Once again this morning for our text, we look to mine the riches of what the Lord has to say through Peter in 1 Peter 1, verses 22-25. And in preparation for that, our background reading, turning to John chapter 13. John chapter 13, as we read together the first portion, the first 17 verses, and the last portion, verses 31-38. John chapter 13, beginning at verse 1. May God add His blessing as well to the reading of His Word. It was just before the Passover feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God. So He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus replied, you do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand. No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered, unless I wash you, you have no part with me. Then, Lord, Simon Peter replied, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well. Jesus answered, a person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet. His whole body is clean, and you are clean, though not every one of you. For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Do you understand what I have done for you? he asked them. You call me teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. Then we have the episode about Peter and John asking who it is who would betray him. And Judas Iscariot is told to leave. And then we pick it up at verse 31. When he that is Judas Iscariot was gone, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will glorify the Son in Himself and will glorify Him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now where I am going. You cannot come. A new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Simon Peter asked him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus replied, where I am going you cannot follow now, but you will follow later. Peter asked, Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. Then Jesus answered, will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. Our text, 1 Peter 1, verses 22-25. word of the Lord stands forever and this is the word that was preached to you. A beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we know by now in our study of 1 Peter that God calls His redeemed people to be holy, to exercise and demonstrate holiness. And you may recall that Peter says in verse 6 of chapter 1 that they greatly rejoice because of their salvation through Jesus Christ. In other words, they give testimony to that saving grace of God. And now in this text, Peter basically reminds them that a life of confession is very much connected to a life of action. You cannot separate the two. And as privileged pilgrims, our holiness is to be seen and practiced in an unholy world. But then also in this text, Peter talks specifically about our relationship as believers with each other. He's not speaking in a general sense about the believer, the Christian's relationship with the world or with unbelievers. But he's talking specifically about the believer's relationship with other believers as he speaks of holy pilgrims called to mutual love. Peter commands Christians to love one another. You see, Christianity is a whole life commitment that we're talking about. It's vertical between the believer and God. It's horizontal believer to believer, a whole life commitment. And Peter is commanding believers to follow the very command of Jesus, which we read in John 13, 34 and 35, a new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, all men will know that you are My disciples if you love one another. You see, beloved, your holy living is directed toward God as it is practiced in the congregation. It's directed toward God as it is practiced in the congregation. If you're going to talk the talk, you'd better walk the walk. If you confess your love for God and that Jesus is your Lord, then you must also demonstrate that profession by your love for your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. It must be that way. In fact, if there's true faith, it will be that way. Not perfect. Not perfect. Indeed, we all fail. But that's what we will strive for and seek in the strength of the Spirit. And the first thing about being holy as God is holy is indeed to love one another with God-like love. And to be like God is to love. Because as Jesus says, God is love. Or as John says, God is love. You see, love for one another is to be a distinguishing characteristic of Christians. It makes us different from the world. And again, this text this morning talks about holy pilgrims called to mutual love. And notice, first of all, the basis of loving one another. Peter says in verse 22, Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply from the heart. You see, the core of this text is this last phrase, love one another deeply from the heart. Love one another. And the basis of this command to love is purification. Peter says, Now that you have purified yourselves, love one another deeply from the heart. Now we know that purification was a major requirement when it came to worship in the Old Testament. To be involved in worship, one had to go through the proper steps for purification and cleansing. And the Bible teaches us that there were many ways in which God's people were made unclean. For example, if a person had leprosy, they were sent outside, completely outside the camp, away from the people because they were unclean. They were not pure and they couldn't come back into the camp and they couldn't come back to the temple of the Lord until the leprosy was gone and the priest had pronounced them clean once again. But to purify also has the sense of moral purity and that's what Peter is talking about here. He's talking about purification of heart and life. And notice that the way Peter says it, they had already purified themselves and their lives remained purified. This means, I believe, that they had purified their minds and wills and desires and intentions and motives and the other expressions of the heart. This means that they had purified themselves from their evil desires. That former way of life with their evil desires, which Peter had talked about earlier. And what was the motivation behind this purifying of themselves? Peter says it was done by obeying the truth, in obedience to the truth. When they heard the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they believed it by the grace of God. And they were obedient to the call to respond to that truth. You see, true faith in God through Jesus Christ's congregation is a prerequisite for genuine love among Christians. Very simply, you and I cannot love one another without true faith. Now you might be inclined to question the way that Peter talks about this purification here in the text. Again, he says to these pilgrims, Now that you have purified yourselves. And in our Reformed tradition, we would be quick to say, well, surely He doesn't mean to say that they did it themselves. That's not possible. You see, beloved, we have been taught, and we believe, and rightly so, that we are totally depraved, and that we are completely unable to do any good. And even our best works are as filthy rags. But what we need to remember is that when God, through His Holy Spirit, regenerates us, when He causes us to be born again, When He gives us that new life, we are passive. We are passive receivers of that grace of God. We have nothing to do with it except that we are the objects of God's regenerating work. That new life is a free gift of God's grace to those chosen in Christ Jesus. But once He has given to you and me that principle of new life, that new heart, Then, by the working of the Holy Spirit, we become active. Remember verse 2 of chapter 1, there Peter speaks of the sanctifying work of the Spirit. The Spirit causes God's people to, we might say, cooperate with Him in that work of sanctification. As the Holy Spirit sanctifies His people, He works in us. He moves us in the direction of purification. He works in us that we might desire to obey and indeed do obey the truth of the gospel and clean things up and purify ourselves from those evil desires. And notice also the result of having purified souls. Peter says these pilgrims have sincere love for their brothers. It's there. It's demonstrated. The word sincere means literally unhypocritical. In the Greek, the word hypocrite has the idea of actor, like on a stage, one who wears that mask, as we've talked about before, and hides his true identity and tries to be someone else. A hypocrite is one who, in a sense, wears one face, wears one mask when he or she is speaking with you, but as soon as you're gone, the mask comes off, and the real them is saying something different behind your back. We have a name for that, don't we? It's called being two-faced. A hypocrite is one who says one thing and then does another. These pilgrims, you see, may have been hypocrites at one time, but not anymore. Peter is saying here that they had unhypocritical or sincere love for each other. In other words, they were real toward each other. Their inner selves matched their outer selves. What you saw is what you got. Their actions reflected their words. And they practiced love for each other. You see, no longer did they try to take advantage of each other. No longer did they try to cheat each other as before. No longer did they have to be suspicious of each other. They trusted each other. And they enjoyed Christian friendship and fellowship. People of God, the basis or foundation of mutual love in the congregation involves purified hearts and consciences in obedience to the truth of the gospel. And all of this manifests itself or is demonstrated in sincere, brotherly love. Now you might say, well, hold on a minute. If they already demonstrate this sincere, this unhypocritical love for each other, then why are they and us being commanded still further beyond this to love one another? Well, I believe that Peter is making a distinction here between two kinds of love or two different demonstrations of love with differing motives. Both are legitimate. Both are good. When Peter talks about sincere love, the Greek word that he uses is phileo, from which we get our word Philadelphia. Philadelphia, we know, means brotherly love. The city of Philadelphia is called the city of brotherly love. And when you have this kind of love, you find something in the object of love that appeals to you. It's a friendship kind of love, a best friendship kind of love, based on similar likes and dislikes. When you, as the one doing the loving, also get something out of it. You get pleasure and delight from the one that you love with this kind of love. In fact, it's reciprocal, isn't it? It's back and forth. But when Peter, and it's a good thing, we need to remember that, but when Peter says, love one another deeply from the heart, he uses a different word, the word agape. Now, sometimes we make a big deal between the different Greek words for love. And these two words for love, agape and phileo, are at times used interchangeably. But here, I believe that Peter means to make a clear distinction. You see, Peter, in a sense, praises them for their Philadelphia or brotherly love. But then he basically says, that's not enough as Christians. Your sincere love is wonderful. It is good. It is necessary. but you must go a step further. And agape love, and the character of agape love is the character of the mutual love He is commanding of them. That's our second point this morning. Now, how does Peter describe the character of the mutual love that he's talking about? He says, deeply from the heart. You see, love from the heart is a sincere love. It is a truthful love. It is a love that seeks the benefit of the object of love. That is, it's not a selfish love. Not even in the sense of, first of all, looking for that delight and that pleasure to be gotten. It is a selfless love. It's not a love that, first of all, seeks to get something in return, but it seeks only to give. Remember, Philadelphia love can mean that it's a love given because some sort of pleasure can be gotten from the one being loved. that mutual pleasure, but agape love, in distinction, sees the object as precious and valuable with worth and only seeks their best interest. Agape love is God-like love. That is the love with which God loved the world that John talks about when he says, for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. See, God loves His children not with a brotherly love because by nature, by our nature, there's no pleasure or delight that God can receive from you and me. But He loves His own with this deep heart love. He loves us with a self-sacrificing love which He displayed on the cross through His own dear Son. And He then finds you and me as His children, precious and valuable in His sight, only because of the work of Jesus Christ. And that value then, that value is found in the fact that those who are born again by the blood of the Lamb are to give God glory through their new life. You see, that's the focus, isn't it? The glory of God. That's why He made us. God, through Peter, commands those who love with friendly love. Those who enjoy pleasure and fellowship to love with God-like self-sacrificing love from the heart. Because that's how God loves them. We are to love fellow Christians. We are to love each other as God loves us. We are to imitate God. Again, we can't do it perfectly. And each one of us could point out how the others have failed. We look past our own heart, don't we? But we have all failed in this. But yet Jesus says, love one another even as I have loved you. But Peter also describes the character of loving one another with the word deeply, also translated in some translations as fervently. He is saying that this love is to be earnest or zealous without failing. Congregation is a love that takes work. And it is a permanent love. It never ends. Again, praise God. That describes God's love for His people. As we were reminded in adult Sunday school, God may turn His face away from us for a time, but He never completely throws us away. He never takes His hand off of us. It is an eternal love. And that's how God expects you and me as Christians to love one another. 1 Corinthians 13 is familiar to us. It's often called the love chapter and it describes in detail this kind of love. Verses 4 through the beginning of 8. Paul says, Love is patient. Love is kind. It is not envy. It is not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. Maybe it would serve us good to, let's read that again and insert the word love a little more often. Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, love is not proud, love is not rude. Love is not self-seeking, love is not easily angered, love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but love rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, love always trusts, love always hopes, love always perseveres, love never fails. Beloved, does that describe your love for your fellow Christians? Look around, does it describe your love for those sitting beside you and around you this morning? Or are you a hypocrite? When it comes to the Christian faith and this kind of love, are you two-faced? How is it possible to purify yourself and to love one another deeply or fervently from the heart? It's possible only if this love in the third place has a quality foundation. What is the quality of mutual love? Verse 23 says, For you have been born again not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring Word of God. Again, mutual love has a lasting quality. That is, it endures. It doesn't fade away. It's not hot one day and cold the next day and hot the next day again and then cold again. It doesn't quit before getting to the finish line. It endures until the end, both in good times and in bad times, in easy times and in difficult times, and even when I don't feel like loving. How is this possible? Because Christians, as Peter says, have been born again. They have been given new lives spiritually. Peter describes being born again, both negatively and positively. He says, for you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable. And the contrast here, I believe, is between human seed, which produces mortal human life that is temporary, and between divine seed, which produces eternal life. Perishable seed is subject to death. In fact, we know it has the principle of death already in it. Because if you think about it, as human beings, the day that we are born, we already begin to die, and every day we take another step closer to physical death. But imperishable seed is not subject to death or decay or to spoiling. It never dies. Why? Because of Jesus Christ. He died unto sin once for all those who believe in Him, And as we sing, death could not hold him. Congregation, we were born with perishable seed, corrupt, headed for physical and eternal death, conceived in sin, spiritually dead already. In order to purify ourselves and exercise godly love toward one another, we need to be completely cleansed. And that is done by being born of imperishable seed and being washed in the blood of Jesus. Who does this? Peter says in verse 3 of chapter 1, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. God the Father causes His children to be born again by the working of His Holy Spirit through His living and enduring Word as Peter describes it. The Bible says, For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. Whenever and wherever it's preached, for example, beloved, it is living, it is active, it is enduring. And through the living Word of God, the Holy Spirit implants that imperishable seed of new life in the hearts of God's people. That's the seed of recreation. And what is that seed supposed to do? I'm sure I could ask any of the boys and girls here this morning, What do we expect of seed? What's it supposed to do? You put it in the ground. You water it. What do we expect? It grows, doesn't it? And as it grows, it's supposed to blossom. It's supposed to bear fruit. These Christian pilgrims are able, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to follow this command to love one another. Because they have been given that new life. They have been born again through the blood of Christ. with a life that will never die. God's Word is living and enduring and therefore the mutual love that these pilgrims are called to exercise, that you and I are called to exercise, must be living and enduring. Notice, Peter quotes the Old Testament, Isaiah 40, to support what he says about the Word of God. All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever. Then he says, and this is the word that was preached to you. By talking about the grass and the flower of the field, Peter really means to push home the temporariness of man. These pilgrims were most likely familiar with the climate in Palestine. In the morning, the grass would be somewhat fresh from the dew, the moisture of the evening hour, but by noontime, the hot sun would take its toll, and the grass would once again be withered up. And Peter's point is not only is human life with all of its earthly glories temporary, it's really, really temporary. It's gone in an instant. And we know that. We know that as a congregation in this place, we know that as families, maybe after we've watched a loved one struggle with failing hell for a long time, we know that they're approaching death. And yet, when that last breath comes, it's gone in an instant. I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with my parents these last few days. And my dad was telling me that just a couple of weeks ago, they have coffee every morning in one of the restaurants. A bunch of men get together. And there was a gentleman sitting across from him a couple of weeks ago, 66 years old. And he's talking one minute, and his head is bowed the next. He had a massive stroke. A couple hours later, pronounced dead. gone in an instant. But the word of the Lord abides forever. Isaiah's prophecy is a testimony to that. The word of the Lord which Isaiah spoke outlived him to Peter's time. And even beyond, it still lives today for you and me. And the promises and truths of the word of God never become outdated. And again, Peter ends by saying, and this is the word that was preached to you. In other words, this is nothing new for you. This is nothing that you haven't heard before. Wonderful reminder for you and me that we need to hear this over and over and over and over and over again. Maybe we never stop hearing the good news of the gospel. We need to hear it because our memories are so short. We preach the living and abiding Word of God, that Word which is never outdated, it's never old-fashioned. That Word is always relevant. That Word is the power of God still today for salvation for those who believe. And we're talking about the entire Word of God. Paul says, How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? God the Holy Spirit implants that imperishable seed through the preached Word of God. Beloved, the call or command for those who are born again by the blood of the Lamb is to be holy as God is holy. And this holiness is demonstrated by loving one another with God-like love. Now, as we think about 1 Corinthians 13, we cannot hardly improve on that, can we? Yet, we can talk about the character of this love or what it is to be like. This is a love that promotes the benefit of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Not your own benefit. It understands when a believer fails and is patient with him. It is a love that is tolerant of others. It's a love that supports each other, especially in worship. When your seat is empty, whether morning or night, the body of Christ in this place is not complete. Members are missing. It is a love that not only forgives, but also forgets. Some say, I can forgive, but I can never forget. And in a sense, we can never forget situations and things that have happened. But as believers, we don't hold it against each other. You can't do one without the other, you see. And Isaiah says of the Lord, I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. And those who think they can forgive without forgetting certainly didn't get that from following the example of our Lord. Very simply, this kind of love is love which overlooks the idiosyncrasies and faults of your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. It's a love that forgives. It's a love that seeks their welfare. It seeks their best interest. It seeks their spiritual growth. It's a love that prays for one another, cries with one another, laughs with one another, encourages one another, admonishes and is willing to be admonished. It is a love that holds one another accountable and again is willing to be held accountable. After all, God holds each one of us accountable. It's a love that helps each other in practical ways, with meals, with rides, with visits. It spends time with each other even when it's not convenient. It's a love that works to build up the body of Christ. It's a love that goes to your brother or sister in private if there's a problem or disagreement and talks about it with the Word of God as your ground and support. To summarize, it's a love that serves God and one another after the pattern of Christ washing the feet of His disciples. People of God, if you are truly born again, if you are truly a child of God, then you will love one another. if you really love god your love for each other will be automatic and visible again not perfect we're not saying that because we fail daily but it's that for which we strive john says in first john chapter three no one who is born of god practices sin because his seed god's seed abides in him and he cannot sin because he is born of god and we know he's talking about remaining in unrepentant sin. And then John says in chapter 4, verse 8, the one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In verse 20, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. You see, Christian holiness and congregational love go hand in hand because the church is the body of Christ. And by mutual love we testify that we love God and by this evidence of mutual love, God then proves who they are who really love Him. Because if you don't love your fellow Christians and you are giving evidence of not being a child of God. Remember at the beginning we said that a life of confession, and don't forget, each one of us stands, in the evening service especially, we stand and we confess with our mouth what we believe concerning our triune God. Remember, a life of confession is connected, intimately connected to a life of action. Our love for our Christian brothers and sisters reflects our love for God. Do you love them here in this place? Again, look around. I'm talking about those two who go to the first service. It's hard sometimes when we have a split service. It's even harder to get to know them, let alone love them. Do you love each other? Beloved, mutual love causes a congregation to grow, to bloom. So what does the field of the Escondido United Reformed Church look like? Amen. Shall we pray? Indeed, O Lord, with grateful hearts, we thank you for your perfect love poured out upon your church, your people, upon us as individuals, upon us as a congregation. Yet, Father, we also are reminded that our love is so imperfect. Selfishness often gets in the way. We do pray for forgiveness for that sin of selfishness. We pray, Father, that your love would indeed be demonstrated in us, through us, and by us more and more each and every day. May we strive for that. May we look to the interests of others and look away from our own interests. Indeed, desire to love even as Christ loved us. Thank you for this fitting and necessary reminder. Thank you for your word of truth. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.