Since Being Saved (Part A)

I have found in my Christian walk, it an easier part of my walk in identifying false teachers and not liking them.

What I have not found easy is dealing with persecution. And so, the Bible just covers everything. Our strong points and our weak points are covered in the scripture and we do well to familiarize ourselves with them so that the Holy Spirit can do what He will do in us whether we be weak or strong. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of First Peter.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with a brand new message called, Since Being Saved, taught from First Peter chapter one. We are in First Peter chapter one and if you have your Bibles please turn to First Peter chapter one. We will take verses twenty-two through twenty-five. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever because all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and its flower falls away but the word of the Lord endures forever.

This is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. Since Being Saved, that would be the title I would give to this morning's consideration. Since you say you're a Christian, since you have given your life to the Lord, going forward from there, that's what Peter is getting at as he closes up this section as we know being First Peter. Peter would not die at home in bed and he knew it. His would be a public death, an execution for believing Jesus Christ.

It would be violent and painful but it would also be full of glory. It would be a sermon, not only for those in his lifetime but for those after to this very day. And so here this man Peter, knowing he's going to be a martyr, writing to Christians who are suffering, was encouraging them still.

He opened up his letter with the grace and peace of the Lord. He proceeded to tell them to gird up the loins of their mind, to be strong. And now he is saying well since you're saved, something we all need to be reminded of, so strong will be the deception in the coming last days in human history which could happen at any time. When God puts an end to human rule on this planet, so strong will be the deception throughout the earth on the citizens of antichrist and his forces, his influence, that they will commit themselves to bloodshed against those who love Jesus Christ. They will murder quite a few.

And they will do it with glee and they will do it with zeal. John writes about this, it was shown to him in the revelation. In Revelation 6, he writes, when he opened the fifth seal, that is the Lord who took the scroll, John writes, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

They didn't back away. When evil came knocking and grabbed hold of them and their families, they didn't back away from the word of God. John saw this, himself persecuted at the time that he was given the vision. Long after all of his friends had died, violent deaths, Peter being one of them, Paul being another, since you being a Christian, while we're on the topic, while we're on the subject, here are some things that go with it and may we be mindful of this, may this, may this do something good for us when we consider such truths from God's word. We look now at verse 22, we get back to these things from Revelation also in persecution, which again, 1 Peter concerns itself with.

I'm going to pause one moment. 2 Peter, he deals with apostates in the church, false teachings. I have found in my Christian walk, it an easier part of my walk in identifying false teachers and not liking them.

What I have not found easy is dealing with persecution. And so the Bible just covers everything. Our strong points and our weak points are covered in the scripture and we do well to familiarize ourselves with them so that the Holy Spirit can do what he will do in us whether we be weak or strong to his glory, because he makes us strong. And so now looking again, verse 22, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. Since you have been purified in your soul, that's salvation he's talking about, since you're Christians, since you're saved, since you have received the gospel of Jesus Christ produced by the Holy Spirit. Peter does not say that we purify our own souls.

We cannot do that. Our purification is achieved when we receive it. And that's the context, that's what he is saying. He'll bring that out further in verse 25, but before we get there we'll stay here, because it is the surrender to the gospel, to the truth of God. Revelation 7, 10, crying out with a loud voice saying, salvation belongs to God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. That's what those strong and powerful angels will be heralding. There, John heard them say it, wrote it down, crying with a loud voice saying, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne.

He is so much a part of it. John says he is in the midst of the throne. So vital is this purification, this salvation of the soul, that hell is obsessed with keeping those hated human beings from ever receiving it. We have been recruited in Christ to fight that obsession, to beat down its objectives. We're supposed to do it by holding to the word, even when not popular, even when not popular around our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, even when everything is against us, we are to uphold it. That is the testimony that is referred to in Revelation 6. They were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, they held to it.

They did not give up. God purifies our souls when we are saved in the strictest sense of the word, absolutely. We do not have power for personal purity. It is something that must come from the fountain, the throne of God. This has a process that goes with it, this purification process. There's that instant purification where in position with God, in His presence, we are justified, we are now, our sins are washed away, we are saved, we are purified.

That's justification. Then His Holy Spirit begins to work in our lives and through them, a new pattern of living now takes place and that is sanctification, practical sanctification, where He is constantly building us up and rebuilding us up. And when we slip backwards, He pushes us and gets us to move forward again. We stumble and we fall, we succumb to temptation. He does not abandon us.

He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you and He means it. And although we do not lose our salvation when we stumble like this, we can lose our peace and joy. And if too long, if it goes on too long, we begin to question our salvation.

Our assurance becomes shaky. And so we always are encouraging each other, the Scripture is encouraging us, the Spirit of God is encouraging us to not make slipping back a practice. He says in obeying the truth, well, we cannot separate belief from obedience, from action, and some try. You know, there's even a theological title for those who think that all you have to do is believe and it doesn't really matter what you do after that.

Antinomianism against law and order and truth. We do have to keep those two connected. And then this becomes frustrating to some of you and us, I should say, because there are those areas we try so hard to obey God and we fail. Don't let that get you to give up ever.

Make that thing serve you. Help it cause you to be kinder and gentler towards others, more merciful towards others. Remember your weaknesses and learn to use them for the glory of God and not for the satisfaction of the devil. Obeying the truth, the two sides of purification, belief and following what we believe. When Peter was telling about that day he preached to the Gentiles and the Holy Spirit fell upon them, he wrote this, or Luke wrote it in Acts chapter 15, that the Holy Spirit interrupted his sermon, purifying their hearts by faith, by trusting in the work of God.

This purification that Peter is talking about in obeying the truth. Have you met those who claim they've got the Holy Spirit and just never obey Him? They're not loving. They're very critical of everybody else. They're always out for something for themselves.

They try to show off their gifts as though it's something that they possess and makes them better than you. That's not being obedient and it's not being loving. And it helps us all to be mindful not to attack those, but to certainly not fall into that trap. Some seem not to believe in obedience. Mere belief in believing is useless.

It's useless to just have a theology and never be able to do it. And so again, since you're Christians, by the way, since you're being persecuted, oh, by the way, there's more to it. We must act upon what we claim we believe. Jesus puts it this way. Jesus answered and said to him, this is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.

Okay, yes, I got that part. And then John 8.31, Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. This is healthy talk for healthy Christians. We're not intimidated by this because of the weakness of our flesh. We embrace it. We get up.

We go at it again. But you come across a young man or a young woman or an old man or an old woman who is inadamant about marrying an unbeliever when the Scripture says don't do that. I'm giving this as an example. And they do it anyway in defiance of the Scripture over the flesh.

Very dangerous ground to find oneself. And not that we are supposed to treat them as enemies, but we're not supposed to give in and say, well, it's okay when the Scripture says it's not. But if this goes on too much, too often in any society, in any area where the gospel is preached, you have a condition that Ezekiel himself was faced with by the Jewish people at the time that where he was ministering who were claiming Yahweh as God, but they didn't mean it. And so Ezekiel writes, God speaking to him, so they come to you as people do. They sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but with their hearts pursue their own gain.

Nothing new under the sun. Ezekiel 33, 31. You might want to write that verse down because it is too common to practice in a New Testament church. What a James when he said, be doers of the word. Jesus said, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. Matthew 28, 20, teaching them to observe. But they get frightened when they hear that word obedience.

Why? Because we all struggle with our flesh, that's why. But it is that struggle that brings down devils. That's what God is looking for. That struggle, that resistance. We must not ever get into that place where we blame God for anything.

There are those who blame God. Paul says this to Timothy about God, that he desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, which Peter is talking about here in verse 22. He says, through the Spirit now we look at. The only way to obey is through the Spirit. You can't do it without Him. Who needs God if I can obey God without God?

Well, you can't do it. You cannot find the forgiveness and mercy for not doing it either without Him. John 16, 13, however, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth. We depend upon that. Often God withdraws from His people, not His love and His salvation, the sense of His presence.

He knows what He's doing when He does this. He is extracting from us faith, pure faith, as pure as we can get it, faith to trust in Him. In spite of these things that seem to not be in place, we're going to just trust in Him. In the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews, that 11th chapter which so many Christians call the chapter of faith, well, it is a chapter of faith. It is also the chapter of grace and works, believe it or not. By faith, Noah prepared the ark. He had the faith, he knew what he was supposed to do, and then he went out and he did it. That is faith and action, that is being a hearer of the word and a doer of the word. All those heroes that are listed in that 11th chapter, God gave them all they needed to perform the great acts of faith that they did do. Faith plus work equals grace because as Peter says right here, through the Spirit. So let's try to put this in context a little bit now, looking back again at verse 22. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, that is what is going on with the Christian life, in sincere love for the brethren. It's so easy to talk about loving the brethren. If it were that easy, he would not have written about it.

He could have just passed on because he could have said to himself, if it were that easy, there's no need to write to Christians, to tell Christians to love Christians. They're going to do that. That's what we do.

I wish, I wish. Seeing that you have purified your hearts, therefore love. Seeing that this one thing is true of you, therefore see if something else is true of you that you love. Why do so many people fake love? Because they know that it's valuable, otherwise they wouldn't fake it.

By faking it, we admit that we need it. 1 Corinthians 13 verses 1 through 2, we're all familiar with this, we who believe. And incidentally, if you're not a believer, you should be informed that this section, this letter of Peter, this first one is written to believers who are being persecuted for being believers. He doesn't have unbelievers in mind directly, but that does not mean that an unbeliever coming to this passage of Scripture is left out. You see, for example, if I were to preach to a room of people who are much more intelligent than I, the whole room, that could be happening right now.

It is funny. I don't have to be as intelligent as you. All I have to do is activate your intelligence to get you to use it in the presence of God.

That's called anointing, to bring the anointing and it's the same with you. If you have a person, a co-worker or a family member that is more intelligent than you and you tend to be intimidated, don't be. You've got truth on your side and all you need to do is activate their intelligence to make contact with the truth.

Now that's not easy, but it is possible. And it happens, otherwise intelligent people would not get saved and they do. You're looking at one.

Don't look at the guy next to you. First Corinthians 13, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become sounding brass and a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing.

Gasp. God says you're nothing if you don't have the love. How can you say you are a believer? Having said you believe, therefore let's see it. God says you're not only annoying but you're nothing without this love that he talks about and we insist that we are saved but do we do it without love?

1 Peter 4.8, he's going to get back to this. Above all things have fervent love for one another for love will cover a multitude of sins. Love does things that nothing else can do.

Why? What is the thing with this love? Now there's two types of love he's talking about here. Two different words.

Look with me now. He says love one another fervently with a pure heart. And here above that he says in sincere love of the brethren. The first love in sincere love of the brethren is phileo. But the second time he uses it, love one another fervently with a pure heart is agape.

A distinct feature of agape is its source. You see people that are not saved do not have agape love. They have a common love. They can have love for family, love for profession, love for each other.

They can have romantic love. It's all sorts of love that exists without God. God has ordained this. It's called common grace.

He has allowed certain things to be available even to unbelievers or a society would fall apart. It's common. It's not spiritual. Agape love comes from him. It is an exotic.

It's not like a dandelion that can grow without cultivation. It needs care and attention. It needs work and it's constantly in need of work. In some senses, because of our flesh, it is a most fragile love because someone will irritate us, will offend us. Someone will let us down. Someone will enrage us. And suddenly that love that we've boasted of, we are groping for it. We can't find it. We get angry with God for allowing us to be in such a corner.

God really doesn't have much to say when we find ourselves there because he said it already all through his word and he wants us now to work it. But it's painful. It's not natural. It's spiritual. So we calibrate our love by what the scripture says, love suffers long and is kind.

How many of you are not kind when you feel offended or moody or whatever else? Your love is gone. The Bible does not give you a pass there. It is, oh, God didn't know.

He stepped on your toes. Okay, you don't have to love. Do whatever you want now. Love does not envy. Well, if you were to tell me you are one of the greatest bicycle riders in the world, I would applaud that. If you were to tell me you are one of the greatest pastors in the world, I'd get envious. You see, it's okay. It's okay for others to be successful as long as they are not more successful than in our sphere, what is precious to us. And so this love takes works so that when I'm standing in a group and someone seems to shine brighter than I do in an area that I should shine brightly in, now I'm sensing envy well up inside of me and not love. And that's got to be dealt with by me.

Nobody can deal with that but me. And praying is not going to really make much of a difference because God is saying, not prayer time, swing the sword time. Now it is time to work. Break out your tools and work.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Then what? Work. That's what. So, love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up. See somebody proud, proud of themselves, look how much I love. That ain't love.

Not agape love. I must add that God is no advocate of half-hearted anything. It comes very easy to all of us, does it not? We start a project, we don't finish it.

Because the thrill is gone, it's harder than what we thought. That's why contracts exist, because of the flesh. But God still does not come along and say, that's okay, I like it. We're so glad you tuned in today to study the book of 1 Peter on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. And we're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information about this program or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast, so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast app. We hope you'll tune in again next time to join us as we continue our study through the Scriptures right here on Cross Reference Radio.