Command #2: Obedient and Holy Children - May 10th, 2026

Father, I ask that you would minister through your word, and that you would cause us not only to be refreshed and fed, but that you would cause us to be equipped and strengthened, to live and to do ministry the way that you have designed for us. There are not truths that we're gonna hear that are brand new for us. So much of this we've grown up hearing. But Lord, as with all good things, we have a tendency to take it for granted. So as we hear your word, help us to respond not only with fear and trembling, because you are a holy God, but with great gratitude and awe. Help us to see you a little bit more clearly today, so that we may appropriately worship you in response. I'm gonna pray all this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Go ahead and take your seats. Well, as you may know, um I am Jasper's cousin. His mother is my father's older sister. And so Jasper's mother, my aunt, is someone I used to regularly seek out for wisdom, as she is a very wise woman. So when I was in my early 20s, just out of college, I was having a conversation with her about what to look for in a future wife. And there was one thing that she said that left an indelible impression on my mind. And she told me, When you are looking for a wife, observe if you can how her mother cares for her family. Generally, her daughter will care for her own future family in the same way. And that piece of advice has stuck with me to this day. And I know that this is not necessarily a universal truth, but I found this to be sound advice when it came to my pursuit of Becky, my wife.

I observed that Becky's mother was fiercely devoted to her family, and that was very evident from the start. She had always selflessly served her husband and her children, and I observed that her three children consulted her on all things, and they regularly praised her. And my now mother-in-law, I observed, was a very sacrificial and a hardworking woman. She would do anything for the well-being of her loved ones, even at a personal cost and injury to herself. And that's what I've observed over the last 23 years that she's been in my life. And so, because of my aunt's counsel, I married very well.

And Becky, my wife, I've actually discovered that she's almost a carbon copy. So those of you who appreciate Becky, you can assume it's because she inherited many of her wonderful qualities from her mom. She's sitting right there, so you can appreciate her after. So Becky herself is a very sacrificial and nurturing mother. The apple does not fall far from the tree. And she likewise will do anything for the good of our kids. And I'm so thankful, not only that she's my wife, but that she's my kid's mother. Because we're all tremendously blessed. And she's the greatest gift that God has given to me outside of salvation in Jesus Christ. Now, Becky fiercely loves our children. And there are a few things that I've observed in the expressions of her love.

So first, she wants our kids to listen. And she wants them to listen, not because she desires to be heard, but she wants to direct and guide them for their good. So she's always instructing them for their well-being, and the best thing for their well-being would be for them to listen and to heed. So first, I've observed that my wife loves our children, and because she loves our children, she wants them to listen. Also, she wants our children to inherit and even mimic all of our values and strengths. So in the things that we do well, she wants the children to copy and model those things. She wants them to love what we love. She wants them to hate what we hate. Because if our kids love what we love and hate what they what we hate, they will thrive.

And ultimately, she wants them to mature into godly and responsible adults who will then pass on the very same things to their children. So my wife wants our kids to listen, to inherit and pass on all of our good values, and then she wants them to thrive. And all of this because she loves them fiercely.

We want our children and their children to thrive and to grow into godly, responsible, mature adults, right? Who aren't just useful to God, but also very happy. We want all the good that is in us to be reproduced in our children. And that's innate and common to all of us. Do you guys know why this is? We've been made in the image of God, and we've inherited these good things from our creator. Now, of course, you and I, we're all deeply flawed. Our love is deeply flawed, and our love at times may actually even be unwise. But innately, a parent's love and desires for their children, we all understand. Right. In a mother's love, we actually see a reflection of God's love for his people. It's a dim and a flawed reflection, 1 Corinthians 13, 12, but it is a reflection nonetheless.

So our love is deeply flawed, but God's love is perfect. Amen. Our love at times may be unwise, but God's love is perfectly wise and always leads to our greatest good. And God's love can always be trusted. And that's what we're going to be learning through this passage, 1 Peter 1 14 to 16. And I want to read this again for us. As obedient children, not being conformed to the former lusts, which were yours in your ignorance, but like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves and also in all your conduct, because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. So in these verses, we see God's heart for his children as well as his perfect will. So in these verses, God is commanding and demanding.

And it's the second command of three given by an all-wise father who is perfect in his love. And so by way of review, the opening verses of 1 Peter, verses 3 to 12, it highlighted the great inheritance that awaits every Christian through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And last week I shared that the apostle Peter provided three commandments, three expectations for all the beneficiaries of the inheritance. And so the three commandments follow the therefore at the beginning of verse 13. Right? And the first of those commandments, as we see on the bottom, was for believers in response to fix their hope completely on the grace to be brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ, yet future. And we looked in depth at verse 13 last week.

And today we're going to be looking at the second of the three commandments to be holy. And in response to having received this wonderful gift of salvation through the gospel, believers are commanded to be holy. And this command to be holy is not just in reference to the believer's standing, but specifically in reference to the believer's behavior, his conduct. So the believer's holiness is to be visible, tangible, measurable, and even, as we're going to later see that in the letter, provoking. So the believer is to be holy, not just in standing and in the posture of the heart, but in every external presentation of his life as well. Amen. And that's always been God's heart for his children.

That they would listen, that they would mimic, and that in doing so that they would ultimately thrive. So we're going to be looking today deeply at the command to act holy and behave. And before we jump into the text, here's a little bit of a caveat. In our day, the thought of being told to behave a certain way as a Christian may be a little bit jarring. There's often a knee-jerk response to imperatives and a quick dismissal of such things as legalism. So if I had just been preaching just topically, and then this morning I decided to preach on 1 Peter 1, 14 to 16, there will be people that perhaps may be thinking that I'm endorsing a gospel of legalism, a gospel of works. And in our generation, believers have become a little too quick to dismiss as legalism any preaching of imperatives.

And there's like an unspoken but common request that parishioners have for their preachers, right? It's please abstain from preaching about what I should do, preach mostly to me about what Christ has done. That's kind of our generation's defense mechanism. Well, the New Testament contains over 1,100 imperatives. So if we're striving to be faithful to the text of the gospel, we preach what we find in the in the scriptures. Amen. And today we've landed on one of the 1,100 imperatives, be holy in all your conduct. And this part of the scripture is a fitting response to the favor of God. It's not prescribing a way to get favor with God. Okay, so we don't obey primarily so that we may be blessed.

We obey primarily because we've been blessed. Amen. There's a big difference. One is to try to access God's blessings. So I will obey. That's a that's manipulation. But there's an obedience that comes just in as a big thank you, right? So today's sermon outlines pretty simple. For this sermon, we're gonna be looking at the what, the how, and the why of this command, the what, how, and why. And I'm gonna tackle the verses slightly out of order since the flow of the argument in the passage actually makes better sense if we start with the what in the commandment. Okay, so the what, the how, and the why. Verse 15, thus says the Lord. All right, here we go. But like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct.

Let all God's people say, Amen. Okay? So the what of the command is to imitate God in his holiness, and to do so in our conduct. So for those of us who have put our faith in Christ, when God adopted us as his children, we've already been made holy in standing. We're already uh holy. We are his children, he is our God and he is our father. So he calls us his children. So in legally and in standing, we have already been made holy. We have become the righteousness of God through Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. And we've been adopted into the family of God. Hallelujah. And that's such a wonderful and immense privilege. But it's all too common a thing for us to take it for granted. My kids take Becky for granted.

And as I've mentioned, they're so blessed to have her as mom. But how much more infinitely blessed are we to be called children of God? If you think about it, your mind will blow. But that's exactly what Apostle John exclaims in wonder. 1 John 3 1.

How great a love the Father has given to us that we will be called children of God. And that is what we are. Let that sink in a little bit. Let's not take that for granted. Believers are called children of God. So we're not only called that, we've also been given a calling. Because of this great privilege, the calling is for these holy believers to be holy themselves. So we are being called, if you've put your faith in Christ, to make your holiness visible. Now how do we do that? We'll get there.

And the word call is very important to the theology of Peter. Okay? So here in 1 Peter, the apostle uses the word five times, almost once in every chapter. You've been called. You've been called, you've been called. So we are being called to this.

So call always refers to purpose. What's the purpose of your salvation? It's not to get out of hell. That's a byproduct. The purpose of your salvation for your being saved is to serve God. Amen.

Serve God and love God and glorify God in all things. And that's our calling. So our calling is to be holy. The Christian is supposed to be holy, just like his holy God. Amen. This is not legalism. Right? This is common sense. This is simply Christian common sense. So the Christian is rightfully called and commanded to be holy in conduct. Christians are now called to be little replicas of God's holiness. That's what your job is. Because the one who called is holy. Now what does that mean? Do we go around and go, oh like do we, what do we like? What do we do? The Bible actually is pretty clear. But the word holy is hard for us to understand. So I want to go into that first. To be holy means to be set apart.

To be holy, literally the word means to be completely other, not even completely different, completely other. So God is holy, holy, holy. So he's literally and completely other. And that's extremely difficult to describe. Right? So God being other in essence was Hannah's declaration of praise when she found out she was pregnant, which is interesting. That's the attribute she mentions. Okay. There is no one holy like Yahweh. Indeed, there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God. So holiness is God's distinguishing feature. Holiness is his prominent umbrella attribute that it kind of is over all of the other ones. God's holiness is extremely difficult to capture into words. It is not a light, it is not a sound.

So it's so difficult to capture into words that Moses had to actually use several sentences to describe the holiness of God. And here it is. Okay.

For I proclaim the name of Yahweh, ascribe greatness to our God, the rock, his work is perfect, all his ways are just, a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. Definition of holiness. Okay. Hard to describe. So the attributes of God are truly difficult for our mortal and corrupted minds to grasp because Yahweh is completely other. So here's the tricky homework. How are we supposed to try to be like him when he is holy? Well, that's not hard. All of these things we're actually called to mimic the holiness that we see in God. And so let's look at some of these things that Moses ascribes. God is perfect. Amen. Guess what? Do you know who commands you to be perfect, just like God the Father is perfect?

Jesus. Matthew chapter 5, 48. Now we think of that as like he's not realistic. He's just setting the bar real high. No, that's an expectation. That's literally what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. Also, God is just. So we too are to be just. Amen. We are to delight in truth and in righteousness, just like God. God is faithful. So we likewise are to be true to our word, punctual, promise keepers, doing right, even when no one's watching. Consistent. Like the holy one who called us, we also are supposed to let our yes be yes and our no be no. Amen. That's what it means to be faithful. Our yeses are yeses, our nos be no's. God is upright. There is no trace of sin in him. So no accusation of sin.

Yes, we're imperfect, but no accusation of sin should ever stick to the Christian. If someone can call you a thing that's like pretty demeaning, and it's actually true, you're not living up to the expectation. So no sin, not even a hint, Ephesians chapter 5, verse 3. Did you know that scripture says? Paul says, not even a hint. Like the faithful parent that God is, he also communicates. Becky does not tell our kids, they she doesn't punish them and leave them guessing as to why they're getting in trouble. She always communicates. Good parents are never spiteful, they're very clear. Right? God is very clear and like the faithful parent that he is, God communicates whatever his desires are and his expectations are, he communicates clearly to his children.

If you think that because God is completely other, he's hard to understand, you're wrong.

Is that clear? Psalm God the good father is good. He instructs in goodness. So the psalmist profession in prayer in Psalm 119, 68 is this.

Thus you do good. Teach me your statutes, so that I likewise may be good and may do good. So God is good.

And he's always instructed his people to do good and to model his goodness. Amen. Now, goodness and holiness mean two very different things, but for our understanding, it helps to actually understand holiness in the sense of goodness. To be holy means to be completely devoid of evil. We are to be holy just like he is holy. And that's always been the call of his people. So that's the what? Amen. But this is where it's hard. Well, how? Right? This seems such a lofty and unreachable call. How then shall I be holy? Well, God has actually never been unclear in his instructions. He's always been very explicit. So let's look at how God instructed his old covenant people. Okay? Early on in Israel's history, God commanded holiness.

That didn't change. God's people were to be completely other from the Egyptians and the Canaanites around them, completely separate, completely other. Alright? So Leviticus 18, 1 to 4. Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, I am Yahweh your God. You shall not do according to what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan, where I'm bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. So first you'll notice that the Israelites were instructed in what not to do. Do you guys see that? It's underlined there. So first, holiness involves the abstaining of certain things. So he says, don't take on the practices of those in Egypt or in Canaan.

Those guys are of the dark. They do not know God. They are ignorant. They are creatures of mere instinct. So don't be like them, he is saying. Do not adopt their values, do not adopt their philosophies, do not mimic their practices. Yes, you like them are in the world, but you are not of the world. So he's saying to the Israelites, do not be worldly in any way, shape, or form. So the Israelites, God's chosen and holy people, were not ever supposed to do worldly things. They were not supposed to indulge in unholy and worldly things. Now in your mind, there's a little bit of a list growing, right? Well, what do you mean? Right? We're in the world. What are we supposed to then? Are we supposed to be monks?

No, that's not what he's saying. They were not to indulge in worldly practices that offend God. So what do we glean from this? We are in the world, but we're not of the world. That's what John Jesus says in John 17, right? You guys, you guys have heard that before. In John 17, in his high priestly prayer, Jesus prayed, God, I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I'm asking you to guard them from evil. And he prays that we would be sanctified. So we are in the world, but we do not live out the world's values. Amen. So here's what this means. We don't prioritize relevance. We don't prioritize likability. We don't look to blend in.

But did Jesus adopt worldly practices? No, he did not. Here's what Ian Mary said in his book, Evangelical Holiness and Other Addresses, and this is what he says. The devil's constant strategy is to seek to merge the church and the world so that the people of God lose their distinctiveness and be no longer like a city on a hill. So how are believers to be holy? We do not act like the world does. We do not do the sinful things that the world does. We do not indulge, we do not justify worldliness. So first we learn what not to do. You see it? You shall not do. You are not to do. You shall not walk.

So the how involves not just an abstaining, but also a pursuit, not just the fleeing, but also a running after. Okay? So there's an abstaining of sins, proactive pursuit of the belief behaviors that please God. What does it say we are supposed to pursue? Obedience. Verse 4, you are to do my judgments, keep my statutes, walk in them. I am Yahweh your God. So the believers were to, the people of Israel were to do God's judgments. And that's a phrase frequently found in the Old Testament. And what does that mean? Do God's judgments. If you were to say, Pastor Peter, I need some counsel, and you tell me your problem, and I just go, do God's judgments. You would be confused. So what does that mean?

It's extremely common, and it means to actly obey, practice, and live by God's laws, decrees, and ordinances. It involves a daily commitment, living according to God's word and not according to the world's values. So they were supposed to do God's judgments. They were supposed to keep God's statutes. They were supposed to study them diligently, talking about them when they lie down, when they sit, when they stand up, when they're walking along the road, write it on your doors, right on your hearts, teach it to your children. That's what the entire book of Deuteronomy is about, right? Be careful to do this. Study, practice, teach God's statutes. So the people of Israel were supposed to actively put the things that they've learned into practice and walk in them.

That's why Bible studies important. If you don't study the Bible and you expect one Sunday a week to nourish your soul, you're gonna be worldly. Because I'm pretty forgetful. I have spiritual ADD. I can't focus on God all like for a long time in my strength. I need to regularly hear God's word. Because if I don't hear, then I think ignorance is bliss, and so I stop applying, and then I start pursuing the world. We're all the same. We're supposed to do his judgment. So Leviticus 18 4 gives us instructions that we're to do holiness, and I'm gonna give you a summary of uh all of this whole section that he gives us at the end of Leviticus 18. So keep my commandment that you do not do any of the abominable statutes which have been done before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them.

I am Yahweh your God. And then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, So speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, you shall be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy. And that's the quote for 1 Peter. You guys, you guys tracking along? Has God changed? No. God doesn't change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen? Hebrews 13 8. The same Holy Spirit who spoke these words in Leviticus, moved through the apostle Peter to write the instructions to the Christians of Asia Minor. And our God desires for us to do the same. Again, we are to be imitators of his holiness. Some people incorrectly understand God's grace as to as the freedom to indulge in sin. Some people think God's grace means that I am protected from people's judgment.

So it's almost like you can't judge me. I'm saved by grace alone. Well, amen. But actually, did you know that you and I are called to judge those in the church? Did you guys know this? 1 Corinthians 5, 12. If someone calls themselves a believer, you are not only okay to judge, you must judge. But the difference is loving judgment, not self-righteous condemnation. Loving judgment looks at God's beauty and says, we should go there, guys. Self-righteous condemnation is, I'm not indulging in that, because I'm a holier person than you. Something's wrong with you. We're supposed to judge. Loving judgment is like that of a mother who studies her child and who judges the incorrect behaviors and lovingly nurtures that child out of those things.

You are your brother's keeper. Amen. God's grace does not mean that you are free to do whatever you want. Alright, let's read this. Romans 6 15. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? Paul says, may Ganoita, which means, heck no. The heck is wrong with you. What kind of argument is that? May it never be. Dum dumb? I'm adding that part. That makes no sense. Verse 16 makes it clear that now we're slaves to righteousness. God's grace does not mean that we're now free to enjoy since we have an insurance policy to be protected out of hell. Grace means that now we have been freed to joyfully obey.

We are still slaves. We have just permanently switched lords. Right? You are a slave. Do you know what Paul's most famous and most or favorite title for himself was always? Slaves of God. Slaves of Christ Jesus. So here's a question: Are there worldly practices and attitudes that you've adopted into your life and are still holding on to? Here's an indication that you have worldly practices and idols in your life. Your soul is conflicted, you will feel so conflicted and torn, it will feel like a living hell. Your spirit feels torn because you're clinging to those things in love and you are scared of God.

So Apostle Peter calls these things fleshly lusts that starve you, that kill you, that wage war against your soul. And this is what he says, 1 Peter 2.11. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. If we're in sin and our hearts are divided, we know.

Indulgence of sin will always lead us to turn a deaf ear. Ah, I don't hear anything, and it will move you into prayerlessness. So if you haven't prayed, it's probably because you have a sin that you don't want to turn from. I mean, I've been a pastor for 26 years, and so in my counseling sessions, there are certain things that people say that are very common. So when people say that they are struggling with doubt and unbelief, or they're feeling apathetic or feeling lazy, at least nine times out of ten, it's because they're living in disobedience and they have a secret sin that they want to enjoy. Now, obviously, I'm not gonna accuse right away, but that's what I've come to observe over the years.

Oh, I'm struggling with doubt and God's love for me. If I feel like I've earned their trust, I'll ask them. You don't need to answer, but is there an immediate sin that comes into your mind that you know is displeasing to God that you do not want to let go of. Nine times out of ten. When they stray, they oh, I'm struggling to want to know God. I'm struggling to want God. I feel very dry. At least nine times out of ten, it's because they prefer idols. It's just people don't articulate it this way. The Christian's default setting is to hunger after God. Amen. As the deer pants for water, my soul longs for you. I want God like a newborn baby. That's gonna be chapter two, wants milk. You can't feed a newborn baby water, it's not gonna satisfy the baby.

The baby wants milk. So the Christian wants God. But because a Christian kind of is also straddling the fence of the world, then there's a torn war that's going on in the heart of the person. Did you know the default setting for the Christian is to hunger for the things of God? If I left you alone for 24 hours, would you become hungry for food? Yeah. The only reason you're not hungry is if you're just nibbling on the snacks in the table or the little table of the world. So the believer is never called to justify the fleshly lusts or to use the grace of God as a license to indulge them. The believer is called to abstain. Peter's gonna say this in chapter 4. Hey, you've spent enough time indulging your flesh before you met Jesus.

So now that you've met Jesus, live for the will of God. Do you see that in the passage? Be holy in your conduct means to abstain from the worldly and fleshly lusts and then to pursue living a life spent giving glory to God. Amen. This is supposed to be in our every conduct, not just public but also private. So we're supposed to flee from fleshly lusts. We're supposed to pursue obedience. And what are we supposed to pursue? A full knowledge of the counsel of God. That's how we obey Jesus. Do you guys know what the last commandment of Jesus to his disciples is called? Matthew chapter 28. They're a great commission, right? Look at verse 20. Teaching them to keep all that I commanded you. That's Jesus' will for our lives.

Amen. So 1 Peter 1, 14 to 16, as obedient children, not being 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 conduct, because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. So we looked at the what, we looked at the how, now we get to the why. Why do we obey and pursue holiness? First, because God says so. Amen. Because it is written. When God speaks, all creation obeys. When God said, Let there be light, what happened? There was light. When God says, let the earth spring forth vegetation and let the earth have four legged creatures, what happens? Plants grow, animals are appeared, right? When God says to the eagle, fly high, build your nest on high, Job 39, 27.

Do you know what the eagle does? Flies high, builds a nest on the tree far above the ground. Even non-living, inanimate things like wind and rocks, they obey God. So first, why are why ought we be holy? Because God said so. If you're a parent, gently raise your hand if you've ever responded to your children's why, with uh, because I said so. Yeah. When the kid goes, why? Because I said so. You are the parent. The child is under your authority. So what is your expectation as a parent? It's that the child obeys. Why? Simply because you said so. Does that make you evil? Does that make you a tyrant or a dictator? Does your child get kicked out of your home if he disobeys? No.

But because of your authority, your command demands obedience. So obedience is expected because of your authority. And because of your authority, albeit flawed, there is good. There is love. So first and foremost, why ought we be holy in all our conduct? Because our loving God said so. Amen. Second, we obey because that is actually the identifying marker in our identity. It's our discernible fruit. Every tree is known by its fruit. If we hear that someone's last name is Kim. Or Yamamoto. We automatically will visualize the color of a person or even the culture of a person because of this name, right? If I were to ask you to visualize a Rodriguez family, you would have a caller or cult, a culture in your mind.

Those are identifiable distinguishing features. Christian also actually should be immediately a discernible thing. The Bible actually gives us a synonym for Christian. Do you know what it is? Obedient children. It's all over the New Testament. Obedient children is synonymous to the follower of the way, the follower of Christ, Christian. Ephesians 2 2. The people who are under the dominion of Satan, do you know what they are called? Disobedient children. Sons of disobedience. So for the believer, Jesus Christ cannot be savior only and not be Lord. Repeat after me. Jesus cannot be savior only and not be Lord. That's a length. Okay, so just okay, let's read this together then. It's Mother's Day, so you got all kinds of other like plans on your mind.

Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I say? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I'm gonna show you whom he is like.

And as we hear his voice, we are called to be doers of the word. You guys have heard this, James 1.22. Here's a very important thought. I'm gonna have you guys think. What happens when you are a hearer only of the word and you do not do it? What's James 122 say? You become delusional. What's a delusional person like? They're believing things that are not factual, right? They start believing things about God that are not true. They are deceived into thinking that God is on my side. Did you know all the false prophets and the true prophets, let's say in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, both of them thought that God was on their side, which was not the case. So a deluded person has a form of godliness but has no power.

They look like sheep, but they turn out to be goats, because they are deluded into thinking that God is on their side when he is not. And that's what Micah says about the leaders of Israel that led to their ruin. Her heads pronounce judgment for a bribe, her priests struck for a price, her prophets divine for money, yet they lean on Yahweh, saying, Is not Yahweh in our midst? Oh, for sure, evil will not come upon us. Don't I belong to this church? Didn't I walk down the altar to accept Christ? Of course, God is on my side. Is He? The religious leaders believe God to be on their side. They were deluded into thinking that because historically God's chosen people was Israel, that evil would not come upon them.

Disobedience always leads to delusion and into dangerous false security. Disobedience leads to delusion and leads to false sense of security. Ignorance is not bliss. A lack of knowledge, Hosea 4, 6 will destroy you. So first, we pursue holiness because God says so. Second, we pursue holiness so that we remain grounded in who we are, but more importantly, in whose we are. Third, we pursue holiness through obedience because ultimately it's for our good. God wants us to thrive. God desires for our good. Amen. Obedience leads to freedom. Obedience leads to good. Obedience leads to long-term enjoyment, delight, and satisfaction. And I want to close with an illustration. My son, Maddie is a car lover.

How many guys already knew this? He loves cars. He's always been a car lover. He loves playing with cars, drawing cars, and if we take long road trips, he doesn't sleep because he stares at the cars for like hours. He studies them with his eyeballs. So everyone in our family knows he loves cars. Two years ago, he was gifted a remote control car by a grand grandma-grandpa. He was super excited. And so he was so ecstatic that when he first got it, he spent a few minutes driving it around inside the house. And it's a large house, so you guys know he just had a lot of fun with it. But soon he wanted to take it into the backyard because in grandma's backyard, there's a lot of open space, a brick pathway, some cool uneven pavement, there's a bridge, there's a grassy, rocky area where the car can go off-roading.

So he wanted to take the car outside. But Becky told him, don't take the car to the backyard. Play it with it just inside the house. Because in addition to all of those cool topographical features, there's a swimming pool there. And so my wife had to explain to my son why electronic things and water don't go well together. She didn't want him losing the car on the same day he got it. So Becky told him no for his long-term enjoyment of the car. Not because she delighted in robbing him of joy. The no was not to restrict him, the no was not to inhibit him. That actually was for his long-term pleasure. It was for the preservation of that enjoyment, it was for the preservation of the delight. The prohibitions were to protect his car and his enjoyment.

Why? Because grandma and grandpa got it for him so that he would enjoy it. Now, how do you think Maddie felt? He was unhappy. He felt oppressed and restricted. He didn't understand why Becky was telling him not to take the car out to the back. He felt that she was being unreasonable. That's what he told me after I wasn't there. So in his mind, he probably kept thinking to himself, what's the big deal? Where's the harm in it? So he kept at it. And with every ounce of confidence a little child could muster, Maddie insisted that he was already excellent at driving the car and that he promised he would not drive it at the near the pool at all. And then I think eventually grandma or grandpa felt bad, so they let him out.

They just told him, stay away from the pool. He went out, and for the best two minutes of his life, he was so excited until sploosh. Battery operated toy, irreparable damage. Maddie's heart was busted. He was so sad. His enjoyment of that expensive car didn't even last an hour. Grandma wanted to replace it immediately because like most grandmas, there's a desire to spoil. But Becky said no. Cruel, huh? She wanted him to learn to heed the advice of his parents, even if our counsel made no logical sense to him. Even if he felt oppressed and restricted by our rules for him. We needed him to know that we knew better and that he could trust us. Not one single rule we've ever come up with was for his harm.

It was always for his good.

We took him there. Guess what he purchased with the money? A remote control car. He excitedly played with it, drove it around grandma's house, but guess what he was starting to do? He started to itch to take it to the backyard. This time he didn't ask. Because he knew what we would say. He quietly snuck it out. Same logic got him there. What's the big deal? What's the harm in it? I'm older and wiser now. I've got control. I know better. Please do not tell me what I can and cannot do. What's the harm in it? What is the harm in it is not a logic that's uncommon to man. It's always been common to man. It's one of Satan's favorite tools of deception. What's the harm in it? Maddie took it out. Guess what happened?

He has not had a car, remote control car since then. Second car within an hour, gone. God's commandments for holiness are always for our good. God's will is good, pleasing, and perfect. Always for our good, always out of love. Obedience to his commands and a pursuit of obedience always leads to blessing and freedom. You do things God's way, he will reward you. Right? How many of you parents, when your kid is quick to obey, you come up with more rules. You're like, oh, rule follower, I like it. I want to show my kid who's boss by giving him ten more commandments. No parent does that. When a kid is like, I trust you, I obey you. You almost want to remove all the rules and just give toys. That's our God.

He knows better. He wants us to trust him. But more than all of that, obedience to God's holy commandments lead to freedom and lead to appropriate worship. Because after all, that's why we've been created. Romans 12, 1 to 2. Therefore, I exhort you, brothers, and this is what we read in the beginning, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God. That's worship. It's not the closing of eyes and putting your praise face on. And that's not worship. That's a part. True worship is obedience to the word of God. Verse 2, do not be conformed to this world. Again and again. God is not unclear, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Do you know how you do that?

Get into God's word. So that you can approve what the will of God is, which is good, pleasing, and perfect. An application, I encourage us, let's actively engage in the renewal of our minds. Whatever it is that Satan can use to distract you.

Like every parent, like every nurturing mother, God desires for us to listen. He desires for us to mimic. He desires for us to be holy. Amen. Let us remember the what, the how and the why of this commandment. I want to close with the reading of it one more time. This is God's word. As obedient children, not being conformed to the former lusts which were yours and your ignorance, but like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct. Because God says so. Because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you would help us to trust you. And that we know that obedience to your word always comes with freedom and joy, satisfaction, blessing.

And ultimately, I pray, Father, that as our church matures, that you would help us to become better and better and quicker at obeying what we already know. And would you be honored through how we live our lives and through the choices that we make, not only as individuals, but as a collective body here at the beacon. So we thank you, Lord, and we thank you, God, for giving us glimpses of your great love for us through the mothers that are here at the church. And we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.