Lesson 597

(Lesson 597)(4-05-13) 1 Peter 1:13-25, "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, 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 persons judgeth 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 Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times 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 for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."

This lesson again contains the blessed assurance of the promise to those of us whom have placed our faith in a resurrected Jesus Christ! We are reborn through, "the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,!"

After having received this blessed gift we are to conduct ourselves in the manner of the reborn, NOT relying on "corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;", but by placing our faith in "the precious blood of Christ".

Herein, Peter challenges Christianity to preach the un-defiled gospel of Christ and to care for those in need, be they our own or strangers, reminding us that all else will fall away and die, but the word of God is eternal.~