back to index2019-07-07 The Command to Hope Completely
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I think, well, it took me a long time to come down to this one verse. 00:00:22.240 |
I was thinking of taking a bigger chunk of this text, and then I thought we'll just stick 00:00:28.520 |
But in 1 Corinthians, as you kind of put yourself into the mentality of the church, this is 00:00:39.360 |
There's a lot of persecution and suffering going on, especially under Roman rule, but 00:00:43.920 |
it's been heightened because of the crucifixion of Jesus. 00:00:47.440 |
As Christianity is starting to explode, there's been a scattering of believers. 00:00:52.120 |
And with that, as people are immigrating into different locations, these are people who 00:00:58.160 |
are struggling with many different temptations that come along with this. 00:01:02.320 |
And with that is where we find ourselves in 1 Peter 1.13. 00:01:06.440 |
It says here, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action. 00:01:14.160 |
Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus 00:01:21.360 |
Now 1 Peter has been an epistle that's brought me personal problems in life. 00:01:28.120 |
And the reason for that is because it's not commonplace for me to be persecuted or suffering 00:01:37.240 |
like many of us here in Southern California where it's sunny and nice all the time. 00:01:42.160 |
This is something that we've talked about a lot. 00:01:43.880 |
This is something that we've kind of brought over and over again to the plate, especially 00:01:48.840 |
as Pastor Peter has gone into the book of Hebrews. 00:01:52.320 |
And as we think about this, we've grown very familiar with this concept. 00:02:02.240 |
This idea of comfort, this idea of maybe even the brevity of our own conviction, that we 00:02:08.840 |
might be so convicted by a truth of God at one moment and then struggle to remember whatever 00:02:17.560 |
Maybe many of us, even Sunday to Sunday, can leave a Sunday sermon thinking of grandiose 00:02:24.240 |
things and then you realize, "Man, I'm hearing the same, like a similar thing again this 00:02:30.600 |
week and yet it feels like from last week to this week, maybe there hasn't been much 00:02:40.920 |
We've grown familiar that we have a danger of loving the things of this world, of chasing 00:02:50.480 |
It very much goes hand in hand with the apathy and jadedness that creeps up on our hearts. 00:02:56.360 |
And time and time again, we feel that disconnect, the conviction of faith, the pull of this 00:03:06.120 |
Earlier on in my Christian walk, a verse I memorized and recited to myself frequently 00:03:10.760 |
was Colossians chapter three verses one through four. 00:03:13.520 |
We don't have this one up for you, but it's that idea of set your eyes, set your mind, 00:03:19.000 |
fix your attention and your gaze upon the things of heaven where Christ is. 00:03:25.640 |
And the reason why I memorized that, not only memorized that, I actually used to write things 00:03:31.720 |
on my arm, on my hand, because I kept forgetting what my life was about. 00:03:36.880 |
Many of us could kind of relate to it, maybe you didn't write all over your arm like I 00:03:42.560 |
It was not only difficult, but it was frustrating for me because I wanted to remember. 00:03:47.640 |
I wanted to know that day to day, my life is for the Lord, for his purposes, for his 00:04:02.160 |
And we can try so hard to remember, we can memorize verses, we can remain disciplined, 00:04:07.560 |
we can write all over your arm, but maybe this is hitting kind of a chord with some 00:04:20.720 |
And today we're going to be addressing this through chapter one, verse 13. 00:04:23.760 |
And we're going to be going through three points to address this. 00:04:27.080 |
The first point is this, we're going to be looking at this command. 00:04:30.440 |
The command is for us to fix our hope completely, to fix your attention of hope completely, 00:04:43.880 |
This is an imperative, this is an authoritative command given by God himself to us, and we'll 00:04:51.640 |
Secondly, we're going to be talking about the content of whatever that hope is. 00:04:56.400 |
So if the first one was the imperative to fix your hope completely, the second point 00:05:00.320 |
is going to be what is that we are called to fix our attention of hope on. 00:05:10.080 |
We're going to fix our hope on an approaching grace at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:05:14.880 |
And thirdly, then we're going to answer a final question, how do we do this? 00:05:20.500 |
So first is the imperative, fix your hope completely. 00:05:26.260 |
And this passage in verse 13 begins with, "Therefore," in verses 1 through 12, if you 00:05:33.320 |
even scan it there, what you're going to see is kind of the greatness of salvation. 00:05:37.960 |
You have been given a salvation that can never be taken away from you. 00:05:45.060 |
He says it's something that is going to be imperishable. 00:05:48.360 |
He said that this is that which you have been called into, a living hope. 00:05:56.760 |
"Therefore," the command is, "fix your hope completely." 00:06:07.920 |
As we look at commands in Scripture, the authoritative command and a demand from an authoritative 00:06:14.800 |
God himself, as we think and look upon that, we have to remind ourselves of the importance 00:06:25.260 |
If you're a member of Berean Community Church, this is a reminder of number two on the membership 00:06:37.740 |
I confess that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, which has, and here's what I wanted 00:06:42.760 |
to kind of highlight, ultimate authority over my life. 00:06:47.800 |
That means when we read Scripture, it is authoritative into our lives. 00:06:55.300 |
That is what we sign off to as believers, that we say we surrender our will. 00:07:04.200 |
We say God is our everything, and we humbly submit and obey. 00:07:11.680 |
But if we treat it as optional on our day-to-day living, we have to spin this around again 00:07:16.360 |
and remember it has ultimate authority over my life. 00:07:20.700 |
We have to think about it as if God himself speaks into us. 00:07:31.740 |
The greater the weight of the person who gives the command, the greater the weight of urgency 00:07:40.600 |
The weightier it gets, the heavier it gets for us. 00:07:49.480 |
I bring up my kids a lot because at a young age, there's so much time and attention that 00:07:57.680 |
I do have a four-year-old daughter named Addie and a two-year-old son named Hudson. 00:08:01.280 |
Now as Hudson's been growing in awareness, like his brain has just been doing some crazy 00:08:08.260 |
things lately, and his desires have begun to really show. 00:08:13.420 |
This is where you see human depravity at its peak. 00:08:30.320 |
And these days, because he's been growing this in awareness and a desire, like I can 00:08:35.760 |
Because that's been happening, what I hear a lot is a lot of shrieking. 00:08:39.220 |
And usually it's shrieking from one side and it's shrieking from my daughter Addie. 00:08:48.220 |
And now she's getting clever, so she's trying to figure out ways to manipulate him. 00:08:51.780 |
And so sometimes I hear in the middle of yelling, "Hudson, how about you play with this?" 00:08:57.360 |
And then you see the clever ways in which these things come out. 00:08:59.780 |
But what you see about all of these things that Addie is kind of saying to her younger 00:09:10.020 |
But what's been fascinating to see is as that's been happening, Hudson has been so disrespectful 00:09:27.100 |
There are times when she's all mad and he's just smiling. 00:09:35.660 |
You're all riled up and yelling and the person's just smiling at you. 00:09:45.780 |
And to the point where he will draw and lift his hands and he will even at points hit her. 00:09:54.780 |
This is his older sister and we're teaching him respect and yeah, he gets disciplined 00:10:00.740 |
But what's been interesting about this, to take it one step further, is his condescending 00:10:08.500 |
The difference is when I come into play and I say something, it's immediate. 00:10:21.580 |
Like, if I know how to do it now, if I use my words in a certain way, if I bring out 00:10:30.420 |
I'm going to put an accent on the second part. 00:10:37.180 |
All I said was his name, but he starts to cry. 00:10:40.500 |
But he perks up, he listens, he hears, and there's this gravitas and this weight that 00:10:46.660 |
comes upon him where depending on the person who gives the command, it really changes in 00:10:58.340 |
If someone tells you to do something, you're going to be like, "I'm not going to listen 00:11:00.380 |
to you," or you're going to be like, "Oh, yes sir." 00:11:06.860 |
God gives a command here, and God is bringing commands throughout Scripture, right? 00:11:26.340 |
Almighty God, when you hear His word, do you take some time to think, "Let me think about 00:11:38.940 |
When you think about what it is to obey Him, it's so clear. 00:11:55.740 |
But for us, we sit there, and we contemplate, and we think, and we consider, and this is 00:12:06.100 |
a command from Almighty God Himself into our lives. 00:12:13.580 |
Every imperative given to us in Scripture ought to be taken as if spoken from His mouth. 00:12:19.860 |
We commence, we listen, we obey because we have already surrendered ourselves to Him. 00:12:28.940 |
And here in His command spoken through Peter, He says, "Fix your hope." 00:12:37.980 |
This is important for us in everyday life here in comfortable Southern California. 00:12:53.380 |
So we have the bolded and the underlying part there. 00:12:56.660 |
Why do we start here and start, "Prepare your minds and keep sober," because those look 00:13:00.740 |
Well, I think in this instance, the ESV did a little bit better of a job of translating 00:13:05.660 |
this, but clearly, "Fix your hope" is going to be the only imperative given in this verse, 00:13:12.820 |
"Prepare your minds and keep sober" are actually called participles. 00:13:16.940 |
We're going to bring in a little bit of grammar. 00:13:19.220 |
Participles that kind of modify what it is to fix your hope. 00:13:23.800 |
And that's why we're starting here with the command, "Fix your hope." 00:13:29.660 |
This imperative is actually just the one word. 00:13:34.300 |
It's just actually hope, but it has such emphasis to it that the translators had to add in a 00:13:43.160 |
But this understanding of hope, this biblical hope is very different than the hope that 00:13:50.220 |
This hope is to look forward with confidence. 00:13:55.720 |
This is the command to us that we should live in certainty of what's to come. 00:14:01.180 |
This isn't the weak type of hope that's based upon human desire, because our desires are 00:14:09.220 |
This isn't the hope that I'm wishing for something, that I want something so bad that our hopes 00:14:20.280 |
This biblical hope, "Fix your hope" is different than that. 00:14:23.500 |
While I was writing this manuscript out for this sermon, my heart was filled with hope. 00:14:30.180 |
I know it's fresh and raw, but just got manned in Kawhi Leonard. 00:14:35.380 |
And I really wanted him to come to the Lakers. 00:14:44.340 |
But anyway, upon writing it, I was thinking about it, and I was like, "Man, this is hope." 00:14:51.420 |
But the hope I had is so different, because this hope was not only could it be crushed, 00:14:56.380 |
but now that I'm standing here, I'm telling you directly, my hope was crushed. 00:15:07.420 |
But the hope that's being talked about here is confident. 00:15:14.340 |
It's not based on the one who does the hoping. 00:15:16.480 |
It's based on the one who offers us the promise of something that is certain to come into 00:15:27.700 |
And just like with commands, depending on where the command comes from, will your response 00:15:37.380 |
Trust and belief grows not upon an individual's ability to trust in something, but it actually 00:15:43.500 |
grows based upon the measure of character, integrity, faithfulness, and worthiness of 00:15:54.260 |
In other words, you could think about it kind of like a trust fall. 00:15:57.380 |
That's the thing where you do this, and someone says, "Fall, I'll catch you," and then you 00:16:02.000 |
If there's a seven-year-old boy that comes and says, "Fall, I'll catch you," then what 00:16:09.060 |
It minimizes based upon what you see there, right? 00:16:12.020 |
But as soon as you get a bigger guy, Garrett, right? 00:16:15.900 |
Garrett, Garrett Kleiser, he's like back there, and he's just saying, "Trust me, I'll catch 00:16:20.060 |
you," and then you're going to be like, "Oh, okay, cool, I'll fall." 00:16:25.860 |
Our understanding and view of a great God is what's going to cause us to both obey the 00:16:32.820 |
command of God, but also to trust and to hope in Him. 00:16:38.420 |
That's why the first vision statement here at our church is engaging in God-centered 00:16:46.680 |
Worship generates off of a vision of God, off of a clarity of a picture of who God is, 00:17:10.060 |
It's confident, it's expected, it's waiting for something to take place rather than simply 00:17:16.880 |
We're not trusting in some ordinary person, we are trusting in the eternally faithful 00:17:31.420 |
I could hope like I wanted Kawhi Leonard, but how can you tell someone to hope with 00:17:42.260 |
Biblical hope therefore runs contrary to the way we use hope on a day-to-day basis. 00:17:46.140 |
And this happens because the word hope in humanity, in a way, it's polluted by sin. 00:17:50.000 |
That's why we're very unfamiliar with this concept of hope. 00:17:52.700 |
Because we live in a broken world where this kind of hope is foreign. 00:17:58.080 |
There's two things, firstly our hope is sinful. 00:18:00.440 |
As a sinful people who are doing the hoping, our hope is tainted with our sinful desires. 00:18:07.040 |
And secondly, we hope in things that will fail us. 00:18:09.360 |
And there's nothing in this world that will be able to kind of cash in on what it promises 00:18:16.420 |
So our hope, when it's placed in God, it's never just desire, but it's expected. 00:18:22.240 |
I'll give you one quick example in scripture. 00:18:23.760 |
Romans chapter 4, verse 18 through 22, the story of Abraham. 00:18:30.880 |
You have to just sit there and go, "What is that?" 00:18:33.200 |
"So that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken. 00:18:40.600 |
Without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead," since 00:18:44.720 |
he was about 100 years old, "and the deadness of Sarah's womb. 00:18:48.200 |
Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong 00:18:55.240 |
in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, he was 00:19:04.560 |
Therefore it was also credit to him as righteousness." 00:19:13.200 |
In hope against hope, which is kind of like the more worldly hope. 00:19:22.840 |
He trusted in the Lord fully, without wavering. 00:19:42.600 |
If the verb was this command, "Fix your hope," it tells you how to do that, or how it ought 00:19:50.920 |
It changes the whole tone and dynamics of that command to us. 00:19:57.360 |
Wholly, unconditionally, totally, unwavering to the end. 00:20:08.600 |
Because this level of hope isn't based upon our ability to hope, but this level of hope 00:20:18.320 |
If we're having trouble hoping in the things of God today, it's because our vision has 00:20:23.520 |
Our eyes have been taken off of who God is and what He's like. 00:20:27.720 |
So when we place our faith in God, it's a total surrender. 00:20:36.760 |
You cannot say, "I will put 95% of my hope in the Lord, but 5% I hope in my finances, 00:20:44.200 |
I hope in my career, I hope in a certain relationship, I hope in the pleasures that this world gives." 00:20:54.640 |
This is saying complete hope in God and in God alone. 00:21:01.720 |
There is no other hope in this world other than God. 00:21:06.580 |
Everything that we hope in in this world runs through who He is. 00:21:10.840 |
And any time we take our expected hope away from Him is when we will idolize things, when 00:21:15.920 |
we will fall into the temptations, the pleasures of this world. 00:21:23.160 |
This brings us to our second point, which is this. 00:21:28.320 |
What exactly are we to fix our hope on according to Peter? 00:21:31.360 |
Where do we practice this fixing of hope completely? 00:21:39.480 |
Fix your hope on the coming grace at Christ's return. 00:21:45.640 |
You can't leave today and think that's your application. 00:21:53.840 |
Though that's true, if you stop there, that becomes a loophole upon which sin thrives. 00:22:04.340 |
He's saying specifically think about where your hope is fixed here. 00:22:08.140 |
It's on this grace that is coming that will be fully realized when Jesus returns. 00:22:22.740 |
There is an aspect of our salvation, if you look at chapter 1 verse 13 again, when you 00:22:26.940 |
look it's this fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation 00:22:32.040 |
There's an aspect of our salvation where it's not fully done. 00:22:36.820 |
Our salvation is at work and our salvation is yet to be completed. 00:22:43.500 |
You do have to be careful a little bit with that. 00:22:45.860 |
But this is to an audience of Christians who are suffering under persecution. 00:22:49.700 |
And they had need to fix hope because their hope was kind of, they needed relief from 00:22:56.640 |
So for us, in a place where there's comfort, in a place where persecution feels like something 00:23:01.780 |
we have to kind of wiggle into to say that we're being persecuted, we are still called 00:23:08.260 |
to heed this command to fix our hope on a coming grace. 00:23:13.860 |
It's the completion of our salvation when we see Jesus. 00:23:16.660 |
We're going to go through a quick three things here in this. 00:23:21.580 |
This idea of justification, sanctification, and glorification. 00:23:26.500 |
When we think of salvation, many times our minds go back to this prior justification. 00:23:31.340 |
When we think of salvation, like what is salvation? 00:23:35.860 |
So for me, it was 15 years ago before I entered into college. 00:23:39.220 |
And before I entered into college, it was a time, I knew exactly where I was sitting, 00:23:43.420 |
I remember clearly when God opened my eyes to the glory of the gospel. 00:23:48.140 |
And so that was a time where we wouldn't just call it salvation though, we would be very 00:23:54.060 |
Though it wouldn't be wrong to say that was when we were saved. 00:23:58.940 |
The idea of justification means declaration of righteousness. 00:24:02.820 |
That is that God declares us righteous, almost like in a courtroom. 00:24:06.820 |
When a judge says, "You are innocent," that's you are declared innocent. 00:24:12.220 |
It's just words that are spoken that becomes law. 00:24:17.300 |
In 2 Timothy 1, verse 8 through 9, you're going to see this. 00:24:21.220 |
It says, "Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner, 00:24:26.180 |
but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved 00:24:30.540 |
us and called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his 00:24:34.300 |
own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." 00:24:37.580 |
Now, there are times when justification is seen as present, but the idea of justification 00:24:53.280 |
Justification of righteousness shows that God has forgiven us of all our sins completely, 00:25:07.340 |
We're promised to be able to enter into his presence with confidence. 00:25:13.000 |
And then there's sanctification, which is the second part of salvation. 00:25:15.700 |
And we're going to see sanctification as a present day working out of salvation. 00:25:23.780 |
In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, we see this, "For the word of the cross is foolishness 00:25:28.100 |
to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." 00:25:34.340 |
This is the process where we're in our lives right now. 00:25:41.520 |
Though we were justified in the past, there's an element of our salvation that continues 00:25:48.440 |
We're in the process of it, of being washed, of being purified by the Spirit. 00:25:54.540 |
Even God's discipline is designed in sanctification. 00:25:57.620 |
That God's discipline is meant to bring us to repentance too. 00:26:05.820 |
This third and final piece of salvation that needs to be addressed. 00:26:09.620 |
That is that our salvation is not yet fully realized. 00:26:13.260 |
It's not in completion yet until we reach glory. 00:26:17.440 |
We see this in Romans 5, verse 9, "Much more than having been justified by his blood, we 00:26:23.220 |
shall be saved in the future from the wrath of God through him. 00:26:27.580 |
For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much 00:26:30.980 |
more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." 00:26:34.960 |
You look at these and you see, "We could run so quickly past the tenses." 00:26:38.940 |
But you take a look and you're like, "Does that mean I'm not saved now?" 00:26:42.140 |
It's because this is talking, in a sense, about glory. 00:26:46.180 |
To draw our attention back to 1 Peter 1, verse 13. 00:26:52.860 |
It says, "Fix your hope completely on the grace that is to be brought to you at the 00:27:05.420 |
This grace that he's talking about is actually salvation that will be completed one day. 00:27:12.660 |
See all three of these, justification, sanctification, glorification, they go hand in hand. 00:27:17.980 |
I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I think for many of us here, even though we know this 00:27:24.980 |
theology, a lot of us are like, "Man, I know this justification, sanctification, glorification. 00:27:30.300 |
We've studied scripture enough to understand these three concepts." 00:27:32.420 |
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, glorification might be the one we give the 00:27:40.940 |
And we'll think about it in times when we're in trouble because we just want to be done 00:27:47.100 |
But on a day-to-day living, as long as I'm satisfied here, glory is far from our minds. 00:28:01.340 |
We cling to the promise of declared righteousness and justification, and we understand that 00:28:06.460 |
we're in the process of being sanctified, but we can't forget that we're not yet complete. 00:28:16.100 |
But this is that hope that's being talked about here, this hope that drives us in this. 00:28:27.580 |
When we don't think upon glory, when we don't remember that we are still yet to be fully 00:28:35.180 |
experiencing salvation as it was meant to be, you lose joy. 00:28:42.860 |
You lose expectancy of the coming reality, and we handicap ourselves in our sanctification. 00:28:50.780 |
It's very easy to grow legalistic in our thinking because we end up practically just trying 00:28:58.780 |
Our view becomes so set upon how I'm doing spiritually rather than on the reality of 00:29:07.020 |
God, who He is, yes, what He's done, but also that He is coming in Christ. 00:29:22.940 |
I was trying to remember, but it was a professor. 00:29:30.180 |
I think it means magnetic levitation trains or something like that. 00:29:37.980 |
It's run by magnets, and they shoot this electric current through it. 00:29:42.260 |
Magnets if you have an elementary understanding of it, when you put opposite poles together, 00:29:49.980 |
When you put the same poles next to each other, they generally repel each other. 00:29:55.100 |
These maglev trains, how it works is it was a newer technology at the time. 00:30:00.140 |
They would have this train that would sit upon these two poles, an upper and a lower 00:30:05.700 |
One would push, one would pull, and then this train would fly. 00:30:09.700 |
But it would do it by levitating right in the middle because of the magnet. 00:30:19.940 |
This professor, he was saying this is kind of how he views justification, sanctification, 00:30:26.500 |
You lose any one piece of this in understanding salvation, and you will not be able to go 00:30:35.180 |
There's an aspect of justification that pushes you towards, and then there's an aspect of 00:30:40.080 |
glory that's going to pull you towards, and then there's this understanding of sanctification 00:30:49.420 |
We need to have a clear anchor in justification, but we need to also remember that we're yet 00:30:58.740 |
Those who latch too tightly onto justification is at risk at abusing grace and living licentiously. 00:31:10.020 |
Those who simply think about sanctification as at risk of getting stuck on working for 00:31:14.700 |
salvation, that we are solely responsible for the transformation of our hearts rather 00:31:20.060 |
than the monergistic work that salvation truly is, even in sanctification. 00:31:25.620 |
And those who think about glorification will end up just floating, just sitting there, 00:31:29.980 |
biding their time, waiting for the end to come. 00:31:39.740 |
All three of these texts I'm going to bring up, we're not able to divide it up here, but 00:31:44.660 |
I'll just try to kind of show you where it falls. 00:31:47.020 |
We're going to be seeing all three aspects in these three passages. 00:31:50.820 |
Philippians 3, 9-11, Paul says, "And may be found in him, not having a righteousness of 00:31:55.380 |
my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness 00:32:04.580 |
He's saying, "I don't have a righteousness of my own from the law. 00:32:09.480 |
The righteousness that comes from God, it's given to me. 00:32:18.020 |
But look at verse 10, "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the 00:32:25.900 |
And then, you see, "Being conformed to his death," in verse 11, "in order that I may 00:32:37.020 |
That's why the passage right after this, he says things like, "Taking my eyes off of things 00:32:41.820 |
that lie behind and going forward to things that lie ahead." 00:32:44.620 |
This is the understanding of it, that he is moving in his Christian life. 00:32:48.260 |
He has seen, he remembers his past and he doesn't forget it. 00:32:57.740 |
Titus chapter 2, verse 11, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to 00:33:08.340 |
And then, verse 12, "Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live 00:33:12.460 |
sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age." 00:33:15.900 |
That is here in the present day we are called to live godly. 00:33:18.940 |
And then, verse 13, "Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our 00:33:23.940 |
great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless 00:33:28.700 |
deed and to purify for himself the people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds." 00:33:32.940 |
And verse 13, there, "Looking for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of Jesus." 00:33:41.980 |
Colossians chapter 3, the one I wrote all over my arm, "Therefore, if you have been 00:33:47.140 |
raised up with Christ," that is justification. 00:33:54.340 |
And then, "Keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 00:33:59.340 |
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." 00:34:03.180 |
That here then, since you have been saved from this, since you have been saved from 00:34:08.140 |
sin, he's saying, "Keep seeking those things. 00:34:16.180 |
And then in verse 4, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will 00:34:28.620 |
In each of these passages, we see all throughout work, but in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 13, in 00:34:43.260 |
There's actually no need to fix a real hope on our justification. 00:34:50.500 |
Justification, it gives you confidence and assurance. 00:35:00.620 |
Fix your hope completely on this grace that is on its way, that is coming. 00:35:10.860 |
Fix your hope on everything that happens when Jesus comes. 00:35:27.980 |
Think of that day when you'll be free from sin. 00:35:44.540 |
We're so hard at work here, trying to live a life that is honoring and glorifying to 00:35:50.380 |
God, but our eyes have to be fixed on coming salvation too. 00:36:04.620 |
We're going to see our Savior face to face in a place where we will be able to worship 00:36:11.260 |
and glorify and exalt God to our heart's content without restriction. 00:36:20.260 |
In 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12, interestingly at the end of this understanding of love, 00:36:25.960 |
it says, "For now we see in the mirror dimly, but then face to face. 00:36:30.340 |
Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known." 00:36:34.700 |
That there is an aspect where one day, right now, we exist in a kind of dimness. 00:36:40.100 |
He says, "Face to face, we will see Him and we will know completely and fully." 00:36:47.020 |
In 1 Peter, before verse 13, there is this understanding of, "Man, there's this God 00:36:53.640 |
that is invisible to us, but we love Him and it's done with joy and expressible." 00:36:58.960 |
Even though we live in dimness, because of the confident expectation of the fact that 00:37:04.620 |
He's going to come and He's going to take me from this world, this broken, rotten, wicked, 00:37:09.500 |
vile world, and even my own heart, the wickedness and sinfulness that I see in my own heart, 00:37:15.300 |
that God will rescue me from this, that it will drive me towards eternity. 00:37:23.540 |
We need to keep our eyes locked on coming grace, that Jesus is going to return, and 00:37:28.220 |
on that day, we're going to see the clear result of our sin, the recompense of it, the 00:37:39.980 |
We're not going to be going into the theology of where we're going to be. 00:37:45.260 |
We're not going to talk about that today, but what we are going to see is judgment against 00:37:52.700 |
The sin that we wrestle with today, we're going to see what it deserves. 00:37:58.820 |
The sin that we're so tempted to take so flippantly in our sanctification sometimes. 00:38:04.300 |
The ones that we shrug off and say, "I'll just try better next week." 00:38:08.240 |
We will see as revelation shows that the full recompense of it will be doled out. 00:38:16.680 |
We as believers, we are going to worship, and we are going to praise the Lord with all 00:38:21.740 |
of our heart, and we are going to sit there, and we are going to fall, and we are going 00:38:26.360 |
to praise him, and we are going to weep because of the goodness of our God who has saved us 00:38:33.980 |
He has forgiven us of sin, and we see what our sin deserves. 00:38:37.980 |
He has forgiven it, and we remember Jesus, the one we follow. 00:38:43.900 |
He has the scars that he still bears on his hands and feet. 00:38:47.380 |
He's still, he's going to be there, and we're going to see all of it. 00:38:57.860 |
On that day when he returns, it's going to be glorious for us. 00:39:02.060 |
We're going to be done again with this broken world, the ugliness that resides around. 00:39:09.900 |
Eternal life is going to be forever with God. 00:39:14.940 |
Fix your hope completely on grace that is coming. 00:39:24.700 |
In 1 Corinthians 16.22, I'm not sure why the NESB didn't translate it, but we'll just pull 00:39:38.660 |
Revelation 22.20, "He who testifies to these things says," and this is the very end of 00:39:45.060 |
It closes with these words, "Yes, I'm coming quickly." 00:39:57.000 |
As we anticipate glory, we ought to be waking up every morning. 00:39:59.900 |
I know this is hard, but we ought to be waking up every morning saying, "Come, Lord." 00:40:08.060 |
There's a missionary in the Philippines that everywhere we would go, as soon as we got 00:40:12.340 |
to that place, he would just whisper under his breath, "Thank you, Jesus. 00:40:25.500 |
Not when you're in the middle of finals, not when you're in financial difficulty, not when 00:40:30.540 |
there's something difficult going on in your life in general. 00:40:33.380 |
This is every single day, every single moment. 00:40:41.940 |
As we not only see brokenness outside in this world, we see it in our very own hearts. 00:40:53.140 |
We are still able to sing the words, "Hosanna." 00:41:05.980 |
This world that causes us to make this comfortable Southern California thing happen, which is 00:41:16.580 |
Not just knowing it, but have we bought into it that our hearts are drawn into these things. 00:41:44.300 |
Don't let the world pull the wool down over your eyes. 00:41:51.060 |
And if you read through 1 Peter, you're going to see it. 00:41:53.060 |
1 Peter, by the way, is just a bunch of imperatives. 00:41:57.580 |
You know, Paul does a good job going indicative, imperative, indicative, imperative stuff. 00:42:01.300 |
Peter, though he has a lot of places where he just kind of takes a little bit of a respite, 00:42:15.220 |
So let's go to our third point then as we head into that. 00:42:18.020 |
How do we then fix our hope on the coming grace at Christ's return? 00:42:21.620 |
Now we're going to come across those two participles I was talking about. 00:42:25.920 |
As we think about, like, if this is the imperative, these participles help us understand how to 00:42:32.460 |
Now, I don't want to detract away your confidence in the scripture that you have, but again, 00:42:38.820 |
I do think that the ESV did a better job of this. 00:42:42.000 |
In that, in this understanding of prepare your minds for actions and keep sober in spirit, 00:42:51.020 |
Preparing your minds for action, keeping sober in spirit, fix your hope. 00:43:00.420 |
So that first one there is by preparing our minds for action. 00:43:06.560 |
Because here's the imperative, again, don't leave saying, "I need to fix my hope on Christ." 00:43:14.540 |
Scripture will inform you as to how to do it. 00:43:18.780 |
We have to look and we say, "Okay, how do we do this?" 00:43:23.280 |
Literally it means gird the loins of your mind. 00:43:25.060 |
And the idea behind this is found during the time of writing, which is that they wore these 00:43:28.740 |
long ropes and if they ever had to move hastily or quickly, which was very not honorable thing 00:43:37.560 |
And in war, what girding the loins would be, they would gather up the ropes because it's 00:43:42.140 |
so long and they would tie it, they kind of knot it up and cinch it up at the waist a 00:43:45.620 |
little bit here and then they pull this belt around it and tie it in place so that they 00:44:05.220 |
And this is how you fix your hope on the grace of Christ's return. 00:44:21.260 |
Nevermore than when I came here to Berean did I hear that word, that we pray this so 00:44:45.900 |
When you think of self-control, self-control isn't something you just lob at places in 00:44:50.580 |
You say, "Oh, I'm starting to get a pot belly. 00:44:52.340 |
For the first time in my life, I'm getting a little bit of a love handle here." 00:44:55.300 |
You look at it and go, "Man, I'm going to be more self-controlled in my eating habits." 00:45:00.420 |
Or "We'll throw self-control at our, like, we've got to exercise." 00:45:03.500 |
Or "We'll throw self-control like, man, I just haven't been sleeping well." 00:45:07.100 |
That's not how self-control works for the Christian. 00:45:10.060 |
That is that the Christian is a person of self-control. 00:45:13.100 |
Therefore, in our day, everything falls under this self-control. 00:45:18.560 |
That is what it is to be sober in spirit, that we are driving our bodies. 00:45:24.620 |
As a pilot, we kind of drive a plane, we are driving ourselves. 00:45:28.940 |
Because we understand that we still reside in the flesh. 00:45:31.620 |
But our soul, our spirit has been resurrected and we love God and we have to tell ourselves 00:45:41.820 |
You wake up and you point to yourself and you say, "Uh-uh, I'm not going to listen to 00:45:58.500 |
Another helpful way to apply things into your life is take the negative spin. 00:46:02.700 |
If it says, "Be sober," then think, "How am I being drunk?" 00:46:07.620 |
That's a common way you can apply scripture into your life. 00:46:27.500 |
Where in your life are you not preparing your minds for battle? 00:46:33.380 |
What's causing you to lose control over yourself? 00:46:38.100 |
To not be prepared for the war that we know is raging all around us. 00:46:42.940 |
Here are some of the imperatives that are found in 1 Peter. 00:46:44.980 |
In chapter 2, verse 11, it says, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain 00:46:49.700 |
from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul." 00:47:03.300 |
In 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 1, "Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm 00:47:06.940 |
yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased 00:47:10.260 |
from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for the lust of men, 00:47:24.620 |
Don't live the rest of the time in your life. 00:47:27.580 |
As soon as you become a believer, until the day you die, you no longer live for the flesh. 00:47:32.340 |
All of us, for every believer here, that's what we say. 00:47:37.540 |
So you look, where am I living for the flesh? 00:47:40.860 |
1 Peter chapter 4, verse 7, "The end of all things is near. 00:47:45.340 |
Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." 00:47:53.280 |
When you judge your life, when you take stock of your life, let it be sound, not ridiculous 00:48:02.380 |
1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8 through 9, "Be of sober spirit. 00:48:06.300 |
Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, 00:48:10.380 |
but resistant, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are 00:48:13.500 |
being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." 00:48:23.560 |
This is what I had to ask myself this past week. 00:48:27.120 |
What's causing in me this thing where I say, "Man, boy, do I really wish I didn't live 00:48:35.240 |
Rather than that, what can I do to really attack that? 00:48:39.580 |
This is where application comes in and our closing. 00:48:42.760 |
The command is this, to fix your hope completely on the grace that's coming. 00:48:47.140 |
That can't be your application in and of itself, right? 00:49:10.320 |
What's causing you to love the things of this world? 00:49:13.360 |
What's causing you to even fall into constant temptation? 00:49:16.920 |
You feel like, "I could go up against this most of the time." 00:49:20.660 |
But even for those moments that you know of weakness, what's causing? 00:49:27.360 |
And these things need to be fully banished from your life. 00:49:40.000 |
Is it simply an attitude that needs to change? 00:49:44.280 |
First, take a look at your life and see what needs to be cut out. 00:49:50.680 |
My recommendation to you when you do application is write it down. 00:49:54.360 |
The reason why I recommend that is because we leave with good intentions and then we 00:50:04.200 |
We have all these good desires and I know every Sunday we go out, we're like, "Let's 00:50:14.920 |
I recommend bathroom, mirror, somewhere out there. 00:50:18.920 |
But take stock of your life and cut out things that need to be cut out. 00:50:25.600 |
Jesus says, "If something causes you to sin, and specifically here impurity, just cut off 00:50:31.720 |
You're like, "Oh, he doesn't really mean that. 00:50:33.640 |
We're all going to be like one-eyed, one-handed people." 00:50:37.960 |
But then we go the opposite way and we go like, "Well, I'll just try my best." 00:50:41.600 |
He's saying go the lengths necessary to get to that point. 00:50:48.200 |
So you have to take stock of your life and seeing where is this happening, where is in 00:50:52.120 |
And what I would say is, "Whoop, cut it out." 00:50:54.880 |
Meaning next week if someone were to ask you, "What'd you cut out?" 00:50:57.200 |
You're like, "Oh, I cut this out and this out." 00:51:01.400 |
I was thinking about this and trying my best here not to sound too legalistic because we're 00:51:05.000 |
not going to sit here and say like, "Cut out Netflix, cut out YouTube, cut out the Dodgers," 00:51:10.800 |
I'm not going to cut out my Dodgers, you know. 00:51:13.600 |
But there are things in our lives that if it's causing it, and God is saying, "Fix 00:51:19.520 |
your hope," as an imperative to us by doing this and this. 00:51:24.240 |
We sit here and we think, "This is how I'm going to do it." 00:51:32.080 |
I love that song, "Trust and Obey," where there's no other way to be happy in Jesus 00:51:48.160 |
Secondly, though, and this will cover all the other bases, take a look at your life 00:51:58.160 |
And it's okay to participate in entertainment and the joys that this world has, and we can 00:52:04.680 |
But go home and change what needs to be changed. 00:52:07.800 |
Write those things down, make sure that you look different tomorrow, make sure that you 00:52:12.000 |
look different on Wednesday, on Friday, on Saturday, and then on Sunday next week, make 00:52:15.920 |
sure you look, maybe you're able to look back at the application and see, "How well did 00:52:32.560 |
All of this needs to be done with an understanding of the great imperative today. 00:52:36.160 |
Make sure hope on coming grace, that Jesus died for our sins, he is at work within us, 00:52:47.340 |
And I hope, maybe perhaps, some of us can be near each other when we see Jesus for the 00:52:54.520 |
I hope I get to see someone like your faces as you see Jesus for the first time, and just 00:53:03.360 |
We have to remember that and not live for the things of this world.