Please turn back with me one
more time to the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter. And I'll read once again those
few verses that we've been looking at. 1 Peter 1 and verse 18. Peter says, for as much as you
know that you 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." This I'll call Redeemer and His
Redemption, Part 5. And as you remember, the Apostle
Peter has been telling us about the Redeemer and His redemption,
and what those who are believers know about it. And he comes now
to the effects of that redemption on the redeemed as they believe
God, as they believe the gospel. Listen again at that 22nd verse. He says, "...seeing ye have purified
your souls in obeying the truth, through the Spirit unto unfeigned
love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure
heart fervently." He says that all obedience, the obedience
of faith, is wrought in us by the Holy Spirit. He says, through
the Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the Spirit
of truth. And Christ says that He takes
the things of Christ and shows them unto us. He gives us faith in Christ,
which Paul describes as faith in His blood, which results in
hope. Results in a hope that is in
Christ Jesus. And if you notice, it's always
associated with the blood of Christ. The death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The life that He laid down as
our substitute. And in that death, he accomplished
something on our behalf before God. And what Peter and the other
apostles go on to say is that the blood that settled the matter
of our sins in the court of heaven is also the same blood that settles
it in the court of our conscience. It is the same work. It is the same person. And it is by this God-given faith
that Peter says here that we have purified our souls. Think about what that means. By the Spirit of God enabling
us to look to and trust in the finished work of Christ, His
cross, death, and shed blood, He says, we have purified our
souls. In other words, we are in every
part impure, and yet he says now that we are purified. What does that word purified
mean? Well, it is associated with all
of those ceremonial cleansings that we see taking place and
pictured under the law of the Old Testament. This word purified
means to make clean. It means to purge and to wash. And it is the same thought that
Paul is talking about in Hebrews 9 when he says concerning this
same blood, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience? Cleanse your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God. And it is always by the
Word. It is always by what Christ says
that we are in Christ. And what He says Christ has done
for us in this redemption. As a matter of fact, it says
that we are justified, which means to be declared righteous,
not only before God, but also in our own experience, we are
justified by God through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. We are said to have been purged
of our sins. Listen to the language of our
Savior and Redeemer. He says, Now ye are clean through
the word which I have spoken unto you. He would go to that cross, He
would die that substitutionary death, He would accomplish that
work of redemption and shed that blood. But here He speaks of
them being clean through the Word that He speaks to them. Listen again in John 17. He says, "...sanctify them, Father,
through thy truth, thy Word is truth. Sanctify, or set apart,
or count and regard them as holy," he says, "...through thy Word."
Something about that Word affects in the people of God, by the
Spirit of God, through the faith that He gives, this cleansing
or purifying of their souls. Again in John 17, he says, "...and
for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth." Alright, hold your place there and turn
back to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15, and listen,
beginning in verse 7. He says, "...and when there had
been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and
brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among
us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe." Now whose choice was that? It was God's choice. He chose whose mouth, He chose
His gospel, and He chose who would believe. He continues,
"...and God, which knoweth the hearts, beareth them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us." That is,
those Gentiles that were brought to believe, as well as the Jews
who believed. But listen to this, "...and He
put no difference between us and them, Purifying their hearts
by faith. There it is again. Purifying
their hearts through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is why I want us to
make sure that we see something. And that is, It is as those who
are purified that we seek to purify ourselves continually
in our consciences. Why is that? Because we continue
to sin. We continue to be under the influence
of this flesh and because also we continually seem to creep
back to the notion in some way of salvation by works. And so God, by His Spirit, through
the Word of God, continues to affect this cleansing in our
conscience and also in our conduct of life, especially as it pertains
to our brethren. So what is being said in all
these verses and illustrated in all these ways is that all
who are purified in Christ will seek to purify themselves. We always hear things like this,
if I believed as you do that Christ did everything, then I
would surely feel free to do whatever I want, sin all I want."
But what he's saying here is that we are always in need, though
clean, of a continual cleansing, a continual purifying. And this is exactly what John
is expressing in 1 John 3 and verse 3. He says, And every man
that hath this hope in him, this hope that comes through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in His blood, every man that
hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure."
Now, I think there are two aspects of that verse. Certainly, we
strive to be like Christ Jesus. But he says, those who have this
hope of already being pure in Christ, they seek to purify themselves
even as they are already pure in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, we are clean
in Christ and therefore we seek to cleanse ourselves. through the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That is, through a looking again
and again to how it is that He in love has made us already clean
and pure. And I believe that that is what
is pictured back in the book of Numbers, if you'll turn back
there, in Numbers chapter 19, in what is called the water of
purification. Look back here in Numbers chapter
19 and verse 9. It says, "...and a man that is
clean," and certainly we know that this means ceremonially
clean, "...and a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes
of the heifer," the ashes of a sacrifice that was offered
unto God, burned on the altar, And therefore this man would
come then and gather up the ashes of that sacrifice. He says, "...and
lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall
be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel. For a water of separation it
is a purification for sin." Now we know that that water,
that mixture, did not actually really put away anybody's sin
or make them clean in the sight of God, but it was what it represented. And so if you look over also
in this same chapter in verse 16, It says, "...and whosoever
toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or
a dead body, or a bone of a man, or of a grave, shall be unclean
seven days." He'll be ceremonially unclean. He'll be counted as unclean under
the law of God. He'll be unclean, not able to
enter into the camp or the worship of God. But now listen, and for
an unclean person, They shall take of the ashes of the burnt
heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put
thereunto in a vessel. And a clean person shall take
hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent,
and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there,
and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, one dead, or of
a grave. And a clean person shall sprinkle
upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day,
and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at
even." He'll be clean at the end of that day. And what is
pictured here is first of all, the sacrifice. In other words,
the sacrifice itself is what points to the actual putting
away of our sins through the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross. That is a work that was finished
at that time and all the sins of God's people were put away
and they were everyone made clean. through his death. But that sacrifice, that work
that he accomplished, has a continuing and lasting effect. You see,
those ashes represented that finished work. that those ashes
were what pictured the efficacy, the continual efficacy of the
dying of Christ. And so mixed with water, which
by the way is a pot type and picture of the Word of God, There
goes forth a water of purification, a gospel, if you will, that is
to be believed by the people of God and have a continual cleansing
effect on them, both in their conscience and also in their
lives. If you look back at our text, How Peter begins in 1 Peter 1
here, and that second verse, describing those to whom he writes
this epistle. Listen to what he says, verse
2. He describes them as elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." He's not talking
about baptism there. He's not talking about literal
blood. He's talking about what is pictured
In Numbers 19, this sprinkling of blood, this sprinkling of
this water of purification, which first begins in us when we are
brought to believe on Christ and Him crucified. He says, grace
unto you and peace be multiplied. And he says in this 22nd verse,
He says, you have purified your souls in obeying the truth or
believing the truth through the Spirit of God, through believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is exactly, I do believe,
what Christ is picturing in John chapter 13. rather than establishing another
ordinance of the church, which would be the washing of feet. Look at what it says in John
chapter 13, beginning in verse 4, when it says, "...he rose
from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took him a towel,
and girded himself." After that, he poureth water into a basin,
and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the
towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter,
and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus
answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but
thou shalt know hereafter. And Peter saith unto him, Thou
shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. And Simon Peter saith unto
him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head."
Peter said, I need you to wash me all over. But now listen to
what Christ says. Jesus saith to him, He that is
washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every
wit, and you are clean, but not all." Now he's talking to the
twelve. For he knew who should betray
him, therefore said he, you are not all clean. But he says this, he that is
clean, He that is clean, he says, needs
only to wash his feet. That defilement that comes from
living in this world. That defilement which comes by
being yet in our flesh. But he says, you're clean. You're
clean. Having need only to be washed,
he says, your feet. In other words, Every believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, having purified their souls through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are clean. Clean before
God. But in their consciences oftentimes, when we are found doing just
what we do every day of our lives, falling into sin, failing, disobedient,
all the things that in our minds, in our consciences would accuse
us and would say unto us that we are not clean. How is a conscience
like that cleansed? By looking again. believing again,
seeing afresh and anew in our hearts and our minds the sufferings
of our Lord Jesus Christ and the shedding of His blood for
all our sins." You see, it's not to say that
sin as we sin does not still trouble us. As a matter of fact,
if sin does not trouble us, then we're not clean. Do you ever
stop and think about how it is when you go out and you begin
your day and you've got a bad job to do, and you begin your
day and you just get all dirty right to start with, and you
get grimy and greasy, whatever it is, and then as the day goes
on, you can do more and more, and you just get dirtier and
dirtier, and it doesn't really bother you. But just go inside
and take a bath and get clean. And then when you go back to
look at a chore like that or something like that, it's very
offensive to you. And that's the way the Lord's
people are. If we're clean, then surely all uncleanness disturbs
us. And we are in need of this constant
purifying our souls through believing the truth as it is in Christ. The only thing that will cleanse
us in conscience in the matter of our daily sins and failures
is a looking again to what Christ did on our behalf. And the only
thing that will purge our conscience from any confidence and trust
in these dead works is a looking again and a remembering again
of the only way that we could ever be saved and the total accomplishment
of our salvation through the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. If I get to trusting just a little
bit in what I've done or how I feel or what I've been able
to not do, There's only one thing that can cleanse the conscience
of that, and that's to be brought back to see and to believe and
to remember and to hear again about what it really took, the
grace of God through the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now
Paul saying what he says, Peter saying what he says, and John
saying again something like this. In 1 John 1 he says, "...but
if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth
us from all sin." In other words, He doesn't say in this verse
that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed us of all our sins. But when he says, the blood of
Jesus Christ cleanseth us, he's talking about an effect of that
cleansing that continues as we walk in the light. Now where? Or rather, I should
say, what is it to walk in the light? It's amazing how many
people interpret that verse as being some kind of obedience
to the law of God or obedience to some command of God that we
do in order to enjoy this cleansing. We need to be cleansed of such
thinking as that. But what he's talking about here
is walking in the light. To walk in the light is to walk
in the truth. It's to walk by faith. It's to
walk in the light of Him who is the light. It's to walk believing
the truth of the gospel. Because in the light, in the
truth, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from
all sin. Cleanseth us, not only as it
did when He first shed that blood, and obtained eternal redemption
for us, but it cleanseth us again and again in our minds and consciences
as we seek to look to Him afresh and anew for all salvation and
all righteousness and all hope that we as sinners saved by grace
might have." Look over in Romans chapter 6, Romans 6 at verse 17. This is what Paul says writing
here in Romans 6 verse 17. He says, "...but God be thanked
that you were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made
free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." You
obeyed from the heart. And that is simply the obedience
of faith. You obeyed from the heart. God
bethanked that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you, and
being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. You were cleansed, and only as
those cleansed No longer the servants of sin, did you become
the servants of righteousness. Now what I'm trying to show you
this morning is this, that all continual cleansing and all the
effects of being redeemed, they begin when we're enabled of God
to see and believe ourselves redeemed already by Christ. It's not until we are brought
to see that He hath made us clean that we desire any cleansing
effect whatsoever. And where you find those that
are saved by grace, Where you find those who rejoice in Christ
Jesus, they rejoice and look to His bloodshed and His righteousness
imputed to them. Wherever you find such people,
you find men and women who seek to obey Christ and glorify Christ
in their lives and in their conduct before this world. rebukes all who would be otherwise. Look over in James chapter 4. James talks about an imagined
faith that is without works, and he says it's dead. But in verse 1 he says, "...from
whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence
even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust and have
not, ye kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain, ye fight and
war, yet ye have not because ye hast not." You ask and receive
not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God? Do you think that the
Scripture saith in vain, The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth
to envy? but he giveth more grace. Wherefore
he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will
draw nigh to you." Now notice the next words, "...cleanse your
hands, Ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and
weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another,
brethren. He that speaketh evil of his
brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and
judgeth the law. But if thou judgest the law,
thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. And there is one
Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou
that judgeth another?" Cleanse yourselves. Cleanse yourselves. And the same Spirit that works
in the redeemed, that faith by which they believe on Christ
to the purifying of our souls by faith, also works in them. What Peter calls This unfeigned
love for the brethren. What does that word unfeigned
mean? It means sincere. Sincere. In other words, the
blood of Christ shed for us in His redemptive Word. not only
made us every whit clean before God, and not only again and again
continually cleanses our conscience from our sins and our dead works,
but it also has this effect on us. It is an unfeigned or sincere
love for the people of God. Love for the brethren. This same Apostle John that we
just read from, he says, "...verily, verily, I say unto you, he that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life." He records the words of Christ, and he says,
he that believes on me will never come into condemnation, but he's
passed from death to life. But John also records something
else. And that's why I say this is
one of these evidences of the redeemed. He said, we know that we have
passed from death unto life. because we love the brethren. And he that loveth not his brother
abideth in death." Not only, he says, is this an evidence
that we believe on Christ, but he said this is an evidence that
we pass from death unto life in that we love the brethren. And then Peter gives this instruction. He says, "...see that you love
one another with a pure heart fervently." Now I said this is one of those
evidences. This is the effect of being redeemed. But if we didn't have a problem
with it, if we weren't sometimes found unloving, there would be
no need for such an instruction. Is that right? But he says, not
only does the redemption that's in Christ Jesus make us clean
before God, purify our souls, Not only do we purify our souls
in the sense that enabled to believe by the Spirit of God,
we look to Christ which gives us peace, cleanses us. Not only does it cleanse our
conscience as we continue to sin, continue to have a tendency
to look to something we do, but it brings forth a real and genuine
and sincere, unfeigned love for the brethren. And see that you
love one another with a pure heart fervently. Not from a sinless body, but
from a pure heart. And the pure heart is that heart
that looks to Christ with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. The true heart is the heart of
faith that always is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
from that, he says, see, since you have been so loved by God,
see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Now there are some of us, like
myself, we're not so lovable. But you're not to love me for
who I am in the sense of my own self and person. I'm not to love
you on the basis of what you do or do for me. We love the
brethren because Christ loved us. and loves them. See that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently. Love for Christ is always demonstrated by love
for His people. Let me read you a few verses in Hebrews 10. The apostle says, let us draw
near with a true heart. Like I said, that pure heart,
that true heart is the heart that looks to Christ alone. In
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. There's that two-fold effect,
that two-fold cleansing in our conscience and in our walk. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised. But it always has another effect.
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the
more, as ye see the day approaching." Now, there's something about what takes place when we are
assembled as the Lord's people and hear His gospel. It does
two things. We do two things. Number one,
we worship God. We sing His praises. We hear
His Word. We are brought again to Christ
and we worship God. But also we encourage the Lord's
people. That's right. You see, We have fellowship not
only with God, but we have fellowship with His people. We love Him
and we love those redeemed by Him. John records his words again. A new commandment I give unto
you. A new commandment. That you love one another as
I have loved you. that you also love one another."
And then again, in 1 John 3, "...hereby perceive we the love
of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren." The Lord's people
are purified, and they're being purified. They're purified by
the blood of Christ. in His cross death, made clean. You are clean every whit, Christ
says. And they are yet all the time
in need of being purified in their conscience by looking to
Christ and in their conduct of life, especially toward our brethren. He says, see that you love one
another with a pure heart fervently. warmly, genuinely, sacrificially. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren. It isn't, what have you done
for me lately? It's, what can I do for you? Father, this morning we give
You thanks. We thank You for Your Word. We
thank You for the perfection, the harmony, the union that we
find in all parts of the Holy Scriptures. We thank You that
Your truths are not contradictory one to another. We thank You
that Your Word when taught to us by your Spirit and enabled
by Him to believe it, has not only that first effect upon us
to purify our souls, but also that continuing effect. And so
we pray that you would continue working in our hearts, teaching
us by your Spirit, cleansing us by your gospel, creating in
us not only love for yourself, but love for all who are redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ. Be our teacher. Help us, Lord,
lest we be so troubled by our continuing sin that our hope
diminish. Cleanse our conscience. from
all these things and for all our tendencies to trust ourselves. And work in us that love that
we might show toward you by showing it to those you died for. We
pray that you bless us and help us in all things. Give us more
grace. Give us more faith. For we pray
and ask it in Christ's name. Amen.