A man named Jerry Sittser who was a professor at a Christian University experienced in one day, three generations of his family taken out of this life. His wife, his mother, and his daughters were returning home from an event and another car swerved and crashed into them head-on. Only two of his three daughters survived.
Sittser described what it was like to be a single father, a teacher, a counselor to others while he himself was a man in grief and torn. Now he was on the other side of the couch. He stated that he slipped into a black hole of oblivion and often simply wanted out.
Then one night he had a dream. The sun was setting, and he was frantically chasing after it toward the west, hoping to catch it and bring it back. But it was a losing race. Soon the sun was gone, and he “felt a vast darkness closing in.”H
A few days after his dream, his sister told him that the quickest way to reach the sun is not to go west but instead to head east, to move fully “into the darkness until one comes to the sunrise.”
It was that counterintuitive insight that helped Sittser. He wrote, “I discovered to let my experience of loss take me on a journey wherever it would lead, and to allow myself to be transformed by my suffering rather than to think I could somehow avoid it.” (Leighton Ford, The Attentive Life, Multnomah, 2008, p. 162; www.PreachingToday.com)
Jesus said that there will be suffering and trials in this life. (John 16:33) Therefore Jesus did not leave us without the power to get through them.
This is one of the reasons believers are encouraged to remember the resurrection of Christ as a sure and certain fact. We know that there are witnesses to His empty tomb and His post resurrection appearances. Together, these form two irrefutable pieces of evidence for the resurrection of Christ.
In 1 Peter, the resurrection of Jesus is called our living hope. It is hope that actually makes a difference! The believers in Apostle Peter’s day are told to live their lives with confidence in the resurrection and this truth will carry them through trials.
Last week we left of on verse 3 about the resurrection of Christ. Here are some facts about the resurrection. If the disciples stole Jesus’ body, as the Jewish leaders first claimed, then there is no way to explain His appearances to hundreds of people over a 40-day period after He died, many of which refused to give up their faith in the resurrection even in the face of persecution and death. On the other hand, if Jesus’ followers were hallucinating when they claimed to have seen Him, then all somebody had to do was go to the tomb and show them Jesus’ body. The only explanation that fits both pieces of evidence is that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead.
Think about the incredible recorded facts of how God provided salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus for every believer. Here is an interesting quote that I found: “The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: a virgin’s womb and an empty tomb. Jesus entered our world through a door marked ‘No Entrance’ and left through a door marked ‘No Exit.’” (Peter Larson, Prism, Jan/Feb 2001; www.PreachingToday.com)
Science states that a virgin birth is impossible. Humanly speaking, there is no possible way to enter into life that way. We have a documented, witnessed fact (science) that is how Jesus came into this world. In the same way, there is no exit from the grave, and yet Jesus literally walked through that door as well.
This is the message to the believers who struggled with persecution and loss. Sometimes we may feel like there are no exits from our problems and trials. However since Jesus proved that He has power over death, every believer is encouraged in the fact that we have a living hope. We must trust Jesus in light of the power of the resurrection during our trials. The point is that since He rose, we have power to endure the trials we face. (grace)
As the song states, “Because He lives, I CAN face tomorrow…”
Through faith in Christ, God has given you “a living hope.”
1 Peter 1:4 unto an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…
Our inheritance, our future can never perish – It lasts forever. It can never spoil – literally, the Greek word (ἀμίαντος amíantos); also means it is pure. There is no corruption in this fact. And it can never fade – Its beauty will never be diminished.
All earthly possessions don’t last; they get spoiled; their beauty fades; they return to dust. But that will never happen to a believer’s life and soul. It is indestructible, unchangeable, it’s a promise. Christ rose from the dead, to assure us of the possession of heaven.
Jesus’ resurrection made our salvation secure. Notice that verse 4 ends with the phrase kept in heaven for you… and then in verse 5 it is backed by God who will protect our souls from now until eternity.
1 Peter 1:5 …who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
The Greek word (φρουρέω phrouré) for “kept” or depending on translation “shielded” is a military term. It was used to reference the idea of holding a position, yet in this case it’s used in context to preserve carefully or exactlyand safely.
Verse 5 is saying the same power when Jesus rose from the grave is the power that will protect our souls until our ultimate salvation is revealed. Nothing can get through to take you away from God’s love. Nothing can change to take your salvation away – not Satan, not demons, not sickness, not even death Romans 8! Importantly, a believer is protected by God’s power, not your own.
For if it was up to you to keep your own salvation, then you would lose it every time, because you are just not strong enough. None of us are! We are reminded that God is more powerful than death.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead! So we can be sure of our future. Then that means…
We have grace to get through during hard times. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
We certainly have grace to bear the times of suffering.
1 Peter 1:6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
Since we have a living hope, we can rejoice in the fact that we have God’s guarantee even though we are grieved by trials.
A living hope means that we are able to rejoice, since we will see proof. This proof will come when Jesus gives us more grace in order to get through life’s trials. And then we will give praise, glory and honor to Jesus. That’s a fact, look in verse 7.
1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
This verse says that faith in Jesus’ resurrection will be proved as genuine. In NT times the Greek word “genuineness” (δοκίμιον dokímion) was used to prove metals against those that were alloy or plated. There are two ways to do that. They would melt all of it or they would take a sample of it and melt it down to check if it’s solid. What am I saying? The trials a believer endures through faith will prove Jesus’ resurrection power and His promise of grace, or deliverance until He comes again.
And after it all happens; we will praise the Lord for what He has done during the trials we face on earth.
I’ll illustrate this. When ocean fairing ships are built, a christening ceremony happens just before the ship is released into the water. The event happens with a breaking of a bottle of champagne against the bow just before the ship enters the water for the first time. It’s a symbol of a confident faith and hope that the built ship will do its job, hold water. See a ship cannot be tested while in dry dock to see if they leak. They need to be released out into the open water and to sea trials. These trials prove that the ship is seaworthy.
These verses say that no trial should ever sink a believer in Christ, rather trials can prove that Christ’s resurrection power is real!
One of Warren Wiersbe quotes: “A realist is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been purified. A skeptic is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been burned.” (CT Classics, www.christianitytoday.com, 10-26-06)
Here is the point of the passage. If our faith is in anything else but in Christ, we will be most likely discouraged by our trials. But if our faith is in Christ, those trials will prove Jesus is real.
So in I Peter we can know how to rejoice in times of pain. And we can rejoice in this life because the purpose of our faith is being realized. We can rejoice because our trials reveal a glimpse of our ultimate salvation. Now look at what the next verses are saying…
1 Peter 1:8-9 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is being…certain of what we do not see.” We don’t see Jesus, but we love Him and we are extremely joyful for His love for us. That’s genuine faith, and that kind of faith obtains the greatest promise of Jesus…salvation.
Verse 9 describes a present, continuous reality in the life of every believer. Every Believer obtaining the goal of faith, which is salvation from sin and living with Jesus now and forever.
One negative response to trials is that when we suffer, we try to power our way through them in our own strength. But a professor once said “Too often we try to use God to change our circumstances, while He is using our circumstances to change us to trust Him” (Compass, April 2003; www.PreachingToda.com).
Finally, we can rejoice because of the grace we receive, and what a great privilege that is ours through Christ. notice verses 10-12.
1 Peter 1:10-12 Concerning this salvation, the
prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and
with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which
the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of
the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that
they were not serving themselves but You, when they spoke of the things that
have now been told
You by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from
heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
In essence these verses are saying, “We not only have it better but we can live better than the prophets.” They longed to see and experience the grace we now experience as believers in the resurrected Christ.
Every believer has a living hope because Jesus is alive.
At the time of 1 Peter, official state persecution and abuses seemed to be the common lot of Christians everywhere at the time of 1 Peter (5:9). Some examples in the book: Legally, masters were known to abuse their Christian servants (2:18–20); Some Christian wives endured harsh, unbelieving husbands (3:1–6); In general, the believer’s social culture reviled Christians as wrongdoers (2:12; 3:9, 16; 4:15, 16).
But, God and His power allows those believers to be able to persevere.
Because of the resurrection of Jesus…
1. We are given an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us. (vs. 4)
2. We are guarded by God’s power unto salvation. (vs. 5)
3. We have grace to sustain us and prove Jesus is true. Vs 6-8
4. We are better off than the prophets and even the angels could ever have imagined because of the resurrection of Christ. vs 9-12
So in our trials, we don’t look to the world; we must look to the Lord, because “the world offers promises full of emptiness, but [Our resurrected LORD] offers emptiness full of promise – empty cross, empty tomb, empty grave-clothes… all full of promise.” (Carolyn Arends, What’s So Good About Good Friday? Kyria.com, 4-10-09; www.PreachingToday.com)