1 Peter 1
Notes
Transcript
1 Peter 1
1 Peter 1
Good morning church!
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Let’s pray. Most of you guys are familiar with the name of Peter from your bibles. Sometimes referred to as Simon Peter. He was of course one of the original Disciples of Jesus. We know that Peter had a brother named Andrew, and that Andrew was one of the disciples of John the Baptist who was a cousin and forerunner of Jesus.
Andrew was present when John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan river when Jesus came walking up to John and heard John the Baptist say, “Behold, The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus then allowed John the Baptist to baptize Him.
Andrew then when back to his brother, at this point called Simon, and told him, basically, hey man, I think we have found the Messiah, you’ve got to come check this out with me. Andrew and his brother were fishing at the time, not far from two other brothers James and John. As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw them and told them that He would make them fishers of men and told them to follow Him. And they did, in fact the Bible says that they immediately dropped their nets and followed Him.
So, these four were among the very first disciples of Jesus.
Satan has asked for you by name Simon and he wants to crush you…but
31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.
32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
Peter would fail, but his faith would not. And after his fail, Jesus restored him, so he was well aware of the grace of God. Most of us know what that is like. No just to be forgiven and to be saved, to have your sins washed away. But to fall, knowing the cost, knowing the shame, only to be forgiven again by the grace and mercy of God to restore the relationship. Peter knew all about it.
This is the same Peter that when Jesus was asking His disciple who men were saying that he was, and then asked who do you guys say who I am that confessed Jesus as Christ saying,
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
now check out how Jesus responded to him....verse 17
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
The same Peter that just a verse or two later is rebuking Jesus for saying that he was to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things…then hears this from our Lord...
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
So Peter is probably a guy that we can all relate to or maybe even identify with at one point in our lives or another, so lets dig in. Verse 1 in chapter 1...
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
Peter begins by identifying himself. You churched folks know that letters were written on scrolls. So unlike in our culture where we sign our name at the end, here the writer would identify themselves upfront, and Peter is just saying, Peter is writing this, yes, that Peter.
It’s interesting when you compare it to the greeting the Apostle Paul who wrote the majority of the New Testament letters, as he always says something to the affect of Paul, called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Some say that is because Paul came to the scene late, becoming an Apostle after the resurrection of Jesus. But to put it plainly, Peter was there from the get go, so no one ever questioned his Apostolic authority.
Peter wrote two letters, 1st and 2nd Peter and unlike Paul’s letters that were to specific churches, or written to address particular issues. Like his letters to the churches in Colossae, or in Philippi, or things are going off the rails again in Corinth, time to write again to the Corinthians.
Peter’s letters fall into the category of general epistles, which is church talk for saying a general letter or a circuit letter to be passed around to all Christians. James is a general epistle along with 1, 2, and 3rd John, and Jude would be as well.
1 Peter was written as an encouragement for those Christians that are experiencing trials, persecution, or just tough times, to give them perspective and remind them of Heaven. These letters were written pretty close together. Most people date them somewhere between 60 and 65 A.D. so roughly 30 ish years after the cross. I don’t always get into timelines on Sunday mornings, mostly because I don’t think it’s relevant to what we are doing here, but today it is. I think it was written closer to 64-65 and it’s relevant because there was these guys were dispersed because of persecution and more was on the way. In October of A.d. 64 a Roman Emperor named Nero launched a government sponsored brutal attack against Christians. This started in Rome but was quickly spreading and Peter knew this and wanted to warn and encourage Christians.
Peter himself was crucified in 68 ad according to church history and tradition, so shortly after these letters were written. He wants to remind these guys to keep their focus on Heaven.
He does this even in the first verse when he calls them Pilgrims of the Dispersion. He is using OT language here comparing them to those that were taken captive and driven from Jerusalem that we just talked about on Wednesday nights going through the book of Lamentations. But this dispersion was due to persecution and they had been scattered to these locations that make up area that are now located in modern day Turkey.
If you look up the definition of the word Pilgrim today you’ll most likely find something to the effect of one who travels for a religious purpose. We are familiar with a different definition in our country’s history with the pilgrims that traveled from another land and came here looking for a place to settle. A Pilgrim is one who is a foreigner in a foreign land who is not yet home.
That’s us! As Christians we are pilgrims. We are in this world, but not of this world, because we are not yet home. We live with the hope and anticipation of Heaven. Even in the midst of trials and hardship, better days are ahead, because we are just pilgrims. 1 and 2 Peter is a great place to send someone to who has lost their perspective during hardship and for them to be encouraged by the grace of God. He continues in verse 2…and tells us three amazing things about the Christian life. Lets read it.
2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
So, like Paul’s letters he greets the readers with Grace and Peace, Grace being the Greek greeting of charis, meaning grace and peace is the greeting that the Jews would give one another with their word Shalom. This shows us that the Holy Spirit inspired both the writings of Paul and of Peter, as you know, they are always in that order first grace and then peace, because you can’t experience the peace of God, until you have received the grace of God.
But the three things we see here first he calls them elect. Chosen by God, there has been thousands of years of debate throughout the church, concerning the Sovereignty of God, predestination, God electing who would be saved verse the free moral agency, or free will of man, to include the responsibility of man. Some would say God chooses and you don’t have a choice. Fortunately for you, we’ll solve the whole thing here this morning in the next few minutes, kidding, but not really.
The truth is, the Bible really does say both. Here Peter says we are elect, but in John Jesus says, that whoever believes will have everlasting life.
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
So what gives? One of the things that I have come to accept in my journey of faith, is that any time you have the combination of the finite (that’s us) and the infinite (that’s God) there is going to be, has to be some mystery. God is involved in marriage, making two into one, they bible tells us that is a great mystery.
God has revealed so much to us, and today through the New Testament we can know more about God than David knew, or Isaiah or Moses. But if I was able to understand everything there was to understand about God, if He wasn’t bigger than my brain, then He wouldn’t be God, He wouldn’t be greater than me, and certainly wouldn’t be worthy of my worship.
But God is not like us. One of the attributes about God, is that He is omniscient. All knowing. God doesn’t learn stuff, He’s not surprised by stuff. He knows who is going to respond to His invitation and He has always known it.
2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
That is His foreknowledge. He’s not going to be surprised if you make it to Heaven, some of your friends and family might be, but God won’t. Now, thing number 1 we learn about Christians here is that they are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. We are elect, we are chosen according to the foreknowledge. We don’t have time to get into it this morning, it’s more of a school of ministry discussion, but what does that look like. Well this says God already knows who is going to choose Him and they are the elect. That being said, I also think His foreknowledge includes more than that. I don’t think His election is like a duck, duck, Goose thing and you or I just get randomly chosen.
The idea of election can create a great amount of fear and doubt among people. I mean what if I’m not chosen, or God doesn’t elect me. Then remember what Jesus said, and chose Him, believe in Him, then you’re one of the elect. OK, I also think there is more to it than us just believing totally separate and isolated from God, because then God wouldn’t have anything to do with it, and this says that He elects. I told you we’d clear it up.
I’m OK with both being true and it being a mystery. But, it also means that you have to choose. If you don’t chose to believe and follow Jesus, then you are 100 percent to blame and will suffer the consequences of rejecting Him for all of eternity. I think some of it comes down to perspective. From our perspective we have a choice and are responsible for that choice.
From the perspective of God who is all knowing and has foreknowledge, He elected those that were going to respond to the invitation.
So which should we emphasize. Some groups are all about the sovereignty of God and others preach the responsibility of man. He’s my advise. If we follow the example of Jesus, we are going to be right. When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, someone who was not saved, He emphasized the responsibility of man.
Nicodemus you must be born again, whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. All Jesus talked to him about was his responsibility that is what the lost man needs to here. The fact that we are chosen, or elect is for us. It’s for the Christian when we begin to doubt our faith, or question our salvation. Is is real, or am I out of my mind. Am I really saved? Yes! Yes and amen, God chose me, He elected me, that’s why I responded, He predestined it before the foundations of the earth. Let’s move on.
2nd thing....in sanctification of the Spirit, we were elected by God to be saved and not just forgiven, but for sanctification of the Spirit, that continual processes of making us more like Jesus. Purifying us, making us more Holy. So if you said a little prayer, but as James says, there is no fruit, and as Peter says, sanctification isn’t happening, you’re not a new creation, then I personally would question if you were really elected…because look at the rest of this…for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, are you living for Him and obeying His commandments? Notice as well that our salvation involves God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son. So as Christians we have the assurance of being elect, we are being sanctified, and we have been saved for obedience and good works.
Verse 3
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
What I love about this is I get the sense of Peter’s excitement, it’s worship. Blessed be the God and Father...
We have a living hope because He defeated death our inheritance is incorruptible. Recently a friend bought a ticket to power ball. But what if you got an unexpected inheritance?
This reminds me in some ways of the book of Ephesians. If you are familiar with it, the first few chapters are about redemption, the grace that we receive, the peace that we have in Jesus, that He is our cornerstone. That God can do exceedingly more than we could ever ask or think. And then we get to the parents and children, Husbands and wives. IF all we had was the end of the book all of that stuff would be a recipe for frustration and failure. But Paul tells us that all of it is possible, because of all that we have in God.
Peter here is overcome with worship for all that we have, and then 5 five gives us our job…faith, just believe it. AND even our faith is a gift from Him…verse 6
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
I want you to see one part in this verse in particular. We spent allot of time in James talking about trials and that there was actually value in trials, so much so that we were to count it all joy when they come because of what they will produce, but check this out…if need be…if need be what, you and I might need be to experience some grief. No thank you God....now remember verses 3-5, that we’re not in this alone…remember the things we can rejoice in …but there might also be a need for us to grieve.
7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
Our faith is not tested to prove ourselves to God. God knows all. He knows what kind of faith you have, how strong a faith you have, the problem is we often don’t. We don’t know the genuineness of our faith. If it will get us through the tough stuff. What is the enduring strength and value of my faith, how do I know unless its tested? What happens when something seems too big, or too bad, well when it is tested by fire, I’ll know it’s strong enough to get me through the next one.
This idea of us loving Him and not having seen Him that’s the stuff that blows away the angels…again Peter focuses us on abiding and receiving the end of our faith the very presence of Jesus for all of eternity, the completion of our salvation.
10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,
11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.
Peter is telling us here that all of the bible is about Jesus, tells the story of the gospel. The OT prophets painted a picture of the things to come, how to know the Messiah. Notice though it says to them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us...
Daniel asked God…what’s this all about that I’m writing? "8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, "My lord, what shall be the end of these things?" 9 And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." - Daniel 12:8-9 NKJV
They weren’t for them. Can you imagine Isaiah up in Heaven reading the Gospels and seeing the things he prophesied about coming to pass.
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
aimless and lost, we have no purpose, no calling before we know Jesus. We just do stuff because everyone else is doing it. Some of us have had multiple career paths, because we are searching and searching...
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
What an incredible thing! He was manifest for us, so that our faith and hope would be in God. What a gift, what a privilege to follow Him.
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
24 because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
What God has done in our lives Christian, giving us Spiritual life, that cannot be corrupted. Our physical birth in the flesh can be and was, for all of us through sin. We are not without blemish or spot, but our life through the Spirit, of us, the elect, those that have responded to the invitation, that life cannot be taken away, it is not corruptible according to His Word which lives and abides forever.
Grace and Peace and we will see most of you at 6 tonight for our kickoff of the marriage conference.
Grace and Peace