The Word of Truth: The Gospel (1 Peter 1:22-25)

1st: During the 2-mile if I thought the other competitors had better foot speed, meaning in a straight sprint they would beat me, then I would run at a faster pace for the first half to 3/4 of the race. I would let them take the lead, and then I would run right behind them just in the sight of their peripheral vision so they knew they could not slow their pace. I would also talk to people on the side who were yelling, even if they were from other schools. Morgan will vouch for that we went to rival high schools and that is how she knew me before we met. I was famous for this maneuver. Really what I was doing was playing a mind game. If I am running a race, and my competitors are putting every piece of effort into the race, they are getting tired and they see me in the peripheral vision and they hear me talking not out of breath, what they begin to think is, I can’t keep this up over the long haul. Either they slow the pace, and I pass them and keep talking, and in distance running when you slow the pace is when your muscles in your legs tighten, your body relaxed and all the sudden you feel the weight of the run more, it’s less of a gliding run and more of a hopping jog.

The other strategy I would employ is if they were faster than me at pacing, I would simply sit behind them, let them take the wind, let them set the pace, let them lead. I didn’t care about my time, I just cared about winning. I would talk, I would be in their vision, I but I wasn’t trying to get them worn out at the pacing, I was conserving energy because when you come around that last turn it’s whats called the kick. And those were my favorite, I loved out kicking people after they had lead for nearly all of the two mile race. This was my preferred strategy.

I trained hard, I used the mental game, and I wanted to win when I was tired.

That is what is was for me, and so those desires and that ability played into the actual races for me. Have energy at the mile and a half mark, that is where people struggle the most. Don’t let them know you are tired too. In the end, out kick people… that’s just about how bad do you want to win nothing more or less.

This is the idea Peter is going to keep pressing into us.

Much of 1 Peter so far has been about who we are as Christians, and then how that plays itself out in our lives.

To go back to the track illustration, some (many) people in the 2 mile race were placed in those races by coaches, with the sole purpose of we need you just to finish the race. There was not a lot of people entered in the 2 mile typically and so many times if you finished it meant your team at least got a point. So those people in the races just trying to get a point, they are not running hard, they are not really competing. For them it’s meaningless. Pointless. Sure the team gets a point, but in the end thats a lot of work for not much. They are miserable, slow, and typically upset with their coach.

Peter is tell you and I as we are in this race of life, running along, we are a purpose and we have meaning. This race isn’t pointless for us. There is more to it that stumbling over the finish line complaining to Jesus about how you didn’t even want to be in that race!

This matters because Peter is writing to people who are suffering and about to suffer more.

Getting the foundation right is vital, understanding the motivation for life is vital. if you don’t have the right foundation if you don’t have the right motivation then as soon as any little hint of suffering comes along… we will be moved because we were never really rooted down.

You are this… so do that.

In earlier sermons I called this a chain, where each link was dependent on the other.

You are saved by grace alone through faith alone, in Christ alone… so new chain link, be holy, live in reverent fear of God.

For us to be certain of this, for us to do the things Christians are supposed to do… we must first understand what our chain link is supposed to be connected to… how do we know what we know is right? Emotions, experience, tradition, feelings, desires, etc. All tell of various things that can be good and can be corrupted. So how do we center ourselves, how do we know the first link in the chain is secure, how do we know who we are so we can then live that truth out?

Why are we running the race of life the way we are? How do we stay motivated with we are tired, when we are worn out, when it feels pointless, when pressure come?

Peter is going to root us in on that this morning.

Pray

God, You know us and you know why we are here. You know about our motivations in life, you know about what our faith is founded upon. Father we pray that you would help us to see that everything in life will change, will shift, it will move, but You and Your Word remain. The Truth of your Word is the Gospel. Help us to completely and fully cling to you Jesus. Help your Word to root us and help us to Love your Word.

It’s in Jesus Name we Pray,

Amen

22

1 Peter 1:22 CSB

Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly,

This Since is calling back to everything that Peter said!

Your living hope is wrapped up in the triune God, the Father’s Plan of Salvation, was accomplished by the Son- Jesus Christ, and Applied by the Holy Spirit, that’s our salvation, that by God’s Grace alone we are saved when we have Faith alone in Christ Alone. He is the unblemished Lamb. He is the only one who can make us Holy like He is Holy. We as human beings are created in God’s image, and if we are saved God is working in us to make us more and more like God and ridding us of our sin and making us less like the world.

All of life outside of Christ is completely empty.

In reality what Salvation does is it frees us to obey God.

Outside of being saved we cannot really obey God at all, externally we might keep the commandments, but the greatest commandment is Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and every other commandment flows from that Love God has first given us. If you do not love the Lord with everything, then you cannot fully keep any other commandment including loving your neighbor.

This is what Peter is getting at.

You have purified yourselves by obedience to the truth…

Obedience to the truth means have faith in Jesus. Obey means believe in the truth in Jesus.

If you recall 1 Peter 1:2, it says:

1 Peter 1:2 (ESV)

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

That the greeting Peter is giving and he already has this obedience to Jesus in mind. We are saved to obey. We are purified (made holy) to obey.

Word of truth is the gospel. To obey to the Word of truth is to believe the word of truth. To quote the commentator Daniel Doriani

1 Peter God’s Word Is Truth that Brings Life

We obey the truth when we believe the gospel that Peter declared: Jesus is God’s Anointed, the Savior. He suffered, shed his innocent blood, died and rose, and promised to restore all things (1 Peter 1:3–9). We obey the truth when we believe that Jesus died as a sacrifice for sins and that God “raised him from the dead and glorified him” (1:21). We obey the gospel when our “faith and hope” (1:21) rest in Jesus Christ, who “bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (2:24).

We obey the gospel because the Word is clear and authoritative.

The Gospel demands a response to it… we either believe or we do not believe. There is no neutrality with the Gospel. To do anything but believe it is to reject the gospel, which is to disobey the Word of God.

So there is a passivity to obeying the Gospel, resting in Jesus. But much of the lingo we use to talk about our salvation experience is less about being biblically true and more about words and phrases we hear the preacher or our family say.

I was saved, I surrendered to God. Both of which can be true, both of which carry a passive element to this obedience to the Word of Truth idea. Meaning both are incomplete. There is an active demand from the Word of God to obey, believe.

Joel 2:32 (CSB)

Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for there will be an escape for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the Lord promised, among the survivors the Lord calls.

This passage in Joel is quotes by Luke in Acts 2:21, and Paul in Romans 10:13.

This in no way is counteractive to what Peter way saying in verse 2 about election. God is not dependent on you and I to glorify Him, while at the same time God has brought salvation this way, and from our perspective these two things are a mystery. How can God choose people to be saved, and then call people to actively obey God’s word.

Either God is asking us to do something we cannot and then it feels like the punishment is unfair,

repent and believe or go to Hell- but if you cannot then how is that fair

God is weak and passive unable or unwilling to actually save humans, waiting for us to take that first step which makes God weak and dependent on us to do our par and if we won’t then His hands are tied…

how is that fair for Native Americans who never heard the gospel, never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus, God could have sent someone but were his hands tied because some one was disobedient to His calling so for eternity people are in Hell being punished because God is passive?

Do you see the error of both ways… yet the bible talks about the implications of salvation neither way.

God is the one who saves. Chosen, elected, predestined. We are called to actively obey the truth of the Word the Gospel.

Not because we are robots or puppets being used by God for some cosmic play where we ultimately do what we don’t want to do or don’t do what we want to because God decided differently than we did.

Somehow someway, because our God is omniscient and omnipotent- All knowing and all powerful, and we are not. Our finite human minds cannot fully comprehend the infiniteness of God. And praise the Lord for that!

Instead God reveals Himself to us, in His word. It’s not everything about God… But it’s everything we need to know to be saved and to live holy lives as Gospel witnesses.

It’s everything we need to be purified and obey the word of Truth.

In verse 22, we see two loves.

We have brotherly love first.

So because of this obedience to truth that we are given we are called to have a brotherly love, with whom? each other…

Who is the original audience? It’s these persecuted churches around Asia Minor. Peter is saying the overflow of this Gospel is to love one anther with a brotherly kind of love.

So this chain this foundation that we have been looking for, is the Gospel the Word of Truth, and this Gospel produces in us a love for fellow church members. This is where the rubber meets to road. If you believe the Gospel of Jesus, then you love your brothers and sisters in Christ, not because they are always great and awesome and they are never draining. You love them because the same God that saved you saved them. And if God saved you and them, then you both have nothing to boast about others that Christ and Him crucified.

You may be polar opposites in every aspect of your life… but if you both have Jesus He is enough.

But Peter seems redundant in this verse… there is a second love.

from a pure heart love another constantly.

In greek this is a different word for love.

This is different than Brotherly love, this is a more sacrificial more powerful love, a covenantal type of love.

This kind of love is that each person of the trinity has for each other person.

This kind of love is a love that cannot be experienced by an unbeliever. We love this way because God first loved us, it’s a deeper and different love than brotherly love.

So what Peter is saying is obedience to the truth, salvation belief in the Gospel purifies you opens up for you the opportunity to have a family love for brothers and sisters in Christ... AND obedience to the truth growing in the Gospel over time are you mature doesn’t cause you to isolate away from other believers, it actually causes the brotherly love to shift into a covenantal sacrificial love. You love for one another grows deeper, and changes.

When I first got married to Morgan, there was no doubt that I loved her. It was a love that was sacrificial, and a love that was never going to leave, a covenantal love. However, three different churches, 3 miscarriages, 3 children, deaths of family and friends, financial hardships, various sins and degrees of sins done by me and her to each other by just being around each other. The highs and lows. I can say now my love for her is far more deeper and greater than I could have imagined when I said i do. And lord willing her and I live for 40- 50 more years, this love will shift and change, but it will always be covenantal, it will always be sacrificial, it will always be more than simply two friends doing life together… It’ll grow deeper and deeper.

The same with us. Me and you you and me you and others others and you.

The longer we are here, the more we pour into each other, the more we minister to each other, the more we invite one another into our lives the more our love for one anther grows. It changes but it’s a covenantal love, that why we have a church covenant. It’s a staying love. It’s a sacrificial love. It’s a love that compels us to grow into Jesus more and more. So that in 10-20-30-40-50 years, those who are still alive will have a deep deep love and care for one another, and those who are alive will remember those of who are not alive… they will miss us and mourn but rejoice that we are with the Lord. That is something that is compelling to a world filled with emptiness.

That is love. Not blind acceptance. Speaking truth. Caring for one another. Not leaving but staying when it’s hard. Honesty. Repentance. Prayer. Sitting under the Word together. Singing together. Taking the Lord Supper together. Baptizing people into our family together. Helping them grow. Having them help us grow.

The Gospel purifies our heart and teaches us to love.

The Gospel is the core of faith, not something that as we mature in Christ we leave behind, we out grow. The deeper you grow in your faith the more of the GOSPEL the WORD OF TRUTH you discover. If you think you are growing in your faith and it leads you away from the Gospel, you might be growing but not in Jesus Christ or the Word of Truth.

1 Peter God’s Word Is Truth that Brings Life

This point implies that we can solve many of life’s questions by asking, “What action is in line with the truth of the gospel? What decision is consistent with the gospel?” Suppose someone wrongs you. What response is consistent with the gospel? Anger? Self-pity? Revenge? Forgiveness? A conversation?

If your career is uncertain, if you lose your job or lose income, what response is in line with the gospel? Panic? Shame? Despair? Anger? Or is there a better way to walk in line with the gospel and obey it? The gospel says that we are beloved of God, regardless of our achievements. What response follows that?

We should always seek the path that is in line with the gospel. Looking at life through the lens of the gospel is part of “obeying the truth.” We “obey the truth” when we know we are justified by grace and sanctified by grace. We get right and stay right with God the same way: through the gospel, not works.

Good moral people can disobey and be as antagonistic to the Gospel as the most hardened atheist.

atheist say there is no God.

moral people without the gospel say be good so you can be accepted.

Both fail.

You and I need to Gospel.

So when Peter says this brotherly love that you have is a result of your salvation. This brotherly love should be what characterized our churches. This is more than simply they are so nice and sweet, this is I am more like a fellow member of the church who is a believer than I am like a relative who does not know Jesus…

23

1 Peter 1:23 ESV

since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Verse 23 is really a verse explaining why we love one another constantly.

It’s because God first loved us.

We were dead, and now we have new life. We have been born of imperishable seed.

Recall what Peter said in verse 3.

1 Peter 1:3 CSB

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

This new birth gives us a living hope because though Jesus died, He is resurrected!

Jesus’ resurrection means that we are born with something that is not perishable. Jesus gives us something that lasts longer than a fresh can of spam!

1 Peter 1:18–19 ESV

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

What is this imperishable seed?

the living and enduring word of God.

Regeneration (new birth) is God’s decision and act.

When someone is regenerated (saved) and they read God’s Word, the Same Holy Spirit who inspired the Word of God, is now dwelling in the one who is reading the Word of God.

The sin that hinders the reader from understanding before salvation is being loosed after salvation, and the Word comes in afresh and anew.

We are made alive to Christ because we were spiritual dead.

The unregenerate are referred to as blind and deaf. Humans are not deaf as a rock is deaf. We hear AND still rebel. Our being is intact, but our nature is corrupt. In regeneration God quickens the mid, opens the eyes, and renews the will. The allows us to comprehend the Gospel, and be attracted to it so those who come to Jesus do so willingly and freely.

We receive new desires, new affections.

The heart will love somethings, and it doesn’t move on from hat something until something else comes along that is more attractive to it.

Only the Gospel offers a New Heart a new life, that isn’t seeking something more attractive in the World that ultimately is empty, but rather is joined to God in the way we were created to be.

This wandering heart, is looking for God because God is the only thing that can keep it full.

Kids, Family, House, School, entertainment, Cars, etc. all might make it feel full for a moment, only to leave it empty in time.

It’s the Gospel that people need!

It’s the Gospel that makes everything worth doing.

It the root, it’s the foundation, it’s the anchor.

the new birth… the imperishable seed… everything else has an expiration date… except the the Word of God because it is from God who is eternal. We do not need a new and fresh Word from God, we do not need God to show up and speak audibly to us.

Have you hear the pastor who said if you want to hear from from God open your bible and read. If you want to hear audible from God open your bible and read out loud.

The Bible is the Word of God. And the Word of God is enough. We don’t invite or command God to show up… that non sense.

I feel like stepping on toes but this is important for us to understand right now… in our spiritual climate in Scurry country… You don’t command God to go anything. You will not find that in the Bible at all.

Did you know… maybe this has already passed trends because I am not on the tic tok and honestly think it’s dumb and a waste of time… but I digress. Apparently there was a family feud episode where before the lady started her turn to answer the questions.. she sang her own theme songs which was this “Holy Spirit activate, activate Holy Spirit Activate activate activate.” It became a trend was repeated a bunch in Christian Circles and beyond. Some “churches” even made it into a worship song kind of things I believe.

We will waste time arguing about if having a trunk or treat on Halloween is satanic or not.

We will waste time arguing about if Christmas is a Christian holiday or not.

There are church that are not going to meet on Christmas Day because it’s Christmas Day.

We will waste time with all sorts of dumb arguments, but when a song is coming on that belittles God to some type of genie that is meant to help me get through whatever trivial task I am doing we will laugh and rejoice because it is silly and an ear worm.

What we are really doing is conditioning our hearts to think that God works on my time and in my way. I know it’s just a dumb tic tok trend and is probably already passed but think about the witness we are giving. The Holy Spirit is nothing more than a shot of cosmic caffeine that I can activate when I want and deactivate when I want.

When in reality the Holy Spirit is God. He was hovering over the waters before creation! he pierced the souls of sinful human beings and saves us from all unrighteousness. He is the comforter and helper! He is God Himself. Holy and Pure.

he is good but He is not Safe. I doubt God is laughing about the idea of being activated.

This happens all over the place, listen to modern worship songs on the radio. Listen to see in the Name Jesus is used! Listen to see is the Songs glorify God and cause you to repent and turn from sin and shame, or if they are subtly treating God like a bound Genie who has to grant my wish if I say in Jesus name.

This is why I will continue to lead this church in our understanding of being Gospel Centered. Because at the end of the day… what you and I need is more Jesus and less of ourselves.

I hope you know that every time you come through these doors you may not get what you want but what you get will be worth somethings… it will be what you need it will be Christ and Him crucified we have nothing else of value to offer.

Yours kids, grandkids, great grandkids, will be taught the Gospel they don’t need entertainment… they need Jesus. So do their classmates and teachers.

Why? Why make such a big deal about the Gospel?

24-25

1 Peter 1:24 CSB

For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,

1 Peter 1:25 CSB

but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.

Everything is empty and has a limited time span, except the word of God.

HIDE IT IN YOUR HEART.

Isaiah 40:6–8 ESV

A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

This word that is planted as a seed is imperishable and undefinable.

The brevity of life is not meant to drive us to despair.

I believe Streaming channels, (Netflix, Disney +, etc.) and Social Media (Tic Tok, Facebook, Instagram, Snap Chat, etc.) Are popular because during those brief moments when we are engaging in them, we are distracted from realities we do not truly want to deal with. Our life is short, and much of what we do and who we are will be forgotten in less that 50 years after we are dead.

Life seems empty, because a life without Christ is.

But Peter is telling this to people who have less entertainment than we have, and shorter life spans than we have, and are facing genuine persecution and more is coming.

This brevity of life isn’t meant to drive them to despair or to soak up as much of the FUN as they can.

Do y'all remember when the phrase YOLO was popular? YOLO means “you only live once” it was used as way to encourage risk taking or making the most of opportunities. Should I eat this extra donut? YOLO! I like to mess with the youths back then because YOLO can also be taken to mean the exact opposite. You better be careful because YOLO! Drive the speed limit, YOLO!

The shortness of our lives can do the same things to us.

On the one hand we think life is short I better get the most out of it…

On the other hand we think life is short I better be not waste a moment…

What the Holy Spirit is saying through Peter is both responses aren’t enough. The point is not to lament life’s shortness but to cling to what is eternal.

It’s meant to drive them to see what isn’t short, and meaningless. The WORD of God remains forever, because it’s from the eternal God.

This living and enduring word of God is more specifically the Gospel that was proclaimed to you.

This word is both he preached word of God, which is often referred to as the Gospel.

1 Peter 1:12 ESV

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

It is also the word written, hence the quotation from Isaiah.

Conclusion

As I end this sermon let me reiterate that the Gospel requires action:

So let’s start with this… if you are an unbeliever here this morning, most of the unbelievers around us are our children (so kids listen!) but not every unbeliever is a child, so adults listen too) Jesus died in your place. You are a sinner in need of a savior. And Jesus is a savior who died on the cross for your sin, and imputes (credits) your with His righteousness. He died in my place is the Gospel. The Gospel is news not works not a list of things to do, not commands to be kept, not works to be done. Salvations come the grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone for the Glory of God alone, as scripture alone is our authority on this. What is keeping you from repenting right now? What is keeping you from calling on Jesus and asking in faith for him to save you? Not because you cleaned up your act and are ready, but because he is the one who cleans you up!

Brother Sister, now is the time… repent and believe in Jesus! Pray for salvation and He will give it to you! If thats you do i! Talk to me talk to someone!

If you are a Christian now is a good time to reevaluate your life… have you subtly moved from the Gospel? If your personal live Gospel Centered or is it more about doing things that look Christian in your eyes? Repent and come back to Jesus! That’s the first step in Christian maturity, quick repentance and come to Jesus not running away from Him. Lean into the Gospel, Jesus in my place. Make that the central identity for you!

Maybe you need to get into the Word deeper! Read it more, memorize is more, meditate on it more.

Maybe you need to share your faith! This is one of the best times of the year to do this! People are more receptive to Jesus during the Christmas season than almost any other time of the year. invite someone to church with you. Tell someone about how Jesus changed your life. Have unbelievers over for dinner let them see how this Gospel has changed you from the inside out.

Write their name down, and give it to me. I’ll pray with you for them. Text it to me if you don’t want to do that.

Whatever it is respond this morning.

Let’s sing and meditate on the proclaimed word.

I’ll be upfront in you want to talk right now or pray, but know I am available to you all the time. Just reach out!

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