1 Peter chapter 1. He says here, elect, verse 2. We're elect according to God's
foreordination. Notice here in verse 2, 1 Peter
1 verse 2, we see the Trinity of the Godhead, don't we? Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Through sanctification
of the Spirit, that's the work of the Holy Spirit, we see the
whole Godhead involved in our salvation, don't we? And it's
by the obedience or through the obedience and the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. So there's a Father, choosing
us through the Holy Spirit, doing that work of sanctification in
our heart, and that's the new birth, making us new creatures
in Christ Jesus, and it's all by the blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And because of all that, we have
and we enjoy grace. And we enjoy peace. We have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And we know from reading
1 Peter 5, verse 10, that God, our God, is called the God of
all grace, isn't he? The God of all grace. Verse three,
blessed be the God and Father. We bless God who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, in Christ,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant
mercy, you remember I brought a message on that word according,
according as He had chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, who according to His abundant
mercy, abundant mercy, the storehouse of mercy never runs dry, the
abundant mercy we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has begotten
us again. We're born the first time with
a corruptible seed. We're born the second time with
the incorruptible seed. This same chapter, 1 Peter 1,
notice verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible seed. That's
how we were born the first time. The reason we need to be born
again, because we were born wrong the first time. We need to be
born of God. But of the incorruptible, the
incorruptible is Christ, the Word, by the Word of God which
liveth and abideth in you. liveth and abideth forever. Every good gift and perfect gift
is from above. Faith is God's gift unto us. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of God. Back to verse three, blessed
be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according
to his abundant mercy, his abundant mercy, it is of the Lord's mercies
that we're not consumed because his compassions fail not. have
begotten us again into a living hope. The hope we have in Christ
is not just a wish. It's just not a shot in the dark.
The hope we have in Christ is a good hope through grace. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Christ is our hope. The Lord
Jesus Christ is our hope. And we have been begotten, begotten
of the Spirit of God, by the Word of God, unto the glory of
God, and we have hope. We have hope of salvation, we
have hope of forgiveness, we have hope of pardon, redemption,
regeneration, and it's by, you see that? By what? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, how important is the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, delivered for our offenses, raised again because
he justified us? If he's not raised up, we're
not justified. We're not justified from our
sin. His resurrection is a declaration that what he came to do was finished. When he by himself purged our
sin, he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. And
what is so glorious to think about, about the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, He didn't come forth as a private
man, but as a public representative head. When He arose from the
grave, we did. In Him, when He ascended and
is seated, we ascended and we're seated in Him right now, in Christ
Jesus. So that's a glorious thing to
think about, isn't it? And it's to, look at verse four, to an
inheritance. He obtained for us eternal redemption
with his own blood, and we have an eternal inheritance. Everything
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal. We have eternal life. He obtained for us everlasting
salvation. We have an inheritance in the
Lord Jesus Christ being made heirs of God and joint heirs
with the Lord Jesus Christ. But this inheritance is incorruptible. It's incorruptible. You cannot
corrupt that which God has given unto us. It cannot be diminished.
It cannot be tainted. It cannot be changed. This inheritance
can never be contested. No one can contest the inheritance
being made heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ. It's incorruptible. It's undefiled. It's undefiled. It's pure and holy as Christ
himself. Our inheritance in him is perfect.
We have a perfect eternal inheritance. It does not fade away. It's perpetual. It will continue forever. Whatsoever
God does is forever. And it's reserved in heaven for
you, for you, the elect of God, the sheep of Christ, for you,
to you who believe the gospel. We're gonna see in chapter two,
you remember chapter two, 1 Peter 2,7, unto you who believe, he
is precious. So we have this inheritance,
it's incorruptible, it's undefiled, it doesn't fade away. Jesus Christ
is the same today, yesterday, and forever. We are complete
in him. It never fades away. It's reserved
for us. He will pardon those whom he
has reserved, and we're kept. We're kept by the power of God.
We're kept by the power. We're kept by the power of God. That's a powerful statement,
isn't it? He's able to keep us from falling and to present us
faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.
We're kept by the power of God. Now we're saved by the power
of God, we're raised up by the power of God, and we're kept
by the power of God. But notice it adds there in verse
five, through faith. We're kept by the power of God
through faith. It's the power of God that gave us faith that
always looks to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. We're kept by the
power of God. We cannot lose our inheritance
we have in Christ. He presents us faultless and
keeps us. Saving faith always continues
because it's the gift of God. The gifts and calling of God
are without change. Thanks be unto God for this unspeakable
gift. Faith is a gift of God. It's
the gift of God. Faith is not something that blooms
in our heart naturally, is it? It's not. What blooms in our
heart naturally is what? Unbelief. Faith, for by grace
are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It's the
gift of God, and God gives his gifts to whom he will. But it's
ready, kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time, and we are in the last
time. I put a note here on verse five,
and I wrote down verse 13. Look at 1 Peter 1 verse 13. Wherefore,
gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, hope to the end for
the grace that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Salvation comes at once as a
revelation, of God the Holy Spirit taking in things of Christ and
showing them unto us. Remember our Lord told His disciples
in John 16. He said, I must go away, if I
don't go away the Holy Spirit, the Comforter will not come.
And when He has come, you remember what He said? He'll take the
things of mine and reveal them unto you. God the Holy Spirit
doesn't talk about or reveal the Holy Spirit. God, the Holy
Spirit, takes the things of Christ and reveals Christ unto us. Ready to be revealed. You remember
from Matthew 11, verse 25? You remember that verse? Matthew
11, 25. He says, I thank thee, O Father,
you've hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. Remember in Matthew 16, the Lord
asked Peter, Peter, whom do you say that I am? Remember, he asked
before, whom do men say that I am? And then he said, Peter,
directly. Peter, whom do you say that I
am? Peter didn't hesitate. He said,
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Remember what
the Lord said, you're a blessed man. Flesh and blood did not
reveal this unto you, but my Father who has sent me. So salvation
is a revelation. Salvation doesn't come by education.
We don't educate people into the kingdom of God, they're born
into the kingdom of God. And those who are born in the
kingdom of God have a revelation of the beauty and glory and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all our hope. He's all our
salvation. Now, look at verse six. It's
ready to be revealed. It's ready, I like that word
ready, don't you? Ready to be revealed. ready to be revealed. And Peter,
when he's writing this, he said, it's the last time. We're in
the last days. We're in the last hour of the
last day. Wherein, he says, verse six,
every believer has great cause and reason to rejoice. Wherein
you greatly rejoice. And we do rejoice in the Lord. We do have heartache and we do
have sorrow in this life, don't we? We have pain and anguish
and sorrow and anxiety. We have all these things in this
life. That's just part of living. But we do always rejoice in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I don't rejoice in my suffering,
my pain, but I do rejoice always in the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherein
you greatly rejoice We are the true Israel, remember Philippians
chapter three, we are the true Israel which worship God in the
spirit, that rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence
in the flesh. Paul, all through that epistle
to the Philippians, you remember when he writes that he's in prison.
And one of the key words is repeated over and over again in the book
of Philippians. Do you remember that key word?
Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord
always and again I say rejoice. And here's a man that was beaten,
falsely accused, beaten, mistreated, stoned, shipwrecked, hated, hunted,
persecuted, put in prison, sentenced to death. He didn't say, oh poor me. Rejoice
in the Lord always and again I say we rejoice in the Lord. Wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season. A season, a season just we have
what? Spring, summer, fall, winter,
seasons. They come and go, don't they?
And what he's saying here, these trials and these troubles, they
come and go. But they come and go by the sovereign hand and
will of God. Wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season. That's a short time. You remember
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4, our light afflictions, which
are but for a moment, worketh for us to a greater end, to a greater
glory, now, though now for a season, if need be. Now trials come our
way because they're needed. Trials come our way because that's
what we need. That's what we need. You remember
our Lord said, in this world you shall have tribulation. Be
of good courage, I've overcome. These words have I spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. In this world you shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome. But for
a season, if need be, you're in heaviness, heaviness. through manifold trials. Manifold is various, various
trials. Trials come our way by the sovereign
purpose of God. Don't turn, let me just read
this to you. But the God of all grace, who had called us unto
his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you've suffered a
while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you to him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. So these trials do
come, but they're just for a little while. They're just for a little
while. Always remember that trials that
come our way, they come not by misfortune, they come not by
chance, they come not by fate, but rather by the sovereign grace
and hand of our gracious Lord. He sends a trial. but he also
gives grace for the trial. We're studying 1 Peter 1, and
we're on verse 6. You remember the apostle Paul
when he was writing about the trials and heartaches and suffering
that the Lord has sent to him, and he says this. Don't turn
when you read this to you. Thou shalt be exalted above measure
through the abundance of revelation. There was given to me a thorn
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, to beat me,
lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought
the Lord three times that it might depart from me. Paul said,
Lord, help me. Lord, I need mercy. Lord, help
me. And he said unto me, my grace
is efficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessity, in persecution, in
distresses for Christ's sake. But when I'm weak, that's when
I'm strong." Isn't that amazing? That's 2 Corinthians 12, 7 through
10. Now, we're looking back at 1
Peter 1, verse 6, wherein you greatly rejoice and believers
have Always reason to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. If
need be, you're in heaviness to manifold trials, manifold
temptation that God sends our way. While we were on vacation
last week, we were staying near a place called Weir's Valley,
Tennessee. and we were able to get the local
news from Knoxville, Tennessee. And we watched the local news
morning and evening about all the flood devastation that came
through Tennessee and North Carolina. We know a lot about that here
because we've experienced it here. I know what it's like to
be caught and trapped in a house with nine feet of water and it
raised you down the stream. I know what that feels like.
And I weep with those people and I have sympathy for those
people. But we must never think that
these things just happen by chance. They come by purpose. God's sovereign
purpose. It's the handiwork of God. He
sends the sunshine, He sends the rain, he sends the wind,
and he sends the calm. The Lord controls all things.
He sends the floods, the hurricanes, and the plagues. We heard a so-called religious
song while we were on vacation. I didn't care for the music or
the song, but it had an interesting line in the chorus. and the interesting
line in the chorus that got my attention, I'm gonna try to use
it. God is never not God. God is never not God. He's never vacated the throne. He rules and reigns over all
things. He's never not the sovereign
God over all things, over all events. Now, I've never had this
thought before. And we hear a lot about, I quit
watching the Weather Channel because those people just push
that, push that climate change, that global warming and all that
stuff. I just quit watching them. Used
to be my favorite channel. Used to love to listen to the
weather, the weather people and the way they talk about it. But,
you know, people talk about the frequency of hurricanes and the
frequency of these storms and the intensity of these storms.
If you go back 100 years, back into the early 1900s, there were
tremendous, powerful hurricanes that hit Galveston, Texas and
other places. Was it global warming then? And
here's something I never thought about. In Noah's day, was it
carbon emissions that caused the flood to flood the whole
world? 20 feet higher than any of the
highest mountain? Was it methane from cattle? No. That's silly, isn't it? What
caused it then? God's sovereign will and purpose. It wasn't, it wasn't. And I don't
know why I've never thought about that. Have you ever thought about
that? I've never had that thought until I was thinking about those
floods and people talking about global warming, climate change,
and they talk about mother nature and misfortune and lady luck
and all these things. I never give credit to those
three ladies. It's not misfortune, it's God's purpose. His purpose
and grace given us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Wherein you greatly rejoice, go now for a season if need be.
We see something of the power of God, don't we? The power of
God in the wind, and the power of God in the rain, the power
of God in the floods, He controls, He is the power of the wind,
the power of the floods. He said, I've spoken it, I'll
bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I will do it, I will do it.
Now look at verse seven, the trial of your faith, the trial
of your faith, 1 Peter 1, 7, the trial of your faith, being
much more precious than gold. Now people put a great, value
on gold. You know, gold is $2,600 an ounce. An ounce! And people put great,
great value on their gold, don't they? But the trial of your faith
is much more precious than gold. It's much more precious than
gold. Precious trials. Though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto the praise and honor and glory at the appearing
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the trial that God sends
our way is precious. It's precious to a believer,
being sent from the hand of our loving Lord to accomplish his
eternal purpose. Oh, and we know Believers do
know, because we believe the word of God, and we know that
all things work together for good to them who love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. They work for
our eternal good. We know, we studied from Hebrews
12, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteth, and scourgeth every
son whom he receives. It's more precious, trials are
much more precious than gold that perishes, as gold Natural
gold, talking about, that's put into a fire to refine and purify
it. The fire does not make it gold,
does it? It only reveals it to be genuine
gold. Even so, trials do not produce
faith. But trials certainly reveal whether
faith is true or not, whether it's real or false. Faith that comes through the
trial is purged of pride, hypocrisy, self-righteousness. Faith that
is tried, faith is tried in order to strengthen it and to increase
it. Faith is tried in order to reveal
the value of it to me. Nothing better for us to learn
how frail we are and how dependent we are upon the Lord for all
things. Faith, in trials, faith always
looks to the Lord Jesus Christ, always looks to Christ. The trying
of your faith being much more precious. If you wanna look over
here to 1 Peter chapter four for just a minute, 1 Peter chapter
four verse 12. 1 Peter 4.12, Beloved, think
it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you,
as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice,
he's going right back to that same thing, isn't he? Rejoice
in as much as your partakers of Christ's suffering, that when
his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding
joy. If ye be reproached for the name
of Christ, happy are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God
resteth upon you. On their part, he's evil, spoken
of, but on your part, he's glorified. So don't think it's a strange
thing when you're persecuted for believing the gospel, for
taking a stand for the gospel. Now, back to chapter 1, look
at verse 8. These trials and true faith will
be found to the praise, the honor, and glory at the appearing of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He's coming back. Now look at
verse 8. Whom having not seen, we love. How can you love someone you
haven't seen? We, by faith, have seen the Lord
Jesus Christ as He's revealed in His Word. whom having not
seen, you love." We love him. Not like we want to, not like
we should, not like we will one day. But we do love him because
he first loved us. "...in whom you love, in whom
though now you see him not, yet believing." Believing. He goes right back
to the rejoicing. Believing Him, you rejoice in
Him. Believing Him, you rejoice in
Him. And this is with joy, joy that's
unspeakable. This is joy that's full of glory. We glory in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God forbid we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Having not seen you love, true faith is always looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember Hebrews 12 too,
looking unto Jesus Christ the author and finisher of our faith.
True faith is always looking back to the one who gave that
faith. True faith looks to the source
of faith, Christ. True faith has spiritual
eyes to see him as he's revealed in the word In the book revealed,
we see the Lord Jesus Christ. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. We're always looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ, we're always coming to Him. Now look just across
the page, if you have the Cambridge that I'm looking at, you see
in 1 Peter 2, verse 4, you see that? Just across the page. To
whom coming, as into a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God and precious. So we're looking to Him, we're
believing Him, we're rejoicing in Him, and we're coming, we're
coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now how does the believer come
to whom coming? How do we come to the Lord Jesus
Christ? By faith, by faith. We're coming
to Him. He's the bread. We come to Him. He's the bread of life and we
come to Him always. Saving faith always is coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a lot indeed of man but
chosen of God. He is the elect. He's chosen
of God. Verse 4, and precious. He's precious
to the Father. This is my beloved Son whom I'm
well pleased and He's precious to us. whom having not seen you
love and whom though now you see him not yet believing, that's
a miracle of God's grace. Believing, believing you rejoice. You rejoice with joy unspeakable,
fall, fall, fall, a glory. Look at verse nine. Receiving, joy unspeakable, joy
unspeakable. You can't describe it. Something
is indescribable. Receiving, verse 9, receiving
the end of your faith. What is the aim of faith? What
is the end goal of faith? Salvation of our soul. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Receiving the end, the end result,
goal and outcome of faith, is the salvation of our soul. I'll
quit with this. John 5, 24, I say unto you, he
that heareth my word, and believeth on him that hath sent me, hath
everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed
from death unto life. Aren't those precious verses?
Okay.