A Worshipper Who is Humble is One Who Perseveres

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:23-25

for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.  For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass.  The grass withers, And the flower falls off, But the word of the Lord endures forever.”  And this is the word which was preached to you.

Insights:  In today’s verses we see another example of why we hold to the doctrine known as the perseverance of the saints.  In Southern Baptist language we refer to this doctrine as once saved, always saved.  Our belief in this doctrine, as it relates to today’s verses, comes from the type of seed with which we are born again.  In other words, man’s seed, his sperm, is perishable.  At some point his offspring are going to die.  God, on the other hand, conceives us from His Holy Spirit and births us spiritually with an imperishable seed.  God’s seed never dies.  If a person could really lose their salvation, then with what kind of seed had they been born again?  The answer is a perishable seed, but this passage tells us we are born again from an imperishable seed.  Peter goes on to use the illustration of the grass and the flowers.  These two items fall away, but God’s word endures forever.  God’s word is the seed that brought about our salvation.  In fact the verse actually stated, “…imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”  I have often quoted the old adage, the author of this line is unknown to me, which states, “faith that falters was flawed from the first.”  The point of this simple little line is that if one were capable of walking away from their salvation, then they were not really born again with from the beginning.  Is it possible for a truly born again individual to go through a season of carnality in their spiritual walk with the Lord?  The answer is yes.  Paul even uses that language of a carnal Christian.  I think Lot from the Old Testament is an example of one who was born of imperishable seed that was carnal for a season.  I believe he was restored after the Sodom and Gomorrah judgment because in 2 Peter 2:7-8 we are told Lot was a righteous man.  He may have for a time wandered from the Lord, but the Lord never stopped drawing him back to Himself.  It was for this reason that Lot was rescued from the destruction which fell on these two cities.  His seed with which he was born was imperishable.

Questions:

1.  Are you truly born again?

2.  Do you understand that your salvation came from an imperishable seed?

Prayer: Father, thank You for my salvation.  Thank You that nothing can separate me from Your love.  Thank You that You have placed within me a new heart that longs after the things that please You.  Let me, by Your grace, grow and mature and understand this new heart even better each day so that I pursue You more and more.  Amen.