What does it mean to sanctify the Lord God in your hearts (1 Peter 3:15)?

What then is the resource and remedy? "But sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord." Sanctimoniousness in manner or outward acts, far from availing, is a snare and a shame unworthy of a Christian, as far as possible from pleasing God, though it may deceive himself if unwary and others too. But to give Christ the holy place due to Him, and supremely as Lord, in our hearts, truly pleases Him Who would have us honour the Son even as we honour the Father. Without Him thus constantly set up and apart in our hearts, we are exposed to any and every idol whereby the enemy deceives the world; but with Christ thus the object of our inmost affections, how kept and blessed! So we see the fruit and accompaniment in the words that follow, "ready always for an answer to every one that asketh you a reason (or, account) for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." What account can creature give so satisfying, even to God, as the Lord Jesus and His redemption? In Him we have the righteousness found nowhere else, yea, we are become God's righteousness in Him; so that, as the same apostle says (Gal. 5:5), "we through the Spirit by faith await," not righteousness as if we were not justified, but "the hope of righteousness," that is, heavenly glory with Christ. But this very blessedness, so undeserved by any, calls us to meekness and fear in confessing it, lest a rough or presumptuous spirit might dishonour the God of all grace or ourselves the recipients of His rich mercy.

Now I would like you to turn to 1 Peter 3:15. This is something of a climax in the teaching as to practical sanctification: “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.” God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have set us apart for the service of God. We have read that in order that we might be set apart, the work of Christ on the cross was necessary, and the power of the indwelling Spirit. But there comes the point where in responsibility we have to indicate whether or not we value what God has done on our behalf. 1 Peter 3:15 uses the very words that give us the only proper response. The Word says as it were, “It is now up to you. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.” By the time we get to this Scripture we are without excuse. We know that sanctification is all about being set apart and this verse, when it puts the sanctifying work to our account, is saying: “Set a special place apart in your heart, the best place, the chief place, the first place, and give that to the Lord. Don't give it to anybody else: not to yourself, not to your spouse, not to your children, not to your work, not to your leisure. There is a place that is reserved for Him which is paramount to you in your existence.”

Now I would like you to turn to 1 Peter 3: 15. This is something of a climax in the teaching as to practical sanctification: "sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have set us apart for the service of God. We have read that in order that we might be set apart, the work of Christ on the cross was necessary, and the power of the indwelling Spirit. But there comes the point where in responsibility we have to indicate whether or not we value what God has done on our behalf. 1 Peter 3: 15 uses the very words that give us the only proper response. The Word says as it were, "It is now up to you. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." By the time we get to this Scripture we are without excuse. We know that sanctification is all about being set apart and this verse, when it puts the sanctifying work to our account, is saying: "Set a special place apart in your heart, the best place, the chief place, the first place, and give that to the Lord. Don't give it to anybody else: not to yourself, not to your spouse, not to your children, not to your work, not to your leisure. There is a place that is reserved for Him which is paramount to you in your existence."

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." God must have His right place in our hearts in both these things; giving God in my heart His true character is sanctifying Him. In whose heart has God this perfect place of power and love? I do not mean in activity, that is according to gift, but in the heart. Where is the heart that keeps itself entirely for God, that is filled with God's love and holiness? All that is in the world, pleasure, vanity, etc., robs God of His glory in us. God is not then sanctified by us, and this is the secret of our weakness. Could you say today - yesterday - that God has had His right place in your hearts? What is the consequence? It ought to be a bad conscience. Ought I to forget my forgetfulness? I shall find it out in weakness, if I do not find it in confession. Power for testifying for God is not there, if I have been talking idleness or vanity. If I turn to anything for God, as if my whole heart were in it, I am in danger; I do not sanctify the Lord in my heart. There may not be insincerity or hypocrisy in it, but the lack of the sanctifying the Lord; and when He has not the place in us that makes us happy and that gives us power (for the joy of the Lord is strength), there is not the blessing flowing out to others. We want the practical power of the God that loves us, working in our hearts. What a thing this supposes! If I do not know God, I cannot sanctify Him. It is as being brought to Him I can sanctify Him. The thought of getting to God when I get to heaven, supposes that I have not come to Him now. All we have been speaking of flows out of giving God the place He really has. We are to sanctify the Lord because He is there, trusting in that love shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. Why is the conduct of one man different from another man's? One is without God, and the other has Him as a present spring of delight and strength, love, comfort - this is a total, immense, and infinite change. What a thing to be without God as regards the soul! Immortal beings without God! having faculty, intelligence, sagacity, but without God! Human affection is lovely in the creature, but it is not God. The objects of affection may come in between the creature and God, even what He has created in us; for blessing may be an occasion of idolatry.

(V. 14). If, then, we are called upon to suffer for righteousness' sake, we are not to bemoan our lot, but rather rejoice, even as Paul and Silas, when persecuted at Philippi, could at midnight sing praises to God, though unjustly cast into prison because they had crossed the interests of some evilly-disposed men. There is, however, the danger of yielding to an unrighteous course through fear of consequences. We are therefore warned against the fear of man, and being troubled by the dread of what may happen if we do right.

(V. 15). Our safeguard against yielding to unrighteousness will be found in sanctifying the Lord in our hearts. By giving the Lord His rightful place in our hearts, we shall be conscious of the presence of the Lord to support us in the presence of men. We shall thus not only escape the temptation to yield to what we know to be wrong in order to escape trouble, but we shall be enabled to render a positive testimony to the truth, giving a reason for our hope with meekness and fear. Acting in a spirit of meekness we shall not offend by seeking to assert ourselves and our opinions; acting in fear before God we shall be bold to maintain the truth. While we are not to be afraid of man's fear (verse 14), it becomes us to walk in the holy fear of God.

(V. 16). Moreover, to suffer for righteousness' sake, and witness a good conscience before men, demands “a good conscience” before God and men. If with a bad conscience we attempt to stand before the enemy, it will only be to court shame and defeat. With a conscience void of offence we shall, by our consistent Christian conduct, put to shame those who falsely accuse us.

Thirdly, we are exhorted to "fear God." This is a wholesome word, but one that is very little in use in these days. Further on in the same epistle the apostle explains the character of this fear. He says (chap. 3:15), "but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." This is a quotation from Isaiah 8:13, where we find these additional words, "and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." The "fear of God," then, is not a craven fear, but rather the setting the Lord always before us, not doing or undertaking anything without reference to Him. Alas! how many things we do, and perhaps never consult Him at all. As long as it is not anything absolutely wrong, we seem to think we can do pretty much as we like. "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." Who from this time will begin to do it? It is not talking much about it, but "in your hearts." It is having the heart continually in the presence of God. This is the blessed life, that everything should be "begun, continued, and ended in Him." This was the life of the Lord Jesus: "I have set the Lord always before Me."

Very often it is the fear of man that is before us. The Lord Jesus said, "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do, but I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: fear Him which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear Him." And then He adds, "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows": words which seem, at first sight, to have no connection with what has gone before. And yet the connection is very striking. God has power to kill and to cast into hell. In other words, He has complete mastery over all His creatures. And yet that same One is full of love. He is not a tyrant. Great as He is, He takes notice of the price five sparrows fetch. And He numbers the very hairs of our head. And so the Lord says first of all, "Fear God," and then He says, "Fear not." For if we fear Him, we have nothing else to fear; He will care for us. May we then take heed to this third exhortation to "fear God."

If any of our readers are inclined to doubt what we have just laid down as to the primary meaning of the word, let them consider three facts. (1) Inanimate things — altar, laver, vessels — were sanctified under the law. There could be no subjective change, no increase in holiness, in them. But they could be put in a separate position, wholly devoted to the service of God. (2) The Lord Jesus Himself was "sanctified, and sent into the world" (John 10:36); and again leaving the world He said, "I sanctify Myself" (John 17:19). There could be no subjective change in Him — no sanctification in the progressive sense. Holiness of the most intense order, divine and absolute, was ever His. But He could be set apart by the Father for His mission as Revealer and Redeemer, and then sent into the world. Also, as leaving this world and entering the world of the Father's glory, He could set Himself apart in a new position as the pattern and power of the sanctification of His followers. (3) The instruction comes to us, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts" (1 Peter 3:15). Here too the only possible sense of "sanctify," is to set apart positionally. In our hearts we are to set the Lord God apart in a position altogether unique. He is to be exalted without a rival there.

Verse 14 introduces another consideration. We may of course suffer for our own folly in the government of God. We may, on the other hand, be receiving blessing in the government of God, and yet be called upon to suffer for righteousness' sake. If so, God guarantees our happiness in it and under it. We are not to be afraid of men but, sanctifying the Lord God (or "Lord Christ" as it probably is) in our hearts, to testify meekly to the truth while maintaining a good conscience by holy living.

Notice in passing how verse 15 makes manifest the true force of the word "sanctify." It is not primarily "to make holy," for the Lord cannot be more holy than He is. He can, however, in our hearts be set apart in His own proper place of glory and supremacy and authority. To sanctify is to set apart.

"But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts." For Christ is in reality absolutely sanctified, set apart from all that is in the world, sublime in holiness and truth. Let each believer think of Him as such, giving Him His place of solitary dignity and glory. Along with this, he should be ready to give a clear, true answer to any inquirer who is interested in the reason for which one gives evidence that he has a hope not connected with this world. But the answer is to be given with meekness and fear, a sober realization of the holy reality of God's sovereign work being involved in this marvelous matter.If our confession is to be convincing to others, we must also have a good conscience as regards our own practical conduct; for if this is so, however false and wicked the accusations of men may be, usually this will only eventually expose their own shame. Notice in this section (v.10 to 16) that the word "good" is used five times, the last, "good conversation" involving all behavior.

"Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." (1 Pet. 3:15)

I want to close with this. The King James Version reads, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts" but the more exact J.N.Darby translation reads, "Sanctify the Lord, the Christ, in your hearts". This is another of the transpositions of God and Christ but the effect upon faith and morals of doing this is apparent. It gives us boldness to render a reason for the hope that is in us. In these New Testament quotes it is always interesting to look at the Old Testament context from which they are taken. This is taken from Isaiah 8:13 when there was a confederacy and there was a real danger of the heart being frightened by a multitude of foes. In this particular situation the way out of the difficulty was to keep the eyes firmly fixed upon God. Beloved brethren, I venture to say that the position is the same today. The difficulties that surround us melt, they disappear when we have before our souls, not a small Christ, but a great One. In the Scriptures we have considered we read of a Saviour who is a great One and a Redeemer who is strong, and a God who is mighty. All these lights converge on the blessed One who loved us to the point of going into death and encourage us in the Christian pathway in these days.