Am I good? Alright, off with the bang. Good afternoon, church family. It’s good to see everyone here tonight. We’re going to be in 1 Peter chapter 1, and I will encourage you to open your Bibles. We won’t have the words on the overhead today, so I encourage you, if you don’t have your Bible, there should be Bibles under the chairs in front of you. So, we’re going to be in 1 Peter chapter 1. We’re going to start in verse 3. Peter is writing this letter to mostly Jewish Christians who were experiencing persecution. This persecution had forced them to flee their homeland and go and live in foreign lands. So, Peter’s writing to these Christians to comfort and strengthen them and encourage them to be faithful during a difficult time. So, I think this is a word that’s timely for us today. 1 Peter. Chapter 1, starting in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your life. The salvation of your souls. If you’re a parent, you probably have the experience of trying to figure out what to get your kids for Christmas or for a birthday. I think when they’re younger, sometimes it’s easier just because they seem to be happy with anything. And if they’re really young, often they enjoy the box or the wrapping paper more than the gift itself. But as our kids get older, it’s hard sometimes to think of things that they will enjoy, that they will really get excited about. So there’s been a few times in our life when we came up with gifts for our kids that we thought they would be really excited about. And of course, when I say we, I mean my wife.

She’s the great gift giver. But I remember the excitement I would feel as you’re giving your kid that special gift because you know it’s going to be something they’re excited about. So they’re going to respond similarly to the excitement you feel in your life by giving it to them. And I think here, what we see in 1 Peter is this kind of excitement. Peter is excited as he’s sharing these words of encouragement with those who are persecuted. Notice the exclamation point at the end of the first sentence of verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father, O Lord Jesus Christ. Peter bursts forth in praise and worship for the Father even before he’s told the persecuted believers anything. Peter is excited about his faith. And he’s excited about the chance to share with those going through difficult times. Some characteristics of their faith. Peter wants them to be confident that their faith is genuine. Church, are you excited about your faith? Maybe there’s been times in your life when you had a chance to respond in faith but you didn’t for some reason. Maybe it was fear. And so you begin to wonder, is my faith even genuine at all? How can I even know that my faith is genuine? So let’s talk about that so you and I can walk in our Christian life with confidence. First, Peter is going to remind them that they were born again. They were born again. Look again in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father, O Lord Jesus Christ. According to His mercy, He has caused us to be born again. What does it mean to be born again or be saved as we often say in the church today? Nicodemus had that question. If you remember Nicodemus, his story is in John chapter 3. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. And the Pharisees were the religious… rulers of that day, leaders of that day. As a group, they didn’t really like anything Jesus was saying or doing. But Nicodemus saw something in Jesus and he was intrigued by Him. And so he wanted to talk with Him. And read that account here in John chapter 3 starting in verse 2. It said, This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot… He cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time to his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again. Jesus there in verse 7 says plainly to Nicodemus, you must be born again. But He also said, He also tells us in verses 5 and 6 that He’s talking about something spiritual. That which is born of the water and the Spirit, that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. So Nicodemus here, in his question, he’s thinking, How can my mother birth me a second time? He’s thinking in terms of physical birth. But Jesus says, No, I’m talking about something different. I’m talking about something spiritual. So let’s hold on to that thought for a second, and let’s see what Paul also tells us in Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, verse 1. And it says, You were dead in trespasses and sins. Paul here is speaking of spiritual death. When sin entered the world through the disobedience of Adam, we all died spiritually. Every person born since that day, except for Jesus, has been born spiritually dead. Think about death in the physical sense for a moment. What can a dead person do to change his situation? We know the answer is nothing. You don’t expect that person to move. You don’t expect them to take another breath. You don’t expect their heart to beat again. There’s really nothing they can do to change their situation.

The same is true in the spiritual sense. So on the one hand, we saw in John 3, Jesus said, You must be born again, and that is a spiritual work. On the other hand, Paul says, You are spiritually dead, and you can do nothing to save yourself. So how then are we saved? Back to verse 3, Peter says, According to your great mercy, He has caused us to be born again. He has caused us to be born again. The NIV says, He has given us new birth. We are born again because it is something that is initiated by the Father. In Ephesians 2, verse 4, it says, But God, even when you were dead in our trespasses,

made us alive together with Christ. When we were spiritually dead, it was God who moved to save us, to make us spiritually alive together with Christ, as this verse says. And in verse 8, Paul tells us that even our faith to believe is a gift. Ephesians 2, verse 8, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. So why did the Father move to save us and even gift us the faith to believe? Why did He do that? Why did He do this at all?

He says here in verse 3, it’s according to His great mercy. According to His great mercy. We just sang about mercy. That song is so comforting to my heart. Charles Spurgeon said, Sin is a thing of time, but mercy is from everlasting. Transgression is but of yesterday, but mercy was ever of old. Before you and I sought the Lord, the Lord sought us. Before you and I sought the Lord, the Lord sought us.

So we see mercy as God’s unmerited favor toward us in our helpless condition. We were helpless, that was us. We could do nothing to save ourselves, to change our situation. But God chose to extend His mercy to us even before we were ever born. The Father initiates salvation and makes it possible through His Son, through the finished work of Christ. His death, His burial, His resurrection. Salvation is a gift and the saving faith necessary to believe in that finished work of Jesus is a gift as well. Salvation in every respect is not our own doing, but is initiated by a merciful Father. Salvation in every respect is not our own doing, but is initiated by a merciful Father.

So, Peter then tells them two benefits. Two benefits of their salvation, of them being born again. The first here in verse 3 we see is that they have hope. It says, According to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The world searches for hope, doesn’t it? Everybody needs hope. I think God designed us that way. We need to have hope. And we see that without hope, we despair. And I think that was maybe a hundredfold amplified in the pandemic, right? On the one hand, we were told, you’ve got to be away from everybody. You’re isolated. You just can’t be with you and your family. You’ve got medical experts. You’ve got the government telling you you need to be afraid of this thing. It’s something dangerous. And so people naturally responded in fear.

And fear can be a good thing because sometimes that can make us look for something we need to be looking for, right? And so, you know, people begin to start looking for something to give them hope. But the world searches for hope in things that can never satisfy or can never give them any security. Peter here reminds believers that our hope should rest in Jesus and specifically on His resurrection. And we’ve talked a lot about the resurrection recently as Pastor Chad and Elder Chase have taken us through 1 Corinthians. A couple of verses there that pertain to faith. 1 Corinthians 15, 14 says, And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is in vain. Your faith is in vain. And in verse 17, If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. These two verses tell us plainly that the resurrection is foundational to all that we believe because our faith has to rest on that. The resurrection is the firm foundation. Anything else we would build on, we would see in Scripture as shifting sand. A faith that attempts to rest on any other foundation cannot satisfy, cannot offer any security, it cannot rescue us from our sinful condition. And it’s interesting here, Peter says not only they have hope, but they have a living hope. And then he goes on to say we can have hope as believers because Jesus is alive, right? That’s a sure, that’s a certain thing. Our hope is not based on a dead Savior. You cannot go to any grave and find Jesus. What did the angels say to the women on resurrection day? On that resurrection morning, on that blessed morning. They went to the grave to apply spices to Jesus’ body and they found the stone rolled away. And two angels appeared to them and said, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen. Remember how He told you. Jesus had told His followers this was going to happen. He was going to die. He was going to rise again. But they didn’t really get it, I don’t think, until that day. And maybe even later we see in Acts.

But the angels told the women on that blessed morning to remember what Jesus had told them. He said He would rise and He did. Jesus is alive. Because of that we have living hope. And I think that speaks to us today. We need to remember that Jesus is alive and let that fact fuel all your hope. All your hope in this life and all the hope in the life to come, which we’ll talk about in a minute.

So that is what the next thing Peter says here. He says the next benefit, the next benefit of their salvation is a future inheritance. That’s in verse 4. He says, To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. In the Old Testament, the Israelite people understood the promised land as their earthly inheritance. It was promised to Abraham by God that He would make him a great nation. And despite some poor decisions by some of Abraham’s descendants along the way, we see God still being faithful and bringing that into reality. The Jewish Christians who were going through persecution who first received this letter had been forced to leave their homeland and by definition they’ve been forced to leave their earthly inheritance, which we know is the promised land. But Peter now describes for them and for us a future inheritance that is infinitely better than what they had lost.

Let’s look at this. He says here that this inheritance is imperishable.

Let me say this first, sorry. As parents, we want to leave our children in an inheritance. It’s something we want to do just because they’re our child. It’s not something they earn. It’s a gift that’s really given to them. In the same way, this future inheritance Peter describes as a gift from our Heavenly Father. It’s not something we earn. Or merit. But it’s the benefit of God’s grace and mercy working through our lives. Romans 8, 16 and 17 says we are joint heirs with Christ. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and of children and then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. We may never see our earthly inheritance. Your parents may decide to spend it. I’m not going to save it. I’m just going to spend it myself. That’s going to be my plan. Sorry, Jordan and Sarah.

Or it could be lost for other reasons. My grandmother tried to have her inheritance divided up a certain way. But after death, legally, it didn’t work out. So even if we try to leave our kids in an earthly inheritance, sometimes it just doesn’t work out the way we would hope. And, you know, it’s sad to think about sometimes kids actually precede their parents in death. But we’re assured here that we will see our heavenly inheritance as fellow heirs with Christ.

So now, Peter gives us four attributes of this inheritance. He uses words that are hard for us to relate to. It’s hard for us to relate to something that’s imperishable. We live in a fallen world. So anything you can think of that would last forever eventually is going to perish. You know, it’s not really lasting forever. We think of the word undefiled. That’s something we have a hard time grasping. Something that never fades, unfading. But Peter uses these words to describe our spiritual inheritance. Peter tells us that our future inheritance endures forever. It is completely pure. It never loses any vitality or strength. He says it’s kept. It is secure. It is incapable of being lost. It’s incapable of being destroyed in any way.

So Jesus tells us in John 14, 3, He says, If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also. Jesus said He’s going to prepare a place for all believers. He didn’t say, I might go. I might come back. He uses certain words. I will go. Or, I go. I will come again. He uses sure words. So whether we go to Him through death, or He comes to take us home, the surety of that place and the inheritance that goes along with it is wrapped up in Him.

It’s wrapped up in our Savior. He’s the one that gives us this living hope.

If we think about the life of Mephibosheth, that’s easy for me to say, we read about Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel. Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan, who was the son of King Saul. Of course, King Saul was the first. He was the first king of Israel. And Jonathan was King David’s best friend. David being the second king, he followed Saul as heir to the throne. Jonathan and David were best friends. And such good friends that Jonathan often defended David from his own father when his father wanted to come and actually kill him in some cases.

And we read in 2 Samuel

that Jonathan and Saul were killed in battle. And after that, David vowed to care for Jonathan’s family as a show of thanks for that friendship they shared, that close relationship they shared. He had lost his best friend, but he still wanted to show love to his best friend’s family. So, in chapter 9, at this point, David asked, who’s left in the house of Jonathan that I can show kindness to? And at this point, it’s only Mephibosheth. And so, in chapter 9, verse 7, Mephibosheth is called before David, and David says, don’t be afraid, for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. Mephibosheth bowed down and said, what is your servant that you should know that you should know? Notice a dead daughter like me. And David goes on and shares with Mephibosheth the blessings he’s going to give him. And in verse 11, it says, so Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.

David’s love for Jonathan caused him to lavish his love on his son Mephibosheth and show him mercy.

And I think that is a similar way to what the father has done for us. He has lavished his love on us because of his son. He’s gifted us with gifts that we don’t deserve. He’s promised us an inheritance we don’t deserve. But he’s lavishing those gifts on us because of what Jesus has done. We deserve nothing, but because of what Jesus has done, we too can sit at the king’s table. The king of king and lord of lords table. Not David’s table. The king of king and lord of lords table. The king of king and lord of lords table.

So church, God has offered us this gift of salvation. Have you received it? If not, today is the day of salvation. Talk with someone about being born again before you leave here today. If you have received it, rejoice. Praise God. Remind yourself daily what the Lord has done for you. Then go and share it. We should want to share it with as many people as possible. Go and tell the people, I may not know a lot of scripture, I may not know a lot of, you know, I may not know biblical knowledge, but you can always go and say what the Lord has done for me. You can share what he did in your life. Share how he brought you to saving faith. And the great thing about this gift, like those gifts earlier where you may give it to your kid, it’s like a one-time thing. This is a gift you can give away. Forever. Over and over and over. It never diminishes in any way. We should also remember this gift is freely given. Are you thinking that you somehow earned it? Scripture makes it clear that salvation is something we can never earn or merit on our own. It rests in the finished work of Christ and therefore it is secure only in Him. So we don’t have to live fear and anxiety that we aren’t good enough. We aren’t. It’s plain and simple. We aren’t. Scripture’s made it clear that we aren’t good enough. It’s clear that if God didn’t move to work in our lives, we’re spiritually dead. There’s no hope for us. We’re lying on the stage still here, dead. But He has worked in us salvation. And so, while we aren’t good enough, we can rejoice because He is. And we can comfort our minds and our hearts with all that He’s done for us.

So, let’s see that next that genuine faith is guarded. Where Peter reminds them that they are being guarded or kept as well in verse 5. Who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for salvation and ready to be revealed in the last time.

Like that inheritance that’s being kept and secure in heaven. Peter’s telling us we are kept as well. He says we’re being guarded.

So, you know, Peter’s, his readers, this letter, you know, initial readers were going through difficult times. And so they have been anxious about whether they’re going to have the faith to persevere. If they were going to be able to, you know, still be faithful in those difficult times.

The word guarded here means kept safe or carefully watched. This term was frequently used in military context to refer to garrisons of soldiers being deployed to protect something or someone. We think of it in terms of many soldiers being deployed to protect the city from its enemies. We might think of that today, you know, for a modern example of that, is like the Secret Service guarding our president. When the president’s life is being threatened, we see the Secret Service guarding him, right? They’re surrounding him. They’re putting their lives in harm’s way. So the picture being painted by Peter here is of a strong protective force that is deployed into our lives. It’s protection on every side. We’re not being guarded just on the front or the back. We’re being guarded on every side. And then Peter tells us here, it’s by God’s power that we’re being guarded.

The strength to sustain us in this Christian life does not rest in the hand of God. It doesn’t rest in us. It does not rest in us. That should be praise. That should be something we praise God for. It doesn’t rest in the strength that we can muster on any given day. You know, we grit our teeth, we do our best. Our best is never going to be good enough. Peter’s telling us that God is guarding us, and I think He’s guarding us in four ways we can see. The first way we would see is through Scripture, or through the Word.

This was one of the assumptions in our systematic theology from our first week. It says the Bible is true and our only absolute standard of truth. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us, and it’s the only standard by which we should live our lives. The world searches for truth. When the world asks for truth, what is truth? We point them to Scripture. What can we say, apart from what God’s Word says? This is the only source of hope. It is the only source of truth. It’s been truth in the past history. It’s true today. It’s true for all of eternity. God’s Word can speak into every generation. It’s timeless. As believers, we should desire to spend time in God’s Word every day. As we do that, as we read it, as we meditate upon it, and memorize it, God can use those truths to teach us, to guide us, and thereby to guard us.

Fellow believers, don’t neglect your time in God’s Word. And parents, as Pastor Chad has reminded you many times, diligently teach it to your children. Be intentional about it, so that the world and the enemy find it a very difficult time getting any kind of foothold in your family.

Secondly, I would say God’s power guards us by the working of the Holy Spirit. It’s the Spirit that takes the Word of God and drives it from our heads. We have a lot of head knowledge, don’t we? We know a lot of things up here. How many things do we know here that don’t drive down into our heart and our soul? It’s the Spirit who takes these words. The Bible has words on a page just like any other book. What is different about this book? It’s because the Spirit can take these words and produce life in us. He produces those fruits that the Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5. Love, joy, peace, patience, and so forth. Jesus in John 16 said, I must go away so the helper can come. Jesus said, it’s actually better for you that I leave here because I will send the helper. And in verse 13 he says, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak. And He will declare to you the things that are to come. So it’s the Holy Spirit that guides believers into all truth. And it’s that truth that guards us.

Thirdly, I would say God’s power guards us through prayer. Not only should we not neglect our time in the Word, we should not neglect our time in prayer.

Philippians 4, 6, and 7 says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. It’s because of Jesus and no other reason that we can approach the throne of God. And we’re encouraged to submit our prayers and our petitions. God uses this relationship with us, God uses our relationship with Him in prayer to guard our hearts, and our minds. So church, when you’re anxious, pray. When you’re discouraged, pray. When you’re happy, pray. When things are going great, pray. When things are going badly in your life, pray. At all times, pray. Pray without ceasing. And Scripture even tells us, even when you don’t know what to pray, pray because we have two allies. Romans 8, 26 says, likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for ourselves. We are as we ought. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

We’re also told in Hebrews 7, that Jesus Himself, our great High Priest, is always living to make intercession for us. How many times do you go to pray and you’re like, Lord, I don’t know how to verbalize what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking, what I’m going through. I just can’t express myself to you in prayer. But know, even in those times, that it’s important to be in the attitude of prayer because God can speak to you. And we know that we can trust that the Holy Spirit and Jesus Himself are interceding for us with groanings too deep to understand, it says.

And lastly, I would say God’s power guards us through the church. We need each other as we live this Christian life. The Christian life was never meant to be lived in isolation. The pandemic put us all in isolation. And some churches chose to stay in isolation. But what does Scripture tell us we should be doing?

Scripture says in Hebrews 10, 24 and 25,

Think about a fire. We all probably love a good roaring fire, right? If you think about all the hot coals, when they’re all together, they all stay hot, right? The fire stays really hot. But if you take one of those coals and you set it aside, how quickly does it become cold? But if you take that coal and you put it back in the fire, how quickly does it heat up again?

I think that’s a little bit of a picture of what the church should be like. We should be fire. I mean, we’re together. We’re hot. We’re encouraging each other. We’re stirring each other up to love and good works. We’re encouraging one another. We’re weeping with those that are going through difficult times. We’re rejoicing with those who are going through happy times. And if we allow the world, our own desires, to pull it away from the fire, we run the risk that we can become cold to the things of the Lord in our thinking or actions, just like that coal taken out of the fire. So we need to be in the habit of meeting together.

And the last part of this verse says, and all the more as you see the day drawing near, especially as the time of Christ’s return is drawing near, it’s more important for us to be together.

So Peter says, back in verse 5, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith? Here again we mention faith.

Faith is the pathway by which God’s power moves through our lives. Oswald Chambers said, Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us. Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us.

That unutterable is kind of an old English word. We might use the word inexpressible or inconceivable or unthinkable. So friends, we have that kind of faith, the kind of faith that He’s always standing with us no matter what the circumstances of life are. He’s promising He will never leave us or forsake us. In the midst of a struggle, it may seem like He’s far away, but He’s not. And we should guard our hearts and our minds with that truth.

So friends, do not neglect the things that God uses to guard you. The first one we saw is the Word. Do you have an actual plan to study the Bible? Those things that we don’t plan rarely happen on a regular basis. We might be okay for a while, but if we’re not, if we don’t have a real plan, we don’t often follow through. If you need help in this area, ask one of us elders. We’ll be happy to help you. And when it comes to our kids, Pastor Chad’s made several resources available on the hospitality desk that you can use to teach truths to your kids. The important point here is have a plan. If you don’t have a plan, make a plan. The second thing we saw was prayer. Make prayer a priority in your life. Don’t neglect praying daily yourself. Don’t neglect praying with your family. Make prayer a natural part of the fabric of your life. Prayer should be as natural as breathing. We breathe all day. Prayer should be that natural. Whatever we’re going through in the day. Lord, help me with this. Lord, this person looks like they need help. Bless them. You know, prayer should be a natural part of our day. It’s not something we just maybe do in the morning or maybe do at night. It should be something we’re continuously doing like breathing. I would encourage you to come pray with us on Wednesday nights. We’re doing systematic theology now and we always pray at the end. And on the last Wednesday of each month, we’re going to be prayer focused. So this coming Wednesday, we’re going to pause on our systematic theology and we’re going to return to our habit of being focused on prayer during that service. So I would encourage you to come be a part of our Wednesday night prayer services. Thirdly is community. Don’t neglect being part of the times we’re in community together as a church here at Providence. Make those times a priority in your life. Again, church, the word, the prayer, the community. Don’t neglect those things that God uses to guard you.

Next, let’s see that genuine faith is gritty. Gritty is a good southern word. We might think of persevering or tenacious. Faith is gritty. What do we mean here? Let’s see verse 6. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while. If necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

The phrase in this you rejoice refers back to those verses we just went through. So Peter has told them all they had to rejoice about. What God has gifted them. How God is guarding them. How God is sustaining them. Now he’s going to speak into their present situation. And remember their present situation is a time of persecution.

So Peter first acknowledges that trials will come. We can certainly get our own lives in a mess. How many times do we walk after our own heart instead of God’s heart? We find that we’ve made a mess of things. But I think here Peter’s primarily speaking about trials that come not as a result of our sin, but rather those that come because of our obedience to Christ.

Jesus told us trials and tribulation will be a part of our Christian life because the world hates Him. In John 15, 18 and 19, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you’re not of this world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. And in verse, John 16, 33, He says, I’ve said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world. Jesus tells us in these verses that the world hates Him. Jesus said the world hates us because the world hates Him. But Jesus says we’re no longer part of this world because He’s chosen us out of it. This world is not our home. We’re just passing through. And Jesus also says that we will face tribulation. Jesus went through sufferings. He was a man of sorrows. He went through difficulties in His life. Why would we expect anything different for us than we saw in what Scripture tells us about our Savior?

So, tribulation is a natural result of our obedience to Christ because this puts us in conflict with the world, just as Jesus was in conflict with the world. He was in conflict with the Pharisees, as we talked about earlier.

Peter says these trials are grievous, but they last a little while.

Verse 6, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. No one likes going through a trial. They’re painful and they cause us sadness and grief and distress. In the midst of a trial, it can seem like it will last forever.

But here, I think, Peter’s not speaking about the length of any particular trial, but he’s rather considering trials in the context of this entire earthly life. We may think we’re here a long time, but when we compare our life here to eternity, it’s a blip on the eternal timeline. It’s brief. Scripture says we’re like a vapor, or like a weed that fades. This perspective should encourage us in the midst of difficulty. Our trials and tribulations are momentary in the light of eternity. Our trials and tribulations are momentary in the light of eternity. It doesn’t always feel that way, does it, church? So, it’s important to have the right perspective.

Next, Peter tells them the trials are necessary to test and refine their faith. We see that in verse 7. So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, and glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Charles Spurgeon says, Untested faith may be true faith, but it is sure to be small faith, and is likely to remain little as long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her. Let me read that again. Untested faith may be true faith, but it is sure to be small faith, and is likely to remain little as long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her. Church, it’s the will of God that we are tested through trials. And there’s a reason for that. And the example Peter here gives us in verse 7 is the refinement of gold. Gold is refined through a process called smelting, and it involves pressure and intense heat and chemicals. And so, that process is applied to purification, purify that gold. And what we see is the impurities start bubbling to the top. And then they remove those. And then they apply the process again, and they remove those. And that process continues until the refiner can see his reflection, his own reflection like a mirror in that gold. That’s when he knows that that gold is pure. Church, this is a picture of God refining our faith and making us more like Jesus. Through the trials and tribulations of life, we are refined in a similar way so the impurities in us, those things that should not be there, those things that are of our own desire, not God’s desire, are removed. And we become a better and better reflection of Him. And church, that should be our desire. We often look at Romans 8.28, all things work together, but verse 29 tells us that the purpose of that is so we become more and more like Jesus.

So I would say to you, church, the refinement process is difficult, but the results are worth it. The refinement process is difficult, but the results are worth it. And Peter even says that this tested faith is more precious than that gold. We hold gold in high esteem, right? It’s precious to us. Peter is saying that our tested faith is more precious even than that gold. And the result of that in the last part of 7 there is that brings praise and glory and honor to our Savior. Where it should be, right? It should be His.

Horatio Spafford was a Chicago lawyer in the mid-1800s. He and his wife Anna were supporters and close friends of Dwight L. Moody. Horatio was a Sunday school teacher and served as a director and trustee for a seminary in northwest Chicago. In 1870, hardships attacked their life. Their only son was killed by scarlet fever at the age of four. A year later, a fire ravaged real estate holdings along the shores of Lake Michigan that Horatio had heavily invested in. In 1871, every one of these holdings was destroyed completely by the Great Chicago Fire. Needing a sabbatical from all the stress that these disasters had taken on his family, Horatio decided to take his wife and his four daughters on a trip to England. Just before they set sail, a last-minute business development caused Horatio to delay. But in a setting of letting this ruin his family trip, he persuaded his family to go on ahead and he would come later. Anna and her four daughters sailed east to Europe while Spafford was in the middle of the war. Spafford returned west to Chicago. Nine days later, Spafford received a telegram from his wife in Wales. It read, Saved Alone. The boat Anna and her daughters had been on sank after colliding with another ship, claiming the lives of 226 people. Anna had survived, but none of her daughters had. When the survivors of that wreck were rescued, Ms. Spafford’s understandable first reaction was one of complete despair. Then she said, she heard a voice that said, You were spared for a reason. And she immediately recalled the words of her friend, It is easy to be grateful and good when you have so much, but take care that you are not a fair-weather friend to God. Upon hearing this terrible news, Horatio boarded the next ship out of New York to join his bereaved wife. During this voyage, the captain of the ship called to him, called him to the bridge. He said, A careful reckoning has been made, and I believe we are now passing the place where their ship was wrecked. Horatio then returned to his cabin and penned these words, When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. Though saints should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blessed assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, my helpless estate, And has shed his own blood for my soul. And we of course know that as the song, It is well, it is well with my soul. That’s comforted my heart many times, I’m sure it has yours, as you go through difficult times. None of us truly know how we would react or respond in such circumstances. But the Spaffords knew God wasn’t the source of their trouble. So we have to ask ourselves, when we’re going through bad times, do we believe that God’s good? Will you trust Him during those difficult times? Again, He’s promised never to leave us or forsake us, and the difficulty He is walking with us. Church family, remember we’re in a spiritual battle, and a battle all soldiers are getting shot, and nobody gets an exception. So don’t be surprised when the trials come. Embrace them in faith, and get ready to battle. We’re not supposed to be comfortable here, because this life is not the end. We’re just passing through.

As I think about all that Peter’s told us in this passage about faith, I’m reminded of a race. The Apostle Paul used this analogy to describe the Christian life. To describe the Christian life. What kind of a race is a Christian life? It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. So what do we know about a marathon? There’s a start line, there’s a finish line, there’s 26 miles in between, and there’s often many hills and valleys. How does a runner get into the race? They pay their entrance fee, they show up on race day, they get their number, and they get on the starting line with hundreds of other runners. And the race starts, and they do their best to endure that 26-mile stretch to get to the finish line. They struggle and get weaker as they run. It is grueling on their bodies. All of these runners are in competition with each other because only one can be the winner. And only two other people are even acknowledged. Second place and third place. Only they get the prize. We can see some similarities between a marathon and the Christian life as it pertains to our faith. The starting line for the believer is when we’re born again.

Our entrance fee is paid for us by the precious blood of our Savior and is gifted to us through saving faith. In this race we run, not in competition with each other, but in cooperation as the church. We run not in our own strength, but we run in His strength. The strength that He provides as we face those hills and valleys. We struggle as we endure those highs and lows, but He guards us and refines our faith. And unlike those runners in an actual race whose physical strength is constantly increasing, diminishing, when we think about faith, our faith is actually getting stronger through the difficulty. We run with hope even though we can’t see the finish line. And the finish line is what Peter told us earlier. It’s that inheritance that’s waiting for us, that’s sure, it’s certain. But church, I submit to you that’s not the best part. The best part about getting to the end of this Christian life is that we will see Jesus. We will finally look at Him with our own eyes. On that day we will rejoice and give all glory to the One who made salvation possible.

That’s exciting to think about. But Peter tells us here in verse 8 that we can see Jesus through the eyes of faith now. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him. And rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with joy. One day we will see Jesus with our own eyes, but not this very moment. It might be a moment later today, it might be next week, it might be next year. But the eyes of faith allow us to see Him now. We love Him, we believe in Him, because the Spirit has taken these words on these pages and it works something in our hearts and our lives. And that is a belief. Hebrews tells us that as well. Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not known. Faith is assurance of things not seen. Faith gives us this conviction. We live our life with conviction. We should live our lives with conviction. Church, is Jesus that real to you? When you think of Jesus, is He far off? When you pray, do you see Him somewhere far off? Or do you see Him here, even sitting in the chair beside you? Is He that real to you? Scripture tells us He’s that near to us. Peter also says that we should have inexpressible joy here in verse 8. Genuine faith allows us to have joy even in the midst of present trials and difficulties. Joy that the world cannot understand. Joy that is possible when we keep our eyes on Jesus and not on the world and the circumstances around us. That’s when we get into trouble, church. A lot of times we’re looking at what’s around us. We’re not keeping our eyes on Jesus. Genuine faith allows us to have joy as we consider all that Christ has done for us and given us salvation, a hope, and a future inheritance in heaven. It’s no wonder that as Peter considered all that he was about to tell those persecuted believers, he burst forth with that praise and worship of the Father we saw at the beginning of verse 3. As believers, we have much to be joyful about.

Christian, does joy permeate your life, no matter the circumstances? We should be the most joyful people in the world. Unlike the world, we can have true joy no matter what our circumstances are when we have God’s perspective on life and not the world’s perspective. So what’s the culmination of genuine faith? We’ve seen characteristics. We’ve seen that genuine faith is gifted, it is guarded, it is gritty. But what is the ultimate result of our faith? Verse 9, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul, there will be a day when we will, we’ve been saved, we’re being saved through the sanctifying process, one day we’re glorified in salvation, that saving work that God has done in us will be completely fulfilled. That’s the outcome of our faith, the ultimate salvation of our souls.

So church, I’ll just leave you with this. We long to see Jesus’ face.

Do we see Him now? Is He that real to us? Do we see Him in our everyday life no matter what’s going on, what we’re going through? Is He that real? Let’s pray.

Father, as we consider all Your world teaches us and has taught us here through Peter, we just can’t help but have thankful hearts. Thank You for all that You’ve done in us and through us and for us. Thank You for the hope that we can have, the hope that the world cannot see or understand. We thank You that we have a hope of a future inheritance and that You’re guarding us along the way. But we thank You for that assurance that one day we will see Jesus with our own eyes. And that should drive us to share our faith everywhere we go and to have joy that’s inexpressible.

Father, thank You again for all You’ve done for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Church, we’re going to take communion now. So if you will, bow your heads while the elements are being passed out.