1 Peter 1:22-2:3

I was looking for the information up on the screen the title of the sermon is going to be new man New love and it's in first peter chapter

Uh one starting in verse 22. So if you want to go ahead and turn to first peter chapter 1 verse 22

We're going to look through uh chapter 2 verse 3 um the uh

The points of interest, um are are less sermon outline that uh that should be up on the screen, uh pretty soon um

But they're going to be less less sermon outline And more points of interest to help us study as we look through first peter chapter 1 verse 22 through chapter 2 verse 3 um

You're not gonna Okay, it's not going to be up there. Okay, and I don't have them written down.

Uh, so it's okay. Um Okay, cool, so when you see them up there, um, if we can get them up there one of them, uh

One of them was the imperishability of of love And I got to thinking is that even a word?

So I looked it up on the internet and it come up on the internet. So Rest assured because it's on the internet, of course, it's true, right?

It's got to be true. So, uh, we could put the imperishableness of love But I went with the imperishability of love.

That's that's one of the points of interest Hopefully we'll see that pretty soon Let's go ahead and read our text together if you're there in first peter chapter 1 starting in verse 22

Since you have In obedience to the truth purify your souls for sincere love of the brethren fervently love one another from the heart

For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable that is

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 off but the word of the lord abides forever

And this is the word Which was preached to you therefore putting aside all malice and all guile and Hypocrisy and envy and all slander like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word by That by it you may grow and respect salvation

If you have tasted the kindness of the lord now before we jump into The the what and the how of this text a lot of times we want to do that and if you were with tommy in any of the um

Wednesday night services earlier in the year Uh, one of the admonitions from tommy was to um, don't jump in to the application first We want to get to the context and learn all that so don't jump to the application first.

So That's what I had to do going into the text before we jump into the the what is it saying?

And and how do we apply it? I asked myself the question. Why is why is peter given the message that he's given to us?

Um And I had to lay a foundation for myself and I wanted to lay a foundation for you

And I think it will will help us as we begin to to study. Um, Study first peter not just this passage, but the whole of first peter laying down this this foundation of why?

um So what I did and you probably have done as well If you look at the introduction of peter and you look at the commentaries for peter

Most of them will tell you that peter was was writing to Christians who were persecuted christians who were suffering so we get that information from from the introduction of the book and from commentaries

And we'll look at textual evidence for those passages as well. Uh, but also one of the other themes in peter is

This this idea of of urgency this this idea of Eminence or something is happening soon this timetable language that peter uses

So there's these two themes writing to persecuted suffering christians and this timetable this eminence

Urgent type language that's going on And then the message that we read flowing out of those themes from first peter kind of confused me because It doesn't fit the message that he brings doesn't fit with with those two themes um

It goes against our natural wisdom, uh worldly wisdom worldly understanding

So what you think might flow from those themes doesn't fit with those themes and I want to cover those things

So look at the let's look at those verses Of suffering that we see in first peter Uh chapter 2 verses 10 through 12 for once For once we're not a people for you once we're not a people

But now you are people of god you have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy Beloved I urge you as foreigners as strangers to abstain from fleshly lust which wage again wage war against your soul

Keep your behavior excellent among the gentiles so that the thing in which they slander you as evildoers they may

Because of your good deeds as they observe them glorify god in the day of visitation chapter 3 verse 17 and 14

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed and do not fear their

Intimidation and do not be in dread but sanctify christ as lord in your hearts always being ready to make a defense to everyone who ask you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect and And keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which that you are slandered those who disparage

Your good behavior in christ will put to shame for it is better If god would should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than doing what is wrong

Chapter 4 12 through 14 beloved do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you

For your testing as though something strange were happening to you But to the degree that you will share in the sufferings of christ keep on rejoicing said so the revelation of his glory

You may also rejoice and be overjoyed if you are insulted for the name of christ You are blessed because of the spirit of glory and the god rest upon you

Along with the suffering like I said, there's also this theme of Eminence something's happening soon this timetable language and just a few verses of scriptural evidence for that Chapter 1 verse 5 it says revealed in the last time verse 7 at the revelation of jesus christ chapter 1 verse 11 sufferings of christ and the glories to follow chapter 1 verse 13 at the revelation of christ

Verse 20 in these last times for the sake of you Chapter 2 verse 12 in the day of visitation chapter 4 verse 5 who is ready to judge the living and the dead?

chapter 4 verse 7 and and you can circle this one this is um I think this verse and this statement is very rich and I think there's a lot to it and it's for Another time and another discussion but chapter 4 verse 7 says the end of all things is at hand

You hear that eminence language something's happening soon verse 13 at the revelation of his glory

You may rejoice chapter 5 verse 1 witness the sufferings of christ and partaker of his glory that is to be revealed

So we we hear this this message of to a persecuted people to a suffering people

Then you hear this this theme of a timetable this eminence something's happening soon and it sounds um, it sounds to us like a familiar message

We hear this message all the time. If you if you've listened to sermons over the years watch videos over the years um

Read books articles anything that you've looked at over the years It sounds familiar to our to our ears that things are bad and things are getting

Worse and and suffering for the christian is is coming soon So you should be looking for the suffering you should be looking for other things to come.

It's a familiar message to us this this theme of Persecuted christian christians and things happening soon this this um theme of a timetable um

But what usually comes out for us? As we hear those messages as as i've observed is

When we hear a message of suffering christians and and a timetable things happening soon

What usually happens in response to that is an inward look? um to ourselves, um, you'll you'll notice that when we hear those messages, uh gun gun cells are up The the ammo shells are empty.

Uh, some some people build bunkers um, we We ask ourselves the question.

Am I good? Um is my family good and is my life in order we ask ourselves those questions

We sometimes stock up with food and water. Um, a lot of people call the this type of person a prepper which

Preparing for emergencies is good But that's usually our response to this message of pending doom that that's coming

Is to look inwardly and and prepare inwardly for us and ours But that's not the message that that peter gives to us

After we see this suffering, uh persecuted christians suffering christians and this this theme of of time

Uh, we don't see that message flowing out that peter doesn't tell us to look inward peter's message here

Is a message that flows outward to look to look to others And it's totally contrary to natural wisdom

Natural wisdom says, you know, if something if suffering is coming if it's going to get bad And it's going to be happening soon.

We need to prepare for it But that's not peter's message It's it's a message of looking outward and we see that we've already heard.

Um, Three messages so far from first peter chapter one and in first peter chapter one peter gives us four imperatives imperatives are do this

And he gives us four imperatives and we've already looked at three of them. Um in in the previous three sermons the the first one was um hope the command to hope the second one was the the command to Be holy and the third one was to conduct yourselves with fear

And and tommy pastor tommy went through all three of those in in last sunday's sermon To to hope to be holy and conduct ourselves with fear.

And then the last one which is the one we're going to look at today Is is love? And of course, like I said that that kind of contradicts our natural thinking

Um, so why is peter and this is the foundation that I wanted to lay to help me to understand

What god is doing what god is saying through peter? Um, why is he giving us this message that kind of contradicts our natural thinking?

Why is why is peter concerned about our our moral behavior in christ?

And I think peter gives us those answers And then we'll we'll finish with that foundation.

Here's the answers from peter Keep your behavior. This is chapter 2 verse 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the gentiles so that in the thing which they slandered you as evil doers

They may because of your good deeds as they observed them glorify god on the day of visitation

Chapter 2 verse 15 for such is the will of god that by doing right you silence the ignorance of foolish people

Chapter 3 verse 18 and 24 christ also suffered for sins once for all time

The just for the unjust so that he might bring us to god having Having put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit verse 20 once who once were disobedient

When the patience of god kept waiting in the days of noah during the construction of the ark In which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through the water

And then lastly chapter 4 verses 8 through 11 above all keep fervent in your love for one another

Because love covers a multitude of sins Be hospitable to one another without complaint as each one has received a spiritual gift employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of god whoever speaks is to do so As one who is speaking actual words of god

Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which god supplies so that in all things in all things

God may be glorified through christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen so peter is speaking to us as There's this suffering and then he speaks to us as if there's a through this

We're going to get through this there's on the other side of this. There's an end game. Um There's a um, uh, that's not all there is to life.

There's there's more to this life. There's a purpose. It's not meaningless So we can think about that in our own lives in our own suffering.

It's not meaningless. There's a purpose to it there's on the other side of this that we're looking for and ultimately he says it's for Through jesus christ the glory of god who has glory and dominion forever and ever

So that's the why That we are to look outward and instead of inward when we hear this message of suffering and pending doom now, let's um get into Get into the text like I said

We've already looked at three of the four imperatives and today the last imperative or which means to something for us to be doing

Uh is love Peter is telling us to to love one another from the heart and I think laying that foundation

Gives us a heart of tenderness As we move forward in obedience to god a tenderness toward obedience

And in responding to this message from peter Another thing that we we're often tempted to do is as we study the bible and look at the text is to pull one verse

Out and kind of isolate it and say this is this is what it means And then we make application but going back to what pastor tommy has taught us

We we don't want to we want to know the context Uh of the message of the whole book and and other parts of the context

So and I think this is true, especially here in peter in in our text

That we can pull this verse out And and we can get a message out of it

But we need to know the greater context of the book to help us understand what peter is talking about And and verse 22 is a prime example and and you guys can respond with with the answer to this

Look at verse 22. It says since you have an obedience to the truth Purified your souls.

So what what is that naturally telling us since since who since you?

In obedience to the truth purified your souls. So who did the purifying? I mean, what does that naturally sound like?

Do what? Yeah, it sounds like you did it and and we can easily do that Isolate a verse take it out and say this is something that I do.

This is something that we can do We purify ourselves through obedience to the truth But we as we look at the context we can see that that's not the message of peter

Look at it says since Since or therefore what? Since we have a faith and hope in in our god we we are obedient to the truth or You have in obedience to the truth purified your soul

The obedience to the truth is not obedience to the law It's obedience to the gospel because of the word sense or therefore it's pulling off of what we've already learned

Um, it's the gospel your faith and hope in god And then as a result of that Comes out the the purified heart

So because of our new birth We have therefore this this pure heart

And it goes back to to what peter was saying in in verse 12 this gospel that was preached to us

And then in verse 3 we learned that it was god who caused us to be born again

So we learned we learned that all this is a result of god doing a work in us That we when we're obedient to the truth

We are putting our faith and and hope in god, which is something that he works within us

As we take a look at the text as we go on down And this is this is very powerful and very interesting um

You see he says for for a sincere the word for there is another idea of resulting in so um this our salvation results in a purified heart

And then because we have a purified heart that now results in In Our ability to do something else and what is that something else?

And it sounds like yeah, it sounds like he's repeating himself here But there's there's more to his message that I want to explain to you

Than than more than just repetition So we have the ability therefore as a result of our salvation To to love and he says a sincere love of the brethren and then here he repeats himself fervently love one another the word sincere there and it was it was very interesting that um rob

Chose the the verses that he did This morning because this is it ties right into this this passage right here this sincere

Love and if you remember the first verse that was read, um It said without a um without hypocrisy and that's the word that is used here

When you see the word sincere it means Not a hypocrite. So it's the negative form of of hypocrisy and When we look at that word we remember that um, or we learned that it was

It was for an actor who would wear a mask And the implication here when it says peter wants them to have a sincere a non -hypocritical love of the brethren he wanted

He wanted them to have a um Uh the excuse me the implication

When he says sincere love of the brethren, there was the implication that formally they they had a love of the brethren

But it but it was a hypocritical love of the brethren so he's telling them I want you to have a a non -hypocritical love of the brethren

Okay not only do we learn that it's a It comes from the understanding of an actor wearing a mask

But also has the implication of likeness and it doesn't mean that um,

I I like something I like your new car I like your um, When I was walking into church this morning, um,

I saw alvin pull up and I saw the tires on his truck I was like, I like those tires on this truck. It was pretty cool.

So it's not that kind of like So the implication of this word sincere not hypocritical

Is this idea of like or or sameness? So when they would have a hypocritical love for one another what they would have is

They would They would love you because you're like me Does that make sense?

You are the same. You're the same race as me. So therefore I love you You are the same

Socio -economic status as me. So therefore I love you So that likeness is sameness and that's the kind of love and peter touches on their their past later on in the book

He he talks about their former life as as hanging out with the gentiles and the sins that they committed

With them that they once loved and so some of the love that they had this non

Non -hypocrite or this hypocritical non -sincere love that they had was one that where they wanted to go back and hang out with their former gentile friends that kind of sameness

And that's what he was preaching against But the word that he uses there for love of the brethren you you may be familiar with it

In this text it's either filet or philadelphia And we're probably most familiar with the word phileo, right?

And this is the word that he uses and he uses a different word in the next phrase

But if you're like me if you think about the word phileo in the same sentence with peter

What does that bring you back to what conversation does that bring you back to that? He had in his past?

Yes, peter, do you love me the conversation with jesus peter? Do you love me and jesus says peter?

Do you love or agape me and peter says yes lord, you know, I phileo you and that was the conversation that he had with jesus now

I can't help but think because Peter is using those words here and it's peter. I can't help but think that maybe he's drawing from that conversation with jesus

We just don't know but it but it kind of makes sense because he uses both words here

He wants them to have a sincere or non -hypocritical phileo love of the brethren in in other words stated more greatly

I want you to have an agape love So maybe he learned from something from that conversation.

He wants you to have a an agape love for the brethren And just to flesh out that last statement fervently means to be outstretched

So like we were talking about before this love that we have for one another is going out

It's not inward. It's going out. So it's fervently means outstretched And then agape love, of course is the love of god and then from the heart

And in in the better translation, it says out of a clean heart Which goes back to the purification that we received

At the beginning beginning of verse 22 since you have purified your souls out of this clean heart

Agape one another I want to take it a a little bit further.

We know that this hypocritical love As stated was to love

Those that were like me and this non -hypocritical love This agape love can be taken in one of two ways and I think both of them correct

Are are correct and you can take it either way So this agape love that god wants us to have for one another

Kind of looks like this one of two ways Because jesus is precious to me

And I love jesus And jesus loves you I'm going to do likewise

I'm going to love you because jesus loves you you are precious to jesus

So therefore you are precious to me. That's one way to to look at this agape love and then the second way is

Because you Are precious to jesus You are precious to me

So, I hope that makes sense the first one is because you for jesus is precious to me I'm going to love you likewise or because um

Because you're precious to jesus i'm going to love you and I think either one of those works and is correct

When we look at the word agape verse 23 as we as we move forward to verse 23

Verse 23 helps us with a bit more of the context of understanding

This type of love that peter is is wanting us to have um

What does peter say if you can remember from chapter one? What what does peter say? About our inheritance and our redemption.

Do you remember if you go back and look at chapter one? What does he say about our inheritance and our redemption?

It's imperishable And what does he say here that is imperishable the imperishable seed?

We were born of a seed that is that is not perishable and we we see that that um imperishableness The undefiled and that will not fade away that inheritance and redemption from verse 4 18 and 23.

And then what is the contrast? The contrast between this imperishable seed this imperishable faith or or inheritance and redemption

What does peter contrast that with? his contrast is gold and silver if you look in um maybe verse verse 7 and then verse

Verse 18 his contrast to this imperishable Faith this imperishable, um inheritance and redemption

Is gold and silver and it's it's our finest elements gold and silver, but yet they're still

Perishable and any true true religion or true faith is going to be

Imperishable any imitation of that may look good on the outside, but it's still going to be perishable a hypocritical love

Would be like offering gold So if I came to you any one of you and gave you some gold coins or some gold bars you would probably be happy about that because There were something it's going to increase your lifestyle just a little bit if I if I gave you some coins or some gold bars

But those things are are still perishable, even though they have worldly value and and we they would be received.

Well Now what does that look like in In relationship to loving one another if I were to offer you gold and silver

As as love What would that look like?

That would be a flattery. I would be flattering you maybe for my own sake It would be a selfish love

Um, it's it's gonna my love's gonna look good to you But the result is or the motivation is

I want something from you or Or the sameness type love that I was talking about i'm going to love you just because you're the same skin color

You're the same socio -economic status. You have the same character as I do Um, it's going to look good.

It's going to feel good, but underneath it's empty and it's perishable That would be offering you gold and silver of of my love the non -hypocritical love

That that god is calling us to that peter's calling us to here is going to be imperishable In other words, it comes out of a clean pure Redeemed heart and if we're going to discriminate in this world

The only reason that we need to discriminate Is to discriminate against ourselves for the benefit of someone else

That's the only discrimination that a christian should have in their heart is a discrimination against their self

For the benefit of another and I think that is what we learn here as this agape love

That god would have us to have So what else is imperishable? besides this inheritance

And redemption and we've already talked about it. It's the seed. It's the seed that um, those things come out of and if The reason that our redemption the reason that our inheritance is imperishable is because this seed itself is imperishable

And so what is peter teaching us About this seed and I want to compare verse 3 with some of the passages that we're looking at today

So if you look at verse 3 in chapter 1, it says god calls us to be born again in verse 23

It says since you have been born again Verse 3 it says to a living hope verse 21 says faith and hope in god

Verse 3 says through the resurrection of jesus christ verse 23 says through the living and abiding word of god

And then if you skip down to verse 25 this word and I think in the better translations includes

The words good news this good news the word Is the seed which is imperishable going back to verse 23

So the seed is is imperishable and this seed is the word of god is the good news which is

Imperishable and then within us produces an invincible faith

And a hope in jesus christ resulting in an imperishable love for one another

And that's the goal here That's that's what peter is trying to convey to us that the love that we should have for one another comes from imperishable faith

To an imperishable love for one another if you look at verse 25

It says the word preached to you And it's in reference to what we just saw or what you see in in verse 24 and 25 this um

This quotation it may look a little different in your bible It may be more narrow in a different font and it's and it's telling us that it's a reference or it's it's pointing back to A quote from the old testament

So why is peter quoting the old testament here? What is this message that was that was preached to them or preached to us?

It goes back to verse 10 and 11. It's it's a message that has been preached for a very long time from the prophets

It's not a new message and peter is referencing back to the old testament And one of the things that i've learned is that even though he calls quotes just a small portion

Of this old testament passage the quote for them for the original reader was more like Of chapter and verse it was more like a reference

So the context when when they were to when they heard this reference They would be recalling

The whole passage And there's more there's more context that we can learn from the whole passage

That helps us to understand the the boundaries of the context for first peter

And if you want to i'd love for you to flip back over to isaiah chapter 40 because that's where the reference is from And if you'll just remember as we look at isaiah chapter 40, we're not going to look at the whole thing

But we're just going to look at verses 1 through 11 just keep in mind That this this small reference to the old testament

Peter wanted them to be recalling this passage in isaiah chapter 40 the the greater context

Starting in verse 1 comfort. Oh comfort. My people says your god speak kindly to jerusalem

And call out to her that her warfare has ended that her iniquity has been removed

That she has received of the lord's hand double for her sins A voice is calling clear the way of the lord in the wilderness make smooth in the desert a highway for our god

Let every valley be lifted up in every mountain And he'll be made low and let the rough ground become plain and the rugged terrain a broad valley now

Who is verse 3 speaking of? A voice calling out in the wilderness

John the baptist so there's our reference. That's part of our context verse 5 then the glory of the lord will be revealed and if you want to I would

Circle that part of the verse right there Then the glory of the lord will be revealed because this is part of another part of first peter

That's going to be coming up later And I think it it gives us a lot of context but chapter verse 5 says then the glory of the lord

Will be revealed and all flesh will see it together for the mouth of the lord has spoken

Now who is this referring to after john the baptist the glory of the lord will be revealed Who is this speaking of speaking of jesus?

So there's more of our context now verses 6 through 8 A voice says call out then he answered.

What shall I call out? And then here's our reference in first peter all flesh is grass and all its loveliness

Is like the flower the field the grass withers the flower fades when the breath of the lord blows upon it

Surely the people are grass the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our god stands forever

This this message I think this is what he is wanting us to to learn from this reference This message of jesus is is a sure message a promise of hope that will come to fruition

This hope comes from outside of this world because everything that was created Will will wither and fall away

So everything that was created everything in this earth Will wither and fall away so we need something outside of creation something uncreated

To come in and rescue us, right? So I think that's the reference. I think that's the understanding here now moving on to verse 9

Get yourself up on a high mountain. Can you just can you just hear this command? Coming from the lord

Get yourself up on a high mountain. Oh zion you bearer of good news

Who who in here has experienced the love of christ who has experienced the salvation of christ?

Are you a bearer of good news? I think this is speaking to to all of us you you bearer of good news

Lift up your voice Mightily, oh jerusalem bearer of good news

Lift it up Do not fear say to the cities of judah Here is your god and then in verse 10

How are we to live? In this world, but not of the world without fear.

How are we to do that verse 10? Behold, the lord god will come with might

With his arm ruling for him behold his reward is with him and his recompense before him

We can live in this world, but not of this world without fear because we have a mighty ruler

We have a mighty ruler that goes before us whom we stand behind And then how can we share the gospel?

In this world in the midst of all this suffering verse 11 like a shepherd

He will tend to his flock In his arms, he will gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom

He will gently lead the nursing ewes How can we share the gospel?

And and remain faithful and speak with boldness Because we have a shepherd a who a tender shepherd who was there to comfort us

We have a mighty ruler and a tender shepherd Who goes before us?

Now moving on to chapter 2 verse 1 therefore

Therefore what since we have been purified since we have been born again Since we have this this salvation

Don't pollute yourself Don't let anything else back in since you have been made pure Don't pollute yourself

And then putting aside is very declarative. It's almost this this should be a once for all ordeal putting aside

And then this list that peter gives It is nothing less than a continuation of his thought

On our relationship with one another Look at the list there malice to want to hurt people guile or deceit

We want we want people to believe things that are not true hypocrisy

Pretending to be someone you're not Not wanting people to know the the real you envy being jealous of other success

Slander speaking ill or falsely in order to hurt someone else Don't pollute yourself

Once you've been purified And then in verse 2, what does he say?

He says like newborn babes we We have so many people that we can emulate

We have heroes of the faith in scripture and in our own lives And in in our past that people we can read about so many people that we can want to emulate

But peter here is telling us to to emulate who? newborn babes

Why does he want us to to emulate newborn babes because they are they are pure they have not been polluted

And they hunger they hunger for this milk. Why? Simply because they're hungry

Hungry There's no hidden agenda with a babe They they cry because they're hungry

And they want to eat. That's it And this is the emulation that peter is wanting us to to take on for ourselves.

So therefore in our case in our case as believers our

If we have a pure desire, it's going to be for the imperishable Invincible all sustainable life -giving on unadulterated unpolluted all sufficient word of god

That's what's going to flow that's the desire that we're going to have from a purified heart

Now that next statement he says grow in respect to salvation. This is what

I thought of we've had a few Baby showers here recently And and I thought about how you you have the expecting mom

Sitting there and she's opening up her gift and then she opens up the box and then she pulls out she pulls out this onesie and the the her her assistant beside of her says

Who's that from? Robert tonight Oh typical

It's a little big don't you think thank you robert Oh, you're welcome And then what would be my response?

Is the baby can grow into it The baby can grow into it.

That's that's typical. We give a child a piece of clothing that's too big We always say he can grow into it and in our case the word of god and the gospel is

Way bigger than we could ever fathom or think It's it's bigger and beyond our understanding.

We have an eternity to be growing into it But peter is telling us that's our objective

And the the way that we do that is to be desiring. We should have a diet of nothing else other than the pure milk of the word

And then this last part He says if Why would peter say if The only reason that I can think of that peter would be saying if If comes from a person

Who really cares about the souls of other people? If you think about peter

Other places in his writings. He doesn't mind to repeat himself And in fact in second peter chapter 1 verse 10 peter is bold enough to say to his audience

Be diligent He says be diligent to make your calling and election sure

In in our time of easy believism and not wanting to offend other people peter wouldn't make it very long

He wants them he cares about their soul and he wants them to make their calling and election sure

Because he wants their relationship with god in the right place. He wants to see them in heaven

And I think this love that he's wanting us to have He's wanting it to produce the same type of boldness

That when we speak truth, we speak it in love, but yet we speak truth

And we want to see souls come to christ. And so therefore we are unashamed to say make your calling and election sure

Make sure that you're in the faith And so if we have that in mind And how do we respond to peter here in this text when he says if you have tasted the kindness of god

What would it look like? What would it look like if I had have tasted the kindness of god?

What does my love look like? If we're testing ourselves to make sure that we're in the faith

If you flip over to chapter 1 verse 1 my version uses a a word that I wanted to use here and yours yours may use a different word like exile or or sojourner or something like that but but in my text

In in uh chapter 1 verse 1. It's peter an apostle of jesus christ to those who reside as aliens as aliens

So what is my love to look like If i'm examining my own heart to to see if i've actually tasted the kindness of god

My love is going to be an alien love It's going to be a love that this world doesn't recognize

It's outside of this world because that's where our savior's from he's outside of this world We're in the world but not of the world.

So our love is going to be An an alien love and it's not a love that is forced by jesus

It's a love that looks at people differently And loves differently because we've been changed by jesus

That's the kind of love that we will see in our hearts If we respond to peter's question here if you have been if you have tasted

The the kindness of god and going back to what we looked at earlier

An imperishable faith Well love that comes from this world from from the natural man

It it's going to be like offering our finest materials that's silver or gold

It may look good. It may taste good. It may smell good and people may love it and it's received

Well, but in the end When all's said and done, it's still perishable.

It's going to fade away because it's a part of this creation but an imperishable faith an

Undefiled religion is going to produce That which is imperishable

And that's the love that's going to be coming out of us is an imperishable love

If we have tasted the kindness of the lord then those we come in contact with will know it

John 3 John 13 verses 34 and 35 I am giving you a new command

That you love one another Just as I have loved you that you also love one another

By this all people will know that you are my disciples If you have loved one for another i'm going to end with the gospel

We need someone we we need the uncreated one The one who is outside of creation to come in and rescue us

We need that mighty ruler and that tender shepherd why because we have all sinned and we've all fallen short of god's glory

We need a savior. We need to be rescued And today is that day of salvation

While it's still called today If anyone here has not responded to the gospel if you've not tasted the kindness of god

Today is the day of salvation or anybody that watches Now or later if you've not tasted the kindness of god

We want you to come to christ. We want you to have salvation. We want you to be born again

And to do that you must repent of your sins And put your faith and trust in jesus christ

Jesus says i'm the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except by me

We come to him today. Let's pray Father we thank you for Allowing us to worship together.

Thank you for your word that is imperishable. That way we can have a a hope to stand on a foundation to stand on with when everything else in this world is shaky and is is falling apart and We didn't we don't know which direction to go we can always know that Standing on the hope of your word standing on your promises and standing on your salvation is a sure thing

And it will not be taken out from under us Thank you for your love. Thank you for your kindness

Thank you for your salvation through your son jesus christ We pray all these things in jesus name.

Amen Amen Are we live?

Okay, so we um respond to this with our singing the power of the cross

This is the power of the crossed cross christ became sin for us Took the blame bore the wrath.

We stand forgiven at the cross On the road

For us To see the pain

Every bitter thought every evil deed

Crowning your blood -stained brow Sin for us

You bore the wrath we stand forgiven

At the cross Dead Is See my name

I am free Death is brushed to death

Life is mine to live One through your selfless

Us we stand

At the cross Let me leave you with this benediction

For i'm convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height

Nor depth nor any other creative thing shall be able to separate us from the love of god