“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5 NASB1995)

It is good if you can read the whole of 1 Peter, or at least the whole of 1 Peter 1 to get the larger picture here. But this morning we will be covering just a few verses, although I may refer to some other verses, too.

We who believe in Jesus Christ with God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus are the chosen of God “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood” (1 Peter 1:2). So those who are telling you that God does not require you to obey him, they are lying to you. And the sanctifying work of the Spirit within us is in making us holy unto God, different from the world, because we are being made to be like Jesus.

For, we are not saved from our sins and guaranteed eternal life with God on the basis of lip service only. For by genuine faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but as servants of God and of his righteousness in holy living. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

And that is our inheritance, not that we “get saved” so we are forgiven all our sins so that when we die we get to go to heaven. That is certainly part of it, but that is not assured us on the basis of a one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ, done deal. For our salvation from sin is progressive, and we are saved out of bondage to sin so that we can walk in obedience to our Lord, in his power at work within us. For “born again” has to do with a changed life, not like the old life, now living holy lives, pleasing to God, obeying our Lord.

Therefore, the inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled which will not fade away, and which is reserved in heaven for us, is not guaranteed us on the basis of a one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but rather on the basis of a walk of faith in obedience to our Lord in holy living from now to eternity. And this is not demanding sinless perfection (1 John 2:1-2), but we learn in the Scriptures that if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, that we do not have salvation from sin and the hope of eternal life with God. For biblical faith results in us dying to sin and in obeying our Lord.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

So, please take this to heart, for far too many people are teaching this passage of Scripture in 1 Peter 1:3-5 out of context, and they are assuring all who claim to believe in Jesus Christ that all their sins are forgiven, and that heaven is secured for them when they die, and that there is nothing that they can do to make that not become a reality in their lives. But the Scriptures make it quite clear that if sin continues to be our practice, and not obedience to God and to his commandments, that we will not inherit eternal life with God, even if we did once profess to believe in him.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Recording Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

According to His Great Mercy
An Original Work / January 6, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love