אבנימ

Testimony to the Word, and Prayer

Our Lord Jesus said:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Luke 21.33 ESV)

Introduction for Easter

The resurrection is a fact.

Today we are considering the life and words of an eyewitness to the Resurrection, and the one who preached the very first sermon of the Resurrection, the apostle Peter.
Our text today gives Christians practical encouragement and exhortation, based ond the resurrection.

Text – 1 Peter 1.1-9, ESV

1.1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

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,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
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.
8 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,
9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Introduction

1. First, let’s reacquaint ourselves with Peter, the witness of the resurrection.

Apostle

He identifies himself in his greeting simply as “an apostle of Jesus Christ.”

Apostle (απόστολος) is literally “sent one”, that is one who is sent as an envoy or an emissary bearing the authority of the sender. In the Roman world, you might find a general sent with the signet ring of the Emperor on an official errand. With that signet ring, the general carries with him all the authority of the Emperor himself.

Thus Peter at the very outset is telling us that this letter has nothing to do with himself as a private person, or his own personal interests, but rather it has everything to with the concerns of Jesus Christ the risen Lord, who commissioned him as an apostle. So it is that the original recipients of this letter, and now we here today 20 centuries later, must take this letter as from the Lord Himself, through His authorized messenger.

Disciple (student or learner)

Peter was a disciple of Jesus, called by our Lord to leave his fishing nets to become a “fisher of men.” He is the man who, though his given name was “Simon” meaning “reed,” our Lord dubbed him “Peter” meaning “Rock” – because Jesus knew that after his resurrection, by the Spirit’s power, Peter would become sure, steadfast, immovable, and foundational.

Peter walked on the waves of the Galilean lake at the command of Jesus. At our Lord’s question about Himself, it was Peter who spoke for the others, and made the true confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus told Peter that he had this understanding from the Heavenly Father.

And while we call to mind that this is the very man who three times denied his Lord, notwithstanding his brash assertions that he would never do so, we must not forget that he is also the man for whom His Lord prayed, that his faith would not fail. All of us who are disheartened, discouraged and depressed by our own failures should take heart from the example of Peter. The Lord is well able to restore the fallen, even the greatly fallen. That is what His resurrection is all about. Remember that even as our Lord prayed for Peter, so now, risen from the dead, He makes intercession for us at the right hand of our Heavenly Father.

After Jesus restored Peter, he commissioned him to feed and tend His sheep. From this restoration, and later the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, Peter went on to boldly preach the gospel at Pentecost, to stand before the Sanhedrin with John and defend the faith, to such an extent that the rulers marveled at them. Peter faithfully labored in the power of the resurrection for the rest of his life to fulfill His Lord’s commission, and at the last submitted to a martyr’s crucifixion. In this letter, we see Peter obeying and fulfilling his commission to tend and feed the Lord’s sheep.

To whom is Peter writing?

“To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia”

The regions named by Peter comprise a widely diverse collection of peoples, which were distributed in a circle around all of Asia Minor, which today is the country of Turkey. Of all who gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost and heard Peter’s great gospel sermon, these very peoples were specifically mentioned in Acts 2.9. Some from these regions were converted and baptized through the preaching of Peter on that day, and that is how the gospel first came to these lands.

Remember also that God forbade Paul to work in these regions:

“they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” (Acts 16.6–7 ESV)

Our Lord has reserved this work for another apostle, namely Peter.

Peter uses three significant words to identify those to whom he writes:

• Elect – εκλεκτοις
• Exiles – παρεπιδημοις
• of the Dispersion – διασπορας

We will see that these words apply not only to the original recipients of the letter, but to all believers in Christ:

Elect – God has chosen them.

Exiles

in the original Greek, this word is full of meaning. An “exile” is:

“a foreigner who comes into a city to reside there by the side of the natives…a person who for a time lives in a place which is not his normal residence”

This is true of every Christian. Our citizenship is in Heaven, and only when we have reached that blessed land will we be at rest and say, “Ah, home at last!”

In the meantime as many who are in Christ are in the world, but not of the world. It seems that many of us spend a lot of time and thought at “fitting in.” But as strangers and exiles, we are not supposed to fit in. We are sojourners in a foreign land, on pilgrimage to the city of God. The Exodus theme that runs throughout Scripture testifies to this. God “made a difference” between the Hebrews and Egyptians.

Of the Dispersion

Διασπορα – from which we get our word “dispersed” is literally “those scattered as seed.” This word has behind it the Intelligent Providence of the Great Sower of the gospel seed, dispersing it abroad according to His perfect plan. It is the same word used in Acts when the disciples were scattered abroad after the persecution associated with Stephen. From our human perspective, we may be tempted to think of such events as chaotic, helter-skelter disruptions of our lives, but from God’s perspective, He is working all things according the perfect counsel of His own will, and sending the gospel out from Jerusalem to Judea, and thence to uttermost parts of the earth.

Peter tells us that as God’s people we are chosen, on pilgrimage to our eternal home, and sovereignly planted at this particular time and place to bear fruit for the gospel.

Someone might protest here that I am reading too much into this phrase, and over-spiritualizing it. Should we not take “exiles of the Dispersion” to simply refer to the Jews exiled from their ancestral land, in what has been known as the Diaspora ever since the Babylonian exile in 587 B.C?

My response is this: Was Peter, like James, writing to Jews? Certainly there were Jews and God-fearing proselytes in these churches, like those who traveled to Jerusalem to hear Peter’s Pentecost sermon. But by the time this letter was written about 30 years after Pentecost, these congregations in Asia Minor were mainly converted Gentiles. Peter’s way of speaking to them in his letter makes this clear, for example he says:

you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers… 1.18

and in describing their former life he writes in 4.3

…living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

Peter was a Jew, and whatever he might say to his countrymen, he would certainly not refer to their common heritage as “futile ways” nor would he characterize their former life as “lawless idolatry.” Since the rebuilding of the temple under Ezra and Nehemiah after the Babylonian Exile the Jews had never returned to overt idolatry.

Why then does Peter use the term “Diaspora?” As the other New Testament writers often do, Peter cites the experience of the Jewish nation as a picture and type of the Christian experience. As the Jews were exiled from the presence of God in the Holy City of Jerusalem to live as strangers in foreign lands, so we as Christians are strangers in the world, on pilgrimage to Heaven, our true native land.

3. Why is Peter writing to them?

The letter was written around the year A.D. 63, when Peter is in Rome at the end of his life. The infamous Roman emperor Nero had been reigning for about 10 years, and though his official persecution of the Christian Church had not yet begun, there were clear signs that it was coming. Peter was in Rome and knew this, and so he writes this letter to his dear sisters and brothers who are facing imminent trouble, to encourage them.

• Have you ever been in serious trouble, or facing the prospect of serious trouble?
• Has someone you love ever been in trouble, or facing it?
• Have you ever endeavored to encourage someone who was in dire straits?
• How did you do it?
• Have you ever used words like “Cheer up, things will get better…”

Peter’s purpose in writing this letter is precisely to ENCOURAGE THESE SAINTS AND BUILD THEM UP IN THEIR FAITH in the face of imminent suffering. And so, we have this letter as a model to show us how to encourage others (and ourselves) when we are facing difficulties.

One thing we will see that is notably absent in Peter’s approach is anything like “Cheer up, things will get better…” Rather the theme that runs throughout this letter is that suffering will come, and that glory comes with it. As we share in Christ’s sufferings now, so we also share in His glory, now and leading on to when it is fully revealed.

And so Peter has named these saints as chosen – pilgrims – planted sovereignly by God. Now in verse 2 he expands upon this.
We are chosen, pilgrims, and planted, in this context:

2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

In verse 2 there are the three persons: Father, Spirit and Son, and
grammatically, three prepositions to go with each:

• Κατα – according to, by the plan of, as the first cause (Father)
• Εν – by the agency of, in the sphere of His activity (Spirit)
• Eις – for the purpose of, towards the end result (Son)

We see the blessed Trinity past, present and future, from first to last, accomplishing our salvation:

• It is planned and ordained by God the Father from before the foundation of the world (foreknown as in Psalm 1 – determined, directed, overseen).
• It is being applied to us by the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, by which we are being made holy, being conformed to image of Christ.
• The Spirit who is given to us, and abides within us, works to the end that we may obey our Lord Jesus Christ, having been cleansed from our sins by his lifeblood.

It is in this all-encompassing Trinitarian context, that Peter pronounces his blessing: “May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

Grace is God’s free gift of salvation and life, which in the risen Christ comes to us in ever increasing measure. In Him we receive “grace upon grace.” We have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” having been justified by faith. Knowing God through our risen Lord and elder brother Jesus Christ, and casting our cares upon Him in prayer, we have the peace of God that passes understanding. This multiplication of grace of peace is our growing in faith and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as His nature is formed in us by the ongoing sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s pay attention now to how Peter goes about his task of encouraging those who are facing trying times. In this he is an example for us. First of all he turns our attention toward our great God and Savior, and the amazing blessings and benefits that we possess in Him.

First of all, he praises God!

1Pet. 1.3 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…

Have you ever noticed that when you are distressed and discouraged, if you just stop your moaning, and take time to truly praise God, that your perspective on things radically changes? Your thoughts about your own inability in an “impossible” situation turn to a humble confession of God’s absolute ability in all situations, with Whom “all things are possible.”

Consider the object of Peter’s praise. God is not some abstract, merely theistic concept of the “absolute,” but He is “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Any and all good we receive comes only through our Lord Jesus Christ. By His Spirit in us, we come to God as our “Abba, Father.”

No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 1 John 2.23

This beloved and blessed God, has “caused us to be born again to a living hope”

Let there be no misunderstanding here. Just as you had nothing to do with your own physical birth, neither did you have anything to do with being born of the Spirit. This is God’s work. If you are in Christ, and have been born again, that birth was:

“not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1.13

And Peter gives one and only cause for this work of God: it was “according to His great mercy.” Nothing in us meriting his favor, no foreseen performance, only His unsearchable kindness towards us, the utterly undeserving.

If you have been born again, old things are passed away and all things have become new in Christ. “According to His great mercy, you have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Peter calls our hope “a living hope” first of all because of its object. Our hope is not a weak uncertain worldling’s hope based on a vague wish that something might happen. No. Our hope is a strong and sure hope solidly founded upon something that has happened: Jesus Christ has risen! He is our hope and He is alive. He is the firstborn among His many brethren. Because He lives, we also live, and shall rise to eternal life! He was put to death for our transgressions, and His resurrection is proof of our justification. That is what this day is all about.

This hope in the Living Christ and the eternal Life that is ours in Him is lives in us. It strengthens and sustains us through all the days of our pilgrimage. And the final fulfillment of our hope is:

4 … an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…

• αφθαρτον
• και αμιαντον
• και αμαραντον

This is what Christ has purchased for us through his resurrection. He has conquered death, and won for us the eternal glory.

Note that Peter states these things negatively. That is because it would be impossible to state them positively. “Eye hath not seen and ear has not heard the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”

So he states it negatively, in comparison to things that we can comprehend and express in words. In contrast to the inheritance of the Jews in the promised land which was defiled by sin and idolatry, conquered by foreign armies, and made desolate by the neglect of God’s Law; and also in contrast to any earthly inheritances we may receive which are all subject to decay and corruption, we have in glory an imperishable, undefiled and unfading inheritance kept safe for us. It is guarded and secure, and cannot be taken from us, since it is in heaven,

where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matt 6.20

And this blessed inheritance in Heaven is not chiefly a place or thing, but a person: our Lord Jesus Himself. Jesus, priceless treasure. Throughout the Old Testament, beginning with the Levites, this is foreshadowed, that the Lord is our inheritance, and we are His. Samuel Rutherford, the great Scots reformer, expressed this beautiful truth when he wrote:

The Bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom’s Face
I will not gaze at glory, but at my King of Grace
Not at the crown he gifteth, but on his pierced hand
The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel’s land.

Psa. 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

Matt. 6.21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

And not only is this wonderful inheritance guarded in Heaven for us, but here on earth we are guarded for it, by God’s power active in us through our faith.

5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Faith is the gift of God, lest anyone should boast. Faith keeps us safe because faith is that by which we cling to Christ who keeps us. Faith is the work of the Holy Spirit by which Christ works His will in us, saving us to the uttermost. By faith our hearts are cleansed from sin. By faith we are justified and by faith we grow in grace. Through faith we apprehend Christ and all His benefits. Through faith we receive the all the promises of God, which to us are “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ, because He is risen. Our “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” is our final deliverance from not only the power of sin, but the presence of sin, when we shall see the risen Lord face to face, and become like Him.

Please observe here that our salvation is “ready.” That is, the work of salvation is complete in Christ and in His cross. We are being kept safe to inherit it, and it is ready in Heaven for us, where Christ has ascended and prepared a place for us.

Our faith which guards us and leads us on to our glorious home, also produces in us joy right now:

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
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.

In God the Father, Son and Spirit, and in His salvation, and everything that comes with it, you rejoice! And now at last we come to it: “though now…”

But it is only after taking us to into the Holy glories, and showing us God and Christ and the Spirit, and who we are in Him, our living hope in the Living Lord, and the inheritance we have in Him, now and in eternity, and how He keeps us safe forever, that Peter turns to our present troubles: “you have been grieved by various trials.” Let all of you who need to give or receive encouragement, take heed to Peter’s method here.

The apostle tells us several things about the sufferings we may experience now:
First, they are “for a little while” in contrast to glory, which is forever. Paul says the same:

“… this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…” 2 Cor. 4.17

Second, he qualifies the “various trials” by saying “if necessary.”
What does he mean by this?
Is it because the world is such a sin-plagued place, that it’s just a sad and inescapable fact that you will have to go through some suffering?

Not a bit of it! Peter has no conception of anything stoically random or haphazardly tragic about the events in the life of God’s chosen people. Neither should we. The same God who sovereignly chose us, and planted us as seed according to His purpose, is the same God who ordains all our steps, including our trials, “if necessary.” If necessary for what?

1.7…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.

Our trials are appointed by God to perfect our faith, which is more valuable than gold or anything else, however costly. Paul speaks of the same thing in Romans 8.27 & 28:

“And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8.27–28 ESV)

These are not 2 disconnected verses. The second logically follows from the first. It is as a result of the Spirit’s intercession, that all things are appointed to us, and work together for our good. The Spirit within us is the One who searches our hearts, and He is the agent of our sanctification. It is His job to conform us to the image of Christ. He knows exactly where we are in that process and intercedes for us accordingly. The specific trials we experience are the direct result of the Spirit’s intercession for us.

As perishable gold is purified by fire, so our faith, which is far more valuable, is purified by trials, according to the will of God for us.

Our faith is what connects us to Christ, our life. Consider, if you were lost at sea, but you had hold of a floating life-ring, which was connected by rope to a ship, and the men on board were pulling you in to save you. What is more valuable to you: the gold bullion in your pockets pulling you down, or the life-ring to which you cling?
So is our purified faith more valuable than the best refined earthly gold.

And this purified faith will be

1.7 ….found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Praise and glory and honor for whom? For us? For the Lord Jesus Christ?
The answer is yes. If we are in Christ, then as we share in His sufferings, we also share in His glory. That is the great theme of this letter. Having been clothed with His righteousness as His redeemed, and having followed Him as the captain of our salvation through the sufferings of this world, we will partake in the praise, glory and honor of Jesus Christ.

Col. 3.4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Rev. 3.21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Our Lord said to Thomas after His resurrection:

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”

As many of you who are now trusting in Christ share in that blessing.

8 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,
9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

You have not seen Him with your physical eyes yet, but if you are His, you know that you shall. You have seen Him with the eyes of faith, by which you have “the assurance of what you hope for, and the evidence of what you do not see.” And by your faith (which is God’s gift), you possess the same living hope which Job expressed in the midst of his great suffering:

“For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,” (Job 19.25–26 ESV)

Have you known this inexpressible and glorious joy of which Peter speaks?
This joy is “inexpressible” in the same way that our glorious inheritance must be described in negative terms, “imperishable, undefiled and unfading.” The substance of this joy cannot be expressed in words. But that doesn’t mean that we cannot know it.

1 Cor. 2.9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

We can know this joy, though words will fail in attempting to describe it, because it is from Heaven.
This is what Peter means by “full of glory” — that it is from Heaven. It is unlike the transient mirth or giddiness we experience with earthly pleasures. It is solid, weighty, and unassailable.

It is the joy of the resurrection.

And it belongs only to those who having not seen Him, have yet beheld Him with the eyes of faith and loved Him.

Do you love Him?
I don’t mean do you confess the truth concerning God and Man and Salvation.
I don’t even mean are you thankful for your salvation.

I mean do you love Him, Himself. Jesus Christ, the Person.
Apart from any consideration of your own salvation

• are you awed by His awful justice
• are you shaken to the core by His sheer goodness
• are you humbled by His humble love
• are you overwhelmed by His ineffably beautiful and holy countenance?
• Do you long to see Him face to face, and to be in His presence, though in seeing Him you would be utterly undone?
• Do you delight in His Word, because it is … His Word.

Only God and you can answer these questions, but I can tell you with certainty that only those who love Him in sincerity and truth will ever know what is meant by “joy that is inexpressible and full of glory.”

And it is only those who have tasted of His love, who are enabled to know the joy of loving Him.

1John 4.19 We love because he first loved us

In loving Him now, and trusting in Him, through whatever trials may come to you, you will taste of that “joy that is inexpressible and full of glory” and His Spirit will lead you on to the end, to the final result of your faith, “the salvation of your souls.”

Prayer

Dearest Heavenly Father, Abba Father,
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, whom you sent to live among us, and become one of us, through Him You have given us all things, for you have given us Christ Himself. He is our Redeemer, He is our Living Hope, He is our unspeakable rich and great Inheritance. And He is our Joy!
Through Him

Psa. 16.11 You make known to us the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
We bless your great name, Holy Father, and thank you for your wonderful saving love to us in our dear Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.