So 1st Peter chapter 1 and we'll be reading verses 22 through 25. Hey Karen, you're listening as this is the word of the Lord. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love. Love one another earnestly from a pure heart. since you have been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass the grass withers and the flower falls but the word of the Lord remains forever and this word is the good news that was preached to you As far as the reading of God's holy word, let's pray that he would be present with us as we consider it this day. Oh, Father in heaven, we do thank you for your imperishable word, for the gospel of salvation that is ours. proclaimed to us by your apostles. We pray, Father, that you would be at work in us, that our hearts might be changed as we come before you, as we hear your word, and as your spirit works that new life within us that is ours according to your gracious gift in Christ. Father, we pray that you would make us diligent to attend to these things, that we would lay hold of those things that you have given to us. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, there was some months ago, we considered this very passage together in an evening service. And given the situation that occurred with are planned for minister in the evening, not being able to come, I decided that this would be the good occasion to just go ahead and cover this in its proper order now. As it turned out in God's good providence, it was able to be done that way. So some of you may end up recognizing the content of our message this morning, but I pray that it is nevertheless edifying to you. Now, before we begin that message, let us consider as is custom what it is that we most recently considered. Last week, we considered verses 13 through 21 of our passage. And so in that passage, if you recall the theme was to set your hope fully on the grace found in Jesus. And that was the primary command of that passage. Verse 13, if you recall, it served as a sort of microcosm for the whole of the passage. The central thrust of the verse and consequently of the passage is that command to set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter had been laying out for us the big picture view of what Christ has done for us. What Christ has done for us is the content of our faith and the basis for our hope. Peter wanted his hearers to be preparing their minds to be ready to do what is necessary as it relates to his command. And indeed, at this point in our passage, the apostle does. He turns to a whole series of exhortations to action. But this first command is to set our hope fully on the future reality that is coming when Jesus returns. That is the foremost thing. It demands a readiness for action or holiness of conduct. It brings about seriousness and a focus of mind on account of the weight or the honor that we give to the one who has called us to this living hope. And this led us to the call to holiness in verses 14 through 16. There we find that we are to view ourselves as obedient children who are being educated in the proper way of life in our Father's household. We are becoming like Him. We've been called to be holy, and so we are becoming holy, even as He has called us. And by quoting Leviticus 11.44, you shall be holy, for I am holy. Peter reminded us of the glory that is ours. that we belong to Christ, that we are now children of God. We who have the assurance of our future salvation because of Christ cannot keep on having the same desires govern our behavior as we once did outside of Christ. Our hope is now fully set on Christ's second coming, that day of our salvation, that great day to which all the world is moving. And longing for that day, that future hope, it governs everything. We prepare our minds for action. That action is obedience to God's revealed will. We are called to honor Him in verses 17 through 21. And we saw that the hope wherein we call upon God as Father leads us to conduct ourselves with fear in the present time. This fear, which is always being set before us in all the New Testament, is of course a reverent fear that a child should have for their parents. It isn't a terrifying sort of fear that keeps us from being able to have any peace of mind at all. It isn't horror, but rather it is the kind of fear that is more of a profound respect that results in honor being shown to the one feared. You make it your aim to please this one whom you honor. They matter to you. Their good pleasure matters and their displeasure matters. You do not want to see displeasure from them. It would cause your heart to be sad. So here we see that this reverent fear, it directs our way of life and has to do with the fact that the Father has loved us by giving his only son to us, and that when Jesus comes again to judge all mankind according to his word, we hope, we long to be vindicated in Christ and to be those who are found while pleasing in his eyes. It's not to say that we will not be saved by Christ's grace, but we do long to please him who saved us. And so we also know that when he judges, he does so impartially. That means he is no respecter of persons. There is going to be a judgment and how one has behaved will matter. For the believer, We know that Christ ransomed us. That's that was there in the passage. And that means he purchased us by his blood. And so we belong to him now. Knowing this, knowing what greatest salvation is ours in Christ, we live our lives before him as those who are going are called to give an account to him. As those whose lives are lived before him, before the face of God. And so we long to live according to the rules of that kingdom to which we have been made citizens. We weigh all our desires and plans for our lives against that reality. And so as you hope for Christ's return, you are called to satur hope fully on the grace found in Jesus. That is the context leading into our passage. this morning. And our passage this morning teaches us to pursue love for one another in the abiding love of Christ. And we're to do this on account of. Mutual brotherhood found in verses 22 and 23. Passing glory found in verse 24. And the abiding word found in verse 25. So again, our theme is pursue love for one another. in the abiding love of Christ, and we will consider this in three sections, mutual brotherhood, 22 through 23, passing glory, verse 24, the abiding word, verse 25. So first let's consider this mutual brotherhood of verses 22 through 23. There we find it written, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart since you have been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. Peter commands us to love one another earnestly or strenuously with great effort from a pure heart This idea of purity, both of soul and of heart, it has to do once again with our whole being. It refers back to verse 15 where he says, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. The end of our holy conduct is to be true to the love shown to us in Christ. And this love proceeds from a purification of the soul that the Lord works in us in obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love. Our first and foremost obedience to the truth is when we hear that gospel message, that we humble ourselves, that we repent of our sins, that we turn from them unto God, that we seek Christ. That is that first obedience of a Christian. to obey that call of God. And so we purify ourselves having come to hope in Christ. This purification especially refers to our sanctification. Peter is writing to those, if you recall from the very beginning of 1 Peter 1, those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with his blood. In our own Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 11, section 2, we read, Faith, receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of our justification. That is, that is the thing, that is the alone instrument by which we are justified. It is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces and is no dead faith, but worketh by love. And so here in our passage, we're dealing with a fruit of our salvation. We see the sanctified outworking of that abundant love generously lavished upon us in Christ. This love is born of a purified soul and heart. Christ has sprinkled us with his blood. We have been born again. Peter calls his hearers to love one another with a love of brothers because they have been born again. Back in 1 Peter 1, verses 3-4, we were told that we were born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. And so here in our passage today, we are again told of our new birth. And now we're said to be born of imperishable seed rather than perishable seed through the living and abiding word of God. The content of that word being the love of God in Christ. We see then that Jesus is the living hope raised from the dead, now reigning at the right hand of God until that time when he will come again. He is the living and abiding word of God. What then is this perishable seed versus imperishable seed? The answer to that has to do with the fact that we are born again into the same family. We are born again of the same source. All mankind, according to the flesh, is born of corruptible seed. According to the flesh, we are all born in Adam. who is elsewhere called the man of dust. And if you recall, that's by ordinary generation, our original sin comes to us. We are born as those who are the offspring of one who has been judged in sin. But those whose faith and hope are in Christ have been born again by the spirit of God. We have become children of God, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. To quote Paul, the first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven, as was the man of dust. So also are those who are of the dust, as is the man of heaven. So also are those who are of heaven. Peter says that we have been born again through the living and abiding word of God. And this is why we are to love one another with the love of brothers. We've been born into the same family. We have been born into the household of God. In verse 14, he has called us obedient children. And in verse 17, he went on to speak of us being those who call on God as father and are to be holy as he is holy. We have been born of God as those who were ransomed out of the house of bondage by the eternal son of God. This brotherly love isn't a love that merely bears the resemblance of the family. No, this is the love of the true family of God to which the brotherly love of the family was always meant to point in shadowy figures. All the good of the earthly family with the warm love of that household serves as a type and shadow of this family of God now revealed in Christ. Because this family of God does not pass away, whereas in a very real sense, in the new heavens and the new earth, there is no other family than the family of God. In a sense, it passes away. the family on earth, that is. Brothers, according to the flesh, have a strong bond, but it is a passing bond, because such brothers are born of an earthly father's seed. Brothers in the household of God are born through the eternal, unchangeable seed, the living and abiding word of God, given to us in the love of Christ. So you see, the Bible tells us that even the saints now dead in Christ await eagerly the day of Christ's return. We all have the same hope together. We're all looking forward to the day when we will together, as one family, be raised to glory. It's interesting that passage in Revelation chapter six, where we see this picture of the saints who've gone on before us, kept under the altar, kept in God's presence. And you might think, oh, you know, what a blessed estate. Indeed it is. We pass immediately into glory at our death. But we're not yet. at that great day in history. And so we find the saints there crying out, Oh, sovereign Lord, holy and true. How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on earth? And Christ gives them white robes and tells them to wait until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete. The great day of the Lord that is coming is a day when the oneness of the church will be made perfect. When the saints together as one family will stand before the throne receiving the vindication that comes by having looked fully to Christ. It is not until that day that the dead in Christ will be raised to embodied existence again, that we will see fully this great unity and love that is ours. And so, knowing that it is coming, we strive to love one another with a perfect love. Even now we walk in the light of the new creation that shines upon us in the face of Christ, loving because he first loved us, loving from a pure heart because he has purified our hearts by his blood. We walk in the truth of God's love as obedient children in his house, And this should be of utmost encouragement to Peter's original audience as they face persecution, suffering, loss, perhaps even being disowned by their own families. As they are surrounded by those who do not know the love of God, they suffer various things. And perhaps some of them would have been accused of being disobedient children as they're being disowned, as they refuse to continue in sin, they give up much. And yet here, Christ calls his church to be those who love one another as family. Families do fail us. Even Christian families fail us. And yet we all look to Christ It is one of those things that, as a father, I hope that I'm setting a good example to my children. But I know, I know that there are times when I am not setting a good example for my children, where I lash out in anger kind of unreasonably. And all these things, the love that I'm striking for, is the love of Christ, and hopefully my children understand that in those times that I fail them, that I'm willing to be humble and repent of my failings to them, but also reminding them, I know you're looking at me, and I am trying to teach you, but just remember, I am following the love of Christ. We're looking to the love of Christ And so we no longer run according to this age. Rather, we walk according to our great hope. And we know that Peter, here in 1 Peter, he says in 1 Peter 5.12 that he wrote this letter by Silvanus, a faithful brother, exhorting and declaring that this is the true gospel of God. Stand firm in it. He wants us to stand firm in that gospel. This doesn't mean that we are perfect or that we suffer perfectly. Indeed, the reason he's writing is he knows that we don't. Remember, Peter himself did not suffer perfectly on the night when Christ was betrayed. He himself denied Christ. He knows what it means to suffer very imperfectly, to be flat out disobedient. And he knows what it is to be shown this grace of God. The grace of God brings suffering. But while suffering for the gospel, the people of God are called to love one another. They are to walk in the transcendent reality of the brotherhood of the saints in Christ. They are to walk in the truth of the gospel, not fearing the loss of anything for the sake of knowing Christ. And so, again, in our passage today, we learn to pursue love for one another in the abiding love of Christ on account of our mutual brotherhood. And we live boldly in this brotherhood, knowing that all that we may lose in this world is only passing glory. And this brings us to our second point, as we consider verse 24. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls. Back in 1 Peter 1, 7, Peter speaks even of gold as perishable. And the minister Edmund Clowney said of that verse, fire does not destroy gold. It only removes combustible impurities. Yet even gold will at last vanish with the whole of the created order. Faith is infinitely more precious and more enduring. Another commentator said, the comparison in this verse with his emphasis on the perishable nature of gold implies an argument from the lesser to the greater. If perishable and hence less valuable, gold must be so tested. How much more must faith, which is imperishable and hence of greater value? The emphasis here is not on faith itself, so much as on the nature of the faith that results from such trials. Now, in our passage, Peter wants to drive home to his readers just how valuable the object of their faith, their hope, and their love truly is while encouraging them to persevere in the grace of God. We have been given fellowship with God. We've been called to be in him who is holy. He has in mind the coming end of all things in the day of judgment. We have an inheritance. in heaven, seated at the right hand of God, enthroned upon the throne of God. Peter's already spoken in 1 Peter 1 5 of that salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. And since his hearers have believed those who preach the good news to them by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, Peter calls on them to set their hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us in the revelation of Jesus Christ. And we can gain an even better understanding of what that day will be like as if we consider 2 Peter 3, verses 10 through 13. There he says that when the earth is exposed on the day of the Lord that is coming, that all things will be burned up. And in Revelation 2011, the Apostle John makes it clear that the whole creation is exposed to the holy presence of Jesus Christ as he sits in judgment. And there John likens that day and even the earth on that day to chaff. It's blown away. So light is the very earth. And if you consider the magnitude of this whole earth, as you consider all the lives that have been lived, all these things before him who sits on the throne, they're like chaff blown away. And yet. In him, he makes all things new, the present heavens and earth, they give way to the new creation that is coming in Christ. And so the world and all the inheritance and glory pertaining to it will hail as it perishes before Christ, because it is all a perishable seed. It is all according to the order of dust. It is not guarded and kept in heaven like our inheritance. And so we hope in the one who makes all things new We abide because we've been born of imperishable seed. And we are ever pointed towards that hope. We know that it can be a costly thing to love one another, that bearing witness to the gospel may be difficult. But we know that we must cling to anything, we must not cling to anything that would come between us and Christ. We must not cling to anything that might come between us and the love that we are called to show one another in Christ's body in the church. This requires a certain togetherness. This requires a coming together. And indeed, each Lord's Day, we're called to come together morning and evening. And these things are meant for our good, for our upbuilding, and we'll consider that more this evening. But these all are part of that love to which we are called. We learn to pursue love for one another in the abiding love of Christ on account of our mutual brotherhood And as we live boldly in this love, knowing that all that we may lose in this world is passing glory. We take courage, knowing that we have been born again together in Christ through the abiding word, and that brings us to our final closing point. We're in verse 25, we are reminded, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. That's the gospel that was preached to you by the apostles. It is the gospel that is even this day preached to you. Christ is the word of the Lord. He is the substance of all that word that has been revealed to us in love. Christ is the good news that was preached to these people He is the substance of our faith, of our hope, and of our love, which are all themes that we find in this first chapter of 1 Peter. We find faith, hope, and love. And we find that He abides forever. He who is the love of the Father, He who is eternal love, abides forever because He is very God of very God, the eternal Son. And we have a share in him and all that pertains to him. And we have come to know this because the apostles themselves obeyed the commandment of Christ to love the brethren. They all gave up their lives in the service of Christ. John lived to his old age, and yet how much did he suffer on account of his proclamation being exiled even to Patmos and by tradition in he was finally also. Given a chance to offer up his life. Under Roman persecution. But he did. They all did this. They all put their lives on the line to proclaim this gospel to us. And so we do well not to neglect that which has been given to us. This really is the chief thing. The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. And how do you know how to glorify and to enjoy Him forever? But by the revealed will of God found in the scriptures and declared to you each Lord's Day. Yes, we are consecrated to a holy worship of him, presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Conforming our lives to the word of God, storing it up in our hearts that we might not sin against him. Making it our aim to please him. Because we love him because we honor him. And so we are to take courage to love one another in this abiding love of Christ. to look with faith and with hope to that exalted glory that is to be ours in Christ, knowing that as we rest upon his word, as we trust in his promises, that those things are unshakable, that they will not be removed, that the word of God abides forever. Jesus told of the love to which we are called in Matthew 25, saying, come you who are blessed by my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Truly I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. In this service one to another, we serve as unto the Lord. And so we do well to watch for opportunities to love. We do well to consider in his word. Those very real ways that we might serve one another to reach out with the gospel to even our neighbors. In the hope that one day. They too might come to partake of this love. And so, in closing, we pursue love for one another in the abiding love of Christ, on account of our mutual brotherhood, as we live boldly in this love, knowing that we may lose much in this world in pursuit of it, and knowing that that which we might lose is a passing glory. And we stand firm in the grace of God, having been born again together in Christ, through the abiding word of God. So let us rest in Him, giving to Him our faith, our hope, and our love. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this abundant love which you have given to us in Christ. We thank you that you call us to such great things, that you call us because you yourself have come down to serve us, that you yourself gave up your life for us. And so, Father, we pray that you would help us to lay down our lives for one another, that we would be those who live lives that are in keeping with this gospel, that we would not be those who are known as hateful that there would be no truth to such charges, but that we would always keep before ourselves love as defined by Your Word, knowing that You are holy and good and righteous. Father, we pray all of these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.