58. Suffering and Gloryc

Suffering and Glory: The Spirit Resting

Beginning is verse 12 we saw the foundation of suffering. That being our position before God, our preparedness for the certainty of suffering and understanding the purpose of it. In verse 13 we see our rejoicing in the midst of suffering. How can we rejoice in the midst of our suffering? Because it is evidence that the Lord is working in and through you. Just a God’s discipline is evidence that we are His children because He only disciplines His Children.

Heb 12:5-10  And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "MY SON, DO NOT DESPISE THE CHASTENING OF THE LORD, NOR BE DISCOURAGED WHEN YOU ARE REBUKED BY HIM;  (6)  FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE CHASTENS, AND SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."  (7)  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?  (8)  But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.  (9)  Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?  (10)  For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

So we can and do rejoice in our suffering because God is faithful to His promises and as he began this good work in us He will continue to perfect it to the day of Christ Jesus. Now we move on to the next verse 14.

1Pe 4:12-19  Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;  (13)  but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.  (14)  If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.  (15)  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters.  (16)  Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.  (17)  For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?  (18)  Now "IF THE RIGHTEOUS ONE IS SCARCELY SAVED, WHERE WILL THE UNGODLY AND THE SINNER APPEAR?"  (19)  Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

There are three points this morning: 1) Reviled by the World 2) Blessed in the Lord 3) The Spirit’s Resting

Reviled by the World – if you are reviled

The word ‘if’ is not the conditional ‘if/then’ used in the traditional sense. Peter’s letter to the believers living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappodocia, Asia, and Bithynia has enumerated many times the suffering and reviling the Christians have been undergoing for some time. Persecution and suffering of the saints is not matter of if it happens, it is already a matter of certainty. The ‘if’ in this verse is called a first class conditional which means that what follows is presumed to be true. The word could be translated ‘Though’ you are reviled for the name of Christ.

Revile means to assail with abusive words, slander, falsely accuse, to speak disparaging of a person in a manner not justified, to find fault in a way that demeans the other, to mock, heap insults as a way of shaming.

It should be noted who were the revilers. The immediate context tells us it was their old friends, neighbors, and maybe even members of their own family. 1 Peter 4:3,4 those who pursue a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

When Peter mentions abominable idolatries, he is including the worship of false gods and the abominable practices that accompany them. So we can break this down into two groups. The irreligious and the religious.

Who were Jesus’s strongest persecutors and detractors in His earthly ministry? The religious leaders of the Jews, the Pharisee’s and the Sadducees. The slandered Him, maligned Him, brought charges against Him that were so transparently false that Pilate said several times, ‘I find no fault in Him.’

Who were the persecutors of the new church in Jerusalem and Judea. It was the same religious leaders of the Jews. So I ask you, where might we be reviled? And I answer and say from the same sources. The irreligious, which are really not irreligious at all but worship at the alter of self-indulgence, whose god is the god of this world and themselves, and moral code is that which pleases self the most. They are as Paul described them in Eph. 2:2 those that walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, We are reviled in the broad spectrum of society and government who would like nothing more than for us to go away. We are reviled by friends from our old life with whom we no longer enter in the excess of dissipation.

But we are also reviled by the religious. Just like the Pharisees and Sadducee’s who opposed Christ and the apostles in the early church. Who persecuted the early church putting Christians in prison and condemning them to death as they did Stephen. Just as there were wolves in sheep’s clothing then so there are now.

That is why it is written, ‘narrow is the gate and few who find it,’. Those that do find it, do so because of the saving grace of God alone, through faith alone, not as a result of works so that no one may boast.

It is just as Paul said to the Galatians Gal 1:8-9  But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.  (9)  As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.

So brethren, understand that the world reviles. This reviling is a present continuous action toward those in the name of Christ. Meaning those who are in Christ.

This naturally answers the question of why we are reviled. They were eviled because they were in Christ. Peter uses the term Christian in verse 16. The book of Acts records 2x where the word Christian is used. Christian is used in Acts 11:26  and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. The other was in Acts 26:28  while Paul was standing before King Agrippa. After Paul’s testimony Agrippa’s response to Paul was, "In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian."

The term Christian was not a term of endearment or meant as a compliment. It was meant derogatorily. Literally it means like Christ. The reviling of Christians stems from what Jesus said in John 7:7 speaking to the Pharisees. "The world cannot hate you; but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. Later in Joh 15:18-19  "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.  (19)  "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Here again is that word ‘if’ used in the same way as in 1 Peter as a matter of certainty. Here we also see the link to why Christians are reviled. Why? Because just as Jesus testifies that the deeds of the world were evil, so we testify in word and in deed that the deeds of the world are evil. 1 Peter 1:15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in ALL your behavior.

We are Christlike in our love for one another. Joh 13:34-35  "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  (35)  "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." 1Pe 1:22  Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,

As Christ was obedient in every aspect of the Law, we seek to be obedient to the commands of God. And we are often accused of being legalists with the retort that we are no longer under the Law but under grace, but I say to you we are not free from the requirement to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, body, soul, and strength and we are not free of the requirement to love our neighbor as ourselves. These two commands are the summary of the law and the prophets.

Our lives, as imperfect as they are, in Christ are so radically different from the world around us that it’s deeds are exposed. The world hates and reviles us for it because we dare to seek to live in accordance with what the Lords says is right and true and even in our failure, when we sin and we confess that sin for what it is asking forgiveness we are re-affirming God’s holiness in our failure. So that all in all God is glorified.

Blessed in Christ!

Most translations have inserted the words ‘you are’. But Peter literally breaks out in exclamation of Blessed. How does this fit? Is it that we are blessed in the midst of reviling? No. When we look at the text we see the reason for his exclamation from the word ‘because’ that word describes the reason. That reason is because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. And that is the reason why you are being reviled as a Christian.

Being reviled as a Christian is a confirmation of the work of the Spirit in your heart. The world does not hate its own and it does not bother with anyone not perceived as a threat. Php 1:29  For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

Being reviled as a Christian is a confirmation of continued perseverance in the faith. The constant stream of reviling takes its toll. The mocking, the verbal abuse, the false accusations, the loss of reputation, respect, maybe the loss of a job, follows us like a cloud. Why bear that kind of burden? Why suffer that kind of loss? Because by the power of God we are convinced there is no other truth but God’s truth. There is no other name under heaven by which men are saved. For that reason we press on as Paul the Apostle did, pressing on so that we may lay hold of that which we were also laid hold of by Christ. There is no other life for us. It would be easier for the true Christian to cease breathing.

The Spirit rests upon you.

There are three subpoints:

1.The Spirit’s work in Salvation.

2.The Spirit’s work in Sanctification.

3.The Spirit’s work in Sustaining.

When Peter writes the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you he is saying that it is a present continuous action. It is not that the Spirit rests upon us only in times of suffering and persecution but the Spirit rests at all times from the moment of new birth in Christ Jesus

When we see the wording ‘the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you’ we are reminded of the glory of the Lord descending upon the temple/tabernacle and resting there. It is the place of God’s special presence; it was the place of the sacrificial system and all its symbology was applied. It was also possible for the glory of the Lord to depart from the temple/tabernacle because of the disobedience of the people. Yet in the midst of their disobedience the promise of restoration was given.

Ezekiel 36:24-27 "For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. (25) "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. (26) "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (27) "And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

This is the promise of the internal cleansing and internal new heart and new spirit and the promise of the Holy Spirit indwelling the believers. This cleansing and giving of a new heart and spirit was something the old system of sacrifices could not accomplish. So here, we see three things in verse 27

1.The Holy Spirit is given

2.Caused to walk in My statutes.

3.As a result, we will be careful to observe His ordinances.

Verse 14 reflects these truths. How does it reflect? We asked the question why were they reviled? They were reviled for the name of Christ. Meaning that they had a new identity, a new heart, and a new spirit. 1Peter 1:1 calls the recipients of this letter elect pilgrims or exiles and yet we know from the context of the letter that these people had probably grown up or spent most of their time in these different areas. They were exiles, strangers, aliens because of their election. They were reviled because they were elect in Christ, and that election from before the foundation of the world was proved in their salvation on the day that God had appointed.

This evidenced in the fact they were reviled because they no longer ran in the sin that they had previously committed with their old friends and family from their old life. God had caused them to walk in His statures and they were careful to observe His ordinances. Why? Because of the working of the Holy Spirit. So while the text says the Spirit rests upon us. It is not a rest in the traditional sense of the word rest. The Christian has become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the abode of the Most High. And as a reminder, though it was possible for the glory of the Lord to depart the temple/tabernacle. We have the assurance of the Word of God the Spirit of glory will never depart from us. The Spirit has made His place with us and the Spirit is working in us.

Importance of the Holy Spirit

Consider God’s foreordination, the working out of redemptive history with Christ’s, incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. We take joy and pleasure in that Christ has fulfilled all the requirements of the Law for us and we have been forgiven, reconciled, and adopted into the household of God. Without the application made by the Spirit, it would be meaningless. We embrace the total depravity of man, his complete inability to choose Him. The dead cannot choose life and so it is by necessity the Spirit works. There is no spiritual good communicated to anyone but by the Spirit; whatever God in His grace works in us, it is by the Spirit. The Father decrees our salvation, it is through Son, by virtue of His life, death, and resurrection that salvation has been accomplished, it is through the Holy Spirit that salvation is applied. The Spirit glorifies the Father and the Son in assuring the Father’s decree and the Son’s sacrifice is fulfilled in those to whom it is to be applied.

I.The Spirit’s work in salvation. 1Pe 1:1-2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen (2) according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.

To sanctify means to set apart. These were set apart, separated from the others by the divine operation of the Spirit. How?

1.Regeneration

Tit 3:4-5 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, (5) He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

John Owen says, ‘Regeneration consists in a new, spiritual, supernatural, vital principle, or habit of grace infused into the soul, the mind, the will, and the affections, by the Holy Spirit.

There are no new set of eyes or ears given, but these, given new life see spiritually. The heart and mind renewed in desire for the pursuit of Godliness. The effect of this is that the one who is born again loves spiritual things and values spiritual blessings. The result of regeneration is the desire for holiness. The ability to see sin as sin, to see good as good. There is no longer suppressing the knowledge of the truth. Rather it is the upholding and uplifting of it. The Spirit imparts and renews that which allows us to enjoy and commune with our God! The one born again marvels at the wondrous grace of God in giving Christ for such a wretch.

The marvel of regeneration is bringing a soul out of spiritual death to life. In creation it was bringing something out of nothing, in the new creation there is a far greater wonder, for in the first there was nothing to oppose it. But now new birth has all the powers of sin and Satan against it. And it is the Spirit that equips us, not only to survive, but to thrive. ‘And the gates of hell will not stand against it.”

The evidence of this regeneration is holiness. For this is God’s purpose for us in Christ. Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. It is because of regeneration that we see the Law of God as good and we mourn for our sin and labor to put it to death.

It is in our regeneration through the work of the Holy Spirit that we see God in His kindness and mercy.

2. Faith

1Pe 1:5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (9) not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

The bridge in our union and communion with Christ is through faith. This faith is not a natural act of the mind in giving a mental nod to the gospel, but it is a supernatural act produced by the Spirit of grace. The grace of faith to believe in what the world says is unbelievable. 1Co 1:18 For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

It is the faith that the Holy Spirit bestows that causes us to believe the Word. The same Spirit who authored the Old and New Testament through the hands of men works in the regenerate a faith that nothing can shatter. It is the faith that the Holy Spirit has bestowed through which the believer is assured that the Scriptures are indeed the very Word of God.

The Spirit not only produces faith in the written Word but also in the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Spirit works on the soul, awakening it and convicting it of sin, it is brought to realize the vileness of sin, it’s awful guilt, understanding that there is no deserving mercy or pity but that it is justifiably only suited for hell. There is none who can rescue from such a state except for the Holy Spirit Who makes known on that appointed day of salvation that Jesus saves, that through His shed blood the ungodly are justified by faith in Him who died and rose again on the third day.

II.The Spirit’s Work in Sanctification

2Co 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

This verse is the picture of progressive sanctification. The ‘we all’ are believers. The beholding in the mirror must be the Word of God as it is there that we see the glory of the Lord as it is displayed in the Old and New Testaments. The Law of the Old Testament the gospel in the new. And in the gospel it presupposes the breaking of the Law and it’s transgressors unable to seal the breach and also that God is graciously determined to save His people from it’s curse and He proposes to do so without making light of sin, without dishonoring the Law or compromising His holiness. All this He has done in Christ. His perfect justice and infinite love find their satisfaction in Christ. He has cleansed them from all their filthiness and their idols and given then a new heart and a new spirit. And as He has caused them to walk in His commands, they are careful to obey His ordinances.

We all with unveiled face means there is no more prejudice against the things of God. The enmity has been removed and we have been reconciled.

Beholding is present active meaning it is a continuous action in view. We are always beholding the glory of the Lord. His divine character. There are communicable and noncommunicable attributes of God, meaning there are attributes that are uniquely God’s. Example: His omnipotence, His omniscience. That which is communicable is His moral character and it is what this verse is speaking about. We are being transformed from glory to glory. Meaning from lesser glory to greater glory, that being conformed to the image of Christ.

The Holy Spirit labors, conforming us, growing us into the image of Christ. So that we stand in stark contrast to the world. For the worldly mind is at enmity with God; resenting His authority, disliking His holiness, hating His sovereignty, and condemning His justice. Those being transformed day by day love Him for the very reasons the world hates Him.

III.The Holy Spirit Sustains

Earlier I said the Spirit glorifies the Father and the Son in assuring the Father’s decree and the Son’s sacrifice is fulfilled in those to whom it is to be applied. That means not only in the application of salvation but also in securing and sustaining those whom God has elected. Jesus said Joh 10:28-29 and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. (29) "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

2Co 1:20-22 For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. (21) Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, (22) who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

Rom 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) Just as it is written, "FOR THY SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." (37) But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. (38) For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is because of the Spirit sustaining that Paul could proclaim this and that we may lay claim to it.

By way of application let us consider these questions:

Are we living our lives for Christ in such a way that though we may not be reviled now we would have reason to be?

Would those around us call us Christian, do we reflect Christ in our display of love to one another, being gracious, merciful, walking in a manner worthy of the calling by which we have been called, walking in holiness?

Are we so convinced of the truth of the gospel that we are willing to suffer for it’s preservation and propagation?

Finally, let us meditate long, explore the depths of the blessing of the Spirit of glory and of God resting on us.