[0:00] 1 Peter, verse 3 to 12, it's page 1217 in the Red Bible. 1217 in the Red Bible.
[0:13] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
[0:28] 1317 in the Red Bible.
[0:58] 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 goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
[1:13] 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 Christ and the glories that would follow.
[1:31] 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.
[1:44] even angels long to look into these things. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[1:55] Thank you very much, Avril. There's pens and notes there if you'd like to take notes. And also just to remind people that if you haven't yet looked at our church website, carigolinebaptist.org, I encourage you to do that.
[2:15] And there's some helpful articles. And there you'll find the talks from the morning recorded. And you can catch up and follow along or listen back even if you wish.
[2:47] Well, let's ask God for his help as we look at his words together.
[2:57] Let's pray. Father, would you help us this morning to fix our eyes, not in what is unseen.
[3:21] For what is unseen is temporary. Father, help us to look at the future and what is to come.
[3:35] For we know that that is eternal. Lord, help us to trust you. And we ask for the help of your Holy Spirit as we read and look at your word together, that you would encourage us on in our life with you.
[3:55] In Jesus' name. Amen. Sleepless nights. Anxiety. Weeks of hard study is nothing compared to the delight when a student passes his exams and graduates.
[4:17] Backache. Backache. Discomfort. The cries of pain in the labour ward is nothing compared to the joy when a mum holds her newborn baby in her arms.
[4:34] Battling through injury. Training in isolation. Endless workouts. Is nothing compared to the glory of standing on the podium with a gold medal.
[4:48] Each one is a journey of agony to ecstasy. It starts with suffering but it ends in glory.
[4:58] Now that is the pattern also for the Christian life. Suffering now and glory later.
[5:11] Have a look at chapter 1 verse 10. Concerning this salvation, the prophets, that is the writers of the Old Testament, 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, that is the Spirit, predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
[5:46] You see, the message of the Old Testament points to the coming of Christ. He is promised and they're looking forward to when Christ will come.
[5:56] And through their message, they predicted, look at the end of verse 11, they predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
[6:10] And as Christ came, he did suffer. He suffered as he was betrayed and insulted and beaten and executed on a cross.
[6:21] But Jesus' glory came as he rose from the grave, defeated death and ascended into heaven to rule over all things. And the message through this text here is that just as Jesus suffered, so we will suffer.
[6:40] Because Jesus received glory, we will receive glory. You see, Jesus sets the pattern for the Christian life. his journey becomes our journey.
[6:56] Remember, Peter is writing, if you look back at verse 1, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, that is, God's chosen people, strangers in the world, scattered.
[7:12] If we are followers of Jesus Christ, we are like refugees, we are living in exile, we are shut out, pushed out, misunderstood, opposed, persecuted.
[7:25] Living life in this world as a Christian will be hard. And to make sure we reach our goal, we need to keep three things in mind.
[7:39] The first is this. Focus on our future glory. Focus on our future glory. As we journey through life, we need to keep our eyes fixed on what is to come.
[7:55] Have a look at verse 3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth.
[8:09] Now, just as the physical seed from the Father is the means for starting a new life, the birth of a child, so God by the gospel, the gospel, the good news about Jesus, is like a seed in our life that brings a new beginning, a fresh start to life with Christ.
[8:32] Have a look at chapter 1, verse 23. Chapter 1, verse 23. For you have been born again.
[8:44] This is how the new birth starts. The new life from Christ begins in this way. You've been born again, not of perishable seed, so it isn't something physical, but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.
[9:03] So as the good news of Jesus comes into our life, the Holy Spirit takes that and it's like a seed dropping into our life that explodes into life.
[9:16] And the life that God gives to us is a life that will last forever. Go back to verse 3.
[9:28] Let's pick it up in verse 3. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
[9:40] Just as Christ died and rose again from the dead, defeating death and destroying the grave, so all those who trust in Christ will also one day rise from the grave and will be with him forever.
[9:55] This new birth, this living hope that we have received is the beginning of something that is never ever going to end. so what will this glorious inheritance be like?
[10:12] Well, look at verse 4. We have this new birth into a living hope, verse 4, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.
[10:31] Now you think about the world and life today. Everything perishes. Everything is spoiled by sin.
[10:44] Everything fades and breaks. Now can you imagine some place that will never perish, spoil, or fade?
[10:55] a world untouched by the pain and heartache of death, a world unspoiled by selfish, evil actions of people, a world that unfades through the course of time and seasons.
[11:14] This is our glorious inheritance. This is what we are to fix our eyes on as we journey through life. Death will be no more. There will be no more funerals, there will be no more goodbyes, and life will rule forever.
[11:30] Evil will be banished, there will be no more terror, and no more war, and sin will never return. Suffering will be removed, no pain, no hurts, and all sickness will be healed.
[11:46] will be healed. But this is more than just a glorious inheritance, some kind of wishful thinking.
[11:59] This is guaranteed inheritance. Look at verse 4. From this new birth into a living hope, an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you.
[12:18] This inheritance, marked by purity, and beauty, and wonder, and delight, is being kept for us. It's not ours now, it's not ours to experience today, it is yet to come, but it is guaranteed and assured.
[12:38] just as a child receives his allotted inheritance when he turns a certain age, so a day will come when Christ returns and we will experience our living hope in all its fullness.
[12:55] It is being kept for you, like treasure in a safe. It is yours. But there is something even more remarkable than that.
[13:09] Not only is our inheritance kept for us, we are kept for our inheritance. Let's read verse four and five again.
[13:22] We enter into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. Here's the double assurance and guarantee. First, it's kept in heaven for you, and second, who through faith are shielded by God's power, until the coming of salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
[13:46] I don't know if you're like me, but sometimes I wonder, am I ever going to make it? Will I receive that promised inheritance?
[14:00] Because sometimes I just find the Christian life too hard, it's too difficult. The pressures, the struggles, it's too much, and I want to give up.
[14:15] Sometimes I look at my own life, and I see the sin, and the mess of my own heart, and the times that I fail, and I wonder, can God possibly take me? Amazingly, incredibly, look at verse 5, we are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed.
[14:46] Shielded by God's power. The picture is of this guard in all his armour, standing over a city, keeping all danger at bay, and protecting the people inside.
[15:00] And this is what God is doing for his people. By faith in the power of God, we are being kept.
[15:12] Our faith is being protected for our eternal inheritance. In fact, it's even stronger than that.
[15:25] It's not just we are kept. The implication of verse 5 is, is that our very faith in Christ is shielded by God's power.
[15:37] So that means no matter how difficult the Christian life is, no matter what struggles I face, even when I fail and fall, even when I give in to temptation and give in to sin, God by his power will sustain the faith that he has given me so that I will keep faith in God.
[16:02] He will keep me and he will keep you. The God who chose you, the God who loved you from before the creation of the world is going to keep you.
[16:14] He will not let you go. He will bring you from this world to your glorious inheritance. So first, focus on our future glory.
[16:33] Second, prepare for our present sufferings. We have a glorious future, but the journey from here to there is going to be a tough one and a hard one.
[16:52] And I want us to hear this this morning. It's going to be hard. There will be suffering through trials. Look at verse 6.
[17:06] In this, speaking of the inheritance to come, in this you greatly rejoice, though now, today, for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
[17:22] trials. If you are a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus, we will face all kinds of trials. And I think there are two particular trials we will face.
[17:34] First, there are the trials from this world, the world that is opposed to us. Have a look at chapter 3, verse 13. So, speaking to Christians living in the world, chapter 3, verse 13.
[17:53] Who is going to harm you if you're eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.
[18:05] Verse 16. Keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
[18:20] It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Or chapter 4, verse 12.
[18:36] Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering as though something strange were happening to you.
[18:49] Verse 19. So then those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue to do good.
[19:01] Do we get the picture? This is normal Christian experience. As we live as God's people in this world, we will face opposition, people will speak against you, there will be all kinds of things, malicious talk against you, there will be injustices against you, people across the world will even lose their faith, or lose their life because they follow Christ.
[19:28] Listen to this quote from Open Doors, an organization seeking to help Christians who are suffering. This is what they say, the persecution of Christians has increased across every region in which Open Doors works by 50% since 2013.
[19:47] From imprisonment to torture to beheadings, 100 million Christians worldwide live in fear of their lives more than at any other time in the modern era.
[20:03] There will be suffering. Now we might live in a part of the world where we don't fear our lives being taken, but what of the future?
[20:16] What kind of world are our children going to be living in? If God should call you to serve him overseas in another country, you may lose your life because you follow Christ.
[20:34] But as we live our lives here today, we will face discrimination and isolation. You will feel left out. You will be misunderstood.
[20:47] There are trials in this world and it will be tough. The second trials we face, have a look at chapter five, are the trials not just from the world but from the devil.
[21:03] he stands against us. Look at chapter five verse eight. Be self-controlled and alert.
[21:14] Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
[21:33] he's not a pussycat. He is a roaring lion who stands in fierce opposition to believers, ready to attack, mocking, accusing, tempting, laughing when you fail, telling you to give up and that it's not worth it.
[21:57] so let me warn you, if you are a believer today, if you are engaging in Christian witness, if you teach in Sunday school, if you're helping out in the rock or in polo, you will suffer.
[22:16] If you seek to stand for Christ in your workplace or in your family or amongst your friends, you will suffer.
[22:30] But while we suffer, let's remember that God is using it for our good. We suffer through trials, but we are also saved through trials.
[22:43] Look at chapter 1, verse 7. Chapter 1, verse 7.
[22:55] These have come, these trials have come, so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
[23:15] The trials that we face from the world and from the devil are not just accidents, are not just coincidences that happen in our life, they are used and controlled by God to prove to us and to others that our faith is real and genuine.
[23:37] We're given an example to help us think this through. The example of gold is gold in a furnace.
[23:55] It must first be put in the furnace. The raging temperatures of the furnace burn off everything that is worthless and impure and what's left is pure, genuine gold.
[24:11] Now here's the point of verse 7. At the end of time when Christ comes again, even pure gold, look at what it says in verse 7, will perish even though refined by fire.
[24:26] It's not going to last. last. But not our faith in Christ. Our faith in Christ will last.
[24:38] Because our faith, look what it says, is of greater value and is more precious than gold. So when our faith, when our life goes through the fiery trials of life, when we come under the testing of the world and the attacks of Satan, when we face hostility from people at work, when you struggle under the weight of temptation, our faith in Christ, end of verse 7, may be proved genuine and will result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ comes again.
[25:24] I remember as a child getting stuck, wedged between a wall, a concrete wall and a trailer and I sensed the danger and I was in absolute panic and in that panic all I could do was just cry out, roar out for help and I shouted out Dad!
[25:45] the trial caused me to shout out to my father.
[25:56] The trial proved to me who I trusted and who could help. You see, the trials that we face in life sometimes crush us, but they are used by God and allowed by God to cause us, his children, to call out to him, to run to him in faith.
[26:21] It proves that our faith in Christ is genuine. The trials will not kill our faith. They will prove that we are followers of him.
[26:37] So second, prepare for our present sufferings. glory. And third, journey with joy in our hearts.
[26:52] The journey to glory is going to involve suffering. But because we know what is going to happen, because we know glory is to come, we can rejoice today.
[27:08] We can rejoice today. Look at verse 6. in this you greatly rejoice.
[27:23] We don't rejoice in the suffering itself. We're not jumping up and down at the trials that come our way. Suffering is hard and difficult and it brings pain and struggles into our lives.
[27:38] but what we are to do is to rejoice in the security of our salvation. In this you greatly rejoice.
[27:50] In the salvation that God has prepared for you. Our inheritance is kept for us and we are kept for our inheritance. That means whatever we face today, nothing will be able to rob us of what is to come.
[28:06] No trial, no suffering will take from us what God has given to us. In fact, as we've just seen, God uses it all to bring us to glory.
[28:19] So in the midst of your suffering and in the midst of your trial, rejoice. Rejoice today. Joy is to be our present experience.
[28:34] Look at verse 6 again. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you've had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
[28:48] For a little while. The world in which we live in, the struggles that we face today are temporary. It'll be like a blip on the line of eternity.
[29:01] One day these trials are all going to end. one day our journey from here to glory will be over and we will reach our glorious destination. So rejoice in what is to come.
[29:17] Have your hearts filled with joy today. But our joy is not just in what is to come. Our joy is to be rooted in Christ.
[29:34] Our joy is to be rooted in Christ. Look at verse 8. Though you have not seen him, though you have not seen Christ, you love him.
[29:52] 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 goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
[30:10] Jesus. You see, we may never have seen Christ like Peter did. Peter was an eyewitness. He saw Jesus. He touched Jesus. He ate with him.
[30:20] He drank with him. He talked with him. We have the eyewitness account, the testimony of Jesus. We have the work of the Holy Spirit in our life to convince us that this is true.
[30:32] And so we love Jesus and we trust in him today. And we love him and we trust him because it is Christ who has given us new birth into a living hope.
[30:48] It is Christ who has died on the cross for us, suffering the judgment of God for us. It is Christ who rose from the grave, securing our life with him.
[30:59] It is Christ who is guarding our inheritance. It is Christ who is keeping and sustaining our faith so that we will reach glory. It is Christ who is using every trial and suffering for our good.
[31:13] It is Christ who is our salvation. It is Christ who is the foundation of our joy. And so we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for we are receiving the goal of our salvation.
[31:32] Trials will come in our life. Christ is but Christ is our foundation. Christ is sufficient as we journey from here to there.
[31:48] You may lose your friends because you are a Christian but you will not lose Christ. He is enough. You may be misunderstood and isolated at work but Christ does not misunderstand your pain and Christ is enough.
[32:10] You may suffer injustice and abuse at the hands of evil people but Christ took the greatest suffering for you on the cross so Christ is enough.
[32:21] You may live with ongoing pain or develop cancer but Christ will be with you. He is enough. You may have to bury your spouse or a loved one but Christ defeated the grave and Christ is enough.
[32:41] You may be persecuted. You may be killed because of your faith but Christ is enough. Where is our hope today?
[32:55] What do you turn to when struggles and difficulties come? Where do you run when life is tough?
[33:06] Where you feel crushed and shattered because of the journey we are on? Look at verse 8.
[33:19] Though we have not seen him, we love him. Though we do not see him now, we believe in him and we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.
[33:36] For we are receiving the goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls. Christ is the foundation of your joy.
[33:48] Love him, believe him and rejoice in him. Let's pray. our father God, you have brought us face to face with the realities of life itself today.
[34:30] The hardships, the struggles, the sufferings that will come and that we are going through today. And yet you have overcome and you have provided a way that we would not only share in your sufferings, but we will also share in your glory.
[35:00] Father, would you please help us to keep our eyes fixed firmly on what is to come? Would you fill us with the power of your Holy Spirit that we may stand strong in trials, in the knowledge that you will keep our faith and you will use those trials to bring us to glory?
[35:23] And will you keep us loving Christ, trusting Christ, fill our hearts today with that inexpressible and glorious joy that even in the midst of tears and heartache.
[35:39] We can rejoice in Christ for what is to come and what we have. We praise you and we thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen.
[36:00] We're going to sing the invitation, come people of the risen king. We do not serve a dead saviour, we serve a risen saviour.
[36:12] Just look at this, the second verse. Come those whose joy is morning sun, and those weeping through the night. Come those who tell of battles won, and those who are struggling in the fight, for his perfect love will never change, his mercies never cease, but they follow us through all our days with the certain hope of peace.
[36:38] Rejoice, rejoice, let every tongue rejoice. Let's stand together and give our praise to our great God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[36:48] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.