Shalom, everyone. Could you please open your Bibles to the first epistle of Peter, first letter that Peter wrote in chapter 1, and the reading for this ministry meeting will be from verse 13 to the end of the chapter. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13 to verse 25, And I'm reading, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of person, Judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear, forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Mashiach, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in is last time for you, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of men as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof fadeth away by the word of the Lord and doeth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. This is the conclusion of the first chapter in the epistle of 1 Peter.

In the previous ministry meeting, we have dealt with verses 3 to 12, and we have been speaking about God's great salvation. Peter, of course, writing to first century Jewish believers who were persecuted, and there were suffering trials, not only by their nation historically, but later on by the Roman Empire who persecuted believers. He wrote to them about this great salvation. And we looked at this beautiful great salvation in three aspects. In verses 3, 4, and 5, this great salvation is looked to the future. There is an eternal salvation that has been given to the believer, and its future fulfillment will come to pass as we are eternally going to be with our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

In verses 6, 7, 8, and 9, he's looking at this great salvation from a present aspect of the salvation. Even though we suffer as believers, and they did suffer as believers, they have joy, unspeakable joy, because in spite of persecutions and suffering, they have this joy of this great salvation. They had it, they've enjoyed it, they were already redeemed. And he said to them, for the trial of your faith is much more precious than of gold. Through trials and persecutions and tribulation the salvation that they had presently those believers they could enjoy it they had hope and joy in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and then from verses 10 to 12 we look in the great salvation from its past aspect the Hebrew prophets of old spoke about this great salvation which should come and you remember what we read of which salvation the prophets have inquired and such diligently the Hebrew israeli Jewish prophets of old prophesied about this salvation they said they prophesied of the grace that should come unto you so this great salvation look from these three aspects future present and past is the salvation that they had and it is the.

Very salvation that you and i have today and now the apostle Shimon petos is now in these verses the remaining of the first chapter chapter one he's really saying since we are saved since we have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Messiah what kind of life are we to have as believers should we carry on the way we used to live before we have been redeemed and forgiven should we as we read in Romans 6 shall we continue in sin that grace may abound Paul said this to the Romans well Peter is now telling to these believers and to you and i that they must be a difference in our lives since we became believers in Yeshua the Messiah so in these verses 13 to 25 we have three points that Shimon petros present to these first century believers as well as to you and i the first thing you notice as brothers and sisters verse 13 to 16 he is telling those believers that they ought to be more like God.

In their lives they are to be godly in their character because of what they just learned from the previous verses because of this great salvation they are to be more like God you and I also are to realize in our life that we are to be more characterized in our behavior like God like our Lord Jesus the Messiah the first thing he says of course here in verse 13 to think properly and discipline your mind notice that he says verse 13 wherefore gird up the loin of your mind be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of Yeshua Jesus the Messiah notice he used this expression gird up your loins now remember he's talking to Jewish believers and because he's talking to Jewish believers he reminded them of historically when Israel our people of old were in Egypt and when Israel were in the land of Egypt and God was ready to deliver Israel out of bondage into liberty from slavery into freedom.

He told them if you remember in Exodus chapter 12 and verse 11 it says and thus shall ye eat it your loin girded your shoes on your feet your staff in your hand ye shall eat it in haste in other words you have to have your loin girded you know in biblical time the men of Israel and the middle eastern men used to wear these long gowns it's like a dress for a lady a woman today in a long dress all the way to their shoes to their feet and in order for them to move out of Egypt all the way to the promised land they had to lift up the garment that they had and to tie it to gird it in order that it would be easier for them to walk out of Egypt and to have this long journey in the wilderness on the way to the promised land Peter knowing that he's speaking to Hebrew believers they know their history from the pesach from the Passover and he's telling.

Them you know brethren since this great salvation that Yeshua had provided for us you now have to have your mind and notice that verse 13 gird up the loyens of your mind not the loyens of your skirts or your dresses or your garments but the loyens of your mind in other words a believer has to have his mind focus on the Lord. You know the mind is the avenue whereby all sort of things creep into our lives. You see why the devil is so much successful in defeating us practically on our day-by-day life is because he fills our mind with garbage. He fills our mind with things that are unclean and not healthy for us and we often time in our weakness allow him to do so and so what the apostle Peter saying to them you know what you really need to gird up the loins of your mind to have your mind ready to be used by the Lord to feed your mind with that which is healthy.

And good for you as you walk with the Lord notice he telling them in verse 13 also to be sober what is the opposite of being sober is being drunk that is the opposite of being sober that's why Ephesians we read be not drunk with wine where there is excess but be filled with the Ruach with the holy Spirit of God and brothers and sisters this is exactly what you and i just like our older brethren in history we need it as well to fill our mind to make it ready always to be occupied with that which is healthy that which is spiritual that which is of the Lord Jesus the Messiah and to be sober you know when you see a person who is drunk on the streets and who is unsober when you see those that are not able to control themselves.

It looks terrible. Their behavior, we look at it and we say, oh, get up, you're drunk, don't talk to me right now, and so. On. They cannot make right decisions. They cannot make sound decisions. And so he's saying to them, you know what, verse 13, think properly, discipline your mind. Because of this great salvation that we have discipline your mind gird up the loins of your mind and then he said and be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of Jesus the Messiah do you know this Revelation of Jesus the Messiah does not speak about the rapture of the church it speaks about the second coming of the Mashiach of the Messiah he's going to be revealed one day he's coming he came once to suffer he's coming again to reign and he's going to be revealed to this world one day every knee will bow every tongue will confess but you believers he's saying to them until he's coming and he's coming soon you make sure that your mind is girded you are ready in your mind right thoughts right attitude and that you are sober and not.

Drunk or not clear in other words you be sober thinking through in the light of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and hope to the end for the grace that you'd be brought unto you even the Revelation of our Lord Jesus the Messiah Yeshua HaMashiach so he's coming and when he's going to come you see these believers have anticipated the coming of the Messiah at their time we are already two thousand years later and he is coming even sooner than what it was for them two thousand years ago so he's telling them you be more like God therefore gird up your mind be sober think right because the Messiah is coming very very soon it's so nice to see a believer that is sound that is sober that had a head on his shoulder thinking things through occupied with the person of our Lord Jesus the Messiah gracious gentle meek humble looking at the person of the Lord learning from him being sober and his mind is sound in teaching they read the Scripture they're occupied with the.

Person of the Lord and you don't want to see Christians who are unsober who are not gird up their mind is not thinking through every wind of doctrine they're running right and left and left and right and they're not steady continuing pacing a step at a time as they are walking with the Lord when a believer is not sound in teaching and he's not clear on the things of the Lord he or she will always wonder never be steady in their progress in the things of the Lord that's why he's encouraging those believers that they will gird up the loins of your mind whatever you think think through in a person of the Lord through the word of God and be sober as you're moving along in your life of faith because the Lord is coming very soon the Revelation of the Lord Jesus the Messiah in verse 14 he's telling not only be sober not only make sure that you are properly having discipline of your mind in verse 14 he says also be obedient you know this is a.

Struggle of our lives is obedience in fact obedience have been the challenge that Adam and Eve had to face right there in the gun eden in the garden of eden it was there that sin enter in by disobedience notice that in verse 14 as obedient children not fashioning yourself according to the former lusts in your ignorance. You see, obedience is the key. Obedience is essential. Obedience where we have to our own shame to say, Lord, how many a time I disobeyed you in my life as a believer now. We are not talking about unbelievers. As believers, obedience it's very important and you notice he's saying there in that verse 14 as obedient children now we are part of a family you see we have entered into the family of God a composition of all true believers in our Lord Jesus the Messiah we have a family now and in a family what a joy a child gives their mom and dad when the girl or the boy are obeying their parents.

And what a trial to the heart it gives the parents when the children are disobedient obedience is something that gives joy to God it gives joy to parents and it gives blessing to the children you remember what we read in Scripture in the law in the 10th commandment the only commandment with a promise is children obey your parents because this is the first commandment with a promise that you may have a long life obedience is a delight of God to see in the life of each and every one of us and you know there is one that gave God joy every day of his life in obedience to the father that was our blessed Lord Yeshua the Messiah think about that from the time that He was born as a babe in a manger in Bethlehem until the time that he cried that cry on the cross.

My God, my God, why have thou forsaken me? You look at the history of this man, Yeshua the Messiah, and you will see a history of obedience. We read in the Bible that he was obedient even unto death, and that is the death of the cross. One man, only one man, have totally obeyed the Father, fully obeyed God the Father. The rest of us, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But obedience gives pleasure to the Father, to God, and that's the area that we fail so much in our lives as believers. So, he's saying, and you notice that he's calling them obedient children.

You see, they now became part of the assembly. Now there are Jewish believers, there are other gentle believers who became part of the family of God, but now they are to be obedient because obedience brings pleasure to the Lord. You know, it says in Ephesians chapter 2, speaking about the world and its ways where we came from, it says, and he hath quickened us who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time passed, That's before we became believers. Ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the children of disobedience.

Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 2. See, the spirit, the demonic, satanic, worldly spirit that's working in unbelievers today, he's calling them children of disobedience. That's where we all came from, before we became believers in Yeshua the Messiah. But now, he's saying to them, be obedient, do not be like the way you used to be before you became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah. Don't fashion yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance. I think of some verses, Romans chapter 12. The Apostle Paul said to the believers there at Rome, he said, I beseech you therefore, brethren, verse 1, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good and acceptable and the perfect will of God.

You notice the mind is where all our thoughts and that which creeps into our mind, which oftentimes cause us to dishonor the Lord. So, obedience, not only to be more like God, well, think in your mind properly. Be obedient to the Lord in your life. Then, thirdly, in the passage in which we read, 1 Peter chapter 1, in verse 15 and 16, recognize that God called you to be a separated person unto him. I'm reading verse 15 and 16. But as he which has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, Because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Remember, brothers and sisters, again, it is important to understand the Scripture from its immediate context.

The context is Shimon Petros, a Hebrew believer, writing to his own Hebrew brethren, who were Jewish believers, who became believers in Yeshua, and they knew the Tanakh, the Old Testament. And in the Tanakh, in the Torah, the first five books of Moses, God said to them in Leviticus chapter 11 and verse 44, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Now he said it to Israel. Now Shimon Petro saying as to the believers of this present day dispensation. There is no difference in every dispensation. God's people are called to be separated unto him. God's people are to be devoted to the Lord, to serve him and to live for him.

So, notice it says, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation. The Hebrew word for holy is the word kadosh. Kadosh simply means to be set apart to God. God has been set apart. He is separated from sinners. Well, you and I also are to be set apart to God. When a Jewish marriage is occurring in Israel, when the man will take the ring and he was ready to place it on his wife's finger, he's saying to her, Betabat zu at mekudeshet li. He's saying with this ring you are sanctified or set apart for me that's what he's saying in the wedding itself so really what happened is when we became believers God set us apart for himself he doesn't want us to be occupied with the world and its system he doesn't want us to be taken up by all that's going on here in this world which unfortunately many times we find ourselves taken up by the world and its system God says listen I've called you to be my people you are to be different than the rest of the nations of the world he said to Israel and to us he's saying the same thing to the believers in the church aid he says I am holy I've called you now to be set apart for me as the Scripture sayeth be ye holy for I am holy and the word holy does not mean that you're supposed to have a halo over top of your head it is not so you know when a.

Believer is walking with Yeshua the Messiah you can see a brother or a sister who is set apart forgot you can see there is a different this brother this sister are devoting themselves to the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah and there is a certain beauty in this it's so attractive to see a brother or sister devoting themselves to the Messiah now i want to highlight that the word here in verse 15 notice that it says the word called the word called has to do with time the word for knowledge had to do with eternity past for knowledge is God have elected us and he have chosen us in eternity past but he called us in time that word called Peter used many times in his epistle if you go to chapter 2 the second chapter he's saying to them verse 9 ye are chosen generation a royal priest to the holy nation peculiar people that ye should show force the praises of him that called you out of darkness he called them out of darkness in time.

While he chosen them in eternity past. You notice that? Very interesting, that word called. In verse 21 of chapter 2, For even thereunto were ye called. Again, he's using the word called in time. In their lifetime, God called them unto salvation, but he has already chosen them in eternity past. These words are very interesting that he mentioned again and again in this epistle. Turn to chapter 3 for a moment in verse 9. You notice there as well, chapter 3 in verse 9, Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrary-wise blessing, knowing that ye are there unto cold, that ye should inherit blessing. Again he used the word called in this epistle there's one more time in chapter 5 of first Peter and verse 10 he's using again this expression called but the God of all grace who has called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus the Messiah notice he uses at least four or five times this word called and called here has to do in time he have elected us in eternity past and he have called us here in time unto salvation so now notice that in verse and i'm back in our chapter first Peter chapter 1 verse 15 and 16 is using this expression but he which has called us is holy so be holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be holy, for I am holy.

One more point I want to mention here before I'm going to move on. You notice he used that word, it is written. Now if there would be Gentiles, non-Jewish people, they would say to him, Peter, Shimon, where is it. Written? Because they wouldn't have the Scripture. The Scripture were given to the nation of Israel. And so you can see that he's speaking to Jewish believers and he always makes reference to the Hebrew Scripture, to the Tanakh. It is written. And reading this reminded me of what Yeshua did when Yeshua was tempted by Satan. You remember he went to the wilderness and Satan took Yeshua our Messiah to the desert.

In Matthew chapter 4 every time that Satan attacked the Messiah Jesus Yeshua came with a Scripture he always went back to the Hebrew word of God he said when Satan tempted him and he coming and he says take these stones and make bread out of this stone what Yeshua said to him in verse 4 of Matthew 4 it is written men shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord in verse 7 again Satan came and he told him to cast himself down and Yeshua answered him again on the basis of the word of God it is written again thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God he used the Scripture every time in the next verses a little later I should say he said that Jesus said unto him get thee behind me Satan for it is written thou shall worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou so it is written it is in the word of God do we.

Believe the word of God and if we believe the word of God do we appropriate it to our own hearts and our lives to say the truth we fail in that so much we oftentimes can appropriate it to somebody else but not to ourselves and this is the area that he's telling those believers listen you be more like God your mind should be thinking properly obedience is important in your life and God called you to be set apart for the Lord. So, back to 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 13 to 16, be more like God, Peter say to those believers in light of this great salvation. Now, secondly, in verse 17 to 21, he's bringing them to realize afresh that there was a price that one had to pay in order to redeem them, to bring them unto salvation.

There was a price. See, this great salvation that God had provided did not come just out of nothing. There was a price that had to be. Paid and so in those verses 17 18 19 20 and 21 Shimon Petro is telling them and he's telling you and I to be aware of the cost of our redemption let's follow these verses one by one the first thing he's saying here in verse 17 God the father will examine our works and he will examine our lives how do we live our life he will discipline us now as his children and he will also evaluate our works later on in the judgment seat of Christ the judgment seat of the Messiah let me read this verse 17 and if ye call on the father who without respect of person judge according to every man's work pass the time of your surjoining here with fear notice he's calling them if ye call on the father you know when we became believers we have now our God and our father the father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah become our father and we are like children of the father so as a father view the life of his children God as well views the life of.

Every believer because we are the children of God the children of the Father so he's saying since ye call on the Father who without respect of person Judges according to every man's work you know what God the Father does he reviews our life he looks at us and he says well here is where he failed and here is where he or she have done the right thing he reviews our life here in this world and as a father does so notice without respect of persons there's no favoritism here because everyone is a child of the father a man a woman boy girl all of us who became believers in Yeshua the Messiah we are children of the father so what does he do he review that and you notice he used the word in verse 17 Judges the Greek here is k-r-i-n-o krino which has to do that God will have an opinion about our works he knows everything that we do and he looks at us and he asks he challenges us.

He says that's the way the right way that you have done things is that the right way to speak Is that the right way to manage your affairs? Is that the right way that you have behaved towards this brother or this sister? He's evaluating. He's judging. It's not judging in a sense of condemning us, but it is evaluating our lives. Because the father wants to have fruit in the life of his children. So he's saying, you know, since you are calling on the father, he's going to evaluate your life. He says, listen, live your life, pass the time here of your sojourning with reverence, with fear.

The fear here is not to be scared of God, but to have reverence and the fear of God. The fear, the honor, the respect that God deserves in the life of the believer. Many verses come to my mind about the training. You know, a father that wants to see some fruit from the life of his children, he's not always successful but the time of discipline sometimes comes and sometimes he has to give them a discipline and a discipline is not an order for them to feel bad but it's because he want to train them he want to discipline them sometimes the Lord bring into our life discipline not only the problem that we have because we have sinned not only the problem that we have because the world and Satan attack us but the problems that come into our lives because the father disciplined us and he trained us you remember the writer to the Hebrews who said in chapter 12 he's talking to the early Jewish believers and he said to them you know listen don't be discouraged because of the training of the father you know it says here in chapter 12 verse 5 of Hebrews ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as children my son despise not.

The chastening of the Lord nor faint when you are rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and he scourges every son whom he received you know when God received us he receive us as children and as children sometimes he need to discipline us when we are disobedience so he's evaluating our life and when we are going wrong he says watch it come this way because i will have to discipline you and sometimes because we resist him he discipline us in view of restoration. So, Peter, in his passage, reminding those believers, they have to realize that God, whom we call him Father, he doesn't have any respect of persons.

He evaluates our life, and he Judges, and sometimes he needs to correct us. And when he corrects, he's always in view of restoration but there is another thing we have to realize brothers and sisters that there is a coming a day in which we all going to have to appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah. Second corinthian 5 for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ what's going to happen at the judgment seat of the Messiah at the judgment seat of the Messiah all what we have done in our lives, going to be viewed before God, before our Lord. And you're going to look at our history, and you're going to say, well, how did we behave from the day that we have become believers until the day that the Lord took us to heaven?

And everything that was done for the flesh will have to be burned and set aside. God will never enter anything to his presence, that which was dishonoring to him. But you know what the beautiful thing about the judgment seat of Christ, of the Messiah, that everything that we have done for Yeshua, for the Lord Jesus, is going to be preserved and we're going to be rewarded for everything that we have done for the pleasure of God. All that which we have done that was not pleasing to him is going to be burned and set aside. But whatever we have done for Yeshua, for Christ, for the Messiah, going to remain.

And God is going to reward us for whatever we have done for the pleasure of His Son. And here He is telling them in verse 17, God will examine us now, but He will examine us later. Now He will discipline us. Later on in the judgment seat of the Messiah, He will remove all the dross. And only that which will remain will be that which was done for our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Now he continues in verse 18, and he's saying to them, look, beloved brothers and sisters, be aware of the cost of your redemption. Your behavior is very important because God will discipline you and he will deal with you, but I want you, he's saying to them, to remember that your redemption is not based upon any human merit, but there was a price that had to be paid in order to save you, to redeem you.

And one of the most precious verses in the Bible is the verses that are ahead of us here, verse 18 and 19. Look at this, verse 18 says, for as much as ye know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of the Mashiach as of a lamb without blemish and without spot he is now in those two verses reminding them that the redemption was not. Based upon human merit they did not gain the redemption they didn't buy it they didn't earn it they didn't pay for that it was totally provided for them the salvation that you and I have today we didn't earn it we didn't pay for that and you notice that he says yes you know we ought to know that that you were not redeemed the word redeem here is the Hebrew word lifdot lifdot to buy it back or it's liberated by payment or by ransom.

In the Greek, it's called loutro-o. In Hebrew, it's pidayon. You haven't been redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation. In other words, you didn't buy it with silver. You didn't buy it with gold, with money. Or your vain conversation. You know the word conversation in the King James, simply your vain manner of life. You haven't been so good that God saved you on a basis of your goodness. It's not so. And you notice he adding, from your vain conversation received, remember there are Jewish people who are believers, received by tradition from your fathers. You see, these Jewish brethren have already experienced so many traditions of our own fathers.

And we, who are Jewish, know that very well. There are so many traditions that we have grown up upon. My father and my grandfather and our great-grandfather, the traditions that we have developed over the generation among our own people, Israel, many traditions. You even probably watched the movie Fiddler on the Roof. Remember Fiddler? Tradition, he said. There's tradition. That's the way it is. There are traditions among our people. But we were not saved because of our tradition. You know, by the way, I'm a believer for enough years to notice that it's not only our Jewish people who have tradition. There are so many traditions in the professing church today that it is unbelievable.

And all the human tradition, whether it is by the Gentile world or the Jewish world, did not save us. Couldn't save us not silver not gold we were not redeemed by all sort of human merit a wealth and power and tradition not at all we have been anointed that and now he's moving to this very precious verse in verse 19 but with the precious blood of Messiah of Mashiach as of a lamb without blemish and without spot he is reminding those believers that the price had to be paid to save you to forgive your sin and your sins was not money it was not power it was not tradition but somebody had to pay for that and that payment only one could pay and that is our blessed Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah and the Bible say the precious precious blood of the Messiah you know he is so precious and his blood is precious to God why it's so precious because the only man as i mentioned earlier the only man that lived a way that is pleasing to God from his birth to his death was that man Yeshua from Natseret and his blood he speaks of life you remember Leviticus 17.11.

The life of the flesh is in the blood so when Yeshua had shed his blood on the altar on the cross his blood was precious to the holy and righteous God and God found delight in his willingness to give his life a ransom for many. And the Bible say that he was a lamb that was without blemish and without spot. No one could find fault in Jesus. There was no blemish in him. And again, brothers and sisters, it is important to see the text in light of its context. The context is Jewish believers reading that passage from Shimon Petos, and they looking back at their history, And they are remembering again when their forefathers left Egypt that the people of Israel in the land of Mitzrayim, Egypt, had to take a lamb.

And the lamb had to be without blemish, without spot, because that lamb was a picture of this lamb of God, our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. And i want you to turn for a moment to Isaiah with me Isaiah the 53rd chapter of Isaiah we read prophetically the prophets of old yeshayahu wrote 700 years approximately before the Messiah came and he spoke about the Messiah at his coming and look what he says you remember he was a lamb without blemish without spot he says who has believed our report chapter 53 and verse 1 and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed for he was growing up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground he has no form no comeliness and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him and then he said but he is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we did as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not but he continued surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we.

Did esteem him stricken and smitten of God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgression he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripe we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all he was oppressed listen to verse 7 talking about the lamb he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearer is dumb so he opened not his mouth he was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people Isaiah's people are Israel for the transgression of Israel he was stricken and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he has done no.

Violence neither was any deceit found in his mouth yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him he has put him to grief when you shall make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed and he shall prolong his day speak about his resurrection and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his head what a chapter the 53rd chapter of the yeshayahu the Israel's prophet who spoke about the Messiah verse 19 here is taking us back to Isaiah 53 to Exodus chapter 12 where it says you were redeemed with the precious blood of the Messiah as of a lamb without blemish and without spot it was John the baptizer who said in John 1 29 behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of this world so beloved brothers and sisters in verses 18 and 19 we are to remember that our redemption had a price not silver and gold not tradition not human merit but only on the basis of the precious blood of the Messiah and today when we preach the message.

Of the gospel? Can we say anything otherwise? What shall wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Yeshua. There is nothing that can save a person except through the precious, precious blood of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. And we have to be faithful in presenting this message today to the world around us. Nothing can bring us to God except the life that was taken away from Yeshua and His death and resurrection the precious blood of the Messiah now notice in the next verses here verse 20 the believers to realize that the Messiah was foreordained before the foundation of the world i love that passage here because it says in verse 20 after he spoke about the precious blood of the Messiah he said who verily this is the lamb Yeshua Jesus God's son the Messiah he was verily foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in this time for you.

Do you know, brothers and sisters, that in the plan of God, we don't grasp it sufficiently, I must admit, and you must admit as well, that in the. Plan of God, not only that we were chosen before the foundation of the world Ephesians 1 verses 3 and 4 but the Messiah Jesus Yeshua the son of God when long before creation had been God already in his plan he foreknew that in the fullness of time the Messiah will have to come that God the son will take union humanity and will ultimately go to the cross to the tree and he will die on the cross and be a suitable way whereby a sinner can be saved.

That's why he says it was verily foreordained or foreknown before the foundation of the world. Underline the word before. Now remember, when you read Genesis 1 verse 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. That was long after the Messiah, Jesus, was already in the plan of God to come to this world when you and i as believers were already in the plan of God he knew your name he knew my name he knew where you're going to be born to whose family you're going to be born what age you're going to come to know Yeshua the Messiah where are you going to be saved and what message you're going to hear in order to bring you into the person of the Lord Jesus everything was in the plan of God before the foundation of the world and by the way if you don't understand it or grasp it go check it with God don't argue with me or with anybody else go check it with God tell God I don't grasp it I don't grasp it either it isn't a plan of God and it's written in the word of God it says here who was verily foreordained before the foundation of the world but notice at the end of verse 20 but he was manifest in these times.

For you In other words, God knew when the Messiah will be born. God knew when the Messiah will die in the fullness of time. You notice that the Messiah didn't die 6,000 years ago, or 5,000 years ago, or 4,000, or 3,000 years ago. From our point of time, he died about 2,000 years ago. Like Paul said in Galatians 4, in verse 4, when the fullness of time come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law verse 5 to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoptions of son God knew when the Messiah will enter into humanity and will go to the cross and pay for the sin of this world realize verse 20 that the Messiah was foreordained before the foundation of the world you read in Matthew chapter 25 when God speak about Israel in the future day in verse 34 he is saying then the king said to them on his right hand come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world when it's come to the nation of Israel the kingdom promised to Israel was prepared for Israel from the foundation of the world when it's come to the church age to the saints in the church age they have been elected from before the foundation of the world.

But in both cases God the father knew from eternity past that he's going to send him down to this world from before the foundation of the world he planned the death burial and resurrection of the Messiah now quickly verse 21 he says realize that your faith and hope is based upon the resurrection of the Messiah notice who by him this is by Jesus the Messiah do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God in verse 21 he's saying listen realize that the very fact that you believe in God is based upon the finished work of the Messiah you got saved and you became redeemed because of the finished work of the Messiah and now as he says here your faith and hope in God based upon the resurrection of the Messiah notice how many times the Bible teaching us about the resurrection of the Messiah you see if the Lord Jesus if the son of God became a man Yeshua HaMashiach and went.

To the cross and died and remained in the grave what hope we would have we would be hopeless because he is in the grave he's dead but God had been satisfied with the work of Yeshua and he had raised him and that's why the Bible many times speaks about the resurrection of the Messiah you know right now there is a man in the glory his name is Yeshua a man spirit soul and body a man is risen ascended and seated at the right hand of God the father and because this man his name is Yeshua you and I as human race who are believers in him we have a ground upon where God can say now I can give you the same promise that I am going to give you eternal life and one day I'm going to raise you from the grave and I'm going to give you a glorified body and I'm going to take you to be with me in glory it is on the basis of the resurrection first of all of our.

Lord Jesus the Messiah by him you believe in God that he raised him from among the dead and he gave him glory God gave his son glory the Messiah glory that your faith and hope might be in God and that's the hope everything here in this world ends as for us this world is only we are passing through our hope is in the presence of the Lord we are going to be one day with him never anymore to suffer never anymore to dishonor God never anymore to live sinful way in this world never anymore to do so to please God and to be eternally blessed in his presence he is right there in glory awaiting the day when all those who trusted in him will be with him now let's talk about the remaining verses of the first chapter.

Verses 22, 23, 24, and 25. This is the third thing that Peter is pointing out by way of presenting the conduct of the believers here because of God's. Great salvation. Look what he's saying now. Not only be more like God, not only be aware of the cost of the redemption in verse 22 to 25 be sensitive in love towards your brothers and sisters in verse 22 he says seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit and to the unfeigned love of the brethren see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently now again those Jewish believers must just like you and i have the same problems that you and i facing today they were all saved they all have the assurance that they are going to heaven they know that positionally they are saints but here and now the problem is how do we deal with each other as one said or to dwell with saints above that will be glory but how to dwell with saints below that's another story and the problem with us is how do we treat each other it's another story in heaven there will not be one person that will hate another.

In heaven there will be not one wrong that we're going to do to our brothers or our sisters but here and now it's totally another story and you notice in verse 22 he used the two Greek words for love he says seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit this is the holy Spirit and to unfeigned love of the brethren that first word for love is the Greek word phileo come for the word Philadelphia that's where we get the Philadelphia the love of the brethren it is a family love there is various Greek word that has to do with the word love in this case in verse 22 it is brotherly love the love of a relationship after all we are brethren and we have a father in heaven we have a head the Lord at the right hand of God the father and the body is here we are all believers and we are part of this company that belong to the Lord.

We are family we might not look like a family some of us are tall other ones short some of us are white some of us are skinny some of us are light colored darker color we are all sort of backgrounds and nations of this world and yet we are brethren we are achim we are brothers and sisters in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah but important it is that the Spirit of God will stir us to have unfeigned love of the achim of the brethren unfeigned love of the brethren he used the word phileo there but then he continued and he used the second word for love in the Greek and he said that ye love agapeo, agapao, that ye love one another with pure heart fervently.

He used a second or another word for love. This is not a love of a relationship. This is an unconditional love. This is God's love, you may call it. Unconditional. You know, when God had saved us and set his love upon us. It was not because there was something attractive about you and I in fact we have been so unattractive to God we are far from being attractive sin has separated us from God but God set his love upon us unconditional did not depend upon our look and our performance and our background he loved us and you notice this make sure he says see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently unconditionally that's very hard brothers and sisters this is really what you call God's love the divine unconditional love that we need to practice that's why he says see that you do it practice this see that you'll be successful in treating each other it's not a matter of like only hugs and kisses though i love to do so myself but it's not this it is simply giving in don't take the number one all the time don't think you're always right years ago one asked the question what do i do if i go to a church meeting or to a congregational meeting and there is a person there that I cannot stand.

You find this kind of situation sometimes exists. I cannot stand one and the other cannot stand me. So what do you do? You stop going to the meeting? That's not right. What do you do? You hate the brother or the sister? That's wrong. So the answer is don't take number one. Make sure that you give room for that particular brother or sister. Give in. Don't have your own way. Don't force your own will. Be willing to say i'm going to give in by doing that you are not seeking your own will and your own ways and you are willing to give a person his own let him or her be the first one i don't have to be the first one that is how he answered this question was asked so again in this verse 22 the agapeo or agapao it has to do with unconditional love the phileo it's a brotherly love in which we are to love one another now please turn with me to the epistle of John first John chapter 4 and verse 7 beloved let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and he knows God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love in this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him here in his love not that we loved God but that.

He loved us and he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins verse 11 beloved if God loved us we ought to love one another notice verse 20 and 21 of the very same chapter if a man say i love God and he hates his brother and i say oh his sister he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother or sister whom he has seen how can he love God whom he has not seen and this commandment we have from him that he who loveth God love his brother or his sister also this is amazing how can we say that we love God and hate a brother or a sister that is a challenging thing for us on a practical way beloved brothers and sisters so back to first Peter chapter 1 verse 22 see that you have love one towards another and then he says in verse 23 remember that you were born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed by the word of God.

Being born again verse 23 not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible this is the seed by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever in other words the seed that have been placed in our conscience the seed it is the word of God that have been placed by the power of the Holy Spirit of God matured if you will grew and gave us new life we became born from above born again new life new birth. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Yeshua said to Nicodemus, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. You know, you and I have new life now, and we ought to seek with the help of the Lord to live in the power of the Spirit of God, this new life, not in the old way, not in the flesh, because eventually it's not going to be honoring to the Lord.

The closing remarks of this chapter is found in verse 24 and 25 the flesh ultimately will be withered but the. Word of God will endure forever for all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower the rough fadeth away but the word of the Lord endures forever and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you see all flesh all the glory you know when we sometime not behaving right and we exalt our flesh we have to realize as it says here all the flesh is like grass like weeds and all the glory of men is like the flower of grass in other words all what we gain in glory and power and so on ultimately going to have its end here in this world and the apostle Peter said to them the grass withering and the flower thereof is going to fade away but the word of the Lord that which is done through the word of God through the power of the Spirit of God is going to endure and remain.

Forever he's by the way again just like in the past he's quoting the prophet Isaiah he's quoting Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 6 7 8 which was speaking about the fact that the Messiah will come one day and all the glory of the human race of the flesh going to have to be fading away but the word of the Lord and doeth forever. And by this word, the gospel has been preached unto us. You know, you and I heard the gospel message. Somebody came to us. He opened the Bible. He gave us a text from the Bible. And he trusted that the Spirit of God will appropriate it to our hearts.

And that's how we came to faith in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. And that's what happened. And that's why he's saying, this is the gospel. This is how the gospel has been preached unto you. Faith comes by him. Romans 10, 17. Hearing by the word of God. And so, brothers and sisters, these verses, in verses 13 to 25, believers' conduct ought to be different in the light of this great salvation that had been provided for us through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.