Let's open our Bibles again to
1 Peter chapter 1. The title of the message is Diligently
Searching Salvation. I like to read verses 9 and 10
by way of introduction to make a few comments from them and
get into the main points that I have. In verse 9, Peter says,
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your of
which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently,
to prophesy of the grace that should come unto you." Now, salvation
in Christ is the message of the whole Bible. These Old Testament
prophets, they prophesied of the grace that should come unto
you in our Lord Jesus Christ. Those Old Testament prophets
did not preach salvation by works, and then the apostles began to
preach salvation by grace. Salvation has always been by
grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that message
is seen more clearly in the New Testament because Christ has
already come. Christ is the message of scripture,
so it seems pretty obvious that message is seen more clearly
after Christ came and finished the work that the Father gave
him to do from all of eternity. But the Old Testament and the
New Testament have the same message. The gospel that's preached to
you now is the same message of all those Old Testament prophets.
Peter says in verse 12, speaking of these prophets, on whom it
was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister
the things. These things that they looked into, these things
that they prophesied of, they knew they were ministering those
things to us. And those things are now the things which are
now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel
unto you. with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which
things the angels desire to look into." Those Old Testament prophets
didn't clearly see all the things that they were prophesying of,
but men who preach the gospel today take those very scriptures,
those very prophecies, and preach the gospel clearly to you because
we can see those things in the light of the New Testament. Brother
Henry taught us the Old Testament is the New Testament conceived.
And the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed, but they're
the same message. And you can understand all the
pictures and types and shadows of the Old Testament when you
read the New Testament. Now, those Old Testament prophets,
they had some understanding of the things that the Spirit revealed
to them and the Spirit that led them to write. They understood
those things were not just for their benefit. They understood
their writings and their prophecies were for our benefit because
we would live after Christ came. But those things were written
to reveal Christ to our hearts. Now what could be more beneficial
than that? Having Christ revealed to our
hearts. That was their message. Their message wasn't law. Now
the law was given to show us our sin and to drive us to Christ,
to drive us to faith in Christ who did keep the law for his
people. Abraham wasn't saved by the law. What does scripture
say? Abraham believed God. And it
was counted to him for righteousness. Abraham wasn't made righteous
through his own obedience. He was made righteous through
the obedience of Christ. By Christ's righteousness being
imputed to him through faith. The righteousness of Christ was
imputed to Abraham by faith because he believed God. And you and
I are saved the exact same way. Abraham wasn't glad because he
kept the law. Why was Abraham glad? because
he saw Christ. Our Lord said, Abraham saw my
day and was glad. He was glad because he saw the
Redeemer, the object of his faith. Abraham never could have been
glad about anything he did. The only reason Abraham could
be glad, the only reason any of us, any son of Adam could
have any lasting joy and happiness, is that we see the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, salvation in Christ, that's
the message of the whole Scripture. That's the most amazing truth
that's ever been proclaimed to man. That salvation is so wonderful. The Old Testament prophets searched
diligently. They inquired. They sought it
out. The Holy Spirit gave them a glimpse
of Christ and they longed to see Christ more clearly. They
got a glimpse of salvation and they longed to see that salvation
accomplished in the person that the Spirit gave them a glimpse
of. They longed to see the first coming of Christ, just like you
and I long to see His second coming. Every day, I hope, maybe
today would be the day. I mean, I long for it. That's
the way they longed to see the first coming of Christ. They
longed to see the Messiah. They foresaw grace and light
coming into the world. They saw it just as a speck of
light out there in the distance. And they long to see it more.
They long to see more of it. Now, these words that Peter used,
they allude to miners who dig down through the earth and they
don't stop digging till they get to bedrock. That's how hard
they work and dig. That's how diligently these Old
Testament prophets searched the scriptures. That's how they inquired
in search of this salvation diligently. They kept digging and digging
and digging till they got down to the bedrock. Even though these
men were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Now you think of this.
These men were inspired by God the Holy Spirit to write the
Word of God. These were not their words. These
were the words of God. They still diligently searched
to find the salvation. They wanted to know more of it.
And even though a believer may have known Christ a long time. That's the believer. who's most
earnestly searching out this salvation. The more we know of
Christ, the more we'll want to know of Him. The more we see
Him, the more clearly we'll desire to see Him. This salvation is
so wondrous that angels desire to look into it. These angels
that are in the presence of God, they desire to look into and
see how this salvation is accomplished. by God's Son becoming a man and
suffering and dying as a substitute for his people. That's a mystery
to those angels. The angels could not understand
what was happening when the Light of Glory became a man, born a
baby in a manger. They couldn't understand that.
The angels couldn't understand when they saw the joy of heaven
living as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. earnestly
desire to look into that and see what's happening there. Why
is God doing that? They couldn't understand. You
think you can't understand this, the angels can't understand this.
When the Holy Son of God was made to be sin, they couldn't
understand. When they saw the father put
his son to death, they desire to look into that. What's he
doing there? What's this mean? What's he accomplishing?
They couldn't understand when life personified died on Calvary's
tree. They still desire to understand
it to this day, to see and understand what it is God's doing there.
This struck me as very interesting. If you can't get anybody interested
in those things I just told you, you can't get anybody interested
in that. But men desire to see the things that angels see. They
want to see the streets of gold and the pearly gates and people
floating around on clouds or, you know, whatever vision, you
know, they think of heaven. Angels see that. That's what
they want to see. The angels desire to see what you see. They
desire to see and understand the gospel that you understand
and that you love. Isn't that something? That just
tells you about human nature, doesn't it? Now, this salvation
is something every one of us desperately need. And we should
diligently search for it. Diligently. And I'll tell you
this, if you ever see yourself as a needy sinner, you'll desire
this salvation so much, you'll sell everything you've got and
go searching for it. You won't let anything stand
in your way of searching this salvation if God ever shows you
what you are. Look over at Jeremiah chapter
29. Jeremiah 29, verse 11. For I know the thoughts that
I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, not
of evil, to give you an expected end. Now, you notice what comes
first here. God's purpose, His mercy, His
grace came first. Then what happens to those objects
of grace? We'll look at verse 12. Then
ye shall call upon me And ye shall go and pray unto me, and
I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me and find
me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." You
search for him diligently, you will find him. "'I will be found
of you,' saith the Lord. And I will turn away your captivity,
and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the
places whither I have driven you,' saith the Lord. And I will
bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried
away captive." Now how did they know to do that? How do people
know to seek the Lord and call upon him in prayer? Verse 15,
because ye have said, the Lord hath raised us up prophets in
Babylon. They knew to do that because
God sent them a preacher, preaching the very gospel that I've preached
to you tonight, the exact same gospel. Sinners will seek the
Savior when they hear of their own sin and his sufficiency. If a sinner ever hears that in
the gospel of God's grace, they'll seek you. And it doesn't matter
whether they're Old Testament prophets or New Testament prophets,
the message is the same. Now, if we search this salvation,
we look into it diligently, we'll find five truths about salvation
that are revealed in our text this evening. The first one is
this. Salvation is by faith. Look at verse 9. 1 Peter 1, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Receiving
the end of your faith. Now that word end, it means aim. It means purpose. The purpose,
the aim, the goal of your faith is the salvation of your soul.
And that's the meaning we always use for this word end. And that's
an accurate meaning. That's exactly what it means.
It's a true meaning. The end of your faith is the
salvation of your souls. If I look this word up Monday.
And here's another meaning of this word. It means determination. The point at which a thing ceases
to be. Now when a believer receives
the end of your faith, at that point when you are saved, both
body and soul, and you're in the presence of Christ, faith
will have its end. Faith will be terminated. It
will cease to be. You won't need faith anymore.
Faith will give way to sight. You won't walk by faith anymore.
In glory, we're going to walk by sight because we see Christ
face to face. That's the termination point
of your faith. When you have the ultimate salvation
of body and soul. Look at Ephesians chapter 2. And this salvation is by faith. It is received by faith. Ephesians
2 verse 8. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast." Saving faith is the gift of God,
so then salvation must be the gift of God that we receive through
faith. If you look in Acts chapter 16,
I'll show you an example of this. Salvation received by faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, by believing Him. Now in Acts 16, Paul and Silas
hear the story. They were thrown into prison.
About midnight, they were singing and praying and the great earthquake
came and the jailer was going to kill himself. He thought all
the prisoners had escaped. In verse 30, Paul told them,
no, we're all still here. Don't do yourself any harm. In
verse 30, that old jailer brought them out and said, Sirs, what
must I do to be saved? Now what's the answer to that
question? Paul and Silas tell me you have to walk an aisle
and shake a preacher's hand. You've got to be baptized. You've
got to understand and believe and put your stamp on this certain
set of doctrines and creeds and so forth. No. What's the answer? Believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith. Verse 31, and they said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy
house. You and anybody else. who believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. But now, what Christ
are you going to believe? Now, there are many Jesus's preached
today. I mean many. And all of them
are false now. Which one are you going to believe?
Saving faith is in God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
exactly who Paul and Silas preached. Verse 32, they spake unto him
the word of the Lord. and to all that were in his house.
They preached unto him, the Lord Jesus Christ, this one, who you
are to believe in order to have this salvation. I told you, we're
not saved because we're baptized. That's right, isn't it? Let me
ask you this question. Is baptism important? Yes, it
is. Baptism is the confession of
salvation in Christ. Believers' baptism is the way
that we publicly confess our Savior. This is His commandment.
We'll look at verse 33. And He took them the same hour
of the night, washed their stripes, and was baptized. He in all His
straight way. Everyone who believed that night
was baptized. That's our Lord's command. That's
what happens when a person is given faith in Christ. And you
know what they do next? They serve God. by serving his
people. Look at verse 34. And when he
had brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced,
believing in God with all of his house. As soon as the Lord
saved them, he took those preachers, he washed their stripes, he gave
them a good meal and rejoiced with them. He served God by serving
his people. That's the salvation that's the
result of faith in Christ. And if you diligently search
this salvation, You'll find this. You must have faith in order
to receive it. The deeper and deeper and deeper
that you dig into this, the more you'll find salvation is not
something that can be earned. The deeper and deeper and deeper
you dig into your heart. The darker and darker and darker
and darker it will be, and the more you'll see salvation must
be believed, it's not earned. It's believed, it's received
by faith. And that brings me to my second
point. Salvation is by grace. Verse 10 in our text, of which
salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied
of the grace that should come unto you. They didn't speak law,
they were prophesying of grace that would come unto you in the
person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is the undeserved, unearned,
favor from God. Grace is God not giving us, or
giving us what we do deserve. Now we read that earlier in Ephesians
2, for by grace are you saved, through faith. And that not of
yourself, not of works, lest any man should boast. Salvation
must be by grace. Must be. Because it's impossible
for a sinner to justify himself, to cleanse himself, or to save
himself. It must be by grace. Look at
Romans chapter 3. Romans 3 verse 23. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Now that ends any thought that
we can justify or save ourselves, doesn't it? All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Well, being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Salvation
is by grace in Christ. Look over at Romans 4, verse
16. Therefore, it is of faith that
it might be by grace. See how grace and faith always
go together? Where you find one, you always
find the other. Therefore, it's of faith that it might be by
grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all to see.
Not to that only which is of the law. but to that also which
is of the faith of Abraham. To everyone who has the same
faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. And if you
diligently search this salvation that's in Christ, you will sing
with old brother John Newton, amazing grace, amazing grace
that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. But now I'm found. I was blind,
now I see. Why do you see? Grace. Grace. And no matter how diligently
I search into this salvation, I cannot find any reason for
it other than God's sovereign grace. It's His grace by grace
alone. Third, salvation is not a proposal. Salvation is a proclamation. Look at verse 11. Searching what
or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow, unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the
gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things angels desire to look into." This gospel is preached
unto you. It's proclaimed. It's reported
unto you. And it never changes. The word
reported that Peter used here, it means to make known and to
rehearse. Now, what do you do when you
rehearse something? You say the same thing over and over and
over again. I remember being in plays in
high school and it seemed like for months on end we did that
play the exact same way every single day. That's rehearsing. That's what preaching the gospel
is. saying the same thing, the same message over and over and
over again. And it's a report. Isaiah said
the Old Testament prophet did the same thing we're doing tonight.
Preach. Who had believed our report?
What was his report? The sufferings of Christ. That
was his report. We just read that in Isaiah 53.
The good news of the gospel was prophesied by the Old Testament
prophets, and that same gospel is fully declared unto us today. Look back again at Romans chapter
4. These prophecies weren't just
for those Old Testament believers now. They were for us. Romans 4.23, Now it was not written
for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also,
to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our from the dead. The same message that blessed
Abraham is the exact same message that blesses God's people today.
And that gospel must be proclaimed. It's preached. The gospel of
salvation is not an offer. It's not a proposal for men to
do something for God. The gospel is a proclamation
of what God has already done for his people in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the job of God's servant is one job. It's preach
the gospel. Timothy, preach the word. In
whatever season you're in, preach the word. Paul told the church
at Corinth, Christ didn't send me to get a following. See how
many of you I could baptize and claim as my converts. Christ
sent me to preach the gospel. And that's my purpose in this
life, is to preach the gospel. That's the purpose of every one
of God's servants is preaching. Now, sinners cannot be converted
without the Word of God. We'll see that in a couple of
weeks in our study here in 1 Peter. The Word of God is the seed that
God uses to cause every one of his people to be born again.
No one can be converted without God's Word. And I won't say never,
but I will say almost never, very seldom, will any sinner
be converted apart from the preaching of God's Word. I suppose the
Spirit could make it possible. Someone would read the Scriptures. They'd read some of these messages
of the Apostles in Acts. They'd read some of these verses
of Scripture. And the Lord may reveal Himself
to them, but it doesn't happen very often. Almost always it
requires the preaching of the Word. That Ethiopian eunuch was
reading Isaiah 53, the same passage we read to open the Scripture.
He'd leave in that ceremony, that feast, just as dry and empty
as when he came. But he's reading that scroll,
Isaiah 53. That prophet wrote of Christ.
We read that. I mean, can that speak of anyone
but Christ? It's as plain as this morning's
newspaper. That was written 700 years before
Christ was born. But Isaiah wrote of Christ. He
was prophesying of Christ. And Philip asked him, do you
understand what you're reading? You know, there's no shame in
saying, no, I don't understand that. There's no shame in that.
No shame in being honest. And he was honest. He said, no,
I don't understand. How can I understand? Except
some man should guide me. And Philip climbed up in that
chariot and he began that very scripture and preached unto him
Christ. Philip didn't try to indoctrinate
him. He preached Christ to him because that's the job. That's
the function of God's prophets. He preached Christ unto him. The gospel of Christ. must be
proclaimed. Salvation in Christ must be proclaimed. Because I'm telling you this,
no man will ever figure it out on his own. And that brings me
to my fourth point. Salvation must be revealed by
God the Holy Spirit. In verse 11, it talks about the
spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when he testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should
follow. In the New Testament preachers, we preach with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. God the Holy Spirit must make
the Gospel effectual. He must give life. Because salvation
can't be understood by the natural man. No spiritual truth can be
understood or believed by the natural man. The Spirit must
give life and faith. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, I'll
show you this. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Verse 9, the Apostle says, But
as it is written, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. And what man knoweth
the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? How can
you know what's going on inside of me, inside my heart, inside
my mind, unless I tell you? the same thing is true of God.
Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we may know the things that are freely given to us of God, which
things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned. But if the Spirit reveals them,
we receive those things. We know them, we love them, but
God the Holy Spirit must reveal them to us. And Peter says here
specifically that the Holy Spirit reveals the sufferings of Christ. Now the whole Bible, Old Testament
and New Testament alike, declare the sufferings of as the only
way sin could ever be put away. It must be through Christ's suffering
as the sinner's substitute. And these prophets diligently
sought to know the sufferings of Christ. Because if you understand
the sufferings of Christ, you understand the whole gospel.
I'll prove that by asking a couple questions. Who suffered? Well, that's God's Son, clothed
in human flesh, suffering. Well, why did He suffer? He suffered
for sin. Well, was it for His sin or the
sin of someone else? It was the sin of God's elect
that God imputed to Him. What happened when He suffered?
His blood, the blood of His suffering washed those sins that were charged
to Him white as snow. And his death satisfied God's
justice, so God's elect are free from all condemnation and will
never die, because their substitute suffered and died in their place.
Well, now, is his death the end of the story? No, sir. He arose
again for the justification of his people. And right now, at
this very moment, he's seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living, making intercession for the transgressors. pleading
the blood of that sacrifice, pleading his sufferings for them.
And he's coming again to gather all those for whom he died to
himself, that where he is, there they may be also. Isn't that
what Isaiah said? He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. No doubt about it. That's the
message of the whole Bible. The blood of Abel's land tells
us there is no approaching God except through the bloody sufferings
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham and Isaac's ram clearly
showed us salvation, deliverance from the judgment and condemnation
of the law must come through the death of a substitute. The
tabernacle with its altars and its sacrifices show us God cannot
be worshipped apart from the sufferings of Christ. The Passover
lamb with its blood on the doorpost The blood sprinkled on the mercy
seat on the day of atonement. All proclaim salvation must come
through the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look back
in Luke chapter 9. Here's a scripture I love to
read. Speaking of the night of what
we call the Mount of Transfiguration. In verse 28 of Luke chapter 9. And it came to pass, about in
eight days after these sayings, he took Peter, and John, and
James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the
fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was
white and glistering. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory,
and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem."
Now, Moses represents the law. Moses wrote the law. Elijah represents
the prophets. The Jews thought Elijah was the
best prophet. He represents the prophets. Well,
all the prophets came to our Lord and talked to him. And what
did they talk to him about? His suffering. They talked to
him about his death that he would accomplish at Jerusalem. They
talked to him about what his death would accomplish. They
talked about the same thing that these men searched diligently
during their earthly ministry. They spoke of the sufferings
of Christ. Why did they talk about that? Because that's all
Moses and Elijah ever talked about. The sufferings of Christ. That was all their interest.
That's all their salvation. The suffering of Christ. And
that's all God's preachers preach today. Is the sufferings of Christ
and what He accomplished. That's our message. And the glory
that God's elect are going to enjoy in eternity is being in
the presence of Christ. And that glory will only be ours
because of the suffering of Christ. Right before our Savior went
to suffer and die, that's exactly what he prayed for. Father, I
will that all those whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory. And we'll have that one
day because of the sufferings of Christ. And last, this salvation
produces some changes in the Savior. They're new creatures. Wherefore, because we believe
Christ as he's revealed in the scripture, first this salvation
produces sober people. Look at verse 13. Wherefore,
gird up the loins of your mind and be sober. Now this word sober,
it means moderate. Be moderate in eating and drinking,
but be moderate in all things related to the flesh. Be moderate
in all things relating to everything of this world. Now we live in
this world. And they're things we need to
live in this world. Now God's going to provide them,
but we need. I mean, we need food and clothing
and money to pay your bills and so forth. And when God gives
you those things, use them. I mean, that's wonderful. When
God gives them to you, use them. Use them wisely. But don't let
them use you. You control them. Don't let them
start controlling you. Be moderate with them. And be
serious about this thing. When it was time in Peter's day
for serious work or serious travel, they're going to travel a long
way or they need to go somewhere quickly or serious fighting in
a war. You know what they did? They
girded up their long robes. They always wore long robes.
But when it came time to be active, they girded up those robes, tucked
them in the belt that they wore so their legs would be free to
move around without being entangled in those robes. That's what we
need to do. Gird up the loins of our minds.
We've got a journey to make. I don't know how long it is.
But however long it is, we've got a journey to make. But don't
get entangled with the things of this world while you're making
it. You've got a destination to get there. Whenever we travel,
Janet always, I mean, I'm impressed with how we make good time. I
mean, just, we don't stop. We just want, and Janet says,
why don't you stop and smell the roses? The roses are where
we're going. That's what we'll smell when
we get there, you know. Brethren, don't get entangled
with the things of this world. These things aren't the roses.
We've got a place to go. Now let's get there. Be serious
about it. Get there. We've got a work to
do. Not for salvation. But we've
got a work to do for God's people. A work for His glory. Well, gird
up the loins of your mind and be serious about this thing.
We've got a war to fight. Every one of us has a war to
fight with sin and unbelief. And I'm not just talking about
the sin and unbelief of others. I'm talking about right in here,
in this fellow. We've got a war to fight with that. Now, you
better gird up your robes so you don't get entangled with
things because you've got a war to fight. Be serious about it.
This salvation produces sober people. Next, this salvation
gives a person hope. Verse 13, gird up the loins of
your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that
is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What's our hope? What is it that
a believer is expecting? The revelation of Jesus Christ.
To see Him. And when we see Him, we'll be
like Him. That's our expectation. And we have a good hope through
grace. That's going to happen. Because
we have a good hope through God's grace. We hope for Him. And we pray for Him. We expect
God's grace. His electing grace. His redeeming
grace, His justifying grace, His calling grace, His keeping
grace. We're just expecting God's grace. God's grace gives His
people an expectation to see the Lord Jesus Christ. The book
of Job, they say, is the oldest book in the recorded or written
book in the Old Testament. What is Job? What's his expectation?
What's his hope? He said, I know my Redeemer liveth
and I'm going to see Him. These eyes, I'm going to see.
In my flesh, I'm going to see the Redeemer. He's got the same
hope you've got if you believe Christ. And when we see Him,
we'll have the full possession of everything that's ours by
grace. Then we'll have that inheritance
that we looked at last Wednesday. That inheritance is incorruptible,
undefiled, that fadeth not away, that's been reserved in heaven
for you who believe God, who are kept by the power of His
grace. Third, this salvation produces obedient children, verse
14. As obedient children, not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance. Now,
we looked at this word obedient last Wednesday. This obedience
is the characteristic of a believer. We're obedient to the command
of the gospel to repent and believe the Lord Jesus Christ, to come
to Him and trust Christ completely for all of our salvation. to
not trust our obedience, and to only trust the obedience of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are obedient to walk in
a way that honors our Savior. And last, this salvation produces
a holy people. Verse 15, But as he which hath
called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation,
because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. is holy. They're holy. Because
they've been given a new, holy nature. If you're a believer,
you're holy. Because God's given you a holy
nature in the new birth. There's a new nature that's been
born in you that's holy. Now as long as you live in this
flesh, you're going to be a sinner. But before God, you're holy.
And you'll live a holy, honest life before men. Because if you're
a child of God, your desire is to imitate your Heavenly Father.
You have His nature, and it's your desire to imitate Him. We
desire to be holy. First of all, because God said
it, so that we desire to be. He said, be only, so we desire
it. Second, we desire to be like our Heavenly Father and follow
His footsteps. Now, we can't do that, but it doesn't stop us from trying. I don't know how long I've preached,
because my little timer ran out of battery. So I'm just going
to go. Keep going. This always tells me how long I've gone.
But I've used this illustration before, and I'm going to use
it again. I remember being a little guy in Michigan. I must have
been about four years old. And shockingly enough, it snowed.
My brother lives up here, so it snows from September to June
in Michigan. So at some point between September
and June, it snowed. And I was all in my getup, you
know, boots and snow suit and hat and everything, you know,
just looking out like that. And that was my dad. He was shoveling
the sidewalk and the driveway and so forth. And I thought it
was so cool. I saw his great big giant footprints
in that snow as he walked. I'm just a little guy. And I
desired to walk in his footsteps. And I couldn't do it. Could not
do it. My legs wouldn't reach. No way. And I tried. I couldn't do it.
And between his great big giant footsteps, I messed up the snow
of my little one. But when I got to that big giant
footprint, guess what I did? Put my foot right in it. We can't walk in our father's
footsteps. We mess it up every time. But
every time you get to his great big giant footprint, put yours
right in the middle of it. We follow him. We can't walk
in his footsteps, but now we follow him, can't we? Can we
follow him? A child of God will not live in this world like a
child of wrath anymore. There's a new sheriff in town.
They've got a new nature, a holy nature, and we will make every
effort to be like our heavenly father. Knowing Christ and diligently
searching this salvation, finding out this salvation will lead
to good conduct in this world. It will. All right, well, Lord
bless you. Let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we beg of
Thee this evening Your mercy and grace. How we beg of Thee
that in Your mercy, in Your grace, You would grant those of us here
this evening faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how we need
God-given faith. We need Thee. We need Thy Spirit. We need Thy Spirit to believe.
We need Your Spirit to enable us to worship. We need Thy Spirit
to enable us to continue in the faith. Father, enable us to search
out the salvation. Give us a heart that diligently
searches this salvation that we may find and lay hold upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal. Father,
give us an eye of faith that we may see the sufferings of
Christ and rest in this great salvation that the Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished through his death on Calvary's tree. Father,
bless us, we pray. In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we beg thy blessing. Amen.