Peter has been setting the stage for us so that we may understand how we are to live in the world but not be of the world. He also wants us to understand the means by which we grow in our relationship with Christ as we better understand our salvation and learn to appreciate it with lives of commitment to Him.

He identifies real trials believers have in the world, but he never allows us to take our eyes off of the One who paid the ultimate price for our sins and brought us to Himself. And then he brings back into focus our privilege and responsibility to walk obediently in His grace and power.

That obedience is a natural, or supernatural outworking of what we are in Christ, and that is children of obedience with a new nature given us by Christ with new desires to walk after Him.

That obedience is designed to glorify the One who gave us new life and that is what Peter refers to as holiness. And that's what we ended with last week as Peter quoted from the O.T., in Lev.11:44 "... You shall be holy, for I am holy."

Our holiness, or sanctification, comes as we seek and submit to our God who has given us life in Christ. And this is what Peter says in 1PE 1:17 "Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear."

Calling on our Father is an act of worship as well as an act of dependence. In today's world independence is looked on as the ultimate virtue. And though being independent isn't necessarily evil, it is when we feel ourselves independent from the One who wants us to totally rely on Him.

He loves it when we come to Him as our Father. This is what He told the children of Israel in JER 3:19 "I myself said, "'How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.' I thought you would call me 'Father' and not turn away from following me."

But of course, Israel did turn away from their Father and how it grieved Him. In fact we see this grief when Jesus said in MAT 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."

God desires for us to be willing to come to Him as we love Him and call on Him continually. But Peter mentions also that our Father, on whom we call, is a Judge, which means that He takes into account all that we do as He measures all things according to His perfect holy nature.

But He's an impartial Judge who judges according to what we do. Now, again we must not confuse this with our standing with Him through Christ. By faith in Christ we have already been judged and found not guilty, only because of Christ standing in our place and taking our unrighteousness and then giving us His righteousness.

But in our text, Peter is talking about our holiness or our everyday lives bearing witness to this relationship which Christ purchased for us. And so God is judging how we obey Him, which is really no more complicated than Him being aware of our walk and noting how we walk after Him.

I've mentioned this verse before, but it's worth repeating because it shows us that God not only wants us to glorify Him here on earth, but that our obedience to Him has eternal rewards.

Our obedience does not earn for us salvation, but it is the result of our salvation. We're not saved by good works, but unto good works.

Paul says in 1CO 3:11 "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,
13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.
14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.
15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."

But God judges impartially. This phrase in the Greek, "One impartially judging" literally means, according to Dr. Heibert, "acting without receiving face" and indicates that God's judgment is not determined by outward appearance or outward pretensions. The face or mask that people put on is uniformly transparent to Him."

You and I may look at the outward appearance, but God looks to the heart. And His judgments are based on what He sees coming from the inward man, as they effect the actions of man.

This is what Jesus meant when He said in MAT 6:5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full."

The Pharisees were into performance for the sake of being seen. And they got their reward which was being seen by men. But God sees the heart and does not want hypocrisy.

By the way, the word hypocrisy is almost identical to what Peter was referring to when he spoke of God being an impartial judge, which meant acting "without receiving of face". The word hypocrisy in the Greek is Hupokrites, and it refers to an actor under an assumed character.

In ancient Greece the actor would often put on a mask to identify his character while covering his true identity. He was pretending to be someone he was not. That's the Greek word hupokrites, and we're told that God acts toward us without receiving the false face we put on.

Nothing is hid from Him and so Peter continues in verse 17 with this in mind as he says, "live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear."

The fear of the Lord is one of those things we don't hear much about these days. One of the reasons for that is because people get the idea that to fear God is to be afraid of Him as we cower like a dog in a corner.

Now, don't misunderstand, the word fear in the Greek does mean fright or to be alarmed. But it also carries with it the idea of having a reverent attitude towards the One who has every right to cast us into hell because of our rebellion toward Him.

For the unbeliever, he should be afraid, because he has much to fear from God who judges impartially. And judgment for unbelief in Christ is eternal damnation.

But for the believer, we don't fear eternal separation from God because we are assured that we are at peace with God who took His wrath out on His Son for us who believe.

We're told in ROM 8:15 "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. (Or adoption) And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children."

But the kind of fear Peter talks of, which is spoken elsewhere in the Bible, is the kind of fear which fears disappointing our Holy God, and it fears bringing shame to His name through our disobedience, causing Him to be grieved over our sin.

This kind of fear involves a reverence for God as Father. We carry His name, we represent our Creator. That's an awesome privilege and responsibility and Peter wants us to never forget that our salvation is intended to clearly show God's grace in our lives as we submit to Him.

We are strangers in this world. This world is not our home and God wants us to give this world the clear message, through what we say and through how we live for Him, that fear of God is really an acknowledgment that He is Supreme and should be bowed to from the heart.

And so, basically, Peter reminds us that as we live in this world as Christians we must conduct ourselves with the understanding that God is aware of our hearts and that our entire lives should be lived with the attitude of pleasing Him knowing that one day we will stand before Him and give an account for how we loved and served Him.

Peter then goes to put into perspective why we should have a reverent fear of God. He says in 1PE 1:18 "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."

He essentially says, 'before you get the idea that this salvation is just one more way of living, not unlike the philosophies of life you had in former days, outside of Christ, you need to consider the cost Jesus paid and how eternally different this life is.

First, Peter mentions that we have been redeemed and that this redemption had nothing to do with any earthly means of our paying for this salvation.

He speaks of silver and gold. These were the two most valuable metals in all the world and could be used to purchase anything. But He calls these items perishable. And what is perishable can never purchase that which is imperishable or eternal.

He's saying that the things of this world are only good for this world when it comes to purchasing power. You did not receive your salvation from such inadequate means. In fact, he calls these earthly means futile or empty.

You ever hear someone say, "My life seems so empty?" Maybe you've said it at one time. The things of this world will always leave us empty because the perishable things in life cannot satisfy the imperishable or eternal reality found only in Christ.

In fact, Peter continues to show us clearly that though all the silver and gold in the world could never purchase one second in the presence of God, there is one person who can secure eternity with God.

This person is eternal, and therefore has eternal purchasing power. The word "redeemed", used in our text, is also translated "ransomed". When someone is held hostage, the abductors usually demand a ransom to be paid to get the person back.

What Peter is saying is that all of us were held hostage in our former lives outside of Christ. Our captor was sin and its final outcome is death. That's why Paul said, the wages of sin is death. We had a death sentence hanging over our heads and to be released, someone had to pay the ransom.

The only One who could pay it is the One who has the eternal resources to buy us back for Himself. And that is Christ Himself. The cost was very high. The wages of sin is death, therefore death is the only satisfaction God would accept.

Not just the death of anyone, but the death of One who was perfect in all ways, sinless. There were no candidates in this world. And that's why Christ had to take on flesh and come into this world to be the only Candidate to satisfy the Father's demands for justice.

And that's why Peter says in 1PE 1:19 "but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."

The Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world was perfect in all ways without blemish of any sin and therefore could stand in our place and ransom us with His blood. The shedding of blood necessarily meant His death.

And it is His death and resurrection which is able to redeem us from the path of destruction we were on. This is the choice for all men: Reject this ransom and pay the price yourself, eternally separated from God. Or, repent of your sin and accept Christ's payment on your behalf by faith and be eternally united to God, enjoying Him forever.

Peter wants us to weigh the cost as we consider living in this relationship with God who demands holiness because He is holy, and who wants us to see God as one to be feared reverently because we love the Father and don't want to disappoint Him, because of such love.

To drive the point home of how much the Father loves us Peter continues to put into perspective this One who would be our ransom. 1PE 1:20 "He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake."

Jesus Christ, who is eternal God, was chosen from all eternity past to come into this world and die for our sins. From all of eternity Jesus knew that after He created us we would reject Him. And yet knowing that He chose to take our place and pay the penalty we deserved to pay.

The plan of salvation didn't come into being one day as Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit were discussing what a mess the world was in. 'Oh, how our creation of man has failed; how could this be? What can we do to make things right? Who could have known how terrible our plan could have been and now all is out of control. Jesus would you mind going to earth to die for these people and pay their debt?'

No, this is not the way it was. God is Sovereign. He always knew how men would reject Him. The question usually comes up at this point; then why did He create man in the first place if He knew man would reject Him?

That's a hard question. But the only answer is that God is perfect in all ways. Everything He does is only good. Whether we understand the mind of God or not, He has done all things for His glory and we can trust that He knows what He's doing, even as He has planned from all eternity.

The thing that blows my mind is that even though He knew we would reject Him He came anyhow. This amazed Paul as well. It was he who was persecuting the Church of Jesus and it was he who had every intention of destroying every Christian. And yet it was he who received mercy from Christ as the Lord met him on the road to Damascus and gave Paul eternal life as he accepted the Lord Jesus as His Savior.

Paul would later put this amazing grace into words as he wrote the Christians in Rome. ROM 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

This reconciliation is received by believing that what Jesus did for us is true. And what He did was to die and then rise bodily from the dead. That's not a cute Christian story the disciples made up to tuck their kids into bed with each night to make them feel good.

God literally entered into our world in the flesh some 2,000 years ago and He did exactly what He had planned on doing from all eternity. Even secular historians of the time recognize this to be factual.

What's interesting about Christ's resurrection is that we know that His ransom for us was accepted by the Father by the very fact that He was raised bodily from the dead. Dr. Heibert makes the observation: "Without His resurrection we would have no assurance that His ransom had been accepted."

And so Peter says in 1PE 1:21 "Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God."

Your faith and hope are in God, not in the perishable things of life. This life may seem as though it is able to strangle us at times. What Jesus wants us to understand is that the greatest hurdle has already been handled by Him.

Where we spend eternity is no small matter. And what He's trying to show us is that eternal life is the real reality. We get hung up on this earthly reality some times to the degree that our future hope is crowded out of our present experience.

But it's not as though Jesus doesn't recognize this present reality in this world. He knows what we're going through. In fact He understood this even before He went to the cross when praying on behalf of the disciples Jesus came to the Father and prayed in JOH 17:11 "I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name - the name you gave me - so that they may be one as we are one.
13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one."

It's Jesus' will that we remain in this world with all of its hardships so that we may be able to stand firm in Him and be used to bring this world the same Good news we received. This Good news is that in Christ we are redeemed not with things like silver or gold which are perishable, but with the precious blood, as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

But Jesus doesn't leave us alone in this world. He gives us a Comforter, the Holy Spirit to indwell us and empower us to live to His honor and glory.

And yet even there it isn't as though Jesus is insensitive to our plight in this world for we read in HEB 4:14 "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

We all have needs and we all need help, but our Lord wants us to come to Him and rely on Him and His grace. That doesn't negate the means He also uses to bring us help in this world, which includes the Body of Christ. But we must, by faith, trust that He is willing and able to be with us and will never leave us.

This is the kind of relationship He wants with us. A relationship which knows and trusts Him and rejoices in the eternal reward He purchased for us.

This teaching is not a N.T. teaching only. The O.T. had always shown the grace of God and how that grace would work in the lives of people who would encounter various trials in life.

But just as Peter encourages us to keep our eyes on our risen Lord, even O.T. saints like Abraham were encouraged to do the same. Let me close from a passage in Romans. It's a bit lengthy and so you may want to turn there and follow along with me.

ROM 4:18 "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead -since he was about a hundred years old - and that Sarah's womb was also dead.
20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
22 This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness."
23 The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone,
24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." ROM 5:1 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

God is for us, don't ever forget that. He wants to bring us through so that His life may shine through us. Don't ever give up. Always look to Him and know that we are here for each other to find encouragement when life seems hard. We can always point each other back to the One who loves us with an infinite love.

Peter will touch on this next week as we continue our study. May the peace of the Lord our God and Savior Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.