Spurgeon: May PM
* 05/04/PM
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible."
--1 Peter 1:23
Peter most earnestly exhorted the scattered saints to love
each other "with a pure heart fervently" and he wisely fetched
his argument, not from the law, from nature, or from philosophy,
but from that high and divine nature which God hath implanted in
His people. Just as some judicious tutor of princes might labour
to beget and foster in them a kingly spirit and dignified
behaviour, finding arguments in their position and descent, so,
looking upon God's people as heirs of glory, princes of the
blood royal, descendants of the King of kings, earth's truest
and oldest aristocracy, Peter saith to them, "See that ye love
one another, because of your noble birth, being born of
incorruptible seed; because of your pedigree, being descended
from God, the Creator of all things; and because of your
immortal destiny, for you shall never pass away, though the
glory of the flesh shall fade, and even its existence shall
cease." It would be well if, in the spirit of humility, we
recognized the true dignity of our regenerated nature, and lived
up to it. What is a Christian? If you compare him with a king,
he adds priestly sanctity to royal dignity. The king's royalty
often lieth only in his crown, but with a Christian it is
infused into his inmost nature. He is as much above his fellows
through his new birth, as a man is above the beast that
perisheth. Surely he ought to carry himself, in all his
dealings, as one who is not of the multitude, but chosen out of
the world, distinguished by sovereign grace, written among "the
peculiar people" and who therefore cannot grovel in the dust as
others, nor live after the manner of the world's citizens. Let
the dignity of your nature, and the brightness of your
prospects, O believers in Christ, constrain you to cleave unto
holiness, and to avoid the very appearance of evil.