1 Peter chapter 1, and we'll read
from verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. 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. 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, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. wherein ye greatly rejoice, though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, ye love. In whom though
now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired
and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that
should come unto you. Searching what or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the
gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
Which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore, gird
up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for
the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but
as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner
of conversation, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am
holy. 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. For as much 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 and 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. Amen, may God bless to us this
reading from his word. When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke
to Nicodemus, that leader and teacher of the
Jews. When he spoke to him about his
personal salvation, he employed a picture of a second or a new
birth. And that caused Nicodemus some
perplexity. He spoke about a spiritual rebirth. And he said to Nicodemus in John
chapter three, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born of water, that is grace, the grace of God, and of the
spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. And in that statement to Nicodemus,
the Lord emphasised that being born again is essential. ye must be born again. Not you should be, you ought
to be, it would be a desirable thing. But the Lord said to Nicodemus,
Nicodemus, you must be born again. Now I think that as far as Nicodemus
was concerned, he was one of the elect of God. And we discover
that Nicodemus did indeed come to Jesus. He came to Jesus and
he found in the Lord Jesus Christ a personal saviour. He found
that his sins were forgiven by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
this wasn't a mere simple statement of request. Nicodemus, you must
come. Or Nicodemus, you're invited.
Or Nicodemus, it would be good if you did. No, this was a statement
which was emphatic. This was a statement which was
an imperative. The Lord Jesus Christ was saying
to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you must be born again and you
will be born again. You must and you will. And I think that the emphasis,
the necessity of the new birth as a requirement for moving into
any true relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ was not lost
on his apostles, his disciples. So we discover that when the
apostles reflect upon the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ through
his own ministry, they take those things which he taught and they
apply them in their own preaching and in their own epistles and
in their own letters to those that they in turn taught. So
we find Paul, for example, speaking about regeneration and speaking
about quickening. and speaking about being made
alive from that which is dead, employing this new life analogy,
this picture of a new birth. And John. that disciple whom
Jesus loved. He speaks of being born of God
on numerous occasions and that is as well as this emphasis that
he places right at the beginning of his gospel telling of how
the Lord interacted and spoke to Nicodemus. Later in his own
epistles he speaks of being born of God And here in this chapter
that we've read today from 1 Peter, in these closing verses of this
chapter, we discover that Peter too employs this picture that
he had learned from the Lord about the new birth and about
being born again. And by these repeated references,
I believe that they saw, and we ought to see, this imperative
for the new birth. All who are chosen of God, all
who are the elect of God, all who are redeemed by the Lord
Jesus Christ as he died on the cross for that people whom God
had given to him, not a universal atonement, not a general redemption,
but a particular distinctive redemptive work of atonement
for those that had been committed into his hands as the Lord Jesus
Christ died for those individuals upon the cross. So he shows us
this imperative, this necessity that those who are the elect
of God, for whom Christ has died, they must be born again, and
they will be born again. This is God's will. The Lord
Jesus Christ says that there is a must here, and that therefore
they will be born again. Now I want to just take a couple
of moments in the context of this picture of the new birth
or the rebirth, being born again, to just give you quickly two
or three, maybe more, points as to why it is necessary, why
it is so imperative that we have in our minds our understanding
this picture and this effect, this work of the new birth. Let me just say by way of justification
for doing this, I don't want anybody to think that you can
just grow into a sort of mode of being a Christian. The point
is that you're not a Christian for being born in a Christian
country. You're not a Christian for being
born into a Christian family. You're not a Christian for being
a member of a Christian church. No, you must be born again. There has to be that personal
alteration. There has to be that change,
that transformation in your life personally. So let us not be
under any misapprehension with respect to these matters. Why is it necessary that we are
born again? Well, let me give you this one
for a starter. Why was it necessary for Nicodemus
to be born again? Well, very simply because God
said that it was necessary. And I want to just nail that
down at the start because I'm going to give you one or two
other reasons for it. But if God says it's necessary,
it's necessary, right? What is it that the children
say? Mom, why have I got to put on
my coat? Well, what will we say? Will
we say, because you look good in your coat? Or because it's
cold outside? Or because you're going to a
place where everyone else is going to be wearing their coats
and you'll feel out of place if you've not got yours? Or maybe
we just say, because I said so. Why do we need to be born again?
Because God said so. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
said to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you must. And I can give you
all the reasons as to why it's important that we're born again.
But if God says it, then that's the way it is. That's what we
mean by a sovereign God, a God who is in control, a God who
is king, a God whose will and purpose is accomplished. And
if God says, this is how it's to be, then it must, it will
happen. He is God, and that change of
the new birth, that conversion, that internal alteration that
must happen, the new creation as it is elsewhere called, is
God's appointed means of gathering his people, of preparing his
people for heaven, and of revealing his bride in this world. God has simply said it will be
so. So, you know, it doesn't really matter if you don't think
that actually being born again is necessary. It doesn't matter
what the world thinks about this idea of a conversion experience
or this new birth or all this evangelical talk about transformation
and conversion and alteration. It's not really necessary. Well,
you know what? God says it is. and therefore
we will acknowledge its proper place in our life and in our
worship and in our preaching. The Father chose sinners to salvation
by Christ through sanctification. That work of sanctification,
that work of sanctification by the Holy Spirit is His way, is
His method of saving those sinners. That sanctification, that conversion,
that change, that alteration, that new birth is God's way of
doing this work. And He chose a people in eternal
covenant. But he chose not to save them
because of their good works. He chose not to save them because
of their national identity. He chose not to save them by
any other criteria but this, that they would be born again
by God the Holy Spirit and the application of the blood of his
son, Jesus Christ. So God says this is how it's
to be. And he will save by grace. He
will save by abundant mercy. That's what Peter calls it. Through
the washing of regeneration. the change, the new birth, the
alteration, the renewing of the Holy Ghost. And that's what Peter
tells us. We read it at the beginning of
this chapter, 1 Peter 1, verse 3. We read it again today. He
says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So that's God the Father. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us rebirth, the new birth, the change hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. So God has said that this is
how it will be and God has said that this is how he is accomplishing
his purpose. And there's also a necessity
of the new birth because of what we are by nature. We have to be changed. We have
to be altered. There has to be a transformation
in our life. This is one of the necessities
of the new birth because of the condition of our hearts and the
condition of our souls. Yes, God has chosen a people.
He has chosen and elect people in Christ and we are predestinated
to the adoption of children. We will be taken into the family
of God. We will be made and have been
made heirs of an inheritance. But Peter has also said in verse
four, with respect to this inheritance, that it is incorruptible. It is undefiled and it will not
fade away. and it has been reserved in heaven
for you. Now, to inherit something that
is eternal and incorruptible and undefiled requires that the
church be eternal, incorruptible and undefiled. and it requires
that each individual member of that church be eternal, incorruptible
and undefiled. And so the new birth is necessary
to make us what we are not by nature. There has to be this
change. John, The apostle was also the
writer of the book of Revelation, right at the end of our Bibles.
And he says in chapter 21 and verse 27, there shall in no wise
enter into it. He's talking about the holy city,
the new Jerusalem. He says, there shall in no wise
enter into it. The glory of God's presence,
the inheritance in heaven. anything that defileth. Neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book
of Life. Why is the new birthness? Why
did the Lord Jesus Christ say to Nicodemus, you must be born
again? Because That incorruptibility,
that eternal life, that undefiled nature had to be created in us. And that's the work of God the
Spirit in the new birth. The elect must be born again
so as to receive and so as to possess, so as to be imbued with
this new nature, this new spirit, this new way of thinking that
is suitable to the inheritance to which we are going, that inheritance
which has been reserved for us. We will enjoy it in a day to
come, but not in our old nature, not in this flesh, but in the
new nature that flows from the new birth. And that new nature
is created in us at regeneration so radically that the carnal
mind The fleshy nature, the mind which the Bible says is at enmity
with God, is an enemy of God, is converted and reconciled and
drawn to him and befriends him and loves him. so that we who
used to be the enemies of God are so changed by this work that
we now become the very lovers of Christ himself. Paul says in the Romans chapter
eight, verse six, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. And this is the work of the new
birth. Nor can we, until we are born
again, ever please God. There are people in this world,
all over the world, whether it's on the highest mountains in the
most backward regions of the furthest parts of the world,
or whether it's in the great cathedrals of our established
religion, in the finest cities of the world, there are people
endeavouring to the best of their ability to please God. And you
have to pity them, because in their darkness, in their benightedness,
in that sinful nature, They cannot see, they cannot understand,
and they cannot please God. And they might turn their little
prayer wheels and get them spinning in the wind, or they might put
their hands in their pockets and bring out their checkbook
and write a million dollars for the good of the church and for
the charitable activities of the church. And they will never
ever please God until and unless they've been born again. That's
just the way it is. That's the testimony of scripture. We can do nothing to please God
except it is by faith and faith is that work that comes in the
new birth. And so it's this new birth, that
which we have been speaking of, that Peter is referring to here
at the end of this chapter. And he directs the elect of God.
Remember, the elect are those to whom he has written in the
opening verses. He's directing the elect of God,
these scattered strangers, and he says to them in verse 23 about
being born again. And he's talking about a present
experience. being born again. Like the other day when I was
out and spent a little bit of time in the outside and I'm thinking
to myself, I am being frozen. Why is that? Because that's what
was happening to me. Because of the cold. It's a present
experience. And it is a present experience
that Peter is talking about here in these verses. Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, not of the flesh, not of nature,
not of the normal way of reproduction, rather of incorruptible by the
word of God, a spiritual new birth. Peter is directing us
to think of this present experience, the present state of those who
have been redeemed by Christ and who by Him do believe in
God. That's what he was saying in
verse 21. Here are a people who believe
in God by Him. who have been led by the Lord
Jesus Christ, who have been led by the Spirit of Christ, who
have been illuminated, who have been directed, to whom the gospel
has entered in, not merely as it were in the hearing of the
intellect, but in the hearing of the heart, in the hearing
of the soul, we have been brought to see Jesus Christ. as the only
way of salvation. We have been brought to turn
away from our own self-righteousness, our own good works, and to lay
our hope, our faith exclusively and entirely upon the work of
God in Christ. And seeing that, that is us being
born again. Now look and note, if you will,
that this state of being born again is equated to the purification
of the soul. And he says, you have purified
your soul by obeying the truth through the spirit. By obeying
the truth through the spirit. And it's that application of
the blood of Christ that is received by faith, it is knowing and believing
that that blood of Christ cleanses us, purifies us, purifies us
in our conscience, cleanses us before the holy God. So the writer to the Hebrews
says in chapter nine, verse 14, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? The purging of our conscience
is the purifying of our soul. through the obedience to the
truth of the Spirit of God by faith. And in 1 Timothy, the
apostle Paul writes, 3 verse 9, holding the mystery of the
faith in a pure conscience. So this is telling us that this
new birth has an effect. It has a purifying effect. It has a cleansing effect. not
simply theoretical, but actually and really a change and a transformation
has been made. It's not that we think differently
of ourselves, we are different and therefore that thought is
legitimate, not just a make-believe or an as-if kind of thing. In
Titus chapter 1 verse 15 we read, unto the pure All things are
pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing
pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. And everything
of the flesh corrupts the unbeliever, and nothing of the flesh can
corrupt those who have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
I want to make two points by way of application and then we're
finished today. Being born again changes you
in two very practical ways. Like the two sides of a coin. You can't really have one without
the other. You can't have a one-sided coin.
And so these two things play together. They are united. You're brought to understand
and experience in the new birth. The Lord's people are brought
to understand and experience the sovereign, electing, distinguishing
love of God for them. Are you one of the Lord's people?
Do you know the love of God for you? Do you understand what it
cost God to put his son upon the cross and slay him there
for you? Do you know what it is that motivated
God to do that for you? It was love. It was the love
of God for your soul, your soul individually. Amongst the myriad,
the multitude of this world, He chose you out of love and
He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for you. Now if you
have grasped that, and that is a fruit of the new birth, if
you have seen that, then you will have a genuine
practical love for your family in Christ, the two sides of the
coin. Once experienced the love of
God, that changing, transforming love will have an effect in your
life. That's what Peter is saying here. Who amongst us, knowing himself
forgiven, cannot and will not forgive his
brother. Who, experiencing the longsuffering,
the forbearance of God for their own sins and failures, will not
be patient with their brethren. who, having tasted the grace
of God in Christ, will deny help to their brethren, and grant
them mercy, and not just give them what they deserve. We get on our high horse sometimes,
don't we? I would, I would, but they don't
deserve it. I'll let you do. When Christ lives in a man, when
Christ lives in a woman, Christ-likeness will shine from them. It must. Christ's entrance into a man's
heart is always transformational. It's a new birth. And it brings
love for God, and it brings love for the brethren. And that, of
course, is a great theme in the New Testament. John chapter 13,
verse 35, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another. And there are many, many verses
where both the Lord speaks about this love and the apostles pick
it up and continue with it, especially John in his epistles. But let me read what Paul says
on this matter. He says with respect to the love
of God in our lives, this new birth, this transformational
effect of the Holy Spirit sanctifying, converting, changing the old
to the new, he says this. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that ye should obey it in its lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead, who are being
born again, are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments
of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace. I said there were two applications
that I wanted to make. That was the first one. Here's
the second. The Lord's people are begotten again unto a lively
hope. That new birth, we're begotten
again, says Peter in his opening verses. We are begotten again
unto a lively hope. We are born again to a living
hope, a glorious divine promise of eternal life and everlasting
happiness. That's amazing. You have God
as a child of God. You have God as one who has been
born again. The promise of everlasting happiness
set before you. And very, very soon, we're going
to be entering into that. Very soon. On Friday afternoon, I officiated
at the funeral of a brother's relative. I guess not many of
you knew that I was doing that. It came on us quite suddenly. And I do not know the eternal
state of that man that I buried. But I know that we buried his
remains. I know that we had to do that
because of the corruption of dead flesh. Because it had to
be buried deep, out of sight and out of smell. And someday
it'll be the same for you. Someday we'll dig a hole and
we'll put you in it. And you'll lie in that cold,
dark pit. And that'll happen for one simple
reason. And Peter gives it here at the
end of the passage. He says, all flesh is as grass. That's all it is, just like grass.
Are there any of you careful about the blades of grass that
you walk upon when you cross your lawn? You just walk it right
across it. You don't think about the grass,
do you? Why? Because it's worthless stuff. 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. Now, I accept that you're good looking
in the mirror. But in truth, you're only grass
that is withering. And I accept you may be wise
and accomplished, you may be strong physically, mentally,
you may be popular with your friends, but all the glory of
man, it falleth away. Ask the old guys. And today we grow in the garden. and tomorrow we'll be on a bonfire because our flesh profits nothing. But here's what we were saying
to the children earlier. If you find that treasure in
the field, if you find that pearl of greatest price, then you will
discover that Christ profits much. Flesh profits nothing,
little. Christ profits everything. And Peter says to us, the word
of the Lord endureth forever. When this flesh is left in the
grave, when this body is laid down in death, It is the Gospel
of Jesus Christ that will remain. It is the Word who is Christ
who will remain. It is that settled purpose of
God to redeem a people for himself that will endure and will be
successful. And the Word of grace will accomplish
that whereunto it is sent. Isaiah the prophet writes in
chapter 55 verse 11, so shall my word be that goeth forth out
of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper
in the thing where to I sent it. The Lord Jesus Christ is gathering
his church. And he's gathering his church
by the preaching of the word, by the preaching of the gospel.
And he's gathering his church by the new birth. You must be
born again. If you would know Christ, if
you desire to feel that peace of conscience, that knowledge
of sins forgiven, If you would enter into life and possess it,
to what Peter calls an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled,
that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Then as Christ
said to Nicodemus, marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must
be born again. Ye must be born again by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And this is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. May the Lord open our hearts
in this new birth. May he apply his grace and grant
us faith to believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. May
he give us to taste of that new birth. Amen.