1 Peter 1:22-23
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
“I used to lack humility but now I am perfect.” That is a funny joke but quite sad to think there are many who believe such things about themselves. Here, Peter called on his audience to purify themselves. In the Old Testament, Israel had ritual purity laws to cleanse themselves for the assembly. It was temporary and painstaking. It also exposed a profound truth. No one can purify themselves or make themselves clean. They will get dirty again. Peter uses this to point to the fact that believing in Jesus and his cleansing sacrifice purifies us for eternity in the eyes of the Father. He used the word “Imperishable” for the gospel earlier in the chapter and here contrasts it with the perishable things of this world.
Come to Cape Community Church tomorrow as we gather together to worship the Lord for this cleansing grace. We will see how Peter used the Old Testament, particularly Isaiah 40, to show that our way of purifying withers like grass but the grace and steadfast love of Jesus Christ is unmoving like a stout oak tree. Now, when we lack humility, we need only gaze on the cross and the fact that our sin is gone and we conclude…
The word of the Lord remains forever.