001 You Shall Be Holy

1 Peter 1:13-19

June 29, 2025

This morning we are starting a new study together.

It is not a book study, which we love.

But from time to time I find it important to stop

And study an important topic or doctrine

So that we gain a better understanding of the themes of Scripture.

Similar to like we’ve done with “500 Years of Reformation”

Or “The Holy Spirit” or “Just Like Jesus”

This morning we are beginning a study I’m calling:

“THE NECESSITY OF SANCTIFICATION”

I’ll be honest, that my thoughts are still pretty scattered regarding

What this study will look like, where it will, or how long it will take.

But one thing I am not confused about is the necessity of the topic.

I am convinced of the necessity of this study in my life

And I am convinced of the necessity of this study in your life.

Sanctification is far too often the forgotten aspect of salvation.

WE LOVE TALKING ABOUT JUSTIFICATION.

· Who doesn’t love the truth that God declares us just when we are sinners?

· Who doesn’t love the picture of being clothed in the righteousness of Christ?

· Who doesn’t love the concept of having righteousness imputed to us?

· Who doesn’t love the reality that now there is no condemnation for us?

Indeed, we love that!

We focus on that all the time.

WE ALSO LOVE TALKING ABOUT GLORIFICATION.

· Who doesn’t love the truth that one day we will be like Jesus?

· Who doesn’t love the fact that one day we will be with Jesus?

Justification and glorification are easy to focus on,

And there is nothing wrong with that.

The Bible does speak of salvation often times as a PAST EVENT.

Romans 8:24 “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;”

Those speak of justification.

It is a one-time event that occurred in the past

When Christ’s righteousness was imputed to you.

Salvation happened in your life.

You “have been saved”.

Scripture does speak of salvation in the past tense.

Scripture also speaks of salvation in the future tense as something that is YET TO COME.

Romans 5:9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”

That speaks of glorification.

· There is a coming day of God’s judgment that we “shall be saved” from.

· There is coming a day when our sin shall be permanently removed and our salvation complete.

But there is a middle aspect of our salvation where we dwell right now.

The Scripture also speaks of us currently BEING SAVED.

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

And this is the area that is often overlooked.

It is the process we call SANCTIFICATION

· Some have defined it as the process of becoming who you are.

· Some discuss it as you working out what God worked in.

· Some refer to it as the mortification of sin.

· Some refer to it as the pursuit of holiness.

And all of those are correct.

Sanctification comes from the Latin SANCTIFICATO or SANCTIFICARE

· SANCTUS = “holy”

· FACERE = “make”

The Greek word often used is HAGIAZO

· “to make holy”

And it is meant to be of the utmost importance to believers.

In fact, this is to be THE DRIVING PASSION of your Christian life.

AND YET, it is a word that often causes Christians

To gasp and even dread a little.

Several have asked upon finishing Titus where we were going next, and nearly every person I’ve told about the topic has responded pretty much the same way.

· “Oh…”

· “Really?”

· “Why that?”

· “This should be fun”

There is something in our mind that seems to cause us

To view sanctification as a negative thing.

And there are a few reasons for that.

ONE IS LAZINESS

Unlike the other two aspects of salvation,

Sanctification is a synergistic work,

And far too often we just aren’t interested in the required effort.

We discuss regeneration and justification

(and even glorification falls into this category)

As MONERGISTIC works.

That is “the work of one”

It is not something we help with,

It is something God alone does for us and in us and two us.

It is true that JUSTIFICATION can be viewed as a cooperative effort

ONLY in the sense that we exercise the faith which God has first given us.

But even then, that’s really all we do.

· God awakens the dead…

· God gives life to the corpse…

· God grants faith…

· God grants repentance…

· Christ does the saving…

· It is Christ’s earned righteousness which is imputed…

· It is Christ dying on the cross that is paying for sin…

And we love that, if for no other reason that we didn’t have to do anything.

The same can be said for GLORIFICATION.

· We don’t change ourselves, God does that.

· He transforms us.

· We don’t raise ourselves, He raises us.

And we love that. God does it all.

But then we come to that doctrine we call SANCTIFICATION.

It is a SYNERGISTIC effort.

It is God at work and it requires us to be at work as well.

Now, as we get into the study, we’ll talk about the work of the Holy Spirit

And how He equips and empowers you,

But the fact still remains that Scripture is chalk full of reminders

THAT SANCTIFICATION IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY.

Philippians 2:12 “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;”

Colossians 3:5 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”

Ephesians 4:21-24 “if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

Speaking of godliness:

1 Timothy 4:10 “For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.”

Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Even the text this morning:

1 Peter 1:14-15 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;”

And believe me there are so many more

We don’t have time to address them all.

The reality encompasses all those commands that require us to live differently.

· Commands about crucifying the flesh…

· Commands about putting on the new man…

· Commands about striving or working or laboring…

· Commands that tell us to stop lying, or to be forgiving, or to forsake immorality…

· Commands that tell us to deny ourselves…

· Commands that tell us not to love the world…

· Commands that tell us to give and to go and to shine our light…

The Scripture is filled with them.

And we understand that all of those commands are our responsibility.

The calling to be holy or to be sanctified is literally the calling

That you and I are to be consumed with in our lives.

But perhaps that is one of the reasons it gets OVERLOOKED.

It requires such dedication out of us

That in laziness we would rather not think about it.

We would rather just adopt that approach that says, “Let go and let God”.

· I don’t want to labor

· I don’t want to strive

· I don’t want to overcome

· I just want to enjoy my worldly comforts and ride my innertube to heaven.

Struggling against sin

Crucifying bad habits

Striving against this evil world system

Just seems like too much work.

That is an attitude that must be crushed

And so sanctification must be studied.

ANOTHER REASON sanctification is far too often overlooked is

WE LOVE SIN TOO MUCH

There’s just no other way to say it,

And it’s best to get it out right from the start.

We love sin too much.

We love the world too much.

(and any love of sin or of the world is too much)

When the idea of sanctification is discussed in the Old Testament,

It shows up first regarding the Sabbath commandments.

Exodus 31:12-17 “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ‘Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. ‘So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.’ “It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.”

That is the first use of the covenantal name of God: JEHOVA MEKADESH

“The LORD who sanctifies you”

It was God’s intention that

His people belong to and love no one but Him.

And He is at work to convert them into such a people.

· They were NOT to love the world.

· They were NOT to love their sin.

· They were TO love God with all their heart and soul and mind and strength.

And the command which really exposed and pushed that reality

Was the command regarding the SABBATH.

What better way for a people to reveal their first love than by asking them to set aside the world and devote a day to God?

What better way for a people to reveal their truest priority than to stop chasing the world for a day and focus on God?

God said that He had set them apart for Himself

The sabbath commands would expose how well they understood that.

Now I’m NOT suggesting we come under the old Sabbath Laws,

NOR am I hinting at becoming a Seventh Day Adventist.

BUT LISTEN:

OUR CULTURE IS SO DISTRACTED.

· There is so much entertainment in our world…

· There is so much busyness in our world…

· There is so much temptation in our world…

It is so easy for us to forget that we were set apart to be God’s alone

And that we are to strive to be His in everything.

Anything and everything that arises can be seen as more important or more desirable than God.

· Any inconvenience…

· Any dilemma…

· Any opportunity…

· Any desire…

SANCTIFICATION IS NEEDED.

· We need to be reminded that we are set apart for God.

· We need to be reminded that we have been bought with a price.

· We need to be remined who we are and whose we are.

· We need to be focused again on the call not to love this world, but to love God.

· We need to be reminded that there is an evil flesh that abides within me that must be slain.

· We need to be reminded that I am in a battle against sin and it is time I start offering some resistance.

THE CHURCH NEEDS ALL OF THESE REMINDERS.

Because one of the reasons that sanctification is overlooked is

We love the world and sin too much

And don’t want to contemplate that required battle against it.

ONE MORE REASON why I think sanctification is often overlooked

FEAR

In our minds sanctification is often associated with pain and suffering.

We think that when sanctification comes

It is going to come in the most painful possible way.

Indeed when IMAGES OF SANCTIFICATION come to our mind

· We think of a potter molding and squeezing and forming clay.

· We think of silver being placed in the furnace to be burned of all its impurities.

· We think of a wood chisel carving away the old man from the new.

We think of the discipline passage of Hebrews 12 and are reminded

How God disciplines us so that we may share in His holiness.

And when the pain is contemplated,

It causes us to hope that sanctification never comes.

I’d rather keep my sin than experience the pain of removing it.

But this also speaks to our MISGUIDED PRIORITIES.

The Bible routinely tells us to rejoice in our sufferings.

The Bible says that God has granted suffering to us.

And we are to rejoice because of

The value of the holiness that is being produced.

And so it’s a simple equation.

If you don’t want to be holy

It is very difficult to find reason to rejoice in your suffering.

What other good could it be producing?

If you have no desire to be like Jesus

Then your suffering will only make you bitter and angry.

BUT WHAT IF

· We learned the truth about sanctification?

· Holiness became a blessing to us?

· We saw it rightly and the desire for Christ-like-ness became more desirable than comfort?

We NEED to study sanctification.

We need to see the value of God’s holiness.

We need to see the joy and peace and assurance and hope

And glory and power and effectiveness

That is available to those who walk in His holiness.

Our world lives in such anxiety and depression and fear and weakness.

· Our evangelistic witness is ineffective,

· Our ministries are often powerless,

· Our lives struggle to find fulfillment and meaning.

Could it be that it is because you were designed to be more than worldly?

You were designed to be holy.

You were designed to be set apart for God.

It is through our sanctification that we know

Joy and peace and hope and strength and assurance.

IT IS NOT SIN THAT PRODUCES THOSE THINGS.

We often dread sanctification because of the pain of the process,

But that is the wrong focus.

We need to fix our eyes on the glory of the result.

SANCTIFICATION IS SALVATION TOO!

It is God saving you today from the sin that wants to wreck your life.

Saving you from despair and fear and doubt and disaster

You’ve been JUSTIFIED,

· There is no condemnation now for you.

You will be GLORIFIED,

· Someday in heaven sin will be no more.

BUT TODAY you live in this world

The salvation God would have you know today

Is the salvation of sanctification.

It is not a bad thing, it is a good thing!

AND THE CHURCH NEEDS TO STUDY IT.

And there is one more reason why I am compelled to begin this study.

IT MATTERS TO GOD

Remember the upper room,

· When Jesus was washing the disciples feet?

· He went to Peter and Peter said, “No! Never!”

John 13:8 “Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

Jesus told Peter that if He will not permit sanctification to occur in his life (illustrated by the washing of feet) then they cannot fellowship.

How about this one?

1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…”

Ever wonder what God’s will for your life is?

· There it is: sanctification.

And the verse that probably resonates in my mind more than any other:

Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

What a penetrating truth, “without which no one will see the Lord.”

How important is sanctification?

It is vitally important to God.

Psalms 15 “O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend; In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honors those who fear the Lord; He swears to his own hurt and does not change; He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.”

So this morning let’s dip our toes in the water.

Let’s begin our study on sanctification.

To do so we are going to very quickly run over this text in 1 Peter.

There’s not a ton of time left to cover it in detail, but that’s ok,

We’re introducing the point and the main points here are powerful.

Peter here gives us 3 reasons

That sanctification should be the focus of our lives.

#1 GOD’S PROMISE REQUIRES SANCTIFICATION

1 Peter 1:13

The command here is clear, but the motive behind it is not.

· We see that we are to “prepare your minds for action”

· We see that we are to “keep sober in spirit”

· We see that we are to “fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The commands are clear.

But “WHY?”

Well that is why that word “therefore” is there.

These commands fall on the heals of what Peter has revealed.

Peter’s letter is here written to suffering believers.

· They have literally be scattered for their faith.

· They are referred to as “The Dispersia”

· They have lost jobs

· They have lost homes

· They have been outcast

· They are suffering

In order to comfort them in their suffering

Peter reminds them of their inheritance.

“Don’t focus on what you’ve lost, focus on what you’ve gained.”

(READ 3-8)

As believers in Christ,

· We are sharers of a great inheritance from God.

· One that is “imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,”

Just as a side note, the very description of the inheritance indicates what the recipient of it must be.

Then Peter explains WHY God has permitted such suffering in their lives.

Verses 6-7 indicate that the suffering they are experiencing

Is for the purpose of proving their faith.

Now, they are NOT proving their faith to God,

God knows if their faith is genuine.

The suffering is allowing them to prove their faith to themselves.

What assurance comes from passing the test!

What assurance comes from standing strong in adversity!

As long as your faith is untested you may always wonder if your salvation is genuine,

But once your faith passes through the fire and endures

It comes out with a badge of assurance.

And this is where the rejoicing of verses 8-9 comes from.

These suffering believers are able to rejoice in their trials

Because their trials proved their faith is real and their salvation sure.

Their assurance was more valuable than their comfort.

It is a great salvation which they have obtained.

(READ 10-12)

· It is a salvation so great that prophets were captivated by it.

· It is a salvation so great that angels were fixated on it.

It is a great salvation God has given to those whose faith is true,

Being evidenced by passing through the fire in tact.

SO THE OBVIOUS POINT HERE IS THAT

· You want a proven faith.

· You want a faith that withstands the fire.

· You want to rejoice in a salvation that is coming for you.

And now Peter’s command in verse 13 make sense.

(13) “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Since these trials are proving your faith, respond to them properly.

EMBRACE YOUR SUFFERING AS A MEANS OF SANCTIFICATION.

God is not trying to hurt you,

He is trying to overcome your doubt and give you assurance.

God’s promise of assurance requires sanctification.

In order to obtain the promise your faith must be real.

In order to enjoy the promise you must know it is real.

It is impossible to achieve or enjoy the promise of God

Without sanctification.

#2 GOD’S PRESENCE REQUIRES SANCTIFICATION

1 Peter 1:14-16

In verse 13 Peter said, “prepare your minds for action”

It’s a good command, but it is a little vague.

WHAT ACTION?

Well verses 14-16 spell it out.

That you are to break off the old man.

“do not be conformed to the former lusts that were yours in your ignorance.”

Later Peter will say:

1 Peter 4:3 “For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.”

It is what we will talk about through the concept of MORTIFICATION.

· We are to deny self.

· We are to put to death the flesh.

· We are to take off the old man.

· We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

Various ways of saying it throughout the Scripture,

But it all means the same thing.

STOP LIVING LIKE YOU USED TO LIVE.

God’s salvation is a salvation from sin.

If He is saving you then sin should be decreasing in your life.

And here is a good place to introduce and important thought.

When we talk about sanctification we are NOT talking about perfection.

That won’t be achieved.

“All your righteous deeds are like a filthy rag”,

That won’t change so long as you are on this earth.

As one saint put it, “Even the tears we cry in repentance need to be washed by the blood of the lamb”

(Bridges, Jerry [The Pursuit of Holiness; Nav Press; Colorado Springs, CO; 1978] pg. 19)

Sanctification is not about perfection, it is about direction.

That those who claim to have been saved from sin,

Should demonstrate that in the mortification of sin in their lives.

Those that claim to have a future in a hope of glory were sin is gone

Should reveal the genuineness of that hope by killing sin today.

And this mortification of sin…

· This death to the flesh…

· This refusal to walk in former lusts…

IS ALL DONE FOR ONE DRIVING REASON.

GOD HATES SIN.

· The God whom we call Father.

· The God whom we long to dwell with.

· He is Holy and He hates sin.

So Peter says “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”

Do you long to commune with God?

Do you long to dwell with God for all eternity?

Psalms 24:3-6 “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord And righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face—even Jacob. Selah.”

Do you long to enter the hill of the LORD?

Do you long to go in through the veil?

AND YES, I KNOW,

We go because we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

We go, because we are justified in His righteous works.

That is why you are welcome.

But is there nothing in you that desires

To genuinely be that which you are clothed in?

Do you really say in your heart, “I’ll be as filthy as I want and it will be ok because I’ll just wear Jesus righteous robe”?

Is there not desire in you to be what Christ has declared you to be?

Imagine I am introducing you to someone for the first time.

And before you meet them, I tell you: “I’ve already spoken to them about you, I told them how polite and kind you are. I’ve told them you are honest and courteous.”

Now, when you go in to meet that person,

Clothed in the reputation that I have hung on your neck,

Will you really do me the injustice of proving me a liar

By acting like a thug in their presence?

Will you disgrace my reputation and my good word about you?

How can it be that we clothe ourselves in Christ’s righteous robe

And yet be content to harbor filth beneath it?

IT IS TRUE THAT

· We enter the veil through the blood of Christ

· And we are welcome there because of what He did,

But is there nothing in you

That wants to honor the presence of the Holy One?

There should be, and if the Spirit of God is in you, there will be.

The genuine believer longs to be holy because his heavenly Father is holy.

The genuine believer longs to be holy because his heavenly Father loves holiness.

Ephesians 4:1 “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,”

Colossians 1:9-10 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

Or perhaps we should state it negatively:

Ephesians 4:30 “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

It is the desire of the Christian to do that which is pleasing to the Father.

It is the desire of the Christian not to grieve His Father.

I’m mindful of the powerful Psalm of David:

Psalms 101 “I will sing of lovingkindness and justice, To You, O Lord, I will sing praises. I will give heed to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure. My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me. He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me. Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, So as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity.”

David’s desire is the nearness of God.

· He shows that in the question, “When will You come to me?”

· That’s his goal; the nearness of God.

But do you see how devoted David is to it?

· Walking in integrity

· No worthless things before his eyes

· Being set apart from slanderers and perversion

· Surrounding himself with good influences

You get the point.

Sanctification matters

God’s promise requires sanctification

God’s presence requires sanctification

#3 GOD’S PAYMENT REQUIRES SANCTIFICATION

1 Peter 3:17-19

Here Peter reminds us of two very important aspects

About God’s dealing with humanity.

1) He “impartially judges”

2) He “judges according to each one’s work”

In short, how you live matters & God will be just in His judgments.

Now this is NOT a matter of condemnation,

For we are clearly discussing here one who is redeemed,

Who addresses God as “Father”.

But we ARE talking about discipline, reward, blessing, etc.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

There is a day of payment coming.

Because of this Peter tells us to “conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth”

During this time period in which sanctification is the aim,

· There needs to be a “fear” about us.

· This is an awe of God, a reverence for God,

· An admiration for God like a son has for his father.

It is another way of saying your focus should be on pleasing your Father.

And there is a reason.

(18-19) “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

HERE IS THE QUESTION?

· How badly does God want you to be holy?

· How much did He pay to redeem you from your sins?

It’s not like He paid some miniscule price.

It’s not like He just gave gold or silver or something like that.

The price God paid to set you free from sin was “precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

Acts 20:28 calls us:

Acts 20:28 “…the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

It is in this same thought that Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 6:20 “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

Many of you have purchased a vehicle for your child.

Many of you have contributed to their college education.

When you handed them the car or sent them to college

Did it come with stipulations?

Absolutely! If you were going to pay for it,

There were some expectations that came with it.

AND you had the right to those expectations.

SO IT IS WITH GOD.

He paid an incalculable price to make us holy

And His payment demands our sanctification.

Now, that’s a real quick introduction into this topic

And there is much more to say in the coming weeks,

But this morning let me just begin you thinking about the issue at hand.

It is necessary that you and I take sanctification seriously.

It matters to God and thus it must matter to us.

Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”