The Clarion Call to the Pursuit of Holiness

Q: What does the Bible say about holiness?

The Bible calls Christians to be holy, reflecting God's nature as stated in 1 Peter 1:16. Holiness is a central theme in the Bible, particularly in the call for believers to embody the character of God. In 1 Peter 1:16, it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' This indicates that God's holiness is not just an attribute, but a command to His people, setting the expectation that they should reflect His holiness in their lives. The pursuit of holiness is essential in honoring God's character and fulfilling the purpose of being created in His image.

Q: How do we know the call to holiness is true?

The call to holiness is affirmed through scriptures such as 1 Peter 1:16, which echoes the commands found in Leviticus. The truth of the call to holiness is rooted in the unchanging nature of God's Word. In 1 Peter 1:16, the Apostle Peter references Leviticus, stating, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' This command transcends the Old Testament and underscores its relevance in the New Covenant as well. The emphasis on holiness arises from God's character, making it an essential aspect of Christian doctrine and practice. Furthermore, the call to holiness embodies the goal of God's grace, encouraging believers to live in a way that reflects His character.

Q: Why is universal holiness important for Christians?

Universal holiness is vital for Christians as it embodies their identity as children of obedience, reflecting God's holiness in their lives. Universal holiness is crucial for Christians because it fulfills their identity as 'children of obedience,' allowing them to live according to their transformed nature. As Peter communicates in his letter, believers are called to be holy in all manner of living (1 Peter 1:15). This pursuit is not optional; it is a divine command rooted in God's character. Moreover, reflecting God's holiness enables Christians to bear witness to the world and uphold the transformative power of grace in their lives. The call to holiness is a comprehensive lifestyle that involves every aspect of existence, thus influencing personal relationships and societal interactions.

Q: How can we pursue holiness according to the Bible?

Pursuing holiness involves living in obedience to God’s commands as outlined in scripture, reflecting His character. Pursuing holiness is an active and ongoing process in the life of a believer. According to 1 Peter 1:14-16, believers are instructed to not conform to their former lusts but to be holy in all aspects of their lives. This pursuit begins with a heartfelt commitment to obedience, grounded in the grace of God which enables transformation. As Christians set their hope on the grace to be revealed at Christ's coming, they are empowered to grow in holiness, aligning their thoughts, actions, and lifestyles with God's will. It is through the work of the Holy Spirit and the study of the Word that believers can cultivate a life that is holy and pleasing to God, showcasing His character in every area of their lives.

Q: Why does God call us to be holy?

God calls us to be holy because He is holy, and it reflects His image in us. The call to holiness is deeply rooted in God's nature. As stated in 1 Peter 1:16, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy,' this command derives from God's intrinsic holiness. The purpose of this call is that believers would reflect God's character to the world, fulfilling the intention of being created in His image. Holiness is not merely about moral perfection; it is about being set apart for God's purposes and displaying His glory to others. The call to holiness serves as an acknowledgment of God's sovereignty, grace, and the transformative work He accomplishes in the lives of those He redeems. Thus, to live a holy life is to live in alignment with God's will and to honor His sacrifice.

that the Spirit gave these words
to us through the mind and pen of the Apostle Peter would be
present to give us understanding in those very words that he has
given us. Let us pray. Our Father, we confess once more
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps, Left to
ourselves, we stumble and feel our way either in blindness or
in partial darkness, and it is only in your light that we see
light. And we therefore cry to you that
you would send your Holy Spirit upon preacher and listener alike,
that we together may be conscious that the author of the scriptures
is present As our teacher in the Scriptures, come, blessed
spirits sent from the ascended Christ, and take of the very
words of Christ given to us in this portion of the Scriptures,
and help us to understand them, to believe them, and to obey
them. And, O God, we pray for those
who at this very moment have no love for that word, no love
for You, the author of it, that You would take that very word
and make it the instrument of Your grace to bring them to repentance
and faith, we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, if we know even a meager
amount of what is taught in the Bible and unfolds in the history
of the Christian Church, we know that the true people of God,
that is, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, has been, in all
of the periods of its history, a relatively despised minority. In the language of Jesus, they
are the little flock to whom the Father has been pleased to
give the kingdom. However, though they are a despised
minority, their influence is disproportionate to their number. While they are the despised minority,
yet Jesus calls them the light of the world and the salt of
the earth. And no little part of their influence,
far disproportionate to their numerical number, is that they
exert an influence among those among whom they live that reflects
the transforming power of the grace of God in their lives. However, when that light begins
to shine in the darkness, according to John chapter 3, men love darkness
rather than light. And when the salt that is checking
the putrefaction of society begins to burn into the very tissue
of that society, there is often a very negative and hostile reaction
to those whom the Lord has made the light of the world and the
salt of the earth. And as a result of that, the
people of God must live out their lives in a context where they
feel the opposition from those among whom they once lived when
they themselves were the sons and daughters of darkness. Well, this is what happened to
the believers there in Asia Minor in these five Roman provinces
to whom Peter directs his letter. And he is concerned with pastoral
passion so to encourage and instruct these believers that they will
remain steadfast in the midst of that opposition and that the
light of their influence will be brighter and the pungency
of their saltiness even more effectual. And as Peter sets
out upon that task, he begins by setting before these distressed
believers, in verses 3 to 12 of the first chapter, that wonderful
display of the great salvation that is theirs in Jesus Christ. If they are to remain stable
and steadfast and faithful in the midst of a growing groundswell
of opposition against them, they must know who and what they are
in Christ. And so Peter begins by blessing
God for this great salvation that is the possession of all
of the people of God. Then, in verse 13, he begins
to direct specific pastoral concerns with these believers, telling
them the kind of life that they ought to live in the light of
the kind of salvation they presently possess, and the salvation that
has such glorious future prospects. And last week we began to consider
the first of these strands of Peter's pastoral instruction
concerning the lifestyle of these distressed believers, and he
makes it clear that it is to be a life marked by steadfast
hope. No sooner does he make the transition
into the practical application of this great salvation with
the word wherefore, but that he directs them to gird up the
loins of their mind, that is, have concentrated mental focus,
to be sober, and to set their hope perfectly on the grace to
be brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So their life
is to be, at its most foundational level, a life marked by steadfast
hope. Confident expectation of all
of the grace that will come to them at the coming of Christ
is to be, as it were, the very atmosphere within which they
live. As they feel the pressure of
a hostile society, as they feel the struggles with their own
remaining sin, as they seek to carry out their calling in an
environment that is not at all sympathetic to their deepest
longings, they are to ever keep in the crosshairs of their mental
and spiritual vision that a moment is coming when the heavens will
be opened and Christ himself will return, and in his return
bring with him and confer upon them the consummate blessings
of his grace. Now, this morning, we begin to
take up verses 14 to 16, in which Peter goes on to give a second
pastoral concern regarding the basic lifestyle of these distressed
believers. They are not only to live a life
marked by steadfast hope, but secondly, they are to live a
life marked by the pursuit of universal holiness. Now, whether
Peter begins a new sentence with verse 14 or continues what he
had already begun to develop in verse 13 is debated by grammarians,
by translators, and also by commentators. However, whether we have a semicolon
and there is a continuation of thought, or whether Peter begins
a separate sentence, it is clear that verses 14 to 16 have one
basic unifying thought. And that thought is Peter's clarion
call to the pursuit of universal holiness. Note how clearly this
call comes through in these verses. As children of obedience, not
fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time
of your ignorance, but like as He who called you is holy, be
yourselves also holy in all manner of living. because it is written,
you shall be holy for I am holy. Here is Peter's clarion call
to the pursuit of universal holiness. And in seeking to unpack the
text, I want you to notice with me, first of all, the foundation
for the pursuit of universal holiness. The foundation for
the pursuit of universal holiness. As Peter begins to open up this
second major directive to the people of God, in what precise
way does he view his readers? And in what way does he want
them to view themselves as they receive this directive? Well, the answer is found in
the opening words of verse 14. as children of obedience. Now you may have a translation
that renders it as obedient children, but the more literal and accurate
rendering is as children of obedience. Now what does that phrase mean? Well as one commentator has very
helpfully distilled the essence of Peter's emphasis, The ancient
Hebrews sometimes expressed character not by an adjective, as we are
accustomed to do. We speak of a cursed man. We
speak of a bitter man. Or we may speak of an enlightened
or a brilliant man. But what the Hebrews would do
is to take a noun and connect it with another noun, meaning
the child or the son. And so you find in Isaiah 57
in verse 4, children of transgression. Rather than saying a transgressing
person, transgression so characterizes that person that the prophet
says he is a child of transgression. He is so committed to a lifestyle
of transgression, it's as though transgression is his parent and
he's reflecting likeness to his parent. Children of transgression. Or you have children of iniquity
in Hosea 10 in verse 9. Iniquity is so much the pattern
of their life that it is though iniquity has birthed them and
they are bearing the family likeness. You see, it's a very powerful
way of expressing a description of character. It is not a comment
on a single characteristic but it is a display of character,
and we find that Hebraism, that way of expressing thought that
was peculiar to the Hebrews, carried over into the New Testament. We find the term children of
the light in Luke chapter 16. We find also in Ephesians chapter
2 and verse 3, children of wrath. and children of darkness, children
of disobedience. And so when we come to this passage
and Peter begins to lay out the second strand of his concern
for these distressed believers and is about to issue to them
a clarion call to universal obedience, the foundation for that pursuit
of universal obedience is what they are in their transformed
Christian character. And what they are is summarized
in these words, they are children of obedience. So before he says
to them, You yourselves be holy in all manner of living because
it is written you shall be holy for I am holy. He addresses them
as children of obedience. He knows that they once were
just the opposite, but by the grace of God, they have now become
what they are. They were once, as Paul describes
the Ephesians in Ephesians 2.2, and were children of disobedience,
even as the rest. Romans 8.7 was descriptive of
all of these believers in their former state. The carnal mind
is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can it be. So then they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. But notice in chapter 1 in verse
2 that when Peter addresses these believers in his initial greeting,
he says that they have become elect sojourners of the dispersion,
in keeping with the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience, the same word in the original,
unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. He knows they are a people who
have come within the orbit of the sanctifying work of the Spirit
the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, and by the operations
of grace, they have been brought into the orbit of a life of obedience,
not only to the call of the gospel, but to the authority of their
gracious Savior, who has redeemed them by his own precious blood. Now why is it important for Peter
to bring that forward at the outset? Why not plunge right
in to this clarion call to universal holiness? Well, Peter wanted
his readers to know, and he wants us to know. that when he gives
this call to universal holiness, he can give it in the confidence
that this summons to universal holiness will not be rejected
as oppressive and legalistic. You see, when anyone begins to
give a call to universal holiness, the immediate knee-jerk reaction
of many is, oh, that's oppressive, that's legalistic. But Peter
knows that in writing to children of obedience, those who are no
longer rebels against God, those who no longer cry out in the
language of Pharaoh, Exodus 5 to Jehovah, that I should serve
him. No longer do they say in the
language of the citizens recorded in Luke 19.14, we will not have
this man to reign over us. Peter knows that this call to
holiness is falling upon the ears of those who have been birthed,
as it were, by obedience as their spiritual parents. They are children
of obedience. They have been given by the mighty
transforming work of God's grace, a heart that is fundamentally
and joyfully submissive to the living God. a heart that delights
in the ways of God and in the will of God. And so Peter prefaces
his summons to universal holiness by this foundational issue of
their true identity by the grace of God. And before we pass on
to our second major head, may I ask you, could Peter, in addressing
this letter to you, address you as children of obedience? To make it more personal, could
he address you as a child of obedience? Sitting here this
morning, can you say that the native disposition of your heart,
and this was the native disposition of all of our hearts, a clenched
fist in the face of God, The carnal mind is enmity itself
against God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can it be. That's what you are and I
am by nature. Now has that been changed so
that the disposition of your heart this morning is that expressed
by Saul of Tarsus when God conquered him by his grace and he cried
out, Lord, what will you have me to do? And then he gladly
identified himself as Paul's bond slave of Jesus Christ while
reveling in his liberty as a child of God. You see, only the child
of God can glory in his identity as a bond slave of Christ and
yet know all the blessed liberty. of an adopted son or daughter
who renders joyful obedience to all that his heavenly Father
requires of him and demands of him. So as we come to consider
this clarion call to universal holiness, if you do not have
the disposition that can be described as a child of obedience, you're
going to find this very irksome. In a sense, the proclamation
of this gospel privilege will be the preaching of the law to
your heart. It will stir up your enmity. Who in the world is God? to mess
around with all the details of my life and say to me, be holy
in all manner of conversation, in all manner of life, so there's
not a thought I'm free to think, a word I'm free to speak, a relationship
I'm free to establish, a dime I'm free to spend without regard
to whether or not it is a reflection of the holiness of God. Who in
the world is God to impose that on me? That will be your disposition. But if you are a child of obedience,
your response will be in the light of this amazing salvation
described in verses 3 to 12. And in the light of my hope that
at the coming of Christ, all of the residual dimensions of
God's purposes of grace will be realized in me. What a privilege
to seek to be holy in all manner of life. even as the God who
has graciously saved me is holy." So Peter begins with the foundation
for the pursuit of universal holiness, but then secondly,
and this is the heart of the text, we have the clarion call
to the pursuit of universal holiness, and note that it's broken down
into two categories. The first is negative, and the
second is positive. As children of obedience, not
As children of obedience, not. Peter, don't you know you don't
make progress with people being negative? No, Peter didn't know
it, nor does the Holy Ghost know it. As children of obedience,
not. Now, what's your reaction at
God's nots? Do you have a knee-jerk reaction?
Or do you welcome God's nots? Well, if you love him, you welcome
anything he says to you. It's a mercy that he would speak
to us. And he's speaking to us here, as he spoke to those first
century Christians. And he's issuing this clarion
call to the pursuit of holiness, beginning with the negative,
not fashioning yourselves according to your former lust in the time
of your ignorance. And then there's a strong adversative,
Allah, but Then the positive, like as he who called you is
holy, be yourselves holy in all manner of living. So let's seek
to unpack then this clarion call, first of all with its negative.
Now this word, as children of obedience, not Fashioning yourselves. This word is found only one other
time in the New Testament. Perhaps you've already thought
of it. Romans 12 in verse 2. Be not conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Do not be conformed. Do not be fashioned according
to this world. It means to form together. And it's in a particular voice,
which means with respect to yourself. Do not form together with respect
to yourself, not forming yourself together according to your former
lusts in the time of your ignorance. To get an idea of what it means
to form after a pattern, think of the sculptor who sits with
his lump of clay, and there a few feet to one side of him is the
man whose head he's seeking to reproduce. And he glances at
the individual whom he is sculpting, and then back to his lump of
clay, fashioning all the contours according to the standard of
the shape, the size, and the contours of the face and the
neck of the man whom he's seeking to reproduce. Now, this is what
Peter says to these believers. All of you are in a sense spiritual
sculptors. You're fashioning yourself. You
are forming your life together by some pattern or some model. Now, he says in issuing this
call to universal holiness, you must not be fashioning yourself
according to, and what's the model that he says we must reject?
It is the model described in these words, your former lusts
in the time of your ignorance. What they are not to do is to
take the lusts of their pre-converted days as the standard by which
to fashion their lives. In their pre-converted days,
using the word former, They were governed and molded and shaped
by their lust and their passions. Now, this particular word, lust,
is morally neutral in itself. It's found several times in the
New Testament in a way that is not sinful. But in Peter's usage,
four times here in 1 Peter, and I think it's two in 2 Peter,
it is always negative in its connotation. It is always lust
in terms of desires and appetites and passions that are finding
an expression contrary to the will of God. And Peter says the
dominant characteristic of your lust in your unconverted days,
look at the text, is the word ignorance. They are your ignorant
lusts. They are lusts that partook of
and reflected your state of spiritual ignorance. Now, when this term
ignorance is used, it has nothing to do with IQ. It has nothing
to do with the numbers on their SAT tests. It has nothing to
do with book learning. It has to do with spiritual realities. It has to do with such things
as the knowledge of God as He is, the knowledge of His law
in its breadth and in its extent as it is. It has to do with the
knowledge of God's amazing provisions of grace and mercy in the gospel. And Peter can describe all of
these believers. regardless of their varying differences
in background, as having a past that was marked by fashioning,
shaping, forming life according to the contours of lust, lust
that were suffused with and reflective of spiritual ignorance. Now that's
not a way to win friends and influence people by describing
them in those terms. But you see, Peter wasn't in
the business of winning friends and influencing people. He was
in the business of conveying truth. And the truth is that
these people in Asia Minor, who have no reason to believe Peter
ever saw in the flesh, never knew much about their specific
individual history, Peter, knowing his Bible and knowing what human
nature is in the light of the Bible and common observation,
could say that their pre-converted pattern of life was one marked
by ignorance and ignorance finding its conduit of expression in
the fulfilling of their sinful lusts and passions. Paul gives
a similar description of the Ephesians in chapter 4, verses
17 and 18 of the book of Ephesians. He exhorts these believers not
to walk as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind,
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God,
and here's our word, because of the ignorance that is in them. because of the hardening of their
heart. Paul says the Gentiles walk as
they walk. fundamentally because of the
darkness of the understanding, the ignorance that is in them. While they boast themselves in
superior knowledge that puts them above the standards of God's
law and causes them to distance themselves from the claims and
privileges of the gospel, the Spirit of God says all of this
is not a manifestation of superior intellect, It's a manifestation
of abysmal and pathetic and culpable ignorance. So as Peter is going
to call these believers to a life of universal holiness, he begins
by the negative and says you are not to fashion yourself according
to your former lust in the time of your ignorance. And in so
doing, do you see the truth that Peter is bringing forward before
he gets to the positive statement of calling them to universal
holiness explicitly? Peter is underscoring the truth
taught everywhere in the Scriptures. a truth that we must grasp if
we're to make any progress in the Christian life, that though
the dominion of sin is broken in every true believer, every
true believer is fundamentally a child of obedience, yet he
is not a perfect child of obedience. Though our former loss no longer
reign, they do remain. And like a usurper king who's
been dethroned, but is determined to take back the throne from
which he was yanked off, So this usurper, lust of our ignorance,
which took the ascendancy and the throne of our hearts and
became the fashioning influence of our lifestyle, Peter says,
that's no longer true of you. You are children of obedience. You are a people who have been
begotten again, and in the power of God's grace, sin no longer
reigns. It's been dethroned. But he wants
these people to know that sin remains, and if allowed to, it
will seek to regain ascendancy, and therefore he starts with
the negative. not fashioning yourselves according
to the former lusts in the time of your ignorance. He is conscious
that the people of God need to reckon upon this tension. Yes,
I am a child of obedience. I want to render pleasing submission
to my Heavenly Father, but there is another power at work within
me. They are my former lusts. But they have not so died and
been buried that they will not seek to exert a fashioning influence
upon me. Therefore, my calling from my
gracious Father is not fashioning myself according to the former
lusts in the time of my ignorance." But then he goes to the positive. And it begins with a word in
the original that is a strong adversity in contrast to fashioning
yourself according to your former lust and your ignorance. Here
now is the very heart of the clarion call to the pursuit of
universal holiness. Let's look at it under three
subheads. First, the essence of the call
to universal holiness. Look at it in your Bibles. like
as he who called you is holy, be yourselves holy in all manner
of living. Because it is written, you shall
be holy, for I am holy. What I tried to do vocally was
to highlight what the heart, the essence of this call is.
The words, like as he who called you is holy, are preparatory. The words that follow, because
it is written, are confirmatory, but the essence of the call to
universal holiness is in these words, be yourselves holy in
all manner of living. That's the heart of the apostolic
directive. All else is clustered around
it and either gives amplification, qualification, or explanation. This is the central imperative
The words, not fashioning yourselves, are a participle. They have a
flavor of an imperative, but they are not a strict imperative.
Peter wants us to know, in weighing his words, that whatever place
not fashioning ourselves according to the former lust of our ignorance
may have, the central concern is with this imperative, be yourselves
holy in all manner of living. Now, you've been told many times
from this book that the heart of the idea of holy in the Bible
is separateness. It means to be separated unto
God, dedicated to God, consecrated to God, withdrawn from common
use unto God's special and sacred use. Now, in this context, when
the contrast is given with the negative, set apart from all
those things which were produced by your former ignorant lust,
you are to be holy, utterly, thoroughly, dedicated, consecrated
to God, withdrawn from common use unto His sacred use. And this call is a call, I keep
using the words universal holiness, and I use them to try to capture
the essence of this word, anastrophe. In the original, it is passe
anastrophe, all manner of living. And that word anastrophe is one
of Peter's favorite words. It's found, I believe, 13 times
in the New Testament. Eight of them are in Peter's
letters. And the best equivalent in modern
Americanese is lifestyle. Anastrophe means not an act here
or a deed here or a thought here, but it means the totality of
your life as it forms a pattern in its visible expressions before
men. That's the essence of the meaning
of the word anastrophe. It's used in Galatians 1.13 where
Paul says, You know my manner of life before I was converted. You know the overall patterns
and structures of my life as a zealous Jew in opposition to
Christ and to the gospel. You have heard of my manner of
life in time past in the Jews' religion. You've heard of how
I went after Christians and persecuted them. You know of my great zeal. You know my lifestyle as a bigoted
Pharisee. It's used in Ephesians 4.22 with
respect to the lifestyle of the Ephesians before they were converted. Put away as concerning your former
manner of life. the old man, your former manner
of life, your whole lifestyle when you were yet in Adam, old
man, severed from Christ. So that when these believers
up there in Asia Minor would have heard one of their elders
stand on the Lord's Day and read this epistle, be yourselves holy,
separated, dedicated, consecrated unto God, In all anastrophe,
they would have known immediately that this call to holiness was
a call to nothing less than universal holiness. Holiness that would
touch the deepest springs of the inner life and would touch
every spring of the outer life. There was to be nothing that
constituted their lifestyle that could not be called consecrated
unto God, dedicated unto God. No compartments of secular and
sacred. No hours of the day to be separated
unto God, and other hours to be separated unto their former
lust, and then some so-called neutral hours to be separated
unto nothing or no one. No, the call is by this imperative,
be yourselves holy. And he adds a word to underscore,
he's addressing every one of them, be yourselves. Not a simple
imperative, but he adds a word, be you yourselves holy in all
manner of living. And in trying to simply expound
the text, we need to note, first of all, that in the essence of
this call to universal holiness, Peter has set before us this
non-negotiable standard of the Word of God. But then notice
the lofty standard in connection with this call to holiness. Note
the lofty standard in connection with this call to universal holiness,
verse 15. But like as he who called you
is holy, be yourselves also holy." Now some would argue that we
ought to render the passage, but according as the Holy One
who called you, be yourselves holy. And others say, no, the
proper rendering is, but like, according to the pattern of the
one who called you who is himself holy, be ye holy. Which is it? Well, really, it makes no difference
at the end of the day. If it's the Holy One who called
us, God himself is being set before us as the pattern, or
if the proper rendering is, but like as he who called you is
holy, so be ye holy, so at the end of the day we don't need
to sort out the debate and I don't need to take you into any deeper
into that debate. The truth is on the surface of
the text that the standard in connection with the call to universal
holiness is nothing less than the spotless, pure, unsullied
holiness of God himself. Think of it. The one who has
as one of his dominant names the Holy One of Israel. Is he a God of infinite, unspeakable
love and mercy? Yes. But he never takes to himself
the title the loving one of Israel. His love to Israel is spoken
of many times, affirmed by deed and word. But he does take to
himself the name the holy one of Israel. Thus saith the lofty
one, the high and the lofty one, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy
place. Or in the language of 1 John,
This, then, is the message we've heard of Him. Heard of whom?
Heard of Christ, the incarnate Word. John says we've touched
Him, we've handled, we've heard Him. This is the message we've
heard of Him and declare unto you. And what is the first message
John says he heard from Christ? In 1 John 4.8 he says God is
love, but in 1 John 1.5 he says God is light. God is light, and
in Him is no darkness at all. God is pure, unsullied, undiminished,
unblemished light, all moral purity in the very core of His
being, outward into all of His ways. so that the theologians
speak of God's holiness as the conditioning attribute of all
of His other attributes. He is love, but He is holy love. He is mercy, but He is holy mercy. He is justice, but He is holy
justice. He is righteousness, but holy
righteousness. And so, as Peter is writing to
these distressed, relatively new converts in Asia Minor, telling
them that in the outworking of the Christian life, their hearts
must be set upon that marvelous hope of the coming of Christ. He now says that surely a steadfast
hope is the climate of your Christian life. a commitment to universal
holiness, holiness in all manner of living, with nothing less
than God himself in his burning holiness as your standard. That's
to be the commitment of your walk before God. But then he
underscores the gracious context of this call to universal holiness. Look again at the text. The distilled
essence, be yourselves holy in all manner of living. The lofty
standard, as he who called you is holy. But look at the gracious
context. But like as he who called you,
like as he who called you is holy. Why does Peter add that
term, he who called Well, this holy God is none other than the
God who in grace and mercy came to these people when they were
held in the grip and bondage of their former lusts in their
ignorance, dead in their trespasses and sins, and he brought the
gospel to them. Remember verse 12? These things
that are preached in the gospel with the Holy Spirit sent down
from heaven. And what happened? The God who
brought the gospel to them, the God who secured the facts of
the gospel, who so loved the world that He sent His only begotten
Son, who handed Him over to His own righteous fury and wrath
until He made full atonement for the sins of His people. That
God brought the gospel to these people And not only in the gospel
announced that there was a way of pardon and acceptance, and
not only graciously and sovereignly invited them into the privileges
of the gospel, but he sovereignly and powerfully brought them into
the possession of the very blessings promised in the gospel. That's
calling in the New Testament. It never means God just sending
out a message and inviting. I'm sorry, there are a couple
of instances where calling simply means to summons or invite. But
its use in all of the epistles and its use here in Peter, five
times in 1 Peter, it's one of his favorite terms. It refers
to nothing less than what the theologians have called God's
effectual calling. call. It actually affects what
it frames. It says to sinners, come and
you will be welcome. God's calling causes them to
come and they are received. We sing of it every time we sing
in 271. Why was I made to hear thy voice
and enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched
choice and rather starve than come? It was the same love that
spread the feast that sweetly drew us in, else we had still
refused to taste and perished in our sin. And you see what
Peter is doing? He is reminding these believers
that there is a gracious context of this call to universal holiness. The God who says, Be yourselves
holy as I am holy. Peter says, Remember, believers,
He's the God who called you. You stand in grace today because
Almighty God in grace laid hold of you and drew you into the
possession of the blessings of the gospel. That's why in chapter
2 in verse 9, he describes God in the same way, the God who
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light when he's
giving instruction to slaves as to how they're to respond
to unkind and difficult masters. Verse 21, For hereunto were you
called. Remember, your masters may cuss
you, but Almighty God has called you. and brought you into the
orbit of His gracious salvation. Chapter 3 and verse 9, not rendering
evil for evil, reviling for reviling, but contrary wise blessing for
hereunto were you called. You are a called people. In chapter
5 and verse 10 again, the God of all grace who called you unto
His eternal glory in Christ. He wants them to know who they
are. Yes, He wants them to know. that
with their hearts set steadfastly on the hope of the Lord's return,
committed to a lifestyle in which they will not fashion themselves
after the former lust of their ignorance, their hearts committed
to a life of universal holiness after the pattern of God himself,
all of this is within the orbit and the dynamics of God's calling
grace. He calls them to this lifestyle
of universal holiness, but he wants them to know that it is
a call that comes within the orbit of the grace of God, and
the grace that summons them to so high a noble a standard is
the grace that will meet them in the pursuit of the same. Well,
we've looked at the foundation for the pursuit of universal
holiness, children of obedience, the summons to the pursuit of
universal holiness, its essence, its standard, its gracious conduct. But now someone asks the question,
what's the rationale for all of this? Why should I be holy
in all manner of living? And so we come, thirdly, to the
basic rationale for the pursuit of universal holiness, verse
16. The basic rationale, the reasons, the fundamental reasons. When someone says, give me the
rationale for that, what he means is, give me the basic, the heart,
the core, the nuts and bolts, reasons for what you're doing,
what you're saying. Well, what is the basic rationale
for the pursuit of universal holiness? Look at verse 16. Because
And the word in the original, because, is the very word you
would use when you want to draw a deduction, when you want to
give a reason. Because a mother may say to her
child, take your umbrella and your raincoat because there's
a 95% chance of rain before you get out of school today. Do this
because, here's the rationale, I'm not just being a meanie mama,
I'm not just wanting you to get your umbrella and your raincoat
out so to be sure that I remember what they look like. No, I'm
not giving you an irrational command, do this and do this
because. Now that's what Peter is doing.
Now it should be enough if God says it. He doesn't need to give
a rationale to us, but he does. He deals with us graciously as
reasoning creatures made in His image and renewed unto that image
in grace. And all that Peter then says,
by way of the rationale, rests down upon these words because
it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. Now, he doesn't
cite the reference. So don't get upset when preachers
quote texts and don't cite the references. Many times, Scripture
doesn't quote its references. Where is it written, you should
be holy, for I am holy? Well, there are three explicit
statements of this nature in the book of Leviticus, and I'm
personally convinced that Peter was thinking particularly of
the first and most full reference in Leviticus 11, and I want you
to turn there for just a few moments. Whenever you see an
Old Testament passage quoted in the New Testament, go back
to that passage and read the context, and often it will be
profoundly helpful, and it is so in this instance. In Leviticus
chapter 11, God is giving all of these rules and regulations
regarding matters that will be matters of cleanness or uncleanness
in the corporate life of the nation of Israel. And after speaking
about not having dealings with creeping things, etc., verse
44 of Leviticus 11, we read as follows. For I am the Lord your
God. Sanctify yourselves, therefore,
and be ye holy, for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves
with any manner of creeping thing that moves upon the earth, for
I am the Lord that brought you up out of the land of Egypt to
be your God. You shall therefore be holy,
for I am holy." Now a distilled version of this is repeated in
Leviticus 19.2 and Leviticus 20.7. And if you have a Bible that
has marginal references, you will most likely find next to
1 Peter 1, 16, these three references from Leviticus. Leviticus 11,
Leviticus 19, and Leviticus 20. Now, using this passage, Peter
is stating that the rationale for this summons to pursue universal
holiness is twofold. Twofold. Number one, it is the
explicit command of Scripture. And secondly, it is the inevitable
obligation and goal of the grace of God. First of all, because
it is the explicit command of Scripture. When Peter says, You
shall be holy, for I am holy, because it is written. That's the standard formula.
It stands written. It's always in a perfect tense,
something that happened and the effect of which remains to the
present. God's word was given and all
the plenitude of its authority stands and abides to the present
moment. And Peter has no scruples about
taking a command embedded in the midst of ceremonial law to
the nation of Israel and say, look, you scattered sojourners
up there in Asia Minor, In all the privileges of new covenant,
grace, and salvation, which I've just expounded, verses 3 to 12,
you are to pursue universal holiness, because God has said and it is
written, you shall be holy, for I am holy." Peter, didn't anyone
ever teach you dispensational truth? That was to Israel. You see, Peter didn't know any
such nonsense. He was not imposing the ceremonial
laws, but He imposes as the abiding Word of God to His covenant people
in the New Covenant, the precise standard set for His covenant
people in the Old Covenant, you shall be holy, for I am holy. And there the foundation, the
rationale for the pursuit of universal holiness is the explicit
command of Scripture. And as children of obedience,
we should need no other reason than that our gracious God who
called us commands us to universal holiness. But embedded in that
original passage in Exodus is not only the explicit command
of God, but it's clear that it is the inevitable obligation
and goal of the grace of God. Look back at the Leviticus passage.
When God says, you shall be holy, for I am holy, he goes on to
say in verse 45, for I am the Lord that brought you up out
of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy,
for I am holy." What is God saying? He is saying, I came to you in
your state of slavery, in your state of desperate bondage. And because I set my love upon
you and I purposed to take you of all the families of the earth
to be my people, to enter into a covenant of love, what God
says, he married himself to Israel and became her husband. And God
says, because of my grace, And because I have made myself your
God, you are to be holy, for I am holy." What is involved
in all of that? Well, simply stated, it's this.
Man was made in the image of God. Genesis chapter 1, chapter
2. Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness. Man was to reflect in the concreteness
of his psychosomatic entity the character of the God who made
him. He was made the image of God. And before sin entered, Adam
and Eve reflected in their creaturely limitations, they reflected perfectly
the character of the God who made them. You looked at Adam
and Eve and you know what God was like. Made in the image of
God. And what did sin do? All have
sinned and fall short of what? The glory of God. The image is
marred. The image is defaced. The image
is distorted. It's grotesque. But God said,
I have purposes to take a people out for myself. And to do what? To restore my image in them.
And when God laid hold of the nation of Israel, he says through
the prophet Isaiah, I did so that you would be the instrument
of my praise and of my glory to all the nations of the world.
They were to reflect the likeness of the God who in grace laid
hold of them. And in new covenant salvation,
what is the great end of God, according to Romans 8, 29, whom
he did foreknow he did predestinate to be what conformed to the image
of his son. Ephesians 4 24 says the new man
has been created after God in righteousness and holiness of
the truth. God is committed to the restoration
of that image. So when he takes people into
covenant, gracious relations to himself, that grace obligates
them to be like the God who called them. I'm the Lord, he says,
I'm the Lord who redeemed you out of Egypt to be your God. You shall be holy. You shall
reflect my character. And now he's redeemed us from
something far worse than Egyptian bondage, the bondage of our sin
and the tyranny of the devil. And he has brought us to himself
and made him himself to be our God and we to be our people.
To what end? That we might be like him. That's
why he can say in chapter 2, 9, he said that you have been
called out of darkness into marvelous light to do what? To show forth
the Aretes, the virtues of him who called you out of darkness
and into his marvelous light. And so Peter wants these first
century Christians to understand that the rationale for the pursuit
of universal holiness is twofold. It is the explicit command of
God and it is the inevitable obligation and goal of the grace
of God. What does that tell us? That
says to have anything less than a fundamental heart commitment
to a life of universal holiness is to fly into the face of the
authority of God in His explicit command and is to treat lightly
the very goal and purpose of the grace of God. That's serious
business. serious business. Now having
sought to open up the text in the few moments that remain,
let me bring just two very pointed applications to your consciences
and to your understanding. And the first is this, and I've
had to pass over so many things to just settle upon these two.
I want you to notice the inseparable relationship between hope and
holiness. Here you're sitting in the congregation.
For the first time you hear Peter's words. Wherefore, your heart
is soared as he's opened up this magnificent panorama of salvation. And then perhaps the reader,
I trust, had the wisdom to pause and to say, wherefore, and all
the ears perk up and they come back down to earth. The first
words that come out is, girding up the loins of your mind, being
sober, set your hope completely, irreversibly, resolutely upon
the coming grace that will be manifested at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Yes, yes, I must. I must, amidst
all that we are facing in the light of so great a salvation,
the best is yet to come. I must, with regular discipline
of mental sobriety, gather up all of the loose folds of my
thinking, be in touch with reality, and keep in my eye that blessed
moment of the revelation of Jesus Christ. And then the reader would
go on to say, not fashioning yourselves according to the former
lust in the time of your ignorance, but like as he who called you
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of living, because it
is written you should be holy, for I am holy. And unless someone
was to show himself to be a rebel against God, his heart would
have to run out and say, oh God, You call me to steadfast hope,
but you also call me to universal holiness. Hope and holiness are
inseparable. And they're not only inseparable
in Peter's letter. According to 1 John 3, 2 and
3, they are inseparable in the heart of every true Christian.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, and every man
that hath this hope in him goes on purifying himself, even as
he is pure. Every man that hath this hope
is purifying himself. Hope and holiness are inseparable. not only in the Word of God,
but in the experience of every true child of God. And if you
are not pursuing holiness as your basic lifestyle, you have
no grounds to believe. Your hope is a valid hope. Hope and holiness are inseparable. They're inseparable in this text.
They are inseparable in the confirming word of John the Apostle. They
are inseparable in all valid Christian experience. And each
one beautifully and wonderfully feeds the other in the experience
of the true child of God. As he has his hope set perfectly
on the grace to be brought to him, he longs to please that
Lord who will bring that grace, and he grows in holiness. And
as he grows in holiness, he yearns for the consummation of holiness.
So the pursuit of holiness genders hope, and hope feeds the pursuit
of holiness. And the second observation is
this. This passage shows the absolute necessity of regeneration
before you can ever make any progress in sanctification. To
whom does Peter call, or who is he calling to this life of
universal holiness? When he writes, Be holy It's
according to the pattern of the one who called you. He's assuming
they are a called people. He opens up the whole passage
by this fundamental perspective as children of obedience beholding. He knows that for those who are
not children of obedience, such a command is impossible. You
have neither desire nor power And for you to say, well, I'm
going to try to get my act together here and stop this lust and stuff.
No, no, you've missed the whole point, my friend. Your lifestyle
needs to be radically altered at its very foundation and at
its very taproots and its very springs. Out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaks. Make the tree good and the fruit
good, Jesus said. You've got to start with the
heart. And until you can say, yes, I bless God who has begotten
me again to a living hope. I bless God that I have known
the sanctifying work of the Spirit and the sprinkling of the blood
of Christ. God has indeed called me by His
grace. My friend, until you can say
that, you cannot, you cannot make any progress in the pursuit
of holiness. And therefore I plead with you
to remember the words of Jesus who said, without me you can
do nothing. And what you need is to come
to the prior concern that is bound up in the call of the gospel,
and that is to repent and to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ,
to acknowledge that right now the former times of the ignorance
of these people are the present times of your life. This is the
description of you. You are fashioning your life.
Every one of us is a personal fashioner. Every one of us. Your
life is being fashioned by some pattern. It is. It's the pattern of the world's
thinking, the world's standards, the world's goals, what it considers
important, unimportant, or it is the pattern of a holy God. And you sit here this morning,
fashioned not by former lust in your ignorance, but by present
lust, shaped by your ignorance of God, willful ignorance. Ignorance
of the strictness of His law, ignorance of the wonders and
the glories of gospel, joy and peace and pardon and life. My unconverted friend, man or
woman, I plead with you this day to hear that word that comes
from the risen Christ bidding you to come unto him to find
in him the promised rest to all who burdened with the tyranny
of being battered and molded and fashioned by things that
will only eventually damn you want to know the glorious liberty
of the sons of God and join the ranks of the children of obedience. And I pray for you, God's people,
that if you find the slightest internal irritation at what you've
heard this morning, what I believe is far from an infallible exposition,
far from a perfect exposition, but I believe a fair and honest
treatment of the text of the Word of God, You need to ask
yourself, if you name the name of Christ, if you feel the slightest
discomfort in a sermon that has as its title and the thrust of
its exposition a clarion call to universal holiness. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for
the clarity of your word. We thank you for the wisdom given
to your servant, Peter, and we pray that the Spirit of God would
write these words upon each of our hearts, that we would not
be content with a mere surface token holiness of life. but that there would be born
in our breast a holy passion to be holy in all manner of living,
because you, the gracious God who has called us, are holy. And not only have you commanded
us to be like you, but you have in grace made yourself to be
our God. Seal then your word to the prophet
of each one of us, and dismiss us with the blessing of your
gracious presence resting upon us through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Clarion Call to the Pursuit of Holiness

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about holiness?

How do we know the call to holiness is true?

Why is universal holiness important for Christians?

How can we pursue holiness according to the Bible?

Why does God call us to be holy?

Sermon Transcript

About Albert N. Martin

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The Clarion Call to the Pursuit of Holiness

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about holiness?

How do we know the call to holiness is true?

Why is universal holiness important for Christians?

How can we pursue holiness according to the Bible?

Why does God call us to be holy?

Sermon Transcript

About Albert N. Martin

Comments

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