The Joy of Our Salvation

Introduction

Good morning please open in your Bible’s to 1 Peter 1:3-12 that is 1 Peter 1:3-12. If you are using a Bible using on of the Bible’s in the chairs our passage today will be on page 1014.

Today our text describes the salvation that belongs to Christians. Peter begins he letter which is written to people you are in the midst of suffering, and he tells them about the greatness and the goodness of God in saving them through Jesus Christ. In a letter that will get extremely practical as Peter will write about government, marriage, and the church life he starts by being crystal clear about the source of a Christians joy. Our joy is not found in our circumstances like healthy families, good finances, or even nice weather. Rather, the Christian’s joy is rooted in the promise of God to save his people from their sin for all eternity. Our salvation, which cannot be taken away is the root of our joy. As we look at this text today I want us to see four realities about our salvation that ought to bring us joy no matter our circumstances. [Let’s read 1 Peter 1:3–12]

Salvation is Secure v. 3-5

Peter begins with a word of praise to the Lord. He sets the tone of the letter, which is realistic about suffering, but also joyful. He says, “Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ!” He announcing blessing and praise to God. He is upbeat in the opening paragraph. Because he explains that according to God’s great mercy God has caused us to be born again. When a person is born again they are given new life. We deserve death, but because God is merciful we instead are given new life in Jesus. We are not born again because of our accomplishments or worth, but instead we are born again because of God’s great mercy.

And we are given this new life, born again, to a living hope. Our new life is good. It is filled with hope, a hope that is alive. It is active in our lives in the here and now and it comes to us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Because Jesus rose and defeated death when all hope seemed lost. We can know we have hope today no matter our circumstances. No matter how bleak our live might seem, we serve the God that raises the dead. He can change and conquer any circumstance. We hope no matter what.

I was listening to an Andrew Peterson song on Friday called “His Heart Beats” and the song tells the story of Jesus raising from the dead. The lyrics and music had me imagining what it must have been like for Christ to be dead and then suddenly His heart began to beat. He lungs began to breath. He was alive. The song states, “His heart beats, His blood begins to flow Waking up what was dead a moment ago And His heart beats, now everything is changed ‘Cause the blood that brought us peace with God Is racing through His veins. His heart beats” I love the imagery, but the line that just soothe my soul is a very simple one. “now everything has changed.”

This is what Peter is telling us. You have a living hope because Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection changes everything, because he has risen there is nothing that can threaten our hope. Our own sin, the sins of others, the circumstances of this world all be overcome by the resurrection power of Christ. The empty tomb declares that our salvation and thus our hope are secure.

And that’s not all. Peter tells that we have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. This inheritance is speaking of our future stake in the kingdom of heaven which will be ours in the new heaven and new earth at the end of the age. Christians will take part with Christ in the eternal joys of heaven. Our future inheritance is unlike the riches of this world that perish over time, that are stained and marred by wear and tear, that eventually fade no matter how good we take care of them. Our inheritance in Christ is imperishable, undefined, and unfading.

And it is kept in heaven for you. The text continues to drive the security of your inheritance by telling us what power keeps it. What power guards it. It by God’s power, the power to overcome death, that guards and keeps our inheritance for us. The word translated guarded in this passage is a word typical of use military context, like a guard tower over a city. A guard tower protects the from threats outside of the city and it protects those inside the city by not allowing them to leave when it is unsafe. God guards us from outside temptation and peril and he also guards us from ourselves. Our own struggles with disbelief and doubt. In his great mercy he caused you to be born again, he brought you into his city. And that great mercy will also drive him to exercise his great power to keep you in his city.

However, he does this through your faith. Our salvation is a process that starts when we place our faith in Christ as Savior and Lord and it continues as we live this life and grow to be more like Jesus. And it is completed when it is revealed to us in the last time. At the end of this age we will stand before Christ for judgement and for those who are Christians they will receive their eternal inheritance. The guarantee of the reception of that inheritance through the power of God and the mercy of God to guard you and keep you. But the means is through the continual exercise of faith.

God works within those who are his to change or will and desires so that we through faith will live as He intends us to live. We through faith choose to come to church and hear the word preached. In faith we hear it and apply it to our lives. In faith we go to small group and ask questions when we are unsure. In faith we confess our sins to one another to gain help from sin. In faith we choose to not live for ourselves but for others as we make sacrifices of money, time, energy and more to do ministry. Self-denial does not come naturally. It the result of being born again. Faith is a gift that we receive freely and exercise throughout this life as God enables us to use it.

It feels like a paradox. God keeps us and we keep ourselves. God saves us according to his mercy and God promises to keep us til the end. But He does this by gifting us with the grace to exercise faith in Him. This paradox promotes humility (I cannot save myself) and resolve (I am kept through my exercise of faith). When don’t feel like doing the right thing, do it by faith. Do it believing that God will someone how use it for your good. And just wait to see what happens.

I believe that as we live this way, we will surely be filled with joy even in the midst of grief. Through our faith God will refine our Salvation

Salvation is Tested v. 6-7

1 Peter 1:6–7 “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.”

Peter tells these Christians that the rejoice in this. Their living hope and inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. A salvation that is given by the mercy of God and guarded by the power of God. It brings rejoicing and rejoicing even if for a little while if necessary, they are grieved by various trials. The persecution of these Christians was not official. It doesn’t even seem physical but rather it was verbal and perhaps the result of social pressure. And the word “grieved” refers to the experience of grief in general. They are grieved by various trials.

No matter the cause of your grief from persecution, cancer, financial stress, family drama, anxiety, depression, struggle with sin or whatever else might grieve you I believe this passage is applicable to your life. For all you are grieved, listen to these words.Our griefs are used by God to test the genuineness of your faith. But it isn’t a pass fail kind of test. But rather a test like gold is tested by fire. Gold and precious metals will be placed under extreme heat to burn away the impurities are in the gold. The testing of the fire has a result of a purer gold. God test our faith not to give us a grade but rather to produce in us a more pure result. God isn’t testing you to see if you are a real Christian. God already knows that answer. God test your faith to purge it of impurity. He test our faith not to discover the genuineness of it but to make it genuine.

Your trauma, your struggles, your pain no matter its source is a tool in the hands of God to purify and refine your faith. And as he refines your faith it becomes more precious than gold. Genuine faith is what leads to our eternal inheritance, which is far more precious than the fading glory of the riches of this world. God uses grief for our good in order to produce the praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Your pain is for your good and His glory.

This is why we suffer and grieve. Romans 5:3–5 “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Now, if you are not a Christians then this answer is not a good answer. What kind of God makes people grieve for His glory? Is He sadistic? Does He seriously take pleasure in my pain? No. God takes not pleasure in your pain. But He will use pain to receive glory is a way that he would not receive glory is the pain did not occur. Pain is a necessity for the production of genuine faith that results in the unique glory of God. There is glory to be found through the faithful endurance of pain that cannot be found in any other way.

And if answer isn’t satisfactory to you as to why God allows people to suffer then I want to ask you, do you truly understand the glory of God? Whether you are not Christian of a struggling Christian can I challenge you to reconsider what God’s glory is, and what His glory results in?

Because God’s glory isn’t like man’s glory. Man’s glory leads to the joy and pleasure of the one glorified. God’s glory is so great it leads to the inexpressible joy of those who do the glorifying. A pain free life is not the best life you could live. The best life you could live is a life that brings paramount glory to God which leads to paramount joy. And grief is a part of that process. But, when the process is complete is results in a salvation of inexpressible joy.

Salvation is Inexpressible v. 8-9

That is what we see in this passage. These Christians have been grieved and their faith has been tested and become genuine from the process. So Peter says 1 Peter 1:8–9 “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 souls.”

What is a genuine faith? It is a faith that loves Jesus even when you have not seen him. It is a faith that believes in him though you do not see him now. These Christians did not walk with Jesus. They didn’t even hear about Jesus until after he ascended into heaven. They are like you and I in that they have not seen Christ face to face like Peter did. They don’t see him with their eyes now. Yet, they love him and believe in Him.

And because of their faith they rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory! The closet thing I have seen to inexpressible joy this week was watching my kids experience totality during the eclipse. It is only during totality that you can look at the eclipse without the eclipse glasses. And let me tell you, there is a HUGE difference.

Judah was doing a great job using his glasses the whole time. And watching the moon overlap with the sun through his glasses little by little was making him giddy. He would jump up and down and clap his hands and just giggle as the moon moved. We went to a park when some just so happened to be as well. So, as totality was drawing near he jumps up and starts running away from our little camp toward his friends. I hollered out Judah, what are you doing? He says, “It’s almost here, I just have to go tell my friends!” He ran about half then just started yelling in a park filled with people “Guys! it’s almost here! it’s almost here!” And then he sprinted back and put his glasses back on to giggle and dance some more.

Meanwhile, Simon and Vera were watching Toy Story on our iPad in an effort for us to save their eyesight. They had no idea what was happening and didn’t really care. Until, totality. If really dark and cold. And then turned their attention away from the iPad and looked at the eclipse. A Simon pointed and yelled, “moon! moon! and started running to it!” I ran him down knowing we only had a few minutes before he needed to have glasses on. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it. We make it with our eyesight in tact and an experience that I will never forget.

Those two boys gave me a little picture of what joy inexpressible and filled with glory looks like. Two things: it is so great I have to go tell my friends and the things of this world become irrelevant when there is true glory to behold. The iPad became meaningless as the moon black out the sun, the sky grew black, and we actually saw the planet Venus.

If you could see God, you would tell all of your friends about Him. You lay down the distractions of this world the sin, the stuff that is a waste of time and all of your attention would be on Him. But, alas in this age we don’t see Him like we will one day. But can I ask? Does this passage describe you? 1 Peter 1:8 “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,”

Because in doing that you obtain the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul. Salvation is inexpressible in the joy that it brings. Words cannot really capture just how wonderful it is to belong to God. The joy experienced and obtained through our tested faith in Jesus makes every grief and sorrow worth it.

Salvation is Here v. 10-12

1 Peter 1:10–12 “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”

The salvation that Peter has laid out is one that is brought about by God’s mercy, guarded by God’s power, tested by God to produce inexpressible joy, and it was foretold by the prophets. This is referring to the Old Testaments prophets. The first portion of the Bible was written before Jesus came to earth as baby born of a virgin. This portion of the Bible is made up of 39 books that tells how God created the world, picked a people for himself called Israel, and how man failed over and over again to obey God’s law and keep the covenant between God and man. In the Old Testament also predicted that a Messiah would come, a Christ or anointed one. And that this Messiah would suffer for the sake of God’s people and save them from their sins. Isaiah 53:5 is an example of this when it says. “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

Jesus taught that all of the OT pointed to him when in Luke 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Peter is explaining that these prophets were inquiring and searching for the time that the Messiah would come and the person he would be. They longed to live in the time in which these prophecies would be fulfilled. But they knew that they were prophesying for a time in the future and for a future people of God. But that these things about the Christ for which they longed are now here and have been announced to the Christians in Peter’s day.

The Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven and operates through Christians to preach the Gospel with effectiveness. Even angels long to look at this salvation and its glory. And Peter is saying what has been anticipated and longed for is now here. Salvation through the Messiah has come! In 2 Peter 3:9 Peter is speaking of the second coming of Christ and says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Jesus came to save us and is coming again to judge the living and the dead, but there is still time to repent.

Paul reminds us 2 Corinthians 6:2 “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Peter’s explanation of the joy of salvation culminates as he explains what you have now is what God’s people have longed for since the beginning ! Since Adam and Eve fell the people of God have longed to be right with God again and now through Jesus that is possible. Even angels want to experience this!

Conclusion

Salvation is cause for joy right here and right now. Our griefs and our sorrows pale in comparison to the inexpressible joy of salvation. This is not to say the grief does not hurt. It hurts tremendously. I am not saying you just need to always live as if nothing is bothering you when things are bothering you. But am saying that the Christian always has a cause for joy. Circumstance does not dictate our response because it does not dictate our identity. Who you believe you are directly correlates with how you behave. This passage declares that you are a born again child of a merciful and powerful God that is guarding your inheritance until the revelation of Jesus Christ. You have a living hope because Jesus has raised from the dead and a salvation the brings about joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. I pray it can be said of us as it was said of these Christians 1 Peter 1:8–9 “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 souls.” {Let’s pray}