A Sincere Love and a Relentless Desire

CHRIST COVENANT CHURCH

Sermon Transcript

Bruce Creswell

1 Peter 1:22-2:3

A Sincere Love and a Relentless Desire

Date of Sermon: 07-13-2025 PM

Last Sunday, we were introduced to 1 Peter chapter 1.  Our eyes were opened and refreshed and encouraged about this great salvation that we have, this hope that we have in Jesus Christ, and today we heard this morning what our responsibility is to that great salvation that has been given to us and our brother, Pastor Tom, led us through that first responsibility of holiness, that as we have received this hope it should be spontaneous and growing in our hearts to pursue holiness.  And now tonight we want to look at the second responsibility entrusted to us from 1 Peter chapter 1:22-25 and that second responsibility is a sincere love for the brethren, and then that opens the door for us to see what has been entrusted to us as our third responsibility and that is to have a relentless desire for the Word of God.  Now I’m gonna ask you if you will join me in prayer.

Loving Lord, we come before you tonight and how we thank you for bringing us back in your house and what indeed it is to be centered around your Word, to be with God’s people, to worship you and to hear not from the pastor’s lip, but from the ministry of the Holy Spirit your Words to speak, Words of encouragement and instruction, and where needed reviewed.  So Lord I pray that you would anoint my lips that the message that comes forth is better than the one that comes away from my tongue.  May you be glorified we pray and ask in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Take your Bibles and your hearts and turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1:22. 1 Peter is a wonderful epistle.  I’m so grateful that we have this opportunity to be reminded of our salvation and reminded of His greatness that he bestowed on us through that salvation.  Verse 22 Peter writes these words, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.  Since you’ve been born again not a perishable seed, but an imperishable through the living and abiding Word of God.  For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.  The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord remains forever.  And this is the Word, the good news that was preached to you.”  Spine put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

In verses 22-25 Peter reminds us now of this supernatural responsibility that we have.  It’s supernatural in that we can do it in our own ability.  This is what is called the love of God and what we read here in verses 22-25 is having a sincere love for the brethren.  And Peter starts off here in verse 22 in laying out the foundation of our love.  He says, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth.”  You know god’s Word makes it plain that the unconverted person is far from having the ability to demonstrate genuine love.  The love that Peter is talking about here is from above.  It is the love that we have received from God.  Jesus told the Pharisees of this in John chapter 5:42 he addresses them.  He says, “But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.”  This love that Peter makes mention of is a love that is given to us at salvation.  In fact, the Lord Jesus declares that love, this love, unmistakably marks believers.  In John 13 he was talking to his disciples, and he says, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”  Peter says here that at the time of our conversion a change inside occurred with a new heart.  Our old sinful heart had been removed and replaced with a new heart and it’s at salvation that we have received the capacity to demonstrate supernatural love.  So think of it this way, God has saved you, forgiven you of your sins, and he has placed within you His love and we love Him because He first loved us and this love that He has given to us is the love that we’re to share with those in the body of Christ.

Now the second thing that Peter points out to us about this love is that there are two characteristics of that stands out about it.  He says that our love should be sincere, that’s what he says in verse 22.  And then the second thing he says is that our love should be earnest, again in verse 22.  What does Peter mean when he uses this word sincere?  You know at salvation we became a member of the body of Christ, the church, and the church is the target of our new spirit empowered capacity to love.  Pastor Tom mentioned that this morning about the whole thought of the church being a family, the connection there between God our Father and brothers and sisters, and so Peter says our love should be sincere, that is unfamed, that is without hypocrisy.  Peter says make sure that it’s a brotherly love.  It speaks of the fact that we as Christians, a call to have, a unique family love for one another.  You know God has given each one of us here tonight the capacity to love the unlovely, those people that have quirks and eccentricities and personalities and backgrounds different than ours.  This is a good time to examine where we are in that kind of love that Peter makes mention of here.  You know some people are easy to love, they really are.  Doesn’t take much effort, they seem to attract people and bonding takes place.  Some people are not as easy to love and those of us who see things black and white regarding others, we must look through the lens of the Gospel of and thank the Lord for the grace within their hearts.  We have that capacity; we have the supernatural love to love like the savior who loved us while we were yet sinners.  And so, this responsibility entrusted to us is this capacity to love the brethren.  And family members here we have that ability to do that with people coming from all sorts of backgrounds, all sorts of personalities, all sorts of gifts, the one thing that brings us together to serve together is the love of Jesus Christ. 

The second thing that Peter says that our love should be, it should be earnest.  This earnest love is the kind that is exercised by the will, I make up my mind, it’s not of the emotion.  The word earnest here means to stretch to the furthest limit of a muscle capacity.  According to Peter here that’s the way we’re supposed to love one another.  We are called to have a love for one another that doesn’t hold anything back, but that extends itself to the fullest extent possible in promoting the welfare and the benefits of others.  Peter sees that as such an importance in our love that he again refers to it in 1 Peter chapter 4.  And if you will turn to that you’ll see Peter writes these words.  He says, “Above all keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sin.”  So God wants the believer, that is you and me; to stretch way out so it graciously forgives and covers sins among believers. 

I am reminded of Corrie ten Boom and the illustration of such love coming out of her heart.  It was back in 1947 when she had come from Holland to Munich, Germany with a message that God forgives.  It was the truth that the people at that time needed to hear the most.  She told them if we confess our sins that God will cast them into the deepest ocean gone forever and the people just sat there silently and not connecting.  And as he left they got their coats, put on their hats, and they walked out silently from the basement of this church.  And the story goes on to say that things changed there for Corrie.  One moment she saw this man’s overcoat and brown hat, the next it was a blue uniform and a visor cap with it’s skull and crossbones.  She could see her sister Betsy with ribs sharp beneath her parchment skin and both of them shamefully walking naked before this man who was standing before her that evening.  This man had been a guard at the concentration camp in Ravensbrück.  A fine misusage Fraulein, how good to know as you say all of our sins are at the bottom of the sea.  And he stuck out his hand and it was the first time that she had come face to face with one of her captors and her blood seemed to turn ice cold.  If you mention Ravensbrück in your talk I was a guard there, but since that time I’ve become a Christian, I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things that I have done, but I would like to hear it from your lips, I’d like to hear it from you as well Fraulein.  Again, he stretched out his hand to her, will you forgive me.  As Corrie stood there as one of those whose sins had every day needed to be forgiven she could not.  Dear Betsy had died in that camp, could he erase the slow deaths simply for the asking.  For her it seemed hours had gone by as she wrestled with what to do.  She knew what she must do.  The message of forgiveness was not just a commandment, but it was a daily experience.  With coldness clutching her heart she knew that forgiveness was not an emotion, but an act of the will.  Silently she prayed, Jesus help me.  I can lift my hand, I can do that much, you supply the feeling.  And as she mechanically began to thrust her hand into his outstretched hand her heart was filled with a healing warmth brining tears to her eyes.  I forgive you brother with all my heart I forgive you my brother.  For a long moment they grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner, but Corrie had never known God’s love as intensely as she did then.  With Corrie’s willingness came God’s power to forgive. 

Peter says that we’re to love, our brothers sincerely and earnestly stretching out the very fibers of our soul to minister and comfort brothers and sisters.  Now saying that Peter brings us back to verse 23 and he tells us that the grounds on which we’re able to demonstrate this sincere love, this earnest love.  In verse 23 he says, “Since you have been born again this goes back to what we listened to in 1 Peter chapter 1 with Blair and with Pastor Nathan expounding on that text, Peter here refers to it as a purification of the soul.  You know when a person is born physically, a new person has entered into the world, and likewise when someone is born again a new person has entered into the world all over again with new desires, new perspectives, and new priorities.  It is only because we are born again from above that we have the capacity to love earnestly.  You know left to our own devices we can be loving people.  It’s only through God and God’s power at work in our hearts that we can love this kind of love.  We are guardians you might say as well as conduits of supernatural love.  Now it goes on here emphasizing not just the fact that we have been born again, but it gives us here the means by which we’ve been born again.  He says here we’ve been born again not of perishable seed, but of imperishable seed which is the living and abiding Word of God, which is powerful, eternal, and relevant.  He takes Isaiah and he brings it to the attention of the people to show them the contrast between a perishable seed and an imperishable seed.  He says in verse 24 he says, “All flesh is like brass and all of its glory like the flowers of grass.  The grass withers and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord remains forever.”  The good news here is that we have the Word of God our means of knowing God, the Gospel.  He has rescued us from both the guilt and the power of sin and brings us into a close relationship with our God.  So this responsibility entrusted to us following the holiness is that we love the brethren sincerely and we love them earnestly. 

And then saying that he brings us now to this third responsibility, which is ours as a result of having this great salvation.  He leads us here in chapter 2 verses 1-3 and he shows us here our response should be a continual need and a desire for the Word of God.  He says here our responsibility is to also having a hunger for God’s Word.  He says in verse 1, “So put away all malice and all the seed in hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you’ve tasted that the Lord is good.”  You know the Lord has certainly blessed Christ Covenant with a lot of babies, I mean it’s an encouragement to see so many coming into the church, covenant children.  I remember Pastor Kevin saying we have a lot of babies on one hand and a lot of senior adults on the other hand.  And that’s a good balance.  Now we expect babies to grow through their childhood and that’s why we had or have those growth charts, right?  We tell our children to stand against the wall so that we can measure just how much they’ve grown in the past year.  And if a child isn’t growing something is terribly wrong and that’s the way it is for Christians as well.  Something is terribly wrong if we’re not growing spiritually.  A lack of spiritual growth may even be an indication that we’ve never experienced genuine conversion in the first place.

Now our growth might be gradual and consists of that pattern you know two steps forward and one step backwards, and that’s fine, that’s normal.  The important thing is that there is still at least observable growth over a period of time and this growth that Peter has in mind here is not something that happens to us automatically, it’s something we have to pursue and that is the essential truth here in this third responsibility that Peter unfolds before us.  If you look at these three verses notice that Peter gives us four things about our growth, the hindrance to our growth, the means of our growth, the goal of our growth, and the motivation for our growth.  In verse 1 Peter gives us five examples of character qualities that would keep us from growing in our spiritual life.  These five sins Peter says put aside.  Notice what they are.  He says we’re to remove malice.”  Malice refers to the desire that we have for harm to come on someone.  He says lay that aside, lay aside deceit, that speaks of falsehood and dishonesty.  He says lay aside hypocrisy.  That refers to someone who projects a certain image of themselves, but who in reality is someone much different.  He says put aside envy, resenting the blessings that others enjoy.  Then he says put aside slander.  That’s speaking about someone and defaming their character and notice if you will in verse 1 the three times, he uses the word all, not just part, just not being all the way clean with slander, he says get rid of it.  That phrase put it aside means like taking off dirty clothes and putting them in the clothes basket.  We’re to take these things and put them aside because they hinder our growth and maturity in Jesus Christ.

You know the psalmist said, “Search me O God and know my heart and see if there be some wicked way in me”, and so perhaps we need to work through these five sins and say, Lord show me if there’s any of these in the background of my heart, confront me with them.  Peter tells us that these things ought not to be in our lives if we want to grow as God’s people.  In verse 2 he says, “Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation.”  Notice like newborn infants, Peter back in verse 23 spoke about being born again and so here we have newborn infants.  In a physical birth again when someone enters into the world the same thing happens to a person spiritually when he is born again, he becomes a Christian and it says here that as newborn infants long for pure spiritual milk.  You know if there’s one thing about a newborn, they have one all-consuming desire that dominates their thoughts just about every waking hour, I’ve been there four times, I’ve been there with some grandchildren.  We have folks that’s been there at least nine times, and they know that when that baby is born and in those early days there’s just one desire and that is milk, I want milk.  And blessed are those mothers who respond so quickly even in the midst of dark sleep.  Can’t say that’s been the case with me though.  But Peter says here, “Like newborn infants”, Peter says that their desire for milk, the pure milk of their mother should be the same kind of desire that we have for the pure spiritual milk that is provided for us in God’s Word.  You think of the intensity a newborn infant has for mother’s milk is the picture of the intensity of desire that we should have for God’s Word.  So might we ask ourselves tonight, how is my desire for the Word of God.

You know, we do battle with distractions, don’t we?  We have television, we have iPhones, we have social media, we have so many things that can distract us in the times we can seek the Lord, and so Peter says here in verse 2, he says, “Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation.”  That’s the goal of our growth is that we might grow up.  Right at the moment of conversion we’ve all experienced forgiveness of sins, a transformation apart, adoption into God’s family, and the indwelling Holy Spirit.  However, there are other aspects of our salvation that we don’t experience immediately, at least not in their fullness, and one of them is sanctification, the gradual process of Christians growing in godliness throughout their lives.  That’s what we call spiritual growth and that’s what Peter is referring to when he expresses here in verse 2, “A desire for us to grow up into salvation.”  Now that word salvation can be used in a general sense and talking about spiritual growth here and so it’s with Christians that we’re to grow in the word.  What’s the motivation of it? Look at verse 3.  “If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”  The motivation of our growth is that we tasted that the Lord is good and we desire more of Him.  It’s kind of like tasting food and cannot stand or stop eating it because it’s so good.  I have that issue with warm Krispy Kremes.  As they come off of the conveyor belt and they drop onto the paper you just wanna reach in, well you can’t, but you wanna reach in and take one.  You get a box of them, freshly off the belt, and I guarantee you that Pastor Bruce can put away at least six and then 15 minutes finish the other six.  And so it is with Christians who have tasted that the Lord is good because we have tasted His goodness and found Him to be good.  We desire more of Him.  A Gospel song, More About Jesus.  I don’t know if that’s in the eternity hymnal but that’s a good song and it’s a good one to learn, More about Jesus let me learn.  More of his holy will discern.  Spirit of God my teacher be shown the things of Christ to me. 

Maybe you’re wondering tonight what exactly does it mean to taste God’s goodness.  Well let me share with you the words of one seasoned saint explaining what it means to taste God’s goodness.  It is perceiving through faith and based on what’s revealed to us in God’s Word how glorious and sweet and lovely and desirable God is and recognizing that He’s perfect in every way and being altogether satisfied in Him.  It’s not that we understand God’s attribute intellectually, but we’ve actually seen Him again with the eyes of faith and become captivated by who he is.  Tasting really is a good metaphor, it’s not just that we’ve heard the food is good, but that we see it and it looks good or even that we smell it and it smells good.  Instead, we’ve actually tasted it ourselves and can confirm from our own personal experience that the food is good.  So, when you think about tasting God’s goodness, it’s just not knowing things about God, it’s experiencing for yourself who God is, beholding His glory, sensing His presence, and being captivated by Him.  O taste and see that the Lord is good.  Perhaps we should make it our prayer that with every single day that goes by that we taste more of God’s goodness than we did the day before.  Let’s pray.

Father, we ask that we indeed would taste more of your goodness.  Lord Jesus, you said blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied.  Oh Lord we pray that you’ll give us a greater hunger for you and your Word.  We pray that our hunger for you may be more than the hunger we have for the peach cobbler waiting for us over in the CLC.  Lord, we pray that our hunger and desire to know you may be like that of Paul who said that “I may know Him”, so may that be the words of our prayer this evening we ask in Jesus’ name.  Amen.