Man's Existence and God's Glory

Introduction: The Open Air Ministry and the Text's Imagery

0:02 The following sermon was preached on Sunday morning, August 16th, 1998, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 Now let us turn again in our Bibles, this time to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1.

0:24 I would ask you to follow as I read verses 22 to the end of the chapter. 1 Peter chapter 1, beginning at verse 22. 2 Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth, unto unfamed love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently, having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof is the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever. And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you. Now as we shall see in our continued reading in the Gospel of Mark, and we would find the same were we to read in any of the other Gospel records, much of the ministry of our Lord Jesus recorded in the four Gospels was carried on,

1:44 in buildings, totally, I'm sorry, not in buildings like this, but in the open air. We read the Sermon on the Mount was just that, a sermon preached as our Lord went up to a mountain and called His disciples to Him. In Luke chapter 6, we have the account of a sermon He preached on the plain. And throughout the Gospels, we find that our Lord was ministering by the Sea of Galilee on a couple of occasions, from a boat, and in circumstances completely dissimilar to ours.

2:21 And open air preaching has some disadvantages, but it has many advantages, not the least of which it gives the preacher an opportunity to turn not only the ears of his hearers to the truth, but also their eyes. No doubt when our Lord was speaking on the Sermon on the Mount and said, Behold the lilies of the field! He could point to a patch of wild flowers, turn their eyes to them, let them look upon them for a few moments, and then turn their attention back to His words as He made appropriate comments upon that which their eyes had seen in response to His words. Well, this morning is one of those mornings when I wish I could transport all of you to our rather large backyard, and sit you down in an appropriate configuration and preach from the text that is before us, being able to use some very vivid illustrations that have been very much before my mind and before my eyes in my preparation for the ministry of the Word this morning. For our text speaks about grass and grass that withers, and I have a backyard of withered brown grass.

3:41 It speaks of flowers that fall, and in one part of our property, the line that divides ours from our neighbors is a rose of Sharon bush, for you horticulturalists, it's a hibiscus syriacus, and it's in full bloom. And as I was out taking some pictures of some of those open blossoms the other day, I noticed at my feet dozens and dozens of that which a couple of days ago were full of flowers that were in full bloom. In full bloom, rows of Sharon flowers that are now nothing but fallen, shriveled remnants of their former glory. So I'd love to preach with the withered grass beneath your feet and mine, and fallen flowers, but I've brought a little bit of the backyard into the pulpit, as you'll see a little bit later, and I do so with a good conscience, since I can't take you to the backyard. If Mohammed won't go to the mountain, you bring the mountain to Mohammed. And so we've brought...

The Context of Peter's Exhortation: Love and New Birth

4:41 I've brought a bit of the backyard here to illustrate and underscore the truth that we will be considering this morning. Here in the passage read in your hearing, those of you who have been here for these expositions will remember that Peter has just delivered the fourth exhortation in the first cycle of pastoral exhortations to these scattered believers of Asia Minor, having underscored how they were to live, the Christian life before God as a life of hope, of holiness, and of appropriate fear, he now turns to these sojourners and says, in essence, you have fellow travelers, and you need to be conscious of your responsibilities to them. And he directs them by this fourth imperative to love one another from the heart, and that fervently. But he sandwiches that exhortation between a description of two fundamental aspects of their common spiritual experience without which they would have neither the power nor the ability truly to love one another. He reminds them that they have purified their hearts in obedience to the truth, and

6:02 in that heart purification there is an implanted spiritual tendency towards brotherly love, and he says you are to love one another having been begotten again. He assumes that the purification of the soul and the divine begetting have occurred in all those to whom he gives this directive to love one another from the heart, and that fervently. Now as he is tracing their new birth to its source, you will notice what he says in verse 23. Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides. As he addresses this second aspect of their common spiritual experience, namely their new birth, their having been begotten again, he says that that divine begetting was due to the operation not of corruptible or perishable, but of the imperishable seed which he identifies as the word of God, and then he says concerning

The Living and Abiding Word: Isaiah's Prophecy

7:20 that word, it is a living and an abiding word. Now having drawn their attention to the nature of that word which was instrumental in their divine begetting, Peter now desires to understand and amplify the fact of the livingness and abidingness of that word of God. And to do so, he goes back to the prophecy of Isaiah and gives a loose quotation of what is found in our Bibles as Isaiah 40, verses 6 through 8, and after giving that loose and somewhat altered quotation, he then completes the unit of thought. Isaiah 40, verse 25 says, Isaiah 40, verse 25 says, Now if I had to give a title to our exposition of verses 24 and 25 this morning, it would be, Man's existence and glory are temporal. God's word and the gospel are eternal. That captures the heart and the soul, and He is the Lord of all things.

8:40 Isaiah 40, verse 25 says, Isaiah 40, verse 25 says, of what is set before us in this portion of 1 Peter as Peter underscores the livingness and abidingness of that Word which has been instrumental in the new birth of the people of God. Man's existence and glory are temporal. God's Word and Gospel are eternal. Or more simply, what we have in our text this morning is the great contrast.

9:12 The great contrast. Now as we take up our text, let me say briefly by way of introduction, that if you were to carefully compare what Peter quotes from Isaiah 40 with the actual text as you find it in your English Bibles, were you to compare it with that Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures you hear it referred to as the Septuagint, which you sometimes see in the commentary LXX, that's referring to the Septuagint, 70 people translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. That was Peter's working Bible. And if you were to compare the quote he gives here with a good English translation, compare it with the Septuagint and with the Hebrew text, you would know that Peter does indeed show a great acquaintance with that Greek translation of the Old Testament, and uses some of the phrases right out of the Septuagint. Some he alters as he is guided by the Spirit of God, adding words, subtracting words that are not there in the Septuagint, and even with reference to the original inspired Hebrew text, an inspired penman in the New Testament has a right given by the Holy Spirit to give the sense of any other previous,

10:38 revealed mind and word of God, without in any way undermining our doctrine of plenary verbal inspiration. The Holy Spirit knows His own mind in Scripture. And when He is superintending another penman of Scripture to take a passage given in the past, and not to give a word-for-word equivalence, we know that that which He gives is as much the Word of God as that original word of God. The original pronouncement of the Lord.

11:10 Now, I say that simply because I know some of you well enough to know that as you have opportunity, you would go back and you would compare what Peter gives as a loose quotation of Isaiah 40 with the actual text. Some of you have at least a stumbling acquaintance with the original languages, and you would compare it. And I only say this to clear away any opportunity for the devil to inject any question in your mind as the original word of God. As to the plenary verbal inspiration of the Word of God.

Contrasting Realities: Flesh vs. the Word of the Lord

11:43 Now then, we come to consider the great contrast set before us in this passage. As we do, I want you to notice with me, first of all, the contrasting realities identified. The contrasting realities identified. As Peter describes the experience of the new birth of these Christians as to its cause, he says, you were begotten again not of corruptible, perishable seed, but of incorruptible.

12:17 You see, he's already introduced a contrast. A contrast between the corruptible or perishable seed, which can only produce corruptible or perishable existence. With that incorruptible, that imperishable seed of the Word of God, which can produce an imperishable and an incorruptible life. And he wants to encourage these believers with the knowledge that that divine begetting, which has come to them by means of the Word of God, partakes of the very nature of that Word.

12:57 It is incorruptible. It is imperishable seed. It lives and abides forever. Therefore, what it begets lives forever.

13:06 What it begets lives and abides forever in the power of the imperishable life which it has imparted by the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Now, in amplifying that contrast between perishable and imperishable seed, notice the two additional contrasting realities in the Isaiah 40 passage, now quoted by Peter. Look at the text. All flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass.

13:44 The grass withers, the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord abides forever. What is contrasted? Well, the realities contrasted are these. All flesh and its glory.

13:58 Do you see that from the text? All flesh is as grass. All the glory thereof, that is the glory of flesh, that's one part of the contrast, but the Word of the Lord, the other part of the contrast, abides forever. What is meant by all flesh?

14:20 Well, in this context, all flesh refers to all men in their natural state as they exist in their bodily natural life, as they are born to their earthly parents. That simple definition given by the Lutheran commentator Lenski accurately reflects this use of the term all flesh in this context. It's similar to the use of our Lord in John 17 too. You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as you have given Him.

14:59 Romans 3 and verse 20, all flesh shall be justified in your sight. All flesh here refers to all men in their natural state, as they exist in their bodily natural life, as they are born of their earthly parents. And the phrase all the glory thereof, what does that refer to? It refers to all that man is proud of in his earthly existence, such things as beauty, strength, wealth, honor, education, learning, virtue, accomplishments, everything that is an outshining of what man is as man, even though he is flesh. What he is able to accomplish as an image bearer, albeit a fallen image bearer, that is his glory, his beauty, his strength, his attainments, his wealth, his honor, his education, his culture. So one part of the contrast is all flesh and all the glory that grows out of the accomplishments, the endowments, the possessions of flesh. All flesh, that's one part of the contrast.

16:19 And the other is the Word of God. Here in Peter's quotation, he changes the terminology of Isaiah. Isaiah says the Word of God, and in the Greek translation, it's the word of theos, of God, and he changes it to the word of the Lord, kurios. And some suggest that in so doing, he's doing what is often done in the New Testament, where the standard words for God are used without any embarrassment by strict monotheists who have become intelligent Christians.

16:58 Those terms are used without reservation, without qualification, to refer to our Lord Jesus Christ. And unless the context demands another understanding, the presence of the word Lord in the New Testament points us to our Lord Jesus Christ. So the contrast then is between all flesh and its glory and the word or the utterance of the Lord. A different word, used for word, than you find up in verse 23, but used basically synonymously, as it is in a parallel passage in Acts 10, we'll see subsequently.

Vivid Imagery: Withered Grass and Fallen Flowers

17:40 So that's the contrasting realities identified. All flesh and its glory and the word of the Lord. Now secondly, note with me the vivid imagery employed. The vivid imagery employed.

17:54 Employed first of all by Isaiah and then quoted by Peter. Now note the language. All flesh is as grass. And here Peter again, to make the contrast very clear, he adds a word that is not there in the Greek translation of the Hebrew text in the Septuagint.

18:15 He adds the little comparative word, hos. All flesh grass is what the Septuagint says. Peter says all flesh as grass. All flesh is as grass.

18:29 And all the glory thereof, that is the glory of flesh, as the flower of grass. Now what in the world is Peter talking about? All flesh is as grass and all the glory as the flower of grass. Well there are two possibilities.

18:48 The word translated grass most often in the New Testament refers to something close to what we would call grass. To green grass in a field or a meadow. But the word is used in the Greek language to describe flowering plants or herbs that might be used as fodder, as feed for cattle. And you have several examples in the Word of God where grass and flower are used in such a way that you might think that this was flowering grass.

19:25 The distinction between the grass and the flower is not such as to think of two distinct things but one thing. Note for example in James chapter 1 verses 10 and 11. James chapter 1 verses 10 and 11. Back to verse 9.

19:48 Let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate and the rich in that he is made low because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. Here the flower is of the grass. The flower is not something distinct from the grass as a separate plant but is flower connected to and part of and growing out of the grass. For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers, now notice, the grass and the flower thereof falls and the grace and the fashion of it perishes so shall the rich man fade away in his going. So that would seem to point to flowering grass and the grass itself withers and the flower that it bears falls. Or it could be and this is somewhat suggested by our Lord's use of these two things in close conjunction in Matthew chapter 6 in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapter 6 our Lord in verse 28 says Why are you anxious concerning raiment or clothing?

21:05 Consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin I say unto you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these if God so clothed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven how shall he not much more clothe you O you of little faith? Here it would seem that our Lord is picturing a field in which these wild flowers grow and that the flowers are separate from the ordinary herbage or grass or hay that is in the field. But in either case the point of the text both in Isaiah and as it is quoted by Peter is unaffected. The central issue set before us in this vivid imagery and it comes through so forcefully in the original language with this statement of the prophet now quoted by Peter the grass withers and the flower falls and they are not present tenses withered the grass fallen the flower it is the constant experience it is for you Greek students what is called a nomic aorist.

22:32 Describing that state that is continually in existence when you look out upon a field that it goes so soon from the state of being lush and green to being withered and the flower that was in full bloom and had such glory withers and falls. I said I was going to bring some of the backyard into the pulpit. I went out this morning and I clipped some of this from the backyard. Brown matches the pulpit just a few little sprigs of green in it.

23:12 A couple of months ago that backyard almost a half an acre of yard was a lush thick green. What has happened? Withered the grass. There it is.

23:28 You don't need to be inspired by the Holy Ghost to know grass withers. You get a dry summer such as we have had the last few weeks and the grass quickly withers and day after day as I've sat in my study I've seen that blanket of green gradually change to patches of brown until now they're just little patches of green and most of that green is the weeds. They seem to flourish when the grass itself dies. Withered the grass.

23:59 And what about the flowers? I went out to take pictures of the Rosa Sharon bush. The ground was scattered with weeds. You know what's in there?

24:09 That's a dozen withered blossoms. Flowers from the Rose of Sharon. A few days ago open, full, laden with pollen. What are they now?

24:24 Look like dried cigarette butts. Some of them were just like this a couple of days ago. There they are. Just like that.

24:37 They've withered and they've fallen. This one that I cut this morning just being away from its own native bush has already begun to show the signs of withering. Now it has on it some that have not yet opened up. They're like you young people.

24:57 You're just blossoming. And if the Lord spares you ere long you'll be in the bloom of your young adulthood. Before you know it this is what you're going to be. You don't need to be a theologian to understand what Peter says.

25:15 Look at what he says in this vivid imagery set before us. Withered the grass. Fallen the flower. You want to argue with that?

25:29 Anyone here want to stand up and say I don't believe that pastor. The grass does not wither. The flower does not fall. Not a one of you would be stupid enough to risk your image as being a sane rational boy or girl man or woman to debate what Isaiah says and what Peter quotes.

25:50 Withered the grass. Fallen the flower. That's the vivid imagery that Peter sets before us. And why does he set it before us?

26:07 Because he wants us to feel the weight of that contrast that he has identified. What is the contrast now? Let's bring it all together. He says all flesh is as grass.

26:20 All flesh will be as grass. In what sense? It will come to the withered state. And all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.

26:35 It will come to the fallen state. And this is true Isaiah and Peter affirming that truth of all flesh is as grass. All men. All mankind.

26:55 All born of woman. All flesh is as grass. All humanity. In all places.

27:04 In all circumstances. At all times. All flesh is as grass. And all the glory is like the flower of the grass.

27:15 Withered. Fallen. Shriveled. And dried.

The Reality of Human Transience

27:19 Now do you really believe that? Men who swagger in their strength and in their glory. The Arnold Schwarzeneggers. If the Lord tarries and spares them.

27:37 Will be bent. Arthritic. Nearsighted. Drooling.

27:44 Bumbling. Old men. All flesh is as grass. The grass withers.

27:53 The time will come when Arnold will be a shriveled, weak, toothless, nearsighted, bumbling old man. Young Leonardo DiCaprio. Everybody's heart throbbed because of that inane, banal, immoral, picture titanic. I trust no Christian here watched it.

28:15 And if you did, I trust you came away with a bloody conscience. He's got the world in his lap. Woman he blinks at. If the Lord tarries, his flesh will be as withered grass.

28:32 He'll have wrinkled, sagging jowls. And withered skin. And thick eyeglasses. And false teeth.

28:44 And crowns and fillings. All flesh is as grass. Take the great ones of the earth. The Alexanders.

28:54 The great conquerors. Who strolled like a colossus through their own generation. Conquering and having as it were the world at their feet. All flesh is as grass.

29:07 They've withered. They've fallen. The empires that have been built that are now nothing but a pile of rubble for tourists to see. To reflect upon the history they read about in their history books.

29:22 You see, this is not some negative perspective of dour, negativized, religious people. This is reality. All flesh is grass. Your flesh is as grass.

29:38 It is withering. And while it is not yet blossomed out, you don't know but what like little Christopher Fideli it will be plucked and withered before it ever blossoms. Seven years old for you visiting with us. The son of a family connected with our church for whom we prayed for months.

30:06 Withered. Fallen. The time is coming when Michael Jordan won't be able to dunk a golf ball in his...

30:15 Let alone reach above the rim a foot and a half and slam it down through. Michael Jordan is not imperishable. He's not. And the beauty queens over which people now drool in Hollywood.

30:38 Tools that no plastic surgeon can remove. And sagging body parts that no amount of silicone can correct. All flesh is as grass. Grass withers.

30:54 And the flower is the vivid imagery. And I pray to God that the Lord will so stamp it upon your mind that when you go out and see the grass you'll say, Lord, that's me. Withering grass. When you see the flowers in full bloom, Lord, you said, even my best accomplishments, my noble accomplishments, the things in which we can, in a sense, be justly proud, those things are like the flower that falls.

Central Truth Affirmed: The Word of the Lord Abides Forever

31:30 And having identified those contrasting realities and considered the vivid imagery employed, note with me thirdly the central truth affirmed. And this is the heart of Peter's message to those scattered believers in Asia Minor. And it's the heart of Isaiah's message to those in his own day. And I trust God's word to us this morning.

31:54 But, but, here's the central truth affirmed. But the word of the Lord abides forever. In contrast to the sad, transitory nature of all flesh and its glory stands the word of the Lord, the utterance of God abides forever. Using the same verb as was used in a participle form in verse 23, the word of God which lives and abides.

32:30 Peter says, the word of the Lord is abiding forever. And he uses the word for word that is found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, hrema, and not logos, that he had used up in verse 23, begotten not of corruptible but of incorruptible by the word of God. Now he says, but the word, the hrema of the Lord, abides forever. And while there is some basic distinction, they are obviously used with overlapping synonymous significance in a parallel passage in Acts 10.

33:07 But if there is a difference in the mind of the Spirit of God, it is this, that hrema refers more in a limited way to the word as uttered and spoken. Whereas the other term, logos, can refer to the word not only as spoken but as it exists in thought. And so he says, it is the word, the utterance of the Lord that stands forever. Now why in the world is Peter concerned to underscore this truth to these believers in their particular set of circumstances?

33:44 Remember what their circumstances were. They are those believers in Asia Minor who are undergoing already forms of unjust opposition and persecution. More is yet to come according to chapter 4, that which Peter describes as a fiery trial that is to try them. And Peter having told them that their obligation to love one another is rooted in the reality that they have experienced purification of soul and the divine begetting, a divine begetting by the word of God that lives and abides, he wants to buttress their confidence that that work that has enabled them to begin to love their brethren and to give themselves to all of their other Christian duties, that that is no passing work of God. It is a work which God has effected by means of a word that lives and abides forever. They have been brought to cast the weight of their souls upon the word and promise of God as it came to them in the gospel. Will that word at some point fail?

34:57 Will they find that they are leaning upon a tottering wall and a cracked fence? No, Peter says, it is the word of the Lord which abides forever. Now in what sense does it abide forever? Well let me try to quicken your thinking and give you seed for meditation.

35:18 Surely it abides forever first of all in its absolute truthfulness. In its absolute truthfulness. God will never have to send down from heaven a book of retractions. There are certain authors who have written over a long period of time and in the history of the church this has been true.

35:42 And they have written much and toward the end of their lives they have looked back over the things they have written and they have felt compelled in the interest of a good conscience to compose a book of retractions in which they have identified things that were embalmed in printer's ink earlier in their experiences authors that they now desire to retract. They would no longer write those things. God will never have to send us a book of retractions. Never.

36:13 The scripture says every word of God is tried purified as in a furnace seven times. When Jesus prayed in John 17, 17 sanctify them in the truth he could say thy word is truth. Not truth plus some mistakes truth plus some things that will become non-truth. No, again as the Psalmist said the sum of your word is truth.

36:43 Take every word of God and put it in a column draw the line and add it up it's truth undiluted undiminished absolute truth. Forever, oh Lord your word is settled in heaven. The words of our Lord in Matthew 24, 35 heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall never pass away. What a comfort it would be to these believers to know that that word which became the instrument of their divine beginning which shortly Peter will say is to be the object of their constant longing as a newborn babe longs for its milk so they are to long for that word the word by which they were begotten again is the very word by which their life is to be nourished and there to have the confidence that that word is absolute truthfulness further that it abides in its unchanging trustworthiness they have laid hold of a word which promised them some amazing things Peter reviewed some of them earlier in the chapter he says that you have been begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead unto an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fades not away from you

38:12 and that is the word that not only promised them the pardon of their sins now but the inheritance of the new heavens and the new earth in the age to come is that word trustworthy if God has purposed such glorious things why is my master so unreasonable to me the slave might ask why does this God who is preserving such a glorious inheritance allow religious leaders and people in society to oppose us and to fight against us is his word trustworthy Peter wants them to know the word of the Lord abides forever not only in its absolute truthfulness but in its unchanging trustworthiness I want you to look at two texts from the Old Testament that underscore this wonderful reality Numbers 23 and verse 19 this bad man Balaam who spoke some very good things when the Spirit of God was upon him said in Numbers 23 19 God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he

39:40 should repent has he said and will he not do it or has he spoken and will he not do it in the obvious answer to which is obvious if God is who he is he is not a man that he should lie nor is he a son of man that he should repent he will not misrepresent truth he will not say something and then say oh oh I've got to change my mind circumstances I didn't know what I was going to do I didn't know who I was to follow the way that I was going to follow the way that I was going to follow the way that priest, as he'll tell them in chapter 2. He has set before them that they have an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled. All of that in words of promise. That's all they have. That's all

41:01 you have. That's all I have. But they are the words of promise of that God whose word abides forever, not only in its absolute truthfulness, but in its unchanging trustworthiness. Has he not spoken, and will he not make it good? Well, let Joshua answer for himself those very questions in Joshua 23, in verse 14, as Joshua comes toward the end of his life and his ministry as the leader of the armies of Israel in the conquest of Canaan. Notice his words in verse 14 of Joshua 23. Numbers 23, Joshua 23. Try to remember those two chapters in the book of Joshua.

41:46 And feed upon these promises. Behold, this day I'm going the way of all the earth. He's the grass that is withering and the flower that's falling. As to his outward earthly existence, Joshua says, I'm going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things we have done. And you know that not one thing has failed of all the good things we have done. And you know that not one thing has failed of all the good things we have done. And you know that not one thing has failed of all the good things we have done. And you know that not one thing has failed of all the good things we have done. And you know that not one thing has failed of all the good things we have done. And you know that not one thing has failed of all the good things we have done. And you know that not one thing has failed of all the good things we have done. And you know that not one thing which the Lord your God spoke concerning you, all are come to pass unto you. Not one thing has failed thereof. What a wonderful thing for Joshua to be able to say. Every word that God promised that should have come to fulfillment within the span of my life and my leadership, not one thing has failed. Not one thing has failed. Not one thing has

42:48 is all come to pass. And when those elect sojourners of the dispersion in Asia Minor would enter the presence of their God, they would say not one word has failed of his promise. And when the Lord Jesus returns and ushers in the new heavens and the new earth, not the weakest saint will have any occasion to say God promised more than he has given. The company of the redeemed will say there has not failed one word of his promise. Then we'll probably all exclaim with the Queen of Sheba, the half was not told us. The half was not told us. Dear child of God, it is an abiding word in its absolute truthfulness, in its unchanging trustworthiness, and it abides in its life-giving power. And that seems to be the point.

43:51 That is the primary emphasis in the context. It abides in its life-giving power, in its perpetual livingness. Peter had said, you've been begotten again by a word that lives and abides. It is a living word. It is an abiding word. And it abides in its life-givingness, in its life-giving power. You've been begotten by that. Will that word, will that life begotten by the word peter out and die? Will it somehow be stifled or choked by the pressure of a hostile society? No. By an angry devil who goes about as a

44:36 roaring lion seeking who he may devour? No. What is begotten of that word that lives and abides, it too lives and abides forever. You're not unborn again. You're not born again unto temporary life in Christ, but to eternal life in union with the Son of God. Now remember, these people were in precisely the same situation in which you and I find ourselves. They had never seen Christ. Whom having not seen, Peter said in chapter 1 in verse 9, they had not seen Christ. They hadn't beheld his miracles. They had the report of who he was and what he had done. They had a verbal communication of that in the preaching of the gospel. In a sense, we have something even more than that which they had. We now have the written record. Things that they only heard by verbal report, we have now by

The Abiding Word in a Post-Modern World

45:38 the Spirit of God putting it into the gospel records and into the epistles that explain the significance of it. And in all of those things by which God has come to us and which have become the instrument of begetting divine life in us, we need to see that. Stand with those people and hear what Peter says, echoing the words of the prophet Isaiah. All flesh is indeed as grass, and all the glory thereof is the flower of the grass.

46:10 Grass withers, the flower falls, but the word, the utterance of God abides forever. Now do you know something of what that means to stand in this generation at this time in our world? In our own national life and in the history of Western thought and to say, I know something about absolute truth? Have you heard the term post-modernism? If you haven't, you will.

46:44 It's a term used to try to describe the mindset of this present generation. A generation that has given up any thought that there's absolute truth. Something may be true for you, that's your truth, but don't impose it on me. There's no such thing as your truth. There's no such thing as your truth.

47:02 There's no such thing as your truth. There's no such thing as your truth. There's no such thing as your truth. There's universal truth. No such thing is truth that can be codified into words and embodied in a book and made binding upon all men. No changeless realities. No wonder you have a generation that doesn't know where it came from, doesn't know where it's going and how to get where it doesn't know where it isn't going. No wonder nihilism and despair and people grabbing the moment and seeking to seize upon what they can see and feel and touch has become a national obsession.

47:34 There's no reality beyond what I can contact with my five senses. And there's no voice that comes to me from outside of myself in the language of the lovely little children's hymn to tell me whence I am and who and what I am. Holy Bible book divine. Precious treasure thou art mine. Mine to tell me whence I came. Mine to tell me whence I came. Mine to tell me, Lord Jesus Christ, I have testify that you teach me what I am. One of the first questions around him. Ok. All right.

48:14 Can you remember asking, Hey mommy, daddy, where'd I come from? You remember mom and dad? When you were stumbling over that, they weren't yet old enough to give them the facts of life and you'd stumble. Did you remember the question? Don't you? Where do I come from?

48:31 What writhed. artists live miles across the island in operation short ago. O man, How can I die what will happen to me when I die? Mine to teach me. Bans are mine to tell me whence I came mine to teach me what I am. So what I am, good. OK. What gifts and stories?

48:40 A lesson, ainho. I am.

48:43 If you don't know where you come from and what you are and where you're going, how in the world can you live?

48:51 And dear people, we ought to be jumping happy with the knowledge that we have a word from God that abides forever. God has not been silent. The utterance, the rhema of the Lord abides forever.

Specific Identification: The Word is the Gospel

49:10 But then, having looked at the contrasting realities identified, the vivid imagery employed, the central truth affirmed, our fourth and final heading, look at the specific identification made. The specific identification made. After the use of Isaiah 46-8, in this broad, sweeping affirmation that the word of the Lord, the utterance of the Lord abides forever, Peter narrows down and says in these words, and this is the word, of good tidings, which was preached unto you. Literally, this is the word or utterance which was preached as glad tidings to you. It's almost, well it is impossible to give an English equivalent of the original. All of those words,

50:07 word of good tidings preached, are all an effort to translate one Greek verb.

50:14 It's the verb, wangelizo, wangelizo, wangelizo mai. It means to preach as good tidings. And Peter says, and this is the word, gospelized unto you. This is the word, the utterance which was preached as glad tidings to you.

50:35 See what he's doing? He's taking the generic concept of the utterance of the Lord, the word of the Lord that abides forever, and he says, dear elect sojourners of the dispersion, in those provinces, provinces of Asia Minor, this word is precisely what came to you in the proclamation of the good news. So you need not wonder of the implications of having a word that lives and abides. It's the very word that came to you in the announcement of the good news.

51:09 Now, why in the world did Peter make this connection between the word of the Lord abiding forever and that word coming as good news? Why? Why? Why is there good news to these people?

51:19 Well, it's because his mind was still soaked in the Isaiah 40 passage. And I want you to turn back with me to that passage for just a few moments.

51:30 As some of you know, who are aware of the structure of the book of Isaiah, there's a marked transition in chapter 40. The transition occurs in the previous two chapters. And then a marked contrast. Much of what is given in these final chapters would be useful to the people of God as they were to go into the book of Isaiah 40.

51:50 To go into captivity and think of God's promise of restoration and comfort. And here in this chapter, God speaks of those glorious days that we would now call gospel days. Days that will be ushered in by the coming of the one described here as the voice of one crying, prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord. Verse 3, the New Testament says this was fulfilled in John the Baptist.

52:19 And then, verse 6, the voice of one saying cry. And one said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades because the breath of the Lord blows upon it.

52:37 Surely the people is grass. You see, Peter omits that part. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God, Peter says, the word of the Lord shall stand, shall stand forever. Now what follows?

52:52 Look at verse 9. O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion. Now in Peter's working Bible, which was that Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, you know what the word is? It's exactly that same word, uangolizo, or uangolizomai.

53:14 We could render it, O thou that gospelizes Zion, get thee up on a high mountain, O thou that gospelizes Jerusalem. You see what Peter's doing? Having used the passage that we have as verses 6 to 8, affirming this dark contrast between man in his perishable state and the abidingness of the word of God. It's as though Peter says, and God has not left you there.

53:47 That abiding word of the Lord is the very word that is coming to you. That has come to you as God has fulfilled His ancient prophecy of a better day coming. When gospelizers would herald throughout the world the message, behold your God. Behold your God who has come to you by way of a virgin's womb.

54:13 The servant of Jehovah themes that begin to flower out in the following chapters. The one through whom God would manifest His glory, His glory, His glory, His glory, His glory, His glory, His glory, His glory, His glory, His messianic grace and power to the nations. And so it's natural that with his mind steeped in this passage of the Old Testament, Peter would say, and this is the word gospelized to you. This is the utterance of good tidings that was preached unto you.

54:43 So as a suffering people, a people who are going to undergo increasing pressure and hostile forces, you, you need to remember that God who has spoken in His abiding, enduring, unfailing, trustworthy word is the God who has come with these specific promises couched in the gospel. And that promise and all that God has proffered to sinners in it cannot fail. This is the word of the gospel that was preached unto you. It was a gospel as we saw earlier in the chapter that set forth the truths of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. A gospel with its tap roots in the Old Testament prophecies now proclaimed and validated by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. So what does Peter do for these saints to whom he's giving this first directive concerning their horizontal duties they are to love one another in the consciousness that they've purified their souls. They've been begotten again not of corruptible but of imperishable seed by the word of God that lives and abides forever.

56:07 They are to anchor their souls upon that word knowing that the word that came to them in the proclamation of the gospel reflects the God who brought that word. He cannot lie. That word lives and that word abides. Though all flesh is his grass and the glory thereof is the flower of the grass and the grass withers and the flower fails this falls this word abides forever and this is the word by which the good tidings were preached unto you.

56:38 You don't look for something else to be the buttress and the ballast of your soul as you face the future trials and pressures of the Christian life. That which was the instrument of your divine begetting will be the ongoing instrument of your growth and stability and maturation. So he's going to go on to say as newborn babes long for that spiritual milk of the word that you may grow thereby.

Conclusion: Exhortations and Warnings

57:09 Well dear people as we've looked at this great contrast let me conclude by bringing several very brief pointed exhortations to you. How thankful we ought to be this morning that we have a living and a life of peace. And an abiding word. And how thankful we ought to be for the Holy Spirit who made it the instrument of our own divine beginning.

57:34 Can it be said of you you have been begotten again not of perishable but of imperishable seed by the word of God that lives and abides forever. How thankful we should be. How zealous we should be in a generation that does not know its way because it has been wronged and robbed of an objective theater in which truth is proclaimed and set forth. And someone else's truth may be his truth but not truth for me.

58:06 And we need to be zealous to proclaim this word to others and to defend it tenaciously. You see when people are robbed of the word of God they're robbed of the only means of the divine begetting. They're robbed of that which alone can set forth the hope. The good news of God's way of dealing with the problem of human sin.

58:32 And I would close by saying let us be warned. The word of God lives and abides.

58:40 That means its threats will all come to pass as surely as its promise.

58:46 As surely as there is no soul that has been begotten by this imperishable word that will not know the fulfillment of every word of promise that has come to that soul in the gospel. There is no threat to the impenitent and the unbelieving that will not likewise receive its full realization. Don't trifle with the god who cannot lie. He that believes not shall be damned, the scriptures say.

59:17 That's a sobering place. That word will not fail of its fulfillment. Calvin very perceptively commented on this text Those who wander beyond the bounds of revelation, that is the words, God has spoken shall in place of that word of the Lord gain nothing but the impostures of Satan and their own delusions who wants the impostures of the devil and the delusions of his own mind when we have a word from God that lives and abides forever let's pray our father we do thank you for your holy word we thank you for this portion of that word that we have been privileged to study together this morning and we pray that the holy spirit who gave it to us will give us understanding in it and that above all we may know the experience of that word

60:28 effectually working in us as we receive it in faith and humility we pray for those who are strangers to the power of the Holy Spirit and we pray that they may know the word as we pray that they may know the Holy Spirit as we pray that they may know the Weg does. power of that word, that you would take even the word preached this morning and make it to be that seed by which they are begotten again by your gracious work and power. We ask for us as your people that you will help us, our Father, in the midst of all of the crosswinds of the opinions of men and the utter despair of so many and the subjectivism of yet others, that we will have our souls anchored to your word of truth, the absolute truth of your word, its trustworthiness. O God, make us to be unshakable in our adherence to that word, we pray. Seal then that word to our hearts and be with us through the rest of our lives. O God, that we may know your gracious presence, that we may honor you in your day, and that we may know every blessing promised to your people who do seek to keep your day as unto you. Hear

61:48 us, we plead, through Christ our Lord. Amen.