Traveling Under the Blood

Traveling under Blood

I Peter 1:13-21

 

The Christian life is compared many places in the Bible to a journey.  Peter, writing this particular letter, begins in the first verse by referring to believers as strangers.  Then in the second chapter, verse 11, he says, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims."  So the Christian life is compared to a journey. 

 

In verse 17, at the end it says, "Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear."  The Christian life is like a journey.  I would encourage all of our young people somewhere along the way in your education to read John Bunyan's classic allegory, "Pilgrim's Progress."  John Bunyan has picked up on the theme in the Bible of the Christian life as a journey and he has referred to it as "Pilgrim's Progress."

 

There are different ways to take a journey.  Sometimes you can take a journey as a tourist, just going along the way and viewing the sights and looking at the things which are there.  But the Bible says that the Christian journey is a pilgrimage. 

 

In verse 11 of chapter 2 he talks about the fact that we are strangers (sojourners) and pilgrims.  A pilgrim is a person who is on a journey, but he is on a journey with a spiritual purpose in mind.  He is on a journey to somewhere.  We are strangers and we are pilgrims in this world.  We are on a journey.

 

Simon Peter says that we strangers, who are pilgrims in this journey, have been saved by the marvelous grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In the opening 12 verses of the first chapter he has discussed the whole subject of salvation.  We are Christian pilgrims.  We are on the journey which leads to Glory because we have been saved by our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

But now he says in verse 13, "Therefore," which means that he is going to get practical.  He is going to apply the fact that we are saved and that we are pilgrims on a journey to the daily life which you and I are to live.

 

We are saved but being saved has certain implications.  It has certain imperatives.  It has certain applications to our lives as believers.  He is going to lay before us these aspects of how the Christian life and the Christian journey are to be affected by our salvation experience.

 

"Conduct the time of your stay. . in fear," means to make use of the time.  I don't know about you, but the older I get the more I understand how brief the journey is.  It just seems like yesterday that I was a young married man.  It just seems like the day before that I was in college, and it seems like the day before that I was in high school.  The journey passes very, very quickly.  Don't blow it!  It's going to be gone before you know it.  Don't lose the opportunities to make your Christian pilgrimage, your Christian journey, all that it should be. 

 

We're going to look today at some imperatives of the Christian journey.  In other words, there are some commands.  If we are Christians, if we are pilgrims on our way to Glory, there are certain demands, certain imperatives, of the Christian journey.  He talks about those in these verses.

 

In verse 13 he says, "Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind."  There's an oriental picture in the background of that statement, "Gird up the loins of your mind."  In those days they wore long flowing garments. When they got ready to go on a trip or journey somewhere, they would put a belt around those garments and they would gather up those garments so they would not be impeded in their steps.  With that figure of speech in mind, Peter says to you and to me, "Wherefore, gird up the loins of you mind."  He's saying to pull your mind together, pull your thoughts together.  Give some serious thought to this matter of the Christian life. 

 

He says to be sober which means to be calm and collected.  Give some very calm, serious, very collected attention to this journey which is yours as a believer.

 

I think what it's saying to us is that as born again children of God on the journey to Glory, we need to spend some time giving some serious thought to our life and see just how we are progressing and how we're coming along in this journey.  So he says, "Gird up the loins of your mind," put your best thoughts to this, give some calm, serious, reflection to this matter.

 

I. The Imperatives.

 

Then he begins to lay out the imperatives.  The first imperative he gives is this,

 

Verse 13 – rest your hope. . .

 

 

The first imperative that you and I are to consider on the Christian pilgrimage is that we are to be hopeful. 

 

We know that this is a book of hope.  We know that the theme of this book of Simon Peter is that we be hopeful.  He is saying that you and I are to look forward to the future.  We are to focus ourselves on the future destination.  We are going somewhere and he says set your hopes fully on something that is going to come in the future.

 

The worst way in the world for a person to live their life is to live their life without any hope, to be here and to not know why you are here and to not have any hope beyond death.  Life is very, very short and so we must always be looking to the future.  We must be hopeful to the end.  He's saying that we have a destination. 

 

We are to focus on something that is going to take place in the future.  You should live your life every day with eternal values in view, and you should live your Christian life every day with the awareness that there is a hope for you in the future. 

 

He says this hope is being brought to you."  We are moving toward the future and something out in the future is moving toward us.  You and I look at the stars at night, and we see the light of the stars.  Are you aware of the fact that the stars you are seeing may no longer exist?  Are you aware that hundreds and thousand of years ago the light of those stars started down here toward you?  There is light from the stars coming toward you.

 

 

He says that in the Christian life as you are moving toward your future, your future is moving toward you.  He says to set your hope on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  You and I are heading toward Jesus, and Jesus is heading toward us.  One of these days the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be revealed from heaven.  One of these days there is going to be this glorious revelation, the unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Peter says in verse 8 of chapter 1 that we haven't seen him and yet we love him.  But one of these days we who love Him, though we have not seen Him, are going to see Him because Jesus is going to come again. There's going to be the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I am moving toward that revelation, and the Bible says that when He comes He's going to be bringing grace unto us. 

 

Grace is a word which describes the beginning of the Christian life.  "For by grace are you saved," the Bible says, "Through faith."  We are saved by the grace of God.  Grace means that God gives us what we do not deserve, the unmerited favor of God.  We are not saved because we deserve to be saved.  We are saved because God loved us so much that He was willing to let His Son, Jesus, die on the cross.  "By grace are you saved," God's unmerited favor.

 

The Christian life begins with grace but this verse teaches that the Christian life also ends with grace.  He says, "The grace that is to be brought to you."  Sometimes we sing the great old hymn "Amazing Grace."  I love the great hymns. 

 

 

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now I'm found.  Was blind but now I see."  That's how the Christian life begins. 

 

But then there is a stanza which says, "Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."  The same grace that saves us is the same grace that will take us into our future destiny with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

So he says, "Be hopeful.  Rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 

 

That’s the first imperative of the Christian journey. 

 

He gives another imperative in the middle of verse 15.  He says, Be holy". 

 

Then in verse 16 he quotes from Leviticus 11, verse 44, "Be ye holy; for I am holy."  

 

What does it mean to be holy?  There is a negative and a positive. 

 

Negatively, in verse 14

 

We are now the children of God.  What he's saying is to not go back to your former life. He's saying as a child of God you have an imperative to live a holy life, and negatively that means don't lapse back into the old grooves of evil that used to characterize your life.

 

 

 

There is also a positive aspect of it.  He says that not only are you not to conform yourself to your former lifestyle but notice

 

verse 15

 

that is in every department, in every detail of your life.

 

What does the word holy mean?  The word holy kind of bothers the average Baptist.  If there is anything some Baptists don't want to be is holy.  They don't want anybody to accuse them of being holy.  The word holy just really means to be set apart.  It means to be special, to be different. 

 

It says that we are to be holy because God is holy.  What does it mean that God is holy?  It means that God is absolutely pure and that God is special.  It means that God is different.  Our God is a holy God.  I love the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty."  Our God is a holy God.

 

When the Bible says then that we are to be holy, what does it mean?  It means that we are to be like God is.  The greatest thing that can ever be said about me and the greatest thing that can ever be said about you is that we are like our heavenly Father, that we remind people of the Lord. 

 

If you're like God that means you are a loving person because God is a loving person.  If you're like God that means you are a merciful person because God is a merciful person.  If you're like God that means you're a clean person because God is a pure person.  The imperative of the Christian life positively is be holy, for God says, "I am holy."  Be like God.

He says in verse 15, "Be holy in all manner of conversation."  A good paraphrase of that is to be holy in every department of your life.

 

In the book of Zechariah, chapter 14, verse 20, is a prediction. 

 

"In that day (that's a future day, the millennium) shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar.  Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord."

 

Do you get that picture? It's saying that in that future millennium there will be bells on those horses and those bells will be engraved with "Holiness unto the Lord."  Every time those horses take a step, those bells are ringing "Holy to the Lord, Holy to the Lord, Holy to the Lord."  He says that it will be such a glorious time in that day that even on the pots that the people use it will be engraved "Holiness to the Lord."

 

When the Bible says that we are to be holy in every department of our life, it means that every step you and I take it should be ringing, "Holy to the Lord, Holy to the Lord."  Every business step you men and ladies take, it should be holy to the Lord.  Every social step you take should be holy to the Lord.  Every family step you take should be holy to the Lord.  Every relationship of your life should be holy to the Lord.  There should be engraved on every facet of your life "Holy to the Lord."

 

The things you do, are they holy unto the Lord?  The places you go, can you write "Holy to the Lord" on it?  The words you say, can you put "Holy to the Lord" on those words?  The friends you associate with, can you say "Holy unto the Lord"? 

 

We are not on this Christian journey to live like everybody else.  We are to live a life of holiness unto the Lord so that people will see Jesus in our life.

 

II. The Incentives.

 

I want to give you, secondly, from these verses some incentives to the Christian life.  There are some reasons why we should live this kind of Christian life.  Let me share with you some incentives, some things that should cause us to want to live a dedicated, hopeful, happy life, a holy life unto the Lord.

 

The first incentive is something that's out in the future.  Out there in the future the incentive is that there is going to be an examination one of these days. 

 

verse 17

 

He's saying that there is a future examination.  The Father is going to judge every man, lady, every believer's work. That means that in the future, the sum total of your life, your work, is going to be examined by the Lord. 

 

The Lord doesn't play favorites.  It says that He judges without respect of persons.  That means that nothing on the outside impresses the Lord.  He knows what's on the inside.

 

 

 In I Samuel 16, verse 7, says, "For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."  The Lord looks on the heart.  The Lord's going to see into the details of your life.  It will not be your outward culture.  It will not be your outward social standing.  It will not be your outward wealth but what's going on in your heart. 

 

What an incentive to live the Christian life.  In fact, He says on the basis of that future examination, we should spend the time of our pilgrimage here in fear.  "Do you mean, Preacher, that we are to fear the Lord?" 

 

The word fear here carries the idea of reverential awe.  Does it means to be afraid of the Lord?  What's the fear here? 

 

Let me illustrate it this way.  A young married lady was talking to one of her girlfriends.  She was saying, "I've got to get home.  My husband is coming home and I've got a big supper planned for him.  I want to get home and make sure I've got everything set just right.  I don't want to burn the biscuits."  Her friend said, "You don't want to burn the biscuits?"  "Oh, no, I'm afraid I might burn the biscuits."  Her friend said, "You mean that you're afraid that if you burn the biscuits, your husband is going to get all upset with you?"  She said, "No.  It's not that I'm afraid he'll be upset if I burn the biscuits.  I'm afraid if I burn the biscuit I won't have something real good for him."

 

It is not that we are afraid of the Lord in that sense, but rather it is in the sense that we have a fear of ourselves. 

We have such an awe, such a reverence for our Heavenly Father that we don't want to do anything to disappoint Him.

 

Here's another incentive. That one looks to the future.  There's another incentive where we look backwards.

 

verse 18

 

One of the great incentives of living the Christian life is to look forward to the examination.  But perhaps the greatest incentive to live the Christian life is to look backward to our redemption.

 

If you are saved, if you are a Christian pilgrim on the journey to Glory, that means that you have been redeemed.  The word redeemed means to set free by the payment of a ransom price.  The background of the picture is the background of slavery.  If a person was a slave, there would be a price attached to that slave.  When that price was paid, the slave was set free.  I think the real background of this picture here is the children of Israel who were in the land of bondage. There were in Egypt and they were slaves.  They were in bondage. 

 

The Bible says that you were redeemed, "From your vain conversation (aimless conduct) received by tradition from your fathers." 

 

The phrase means your empty way of living.  There was a time when you were in the slavery of sin and you were bound by an empty way of living.  Where did you get it from?  It says, "From the traditions of your fathers."

 

Did you know that most people pick up the lifestyle of the family they come from?  They live the way they were brought up.  Which, by the way, parents, if for no other reason, you should give your life to Jesus and live for Him, because the pattern you are establishing before your sons and daughters will probably be the kind of pattern they follow in their life.

 

It was an empty way of life not to know Christ.  To be in the bondage of sin is an empty, meaningless, futile life. How many people today have such an empty life?  The book of Ecclesiastes is a book that writes about that whole thing, the emptiness and meaninglessness, the futility, the vanity of a life that has no relationship with God.  It's like the song that used to be sung, "Life is what you do while you're waiting to die."  Another song said, "Is this all there is?" 

 

Lord Byron, the great poet, had tremendous ability and potential but died as a young man.  He dissipated his life and he wrote, "My days are in the yellow leaf.  The fruit, the flower of life are gone.  The worm, the canker, the grief are mine alone."  Oh, the regret of a lifetime of sin.  Oh, the regret of letting the slavery of sin get a hold of you. 

 

This world is absolutely filled with people who are bound by the slavery of sin.  Sin is a terrible slave master.  Sin will take you further than you want to go.  Sin will keep you long than you want to stay.  Sin will teach you more than you want to know.  Sin will cost you more than you want to pay. 

 

But I've got good news.  You can be redeemed.  You can be set free by the payment of a ransom. 

You ask, "Preacher, what's the payment?"  In I Peter 1, verse 18, it says that you weren't redeemed with little silver and gold coins, not just little tinkles of money, not little clinking coins.  That's not what bought your salvation. 

 

But it says in verse 19, "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."  Without spot means there was no sin in Him.  Without blemish means He was not defiled but the sins of others.  The perfect, spotless Lamb of God, Christ came into the world.

 

In the Old Testament, down in Egypt, God said to the people to take a lamb.  That lamb is to be spotless, no blemish in that lamb.  Then kill that lamb and put the blood over the doorpost and when the death angel passes over and when I see the blood I will pass over you.

 

That beautiful picture that was predicted in the Old Testament was fulfilled one day when Jesus Christ was outside the city of Jerusalem on a hill called Calvary.  When they put Him on a cruel, rugged cross and the blood of the Son of God began to flow from his body and coagulate in the dirt around the ground, the Bible says that blood became the precious payment, the redemption price for your soul and for my soul.  We were set free by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The least we can do is live the kind of life we should live. 

 

A number of years ago at the San Francisco Gate exhibition was a big religious service.  As it turned out, the minister for the day, who was invited to deliver the address, was quickly seen that he was not in sympathy with the basic truths of the faith. 

In fact, he launched a blistering attack on the whole idea of the blood of Jesus shed for the sins of the world.  He attacked it unmercifully. 

 

When it was over, a timid, little elderly lady sitting out among the thousands stood and began to sing,

 

"There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains." 

 

Then she went into the second stanza and a few hundred people stood to their feet and they joined with her in that second stanza.  By the time she got to that last stanza, thousands of people were on their feet and to the top of their voices they were singing,

 

"Dear dying Lamb Thy precious blood shall never lose it's power, 'til all the ransom