Glory Along The Way
GLORY ALONG THE WAY!
1 Peter 1:2–12
Today is the last Communion Sunday of the year. Even as we prepare to approach the Lord’s Table for the last time this year we have so much to be thankful for. All of us have a story to tell. We have had our share of ups and downs. Maybe more downs than up. But thank God we’re still here. That speaks to the Faithfulness of ou heavenly Father!
Peter is inspired to write to Christians that were experiencing trials and persecutions because of their faith.
Some of us here today may relate to that right now.
God speaks to us today and declares that whatever we may be going through right now or whatever you might experience in the coming days…. Remember it is God’s intention to bring you to Glory!
Peter has a word of encouragement for us today. I pray we will allow the Spirit to minister this word to our hearts so we can experience God’s presence in a mighty way.
I am convinced that if you will embrace, believe and receive this powerful truth……that God is bringing you into His Glory, you will overcome and trial and you will be victorious in all your battles and God will use you to do great things in His Name.
How do we live this life of glory?
Know this!!!
I. You were Born for Glory (1 Peter 1:2–4)
Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, believers have been “begotten again” to a living hope, and that hope includes the glory of God.
But, what do we mean by “the glory of God”?
The glory of God means the sum total of all that God is and does. “Glory” is not a separate attribute or characteristic of God, such as His holiness, wisdom, or mercy. Everything that God is and does is characterized by glory. He is glorious in wisdom and power, so that everything He thinks and does is marked by glory.
When we were born the first time, we were not born for glory. “For all flesh is like grass, and all the glory of man like the flower of grass” (1 Peter 1:24, quoted from Isa. 40:6). Whatever feeble glory man has will eventually fade and disappear; but the glory of the Lord is eternal. Your labor done for the glory of God will last and be rewarded (1 John 2:17). But the selfish human achievements of sinners will one day vanish to be seen no more
A Christian’s birth described (vv. 2–3). This miracle all began with God: we were chosen by the Father (Eph. 1:3–4). This took place in the deep counsels of eternity, and we knew nothing about it until it was revealed to us in the Word of God.
A Christian’s hope described (vv. 3–4). To begin with, it is a living hope because it is grounded on the living Word of God (1 Peter 1:23), and was made possible by the living Son of God who arose from the dead. A “living hope” is one that has life in it and therefore can give life to us. Because it has life, it grows and becomes greater and more beautiful as time goes on. Time destroys most hopes; they fade and then die. But the passing of time only makes a Christian’s hope that much more glorious.
This hope is not only a living hope; it is a lasting hope (vv. 4–5). It is reserved in heaven, where it cannot decay (“incorruptible”), be defiled, or lose its beauty and delight. But not only is the hope reserved; the believer too is kept (guarded as by a soldier) by the Lord! We are kept by God’s power because of the faith we have placed in Him.
The believer is saved; he is being saved daily (through sanctification); and he will be saved completely when Christ returns (Rom. 8:15–25). The end (completion, perfection) of our faith will be the complete salvation of the believer (v. 9), who will inherit a new body.
However, until Christ returns, the believer must go through testing. A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. Our suffering is but “for a season” as the Lord sees it (“if need be”—v. 6); but the glory will be forever.
*******
Verse 7 compares the trial of our faith to the testing of gold. The word “trial” means “approval.” The comparison is that of a prospector bringing ore in to be tested. The assayer gives him a certificate stating that the ore contains gold. The certificate is the approval of the ore, and this paper is worth much more than the little sample of ore that was tested. In the same way our faith is tested, a “sample” at a time; and the approval of our faith means that there are more riches to follow. The suffering we endure here will result in more glory when Christ comes. Knowing this, we love Him the more.
II. You Are Kept for Glory (1 Peter 1:5)
Not only is the glory being “reserved” for us, but we are being kept for the glory!
*****
In my travels to conventions and conferences especially, I have sometimes gone to a hotel, only to discover that the reservations have been confused or cancelled. This will not happen to us when we arrive in heaven, for our future home and inheritance are guaranteed and reserved.
“But suppose we don’t make it?” a timid saint might ask. But we will; for all believers are being “kept by the power of God.” The word translated “kept” is a military word that means “guarded, shielded.” The tense of the verb reveals that we are constantly being guarded by God, assuring us that we shall safely arrive in heaven.
Believers are not kept by their own power, but by the power of God. Our faith in Christ has so united us to Him that His power now guards us and guides us. We are not kept by our strength, but by His faithfulness. How long will He guard us? Until Jesus Christ returns and we will share in the full revelation of His great salvation.
III. Christians Are Being Prepared for Glory (1 Peter 1:6–7)
We must keep in mind that all God plans and performs here is preparation for what He has in store for us in heaven. He is preparing us for the life and service yet to come. Nobody yet knows all that is in store for us in heaven; but this we do know: life today is a school in which God trains us for our future ministry in eternity. This explains the presence of trials in our lives: they are some of God’s tools and textbooks in the school of Christian experience.
Peter used the word “trials” rather than “tribulations” or “persecutions,” because he was dealing with the general problems that Christians face as they are surrounded by unbelievers. He shared several facts about trials.
Trials meet needs. The phrase “if need be” indicates that there are special times when God knows that we need to go through trials. Sometimes trials discipline us when we have disobeyed God’s will (Ps. 119:67). At other times, trials prepare us for spiritual growth, or even help to prevent us from sinning (2 Cor. 12:1–9). We do not always know the need being met, but we can trust God to know and to do what is best.
Trials are varied. Peter used the word “manifold,” which literally means “variegated, many-colored.” He used the same word to describe God’s grace in 1 Peter 4:10. No matter what “color” our day may be—a “blue” Monday or a “gray” Tuesday—God has grace sufficient to meet the need. We must not think that because we have overcome one kind of trial that we will automatically “win them all.” Trials are varied, and God matches the trial to our strengths and needs.
Trials are not easy. Peter did not suggest that we take a careless attitude toward trials, because this would be deceitful. Trials produce what he called “heaviness.” The word means “to experience grief or pain.” It is used to describe our Lord in Gethsemane (Matt. 26:37), and the sorrow of saints at the death of loved ones (1 Thes. 4:13). To deny that our trials are painful is to make them even worse.
Christians must accept the fact that there are difficult experiences in life and not put on a brave front just to appear “more spiritual.”
Trials are controlled by God. They do not last forever; they are “for a season.” When God permits His children to go through the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat. If we rebel, He may have to reset the clock; but if we submit, He will not permit us to suffer one minute too long. The important thing is that we learn the lesson He wants to teach us and that we bring glory to Him alone.
******
Peter illustrated this truth by referring to the goldsmith. No goldsmith would deliberately waste the precious ore. He would put it into the smelting furnace long enough to remove the cheap impurities; then he would pour it out and make from it a beautiful article of, value. It has been said that the Eastern goldsmith kept the metal in the furnace until he could see his face reflected in it. So our Lord keeps us in the furnace of suffering until we reflect the glory and beauty of Jesus Christ.
The important point is that this glory is not fully revealed until Jesus returns for His church. Our trying experiences today are preparing us for glory tomorrow.
Just as the assayer tests the gold to see if it is pure gold or counterfeit, so the trials of life test our faith to prove its sincerity. Too many professing Christians have a “false faith” and this will be revealed in the trials of life. The seed that fell on shallow soil produced rootless plants, and the plants died when the sun came up (see Matt. 13:1–9, 18–23). The sun in the parable represents “tribulation or persecution.” The person who abandons “his faith” when the going gets tough is only proving that he really had no faith at all.
The patriarch Job went through many painful trials, all of them with God’s approval; and yet he understood somewhat of this truth about the refiner’s fire. “But He knoweth the way that I take; when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). And he did!
It is encouraging to know that we are born for glory, kept for glory, and being prepared for glory. But the fourth discovery Peter shared with his readers is perhaps the most exciting of all.
IV. Christians Can Enjoy the Glory Now (1 Peter 1:8–12)
The Christian philosophy of life is not “pie in the sky by and by.” It carries with it a present dynamic that can turn suffering into glory today.
Peter gave four directions for enjoying the glory now, even in the midst of trials.
Love Christ (v. 8). Our love for Christ is not based on physical sight, because we have not seen Him. It is based on our spiritual relationship with Him and what the Word has taught us about Him. The Holy Spirit has poured out God’s love into our hearts (Rom. 5:5), and we return that love to Him. When you find yourself in some trial, and you hurt, immediately lift your heart to Christ in true love and worship. Why? Because this will take the poison out of the experience and replace it with healing medicine.
Satan wants to use life’s trials to bring out the worst in us, but God wants to bring out the best in us. If we love ourselves more than we love Christ, then we will not experience any of the glory now. The fire will burn us, not purify us.
Trust Christ (v. 8). We must live by faith and not by sight. An elderly lady fell and broke her leg while attending a summer Bible conference. She said to the pastor who visited her, “I know the Lord led me to the conference. But I don’t see why this had to happen! And I don’t see any good coming from it.” Wisely, the pastor replied, “Romans 8:28 doesn’t say that we see all things working together for good. It says that we know it.”
Rejoice in Christ (v. 8). You may not be able to rejoice over the circumstances, but you can rejoice in them by centering your heart and mind on Jesus Christ. Each experience of trial helps us learn something new and wonderful about our Savior. Abraham discovered new truths about the Lord on the mount where he offered his son (Gen. 22). The three Hebrew children discovered His nearness when they went through the fiery furnace (Dan. 3). Paul learned the sufficiency of His grace when he suffered with a thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12).
Note that the joy He produces is “unspeakable and full of glory.” This joy is so deep and so wonderful that we cannot even express it. Words fail us!
Receive from Christ (vv. 9–12). “Believing... receiving” is God’s way of meeting our needs. If we love Him, trust Him, and rejoice in Him, then we can receive from Him all that we need to turn trials into triumphs. First Peter 1:9 can be translated, “For you are receiving the consummation of your faith, that is, the final salvation of your souls.” In other words, we can experience today some of that future glory. Charles Spurgeon used to say, “Little faith will take your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul.” It is not enough that we long for heaven during times of suffering, for anybody can do that. What Peter urged his readers to do was exercise love, faith, and rejoicing, so that they might experience some of the glory of heaven in the midst of suffering now.