Would you take your Bible please and turn with me to the book of 1 Peter. This is an age of rights. In addition to constitutional rights, which we hear about, there are speeches about human rights and animal rights, women's rights, children's rights, minority rights, special interest groups claiming certain rights for their cause. I'd like today to talk about a right that is underproclaimed and that is the right of Christians to celebrate.
I heard someone say one time that only the Christian really has a right to smile in this world. What he meant by that was that all of the rest of the world is under the judgment of God and its need is to repent. It has only the fearful looking forward to of the judgment of God and there is no reason to smile when that is one's future. But the child of God has settled all of that through his faith in Jesus Christ. Being a member of the family of God, he has the right to smile and to celebrate.
Seems to me that that's what Peter is saying essentially in our text today, which is verses three through nine of 1 Peter 1.
Blessed or praised or celebrated be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary you have been distressed by various trials that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though 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 but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. We who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have reason to celebrate. Seems to me that Peter lists four reasons here as to why we can celebrate as Christians. Reason number one is that we have a salvation that's settled. Nice Peter uses that term in verses four, again in verse nine.
Again in verse 10 outside of our text he uses the word salvation and once again in chapter two, verse two. Salvation is one of Peter's themes especially early on in this book. By salvation he is talking about the deliverance that we have from the wrath of God's judgment. Salvation refers to our deliverance and our preservation for the purpose of God.
Now there are some who like to think of the word salvation and its verb form saved as being antiquated or old fashioned, out of date, a word that has lost its relevance, I've heard it said. But I hardly agree with that. It is a biblical term which expresses the experience of the child of God.
Furthermore, it is I think a relevant term for we hear it today in the media whether it's referring to a man who has been saved from death because of an artificial heart or someone who has been saved from an air disaster. The term is still used today in the sense of being rescued and that is what the Bible term means only in an eternal sense. There really are three tenses of salvation in the word of God. There's past, present, and future.
As Peter uses the term salvation he seems to embrace all three of those tenses at one time. With a special emphasis on the future side of it, looking forward to the completion or the culmination rather of our salvation. Salvation is brought to the individual through faith. That's what Peter says. He uses faith in verse 5 but again in verse 9 he says, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. It is faith which brings salvation to the individual.
And salvation says Peter involves being born again. You see that phrase in verse 3? Actually did you know the term born again is found only twice in the Bible? Both of those occasions are in chapter 1 of 1 Peter. Here in verse 3, again in verse 23. You say, wait a minute, in John 3 it says you must be born again. Well actually the Greek term there is you must be born from above.
The Greek word for born again technically is used only twice in the New Testament, both of them by Peter in this chapter. Peter says that salvation is our being born again. That term means the impartation of life so that there's a new beginning. It is the creation of a new person within each of us who can obey God. It is new life, new birth. The sinner needs a new birth. You don't help a blind man to see better by turning up the light.
You don't help a dead man to enjoy himself by having a nicer funeral. What the blind man needs is new eyes. What the dead man needs is life. And the sinner is one who is without sight and dead in trespasses and sins. What he needs is a new birth. He needs life. He needs spiritual eyes to see the things of God. That is what the new birth brings. The new birth comes by faith in Jesus Christ. But it originates with God. Never forget that. We do not cause ourselves to be born again.
Indeed, Peter says here it is God who has caused us to be born again. That really refers back to what he's already said in verses 1 and 2 where he describes our salvation in profound terms when he says that we are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit that we might obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood. Do you notice that each person of the Godhead is mentioned there?
He mentions God the Father as being the one who according to His foreknowledge chose us. And then he says the Holy Spirit sanctified us. That is, He set us apart. The idea is that He wooed us. He drew us to Jesus Christ. He mentions the blood of Jesus Christ reminding us that He died on the cross of Calvary. That was His part in our salvation. And He brought us to that place that we might obey Jesus Christ. The obedience there, by the way, is the obedience of believing in Him.
And so the new birth finds its origin in God. It has been made possible because of Jesus Christ's death and His resurrection mentioned at the end of verse 3. Because of that, God can now show abundant or great mercy to us and cause us to be born again so that we are saved. Our salvation is not a think-so salvation. By that I am referring to those people who think that they might be saved. Have you ever asked someone if they're a Christian and they say, well, I think so?
It's not the kind of salvation we're talking about. Ours is not a think-so salvation. It is not a hope-so salvation. It is not a salvation that says, well, someday I guess I can know for sure. No. The salvation that God has given to us is a salvation that is settled. It is settled in heaven once and for all. You say, when was it settled? Well from God's perspective, it was settled way back yonder at the cross when the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins and then was raised from the dead.
It took that to secure our salvation. And as far as God is concerned, our salvation was settled at that moment without any questions. But from our perspective, it was settled the moment that we trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, whenever that may have been if you have done that. At that moment when you by faith received Christ, when you were born again, at that moment your salvation was settled for time and for eternity so that we have no suspense, no uncertainty with regards to our salvation.
It is settled. John 3.16 does not end with a question mark. It ends with a period. Salvation is a legal transaction. And once that transaction has been conducted, it's sealed. A few weeks ago, I called the mortgage company which owns our house. I wanted to talk to them about a certain aspect of our mortgage that I thought it was only fair to adjust considering the conditions that are different now from a couple of years ago.
The lady on the other end of the line very politely but firmly said, I'm sorry when you signed your mortgage, that was it. It was a legal transaction and we can't go back in now and change anything. Well, she was right. Our salvation, my friend, is the same way. God signed the dotted line as it were when His Son died at the cross. And when you by faith trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, you put your signature down on the dotted line and that finished it, that settled the transaction.
Our salvation is a settled salvation. That gives us reason to celebrate. We do not have to go through life timidly and with uncertainty. But by the grace and the mercy of God, we can go through life knowing that we have a salvation that is settled and praise Him for it. Now there is a second cause for celebration for the Christian and that is that we have a hope that is secure. Peter says that we have been born again to a living hope.
Now when the New Testament uses the word hope, I hope you understand that it is not used in the same way in which we often use the term. Because to us when we talk about hoping, it means that we are uncertain about it. It is something we would like to see happen, but it is not for sure. When the New Testament uses the word hope, it is referring to something that is absolutely for sure. It is a confident expectation. It is not something we have yet, but it is coming for sure.
It is used in the sense of something that is an assured destiny. That is hope. But Peter calls it living hope. I think he is using that term in the same sense that Jesus spoke of Himself as being living water. Not only did He give life when people partook of Him by faith, but He was using it in the sense that there will always be an abundant supply of that water of eternal life through Him. It never fails. It is living in that sense. It does not go dead at certain seasons of the year.
When I was a small boy on the farm, we had a spring that came out of a rock over at a creek on the other side of our property. I can remember during the springtime of year what a special delight it was when I would go get the cows from milking to stop there at that creek to dip out a place in the mud beside that rock and let the water clear out and take a drink from that spring. I do not know if it was polluted. I have no idea. I do not even care to tell you the truth. It was refreshing.
But after the heat of the summer arose, the spring went dead. It was not living water. It failed. It was not a deep spring, you see. Jesus says that He is living water. He does not fail. Now, what Peter is saying, I think, is that the hope that we have will not fail. It will not somewhere down the road die out on us. It is a living hope. There are no lapses in it at all. He defines that hope more specifically as being an inheritance. You see that in verse 4?
We have been born again to a living hope to obtain an inheritance. You say, what is my hope? It is your inheritance in Jesus Christ. The word inheritance is used, by the way, in the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, in referring to Israel's promised land. Because of Israel's unique relationship to God, God promised Israel a land, the land of Canaan. That became her inheritance.
Now, that very same word is used in the New Testament to talk about our inheritance. It refers to a possession that is given to us by God because of our relationship to Him. Now, as you look at the total context here, it's clear that that inheritance involves the glory that we will share with Jesus Christ. Our inheritance refers to what we're going to receive on that day when we see Jesus Christ face to face. We will be completely in our experience saved.
Our salvation we brought to its culmination so that in body as well as in soul and in spirit we will be glorified to be like Jesus Christ. That is our inheritance. That is our living hope, our expectation. That hope, my friend, is secure. There's nothing that can change it, nothing that can change it. Peter seems to draw four pictures by the words that he chooses here in this verse to show us how secure it is. He first says that this inheritance is imperishable.
And here he draws upon a picture from the military. In that day a place or a city would be said to be imperishable using this Greek term if an invading army could not conquer it. And so what Peter is saying is that though there are enemies in our lives, though we have the world to contend with, we have the flesh within us, we have the devil out there and all of his attacks against us, despite all of these enemies against us, we are imperishable with relation to our expectation, our hope.
We cannot be conquered and overcome so that we lose out on that inheritance. It is imperishable. It cannot be destroyed by an enemy. Then secondly he seems to go to the world of manufacturing, particularly textile manufacturing, which was very important in that day. The manufacturing of textiles employed a lot of people, those who both made cloth and those who died cloth. And it's from that latter aspect of it that he draws this word undefiled because it literally means unstained.
It means untainted with evil. He says that the inheritance that we have in Jesus Christ is not stainable with evil. It is a pure inheritance. There have been a few people who have received inheritance from family and they've given it all away. Why? Because it was tainted with sin. They didn't want sin money from their relatives. Because of the way that money was made, they looked upon it as stained with evil and turned from it, gave it away.
That's something we never have to be concerned about when it comes to God's inheritance for us. It's pure. It's unstainable. We might put it this way that it has a heavenly scotch guard to it. It's undefiled. It's impervious to the stain of evil. Then he says thirdly, it's so secure that it will not fade away. And here he goes into the world of botany. He compares this inheritance to flowers.
At that time, a person who would receive a reward or an award for perhaps even running a race or winning an athletic contest would receive a garland or a wreath of flowers. It would be a wonderful sign of his victory, what he had gained. The problem with it was that within a day or so, the thing wilted and fell apart. It didn't last very long. It faded. Now what it says here about our inheritance in Jesus Christ is that there is nothing that can cause it to be diminished.
In beauty or in worth, it is secure. It will not fade away. And finally, he says, it is reserved in heaven for you. He goes, it seems, here to the banking industry or to the world of economics. He says that God has secreted away our inheritance. Not only is guarding it, he has laid it up on the shelf, so to speak, so that it's secure for us. Do you have something precious that you want to give to your children? Perhaps it's a family heirloom that's been passed down from generation to generation.
What have you done with that while your children are small? Do you put it out on the coffee table? Only if you want to shed a lot of tears, no. You take that precious item and you lay it up. Maybe it's up somewhere in a closet or in a chest, perhaps it's the kind of thing you keep in a safe deposit box. But you put it someplace where it's reserved that future time for them. Now listen, that's what God has done with our inheritance. He has secured it in heaven for us.
It is being guarded there so that no one can break through and steal it. There's no more strong language that Peter could employ to underscore the security of our destiny as God's children than that which he uses here. We have a hope that is secure. But notice it doesn't stop there. In verse 5 he goes on to say, you who are protected yourselves by the power of God. We too are shielded by the power of God. The word here was used again in the military. It meant to garrison a city roundabout.
A city is going to be under attack so they would send a garrison of soldiers and they would surround the city so that it could not be broken into. That is the word that is used here. He says that we have been garrisoned about, protected by the power of God through faith. You say there's the clincher. Because if my faith fails, then God's garrison will disappear. Sorry, that's not what it says. What he's saying is that those who believe, Christians, are protected.
My friend, if your faith fails somewhere down along the line, it means you were never saved. This was called the perseverance of the saints. Oh, there may be brief times when doubts arise. It happens with all of us. But a genuine Christian will not shun his faith and apostatize. He cannot do that. On his part, it's faith, ongoing faith, because he's a genuine child of God. That faith does not ultimately fail. What does that faith do? It secures him. It garrisons him around by the power of God.
So Peter's picture really is this. Our inheritance is reserved for us in heaven, and we are guarded for it on the earth. Double protection, describing our hope that's secure. You and I can rejoice about that. As we pass through life, we may go through some tough times, but there's one thing we can count on, and that's the fact that our inheritance in Jesus Christ is being kept securely for us in heaven. Nothing can diminish it. It cannot be stolen. It does not fade away.
An army cannot break through and destroy it. It is being reserved for us there. And you and I are as sure of being there with Jesus Christ on that day of our glorification as we are sure of being in this auditorium this morning. There's nothing in heaven, on earth, or in hell below which can keep us from receiving the hope that God has laid up for us as His born-again children.
Now, there's a third reason why we have a right to celebrate that Peter talks about, and that is that we have a purpose that's significant. Notice in verse 6 he says, in this you greatly rejoice. That is what he just talked about. Even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. The distress he talks about here emphasizes mental anguish.
The trials that he has in mind are probably not the typical kinds of things we think of as trials, but he's referring probably specifically here to persecution because that was the problem these people were facing. They were undergoing pressure from unbelievers because of their faith. Peter says, look, you can celebrate, you can bless God because you have a purpose, you dear Christians, that's significant.
Now, as he talks about this purpose, he first reminds us that the trials we're facing are both transitory and necessary. By transitory I mean they're passing, and that's the way it is with persecution in particular. It comes in waves, that is so even in communist lands, it seems to become intense and then it's released for a while and then it comes back again in force. It's transitory, it passes with time.
But let's suppose even if it didn't, all the years of our lives are nothing when compared to eternity. It's just a little while, as he says. And then the NASV, which I use, I think does not do this justice when it says if necessary because it seems that what Peter really is saying is that it is necessary. It is necessary that we face these kinds of experiences. Why? It's an important part of our preparation for our ultimate purpose.
That preparation, he says, involves a process of proving our faith. He compares our faith in verse 7 to gold. Gold perishes, that's the one way in which it's contrasted. But gold is precious and our faith, like gold, is precious to God. But gold has to be proved. It is taken to an assayer who determines its worth and then often to someone who works with metal. And he perhaps will take that gold ore and begin to heat it, put it under pressure.
And as it begins to break down and to melt, the impurities rise to the surface. And so he takes some instrument and he wipes off those impurities. The dross is removed. And he does that over and over and over again. What is he looking for? He's looking for his face in the gold. That's how he tells if it's pure. If he sees his own reflection, he's satisfied that the preparation process has reached its end. The gold then can be used for whatever its intention is.
Do you see how that parallels what you and I are experiencing in life? We are going through a proving process. God is testing our faith, not in the sense that He expects us sometimes to fail, not in the sense that there are some Christians who are going to come short. That's not what it means. He is testing our faith with the expectation that we're going to pass the test.
His desire is to remove from our lives the impurities so that finally when the process is over he can look into your life and into mine and see his own likeness. That's the process of preparation. We're being prepared through that for our purpose. And that purpose is that in verse 7 we might be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You've got to understand what he's saying there.
Peter is saying there is a day coming when Jesus Christ is going to be unveiled, revealed to the world and to all of creation in His majesty and in His glory. Peter is telling you and me that on that day when He is revealed we too are going to be there and our purpose will be to bring praise and honor and glory to Jesus Christ. You say, how can we do that?
We are going to be the object lessons so that as He perhaps tells of His mercy and His grace He will point to you and to you and to you and to me and say, look here is proof that I am abundant in mercy. Here is evidence of my grace and my patience and my love. See it here in these lives, this pure gold that has come out of the furnace. As you and I go through life it's not always roses and sweetness, is it?
There are tough times and there are some of you that are facing some very difficult times right now. In the midst of that I want you to remember this third reason that you have to rejoice and that is you have a purpose that is significant. God is working in your life, in your circumstances right now so that one day He can bring you before all the rest of creation to the praise and the honor and the glory of Jesus Christ. What a marvelous purpose God has in view for us.
When we begin to understand what our destiny is, what God has in mind for us, that will cause us to celebrate. That's why we have a right to celebrate. You see we are a part of something that is bigger than ourselves.
God's plan is to glorify Himself in a redeemed, renewed humanity and to populate a new heaven and new earth with a saved people and those people then will be the objects of admiration and wonder to all of the rest of His creation for all time to come showing His glorious grace, mercy and love. That's your destiny my friend. That brings us to our fourth cause for celebration. You and I have a right to celebrate because we have a joy that's superlative. Joy and happiness of course are contrasted.
Happiness has to do with our happenings, our circumstances. Joy is a level above that. Joy is independent of our circumstances. That's why only a Christian can be joyous, truly joyous with the joy of Jesus Christ. There are really three facts that He seems to point out about our joy in verses eight and nine. One is that it's centered in the person of Jesus Christ. Our joy is not ours because of fellowship with other believers because sometimes that's not much fun.
Our joy is not ours because of other people that we love or know or like to be with. Our joy is not ours because of position that we may have in the world or in the church. Our joy is our joy because of Jesus Christ. Four times you notice in verse eight He talks about Him, Him, Him, Him. And though we have never seen Him and do not now see Him, yet we love Him and we believe in Him. He is the focus. He is the center of our joy, Jesus Christ. It's because of Him that you and I can be joyous.
That's why Paul said in Philippians, rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. Secondly, he says that our joy is made a reality as we walk by faith. Why is it there are some Christians who do not know this joy that's focused and centered in Jesus Christ? Why are there some that look like they were weaned on pickle juice or soaked in sour lemonade? Why is that? And they're Christians. Well the answer is that they're not walking by faith.
When we walk by faith that joy is a present experience and reality. He mentions in verse nine or verse eight rather, though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him. We walk by faith. It is unbelief. It is disobedience which robs us of joy, the joy that God wants us to experience. When I walk by faith I can see God's hand in my circumstances. I know He's there in the fog with me. That He's in the midst of my pressures walking with me, leading me along.
By faith I know that and that joy therefore flows. It's a reality. Now the third thing he says about it is that it's the result of my knowledge that each day is bringing me closer to my hope. That's what verse nine says in essence. Meaning as the outcome that is the final issue or the result of your faith, the salvation of your soul. Soul's here in the Jewish sense, meaning the total person, not just the immaterial part of us.
He's saying that the reason that we can have joy is in part knowing this, that every day I am getting closer and closer to realizing my hope. The outcome of my faith being with Jesus Christ and like Jesus Christ. Now is our salvation closer than when we first believed is essentially what Peter's suggesting here. And because every day is bringing me a step closer to that destiny, we rejoice. The superlatives that he uses here are amazing. He says you greatly rejoice.
It means you enthusiastically, exultingly rejoice. It's a strong word. He says it is a joy inexpressible. The idea is there that it's a joy that is beyond the capacity to speak about. How do you put it into words? The joy that you have in Jesus Christ. And he says it's full of glory. Simply having been glorified. In other words, it's something that has been given to us from God. It is full of glory. The glory of the world passes and fades. People applaud and then leave the theater. They're gone.
And the actor is left to his loneliness. The athlete gets his medallion and puts it up on the wall of his house but soon forgets it. The executive makes his position and then he retires and people forget who he is. My friend, the glory of this world is passing. But the joy that we have in Jesus Christ is ours because the glory we have in him is full. It's everlasting glory. So we have a lot to celebrate. There's no cause for us to be unhappy people.
God has given us the right and the reason to celebrate. But with rights come responsibilities. And I guess if there's any problem I have with some of those who are demanding rights in our society it is that they forget that with rights come responsibilities. Families learn that because as children grow up and become teenagers, they receive more and more rights. But they have to learn that with those rights they have to also accept more responsibility.
And then the time comes when they leave home and hopefully by that time the transition has been made so they understand their rights but they're able to balance those rights with what they have to fulfill as adults, being responsible people. And so it is with we believers. We have the right to celebrate but let's not forget the other side and that is that our celebration must bring us to the point of commitment.
We must come full cycle on the thing so that with our rights we accept our responsibilities as well. Glory making in itself accomplishes nothing unless it brings us again to that point where we say, now what is my Lord's purpose for me and what does my commitment need to be to that purpose? I can tell you what God's will and purpose is right now. It is really twofold. It is number one that he might call out from the world a people for himself.
And secondly that he might then mature and develop those people within the context of a body, a church. That's his purpose. And the questions I want to ask in closing are related to what his purpose is. We celebrate what he's done for us but now what is he up to that we can join in on? Question number one, am I involved in helping people understand the gospel so that they can come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior? So that God can call them out to himself?
Am I sharing the gospel with people? My celebration needs to bring me to that commitment or somehow I've missed the whole point in celebrating. Secondly, am I involved in my local church so that as people are called out by God and added to the body, I am a part of this whole thing of maturing them? Am I serving others in the body? Am I giving obediently? Am I investing my spiritual gifts? Am I personally maturing?
In all of my celebrating, if I don't come back to answer that question of commitment to God's work in the local church, then somehow I've missed the point too. So folks, we have the right to celebrate. Praise God for that. But it brings us right back to the point of saying, Lord, now how can you use me? I'm your channel. What do you want me to be? What do you want me to do? Whatever it is, I'll do it.
As we talk about the right to celebrate, that's the responsibility that I want to come back with. Are you willing to do whatever He says? Are you doing it? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for Peter's reminder to us of why we can celebrate. My prayer is that we will come back full cycle in our own thinking to the point of commitment.
As this has been a time of commitment for us in our own walk with you in various ways, as we've talked about our commitment in our giving, recognizing the final exam that's coming and the fact that we need to be making friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, as we were reminded two weeks ago, I pray that our commitment this morning would be such that whatever else we've said during these last couple of weeks, we're saying to you this morning, whatever it is, Lord, I'll do it.
Whatever the cost may be, Savior, I'm willing to pay it. I pray that we will today be sincerely and humbly, genuinely your channels. In Jesus' name, amen. I'd like us to close this morning by singing number 92, how I praise thee, precious Savior. There's the celebration. How I praise thee that thy love laid hold of me. Then it goes on in the chorus, channels only. Blessed Master, use me. Let's sing together the first verse in chorus of number 92. Let's stand as we sing.
How I praise thee, precious Savior, that thy love laid hold of me. Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me, that I might thy channel be. Channels only, blessed Master, but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us. Thou canst use us every day and every hour. Let's bow together. I wonder if just quietly, without any accompaniment, we would sing that chorus once again. Channels only, blessed Master, but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us.
Thou canst use us every day and every hour. Lord I pray that that may indeed be the experience of our lives this week, that we may see your blessed power flowing through us, using us every day and hour as channels to touch the lives of others and to put the impress of the love of Jesus Christ onto their lives. Thank you for the purpose for which you have called us and for the hope that is ours. Make us a rejoicing, celebrating people who are committed to your purpose and will in the world.
In Jesus' name, amen.