1 Peter chapter 1, what a blessed
thing this is. I'm confident that this epistle
and the next epistle are really written as a result of Peter's
experience with the Lord Jesus Christ when he was on earth.
And enabled by the Spirit of God, obviously, that Christ sent
from heaven to enable Peter to so powerfully preach the gospel.
on the day of Pentecost and throughout the New Testament time while
he was on earth, Peter was still living. And so this epistle really
is what Jesus told Peter after that he told Peter, you're going
to deny me three times tonight. Before the morning rooster crows,
you're going to deny me three times, when Peter had thought
before that he would lay his life down for the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a disappointment that had
to come to Peter. What a shock that he would be
so vulnerable as to forsake his master, the one he loved more
than he loved his life. And yet he was completely unable
to do what he wanted to do for him. And so that had to be the
most distressing experience of Peter's life, I can imagine.
But in that time when Peter forsook or denied the Lord Jesus three
times, denying that he even knew him, all the time he was kept
by the power of God through faith. And that's where we pick up in
verse five that the blessing of God, the work of God, Now,
that began in our election by God the Father. And that election
was through, that election to salvation would be through the
sanctification of the Spirit so that we would be hold and
would come to trust in the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. And through him, all grace and
peace would be multiplied to us. And then he spoke in verse
three of how God the Father was to be praised and blessed by
all of his people for this mercy, great abundant mercy to us that
he has birthed us as his own children by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. And as I wrote in the bulletin
this week, It's not obvious, perhaps, but when it says that
we were birthed or begotten again by the Father because of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, it's telling us
that the righteousness of Christ by which God the Father justified
him and therefore raised him from the dead is our righteousness
and therefore we are raised with him in this act of God's mercy
by which he raises us to life, creates us in Christ and births
us as his own children. Then in verse four he says that
our sonship is to an inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled
and that does not fade away, and it's reserved in heaven for
you. You don't have it yet, but it's reserved for you. It will
not be given to another. It will be given to the ones
for whom it is reserved. Your name is on it. It's on it
with Christ's merits. And there's nothing more delightful
than to consider that all that is God's is given to us because
of what he did for us. And so we return back to that
thought, what has God wrought? And then in verse five, we are
kept by the power of God, nothing less than the power of God. And
we know that this keeping is unto the end purpose God had
for us. That purpose he determined from
eternity and accomplished in the work of Christ, gave to us
by his spirit. And now he says that power of
God in Jude 124 is that he will present us, Christ will present
us to himself without fault in the presence of his glory. What
is the presence of his glory? I can't tell you. I just know
that it's the presence of Christ. And in his presence is glory. We cannot imagine it. We can't
put it into words if we could imagine it. But it will be in
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his glory. And so we are kept by the power
of God and we will be presented by Christ to himself and he will
be exceedingly glad. It says in Jude 124. But this
being kept is through faith. And that's where we want to begin
today. And I've entitled today's message, There is a needs be for heaviness. A needs be for heaviness. But
we're kept by the power of God through faith. When we read that
sentence, that we are kept by the power of God through faith,
it almost seems like there is a link in the chain which is
our subjective confidence in Christ that we're kept. But remember
that faith, when we speak of faith, there's a couple things
we need to keep in mind. First of all, God has designed
our salvation to be through faith because that ensures that all
of our salvation is by grace. Grace means we did nothing. God did everything. Therefore,
faith of itself is not a work that we do in order to obtain
or to acquire or to keep salvation. But faith is God's gift. And
it's given not because of what he finds in us, but out of his
grace. It's the gift of God, a gift
of his grace. Grace that comes from God, that
springs from his character, his goodness, and his purpose. And
that purpose is of God, it's not of us. It finds nothing in
us, but finds every reason in us not to give it. But God has
found reason in himself in his grace. And that's a gift of God. Faith is the gift of God. And
that faith that he gives us causes us to take no confidence in ourselves,
but take all of our confidence, find all of our confidence in
Christ. So we want to understand that
when it says through faith, he's talking about that grace given
to us from God as a gift that enables us to do two things.
Number one, to see our need of Christ, a desperate need. And number two, to find Christ
to be the all-sufficient provision for our need. Now those two things
have to be always present whenever there's faith. Faith causes us
not to as Abraham. He did not consider his own body,
now dead, but he considered only the promise of God, that God
made it, and God was able to keep his promise. And that promise,
according to Romans 4, ultimately was referring to the resurrection
of Christ from the dead because of his righteousness which is
imputed to us. He was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised again for our justification. And so faith that Abraham had,
had these two qualities. He did not consider himself,
but he was convinced, he was persuaded that God who promised
was able to do what he promised. And so we see these two things
are always present wherever there is true saving faith. And you
can see this in all of the people God saves. Remember Bartimaeus,
who was blind. What did he do? Because he believed.
He heard that Jesus was coming by. He cried out to him. He could not be quieted. He could not be silenced. He
had to be heard. And he knew that Jesus would
be able to open his eyes. And Jesus asked him, what do
you want me to do for you? And he said, Lord, that I might
have my sight. And Jesus said, You know, be
it unto you according to your faith. So he was given sight,
and he knew his need of Christ. He knew that Christ was able
to meet his need, therefore he called upon him. And this is
what is said in Romans chapter 10. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord, the Lord being Christ, shall be saved. Whosoever. And that calling,
therefore, is the expression, the result of believing that
I have a tremendous need. And that need is met in all sufficiency
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember the woman who had an
issue of blood 12 years? She had for 12 years suffered
the shame and guilt, the sense of guilt before God because she
was polluted in her blood. And for 12 years she tried to
find a remedy. She looked up every doctor, spent
all of her living and was desperate. desperate in her need to be rid
of the uncleanness that went deeper than just the outside.
It made her unclean in the eyes of God's law and in the eyes
of others. And she was ashamed. And so she
heard about Christ. She was convinced that He could
do everything that she needed to heal her. of her uncleanness,
so what did she do? She came to him in the press,
in the crowd, and she touched the hem of his garment. She said
within herself, if I may but touch the hem of his garment,
I will be healed. And she did. She had a need.
She found Christ all-sufficient for her need, and she reached
out to him. That's what faith does. So whether
it be Abraham, who did not consider his own body, he knew it was
dead, could do nothing to fulfill God's promise, but considered
God who promised, God who was able, that he would bring forth
life in his son Isaac in representation of Christ, who would then come
and live and bear our sins and justify us by his righteousness.
Or whether it be Bartimaeus, or whether it be the woman with
the issue of blood, Or whether, as Paul the Apostle said, we
are the circumcision which have no confidence in the flesh. We
have no confidence, but we worship God in Christ Jesus. Whether
it be any of these, we see that faith has this property, this
quality to it, that it sees its need and finds its need met in
Christ, and therefore pursues Him, comes to Him, calls on Him,
asks Him. As Jesus told the woman at the
well, if you knew the gift of God in all of her Sin and perversity,
which he made clear to her that he knew. You've had five husbands,
the man you're with now is not your husband. She said, he's
told me everything I ever did. This must be the Christ. And
he made himself known to her, and so she drank of that water
of life. So this is what faith does. We
are kept through the power of God, through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Think of Peter now. He
had experienced the fall in which he denied Christ three times
publicly, swearing he did not know him. And you can imagine
the bitterness of soul that he felt in doing that. And yet he
writes this, we are kept by the power of God through faith. And
so he knew his need of Christ. He knew he was impotent. There
was no cause in him for God to save him or to keep him. But
all of the virtue, all of the reason would be found in God
on the basis of Christ and his righteousness. And he looked
to him and he drew strength from him. He found his salvation in
him. In fact, he loved the Lord Jesus
Christ because of who he was and what he did for him. And
this is what Peter is writing through here about these things,
that unto a salvation that's ready to be revealed in the last
time God is going to keep us, He will not let us fall, and
the means that God has chosen, that thing which God has chosen
to make sure that our salvation is all of His grace, all to his
glory, and that it will be sure and certain is that he has designed
salvation to be by his gift of faith in Christ to us." What
a gift. How precious this gift of faith
is. We have nothing, and by God's
grace, with faith, we see our all in Christ. What a gift that
God would give us this grace from heaven. by His Spirit in
life, Christ's life in us, so that we would be enabled, though
sinners and desperately in need and having no strength to meet
our need, we would find our all in Christ. Everything I need
is all in Christ, and it is found nowhere else, and therefore I
have assurance before God, because if it's in Him, I'm confident
God has provided and accepted him for sinners, for his people.
And therefore I have confidence. And that's the way we're kept,
clinging to Christ. The Barnabas in the book of Acts
found those who had heard the gospel, and he exhorted them
that with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord. And that's what faith is. With
purpose of heart, we cleave unto the Lord. We know we need him,
don't we? And so we say, but sometimes
I don't feel my need. My need is not as As acute as
it ought to be. I know I'm a sinner, but I know
it more intellectually than I feel it. And at times I forget. And I have to be brought back.
What do I do? Well, my need is just that. To
know that I'm a sinner in need of Christ. And then in that need,
where do I go? Do I go about trying to make
myself feel the need? No. I plead with the Lord Jesus
Christ, show me my need and show yourself to be all sufficient
for my need. That's what faith does. Faith
finds everything in Christ and rejoices to have it so. This
song that we've sung a lot before says, come ye sinners. poor and
needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus, ready, stands
to save you, full of pity, love, and power." Can you get a sense
of the fact that Christ is so willing to save and ready to
save? that he is delighted to save
those who are sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick
and sore. He is full of pity, full of love,
and full of power. And he calls to us and says,
If any man thirst, or whoever is burdened down and heavy laden,
come to me." And so he says in the same song, I will arise and
go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms,
in the arms of my dear Savior. Oh, there are 10,000 charms.
That's the way the faith causes us to come to Christ. I don't
feel my need like I ought to. I'm going to go to Christ for
it. I feel my need, and it's overwhelming me. I'm going to
go to Christ for that. In everything, faith brings us
to the Lord Jesus Christ, so that faith And this sentence
is not drawing attention to ourselves, it's drawing attention to the
object of our faith, the one we believe. And that's what distinguishes
between true faith and saving faith, the one we believe. Let us never forget that. The
difference between true faith and false faith is the object,
the one we believe. Alright, so that's the first
thing I wanted to say here in verse 5 is that it's through
faith and that faith will cause us to come and call and ask and
plead with the Lord to do what He is delighted to do to save
sinners who are impotent in themselves and this is going to be our case.
This is the way we live our life, and it's by the life of Christ
in us, living upon him through faith, and this is unto a salvation
that is ready to be revealed in the last time. The salvation
we have is done. It's finished. Jesus said, it
is finished. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of God because the
work is done. He is exalted. He has obtained
our eternal redemption. And yet, it's a salvation that
is to be revealed in the last time, to be revealed. Romans
chapter 8 talks about how in the coming of Christ, God is
going to make known his sons. We can't see them now, can we?
We can't even see it in ourselves, can we? All we have is faith
in Christ. And that gift given to us assures
us that that's the work of God. We were begotten again by the
Father, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. By
his resurrection, we were justified and we were given life because
of his life. What a blessing this grace of
faith is. And this salvation is certain, it will be revealed.
But the problem is that we don't see the salvation with our physical
eyes. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 7 says,
we walk by faith, not by sight. This is foreign to us. And if
you happen to hear the world talk about faith, it's just like,
you believe. What do you believe? Well, I
just believe. I believe things are going to be better. I think
that there's good after the bad. I have this unfounded reason
for believing. I just believe. You just got
to have faith. That is not saving faith. Saving
faith has to do with Christ. and with him crucified, and having
been crucified, risen, and ascended, and seated at the right hand
of God, and interceding for us, and coming again. That's what
faith has to do with, the Lord Jesus Christ in his person and
in his work. And this salvation, therefore,
will be revealed in the last time when the Lord himself descends
from heaven. Jesus Christ will come again,
and he will call his people. Those who have died, he will
raise their bodies from the dead. Those who are then living will
be caught up together with the Lord Jesus Christ in the air.
They will be changed in a moment, and they will be made like his
glorious body. This salvation will be revealed
in the last time. Now, in verse 6, he says, wherein
you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you
are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Now here we have
an amazing thing. It seems like there is a contradiction. In this salvation that's about
to be revealed, God says, you greatly rejoice. Now, for a season, for this time,
if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Temptations just means trouble,
trouble of all kinds. Not just temptations to sin,
but trouble in every way, whether it come from within or without.
And Peter is writing to those who, in fact, he said, look at
chapter 2. And verse 11, 1 Peter 2, verse
11. He says, Dearly beloved, I beseech
you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which
do what? They war against the soul. So what are these tribulations? Well, that's one of them, this
constant warfare of my flesh and my spirit, right? That's
what he's talking about. But he's also talking about the
trouble that comes from without through persecutions and even
death itself at the hand of those who think they do God's service
by killing the Lord's people. So we want to consider these
things. First of all, in this salvation,
you greatly rejoice. Now we read from John chapter
16. How that Jesus told his disciples before he went to the cross that
they would, first of all, be sorrowful. They would have great
sorrow because he was taken from them when he went to the cross.
They forsook him and they felt the sorrow of the loss of their
master and their savior. What is the one thing in our
salvation that we look forward to? What is it that we anticipate
and that we long for above everything, or that we should anticipate
and should long for above everything else? It's to be with the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that He would be with us. that he would be
in us, that we would see his face, that he would make himself
known to us, that he would reveal to us his thoughts and mind. Because when he does that, what
are we going to find? That we were the eternal objects
of his love, the work of his life, the sufferings of his death. that He loved us and gave Himself
for us. The revelation of His heart and
mind as the Son of God to us in our salvation overwhelms us
with unspeakable joy. That we would have such a one
who, when we were yet ungodly and without strength, would die
for us. That God would evidently make
known his love for us in the death of his son, and that Christ
would give himself for us. This goes beyond all comprehension. I took my song book. I wanted to read these words
to you from this song that Isaac Watts wrote. He says, when I
survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died,
my riches gained, I count but loss and poor contempt on all
my pride. The one thing that captivated
Isaac Watts, and that captivates every believer, is that Christ
would die for me, the Son of God who loved me and died for
me, laid his life down. So he says in verse two, forbid
it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death, except in
this one thing, in the death of Christ my God, all the vain
things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood. Verse three,
see from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow
mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow
meet or thorns compose so rich a crown, that crown on his head
that drew forth blood from his head and dripped down? That was
the blood of his love for his people. And so he's expressing
that in this. We're the whole realm of nature
mine. That we're a present far too
small. Love so amazing, so divine demands
my soul, my life, my all. And this is what Peter is talking
about here. We rejoiced in this salvation. We want Christ. We want Him not only to make
Himself known to us, but to show Himself to us as our all-sufficient
righteousness, the washing of all of our sins, and the grace
of God, the river of His love flowing everlastingly from His
throne to us, that He would save sinners such as we are, make
us His sons by Jesus Christ. This is overwhelming. This salvation,
we want to know it in its fullness. We want to receive all that God
intended, all that Christ purchased, all that God determined to give
to us. We want it, don't we? We want
to be with Christ. We want to see Him, and we want
to know that He is glad for His work, and we are that work. He
will be glad when He sees us. He will be glad. He will let
us know that we were the ones that He created this world and
ordered it to and died to save us. What a salvation! It has not entered into the heart
of man. Eye has not seen the things that
God has prepared for them that love Him. And so the psalmist
says in Psalm 1715, I will behold His face in righteousness. His own righteousness clothing
me as a robe of beauty that God himself looks upon and admires
the beauty of his righteousness will be my own righteousness
and I will behold his face with undiminished, unimpeded view
and God disclosing himself to me. I will know then even as
I am known. That's what it says in 1 Corinthians
13, 12. And when we see him, we shall be like him. That's
the joy we look forward to. We should anticipate this, long
for it, pray for it, and thank God for it with faith, assured
of it because it's God's doing of his grace all on resting on
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But, he says, though you have
this great rejoicing in this salvation, you now are if need
be in heaviness through manifold temptations. This need be is
something God has determined. In the all-wise an all-loving
heart of God our Father and of our Savior, God who gave His
Son for us and Christ who gave Himself for us. There is a wisdom
and a care over us that exceeds our wisdom, that goes against
what we would naturally think. It requires a needs be for us
of heaviness while we're rejoicing. While we're rejoicing in his
salvation, we also have a heaviness in this world. And that's the
heaviness that the Lord Jesus spoke about to his disciples.
He says, I've spoken these things to you in John 16 and verse one
and two. He says, I've spoken these things
to you that in me, you should not be offended. You're going
to have tribulation. You're going to have trouble
in this world. In the last verse of John 16,
he says, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might
have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. When people come against
you, opposing Christ, opposing His salvation, casting doubt
on salvation that would be so gracious and all sufficient in
Christ that you would have nothing that you could contribute to
it, but it would be complete in Him, accomplished by Him,
all to His glory, independent of your contribution and in spite
of your sin. When they assault that truth
from heaven, given by God to your soul in faith. And when
they even vilify you, take your property, take your reputation
and destroy your life. Jesus said, don't be offended.
This is my will. This is going to bring glory
to God. And I was thinking about this,
as I often do. I do a lot of thinking while
I'm kind of half awake and half asleep. Last night, I was thinking
about how many times we're familiar with this whole concept of being
told before trouble comes about the trouble that's going to come
in order that we might be stiffened in our resolve and our confidence.
A coach does this. You see this all the time where
a coach will tell his team, now we're going to go out and we're
going to beat these guys. You guys are great. These guys
are small. You're going to beat them. You've
disciplined yourself. You've done everything. You're
trained. You're ready. We can do this. You know how
coaches are. But this is also the case in a more practical
way. That's sort of self-inflated ego. But the Lord Jesus Christ
actually gives an illustration when he speaks to his disciples.
And what was the illustration that he gave? Well, there's many,
but one in John 16 was when Christ would go to the cross and they
would be full of sorrow, he says it's like a woman who's about
to have a baby. And when the woman feels the
sorrow of pain coming on her, she's troubled, greatly troubled,
and she's beside herself. But after she has the baby, she
forgets all about the trouble because of the great gift that
she's been given. A woman will risk her life in
order to have a child. because birthing is a very risky
thing for a woman. A husband will risk the life
of his wife and stake all of the labors of his life on having
a child and providing for those children. This is the nature
of having children. And Jesus says that this comparison,
this illustration is given to help us understand the sorrow
the disciples had when Jesus was taken from them, but the
joy they would have when he would come back to them after he rose
from the dead. And so it is with all of God's
people. We have sorrow now because we long to be with Christ. We
will have joy beyond our wildest imagination when we're with the
Lord Jesus Christ. When a mother holds the baby
in her arms, what is she thinking? How much she loves that child.
It was worth all of the pain. What a delight it was to have
to go through that in order to have this child. And she holds
the child, and she cuddles the child, and comforts the child,
and she will do anything for that child. If someone tries
to hurt the child, she will lay her life down for that child.
That's love. And so the Lord Jesus is describing
this. And we see this in many ways.
In the book of 2 Timothy, another comparison is made to this life
of faith in which God has equipped us with these words before they
come upon us, these troubles. 2 Timothy chapter 2, the Apostle
Paul is talking to Timothy. He says, my son, in verse 1,
2 Timothy 2.1, my son, Timothy, be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus. Be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus. We're to be strong. This salvation
that we rejoice in is something we are to be strong in. were
to be persuaded of it, convinced of it. So much so that, as Isaac
Watts said in this song, we're the whole realm of nature, mind.
That would be a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all. This grace of God, the love
of Christ for us, it causes us to to resolve in this faith to
give ourselves in life and even in death for the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, for His glory. The apostles John and Peter,
they were beaten by the high priest for preaching Christ.
And they left there, and you know what they said? They praise
God, they thank God that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for his name. And I was thinking about that
in this regard, and so in 2 Timothy 2.1 he says, My son, be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou
hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful
men who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore,
listen to what he says, endure hardness as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ. Now, what does a soldier do?
Well, first of all, a soldier, he comes to the resolve that
I'm going to fight and lay down my life if necessary to protect
my family and my country. And he submits himself to the
officers above him to carry out that mission. And having committed
himself in life and in death even, what's he willing to do?
Everything else is just, it's just par for the course. If I
have to go, if I have to sleep in the cold, if I have to endure
the heat of the desert, if I have to go without food, if I have
to wear painful clothes and carry heavy loads in pursuit of this
mission, that's nothing. I've committed my life to this.
And so he says, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,
endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Jesus said,
if any man love his life in this world, he'll lose it. But if
he loses his life for my sake, he will gain it. And so we see
this faith causes us to take the ultimate sacrifice gladly,
considering the grace of God towards us and his love for us,
that we are in his hands, we're going to be brought to Christ,
and even though men in their sincerity and false religion
take our life, It would be, we would be counted worthy. We were
grateful to be counted worthy to suffer shame and even death
for his name. A martyr, I heard a preacher
once say, a martyr said before his death, I'm not worthy to
die for him. And so when a soldier has committed
himself to that, what is all the other suffering? It's nothing.
And so the apostle Peter, in writing to them, now, if needs
be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptation, having given
themselves to Christ because of his gift of himself for them,
they've faced the ultimate. Sacrifice. I'm willing to give
myself for Christ. It's nothing. It's an honor.
And so everything else is just par for the course. Verse 4 of
2 Timothy 2. And no man that warth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him
who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Verse 5, if any man also strive
for masteries, yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully. Athletes will endure untold hours
of physical exertion and suffer the pain in their body from exerting
themselves so much in order that they might obtain a perishing
crown of mastery in that athletic endeavor. A runner will run a
hundred miles in order to get a prize. It's just a perishing
crown. And they suffer all kinds of
injury and pain in their body for it. And so do the believer,
he's happy because of God's grace, strong in the grace of Christ,
he's happy to do that. Verse 6, and the husbandman,
the farmer, he goes out, he clears the land, he plows the field,
he puts the seed in the ground, he tamps it down, he does it
in hope that there will be a harvest. So the husbandman that laboreth
must first be a partaker of the fruits. He does this anticipating
that God is going to bless his labor. And so everybody who has
been given this promise of God, of this eternal salvation obtained
for them by Christ, who loved them and gave himself for them,
they endure the heaviness of these manifold temptations in
this life. Knowing the great salvation that's
about to be revealed so far outstrips in any comparison to the light
affliction that they suffer, that those things are actually
a joy to them. because they see in anticipation
the end of their sufferings, the end of the manifold temptations
and the heaviness of this life, that they have this salvation
that they rejoice in, it's certain and sure, obtained for them by
Christ and going to be given to them at the end of their life
when Christ appears. And so we see this here. We look
to Christ. We long for him. We wait for
him. And though we are in sorrow and
heaviness now through all kinds of trouble, within these lusts,
this warfare within, and the persecution from without, the
shame that comes by being called the Lord's people, and the loss
of whatever it is, property or time or opportunity. Well, we didn't take that advancement
because we had something more important to do. I didn't go
on that assignment overseas because I had something more important
to do. It's to serve Christ in whatever He called me to. We
give up certain things in this life that we might dedicate ourselves
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's not a labor. It's not a
burden, because we rejoice in Christ's work for us. We rejoice
in Christ. We want to be with Him. We want
to know Him. We want to see His face. And
that's the promise of our eternal salvation. And so it is that
the Lord Jesus Christ brings us to this and this blessing. It's a walk of faith, isn't it?
It's an assurance of hope. It's what God gives to us to
do. And notice he says this. I'm
going to read verse 7 and we'll cover it next time. He says that
the trial of your faith, our faith, if we have faith it will
be tried, being much more precious than of gold that perishes. If
you had all the gold in the world without faith, you would be a
pauper. But if you have faith and you
have nothing in this world, you are the richest person. Faith
is much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ will receive
praise and honor and glory because we said, by His grace, He's everything. He's done everything. He is everything. All praise and honor is due to
Him only. And He will receive the honor
and praise and glory of choosing a people, redeeming a people,
giving them his own spirit and faith, and they depended on his
word. In spite of all that opposed,
in sight and in his life, even the loss of their life, they
trusted him. And they trusted him only to
do everything. And they found him all glorious,
and he is glorified with that faith. He did it. It's his work. And He did it for us and did
it in us. May He receive all blessing.
Let's pray. Father, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your eternal purpose
of salvation in Christ, Jesus our Lord. Thank you for your
spirit that gives to us this salvation to know it and this
precious gift of faith. And Lord, we pray that we would
be given a faith that sees Christ and is increased by Christ and
that turns us from our unbelief. to see that he's all sufficient.
We would have such a view of our life in this world that it's
expendable. for the cause of Christ, so that
we would give up everything happily in order to have him. And we
know, Lord, that we can't earn anything from you. Nothing we
do, in all that we do, can earn us anything. How could we earn
the Son of God, or the Spirit of God, or the eternal glory,
the eternal life that we've been given because of Christ's righteousness?
We can earn nothing from you. In ourselves, we're unprofitable
servants. but we are the recipients of
your grace, your eternal love and favor in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Help us therefore by this grace that you've given to us to receive
from your spirit this faith that we might look to Christ, trusting
him and give all glory to him. And we pray, Lord, that you would
strengthen us in our life to walk every day by faith in him.
Don't let us fall away. Don't let us be offended, but
uphold our faith in you. And we know, Lord, that you will
not fail, that you will do all that you've promised and help
us to be as those who have such a desperate need of you and find
our need all sufficiently met by you alone. In your name we
pray, Lord Jesus, amen.