Jack Graham - Growing in Godliness

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Take God’s Word, the Jesus Book, and turn to 1 Peter, chapter 1. We are living in a hopeless world and that is because the world is without hope because the world is without God. And increasingly godless and therefore, increasingly hopeless. So Peter was writing to people living in the world like you and me. In that day, first century, they were dealing with all kinds of pressure and persecution and all the rest. And from that day until this day, we face that kind of opposition and people are getting more and more hostile towards the Christian faith and to Christians. So we are living in this world. We’re not there yet. You know, we like to think about, I do, the sweet by and by; going to be sweet. But we live in the nasty now and now. We do.

So how then shall we live? How are we to live on our way to heaven? The Bible says we are to live in hope. And hope is an anchor for the soul. It tethers us when winds blow against us. And so we are thankful for this living hope that we have in Christ. We are alive in Christ because He lives also. And we are safe and secure in this hope. We’ve learned that we are kept by the power of God. In this doxology, this hymn of praise that he gives us in the opening stanza of this scripture, he’s speaking of being held in the grip of God, the omnipotent, almighty grip of God; we are kept. And, having been chosen and kept, yet we go through trials and tribulations and struggles and suffering. I’ve seen a lot of suffering in my lifetime, and you have as well. Maybe you have suffered. But we know in this world, Jesus said, we will have tribulation, but then He smiled and said, «but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world».

It’s true. He overcomes the world by His cross and by His resurrection. So we’re reminded then that in all of the trials and tests and tribulations in our lives that God is proving us; He is testing us in the midst of this; not to hurt us but to help us be more and more like Jesus. To prove the genuineness of our faith, the reality of Christ in us. All of this, verse 9 tells us in chapter 1, the outcome of this is the salvation of our souls. Salvation. What a great word! What a great Savior! We are saved from our sins because of the cross, by the power of the resurrection. We have been saved! And the result of that salvation is that one day we will be with Him forever. And that’s such great hope in these times.

And therefore, verse 13 which we’re about to read, you see the «therefore», the «wherefore» at the start of this sentence because Peter is turning the page for us here. The therefore is the hinge upon which the rest of the message of 1 Peter hinges. And Peter moves from exaltation, this great glorious praise of God, to exhortation. Remember, we said that Peter uses a lot of imperatives, and in one sense that fits Simon Peter, doesn’t it? He’s in effect, pounding the pulpit. He’s putting exclamation points on what he’s about to say. It was staccato-like action, giving us a lot of verbs to tell us then how we are to live. Again, he moves from the indicatives to the imperatives. And with these imperatives he shows us how we are therefore to live in this hope. «Therefore», verse 13, «preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your affections», or set your hope, «fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ».

And if you’re taking notes in your Bible, I like to mark my Bible and underscore «revelation of Jesus», just put Second Coming there, because this is the Second Coming, the return. Jesus is coming again in great power and glory. Verse 14, «As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance». Often unbelievers think they’re so smart; smarter than God, smarter than everybody. «Oh, I’m not a Christian; I’m a thinker now. I’m an intellectual now». No, you’re not. If you don’t know God, you’re ignorant. And that was all of us before we met Jesus, before Jesus lit up our lives, before the light turned on, we were walking in darkness and in ignorance. He said, so don’t go back to that, the way you lived in ignorance in your former life. But be what?

Verse 15: «But as he who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all», A-L-L, «all your conduct, since it is written», and he quotes directly from Leviticus. And he says: «'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'» In the Bible, hope and holiness are essentially connected. In fact, in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 3 the Scripture says, «He who has this hope in him», this hope of Christ, this hope of the coming of Christ, «He who has this hope in him, purifies himself as he is pure». So do you see it? Hope and holiness are connected. And therefore, just as God is holy, we also are to be holy. The life of a believer is to be a holy life. Just as we are to live with hope, we are to live with holiness.

You see that? What does it mean to be holy? In the Hebrew language it means to cut or to separate. So what motivated us to do this? What causes and challenges us to do this? This is why Peter gives us these imperatives. You see them there? There are three in verse 13. He said first, «preparing your minds for action». Paul speaks in the armor of God of the belt of truth. A soldier would cinch everything up with a tighten the belt or if someone was running or working, they would pull up the loose ends of their robes and cinch them into the belt, tie them up so they would be encumbered in the work or in the war, whatever they were doing. So that’s the illustration that he’s using. He’s saying gird up, gear up, prepare for action. Be disciplined in your mind, and not complacent, but committed.

You know, one of the biggest challenges we have in the church, not only this day, but I’ve seen it my whole life, is just complacency. It’s one of the big problems we’ve got in our country right now, is complacency. Nick Saban, the former coach of the Crimson Tide, said this: «Complacency creates a blatant disregard for doing what’s right. You can’t do what you feel like doing. You’ve got to choose to do the things that are going to help you accomplish the goals that you have». Well said, Nick Saban! That’s good coach-speak. But it’s also truth. Because you don’t become holy by just hanging out with God. Complacency is not it! Sometimes you do things you don’t feel like doing in discipline, in the disciplining of your mind, the discipline of your body in order to accomplish the goal.

And if the goal is godliness, if the goal is Christ-likeness, if the goal is holiness, then prepare; discipline your mind for action. You can even use the word gear up or roll up your sleeves or tighten your belt. It’s a great word picture, isn’t it? Don’t be mindless in a mindless world. Not in the former way of your ignorance as we noted. The world is mindless; the world is without purpose; the world is going nowhere. When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, when he gave the invitation, he said, «Save yourselves from this crooked and untoward generation». Untoward? It means a generation that’s going nowhere. And people are like minions, mindless, going nowhere without God and without hope.

So, don’t live like this! As Christians, prepare your mind for action. This is why we want to be Christian thinkers. We want to think deeply about the things we believe. What is true and what is untrue. Secondly, he says, and this, by the way, has to do with our emotions as well, and that’s what he gets to when he says, «Be sober». Do you see that word there? Or «be steadfast» is a better definition in some ways, but we have a sober hope. And I think I put on the notes: A sensible hope. A life of holiness, a life of hope is a life of sobriety, a life of sobriety. And the word here means serious or self-control. Literally the word means without wine. Live a sober life, live a self-controlled life. You don’t need substances to keep you going. You have the Holy Spirit. «Don’t be drunk with wine whereas excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit».

So the idea here is to be sensible and to be sane, to be calm, cool and collected. Another word you can put in there is the synonym level-headed. And one of the reasons Peter uses the same word in 1 Peter 5:8, when he says, «Be sober (why?) because your adversary, the devil is running and roaring throughout the earth, seek whom he may devour». So if you’re not sober, if you’re not alert, if you’re not awake, if you’re living in a stupor and you’re not ready for it, the devil will eat you alive. So he says, «Be sober, have a strong hope, have a sure hope». And finally, he said «have a sure hope. Set your hope». See it again, look back at verse 13. You have your Bibles open. Look at it again. It says, «Set your hope perfectly on the grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ».

Now watch this. So we get started with grace. Salvation is all of grace. Not a goal to be achieved but a gift to be received. You don’t earn or merit or deserve salvation. Christ did it all. That’s grace. And you receive His grace through faith. So that’s how we start, but how do we finish? «Oh, I know, I’m going to work as hard as I can to be a better person. I’m going to do the best I can to quit doing the things I used to do». No. That’s not how to be saved. Salvation starts with grace and is sustained throughout our lives by grace. You say, «Can people fall out of grace»? No, because it’s grace! If you think you can lose your salvation, it’s because somehow you think you have earned or deserve the salvation that you’ve been given. No! It’s all of grace! It’s grace through and through. And when we get to the end, that’s what he’s saying here. When we see Jesus, when Jesus comes again, it will because of grace!

As the hymn writer, the great John Newton said in Amazing Grace, «T’was grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will bring me home». It’s grace, grace, grace and more grace. And therefore, this is a sure hope. And therefore, we are to be optimists. I’m a Christian optimist. Now if I wasn’t a Christian, I’d certainly be a pessimist. No wonder we have so much cynicism in the world. And skepticism in the world, because there’s no hope. People don’t have hope in Christ and there’s no good outcome. You look at the world, there’s no good outcome in this. But God is saying, there is an outcome, and this outcome is the salvation of your souls. This outcome is the return of Jesus Christ. And as someone said years ago, «It’s your up-look that will determine your outlook in life». I like that!

So when you’ve got the right up-look, onward and upward, by grace. You know He’s coming; you’re looking forward to His return. Our hope, therefore, is not half-hearted hope. Look at that phrase again. He says, «You hope fully on the grace of God». It’s not half-hearted hope; it is a full burst of hope! It is a robust hope! And therefore, a resilient hope. I like what Dr. Jeremiah Johnston said about Christian thinking in our world. Again, strong mind, sure mind, steadfast. He said, «Believers who are constantly strengthening their biblical world view are unshakable». It’s true. That’s why we say get in your Bible and get the Bible into you! Because this is where we strengthen our convictions; this is where we grow our character; this is our hope. Therefore, we don’t live in doubt and fear and uncertainty. We live fully in. I’m all in; how about you? So what are we to do then? He says, «as God is holy, says the Lord, you be holy. Be holy as God is holy».

Now what does it mean to be holy? And let me clear up a couple of misconceptions. First of all, it doesn’t mean to be haughty, holier than thou. Self-righteousness is the opposite of true holiness. Many of you think of being holy as, you know, religious movement of some kind. It is somber and stiff. To be holy is to be buttoned up and never have any fun, to be pious and cold and rigid. No. Remember our definition of holy earlier, that it means to be separated. And just as God is separated from all sin and evil, so are we to live a separated life. Be holy as God is holy. We’re to be separated from sin. We don’t live above sin. We’re tempted by sin, but we know sin exists and the goal in Christian life should be not to sin. Maybe you hadn’t thought about that in a while. Who got up this morning and prayed, «Lord, help me not to sin today». It’d be a good prayer to pray.

You say, «Is that even possible»? Yes, it’s possible. Yes, you will sin, yes you will fall. We live in a broken world. We live in broken bodies and there is sin to deal with. But it is the holy ambition of the Christian to be holy, to be holy simply put, is to be godly. It is to be Christ-like. It is, as Peter tells us in the next chapter to follow in His steps. Ephesians 4:15 says, that we should be growing in every way more and more like Christ. This is holiness. Another synonym type word for this is sanctification. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit; that God is made, you know, when you talk about holiness, we have a Book that’s called The Holy Bible. We call it the Holy Bible.

Maybe when you were married someone called it holy matrimony because you are separated to one another. And we have a Book. It’s not just another book. It’s not just one of the billion books in the world. This is God’s Book, this a Holy Book. When you come to God’s church, you’re to come with a kind of holy reverence for God, and adoration and awestruck at the wonder of who He is. Not just to hang out with Jesus for a little while, but to seek Him and to walk on the highway of holiness. God has made this possible through Christ. And so I close with an acrostic that will help you to take this home with you. H-O-L-Y. Here’s what it means, here’s how I should say. You say, «how is this practical? How can I live a pure life in an impure world? How can I possibly live a holy life»?

Number one, harness your thoughts, harness your thought life. «H» is for back what we said, «Gird up your mind», prepare your mind. Did you know that your mind or rather, your actions follow the strongest, most dominate thoughts in your mind? It’s true; that’s just a psychological fact. Your life will follow the dominate thoughts of your mind. And so what we have to do is to control the way we think. And yes, you can. Again, by getting God’s Word into your life. Whatever is true, lovely, good report, think on these things. You can only really think one thought at a time. And if you’re thinking the right thing, you can’t be thinking the wrong thing. And so harness your thought life, because this again, will help you strengthen your conviction and grow your faith, and discern God’s will and build a firm foundation. This will grow you in godliness to harness your thoughts.

Holiness is a deeper devotion. «Lord, I’m fully yours. All that I am, all that I hope to be, I give to You». That is to harness your thought life. I like the way that Jerry Bridges, who wrote a wonder book on pursuing holiness. You know, the Bible says «pursue holiness». The Bible says perfect holiness in the fear of God. He said, «Holiness is not a series of dos and don’ts. That’s the problem we have here sometimes; we think of holiness as being exterior. Our list, we live on a list or we live on somebody else’s list of what’s right and what’s wrong. No, what does the Bible say? And it’s not a series of dos and don’ts but conformity (watch this) conformity to the character of God and obedience to the will of God»! That’s why it says in this passage obey as dear children of God; like little children surrender their lives. Harness your thoughts.

And then order your steps. «O» is for order your steps. Be sober, self-controlled. Because when we’re biblical, Christ-centered in our thoughts, we are balanced. Harness your thoughts, order your steps, trust God to obey Him in all things. And if God convicts you that something you’re doing is not right, then stop it in the power of the Holy Spirit by harnessing your thoughts and ordering your steps.

And then let «L» stand for Lift your eyes, lift your eyes. For he said, «Rest your hope fully on this grace». I am not living for today; I am living for eternity today. We live for eternity today. And you know what? Your day is going to be a whole lot better if you live for eternity now. You might just start marking in your journal in your Bible, the little words, E.T. Not extraterrestrial, but eternity today. I have a friend, David McKinley who does that in his Bible. He sees something that challenges him to make heaven and hope the habit of his heart and he’ll put E.T. there. Eternity today!

And then «Y» stands for Yield, or says Yes to what God tells you to do. It’s the mark of the surrendered child of God. Yield your life; give your life. As Paul says in Romans 12, verses 1 and 2, offer your life as a living sacrifice unto God. «Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind» as a living sacrifice, and God will give you the grace and the help to do what He calls you to do. Sometimes when I pray in yielding my life and my day to the Lord, giving my life to the Lord, I’ll just pray right through my body. The members of my body. I’ll start with my mind and my brain, the way I think; my mouth, what I say. Do you think your speech should honor God and be holy speech? Or should we mouth like the world? Should we sound like the world? No, I dedicate my mouth.

Another word for this whole thing is to consecrate and to dedicated. So my ears, what I hear; my eyes, what I see; my heart, the way I feel and I love; and my hands, what I do; my feet, where I go. I just pray right through and say, «Lord, my life is yours. I’m a living sacrifice». This is what it means to be holy. To harness your thought life; to order your steps to obey God; to look up with constant hope and trust in Him. And then to yield your life completely as a fully devoted follower of Christ. Be done with the complacency and consecrate your life to the Lord. Amen?