May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
first epistle of Peter, chapter 1, and we'll read verses 6 to
9. The epistle of Peter, the first
epistle of Peter, chapter 1, and reading verses 6 to 9. wherein ye greatly rejoice, though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. Let the trial of your faith be
much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. whom having not seen ye loved,
in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of
your faith, even the salvation of your soul. As we may recognise this is just
one sentence from verse 6 to verse 9 and it's comprehensive
and it really refers to that which has gone before and as
we think of that we can understand how Peter who classifies himself
as an apostle of Jesus Christ is writing to certain people
and those certain people are listed, they are called strangers
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and
Bithynia and of course all of us really are strangers and pilgrims
on the earth and then he tells us they are elect according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ grace unto you and peace be multiplied. So that's who the Apostle is
therefore addressing this letter. And it's good to realise that
he is addressing it to these people, and therefore today we
can recognise that these words are also addressed to us, they
are addressed to the Living Church of God. And he commences by saying,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which,
according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. So it is with this statement
in mind that Peter then begins this sixth verse by saying, wherein
ye greatly rejoice. Well, it was a good reason to
greatly rejoice. And it will be a good reason
for us tonight to greatly rejoice. if we, by the favour and mercy
of God, can count ourselves amongst those who are specified in this
statement, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. What a blessing it is to be one
of those whom the Lord chose in eternity past, a truth that
is really beyond our natural understanding, It's a great truth
and a great favour to be found amongst such and to have the
evidence that we are amongst those whom the Lord has elect
according to his foreknowledge. And surely as we read through
these verses this evening, this will establish us to know whether
we are amongst such a favoured people who are indeed blessed
And blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy. Because we will have received
abundant mercy. All of us, if we are amongst
those the Lord has called, have received abundant mercy. We are abundant sinners and we
need abundant mercy. And then who has begotten us
again, that means we've been born again according to a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That again
tells us that it's because the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the
dead, a conqueror over sin, death, hell and the grave. And there
is our confidence in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. That He rose from the dead. Wonderful truth. Important tenet
of our beliefs to realise that the Lord Jesus Christ did indeed
rise from the dead. He had to die. He had to die
in our place. He had to bear the punishment
due to us. He bore our punishment instead
of us. and therefore he is our hope
and we've been begotten, born again unto this lively hope,
this living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
But what is the purpose of this new birth? What is the purpose
of being blessed like this? Well, Peter tells us. it is to
be born again to this inheritance, which is incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." We see there
just a little glimpse of what the Lord has prepared for those
that love Him as a place which is incorruptible. There's nothing
corruptible in heaven. It's all perfect. There's no
sin. There's no death. There's no
corruption. It's incorruptible. And it's
undefiled. There's nothing that defiles
in glory. Nothing at all. Everything there
is pure and sinless. It is a wonderful consideration
to think that God has given to us, through what Christ has done,
if we are amongst those who are his elect people, this inheritance. And inheritance, of course, is
something that we've never worked for, we've never earned. It's something which has been
given to us. It's a great privilege. a wonderful
favour and it's good to think upon and good to meditate upon
and not only that but the Apostle goes on to tell
us very specifically that there is a place in heaven which is
reserved for us that I think is a great consideration you
know if a place Anywhere is reserved. You may sometimes think of naturally,
you know, things in restaurants or sometimes where a place has
been reserved for us and we can turn up and there's the place
which we are to sit in. That place has been reserved.
Well, far, far, far greater than such a worldly consideration
is this, that God in his wonderful matchless favour has reserved
a place in glory for all of those whom he has chosen before time
began. And what a blessing it is to
have the application of the work of the Spirit in our hearts,
which confirms us in the truth, in the realisation of the understanding
that we also, unworthy sinners of the earth, are possessors
of a reserved place in glory." Well, how true such words are. Reserved in heaven for you. For you and me. It is something
that you and I can look forward to because we realise if we are
a true believer, if we are those who have been born again, it's
something which cannot be removed. It's there. Now, waiting for
our deceased, waiting for that time when in
our lives time will be no more and we shall be translated from
time into this eternal situation there to take up that reserved
place for us. Well, it's something to ponder,
it's something to look forward to, it's something to understand,
but it is through the mercy and favour of God. And therefore
it's not surprising, surely is it, to realise what the Apostle
says. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has done this for all his church,
every single member. There will be no disappointment
when you and I, by his grace, get to glory, to search for a
place, because there will be a specific place reserved for
us, a wonder of wonders. But with that great truth, the
apostle then says, who are kept by the power of God, through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. God's people are kept. We might think, well, I've sinned
here and I've sinned there, and I've thought this and I've thought
that, and I've said this and I've said that. But nonetheless,
by the grace of God, we've been kept from many things. And we should be thankful if
in our lives we can look back, perhaps to certain scenes, certain
situations, where but for the grace of God, we would have gone. I think it was John Bradford
who was looking out of a window and he saw I'm not sure if it
was a murder or whatever it was, being taken to the scaffold to
die, to be executed, and he said, but for the grace of God, there
go I. It's good when you and I recognize
the truth of such things that we are no better than anybody
else. We cannot throw any stones at
anyone else. We have to say, but for the grace
of God. But for the mercy of God. And
because of that, because by His faith we've been kept by the
power of God. And the power of God does keep. The power of God does wonderful
things. And Peter was able to rejoice
in it. May you and I be able to rejoice
in it as we look back in our lives. who are kept for the power
of God through faith. And again, we mentioned faith
this morning, and it's a God-given gift. It's not something that
you and I can produce ourself. It's a wonderful favor, and it's
a wonderful blessing. And indeed, as the apostle Paul
tells us when he wrote the epistle to the Hebrews in the 11th chapter,
he says, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. Faith is not something that you
and I can tangibly pick up with our hands. It's something that
God gives to us, and it's an evidence, and we hope for it
by the grace of God. And as the apostle goes on to
say, for by it the elders obtain a good report through faith we
understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God and
that's a wonderful indication of the faith that God gives when
you and I today believe this great truth and many people today
do not believe this many so-called Christians do not believe it
and do not possess the true faith of God and here it is spelled
out so clearly, so that things which are seen were not made
of things which do appear. You see, we understand the worlds
were framed by the Word of God. God spoke the Word into being. Well, you young people, bless
God if God has given you faith to believe such a wonderful truth
that this whole universe was spoken into existence by the
Word of God. Again, don't try and work it
out in your own mind, it's the power of God, and we should be
very thankful that it is so. Who are kept by the power of
God through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. What a blessing that will be.
If that last time refers to the end of time of this earth, then
we should be amongst those, if we have passed away or if we
are living on the earth, that it will be revealed that we are
amongst those who are caught up to be with the Lord forever
and no parting. Forever with the Lord. It's a
great prospect. It's a wonderful consideration.
So there we have the introduction really to this first epistle
of Peter which he sets before us by the Spirit of God and because
of that he then comes and says, wherein ye greatly rejoice. Well again that's an evidence
of the grace of God tonight. If we do rejoice in such glorious
truths And indeed, we greatly rejoice because of these wonderful
truths. They're not figments of our imagination. They are the truth of God. It
is the Word of God. And it will stand. Indeed, we
read at the end of this first chapter, he said, For all flesh
is grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass, the
grass withereth. flower off, falleth away, but
the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. These things are sure
and certain. These things we can rest upon
in this changing world. We have a God who does not change.
A God who is the same yesterday and today and forever. And what
the Lord has spoken and done comes to pass. And so let us
tonight greatly rejoice. Greatly rejoice. You see, these
truths should lift us up above the poor things of this vain
world, so that we are numbered amongst those who do indeed truly
rejoice in the truth of these things wherein ye greatly rejoice. But then, as it were, the Apostle
brings us down to earth, just to recognize that although we
may greatly rejoice, we find ourselves in the world and we
find ourselves in this situation where the Apostle says, Though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. The word here is very positive
to us and it tells us if there is a need, if need be, and the
Lord knows if there is a need be in your life and my life,
that the Lord might bring into our life temptations, many temptations,
temptations to doubt perhaps the word of God, doubt perhaps
the truth of God, doubt perhaps that which he's done for our
souls. You see, we are possessors of the evil heart of unbelief
and there will no doubt be these manifold temptations and the
result will be that we may find ourselves bowed down in heaviness
because of them. We wish it wasn't so, but you
see the Lord graciously brings these things into our lives if
there's a need for them. And there is often a need for
them perhaps when we may find ourselves maybe far off. Perhaps we're not as prayerful
as we should be. Perhaps we find ourselves thinking
about other things than we need. the Holy Spirit to once again
renew the life of God in our souls. It is the work of the
Holy Spirit. It may cause us heaviness. It will cause us heaviness if
we are a true believer and we find that these things exist
in our lives. We won't be able to just throw
them overboard and think, well, it doesn't matter. It will matter. And we will be heavy in our spirits
because we're not what we would be. But you see, the Lord graciously
deals with us in love to our souls. And therefore, there may
be a need for this. The Lord knows. He knows what
we need. So often we think we know what
we need, but so often we're far off from the mark of the reality
of it. And so he says, though now for
a season it won't be always like it, you and I may be caused to
pass this way in our journey to this celestial city, a time
when we are in heaviness through manifold temptations. You see, even the blessed Saviour
was tempted in his life. Remember, after he was baptised,
he was led by the devil into the wilderness to be tempted. You might think that's difficult
to understand, but it's the truth of God's Word. And the devil
put temptations before the Saviour that if he had succumbed to those
temptations, he would have turned away from the great and glorious
truth of God. Don't think therefore that you
and I are going to be exempt from temptations, and if they
come upon us they may make us heavy hearted, and it may therefore reduce our
rejoicing, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season,
if need be your unhappiness through manifold temptations, and it
would seem here it's not just the odd temptation. We pass through
a dark world, we have a great adversary, the devil, who is
always endeavouring to turn us away and out of the way. That's his great aim, to destroy
our soul, just like Apollyon to Christian, when a Christian
slipped on the path and apollyon said, here will I spill thy soul. It's a great temptation sometimes,
manifold temptations. Where there may be a need be,
the Lord knows if there is a need be. Often we don't know it until
we're into the path and we recognise then that there is a need be.
And the Lord is dealing with our souls. in love. He's not
dealing with us because he hates us, he's dealing with us because
he loves us. He's dealing with us in that
way which will cause us to greatly rejoice in his salvation, which
is a path, a good path, a path that is only known by the true
Church of God, those who God has called, those who are elect
according to the foreknowledge, those who are rejoicing in the
prospect of eternal blessings. You see, the world does not rejoice
in the prospect of eternal blessings. They rejoice in their life today. And I'm looking forward to that
eternal inheritance. Bless God if the Holy Spirit
has touched our hearts and given us the blessed understanding
that the Lord has loved us with everlasting love. And therefore
the Apostle goes on to encourage us in this way to tell us And
that faith which we read about in this fifth verse, who are
kept by the power of God through faith, under salvation, ready
to be rebuilt in the last time, this faith, this living faith,
this faith which God gives, will be tested. The trial of your
faith. You may say, well I wish I hadn't
I don't have my faith tested. Well, in our right mind, we'll
be thankful it is tested. And you may say, well, why is
that? Because we don't want to be relying on a false faith. And by that I mean this, a faith
that you and I may have produced ourselves. We want to know that
we are possessors of that great and glorious God-given faith
which the Apostle Paul speaks of so very clearly when he wrote
to the Ephesians. And he tells us in the second
chapter, the eighth verse, for by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus, and through good works, which God hath before
ordained, that we should walk in them. What a mercy, then,
if we have received this God-given faith. And we recognise it is
God-given to us, And it's not something that we can rejoice
in by our own ability. It's all for the honour and glory
of God. What a mercy if that is so in
our lives and we can truly thank our God for them, rejoice in
it. The trial of your faith. So therefore
don't be surprised that in this time of rejoicing, And remember
what we're reading here, these four verses, it's one sentence,
refers to this time of testing really, greatly rejoicing and
yet having this situation tested. And it's good therefore to have
our faith tested, to have the evidence that the faith is God-given
and it emanates from the gracious gift of God to such unworthy
sinners. And it is a testing time. The
trial of your faith being much more precious than a gold that
perishes. Well, we know that gold is a
very valuable mineral, still is today, as it always has been
through the history of the world. And we want to try and have an
illustration of something which is valuable and precious. often think of the illustration
of gold. But here you see the Apostle
tells us that our faith, God-given, is much more precious. Not just
precious, but much more precious. It is so valuable. And really
it's quite simple to understand why it is so valuable. Because naturally gold we will
have to leave behind. If we had a good stock of gold,
when we come to die, we can't take it with us. We'll have to
leave it. Leave it behind. It will be of
no benefit. Although it may have been valuable
in our life, it'll be of no value when we come to die. Whereas,
God-given faith is of eternal value. We won't have to leave
that behind, because it's that which God, in His sovereign will
and purpose, has given us, unworthy sinners. What a blessing, therefore,
to be the recipients of this faith. And what a good thing
it is to have it tested, to make sure it's not of our providing,
but it's that which God has given. God has graciously come and bestowed
us who stowed it upon us. And so, as he tells us, this
faith which God has given us will be tested with fire. We
mentioned this morning about fire, didn't we? Fire testing
the reality of our religion. Well, it's a good thing to have
our faith tested by fire because faith burns up that which is
rubbish. And fire leaves that which is
pure and whole and right and good. And I'm sure you and me,
in our right minds, we don't want to be left with a religion
of rubbish. We want to be left with a religion
of God-given faith. And so what a mercy it is that
the Lord takes us in hand and burns up burns up, that which
is of the flesh, so that we might be found unto praise and honour
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. That means we won't
have to look around for our God-given faith. No, it'll be evident there
and we shall know and God knows that we are one of those who
have been redeemed with the great and glorious precious blood of
the Saviour. And we might be found therefore
honour and glory, not for ourselves what we've done, but because
of the honour and glory bestowed upon us by the Saviour, through
His life, through His death. What a wonderful privilege it
is to have honour and glory. bestowed upon us, we might be
found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ. Because what will be seen? Christ in you, the hope of glory. It won't be what we've done or
what we've said. It will be what Christ has done
for us and the blessings that he bestowed upon us. We shall
indeed rejoice in praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. Well, we can be sure of this.
The Lord Jesus Christ will return. It's very clearly told us in
the Acts of the Apostles and the end of Luke's Gospel. The
Lord will return in the same way that he ascended up into
glory. There's no doubt about that.
And every eye shall see him. Every eye. I sometimes think
of that. Every one of us will behold the Lord in his glory. And what a great blessing, therefore,
if we are amongst those that the Apostle is describing here
in these verses. That through his mercy and through
his love toward us, we are those whom God has chosen before the
world began, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. All the glory must
redound unto Him. And so here we have this prospect
and this knowledge that this will indeed come to pass. And
then he tells us, here we see the outworking of faith. Faith is such an important ingredient
in our spiritual experience. Without faith it is impossible
to please God. And so we're told whom having
not seen ye love. This blessed Saviour, who we
have not seen with our mortal eyes, but by faith we love. And why do we love Him? We love
Him because He first loved us. And why did He love us? because
in eternity past there was his covenant made with Father, Son
and Holy Spirit to redeem and elect people, chosen of God,
ere time began. Wonderful, wonderful truth, gospel
truth, praise God for it, having not seen ye love. And that love of God is placed
upon us is given to us and our hearts by the work of the Spirit
of God are moved to realise that God has loved us because of what
he's done for us and because our life has been changed because
the Holy Spirit is descending upon us and given us this new
life, this new birth, the blessed work of the Holy Spirit of God. And as we appreciate it and understand
it, there is that within us, the work of the Holy Spirit,
given faith to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and to believe that
this great and glorious Saviour condescended to stand in our
place and to die to atone for our sins, to shed his most precious
blood, having not seen ye love." You know, it's an amazing truth,
isn't it? You and I wouldn't naturally love someone we've
never seen or at all. ridiculous situation really,
but here we have this truth that God displays to encourage us
and to give us the unmistakable evidence that we are a true believer
as he displays to us his love toward us. Now, what a mercy
if we have a taste of this love. And I'm sure if we are a true
believer we should desire greater evidences of this love toward
us. We should need to know it renewed. We should need to know it more
and more. So therefore we have this blessed
evidence of our faith being tested in this way. Do we love the Lord
or no? It is a great question which
you and I need to have put out of question and it's only by
God's love toward us and it gives us this blessed faith to believe
in the great and glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. And so we read, whom having not
seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing. God gives this gift of faith
to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world,
as the Apostle Paul said, to save sinners of whom I am chief. What a blessed revelation that
is, to come and rejoice in the work of God to our souls, yet
believing. And therefore, with this evidence,
the Apostle is now able to come and confirm this rejoicing in
this way. Ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. You may say, well, I think really
the Apostle's gone overboard a bit here. to say this is a
joy unspeakable. But when you and I are led by
the Spirit of God, and as it were, drawn aside to think of
His great love, to think of His mercy, that He should have looked
upon such an unworthy sinner of the earth, it is unspeakable. With joy unspeakable and full
of glory. Because we look forward by faith
to that time when we shall be in glory with the Lord. And then you see such a prospect
is a blessed prospect. It's not something which we might
think is morbid. You know many people think such
a consideration is morbid. They want to stay on this earth
forever, but we can't. What a mercy to have a good faith
to believe that we shall spend eternity in glory forever, no
going out, no leaving the blessed family of God, no leaving the
true Church of God, no leaving the Saviour. Those words are
true. Forever with the Lord. And so the Apostle says, Ye rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And now he comes and
says, receiving the end of your faith, this faith that was tried,
this faith that you and I were tempted about, this faith that
you and I were in heaviness about, doubting it was the true faith
of God. Now, with the evidence of it,
relates to our very heart and soul. were able to come and receive
what the end will be in a everlasting life. Receiving the end of your
faith, even the salvation of your souls. That means, of course,
the saving of our souls. What a mercy it is. As you and
I journeyed along, the Apostle spoke to his son Timothy, in
the faith, and he said, thou therefore endure hardness as
a good soldier of Jesus Christ. You and I are on a journey. You
and I are in a battle. A battle against our great adversary,
the devil. And it will be, therefore, a
journey of hardness, but there will be victory at the end, not
because of what we've done, but because of what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done. and then we shall eventually
be delivered from this polluted world and to go on to be eternally
with Christ, which is far better. Well, may we have that blessing
of true faith and that blessing to believe these great truths
and to greatly rejoice and to come into this wonderful favour
of ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, is no
greater blessing than to receive the salvation of our souls, and
to realise that by the grace of God, one day we shall be with
Christ eternally. Amen.