Cosmic Power

God infuses our faith with unlimited power

I listened to a podcast a few weeks back about a gentleman who kayaked across the Atlantic

From Africa to somewhere in the Caribbean.

And then he kayaked from the US Mainland to Hawaii.

Solo - in a 25 foot kayak.

It was fascinating listening to him although I couldn’t for the life of me think of why kayaking solo across any of the oceans was any kind of a good idea

But you could tell it was exhilarating to him.

Of course he trained and prepared and secured the best equipment and on and on

But even with all of that, on his first try crossing the Pacific to Hawaii

He called the Coast Guard to rescue him 5 days in

Just 100 miles off the coast of California.

He got caught in a storm and he bailed.

When he was asked what happened, he was truthful that it had nothing to do with equipment, training or ability.

It was mental.

He did a lot of reflection about what went on and he finally settled on one thing.

He wasn’t committed enough to the journey to die trying.

Success depends on perspective.

It doesn’t depend on how you view your opponent or situation but on how you view yourself and God.

Do you remember when a man asked Jesus’ disciples to cast a demon out of his son and they couldn’t do it?

Remember Jesus saying this: Matthew 17:20 “He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.””

Jesus wasn’t telling them they couldn’t have a faith that would move mountains.

He was telling them that they could.

Our text today is 1 Peter 1:3-12, go ahead and look that up.

Kids, so much to learn and so little time.

Here we are in the second half of the school year and it will be summer before we know it.

The days seems long but the times, they are so short.

Learn everything you can.

Grow up to be as smart and wise as you can possibly be.

But never let anyone steal from you your most powerful thing.

You can never forget that with Jesus, you truly can do anything He calls you to do.

Now, here’s the catch, Jesus gets to tell you what the anything is.

You can’t be a world famous singer if that’s not the Lord’s call for you.

But when the Lord puts you on a path, everything that happens to you is Him training you.

You will be able to do what He has called you to do.

You have to grow up to believe that.

In today’s message, you listen to what Jesus does for us.

He really gives us cosmic power.

With your Bibles open, hear now the Word of the Lord from 1 Peter 1:3-12

1 Peter 1:3–12 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 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. 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. 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.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Pray with me:

Dear Father,

Please help us to comprehend the power you have infused into our faith through your Son.

More plainly than ever, I see the strategy of the evil one to make us all victims.

But we are not victims.

Help us to hear what it means when we sing we have a living hope.

In Jesus’ name - Amen

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

I wonder if Peter heard us reading this text, if he’d say, “What’s the matter with you people?

He writes this like he’s just discovered gold and he’s running the house shouting it to everybody.

Blessed be to God!

Blessed be to God!

And now for the next few verses, he’s going to tell us why this makes him so happy.

But before we go there, want to share something Wayne Grudem said - he’s one of the commentary writers I’m using.

This Father and Son thing is more than a little confusing sometimes.

Jesus is the Son of God - yes, but God didn’t create Jesus nor was Jesus truly born in the fact that He had a starting point.

So how is the not son, Son.

Listen to this - this makes sense:

The term ‘Father’, as applied to the first person of the Trinity, signifies not that the Father in any way created the Son or caused him to exist (for the Son has always existed and was never created), but that he relates to the Son as a father relates to a son normally: the Father plans and directs, the Son responds and obeys; the Father ‘sends’, the Son comes from the Father. The Father creates ‘through’ the Son; all things come ‘from’ the Father ‘through’ the Son. Wayne A. Grudem

Yahweh presents Himself to us in a way we can comprehend.

A Father plans and directs the Son

The Son is obedient to do what the Father has planned and directed.

Which is now what we are supposed to do.

Hope this helps someone.

So with this mind, what did the Father plan and direct Jesus to do for us.

Look at verse 3 - 1 Peter 1:3 “…According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

He caused us to be born again.

Oh I know we’ve heard this a billion times, but listen with these ears.

Our boy who was kayaking across the Pacific quit because he saw things that made him fear for his life.

When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, His resurrection is our fact that we don’t need to fear for our lives.

We honestly have been infused with cosmic power.

Everyone starts their journey thinking they are prepared and ready to take on the world.

And then the world fights back.

We find out we aren’t as prepared as we thought.

In fact, we find out we are mostly powerless - and that’s for good reason.

We are - we are dead in our sins.

But the Father looks at us in our helpless condition - destined to flounder as best we can

And in some kind of great mercy that none of us understand

With all that the Lord has done for us that we have ignored and disobeyed, we do not deserve a second glance from Him

And yet, according to His great mercy,

Listen, He has CAUSED us to be born again to a living hope

Caused us - made it happen

The word used here is the word used of a Father’s role in the birth of his son

No, he doesn’t carry the child, and mercifully so.

But with out him, there is no Son.

But hear what this is saying - in God’s mercy, not because He had to but because He absolutely wanted to from the bottom of His heart

He reached down through Jesus and the power of His resurrection

And He used that power to cause us to be born again into a living hope.

A hope that says you and I can never be stopped.

No one can stop us - no man, government or demon can stop us.

Sure they can stop our bodies.

But they can never stop us - they can never stop what God wants accomplished.

The mental change that helped that young man be able to cross the Pacific

Is the spiritual change we need that will cause us to move mountains.

I have got to quit fearing death. We have to quit fearing failure. We have to realize

We have an inheritance

Very quickly, this living hope gives us an inheritance - when we do leave this body

That is imperishable

Say what anyone might say about you or do to you -

No matter if you go to the inheritance now or 100 years from now - it will be waiting on you

Circumstance and time are powerless against you.

This cosmically powered, living hope inheritance in undefiled

I know you may not admit it, but I suspect every last one of us is our own worst enemy.

We sin so easy and and are holy so hard

But this inheritance is not defiled by our ridiculousness.

Our sin won’t tarnish it.

Our sin won’t take it away.

Our sin is powerless against our living hope.

This cosmically powered, living hope inheritance is unfading

More beautiful than any trophy at any of the football bowls, that trophy is sitting on it’s stand in heaven, waiting for us to come claim it.

Not if we make it - but when we make it. And then Peter says:

1 Peter 1:6–9 “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. 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.”

We’re going to summarize all of that in five words

Here is how to think

First, remember verses 3 - 5 tell us that based on God’s mercy and God’s power we are assured of fulfilling His purpose for our lives.

That’s a statement and I want you to hear it - the younger the better.

So much in life can side track us and sometimes it will make you feel like you’ve failed

And lots of people will help you feel like a failure.

Listen to me, in anything that we just read, do you hear anything that gives me and you any kind of power to thwart God’s plan?

Well, what if I do - whatever?

Help me here

What part of imperishable, undefiled and unfading do you not comprehend?

It is KEPT in heaven for you - guarded by God’s power to be revealed when the time is right.

“Well I know I don’t deserve it, I’ve done thus and so.

Brother and sister, May the Lord help the person in here who thinks they deserve anything from the Lord.

We deserve death, hell and destruction.

But instead we’ve been given a cosmically power infused living hope that gives us the power to move mountains.

That’s first.

Second, listen to this funny phrase “though now for a while, IF NECESSARY, you have been grieved by various trails.

Listen, if necessary means that no trouble that happens in our life is arbitrary and capricious.

It is not fate, karma or an ill wind.

Every trial that grieves us - that’s an emotional word - it means grieves or distresses

Use the word distress

Every trial that causes us distress is necessary

It has a purpose

Now, I’m not a fan of trials and tribulations

And I’m not minimizing some of the horrible, horrible things some of us have experienced or people we know and love have experienced.

But now listen, this is a hard attitude change here - this is what gets us across the Pacific.

Verse 7 1 Peter 1:7 “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.”

Let’s see if we can see this like this.

You have a trial in your life and you see Jesus in the trial.

It might have been a small trial - but you keep looking for Jesus in the trial and you saw Him there

And He gets you through it.

So then another trial comes and you know better what to look for

And you understand better that your cosmically-power infused living hope will ensure your deliverance

Something changes in you - you see more Jesus - your faith grows more - your confident trust in Jesus grows.

And then it happens again - and each time - like gold being refined by fire, more and more of our unbelief melts away

And the cosmically power infused living hope grows - the God inspired complete trust in His Son Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, it sneaks up on you.

I know, I’ve experienced it.

Hard time, grievous times - and there is Jesus.

So the next time before the storm hits - you are already looking for Jesus

Now listen, not hoping to find him.

That’s ridiculous.

Not hoping to find Him.

Knowing you will find Him - He will be there - He has been there.

He’s never failed.

Look at another weird phrase here “More precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire…”

Let it speak - gold, refined by fire from all of its impurities pales in comparison

To your cosmically power infused living hope trust in Jesus.

Paddling across the Pacific - a bank vault full of gold isn’t going to save you.

But a spirit that isn’t afraid to die, will.

What money can never buy

One person empowered by the Holy Spirit infused complete trust in Jesus can do.

Mountains can be moved - have been moved.

Because of our living hope.

Number 3, here is our deep breath 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.”

“Though you have not seen him, you love him,” - say amen if it’s true

“Though you do not now see him, you believe in him,” - say amen if it’s true.

I hear it when you sing on Sunday’s.

I hear the joy that is inexpressible

Filled with Glory

Because the faith born into us by the Father of all things, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

Caused it to be born into us through the power of the resurrection of Jesus

Filling us with a cosmically power infused living hope trust in Jesus.

A living hope that will over power and over come any trial this earth can muster.

Final thing

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.”

All I want to say about that is this, for thousands of years men and women searched scriptures, prophets, prophecies, everything every where.

They knew someone was coming to change all time and eternity.

They didn’t know when.

They wrote what the Holy Spirit led them to write.

They were starving to know.

What they yearned to find, the Lord has seen fit to reveal to us.

He’s given us the field with a hidden treasure.

The pearl of great price.

The seed that can move mountains.

A cosmically power infused living hope trust in Jesus that can never be defeated.

See the last phrase, “things into which angels long to look?”

That means they yearn with a deepest longing to understand the depth of the mercy of God just like us.

Who can understand the depth of the mercies of God?

Why did He choose us to have this living hope?

I have no clue.

All I know is what He did Romans 8:37

Romans 8:37 ESV

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Don’t get in our way - we can move mountains to the glory of God the Father.

And if you don’t have this cosmically power infused living hope trust in Jesus, you can.

You need to get out of your way long enough to ask Jesus for it.

He’ll do it - but you have to ask.

I’ll pray and we’ll sing.

Come talk to me about Jesus.