Good morning, everyone. You can turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter, we've been slowly working our way through that book, the times that I've been preaching here. So we are continuing. We'll finish Chapter 1 today.
So in 1 Peter, Chapter 1, he's first given the first The first 12 verses are a doctrinal set of teachings that he gives us. And then from verse 13 to the end of the chapter gives us our response to that. And then as we read through, you can see that in verse 13 to verse 21, we have our response towards God, that vertical relationship, how we respond to God in light of all these truths that he's been teaching. And then in verse 22, to the end of the chapter, we have the horizontal relationship between the brethren.
And so we'll read through the chapter. You can see that as we work our way through that. So 1 Peter 1, beginning at verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Grace to you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance, but as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Because it is written, be holy, for I am holy.
And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, he indeed was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through him believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, In sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. Because all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers when its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
Now this is the word which, by the gospel, was preached to you thus far. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we do come before you now and Lord, we look to you and we ask that you would be pleased to be among us, that you would send your spirit in a powerful way to be among us this morning as we As we look at this passage of Scripture, Lord, that You would enable the preaching of the passage, that You would enable us to hear these things, and that You would apply them to our hearts, Lord, a very practical instruction for life with the brethren. And I pray that You would be pleased to edify Your people here, and I pray that if there are those among us who have not come to the Savior, who are not part of that community of believers in Christ, that they would That today would be the day that you shine a light into the hearts and that they see the Savior and that they come to Him in faith and repentance.
So Lord, we pray that you be glorified in all that is done here. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I mentioned, this passage that we're going to look at today, verses 22 to the end of the chapter, verse 25, is dealing with our relationships to others in this new community that we are part of. The Bible tells us to love all men, to love our neighbor as ourselves, regardless of their status with God, but yet there's a special application for the people of God, specifically for the brethren here. So it's this new life that they have, these believers, this new life. And it's also, there's its new community.
If you flip ahead to chapter 4, for a minute, you can see the old community that they were part of and that old way of life. 1 Peter chapter 4, We can start at verse 2 there, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. So that was their past life and their past way of living. Now that they are new creatures in Christ, there is a new way and new commands for living in this covenant community here.
So, you know, we've all been redeemed by the blood of Christ. We're all in Christ. Now, how do we interact with one another on that level? So the section breaks down then what I call the common Christian experience, which is the having purified souls in verse 22, verse 22a, and then we have the command, the imperative, love one another, verse 22b, and then the basis for that, not only for the command, but for the love, the source and the basis of that love, having been born again, and that's in verse 23 to the end of verse 25.
The Common Christian Experience
So the common Christian experience then, having purified your souls, or since you have purified your souls here. So the word purified here is describing these here whose souls have been purified. Well, this implies then, this is not a moral purification, not an outward change of actions where we purify our outward acts, but it's a purification of the inward. It's not sanctification where our lives are becoming conformed to the image of Christ, but rather it is an inward change, an inward purifying that has happened.
So that obviously implies then that we, prior to this purification, there was a time when we were impure. And understanding this is foundational to understanding all of the Christian truths in reality, but this section here as well. that we are all in sin, that we all have sinned, the Bible tells us, and we sin because we're sinners, because we're impure. It's not the other way around. It's not that our sin makes us sinners, but it's the other way around.
The fact that we are sinners makes us sin. That's what we call the doctrine of depravity, where we are spiritually impure by nature. So having that understanding in our mind of what the Bible is teaching, what the Bible teaches us about unregenerate man, this old fallen nature of man, it's going to help us to understand the next passage here so that we don't go off in an Arminian sort of direction at all, but it keeps us grounded here. So we begin depraved and impure.
Soul Purification by Faith
So then how do we become... become pure. How are our souls purified? And it tells us here that you purify your souls in obeying the truth. So, it's an obedience to the truth that purifies our souls.
Now, we need to look at some scripture verses to see what exactly is going on here. As I said, a passage like this, we need to understand our depravity and we need to understand what's going on when we talk about obedience, that we're not left in a in a works-based righteousness, a works-based justification here. So we can turn to 2 Thessalonians 1. Chapter 1, verse 8.
Well, let's back up here again a little bit here. Okay, verse 7, And to give you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. So, obeying the gospel.
What is that? If we can flip back to 1 Peter, actually, again, if your finger was still there. 1 Peter, now this is chapter 4. Chapter 4, verse 17. So it's obeying the gospel.
What is that? Let's turn to Romans 10 now. We can see very clearly what obeying the gospel is. Romans chapter 10, verse 16. but they have not all obeyed the gospel.
For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So we can see in this passage that we have, it's equating obedience and believing. So obedience to the gospel and faith in the gospel, those are synonymous.
Those are the same things there. But now we need to, we need to qualify this and to clarify it here. When we talk of obedience, faith as obedience, we're not talking Neonomianism.
Rejecting Neonomianism
Neonomianism basically is teaching that the new law, neonomian means new law, is faith. And therefore our faith is given merit, our faith is given credit. Whereas when we exercise faith, that's the value that God places on our justification. That's not what we're talking here when we speak of obedience. and faith being the same thing here.
God's new standard of righteousness and new standard for entrance into heaven is not faith, where our faith has a value that's worthy of eternal life. The obedience that we talk about here is a passive obedience. It's a submission, submission to the truths of the gospel and believing the truths of the gospel. So you can turn to Acts chapter 15 for a minute.
And we'll see one last passage that speaks to this. Acts chapter 15, starting at verse 6. Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they, salvation by faith alone." Their hearts are purified by faith here. So it's a purification of the heart, meaning referring to the new nature, referring to the regeneration that we have here.
So it's not an outward act, it's not a ritualistic cleansing of any sort, but it's faith Obedience to the truth, obedience to the gospel is faith in the gospel. And we need to always understand that. You know, justification is by faith alone. And our faith is not of value, our faith is not meriting anything, but rather our faith is receiving something.
It's receiving the work of Christ on our behalf, that Christ did all of it. That's what justification is. by faith is. And again, I think of Luther. Luther always says that every week I preach justification by faith to my people because every week they forget it.
It's not because he thought his people were dolts and they were stupid, but he understood the importance of this doctrine of justification by faith alone, that it is not faith and works, it's not faith and something that we did, but rather it is faith alone that saves us, faith alone that justifies us. And then, you know, so it comes, it's by faith alone based on the work of Christ alone. So, and that is the beautiful thing here, is that this passage tells us here that, you know, whoever accepts this reality and understands this, this faith alone aspect, that is what makes us part of the community of believers. Faith alone in Christ alone for salvation.
That's who makes up this community that we are to love and care for. So that's the common Christian experience. That's why I called it that, is understanding and having our hearts purified by faith alone. Now, one thing I do want to I do want to mention is that, you know, I talked about, you know, obedience being faith and equating those two, but yet we do need to understand it is our duty.
It is our responsibility to obey the gospel call. The Bible uses that language very clearly. So, you know, we believe in the doctrines of grace. We believe in a calvinistic soteriology that that god, you know, god elects god gives the gifts of faith and repentance But yet, you know that does not leave us without responsibility.
We're we're told very clearly in the bible repent and believe. It's our duty, our responsibility to obey that. That's why those verses, the first verses that I read in 1 Peter 4 and 2 Thessalonians 1, they highlight the punishment coming upon those who don't obey. If you don't obey, it's punishment.
If you obey this, it's eternal life. The verb that we find in Peter here, it's in It's in the act of voice. You know, we are the ones doing the obeying. Now, this sounds Arminian, and the Calvinistic hairs on your neck are probably standing up.
And, you know, where's this guy going now that Pastor Butler's gone? No. You know, it's important that we understand this. This morning hour, actually, in the confession study, we looked at the doctrine of saving faith, and prior to that, several weeks ago, we looked at the effectual call, and that really deals with this here.
How does this work?
Faith as Passive and Spirit-Enabled
So first, two things we need to understand, then. First is that obedience and faith is not It's not the instrument that does the justifying. Faith is not a force that we wield and we somehow justify ourselves, somehow make ourselves pure and right. Faith is passive.
God does the justifying. Christ has done the work. Faith is the channel that receives that gift from God. It receives the work of Christ on our behalf for our purification.
We can say that we obeyed, or we believe, but that faith which we obeyed with is a passive faith. It's not credited, it does not have merit to it at all in our standing with God. In the confession in chapter 11, on the justification, it talks about being justified by faith, and it says, not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness. So it's important to understand that, as what I mentioned earlier.
There's no merit to our faith, it is passive. But secondly, and this really explains it better, is the next line here, that it says that they've obeyed, obeying the truth through the spirit. If you have a King James or a New King James Bible, it says that in the Spirit. The NASB, ESV, other versions exclude that, a bit of a textual variant there.
But either way, whether that's the original, whether that was added, either way, that is what the rest of the Scripture teaches, and that's what we need to understand in order to understand this doctrine here, that the Holy Spirit's regenerating power, it was through the Holy Spirit that we were enabled to believe. We looked at that this morning in detail. So we call men to obey the gospel, but we understand that it's the Holy Spirit that regenerates the heart and enables them to believe. That's what we read this morning, of saving faith, the grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts.
So the elect are enabled, so it's an act of the will whereby we can say we're obeying, but it was prior work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating the heart that enabled man to believe. Prior to regeneration, man would not, could not believe the truths of the gospel. So we need to understand that so we can properly say faith is obedience, but knowing that the Holy Spirit work that obedience in the hearts by changing the hearts. John 1 verse 12 explains that beautifully here.
It says, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. So we have people receiving Him, you know, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So understanding that spiritual regeneration that must precede this. But again, we need to maintain that balance.
We don't want to emphasize one over the other to the exclusion of one. We still call people to repent and believe. They are to repent and believe, but they realize that when I repented, when I believed, it was because the Holy Spirit enabled me to. So we don't wait for the feeling of a burning in the bosom, a regeneration of our heart prior to believing.
No, we come, we believe like we're commanded to. in the Bible, but we know what's happening in the heart by the Holy Spirit. So that, again, is such a fundamental understanding to have of the Reformed theology. Otherwise, we depart into error on either side of the spectrum there.
The Command to Love the Brethren
So understanding that, then, we move on to the result. What is the result of this? Unto a sincere love of the brethren. This is a result of this new birth.
One of the results, there's many results, but this is the one in the passage here. The purification of the soul results in a love for the brethren. It's the natural result of this one commonality that we now have with these others who have believed. And again, as I mentioned earlier, it's not a love your neighbor, love all men, all men everywhere as yourself, but rather it's this, he uses a very specific word here for this love.
Unto a sincere love of the brethren. Love of the brethren is one word in the Greek. It's the word Philadelphia. So the word phileo is love, and then adelphoi is brothers. we have Philadelphia, we have a brotherly love.
It's a unique word here used for this Christian community. I think to illustrate this, if you've ever been somewhere else in the world, I'm not much of a world traveler, but you run into somebody, you're somewhere else, and you run into someone who's from the same country as you, and then suddenly you have this connection there. It's like, oh, hey, you're, you know, These are my people type of thing with this person. And now, so this is what's going on on a spiritual level.
Peter has addressed them in the beginning as pilgrims. They're strangers in a hostile world, a different world. They're not citizens of this world. They're citizens of another world.
That's Paul's language, but it's the same thing. They're in a strange land. And so the brethren are your people, and you're united by this common faith in the Savior. So, you know, a connection with, you know, when you're on vacation, a connection with someone from the same country as you, that's quite a superficial connection.
But yet, you know, it illustrates that affinity that we have with them and how we just feel that. So, you know, so then obviously how much more of an affinity, of a connection should we have for, you know, for those who are connected in regards to the spiritual things, the things that truly matter, our salvation, this hope of glory that we have together in glory with our Savior. These truths are the things that, common truths that we hold dear are the things that connect us together as those in Christ. John Brown, he says here, brotherly love originates in the possession of a peculiar mode of thinking and feeling produced in the mind by the Holy Spirit through the knowledge and belief of the Christian truth.
So that's what connects us. These common beliefs and these non-negotiable Christian truths, and I say non-negotiable because there are things we can differ on and still be one in Christ. But things like what he's emphasizing in the chapter here, justification by faith alone. You can't negotiate that.
The Trinity, the person of Christ, these things are so important. Turn to the book of 2 John for a minute, a book that we probably don't read as much as we should. 2 John. to see this emphasis here on this communion of those in the truth. So 2 John, he says, the elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth as we received commandment from the Father. And now I plead with you, lady, Not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it." It referencing there the truth.
So we see that this love in the truth, this common bond here, fellowship with those in the truth, the rest of the book instructs them on on having this fellowship with those who are in the truth and no fellowship with those who deny the truth, the truth concerning the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. So this common bond here of these things that make us Christian, knowing these fundamental truths of the Scripture and having this common faith in Christ and regenerated hearts. So this love that we have to have.
Sincere and Unhypocritical Love
Now Peter quantifies this love. Here he calls it a sincere love. In the Greek, if you listen, it's unhypocritical. That's the literal definition of that.
An unhypocritical love for the brethren. This morning I was reading in in Ezekiel 33, and God is speaking to Ezekiel, and He's saying, you know, these people, they love with their mouth only, but their heart is for their own glory. And that is a hypocritical love. So we're called to love with an unhypocritical love, a love that, you know, it does not say one thing to the person's face, and then it says other things, you know, about them behind their back, you know, what we would call two-faced.
You know, it doesn't act loving and say loving things. to their face and then slander them when they're not there because they have different theological beliefs or go to a different church. You know, it doesn't act one way toward them, you know, and loving and kind, but then inwardly judging them because they have different Christian liberties than you do. You know, but it's a sincere love because of this common bond that we have in Christ.
Fervent, Self-Sacrificial Love
So that brings us then to the command. here, that we are to love one another fervently. So Peter does something interesting here when he says that we've been born into a sincere love of the brethren, and we are to love one another fervently, and he uses a different word in the original for love, what we have translated as love here. Now, a lot of ink has been spilled over the different words in the Greek for love. Much has been said about that, probably maybe making too much of a distinction there.
But there definitely is a distinction, and I think we can really see that in this passage here. So the phileo, this Philadelphia love of the brethren, the phileo part of that is a very emotional love. And we can see that, right? When we think of a connection that we would have, again, you're on vacation in a different country, and someone from your own country, there's a, it's a, oh, these are my people, but it's a very emotional attachment to them, a very emotional, love for that and it's and it's it's it's based on on you know on truth, but there's you know again, it's it's it's a there's an emotion to it, but Here he uses the word agape.
That is the that is a self-sacrificing love and that's the and that's a love that takes conscious effort to you know to carry out this it takes it takes action and And that's the difference here between these two. Naturally, we have this emotional love for one another because of our common experiences, but now, what do we do with that? He says here, you are to love the brethren in a self-sacrificial love, a love that takes action. We need to do this, to love here with the self, sacrificing love. 1 John 3, 18 tells us that clearly.
Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. There's an action here that we must take to love the brethren. It's intentional. It's stirring up that love doing doing loving acts of service to others.
And, you know, this is, again, we all express love in different ways. So, you know, don't feel like there's only one way that, you know, if you see so-and-so doing this loving thing that that's the only way to do it. No, the Bible's clear. We're all gifted in different ways, you know.
So don't feel that the only way you can show love to someone who's sick is to make them a meal or something like that. Maybe you're not a good cook and the loving thing is to not make them a meal. That would be more loving. So don't feel like you're an unloving Christian if you can't make a meal for someone who's sick.
There's different ways in which you can love. Love comes in a multitude of ways. that we can love one another. Sometimes it's just being a listening ear. I think often we need a listening ear more than we need a pot of soup sometimes.
It's something that's missing, I think, a lot here. An unhypocritical, unhypocritical listening ear, to hear people and to sit with them and to listen to their problems. Let's turn to Romans 12 for a minute. We can see the difference of our gifts and how we can use them to love others.
Romans 12, starting at verse 3. For I say, through the grace given to me and to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them Let us use them.
If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. If or ministry, let us use it in our ministering. He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy.
Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love. In honor, giving preference to one another. not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, giving to hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another.
Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. So, we see that in verse 4. First of all, he says, we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function.
So, as I said, we don't all have the same gifts, so don't judge ourselves based on others and the gifts that God has given to others. But he gives us a very, very clear teaching here of these things. So we can look at ourselves. How has God gifted us?
How can we bless others here? It's the gift of hospitality people have, the gift of encouragement, the gift of financial giving. That's a gift as well, it says here. So whatever it may be, we have to do it with this sacrificial serving, self-sacrificing serving And that's what we saw in verses 9 through 13.
They're very, very serving others, you know, doing it, be kindly affectionate to one another. So these acts of kindness, acts of service, helping others, giving of your time, your energy, your finances, whatever that may be. Those are all ways in which we are to love the brethren. And again, specifically towards those who are in Christ.
There's a special love that we have that we are to carry out to them. And again, this is a love that we are commanded to love. This takes intentional action. It says, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
So that's the secret to a happy life, if you will. Loving God, loving your neighbor, and especially the brethren, as we are commanded to do there. That's our purpose on this life, to honor God by doing these things here. So back to 1 Peter again.
And as we look at this love, this self-sacrificing love here, we see that it's a reciprocal love. So he says, love one another. So we have this back and forth here. So we don't always want to be the person who just takes, takes, takes.
It's like, oh, if you need to exercise your love, I'm over here. You can bless me. We don't want to be that. that person who's always taking. The exhortation here is to love.
It's to give of yourself in whatever way you can. This also goes the other way. We don't always want to be the one who gives, gives, gives, and never takes. For your fellow Christian to be able to love you, you have to be able to receive gifts from them.
You have to be willing to receive that. And that sometimes can be a problem in our own lives, as being the one who will always give and will never... and will never take. The interesting thing when we bought our house in Armstrong, the guy that I bought it from gave me a phone number. He said, this is the phone number for somebody who can plow snow on the driveway.
And I said, oh, is this a neighbor then or something? He's like, no, it's somebody I hire. He's like, the neighbor wants to plow my driveway, but he won't let me pay him, so then I won't get him to do it. So we don't want to be like that.
We want to be willing to receive from others. If they want to give us a good gift, we have to be able to receive it. We don't always have to feel like we need to pay them something for that. So that's something to think about.
It's not a horrible thing, but it's that reciprocal In order for this love to be reciprocal, we have to be able to be willing to receive from others. And again, another thing is to not, in terms of this reciprocalness, to not be afraid to open up when we're struggling, to find someone, to find a trustworthy brother or sister that you can confide in. It doesn't need to be shouted from the rooftops, but yet, You don't need to suffer in silence. We just read in Romans there that we are to weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice.
Well, how can we weep with you when you're weeping and how can we rejoice with you when you're rejoicing if we don't know anything about you? So that's part of it as well, that we open up to one another and share our burdens. We bear each other's burdens and we lift each other up that way and so fulfill the love of Christ, Paul says. So, you know, and again, this is, you know, we always have to qualify things, I feel, but, you know, we don't want to...
This doesn't mean that every time you stub your toe that you email the pastor to start a prayer chain. You know, that's not what I'm saying here. But again, like I said, we don't want to suffer in silence. We have a body of believers that is there that we've been exhorted to come alongside you and to love you in this particular way.
So don't be afraid to open up. And hopefully for all of us, that we're understanding this unhypocritical love that we're supposed to have so that we're not two-faced about it. Someone doesn't tell us our problems and then we go and spout them off or whatever it may be with that. We need to be like that so that we can all be someone that others are comfortable to come to and to share our burdens with one another that way.
Constancy and Earnestness in Love
So the second qualifier then that he gives you, first it's this reciprocal love, and then we also have a fervent love here, that we're to love one another fervently. So this word here, we find it means, it's a constancy, that in Acts 12, verse 5, we find Peter was kept in prison there, but constant, same word, constant prayer was offered to God for him. So we see that constancy. And again, that comes from this intentional love for the brethren.
They're being intentional about it, being constant about it. And then there's also this earnestness, this fervency about it. In Luke 22, verse 44, it says, Jesus prayed more earnestly. So same word again this earnestness fervency.
So so the the the Greek lexicon Defines this word as as persevering so with implication that one does not waver in one's display of interest or devotion So so so let's let our love be like that not not not wavering in our interest for one another, you know So so caring for them weeping with those who weep rejoice with those who rejoice working for the good of each other, and also devotion, devoted to one another, devoted to their best interests, the best interests of the brethren. And then this love here, it comes from a pure heart, he said, or a purified heart. In the King James, the other translations don't have purified in there, but either way, it's from the heart. It's a genuine, from the heart love here.
So it's something that is natural, to believers, this love. It's something that comes from a regenerated, from a purified heart. Yes, it needs to be encouraged. Yes, we need to intentionally act upon that.
We always need to remember that we are to be disciplined, excuse me, in our actions as well. We are dependent on God, but we're disciplined. So we need to act upon this love intentionally. But it is something that does come naturally to the believer.
We find that in the book of 1 John. If you like, 1 John 3, verses 10 to 15. 1 John 3, verse 10. In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother, And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.
He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." So we see very clearly then this is one of the the fruits of a regenerated heart. In 1 John, it's one of those tests of, am I walking with the Lord? Am I saved?
Do I have this love for the brethren? It's an evidence of being saved. So again, you don't need to be gushing all over every other believer, but do we have that affinity? Do we feel this affinity of this connection to, oh, these are my people.
I'm in Christ with them. It's that genuine feeling from the heart of these are my people. And then again, this genuine desire as well to serve them. So these are the things that come from a regenerated You know, it's the it's the fruits of that and that's what Peter goes to next here then in in verse in verse 23 You're having been born again.
That's the that's the that's the source of all this or the you know That's where it all comes from.
Love Grounded in Regeneration
So so this this whole responsibility that we have of of of brotherly love is is is it's all it Peter grounds at all here in our regeneration that this this this true love this true affinity that we have comes from a regenerated heart. So
Incorruptible Seed and Eternal Word
he says here, you're born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. So it's not a natural birth. Your connection to them, it's not natural. Again, remember the example of traveling and meeting someone from your own country.
You have this connection, but that's because you were born in the same country, naturally born. Same thing might be with family members. Generally speaking, we have this connection. with our family members, a certain connection we have there. But again, this connection is based on something perishable, something that is, it's only part of this temporal lower world here.
And Peter has been emphasizing through this whole book, or through this whole chapter so far, the difference there between things of this lower world and things of the heavenly places, this eternal hope of glory that we have and understanding where our emphasis is and our focus ought to be. So when it comes to relationships, It's no different there, that we have this connection we have with family members, with whatever, that's based on natural birth, natural circumstances. But the unity that we have as brethren is founded on something so much more. It's founded on something imperishable, incorruptible, that he says here, something eternal, and that is our spiritual birth.
So by spiritual regeneration, as we saw earlier, that we enter into this union with Christ. And that is, as Peter says here, that comes through the word of God. And he's speaking here of the gospel proclamation. He uses a word in the Greek that's for the word, which normally is logos.
Here he uses a different word meaning proclamation, which is the gospel, the gospel of our Lord Jesus, the gospel that Paul says in Romans 1 is the power of God unto salvation. So this living word of God brings life, brings eternal life to all who believe in this message, in the message of Christ and Him crucified. And then Peter quotes Isaiah 40 here, verses 6 through 8. He says, All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of the grass.
The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. So what's he doing here in the context of this brotherly love? So he's grounding our love in our regeneration, which comes through the preaching of the word, and of course, the power of the spirit that he's mentioned here. So he's contrasting, again, the temporal with the eternal here.
So he quotes Isaiah, because that's exactly what Isaiah is doing in there. So in this context here, This is the foundation for our relationships with the believers here. It's, you know, temporal relationships, you know, they do matter. We see that here, you know, he says that the glory of man is as the flower of the grass.
So, you know, flowers are beautiful. Temporal relationships are beautiful, things that we can enjoy for sure, but, you know, And just like a horticulturist, we have to understand, you know, a horticulturist enjoys the flowers, he cares for them, he delights in them, but he knows that they're passing, they're going to die, they're not lasting. And that's with our temporal relationships are the same thing, they're beautiful things we're to love. But we understand that they are temporal.
We don't have that spiritual, eternal aspect to those things. But our relationships to the brethren are founded on the gospel of Christ. And they are eternal, they are lasting. When we understand that, we understand that this relationship is founded on the gospel of Christ, then we realize, like Paul said to the Galatians, he says, There's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's neither male or female, but you are all one in Christ.
And that's our true family. That's why we call one another brother and sister, or the brethren, collectively. It's our true family. The grass withers, the flower falls away.
Temporal relationships, they won't last into eternity. They can be beautiful while they last, but they eventually will end. But there's something different about this relationship to our fellow believers. And that's what Peter wants us to understand in here, that these are founded on the Word of God, which endures forever.
And through this Word, we are one in Christ. We have that unity and that community as the blood-bought people of Christ. And that is why we have this special love for one another. It's a different love that we enjoy, the brotherly love.
Application
So now, just a few words then in closing here, in application, things to think about in light of this, is one, the need to foster and to maintain fellowship. The Christian life is not a journey that we are to go alone. I think Pastor Butler said it last week, we're not to be maverick Christians. We are part of a community, and we need to exercise that.
Place yourselves in that community, you know, so and of course the easiest way is come to church You know, that is the that's that's where we can and come to church and fellowship as well Don't you know? We get get to know people know how to how to love them learn about their their their their struggles the things that they're Struggling with the things that are rejoicing over, you know get to know them and then you know, so that's the The positive aspect of it also, as I mentioned earlier, don't suffer in silence. We are a body that is there for one another, so you don't need to suffer in silence. Part of this reciprocal love is receiving love from the brethren, so share your burdens with one another.
We are here to love you, to lift you up, to bless you in whatever way we can. And then another one I want to bring out, and I think this one can hit home maybe a little bit, is our brotherly love goes beyond church denomination. We have a tendency to do that, especially in Reformed denominations, for whatever reason that may be. And I don't mean Reformed denominations out there.
I mean, you know, Reformed Baptists have the same thing as well. Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw again a tweet, someone saying, why are Reformed Baptists so arrogant and unapproachable or something like that? And I just thought, oh, that pains me to see that because our identity is not Reformed. It's not Reformed Baptists. is not Calvinistic.
There's Facebook groups out there, the Calvinists, and these things are good. These things can be beneficial for sure, but that is not our identity. Our identity is not Reformed Baptist. It's not Calvinistic.
Our identity is in Christ, and that is what we need to understand, and we need to really realize and to not ever make our identity and our group of what we would call brethren, those of the same church or the same denomination or same theological persuasions, whatever that may be. Being in Christ, that is what connects us to, it's that common bond that we have to all those who are born again, all those who have been born again through the living and enduring word of God are those who are in Christ and they are our people. John Brown, Again, he says here, there's something inexpressibly awful to a believer's mind in the idea that his Christian affections should be confined within narrower limits than the love of Jesus. So, our Christian affections confined within narrower limits than the love of Jesus.
Pitiably dreary must be the mind of that man who can look around on the wide world and count his dozen or his score, score meaning 20, count his dozen or score whom alone he can salute as brethren or expect to accompany to heaven. Far from me and far from you, my Christian friends, be such self-sufficient bigotry which freezes the fountain of love and keeps the heart cold." So let us remember that, brothers and sisters. We are in Christ, and all those who are in Christ through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, faith in Christ, You know, those are our people. You know, we have a tendency to look down on others.
You know, maybe their system of doctrine, you know, has some missing parts and, you know, whatever it may be. And I'll grant it to you, the Reformed Baptist hermeneutic and doctrinal system is glorious. It's amazing. It's great.
And I think that's why we love it so much. But, you know, I think sometimes those who... people that we have a tendency to look down on because they don't have quite the same well-structured and organized system, those people can often be better examples of this unhypocritical love for one another than sometimes we might have a tendency to be. So let us remember that there. And the same thing goes for Christian liberty as well, not just our doctrinal standards, but our Christian liberties. whatever it may be.
If you're convinced that you need to homeschool your children, but those who send their kids to public school, are they a little bit different? You're not quite as willing to exercise the same love for them as you would for another homeschooling family, for example. Drinking alcohol is another prime example. Do we look down on those people or do they not quite fall in the same group of people that we would consider brethren Is there something different about that?
No, we need this unhypocritical love for those who are in Christ there. So, is our love unhypocritical? Is it from the heart? Do we act loving towards someone, but we're looking down on them a little bit?
We're doing it because we feel we need to, but we look down on them because they're their doctrinal system is a little different, or their Christian liberties are a little different, you know, whatever it may be. In 1 Corinthians 8, verse 12, the context there being Christian liberties, he says, when you thus sin against the brethren, this is by looking down on others with different liberties, when you thus sin against the brethren, you sin against Christ. So let us remember that. So can this be said of you that Jesus said, by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another, John 13, 34.
And then just in closing, I want to look at the last sentence that I never read here. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. So preached by the gospel, one word in the Greek, evangelized, is sort of a word, gospelized. So this word, this is the word that was given to you, For one, this is an encouragement.
We have this living, enduring Word of God, the truths contained in there. That's the very Word by which we were saved. It's the foundation for our faith in Christ and our hope in Him. Our salvation is secure because of the glorious truths contained in this Word that was gospelized to us.
But it also comes as a warning, and actually quite a very serious warning. You know, this Word was preached to you. What did you do with that Word? Were you obedient to that Word?
Did you submit to the truth of it? Submit in obedience to Christ as Lord, to faith in Him as your Savior? You know, one of the most frightening verses in all of the Bible is Jesus speaking to Chorazin and Bethsaida. And He says to them, He says to them, it's going to be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you, Chorazin and Bethsaida.
Why? It was because they had the mighty works of God done among them. Here we have the mighty word of God preached among us. What did you do with that?
If you reject that, it is going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah. We saw what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. We see it in the Bible, what happened to them in an outward sense with the city. how wicked they were, they were all destroyed in such a fiery manner. But that was only temporal.
What about the spiritual aspect of them and their sin? You know, but it's going to be more tolerable for them than for those who have heard the word of the Lord preached and still reject that, still disobey it, still turn from it. So believe then. That's what, you know, come to Christ, trust in him for your salvation.
Not that you, so that your salvation, we looked at that this morning, what is faith? It's either my works gain entrance into heaven, or it's Christ's works for me that gain entrance into heaven. If you trust that Christ's work for you, that is faith, that is to believe in him. And then you enter into that blessed union with Christ, and that blessed fellowship with the brethren.
So let us close in prayer.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we thank you again for your word. We thank you for this passage of scripture, and Lord, these things that we all need encouragement in our lives, to love the brethren. And Lord, I just thank you for these exhortations. I pray that we would take these things to heart, that we would seek to live lives of love for one another, and building each other up, and helping each other, weeping with those who weep, rejoicing with those who rejoice.
So Lord, I pray that you help us with these things. We know that our Lord Jesus says, apart from you, we can do nothing. So Lord, we look to you for that, and we pray for that. And Lord, I do pray, again, that if there are any here who have not come to Christ and entered that union with Christ and that fellowship of the believers that we have together, being together in Christ, Lord, that they would come, that they would trust in the Lord Jesus as the The hymn writer says, nothing in my hand I bring simply to that cross I cling.
Lord, that's all we need is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. So I pray that you would be pleased to bless us now. I pray that you go with us in the remainder of this day. Bring us back together this evening, Lord, if it's in your will to celebrate the Lord's death together and to look at what that means for us as your people.
Lord, I pray that you'd be honored and glorified in all that we do. And we pray this in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Amen. Well, you can turn to the doxology 568, I believe it is.
Thanks. 568, and stand and sing in closing, please. ♪ We know ♪ ♪ We still love you ♪ ♪ We know ♪ ♪ We still love you ♪ ♪ We know ♪ Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, you can be seated for a time of meditation. Thank you.