The sermon continues an expository series through 1 Peter, focusing on 1 Peter 1:17-19. The preacher observes that after the first twelve verses of the letter, which describe entirely what God has done, is doing, and will do for his people, Peter begins issuing commands. The first command (v. 13) is to set one's hope fully on the grace to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The second (v. 15) is to be holy in all conduct, because God is holy. The sermon turns to the third command, found in verse 17b: "live in fear throughout the time of your exile." The preacher notes that this command is startling and largely absent from contemporary preaching, since many churches emphasize only comfort, satisfaction, and peace — themes the world itself already seeks — while avoiding the harder truths of God's holiness and judgment. Quoting the axiom that Scripture exists "to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable," the sermon insists that a faithful exposition of the Bible must hold both sides together, even when doing so unsettles a congregation's false sense of ease.

The apparent tension with 1 John 4:18 ("perfect love casts out fear") is addressed directly: that verse describes those made perfect in love, a perfection none of us yet possess while living in this world. Since believers remain imperfect in love during their earthly exile, Peter's command to live in fear stands.

Two reasons for this fear are drawn from the text. The first (v. 17a) is that the Father judges impartially according to each person's deeds, without partiality or special treatment. Although believers are justified by faith alone, their conduct reveals whether their hope is truly fixed on God's grace or misplaced in money, spouse, children, status, health, or beauty. The sermon warns that a life inconsistent with a profession of faith — one still governed by "the passions of your former ignorance" (v. 14) — exposes false hope and calls for holy fear. Joseph's flight from Potiphar's wife is offered as the model: he fled rather than sin against God, fearing to wound God's heart more than he feared any earthly loss. Romans 11:19-21 is invoked as a parallel warning to Gentile believers grafted into the olive tree by faith alone: "do not become proud, but fear," since God did not spare the natural branches.

The second reason (vv. 18-19) is that believers were ransomed not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious, imperishable blood of Christ, the spotless and unblemished Lamb. The preacher raises the seeming paradox: shouldn't so costly a ransom free believers from fear rather than commanding it, as Romans 8:33-34 and 8:1 declare — no condemnation, nothing able to separate us from the love of God in Christ? That truth is affirmed as valid on one side, but Peter's emphasis lies elsewhere: believers must fear living as though Christ's blood were worthless. To return to "the futile ways inherited from your forefathers" after having been ransomed from them is to treat the priceless blood of God's own Son as cheap. The Indonesian folk tale of Malin Kundang — a son who, once wealthy, disowns and expels the impoverished mother who had sacrificed everything to raise him — illustrates the horror of despising a costly, sacrificial love. Psalm 130:4, "with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared," is cited to show that God's forgiving character itself, rightly understood, produces reverent fear rather than presumption. Titus 2:14 is added to show that Christ's self-giving aims not only at justification but at sanctification — redeeming a people zealous for good works.

The sermon closes with an illustration of a small child terrified of a neighbor's large German Shepherd, sent to fetch something from the car; the dog's owner warns, "don't run — Blackie doesn't like people who run from him." Likewise, the appropriate response to God's holy judgment is not to flee from him but to run toward him, since he is not only a Father who judges without partiality but also a Father who loves and forgives. The congregation is urged to examine whether their daily lives, words, and private conduct declare that Christ's blood is truly precious, and where they fall short, to come to God in repentance rather than fleeing him, trusting that with him there is forgiveness.

Bible Verses Used

• 1 Peter 1:17-19: The central text; grounds the third command — to live in reverent fear during earthly exile — in God's impartial judgment and the priceless, redeeming blood of Christ.

• 1 John 4:18: Raised as an apparent tension ("perfect love casts out fear") and resolved by noting it describes those made perfect in love, a state believers have not yet attained.

• 1 Peter 1:13-15: Cited to show the first two commands in the passage — hope fully in grace, and be holy as God is holy — that precede and set up the third command to fear.

• Genesis 39 (Joseph and Potiphar's wife): Used as an example of holy fear driving flight from sin rather than presumption upon grace.

• Romans 11:19-21: Applied as Paul's warning to Gentile believers grafted in by faith not to be proud but to fear, since God did not spare the natural branches.

• Romans 8:1, 33-34: Presented as the "other side" of the truth — no condemnation and no separation from God's love in Christ — held in tension with, not contradiction to, the call to fear.

• Psalm 130:4: Cited to show that God's forgiving character is itself the reason he is rightly feared.

• Titus 2:14: Used to show Christ's redemption aims at both justification and sanctification — purifying a people zealous for good works.