I think I'm going to go ahead
and get started, so if you would, turn with me to 1 Peter 1 again. 1 Peter 1, and I'm going to start
in verse 22 and go to the end of the chapter. 1 Peter 1, verse 22. 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. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. I'm not going to go back through
everything else that I already talked about in 1 Peter, but
I do want to point out two verses that I really did not go into
in my last message. Those verses were the last two
verses of my text last week, which are verses 21 and 22. There's no doubt this is all
about Jesus Christ. We talked about the precious
blood of Christ. This is the foundation for everything
and it is loved by his people once they are revealed this.
But let's read verses 20 and 21 real quick. 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. This Jesus Christ was foreordained
before the foundation of the world. What exactly was foreordained? that Jesus Christ is the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. That his blood, being
that of a lamb without spot and without blemish, is precious
to God. What does it say next? Who by
him, him who? Jesus Christ. Who by him, this
one ordained by God, do believe in God. God raised him from the
dead and gave him glory because of this. Our faith and hope is
in this one Jesus Christ who was manifest to us. He did not come into existence,
but he was just manifested to us in time. This was all foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but to us he was manifested
in these last times, is what it says. Can anyone see where
we have any power here, where we have any right here to say
or do anything? I'm even talking about my preaching.
Where here does it say it has anything to do with my preaching
that caused any of this to be? This is all about context as
to what this is saying to us, so it is important to know the
context. You do not believe because of my preaching. You certainly
must hear the preaching of the gospel to believe, but it is
not the cause. You believe because of faith,
if you have faith at all. Because faith looks to his faith.
His faith is proclaimed in the gospel. Remember, from faith
to faith. What are we told by the Apostle
Paul? Turn with me over to 1 Corinthians
3. 1 Corinthians 3. And I just want to read verses
4 through 7. 1 Corinthians 3 verses 4 through
7. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 4. For while
one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are
ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is
Apollos? But ministers by whom ye believe,
and remember that, by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave
to every man. I have planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. It says here, ministers by whom
ye believed. Does that mean my preaching is
the cause? No, it just means I was the one
preaching when God gave the increase. I have no power or right to give
life. That was not given to me. But
he does, and he will look, and we'll look at that more. But
what is it saying? What it's saying is if someone
believes God's gospel, they do this when a man is preaching,
else they have nothing to believe. Because God says it pleased him
through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. God
has ordained the preaching of the gospel by sinners, servants
of Jesus Christ, and sinners saved by his grace. But it is
by him that we believe in God, him who has the right and the
might. We believe because we have been
given faith. We are given faith by God. All
men have not faith. If you do not believe, then you
have not been given faith, Hebrews 4.2. For unto us was the gospel
preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. You must have faith to believe
when the faith of the gospel is proclaimed. So I want to talk
about today, unfeigned love, being born again, and the word
proclaimed by the gospel. So we see here what believing
the gospel does. For us to believe the gospel,
God must send us someone to preach the gospel. What does Roman teach
us? How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? The answer is, you won't. The gospel is vital. A child of God must believe,
but he or she cannot believe without hearing the gospel. I
hope you're getting what I'm trying to say here this morning.
Are you a believer before you believe? No, you must believe
that I am here or you will die in your sins, Christ says. But
a child of God, when he is given life and faith, will believe
when they hear the gospel. It's been said here before, a
seeing man can see nothing in a dark room. But when the light
is turned on, he can see. God will send someone to you
with the gospel and thereby turning on the light, so to speak. This
cannot be done in the flesh. First Corinthians 2.14 says,
but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. What are the things of
the Spirit of God? One, in the context of 1 Corinthians
2 there, it is the gospel. But we also have in Galatians
5, 22 and 23, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such, there is no law. The natural man cannot receive
these things. But if God creates you anew,
you will. That new man who was created
in righteousness and true holiness. The channel in which you believe
is the spirit of God. This says in obeying the truth,
not your truth, but the truth indeed, I-N-D-E-E-D. The real
and only truth, in other words. It is a fixed point to where
the spirit guides you, and that point is believing the record
God gave of his son, Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 1 Corinthians
3, 9 says we are laborers together with God. We are in close unity
with God, laboring to put forth the gospel. God says go, and
we go preach the gospel. If you remember, 1 Corinthians
3 also says, ministers by whom you believe. I've already talked
about it. The word by 1 Corinthians 3 is the same word used here
in 1 Peter 1, 22, where it says through the spirit. But this
through here in 1 Peter 1 is not us. We are not the channel
the spirit of God comes through to go into a person, if you will.
We do what we are sent to do and preach his truth, the gospel.
We are the channel on which the truth of God is proclaimed. The
spirit of God takes that truth and seals it to that person's
heart, to the believer's heart. We plant in water, God gives
the increased if he is pleased. It is purifying and cleansing
to know and believe what Christ has done for me. I need it daily
because I get dirty, so to speak, every day. But knowing what Christ
has done for me causes me to love my brethren truly, and it's
real. This says it is sincere, why? We are not lovable, but because
he is lovely and has cleansed me, the effect of that is I love
others that he has cleansed, others that have believed his
gospel. We know we do not love the brethren
as we ought, so does God. That's why he tells us, see that
you love one another with a pure heart fervently. We are to show
much love and do it intensely. That's what it's saying there.
Love is not an emotion but a choice. God chose to love us and we chose
to love the brethren by his grace and power. This love is not fake
love or an unfeigned love, it's real. This is not love. Bless your heart. We do not need
our heart blessed. What we need is a new heart. Creating me, oh God, a clean
heart so that I may love you and love the family of God. He
must create in us a new heart. I want us to keep in mind here,
we must remember what is said in chapter 1, verse 2, 1 Peter
1, 2. 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.
That all goes together. Sanctification of the spirit,
what is this? God setting apart this flesh
unto obedience? No. God creating a new man, and
that new man created is set apart for the believing, the obeying
of the gospel, the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,
the gospel. How is it said this is done here,
the things we've just read? 1 Peter 1.22, seeing you 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, being born again. So next, being
born again. It says here in verse 23, being
born again, or you can say it this way, having been born again. not getting born, but having
been born. So in order for me to believe
the truth and to love the brethren and love God for that matter,
I must be born of God, born from above. I am born by a seed, not
a corruptible one. There's no way you can corrupt
this seed. This seed is Jesus Christ the
Lord. The word here is different than
the words used in verse 25. But let me say that this word
as well is also used in some places where it's talking about
preaching the gospel as well. So the word itself does not tell
us that this is Jesus Christ specifically. We get this in
the context. The word can mean the divine
expression. That word word can mean that.
This does not come from my preaching of the gospel. God Almighty,
Jesus Christ is the creator. He ever liveth and was ordained
before the foundation of the world. He has not relinquished
his power and right. He has not turned that over to
the preacher. It says in Genesis 1, God said,
and it was so. It only takes his divine expression
to cause something to be. I don't have any divine expressions
other than expressing his name, which is divine. But it is his
utterance that is divine and life-giving. God created Adam
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. He did this
then and he does this now, when and if he is pleased. You know
the account in John 3, the word means born from above. Not below,
but above. Let's look at who this word is,
though, and turn with me to John 1. John 1. Very familiar to you,
but just want to read it, look at the words. John 1, and I want to read the
first five verses. John chapter 1. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Jesus Christ is the living word. He is the word, that incorruptible
word, which liveth. He has ascended to the right
hand of the Father, accepted, and remains there preparing us
a place, and he shall remain king forever. This word, Jesus
Christ, tells us in Luke 8 these truths. I'm not going to turn
to it, but our Lord explaining the parable of the seed and the
sower tells us what he says. The word must be sung. For if
the word is not sung, there will be no belief that happens. I'm
talking about the truth, the gospel, when I'm talking about
the seed being sung. But there will be no belief if
the word is not sung. No plant, no root, no fruit. This word, this gospel, when
it is preached, has to have a certain kind of ground to fall on. Otherwise,
there will be no plant, no root, No fruit. It takes both. Some call this pervenient grace.
God does not. He says it is a good and honest
heart. If it does not fall on this type
of ground, this kind of heart, then the gospel will have no
lasting effect on that ground. Some might look like it's doing
something, but time and trials will prove that kind of heart
out. you will begin to see that there is no love toward the brethren,
for one thing, because they do not love the gospel of Christ.
I can tell you from authority of scripture, the preaching of
the gospel does not impart to an individual life. I did not
say it does not give life. I said it does not impart life
to an individual. Before I turn there to show that,
let me say this. What did Christ tell Peter in
John 21, 17? He said unto him the third time,
and you remember this is after Peter had denied him three times,
and then he met Christ on the shore, and then he says unto
him this right here, the third time. You gotta, you know, what
kind of thoughts come into Peter's mind there? He saith unto him
the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he
had said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Why didn't he tell Peter
to go preach life into his sheep? Because that is not what Jesus
Christ wants us to do because we do not have the right or the
might. He just tells us to feed his
sheep, which we do by preaching the gospel. We eat his body and
drink his blood when we hear the gospel, and it fills our
hungry souls. So just as food is to our body,
the gospel is to a hungry, born-again soul. It is our sustenance. What does Christ tell us specifically
about this, though, in John 17, one and two? These words spake
Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the
hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given him. Jesus Christ has all the power,
and that is in anything. We have no power whatsoever.
But that says specifically power over all flesh, and that is what
we all are by nature is flesh, dead in trespasses and in sin.
He is seated at the right hand of God, so he is above. I am
not. So it is he that gives life and
not the preacher. So now I said the preaching of
the gospel does not give life, and I said that not by my authority,
but by the authority of the word, the word in scripture. So, turn
with me to Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel 37. You all know this,
too. Ezekiel 37. And that's just after Lamentations,
if that helps. So Ezekiel 37, I'm gonna read
verses one through 14. The hand of the Lord was upon
me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me
down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and
caused me to pass by them round about. And behold, there were
very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. And
he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered,
O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, prophesy
unto these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the
word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto
these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and
ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you,
and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you. And ye shall live, and ye shall
know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded,
and as I prophesied, there was a noise. And behold, a shaking,
and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I
beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the
skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy
unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind,
Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied
as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived
and stood up on their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he
said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of
Israel. Behold, they say our bones are dried and our hope
is lost. We are cut off for our parts.
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God,
behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to
come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel.
And as Walter said before, it's gonna say this twice. So we need
to pay attention to it. And ye shall know that I am the
Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought
you up out of your graves and shall put my spirit in you and
ye shall live and I I shall place you in your own land, then shall
ye know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith
the Lord. The preaching of the gospel does
not impart life. It does not bring someone out
of their graves. God does that. He may do this
before you hear the gospel, during or while you are hearing the
gospel, or after you hear the gospel. because the wind bloweth
where it listeth. You might can tell or hear, as
it says in John 3, that something's going on, but you don't know
who it came from or who it's going to next. I don't know when
someone is given life. I don't even know when I was
given life. I may think someone who has been born from above,
but they may be that ground that received the word quickly and
with joy. But in times of trouble, they fall away. I may feel that
someone is just not receiving that word. But it may be that
the word is taking deep root in the soul and troubling someone
so that they do not know which way to turn yet. But it will
be made manifest one day that they love God because they believe
him and they love the brethren. Time will tell as the saying
goes. But here is also the truth. I don't need to figure out who
is one of God's and who is not. because the Lord knows them that
are his, because he adds to the church daily such as should be
added. There is no flesh that will ever
be anything other than flesh. It will be here one day and not
the next. Verse 24 of our text. Verse 24
of our text. 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. Any flower you might have
in this world will fall away, because this flesh will wither. Ah, but that one born from incorruptible
seed that liveth and abideth forever, that created one will
live with Christ forever. That brings me to the last point,
the word proclaimed by the gospel. 1 Peter 1.25, but the word of
the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. This is talking about two things.
This is talking about those words that Christ has spoken through
his written word. And those words are spirit and
they are life. When we preach the gospel, it
is the Logos that is preached unto us. If someone is preaching
Jesus Christ and the record God has given in the scripture, then
the spirit will take that truth and seal it to our new heart
created by God. We will begin to rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory. This Bible, the one I have right
here, will corrupt and go back to dust, or burn up and go to
dust. But the words which Christ has spoken, him being the seed,
singular, those words being spirit and life will always remain.
But it is this word which was in the beginning and foreordained
to shed his blood for a people that is brought to us by the
gospel. He is brought to us by the gospel.
We speak that word in the gospel. With these things being said,
Notice how either before or after it says for us to do this or
to do that, here in 1 Peter 1, it always either preceding the
thought or after the thought speaks of what God does to us
and for us. We can do nothing without him.
He has all the power to do with us as he pleases. If he is pleased,
he will give us life. We will be born of the incorruptible
seed, the word of God, who was in the beginning and who is God. Being born, that Holy Spirit
will guide us into all truth, causing us to love the brethren
for Christ's sake, because he loved us first. This flesh will
one day melt away, if you will. But what his word has done to
us, both in giving us life from the dead and sending us his minister
to preach the word, the gospel to us, to feed our hungry souls
will enable us to believe him in the record of his son who
is the word of God. Praise to his lovely name. Amen. Dear Lord, I thank you for allowing
us to be here again. Dear Lord, you are all of our
righteousness, our wisdom, our sanctification, our redemption. We know nothing without you.
Teach us by your word, dear Lord, by your gospel, dear Lord. Teach
us about you. And may we intensely love the
brethren, dear Lord, because you know we're not lovable and
we don't even know how to love as we ought. But by your spirit,
we do. We love the family of God. All
these things we ask in Christ's name, amen.