Well, good morning all. I really
appreciated Mike, your message earlier today. Glad that through
all this modern day technology, we can still meet together and
look at what God's word has for us today, despite our struggle
with Snowmageddon 2024. Now we are looking forward to
some warmer weather and to the return of Norm and Nancy as they
will be returning this week from their for excursion to foreign
lands, and especially, we look forward to Brother Norm's return
to the pulpit. But for this week, I'm here once
again to continue our look at 1 Peter chapter one. Today, our
text will be coming from verses six through nine. But first,
before we get there, I would like to do a quick review of
what we looked at last time, and then look at the final bit
of verse five before we go to verses six through nine. We ran
just a little short on time last time, and I was not able to look
at that part of the verse when we last met. So, to start with,
in the way of review, we begin by looking at who Peter was addressing
this letter to, and we can discern that who he was writing to was
mostly Jewish Christians, believers located throughout the region,
now known as Turkey. I say mostly Jewish believers
because it is believed that by this time there were some now
Gentile believers scattered about also. He speaks to the trials
they were suffering via persecution and the letter is meant to encourage
them in their struggles. He writes to them offering praises
to God for their inclusion in the elect. and by the sanctifying
work of the Spirit, the resulting obedience to Jesus Christ, and
they're sprinkled by the blood. Life wasn't the best of times,
so to speak, yet Peter records this about them. In all this
you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have
had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. Even if times were
not ideal, Peter's message of abundant grace and peace multiplied
brought comfort and rejoicing to those he was ministering to.
And then, as we continue looking
at the first five verses of Peter chapter one, with all that established,
we began to look at the many different blessings that spring
forth from God's grace and abundant peace. beginning with a look
at how God's grace and blessings are to all the church, Jew or
Greek, male or female, slave or freed. By Christ, the barrier
between the Jew and Gentile has been done away with, and we now
are all one in Him. We looked at the many spiritual
blessings that God the Father has blessed us with in Christ,
those who have been accepted in the beloved. We looked at
the sanctifying work of the Spirit and how He dwells in us. God
giving us life in our immortal bodies through His Spirit who
dwells in us. We looked at how that Spirit
also gives us the blessing of being obedient to Christ. We,
being led by the Spirit, now have peace with God. We are no
longer at enmity against Him, and by His grace, we are predestined
to do good works that were prepared beforehand. We looked at how
through the spirit they were of those who received the sprinkling
of the blood. We contrasted that sprinkling
of the blood with those blood sacrifices of bulls, goats, and
lambs that were offered in the old covenant times. Sacrifices
which God voiced his utter contempt for. But in Christ, his blood
sacrifice was found more than just acceptable. but pleasing
in God's eyes. Now, instead of the required
yearly sacrifices by the high priests of the time, Christ,
our high priest, has made one sacrifice for all, making our
redemption complete and for all time. The key verse is what we
read there in Hebrews 12, 24 last time. You have to come to
Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled
blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, and,
as was pointed out in Isaiah 1, all those former sacrifices
of blood that were declared by God as contemptible in His eyes. We examined how Paul, the self-proclaimed
greatest sinner of all, saw abundant mercy in how God delivered him. He, the blasphemer, the persecutor,
a violent man, the greatest sinner of all, in his eyes. The mercy that God showed him
was an example, he believed, to all who count themselves among
the worst of sinners, that Christ Jesus has immense patience for
all who believe in him and are ordained to eternal life. We
continued by looking at how by that same abundant mercy God
hath given us a new birth. The old has gone, the new has
come. We are made a new creation in
Christ, having received a new body, incorruptible, indestructible,
and forever free from the consequences of death, and as a result of
the new birth, we now possess a living hope. which gives us
the assurance that when the fulfillment of time comes, we will reside
with Him forever and ever. That ultimate salvation of our
souls exists in our living hope. And where does that living hope
come from? It was found in the very next
blessing that we observed we serve a risen savior. Yes, Christ's
resurrection gives us that hope. Despite the false teachers of
the day proclaiming there was no resurrection, Paul defends
the gospel by proclaiming that God did raise his son from the
dead and we spiritually arose in him. Christ was alive, so
we too are alive. We went on to speak of the inheritance
we have that can never perish spoil or fade. It cannot be given
away or stolen. We talked about the spirit of
adoption to sonship and how we, by that spirit, cry out, Abba,
Father, as we are children of God. Because of that relationship,
we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. We looked
at how our names are written in the land's book of life, a
book that is kept in heaven. Like Jesus said, rejoice because
your names are written down in heaven. Yes, when the roll is
called up yonder, we will all be there. And then the last blessing
that time allowed us to look at was this inheritance is kept
in heaven for you. But the part that we're looking
at now is who through faith are shielded by God's power. This speaks to our absolute,
complete security. We are kept by God's power. As Paul declares in Romans 8,
neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. That brings us to where we left
off last week, the end of verse five, where Peter says, who through
faith are shielded by God's power, and then he says, until the coming
of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. This is the day that brings us
to the culmination of God's divine plan of our salvation. This is
the day of our ultimate salvation, the salvation of our souls. Whether
we are in our grave or among the final survivors of this totally
defiled, corrupt, sinful, and unfit earth, things are going
to change, and I believe, in an instant. In one moment, we
are yet of this earth and in our sin-corrupted bodies. Then,
in the blink of an eye, we are being lifted up into the clouds
where we greet Jesus and all the angels and all our brothers
and sisters in Christ who have previously passed on. Let's turn
to 1 Thessalonians chapter four and we'll look at verses 13 through
18 and read what Paul has to say about this day. Brothers
and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those
who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of
mankind who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus
those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's
word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left
until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those
who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come
down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in
Christ will rise first. After that, after that, we who
are still alive and are left will be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. and so we will
be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another
with these words. So Paul starts out in that particular
passage of scripture talking or reaffirming what he spoke
of in 1 Corinthians 15, considering Christ's death, burial, and resurrection,
when he defied those who claimed there was no resurrection. Then
he goes on to speak of the hope that we have and we share with
those who have gone on before us in death. Christ did indeed
raise us to life, guaranteeing our hope of inclusion in all
the blessings of that resurrection and life in him. He encouraged
his listeners to not grieve the passing on of those who had gone
on before the rest of mankind, like the rest of mankind who
had no such hope. Well, we do grieve, but the hurt
is not so much because of their passing on, because we know those
who have passed on in him have gone on to a place we all desire
to go. They are now where there is no
more death, no more pain, no more tears, no more mourning,
no more sickness. But we grieve for that hole,
because of that hole that they leave in our lives. We miss their
smiles, their voices, their hugs. We miss them, but we can rejoice
for them and with them that their spirits did not remain in the
ground, but in an instant passed from the body to being with the
Lord. They have joined in the rejoicing and praising of the
Lord. And perhaps as some old country gospel songs proclaim,
they are playing in the angels band and singing in their choir.
There, the hope and anticipation we possess is that we too will
realize that same blessing in the Lord's timing, yes, we will
be with Christ. Christ did arise, and so we will
be blessed participants of that second resurrection. We will
have our new bodies given to us, having been conformed to
the image of the Son. And on this day, we certainly
will be fully persuaded that we have been kept by the power
of God to the salvation being revealed on that very day. Now to the next section of 1
Peter 1, verses six through nine. This will be our text, and I've
titled this morning's message, Reasons to Say So. The reasons
for that title will be made known a little farther along in the
message As we have seen, though, the previous five verses of 1
Peter 1 has given us so much hope by reminding us of our election
and our standing before God and our risen Savior. Peter continues
on the same theme as we look at verses six through nine. Let's
do a quick read of verses six through nine, then we will get
into it and see how Peter is not yet finished with giving
us reasons to praise God for all His many blessings to us.
He, in fact, is just getting started. So reading along in
1 Peter 1, verses six through nine, in all this you greatly
rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer
grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven
genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold, which
perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise,
glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have
not seen Him, you love Him, and even though you do not see Him
now, you believe in Him and are filled with inexpressible and
glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith,
the salvation of your souls. Sounds like we're on the same
track as the previous five verses. We serve a risen Savior. I like to look at five ways I
see that Peter lays out for us in this section of scripture
as to why we have such an inexpressible and glorious joy. According to
the text, they look like this. One, we have a salvation that
is secure. Two, a faith that is proven. Three, a commendation that is
inevitable. And then a love that is unseen. And then number five, the deliverance
of our souls. We start in verse six. In all
this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may
have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. Peter refers
back to what we have discussed in verses one to five. He says,
in all this you greatly rejoice. We gave this a pretty good look
in the first five verses, culminating with verse five, where it says,
we have a salvation that is protected by the power of God. This is
where the first reason to rejoice has its foundation in the words,
a salvation that is secure. This is why they are rejoicing.
Rejoicing is more than a momentary happiness, a chuckle and a grin.
Joy is a fruit of the spirit. Rejoicing is a deep, profound
happiness rooted in something that you have great confidence
in. We are overwhelmed with joy.
loves us with an everlasting love. We rejoice because we know
our Savior died for us and will present us to the Father as His
spotless, sinless bride. We rejoice as they rejoice because
our salvation is secure. Contrast that to those who sit
under the false gospel which teaches there is no such thing
as a secure salvation because their salvation is not a result
of being chosen by God. Rather, it's of their own making
because they are doing the choosing. There is no such thing as the
perseverance of God. It's perseverance by their own
works. Christ doesn't do it all. No,
He needs their help. They're choosing to allow Him
into their stony hearts and they will decide whether salvation
is for them. Which When looked at long enough
and hard enough, it soon becomes apparent that if you have saved
yourself, you have a salvation that is fragile and is not sustainable. It is not real. You have to keep
up with all those good works or you will actually lose your
self-obtained salvation. Fear and doubt rule. any rejoicing
is short-lived and pretty much made up. So just ask yourself
this, if it is true that it is up to you to maintain your salvation,
could you do it? I know my answer is a resounding
no, but as Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1, for this reason I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him until that day. Rejoice, brothers and sisters,
we have one who keeps that salvation for us. Then two, a faith that
is proven. Verses six and seven bring this
to mind. They say, In this you greatly
rejoice, even though now for a little while you have been
distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith
be more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested
by fire." We will pick up on the rest of verse 7 in just a
bit. Peter is now speaking about how trials, tribulations, temptations
at times can have a not so positive effect on our lives. We all can
relate to that. Peter does not address exactly
what the various trials at the time were, but we know that Christians
under the rule of Rome were facing many different kinds of persecutions. We live in a country where that
is not usually the case, even though at times there are plenty
of indications that indicate the times they are a-changing. Right now, we are relatively
persecution-free here. But that does not mean we don't
have our own trials to deal with. Family issues rise up, health
issues, loss of jobs, finances, and yes, even times of persecution,
minor as they may be. There are many things that can
give us a sense of being tested. It's how we deal with them, though,
that becomes the real test for us. Our text says, though now
for a little while, you may have had to suffer in all kinds of
trials. meaning these tests or trials
are temporary things. So do we dwell on them, or do
we think about what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4? For our light
and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that
far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what
is seen, but what is unseen. Since what is seen is temporary,
but what is unseen is eternal. What we have here on this earth,
good or bad, are all temporary. These tests and trials, they're
all temporary. And so spiritually, our time
is much better spent fixing our eyes on that which is permanent,
our relationship with the Savior and all His blessings, for they
are eternal. Another thing that is important
about these various trials is they are purposed by God for
our own spiritual growth. In James, we are told that we
should consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever
you face trials of many kinds. James is just another apostle
encouraging us to consider our facing of various diverse trials
with joy. James says consider it pure joy. Peter says in all this you greatly
rejoice when you suffer grief through various trials. Paul
has said back in Romans 5, we rejoice in our sufferings knowing
that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character
and character produces hope. and hope does not put us to shame. Now, some might ask, what is
wrong with these people? But we know what's right about
what they are saying. Peter, Paul, and James explain
themselves very well. Again, in James 1, because you
know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Peter says in our text verse, that the proof of your faith
being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though
tested by fire. Or as the earlier readings said,
proven the genuineness of your faith. And then Paul, Paul goes
on to say, suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces
character, and character produces hope. So as we see, trials test
our faith at times. But as God, the finisher of our
faith, and the Spirit that lives in us, walk with us through the
fires of these tests, our faith is refined. We grow in His grace. Our perseverance, our trust,
our strength, all continue to grow in Christ. The faith of
Christ that we possess, it is complete. But the weaknesses
of our flesh at many times contest that faith. Never diminish it,
but test it. We had a pastor at one of our
summer camps preach a message out of the final passage in the
last chapter of Job. He titled it simply, So? We know the story of how Job
was tested severely, in the end losing everything he had except
the faith in his Redeemer, a faith that is always enduring. He had
professed earlier that he knew his Redeemer lived and he was
confident that even though his body had been destroyed by worms,
he would see his Redeemer with his own eyes. Such was the faith
of Job. Well, the book goes on to conclude
with the report that Job, after passing through the fires of
his many trials, was blessed by the Lord in the latter part
of his life more than before in his former life. He had more
land, He had more livestock of all kinds. He was richly blessed
with seven sons and three daughters, three beautiful daughters that
were considered the most beautiful in all the land. At his passing,
he left them all a grand inheritance, a beautiful picture of Christ
and his church. So when comparing all Job has
put through to all he gained, it's easy to conclude, so? It's
not at all about the material things he gained. Those are really
pictures of all the spiritual blessings the church has in Christ. But as we think of all our blessings
and then think of our trials, we have trials, tribulations,
so, those are for our perseverance, our growing in the grace and
knowledge of Christ, giving us greater confidence in all that
God does for us. Tests, so, We have Christ in
all He possesses, our salvation, our wisdom, our righteousness,
our hope, our peace, our inheritance. He is our strength, so we can
face all things. To all those negative things,
we just say so. In Him, we have a faith that
is proven. And then we go on to number three,
a commendation that is inevitable. In verse seven, Peter says there
at the end, that the proof of your faith may be found to result
in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
We sing praises, we give glory and honor to the triune God.
We do it faithfully as we should. But do we expect the Lord God
our Savior to give us praise, honor and glory in return? Well,
that is what our text says. At the revelation of Christ,
while we are standing before Him, dressed in our robes of
righteousness, His robe of righteousness, in absolute awe, humbled and
overwhelmed at the sight of His glorious presence, we will hear
Him say, Well done, good and faithful servant. Words of praise
for all His elect. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians
chapter 4 verse 5, therefore judge nothing before the appointed
time. Wait until the Lord comes. He
will bring light to what is hidden in darkness and will expose the
motives of the heart at that time. At that time, each will
receive their praise from God. God knows the hearts and motives
of man and those found perfect in Christ will each receive their
praise. Yes, as we stand there face to
face with Him, He will say, well done, good and faithful servant. While preparing for this study,
I was perusing the internet and I came across this poem. It's
untitled and no author is credited, but I would like to share it
with you because of its relevance and value to this part of our
study. O the bliss of heaven's light, the scene of His dear
face! Our soul cannot conceive that
sight, nor song or joy relay. Yet stand we well by grace alone,
blameless with great joy. Though undeserved, His mercy
shown, all praise our tongue employ. But nay, that day when
we will shout the glories of His name, our Savior will turn
about and praise us just the same. That is pretty much exactly
what Peter is telling us here. We have a commendation that is
inevitable. And then we go on to step, or
reason number four, a love unseen. Verse eight says, though you
have not seen Him, You love Him, and even though you do not see
Him now, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. We have a love that is unseen,
but it is not unknown. We spoke earlier about a faith
that is proven. We have not seen Him, but we
love Him. That is the faith of Christ,
that gift from God that gives us our assurance. Hebrews 11.1
says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. The King James Version uses the
words evidence of. Other versions use words like
conviction of, proof of, certainty of, or assurance of. It matters
not what the translation which translation used, they proclaim
that we have something that is rock solid. The assurance of
things not seen, the certainty of things not seen, the proof
of things not seen, they are all rock solid. Paul says in
2 Corinthians 5, we walk by faith, not by sight. The faith we walk
by, once again, is God-given conviction, assurance, belief
in or of the evidence of things not seen. Well, we know that
faith is not blind. Faith can see things that our
eyes can never see, but that is the faith that God has given
us, allowing us to truly see and understand the glory of God,
the glory of Christ. by then and then to realize how
and why we came to love Him. We love Him because He first
loved us. That knowledge alone should rock
you back on your heels. We talked some last time about
how understanding the good news can only happen after you come
to an understanding of how bad the bad news is. That always
takes me to Ezekiel 36 where God lays out in great detail
all that He will do for Israel as He restores them to their
land. He cleanses them of their sin and their impurities. He
takes out that heart of stone, replaces it with that heart of
flesh. All the things that we know are just pictures of what
He does when He, through His Spirit, restores us. Ezekiel then goes on to tell
us what God says happens next, and it is this. Then you will
remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves
for your sins and detestable practices. Be ashamed and disgraced
for your conduct, people of Israel. He has revealed to you His Son
that is in you. Now you see Him in all His glory. But now you need to come to grips
with what is shown about you, all your evil, wicked, loathsome
ways. And you know, you know that you
are in need of a Savior. But then you ask, you just ask,
how can it be that God would ever love me? Well, God speaks
to us by his word. And by this word, he tells us
repeatedly about that love for his precious saints. Precious
in the eyes of the Lord are his saints. I have always liked this
verse where God speaks to us through the prophet Jeremiah. Yea, I have loved you with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn you." I mean, really, is that stunning or what? We
just read how he has loved us with an everlasting love, but
then we've also read about our wicked and evil ways. And he
still, he draws us with loving kindness to himself. What a privileged
people we are. I've heard people say that God
cannot be a just God if He only saves some but does not offer
to everyone. Again, I say, really? The real
question is, why does He save anyone at all? That would be
a just God. Justice demands that we pay the
wages for our sins. But we have a God full of genuine
love for His elect. a God who is merciful to his
elect, and has purposed to redeem a people to himself, not by merit,
any merit of our own, because we have none, but for his namesake
and for his glory. And knowing me the sinner I am,
I don't want a just God. I want a merciful God. Lord,
have mercy on me, a sinner. And God's reply to that, Romans
5, 8. But God demonstrates his own
love for us in this. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Now does that give us reason
for rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory? If that was
the only verse I knew, it would be like the proverbial cherry
on top of the best piece of rhubarb pie I've ever eaten, and some
of you know how much I love a good rhubarb pie. I trust, though,
each of you would be able to say, yes, that does give me reason
for a joy unspeakable and full of glory. We truly do have a
love unseen, but it's the love in which He first loved us And
we now are made able by His abundant grace to love Him. And then on
to reason number five for all of our joy unspeakable and full
of glory is the deliverance of our souls. Verse nine of our
text, obtaining the end of your faith, even the salvation of
your souls. You know, there is a point in
each of our lives where something has changed us. We grew to know
something was different. I grew up in a free will Baptist
church. I made a profession of faith
more than once. I raised my hand, I walked the
aisle in front of hundreds of witnesses. I was baptized, told
I was promised eternal life because I had surrendered myself to Jesus. Well, as the years went on, and
I completely left all that behind me. Then one day, I met an insurance
salesman, who after we spent a little time doing, taking care
of some business, we soon became best of friends. He began to
talk to me about Christ, but it was a different Christ than
the one I grew up knowing. By the grace of God, he used
this man, Stuart Knorr, who was pastor of this church at the
time to introduce me to the doctrines of grace. It took some time and
many arguments about this new gospel I was hearing about, but
by that same grace of God, I eventually came to realize I had been deceived
for so many years. That false gospel, I was not
saved at all. During that time, I also realized
that something was changing in me. I was a different person.
I believe that that was the time I started down the road to the
understanding of this, obtaining the end of my faith, the salvation
of my soul. Paul tells us in Romans 6, but
now that you've been set free from sin and have become slaves
to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness and the outcome is
eternal life. We are set free from sin at the
new birth. By the sanctifying work of the
Holy Spirit, we grow in peace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior. Some preachers teach that once
saved, you begin this process wherein you become less and less
sinful, more pleasing to God, even to a point of no longer
having any sin. That is progressive sanctification,
and it is a false gospel. Our sanctification is as complete
at the instant of our quickening as it ever will be. We at our
new birth are set apart in Christ. We are made holy right then,
perfect in God's eyes because we are in the Son and He is in
us. We do, however, gain perseverance
as we grow in wisdom, we grow in confidence, and our faith
becomes stronger and more steadfast as we are tested again and again,
proving at the end that our faith does not perish even like such
a thing as pure refined gold will. No, our faith grows stronger
and never perishes We owe the deliverance of our souls to the
author and finisher of our faith, Jesus. He who began a good work
in you will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is he who will bring us to
that end of our faith, that goal, the salvation of our souls. That deliverance of our souls,
it is finished. And that brings us to the conclusion
of this particular study, but just a couple quick points to
wrap it up. We certainly have never suffered
the trials of the early Christians and others throughout history,
and even at this time, in so many places around the world.
Think of Job, who went through what must be considered one of
the most ultimate tests of all time. How many of us could go
through what he did? But like Job, by the grace of
God, we could. Also, just like Job, we are blessed
by the countless abundant mercies and grace of our Lord. When Paul
was suffering one of his many trials, that thorn in his flesh,
and after he asked God three times to relieve him of this
burden, God answered Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee.
In God, our weaknesses are a source of strength because we have that
sufficient grace in Him. And that grace will always get
us through whatever life throws at us. And Jesus said, lo, I
am with you always, even unto the end of the world. When we
are in the midst of trials, may we remember those words as we
compare our trials to our countless blessings, knowing the end of
our faith is the salvation of our souls. What are trials and
temptations compared to that? Sure, they can make you weary,
tired, anxious, but Jesus also said, come unto me all you that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. May we,
when facing trials, and then made mindful of all the abundant
blessings and peace of God that we each have in Christ, may we
all just say, so soon I will be with my Savior in glory. Thank you.