1 Peter: The Imperishable Seed of the Word (1 Peter 1:22-2:10, Jeff Kliewer)

The Light of the Reformation and the Power of Scripture

Well, in the city of Geneva, there was a reformer who came to town. His name was William Farrell. I like to remember him as Will Ferrell, just to help me keep it straight in my head. But very different character than Will Ferrell, the modern day actor.

William Farrell was a reformer who came to Geneva and began to preach a reformed gospel, preaching the word of God and that the scripture alone is what brings us to truth. While he was there, a young man came to town who was just passing through.

This man was about 27 years old at the time and had been converted to Christ only about seven years before. This guy had studied law in a prestigious university in France and he was noted all throughout France already because of his keen mind.

Just a brilliant man. You could say he was a genius. But he had studied law until his conversion to Christ where he heard the word of God, he began to study the Bible. And with the tools of having Latin and having Greek and Hebrew and understanding of these languages, he opened the scriptures and began to write.

And within just those seven years since his conversion, he wrote the first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. The man's name was John Calvin. And when Will Ferrell met John Calvin in the city of Geneva, he convinced Calvin to stay and pastored the church there.

Now the situation into which Calvin came was very dark. In fact, there were laws on the books in Geneva limiting the number of mistresses that men could have, which is an indication of the kind of morality of the people.

And not only that, it was a spiritually dark place because the word of God was not known in Geneva.

Why?

The only Bible that they had was written in Latin. And they didn't speak Latin. And the priest who delivered sermons would selectively choose what passages to preach and share what they were told to share.

And the people rarely heard a message, a pure gospel message from the Bible. So there was a spiritual darkness in Geneva until John Calvin came. And throughout the 25 plus years of his ministry, he preached thousands of sermons from the pulpit in Geneva.

Get this, over 200 from the book of Deuteronomy. Imagine that. 200 sermons just in the book of Deuteronomy. Over 100 in the book of Isaiah. More than 80 in the Corinthians. He would have preached through the book of 1 Peter like we're doing here.

He would go book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse through the scriptures, bringing the light of the word of God to Geneva. The city was transformed by it, morally turned upside down. The people became moral.

Joy came into the city. And the result of this movement in Geneva didn't stay there. It spread to France and all throughout Europe. There were more than 2 ,000 churches planted in France that came out of this movement in.

Geneva.

The Protestant Reformation became, the sending center of the Protestant Reformation became.

Geneva.

And they started a Bible college there that trained young pastors and theologians and sent them throughout Europe. And the Reformation changed Europe in that 16th century. After darkness, light. The light that came to Europe at that time was the word of God.

The scriptures were now translated into the languages of the people so they could take and read for themselves and they were printed and distributed all throughout the land. And the preaching of the scriptures happened every Sunday morning in pulpits all across.

Europe.

Now those churches in France were persecuted very severely. The churches were called Huguenot churches. And so the king of France, Francis was his name, hated this new movement and tried to put it down.

In fact, the St. Bartholomew's Massacre in 1572 was one of the worst slaughters of Christians for nothing more than believing this gospel message. There was great darkness in Europe but light bursted into it.

And we, as we sit here, have inherited this heritage. We have this book in English. So if you have it, turn with me in your English standard version or whichever version you have in English to the book of 1 Peter.

The Word of God as Seed That Purifies and Produces Love

The metaphor is one of light breaking forth into darkness. But another way to look at the word of God is like seed going into soil. When the seed goes into the soil, it takes some time but it results in something new and powerful.

New vegetation comes up, trees, crops that sustain us. The word of God is like seed that goes into soil and produces something, changes things. God's word yields an abundant harvest. Even as seed sown into the earth is the means through which God brings forth crops, so also the word of God is the primary means through which God accomplishes his purposes on earth.

So we've been studying through the book of 1 Peter. What have we learned so far? Peter, the rock, is the author of the book. And he starts off by calling them elect exiles, meaning they don't belong in this country but they are elect to believe in Christ.

They're a persecuted people. They're going through trials. And yet Peter says to praise God. He rejoices in salvation. They celebrate salvation in that first chapter. Even in the midst of their trials, even in their persecution, they're to celebrate and rejoice in their salvation.

Then we're told that this salvation that we have is something that the prophets of old foresaw and wrote about. And the angels in heaven long to look into what it is that we have. This salvation that we have in Christ.

After that in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 13, mark that word therefore. It's there for a reason. It's there to tell us that everything going before it now informs what he has to say. And what comes next from 13 to 21 is a call to holiness.

It's a radical thing that follows. Because we are told to be as holy as God. And that should leave us trembling, right? Because we can't do that. And yet we're called to be pure, to make a break from the world and to come out from the world to belong to Christ.

To be holy as he is holy. And no longer to be conformed to our old patterns and the ways of the world but to be transformed. To belong to Christ. So how can we do this? What motivation can we have to obey God?

The last time I preached through here in 1 Peter 1, 13 to 21, we looked at seven reasons. One that it's commanded that God says be holy. The God who made the universe says be holy. That's the first thing.

The second thing though, therefore, ties back to the salvation that we have. Because of all these things that Christ has done for us in causing us to be born again to a living hope through Jesus Christ, we have salvation.

And on account of that, we're to be holy. We're to obey. But third, we're told to fear. If you call on God as Father, who is the judge of the living and dead, should we not be afraid? What does that mean?

Well, because of the gospel, because Christ died for us, he will never cast us out into.

Outer darkness.

He will never condemn us to hell and be done with us. But as a loving Father, because he loves you and I, who belong to him as his children, he will discipline us. His discipline is an expression of his love.

And so if we choose, no, I'm not going to be holy as he is holy. I'm going to go on doing what I want to do. The discipline of a loving Father will come upon us. And we're told to fear that discipline in verse 17.

But then we're told that we've been ransomed from our ways and we've been told we've been ransomed at the cost of Christ's blood, the precious blood of Christ. And so the motivation becomes one of, I want to be changed in my ways.

I value what he's done for me. The value of Christ's blood is worth more to me than the sin that I'm being told to leave behind. And that becomes a motivation. We're told about faith and the glory of Christ.

And in all these things, we are being motivated to leave sin behind and turn and be holy and obey God and listen to his commands and do things his way. That's what we're being told. And so we're left, as we come into the text today, saying what?

How do I do it? By what means? Okay, I want to do that. I want to leave sin behind. I want to follow Christ all in, wholeheartedly, obeying God like a child obeys his Father. But how do I do it? By what means can you and I be sanctified?

Where does this holiness come from? If you have it in your heart, you really want to be a Christian. You want to do things God's way.

But how?

By what means? The answer is the word of God. That's the light that must break into your soul. That's the seed that has to come in and begin to grow. Let's look at it now. First Peter, chapter 1, verses 22.

We'll start with just that verse. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth. Mark the word truth. For a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. The light, the seed is truth.

The word of God is truth. The word of God, the seed that comes into us, yields two things in this verse. Can you find them? Verse 22, purification from sin. This is what we were talking about two weeks ago when I preached that passage in First Peter 1, 13 to 21.

If you look back, verse 14, as obedient children do not be conformed to the passions of your.

What?

Former ignorance. By the truth of God, we are purified from old ways. But notice the rest of this verse. Back in verse 22, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, what? For a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

So two things happen in verse 22. By the seed of God's truth, we make a break from things that we no longer do and we do start to do something else. Love from a pure heart. This world has been changed.

The Geneva that John Calvin came into in the 1500s was a dark place. There was no antibiotics. There was little help if someone was suffering. What's different about that world in the 1500s and the world that we live in today inherited as Americans.

This is a culture that has largely been transformed by the Word of God. Think of the charitable organizations that have been started. The Samaritan's Purse by Franklin Graham, the Salvation Army, the Red Cross.

Christians are saved from something but also to something. We're purified from our old ways to love. Verse 22 says, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

So this is the first thing today. The Word of God purifies us from our old former passions. But it also sets us apart to do something, which is to love. That's why after the service is over today, we're going to be tearing down these chairs and putting them to the side and transforming our building into a homeless shelter for a.

Week.

Because we want to say to some homeless families, we love you in the name of Jesus. We want to provide you housing this week and we want to help you get on your feet. That's why we do this, because the Word of God has transformed us.

Now it will take some time. Love requires sacrifice. Love in this sense, agape, is an action, not just a feeling. Feelings are important, but when we sacrifice something, our time watching a football game, our time even with family, good things, to come and serve the church of the living God, this is an expression of love and this love is only born of the Word of God.

It's the heart that's been transformed by the Word of God that's willing not only to leave your old ways behind, but to devote yourself to something that matters. You pack a box for a little kid on the other side of the world and participate in Samaritan's Purse because of love.

But what puts that love in your heart to do it? It's being impacted by the seed of truth. Do you see that in verse 22? It's obedience to truth. So mark that word truth. The first thing it does is purify us and inspire love, but it does even more than that.

I want to leave you here today, when this service is over, recognizing that this book is the means to experiencing life, because when you're purified from old passions and you come into this new love, it results in joy.

You experience life, abundant life. And everything that we're going to learn today, three more things, are life-giving truths and it's all born of the Word. I want you to leave here today saying, I want more of this book.

This is where life is for me. So let's keep reading. Verse 23 through 25. Notice this analogy we've already talked about. Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable. Through the living and abiding Word of God.

For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord remains forever. It's a quote from Isaiah 40, verses 6 and 8. He goes on, and this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Continuing, so put away all malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation. In this passage, notice two more things that the Word of God accomplishes for us.

Two parallel things. It's purification and it's love. Now, what is it? It's new birth or regeneration and growth. New birth and growth. Peter speaks of being born again in the first chapter. When the Holy Spirit gives you this new life, you're born again.

But you're not born again to stay a baby. Babies are really cute. But if a baby stayed a baby throughout life, something would be wrong, wouldn't it? Parents would grieve over that. But when a baby grows to maturity, parents delight to see the maturity that's being formed in them as they grow into adulthood.

Mark that in your Bible. If you take notes in your scripture, chapter 2, verse 2, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation. What is that milk? What is that food for the soul that makes us grow?

It's the same thing that Peter was talking about, verse 23 and following. It's not perishable seed that goes into you. It's imperishable seed. Perishable seed is, for example, the seed that you use to sow into a field and raise.

Crops.

What happens every year? You gather the corn and you plow the field under. Anybody go to a farm this fall at some point and go pumpkin picking? After all those pumpkins are picked, the field gets plowed under and there's nothing left of it until the seed is sown back into it again.

And when the grass comes up, the sun scorches it and eventually it dies and new grass comes up in its place. This is the cycle of life. And it's not only grass. It's not only crops. It's not only trees.

It's your body. You realize that? You come from seed. You're born into this world. You grow up and then you grow down. You're six foot four and then when you're 70, you're six foot two. Your spine begins to compress and your body is being pulled down by gravity until we go back to where we came from, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

My question is, what are you living for? Will you find it in the perishable seed? Yeah, there's things you can do during your 80 or so years if you're lucky to live on this earth and enjoy life and accomplish things.

But what lasts? What goes with you for eternity? The grass withers. The flower fades. But the word of the Lord lasts forever. You can receive into yourself a good seed by which you grow and something is born in you that lasts forever, that goes beyond the grave, that's worth living for now because it lasts then.

I mean, think about your life. Where are you devoting your time? What's important to you? What gets you up in the morning and what do you do when you get up in the morning? Do you open this word and receive the good seed so that you can grow by it?

And so the second point, we have an imperishable seed, which is the word of God. It's how we're born again. Guys, get this. Yes, it's God who elects exiles and brings us to faith in him. But the way in which people are born again is through the preaching of the word.

Whether it's a Sunday morning as a man stands in the pulpit and declares that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He died on a cross, he rose from the dead, he's alive, he's a living Savior, trust him, he will save you.

And if someone hears this word, they believe they're born again. Or it's you as you're talking to your neighbor next door and he's mowing his lawn and you get into a conversation and you tell him about the risen Savior, Jesus Christ.

And by that preaching of the word, he's born again. The new birth comes by means, that's what I mean. The means of the word of God is what brings this new life. But it's also how we grow. You've been born again, good.

You're born as a baby. Now how do you grow? You begin to open this book and receive the seed, you receive the milk. There's a third analogy for the word of God, the pure spiritual milk. And Hebrews 6 says we shouldn't be content with that.

Once we've gotten used to the milk, we go on to the meat. We move beyond the milk and we go on to the meat of God's word, the deeper teachings. We keep eating, we keep receiving and that's how we grow.

Christ the Living Stone, the Cornerstone, and the Stumbling Stone

Third, let's go to verse 4 and following. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.

To be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

There's two more things that the word of God yields, joy and judgment. Joy for those who believe and who build their lives on the cornerstone, Christ Jesus. They put their lives upon him and rest and trust in him alone.

They become living stones. They come alive and like a stone, they're built up, but they're not just one stone on a cornerstone, they're built together with other believers, that's the church. Living stones assembled on that cornerstone and in this new structure, which is the temple of God, he's the cornerstone, he's here with us, we are the church, we find joy in him.

Do you see that in verse 3? If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. We come to him and being built into the spiritual house, we have joy, we taste, he's good. And so the honor is for us, his glory, but our delight.

And yet that same cornerstone planted in the earth becomes a tripping hazard, doesn't it? Because not all who see this cornerstone come and stand and rest upon it and are built upon.

It.

Many, in fact, maybe most, because Jesus says, broad is the way that leads to destruction. There are few who find it. Trip on this stone and the cornerstone becomes a rock of offense. Verse 8, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

Many will hear it preached that Jesus is the son of God, God in flesh, and their intellect will rebuff that. They'll say, how can God be three in one? How can it be that he prays to his father and yet claims to be God?

Nonsense. And they trip over the stone. Others say, oh, the crucifixion of the son of God, that makes no sense. God would never crucify his beloved son. And they trip over the stone. The very stone upon which we are built is an offensive stone to those who refuse to receive it.

And so it divides sheep and goat, wheat and tares. We have joy, but they have judgment, which is what they were destined for. According to verse 8, the second part, they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

Reminds us of Acts chapter 4, verses 27 and 28, doesn't it? What was that? That Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Jews and the Gentiles, four groups, all together conspired to murder the son of God, the worst act in the history of the world.

And yet the next verse tells us in this prayer that the apostles are praying, they did what God's hand and plan predestined to occur. This unbelief, this stumbling is something to which they were destined.

It's a hard concept, isn't it? Try to wrap your mind around that. Well, there's a couple of things I want to tell you about that. Number one, the big teaching here is that God has a plan for the world.

And it even includes the suffering and the sin of people. God has a decree, he has a will, but he is not the author of evil. The Bible teaches us that God makes a plan and by secondary causes, people rebel against God and sin, and they, we are morally responsible for our sin, but God is not.

How can that be? I don't know. But I tell you, this is what the scripture teaches. It doesn't tell us all of the how it could be, but it tells us what it is. God has a plan. And here's why we're being told it here in the book of First Peter.

Because these are suffering Christians. We live in what's been a quote unquote Christian country. And we enjoy the benefits of a country where love is valued, where people are valued because we're made in the image of God, and a worldview that has shaped this country to some extent makes it a good place to live.

But our brothers and sisters who are born in parts of the world where other religions dominate are often killed and crucified and drowned in cages and thrown off buildings for preaching what I'm preaching as I stand here freely right now.

In the book of First Peter, they were suffering various trials of many kinds. First Peter 1. They were exiles. They were on the run. They were suffering and persecuted. And so what God is saying here is, listen, believer, although they don't believe, although they stumble on the stone and they persecute you, this is all part of my plan.

Just like the death of Jesus was for the life of his people, whatever persecution you go through, whatever you suffer is within God's plan. God's plans are not being thwarted by the evil of men. God is not there just wringing his hands, just waiting and hoping and just maybe mankind will get it right and maybe my people will be okay.

No, if you're suffering at the hands of wicked men, God has a hand that's bigger and stronger and his providence is allowing it for a reason. He says in First Peter 1, you're going through these trials if necessary, meaning if God allows it for a reason.

So the point is, these who are destined to sin do so on their own accord and they are held responsible for their own willful unbelief. Will anybody ever go to hell saying, I wanted to be saved?

No.

The gospel is a free offer to all people and all those who reject it will go to hell, not wanting to be saved, but getting exactly what they wanted, which was as far away from God.

As possible.

It's what they wanted on earth and that's what they get for eternity. In fact, why is it that we think when people die outside of Christ, that they suddenly get sanctified? This is a passage on judgment, I want you to think about this.

If a sinner dies in his sin, he doesn't automatically become a happy Christian person who wants to go to heaven. Even for all eternity in hell, this sinner hates God and continues sinning. Why is hell eternal?

One because it's an offense against an infinite and eternal God, but two because the unregenerate sinner for all eternity hates God and continues to sin. Think about that. There's nothing about death that sets the sinner free from his own nature.

Here's the good news of the gospel, that God in his grace looked at me, a hardened sinner who deserved the same thing as everybody else. All people deserve hell. All people deserve punishment. We all deserve to stumble, but God in his grace looked at me and said, mercy.

And he mercied me. It's a verb in Romans chapter eight. It's something he did. He compassioned me. And you who believe, he drew you. And when you heard the gospel, you believed. The God of this age blinds the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

But we with unveiled faces, he lifted the veil. He bound the enemy so that we couldn't be blind and we saw light burst into the darkness of my soul, post tenebrous, lux, after darkness, light. This is salvation for a sinner who deserves what everybody else does, which is judgment.

God in his mercy has opened our eyes to see who Jesus really is. And so we stand, living stones, resting on the cornerstone, together, loving, growing, built up together to be a spiritual house. The last two verses, nine and 10, we're a people who proclaim.

Notice people and preaching in this. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. That's so rich. I feel like I could preach a whole nother sermon, but I know I'm out of time.

So I'll have mercy on you. But notice, you are a chosen race. This is the elect exiles. You notice the chosen for salvation. Look at the end of verse eight. They were destined for stumbling. So there's the chosenness of the believers.

It's all owed to his grace. But here's the point. We become a people. These living stones built up to be a temple, we are a people. It's not referring to a collection of individuals, but a people together as one.

A royal priesthood.

I could preach on that for a whole sermon. What does that mean? We are a priesthood of believers. Each one of us is called to be like the Levites of the Old Testament, representing God to the world and to the nation.

A holy nation, a people for his own possession, a people called out to believe in Jesus Christ and belong to him, for him to own us. We're doulos, we're slaves of a master, Jesus. That's the people. And finally, the preaching.

That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. It's my privilege and I tremble at this responsibility to stand here and preach this word to you week after week.

To be faithful with God's word and to say what it says and not what I think. But each one of you is a priest. And your next door neighbor, you are that bridge to God. You are that priest, not only the only savior, the only priest, our great high priest according to Hebrews is Jesus, but as little Christ, as Christians, it's you that preaches to them.

We have people teaching kids right now. They're the priesthood of believers there, teaching and proclaiming the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Have you been transformed by this light?

Have you been born again? Has that light entered your soul? It's now for you to go out and proclaim the excellency of him who called you out of darkness into the marvelous light. Proclaim that to your neighbor, to your friend, to your family member.

Don't be discouraged if they don't believe. You can't draw them by the Holy Spirit, but you can proclaim the excellencies of him who called you. It's up to you to proclaim and let the Holy Spirit change their hearts.

Go forth with boldness knowing that God will accomplish his purposes on earth. And he has a people. And so it's very likely that someone that you preach to will get saved because he's a gracious God, merciful, and he calls many.

He calls many. Go out expecting that when you preach Christ, someone will get saved. Go out proclaiming. And so in closing, what do we do then? All of these things, I've listed eight things that come and they're sort of coming in pairs.

All of these things come by the word of God. Your purification from sin unto love. You're not only purified of the former ways, but now you go forth loving. Your regeneration. You're born again and your growth.

It all comes by the word. Your joy and the world's judgment. You belonging to a people and your preaching. All of this comes from the word. So what should we do? We need to be in this word. I've been so encouraged by people taking theology books to study, reading through Peter over and over, others listening to sermons again and again, trying to let this word seep deep into the soil.

The word is the seed. Your heart is the soil. Prepare your heart for the seed. Open this book every day, even if it's a little bit. Let that seed into the soil. You have a choice every night that you turn on a football game.

You can devote those hours to football, but it's perishable seed. It will not produce the harvest of righteousness and growth in your life. It's not bad. It's okay to have some harmless amusement from time to time.

But what are you opening your heart to? Where's your devotion? Where's your passion? Open this word. Listen to sermons. Listen to teachings online. Bill Luebkeman just started a new station here in town on that very mountain right next to us, 94 .9.

It's right in our, we're kind of in the shadows of Mount Laurel there, and he just put a new station up there, a new satellite. He's going forth building stations left and right so he can proclaim the excellencies of him who called him out of darkness into light.

Tune in to 94 .9. Tune in and listen to that instead of the talk radio. Receive the good word day in and day out. Let's be like the citizens of Geneva back in the day who looked back at the change in their city and they said, after darkness, light.

The change was so evident. That will be the change in you and in me when we let this good seed come in.

Amen.

Let's pray. We'll call on the worship team.

Come on up.

And let's seal this preaching, this teaching with an appeal to God to make it happen in.

Our hearts.

We depend on him for everything. Father God, thank you so much for your word to us. And I confess, Lord, I hold it too lightly. As much as I seek to uphold it to the people and to myself, how often I fail to realize how precious this seed really is.

I pray that I would take it in more and more day after day. And I pray the same for my brothers and sisters whom I love. Lord, I ask that their hearts would be good soil for your word. Give them a hunger for your word, a passion to read and understand what the scriptures.