1 Peter chapter 1, and we'll read
from verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, 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. 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. Wherein ye greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, 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 love, 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 souls. of which
salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. Searching
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow. unto whom it was revealed
that, not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the
things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore, gird
up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for
the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ. as obedient children, not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but
as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner
of conversation, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am
holy. And if ye call on the Father,
who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's
work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. For as much as
ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you. who by him do believe in God,
that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your
faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you have purified your
souls and obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure
heart fervently, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. for all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord
endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. What fortunate people you are
this morning. What fortunate people you are. You'll be able to go back home
or visit someone this afternoon and say, I went to church this
morning and the preacher told me the meaning of life. Well, isn't that what people
want to discover? Isn't that what everybody is
anxious and eager to learn about? What is this all about? Well, fortunate people, today
I'm going to tell you what this is all about. This is about the glory of God. This is about the glory of God. This is about the accomplishment
of a heavenly divine purpose on earth. And this is about God gathering
a people, his people, his church, to himself. out of this world,
from every people, from every tribe, from every nation under
heaven. That's what it's all about. The Lord Jesus Christ has been
shown in this opening chapter of Peter's first epistle. to be the sole object of faith
to the people of God. Let me say that another way.
The Lord Jesus Christ alone is the one in whom we trust for
our salvation. Peter has shown us that. He has
also shown us that the means of our salvation is redemption
by blood. Peter calls it precious blood
because it was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Lamb
of God. He has shown us that the object
of our faith, the only one in whom we are to trust, is the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he has shown us that the
means of our salvation is the precious blood of Christ that
was shed for the cleansing of our sin. And he has shown us that the
ground of our hope for eternal life in the presence of God is
the simple fact that God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. So the question is this. Whom
do we trust? In whom shall we believe? What will be our approach to
life in this world. Who will we follow? Who will
we rely upon? Who will we stand with? What is this all about? Peter tells us, Christ is worthy of our trust. His blood has been shed for our
salvation and the fact that God raised him from the dead is the
ground of our hope of spending eternity with God in glory. We believe in Jesus Christ and
we believe in Christ crucified. Peter says in verse eight, Christ whom, having not seen,
ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing. We believe in him, we trust him,
and we love him. To what end? How is it that we
are saved? We are saved by the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins by his cleansing
blood. He is as a lamb, without blemish
and without spot, says Peter in verse 19. And by his sacrifice,
we are made whole. And what do we look forward to?
To eternal life. Says Peter in verse four, to
an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you. These are not great, profound,
doctrines. These are the simple statements
and testimony of the Word of God. But by His grace and through
His mercy, We have been brought to know these truths. We have
been given these things in our life's experience. We have been
taught these matters from the Word of God by God the Holy Spirit
himself. and by grace we have been given
eyes to see and ears to hear. He has opened our hearts and
he has implanted these things as a seed in our soul. He has
watered it and he has grown it and he has given us a faith in
him. And that's what it's all about. Words matter. words that have
been spoken, words that have been written down, these things
that have been revealed to us by that one who is himself the
eternal word and this word that is preached to us by the Lord
himself and by his apostles. Our faith what we believe, what
we have been given, what we have been taught, these things that
we hold, these things that we profess, these things that we
testify to, these are not of our own devising. We haven't
made these up. We haven't constructed these
teachings, these doctrines from the world's wisdom or the history
and traditions of men. God himself has granted us these
truths. He has sent his son to minister
these things. He has taught his people and
they have carried this message from those small, small beginnings
right to the very ends of the earth. And he has brought us
under their influence and he has brought them to fruition
in our lives. We believe what the Bible says.
We believe what the apostles have taught us and what they
have written. And Peter shows us these truths. and having established these
truths in the minds of his hearers and in that group who have subsequently
received and believed these truths. Remember, he sent these things
initially to the strangers scattered throughout these provinces, but
they have been received by them and carried beyond. And in that
carrying, they have ministered to a whole new generation, a
whole new range of individuals, down through the ages, down through
the years, until they have become our very own possession. Peter has established these things.
In the opening verses of his epistle, he tells us that the
sinner's salvation is by the blood of Jesus Christ, that their
heavenly hope is on the ground of Christ's resurrection from
the dead. And now the apostle is going
to enlarge upon that. Now he is going to teach us something
more, and he is going to confirm these truths to us. And I say
again, words matter. because these words that Peter
has given us, these things that he is speaking to the strangers
who have been scattered and through them to all those who have read
his ministry and received his word, he gives us in the way
of explanation as to who Christ is and what he has done for his
people. I'm going to be thinking this
morning about two verses, two explanatory verses concerning
the things that Peter has here testified of. The verses are
found in verse 20 and 21, and it speaks there of the Lord Jesus
Christ. 1 Peter 1, verse 20 and 21, and
this is what it says. Jesus Christ, who verily was
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God,
that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your
faith and hope might be in God. Now I've said that these are
two explanatory verses because they explain something of the
person of Christ and they explain his fitness for the task that
was given to him. But I also feel that they are
two extraordinary verses. because of the things that they
say, because of the words that Peter has used, because of the
way in which he has described this work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and this person of Christ and who he is and how he is esteemed
by God the Father and what he has accomplished for his people. Here in this person, Jesus Christ
has been revealed to us extraordinary things. Things that if we claim
to believe the gospel that these apostles preached, the gospel
that was delivered to them by the person of Christ himself,
we too must accept and we too must believe. If we believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ, if we believe that we are cleansed
by his blood, if we believe that we have a hope of eternal life
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, then we
have to understand the one that Peter is here presenting to us
and the things that he has accomplished and the things that he has achieved. So here's the first thing I want
to point out to you. Christ our Saviour is from everlasting. Salvation is an eternal work. That which we experience in life
when we come to a point of conversion, when we come to have that leaving
hidden within our souls, when that mustard seed is planted,
that experience of grace, that experience of mercy that we have
been brought to know in time and in this world, it is an eternal
work and it had its origins in the eternal purpose of a holy
God. The Lord Jesus Christ, we're
told by Peter, was foreordained before the foundation of the
world. Now foreordained means settled
beforehand. Put in place, set in order previously,
beforehand. And it speaks of an agreed plan
by God in his three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
to save his people from their sins. It speaks of the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the unfolding of that plan, to
fulfil God's purpose as the mediator of the covenant of peace which
was set up in the mind of God to this end. Redemption, the
cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was not an afterthought
of God because things went wrong in the garden. It was the eternal
plan and purpose of God for the recovery and redemption of a
fallen people. And this foreordination describes
Christ, the beloved Son, in terms of one who is anointed and appointed
and acceptable as a substitute for others, one whose blood would
deliver God's people from their sin. And that appointment of
the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross at Calvary was settled
before the foundation of the world, before time began. In the purpose of God, Jesus
Christ was foreordained to shed his blood for your salvation
and mine. The phrase means before time
began, and therefore it is an eternal settlement. God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, covenanting together, establishing the absoluteness
of the purpose to which the Providences of God in time would be directed,
certain, sure, absolute, unassailable. The salvation of God's people
was not a random work, nor simply fortuitous, but planned and purposeful
from before time. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
appointed surety of his people. The means and the method of redemption
was fixed. The beneficiaries, fixed, identified,
nominated, recorded. The elect people of God, sanctified,
set apart, justified in the person of Jesus Christ. That word there,
verily, in the verse, Verse 20, who verily was foreordained,
speaks to us of, again, this settled purpose. It can mean
amen. So here we have verily, when
the Lord Jesus Christ said, verily, verily, I say unto you, he was
saying this is the absolute truth, verily. This one was foreordained
to this end, the salvation of his people. Everything required
for the cleansing of that people, for the washing away of their
sin, provided and ascertained in the eternal purpose of God. And Peter goes on. He says, not
only is Christ the saviour from everlasting, but Christ is the
enabler of our faith in time. So Christ came into this world
in order to fulfil the purpose of God, and he enables faith
in his people. Faith is the gift of God. Faith
is in the grant of God. He gives that faith to whomsoever
he will. He has been manifest, He has
been revealed in these last times for you who by Him do believe
in God. Manifested for you who by Him
do believe in God. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world and the angels announced His coming. And they said, glory
to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill towards
all men. But do not fail to notice this,
that the Lord Jesus Christ did not come for all men. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
made manifest to all men. The vast majority of men and
women in this world today, as far as we are aware, have never
seen Christ. And unless the Lord is pleased
to show mercy in a tremendous way, many, many, many of them
never will. But Christ was manifest for you. Manifest for you. What are the
words again? For you who by Him do believe
in God. The very faith by which we believe
comes from Christ. It is His gift to us. The faith of the Lord Jesus Christ
delivered to His people. Christ's coming was foreordained,
it was directed to a specific end, and he was manifested, he
was shown to the elect according to that purpose. So now we see
that the purpose of God is unfolding. That purpose was the redemption
of the elect of God. That's the people to whom this
letter was addressed. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
of his strangers, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God,
through sanctification of the Spirit, by the grace and blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. These things were foreordained. Christ was identified as the
sin bearer and in time he is manifested to the elect of God
that they might believe in him. By him is by the Lord Jesus. We believe by him. He is both the author and the
enabler of our faith. We are able to trust by Him. It is He who grants us life. It is He who opens our eyes. It is He who, as it were, breathes
that Holy Spirit of promise into our souls and quickens us from
the dead. Men like to speak about their
free will, their free agency, their power to believe, to accept
or reject the things that God has said and the things that
God has done. But Peter tells us here emphatically
we believe by him. This is God's call. This is Christ's
work. How presumptuous we are, how
uppity we have become, how bloated in our own self-esteem man is
in his sin and in his wickedness, imagining for a moment that he
has power over God on these holy and heavenly things. By him,
by the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe. Even faith is God's
gift to us in Christ and he is our all in all. And Peter goes on to tell us
something else. He tells us that Christ is alive. Not only is he foreordained to
the salvation of his church, Not only has he come and been
manifest to his people, but Jesus Christ is alive today. And he
is alive to bring us into a personal relationship with God. He has
a personal relationship with his people. God raised him from
the dead to that end. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
everyone's saviour. He did not die for everyone. He was not promised for everyone. He is not manifested to everyone. And he is not raised for everyone. Christ was foreordained, manifested,
offered and raised for you. says Peter, for the elect, for
those to whom these things are written. These things are the
great privileges of God. His gift and flow from His grace
and His mercy and His magnanimity towards us as sinners. We have
no call on Him. We have no rights before Him.
We are sinners every one. And yet by grace and out of pure
free favour towards us, He sent Christ for a sinner like me,
for a sinner like you. And it's God's chosen people,
his elect, who receive freely the benefits of his grace. Paul says, Christ was raised
for our justification. And by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, we experience union with God in the person of a living
saviour. Our faith is not mere doctrine. It's not some musty theology
from a book. It doesn't come to us because
we've gone to school or we've learned something at college
or we've exercised ourselves in order to build up our own
wisdom and understanding. Our faith is a personal, active
interaction with God through Jesus Christ. It is a personal
engagement with God. And Peter has just told these
early believers that Christ died and shed his blood And now immediately
he tells them that he has raised again that they might have hope
and grace and life in him. This is the message that the
apostles carried. These are the words that were
spoken and written. And these are the things that
matter to us in our life and in our Christian experience. This Redeemer is not dead. He
is alive. He is risen and he is reigning
in Christ. Peter continues. He says, not
only is Christ risen from the dead, he has been glorified. He has been glorified. The success
of his four ordination has been established. The success of his
mission here to earth has been verified, and he is the all-glorious
one. Christ is glorious. Christ is
all-powerful. Christ is worthy of our worship. He is worthy of our honour and
our praise. He is worthy to be followed.
He is worthy to be obeyed. because God has given him all
glory. That's what Peter is telling
us here. Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from
the dead and gave him glory. This one whom we love, this one
whom we trust, this one in whom we believe, this one that we
follow is the all glorious one. For God has appointed him to
glory. Christ was ordained to this redemptive
work. He was manifested to us that
we might believe. He was raised again that we might
live together with Him. And now He is glorified that
we might reign with Him for time and for eternity. And all the
success and all the glory is His. Who gets the glory? but the champion? Who gets the glory but he who
overcomes? Who is to be praised but the
victor? Christ isn't a failure. Christ's
work was never a disappointment. He carried the day. He won the
battle. He secured the prize. He overthrew
all our enemies. And now he reigns, lauded and
applauded by angels and men and glorified by God himself. He's not beaten. He's not downtrodden. He's not downcast. And in him
we're not beaten, and we're not downtrodden, and we will not
be downcast. For we have been glorified by
God in him. Just as much as he is glorified,
we are glorified together with him. Our captain gained the victory
for us. and he sits and he reigns and
he rules in heaven and upon earth and we sit with him. I said that these verses were
explanatory of this great work of the Lord Jesus Christ, this
reason for all things. And I said they were extraordinary
verses too. So here's my conclusion. How
do these extraordinary facts affect us and apply to us today? What have we said repeatedly
now? This is more than words. This is truth. This is the truth
of God. This is what we have received
and this is what we believe. So how does it make a difference?
How does it change us? How does it affect us? These
things that we have learned. Well, at the very least, they
show us that there is but one way in this world to please God. And Christ is the only and the
exclusive and the acceptable way of approaching God. What are you looking for out
of life? What do you want in this world? That everlasting life, that satisfaction
and fulfilment, these promises of grace and glory, which God
has given to us, is found in Jesus Christ. If we would have access to God,
we must access by Him, by Christ. that your faith and your hope
might be in God, says Peter. You who by him do believe in
God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that
your faith and hope might be in God. And that's all I can
tell you this morning. That's all I can bring. It's all that I can offer you.
It's all that I can show you. It's all that I know for myself. And it's all that I desire for
you, my friends, is that you see that Jesus Christ
is the way of access to all of the blessings that God has for
His church and for His people. Christ says, I am the way. He says, I am the door. He speaks
of a narrow gate through which few will enter. And we realise
that Peter here is talking about an acceptance with God by which
Jesus Christ is the way of access and approach. There are two ways open to men.
There's a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof
is the way of death. And there is Jesus Christ who
says, I am the way. There are two ways open to men. There's God's way or your own
way. There's washed clean in the blood
of Jesus Christ or there is trusting in yourself. And it's not about
comparative religions. It's not about what one group
say or another group say. It's about whether or not you're
trusting in yourself or you trust in Him. Peter speaks of those who trust
in the finished work of the cross. He says in verse 21 of them,
who by Him do believe in God. that your faith and hope might
be in God. By Him, by that One who was appointed,
by that One who was foreordained, by that One whose settled accomplishments
is the way of peace in the covenant of God's purpose. Hebrews chapter
7 verse 25 says this, Wherefore, he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. We come to God by Christ. We admit his sovereign purpose. We bow before his wonderful plan. We accept His gracious forgiveness. We trust in his promises. We rejoice in his righteousness. And we say, thank you, Lord. Or you can take your own chances. You can take your own chances.
You can go on your own strength. You can try to please God with
your own works and your own righteousness. What's it going to be? May God give us grace. Amen.