Sermon Tone Analysis

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, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Consider how Peter ended verse 7.

In the second half of verse 7 Peter points us to the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the day when the sky splits, the trumpet blasts, and the graves burst open!

The day when we will be gathered up, snatched up, and brought into the presence of our King.

We look forward to that day, we long for that day, especially as we experience various trials, but

we are not left here at this time to feel left out and unloved.

We are not here to wonder whether we will see Him again.

We are not left here to be in a continual state of sadness.

We are not left here to be uncertain of our salvation.

Instead Peter is going to remind the church of Jesus Christ of the fruit they have recieved as those who have been born again, those who have been sanctified by the Spirit, those who have been saved for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood!

This morning I want us to see 4 Fruits of God’s saving work in the life of the believer.

I. Affection Without seeing Jesus Physically (8a)

Peter begins verse 8 contrasting verse 7 where he explains you will see Him.

Then he comes to verse 8 and says, Though you have not seen him.

Even though Peter, the apostles and some other disciples of Jesus had seen Jesus, by the time of this writing more and more folks were being save who had not seen him.

But that did not mean they could not have faith without sight.

Not everyone had the blessed experience of seeing, walking, with and listening to Jesus.

The apostle John writes,

John writes the entire letter of 1 John to provide assurance for the believer and one of the tests he lays before the believer in 1 John is what?

The Love test!

Here in Peter’s first letter he wants the elect exiles to know even though it is hard right now, even though you are grieved by various trials, rest assured Christ is coming back, even though you have not seen him, you love him.

Peter in a sense is saying,

You have a strong, affection and love for Jesus and your love is especially characterized by a willing forfeiture of rights or privileges in another person’s behalf.

John MacArthur explains, “The word love is the love of the will, the noblest form of love.

The present tense indicates that Peter’s audience constantly loved their Lord.

How about you and me are we constantly loving the Lord?

This love Peter say’s the believer has is not just some temporary feeling or some passing emotion, this love expressed by the Christian is a regular, continual activity.

Love is not something that just happens a couple times a week or a month but something we choose to do on an ongoing basis.

something we grow in out of gratitude and care for another person.

Think about your spouse or your children, when do you stop loving them?

Never, even when they hurt you, when they disrespect you, or even when they disobey you.

Now think about Jesus.

He has never hurt you, or disrespected you, as a matter of fact He died for me and you!

He love us and we disobeyed Him, disrespected Him, and we were the reason for His death on the cross, yet we know that He demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners He died for us!

Here is the question for us to consider, how are we demonstrating our love for Him?

Are we abiding in Him?

Are we taking up our cross, denying ourselves, and following him?

Are we obeying His commandments?

Are we loving one another, His church?

Is there anyone who understood this love for Jesus any better than Peter?

Remember, after Peter had denied Christ around the campfire and went back to fishing, Jesus questioned Peter’s love for Him.

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.)

And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

I don’t know of anyone who has the qualifications to speak on loving Jesus the way Peter does.

So when he tells these NT believers trust me, though you have not seen him you love Him, he had the experience and knowledge to back it up.

Peter has seen Jesus perform miracles, be rejected by men, be transfigured, be led to the cross, the empty tomb, and finally watched Jesus ascend to His heavenly throne, so when he said Jesus is coming back, you could believe Him.

When he said though you have not seen Him (I have), you love Him!

Here is the key thing to remember about this love and affection the believer has for Jesus.

The word Peter uses here is and indicative verb not an imperative.

In other words, this love is something produced in us causing it to be a spiritual fruit in our lives.

16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

What then then does this love look like how would you know if we love Jesus and other?

1 Corinthians 13:4-

How about that for helping us evaluate our love for Him?

: 4-

Do you see how we have affection without seeing physically?

It comes back to the work God has done in our hearts.

Because God is love and abides in the believer, His love is perfected in us, that we might have confident when Christ returns!

This love then is also manifested in that we have,

II.

Faith Without seeing Jesus Physically (8b)

Notice what Peter says next,

Though you do not now see him, you believe in Him,

The verb translated ‘believe’ (pisteuō) means here to ‘trust’ or to ‘rest one’s confidence in’ or to ‘depend upon’

How important was it for these pilgrims to put their trust in Jesus?

Remember, they were walking through a time of persecution, rejection, and humiliation.

Not only do we have affection for Christ as believers, without seeing Him, we have faith in Christ without seeing Him.

You may think how can Peter be so confident in the fact that these believers have faith in a Savior whom they have not seen?

How can the trust in a Christ whom they have not seen at the time of their trials?

How can they believe in Jesus when they do not now see Him?

Paul makes it clear in Romans,

How is it that we believe without hearing?

God has given us the gift of faith alone in Christ alone.

The Spirit has open our ears to hear, our eyes to see, and our hearts to believe.

The Son was born in the flesh that we might behold His glory!

Jesus lived sinlessly and died sacrificially so that we might trust in Him.

Jesu

Jesus rose from the grave and was visible to the apostles and around 500 folks that we might have witness to trust their account.

so

The apostles died for the gospel message of Jesus Christ proving that He was worthy of our trust.

The apostle John recieved a vision of the Revelation of Jesus Christ so that we might know the end of the story, that our King would reign victorious in the final judgment and bring about the consummation of the New Heavens and the New Earth!

That at that time there would be no more tears, no more pain, and no more sin.

But we would be gathered around the throne of the lame where we might serve and worship Him for ever and ever!

Because of this great hope, and our belief in the Savior, we

III.

Rejoice Without Seeing Jesus Physically (8c)

Because we have been born again, because we have a living hope through the resurrection, and because of Jesus’s coming revelation we love Him, we believe in Him and next Peter tells us we rejoice in Him.

Though you do not now see Him you believe in Him, and rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

If you had to explain the joy you have in Christ how would you do it?