It says, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood. May grace and peace be multiplied to you." Friends, let me pray for us this morning. Our gracious heavenly Father, we need You now. Lord, would You please let my speech be true? Father, give Your people ready hearts and prepared minds that we might hear from You this morning. Father, cause us to walk in Your ways, to be obedient to our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, friends, Ben and Brooke were beaming with joy. You see, they had just gotten married. After months of planning and preparing, they stood at the front of their church before God and the congregation as their witnesses and made lifelong promises to each other. It's beautiful. But you see, after the speeches were over, after the dancing had ceased, after the cutting of the cake, at the end of the night, Ben and Brooke came together and they shook hands and they went their separate ways. See, Ben went back to his apartment, he got up for work on Monday morning, and well, well, he looked forward to watching the cricket on the weekend. Brooke went back to her parents' house, got up for her morning run, and well, well, life just continued on just as it always had been. Friends, what is wrong with this picture? What makes this story so absurd? Well, can I suggest it's because when two people come into a covenant relationship together, their lives are never the same, are they? They're no longer only living for themselves. See, when you enter into a covenant, you make promises. And those promises change everything. The way you act, the way you speak, the way you live, the priorities that you set, everything changes. When marriage vows are made, you bind yourself to another. You bind yourself to be obedient to the promises that you made that day. And so your life becomes about obedient about obedience to the covenant commitment that you've made. And Peter, what he does is he he sends his first letter to encourage and to strengthen his brothers and sisters in the faith. And from what we've read this morning, the first thing that he does is he reminds these Christians of their covenant commitment, of the commitment that they made which must work itself out in obedience. That's what I want us to consider together this morning. I want us to look at our covenant commitment that that must work itself out in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ. Lest we be like those who would make marriage vows and continue living as if nothing had changed. But before we look at 1 Peter, would you turn back with me to Exodus? To our passage that we had before. Keep your finger maybe in Peter there 'cause we're coming back very soon, but flick back with me to Exodus 24. As with many of these New Testament authors, there is often something that we must grasp of the Old Testament first to make sense of the new. And while you're turning there to Exodus 24, let me set the scene for us this morning. See, God has chosen and set His love upon a man named Abraham. This God makes promises to Abraham. He promises He promises him children and a new land, and that he will be a blessing to the nations. And Abraham's family, true to God's word, it grows and it grows and it grows and becomes an entire nation, the nation of Israel. And a few generations later, Israel, they find themselves as slaves down in Egypt. They find themselves as slaves under an oppressive pharaoh. And because of their growing number and population, Pharaoh orders that every newborn baby Hebrew is to be thrown into the River Nile. And so God responds and God raises up a man named Moses from among them as a prophet. And through many signs and wonders, God rescues Israel climactically out of slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea. Maybe you've seen the movie. After a time of testing in the wilderness, God brings them to Mount Sinai, to the foot of the mountain, and it's here that our Bible reading this morning takes place. It's here that God comes to make a covenant with Israel. A covenant being an agreement between two parties, promises that are made and exchanged between two parties. It's contractual, it's legal, and it's deeply personal. And in this moment, Yahweh is is binding Himself in covenant to the people of Israel. And Israel are committing themselves to their God, Yahweh, who brought them out of the land of slavery in Egypt. Yahweh is promising to provide safety and provision and a new land and to bless them as a nation. And Israel are also making promises this day. See, Israel is promising to be obedient. Do you see it there in verse seven? Verse seven, "Then he took the book," that is Moses, "of the covenant, and he read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.'" See, Israel promises to be obedient to all that the Lord has spoken and to follow the commands and statutes that He has instituted, to follow and obey, to trust and obey. All that Moses has just read out to them. And so the promises are made, and the ceremony begins. And if you were among the crowd of Israel that afternoon, you would watch as an ox is taken, and its throat is slit, and half of its blood is taken. And by Moses and he walks over to the big stone altar that he's just made, and he throws the blood on the altar. As it symbolizes Yahweh's commitment to the covenant and the promises that He has just made. And perhaps you would tilt your head to get a better view, and you would watch as Moses comes back and he finishes taking the rest of the blood from the from the ox. He puts it into a dish. And he walks over to you, the watching crowd. And perhaps you would flinch as he begins sprinkling the blood onto you. Perhaps a few droplets of blood land on your tunic. And you look down and you and you know that this isn't going to wash out. And from every day forward, as you look back and as you look down at your blood-stained tunic, you remember the promises that you made that day to be obedient to Yahweh. You remember the covenant commitment that you made at the foot of Mount Sinai. You remember the covenant commitment that you and all of your people Israel made to obey all that the Lord had commanded you through Moses at the at the foot of Mount Sinai. And friends, it is with this story in mind that Peter begins his letter, our passage this morning. Would you flick back with me to to 1 Peter? And look with me at verse two, for it says, for obedience. Reminding these elect exiles that their salvation was for obedience, with the purpose for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood. You see, as these as these wandering refugees, exiles in a land that is not their own, Peter is calling his readers to remember the foot of Mount Sinai. Where Moses said, "Look and see, Israel. You chosen offspring of Abraham, chosen by God the Father. You have entered into a covenant with Yahweh this day, and so you are to be obedient to all the words of the law signed with the blood of an ox. Remember that you are to be obedient to this commitment all the days of your life." Can you see what Peter is doing here as he opens his letters to this to these brothers and sisters in Christ? Can you see that Peter is calling out like Moses, "Look and see, oh you Christian, you chosen exiles," verse one, "foreknown by God the Father," verse two. You have entered into a new covenant with Yahweh. And so you are to be obedient. Not to the letter of the law like Israel, but obedient to what? Obedient to Jesus Christ. The One whose way is easy and whose burden is light. The One who has bid you to come to Him and to follow Him. The One who is Himself the way, the truth, and the life. The One who says, "Fear not for I am with you always, even to the very end of the age." You are to follow Him. You are to be obedient to Him, to learn from Him. He will teach you. He will guide you. He will comfort you. He will protect you. And what is the sign to testify to these truths that this ceremony has taken place? What is the sign that stands as a reminder from generation to generation to come? It's not the blood of an ox, is it? No, it's the precious blood of Christ Himself. The precious blood of our Passover Lamb who before His shearers was silent, did not open His mouth, but was slain for our redemption. The blood that was shed for you for the remission of sins. This is your sign, Christian. This is the sign of the new covenant in His blood. The blood that was shed and sprinkled on you is the same blood, friends, that has washed you clean and has made you pure from all your sin. And unlike Israel who made a covenant promise to obey all the laws and statutes and failed time after time after time, Peter says, "This time will be different. For you are elect exiles," verse one. "You are foreknown by God the Father," verse two. And get this. Do you see it there in verse two? "Sanctified by the Spirit." Do you see that? Sanctified. That is, that is to be to be made holy by God's very own Spirit. Friends, have you have you read Ezekiel? Do you remember Ezekiel the prophet? Watching the people of Israel led away in chains after being conquered by the ruthless Babylonians, God's judgment falling on Israel because of their disobedience. Ezekiel, after watching a nation fail time after time after time to be faithful to the covenant promises that they made at Mount Sinai, receives a word from the Lord. And he prophesies of a day that was to come when Yahweh Himself would come and make His people holy. When Yahweh Himself would come and cause His people to obey all of His ways. A day when God's people would have new hearts and be washed clean and made white as snow because Yahweh Himself would come and give them new hearts and sprinkle water on them and they would be clean. And the refre and the repeated refrain throughout that whole chapter is, "I, I, I, I will do this," declares the Lord God. So unlike the ancient Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai who made promises they couldn't keep, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ here this morning, friend, you are a part of a better covenant. Why? Because God Himself, by the power of His very own Spirit, has come and has made you holy. And so when you're tempted to doubt, and you feel the pressures of this world press in on every side, when when the yoke of the gospel seems too heavy to bear, friend, look down at your clothes. See the blood-stained droplets. And remember Christ's blood that was shed and sprinkled on you as a sign of the new covenant in His blood. Remember the blood that was washed and has cleansed you and has set you free. Brother, remember that God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us that we might have life. Amen? And yes, this covenant is free. It's open. It's open to all who would call upon the name of our Lord Jesus to be saved. Yes, this covenant is free and all of grace. It's freely received. You can't earn it. You can't buy it. You can't win it. You can't achieve it. It's free. And yet it demands everything. It demands your full allegiance. It demands your whole life. It demands unwavering obedience to Jesus Christ. And in fact, this is the purpose of the covenant, that you might live in obedience to your King and to the promises that you made. As Peter puts it in verse two, it's for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood. If you're a Christian here this morning, sister, this is your story. This is your story. You have been brought into a new covenant for obedience to Jesus Christ. Obedience not so that you can win God's approval, not so that you can become worthy or holy or good enough for God. No. No, the whole idea is that God has come Himself and made you holy so that you might walk in joyful obedience to your King. Do you see that? Do you see that this morning? And what Peter does is that he uses this as the foundation for all that he's about to encourage his brothers and sisters to do in the rest of the letter. And so this morning, I want us to consider this question together: what does obedience to Jesus look like? What does obedience to Jesus look like? Well, for starters, Peter says obedience to Jesus means separation from the world. Separation from the world. And no, not the not the cultish, kind of gated community out in the out in the outback somewhere where you kind of come together as a big commune. No. Separation in our attitudes, in our behavior, in our actions. Separation rather by by virtue of our life and our conduct. The way Christians think, the way we speak, the way we act, it should be totally different from this world. Would you look there at Peter at 1 Peter chapter 1, sorry, at 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 1? He says, "Put away. Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander." Obedience to Jesus looks like a a constant putting off, putting away the practices of this world that once defined us. These old habits and ways of thinking and acting that that are contrary to the way of Christ. Malice and deceit, hypocrisy and envy. Later on in chapter four and verse three, Peter continues this list of of these old ways that used to define these Christians' lives. He says, he says, "For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, in drunkenness, in orgies, in drinking parties, and lawless idolatry." Church, have you considered that our Australian drinking culture has more in common with this world that is passing away than it does with obedience to Jesus Christ? Friends, have you have you caught yourself excusing gossip under the veil of sharing with a close friend? Are you familiar with that festering feeling that we sometimes call frustration which is really actually just covering up the hatred that we have for our neighbor in that moment? Have you felt the temptation to stretch the truth just a little bit on your tax return? I'll never forget a a preacher who once said that he said, "You'll cheat on your tax return to the degree that you don't believe there is a Jehovah-Jireh provider who is more than able to provide for all of your needs." Obedience is hard. Obedience is so hard. But church, it matters. It matters because the world is watching. Verse 12, Peter goes on and he says, "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." Church, the world is watching. Your life and your conduct is meant to be a light that shines brightly to this world. Let me ask you this: do you know of anyone who who takes a candle, and when they light it, they take it, a a beautiful candle, a candle that shines brightly, and they take the candle and they cover it with a bowl? Do you know anyone who does that? No, it defeats the whole purpose of of the candle that is meant to shine brightly. What do you do instead? When you take a candle, you put it in the center of the table so that the whole household and all who are there might see its light. Friends, our Lord Jesus says, in the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Church, the world is watching. Don't make a mockery of God's name by living just as the rest of the world does. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it's a struggle. Yes, it's a day-by-day challenge and a wrestle, but it's worth it. This is why He has chosen you. This is precisely why He has sanctified you and made you holy and filled you with His very own Spirit so that you might live as a light of obedience to Jesus Christ. As your good deeds might might glorify your Father in heaven and that non-believers might see and glorify God on the day that He comes. Obedience to Christ changes the way we live. It really does. Not because we're better than others, not because we're trying to win God's or man's approval. No, but because He has set you apart to be holy. So walk in obedience. The world is watching. Have you seen this kind of change in your life? Have you seen this kind of change since you started following Christ? Have you has there been a separating and a putting off of the sin that you once craved and desired and loved and reveled in? Do you hate your sin, friend, more today than you did yesterday? Are you seeing progress in holiness? If we asked the closest person to you, the person that knows you the most, to give an account of your public and your private life, would they testify? Yes, this is someone, this is a man, this is a woman who lives obediently to Jesus Christ. Or would they fall silent? Knowing in their heart that you live just as the world does. Friend, have you been sprinkled with the blood of Christ? Are your actions and your attitudes more like Christ today than they were yesterday? If you're honest with yourself, do you or do you still love and desire the things of this world? I implore you to examine yourself this morning, for as the Apostle John soberly warns, he says, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. For if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Will you examine yourself this morning? Will you test and see to see if your profession of faith is more than just a profession? Do you let your soul give you no rest until you are confident that Christ has made you His own and has sprinkled you with His very own blood? If you don't know where you stand this morning, call out to Him. Call out to Him today. Cry to Him for mercy. Throw yourself at the feet of Jesus. He will not turn you away. He will sprinkle his blood on you, and you will be clean. He will put His Spirit within you, and He will cause you to joyfully walk in obedience all the days of your life. Did you call out to Him this morning? Well, what does obedience to Jesus look like? Well, Polycarp was an elderly pastor and a leader in the in in a city called Smyrna in the early church. And he's actually recorded to have been one of John, John the disciple's early disciples. And in 155 A.D., when Roman authorities arrested him for refusing to worship the emperor, he was urged by many to save his own life by renouncing Christ. Do you know what he said? He is recorded to have replied, "86 years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" Having entered into a new covenant, even the way we suffer, even the way we persevere is transformed. Obedience to Jesus doesn't remove suffering from the Christian life, it only reshapes it. Obedience to Jesus is to follow Him not only in the good times, amidst joy and blessing, but also through the hardship and through the trial, through the fire. Peter is clear that suffering is not an an interruption to the Christian life but an an unexpected, but sorry, but an expected part of it. Would you look there in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12? He says, he says, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you." When it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. Friends, trials are not are not necessarily evidence that something has gone wrong. In fact, they're often evidence that we belong to Christ. To live as an elect exile in a world that has rejected the King of glory will bring increasing pressure and resistance and pain and persecution. Jesus Himself said to His disciples, "If the world hates you, know that it hated Me first. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of this world, therefore the world hates you." Friends, we in the West, two generations now removed by war, have enjoyed a long period of safety and comfort as Christians. It's wonderful. It truly is. It is a great blessing. But we need to be mindful that this hasn't been the norm for most of the Christians throughout most of human history. In fact, you need only speak to any of your brothers and sisters in the East, and they'll tell you of the dangers of calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus. Speak to someone from the underground church in China, to those on the on the brick kilns in Pakistan, where where obedience to Jesus seems like no more than a death sentence. While the world says to forsake Christ when things get hard, church, obedience to Christ is to stand firm and to trust in Him through suffering and through persecution. And what's more, Peter tells us something remarkable. Even more than standing firm, would you look there on 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 13? He says, "But rejoice in so far as you share in Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed." Have you ever considered your pain and your suffering and your grief as sharing in the sufferings of Christ? Church, when you suffer for righteousness' sake, when you endure hardship while remaining faithful, when you suffer for doing good and endure it, we walk the same path our Savior walked. Opposition, hardship, and loss should be expected for those who follow a crucified Messiah. We share in His sufferings, and that means that we will also share in His glory at His coming. And this, Peter says, is a reason to rejoice. Because praise be to God, suffering is not the end for God's covenant people. He goes on in chapter 5 verse 10 and he says, "And after you have suffered a little while, Christian, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, comfort, strengthen, and establish you." Suffering is temporary, God's grace is sufficient, and the glory to come is certain. Church, it is secure. Church, do you trust Him? Do you know Christ to be your comfort and strength like this? Jesus said that He, sorry, He has called us to be obedient and to trust Him in the midst of suffering. So church, do you trust Him? Not that all will be easy, not that all will be without pain, but praise be to God that He who called you is faithful. He will keep you until the day of His coming. Church, may God grant us the same grace that He gave our our brother Polycarp, who, as the Roman soldiers tied him to the stake to be burned, prayed, "I bless you, Father, for giving me this day and this hour to share in the cup of your Christ." What does obedience to Jesus look like? Well, it looks like what we're doing exactly here this morning. Obedience to Jesus takes place within the covenant community. From the very beginning, God's covenant promises have always been communal. Yes, He saves individuals, but they're never left as individuals, are they? Our God has saved a people, and so life under the new covenant necessarily always works itself out amidst a community of God's people. We're not just any kind of community. The church isn't a sporting club. We're not an activist group. It's not even primarily a social gathering or or a social club. So what is it then? What is the primary thing that sets us apart as God's people? What is the one thing that should mark out a community of Jesus's followers? What should people be able to look at and see amongst us and know without a doubt that yes, this is the people of God? Jesus tells us in John's Gospel, chapter chapter 13 verse 34, and he says, "A new command I give to you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Be be this, by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." It's love, specifically the love that we have and demonstrate and show toward one another here. It's love. And please don't misunderstand, we're not talking about the world's idea of love. This isn't your Hollywood kind of love, the emotional stirrings. This isn't a love that says, "I will love you if you do what I tell you to do." "I love you if you if you will agree with my political opinions." "I will love you if if you don't annoy me and you and you and you stay over there so that I don't have to talk to you." No. No, love is hard. It's costly. It's very rarely convenient. But it's the way of our Lord Jesus, and it's the primary way that the world will know that we are His disciples. Peter knows this. And so he says in 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8, he says, "Above all," he's just gone through and talking about how all things are coming to an end. He says, "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers over a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling." Church, the love that you express toward one another, the hospitality, the generosity, the genuine desire to want to open up your lives and share with one another, it's beautiful. It's beautiful. And it's a testament to a watching world of what God has done here at Camden Valley in establishing and empowering a people who will be obedient to Jesus Christ. You keep loving one another earnestly, church. But let me also say this: church, not if, but when. Not if, but when someone in this congregation offends you, because it's only a matter of time. Remember this, that you are called to love. You're called to love. And that doesn't mean sweeping things under the carpet. That doesn't mean ignoring things that need to be addressed. But remember this, love covers over a multitude of sins. This will be the way that those who don't know Christ will see Christ in action is the way that you love one another. It's costly, it's awkward, painful, perhaps, but church, you can do it. Not in your own strength, no, but because He has made you holy, because He has come and empowered you by His very own Spirit and united you to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Church, love one another. Love one another. Peter goes on speaking about this covenant community that God has established. And he says in 4 verse 10 that you are all called with a particular role. Would you look there with me? Verse verse 10 of chapter 4. He says, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace." See, God has given each of you a gift: skills and abilities, talents and passions, finances and means, connections and networks. No one in this congregation is giftless. In every covenant community, God has equipped each each believer with something that is uniquely theirs, something different from all the other members of the congregation. And so the question becomes, what will you do with this gift given to you by God? And it seems that Peter is aware of of two errors that we fall into. It's it's either to to not use it at all or to use it only to serve ourselves. Either out of fear or apathy, anxiety, or even supposed humility. And so he implores them, "As each of you has received a gift, use it to serve others." Obedience to Jesus looks like actively using what God has given each of you for the sake of others. I don't want to embarrass him, but our brother René saw that we didn't have a projector. He saw that there was a need amongst the covenant community here. He asked the question and he proactively sought out to use the skills and abilities that God had given him to bless our gathering together. And now we have a projector to help us and to aid us in our worship. Is that not so encouraging? Is that not such a joy? This is, friends, but one example of the many and varied ways that you as the body of Christ are using your various gifts that God has given you for His glory and for each other's good. And it's beautiful. Playing music, hosting people in your homes, financially supporting the ministry, making the best desserts at our Sunday lunches. It's it's what Peter calls in verse 10, being being a good steward of God's varied grace. And what is the goal? What is the goal of this service? What is the what is all of this heading toward and aiming to achieve? Would you look with me at verse 11? He's just spoken about those given the gift of of speaking and those serving. He says, "Whoever speaks or to speak as one who speaks the oracles of God. Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies." And look with me there, "in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever." Friends, the the goal is not personal recognition. The goal is not our status. It's not to establish a name for ourselves. It's not even primarily for the for the benefit of each other. The goal is that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, that Christ might be magnified and made known because of His people's obedience. Life in the covenant community is shaped by grace and love. It's sustained by service and it is all directed toward God's glory. We gather not because it's convenient, but because it's necessary. We use our gifts to serve one another not because people are easy to love, but because Christ has first loved us. And we serve not for our own gain but for the glory of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christian, this too is obedience to Christ. To love the church, to commit to the local body, to bear with one another in love, to forgive, to serve, to give, to to persevere together. This is this is what He has called you to do. There is no such thing as as solo Christianity. Obedience to Jesus takes place always within the covenant community. And finally, within this covenant community, perhaps one of the most vivid and and glorious expressions of obedience to Jesus that we get to participate in together is taking the Lord's Supper. There are two ordinances for the Christian. That is two ordained practices that Christ Himself gave to His followers to keep and to practice until He returns. The first being baptism and the second being the Lord's Supper. As those having been sprinkled with the blood of Christ, it's fitting that our Lord charges us to partake of the Lord's Supper together when we gather as His body like this. As the covenant community gathers together like like this this morning, we have the privilege of reminding one another that we are saved into a body. As we partake together in that we have all been sprinkled with the blood of Christ. As the Israelites stood shoulder to shoulder at the foot of Mount Sinai, as Moses sprinkled the blood of an ox over them to symbolize their commitment to the covenant that they made, the Lord Jesus on the night before He died, He took the cup. And giving thanks, He said, "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me." And so having been sprinkled and washed clean by the blood, we eat and we drink in remembrance and to remind one another that Christ's body was broken and was crucified for you. And His blood was poured out and sprinkled on you for the remission of sins. Having been brought into a covenant, let us not be like those who would make marriage vows and live as if nothing has changed. But instead, church, let our lives be different, that it be marked out by obedience. We are those who live under the new covenant in Christ's blood. So church, walk in obedience to Him. Amen? Amen. Church, let me pray. Our Father, we praise you and we thank you for the new covenant that has been brought in and established by you. We thank you for choosing, for sanctifying, for washing us clean by the blood of our dear Savior, Jesus. Father, please, would you help us to walk in humble, joyful obedience to our Lord Jesus? Help us to throw off all that hinders that we might pursue you without destruction. Do you bless us now as we sing your praises, and bless us now, Lord, as we take the Lord's Supper and remember Christ's blood that was sprinkled on us to make us clean. And it's in His name that we pray. Amen.