Salvation Joy, Part 2

12-1-24

 

            This morning we are continuing our look at the book of 1 Peter.  The Apostle Peter is the author of the book that bears his name.  He wrote it to believers who were facing some severe persecution for their faith.  In the face of such difficulties, his readers needed assurance and encouragement to continue on persevering through whatever it is they were experiencing.  Peter wanted them to be able not only to endure the tough times they were facing, but to persevere and to thrive in their faith as well.

            He starts out encouraging his readers by reminding them of the eternal inheritance they had as a result of God's work of salvation and forgiveness in their lives.  Even though they may be suffering in this life and maybe even dying because of it, they could endure and persevere because they had a better place waiting for them in heaven.  That place has been personally prepared for them by Jesus Christ Himself.  Dwelling on that inheritance was a key way for them to survive the sufferings they were going through.

            Then last week, we started looking at a passage where Peter gave his readers another reason to have hope and to endure and persevere through the trials and tribulations of life.  His focus in that section was on the joy that they had as children of God.  They could always experience joy because of what God had done for them in salvation and through the Spirit's working in their lives.  Because of that joy they could endure trials and tribulations

            Last week, we actually didn't finish looking at the passage of 1 Peter that we started.  So we're going to go back this morning and read those verses again and then touch on a few more truths that Peter points out about how and why we can survive the trials and tribulations of life.  Let's again read 1 Peter 1:6-9.

            Joy is different from happiness.  Happiness comes from positive external events in and around our lives.  But joy is deeper than that; it is something permanent and profound.  Salvation joy results from the deep-rooted confidence that we possess eternal life from the living God through the crucified and risen Christ.

            We will never lose our joy because it is based on the assurance of our salvation that we also can never lose.  Joy helps us endure the trials of life as we understand who God is and how He works.  Knowing that He uses difficulties to prove our faith can help us experience joy.  Knowing that our trials are only for a little while helps us to be joyful.  Paul refers to the difficulties of life as momentary and light afflictions.  The difficult times only last as long as we are alive on the earth, and that is a short time compared to eternity in heaven.   

            In addition, knowing that our troubles come to us to serve a purpose in our lives helps us experience joy.  God is sovereign and He has a plan and a purpose for everything that comes our way.  God may use troubles to humble us; He can use them to help us turn from idols; He uses them to enable us to better help other people; He also chastises us for sin and uses trials to strengthen our spiritual character so that we can be useful for His kingdom. 

            Knowing that we experience various trials develops joy in our lives because we can also know that God's sufficient grace is also diverse.  There is no form of trouble that some facet of divine grace cannot overcome.  God's grace is sufficient for every human trial.  Because of that we can rejoice knowing that God always has our back.

            Knowing that God uses trials and tribulations in our lives to prove our faith is a key to us experiencing joy.  Peter uses an analogy of testing gold to describe what God does in our lives spiritually.  Peter used gold in his analogy because it was the most precious and highly prized of all metals.  In ancient times, it was the basis for most monetary transactions. The word "proof" in verse 7 was a word used to describe the assaying of metal.  The assaying process discovers a metal's purity and determines its true content and worth after all of the impurities have been smelted away. 

            Just as fire separates gold from useless dross, so God uses suffering and trials to separate true faith from superficial professions.  Gold can be purified when tested by fire, but it is still perishable.  However, proven faith is eternal and therefore more precious than gold.  God tests our faith to reveal its genuineness.  There are plenty of OT examples of God putting the faith of His people to the test.  Gen. 22:1-2; Ex. 16:4; Deut. 8:2. 

            Have you ever had your faith tested?  I think it's possible that we may go through something and not necessarily see it as a test of our faith.  There are other times, however, when it is pretty clear we're being put to the test.  Our faith has been tested every time God has moved us to a new ministry position.  Every time, it was a case of "are we going to trust God?  Are we going to obey?  Or are we going to seek our will and our own plan?"

            When we were first called into the ministry I went from being a TV news producer to a college campus minister.  I had no idea what I was doing and was totally out of my comfort zone.  But God used us there.  Then God called us to the pastorate.  We didn't want to do that at the time.  Then His first church for us was in West Virginia.  God also used us there.  I guess we can look back and see that we passed those tests, although I'm sure there are others that I failed.  Another question:  If your faith has been tested, did you pass?

            God tests us to prove our faith.  When our faith is proven, it produces joy in our lives.  That joy is a key to helping us deal with those situations.  We don't have to wait until Christ returns for our faith to be proven as genuine.  The reality of our faith is clearly validated by our faithful enduring of trials and testings in this life.  We can endure and be joyful in life knowing that God uses trials to test our faith.

            We can also experience joy and endure in life knowing that believers will one day rejoice in the prospect of a promised honor.  True faith will ultimately come through all of life's trials and troubles and obtain eternal honor from God.  That's what Peter is getting at in verse 7 when he says that our faith will result in praise and glory and honor. 

            Peter's focus here is not on the fact that we as God's children honor Him.  We do honor Him and we should honor Him because He deserves all of the honor, glory and praise that we can possibly give to Him.  Our worship of God is a vital aspect of our relationship with Him.  We will worship in this life and in the life to come.  John 4:23; Rev 4:10-11. 

            What Peter is focusing on here is the fact that God will one day honor us.  God will grant believers praise and glory and honor at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It seems pretty incredible to think that believers who in this life are called to give honor to the Lord always, can by their faithfulness in trials elicit praise from the Lord in the life to come.  But God is communicating to us through His inerrant Word that true saving faith and its resultant good works always receive divine commendation.  Rom. 2:6-7, 10.

            The terms glory and praise both refer to that which believers receive from God.  Glory may relate best to the Christlikeness God will endow every believer with.  Honor likely refers to the rewards God will give to believers because of their service to Him. 

            This threefold tribute of praise, glory and honor will occur at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Revelation refers to the second coming of Christ.  It particularly focuses on the time when He returns to reward His redeemed people.  It is an amazing truth that when Jesus returns for His own, not only will we joyfully serve Him, but He will also graciously serve and honor us.  We can rejoice and we can endure knowing that when we're faithful, there are eternal rewards awaiting us.

            We can rejoice in life and we can endure suffering and difficulties in life when we experience and practice love and trust.  Love and trust are the two crucial ingredients in any meaningful relationship.  I hope that it's obvious to us all that love and trust are essential to our relationship with Christ.

            Peter knew what he was talking about here.  Except for Judas, Peter was the one disciple who committed the worst breach of faith and trust in the Lord.  Peter was the leader of the apostles.  He lived with Jesus for three years and saw and heard everything that He did and said.  Yet, in a critical moment he failed to sustain his love and trust in the Lord by denying three times that he even knew Jesus.  

            It could be that Peter, in humility, is reflecting on that time as he's writing this letter. In marked contrast to his denial of Christ, his readers, even though they had not seen Jesus, still maintained a true love for and a strong trust in the Lord.  Peter denied Jesus when he thought that he might possibly suffer as one of His followers.  Peter's readers stayed true to the Lord even though they were being persecuted and suffering. 

            It all comes down to love.  According to song writers, love is what makes the world go around and all we need is love.  Whether or not those sentiments are true, love is obviously extremely important.  The word love in verse 8 is the love of the will, the noblest form of love.  The present tense indicates that Peter's audience constantly loved their Lord.  That's what Jesus communicated to His followers and us in Matt. 22:36-40. 

            How would you define your love for Christ?  Our love too often is selfish love.  We love God when things are going well and we're getting our way.  Or we show love to Him in order to get something from Him.  When things aren't good and we're not getting our way, our love can be shallow and superficial.    

            This is another of those questions that we would all answer, of course I love the Lord.  I'm not accusing anyone of not loving God.  It is important, however, that we examine our lives and our hearts to make sure we love Jesus with the all-consuming, sacrificial love that He wants and expects of us.  That means we submit and surrender to His lordship.  That means we do what He wants whether we want to or not.  It means we sacrifice our lives and our time and our money and everything for Him if that's what He's calling us to do.  That is love. 

            It's God's Word that fuels all of this.  If we truly love and trust God, then we believe what God's Word has to say about Jesus.  As we know and believe what the Word has to say about Jesus, we more we love Him.  The more we love Him, the more joy we exhibit.  Thus, love and trust are the two elements that bind believers to a living relationship with Jesus Christ.  It is our love for God and our trust in Him that helps us to rejoice and persevere in tough times. 

            That wondrous relationship with Christ caused Peter's readers to greatly rejoice with perfect joy inexpressible.  Inexpressible literally means higher than speech.  Those who live in personal communion with Christ experience a joy so divine that they cannot communicate it.  In other words, humanly speaking such joy is beyond the reach of speech and expression.  John says something similar.  John 15:11.  In their fellowship with the Lord, believers have both a supernatural love and a transcendent joy.

            In verse 9, the apostle wraps this section up by stating that the outcome of all of this is salvation.  Peter isn't looking to the future aspect of salvation.  That is the eternal inheritance that he talked about earlier that is guaranteed for us someday.  He's looking at the present aspect of salvation.

            Not only are we promised a place in heaven, a place Jesus has already prepared for us, but we also experience the benefits of salvation as long as we're here on this earth.  Salvation refers to believer's constant, present deliverance from the penalty and power of sin.  Because of what Christ has done for us and as the Spirit dwells within us, we have awesome benefits to enjoy.  We are delivered from sin's guilt; from sin's condemnation; from sin's wrath.  We are also delivered from ignorance, distrust, confusion, hopelessness and sin's domination of our lives. 

            There is no reason for believers to lose their joy.  We can experience joy and persevere and endure in life because we know that trials prove our faith; we are promised honor from God; we practice love and trust of the Lord and we experience inexpressible joy. 

            As our singer and musician come now, we invite you to do whatever you need to do in your life, to start living with the joy God has provided for you.  Maybe you need to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Maybe you need to follow in believer's baptism or join the church or publicly re-dedicate your life to the Lord.  Maybe there's something else on your heart that you only need to share with me right now.  Whatever it is, we invite you to respond now as we stand and sing.

 

            Prayer.


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