, and your work is going to come up before Him. So there needs to be a, a, a holy reverence and awe in your dealing with God the Father. You want to be holy? You want to know why you should be? Look at Calvary. You’ve been redeemed. Money couldn’t do it. Your own works couldn’t do it. Your, your vain conversation he calls it here — that means lifestyle — your own works couldn’t save you. And your parents’ tradition couldn’t save you, the tradition from your fathers.

No, He said, look to Calvary. You’ve been redeemed. What? With the precious blood of Christ. It cost God the pearl of great price, it cost God His only begotten son in order to redeem you. That’s why Peter says, “You should be holy.” You see, it makes a great deal of difference what kind of motivation you and I have on this matter. I come to you and I say, “You should live a holy life.” Well, that isn’t going to, that isn’t going to do much to you. You’ll, you’ll turn away and forget it. But you begin to think about what Peter has said here. And this matter of living a holy life, that is a life that shines for God with purity, and power, and love.

This idea of living a holy life then is based on the Bible. It’s based on the Father, Word of God; it’s based on judgment of God. Yes and, and it’s based on a holy awe that comes from that. And it’s based on the, the, the blood of Calvary where Jesus shed His precious blood to save you. Because of all of that, you want to be a holy person. You see the difference? God is working for the kind of obedience, and the kind of submission that comes not because it’s enforced, but because we want to do it out of love. That all adds up to that.

Well, it says, “He verily was foreordained,” — this is speaking of Christ, God’s Passover lamb — “He verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” Can you take that into your mind today, that God before He ever created the world, had, had salvation in mind; and that the method of that salvation was to be His only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ?

It’s hard for me to grasp that, I admit it. It’s hard for me to grasp that, that before He ever flung the stars out into space, created our own Solar System together with the, the billions of other stars that comprise the galaxies and galaxies and galaxies; before life was ever created here on Earth, and the land was separated from the water, and the firmament appeared, and all of that; before God ever produced all of the different, all of the different forms of life and then finally created man — and a little later created woman; before all of this happened, before the Garden of Eden, before the temptation and the entrance of sin into the world, before any of that happened, God had planned for salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.

He — Christ — was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but manifest in these last times for you. What a delight it is to have something that’s just for you. I come into the house with an armful of bundles and my little granddaughter, Grete, comes running to say hello to Poppie. And it just so happens that I’ve picked up something at the store for her. And so after the bundles are set down I, set down, I say, “Hey Grete, I got something just for you.” And her little eyes light up, and she grabs for it. ‘Just for you’, that’s what God is saying. “Manifest in these last times for you who by Him to believe in God that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory in order that your faith and hope might be in God.”

See, all of this leads down to what God has in mind. Yes, He wants us to be obedient. Yes, He wants us to be holy. Yes, He reminds us of His own fatherly care and Christ’s sacrifice. Yes, He reminds us of the death of Christ and His resurrection. And He hands out the package of salvation and say, and says, “That’s just for you, that’s for you.” Now what’s the purpose of it all? In, in the end of, of verse 21, “In order that…,” is another little purpose word, Greek word, henna “in order that your faith and your love might be in God.”

God wants you to believe Him, and He wants you to love Him. You see, what sin did was to discredit the Word of God. Satan said, “Ye hath God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of every tree of the Garden.’” Sin comes in to discredit the Word of God. And then sin proceeds to bring enmity between you and me and God. “If, when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His son,” says Paul, “So that your faith and love, faith and hope, faith and hope might be in God.” Sin discredited God, and sin brought despair and bitterness into the human life. And God’s underlying plan in all of this is that you might again believe Him, and that there might be hope for eternity, through Christ.

Well, let’s go on. He says, “Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth, through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see to it that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently.” That’s an interesting verse there. Something has happened, and something else needs to happen. “Seeing you’ve purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren.” Something happened. When you get right with God, you do so on the basis of God’s word — obeying the truth. You do so through the enablement of the Holy Spirit — through the Spirit.

The result of getting right with God on the basis of His Word, through the enablement of the Spirit is that your relationship with other believers is characterized by unfeigned love. That means you don’t put it on. It’s… Sincerity is one of the great results of getting right with God. You, we’ve all met people who were just insincere as a matter of life. I, I know one friend of mine through the years who, whenever he said, “I say that sincerely” you knew he was lying. (Laughs) You know you just, you just discounted him the minute he said, “I say that sincerely” you knew that he wasn’t really meaning it. Ah well, we all have our faults and foibles. And, and of course I have none, so I can speak freely of yours, right. (Laughs)

Well, sincerity I mean to say, is one of the great blessed results of getting right with God. When my heart has gotten right with Him, when I’ve told God the truth… Word, Greek word ‘confess’ means ‘to say the same thing as’, homologae. When I’ve agreed with God about my own condition, and my heart has been cleansed by the precious blood of Christ, there comes love for other people as a result. Romans 5:5, “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given onto us.” And there comes this matter of real sincerity. They said of a man who lived in another century, when he said, “God bless you,” he meant it, and so did God.

You know, real sincerity is a result of real love. And real love is a result of getting right with God on the basis of His Word. Why don’t we come back to that the next time we get together. I love God’s Word, don’t you? It talks to me, and it convicts me, and it blesses me, and I’m glad to share it with you.

Dear Father in heaven, make us holy, make us loving, make us sincere, make us Christ-like. In His name I pray. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!