Alright, let's turn to 1 Peter
1. We're going to be dealing with verses 8 through 13. 1 Peter 1.8 begins
with a strange declaration. He said, he's been talking about
Christ all through these verses. And here he says, whom having
not seen. Whom having not seen. That seems like a strange declaration
to say to a believer, doesn't it? Well, the statement is true of
everyone who is called to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember in John chapter
6, our Lord was speaking with the Pharisees and with the Jews
in general, but mostly with the Sanhedrin and those who were
in power and authority, teachers, masters of theology. And as they began to disbound
and go their separate ways because of what our Lord was saying about
eating his flesh and drinking his blood, he said, except you
eat my flesh and drink my blood, there's no life in you. And they began to disbound and
go their separate ways just thinking this man was teaching
cannibalism is what they were saying. They didn't even try
to understand what he was saying. And so our Lord turned and He
said to the remaining few, He said, it is the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. And then earlier in the same
chapter, He said to the multitudes, He said, but I said unto you,
you also have seen me and believed not. And yet, in just a few short
verses, he tells them, this is the will of Him that sent me,
that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may
have everlasting life, and I'll raise Him up at the last day.
And then in chapter 9, he had this to say about the blind man.
You remember the blind man that the Lord healed and the Pharisees
just kept questioning him over and over and over? He said this
to them, for judgment I am coming to this world that they which
see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. And the Pharisees that heard
what He said, they asked Him, He said, Are you saying that
we're blind? Listen to what He tells them.
Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, you should have no
sin. But you say, we see. Therefore,
your sin remaineth." What Peter is teaching us here
in this eighth verse is that the natural has no impact on
the spiritual. The natural has no impact on
the spiritual. Many of those who saw Christ
with their natural eyes never saw Christ at all. They never
saw Him at all. The new man, the man born of
God, he sees with the eyes of faith. He doesn't see with these
eyes. He sees with the eyes of faith. Faith sees. How does faith see? Faith sees through the mind. And this might seem like a strange
statement to you, but faith sees through the ears. It sees what it hears. Faith sees through the ears.
Faith sees through the understanding. And faith sees what the spirit
of the living God reveals to him through his word and through
the preaching of the gospel. Faith is not a natural act. Religion is geared in our day
into having men perform a natural act because they don't understand
the spiritual. So they try to get them to do
something in the physical, come to the front, shake my hand,
go into the pool, do something. Faith can be exercised. You can
come to Christ and never move an inch because it's not a natural
act, it's a spiritual act. Coming to Christ does not imply
some natural movement. What it does imply is a movement
of the mind and heart. We just spent a year and a half
on this building, building this new facility. We didn't spend
one nickel on visual aids. Not one nickel. I went out of
my way and special ordered this table because I didn't want one
with a cross on it. I don't like visual aids. Statues of dead saints and pictures
of Christ on the cross and superstitious symbols that you can put on your
dashboard so you can drive safe down the highway. These things
are needed to produce a natural reaction in men because they
have no spiritual ability, no spiritual understanding, and
no spiritual motivation. Believers are called believers
because they believe. Listen to the second half of
1 Peter 1.8. Though now you see him not."
That's the second time he makes a statement. Though now you see
him not, yet what? Believing. You rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory. And I'm going to tell you something.
People who talk about having seen the Lord in visions, ever
so often it will come on the news that such and such I saw
a cloud formation over in Italy somewhere that resembled Mary
and her child. And people will flock by the
thousands over there. People who talk about having
seen the Lord either in visions or dreams or in the clouds have
never seen the Lord. I believe that at least some
of those people who profess to have seen those things are sincere
and actually did see something, but they didn't see the Lord.
And here's this people, they went off of that. The Lord fed
5,000 people, 5,000 men beside the women and children. And the
next day, he was gone, and they got word that he'd went to the
other side. They went all the way around
that lake to see him. And he said, that's not why you
come around here. He said, you come around here
because you've got your belly full. That's why you come around
here. You come around for more. You
come around here for the natural. You didn't come around here for
the spiritual. The Lord is revealed through
faith and according to God's ordained means. And even if you
could see Him in the flesh, it would have no impact on your
faith. had no impact whatsoever. Thousands
saw Him in the flesh, and it had no impact on them whatsoever. They saw Him. They saw Him heal
the lepers. They saw Him give sight to the
blind. They saw Him do all kinds of...
They saw Him raise the dead at Lazarus, and it had no impact
on them whatsoever, what they saw with these natural eyes. But they didn't see Him at all.
was spiritual. And even if you could see him
in the flesh, it wouldn't have any impact on the salvation of
your souls. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Peter was a man whose mind often
confused the natural with the spiritual. He struggled with
it on the Mount of Transfiguration. He saw Elijah, Moses, and the
Lord. And he saw them transfigured
before his eyes. And he said, Lord, it's good
for us to be here. Let's build three monuments. And God spoke to Peter. And he said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. You hear him. You hear him. Peter was plagued with it when
the Lord told him that they'd all forsake him. All the disciples
would forsake him and go their way. Peter, still looking with
natural eyes, said, well, they might. They might. I can't say
what they'll do. But he said, I won't. I won't. Oh, yeah. You will. You will. And on hope you got, I prayed
for you that your faith fail not. And we're all affected by it
in some degree. Faith is not a natural act, and
it's not established by regular carnal means. Listen to what
Paul tells us over here in 2 Corinthians 4, chapter 5, verses 4 and 5. Or in chapters 4 and 5, I'm sorry.
He begins chapter 4 telling us the very nature of true faith.
It's to have the light of the glorious gospel of Christ to
shine in us, to reveal in us the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. In verse 6, he's a little more
explicit. It's God commanding His light
to shine out of darkness to shine in our hearts and give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. To the man who has this, this
spiritual act of God, this divine act of God, this gracious act
of God, all affliction becomes light affliction, this light
affliction. Now listen, how does it become
light affliction? Because affliction seems pretty
heavy to me at times, don't it to you? Here's how it becomes
a light affliction while we look not at things which are seen. You see, that's when affliction
becomes a heavy affliction when you consider it only in the light
of what you see, only in the light of what you see down here.
You see in this doctor and he's telling you you have some incurable
disease or you see in this, you know, all these things. All you
see is what you see in here and here and here. But they become
light affliction when a man considers those things which he can't see.
It says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but
at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen
are temporal. There's temporary. But the things
which are not seen are eternal. And then after some more explanation,
he goes on to say in chapter 5, verse 16, wherefore, henceforth
know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. That is,
no more in that way. Here was a man who saw and knew
Christ in the flesh, yet what he knew by that vision had no
impact on his faith. Faith knows what it knows concerning
the Son of God our Savior by the testimony of God and the
preaching of the gospel. They know what they know as they
perceive it by faith. The believer sees by faith. By faith, he said, we understand
that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things
which are seen were not made of those things which are. If
what you know and hear and understand is not enough to move you to
love, honor, and worship Christ, all the visual aids in the world
will do you no good. Go back to our text here in 1
Peter 1. Let's read verses 8 and 9 together. Whom having not seen,
ye loved. in whom though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory." Now watch this. Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls. The Great Commission, as it was
given to Mark, reads this way. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. The angel of God spoke to Mary
and said, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins. In Acts 4, verse 12, it says,
Neither is there salvation than any other, for there is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. Let me give you one more verse.
Our Lord said, all that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and
him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. And this our Lord explains, because
He came to do the Father's will, and His will is that all of which
He had given Him He should lose nothing but raise it up at the
last day, that all them that were given to him by the Father
would see the Son and believe on him, and he'd raise him up
at the last day. Paul says, in Christ are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Christ is perfect
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. In Christ is
full, free justification by faith. Our life, Paul said, is hid with
Christ in God. And to embrace Him by faith,
are you listening? To embrace Him by faith is to
receive the end of that faith, even the salvation of your souls.
That's what Peter's talking about. The man who has Christ has salvation. He has it. He has it within his
grasp. It's his. It's his. The Holy Spirit has sealed him
with that Holy Spirit of promise. He has that promise of Christ,
and it's been sealed to his heart by the Holy Spirit. And he has
the end of his faith, even the salvation of his soul. Eternal
life is to know God, and John said, we know that the Son of
God has come and given us an understanding that we might know
Him. If we have Christ, Christ has been made of God unto us
wisdom. We have the wisdom of God. Isn't
that what he said in 2 Corinthians 2, I think it's verse 15? We have the wisdom of God. We
have the mind of Christ. This one we have seen by the
hearing of the ear has brought to us what faith was given for,
the salvation of our soul. I Peter 1.10. Of which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of this grace,
the grace of faith, the grace of salvation in Christ. who have
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. The Old Testament
scripture set before us the one effectual propitiation for sin. It sets before us the unblemished
lamb. It sets before us the fiery altar,
a slain sacrifice, an ordained substitute, blood on the mercy
seat, over a broken law and the testimony of God. And oh, how
those prophets like Moses and Elijah and Isaiah, how these men, Jeremiah and the
rest of them, meditated on these and searched and prayed over
these things, searching water, what manner of time he was talking
about when these things would be so. And God revealed to them. that these things pointed to
the coming of Christ and to the gospel age. And every spirit-filled
preacher in our day opens these things to their hearers. That's
what they do. Verse 13, wherefore, now if these
things are so, and they are, faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God, The man who embraces Christ and he has these
things by faith, he has the end of his salvation, he has Christ
who is salvation. He has Christ who is eternal
life. To know Him is to know the Father.
Apart from knowing Him, you can't know the Father. If these things be so, wherefore,
verse 13, gird up the loins of your mind and be sober and hope
to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ. Because this is where life is. This is where life is. If God
puts faith into the hearts of chosen sinners through the preaching
of the gospel, If God shines His glorious light of Christ
into our hearts, revealing to us the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, then let us gird up the loins of our mind.
You see Peter's reasoning? And be sober and hope to the
end for the grace, the grace of God that brings to us the
revelation of Jesus Christ. When I think of the glory and
majesty of Christ and the glory of God's calling out of His saints,
of the miracle of faith, of the divinely ordained ministry of
the gospel, oh, how little we put in preparation for what we
come to hear. When you come to worship, come
to hear. Come to hear. Worship is not
something It just happens. It supposes a preparation, worship
done. It supposes a preparation. That's
why I print this bulletin and hand it out. I want you to read
these articles and get your mind tuned to what we're about to
do. Get your mind turned from the
things of this world to the things of God. You see what Peter's
saying? If these things are true, and
we know that they are, they're established all the way through
the Word of God. If these things are true, then what can we do? Let's gird up the loins of our
mind. Let's prepare ourselves for what
we're about to receive, this grace of God. When you come to worship, come
to hear. I believe I can say with Paul, I preach as a recipient
of God's mercy, as one beggar telling another beggar where
I got my bread. I believe I can say that as dying
man to dying men. And we have renounced, Paul said,
the hidden things of darkness, this dishonesty, the hidden things
of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness. They're handling
the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. I don't beg our visitors to come
down to the front of the church. I don't beg them for a one-on-one
confrontation where I can ask them questions and they can ask
me questions. I don't have long altar calls
and play games with your mind and heart. I'm not trying to
build anything here or establish some kind of a great denomination.
I've been delivered from that. And that's what Paul said. I've
been delivered from that kind of thing. That's not how I preach. All I ask for is a little time
and consideration to hear what I have to say. And then I'll
leave it. I'll leave it to your own conscience
in the sight of God. Because there's nothing really
I can do about it anyway. I'd stir the pot if I thought
I could do something, but I can't do anything. I can't open your
heart. I can't make you believe. I can't
do it. I've tried. I've tried. I've had people on my heart so
bad, I just wanted to go to them and sit them down and say, please
listen to what I... Rolls off like water off a duck's
back. I've learned over the years I can't do anything about these
things. The only thing I can do is study and do the best I
can to set it out before you and then commit it to your conscience
in the sight of God. And God either will or won't
reveal it. One or the other. God will give you an understanding
and a heart to believe, for the God of this world will blind
your minds and leave you in ignorance and rebellion. I want to say this to everybody
here this morning. It's your soul. It's your soul. It's my soul.
And it's your soul. And if you're not interested
in hearing and learning of Christ, that's your business. That's
between you and the Lord. But this is how faith is given,
and those who have it have received Christ. And those that have received
Christ have received the end of their faith, even the salvation
of their souls. And so I say, may the God of
all grace give us an interest and patience and a willingness
to prepare our hearts and be ready to hear. Isn't that what
Peter's saying in this chapter? That's exactly what he's saying.
We can rejoice, he said, with joy unspeakable and full of joy,
because we've heard