Response to Salvation! | 1 Peter 1:13-17

INTRODUCTION

We have been looking at 1 Peter for some time now and we saw that the major theme in this chapter is salvation. 1 Peter 1:3-9 talks about the nature of our salvation. 1 Peter 1:10-12 talks about the greatness of our salvation. So the subject in the first 12 verses is that of our glorious salvation.

ILLUSTRATION

A long time ago a magazine carried the report of a memorial service held for Hubert Humphrey, former Vice President of the US. Hundreds of people came from across the world to say goodbye to their dear friend. However, there was one person in the pew who was ignored by almost everyone. He was the former President Richard Nixon. Not long ago Nixon had gone through the shame of being involved in a scam called Watergate and he had to resign only later to be pardoned by the next president. This is his first visit to the Whitehouse after his resignation.

Something happened that broke the ice. The then sitting President, Jimmy Carter came to the room. Before he could sit, he saw Nixon seated against the wall all by himself. Jimmy Carter went to Nixon, as if he saw a family member, and shook his hands. To the surprise of everyone Jimmy Carter hugged Nixon and said, “Welcome home, Mr. President.” The magazine reported that this event was a turning point in Nixon’s long walk in the wilderness, it was the expression of love and compassion that gave him hope.

Like Nixon, all our lives too were against the wall because of sin. Jesus came into this world, offered his life for us and brought us into His kingdom. This expression of God’s love changed the lives of millions who believe in Jesus Christ. So, what is our response back to God for salvation?

Response to Salvation!

HF: Today I want to talk to you about the right response to our salvation.

I. Nature of Salvation. 1 Peter 1:3-9

II. The greatness of Salvation. 1 Peter 1:10-12

Now we come to verse 13. There’s a definite shift in Peter’s tone here.

1 Peter 1:13

Therefore, The facts of our salvation have been stated and here are the commands. Here is the duty to those who have received it is commanded. Three responses to salvation have been presented here.

III. Three responses for our salvation.

Our response to God. 1 Peter 1:13-21

Our response to others. 1 Peter 1:22-25

Our response to ourselves. 1 Peter 2

Today we will look at our response to God.

1 Peter 1:13-17

¹³Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” ¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

Today we are going to see our response to God as a result of our salvation. You can also see through this message, “Now that you have started with God, how to finish well?”

1. Our Response to God

1. Hope

Fix your hope.

1 Peter 1:13-16

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.

Since God has given us salvation, fix your hope. Hope is a very important subject in the Bible.

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. Hope is the Christian’s attitude toward the future. Faith is trusting God for the present, hope is trusting God for the future. We should be living every day and every moment in the hope that Jesus Christ is coming back again.

Now when we are living in the light of the coming of the Lord, what should be our hope? Let’s read this verse again.

1 Peter 1:13-16

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.

Set your hope on the grace, of God’s unmerited favor. When you initially came to Jesus Christ, it was God’s grace that brought you to the Kingdom of God, you didn’t deserve it. It was grace. One day when Christ comes, it will be God’s grace again on you to transform your bodies and give you heaven and eternal salvation. None of us are worthy of heaven. So fix your hope on God’s grace.

How do you fix your hope in grace?

1 Peter 1:13-16

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.

a. Alert mind.

The KJV says, “gird your mind.” In ancient days, they wore tunics. Tunics kind of were like a very loose-fitting garment. And if you were engaging in any kind of work, running, or labor; you put on a sash and a belt, and you pulled it tight so that your dress wasn’t flying in the breeze. You certainly didn’t want to go to war like that. That’s why Ephesians 6 when it talks about the armor of the Christian, starts with the belt of truth. Now, Paul is telling grid your mind. Take control of your mind.

Fix your hope on grace by having an alert mind or get your priorities right. Like the tunic tying all the loose ends of your life together is a commitment to get your priorities right. Prepare your mind to eliminate all entanglements.

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

You don’t go through life as a Christian in a leisurely fashion getting involved in each and everything the world gives. We need to have an alert mind to set the right priorities in our Christian life.

b. Be sober

This word is not talking in terms of alcohol here. Sober also means clear-headed or spiritual discipline.

Fix your hope on grace by having a sober mind or having good spiritual discipline. A disciplined mind that is not intoxicated by the allurements of the world.

1 Peter 5:8

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

So, what is my response to salvation? I fix my hope. I will prioritize my life, maintain good spiritual discipline, and look forward to the grace that will transform me in the coming of the Lord.

2. Holiness

1 Peter 1:14

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

Since God saved us out of the world, we respond by living holy lives. The hope of finishing well produces holiness in us.

1 John 3:3

Everyone who has this hope in him, purifies himself, jut as he is pure. If we live every moment in the hope of his coming, it is going to produce holiness.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

What is the standard of holiness? Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:15-16

¹⁵But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Matthew 5:48

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

God is the standard. God didn’t set the standard, God is the standard and God expects that standard from us.

Remember in Leviticus God reminded the Israelites to be holy because he is holy. God is setting the standards for him based on his holiness.

Leviticus 19:1-2

¹The Lord said to Moses, ²“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. ³“‘Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. ⁴“‘Do not turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:11-16

¹¹“‘Do not steal. “‘Do not lie. “‘Do not deceive one another. ¹²“‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. ¹³“‘Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. “‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight. ¹⁴“‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord. ¹⁵“‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. ¹⁶“‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people. “‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:36

Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the Lord.

Leviticus 20:7-8

⁷“‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God.⁸Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.

You say, “Are these people deaf? What is going on here?” What then becomes the dominant, compelling reason for holiness? What is it?

Leviticus 20:26

You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. It is our association with a holy God. That’s the compulsion we need to be holy.

Most of us feel pressure to be holy and the pressure comes from the church, Christian friends, or the fear of judgment. We need to be holy because God is holy and only holy people can be his children.

So how can you be holy?

a. Do not conform to the world.

1 Peter 1:14

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.

1 Thessalonians 4:4-5

³It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; ⁴that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God.

Ephesians 4:17-19

¹⁷So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. A complete break from the former life is needed. Stop doing the things I used to do and start doing what God would God.

b. Remember who owns me.

The thought that I don’t belong to me but that God has purchased me with His blood can make me live a holy life.

Acts 20:28

Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

¹⁹Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Remember who owns you. You have been purchased by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ with his precious blood. We are a bond slave to Christ. We have been bought and we are now owned.

c. Look back to the covenant of salvation.

When we were saved we made a choice to obey God and God sprinkled us with his blood.

1 Peter 1:1-2

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, ²who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood. When we were save, we chose to obey God and in the process he sprinkled his blood upon us.

Matthew 28:19-20

¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The Christian life is not selective in the sense that you pick out the things that you’d like to obey and ignore the ones you don’t want to obey. Christian life is a life of absolute obedience. When we were saved we were sprinkled by Jesus’ blood.

What is Peter talking about?

Exodus 24:1-2

¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, ²but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”

Then Moses came and gave the people the law that God had given him.

Exodus 24:3

When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.”

God has declared His commands in the law given to Moses. Moses reiterates those commands to the people, and they do the only thing that you can do if they desire a relationship with God and a blessing from God. They commit to obey.

Exodus 24:4-7

⁴Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. ⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. ⁷Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”

This is precisely what a true conversion is like. You say, I’m done with my sin, I submit to you, O Lord, I will obey. Forgive my sin. Grant me salvation.

Exodus 24:8

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

In ancient times when covenants were made, animals were killed and blood was placed upon the people who made the covenant or the vow. In this case, this blood is collected from these animals, put in large, flat containers, and then sprinkled across the heads of the people to symbolize their commitment to obedience. Unfortunately, they didn’t keep their promises and that whole generation died in the wilderness.

Now, you can go back to

1 Peter 1:2

who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood.

1 Peter 1:22

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth…

He’s referring to salvation. Salvation is that moment in your life when you said: “I will obey. I commit to a life of obedience to Christ. Splatter me with His blood.”

So looking at and reminding yourself of that commitment can make you strive for holiness.

iv. Cultivate spiritually strengthening habits.

Daily time in the Word, to meditate on the Word, prayer and worship. Walk in the Spirit. Decide to obey daily. Cultivate strong spiritual habits.

So your response to salvation is that you fix your hope on Jesus Christ and strive to live in holiness.

3. Honour

1 Peter 1:17

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

You call on a Father Peter says. Do fathers need honor? Yes. See the last words of this verse, reverent fear. Reverence, respect, honour. Do you have honor for God? We need to approach with honor because God is not only our Father but is our judge.

The book of Malachi talks about the honor of our God. The Prophet gives four charges against Israel as to how they dishonor their God. I will give them quickly.

a. People dishonor God in their religious practices.

Malachi 1:6

“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’

Malachi 1:8

When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.

b. People dishonor God in their marriages.

Malachi 2:13-16

¹³Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. ¹⁴You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

¹⁵Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. ¹⁶“The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.

c. People dishonor God in their lack of giving.

Malachi 3:6-12

⁶“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. ⁷Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ ⁸“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. ⁹You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.

¹⁰Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. ¹¹I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. ¹² “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

d. People dishonor God in their respect to him.

Malachi 3:13-15

13“You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ 14“You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

Isaiah speaks about how the Israelites were dishonoring God:

Isaiah 29:13

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

God honors the ones who honor him.

Malachi 3:16-18

¹⁶Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. ¹⁷“On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.¹⁸And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

CONCLUSION

What is our response to God now that we have received his salvation grace? Fix your hope, prioritize and discipline your life. Strive for Holiness. Honor God. If there is anyone who has not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior and received salvation, I invite you to accept Jesus in your heart and receive the free gift of salvation. If you are already saved, this is the key for you to finish well – Hope, Holiness, & Honor.