1 Peter 1:22–23

0:00 Good evening, church. It's a privilege to share God's word with you tonight from 1 Peter 1, verses 22 and 23. If you're using one of the Red Pew Bibles, you'll find it on page 1014. I also think it's on the front page of the bulletin also. While you're turning there, let me say this. I did a lot of graft to prepare this devotional. now that might sound strange did it give you a little pause that's likely because here in american english the word graft usually means something dishonest making money from some corrupt or shady manner but in british english it means something very different it means honest hard work same word completely different meaning and that idea

1:01 understanding what something really means is going to matter as we walk through this passage tonight so let's get stuck in first Peter chapter 1 verses 22 and 23 having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love love one another earnestly from a pure heart since you have been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God okay so here's the big theme for tonight purification by and obedience to the truth of the gospel is the source of Christian love. We're going to look at that in three parts. The first, the truth purifies the soul. The second, obedience to the truth is submission to authority. And third, the result is love for one another. Let's look at that first

2:05 point the truth purifies the soul so to start that we need to ask a simple question what does peter mean when he says truth well we don't have to guess if you look at john 14 6 jesus himself says i am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me jesus isn't telling the truth just telling the truth he is the truth then in romans 10 7 17 paul tells us faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of christ so here's what we see the truth is jesus christ this is important really important so let me say this clearly if you were here tonight and you do not know this truth

3:08 here it is we are all sinners and we cannot overcome that on our own but God who is holy loves us and in his mercy he sent his son Jesus lived a sinless life and though he was innocent he willingly died in our place he was buried he rose again three days later he paid the debt we could never pay to give us the hope we could never have by anything by our own efforts through him is the only way we can come to the father and that is the truth peter is talking about but church don't miss this the truth doesn't just save us it changes us it purifies us so even as believers in a broken world we keep coming back to this truth because it is what

4:09 shapes us and makes us more like Christ and that leads us to that second point obedience to the truth is submission to authority so if jesus is the truth and he has saved us then he is also our lord and our king so now we need to ask another question what is obedience is it just following orders is it just doing what we're told is it keeping up with the rules because let's be honest we can follow orders and have a bad attitude we can do what we're told simply to try to avoid consequences we can follow rules without ever believing in them or we can even follow rules in the belief that doing so is what purifies us but that's not the type of obedience scripture is talking about here the meaning here is found in

5:14 another definition of obedience and that is submission to authority for us obedience is something so much deeper it's not just doing what we're told for a christian obedience is submitting to the authority of Christ it is recognizing that he is king and we are not that takes work real work the kind of graph that means honest hard effort because our natural tendency it's just the opposite from Adam in the garden all the way to us today sin is rooted in the desire to try to live independent from god to be in control to ourselves be in authority friends that's disobedience and the effects of our disobedience are eternal and they're also affect us right here and now it hardens us listen to how god describes the effect of such hardness in reference to israel from ezekiel

6:22 3 7 that Greg preached on this morning where God speaking to Ezekiel says this but the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you for they are not willing to listen to me because all of the house of Israel are hard-headed and hard-hearted and church that's not just Israel that can be us sometimes our refusal to submit to god's authority keeps us from hearing his word clearly it hardens our hearts which then taints or even blocks our love for one another but to remind us here's the hope obedience is possible just like it says in the passage because our souls have been purified by the truth and when we submit to Christ who is the truth then we truly live under his authority and aided by the Holy Spirit something happens

7:24 there is a result and that's point number three the result is love for one another one of the songs we sang in worship this morning was a Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend song speak O Lord as we were singing that song this morning knowing that I had been working on this devotional I looked at it and I thought you know I could read this as a poem almost as a devotional on this passage this evening I'm not going to do that to you I'm not going to subject you to that but I will share a few of the words from the first verse where it says speak O Lord as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word take your truth plant it deep in us shape and fashion us in your likeness that the light of christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith friends when our hearts are purified by the truth and our lives are submitted to christ

8:24 the natural result is this we love one another not superficially not out of obligation but sincerely earnestly from a pure heart now church you do this well this isn't a finger pointing message of accusation this is my encouragement for us a reminder that the love we show one another comes from something so much deeper it comes from being shaped by the truth and living on the authority of Jesus and that's what makes our love real and finally let's not forget how Peter ends this passage you have been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of god this should reassure us because it means that this isn't something we

9:25 manufacture by any strength of our own it is a reminder for us that the work has already been done by jesus to give us the means to do this so press on third press on keep doing the honest hard work of following jesus keep submitting to him as your king keep loving one another sincerely and earnestly and may he receive all the honor all the glory and all the praise for the graft british version that we do for him let's pray lord god purify our hearts remove any hardness in us cleanse our minds of pride open our ears to hear your word open our eyes to see one another clearly

10:26 and as we submit to your authority grow us in sincere and earnest love for you and for our brothers and sisters help us bring the truth of the gospel to those around us our family our friends in louisville and even beyond lord all for your glory and not for our own in jesus name we pray amen