In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of being alert and sober in our spiritual lives. He uses the analogy of soldiers in combat to illustrate the need for split-second timing and attentiveness. The preacher highlights three commands from the Bible that shape holy living: gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope for the grace of Jesus Christ. He emphasizes the need to renew our minds and develop the right attitude in order to live a holy life in an unholy world.

Peter, please find your place there. While you're going there, I want to say one other thing about God's kindness to us in these days in working with Spanish-speaking people. I want to say again how grateful I am to my wife and to my daughters. They prepare and teach every Lord's Day. They're very busy ladies and I just I know in my heart that part of the growth and blessing that we see in the work is largely due to their preparation and busyness as well. Planning meaningful ministry to our family's children and I just say that humbly. I thank God for my wife and for my girls. To see my girls at 13 and 16 teaching in Spanish every Sunday thrills my heart. And so and then of course Rebecca. How old are you Rebecca? She's 18. 18 already? I can't believe it. Alright, 1st Peter chapter 1. I want to say tonight we had revival meetings at Calvary Baptist Church and the English Church a few weeks back and the evangelist there, Brother Jim Van Gildren, a man of God. God really used him in my own heart and he spoke one night on holiness and I just didn't get over it. So I went back and purposed to study the text myself and so I did and I preached a message in Spanish. So the message I'm preaching tonight I've never preached in English. So if I slip away in Spanish you just say, amen, adelante. Okay, but I want to share my heart with you tonight on modeling holiness in an unholy world. Modeling holiness in an unholy world. I think of all of us would be honest before God and with each other. We would have to acknowledge that we have this fibrous root in our heart that has its natural bent and attraction to sin. I'm not talking about something that's far into your life. I want to say something as well, dear brother, I believe at times one of the greatest evidences of true salvation and repentance is wrestling with sin in your own heart. You know the Word of God as you read it? The battlefield between God and the devil is the soul of man. And your wrestling ground, your battleground, and mine has to do with our form of thinking. And this is why we see so much in the Word of God about the importance of our minds being changed and transformed. But brother, we wrestle with sin. We still have that sinful nature, that natural bent toward that which is wrong, toward that which grieves God. And the person who says, I'm going to tell you brother Ellison, I don't have any problem anymore with sin. You're either not being honest with God or with yourself, or you're just a liar. The truth is, and I think the sooner we come to grips with the truth and say, I'm wrestling. Brother, I'm going to tell you something. I find in the Scripture here a clear command of God to be holy. But I not only find the command to be holy, but I find also here tools to help us do it. I remember when I first read the text, and I want you to read it with me, 1 Peter chapter 1. We're now in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 15 and 16. Would you read it with me please? The Bible says, but as He which is called you is holy. So be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. You know, when I first read that, and I started thinking about me, holy. Brother, and I feel so inadequate, the wrestlings of sin in my own heart and thought life. And I said, how is it possible to be holy? Then I began to understand when God says, be holy for I'm holy, He's not talking about sinless perfection. Brethren, it is not possible this side of heaven for you to be sinless in this life. Why? You've got a sinful nature still you're wrestling with. But I'm going to tell you something, you should be sinning less and less as you walk with God. What we're talking about here is this separation from sin and this separation to God. Holiness in the Scripture is not just saying no, no, no, no, no. Holiness in the Scripture is saying yes, yes, yes, yes to Jesus and to His will. And as I begin to study the context, my heart began to have hope and aspiration. There is hope for me. And if there's hope for me, there's hope for you. We see in the Scripture not only God saying be holy, be distinct, be different, but God also has given us in the text tools to help us accomplish the goal. He didn't just say be holy and distinguish yourself and distinguish your family from those that know not God. He said, I'm going to tell you how you can do it. And so I want us to look at the text tonight and I want us to leave here not feeling condemned and discouraged because all of us fall short of this goal of holiness. But I want us to leave here with determination and with hope in our hearts, brethren, with these tools and with the principles that God gives us in His Word, we can live differently than when we live. I don't have to live like I used to live and I don't have to think like I used to think. I don't have to anymore. And God tells us why. Modeling holiness in an unholy world. We've already seen the mandate here in verse 15 and 16. Be holy for I'm holy. God expects us, expects our lives to resemble something of His. God is holy. You should be holy. God is different, was different, will forever be different and so should you and so should me and your family and mine. But before we see the commandment there in verse 16, we see other mandates that give us steps of action. Look with me at verse 13. Here's the first principle. We see mandates that shape holy living. Mandates that shape holy living. And I want to give you three tonight. Verse 13 says, wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. In verse 13, we see no less than three commands. The first one is found in the word gird, gird up the loins of your mind. Peter is drawing this from very, when he wrote this in the epistle and he told them to gird up the loins of your mind, they could identify immediately with what he was saying, right? It's drawn from the analogy in those days, they wore these, even the men wore these long robes and their form of dress, they had like a robe on and underneath probably have what we see in the Old Testament, they have britches. That's a Bible word by the way, britches. And they had this robe on and when a man found himself and he had to work or he had to run or he had to fight and defend himself or his family, what did he have to do? He had to reach down and begin to gird up this robe. So he had to gather the robe and bring it up to his girdle and tighten this thing up and tie it there and now he could fight. Now he could run. Now he could do what he had to do. But before there was the liberty for action and steps, he had to first gird up his robe. This is the idea here. The first mandate I see in the text that the mandates that shape holy living, number one, he said gird up the loins of your mind. You need to pull together all the wandering and distracting thoughts in your life and bring them together. The first principle we see is the fact that the mind must be renewed. That's the first principle. Mandates that shape holy living, your mind must be renewed. You've got to come to the place in your life where you're girding up the loins of your mind. You're not walking around undisciplined. You're not walking around allowing your mind just to float to that direction and that direction. But you're actually pulling your thoughts together with a single focus of being holy and walking with God. Amen. That means your mind, brethren, must be renewed. You must come to that place where you are ready to receive truth. You're opening your life up to accept truth and you're there with an open heart and life to walk in the truth. That's why I believe with all of my heart the Christian that is home through the week and he's filling his mind with magazines. He's filling his mind with newspapers. He's filling his mind with television and the philosophies that come from this world. He's filling his mind with all this. I'm going to tell you there's no way he can walk in holiness before God. It is not possible to fill your mind with the trash of this world and all of a sudden turn on the switch at 11 o'clock on Sunday morning and all of a sudden you're in contact with God. It does not happen. You know what you have to do and what I have to do? Before we are ready to enter and take action in the steps needed to walk with God in personal piety and holiness and separation, I'm going to have to get to the place where I'm saying, God, get a hold of my thoughts and let it be transformed and renewed by Your Word. And I'm saying that's true. Men, I share with you personally the time that I wrestle most with my thought life is a time when I'm not memorizing something from the Word of God. But when I'm memorizing something from the Word of God, there is a measure of strength and a girding up of my thoughts so that I'm more focused and able to concentrate on the things that I know God's called me to do and be. I must fill my mind with the Word of God. We're talking about modeling holiness in an unholy world. The only way it's going to happen, brethren, is when we understand the importance of these mandates that shape holy living. Number one, the mind must be renewed. Romans in chapter 12 tells us, brethren, to don't be conformed to this world. We're renewing of your mind. Amen. And the word transformed there is talking about an internal change that occurs as you're passing time with God in the Word. This is why I believe, brethren, with all of my heart, there is power in the Word. And I believe God wants to change my mind. He wants to change the way I think. He wants to alter the perspective I have toward life. He wants me to be a different man, a different husband, a godly father. And the only way that's going to happen is when I'm spending time with God in His Word. This is why it's so important. Men, again, I share with you in love, I'm trying to exhort you, read the Scriptures to your family. I know it's hard and at times we're inconsistent and at times the schedule doesn't work out. If you're like me with eight children, somebody's sick, somebody was up last night, something went wrong, something didn't go right, but still somehow you've got to carve out that time. Remember, God gives all of us the same amount of time. Whether you work in the afternoon until 9, or you go in at 10 and work until 7, or you go in at 4 in the morning and work until 12 in the afternoon, I don't know what your schedule's like, but you can still carve out the time to meet with God. And to make sure you're reading the Word of God, reading the Scriptures to your family. I found that my wife always appreciates me taking the initiative to say, we need to read. Amen? And I want to encourage you. Brethren, it's like we're trying to do in our family, in the mornings we try to read Proverbs, in the afternoon we're reading through the New Testament. And again, I'm not saying we're just that great model and always doing it right and consistent, hallelujah. I wish I could say, brethren, every day it happens. We usually read the morning or the afternoon, but we're getting it done. Sometimes you've got to be flexible. Today we knew I'd be gone up to the moment to get in the van to come this way, and so we read Proverbs and finished Romans this morning before we left. You've got to shape it and make it happen. Mend the Word of God. What we see in the text is before God says you can be holy, there's another mandate and it's about the loins of your mind. Bring together all these disjointed and wandering thoughts into a unified focus on the Lord and His Word and that happens when you meet with God in the truth. That's the first mandate that shapes holy living. The mind must be renewed. Here's the second mandate that shapes holy living. There's an attitude that must be developed. We see it here in verse 13. Look at it. Another command. What does it say? Gird up the loins of your mind. And what does it say secondly? Be sober. Here we find an attitude that must be developed. Soberness. Soberness. I'm going to tell you something. The word sober here means to be alert. It means to be attentive. It means to have your spiritual eyes open. Sometimes, brethren, what happens, and I have to acknowledge, I've done it many times. I go to the office. I do some counseling. I do some discipleship. I go over there and visit. I come home. What do I want to do? I want to just go on automatic pilot and sit down and say, honey, you drive. Amen? That's what I want to do. And my wife was thinking what? Finally, I can pass the ball to him. The leader is home. Amen. Something's going to get done. And I'm over there. Could you pour me some coffee, honey? Then the tension starts to build. I'm going to tell you something, brethren. God is calling every believing sinner, every Christian. If we're to begin to model holiness in the home and holiness in this world and holiness in our churches, the first thing we need to do is walk in this mandate that shapes that kind of living. Our mind must be renewed and there must be an attitude. An attitude must be developed. We've got to walk around a little bit alert. We've got to be sober minded. What does 1 Peter say? The same book, chapter 5, but in verse 8, he says again to this group, he says, be sober. Be vigilant because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Again, this spiritual alertness, it's an attitude, brethren, that must be developed. I'm not naturally attentive and alert and on guard in my home and outside my home, but it's something that must be developed in my life and in yours so that we can be the men of God. God's called us to be in our place. Be sober. Here is the idea. Listen to me. The first principle is the mind must be renewed. So we're opening ourselves up to receive the word of God. We've got a humble attitude. We're teachable. We're correctable. God is speaking at church to us. We're reading the scripture at home. God is speaking to us at home. Something exciting is happening in our lives. God is beginning to renew our mind. And in this process of renewing our mind and changing our view on life and all of this, at the same time, we've got to walk around alert and be alert to every false idea that comes in contrary to what we're discovering in this book. You see that? One is positive. One is negative. We've got to be alert to receive and accept and discern. That's right. That's true. Yes! And you receive it. But at the same time, we've got to be alert because the enemy is coming with all of his vain philosophies, with all this sinful information, all this trash that's trying to clutter your mind to keep you from hearing God and doing what's right. And as men, we've got to say, no! I'm not going to lie to my home. I'm not going to lie to my children. I'm not going to do it. It's one thing to receive that which is good. It's another thing to reject all that is wrong. Being sober speaks to us about our ability to not only detect that which is wrong, but to reject it. Why? We're sober. We're alert. Think of yourself like a soldier. I talked to my son today on the way up. We were coming up. He called and he's going out for training, you know. He's in the army, Anchorage, Alaska. I asked him one day, I said, son, how in the world? They're getting you ready to go to Iraq and you're up there in six foot of snow. I just don't see it. I don't understand it. How are they getting you ready? He said, dad, you don't understand. They've built whole villages up here. They'll take us out, sometimes groups of hundreds, sometimes a couple of thousand men. We'll do night drops, full combat armor. We'll take out a bridge, enter a village, kick in doors. You enter the room. On tracks are bodies of people yelling at them, screaming in that language they're going to be confronted with in Iraq. And he said, they have split second timing. Of course, everything's videoed. And they're to go in there and shoot and take it out and do the mission. And to discover afterwards on video it was a lady screaming in the corner and they shot a lady holding a baby or whatever. Split, split second timing. What are they hearing when they go in there? He has to be what? Alert. Right? Sober. That's what I'm saying. This is what God is warning us to do. Listen, we've got to have that posture. We're going to receive that which is good, but be ready and alert on the defense as it were to detect and reject all that is wrong. But there's another principle. These mandates that shape holy living. The mind must be renewed. There is an attitude that must be developed. That's soberness and sobriety where we're not only detecting error, but we're rejecting it. Number three, another mandate that shapes that holy living is what? Dependence must be cultivated. There's another command we see in verse 13 and he says what? Hope to the end for what? For the grace. The word hope is another command in the original text. There's three commands here. Gird, be sober, and hope. And the idea here, brethren, is the third mandate that helps shape holy living is this dependence upon what? The grace of God in your life. And this dependence must be cultivated. You know what the Bible says in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves as a gift of God. Right? Our Christian life begins with grace. But the Bible says our Christian life must continue in grace. Grace speaks of that power and desire that God gives to the humble believer to do His will. And God is at work in your life and mine. Listen, after we get saved, He gives us that measure of grace. But as we grow, we're to grow in grace. And every day there's renewed opportunities to be dependent, to cultivate this grace in our lives. So it's not a one-time decision. I'm saved and everything's taken care of. No. That's just the beginning. Dependence that must be cultivated. Look with me about this grace. I want to give you an example. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Here we see the testimony of Paul. Paul speaks to us here about this grace and how it worked in his life. Grace is something powerful. Grace is something that changes you and changes me. Grace is that which gives us the power and the desire to go forward. We're considering mandates that shape holy living. The mind that busts me renewed. The attitude that must be developed. And now dependence that must be cultivated. Because God gives grace to the humble, not to the proud. 1 Corinthians 15.10. Here we see Paul's testimony about grace. He says, By the grace of God I am what I am. I love that, don't you? By the grace of God I am what I am. And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but... What does it say? The grace of God which was with me. What was laboring in Paul? What was moving him forward to sacrifice more and attempt to do more for God day in and day out, brethren? It was that grace of God in his heart. And this is what Peter says. Peter says, Listen, hope to the end for the grace. You keep relying upon that grace and you keep that stick-to-itiveness in your Christian life and you stay plugged in right there. Accepting that which is good, detecting and rejecting that which is wrong, cultivating a humble dependence upon the work of grace in your heart. You know what's going to happen? You're going to become a transformed person. Amen? Oh brethren, the Christian life begins with grace, it starts with grace, but it must continue in grace and it grows in deeper, deeper confidence and dependence in that grace. Mandates that shape holy living. As your mind is being renewed, you're receiving truth, you're accepting it, you're opening your heart and life to it. When the Word of God is preached, you're listening, you're in tune. When something comes that's wrong, you're alert, you're alive, your eyes are open and you say, No! And as you walk humbly with God, you rest in the grace of God to carry you through. And brother, your mind is being renewed and this attitude that's being developed and this dependence that is being cultivated by the grace of God, what will it produce? It will produce a transformed life. Now I want you to notice this quickly. He says after verse 13, verse 14, what does verse 14 say? As obedient children. Wow, notice how he describes that person. That person that's accepting that which is right, detecting and rejecting that which was wrong, learning to depend on the grace of God. That person is what? He's an obedient child. It produces always what? A transformed life. Got a question for you tonight? What are the manifestations that characterize holy living? This is the second principle. Mandates that shape holy living. Now let's look at it. Manifestations that characterize holy living. How do you know, brethren, that you're on your way to holy living? What is it that will be manifested and characteristic of your life? That you're walking like this. The first thing we see is in verse 14. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance. I believe a watch word, if I can call it that, a key word in verse 14 is the word fashioning. Fashioning. Oh brethren, what might be the first manifestation that would characterize holy living? In the text. What is it? Well, not fashioning yourselves. The word fashioning means outward appearance. What is the first manifestation that characterizes holy living? A godly appearance. Underscore it. A godly appearance. I'm going to tell you something. As I open my heart in my life to receive the word of God, to accept teaching and preaching, I'm reading the word of God, I'm filling my mind with it, brethren. I'm detecting and rejecting wrong and saying no to these magazines and newspapers and everything that's coming to my mailbox every day. I'm rejecting these philosophies and I'm allowing God to shape my thoughts and I'm learning to walk humbly in dependence upon that grace that's working inside of me. God says one of the first ways that this grace will be manifested, brethren, is my appearance will change. The word fashioning here is the same word found in Romans chapter 12 and verse 2. Romans 12, verse 1 where it says, be not conformed outwardly to this world, this lost age, right? This pagan world. He said don't be conformed outwardly to them and to the way they dress, to the way they live, to the way they present themselves, to the way they carry themselves. Don't be conformed to that, but rather be what? Be transformed inwardly by the word of God. There is an outward fashioning that God says we ought not take part of. So the first thing I see, the first manifestation that characterizes holy living is a godly appearance. Brethren, my outside is going to change. This transformed life is going to become evident to others by what they see. They're going to see a change, amen? You know, brethren, I remember when I was in college. Now this was about three years ago. I graduated in 85. This was a few years ago. But when I first went there in 81, I really enjoyed physical things, you know. I was into karate, kickboxing. I mean I just enjoyed kicking people around. I enjoyed getting kicked around, probably the better word. But I enjoyed cross country. I was more the physical kind of guy, you know, physical. You look at me now and you say, what happened, Brother Ellison? Amen? But I enjoyed it. And so it was nothing for me after work or after study, after school. I'd go down to the gym and workout. I would go out and run six miles, eight miles, ten miles. And I just felt good. I just felt good about just my physical person. You know, I just felt good. I was a fairly young Christian and many convictions that I have now were not developed then, being honest with you. I wish I could say I was walking then like I'm walking now. And so I would go out jogging and, you know, I'd have a tank top on, short shorts, no socks. And I'd go out right down through town just jogging six, eight miles. I wasn't even thinking about what others were doing. I didn't think it didn't bother me. They're thinking wrong. It's their business, their problem. Kind of a bad attitude, amen? Kind of a sorry attitude. But as I began to grow in my understanding of the Scripture and my responsibility to please God with my address and I began to see that I was purchased with a price and that I'm to glorify God and everything and I began to let the word of God transform my mind. I'm going to tell you something happened to the outside of me. I began to put some clothes on, brother. Amen! I mean, it's just something, I just wanted to wear them, you know. Yeah, amen. I didn't want to go out and people see me that way. I began to think, what am I saying to others about Jesus Christ by the way I dress and carry myself? Can I say to you that one way God's people are to distinguish themselves in this wicked world is the way you dress? Brother, the first manifestation, this word fashioning has nothing to do with your heart. This word fashioning has everything to do with your appearance. And God says the first evidence of this that should characterize holy living is a godly appearance. I believe from a distance a woman should look like a woman and a man should look like a man. Amen, amen. I'm so thankful for my godly wife and it's because of her example in our home that our girls dress the way they do. I'm telling you. It's amazing when we go shopping. I'm standing outside the dressing room, you know. My wife comes out. She's so sweet. She goes, honey, do you like this? I don't know, sweetheart. Turn around. Turn around the other way. Come over here closer. Let me see. I don't know. She says, I'll try on another one. She goes, no discussion. Then what happens? And people are watching. They're thinking, what kind of man is that? Hard nose. I don't know what they're thinking, you know. But it doesn't matter. Amen. They see that we love each other and she loves me and I love her and I want to buy things for her. And then what happens right after that? Here comes Rebecca. Same thing. Poppy, do you like this? I do. I like that. Hannah will come out. Wait, Daddy, what do you think? I don't like that. Go try something else. Amen. And these girls keep coming out. They keep coming out and talking to me, you know. These people are standing there looking. What in the world? It's because of the attitude and the spirit and the humbleness of my wife. My girls seek my approval for their dress before they seek the approval of their friends. Amen. My girls are not seeking the approval of their friends and the world and their neighbors more than they're seeking my approval. And way above that, they're seeking God's approval. And when my girls are trying to seek God's approval, I'm going to tell you it's a lot easier to put out a little money so they look nice. Brethren, I'm going to tell you something. We've entered a day where once again we're seeing this great mixture, the attempt to mix in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're trying to remove all the distinctions. And I'm going to tell you God created them and we better protect them. And I want to affirm and encourage every girl that attempts to honor God with her dress and every man that attempts to honor God with his monastery. Because it's biblical and right. Amen. Amen. I'm not just preaching to ladies, I'm preaching to you men. Men going around with their shirts half unbuttoned or no shirt at all, that's worse. Amen. It's like showing everything to everybody that which only your wife should know about. The first manifestation given in the text of being holy for I'm holy is a godly appearance. The word fashioning is the word conformed from Hebrews 12 and it means outward appearance. So I should look different. Now I'm not saying we should always have the nicest things on, we should look different. Like I told you last night, that nice blue suit I had on cost $12. Amen. I might wear one tomorrow that cost $6. It's good to go to those places, the second hand places if you can. I bought this shirt there for $2.63. Amen. I'm going to tell you something. You got to be wise. You don't have to spend a lot of money to look sharp. Right? And not implying I look sharp, but you can do it that way. We've got to try to look sharp for God guys. Sharp for God. And I appreciate it when I see young men with short hair and ladies with long and when there's an attempt as feeble as we are to honor God with our dress. This godly appearance. Brother, it ought to be affirmed and reaffirmed in the church so that God's people come and they feel good about it. They get enough criticism out there, in here they ought to be encouraged and charged up about it. So that's the first thing we see and it really drew my attention. I said, look at that. The Lord is so patient with all of us. Amen. I haven't always had these same convictions as I told you when I was in college. And God's still working on me. God's still changing things in my life. Amen. Manifestations that characterize holy living. A godly appearance. Look with me at verse 15 through 19. The second manifestation, and I'm moving on, is a godly walk. A godly walk. Look what it says. For as it has been called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Or to say, all manner. Every area of your life. In every jurisdiction. And that's why I'm just calling it, in general, a godly walk. The word conversation of the King James does not mean your form of speech, but it could include it. It's talking about your conduct. It's talking about the way you live, brethren. Because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. For if you call on the Father. That's verse 17. We'll stop there at verse 15 and 16. The importance of a godly walk. Of a godly walk. Look what it says here, brethren. All manner of conversation. That drew attention to me and so in my Bible I underscored the word all. All manner. What does all mean? Amen! It means all, brother! You know, some of you say, well I'm just not sure what all means. I'm going to have to get out my Greek coordinates, brother. I'm going to tell you something. All means all. In every area of your life and mine, in every area of our family, in every jurisdiction that God has placed under us should be characterized by godliness. Everything. Amen! Everything. First our appearance. That godly appearance, but also a godly walk. Just the walk. When people see our families, they should say, there's something distinct about that family. Listen, they shouldn't look at us necessarily and just think, oh they're just weird and they're off the wall. I can't understand. No, they may think that. That's alright. But there should be something distinct, brother, about us. Something that characterizes us from them. Because we're walking with Jesus Christ. A godly walk. Look at me quickly. I see in the text just a couple motivations. Motivations for a godly walk. Very quickly. I'm going to give you three. I see in the text. We're talking about the manifestations that characterize holy living. A godly appearance and a godly walk. But what are the motivations for a godly walk? Look at this. Number one. It says in verse 16, because it is written. Brother, that's enough! That's enough. The Bible says it. That's enough. We can stop right there and go home tonight because, brother, that's enough. What is the motivation that I should be distinguishing my life from those who don't know God and separating myself from sin and separating myself to God? What should it be? It's just because God says to do it. There's another motivation though. The Bible says so, but also God our Father disciplines us if we don't. Verse 17. Another motivation for a godly walk is if you call on the Father who without respect to person judgeth according to every man's work past the time of your sojourning here in fear. Brother, another motivation to keep us on course. We're talking about the manifestations that characterize holy living. A godly appearance and a godly walk. What keeps us there when we don't feel like it? Brother, number one, just the Bible says so, but number two, our Father disciplines us. I remember when I tried to share with my children what it was. I said, you know, children, I'm spanking you. I'm showing love to you by doing that just like God spanks daddy. Of course, they look at you real funny. I've never seen God whipping you, dad. But you know what I'm talking about, don't you? You have felt that gentle conviction of God, that pressure from heaven on your heart, haven't you? That conviction. One thing that should motivate us guys and ladies and men to say no to that which is wrong and to cleave and to join ourself to that which is good is just the fact that we know that our Father loves us. He has given us His Word because it is written and He would never require of us something that would not be for our highest good. But number two, when we still throw up a fist at God, as it were, and say I've got certain rights, I'm an adult, now I'll make my own decisions, thank you, bye. And we go on our own course. We can expect our Father to draw an eye to us and discipline. And that should motivate us again. Lord, I'm sorry, since I'm wandering off the course that You have defined for my life. And He comes and He gives that little discipline. And sometimes it's stiff discipline. Other times it's something drastic. But God knows how to get our attention. Amen? God knows how to get our attention. He knows how to slow us down. Just like that. We thought we didn't have time to read. We didn't have time to do this. All of a sudden God gets our attention. We've got all the time in the world to hear from God now. Motivation. God our Father disciplines us. But something else to motivate us is the blood of Christ cleanses us. What a motivation! Look what it says there, verse 18 and 19. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by the tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as the Lamb without blemish and without spot. I want to say something to you real quickly, brethren. What should motivate us to say no to wrong and yes to that which is good? What should help keep us on course and motivate us to be in this godly walk? The blood of Christ. Focus yourself on the sacrifice of our Lord and what He gave to save that we might have what we have. Oh brethren, there's hope. You say, Brother Gary, you don't know how I've failed. There is hope because Jesus died for you. You don't know how I've blown it. This thing is out of control, brother. I'm going to tell you, Christ died for those sins. Stop moping over it. Stop groping over it. Stop being depressed over it. Come to Christ. Accept His forgiveness through the shed blood. He died for that sin. And then get up off your feet and by the grace of God, go forward and start walking with Him once again. Don't let the devil keep you down and just beat you up and beat you up and beat you up and beat you up. Yes, you ought to repent and feel bad about your sin because everybody suffers for it. Mainly your children. But brethren, I'm going to tell you something. It's not right to stay in that pigsty and stay in that state of depression. You ought to get up and get over it. A godly walk. Why? The motivation? God says so. Why? God loves us and He disciplines us and the blood of Christ cleanses us. There is power in the blood. I love it. There is power in the blood. There's one other manifestation. I'll close with this very quickly. Manifestations. We've been talking about how when our mind has been renewed and this attitude is being developed and our dependence in the grace of God is being cultivated day after day, it's going to produce a transformed life. Well, what are the manifestations that should characterize this holy living, this transformed life, this godly appearance and a godly walk? I want you to notice something else. A godly love. Look at verse 22. I'm in 1 Peter 1, 22. Seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto the unfeigned love of the brethren. See that you love one another with a pure heart. What does it say? Fervently. Fervently. What are the manifestations that characterize holy living? A godly appearance. God's going to change you on the outside and me too. A godly walk. Something's going to happen to every jurisdiction that God has placed under our control. A godly walk. But number three, a godly love. Something is going to happen in your heart and mine so as we're not so consumed with living for ourselves and serving ourselves. We're going to begin to have a love and a passion to help the brethren in the church. That's the context. Loving each other, brethren, with a pure heart, fervently. He said, I love that, brethren. A pure heart. A pure love. Not like the world loves. You know, the world says, give me that and give me this. But the Christian love says what? I want to give something to you. I want to help you. I want to serve you. Let me get involved in your life. What's going on? A godly love. That is another manifestation that should characterize holy living. A godly appearance. A godly walk and godly love. A love that says, I'm ready to serve. I'm ready to sacrifice that you might have the best. Right? I'm here to give and not get. I'm here to invest in your life and not expect anything in return. Modeling holiness in an unholy world. Brethren, how are you doing tonight? How was your life? I think of this command, be holy as I'm holy. My first impression is this is impossible. I'm so weak and frail. And then God begins to build the tools into our life, doesn't he? He says, wait a minute, here's the first step. Your mind must be renewed. Here's another step. There's an attitude that must be developed in your life. Soberness. Here's a third step. There must be that daily dependence. That dependence must be cultivated in your life. In what? The grace of God. Listen to me. If you're thinking right now, it's so hard to dress differently and to try to look different and to love and serve the brethren. You know what? You don't understand grace. Grace is that power of God in you producing these holy passions. And if you're sitting there kind of resisting in your spirit, oh, there he goes again, yelling at us about separation and doing right for the glory of God. If that's your attitude, then something's going on in your heart where you are resisting the grace of God. You do not understand grace. Grace in you should lead you to the point of joyful obedience to God's ways. It should be going on in your life. You say, I just can't. I want to look different. I want to please God. I want to live like He purchased me with His blood. I want to be distinct. I want to have a godly family. I want to be different. I don't want the world to think that I'm like them. I want them to know that I'm blood-bought and I love God. I'm not ashamed of identifying myself with God's people. Why? It's the grace of God working in your heart. You want to identify with God's people. Can we pray for each other tonight? Let's bow our heads. Oh, Father, tonight, once again, Lord, I just believe You've spoken to our hearts, Lord. But, Lord, we're not discouraged. We're happy. You've not just given us a command that seems humanly speaking impossible to achieve personal holiness. But, Lord, You have in Your love given us tools to help us in this way. Thank You, Lord, for these mandates that shape holy living. Oh, Father, give us grace tonight. Give us Father's grace. Give us Mother's grace. Give us young people grace, Lord. Oh, Father, that we might walk in these steps and commit ourselves in a fresh way to read Your Word, to commit ourselves to the local church. We might be under the teaching and preaching of truth. Oh, Lord, we would look for ways to serve each other. We would attempt to receive that which is good and also detect and reject that which is wrong. We would want our life characterized by that, Father. And we would do all of this, Lord, recognizing in true humility that we can't do it in our own strength. And joyfully we come in dependence upon You that Your grace may abound in us. Oh, Lord, change us forever. Guide us right now, Lord. Help us to take those steps we need to take and remove every distraction, every hindrance that keeps us from it, that we might be godly in this life, might be distinguished from those around us, not proud and pious but godly, humble, humble before You. Guide us now and speak. In Jesus' name, amen.