As we look at our next one another passage in the Bible, we've considered several now. We're looking at 1 Peter 1, verse 22, where Peter says, seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Peter uses the phrase, unfeigned love. Now we've seen that word before. It means real, genuine, undisguised or unmasked. Whenever the world gives the appearance of love toward other people, it's always a mask. It's in disguise. It is artificial, manufactured, and it's fake love. Because it's man-centered and man-made love, and under the cloak of that appearance of love is self-centered, self-pursuing, love. Only the Christian, wherever he exists on the planet, only the Christian has the capacity for real, genuine love. And that may sound like an exclusive statement, and I guess it is because it's the truth. Only the Christian has the capacity for real, genuine love. And that's what Peter is going to unpack for us this morning, Lord willing. What is genuine love that we're to have to one another and we're to express to each other in a fervent, stretched out way? So three things we look at. First, real love's origin. Where does it come from? Secondly, real love's power. Peter says, see that you love out of a pure heart. Ek means out of. The power of real love comes from a pure heart. And then real love will stretch itself out. The Greek word for fervent comes from a word that literally means to stretch out the hand. So how can your love for one another be stretched out, eager, intent, and intense? That's the love that Peter is calling for. Rather, that's the love that God is calling for from a pure heart. First, real love's origin. Peter says, seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, which then leads to genuine real love. So you can see the real love has an origin, which Peter calls a purified soul. a purified soul. Now there's an active voice facet to you purifying your soul, and there's a passive voice facet, and we need to see both. First, Peter says, you have purified your souls. Perfect tense, active voice. You participated in the purification of your own soul. How does that happen? Perfect tense, active voice. Perfect tense, completed action in the past. Permanent, never will be repeated. The perfect tense in scripture undergirds and underscores the permanence of salvation and the perseverance of the saints. It is done at a moment in time in the past. They participated in an inner experience of purification of the soul because it's active voice. They were active in this moment in time in the past where it happened at that moment. Active voice. How did it happen? Peter says, in obeying the truth. Now does Peter mean here that you go to the law and do what the law says and then you get purified? Or does he even mean keep commandments because we know obedience means keeping commandments and you're purified. But we emphatically say no, that's not the way. I want to give you three or four reasons why. Because it appears to say that, but if we look more closely we see Peter is not saying that. Reason number one, the Greek word is a compound word, hupa, under, akuo, listen. In this moment in the past, they came under and listened to truth. They heard something. What did they hear? Verse 25. But the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached to you. They heard the gospel. That's when this took place. They heard the gospel. Reason number two, 1 Peter 4, 17. But judgment has come to the house of God. It must come to the house of God. And if it be given to us, what shall the end be of those that obey not the gospel? Now here's the question. What is the obedience that the gospel demands? Faith in Jesus Christ. It does not demand works. It does not demand keeping commands. It demands resting in, trusting, and treasuring the cross of Jesus Christ, what He did at redemption. So there's a second reason we would say this is not obedience keeping commands, it's faith and hope, it's trusting. Number three, the obedience that comes from faith is genuine love. It would make no sense for Peter to say, in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto obedience. No, the obedience that flows out of a purified soul is genuine love. And we know that faith produces love. Galatians 5, 6, for circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything but faith which worketh through or by love. Paul's ministry. In Romans 1, 5, you remember, he said, we have received grace and apostleship for the obedience to the faith among all nations for his namesake. Now when Paul went all over the Mediterranean world seeking to secure the obedience that comes from faith, what did he take with him? The truth of the gospel. The truth of the gospel. And then lastly, Contextually, verse 22, it appears that Peter's already told them what happened. And he's told us when he said, seeing you have purified your souls, or since you have purified your souls, implies what? Peter has just said something that indicates what he means by obeying the truth or hearing the truth. Verse 18, for as much as you know, You were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. They knew they had been redeemed. They knew that. The word redeemed means to ransom by the payment of a price. They knew how they had been redeemed. with the precious blood of Christ. How do we know that God received the ransom, the payment? How do you know when a hostage is taken that the kidnappers will let the hostage go free? How do you know that the ransom price was sufficient? They let them go. If it's not sufficient, they hold on to the hostage. But here, the grave took Christ hostage. It closed Him up. How do we know that His blood was valuable enough, was precious enough to ransom you from every sin you've ever committed and every sin you will ever commit as a believer the rest of your life? Because of verse 21, "...who by Him do believe in God that raised Him from the dead." Death cannot keep its prey. He tore the bars away. Up from the grave he arose. The ransom price was received. They knew it. How? The gospel was preached to them. The gospel was preached to them. They knew from what they were redeemed from. Vain conversation received by tradition of your fathers. This is repentance. Beloved, a gospel that does not demand repentance is no gospel. And those are all over the planet and in our culture. Vain means empty, futile, pointless, hopeless, useless. Conversations, manner of living. Do you remember? Or maybe you're still on that pathway. living a lifestyle, futility, hopelessness, pointless, aimless, with no success. What turns you from that lifestyle? The gospel of Jesus Christ demands faith toward God and repentance Because when we're turning away from that vain lifestyle, we're turning by faith to Christ through the gospel. They knew they were redeemed. They knew how they were redeemed. They knew what they had been redeemed from because they repented. And they knew where this was going. Take verse 4. "...to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and it fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you." How did they know that? Nobody knows that without the gospel. You can't know that without the gospel. "...Seeing then, since you have..." Do you see the connection? Peter has just told them. Seeing then, you know you're redeemed, you know how you're redeemed, you know from what you're redeemed, and you know where this redemption's going. Seeing you have purified your souls, perfect, active voice, in believing the truth of the gospel. Not keeping commands. In believing the truth of the gospel. Through the Spirit, He's the agent that led to what? Genuine, real love. The source. and the origin of real love is faith and hope in Jesus Christ. And one other place in verse 21, "...who by Him to believe in God that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God, seeing you have purified your souls." When we are trusting in Jesus Christ in that first moment. Our souls are united to Christ by faith, and we have a union with Christ by faith, and His purity becomes our purity. His holiness becomes our holiness, His righteousness becomes ours, only by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Not by works, not by praying, not by doing anything, simply by believing in Jesus Christ. Now, that's active voice. Now we've got to see the passive voice. How did this happen? Verse 23, being born again, having been born again, and yes, passive voice. Beloved, you were wholly, completely passive in the new birth. Let me just say that again. You are completely, totally passive in the new birth. You cannot make yourself a new creature in Christ. You cannot get rid of the blindness and come to the light. You cannot give yourself life. You cannot give yourself a new birth like you couldn't give yourself a natural birth. You had no participation in that whatsoever. Now in what way could God be more clear than use the word birth to tell us that you're passive? Just like your first birth, your second birth is passive totally. Jesus used the same two voices, active and passive, in John chapter one, where he said, he came to his own, his own received him not, John rather speaking there, but to as many as believed on him, gave he the right to become the sons of God. To me that received him, he gave the right, the privilege to be called the sons of God, even as many as believe active voice on his name. You believed. You need to believe and trust in Jesus. And if you do, you have the right and the privilege to call yourself the son of the most high God, according to John. Now here's the passive voice, which were born. Holy, completely passive. A passive voice means you don't do anything. You just pass it. Of course, dead people are passive, and that's the imagery of what the Bible tells us about the new birth. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man. Not by natural generation, not because two Jews got together and said, let's have a Jewish son or a daughter. Now when they did, they were part of the first old temporary covenant, which just brought death, but they were not part of the new covenant that way. It wasn't because two Christian parents get together and say, let's have a Christian child and raise him to be a Christian. That's not how we understand the new birth to happen. It's of God. It's not the will of the flesh, the will of the man. It's not a decision you make to be born again. The decision comes after the new birth. You don't will it. You don't choose it. You're passive, but we're born of God. Passive voice. produces the active voice in what Peter is saying, the origin, the source, we could say the birth of love coming from a pure heart. Now what does Peter mean when he says, not of corruptible seed, and the corruptible seed would be the grass that is like flesh, it would be humanity, it's not of humanity, human will, human want, human desire, but of incorruptible seed implied the word of God. which liveth and abideth forever. Well, let me give you an illustration. Think of being in a dark room and there's a lamp in the room and you're in total darkness. In order to get out of the darkness, two things need to happen. You need to have a light bulb and you need to have electricity. Well, in this illustration, electricity is obviously the Holy Spirit supplying the light, but the light bulb is the gospel. Here's the question. If you have a light bulb in the socket, but no electricity, what's the condition in the room? Total, complete darkness. See, the Word of God has no intrinsic or inherent power to create life. You know that from your own experience, and Paul did as well. He said the gospel when he brought it in 2 Corinthians 2 was like a saver of death unto death. If the gospel had inherent power to produce life every time we spoke the word, guess what would happen? People would be born again. That didn't happen to Paul. People ran him out of town. People hated him. People were after him. But he spoke it clearly, he spoke it by the Holy Spirit, and he spoke it accurately, just as he should have. No effect. Why? He screwed in the light bulb over and over, but there was no electricity. Now here's an equal and opposite truth. What if you have electricity to the lamp and no light bulb? What's the condition? Total, complete darkness. And that's where we need to be careful. With no gospel, there's no light because you can't see. There's still darkness. Beloved, the aim of God in the Bible is to supply the electricity while the light bulb is being screwed in. We call that the effectual call. The London Confession of Faith calls it that and says everyone that can be called outwardly by the ministry of the word is called that way effectually. See, you've got to have life before you can have faith. And so the word of God here is instrumental in the effectual call because we are drawn to Christ by faith after the new birth supplies life. This explains Paul's words in Acts 26, 18, where he said this, he was sent to the Gentiles with the gospel to open their eyes. Now, if you were to close your eyes right now, what would you see? Nothing. The light bulb of the gospel opens the eyes that the Holy Spirit creates. And God's aim is to do both, not just one. and it's throughout scripture. To open their eyes to bring them from darkness to light, open eyes, power of Satan to God, for which without the gospel people remain in what? Total darkness and under the power and sway of the devil. until the electricity is supplied to power the light bulb of the gospel. And we need both regeneration and conversion. And Peter seems to indicate, to connect, they happened the same day, at the same time, one right after the other. And we need to think that way too, don't we? And what are the implications of evangelism? If we understand the source and the origin of love, that the Holy Spirit needs and has to supply the electricity. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God, which means when he's born again, he'll see the Kingdom. But how can he see without the Gospel? Right? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a living hope. How can you hope in the Gospel without it? You cannot. You're in darkness. God's aim is to bring both. We just supply the light bulbs. In His own appointed time, He turns on the electricity of life, and you have regeneration, conversion, and you have salvation. Salvation. The implication for evangelism is if you know the origin of love, and you want to see love, that same origin, in people that you know, then you start bringing the light bulb and you're praying and seeking and knowing God will turn on the electricity in His sovereign appointed time. We bring the light bulb and that's still through the Spirit. and that's the implication for evangelism. So genuine, unfeigned love is birthed by the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit, and it's called into existence, or movement, I should say, by the Word of God through the Spirit, and Peter says, this was when your souls were purified. Number two. Real love's power. So recalling that fact, now Peter says, see then, see to it that you love one another with or out of a pure heart. Out of a pure heart. Genuine love must flow out of a pure heart. Or it's fake. I wish I could say my love is never fake and I'm never wearing a mask, but I can't. And probably you can't either. There are still impurities, although having a pure heart because we're united to the one who is pure, yet there are still impurities within us that need to be purged. And sometimes we put on the mask of fake love. And underneath that mask, what's happening? It's a man-centered, me-motivated kind of love as to what I can get out of people playing the part. That's what sin does to us. So what does Peter mean when he says, out of a pure heart? And how does that help us then to assess when we're on the pathway of real love. Because I certainly need to understand if my love is going to be real, what does it mean to come out of a pure heart? Now Paul agrees with Peter when he says in 1 Timothy 1.5, the end of the commandment is love or charity out of a pure heart. Flows out of a pure heart. So it's It's critical then that we understand what purity of heart means. Just looking at another passage, we know that Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 8, I think it is, the aim of a pure heart is to see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now that's a future tense. But there's also a present tense application. A pure heart sees God. He knows God. A pure heart is one where we've seen God's love through the gospel, and then that love that we've experienced and wondered at and delighted in fills the heart and overflows in love to one another. Agape love is a God-centered love that has the glory of God as its aim. It's a willing sacrifice. If it's not willing, it certainly does not glorify God. Agape love is a kind of love that doesn't expect anything in return for your love. James 127, pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows and their afflictions. Pure religion comes from a pure heart. And if you love a fatherless or a widow in the ancient world, you get nothing in return. You know why? They don't have a provider. There's no dad and no husband. And widows in the ancient world had nothing. No insurance, no bank account, nothing. You love a widow in that day, you get nothing back. You love a widow today and you should, you might get something back. They may be set, right? Pure religion comes from a pure heart where the love of God is overflowing toward others and expecting nothing in return. That agape love is also not looking at people on the basis of whether they deserve your love or not. Right? Matthew 5, 44. But love ye your enemies. They don't deserve your love. Right? You don't deserve God's love. Right? Pray for them that despitefully abuse you and use you so that you may be children of the highest because your Father does the same thing. So what would Peter point us to in this chapter that would give us a little more insight to understand when love is coming out of a pure heart that leads us to stretch itself out. So Peter is primarily speaking about hope in the first chapter. He repeats it over and over again. And he speaks of faith too. And these two words, as you know, are very closely connected. If you're trusting in the Word of God, then you're hoping in the same word for your future, tomorrow, the next day, and to future glory. But let's focus on hope and see how Peter's going to tell us how hope is going to help purify the impurities that are still there and create love. Verse 13. Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What do you expect to happen? What do you expect your experience to be when Jesus Christ reveals Himself to you in future glory? Hold on to that thought. Verse 14. As obedient children. What do obedient children do? They love one another fervently. So hope is going to produce obedience that leads to verse 14. Holiness, which is love. Holiness is not separating yourself from society and looking totally different, because we don't look all that different from people in the world, except I'm wearing a tie right now, I guess that's a little bit different. What separates you is the purity of your heart where the love of God is overflowing that's producing a genuine love that they cannot and will not do. They cannot, because they don't have a pure heart by grace. That's holiness. And that's why Peter says, seeing you have purified your souls, be holy for God is holy. Love out of a pure heart. Now look at the counterpart to an obedient child in verse 14. And we'll start looking at now the impurities that hope helps us to get rid of so we can love like God calls us to. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance. So obedient children walk in the pathway of holiness, they're still sinners, they're still struggling with sin, they're still impurities, and they love one another. A disobedient child is one that returns to the former lust because of ignorance. It's those lust that hope is going to help us purge and purify. If we return, if we give way, if we're ruled by former lust, which means former to being purified, being born again, love dries up on the vine and you stop loving. I could be talking to someone that that's happened to in this room right now. You're being drawn away by former desires. And you're moving away from the pathway of holiness. And you're starting to disobey the small commands of Scripture. And as a result, love for one another is scarce and drying up and growing cold in your life. Now, Paul uses the same two concepts in Titus 3, 3. Peter says, a disobedient child walks according to former ignorance, which means he's deceived. So disobedient, deceived, is the concept Peter says. Paul says to Titus, you remember, we sometime were foolish, disobedient, and deceived. We were disobedient, and we were ignorant of God, and we were deceived, and how did we live? Serving. Lust and pleasure. What does Peter say? A disobedient child does what? Goes back to former lust and pleasure. Being ignorant. Being deceived. Concerning the supremacy and the wonder of God's love. Paul said that leads us not to love, but what? Hating one another. Isn't that interesting? living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. So you put the mask on of love, but you weren't loving. You were serving your lust. And the object to serve your lust was the person in front of you, the boss in front of you, the activity in front of you, whatever it was, you expected that object to deliver on your expectation of satisfaction and happiness. And you served it with all your might. I know I did. So where was love? It wasn't there. If we go back to former lust, if we let lust rule us, what happens? Malice, envy, and we go back to hateful and hating one another, or wearing the mask of a manufactured, fake, made-in-China love, as the saying used to go, right? How does hope purify our former desires so that we're on the pathway of holiness and we keep loving one another. Two ways. One hope reminds us of what verse 24 says. All flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The glory of man at his apex is pretty impressive, isn't it? What he can do, his wealth, his athletic accomplishments, His possessions, His wisdom, His ingenuity, His skill in producing and creating things. I mean, I am wowed by the glory of men. When we are enamored by the bright flowers of the glory of man, we get drawn into former desires and we expect that glory, that same lifestyle. what looks like the freedom of the world. They just get to do everything. They're just glorying in everything. What happens? We're drawn into thinking that that's going to deliver on our expectation for happiness. I was just talking to somebody recently. talking about some of the struggles of sin. Sometimes you can get to looking at other people's goods and say, why do they get to have all the money? Why have they got all the nice cars and stuff? And I don't have any. What's the presupposition of that statement? Why do they get to be happy? I have forgotten that the flower is going to fall away. I have forgotten that all grass is going to wither and dry up. I've forgotten that they will perish forever. Hope reminds me, man at the brightest apex and wisdom and flower of all that he does, you can see right through it and say, you're never going to be happy. That's how first hope purifies the impurities of being drawn away to the grass and the flower of man. Because of desire, right? I want what they've got. I want what they have. rather than resting on the infinite wisdom of God to direct and rule your life for His glory and your good. If we go back to this former lust, then love dies. It dies. The second way in our text in verse 14 is that the way hope produces the obedience of purifying our souls against the former lust is that we're reminded that one day, one day soon, beloved, and it is soon. Soon meaning we're just growing older quick, like a vapor. God is gonna so deliver on my expectation and my desire for happiness to throw me in an ocean depth And as I've said before, to look at me and say, didn't I tell you? The joy and the pleasure that awaits you, you're missing nothing. You're missing out on nothing with the glories of men. You're missing out on nothing because you have Christ. When we're filled with the wonder of God's love from a pure heart, seeing God, hoping in God, trusting in God, that joyful wonder and peace produces love. Without it, there is no love. Look at verse 8. "...whom having not seen, you are loving." Present tense. "...in whom though now you see Him not, yet believing." Look at the parallelism. "...in whom having not seen, in whom now you see Him not." That's parallel. Now notice the next parallel. You are loving, you're believing. Now why do you say loving again? Because believing is how we love God. Because by faith we see the glories and the wonders of God's love and all that the gospel entails and it fills our hearts with what? Verse 8. You are receiving with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Or rejoicing rather. Believing and hoping in the Word of God is purifying our souls from the impurities of lust by showing us the glories of the supremacy of Christ and we are rejoicing in Him with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Receiving now, that's a present tense word, we're receiving the end right now, the salvation of our souls. What does that mean? The glory that awaits you, the fullness of it, in part we're getting it now. How? By faith and hope. By faith and hope. And what is the partial experience of what's coming? Joy and pleasure. In part, with a struggle. Right? Through the eternal everlasting Word of God. How desperately we need God's Word. We need to hear proclaimed. We need to read it. We need to see Christ in it by seeing Him. Again and again, the wonder of God's love fills us because with a pure heart we can now see Him by faith where once we could not. And out of that pure heart and the purifying that takes place, what happens? Love flows out of it, Peter says. Take away the word of God, what happens? You can't love. just here preaching and that's all? I'm going to go on record to say you're not loving anyone. You're just wearing a mask. Because your soul is not being filled again and again with the wonder and peace and rest of knowing Jesus Christ. So hope produces obedient children on the pathway of holiness that leads to loving one another out of a pure heart that's fighting against the lust of the flesh, because hope reminds us there's something coming. Do you believe God? I mean, do you believe Him? It is so spectacular that when you look at the bright flowers of the glory of men, you should think, why are you people playing in the sewer? I mean, you're just playing sandcastle in the sewer. You're at the beach with God because you know Him and you trust Him. Why? Seeing you purified your souls and obeying the truth of the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another out of the pure heart. And now what happens? What's the result? Fervently, fervently. Peter calls for fervent love. You see that word or form of the word used again in 1 Peter 4, verse 8. Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves. Fervent comes from a root word that means to stretch out the hand. So here's what Peter is saying. Stretch yourself out in loving one another. And how can you do that if you're not filled with the wonder of God's love? Because you're going to be stretching yourself out toward former lust. Because that's really what is satisfying your soul. The problem is, as you know, lust can't satisfy you. At the end of your whole life, if that's all I am, if that's all I am, I am but an empty, old, cantankerous, fruitless, useless, aimless, worthless life that I lived. because I was ruled by a form of desire. That is sad, isn't it? But you know. You have the insight by grace. So let's consider this word. You could illustrate it by an athlete who, you've seen those athletes at the finish line, they stretch their chest, stretching, stretching. The idea is every muscle is engaged. It's tense like an athlete on the basketball court or in the football field or the track. They are bending themselves out to win. Peter says, that's what I want you to do. Now you see why a pure heart is needed and the wonder of God's love is needed because love is gonna cost you something. Love is a willing sacrifice. It should be radical. It's gonna cost you dearly. Your time, your resources, your family time, at times, it's gonna cost you, or you don't love anybody, right? So let's look at this word just a few minutes. To be earnest, eager, intense, or intent. To be resolved. So if fervent love is resolved, first it's a committed love, and therein lies the first problem, at least with me. I don't know about you. How many Christians get baptized, start the pathway, and they never really make a commitment to what God is saying? I mean, what, since the word is illustrated with an athlete, what coach would allow an athlete to be half-hearted committed? You know? Say, coach, I just want you to know I'll be here half the time, I got other things to do, I'll practice when I can, but I think I should be on the team. He's like, there's the door. Nobody expects that in every other category of life. Nobody will let you do that. But with God, we just assume he's okay with it. fervent love is first a commitment to God and a commitment says I'm on this course of action no matter what this is my course no matter what no matter what comes up of course any number of things can knock us off track more than expected but as far as my mind my heart my soul I'm all in all on board I'm committed hundred percent That's got to be the first starting point. That's what this word means. Resolved. Committed. I'm determined to be this kind of person because God's going to supply the grace. That's the only way. Are you committed to the kingdom of God? Above everything? Everything. God's supremacy is so important to him, his name. In Ezekiel 36, brother Adam told us it was for his name's sake that he cleanses you. It's not for your sake first, it's for his alone. He is deeply concerned about how people see him through you. And he says, I'm going to sanctify my holy name because people are going to look at you and they're going to see my love. Now remember, that's not without sin. God is gracious and merciful, but it's got to be with commitment, right? We've got to be committed. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. First, uno, protos, number one, because He is supreme and there's nothing like Him nowhere. Although at times I know I treat Him that way, don't I? And Ezekiel 36, to defile His name is deface or defigure it, like the riots defaced and defigured statues by throwing paint all over them. God is concerned about the defacing of His name. And the way we often deface Him is a lack of commitment. So I encourage you today, to renew your commitment to Christ. And if it's lacking, determine today, Lord, forgive me, I'm ready to chart my course in a firm, resolved, fervent way to be what you call me to be, because you've called me out of the darkness in your marvelous light. Before we were not a people and did not receive the mercy of God, now you're the people of God, now you've obtained mercy. Praise be to God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His abundant mercy, He has rescued, begotten you to a living hope that will never die. Why? Because He wanted to. Notwithstanding my God belittling sins, and there are many, yet He saved us. That's one. Second thing. This fervent heart is a, or a fervent love is a real love that's intent, it's intentional. Now somebody says, I like to love spontaneous. That's wonderful. Sometimes God can put somebody in your path, one another, and you spontaneous can love that person, but you know what happens when I get an opportunity to spontaneously love someone? I look at my schedule and say, sorry, I can't help you, I've got to be somewhere at three o'clock. I don't love people too spontaneously because I'm going places, I'm doing things. So you gotta be intentional. Do you know when God saved you, He did it intentionally? He did it on purpose. He planned it, He purposed it, He secured it. He loved you on purpose and now He calls us to have a kind of stretched out love that says, I wonder who I can love at Heritage this week? Brother so-and-so, I'm going to ask him to go to lunch and just fellowship and see if I encourage him. That's love. Or sister so-and-so, you know? She had kind of a frown on her face. I just want to see what's going on. Maybe she's hurting. I'm going to love her. Plan to love people. Say, that's not spiritual. It is. If it's coming from a pure heart, because it's by faith and hope that you're doing it. And so we can plan to love one another. And in fact, in my life, if I don't plan it, it generally doesn't get Done. So we stretch out and we're intentional. We are determined to resolve and we're persistent. Persistence is built into this word, which means whatever the obstacles that get into the way, I'm committed, I'm resolved, I'm intentional. And what are the obstacles? That the trial of your faith being much more precious than a goal that perishes. Those that are slandering and reproaching you. if you suffer according to the will of God, 1 Peter 3, 1 Peter 4. Shouldn't difficulty stop me? Persistence, not stopping. Now, there's some kind of suffering. If you get put in prison, you're probably gonna be the recipient of love, and it kind of stops in some degree, but you can love people in the prison, right? But you get the point. In a time when the saints are being persecuted, Peter says, stretch out and keep loving. Stretch out. There's an illustration of this in Acts chapter 12. The word is ceasing in the English. It is a compound of the word fervent, where the church, remember, was praying without ceasing for Peter. He was in prison. James had his head cut off. Peter's going to have his head cut off the next day. He's in the prison. The angel comes. Chains fall off. Goes past the first ward, second ward. The gate of the city opens unto them. They go in the city. Presumably the prison is outside the city. There are no engineers and no electricity. That was the power of God that opened the gates. Then the angel goes away. Peter goes to the house of Mary, the mother of John. Knocks on the gate. Rhoda comes to the gate. She is so glad. She doesn't even open the gate. Goes back. Peter's here! Now they're all bowed down, probably on the knee, praying, calling out to God. And they say, You're mad, which means you're crazy. Now they're praying for Peter's release, and they say, you're crazy. She keeps on going, and no, it's him. Well, maybe it's his angel. That's how sometimes we are not expecting God to answer prayer. She just keeps on, they finally go, and it's Peter. He comes in, tells them all that had happened. Now what's so fervent about prayer? Because when the angel came to the prison, The angel woke Peter up. Acts chapter 12 verse 18. And then when morning came, what was fervent and stretched out about that prayer meeting? It was in the middle of the night. That is stretched out love. Would you be willing to meet at 2 a.m.? I don't know what time it was. Peter was asleep. It was the next day after Peter showed up, the sun came up. It was night. It was the middle of the night. Would you be willing, if the occasion called for it, to gather together at 2 a.m. to pour out your prayers to God for one another? I recognize when it comes my turn, if you're next to me, you're gonna say, Brother Stewart, wake up, it's your turn. I can get pretty tired. But the point is, they were so stretched out, praying without ceasing, they went right on into the night. And they overcame the obstacle of fatigue. and weariness. How much does fatigue keep you from the house of God or doing what God bids? Oh, I'm tired. We get tired. We just say, I can't be at that prayer meeting. I'm tired. That would be my temptation. It was persistent. It kept going. And finally, Real love is growing and stretching itself out to others. Now if you just think about the imagery again of stretching and athleticism and athletes, you know that muscles have to stretch and to this day, of course I'm not an athlete, I'm not trying to convey that, but when I try to touch my toes, I feel like I'm gonna pull my hamstring like guitar strings popping. I can't touch my toes. So, using this illustration, I just go as far as I can, stretching as far as I can. Every day, just keep stretching. And maybe, for me, probably six months or a year, I just went a little further stretching, and I grew a little bit more in stretching out. And maybe in two years or three years, I get a little closer, I've got it bad, I can't get very close, get closer to my toes. See, as I keep stretching and stretching, I'm growing in my ability to stretch out. And I think that works with love too, because Peter says, grow in grace. Paul says concerning brotherly love and first Thessalonians, not that I write to you, you're taught of God to love one another, I want you to grow in it. You're doing great. I want you to keep stretching to try to touch your toes. You'll get closer and closer and closer. He prayed in Philippians 1-9 that the love would abound, yet more and more, this was a loving church. I want it to grow. I want you to keep stretching and stretching and stretching. See, beloved, when the love of God is filling us because He has purified our souls, by the new birth and bringing us to faith in Christ by the gospel. And that love is producing, or that purified soul is producing a genuine love because it's coming from a heart that is still filled with wonder after all these years. I marvel that God would place his love on a sinner like me. I marvel, I rejoice. You should rejoice in reading and hearing about the wonders of your omnipotent God and His grace on your behalf. Then when that love is filling us, overflowing itself, it can start stretching out to others in love and to one another. When your wholehearted, community-impacting, exclusive commitment to God is stretching out That reflection, that stretch, Peter calls is love. What will you do today? What will I do today to start stretching myself? And as a church, we start stretching ourselves out a little bit more in love to one another. Amen. So I'm going to pray, and then I'm going to ask Brother Nathan to come on up here. Father, thank you for your word to us of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We confess we've done very little stretching at times, but I know at times, Lord, I've seen in this congregation people stretch themselves out and bend over backwards in love to one another. And I just pray that they would keep doing so as Paul and Peter admonished us. And I pray, Lord, where there are those of us who have not done much stretching, help us by your grace to so be filled again. with the wonders of your grace and love to purify ourselves from those former desires that so often trip us up and begin to rule us once again so that we can have genuine love that will reflect the heart that is satisfied and content with all that God is for us in Christ Jesus, and that your love would be magnified in a world filled with darkness that needs to see and to hear the love of Jesus Christ in the gospel. Now we ask you this in Jesus' name, amen.