Thank you.
And we're going to look at the first 12 verses.
So Peter writes,
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to God's elect exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father
through the sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ
and sprinkled with his blood.
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
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.
This inheritance is kept in heaven for you who, through faith,
are shielded by God's power
until the coming of the salvation that is to be ready to be revealed in the last time.
In all of this, you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief
in all kinds of trials.
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.
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.
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.
Let's pray once more.
Father, thank you for the privilege to gather in your name
and be with us, Holy Spirit,
as we continue our time of worship through the word.
Unlock the meaning of the text to us, Lord.
May your words be lifted up.
May what I have to say die.
And may it be your truths that are implanted
on the hearts and minds of your people.
So speak to us this morning, Lord,
and lift our eyes to heaven.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Those of us with any kind of theological training
have had to read people like Calvin, Luther, Spurgeon,
great theologians and preachers over the centuries
who have really captured the essence of what it means
to be a person in this world that we live in
where sometimes things go well
and sometimes things go badly.
But outside of guys like that,
who would have thought that one of the key theologians
of our time would be Frank Sinatra,
who had these famous words to say,
which I won't sing, don't worry.
We've had to struggle through that enough
for my own voice this morning,
so I'll just speak it for you.
Frank said this,
that's life.
That's what all the people say.
Riding high in April,
shot down in May.
But I know I'm going to change that tune
when I'm back on top in June.
Now it's simple,
but that song sums up a lot of the human experience.
Sometimes life is easy.
Family is healthy.
House is comfortable.
No one left the immersion on
when you left the house this morning.
You've got a good job, which pays well.
Loads of friends.
You're the star of the school of rugby team.
Life is good,
and you expect life to be good
and to keep going
and to be easy and comfortable.
But then, just like that,
things fall apart.
Sickness,
poverty,
even homelessness,
as we were talking about,
unemployment,
loneliness.
Maybe things get better.
Maybe they don't get better.
Maybe you look around
and you see other people
whose lives are together.
Other people who maybe
don't love the Lord
in the way you do.
Who don't serve the Lord
in the way you do.
And maybe you start to think,
like I have,
things like this.
Lord, it's not fair.
Did I do something wrong?
Is God punishing me?
In fact,
where is God?
Now this isn't a subject
we can ignore.
Suffering is part of the human experience,
and indeed is part of the Christian experience.
The Lord himself said this,
in this world,
you will have trouble.
If they hated me,
they will hate you.
Blessed are you,
when,
not if,
when people insult you,
persecute you,
and falsely say
all kinds of evil
against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
because great is your reward
in heaven.
Now the letter of 1 Peter,
which we'll see over the coming weeks,
addresses this subject
of suffering.
Not the kind that would come later
when the Roman emperor
decided to blame Christians
for burning down Rome.
Not imprisonment,
not torture,
not execution,
not the kinds of things
that you see in China
and Pakistan
and Saudi Arabia
and places around the world
where our brothers and sisters
are suffering.
Nothing specific,
but this general,
all-encompassing kind of suffering.
Now we'll see,
as we go through the letter,
Peter talks about things like
insults,
mockery,
intimidation,
harassment,
bullying.
He talks about the workplace,
what it means to be
a Christian employee.
What does it mean
to be a public citizen?
What does it mean
to be a husband,
a wife,
a father,
a mother?
What does it mean
to minister to one another
in the church
in light of all these things
that go on around us?
So Peter is concerned,
first and foremost,
with what is the daily conduct
of the Christian
in the midst of suffering.
So he wrote this letter
basically
to encourage
and to comfort
the believers
as they experience
these trials.
In the text today,
he lays the foundation
and we're going to build
on that foundation
over the coming weeks.
And in doing so,
he doesn't dismiss
the church's suffering.
He doesn't say,
pull your socks up,
build a bridge,
get over it,
get your act together.
He doesn't do that.
He encourages the believers
by reminding them
of their living hope.
It's not vain hope.
It's not like,
yesterday I had hoped
that Ireland would make
a decent fist
at playing the All Blacks
and that kind of fell apart
after the first 30 seconds,
but there we go.
That happens sometimes.
Not speculative hope.
Literally,
hope that lives.
Assurance that will never die.
But this letter,
it doesn't just apply.
If you're one of the ones
reading this in Greek,
I say that personally.
My Greek is terrible,
by the way.
It applies wherever you live.
Whether you live in Carragalline,
Middleton,
Cork City,
anywhere else,
this letter is for all of us
because at some point
or another,
if you haven't found
life difficult,
I can assure you,
you will at some point
because as Frank says,
that's life.
So we can look
to the same living hope
as the original readers
of this letter.
So I've broken up the text
into three points.
If you have one of the sheets,
I apologize,
there's probably not enough
of them to go around,
but if you're taking notes,
I've broken up the text
into three points.
Peter says three things
about this living hope.
One,
it is predestined.
Two,
it is precious.
And three,
it is prophetic.
So this living hope
is predestined.
It is precious
and it is prophetic.
My particular cross to bear
is a compulsion
towards alliteration,
as you can see,
but nevertheless,
bear with me,
I plead you.
Let's take a look
at the first one.
Believer's living hope
is predestined.
Verse one,
Peter describes the Christians
to whom he's writing
as elect.
Now that's a word
that means chosen.
In fact,
verse two says,
Christians have been chosen
according to the
foreknowledge of God.
Some of your Bibles
might say something
like God's chosen people,
elect exiles,
those who are chosen.
In any event,
it means exactly
the same thing.
The Taoiseach
who we were just praying for
has announced
we're likely to have
an election in May.
That is,
when we will elect
or choose
our next government.
So that's just
another word for it.
To elect is to choose.
To choose is to elect.
We all know
what that word means.
There's no confusion
about it.
So what Peter's picking up here
is what we've come to call
this doctrine
of predestination.
Or election.
Now that is,
you're a believer
not because of something
you have done,
of something that made
you please God,
but because of something
God was pleased to do.
Now I need to be
really clear on this.
And don't worry,
this is not going to turn
into a theological lecture.
You can do that
on Tuesday night
or Wednesday night,
whenever your home group is.
But I need to be clear on this
because this subject
has been very poorly taught
and very badly misunderstood
and distorted
and taken out of context.
A kind of a caricature
you might have heard this.
God chooses who gets saved
and who doesn't
so therefore,
what's the point
in evangelizing to people?
Or,
if you're part of the elect,
that is,
if I'm chosen,
well I can do whatever it is
I want to do anyway
and damn the consequences.
Deliberate choice of words.
Or,
if God just turned us
into robots,
what's the point
in worshipping
on Sunday morning?
What's the point
in giving thanks?
There's a phrase
for people like that.
If you came out
of a Presbyterian background,
you might have been
at some point
referred to as
the frozen chosen.
That's what that means.
But this predestination thing
is anything but ice cold.
In fact,
it's red hot.
Look at verse 2.
Those who believe
are chosen
according to the
foreknowledge
of God the Father.
Now that's a funny
sounding word,
isn't it?
So literally,
to be foreknown
just means to be
known in advance.
Now,
we're not talking
about knowledge
like,
I know
that the sky is blue.
Or,
it's going to rain tomorrow.
Or,
when I try and put
Alice to bed tonight,
she's going to scream
her lungs out
for 10 minutes.
You got a
preliminary look
at that
this morning.
This kind of known
is very different.
You don't have to
turn to it,
but Genesis 4
says this,
Adam
knew
his wife.
Then what happened?
She gave birth
to their son,
Cain.
I remember the first
time I read that
and I just thought,
just from Adam
knowing the girl?
That's some
powerful knowledge.
Thinking,
Adam's son,
be careful who you
know if that's
all it takes.
But of course,
we know it's a
euphemism,
right?
Just like when the
angel Gabriel said
to Mary,
Mary,
you're going to
have a son.
And you remember
what Mary said?
How is that
possible?
I have never
known a man.
And again,
I thought,
well,
she must have
known some men.
The poor girl
wasn't hiding
under a rock
her entire life.
But of course,
what it means is,
I have never
been intimate
with a man.
So this picture
of love,
not the act itself,
but this picture
of love that
lies behind it,
this is the same
thing that Peter
is talking about
here.
God has known
you in advance.
So what does
that mean?
God loved you
before you ever
loved him,
is what that
means.
God has had
in mind for
you an intimate
relationship with
you since way
before the
commencement of
history, way
before you were
ever even born.
And on the
basis of that
relationship in
which you didn't
even know God,
but God knew
you, God
elected you,
God chose
you.
Now think about
this.
This isn't just
theology.
Why is Peter
talking about this?
It's the first
thing he does.
The readers of
the letter are
going through
hardship and
persecution and
suffering.
They're wondering,
just like I was
asking at the
beginning, have we
done something
wrong?
Have we done
something to
displease God?
When we look
around and we
see all the
suffering and
all the pain,
what's going on?
Where is God
in all this?
And they're
wondering, has
he forgotten
us?
And Peter wants
to encourage
him.
And he does
that in no
better way than
by pointing to
the fact that
this living hope,
this assurance of
salvation is
grounded not in
something that
they have done,
but in something
God did before
the ages even
began.
Something he
purposed long
ago before any
of them was even
alive.
And not just
because of some
dry, stale,
cold, impersonal
sense of doctrine
that you only find
in dusty old
books, but a
people who were
chosen by God
according to his
foreknowledge,
desire to enter
into relationship
with you.
In the same
way, a man
knows his
wife.
A woman knows
her husband.
They have an
intimate relationship
that nobody else
will ever have
with them.
In the same
way, God
knows us.
And he makes
this visible,
not just, again,
dry theology or
philosophy.
He makes this
visible, verse 2,
by sending us
the Holy Spirit
to sanctify us.
That means to
purify us, to
give us the
ability to kill
those parts of
our flesh that
don't give God
glory.
And look at what
it says.
He did this so
that we would be
obedient to
Jesus Christ.
That means walk
in a manner like
the manner in
which he walked,
humble,
faithful,
devoted to the
things of heaven.
You know, when I
hear people talk
about election or
predestination,
sometimes there's
this arrogance that
can come across
when people talk
about it.
But those of us
who hold to this
doctrine should be
the humblest people
in the world,
because we had
nothing to do with
this.
This is all the
work of God in
our lives, which
would lead us to
live lives like
Christ, humble and
faithful and devoted
to God.
And because of all
of this, the text
says, we have been
sprinkled with his
blood.
Not literally, that
would be quite
gross, but
metaphorically,
pardoned, ransomed,
healed, restored,
forgiven.
No wonder, look at
verse 3, no wonder
it says, praise be to
the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
He could have
finished the letter
at that point, and
that would have been
enough for me.
But he goes on.
And you know, one of
the people that I find
the most fascinating
is Winston Churchill,
and he once said
this, if you're going
through hell, keep
going.
Don't stop.
When you find
yourself feeling the
pressure, when life
knocks you for six, I've
gone on to the cricket
metaphors because the
rugby is done and
dusted as far as I'm
concerned.
When you get the
diagnosis, when the
mortgage is overdue,
when you can't face
going home because the
house is like a war
zone, whatever life
throws at you, fix
your eyes on 1 Peter
chapter 1, verses 1
to 2.
And remind yourself,
you are not alone.
You're not just some
isolated speck of dust
in this vast universe.
You have been chosen
by God.
Verse 4, God's own
son conquered death by
his resurrection and
has guaranteed this
inheritance that can
never perish, spoil,
or fade.
It will never die.
It will never go out of
existence.
It will never be
invisible.
Remind yourself when
you go through these
times that your
suffering cannot and
will not cancel out
this living hope.
Verse 5, you are
shielded through this
faith.
You remember the full
armor of God in
Ephesians 6?
Take up the shield of
faith with which you
can extinguish all the
flaming arrows of the
evil one.
shield is the best
weapon you have in
this fight against
suffering.
So when the arrows of
hardship and suffering
come at you, lift up
the shield as high as
you can possibly lift it
and just let it do its
work.
Take comfort in the
fact that your faith,
your living hope, is
predestined.
So that's the first one.
Let's look at the
second one.
Our living hope is
precious.
Look at verse 6.
Even though we rejoice
in these great truths,
you know, being chosen,
God's foreknowledge, all
of that kind of thing, it
doesn't mean that the
sufferings and trials
disappear.
So even though we
belong to God, we're not
always going to fly over
the storm.
I was listening to a
worship song the other
day and it was talking
about how we fly with
God over the storm.
But that's not always
true.
In fact, a lot of the
time, we sail right
into the storm.
Look at verse 7.
It's not unavoidable.
It's not accidental.
These trials have come,
verse 7, so that the
proven genuineness of
your faith of greater
worth than gold, which
perishes even though
refined by fire, may
result in praise and
glory and honor when
Jesus is revealed.
So I was reading a lot
about gold in preparation
for this sermon.
We all know what it is,
what it looks like,
what it's worth.
Many of us have it in
our fingers or around
our necks, in your
earlobes.
Some of you might have
it in your teeth, but
keep that to yourself
for the time being.
And I looked it up.
Right now, gold is
worth about 40 euro a
gram.
Now, to put that into
context, take a bag of
sugar.
Empty the bag.
If you want to fill that
bag back up with gold,
it's going to cost you
20 grand.
It would be nice.
It's a valuable,
precious metal.
It's been used for
everything from currency
to electronics to
religious idols.
And we watch movies
about it, like Indiana
Jones.
We create myths about
it, like the lost city
of El Dorado, which is
supposedly the city in
South America that was
made entirely out of
gold, which is
completely true, by the
way.
In 19th century America,
to immigrants in New
York, they said that the
streets of New York are
paved with gold, something
which also turned out not
to be quite true.
In the Bible, if you read
the book of Daniel, you
can read about the king
of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar,
and he built this statue
90 feet high in the middle
of the desert, totally
overlaid with gold.
You could see it for miles
around and said, this
represents me and how
valuable and precious I
am.
You will bow down to this
statue.
The Ark of the
Covenant and the temple,
in fact, were completely
decorated with gold.
So whether as a means for
greedy men to celebrate
themselves or in the
worship of the one true
God, gold has always
been valued.
It's always been sought
after.
It's always been precious.
Say, all right, thanks for
the lecture about gold,
Dan.
What's your point?
Well, this is the most
valuable thing Peter can
think of.
So what he's describing is
how precious is this faith,
how precious is this
living hope that believers
in Jesus Christ have.
This faith that's ordained
by the Father, that is
enabled by the Spirit, for
the purpose of obeying the
Son.
Faith is not bronze.
It's not silver.
It's gold.
First place.
Pole position.
Medal of champions, kings
and emperors.
It's the most valuable
possession that the
believer owns.
It's a medal that, as
Peter refers to here, it's
purified by being put
through fire.
Now, I won't go through
it in detail, but it's an
interesting process.
Basically, to get rid of
all of the junk and all of
the rubbish and gold, you
heat it to 1,064 degrees
Celsius, which is 10 times
hotter than boiling water.
The point is, this is not
like gently reheating
soup.
This is violent, high
energy, testing, using
extreme heat.
In other words, trials that
are difficult to bear, cause
great pain, but which have
a purpose.
Now, I've burned myself a few
times, not while refining
gold, but usually while
cooking, like maybe many of
you have as well.
One of them was
particularly bad.
In fact, it was recent.
I was just there cooking,
minding my own business, when
this sauce decided to attack
me from the pot.
The ungrateful sauce, but
anyway.
The skin in my fingers
scorched and blistered and
did everything else they do
when human skin gets burned.
And they were very sensitive
to the touch.
I couldn't touch anything for
quite a while afterwards.
But over time, they recovered.
And the skin got stronger.
So the next time, and there
was a next time, it didn't
hurt as much.
You see, my skin had
developed, it had toughened.
It could still get burned, and
it can still get burned, and it
will still get burned.
But the pain isn't the same.
So now, when I burn myself, I
kind of don't notice it in the
same spot anymore.
My skin has developed to the
point where it just simply
doesn't register the pain.
That's kind of what Peter is
saying.
That's the purpose of
suffering.
Talking about gold again, there
was a Roman philosopher called
Pliny, and he wrote this at the
same time as Peter's letter.
He said this, gold is the only
thing that doesn't lose any
substance by the action of
fire.
You throw anything else into a
fire, and it's gone in a
matter of seconds.
But gold doesn't lose any
substance.
He goes on to say, as a
matter of fact, it improves
in quality, the more often
you put it in the fire.
And fire, here's the point,
serves as a test of the
gold's goodness.
That's what Peter is saying.
Just like these trials have
come to the church to purify the
faith of the believers, the fire
tests the gold to strengthen its
purity.
And apparently, Peter says, so do
things like bullying, mockery,
gossip, harassment, so do all of
these things toughen and strengthen
the faith of the Christian.
The point of the fire, Peter is
saying, is that it's not there to
punish you for something.
The fire is there to develop your
Christian character.
Because it's really easy to be a
Christian when life is going well.
When you've got the job, when you've
got the house, when college is good,
when no one is gossiping about you,
but the proof of the pudding is in
the eating.
It's when things go bad, what way is
your faith?
It's so that when the world looks at
you, when the church looks at you,
and when the Lord looks at you, you
see someone whose faith, or they see
someone whose faith is true and pure,
because it's been tested by fire.
To paraphrase verses 7 and 8, it's so
that when Jesus comes back, or you go
to meet him, but when he separates
the sheep from the goats, you find
yourself in the right pasture.
That's how serious this is.
Because you love him, and you believe
in him, that fire will have resulted
in the salvation of your soul, Peter
says.
It is a means of grace.
We'll get more into this in chapters
2 and 3, but here's some ways in which
the fire can test your faith.
Maybe you're a student, whatever age
you are, maybe you're a student.
When your classmates call you names,
or they mock you because of your faith,
do you respond?
Or do you turn the other cheek?
If you're an employee, when your boss
rebukes you under false pretenses, as
has happened to me before, unheard of
in the civil service, I know.
But when your boss rebukes you for
something you haven't done, do you
shout and scream?
Threaten to go on strike?
Or do you just calmly and respectfully
conduct yourself as a model employee
and let your life speak for itself?
How about this one?
This will make me very popular by
bringing this up.
We're all citizens.
When the government requires us to pay
for our water, do we disobey?
Do we refuse?
Or do we render unto Caesar
as Jesus commanded us?
Friend, the fire is not there to punish you.
The fire is there, ultimately,
to make you more like Christ.
Because think about this.
Christ who didn't open his mouth
to defend himself.
Who went willingly
like a lamb to the slaughter.
Christ who could have said,
I'm not putting up with all of this.
I'm not putting up with being beaten
and mocked and scorned
and harassed and intimidated.
Christ who could have called down
twelve legions of angels
for protection,
but instead,
willingly,
went to the cross.
Christ who even on that cross
bled for the ones
who nailed him to the cross.
The ones who beat him
and whipped him
and scourged him.
And remember what he prayed?
Father,
forgive them.
They don't know what they're doing.
John puts it this way.
You don't have to turn to it,
but this is from 1 John 3.
Dear friends,
now we are children of God.
What we will be
has not yet been made known.
But we know that when Christ
appears,
we'll be like him.
For we shall see him
as he is.
And that,
Peter says in verse 8,
ought to fill us with joy.
Because our trials, friends,
are not interruptions
in our Christian walk.
They're not these things
that happen to us
that distract from being Christian.
Our trials, friends,
they are our Christian walk.
That's when we prove our faith.
Our trials are there
to make us more like Christ.
And in them,
verse 9,
even though we suffer,
and even though we don't
always see God,
we are receiving
the end result
of our faith.
The end result
that is guaranteed
because of this living hope.
The living hope
that is precious
because it is refined
by fire.
So,
our living hope
is predestined,
precious,
and lastly,
prophetic.
Now, it's very easy.
I wonder about this
sometimes myself
when I teach this stuff.
It's very easy
and understandable
to wonder,
why do we bother
reading the Old Testament?
It doesn't look
very relevant to us.
I mean,
this kind of strange
collection of books
of history
and poetry
and law
seems to apply
to this group of people
in ancient Palestine.
It doesn't seem
to have a whole lot
of relevance to me
living in East Cork
in the 21st century.
And sometimes,
I'm guilty of this,
we can take the stories
of Joseph and Daniel
and Moses and all of them
and we can kind of take
life lessons for us.
And that's not wrong,
necessarily,
but it's not the point
of the Old Testament.
You see,
the point of the whole Bible
is that it's part
of this one big story.
And the story goes
something like this.
God created
a perfect universe.
Through mankind,
sin came in
and corrupted it.
And one day,
God will restore
the universe
to the way it was
in the very beginning.
That's the whole Bible
in a nutshell.
It's not much more
complicated than that.
Basically,
the Bible is a story
about how God
is going to sort out sin.
And all of these parts
of the Old Testament,
you know,
Exodus from Egypt,
the Promised Land,
Moses,
the Kingdom of David,
all of these things,
they're pictures
which point forwards
to what it's going
to look like
at the very end
when this sin
is eradicated.
And none of these things
were going to get rid
of this sin.
Ultimately,
there was only one way
in which this sin
was going to be destroyed.
And verse 10 says
the prophets,
the guys in the Old Testament
who spoke the words of God,
they searched intently
for this.
They wanted to know,
they yearned to know,
how was this going to happen?
What's it going to look like?
When is the Messiah coming?
What's he going to do?
And they wrote things like this.
Isaiah said this,
The Lord himself
will give you a sign,
O Israel.
Behold,
which just means,
look,
the virgin
will give birth
to a child.
Jeremiah,
I will set up over them
one shepherd,
and he shall feed them
and be
the good shepherd.
Micah,
you, Bethlehem,
from you
will come forth
for me
one who is to be
the ruler
in Israel.
Zechariah,
behold,
that word again,
look,
your king is coming to you,
righteous
and having salvation,
humble
and mounted
on a donkey.
David,
I looked for pity,
but there was none.
For my thirst
they gave me
sour wine
to drink.
Now those are five.
One source I read
said there are over
350 prophecies
in the Old Testament
that are directly fulfilled
by Jesus Christ.
350.
Those are just five.
And the prophets
only saw these things
through the lens
of their own time
and their own experience,
but we have the benefit
of history.
So we know
Jesus was born
of a virgin.
We know
he was the good shepherd
who quite literally
fed the sheep.
sheep.
We know
he was born
in Bethlehem.
We know
he entered Jerusalem
riding on a donkey.
And we know
that the Romans
gave him sour wine
to drink
when he was hanging
on the cross.
And these are things
that are not accidents.
They are the fulfillment
of thousands
of years
of biblical prophecy
of God's plan.
And we know
verse 12
that these prophets
were not serving
themselves,
but they were
serving us.
That's you and me.
That's the people
who live
on this side
of Calvary.
You see,
the prophets,
friends,
their very words
were pointing
towards a picture
of the fulfillment
of Jesus Christ,
God's plan
to send his own son
into the world
to purchase
for himself
a people,
a bride.
And that bride
is the church.
Not just abstract,
by the way.
This church,
here,
this morning,
in this literal room,
with this literal people,
listening to this
literal sermon,
this living hope,
friends,
that you have,
this is not God
reacting to something.
He's not reacting
to Brexit.
He's not reacting
to Islamic State.
He's not reacting
to all of the other
things that go on
in the world
that make us
really uncomfortable
and make us wonder
what's going on,
Lord.
This is something
that stretches back
hundreds and hundreds
of years before
the prophets
to the Garden
of Eden itself,
where God promised,
one day,
from the seed
of the woman,
will come the one
who will crush
the head
of the snake,
the one who would
destroy sin,
the one who would
conquer death.
We should read
the Old Testament,
friends,
because these things
remind us
God is in control,
even when things
don't go the way
we want them to go.
when we lose our job,
when we're sick,
when my two-year-old
daughter is screaming
here on my first Sunday
in Carragalline,
when all of these
things happen
that don't go
according to plan,
God's plan
will not get interrupted.
That's why we should
read the Old Testament.
And here's what Peter
is basically saying.
Brothers and sisters,
I know you're feeling
the heat.
So am I.
So is Paul.
So are all the other
apostles.
So are all the other
believers.
But friends,
long ago,
and in many ways,
Hebrews 1 verse 1 says,
God spoke to us
through those prophets
who we just read about.
But in these last days,
he has spoken to us,
who?
Through his son,
whom he has appointed
heir,
king,
emperor,
ruler,
over all things.
And Peter says,
this is astounding,
even angels
long to look
into these things
you can read a lot
about angels.
They're stronger
than we are.
They're smarter
than we are.
They're better looking
than we are,
according to the Bible.
But even angels
long to look
into these promises
made to you and me.
Because even the most
beautiful,
the most strong,
the most angelic angel
is still not
one of the people
about whom the prophets
were speaking,
whom the prophets
were serving.
That's you and me.
And that's incredible.
So don't stop witnessing.
Don't stop loving
one another.
Don't stop serving
one another.
Husband,
keep on being gentle.
Wife,
keep on loving.
Parent,
keep on being devoted.
Employee,
keep on being faithful.
Master,
keep on being kind.
Be the light
of the gospel.
as in really
be that light
by nature
of your life
in a world
of darkness
that desperately
needs that light.
Because Christ
has destroyed death.
And Christ
will bring us
to him
one day.
It's not up for debate.
It's done.
It's been purposed
long ago
and now we know
it for real.
Now I suggest
when you're at home
later today,
take this out
and read it again.
And just soak in
what Peter writes
to people
who are suffering.
And wrap your arms
around the full weight
of his encouragement.
And then go back
and read the first
three chapters
of the book of Job.
You know what
the most helpful
thing Job's friends
did was?
The most helpful
thing they said
was?
Absolutely nothing.
They came,
they sat down,
they didn't say
anything for a week
and that was
the most helpful
thing they did
in that entire book.
And then they
started talking
and the wheels
kind of came
off the wagon
at that point.
And they started
to say things
like this.
Job,
stop and think.
Do innocent
people die?
When have the
upright been punished?
Job,
you withheld
food from the hungry.
That is why
you suffer.
Job,
your children
sinned against God.
That's why
he gave them
over to death.
Unloving,
ungracious,
unhelpful.
They probably
meant well
because most
people do.
They were trying
to comfort
like Peter
but unlike
Peter
they ended
up doing
more harm
than good.
So here's
the pastoral
application.
Is that us?
When our
brothers and
sisters are
going through
pain
and suffering
what do we
say?
What do we
do?
Are my words
unkind?
Do I try
and find
fault?
Do I try
and give
a doctrinal
explanation
for suffering?
But all
I end up
doing is
ignoring
or blaming
the victim.
I personally
know several
people who
have confided
in other
believers about
suffering and
they've been
told things like
this.
Well,
Jim,
not his real
name,
but well,
Jim,
you wouldn't
have
leukemia if
you had more
faith.
Mary,
not her real
name again,
Mary,
your marriage
wouldn't be
falling apart
if you had
more faith
when you
were younger.
Or I've
personally been
told,
you know,
Dan,
Jack probably
wouldn't be
autistic if you
hadn't got him
vaccinated.
Now,
comments like
that,
they don't make
me angry,
they just make
me sad.
death.
But they're
nothing new.
They're as
old as the
book of
Job.
So the
next time,
and again,
here's the
application,
the next time
you're comforting
somebody,
don't look to
Job's friends.
Look to
Peter.
Don't
minimize their
suffering.
Empathize with
them.
Acknowledge,
yes,
I know things
are difficult.
And it's okay
to say that
things are
difficult.
Life isn't
always easy,
and it's not
going to be
easy.
Don't
rationalize
their
suffering,
or explain
it away.
Just point
them towards
the assurance
of their
salvation.
Point them
towards the
divine plan
of redemption
that began
long before
God ever
said,
let there be
light.
Fix their
eyes on the
glory of
God,
the gentle
love of
Jesus,
and the
Holy Spirit
who keeps
them secure.
And when
you find
yourself in
the valley,
and you
will,
if you
haven't
already,
look up
to the
top of
the mountain,
to the
shining city
on the
hill,
and head
straight
towards it.
Keep
going when
you're going
through hell,
just keep
going towards
that living
hope,
that assurance
of salvation
that will
never die.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Amen.