Born Again by the Word — Willie Mullan

Born Again Through the Incorruptible Word

Shade, shade each earthly joy. Jesus is mine. Break every tender tie. Jesus is mine. Dark is the wilderness, earth has no resting place. Jesus alone can bless. Jesus is mine. 10 .45 please. You will find as we get into the depth of this paragraph that Peter is dealing specially with being born again of incorruptible feet.

The great part of this short paragraph is picking up with the new birth and how we are born again not of corruptible feet but of incorruptible by the word of God. And if all the denominations in the world had only listened to Peter we wouldn't be in the confusion that so many are in about how you are born again.

Because Peter is not talking about baptismal regeneration. He is talking about being born again of incorruptible feet by the word of the gospel. And that we shall see this evening. You will notice that he has this word incorruptible on his lips right through the chapter.

The Incorruptible Inheritance and Blood of Christ

Many times did you notice it? Look back again across the chapter. See verse 4 he is talking about these believers having an inheritance and he uses that word incorruptible and undefiled and that shade is not a way reserved in heaven for you.

You know it is good for every believer to know that we have an incorruptible inheritance. You know they were pointing out at the beginning of these lessons that Peter is writing to Jews who got saved, who were born again.

And he is contrasting the inheritance that the Jewish nation had in the land of promise but you know the Philistines corrupted it. Yes and it was defiled by the idols of other nations. But the inheritance that believers have is incorruptible and undefiled and that shade is not a way.

You remember when he was talking about our redemption down the chapter a little bit? He says in verse 18, Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from your vain conversation with me by tradition from your fathers, but with the present blood of Christ.

And that tantamount to saying incorruptible blood. We are not redeemed with corruptible things. We are redeemed with something that is incorruptible. That is blood of Jesus. You see that blood will never lose its power till every ransom child of God is bathed in the blood.

And after talking about incorruptible inheritance and incorruptible blood he is now talking about incorruptible sin. See verse 23, Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God.

This is how men and women are brought to the birth where they are born again. It's when the gospel is applied to hearts with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven that men are born of the word of God. And that's the great portion in the package this evening.

Peter as an Unlearned but Brilliant Teacher

You know I want to take a moment just to say that I believe that Peter was not only a great teacher of God's word. I honestly think in my own heart that he was a brilliant teacher. Many of the great writers of the world who do not believe at all, believe and say out loudly that these letters of Peter are absolutely unique.

And you know that's very thrilling because he was a Galilean fisherman. And he had no academic standard whatsoever. In fact the Bible says at one place that he was an unlearned and ignorant man. And what courage this should give to each one of us.

That God can take this rough Galilean fisherman, this unlettered man, this ignorant man, and yet God can so move him that he writes these great and brilliant and unique wonderful letters. I think that Peter was a unique teacher.

Just to prove what I mean, sit up and look quickly through the chapters tonight and see how many doctrines Peter has touched upon in each chapter. I'll give you a word for each doctrine, he couldn't do them fully.

You remember in that second verse he was talking about election. Well that's a mighty doctrine isn't it? He said that these people whom he was writing to they were elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.

And you know he not only touched his election there, but he's touching the fatherhood of God. And he's saying away before they held an order to it. In eternity there was the eternal Father. Of course he must foreknow everything.

And these elect, remember they were elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. And that's a great doctrine that he's touching upon, election. And in the same verse he touches on sanctification, and that's a great doctrine.

He took it on a special side of sanctification, sanctification of the spirit. You see that's how people get saved. Way back yonder God anointed those whom he foreknew. If he foreknew all who would trust Christ.

And then he worked it out like this, that when the gospel is preached the Holy Ghost will come upon the congregation and he'll separate those whom he desires to see saved that night, he'll separate them out by his spirit.

That's sanctification of the spirit. You know people knew the doctrine. And then look again at the third verse, he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us.

You know that's regeneration. Of course it's more deeply developed at the end of the chapter. But think of these doctrines, election, sanctification, regeneration. And then what's this one? You know we're regenerated and we're giving a living hope in an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled.

And then he says in verse 5, Who are kept by the power of God through faith. You know that's appropriation. You know he got this doctrine off quite well. What a teacher this man was. Yet he never went to any school that mattered.

Yet he can just move across the page of holy scripture and touch all these great doctrines. Why, we could have a night on every doctrine and we wouldn't even touch the hem of the garment. When you think of election, how long I could spend there.

And when you think of sanctification, why it would take you a week to people it out. And when you think of regeneration and think of appropriation, how we could go in day by day and appropriate the things that God has given to us.

Why the peace of God is ours and we should appropriate it. The grace of God is ours and we should appropriate it. And the power of God is ours and we should appropriate it. Oh this is a great doctrine.

Testing Faith and Adoring the Unseen Christ

And then he goes further. Not only does he touch on election and sanctification and regeneration and appropriation, but you remember we had a night on examination. You know your faith must be tried. And to every one of us, every one of us who has exercised faith in Christ, you can expect that faith to be examined by God.

Or God will let the storm blow. God will let burden come. God may even let the devil touch you. Oh yes, you'll be tried out alright. And we went into that fully one evening. Don't you see the doctrines?

And then there in verse 8, it's adoration. Talking about Christ, whom having not seen he loved. In whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable. Full of glory. You know this is a doctrine that Peter loves and you can find it right through these letters.

How he seems to sit down at the feet of Christ and by faith he adores his living and his wonderful Lord. Do you see the doctrines? Do I need to go on with them? You see inspiration there. God's in verse 10.

Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and set diligently, who trod the side of the grace that should come unto you, searching water, what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify.

You know these holy men of God were moved by the Spirit of God to say the things that would glorify the Son of God. And he goes into great details about inspiration. Fancy Peter knowing all about selection.

Fancy him knowing all about sanctification and inspiration. Then if you like to put another one in, redemption. They knew all about redemption too. What a wonderful thing this is. All on the first page, all in the first chapter, all outlined in detail.

Yes, this is one of the things that God took up to bring to march. Things that are, my, he would scare some of them with degrees. They couldn't follow it even. These are the doctrines that are there. Look, I think you've got that all right.

Purification, Christian Obligation, and Human Limitation

Now the portion that we're after this evening, just four verses, it was those some precious things that Peter is still teaching. Because he not only knew about election and sanctification and regeneration and appropriation and examination and adoration and inspiration and redemption.

You know, he knew about purification. He knew how to purify your souls. And he knew about our obligation, because we have an obligation just because we're redeemed. And we'll come to that regeneration this evening.

And I want you to know that he knew about the limitation of man, he says, all flashes as grass. And he knew about the duration of the word of God, for it endureth forever. And he knew about the illumination of the gospel.

All in four verses. What to teach them? How many of you fellows should get scared, you know? The Lord can take you up, you know. You don't need to get worried too much. All you need to get worried about, son, is getting along with God.

Because if you go flipping the box, doing this and that and the other, you'll be nobody. But you need to struggle to show thyself a true God to God. And it doesn't matter what tool you went to, or whether you think you've got logic or brains or anything else.

I assure you that God took this unlearned and ignorant man. And many of them, in fact, they made something out of him. Just because they got along with God. It should be an encouragement to every girl in this meeting, and to every young man in this assembly.

Purification Through Faith and Ongoing Obedience

Now we want to see these things in detail that Peter's talking about. With verse 22. He, ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit. Now I want you to watch the timing for you.

It's something that's already done. He's talking to these people, you know, who were redeemed, who were sanctified by the Spirit. These people who were begotten of God. He says, ye, ye, you redeemed ones, ye have purified your souls.

You know, that's very wonderful. You see, the day that the Spirit of God brought the truth of the Gospel to our hearts with power, let us see the Christ who came into this world to save sinners. Let us see Christ dying for sinners.

Let us see Christ rising again of the sinner's only living face. And you know, when that great splash of the light of the glorious Gospel entered our hearts with power, and by faith we appropriated this wonderful Savior, at that moment we were purified.

Don't make any mistakes about it, you know. That's something that starts. Ye have purified your souls because you obeyed the truth brought to you by the Spirit. It all fits as it was. Yes, it's wonderful, you know.

I think that sometimes the believers don't see it properly. You know, as we stand before God's holy spotless throne this evening, you know, we are justified. It simply means this. We stand there just as if I'd never sinned at all.

The great word justifies. It's just as if I'd never sinned at all. You know, God says in his book to sinners, he says, come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins be of common, they shall be of slightest note.

And the moment that a poor, lost, ill-deserving sinner appropriates Christ by faith, by faith he's justified. By faith he stands at that moment whiter than the snow. That's what we call purifying your souls.

Grace That Saves and Teaches Holy Living

Don't you think that's very wonderful? But you know, this book goes on with this message of purification after that. You know, when Paul wrote to Titus, let's go back to Titus, it's only a page or two.

Titus, and that's the second chapter. Titus chapter two. Now, try to follow this through with me and you'll see the lot of preaching. See verse eleven. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.

You know, it's grace that brings salvation to your door. Because Christ died, because his blood was shed as an atoning sacrifice, because God was satisfied with that offering, then God's grace on that foundation that Christ laid at Calvary comes to every man's door with the offer of salvation.

Don't you get that? I don't like this limited business here, because you know, you're only going to offer salvation to a few, as some of you are preaching. But don't become around talking to me about the grace of God, because I don't think that's grace at all.

I think that the grace of God is so boundless that where sin abounds, there cannot be grace if it's limited. Oh, and all the grace of God bringeth salvation to all men. Oh, I know, and God knows that all men will not accept of the grace of God.

They trample this offer of grace under the feet of some of them. They do death to the spirit of grace. Nevertheless, the grace of God bringeth salvation to all men. And I want you to look at this. It says in verse eleven, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, teaching us.

You know, the grace that saves us is the grace that teaches us. Every man that accepts of the grace of God is taught that denying all godliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.

You see, people say the grace of God brings you salvation and you get saved for grace and you can do as you like. Not on your life you can't. I think a man that talks like that doesn't even know anything about the grace of God.

But I can tell you that the grace that saves you is the grace that teaches you that you should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world. And it goes a bit further than that too, because the grace that saves you teaches you and it gives you to look up, looking for that blessed hope.

And the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. You see, grace brings you salvation. And the grace that saves you is the grace that teaches you to live soberly and keep looking all the time for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ.

And then when he got to that spot there, teaching type of these things, he talks about Christ. He says, who gives himself for us that he must redeem us from all iniquity and purify. Comes back to this purification.

Only it's the continuation of what Peter was asking. Oh, you know, the day that you accepted Christ, yee-haw, purified your soul, that bit's over. But you know, you need to go on obeying the truth. Because the Lord wants you to obey the truth, there's a whole lot of other truths to be obeyed, you know.

And the more believers obey the book, the more they become purified in a practical sense. Because that's what the Lord has asked of you. You know that Thomas knew this. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, but by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

And the more the believer obeys the book, the more he becomes purified in a practical sense. And I'll tell you, when Jesus comes again, you know, he just lifts us out of all this. And then he presents us to the Holy Spirit.

And that's eternal purification. Think it's a great subject. See how Peter dealt with it, don't you? He knew about, you know, the purification of souls. I want you to watch this bit very carefully. We're back at verse 22.

Love as the Believer's Obligation

First Peter, chapter 1, verse 22. You know, I want you to watch that love is trust in the verse. It's our obligation, of course. And I want you to watch it very carefully. It may be you have purified your souls and obeyed the truth through the Spirit, unto unseen love of the brethren.

It be that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently. You know, I can remember when I was a very young believer. I remember an old atheistic critic stopping me in the street. He says, I see you're running with the belief.

I said, I'm following Christ. Is there anything wrong with it? He says, I don't believe there was a Christ. I say, sure, it doesn't make any difference to me what an old fellow like you believes. But this is the way to treat them.

He wants to go on with his nonsense, let them go on. He doesn't worry me. He says, you know, I can show you some things in the Bible that cannot be right. And I remember them turning to here, and I can assure you, I knew precious little about it.

He says, have a look at this. He says, you see that Peter is supposed to be writing to these saved people, and he's saying, ye have purified your souls, in obeying the truth, in obeying the truth through the Spirit.

On to unseen love of the brethren. He says, these boys that have purified their souls, did they love the brethren? I said, they did. He says, why does he say in the next phrase, see that you love one another with a pure heart, faith and blessing?

You can't have it both ways, he says. You can't say that to do it in them, you've got them to go and do it again. He says, you know, there's something wrong, it's a contradiction. Now, when I was a young person, and somebody came along and tried to tie me up in a knot, and that would be very easy to do with any child, I always said, well, if I don't know the answer, there's somebody who does.

And remember, there's an answer you may not know. And if you don't know it, just say you don't know it, but just believe in your heart that there's somebody who does. And if I'd only known enough then, the old teller was displaying more ignorance than I've ever seen in my life.

Because there are Greek scholars in this class tonight, and they know immediately, when they read the Greek New Testament as I go on preaching, they know that the two words love here are two different words.

Of course, in our English, it looks the same. You see, the first one, unseen love of the brethren. Now, that's the Greek word phili. You know, philadelphia means, it actually means brotherly love. Because phili is a Greek word for natural affection.

And you know, this is perfectly true of all of us here tonight. Just because we're born again, just because we're in the one family, just because we're redeemed by blood, just because we're saved by grace, you know, we have a natural attachment to each other.

Oh, there are Presbyterians here, bless them. They come along here and they're most welcome. And there are old Methodists here, and there'll always be old Methodists. And they're most welcome ones, yes.

And there are saved Roman Catholics in this meeting. And they're just as precious as anybody else. And you know, just because we're all bound up in a bundle of life, and we're all in the one body, and we've all been born again of one spirit, and we're depending on one same precious blood, you know, there's a natural affection between us.

Yes. Ah, well, the other word is different. You see, he's saying, ye have purified your heart unto unseen love of the brethren. And then he said, see that ye love. But he used a different word. He used the word agape as a different word.

The word agape in Greek means natural affection, loving with natural affection. Ah, but the word agape in Greek is the word that's used for God's love. That's what you call divine love. And you know, that's how we should love one another.

Oh, I know because we're all saved and we're all in the same body, I know there's a natural affection among us. Yes, I know that. But he says, you know, what you fellows want to do is not only to purify your souls and have natural affection for one another, but see that ye agape love one another.

Love each other with God's love. And you know, if we loved like that, we should give our lives for the brethren. And the whole other was a powerful message. Oh yes, we can put up with one another, but then we'd put one another's throat behind each other's back.

And that's not what he's talking about at all. He says, I know all of us have natural affection, but see that ye get a bit of divine love into us. Oh, that's the way we ought to love one another. Yes, I tell you, if I'd only known a bit of Greek in those days, I could have fixed them.

Never mind, God knew his ignorance. And when you don't know the answer, you just remember that there's somebody who does. Nobody has to upset you. Dr. Ironside told me about leading an old negro to the Lord.

He was an old slave. He says, you know, I've never seen a man accept Christ just the way he did, and his whole faith seemed to be changed. Day after day you could see him, with the very love of God, shining out of his eyes.

He said, I was coming past a common green where they had all kinds of preachers, and he was standing listening to a message. And the emptiness was tearing Christ to pieces, and the Word of God to pieces.

And the big man was listening. And Dr. Ironside went through the crowds that he got behind him, and just stared into his ear, and he didn't see who was speaking. What do you think of that now? And the old negro without moving said, I cannot answer him.

I cannot answer him. But something inside me tells me he's a liar. That's a good boy. That's the way to do it. Yes. You can't answer him, there's always somebody who can, you know. And this old man was running about picking holes, when he was as ignorant as the devil himself.

Born Again by the Word, Not by Water

Let's get the hold of this. You know, this is our obligation that he's answering. You can see the purification of souls, and then you can see the obligation of tongues comes through. And then he comes to the heart of this paragraph this evening.

Watch how he comes to it now. Hearing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit onto unseen natural affection of the brethren, see that you divinely love one another with a pure heart, fervently.

Be born again, not of corruptible feet, but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. And all you young folks should always mark in red ink, verse 23, so you can be able to tell everybody how you get born again.

And you don't get born again by somebody putting water on you. The man that drops water on a baby's brow and says, I make thee a child of God, he's a liar from hell. They don't get born again like that, as baloney.

Are you reading right? You get born again of incorruptible feet by the word of God which you personally accept because the Spirit's working on you. Yes, that's how you get there. You know, if man would only take what Peter said, and what John said, and what our Lord Jesus said about being born again, there would be no problems in this world.

John's Gospel and the New Birth

We need to see what John said. We're at John's Gospel, and we're at the first chapter, please. John's Gospel, chapter 1. John's talking here about our Lord Jesus coming into the world that he had made.

And he was another fisherman, you know, with rough hands and a rough voice. But speaking about Christ in verse 10, he said, he was in the world, and the world was made by him. He didn't believe in evolution, you know.

He believed that the Lord Jesus made the world, and so he did. He said he was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. Yes, he had made it, and he was in it. The world didn't know it's God.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, oh, there were some who received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Even to them, that belief. And he's not talking about babies, because babies can't believe.

Even to them that believe on a thing which were born, not of blood. Oh, I like these not-offs. You know, you can't get born again because your father and mother are Christians. Starvation doesn't run in the blood in your veins, you know.

Can't get born again just like that. It's not of blood. It doesn't come through your father and mother. Oh, not at all. You don't get born of blood. And this is a good thing to mark forevermore. Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh.

You know, there's no man can say, I'll be born again on the 24th of September, or the 24th of November. Not just when you want it, you know. You either come and accept Christ when the Spirit works with you, and God wants you to, or you'll not come at all.

Or the Lord will strive with you, and you'll come back and strive again. He'll come and say, when they let you go to hell, remember the Lord let Judas rise, and go out, and go down the steps, and into the night, and he let them go to hell.

And he never made a move. And he can do the same with you. You'll not fiddle about with the Lord forever. Some of you sinners think you can treat God like a kid. Well, you can't. God can drop you and let you go to hell, and righteously let you go to hell.

And you'll be done. You're born again. It's not of water. And it's not of your father and mother. It's not of blood. And it's not of the will of the flesh. You just can't make up your mind when this is going to happen.

And I want you to get the hold of this, which we're born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. Oh no, no man can say when you're going to be born again. I had a fellow knocking at the door this morning, before I was up, looking for salvation.

And I can tell you, I was not inside just as quick as all that. And I tried to lead him to Christ. And I pointed us away. And I prayed to Satan. And I had every bone in his body rattle. And he was telling me things and the tears were falling.

And he says, no, I can't do it. And I said to him, it's not of the will of man. And if I could have saved him, I would have done it. I can't save him. I'll let him go. Pray for him. Pray that he'll come back again.

Pray that the Lord will save him. I don't care what the Lord said, so long as the Lord saves him. Friend, you don't get born again of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man. It's of God.

It has to be God that's at work. Jesus said, no man cometh unto me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him. God has to work. I know God was working this morning. Then you can resist the Holy Ghost, too, you know.

Faith, it's a terrible thing. And that's what Stephen says, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. It's your fault. You know, the Lord Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about being born again. He let him see the necessity of it, didn't he?

And then he let him see the possibility of it. How is everyone that is born of the Spirit? He let him see it's possible. He let him see it was a mystery. It's a necessity. It's a possibility. It's a mystery.

It's just like the wind blowing where it lifts us. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. My, I cannot command the Holy Ghost, son, thank God I can't. It's just of the Spirit. You see, when the Lord Jesus said, you're born of water and of the Spirit, well, what did he mean by the water?

Did he mean the Holy Ghost was in infant baptism? Is that what you like to preach? Well, I can tell you that's the greatest nonsense in the world, that John 3. Supposing I went to John 4 and it's the woman at the well.

He says, the water that I shall give you, do you think it's literal water now? Well, it's like eternally talking about now. We don't survive and cleanse by the water of the word. What does that clearly mean?

It means this book, you know, it's a cleansing service. You know, sometimes when I preach these little phrases, they just run into your mind and then you have to disturb me. Because it's God's cleansing work.

Yes, through the word you'll see that in a moment. It's incorruptible, see. It's God that did work. It's the Holy Ghost. It's by the Spirit and by the word of the gospel. It's just exactly what Peter's saying.

Peter's Fourfold Teaching in 1 Peter 1

But let's get the hold of this. Let's get back to Peter. First Peter 1. We're going slowly, but it's a great depth, isn't it? It's saying to these believers, seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfinished affection of the brethren, seeing that you divinely love one another with a pure heart, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

And then he comes to this, for all flesh is as grass. And we should emphasize the all. All flesh. And all the glory of man as the flower of grass. For the grass withereth. Flower thereof shall fall as a wind.

You know, Peter not only knew about the purification of souls and the obligation of sons and the regeneration of saints, but he knew the limitations of man. You know, I think this is a great lesson to learn, you know.

It doesn't need to matter who you are, you know, you're just like grass. All flesh. If you just like the flower of the field, you can have a smile on for a while, but you're going to perish, you know.

This is a great thing to learn, you know. You know, there's a wonderful phrase way back in Isaiah, let's get it just now. It's Isaiah chapter 40. If I remember rightly, Isaiah 40, and he's talking about God.

He says in verse 18, Isaiah 40,. To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? Verse 22 he says, It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.

You know, that's a tremendous thing to say, isn't it? And there was once upon a time when there was a great national meeting in Westminster Abbey in London, and old Dr. John McNeill was the preacher. And the King of England was there that day in his robes.

And all the lords and ladies were there in their soaks. And all the judges of the land were there in their wigs. And all the colonels and all the commanders of the empire were there with their medals on.

Big state affair. And John McNeill took for his text All the inhabitants are as grasshoppers before God. Tremendous thing. And I want to solemnly say today that the King here is just a grasshopper with a crown on.

And all these judges here are just grasshoppers with wigs on. And all these commanders are grasshoppers with medals on. That'd take you down a bit, wouldn't it? I think we should learn our limitations, you know.

We struts about, you know, as if we were somebody. You can see these fellows getting so fussed up with pride. And you know they're like flies on a windowpane. If only we could learn our limitations. You know the most beauteous lady in the world.

She's just like grass. Oh, just like a flower for a vine. Ah, she'll fade away. She doesn't hold the center of the state forever, you know. And the wisest man in the world, who hath honor and glory as it were, he'll honor you forever, you know.

And the most powerful man, ah, he'll fade away. Hitler's gone and Nasser's gone. What more of them will go? And vile men will go too. They're only grass. Wicked men are only grass. They're grasshoppers.

All that we could learn by this old fisherman. He had been to a good school. He was learning things. You know, he knew the purification of souls and the obligation of sons, the regeneration of saints, the limitation of man.

The Eternal Word and Eternal Salvation

He knew the duration of this word. He said, For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endures forever.