1 Peter: Saved to Holiness

• God meets us where we are at spiritually, emotionally, physically, AND intellectually
  • The average Jew and Gentile were nowhere close to being as educated as we are
  • Christ used simple and easy allegories and parables to communicate; WE make it more complicated
• Allegories or analogies do not need further explanation when given
  • Analogies are used with common knowledge things that DO NOT require further explanation or the analogy looses its effect
• Christ rarely makes “Ontological statements,” but says “The Kingdom of God is like…”
  • He uses models to express the reality and relationship of things in non-literal ways

Marriage Covenant Model Elements (Model Christ Used to Teach)

• Father Chooses the Bride for His son
  • God chose/elected the “bride of Christ”
    • 1 Peter 1:1
    • 1 Peter 1:20
    • Matthew 12:18
• Father of Groom and Bride negotiate and set Dowry
  • Dowry set before the creation of the world
  • They’re could only be one dowry paid for us – Forgiveness on the cross
    • Mark 1:4
    • 1 Peter 1:10-12
    • 1 Peter 1:20
• Bride verbally agrees to Marriage
  • We must verbally profess with “our mouth” we belong to Jesus
    • Romans 10:9-10
• Bride and Groom get baptized in commitment to marriage covenant
  • Christ was baptized at the start of His ministry (commitment to marriage)
    • Matthew 3:13-16
  • Once the church is saved, we get baptized (commitment to marriage)
    • Acts 2:38-41
• Groom Pays the Dowry
  • Christ (the Son) paid the dowry on the cross
    • “Paid in Full” – John 19:28-30
    • “Ransomed” – 1 Peter 1:18
• Betrothal Ceremony (Like modern wedding ceremony, but for an engagement)
  • Ministry of Jesus like betrothal
    • Matthew 9:15
  • Groom would give the bride a “symbol” to remember him by when he left
    • Christ gave the Lord’s Supper – “This do in remembrance of me”
      • 1 Corinthians 11:23-25
      • Luke 22:19-20
      • Matthew 26:26-28
• Groom Leaves Bride to “build a house” for them on the groom’s father’s house
  • Groom would typically build the house/rooms on his fathers house
    • John 14:1-4
  • Groom would send a “helper” to check in with, take care of, report status of house progress, report back to groom, and simply help the bride in his absence
    • John 15:26-27
  • Bride would continuously mend the wedding dress as she waits in anticipation
    • Revelation 19:7
    • 1 Peter 1:13
• Once house is built, Groom returns and surprises the bride
  • Typically come in the middle of the night, and the groomsman would kick door open, blare a trumpet, pick-up bride, and take her home
    • 1 Thessalonians 5:2
    • 1 Thessalonians 5:4
    • 2 Peter 3:10
    • Revelation 16:15
• A week long marriage festival ensues culminating in the Marriage Supper
  • Revelation 19:7
• After marriage week, the bride and groom take a one year Sabbath
  • Thousand year reign with Chris as Satan is bound

1 Peter 1:1:10-25

¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, ¹¹ inquiring what person or time^[a] the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.¹² It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

• Don’t Miss THIS!!!!
• All the great prophets “searched” and “inquired” and angels “longed to look” for the understanding, grace, revelation, salvation, gospel i.e. ANSWERS YOU POSSESS!
  • Imagine the amazement of Isaiah reading the Gospel of Matthew!
  • Imagine the encouragement of Jeremiah reading Acts!
  • Imagine Ezekiel reading the Gospel of John!
  • Imagine the Joy Moses would get from this Bible Study!!!
  • Read Luke 7:28

*I often day dreamed of a Q&A with the great prophets of old, but truth is, they want a Q&A with US!!!….And so do the angels!

• Jesus, your salvation, the Gospel is not some novelty in history, or some “add on” to your identity, but anchors ALL of human History
  • Knowing that, how flippant do we treat it?
  • “Inquiring the person or time”…interesting our time surrounds this event
• Peter does not try to justify his positions by linking to the OT prophets, rather, he intends to encourage believers who are suffering that they suffer for something that is a BIG deal, not some novelty!
  • Question: Would you suffer like the early church to honor your football team? Your political party? Would you watch your wife and children crucified to defend your right to own an AR-15?
• Angels and Man share the same purpose
  • Angels = Agents of worship and service in Heaven
  • Man = Agents of worship and service on earth
  • Angels eagerly observe God’s program for glory, to which they rejoice of. Idea is that they crave and seek out knowledge in it
    • See 1 Corinthians 4:9, Ephesians 3:10, and 1 Timothy 3:16
      • Explains why they rejoice over repentant sinners in Luke 15:7

¹³ Therefore, preparing your minds for action,^[b] and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵ but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

• Hebraic definition of Holiness is different from ours (morality vs. apart)
• Holiness is the idea that God is “apart” from us
  • We are not holy because we are not God. God is the very definition of holiness
  • We tend to view God as if He is “a perfect man” or a “super man,” He’s not, He is God and nothing like us…separate…apart
• God invites us into His holiness i.e. “Be holy for I am holy” means “be set apart from the world as I am apart from the world”
  • We must be different, of a higher standard
    • Sober, full of grace, full of hope, prepared, focused, grounded, etc.
  • 1 Peter 1:1 and again 1 Peter 1:17: we are exiles
    • If we don’t feel like pilgrims i.e. awkward, uncomfortable, APART from the world then something is wrong!
  • When we fail to see God as APART from us, we then fail to see His love as a HOLY Love, his mercy and forgiveness as a HOLY mercy and forgiveness, His justice as a Holy Justice…different, set APART

*Holiness is not something we possess, but something that possesses us

*You cannot understand any attribute of God or the Gospel if you detach God’s holiness

*Modern church has under-emphasized the holiness of God and we’ve destroyed our witness for it (if we forget God is apart from the world, then we think, act, and view reality like the world)

 ¹⁸ knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰ He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹ who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.²² Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ²³ since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; ²⁴ for“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.The grass withers, and the flower falls,²⁵ but the word of the Lord remains forever.”And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

• “you were ransomed from futile ways, not with perishable things, but with the precious blood of Christ”
  • Christ did not pay an enormous dowry so we can live in the same futile ways of the world
  • We take the imperishable, most valuable blood of Jesus and go live like garbage (we run to the alcohol, profanity, chasing money and status, porn, refuse to forgive, do not extend grace, etc.)
    • Imagine giving a homeless man a mansion you built with your bare hands and money but he still lived the rest of their life in a dumpster
    • Marriage Covenant model: Imagine after your proposal, you split for a year to build the life you promised when she is supposed to “mend the dress”, and on your anticipated wedding day your fiancé shows up looking like she fit 10lbs of mango pulp in a 5lbs bag, hadn’t showered since your engagement, has a bastard child from an affair during the engagement, and proclaims no sex because she has STDS!
    • Question: Who would empty they’re entire bank account if it meant raising a loved one back to life?…and what if after that resurrection they say thank you, give you a hug, then walk away light the crack pipe
• We were purchased by imperishable blood, and yet we place the perishable things above it
  • We SAY Christ is first, but practically, we place our career, financial goals, futile ideas of success ahead of the imperishable
    • In other words, we treat the imperishable blood of Jesus as if its of perishable value by the things we prioritize over it!

*Live like a saved individual! BE HOLY!

• “Sincere brotherly love”
  • Holiness is only complete if its accompanied by love. Without holiness, love is improperly viewed and defined
• “All flesh and glory is like a withering flower”
  • You know how often they’ve tried to suppress and destroy the word of God…Rome tried for hundreds of years until Constantine
    • My Israel trip in Caesarea Philippi and the temple of Pan
      • Pan was the Roman god of “Panic”
      • Rome would call on pan to deal with Christians
        • Under Decian persecution, they called on Jupiter
      • Thousands of years later, a gentile Christian took selfies on top of the mount where pan used to stand with no “panic” at all

*God will not fail…He will endure!