to the strangers scattered throughout Asia Minor. First Peter one, we will begin reading at verse 17. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. The word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Let us pray. Our loving Heavenly Father, we give thanks once again for the Word revealed unto us. We pray that it may be a living Word as it goes forth by the power of Thy Spirit unto our souls. Pray that we may know thy word to be truth. We pray that we may obey it from the heart. We pray that we may be provoked unto love and good works by one another and by thee. We ask, Lord, that we may take heed unto thy word this day, that Christ alone may be magnified, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Beloved congregation, the word of the Lord is one thing that endures forever. There are many things that do not last forever, but the word of the Lord is eternal. The word of the Lord will never fail. The contrast that Peter makes here is between human life, which is very frail, which is like a vapor, James says, but the word of the Lord endures forever. So he's speaking to people who are frail. He is addressing you and me in our weakness. So the first point here that we want to consider this evening is that human life is expendable. Human life is expendable. It's not, and we brought that through strongly when we looked at the sixth commandment, human life is precious. And it's to be preserved. We're to stand up for those who are defenseless. But in God's economy, no individual is necessary to his cause further than what he purposes. So life is very fleeting, Peter says. All flesh is as grass. That's what your life is, here today, gone tomorrow, is really the emphasis that Peter is making. The glory of man is fading. The glory of man, he says, is as the flower of grass. So is there a glory in man? Yes, there is. Man is at the very apex of creation. And we need to be aware of that, we need to emphasize that in these days where evolution is taking over the way in which men view life to the point where, can we say most people view human life as being not very much different than animal life. So the importance and the significance of animals is rising and we're preserving species. We are very careful to preserve animal life while at the same time killing thousands of people in the womb. And in many cases, animal life in our society is more precious than human life. That's a huge concern. It has to do with the way that we view evolution. Our very existence is seen as something that is progressive rather than man being created in the image of God as we saw this morning. So man is glorious, he's the very apex, the very pinnacle of God's creation. And we did see that very wonderfully this morning, didn't we? As the Lord made all the animals, he brought them before Adam, he named them, but there was nothing there that connected with him that would really satisfy his needs and be of an enduring help for him. So man alone is able to think, to plan, to create, to build, and that's part of our being created in the image of God as well. There's a creativity there. We can't create out of nothing, but we can be creative. Animals, contrary to what a lot of people would really like to believe, animals move by instinct. They don't think things through, they just do things instinctively. They don't have a soul. They're so far removed in a way from the human race. But that glory, the glory of man is a fading glory. It's like the flower that falls away. When you think about the population of the world, Almost 8 billion, I checked and they said 7.9 billion, so we might be getting really close to 8 billion people. And when you look at, ask the question, how many people have ever lived upon the earth? The answer seems to be somewhere around 100 billion people that have ever lived on the earth through history. which is an awful lot of people, 100 billion people. And how many of those people do you know about in history? There aren't really a whole lot of them. In terms of 100 billion, the people that you know about, and some people are more interested in history than other people, some people have just a vast array of knowledge of individuals throughout world history. It just intrigues them, they know about them, but even those people that take that great interest a few hundred people, maybe a few thousand people, for people who are really intrigued, but we couldn't name a million people, just a million would be a small portion of that hundred billion that have ever lived upon the earth. So there are various individuals who rise to power and prominence in the world. We can think of Alexander the Great, the conqueror. We can think of just a number of individuals that are prominent in history. They've had an impact on people, some for a great good, some for great evil and wickedness. And we are aware of them, but Not very many rise to that prominence out of 100 billion that we might remember. So the glory of man is fading. And the psalmist I think says, here is Orison Ecclesiastes where it's asked, here you have your lands, you have your wealth that you've accumulated, And who knows what's going to happen after you're gone. You could pass it on to your son, he could squander it, or he could multiply it. But you don't know. You don't know. All that doesn't happen till after you die. So the glory of man is very fleeting. Some people we remember, some people you remember from time to time, but the glory of man is fleeting, and in God's economy, every person is expendable. So he does have plans. God uses men to accomplish his purposes, especially through the preaching of the word and in winning souls. And if you are living, God has a purpose for you. It's very important to be assured of. Many people, we talked about that when we were talking about this so-called idea of quality of life. And we see people coming to the end of their life, and they're just waiting. There's sound in their mind. They ask, why isn't God taking me? Why does God continue to allow me to live? What is the purpose? And we don't always know, but we do know that there is a purpose. I think we need to assure people, if you're living, if you're breathing, God has a purpose. And that purpose sometimes extends to others around you, others who are called upon to care for you. God has his purposes. Why am I still alive? And maybe, especially at the end of life, people may think that, but people may become greatly discouraged and fall into a deep depression and say, why should I bother to live? Because God has a purpose in your life. And that is very, very important to lay hold of. If you're breathing, God has a purpose. God has a day appointed for your death. and you're not to advance that in your own will. But there is a problem that arises when a man thinks that God needs him. When God, God needs me. His work can't advance without me. Very, very dangerous. We can think several years ago, a few decades ago of Jimmy Swaggart who fell into immorality. He was disgraced. He was greatly embarrassed and very ashamed. He withdrew from the ministry. And voluntarily, and that was the right thing to do. Whatever else we might think about Jimmy Swigert, that was the right response. He stepped back from the ministry. I'm not fit for the ministry. And then a few months later, he said God had come and told him and said, I need you. and he inserted himself back into the ministry. And that was the wrong thing to do. God does not need him. God calls a man. He may even withdraw him from the ministry for a time if that's in his purpose, but God, no man can say God needs me. The work of Christ cannot advance without me. That is so important to understand. Everyone is expendable in the work of the Lord, in the service of Christ. And you may think, well, how will the work go on without me? God has that in hand. He has that all planned out. He has it all in control. And that's important for us to know and to be aware of. I remember a time after we had left our family in Winnipeg that our home church was without a pastor for a time. And it was a trial, it was a difficulty, but I remember my father saying that it was a time also when the leadership really developed. It was a time when people just rose to the occasion and did whatever was necessary. So that was, it was good. God had his purpose in that circumstance. So God can do his work with or without anyone. Now it's very true that God very rarely works immediately, that is without means. Heal. Generally, we won't say always, but most of the time he works through men. Isn't that true? How did you come to hear the gospel? through an individual who shared the gospel with you. Isn't that right? It's through an individual who cared for your soul. So the Lord uses men. And even he uses men sometimes who are unfaithful. But he does use men to bring people into his kingdom. So beloved, your own life is as grass. It is fleeting. If we turn in our Bibles to the book of Psalm, Psalm 37. Psalm 37, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Verse two, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. They're not going to last forever, they also are going to have to meet their maker. We turn over to Psalm 90. Psalm 90. And there, verse five. Thou carriest them away as with a flood, they are as asleep. In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. Verse 10, the days of our years are threescore years and 10, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. I remember when my father was told that He had cancer and that he didn't have very much longer to live and he was 70 years old at the time. I did what I could as a son to encourage him and told him, well, the Lord has given you at least three score years in 10. He came back and reminded me that still their strength was labor and sorrow. So even in our life is very fleeting. It is filled with sorrows. That's why we yearn for heaven and long for better things. Turn over to Psalm 102. Psalm 102 verse four. My heart is smitten and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread. is this connection with life and grass. Very, very fleeting. Over to Psalm 103, verse 15. As for man, his days are as grass, as the flower of the field, so he flourishes. Then we read those verses in Isaiah 40, which are a quotation from 1 Peter as well, and just reiterating over and over again that all flesh is as grass, all flesh is as grass. It's very fleeting, very, very brief. James says that our life is like a vapor. It just comes and goes, and we need to be aware of the fleeting nature of life. When do we not think about that? We don't think about it when we're healthy and strong, when everything's going well, you're feeling robust, you're feeling your strength. I've got another 50 years. That's the way we live, that's the way we think. I'm just gonna keep going and going. It's when you become sick, it's when you're in a traffic accident, when... you're faced with death in that way. I remember a man that used to attend this church and he left and there were a couple of situations in his life, I think they were both vehicle accidents, at least one of them was a vehicle accident. He came to church out of gratitude to the Lord for sparing his life, but he came for one Sunday. and then he was gone. He knew, he knew that he had been facing death, that he had come very, very, very close to death, and that he needed to deal with the Lord. The Lord needed to deal with him. He knew that he ought to be in the assembly of the saints. He came and didn't return. It was not a lasting impression, but death, near death does that, right? Accidents or, surgery where you go under anesthetics and you figure, am I going to come out of this? Statistically, I'm going to come out of this, but anything can happen, right? And so you really seriously think about the brevity of your life in those cases. You think of when you, and I'm grateful that I have not received news like this, but we have, Had a number of people, and even now people in our congregation hear the news, you have cancer. Is it serious? How serious is it? Am I likely to be healed? And immediately you think about, I don't wanna die. What treatments can I take? What are the options available to me? And you realize, my life is not that long. My life is very brief and very uncertain. So but regardless of how we feel about it, it is very true. If we were to live 104 years, 102 years, 100 years like our sister Edith, it still is just a vapor. It still is, it's just gone in a flash. Even Methuselah, the longest, the oldest recorded man, 969 years, it's just a flash in the light of eternity. Eternity goes forever and ever. And so Peter says, God's word is eternal. Remember that your life is but as grass. There's a glory, the glory that fades away, just like a flower that's beautiful and gorgeous, and pretty soon it wilts and falls off the stem. It does not last forever, but God's word does. And this is a quote here from Isaiah chapter 40 in 1 Peter, coming back to 1 Peter chapter one. For all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. Picking up that theme from Isaiah. There's an interesting change here that Peter makes by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He changes the words. In Isaiah 40, Isaiah talks about the word of our God. Peter talks about the word of the Lord. And that's interesting, the word of our God. In the Old Testament, generally, the word Lord refers to God's covenant-keeping attributes. His name, Jehovah. In the New Testament, the word Lord refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. So this is the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember how Paul tells the Colossians, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. that the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And Peter is saying effectively the same thing. This is the word of the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the author of this word, of the scripture that I think is very important for us to understand that as well. And this word, Peter says, abides forever. He says in verse 23, the word of God which liveth and abideth or remains forever. We sang earlier from Psalm 119 verse 89, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. The Lord Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. There's an enduring quality to the word of God. Peter says it's not corruptible. It's not going to decay. It's not going to change. It remains the same at all times. Martin Luther said, the word of our God will stand forever. The ungodly may say of their own word, which they regard as the word of God, that it will abide forever. Isn't that true? Man thinks his word is going to endure forever. He goes on, but they think that the genuine word of God, which they do not know, will not last one hour. Nevertheless, it stands against all their triumphs while its adversaries perish. Set this statement against every human endeavor. If anyone boasts of counsel or righteousness or a rule, overthrow his boasting. This word, word, will remain, but your undertaking will fail. Therefore, remember and believe that the strength of this word conquers all things. It's a powerful word. It abides forever. It's never going to change. It's always going to be the same. And that is one of the things that happens in the word of God. that subtle changes are often brought to bear. When we think of, for instance, the plain teaching of the word of God, that all of the officers of the church are to be men, as feminism has encroached and been introduced into the church, the churches started to find ways to justify having women in office. And this ought to be very controversial. In most denominations, it has been controversial. It's caused a split that was necessary in those times. But do those people in those churches believe, say that they believe God's word? Yes, they do. They do, and they'll take you willingly to the scriptures. They will point out, this doesn't mean this anymore. This is often being believed this way, but you look at the Greek, you look at this scripture, you look at the syntax, you look at the context, and they change everything upside down, and now it's no problem. and rather than really investigating this, they just assume that that study has been done, the scholarly work, so-called, has been done, and now we're going to just proceed on that basis, and we're not going to allow that to be challenged any longer. The same is true of homosexuality. The Lord speaks very clearly against this sin, says that it's an abomination, it's something that he hates, but they take those verses and twist them right around so that we ought to accept them. And we don't believe that they're beyond conversion. We believe that they need to be converted. They need the grace of God. They need the love of God. They need salvation. They're not beyond being reached for the gospel. They need the gospel. We wouldn't reject them if they came in. to hear the gospel, but we still declare that it's sin, just as God does. And so we don't accept that that as a way of life, because God has not accepted it as a way of life. And again, these verses that seem so very clear are reinterpreted, are revised, are changed around so that, oh, look at that, they didn't mean, it didn't mean what we thought it meant after all. So that is the subtlety of Satan, beloved. Taking the pure word of God and then perverting it and making it to say something that it does not say. And this is a reason that we need to be familiar with what God's word says to be able to defend it. It's very, very important. And isn't it a great comfort? Our world, even in these two instances, our world is changing continually. The word of God, beloved, does not change. Doesn't change its standards, doesn't change its morality. We have 10 commandments that are 10 commandments still. They have been that way from the time of Moses to the present day. They will not change. The Bible doesn't need to keep up with the times. The times are fleeing away and turning its back on the word of God. So in spite of being attacked, In spite of being mocked and being changed in many ways, the word of God endures forever. Charles Spurgeon says that word stands forever. The old gospel of the apostles is the gospel of today. There's been a notion abroad about discoveries in theology, but recollect that everything that is new in preaching is not true, and everything that is true is not new. We may say concerning the preaching of the gospel, the old is better. Let us keep to the good old ways. You will never advance upon Peter and Paul. You can't improve on what God has written, what God has given to us. And that is why we gather to study God's word, to know what it says, to be assured and confident in what it proclaims. It is a living word. God's word is a living word. Again, verse 23, the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. And how does it live? It's made alive by the power of the Holy Spirit. Beloved, we are dependent upon God's work through His Spirit to speak to our hearts, to not just pass over a passage of scripture, but to have it grip your heart is the work of the Holy Spirit. And it happens, doesn't it? It happens. You can read a page, two, three, four pages of scripture. and it means nothing. And the next day, you open that word, and you pray, and the Lord just grips you, and it becomes a word that infiltrates your life, it affects your thinking, it changes your mind. It's particularly about your behavior. And so we pray with the psalmist in Psalm 119, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. I don't ever want this word to be mundane or boring or routine, but to be living at all times, to be a vital word for my soul. And how quick then people are to look at this work and say it's boring, it's 2,000 years old. How can something that old really be of any vital interest? It could be historical interest, it could be of moral interest to us, but is it of any real vital interest? And John Calvin, that same problem was there in his day. He says, what then is this word of the Lord which gives us life, even the law, the prophets, and the gospel? Those who wander beyond these limits of revelation find nothing but the impostures of Satan and not the word of the Lord. So people are so willing to bring in dreams and visions and concepts and ideas and something fresh and something different. Beloved, is the word of God sufficient for you? Is it enough? God has given this word, it's enough. And it's precious. And people who think that something needs to be added, that it needs to be made more vital or life-giving, probably haven't read it, they certainly have not understood it, and they've stopped studying it in a really significant way. This, beloved, is God's word, especially to his people. It's God's word for everyone. Its truth prevails across every tribe and kindred and tongue and nation. It is for everyone. But it is received with love by his covenant people. those who have been regenerated, those who have been born again, it becomes a living, vital word. And when it ceases to do that, it's because you've become settled, you've settled for something much less than the truth of God's word. So we don't need additions. Very popular today to add things. Oh, I've got this, I had this vision, I had this dream. And then, like those other situations, they'll bring in God's word, but they'll use that vision or dream in order to interpret God's word. And that becomes the prevailing part. If it were to drive them to God's word, we wouldn't really have a problem with it because we'd end up talking about God's word rather than the dream or the vision. It's always centered in the Christ revealed in the scriptures. And Peter said God's word is a preached word. This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. It's always relevant. So the word of God Peter is saying here is really the source of eternal life. You cannot have that without the working of the Holy Spirit. But the word is a living word that not only informs you of the new birth, but it also educates you in the knowledge of God, in the knowledge of Christ, as you eagerly seek to learn more about who God is and how he works. And why is this book in the Bible? Have you ever asked that? Why is this in the Bible? Why is it like this? We just finished reading the book of Job. The book of Job has so many questions and challenges, but it's God's word. And so I don't wanna read in and make it more interesting or different than it is, but I wanna understand what God has said in it. As you read it and reread it, you gain more knowledge in these things. It's a living word. That living word is connected to your new birth, to God's work within you, to reveal Christ in you. Beloved, be very careful in studying God's word. Remember that it is the very word of God. Remember that it's necessary, your necessary food, as David says, and it is light and life and liberty to the Lord's people. Let us pray. our God and our Father. We pray that we may be joyful and diligent students of thy word. We pray that we may have the treasures of the scriptures opened up unto our eyes and to our lives, that we may delight in them at all times. Lord, we pray that we may find comfort in thy word that never changes. We pray of thee, Lord, that thou wouldst keep us faithful, that thou wouldst keep us in thy word, and as we read day by day, that we may find new treasures. Lord, wilt thou hear our prayer? Bless us as we desire to grow in grace in the knowledge of Christ, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Let us close by singing hymn number 265, number 265,