are thankful for all the Lord's blessings in 2024 and I noticed this evening there's no clock on on the wall there so maybe that maybe that's a blessing that there's no time constraint this evening I'll make sure I have a watch here but we're gonna end this year our last sermon together in 2024 from 1 Peter chapter 1, wrapping up this first chapter in this letter, verse 22 to 25. And there's one main command here in this last section of 1 Peter chapter 1, and it's found in verse 22, and it's a one another command. If you look in your Bibles in 1 Peter 1 verse 22, Peter writes, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, and then here's the main command, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you've been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. Peter wants us to know a characteristic that marks our holy living. We've seen that theme of a holy calling in chapter 1. Then, in light of the holy calling of being born again to a living hope, Peter says that if we have been born again to a living hope and we've received this holy calling by God's very own great mercy, there will be this holy living. And this holy living, as he ends this chapter, verse 22 to 25, is a holy love-like living. In other words, this holiness of life is a life that has holy love for one another. If you were to scan the New Testament, we see that Jesus, as we know in John 13, 35, tells us the overall characteristic that is to mark the lives of his people and how we interact with one another in the church is to be one of love. says by this, all people will know, the world will know that you're my disciple because you love one another. And that's essentially what Peter's telling these persecuted Christians, that when you face this fiery furnace, this characteristic that ought to mark your life, it ought to be love for one another because the world, the persecutor, Nero, a Caesar, the Roman Empire, they're going to see this extraordinary love that when the people of God are pressed, outwardly speaking, there's not this inner turmoil within the church, but there's this extravagant, supernatural, holy love that reflects the holy love of the gospel that they've received in Jesus Christ. And if you were to scan the New Testament, These one another commands that show us how we ought to live with one another. There's a deliberate 50 verses that reference literally one another. Those commands that say you must love one another, be patient towards one another. All these one another commands. There's 50 direct one another commands in the New Testament. And that's not even scratching the surface of all the other inferences of how we ought to live the Christian life. In summary, what Peter wants us to know is that God cares a lot about how we live with one another in the body of Christ and in the church. And the thesis, again, of 1 Peter 1, 22-25, he uses this hypothesis. You can see that in verse 23 with that word, since, in the ESV. That thesis, if then, if this has happened in your life, then this is the outcome. And what he's saying here in our chapter is that if you've been born again by the God of love, in mercy and in grace, you will have love for his people. That's this hypothesis statement that Peter's saying is absolutely true. If you've been born again, you will have this growing, not a perfect love, but an ever-growing love for God's people and Peter's writing in this time where we're God's people they're growing but you could say they're like a family having growing pains they're they're growing but there's pressures and pains all around them and Peter he addresses them in this regard because he knows the reality that happens through every set of gathered people in the name of Christ when there is a growing pains and there's pressures around the temptations not to have this command fulfilled of loving one another earnestly with a pure heart but the enemy he wants to bring this temptation in times of persecution or in times of growing pains where we grow and we have different preferences and different traditions and all that The temptation is to actually grow cold to one another, not to grow in love for one another. It's to grow in frustration with one another, not to grow in patience with one another, to grumble, to turn on one another. What we see in the New Testament is Satan's tactic. He knows that if he can get inside the church like a Trojan horse, and if he can get the people of God to turn against one another, that actually wounds the bride of Christ more. You can look at Paul and his journey as an apostle, and it actually wounded him more when sheep in the church bit him rather than Nero and all those that were persecuting the church outwardly as Christ's enemies. And Peter's aware of this. He's seen it in his own life in ministry, and he wants us to know, and he wants the church here in his day to know, that when pressures increase and when churches grow, they have growing pains, And the temptation of the flesh is not to fulfill this command. So the question is, how do we fulfill this command in 2024 as we conclude and as we think about 2025? How do we genuinely love one another earnestly from a pure heart? And I want us to do this in two ways. I want you to see the root of how we love one another with a pure heart, and then I want you to see the fruit. And if you look very quickly, just at verse 22 to 23, Peter gives us the fruit first, and then he tells us about the root. So we're gonna look at this text in a reverse order, seeing the root and then the fruit, because it makes more sense logically in our minds, though scripture is seamless, and it's in this way for a reason, so let me set it before you. If you look at verse 22, there's a, a statement here of what has happened to the believers. And in verse 22, Peter says, having, or you have, you've purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love. And I think several sermons ago, we looked at that phrase, obedience to the truth, and we saw Peter's not talking about earning salvation. He's not saying here that you've purified your soul, your conscience is clean, your sins are forgiven because You've expressed brotherly love, you've had this good work, and so now your soul's purified. That's not what Peter means when he uses this phrase, obedience to the truth. What he's meaning, as we saw with Peter and Paul, that phrase, obedience to the truth, can be used in terms of obeying the gospel call. Because you have heard the command to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, and you obeyed that command by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, Peter says, your reception of the gospel, it has this great aim in it. That not only would you love Jesus Christ, but you'd also love Christ's bride. That you don't just have this horizontal love, though that's where our love is directed primarily. Christ loved me and I love Him. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Heart, soul, mind and strength is the first commandment. God's saved us so that we now by grace through faith can live out that commandment by his help. But Peter says don't forget that second commandment. If you have been born again to a living hope and made new in Christ, you're also going to have this horizontal outworking of love. You'll love the God who redeemed you, but you'll also love one another. That's what Peter's saying. If your soul's been purified by the blood of Jesus Christ, it will have a horizontal blood-bought love for those who are in Jesus Christ. H.B. Charles puts it this way. He says, it's salvation in Christ that purifies our souls, We don't love one another to be saved, but we love one another because we are saved. That's what Peter's saying. The fruit of our life, we love one another because the root is salvation that we've received in Christ. Because we're saved in Him, Then we love one another. And you can see this also in verse 22 and 23, that command, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. For what reason? Since, verse 23, you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but imperishable. So Peter, he has this connection. The fruit and the root, and I want us to look at it briefly in terms of the root and then the fruit. Because if we have this root of the new birth in us, there should be this ever-growing fruit of love for one another by God's grace that we want to grow in and seek the Lord's help in. So let's look at the work. If you look in verse 22 and verse 23, That since statement, it points out this hypothesis, a tested, timeless one. And he says, you're going to have love for one another if you've been born again. That's essentially the work of God that he's talking about, this new birth. And you can see evidence of that if you go on vacation. you go to a new church and you don't know who's going to be at that church service but there is this you could call it heavenly love or this bond that you have with a brother or sister that you never knew of or knew existed but but all of a sudden you're worshiping the same savior with them at a different church And you have this love. Well, that's what Peter's talking about. If you've had this love, regardless of where you are, regardless of among who of God's people you're with, there should be this love that you have with them. Why? Verse 23, since he talks about the work of God of being born again. Since you've been born again. And we're gonna see, the agent of our new birth, but then also the means. What does God the Holy Spirit use as an instrument in time and space to cause this message of truth, this message of life to come in us? The first is to understand the agent. Who is it that made us be born again? He says, you've been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable seed. Well, we already have the answer. If you look back in chapter one, verse three, It's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit working in one sovereign will to raise His people from death to life through Christ by the Spirit. Chapter 1 verse 3 has already told us who has caused us to be born again. be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be 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 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. We know Jesus has been raised, And we know that when Jesus went to the Father's right hand, the Father, the Son, sent the Spirit into this world, and John Murray puts it this way, that God, the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, He is the controlling and directing agent of the new birth, and He affects a change which is radical and all-pervasive, and that change is this new heart of a new love for God and a love for neighbor. And if you look in 1 Peter 2, verse 10, Peter puts it this way, of God's calling in regeneration. We've seen this time and time again. But look what he says. He talks about being born again, verse 9. He says, you're a chosen race, 1 Peter 2, verse 9. a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him, and here's the new birth, regeneration, God who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light, He goes from the new birth to what? To God's people. So the God of love has given you new life and put His holy love in your heart, this light of life in your soul. And then verse 10, He's placed you among a people. Once you were not a people. You didn't have this blood-bought people that you're among. You were not a people, but now you're God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So Peter here, he has this close connection between God's calling, that he's caused you to be born again from darkness to light, But he doesn't stop there. Now, because you're alive in Jesus Christ, you are among God's people. God is your God and his children are your brothers and sisters. We see this connection if you look at another example in John 1. John 1 verse 11 to verse 13. Again, the apostle John sees this connection. He goes from the new birth to being among God's children with God's people. And there's the vertical but also the horizontal element here. John chapter 1 and verse 11, a familiar text, speaking about Jesus. But John 1 verse 11 tells us that He, He came to His own and His own people did not receive Him. But, look at this, to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. And here's the root, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. That's what Peter's saying. God has caused you to be born again. But he also says, when he did that, he numbered you and adopted you into his household. So by grace through faith, you're God's people. And because you're God's people, Well, you're God's children, and because you're God's children, you have brothers and sisters. There's this connection that John and Peter does not want us to miss. And the whole point is this, that the only reason we're here tonight is because there's one unifying factor. There's one unifying life that dwells within each of us, and it's the life of God in our very being, in the soul of man, as one Puritan says. That's the unifying factor. And if you look with me back in our text, in 1 Peter 1, in verse 23, he'll go on to talk about not only the work of God in the new birth, but how does God in time and space cause this to come about? What has God used as his means to bring about this life from darkness to light? For us to have this love with God and neighbor through the cross of Jesus Christ, And he says, here's the means, though the agent is God, the Holy Spirit, sovereign work of God, this sole work of God, the Holy Spirit, but nonetheless, Peter says this is how he builds his children and produces children spiritually. Verse 23, it's through this imperishable seed, and then he defines this seed, and he says it's through the living and abiding word of God. So we know that Peter says this is how God's children are produced, are born again in time and space. It's through this seed. In other words, you could say this is how God begets children, spiritual children, redeemed children. This is how he brings men from darkness to light and brings them into his household. It's through this imperishable seed that God the Holy Spirit uses and draws them effectually by. And he says it's the imperishable seed of the Word. God the Holy Spirit in His work, raising you from death to life, He operates by his word, and his word is imperishable. And Peter loves to use this word imperishable because it talks about the unstoppable power of God. God's, his word and his means and his work, it's unstoppable, it's sovereign, and it accomplishes every purpose that he sent out his word to fulfill. We looked at chapter one, verse three to four, he talks about the inheritance. In Christ, that's imperishable. Chapter 1 verse 6 and 7, he uses that word again. He talks about our faith being tested and he says that it's more precious than gold. Verse 7, that perishes. So our faith in Jesus Christ is imperishable. It's not perishable, it's imperishable. And then in chapter 1 verse 18 and 19, he also talks about our sinful life before we came to Christ. It was verse 18 of chapter 1, marked by futile ways inherited from our forefathers. We weren't redeemed with perishable things as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ like that of a lamb. without blemish or spot. Peter's saying that God in His work is imperishable because God's imperishable. God never began. He never will end. He has no beginning and no end. He's the Alpha and Omega and His Word that He uses in the new birth, it's unstoppable. How do we know He's talking about that? Well, if you look in your Bibles, He quotes an Old Testament text in Isaiah 40, verse 6 and 9. We won't turn there because it's a direct quotation from Isaiah 40, verse 6 and 9. But Peter says, if you haven't understood this imperishable, unstoppable, living and abiding Word of God that the Holy Spirit has used in your new birth, let me tell you something more about it. He says in 1 Peter 1.24, Isaiah 46, verse 9, all flesh is like grass and he says all its glory like the flower of grass the grass withers and the flower falls but the word of the lord remains forever and then he he quotes and tells us what he means by this text what the author isaiah under the inspiration of the Lord, meant by this text. He says, this word, verse 25, is the good news that was preached to you. So there's a message that's going out to the world, and it's a perishable message. It's like the flesh, like grass, that's up one moment and it's gone. It's like the glory of a flower that withers away and it falls. And Isaiah says, that's not God's word. God's word's not like the message of man. like the message of the world that goes out in a flash, but then it proves empty, it proves void, and it doesn't accomplish its intended meaning or purpose. What Isaiah's talking about in this chapter is he's preparing the people to go to exile, and he's reminding them that even though you're going to be thrown into exile, the nations won't stop God's word. That when the people of God, even in exile, are holding fast to the word of truth and the gospel of salvation that was promised in Christ, That won't return void. That word won't be stopped by any Babylonian, Nebuchadnezzar empire. It won't be stopped by any political leader in their day. This message Isaiah is saying won't be thwarted or hindered. It's unstoppable. And he says that God, when his word goes forth, it accomplishes every effect in every meaning that he sent it out to do. Now, why is Peter saying that? Well, we know the context. These believers, They're gonna have a hard time loving one another. They're gonna face pressure. And Peter's saying, even though you're suffering now for the cause of Christ under the Roman Empire, it's gonna get a lot harder. And it's gonna be hard to love the Lord with your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And it's gonna be hard to love one another and not be frustrated with one another. But Peter's saying this word, this gospel that we preach to you is sufficient. It's sufficient for you to comprehend God's love for you, even when you don't see it. And it's sufficient for you to cultivate this love that does not repel, but attracts both the rich and poor, or the old and the young, or the mature or the immature. Peter's saying that, believer, you need to remember the power of the gospel. This gospel that was powerful in Isaiah's days, the same gospel. That even though they're gonna go under Caesar and the Roman Empire, he's not gonna stop this gospel. and put out this divine love. And what Peter's really getting at is that God can produce spiritual children regardless of how difficult the days are. God doesn't have to wait for an opportune time to cause men and women to be born again. He doesn't have to have a set leader in to do that or a shining son of a prospective new year to do that. He saved sinners even in the darkest hour. How do we know that? Well, we look at the darkest hour that God made and accomplished the greatest good, and it was on the cross. The darkest hour of human history, when our Savior hung in utter darkness, the whole world was supernaturally pitch black, and at the darkest hour in human history that this world has ever seen, God was up to the greatest good. So Peter says to the believers here, and God says to us through his written word, that if this gospel has come to you, and if you've heard it, and if God by his great mercy has caused you to be born again, he can produce this supernatural love for your brother and sister. Because if we're recipients of this gospel, that gospel is going to produce love and ever growing. love in our life. If the God of love, as one hymn writer said, here is love vast as the ocean, loving kindness as a flood. If that love has flooded your heart in regeneration, what's it going to produce? When you see the prince of life, your ransom shed for you, his precious blood, Peter says that gospel, it's going to produce something in you and it's going to be supernatural love. So that was a more lengthy first point. The root, if you have been born again by God the Holy Spirit and His means through the gospel of Jesus Christ preached to you and He drew you effectually through it, Now we know that there will be this fruit, maybe not perfect fruit, but ever-growing fruit in the lives of God's people. And because it's rooted in Christ and the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, we have hope because this love will not be cultivated on our own effort, but by God the Holy Spirit working in us to walk by the Spirit. And so let's consider after the work of God very quickly, The life of God among His people. The life of God in His people, you could say. And very quickly you see that command in verse 22, to love one another. He says, having purified your souls, since you've received this gospel of truth and obeyed it, you've repented and believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, for this great aim, a sincere brotherly love, here's the fruit, love one another, Not in a mundane way, but earnestly, he says, from a pure heart, from a heart that's been born again, is what he's saying. Love one another earnestly. Now I want to just break this down in three ways. The command, it's obvious, it's not rocket science, it's to love one another. It doesn't have any strings attached, but it's plain in meaning because it's all-encompassing. Love one another at all times. He says, love one another primarily here to the churches in Asia Minor, so they're to love one another in their local congregations. That's what Peter has in mind. He doesn't want them to love some in their church partially and to have favorites and to have cliques in the church and say, I'm good at loving those people, but if you find it hard to love other people in the church, well, that's where we need to say to the Lord, well, help me by your Holy Spirit. You, by your great mercy, have caused me to be born again. You want this fruit worked out in my life. Help me be impartial, because you're the impartial God. You don't have favorites, and so I ought not to have favorites among God's people. You can have friends and and treasured acquaintances, but we shouldn't be partial in that sense of love, but we ought to love one another, the whole body, love the young and old in the church, love the rich and poor, the weak and strong, the backsliding or the vibrance. It's hard at times to love the spiritually mature and the spiritually immature in the church. That's what Peter has in mind, this all-encompassing love, because the blood of Christ was shed for his people. The affection, if you look here, he raises the bar. Not only is it this command to love, but he puts these characteristics of what this love looks like. He uses the language in verse 22, this sincere love. Love one another, the whole body, everyone in your local assembly. One in Christ with he says love one another Sincerely and what he's saying is don't have false motives with one another we see that in the Philippian Church We'll get to that in a moment, but but they had false motives they were looking to their own interests rather than the interests of others and sometimes that can work its way out and In a hidden kind of love, you can do something in a loving manner, but ultimately the motive's wrong. Peter says it ought to be sincere, it ought to be genuine, with a genuine concern for their welfare. But he also says, verse 22, it's brotherly as well. He uses this familial language that he says, these are the people you're going to spend eternity with. You may be in a household where flesh and blood has you in a bond, but maybe they're not a Christian. You're going to be with and you pray that they're going to be Christians one day and you'll see them in heaven. but God's people that you're one in Christ with, they're the family that is imperishable. They're the family that never breaks up, you could say. They're the family that you'll spend all eternity with in perfect love within heaven. There won't be any divisions. There won't be any splits. There'll be this one unified body of Christ worshiping the Savior. Peter says it's a brotherly love. Know that there's something supernatural here, that the people God's placed you among to love Well, you're to love them as a brother or sister who's in Christ with God as their one Father. And then he also says it's to be earnest as well as sincere. genuine, it's brotherly love, love one another, he says, earnestly, and that word earnestly means constantly. He doesn't say love them when it's easy, love them when you're getting something in return, but he says love them constantly, even when they're not giving you something in return, even if they don't want to be loved or are repelled or you rub them the wrong way, he says, you ought to have this constant, this persevering love that could be translated earnestly, persevere and constant. In other words, he's saying don't give up on people. If Jesus Christ has saved them, don't give up on them, because Christ never gave up on you. Don't give up, be patient with the weak, encourage the faint of heart, and then he says this all flows out, verse 22, from a pure heart, a regenerated heart. And so we see then Peter, he wraps this command up again with his thesis statement. Since you've been born again by the God of love, love one another. Since this root has taken place in your life, there should be this ever-growing fruit. Now I want to very quickly look at one implication. How do we grow in love for one another? And if you look at one case example, a letter of loving one another, you can turn to Philippians In the first two chapters, there's four examples of how we can love one another and grow in that love. Because if we're being honest, we don't obey this command as we ought, and we want to grow in this command as God's people because we represent to the world the master that we serve. And by our love for one another, the world sees his glory displayed. So this is something that God, he cares about. And so if you look in Philippians 1 verse 9, The Apostle Paul, he was okay to pray for increased love. He didn't say, well, Philippians, you have no love at all, so you got to start loving one another. No, he commends God's people for their love, but he says, let's not be content with that. We can see evidences of grace of God's love in our church. We want to grow even higher in love. That's God's desire for his people. Philippians 1 verse 9, Paul says, it's my prayer that your love, not that it would just be stagnant, that it would just continue in what it was last year, but he says, I'm praying that your love, and he's talking about the love of one another in the Philippian church, that your love may abound more and more." Literally, that your love would overflow. That it would be like this cup that just keeps reaching the brim and overflowing more and more. "...with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ Jesus." So if we want to grow in love, Personally, as a church, what ought we to pray? Well, we can take Paul's prayer, because we know this is God, the Holy Spirit's prayer for the church. And when we pray this prayer, we're praying in full alignment with the will of God. So we can pray, Lord, help my love for so-and-so, or help our church that our love would abound more and more in the year to come, because it's from you, who's caused us to be born again, it's from you that this fruit will be produced. We need you to do that. We can't do it on our own. And then if you look at chapter one, verse 19, the apostle Paul, he commends the church here for their prayers, and he attributes his deliverance from his trial to the prayers of the saints. So he's praying that their love would abound more and more. And then Paul says, here's something that God did among you in your love for prayer for God's people. He says in Philippians 1.19, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance as it's my eager expectation and hope that I will not at all be ashamed but that with full confidence now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Paul he says if we want to love one another well Start praying for one another. D.A. Carson always has a good thing to say and he says it's hard to be grumpy, it's hard to be frustrated, it's hard to be cold with one another. If we're praying for them, if we're putting them down on a prayer list rather than putting them down behind a corner of a church wall, He says there will be this growing love because we're praying for their spiritual well-being. So we can pray for our own growth, we can pray for others, and that's a means of loving one another, prayer. And then look in a practical way, chapter 1 verse 27, here's how it plays out in time and space with God's people. He says in Philippians 1.27, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. And this is what he wants to see. This is love worked out. He says, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you're standing firm in one spirit. That's what it means to love one another, standing firm in Christ with one spirit, with one mind, one heartbeat, one pulse beat, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents. Paul says that is love on full display. You have all these different sinners who've been redeemed through the cross, who otherwise would have had nothing to do with each other, and now they have this unbreakable bond. They're not fearful of their opponents, but they're striving together for the advancement of the gospel with one heart, one mind, one unity in Jesus Christ. And Paul says that That's what love looks like on full display. And then he gives us one more hint in chapter two, verse one to five. Picking up on this, he says, if there's any encouragement, chapter two, verse one, in Christ. If there's any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, literally he's saying if you're fellowshipping in Christ by God the Holy Spirit who unites you, there's going to be affection in it for one another, there's going to be love, there's going to be comfort, sympathy. He says this is what it will look like, complete my joy, by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind, and then here's what it looks like, practically do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. And then he says, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. And we don't have time to go through the rest of the chapter, but he'll go into Christology. If Jesus Christ, God himself, came into this world in ultimate humility to redeem you from sin and death and the wrath to come, you can humble yourself in service to your brother or sister who's been redeemed from the Savior who came down from heaven. You can consider their interests greater than the interest of your own self. Why? Because Jesus Christ did that. Our Lord, he's the ultimate Savior, he's the ultimate example, he's the ultimate one who's exemplified this humble, self-sacrificing love that God wants to work in his people. So in 2025, what ought we to know? We know, Peter says, if we've been born again, God's design is to have this love for one another put into our hearts, but then to go out from our hearts to our hands, and out from our mind into our lips, and how we interact with one another. God ultimately cares about. Why? Because His glory is at stake when we love one another or when we don't love one another. So may that help us for the year to come. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it does not return void. And even this evening, Lord, as we've briefly looked at this command, Lord, we know how far we fall short, even as redeemed sinners, to love those whom you've redeemed with your own blood. We know we have been bought with such a cost, and we pray, Father, that this blood bought people that you've purchased would be the center of our affection as well knowing that that Christ loved the church and gave himself for her and we pray father that as we love our Savior we too would give our own lives in the year to come for the well-being of your people and we pray this in Jesus name amen amen