Open your Bibles again to 1 Peter
1, please. My text, primary text, is verses
8 and 9. Whom, having not seen, you love. We're talking about the the glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, you love. You love Christ. In whom, though
now you see him not, yet believing continually, believing, always
believing, never stop believing, and you rejoice But it's an unspeakable
joy. It cannot be expressed. It's
far beyond human words. Unspeakable. You've experienced
this joy, but you can't express it. Not to the satisfaction of
the hearer. And full of glory. Receiving the end of your faith,
the reward of your faith, the salvation of your soul. Now Peter
has some words in this first chapter of assurance and comfort
for those who love Christ. We know that all things work
together for good to them who love Christ, who really, honestly,
truly, sincerely love Christ. Everything works together for
their eternal good, who love Christ. Paul doesn't miss words
as he concludes the great epistle, the first epistle to the Corinthians. He closes with these words, and
if any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed
when the Lord comes. So mercies and promises and blessings
and assurance and goodness to those who really
love Christ. and to those who believe him. There are other ways that these
people are identified in this chapter. Look back at verse 2.
He calls them the elect people. They love Christ, they believe
Christ because they are elect people, chosen of God. Elect
according to the foreordination of God the Father. Sons we are. through God's election, who in
Jesus Christ believe. By God's eternal ordination,
saving grace, we have received. We know that. "'Tis not that
I did choose thee, Lord, that could not be. This heart of mine
would still refuse thee, but thou hast chosen me. So cause
my soul adore and wonder. Why, O Lord, such love to me?
Your grace, your sovereign grace, put me in this number of the
Savior's family. I love Christ, I can say that. With Peter, who said, Lord, you
know everything, you know I love you. I believe him, because God
elected me to love him. That's right, he chose me. I'm
going to elect, we elect people, not embarrassed or shy or timid
at all to declare to the whole world. We didn't choose him,
he chose us. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, without
blame before him, in love. He predestinated us to the adoption
of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. have a father. It says down here
we are born-again people, too, in verse 3. That's a term that's
fallen into such bad company, hasn't it? Some people, including this preacher,
in some places are reluctant to use the term born-again because
it's been trodden underfoot and stalked and shredded and misused
and abused. But the apostle John, over in
John chapter 1, rejoiced in the new birth. He rejoiced. Turn over there to John 1, in
the new birth, in John chapter 1. Born of God, born of God,
just like elect. That's been misused too and abused. Born of God. In John 1, It says
in verse 10, he was in the world, and the world was made by him,
but the world didn't know him. So if they'd known him, they
wouldn't have crucified him. Verse 11 says, he came to his own,
the Jewish nation, and they received him not. But, as many as received
him, believed him, loved him, as many as received him, to them,
to no one else but to them, gave he the right, the privilege,
the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on
his name, which were born. They were born, not of blood,
not of natural genealogy, not because their daddies were born
again, not because of their mothers' spiritual condition. They weren't
born of blood, it wasn't a natural genealogy, it wasn't a heritage
thing or ancestry thing. And it wasn't by the will of
the flesh. Not their own flesh. They didn't will. You will not
come to me, Christ said. You will not. If you can help
it. They weren't born of natural
genealogy, they weren't born of the will of their own flesh,
they weren't born of the will of some man, some other person.
They were born of God. That's what it says there. They
were born of God. Born of God. Born of God. That's what he says here in verse
3. Blessed be the, in 1 Peter 1 verse 3, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy, his mercy, not by works of righteousness which
we've done, but according to his mercy. hath begotten us again."
We were born the first time of the flesh, born of God, elected
by God, chosen of God, and born of God. Born from above, born
of the Spirit, born of the Word, born of God, born from above,
born of the Spirit. Born of the Word. Born to a living
hope. Look at that. He has begotten
us. He has born us again unto a living
hope. Not a dead religious creed. Not
a dead religious form of works and ceremonies and going through
the motions, playing church, playing church every Sunday.
But to living, lively hope. A blessed hope. A living hope. That word by is through. The resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. Christ's resurrection from the
dead is the virtual cause of our regeneration. We live because
He lives. That's right. The hours come
and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God and they that hear shall live. These people who love God They're
elected, chosen out of Adam's race, out of every kindred, tribe,
tongue, and people unto heaven. God chose a people to be like
his son. And whom he chose, whom he predestinated,
he called. He called with a voice they heard.
He called like he called Lazarus out of the grave, out of the
grave, dead, born again. And then he says in verse 5,
we're born again unto a living hope, to an inheritance incorruptible,
verse 4, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you. We're kept, we're kept people. We're kept. We're not only chosen to salvation
and born again to sonship and eternal life, but we are preserved
and kept by the power of God. The same power of God that chose
us, that began us, that raised Christ from the dead, that gave
us life, is the power that keeps us from falling. He is able to
keep you from falling. Now apart from faith, he says
we're kept by the power of God through faith. You see over here in Jeremiah
chapter 40, Chapter 32 of Jeremiah verse 40. Turn over here and
look at this covenant of mercy. God says in verse 38 of Jeremiah
32, they'll be my people. They're my people. I'll be their
God. I'll give them a new heart, one heart, and one way. They'll fear me forever. All
their days they'll fear me, worship me, respect me, love me. For the good of them and their
children after them. And I'll make an everlasting covenant
with them. Unchangeable everlasting covenant. And I will not turn
away from them to do them good. I will not turn away from them. I'll keep them. That soul that
owned Jesus hath leaned for repose. I will not, I will not, I will
not desert to its foes, that soul though all hell should endeavor
to shake, I'll never, never, never forsake, I'll never, that's
what he said, I will not turn away from them to do them good,
I'll put my fear in their hearts and they won't turn away from
me either, they won't depart from me, I'll preserve and they'll
persevere. This is something he does. We're
kept for the power of God. God gives us a new heart. God
gives us faith. God gives us a love for him.
God sheds upon his love in the heart. This is not my decision,
this is his decision. This is my response. Salvation is not my decision,
it's my response. It's my submission. It's my surrender that he conquered
me. It's his decision. It's his decision. Christ is
responsible to keep his own. He said in John chapter 6, all
that my father giveth me shall come to me. They shall come to
me, my elect, all that the father They'll come to me, and him that
cometh out in no wise, under any condition, out in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do my will, I came to do the will of him that sent me. And
this is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he
hath given me, I'll not lose a one. Of all that he hath given me,
I'll not lose a one, not one, not one. As they used to say,
little bitty feller. If one sheep of Christ could
fall away, I'd be the one that falls every day, wouldn't you?
But not one. Not one shall perish. For all
that he's given me, I'll lose nothing. But I'll raise him up
at the last day. He's been given a charge to keep
his own. We used to sing that song, you've
got the whole world in his hands, you've got the whole world under
his feet. He's got you in his hands. I can make good on that,
turn to John 10. They're not in his hands. If they were in his hands, they'd
be kept. They're under his feet, they're his footstool. He's a
sovereign, omnipotent king to do with as he pleases. Hear his
people in his hands, John 10, verse 27. My sheep, hear my voice. I know them. They follow me.
I give them eternal life. They shall never perish, and
nobody's going to pluck them out of my hands. My Father which
gave them me is greater than all. Nobody's going to pluck
them out of his hands. I'm my Father alone. This is
security. This is assurance. This is confidence.
This is being kept by the power of God. Not whether you believe
or not, that's through faith. Not because of faith, but through
faith. Kept by him because of him, through faith. I'll not
leave them, but they're not going to leave me. Peter said, to whom
shall we go? Show me something better than
Christ. Show me something better than
the riches of his grace. Show me something better than
the kingdom of God. Show me something better than
the hope of life eternal. Then we're tribe people, he says
down here in verse 6, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now
for a season, if need be, you're in heaviness, the manifold temptations. We've got some folks, our loved
ones and friends and believers who are going through some very
deep water right now. Very deep water. Suffering, trials,
grave trouble. He's not talking here about temptations
to sin. It says here, you're in manifold
temptations. That's not to sin. satanic temptation. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking here about trials and sorrows and affliction,
which our Father is pleased to bring into the lives of his children.
That's what he's talking about here. Because the next verse
says it's a trial of your faith. You know, when Naomi came back
from Moab, some of her old friends ran out to meet her, and she
was so changed. Her appearance was so altered. Her name, Naomi, means pleasant.
And they looked at her and they said she'd been gone for 20 years.
They looked at her and they said, is this Naomi? Oh, she says,
don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara. Bitter. The Lord, the Almighty, she called
him. The Almighty has dealt very bitterly
with me, but it was for a purpose. It was for Ruth, O.S., Obed,
who was a father of David. If this whole condition had not
taken place, there wouldn't have been a David born to Jesse, who
was a father, a son of Obed, who was a son of Ruth. She'd
never been married to Boaz. There'd never been a kinsman-redeemer
story told. So just not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trusting for his grace, behind a frowning providence
is God's smiling face. You believe that? Just not the
Lord by feeble sense. but trust him for his grace.
Behind a frowning confidence is a smiling face. So we're inherited this through
manifold trials and temptations that faith might be tried. Turn
with me to 2 Corinthians 1. There is a word here that we
need right here in this particular place. It says in verse 3, 2 Corinthians
1, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of mercies, God of all comfort, who comforteth us in
our trials, suffering, affliction, sorrow, in order that we may
be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings
of Christ, or the sufferings for Christ, abound in us, increase,
so our comfort also abounded by Christ. We know those things. We understand them. We understand
them. Trial with tried people. And
then verse 8, my text, whom having not seen. John said, I saw him. John wrote the first epistle
of John and he says, my eyes have seen him bodily. My ears have heard him and his
actual voice in my hands have held his hand. and reached across
his shoulder and leaned upon his breast. But you and I haven't seen him
bodily. We haven't seen Christ physically. I've never heard
his voice. I've never seen him physically.
He said something about that in John 20, verse 29. Look at this verse, John 20,
verse 29. He said to his disciples, you
know that's when Thomas People gave Thomas the moniker. Doubting Thomas, that's a little
unfair. That's a little unfair, isn't it? Because, boy, we've
got enough of that in us to talk about him. But he wasn't there
when Christ appeared to the disciples after he arose. And he said,
I won't believe unless I put my hand into his side and feel
the nail prints in his hand. And our Lord appeared to them
here. He said to Thomas, verse 27, John 20, he said, Thomas,
reach hither your finger and behold my hands, and reach hither
your hand, thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but
believe him. And Thomas answered and said,
My Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. My Savior
and my God. And Jesus said to him, Thomas,
because you've seen me, You have believed. Blessed, oh, blessed
are they that have not seen and yet have believed. And that's
what Peter says about these people over here to whom he's writing
in 1 Peter 1 verse 8, whom having not seen. You love. I've never seen Christ. I see
him in the gospel, see him in the word, see him in the promises,
see him in the covenant, but not bodily. But we love him.
What was that poem? Who wrote the poem, How Do I
Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways? Well, I wrote seven ways in which
I love Christ, and reasons. And seven's a good number, it's
the number of perfection, they say. Have ye not seen we love him
because of his deity, majesty, perfections? Thomas had it right,
my God, my God in whom I trust, my God, creator of all things,
owner of all things, my God. I love him because of the loveliness
of his person. Turn to Solomon chapter 5, here the beloved in the Psalm
of Solomon chapter 5 Talks about all the characteristics of his
loveliness. I want you to see this just for
a moment. Because of the loveliness of his person. She says in verse
10, Song of Solomon 5, My beloved is white, he's holy, he's ruddy,
he's strong. He's the cheapest among ten thousand.
His head is the most fine gold. His locks are bushy, black as
a raven. He's eternally young. He's tender,
his eyes are the eyes of a dove by the rivers of the water washed
with milk and fitness sap, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
His cheeks are a bed of spices so soft as sweet flowers. His
lips are like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands
are generous as gold rings set with beryl. His belly is bright
ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs, foundations, are as
pillars of marble, immovable, set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yea,
he's altogether lovely. Altogether lovely. That's Christ. Why shouldn't we love him? We
sing the song, why should he love me so? You can think of
a thousand objections and reasons why he shouldn't love you, but
you can't think of one why you shouldn't love him. He's altogether
lovely. Thirdly, because of his goodness.
He's good. The Lord is good. He's good. The Lord is good. Because he
first loved us, fourthly. We love him because he first
loved us. We love him fiercely because of what he's done. He
gave himself for us. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us, died for us. He suffered for us to bring us
to God. He prays for us. He intercedes
for us. We love him fiercely because
of what he is, in the sixth place, because of what he is to me.
He's my prophet, priest, and king. He's my brother. He's my wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He's my hope, my life, my all,
and in all. And we love him in the seventh
place because of where he is. God has highly exalted him and
given him a name above every name, that the name of Jesus
every knee will bow, every tongue will confess He's Lord. All right, verse 8
says, whom have ye not seen? And let me tell you this. You
think about this now a little while. Don't respond to it until
you think about it for a few moments. It seems to me that
those who saw him physically, bodily, with natural eyes and
human flesh, had more trouble believing. And those who saw
him not at all, but had his word. Think about it. The apostles
had a hard time believing. Even his brethren who lived in
the house didn't believe in him. That's right. Hard time believing. Hard time. But Abraham? Abraham didn't see Christ. He
didn't see a cross. He didn't see a substitute dying,
not bodily. He did in type when God showed
him the ram to take Isaac's place. But Abraham believed God on the
basis of his word. God took him out and showed him
the stars and said, that's how many seeds you have. He believed
him. He believed him. Moses, he had more understanding
than Abraham did, but he didn't see the Lord Jesus Christ in
the flesh. God gave him a Passover lamb,
and he saw that Passover lamb taking the judgment against God's
people and delivering them. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. But he believed the word. He
said, God's going to raise up a prophet like unto me. He wrote,
the life of the flesh is in the blood. He believed that. David was a friend of God, a
man after God's own heart. He never saw Christ, but he saw
a shepherd. David, who was a king and had
a kingdom, he saw an everlasting kingdom. He saw an everlasting
covenant. He saw a shepherd as he sat as
a young lad, taking care of the sheep, his father's sheep. Not the neighbor's sheep, but
his father's sheep. He was responsible for them.
They were in his hands. He was to keep them. And he said,
the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He leads me
by the still waters. He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his namesake. He restores my soul. He saw an
everlasting covenant. And before he died, he said,
the last thing he said, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, ensured. This is my salvation. my desire,
although it make it not to grow." He believed God. He's Word. Isaiah
never saw that one of whom he wrote, did he? But he saw a man,
he saw a man of solace acquainted with grief. Well, here is it
where our faces trump him. No crumbliness that we should
desire. He saw a man suffering, wounded, for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities, chastisement of our peace on him, by his stripes,
the lashes on his back. He saw in the Word a man suffering. He saw a man silent like a lamb
dumb before his shearers, open not his mouth. Willing to take
the cross was he, willing to die and suffer agony, willing
He saw a man sinless, though he had done no violence. There
was no guile found in his mouth. He saw a man fulfilling a sovereign
purpose, the pleasure of the Lord prospering in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul be satisfied. He saw
a satisfied man. All of this, whom have he not seen? he loved. And though all through his life
he saw him not, yet believing, believing, believing. And how
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which was
spoken to our fathers by the prophets, and spoken thus by
God's own Son, and by the apostles who followed him, and we have
the account of his suffering and Though we see him not, we're
accountable people. Though we see him not, yet believing. And that's what Abraham's faith
is, believing God. Moses' faith, believing God.
David's faith, believing God. Isaiah's faith, believing God. In closing, look at verse 8.
You rejoice. I think I'm going to, right here,
maybe help some of you. Helps me. I'm a person, I get
up here and talk, but I've prepared. I've prepared, and prepared patiently
and thoroughly. I'm not a person that can really
express myself without some preparation. I told somebody that when I make
announcements, I have to write them down. If I recognize people
in a congregation, I have to write their names down. I forget
it. I can't express what I feel. I can write it. I can read it
somewhere else and read somebody else's. And so here's what he's
saying. Whom have you not seen, you love.
Yes, I do. Who can blame me? I see her not
yet believin', believin'. And I rejoice, I rejoice. I've experienced a joy that I
cannot express. You rejoice with joy unspeakable. Isn't that right? It's an experience I cannot express. It's a faith I cannot explain.
It's a relationship with a living Lord that is so genuine and sincere
and intimate and personal that I just cannot tell you about
it. But now wait a minute. Even if I could, even if I could
put into a full distinct account the salvation, the glory, the
peace, the joy that comes from knowing Christ, the world wouldn't
understand it. Somebody said, let others see
Jesus in you. They didn't see Jesus in Jesus. Nobody ever spoke like this man,
but they spit on him. Nobody ever did what he did. Nicodemus said, except God be
with you. But they crucified him. So do you think, do you
really think? You say, oh, if I could just
tell my children what I feel. Do you think they'd believe it? They didn't believe Christ. That's
what the rich man in hell says, you sinned, sinless, was back
from the dead. And Abraham said, we won't do
any good. They have the word of God. Yeah,
but if someone went back from the dead, they'd believe. He
said, no, they wouldn't. Christ came back from the dead. They
didn't believe him. So, take some comfort. You rejoice
with joy, actually, unspeakable to your satisfaction. Can't put
it in words. Certainly unspeakable to the
world's satisfaction. They can't see. They have eyes
but they don't see. They've ears but they can't hear. They've
got hearts but they can't understand. The only way a man can see is
for God to give him eyes. See the beauty of Christ. Give
him an ear to hear and a heart to understand. And that's the
reward Receiving, verse 9, the end of faith, the goal of faith,
the reward of faith, the consummation of faith, the salvation of his
soul. Thank God for his unspeakable
gift.