1. "Peter is saying, take your retirement and put it all on the Jesus stock. He's saying, don't have one eye on the world and one eye on Jesus. He's saying, live in such a way that if Jesus doesn't come through, you have no backup plan."

2. "The Christian life isn't passive, it's active, it's not apathetic, it's something we pursue, it's something we choose."

3. "Do not be intoxicated by the things of this world. Do not drink the world's poison expecting it to produce faithfulness to Christ. Don't be lulled asleep by the things of this world."

4. "Can you think of any greater reality than being adopted into the family of God? It's the greatest truth that we can cling to is that we've been adopted into God's family. We have a father now worthy of imitation that will not let us down."

5. "Once we were enemies of God, now we are sons of God. Once we were sons and daughters of disobedience, now we can be obedient children. We've been given a new nature and a new life."

6. "One of the greatest resources that you and I have to fight our sin is one another. To hold one another accountable, to love one another."

7. "God is inviting us to be like him. Calls us to be holy like him. And by being a child of God, you have been given an invitation to partake in that new life and mirroring God's nature and his character."

8. "There is a day coming that when you and I stand before God, all of you and all of me will want all of him. There will no longer be any part of you that resists him. The sin that you so struggle with that you desire to see gone in your life will flee, would have no home in you."

9. "If you deny God's invitation to holiness, you will be cut off from Him. You were rejecting life and accepting death."

10. "Don't get discouraged. Our exile is much shorter than we think and our future home is far better than we can imagine."

Observation Questions

1. In 1 Peter 1:13, what two things does Peter tell believers to do as they "set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ"?

2. According to 1 Peter 1:14, what are believers told not to be conformed to, and what does Peter call them in this verse?

3. In 1 Peter 1:15, what characteristic of God does Peter say believers should imitate, and in what areas of life should this be displayed?

4. What Old Testament Scripture does Peter quote in verse 16, and what command does it give?

5. Looking back at 1 Peter 1:1-2, how does Peter describe the recipients of his letter, and according to what does he say they were chosen?

6. In 1 Peter 1:3-5, what does Peter say believers have been born again to, and what is the nature of the inheritance that is kept in heaven for them?

Interpretation Questions

1. What does it mean to "gird up the loins of your mind" (the literal Greek behind "preparing your minds for action"), and why would Peter use this imagery when addressing Christians living as exiles?

2. How does the concept of God's "foreknowledge" in 1 Peter 1:2 relate to both the salvation and the circumstances of believers? What comfort might this provide to suffering Christians?

3. Peter calls believers "obedient children" and tells them not to be conformed to "the passions of your former ignorance." What does this contrast reveal about the change that has occurred in a believer's identity and nature?

4. Why does Peter ground his call to holiness in the character of God Himself ("Be holy, for I am holy")? How does adoption into God's family relate to the call to imitate His holiness?

5. How does the "living hope" described in 1 Peter 1:3-4 differ from worldly hopes, and why is this distinction important for Christians living as sojourners and exiles?

Application Questions

1. The sermon asked, "Where has your hope been?" Reflect on a specific area of your life this past week—your work, relationships, finances, or news consumption. What did your emotions and actions reveal about where your hope was truly placed?

2. Peter warns against being "conformed to the passions of your former ignorance." What is one specific pattern of thinking or behavior from your old life that still tempts you to return to it? What practical step can you take this week to resist that conformity?

3. The sermon emphasized that the church family is one of our greatest resources for fighting sin. Is there a struggle or burden you have been carrying alone that you need to share with a trusted brother or sister this week? Who might that person be?

4. God uses difficult circumstances—whether a frustrating roommate, a challenging boss, or an unfulfilled longing—to refine us. What current circumstance in your life might God be using to expose an area of your heart that needs growth? How can you respond to this with obedience rather than resentment?

5. The sermon challenged believers to live with such active hope in Christ's return that "if Jesus doesn't come through, you have no backup plan." What is one "backup plan" or worldly security you tend to rely on instead of fully trusting Christ? What would it look like to loosen your grip on that this week?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Exodus 12:1-14 — This passage describes the first Passover, where God commanded Israel to eat with "loins girded," ready for deliverance, providing the Old Testament background for Peter's call to readiness.

2. Deuteronomy 7:6-11 — This passage explains God's choice of Israel as His treasured possession, illustrating the concept of divine election and the call to holiness that Peter applies to New Testament believers.

3. Luke 12:35-40 — Jesus teaches His disciples to stay dressed for action and keep their lamps burning while awaiting the Master's return, directly paralleling Peter's exhortation to active hope.

4. Ephesians 2:1-10 — Paul describes believers' transformation from being dead in sin and children of disobedience to being made alive in Christ, reinforcing the new identity Peter describes for "obedient children."

5. Hebrews 11:8-16 — This passage describes Abraham and the patriarchs living as strangers and exiles who longed for a heavenly homeland, providing a model for the sojourner mentality Peter calls believers to embrace.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Living as Exiles in 2020: A Personal and Collective Experience

II. Live with an Active Hope (1 Peter 1:13)

III. Live with an Eternal Aim (1 Peter 1:14-16)

IV. The Invitation and Warning of God's Holiness

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Detailed Sermon Outline

• Do not presume more opportunities; repent and turn to Christ today

• Singles, workers, parents—how is God using your situation to invite you to holiness?

It was a year ago this week that Megan and I were preparing to move to Washington, D.C. for me to do the internship. We had sold our house this week. It's our one year anniversary of it. We sold our house. We closed on it.

And we were preparing to leave the land that we knew for a new land. We were kind of exiles. And we did something I never thought I would actually do. Once we got married, we moved back in with my parents. I don't know if you've ever had that experience, but it's very unique when you've left thinking, I'm gone forever, and then you come back.

Because you walk in and you have all your stuff in their house again. And then you're sleeping in the same bed you once slept in and now you have a wife and two children and a third on the way. It's like this is a little bit different. I was grateful for my parents' hospitality and their generosity but it was for the first time in my life I felt like a sojourner. I was just there, it was a layover.

I was anticipating my new home. And in many ways and who would have thought it but 2020 has made us all feel like exiles in some way. Many of us have been exiled from the life that we once knew. Some of you have, you've not gone into your office again in almost eight or nine months. Think about the holidays and so many of us are not able to see or be with our family due to the pandemic.

I mean, I just think about living on the block, we have so many supported workers who left their countries and they came back for a brief time and now due to the virus and the pandemic, they're not able to get back home. They're living here every day, waking up for good news and anticipation. When can I go home? Think about us as a church. I mean, who would have thought on March 8th, during our Sunday morning gathering, that once we left there, that would be our last time to gather as a whole church on Sunday morning for at least nine months.

Yes, the Lord has been gracious. He's provided for us in so many wonderful ways with so many places we get to meet. But I'm not gonna lie, I'm eager to return. I'm eager to be in the West Hall, which is the best hall, and I'm ready to continue to sing with one another. I long for that day.

This year has made us all feel and understand what it means to be sojourners in exiles in our own land. So what do we do? How do we live? What do we look towards and what do we look for? Well, we look to the Scriptures.

Like Christians throughout history, who were sojourners in exiles, they looked to the Bible because there we see that God's people are okay identifying with exiles because that's who we are. This is not our home. And what we see there in the Scriptures is that we long for a better land than this one, a heavenly home where we will never be cast out again. So if you have your Bible, I invite you to go ahead and grab it and turn to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1.

Our passage that we'll be focusing on this morning is verses 13 through 16.

Let's read that together. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. Now, for time's sake, I'm not gonna read all of chapter one this morning, but I would encourage you, would you take some time this week and reflect on chapter one, in particular, verses one through 12, wonderful, glorious gospel truths there.

And notice what the first thing that Peter says, he says, Therefore, which is looking back. Peter is, he's writing here, this letter is written to a group of Christians, and what we know is Turkey today. He lists these five regions there, and he's writing He's writing them to encourage them. They're living in the midst of suffering, in the midst of exile and in persecution, and he wants to encourage them and remind them of what God has done in Christ. He calls them elect exiles.

Now, these could be people who have been scattered and dispersed because of their faith. They could have been persecuted. But I think what Peter probably had in mind was these are spiritual exiles and sojourners. What he's saying here is this, this is not your home. So don't find your identity, your value and worth in this place.

This is temporary. Look to the eternal. Look to Jesus, your true king, and look to heaven, your true home. Calls them elect exiles. He's pointing their eyes far beyond their own circumstances.

He's pointing them to heaven. But notice something that's interesting. After he lists the regions they're from, He says they're exiles according to what? According to the foreknowledge of God. Now foreknowledge is often misunderstood.

Some people think foreknowledge is that God foresaw what would take place. That's not how the Bible talks or understands foreknowledge. Foreknowledge is exactly what we read in Deuteronomy 7 where it says, For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.

The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possessions out of all the peoples of the earth or who were on the face of the earth. That's what foreknowledge means, is that before the world began, before the world was formed, that God looked into time and chose people for himself that would be his own treasured possession. It's like Amos 3:2 where God says, you, only out of all the families of the earth have I known. Well, God knows all families because he created them, but there's only a specific group of people that he's put his covenantal love upon. Peter, he's trying to remind them that God foreknew them.

He chose them. And what's interesting is not only did he chose them for salvation, he chose their circumstances. He says, you, according to the foreknowledge of God, you are elect exiles. So God not only chose their salvation, but their circumstances. Why?

He says, in the sanctification of the Spirit for the obedience to Jesus Christ. Peter's looking at these believers who are outcast and downcast and he says, Look, not only is your salvation brought by God, but he's the author of your circumstances. He's using this to purify you and make you more holy, to make you more like Christ and to make you obey Christ. It's a beautiful Trinitarian exhortation of how the whole Triune God saves us and sanctifies us and draw them to himself. And then you go and he later on in these verses, I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but he just lists out a beautiful exhortation of the gospel, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, called us to be born again to a living hope, not a dead hope, not a stagnant hope, but a living one through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

He's looking to a group of Christians who maybe are outcasts in their society who maybe don't have an earthly inheritance and he's saying, look beyond that. You have something better. You have an inheritance that will not fall, it will not fall through, it will not fade because God is keeping it in heaven for you. And then he gets down and he begins to say here, this gospel truth, this gospel promise produces a gospel life. Therefore, because of this gospel reality, this is how you should live.

What does he tell them? Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Saints, how are we supposed to live in exile? Peter tells us here, we need to live with an active hope. My first point, I have two points today.

The first is this, live with an active hope. He's saying because of the triune God saving you and using your circumstances to purify you, because of this great gospel, live with an active hope.

Notice in your Bible, there's a footnote after, prepare your minds for action. It says, girding up the loins of your mind. That's the literal Greek translation. That would have been common language in Peter's day. What it meant was to take your robe and to bring it up, to gird it up and tie it around your waist.

Be ready to move, be ready to run. I think it's helpful language because it gives us some Old Testament background. There's two other places, obviously there's used throughout the Bible, but there's two other places I think it's helpful. In Exodus 12:11, this is God speaking to the people who he's about to redeem out of slavery, out of Egypt. And he's telling them how they're going to take the Passover.

And he says in verse 11, he says, you will eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. What is God saying? He's saying, your salvation is near, so be ready. Be actively looking for it.

Yes, the Lamb is over your doorpost, but be looking. I'm going to pass over and when that time comes, I'm going to bring you out of slavery, out of bondage. Well, this is the same language that Jesus uses in Luke 12:35. Jesus says this, he's talking to his disciples, Stay dressed for action. Again, there's a footnote because he's saying, have your loins girded, Keep your lamps burning and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast so they may open the door to him once he comes and knocks.

Jesus, like God in the Old Testament and like Peter here is saying, be ready, be prepared, live an active life. The Christian life isn't passive, it's active, it's not apathetic, it's something we pursue, it's something we choose. Peter is calling us to be aware because of this great salvation, be ready, anticipate what is next. Order your life, order your hope, order all the things you do around this reality that Christ is going to return and redeem you. It can happen at any moment is what he's saying.

It reminds me just a few months ago my wife was pregnant with our third child and based on our other two children they came almost two weeks early so When we got two weeks out from the due date, we had my in-laws come up. We were ready. We ordered everything about our days from that point on around if the child would come, if Lydia would come. We had our go bag ready. We were actively waiting.

Every day we thought this could be the day. So we were living like that. And so on August the ninth, the Sunday evening, we left our two kids with our in-laws because we thought this could be the day. And we brought our go bag and Once the last song was sung, we drove to the hospital because it was the day. We were ready.

We were anticipating it. That's the Christian life we anticipate. We look forward. We don't make this our home because it's not our home. We look to Christ.

Maybe for the kids that are here. Thank you for being here. Thank you for braving this cold weather. How many of you are excited about Christmas? Hopefully all of you are excited about Christmas.

No more school and hopefully Lord willing some Christmas presents around the tree. I remember when I was a kid, I was so eager and excited about Christmas morning. Matter of fact, my parents didn't like it, but I'd wake up at three in the morning on Christmas day to run downstairs and see what was around the tree because I was so excited. And that's what Jesus calls us to. Did you know that?

That Christians are supposed to be more excited about Jesus than Christmas. And hopefully one day you'll experience that. Maybe the Lord will give you that same anticipation and that same hope. So saints, how have you been living? Are you apathetic towards Christ's return?

Are you active? Are you eagerly looking forward to the day that he will come back? Are the loins of your mind girded? Are you ready to run for him? And then he also uses another participial here, not only prepare your minds for action, he says, being sober minded.

Well, Peter says this two different times in his letter. Chapter 4, verse 7, he says, the end of all things is at hand, therefore be self-controlled and sober minded. Or 5:8 where he says, Be sober-minded, be watchful, your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. What does Peter mean by being sober-minded? He says, Do not be intoxicated by the things of this world.

Do not drink the world's poison expecting it to produce faithfulness to Christ. Don't be lulled asleep by the things of this world. Don't be chasing after, don't find your identity, don't find your worth in the things of this world. So if he's saying don't look to this world for comfort, what is he saying look to? And look what he says next here, after these participles, he gives the first imperative of the letter.

He says, hope fully, hope fully, hope is the first imperative, hope fully on what? On the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What is Peter saying? Don't look at this earth as your home, but put all your hope on Jesus. Peter is saying, take your retirement and put it all on the Jesus stock.

He's saying, don't have one eye on the world and one eye on Jesus. He's saying, live in such a way that if Jesus doesn't come through, you have no backup plan. That is what he's calling us to. He's saying, hope on Christ's return, hope on Jesus. Let him be the one that you're putting all your trust, put all your weight on him.

That's what he's calling us to. So saints, in the midst of this pandemic, what does it reveal to you about your hope?

Where is your hope? Are you fixing your eyes on Jesus? Are you fixing your eyes daily on Christ's return? John Calvin said, When we direct our eyes on this event, Christ's return, the world becomes crucified to us. And we to the world.

Saints, where has your hope been? Where is your mind been? Have you been sober minded? If you think about the course of this past year, would you say, yes, I'm sober minded? Were you sober minded in the midst of this summer with the racial tension and strife and the injustice that we saw?

Were you sober minded then? Were you sober minded in the midst of the election? Could the people around you, after they heard you talk and see what you tweeted about, would they say, yes, his hope is put fully on Christ?

Brothers and sisters, the world should look at us and see that we're looking beyond this life. We're looking to something greater. And I would encourage you to, even this week, think about this song, Turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth they will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Put your hope fully on Jesus.

Hope all that you can every single day live in such a way that you are actively anticipating looking to the end finding your joy in your identity and what Christ is going to bring with him. So that not only do we live with an active hope Peter tells us to live with an eternal aim. That's my second point. To live with an active hope and live with an eternal aim. Look back at verse 14.

Look what Peter says here. He says, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' Peter is saying, this is how you live because these great gospel truths in the first 12 verses, be holy. God has saved you So be like God, this salvation is invitation into his holiness. But look what he calls them there. He says, as obedient children, he's saying this salvation entails your adoption.

Can you think of any greater reality than being adopted into the family of God? It's the greatest truth that we can cling to is that we've been adopted into God's family. We have a father now worthy of imitation that will not let us down. His life is worth modeling after. What does this adoption entail?

It's a new identity. We are no longer sinners, but saints. We are no longer dead, but alive. We are no longer orphans, but children. It's a new identity.

Once we were enemies of God, now we are sons of God. Once, as Paul writes in Ephesians 2:20, we were sons and daughters of disobedience, now we can be obedient children. We've been given a new nature and a new life. Brothers and sisters, have you been living as obedient children? Or have you in living ecca a son or a daughter of disobedience?

Think about this past week. Who won more? Your old self or your new self? The spirit or the flesh? What would your spouse say about that?

What would your children say? What would your roommate say? What would your search history say?

Are you being obedient children that God has called you to be? That he's given you the spirit to be? What's amazing about being a child of God is that we've been adopted into a family. With this adoption comes a new family. Look around for these church members that you know this is your family.

These are the people that God has given you to help walk alongside you while we live on this earth, while we look towards heaven. One of the greatest resources that you and I have to fight our sin is one another. To hold one another accountable, to love one another. Yes, it's the church, it's the family of God. We're here to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

No, we are not a perfect bunch. We're awkward, we've got bumps and bruises, but we will get there. Part of the reality as a family is we gather weekly. This is our weekly family gathering where we weep and rejoice and sing and confess. Where we love one another and one day, Lord willing, hug one another.

And we read and hear our family's history and God's word and we see our family's future, but we will be reunited with whole ransomed family of God one day. Look around, this is the people that God has given you to help fight your sin, to help you walk closer with Christ. Are you using one of your greatest resources? Are you being a good family member by sharing your burdens, by being available to share what's going on in your life? And brothers and sisters, are you carrying those burdens with the people around you that need them?

Listen to what our church covenant says here. It says, We will walk together in brotherly love as becomes the members of Christian church, exercising affectionate care and watchfulness over each other and faithfully admonish each other in a treat one another as the occasion may acquire require. This is what you and I signed up for as church members. How are we doing? Are you living like a faithful family member?

Are you leaning into the family discussion? Or are you like the child that just gets to dinner and runs to the room and lives in isolation? Brothers and sisters, we have a great resource in our family. Not only do we have a new identity as a family or as a child in a new family, we have a father worthy of imitating. Peter says, As him who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

God, this is an amazing reality. God is inviting us to be like him. Calls us to be holy like him. God's holiness is his sacredness. It's his majesty.

It's his awesomeness, his separateness, his moral perfection. His dedication to himself and to his glory. And by being a child of God, you have been given an invitation to partake in that new life and mirroring God's nature and his character. J.C. Ryle says holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God according as we find his mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment, hating what he hates, loving what he loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of his word.

This is the invitation that God has given us by saving us. In the garden, Satan said, you can be like God, but what he meant is you can be independent. He invited us to a life of death. But being like God for us is submitting to God, loving what he loves, and pursuing him. And what's amazing is about this reality of God's holiness is it's both an invitation and it's a warning.

It's an invitation and a warning. It's an invitation to finally be human again. Since the Garden of Eden, we have been missing something because we've been separated from God. We are broken, we are frail. We are not living like we were created to be and living and pursuing God's holiness as being human again.

We're functioning correctly. We're living in a right relationship with God. It's removing the old self and becoming our true self.

The, the sculptor, Michelangelo, he was asked about the, the sculpture David, when they saw the marble and they said, what did you see when you, when you were sculpting that Marble, what did you think about? What was your strategy? He just said, I removed everything that wasn't David. Looked at that marble and I just removed everything that wasn't David. And that's God's invitation to holiness is he's removing everything in your life that's not you because you've been redeemed.

You have a new life, a new identity. The sin is no longer your identity. It's saint. It's saved. This is the holiness that God is calling us to.

This is the life he's inviting us to.

To. And what's amazing is this daily holiness that God is calling us to is we are just simply putting on what we will wear for all eternity. We're wearing our holy clothes, what we will be for all eternity, fighting to finally be alive. But think about this for a moment. When you woke up this morning, there was part of you that wanted to pursue Christ.

There was part of you that wanted to go after the Lord, to be holy, to live this life he's called you to walk by the Spirit and to kill sin. And yes, we are new creations in Christ and have been saved, yet we are still being saved. There's still indwelling sin among us. So there's still part of you and me that resists him. There's still part of you and me that has a different plan, a different will for our lives.

That desires to lead us back into slavery. That's why a few verses later, in chapter two of this book, Peter would say, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Currently, as we live here on this earth, there is a war going on within us. One leading us to Christ, one leading us back to death and to slavery. But brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you with this.

There is a day coming that when you and I stand before God, all of you and all of me will want all of him. There will no longer be any part of you that resists him. The sin that you so struggle with that you desire to see gone in your life will flee, would have no home in you. Anger and jealousy, lust, covenants, covenants of shame. Will be gone forever.

We will stand before God finally whole and finally complete. So brothers and sisters, as you fight your sin, look to that day because your battle, this war is temporary. And the reality is this, that battle has already been won. That victory has been given and we get to live in that freedom. But the day is coming where there will no longer be a fight, but freedom and true peace.

Not only is it an invitation, lastly, it's a warning. It is a warning. If you deny God's invitation to holiness, you will be cut off from Him. That is what we read in Deuteronomy 7 a while ago. You were bringing judgment upon yourself.

You were rejecting life and accepting death. I mean, imagine if you were in a place in an area that had been flooded and you were just waiting for a life raft to come, somebody to come get you. And that person comes and says, Hey, you can get in the boat. It's both an invitation and a warning. If you do not get in, you do not have life.

So for the non-Christians that are here, we thank you that you were here. We were excited that you were here. And I would just have a question. Have you noticed anything different about us? Is there something distinct or unique about us that we believe and submit to the teaching of a man who was once dead and now he's alive and we believe he's coming back to life?

Again one day that we order our lives around him. Since you were here in this moment, it is not by accident. God and his sovereignty has brought you here to hear the gospel. And I would encourage you, I would plead with you to look to Christ, receive this invitation to be like him. And if you would love to talk with me, I will be here afterwards.

But this is an invitation for you. And don't presume that you'll have more opportunities to respond. Take the time that you've been given, take the offer today and repent and turn from your old life and look and run towards Christ. This is the invitation that he gives us to finally be free of our slavery and finally be whole in him, to be human again. So how can we share in God's holiness?

Two things, it's listen and obey. It's what children do. How can we share? We listen to God's word and we obey it. We do exactly the opposite of what Adam and Eve did.

They heard God's word but they did not obey and that's how we share in God's holiness. We hear it, we respond, we submit our lives to it. So brothers and sisters, how are you listening and responding to God's word in the midst of this season? And even, what is God showing you about your heart in these moments? As we saw earlier, God uses exile to refine his people.

He uses suffering and circumstances to make them more holy like himself. And so in many ways, if you look in your life, God is using the circumstances and the situations of your life to be like a flashlight shining on your heart. He's like a surgeon saying, that's what I'm coming for. That's what I'm seeking to remove. So look at your circumstances.

How is God calling you to greater holiness? Maybe here for the singles with roommates. How is God using your roommate to make you more holy? What is God showing you about your heart? Maybe your love for control or your relational dependence.

How is he inviting you in that into holiness? Maybe think about work with a difficult boss or coworkers. How is God using that relationship to invite you into his holiness? Think about singles who want to get married and you long for that. How is God withholding that from you?

How is God using that to make you more reliant and more holy? Parents with children, toddlers in particular. How is God using those kids to show you, hey, there's something bad in your heart. Or maybe you're just in a season of suffering and difficulty. And brothers and sisters, I don't fully understand why, but I can just trust this, that God is not wasting that moment in your life.

He's wanting you and drawing you to be more dependent on Him and less dependent upon yourself. So brothers and sisters, how do we live in exile? Well, we actively hope. We have an eternal aim. We look to fight our sin daily.

We look to Christ. We think about His coming. We get prepared. We don't make this place our home. We don't get too comfortable.

We choose the cross over comfort. We pray that God would help us clearly look to Him, that His second coming, that Christ's second coming would help us to see our sin more clearly and help us to fight it. So let me encourage you, even though holiness is hard, walking near him can be challenging, it can be tiring and wearisome. Don't get discouraged. Our exile is much shorter than we think and our future home is far better than we can imagine.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we praise you. For you are the God who caused us to be born again, not to a dead hope, not to a stagnant hope, not to a fading or defiled hope, but a living hope in Christ. Lord, we thank you that you've called us out of darkness into your glorious light. Not only have you called us out, you will come get us one day. Lord, we thank you for your kindness.

Lord, we thank you. For your love towards us. Lord, I pray that if there's any among us that don't know you, Lord, would you cause them to repent? Would you overwhelm them with your spirit now? Would you break them of their sin and their love for dependence of you?

Would you teach them how to follow you? Lord, teach us as a congregation to live well in the midst of our exile. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.