If you will, our brother, he
read our text. If you'll go back to 1 Peter
1. 1 Peter 1. I've titled this message, The
Persevering Faith of the Elect. And what we're going to do, we're
going to look at the hopes, the trials, and the joys, and the
blessings that a believer goes through in this life. Faith is not only a good and
perfect gift, but it's also a spiritual blessing from our Lord. And God
gives us that faith. God's Word says in His Word,
every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. His Word
also says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Listen to this, who have blessed
us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ. The Lord is so good to us. He
says in the book of Psalms, Many, O Lord my God, art thou wonderful
works, which thou hast done, and thoughts which are to usward. He's speaking to the elect. They
cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare
and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. If you
look at First verse, 1 Peter here, he says, Peter and an apostle
of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Parnas,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethany. Peter identifies himself,
and he also identifies the people to whom that he's writing to
here. Peter said, as we know, under the preaching of our Lord
Jesus Christ himself, and also the other apostles, and they
learned the gospel directly from Jesus himself. Second Peter says
that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. God used
men to pen the scriptures, But he himself told them what to
write. The inspiration of God, that
means the breath of God. It says in 2 Peter, knowing this
first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. If there's anything that's absolute
truth in this world, it's God's holy word. In Luke chapter 10,
Jesus Christ said himself, And he's speaking to the apostles.
He said, He that heareth you, heareth me. And listen to this. And he that despiseth you, despiseth
me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth
him that sent me. You think about that. There are
millions of people in this world that worship God and pray to
God every day, but they don't know His Son. But the Lord said
in the book of John, He said, I am the way, the truth and the
life, and no man can come unto the Father but by me." If you
look at 1 Peter again, he says here, Peter, an apostle of Jesus
Christ to the strangers. Who are the strangers? He calls
them strangers. They were throughout different
lands. Why were they called strangers?
Because they were hated and they were persecuted for their belief
in the gospel. All of God's people are actually
pilgrims and strangers in this strange world. And we led the
gospel of God's sovereign grace, redeeming grace of Jesus Christ,
our Lord. John 15 says, if the world hate
you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of
the world, the world would love his own. But because you are
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you. What we believe is strange to
most people, and that includes our family members. I know it
does in my family. Whenever I was in religion, there
was some things that I never heard, and one of them was the
sovereignty of God, predestination, election. You never hear those
terms in religion. You never hear those terms. It
would always mix works with grace. In verse two, it says, elect
according to the foreknowledge of God. I didn't know God. We didn't know Him. He knowed
us. God said in Romans 9, He said, I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. I love what He says in Matthew
24, at the end of this age, He says, He shall send His angels,
and they shall gather together His elect. Who are the elect? God chose a people for His Son.
He chose a bride for His Son. And when did He do this? If you
hold your place here and turn to 2 Timothy just for a second. 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9. God's Word says, "...who have
saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world begun." In Romans
3.24, It says, "...being justified freely by His grace." How? Through the redemption that is
in Jesus Christ. We've been redeemed by His blood,
by the blood of the Lord. You know, we live in a very hostile
world, but God says that in 1 John, He says that, "...ye are of God,
little children, and that you have overcome them. He's talking
about religion, he's talking about false prophets, he's talking
about the Antichrist, because greater is he than he that is
in the world. I thank God for that. You know,
Christ Jesus, he's right here with us, and he's making intercession
for us. If you go back to your text in
1 Peter, it says here again in verse two, elect, according to
the foreknowledge of God through sanctification of the Spirit.
and to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,
grace unto you and peace be multiplied. I thank God for his abundant
grace, his abundant mercy. He said in Jeremiah 3.1, the
Lord hath appeared of old of me saying, yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love, therefore with love and kindness
have I grown thee. You know, whenever I was younger,
I didn't want nothing to do with church, I didn't want nothing
to do with God's people. But you know, since I come from
my mother, while I was in my mother's womb, God always took
care of me because I was one of His sheep. I didn't know that
at the time, but He did. The Father chose us, the Son
redeemed us with His precious blood, and the work of redemption
is finished. And Christ finished it on the
cross through his precious blood. And we belong to him. There's
so many promises in this book if we could just enter into it.
If you will hold your place here and look at John 10. We're the
richest people on the face of the earth simply because we belong
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's our good hope. It says in
John 10, Look at the last part of verse
10 and verse 11. Our Lord said this to the elect. He said, I am come that they
might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd give us his life
for the sheep. Then in verse 14, it says, I
am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am knowing of mine.
As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay
down my life for the sheep. and other sheep I have, which
are not of his foe, them also I must bring. And they shall
hear my voice, and they shall be one foe and one shepherd."
And then in the same chapter over in verse 27, "...my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Listen to
this, never shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father
which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able
to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. My Father chose us as a bride
for His Son. The Lord Jesus redeemed us, He
cleansed us from all sin, and He set us free, and the Spirit
of God sets us apart. And it is by the power of God
He gives us his spirit. He gives us spiritual life. Puts
us under the preaching of the gospel. and of Christ Jesus and
Him crucified. And God opens up our heart and
He gives us knowledge. You know, we're dead until, you
know, Jesus said, no man can come into the Father except by
growing. You know, and He opens up, He
gives us life, you know. And then we have knowledge, and
then that knowledge turns into belief, and that belief turns
into trust. And then with that trust comes
saving faith. A lot of people think that faith
is something that they do, but that's a spiritual gift from
God. That faith is not of human origin
or human nature. It's a gift. It's a special gift
from God himself. If you will, go back to your
text in 1 Peter. Verse three, it says, Blessed
be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. which
according to his abundant mercy have begotten us again into a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
I thank God for his abundant mercy. Lamentation three in God's
word says, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. His compassions fail not. They
are new every morning and great is our faithfulness. The word
says here, in verse three of the word, it says, he hath begotten
us again. Thank God for the new birth,
that's what it's talking about here. And it says, and you have
he quickened in second Ephesians, who were dead in trespasses and
sins. You know, we had nothing to do
with a spiritual birth or a physical birth. It's the same way for
spiritual birth. I don't know when the Lord saved
me, I really don't, but I know he did. And that's the way it
is. It has nothing to do with words.
If you will, just for a minute, look at 2 Thessalonians. Hold
your place here and look at 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses
13 and 14. The Bible says in verse 13, But
we are bound to give you thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and the belief
of the truth. You know, the sanctification
of the Spirit came first, and then the belief of the truth.
We come in here, and we may come in here as a dead man, but God
does a work in our heart. He gives us a heart of flesh.
He changes that heart of stone to a heart of flesh. And then
we hear the gospel. And after we hear the gospel,
then we believe the gospel, and then we begin to put trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we realize that it is by
Him and Him alone that we put our trust in. And God gives us
that saving faith. The quickening or being born
again comes before the belief of the truth. 2 Peter 1.23 says,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed
by the word of God, which liveth forever and ever. If you will
look at our text again in 1 Peter. Verse three. He says, Blessed
be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to His abundant mercy have begotten us again. He says here that He
has begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. We have this hope because He
has given us this gift of saving faith. It's a persevering faith. What does persevere mean? It
means that it will continue in a course of action despite difficult
or delay in achieving success, and we do that by keeping our
eyes on Jesus Christ. Christ is a living hope. A persevering
faith is in our Lord Jesus Christ. We can't persevere on our own.
It's a gift. It's like everything else when
it comes to our salvation. It's a gift from God. Last part
of verse three says, by the resurrection, of Jesus Christ from the dead. Romans 4.25 said, who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
That's talking about substitution and satisfaction. And anytime
I see those two words, substitution and satisfaction, that pretty
well makes up the gospel of Jesus Christ. Substitution, he became
a substitute upon the cross. He died on that cross, he shed
his blood, for our sins. He went to the grave. He was
there for three days. And he told his disciples a few
days before that, he said, I have power to lay my life down and
I have power to take it up again. And whenever he'd come out of
that tomb on the third day, he's sitting at the right hand of
the throne of grace and heaven. That's satisfaction. God was
satisfied with his sacrifice. And he's satisfied with us because
if we are in Christ, all the blessings, all the promises that
God has for his people are in Christ Jesus. It says in Romans
24, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again
for our justification. Vena verse four here it says,
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you. Now that's something
right there, that's something I usually say. There's only one
thing that changes in this world, and that is that everything keeps
changing. But it's not gonna be like that
in heaven. God said I change not. When we're born again, we
have a certain hope. It's a certain hope. It's a certain
foundation, and that hope is in the blood of Christ. Of an
inheritance in heaven, the inheritance includes all that the believer
will enjoy in heaven for eternity, and all that will be his through
Christ, the inheritance of incorruption. It will never decay. It's death-proof. Now think about that. It's undefiled.
It's sin-proof. It will not fade away. It's time-proof. And it is reserved. It's already
there. And it's reserved for us. And
if you would, I would you place here and look at John 14, a very
piece of Scripture, but it blesses my heart every time I read it,
because it's absolute truth. John 14. I thank God for His written Word.
Verses one through three. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, listen to this, don't just bless your heart,
I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there you may be also. We are kept by the power of God
through faith. It's a faith that is alive. It's
a persevering faith. And the Scriptures are clear
on that. If you will, look at John 6 for
a minute. John chapter 6. The Scriptures
is full of how we are kept by the power of God. And we need
to remember that regardless of what we go through in this life.
Chapter 6. Verse 37 through 40. It says, All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. For I have come down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is a will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
the last day. Whoever God gives to the Son
as a left gift to make up his son's bride, will be there at
the wedding feast in glory. If you will, look at 1 Thessalonians
5. These are promises that we have
now. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses
23 and 24. God's Word says, And the very
God of peace sanctify you woefully, And I pray God, your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you,
but also will do it. Thank God for that. We'll go
back to our text, chapter five, verse five, in chapter one. who are kept by the power of
God through faith into salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Our Lord Jesus, our King Jesus,
Christ, He assumed full responsibility for His people. He has assumed
full responsibility. He redeemed them, He keeps them,
and He intercedes each and every day of our lives. He's there
24-7. And finally, one day, He will
present them, the elect, all before the Father. We are kept
by the power of God through faith. God's word says in Ephesians,
for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man can boast. We persevere in this eternal
life with a living hope, and with a living faith, and living
power. And that living faith and hope
and power is our Lord Jesus Christ. And I thank him for that. A true
believer will never leave the Lord, nor will he leave us. I'm not saying that persevering
in faith that we're perfect, the believer will stumble at
times, he'll sin, sometimes he'll sin seriously, but he will never,
never leave the Lord. Galatians says, for in Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead body. And speaking of elect,
he says, you are complete in Him. And then go back to your
text in verse 6, it says, wherein ye greatly rejoice. And what we rejoice in is all
the blessings and the gifts that we've been reading about and
talking about. They're ours. They're ours now. You know, but
it said, Though now for a season, if need be, ye be in heaviness
through manifold temptations, that the crown of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold, that perish, though
it be cried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice
in the things and all the promises of God, but as we know, Job said,
a man that is born in this woman, his days are few and full of
trouble. And we may go through some of
the most severe tests and trials, and we may go through some things
that we can't even imagine how bad they may be, but the faith
that God has given us, it will get us through it. It will get
us through it. The believer may undergo severe
tests and trials, but in destroying their faith, it strengthens their
faith, because it helps us to realize how fragile we are, and
how weak we are, and how much we need to depend upon our Lord
Jesus. You know, we pray and we ask
God all the time. I know we do. God help our unbelief,
increase our faith. Well, how do we have our faith increased? Believe it or not, it's through
trials. Trials is a blessing to the believer because it sets
us apart from this world, and it makes us to look forward to
the world to come. And we know that our strength
and our courage is in Christ Jesus, and we know that He's
got His arms wrapped around us. And we do that. And we do that
through praying and hearing the gospel, preaching, studying,
the trials we go through. And one thing that really helps
with the trials that we go through is that, you know, we may go
through trials, and then who knows, maybe on down the road,
one of our brethren's going through the same trial. And they're having
a hard time. And we know what they're experiencing.
We're feeling what they're feeling. And we can be of great comfort
to them because we know exactly what they're going through. And
that's a blessing. But once we agree with God, Once
we agree, fully agree with God that we exist for His pleasure
and for His glory, then we can accept whatever comes into our
lives as part of His sovereign will and His purpose because
it's all about Him. It's not about us. Romans 8.28. I repeat this verse all the time
and we hear it a lot, but if we can only apply it to our lives. Because every day, we face problems
every day. It says, and we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God. It's not
a blanket promise to the whole world. It says to them that love
God, to them who are the call according to His purpose. Then in verse 8 right here it
says, Whom have I not seen, yet love? In whom, though now ye
see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. What I remember here, if you
remember back a few days ago before Christ was to be crucified,
No, it was after he was crucified. He'd come back to see his disciples,
and he was in the room with them, but one of the disciples was
gone. Thomas wasn't there. And after a while, the Lord left.
And then in a little while, here comes Thomas. And the disciples
told him, said, Lord, said, Thomas, we've seen the Lord. We've seen
the Lord. What did Thomas say? Thomas said,
I will not believe, not unless I see the nail prints in his
hands, and see the wound in his side, where the Roman soldier
punched his sword there, you know. He said, I will not believe.
And Thomas looked up, and there was the Lord. What did Thomas
say? He said, My Lord and My God. And then the Lord said, He said,
Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed. But blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet they believe. You know,
Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully
persuaded what? That what he had promised He
was able to perform. Our Lord Jesus Christ is able
to perform everything that He says He has done, what He's doing,
and what He's going to do. And then here in the text, the
last verse, it says, Receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your soul. This living faith that God has
given us in Christ Jesus, which is the object of our faith, and
that is Jesus. It's not our faith, but it's
Christ Jesus. He's the object of it. He will
carry us through this life, regardless of what we face, what we see,
what we come to, regardless of how hard it is. He will see us
through until the end. He won't lose a one of us. That
brings a blessing to me. Until this life, until we are
taken to glory, by Jesus Christ. And then I love that blessing
that He gives us in Titus 2.13. And that is, you know, we look
back at the cross, but we also look forward. In Titus 2.13 it
says, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And I'd like for
us to look at one more Scripture and I'll be finished. It's a
very familiar Scripture, but it's such a blessing. It's in
Hebrews 4. Such a blessing. It's such a
blessing to be able to go to the King of Glory and to talk
to Him no matter where we're at or when it is. But in Hebrews 4, verse 14 through
16, it says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that
is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast
our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with fulfillings of our infirmities,
but he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. I pray to our Lord Jesus Christ
that we may enter into these blessings every day and realize
that we're wrapped up in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ
And He'll never let us go. And it doesn't matter what we're
facing, we will persevere until the end because that faith is
based on the rock, and that rock is the blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And I thank Him for that.