May God be pleased to bless us
together this evening as we meditate upon his word. Let us turn to
the first epistle of Peter, the first chapter, and reading the
last two verses, 24 and 25. The first epistle of Peter, chapter
one, reading verses 24 and 25. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the
flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower of forth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. as the Apostle comes to the end
of this first chapter, he directs us to the great difference between
human flesh, human beings, and the Word of God. The Word of the Lord is enduring. People are not physically enduring. And so we see the Apostle gives
us an analogy with regards to our natural being, our flesh,
and indicates the position of it when he says, 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. Well, I'm sure we appreciate
the truth of that with regards to grass. Grass is available
to observe, isn't it, everywhere. And here we have this description
which is aligning flesh to grass. And it doesn't say some flesh,
it doesn't say, well, there are some people who are like this
and others are exempt from it. No, it's a statement which says
all. Everybody, every person that
ever has been and ever will be born into this earth comes within
this category. They are described as grass. And the grass withers. We know the grass withers. The
sun shines on it and there's no water. It very quickly shrivels
up and dies. And the life is not very long.
So that's the description, all flesh is as grass, and the grass
withereth. And then the apostle tells us,
and all the glory of man. Well, the glory of man, however
proud man may be, and however gifted a person may be, and however
able they may be in many virtues, yet their glory, will it last
forever? No, their glory is like the flower,
and it falleth away or it fadeth away. It doesn't last. And that's
the condition of mankind. What a description it is. And
it describes you and me. We're just like that. And it's
good if we realise, really, the truth of the Word of God which
tells us how frail we are. We might think we're strong,
we might think we're able-bodied, we might think we're going to
live for a long time. We have no idea how long we shall
live on this earth. But one thing is true, and that
is the description of us. We're just physically like grass,
which withereth, and all our goodness, all our natural glory,
you know, people glory, don't they, in their strength. We see
people glorying, don't we, in their strength. Well, that glory
fades away and withers. It falleth away. Our strength
doesn't last forever, does it? We see, don't we, the word of
God tells us, rejoice, young man, rejoice, not young man,
in thy strength. You see, we're tempted to look
at ourselves and think we're so strong and able, but we should
realise we're just like this. We're just like flesh, just as
grass which withereth, and our glory, like the flower which
falleth away. Well, that's the description,
really, of mankind. And then, you see, Peter gives
this wonderful comparison. He comes and he says, but, but,
this is the great difference, but the word of the Lord endureth
forever. The word of God does not fade
away. It does not wither. It does not
disappear. It does not die. The word of
the Lord endures forever. Now surely that should be to
us tonight a wonderful consolation and a wonderful strength as we
recognize that the whole of the word of God endures. There is
nothing wasteful in the word of God. There's nothing untrue
in the word of God. The Lord Jesus, when he prayed
to his father, He said, thy word is truth. And my friends, the
word of God is truth. And therefore what a blessing
it is that you and I can rely upon this truth and this word
of God endures forever. And the apostle tells us, and
this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
And so it's a favour for us to realise that we have the truth
of God, the Word of God, which is preached unto us, and that
Word which will indeed stand, it will not fade away, it will
not wither. And the Apostle Peter, well,
he knew the great truth of this, and he directs us beginning of
this chapter he says, Blessed be God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. Now who is the Apostle speaking
of? He's speaking of the Church of
God. He's speaking of those who will
endure. Yes, because the Word of God
endures, and they will endure, not in a physical way, but their
spiritual life will endure, because that spiritual life is an eternal
life. And those that the Apostle is
speaking about, he enumerates here, he tells us, they are the
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. those which
were known by the Father, before time began, elect according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ, grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. So the Apostle is addressing
here a peculiar people, an elect people, a saved people, a people
who are washed in the blood of the Lamb. And it's those that
he is addressing. And therefore, it is good, therefore,
to think that the word of God addressed to such is so gloriously
true, which endures forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. And the word of God is the gospel.
It is the good news to dying sinners. And what good news we
have read together this evening, because the The Apostle tells
us, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which,
according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What this means is there was
no resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, there will be no spiritual
hope, there will be no living hope, no lively hope. But can
we tonight bless God for the Gospel, bless God for the risen
Saviour. Oh, how precious was the risen
Saviour to the Apostle. And to think what he says, according
to his abundant mercy, Hath begotten us again. His abundant mercy
in giving us that new birth. Abundant mercy, is it not? Just
ponder that thought, my friends. It's the abundant mercy of God
to you and to me tonight, if we have been born again by the
Spirit. Hath begotten us again. unto
a lively hope, a living hope, a true hope. And what is it? It's that which is through the
Spirit, and that is by the Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. the Word, but
the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And as that shows to
us the glory and the blessing and the favour and the mercy
to the children of God, it then tells us of the prospect that
those who are born again of the Spirit of God can be found looking
forward to. You see, our spiritual life is
not a dead-end situation. My friends, our spiritual life
is a life with eternal blessings. How vastly different that is
to time things which indeed perish like we read. They wither and
they fall away. But my friends, eternal blessings
are eternal. They are forever and ever. beyond
our comprehension, eternity. And what are these blessings? Well, the apostle tells us. He
says, it is to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Now, an inheritance. You see, when we inherit something,
We haven't worked for it, we haven't deserved it, but it's
been left to us. Our inheritance comes by way
of wills. When people die, they leave a
will and there is an inheritance, and that inheritance is given
to certain people. Well, wonderful blessing, isn't
it? God gives an inheritance to all
of his children. Those who are born again of the
Spirit. Now this is the enduring Word
of God. This is not something which is
going to cease and vanish away. This is that surely which is
set before the living family of God as they look forward to
the end of their life. People don't like looking forward
to the end of their life, do they? I think it's a morbid consideration. But bless God when he brings
us, and it is only the Spirit of God that can bring us to look
forward with some little anticipation of the glory and the wonder of
those things which God has gone to prepare for us. You know those
words in John's Gospel are wonderful, aren't they? Go to prepare a
place for you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there ye may be also. The very clear inference of that
is Heaven would not be heaven without the Lord Jesus Christ. Because there, seated on the
throne, is the glorious Saviour, who has sacrificed his life,
that our sins might be atoned for by the shedding of his most
precious blood, as the Apostle comes later on in his chapter,
And so we have this situation to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and that fadeth not away. Our life fades away. My friends, eternal life does
not fade. It's the same. Oh, bless God,
never fades. And therefore it is incorruptible. We are corruptible because of
sin. Our flesh is corruptible, and
we will never naturally live forever. The most we can live
is a hundred or so years. And as you compare that with
eternity, it cannot even be seen. It is so, so small. And so think
of this great and glorious prospect to the Church of God. And not
only is it incorruptible and undefiled, Undefiled means there's
no sin. This is the Word of the Lord. This is the great truth, which
by the Gospel is preached unto us. There's no defilement. It's hard for us to imagine,
isn't it? Because we are filled with defilement. We have a sinful
heart, sinful mind, a sinful being. It's so, so very difficult
to keep ourselves from sinning. Indeed, sin is mixed with all
we do. And here we have this statement,
this incorruptible and undefiled inheritance. Yes, what a glorious
thing it is to receive such an inheritance. Well, this is the
blessed favour of those who are born again by the Spirit of God. Now, the apostle tells us this
great blessing is in heaven and it is a reserved place in heaven. No one will arrive in glory and
will find there's no place for them. And again, that's a very humbling
thought, isn't it? The thing that Almighty God, in his wonderful love, has reserved
a place in glory. A place in glory. A place for
us. We won't come, we won't die and
be shut out. No, we shall be received. As
we said just now, the Lord has gone to receive us unto himself,
to give us that prepared place, that reserved place in heaven
for you. And again, he continues with
a description of the church of God. These people are kept by the
power of God. through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Now Peter could well speak
of being kept, couldn't he? He knew how easy it was to be
left, and to fall under temptation, and to deny his Lord and Master. None of us are any better than
the Apostle Peter. In fact, when the Spirit of God
works in our heart, will look at Peter and recognise we are
far worse than Peter. Indeed we can agree with the
Apostle Paul, the chief sinner, the less and the least of all
saints. The Spirit's work tells us of our true condition before
a holy God. And to think then there is this
wonderful blessing And may we pray again and again that we
may be kept. Kept from evil, kept from sin,
kept from wrong thoughts, kept from wrong deeds. Kept by the power of God through
faith. And what is that faith? Well
it's not something that you and I have worked out ourselves. It's something which we have
received. We have received. You see the
Apostle Paul he tells us that so very clearly and it's important
to know There are these verses in the Word of God that confirms
these things Very strongly and very powerfully to us when he
wrote to the Ephesians In the second chapter in the eighth
verse he tells us this for by grace are you saved? through
faith Through faith right and we know what faith is Through
faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. This faith that the apostle is
speaking of here is that which we have been given. It's the
gift of God and how humbling it is to think that we should
be blessed with this inheritance because we have received and
we have been given this lively, this true faith. this faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, faith to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ as the all-sufficient Saviour. And the Apostle tells
us, not at works, lest any man should boast. We are a proud
people, left to ourselves to boast of what we had done. Well,
there's no chance, there's no possibility of you and I boasting
of our salvation because it's by faith and God has given us
that faith to believe. And so he tells us, for we are
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. The effect of this faith will
produce good works in our life. at which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. And so we have then this evidence
and this testimony of this blessed Word of the Lord. This is the
Word of the Lord. But the Word of the Lord endureth
forever. You see how thankful we should
be that we have these grand truths that will endure, and nothing,
my friends, will dismiss them or erode them, because they are
written in heaven and they are God's Word. And so to be thankful
tonight for this Word of the Lord which endures forever, believing
it's the Word which is preached unto us, And so the Apostle says,
now then, this is what he says, having spelt out the glory of
this position, he now says, wherein ye greatly rejoice. My friends,
tonight, do we rejoice in what God has done for us unworthy
sinners? Are we able to look into our
lives and trace back God's hand upon us, watching over us, convicting
us, showing us our sinful condition, our hopeless condition, and directed
us to the only one, the only way of salvation, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And to think then that we have
received the word of the Lord, wherein, says the Apostle, ye
greatly rejoice. Now, my friends, the Church of
God have reason to greatly rejoice. And I hope tonight that by the
grace of God, every one of us may be able to greatly rejoice
in that great salvation, in the truth that there is reserved
in heaven for us, this wonderful inheritance which God has given
to us. And so the Apostle tells us,
wherein ye greatly rejoice. He states it as a fact. And my
friends, I believe it is true. There are those times, are there
not, when we greatly rejoice, to think that we are numbered
amongst those, as the Apostle tells us, who are the elect,
according to the foreknowledge of God. Not anything that we've
done in ourselves, but because God He loved us with an everlasting
love and with loving kindness has drawn us. He drew us to himself. We couldn't draw ourselves because
naturally we were alienated. Not only were we alienated, we
were dead in trespasses and in sins. But what a wonderful thing
to receive that life, that endless life, that eternal life That
gift of God. Now then, the Apostle, having
told us, wherein ye greatly rejoice, he then tells us a little of
the true path of a Christian. You see, there is a real balance
in the Christian's life. And the balance is really this.
It's to show us that here we have no continuing city, but
we seek one to come. And therefore, we will find that
in one way or another, we're not allowed to settle down in
this world as though it was our home. My friends, God has given
us many, many things, especially in our nation here, many, many
comforts, many, many blessings. But nonetheless, if we are among
the family of God, there will be really the continuance of
those times of difficulty and tribulation as we pass through
this world, as we realize, well, this is not my rest. It is polluted,
as the prophet Micah tells us. Well, Peter, he tells us now,
wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be.
And there are needs be in our lives. We may not always like
to acknowledge needs be in our life. My friends, the Lord leads
us in this way, remembering, but the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto us. This is the grand and glorious
truth of the gospel. This is the pathway of a child
of God, the pathway of a Christian. It's not the pathway of someone
who's left to himself, someone who's taken up with the poor
things of this life. but it's those who greatly rejoice
in what Christ has done for them. And so the Apostle says, if need
be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Heaviness. Do you know, do you understand
that? Do you understand what the Apostle says here? If need
be, we are in heaviness through many temptations. Is this the
pathway of a Christian? The Apostle Peter knew it himself.
He was speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, but he
was speaking those things which he'd handled and felt himself.
He knew the truth of them. It's in heaviness through manifold
temptations. Many temptations come into our
life. The devil brings many, and we
need much grace much grace, continual grace, to resist the temptations. My friends, sometimes they come
in like a flood. That's why the Spirit of God
instructed the Apostle like this, ye are in heaviness through many
temptations. The path of the true child of
God. He then says then, at the trial
of your faith, See, these temptations test the reality of our faith. Test whether it is God-given
faith or whether we ditch it and get on with the temptations
and want to submit to all the temptations the devil brings
before us. Remember, as I said recently,
there is the crucifixion of the flesh. And therefore the trial
of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth."
Well, the Apostle couldn't use a greater analogy, could he?
We know, naturally speaking, the value of gold, don't we?
It's a valuable metal, isn't it? But here the Apostle draws
our attention to not just faith, but the trial of our faith. And that means our faith is put
on trial. It's as though we're in court
and we're stood up in the box in the court and we're being
examined with regards to our faith, whether it's real or not. Because we don't want to have
a false faith, do we? We don't want to have our faith
We want to have a God-given faith. And so therefore, we should be
thankful if our faith is being tested to prove whether it is
real or not. And so the apostle says, the
trial of this faith is much more precious than of gold that perishes,
though it be tried with fire. You know, fire burns up all the
rubbish. And when various materials mixed
with gold are put into the furnace, the furnace has to be heated
very hot to separate those metals so that the gold comes to the
surface as that which is pure. Bless God if he comes into your
life and my life. and purifies our faith. Purifies our faith. What we prove
is this. It's the Word of the Lord, which
is enduring. What it means is this. We have
to go back to the Word of God. We have to go back to the promises
of God. We have to go back to the work
of God in our soul. the test, the trying of our faith. Tried with fire might be found
unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
You see, when the end of our life comes, or when the end of
the world comes, we want to possess a purified faith. true faith,
a God-given faith, a faith which has a single eye to the honour
and glory of God, a faith that desires that the Lord Jesus Christ
might be lifted up and honoured and glorified. That's why it
says here, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. What a blessing it is to have
our faith, our soul purified. My friends, it doesn't happen
easily. It doesn't happen easily. You see, we need to pass through
trying times, fiery times. But bless God, you see, he brings
us through. You know, in Zachariah we're
told, about bringing a third part through the fire. What that
means is, there were two thirds had to be lost, had to be burnt
up. That which was not of faith,
that which was not true, that which was of the flesh, we had
to lose that which is false. We may have been foolishly relying
upon some vain hope, The devil will sometimes pretend that this
is the way, this is right. My friends, the spirit of God
will test it. So that which is false will be
burnt up. So we read this. Whom have ye
not seen, ye love? Faith, God-given faith. This is the gospel and this is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Do you
and I know anything of this great truth, whom having not seen ye
love?" Isn't that a strange statement? You see, this is a spiritual
world, a spiritual scene we're speaking of here. And it's only
those who possess the true life of God in the soul that will
understand the truth of such a word, whom having not seen,
ye love. Well, do we love the Lord Jesus
Christ? Why do we love the Lord Jesus
Christ? Why do we love the Lord Jesus
Christ? Because he first loved us. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us. You see, every grace, every mercy
emanates from our gracious God. It's love first and last. It's a wonder, isn't it? A wonder
of wonders that God should look upon us and give us his love
and that love is set before us in showing to us he loved us
so much that he was willing to submit to the will of his father
and to come and live in a sinful world and to die that excruciating,
sin-atoning death, that we might come and receive that inheritance
incorruptible. Oh, my friends, the love of God,
whom we have not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him
not, yet believing. Oh, my friends, you see, again,
God gives us this great ability and this great gift to believe.
It's not something which we can produce ourselves. It's a God-given
gift. Though now you see him not, he
gives faith, you see, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And how important it is that
we understand the wonderful favour of this faith, and I think this
description that the Apostle gives when he wrote to the Hebrews
of faith is very important. He says, faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So he says,
whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him
not, yet believing, believing. And what's the effect of that?
When the Lord blesses us with believing faith, the Apostle
tells us then, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Well I wonder, again that's an
evidence of the wonderful blessing of eternal life. If we have rejoiced
with joy unspeakable, the Almighty God has been mindful of us. He saw us ruined in the fall,
yet loved us notwithstanding all. What a blessing it is to
have such a God as this. Well, the Apostle Peter, he knew,
didn't he, the love of God. He knew what a great blessing
it was and therefore he could rejoice and may we rejoice also
with joy unspeakable and full of glory receiving the end of
your faith, even the salvation of your soul. This is really
the truth, isn't it? The saving of our soul, the end
of our faith, God-given faith, looks forward to the salvation
of our soul, that time when by His grace we shall be gathered
together in glory, around that throne of God in heaven. We've just gone through there
a very short synopsis of, I believe, what the Apostle was directing
us to hear when he speaks about the flesh, and then he speaks
about the Word of the Lord, enduring forever. And he says, and this
is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Well surely
we have here tonight in these beautiful verses the gospel and
my friends the the evidence of receiving the spirit of God and
the hope through grace that we are numbered amongst the church
of God. A number that no man can number
and a number that one day will be joined together. Yes, joined
together and found in heaven, praising our God, praising our
Saviour. Eternity. What a blessing it
is to anticipate an eternity with a Church of God. Our friends,
those who we love to be with on the earth, because of what
we see in them. What do we see in them? We see
Christ. My friends, if we don't see Christ,
there's nothing really attractive. But if we see the work of Christ
in our friends, we rejoice together and we can believe then. that
as we receive living faith, they receive living faith. And therefore,
that by the great and glorious gift of God, in his appointed
time, there will be that gathering, the whole Church of God together,
in glory for eternity, endures forever. And so we have this
here tonight, for all flesh, all flesh, all flesh, is as grass,
and all the glory of man is a flower of grass. The grass withereth,
the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord, the
truth of God, the word of God endureth forever. And this is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Amen.