The Genuine Article

[0:00] Hello there, it's Robin here with a second message from 1 Peter and chapter 1 and this time I'm reading from 1 Peter and chapter 1 and reading from verse 7 down to verse 9.

[0:16] Let's hear God's word. These 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.

[0:37] 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.

[0:54] Now, I don't know if, like me, you remember Antiques Roadshow. In fact, I think it's still going and you'll see a number of people on that programme bringing in their different items, many of them hoping that this item will be worth a great amount of money and they might be able to retire or buy themselves something nice.

[1:16] But you can also sometimes on that programme see people looking pretty crestfallen as they realise that the item that they brought in is not genuine.

[1:29] The expert tells them actually this is a copy or a reproduction or maybe most brutally a fake. It is not good to find out something that you thought that was really valuable turns out not to be the genuine article.

[1:48] And Peter tells us something that we can really chew over here when it comes to the kinds of trials that we might face in this life. Peter tells us these trials actually show us something very important.

[2:09] They show us the value, the genuineness of our faith. First of all, he then tells us about the value of faith in Jesus Christ.

[2:24] In verse 7, Peter says, These have come, that is these trials in which we've had to suffer grief. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold.

[2:41] Gold which perishes even though refined by fire. Faith is worth more than gold. Isn't that a wonderful thing to hear?

[2:52] We may not be particularly wealthy in material terms. We may not have a lot of gold. But Peter tells us if we have faith in Jesus, we have something of far greater value.

[3:10] Not just a bit greater, but rather far greater. Of far more worth than gold. Of greater worth than gold.

[3:20] Gold even perishes. Even though it's refined by fire and purified. At the end of the age, gold along with everything else will pass away.

[3:33] But faith will not pass away. It is something of even greater value. It's not just faith in faith, of course. Well, I have faith. It's I have faith in someone.

[3:44] I have faith in Jesus. I have faith in what he has done. I have faith in who he is. I have faith in his promise to save me. And it's important to remember that.

[3:56] So we realise that faith is of great value. Well, if it's of such great value, Peter says, you had better know that it's the genuine article.

[4:11] We don't want to be one of these people on Antiques Roadshow discovering that what we thought was really, really, really valuable is actually not because it's not the real deal.

[4:23] Peter says it had better be proven genuine if this is of such great worth. If it's so important, we need to know that it's the genuine article.

[4:37] And the reason or the way in which, rather, we find out whether our faith in Jesus is the genuine article is if it's able to withstand trials.

[4:49] If it's able to withstand grief in all kinds of trials, then we see that it's genuine and that gives us joy.

[5:02] Do you see then how these trials and griefs don't just end there? If they show that our faith is genuine because we continue to believe in Jesus, we continue to trust in his promises, we continue to cling to him, however desperately, then that in itself will give us a reason to rejoice amidst these trials or even rejoice in a manner which will lift us out of our trials because we see that the faith we have in Jesus is real and therefore it is the greatly valued thing that Peter says it is.

[5:47] So Peter is telling us about the value of our faith and that these trials have come in to show then that if it's something so valuable, we had better know it's real.

[5:59] And trials test faith. They show, they expose false faith which crumbles under these kinds of trials but true faith perseveres.

[6:14] And of course, it perseveres through that shielding power that Peter mentioned earlier in the passage. We are being shielded by God's power until the time when our salvation will be revealed.

[6:28] Secondly, as well as the fact that these trials show the genuineness and the great value of our faith of far more worth than gold, Peter then says something very interesting for Peter, particularly someone who has seen Jesus, someone who spent time with Jesus, someone who followed Jesus for years.

[6:52] He knew him very well personally. And he says to those who have not had this experience in verse 8, though you have not seen him, you love him.

[7:04] 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.

[7:19] Isn't it amazing how Peter really commends there people that haven't had the experience he had, people who did not see Jesus, who haven't seen him in the flesh personally and yet believe in him and yet love him.

[7:38] And these people, he says, are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy because of that, because they believe in and love the Lord Jesus Christ.

[7:53] And we remember Jesus saying to Thomas, one who would not believe until he actually saw, Jesus said, bless are those who do not see and yet believe.

[8:08] So, friend, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are greatly blessed, greatly blessed, that even though you have not seen him, you love him.

[8:19] And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him. It's interesting as well that Peter says, although you do not see him now, because the fact is, at the moment, we believe in Jesus by faith.

[8:30] But when we come into the next life, we will behold Jesus with our eyes. We will see him face to face. So Peter says, even though you do not see him now, you are filled, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

[8:51] What then will it be like when we do see him? Our inexpressible and glorious joy will abound all the more, because we'll be in the nearer presence of our Lord and Saviour.

[9:03] And it's important to remember, just at the end there, what our faith has as its goal. Faith is not just there for its own sake.

[9:14] Peter says in verse 9, faith has a goal. And he says, if we have faith, we're receiving the goal of our faith right now.

[9:24] For you are receiving the goal of your faith. What's the goal of our faith? Peter says, the salvation of your souls. Remember in the last message, I was talking about these three tenses of salvation.

[9:40] We've been saved. And in the future, we will be saved on the last day when everything is renewed. But there is that present tense of being saved day by day, being preserved, being kept by God's grace.

[9:57] And that's what Peter is talking about here. For you are receiving, that is, you're receiving it now, the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

[10:08] So today, friend, believer, Christian, if you are, if you are believing, then you are receiving. And you're receiving the goal of your faith.

[10:20] And that is the salvation of your souls. We have a great salvation and a great saviour. And that means we can indeed be filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

[10:32] Because through these trials, we are seeing that our faith is indeed the real deal. And if it's the real deal, then it's also priceless.