1 Peter 1:13-21

Transcript

Well, good morning. We're in our third week of walking through the letter of 1 Peter, so we'll be in 1 Peter chapter 1. That's on page 656 if your Bible looks like this one. So there's some of these floating around in the rows if your Bible doesn't look like this. 1 Peter is right in front of 2 Peter, so if that helps. But we're just walking through line by line through this letter that the Apostle Peter, one of Jesus' disciples, wrote to the early church, to churches in what is now modern-day Turkey.

And we're just walking through and trying to see what he said to them and how that applies to us and what we can learn about Jesus and what we can learn about what God was doing then and doing now. And so I'm going to pray, and then we're going to kind of hop in on some of what Peter's saying here. And God, we thank you for this opportunity that we have to open your Word and to study it, and we pray, Lord, that you would teach us through it. And that as we study it today, that you would help us to grow in what it means to follow you. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. We're going to be in chapter 1, verse 13. We're going to start there, and then we'll kind of set the stage for what we're doing today. But therefore, okay, so whenever you see therefore in the Bible, it just means he's referring to what was just said. Like when someone says something like, you are hateful to your children, therefore you're a bad parent or whatever, like those kind of things. It's based off of what I just said, this conclusion.

And so when he says therefore, what he's referring back to is the fact that we have hope through the resurrection of Jesus. That Jesus Christ died and he did not stay dead. That three days later he came back, and in that we have hope and life and joy forever in Jesus. So 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. He starts off by saying he's writing to a group of people who are not the majority in culture. So this is new for Christians in the U.S.

That Christians in the U.S. used to have kind of the, they had a central position, they had a position of influence. And up until recently that's kind of been the case and that's slowly changing or actually kind of rapidly changing. Where some of the ways we've described it is in the last round of musical chairs, cultural musical chairs, the church lost its seat. And we're still awkwardly kind of standing and feel a little uncomfortable about how that transition went down. That we no longer have a seat at the table. We used to get invited into making political decisions, inviting into policy decisions.

When there was a moral issue, the church got to go throw its weight around. We are no longer the biggest kid on the playground. The church is no longer the biggest kid on the playground. That's what has happened. And so you'll hear people, Fox News, say that the church is under attack. Or that we're being persecuted.

Or there's an assault on Christmas. Christmas? No. No. First of all, our entire like retail economic system is based off of Christmas. We're not getting rid of that anytime soon.

Just so you know, Christmas starts before Halloween if you work retail. Halloween does not exist unless you sell Halloween costumes. But we, there's, that we're under attack, that we're being persecuted. The truth is, no, we just don't have the position of influence we used to. The church is no longer as important as it used to be. And so in our culture where we were used to that, it suddenly feels like we're under attack.

But we're not. If you grew up as a Christian and you went through high school as a Christian, you probably weren't beaten up for that. You probably weren't mocked for that. Now, if you went through high school as an openly gay person, you might have been mocked for that. If you went through high school overweight. I mean, like, you are more likely to be persecuted for being overweight in high school than for being a Christian.

But in our culture, Christianity no longer has the clout that it used to. We're no longer, we're being pushed some to the margins. And so what Peter's writing to this group of people who are on the margins, they're in a culture that does not line up with their thought process, that doesn't have the morals that they have. They don't get legislature that is in their benefit. And what he says is, prepare your minds for action. And I want us to think about that for a second.

As Christians, we have to prepare our minds more now than you had to 50 years ago. Because our culture lined up so well with Christianity on so many fronts, that there were a lot of things you didn't have to think through. As of day before yesterday, I believe, Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is now legal. It's the law of the land in all 50 U.S. states. Christians now have to think more than they used to. We have to prepare our minds more than we used to.

Because now it's like, okay, how do we love? How do we show grace? How do we welcome? How do we invite? And how do we hold on to what we believe the Bible says about marriage? And how do we hold on to what we know to be true?

And still, there's more thought that has to go into this than used to. And there's so many more situations that we now have to process through. How am I a Christian at work? How does my Christianity apply here? How does my Christianity apply here? What's it look like for me to be a Christian neighbor?

There's more thought that has to go into preparing for what it looks like to be a Christian in our culture than it used to. So he says, prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded, which just means think clearly or don't be drunk. Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ. How beautiful is that? That our hope rests fully on the grace that will be brought to us.

That Jesus is going to show up and bring grace, which just means unearned favor. It's beautiful. And what we've been saying as we've been reading through this is Peter's writing to this group of people who don't really fit in their culture, who don't line up with the culture's values and beliefs. What we've been saying is that Peter's going to call us to not run from culture, to not fight culture, to not just conform to culture, but to actually follow Jesus in obedience, suffering for the good of those around us. That we're going to follow Jesus in obedience, suffering for the good of those around us.

And for Christians, a question comes up pretty immediately when we start to do that. What if, what do we do when, and this is what Peter's going to be answering for us, what do we do when, all right, church and culture used to line up pretty well, and that shift has begun, like there's been growth there in that gap. What do I do if I'm a Christian? And I see what the Bible says about sex, but I like what our culture says better. Seems like a more compelling argument. Sounds nicer.

I see what the Bible says about gender. I like what our culture says better. I like the idea of this better. I see what the Bible says about take any issue you want, money, success, power, goal of life. And I like what our culture says better. I think this narrative makes more sense.

I like how it, like it feels better to me. I've thought about it and I like this one better. I'm a Christian. What do I do when, I see what the Bible says, but I like this better. What happens when our culture begins to shift and I kind of line up with our culture more? That's the question I think Peter's going to help us answer today.

And I think that's something that all of us as Christians have to wrestle with. What happens in those moments? What happens to bridge that gap? If you're here today and you're not a Christian, Peter is not writing to you. He was writing to the church, to those who had followed Jesus in Turkey. So I'm glad you're here if you're not a Christian.

I hope you stay, enjoy hanging out, hearing what we're talking about Jesus. And here's what I hope that you get out of today. One, I hope you see that our culture's narrative, our culture's story about where freedom comes from is actually pretty lacking. And I hope you see that your Christian friends who do follow the Bible are a little more logical, that their thought process makes a little more sense than maybe you thought it did. Because there's a little bit in our culture the understanding that if you're a Christian, that's great, you can be a Christian, but you kind of need to be stupid. Or at least if you're intelligent, you need to not apply your intelligence to the Bible.

Is that fair? Is our culture kind of like that? We agree with that? Like there's a little bit of, okay, you're a Christian, you checked your brains at the door? That's nice. That was cute of you.

Oh, you're a Christian, you actually believe the Bible says what it says? And you're like, yeah, really though? Yeah, really. Okay, I've got some questions for you because I don't see how you can be an intelligent adult and believe this stuff. And so I just want us to see that there's a little bit less of blind obedience, a little bit less of just follow because God says to, a little bit less of just believe it because it's there. And it actually makes a little more sense than that.

So what happens when I'm a Christian and I disagree with the Bible? What do I do? How do I respond? All right, so Peter's writing into and he's going to kind of start answering this for us. 14. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

Okay. As obedient children. How many people love that statement? Like our culture, we love obedience, don't we? Oh, it's our favorite. That's not true.

We don't like the idea of obedience. When we think obedience, I think dogs. They should be obedient. Children. But our culture is even pushing back on that one.

There's a large group of people that say that your job as a parent is to not enforce your will on your child, your views. No, your job as a parent is to help them find themselves and express themselves. Archer, who's my son, is three months old. And I can tell you right now, I don't need to help him express himself as he gets older. He's already kind of mean. You don't want me to take that parenting style and then come hang out at your house.

Your son set my dog on fire. No. He expressed your dog on fire. Like, he's just finding himself and he found that he's an arson. He found that he likes to bite children. No, okay.

Like, we think, okay, some of us will say, no, there needs to be some obedience with children. There needs to be some level of, no, I'm your parent. You're going to do what I'm telling you to. I'm bigger than you. Like, let's, this is how this is going to work. But the idea that we as adults, as rational thinking humans, should just be obedient children, doesn't sit super well with me.

There's a little bit of like, okay, maybe. Maybe. And I think some of us are like, okay, yes, I will be obedient if you convince me. I'll be obedient, but we got to talk first. You got to, you got to win me over. You got to explain to me why I'm obedient.

Let's go back to me having a son. When he's 12, and I say, this is how this is going to work. And he says, okay, yes, I'll do that. Explain to me first why that has to work. If every time he obeys, it's because I convinced him first. He doesn't obey.

He agrees. If I have to win him over to obey, that's just agreement. That's not obedience. Some of us are Christians, and we're like, I obey super well. Maybe, maybe you just agree really well. Maybe you and the Bible are just very agreeable.

Maybe you just kind of line up with it pretty well. And you're not actually really obedient. You're just kind of in agreement. The question is, what happens in the disagreement? What happens when you don't agree? What happens, what, what bridges that gap?

That's where obedience shows up. So what he says is, he's talking to Christians, as obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. Okay. And we talk sometimes about like, don't be conformed to culture. But what he says is, don't be conformed to the old version of you.

If you become a Christian, you should change. Some of your views, some of your desires, some of your hopes, some of your beliefs about what the world is about, some of your values about how things ought to work should begin to change, because you're no longer ignorant. My dad used to call us ignorant all the time. Ignorant just means you have, you lack information. So unlike he called us dumb, we had the ability to learn things.

We were just ignorant. So we would say stuff that was just ignorant. It's like, man, you just, you just don't know any better. And he kind of said, you ignorant. That's how he would say it. You'd be like, you'd be mad about something.

He'd be like, boy, you ignorant. And you'd be like, what? And he'd be like, that's not how that works. And he explained it to you. So what he's saying is, you used to not know any better.

But now that you know Jesus, you've actually gained new information. And your belief about life and hope and joy and where existence is found should begin to change. And you shouldn't be conformed back to your old passions. You shouldn't just follow every little desire that you have. And that in those gaps, in that disagreement, that there should be obedience. That's where obedience shows up.

So let me, there's a good way to tell whether or not you or Jesus is in charge. in the areas where you disagree, what happens? In the areas where, where the Bible says this, but you feel this, what happens? Do you do what you think? Then Jesus isn't a king. He's your spiritual advisor. You sit on the throne, you make the decisions, and he comes to you and says, I've got some suggestions.

You say, I'll hear them out. Jesus, what you got? That sounds smart. I'll do that. That sounds smart. I'll do that.

Nope. Got anything else? When there's disagreement for a Christian, the question of kingship comes in. The question of obedience comes in. Who's in charge? And he says, don't be conformed to your former passions.

Our culture believes that you are the sum of your desires, that your identity is found in fulfilling your desires. So whatever you like, whatever you want, that's who you are. That's the type of person you are. This is seen really clearly in the Snickers commercials, which I think are great. You've seen the Brady Bunch one where Machete is in it? And he's like yelling, and he like slams his, and they're like, they're like, I don't know, Marsha, they tell her she has to take, eat a Snickers, and then she's like, oh, I'm better now.

Or my favorite one is the one with Betty White, though. They're playing football. They hand it to Betty White, and she just gets creamed, and they're like, eat a Snickers. He's like, why? And they're like, I don't know what they say. He plays like a sissy when he's, you know, they call him Betty White.

He eats it, and then he's able to play football again. And there's this idea that if you don't fulfill your desires, you're not you when you're hungry, is the way those commercials end. That you are the fulfilled version of your desires. That's why we use heterosexual and homosexual as identity labels. You are this person. You are this person, because we believe that your desires, your fulfilled desires is the true version of yourself.

And so what he says is, no, you actually, your passions should change. You shouldn't be fulfilling your old desires. They should actually change, because that actually isn't who you are. That changes. Also, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. Can I address ignorance for just a second?

Christians, Christians, please, please, Christians, Christians in the room, Christians, Christians, Christians, please listen. Read your Bibles, and say things that this says. Can we do that? Can we do that, please? First of all, everything you've heard that is in the Bible is not in there. Just because someone wore a suit and shouted it, and they were sweating, does not mean it is in there.

It's one of the reasons that when we get together, it's like, their Bibles, open them, read them. It's one of the reasons we want to read a whole letter together. So we can't just take one verse and say, this is what it means. It's like, no, bro, we just read what came before it. That isn't what it means. It says, therefore, let's go back and see what he's talking about.

That's what it means. We can't just pull one verse out somewhere, and just, one of my favorite things about reading the Bible for myself, was that I learned that half of the stuff I had been told, was not in there. It's like, man, I actually like this a little better. There were some things that I was like, man, I wish I hadn't read that. Where Jesus' kingship shows up. He's like, hey, let's talk.

And I'm like, no, let's not. But, but it's good. But there were some things, one of my favorite things, and this is, maybe I shouldn't say it was my favorite, but I did appreciate learning this. Some of the stuff I had heard about alcohol, it was not in here. That like, if you drink it, it's a sin, and you'll go to hell. It wasn't in there.

Jesus actually, one of his first miracles, is that he turns a bunch of water into wine, like a bunch of water into wine. And he actually does it in ceremonial washing jars. So he says, oh, y'all like religious stuff? Watch this. Wash your hands in that. Party can continue, your religion can't.

Choo, choo. And you read the Bible, and you're like, wow, I didn't realize that was in here. There's Christians. Let's not be ignorant. There are times that people will come on, and say things like, well, you know, if you're a Christian, then you believe this. And they'll quote something from Leviticus.

And it's like, no, I don't, because Jesus is our ultimate fulfillment of the law. So I don't believe that. But the New Testament does say, like, just read. That's all. That's all. I'm going to get off my soapbox.

Read your Bibles. Don't be ignorant. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. It's the action. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. So that we as Christians, our passions should change, and therefore our actions should change.

And as we follow God, we should look more, and more, and more, and more like him. We should look more, and more, and more, and more like Jesus. That we should not only not do the stuff we shouldn't do, but that we should do the stuff we should do, so that we should be gracious, and loving, and welcoming. That we should be the most sacrificial, you should be the most sacrificial person at your job. You should be the person who's most likely to pick up a shift for someone else. You should be the person who's most likely to go out of your way for someone else.

That we should be generous. that we should be welcoming, that we should be joy-filled, that we should be loving to everybody, that we should be more and more distinct, more and more set apart, which is what holiness means, that God is ultimately distinct and set apart from us, and that we should look more and more like him. That as Christians, because of Jesus, our behavior, our passions, and our desires should change. So what do we do when culture says this, and I like it better, and the Bible says this? What do we do when I disagree with what this says? Obey. Doesn't that just make you feel warm and fuzzy inside?

The answer to that question is obey. Do what the Bible says. Follow the Bible. Now, that leaves us feeling a little bit empty, and so we're going to keep reading, because he gives us a really compelling reason for that. A really beautiful reason for our obedience. He keeps going.

And if you call on him as father, so that's Christians, calling him as father. God, do you see how beautiful that is? We just celebrated Father's Day, and Father's Day for people in our culture is a couple of different things. It can be a celebration of your father, because you had a really good one. It can be mourning, because you had a really good father, and he's no longer with you. It can be mourning, because you had a terrible father.

You don't celebrate Father's Day. It just brings up all these horrible memories. And what is so beautiful about the God of the Bible is that he says, I'm your father. And the reason that we mourn when we have a terrible father is because we all have an idea of what a father is supposed to be like. He's supposed to love. He's supposed to defend.

He's supposed to welcome. He's supposed to make us feel comfortable. He's supposed to make us feel okay in our own skin. He's supposed to go out of his way to shelter and defend and to lead and to protect and to guide and to instruct. That's what fathers are supposed to be like. And so the God of the Bible says, I'm a father.

See how intimate and beautiful that is? And he says of the ways he wants us to see him and to view him and to relate to him, he says, I defend and I protect and I instruct and I guard and I welcome. Some of you had fathers who you had to prove yourself to them before they would love you. And that's not how a father is supposed to act. Some of you had fathers that instead of defending you, harmed you. And that's not how a father is supposed to act.

And we have a father who is eternal and says, I protect and I defend and I lead and I instruct and I guard and you don't have to prove yourself to me. That's beautiful. 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. Exile for Christians means that you're a Christian. Your home is now in heaven, but you are still here. That we are sent here on a purpose.

We talked about that in week one. We have a mission and a goal. Okay. I don't really. This verse is good. It starts off good.

And if you call on him as father, yep, like that relationship, who Judges impartially. Okay, hold on a second though. If he's my father, I want him to be very, very partial. Like if my dad is a judge and I'm in a competition, I want him to give me a better score than I deserved. I want my talent to be terrible and him still be like 10. That was great.

But what it says is he Judges impartially. I don't like that he Judges or that he's impartial. According to each one's deeds. Also not good. Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. I don't think many of us read, oh, according to our deeds.

Sweet. Slam dunk. God, if God saw me, he would just know I'm the best. I mean, some of you, maybe you sat down and looked around the room and were like, pretty awesome compared to these people. Especially that guy. Like, you know, like maybe you did that.

Most of us, when we see that he Judges impartially according to our deeds, go, oh, this is not going to work out as well as I had hoped. Is he great on a curve? Like if he Judges. Let me explain to you how a good judge works. I use this all the time, but I think it's very clear. A good judge does not equip the guilty.

Right? That's what a good judge does. So let's say you're a doctor. You're a doctor and you're a good doctor. You save on average and it's documented. Three, four lives a week.

You're like house, but it doesn't take you as long to figure out what's wrong. You just walk in and you're like, oh, they contracted a disease that nobody knows about. Boop, give them that, they're good. There's no, like, you think it's that and then they get sick again, like in every episode. You're crushing it. But you have one little vice.

About every three months, you sneak into someone's house and murder them. At night, usually. So, okay, four to five lives a week. Some murders a couple times a year. Now, you stand before a judge and you say, judge, I can verify how many people I've murdered and how many people I've saved. And the people I've saved far outweigh the people I've murdered.

And the judge says, oh, go free. Because you're more good than bad. No. The judge says, guilty. Open and shut case. This was not difficult.

And if we call on him as father who Judges impartially and we're mostly good, mostly doesn't cut it. What it just said was, be holy as he is holy. How many of you want to stand before God and say, I'm just like Jesus? You know how loving he was? Same. You know how humble he was?

Same. You know how gracious he was? Same. You know how many times he sinned? You know how many times I've sinned? Same amount.

None of us. That is terrible news. That we have a God who is a judge and he Judges impartially based off of our actions and our conduct. And it says, fear him. We have a fearsome God who is big and who is capable of crushing us and sending us forever into an eternity without him. Jesus at one point says, don't fear men.

All they can do is kill you. And it's like immediately, Jesus, I think your perspective is different from mine because that sounds pretty bad. And he says, fear him who can kill you and after he has done that, can send your soul into hell. Fear him. And it's like, well, that does sound scarier. Now, the beautiful thing about this passage is that when it says fear, it actually doesn't mean be absolutely terrified of, be absolutely afraid of.

What it actually means is have an appropriate fear because God is fearsome. And one of the best ways I can think about this is we were growing up at different times. You know, little kids think that there's like monsters in their bedroom, like in the closet or under the bed or whatever. And so there were different times where we would call my dad and be like, there's monsters in here. And he'd be like, all right. So he'd come in.

He'd be like, where are they? Under the bed. Okay. And then he'd like check. And he'd be like, nope, not under there. Some in the closet?

Yes. And he would check and be like, nope, none here. And he would like make us get out and look. He would check the closet and say, see any monsters? Nope. All right, you sure they were here?

Yep. Are they here now? Nope. Okay, get back in bed. And then he would walk over and he'd cut the light off and go, see, we're okay. There are no monsters in it.

Shh. And you'd be like, what? He'd be like, shh, shh, shh. Under their back. He's like, there's one coming out of the closet right now. Oh, my goodness, he's humongous.

He's got fangs. He's got venom. He's got venom. He's got, he's going to eat you right now. And then he would cut the light on and be like, oh, no. It was our imagination.

There was no monster the whole time. And you're like, well, thanks. I'm not going to be able to sleep. That was way scarier than monster than I had invented. Thanks for inserting some of your imagination into mine. And so then he would leave.

And you'd get him again. They're back. And he would come back. And about the third time, this is what my dad would do. He would look at us and he would say, look at me. There are no monsters in here.

They are not in your closet. They are not under the bed. They do not show up when the lights are cut back off. Look at me. I am the scariest thing in this house. And you need to be more afraid of waking me up again.

There's an appropriate amount of fear for a Christian towards a fearsome God. He's still the one we run to when there's trouble. Does that make sense? Like he is fearsome. He is dangerous. He is holy.

He is completely set apart. And he is the one that we get to run to and call on as father. If you are not a Christian, you should fear him. And if you are a Christian, you should fear him. But you know that he's the one you run to as your father.

That's how that works for a Christian. And here's what he says. And 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. Okay, if you were paying attention to what we read earlier, this suddenly doesn't match up. Hopefully your brain tripped over itself a little bit. Here's what it just said.

You will be judged based off of your deeds. That God is a judge and he will sit before you and he will roll out the account of your actions and you will be judged based off of them. But what did verse 13 say? It says, It says, Eye cracks open and we walk before God to be judged that Jesus shows up and just says, Here's grace. Here's something you didn't earn. Here's something you don't deserve.

Here's something you didn't merit on your own. Here's something you weren't good enough for. You weren't religious enough for. You weren't moral enough for. Here's what you don't deserve here. Here's something you don't deserve.

Gives us grace. How does that happen? It's actually found in verse 18. And it's the reason why when there's a difference between culture and what we believe. What I actually like and what the Bible says. This is the reason why we'll obey.

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. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world 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. The reason that our God Judges impartially and that Christians are given grace. Is that Jesus died in our place. And the word it actually uses is ransom. Which means to buy back a slave. Or to buy back a prisoner of war.

That we were enslaved to our passions. That we were enslaved to what we thought would bring us life. That we were enslaved serving sex and money and power and success. And that Jesus bought us back. That Jesus shed his blood on our behalf to pay for our debt. That we have a God who Judges impartially.

And that he impartially judged Jesus on our behalf. That he declared him guilty on our behalf. And that Jesus because of his sacrifice we get to be declared innocent. And when he shows up he brings us grace. That he swapped places with us. Do you know how beautiful that is?

Do you know why when I disagree with the Bible I can obey it? Because of that. Because there's freedom found in being set free by Jesus. That's what it says he did. He ransomed us. He set us free.

Some of you in here are chasing after your passions. Because you think that that is what brings freedom. You think that being autonomous. And being able to make your own decisions about what's good. And what brings life and joy. And what's right and wrong gives you freedom.

It does not. And here's why. There are always constraints on us when we make decisions. The goal would be to find the constraints that are the most freeing. You have to have some constraints to be free. That's how it works.

So a fish has to be constrained by water in order to be free. If I go to Logan's house who's my brother. And he's got a big fish tank. And I grab his fish and I say go free little fish. And I throw them in the backyard. That was not very nice of me.

To the fish and to Logan who paid for them. Because they are not free. They need to be in that tank or in the ocean to be free. And they're more free in some ways in the tank. Because nothing is going to eat them. And in the ocean they're free to be eaten.

And in some ways more free because they have more space. But the truth is there are constraints that offer freedom. And then there are other things that we pour ourselves out for. That do not offer us freedom but only offer us slavery. If you know how to play piano or you're gifted musically. And you spend day after day, hour after hour working on your craft.

Working on the piano. There are a lot of things you're going to say no to. And in some ways working to play the piano that way is going to limit your freedom. But eventually you'll be able to play the piano beautifully. And freely in a way you never would have been able to had you not constrained yourself. So there are constraints that actually bring freedom.

And the truth is as we run around chasing after our passions. Here's the difference between Jesus as king and anything else as king. Anything else as king. You serve it. For your life. For your joy.

For your hope. You sweat. You labor. You pour yourself out for it. So if money is your passion.

Success is your passion. It demands work. It demands your time. Your slavery. Your action. And here's the thing.

When you fail. It does not forgive you. When you fail. It does not pay your debt. And if you get it. It actually never satisfies.

Jesus. Jesus. Paid our debt. So that because we failed. He could forgive us. When we fall short.

He forgives. He took our place. And he does not demand that we work. To earn his favor. So that we have a God.

Who Judges justly. And that our conduct. Should be holy. As we pursue him. And at the end of our days. That does not matter.

For a Christian. Do you know how beautiful that is? Do you know how freeing that is? That I get to work. To strive. To be holy.

To be obedient. And I get to fail terribly. And I get to rest fully. Confidently. Assured. On the grace that will be mine.

When I show up before God. I will have no fear. When I walk in front of the king. I'll have some respect. And some reverence. But my hope.

Is fully set on Jesus. Not on my actions. Not on my ability to be good. Or moral. Or holy. And here's why.

As a Christian. I can obey. When I disagree. Because when Jesus died. For my freedom. He proved.

Once and for all. That he is not out to enslave me. That he is not out to steal my joy. But that he is good. He is for my good. And is ultimately.

Trustworthy. Y'all seen the movie Taken. Or Taken 2. Or Takthrina. They stuck the 3 in the middle of the word. So it doesn't say Taken anymore.

Have y'all seen any of these movies? With Liam Neeson's. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Now Liam Neeson's. Like. He.

Okay. So in the first movie. His daughter gets taken. Nobody saw that coming. And. He's talking to the guy on the phone.

And he's like. The guy's like. We got your daughter. I don't know. He says like. Give us money or something.

Like he's working out a ransom. Or he just says. We're going to kill him. And Liam Neeson says like. I will find you. I will kill you.

I have a very particular set of skills. Which does not include. Not having his daughter taken. Because this happens repeatedly. It does include getting her back. And he's like.

You can take her. All of you will die. And the guy on the other phone. Is like. Whatever. Okay.

Taken 2. Taken 3. If his daughter gets a phone call. Phone rings. She picks it up. I hadn't seen the other ones.

I got all I needed out of the first one. Let's just assume she gets a phone call. And he says. I don't have time. To explain everything. But here's what I need you to do.

I need you to. As soon as I hang up. I need you to set the house. You're in on fire. I need you to go get in the car. I need you to go to this gas station.

At exit 22. And then I need you to drive as fast as you can. After you've filled up all the way to Tulsa. And then he hangs up. If you are his daughter. What do you do?

You burn the sucker down. You get in the car. You get gas at exit 22. Whichever one he said. If you can remember what it was. And you drive to Tulsa.

Is that ignorance? Is that silliness? Are you a fool? Are you not free? No. You know something that trumps all of that.

And it's that your father is good. He's for your good. And he's trustworthy. And even if you don't have all the answers. It still makes sense. And the truth for Christians.

Is that we can forever. Look to God on the cross. The God of the universe. Who is willing to suffer. And die. And bleed.

His precious blood on our behalf. To rescue and ransom us. From sin. And guilt. And shame. And judgment.

And punishment. And we can forever say. That I don't know why this is a rule. I don't know why this is how he says marriage ought to work. I don't know why he says. This is how the family should be structured.

But what I do know. Is that he's good. And he's trustworthy. And he's for my good. And that has been definitively. And forever.

Answered on the cross. And I have no doubt. Am I intelligent? Yes. Do I think through things? Yes.

But at the end of the day. Do I know something that trumps. All of the other reasons I can come up with? Yes. And that it's the God of the universe. Died.

To ransom me. From slavery. And he is not out to steal my freedom. Because he's the only one who gave it to me. And he's not out to subjugate me. Because he's a good father.

Who I can trust. And who I can know forever is good. And for my good. That's Peter's reasoning. He says that we would be holy. And that we would follow God in obedience as children.

Knowing that he's ransomed us. Knowing that he cares more about your freedom than you do. Because he's already bled and died for it. And knowing that forever he is good. And for your good. And absolutely trustworthy.

And so when he steps in on an issue and says. I know you don't understand all of this now. But this is how this needs to work. You can say. I don't understand your reasoning. But I know that you're good.

And I know you're not out to get me. And I know you're not out to crush me. And I know that even if I mess this up. My hope is fully set on the grace that will be given. Not my ability to obey well. And that is what drives Christians to obedience.

Not fear. Trust. Not shame. Not guilt. Not punishment. The punishment has already been poured out.

And our God is good and for our good. And we can trust him. The band's going to come back up. And we're going to praise Jesus. That at the end of our days for Christians. That we can stand before a holy God.

That has called us to holiness and obedience. And we can have failed and failed and failed and failed. And we can stand before a holy God and be given grace. That our obedience does not save us. And that we have a God who cares infinitely more about your freedom than you do. And has proven that he is ultimately good for our good.

And infinitely trustworthy when he went to the cross. And bled and died to rescue us. And that calls us to obedience. And frees us up to be obedient without fear of punishment. And knowing forever that we have something that answers the question for us that we need answered. Does he love us?

Is he good? Can he be trusted? And the cross answers that. He does love us. He is good. And he can be trusted with everything.

And we may not get all the answers. And we may never agree with him in this lifetime. And we may die struggling and fighting to be obedient. And then we'll walk before him with our hope fully set on Jesus. Who is obedient in our place. And died to set us free.

Father we thank you. That you're good. And that you're for our good. And God we thank you that you're ultimately trustworthy. And we pray Lord that for all of the Christians in this room who are struggling. Fighting with you mentally.

Fighting with you physically. Struggling with themselves. Struggling with their passions. God we pray that two things would happen. One. One.

One. That they would be able to set their hope fully on the grace that is offered to them through the cross. And two. That that grace would propel them to obedience as they know. They know. They know that you're trustworthy.

And God for those in this room that are not Christians. We pray Lord that your sacrifice would be applied to their account. And that they would place their hope and their trust in you. And that they would quit chasing after passions that did not die for them. That will not forgive them and will never satisfy them. And that they will learn that there's hope and joy and absolute freedom found in you.

Because nothing in you is based off of our actions. But only off of yours. Thank you Lord. We love you. In Jesus name. Amen.