Praise to God for a Living Hope
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 ready to be revealed in the
last time. In all 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 honour 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.
Introduction:
The word that we have read are the words of the Apostle
Peter. They were intended to encourage his readers and as we read them some
2000 years later we are struck by the emotion that they portray.
We are reminded that the writer just a few years earlier was
a humble fisherman who met Jesus and was elevated to being a son of the living
God. He was converted in much the same way as all of us Christians in this room
have been. It is by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who is God the Son that we are
saved. He became a shame before God on our behalf by taking the sins of all of
His children upon Himself and taking the punishment that we deserve. It was
more than a death upon a cross; many other innocent victims died such a death
but could not accomplish forgiveness of sins for themselves let alone for the
entire church. Jesus death was a shame to God; He cannot have sin in His
presence and so for God the Son to become as if He were the worst of all
sinners was an abomination to God. Due to this Jesus invoked the whole perfect
wrath of God upon Himself which means that the wrath that we deserve has been
redirected or (if you want to be theological about it) propitiated. We are
completely forgiven of all of our sin and so we are a very special people but
so often we do not live in the light of what we have become. Peter was a man
who knew how much he had been forgiven; remember his encounter with Jesus after
the resurrection! He was re-instated by Jesus after he had been quizzed as to
how much he truly loved the Lord. That incident brought deep sorrow to his
heart but taught him how to write these words that we have before us. Are you
forgiven? Do you love as you ought to love? Let us consider briefly what Peter
teaches and be inspired to be what God demands of us!
v You have not seen Him. But.
You do love Him.
We are different to Peter. He did see Jesus! Ever since Jesus
ascended into heaven people have been saved by faith but not by sight. Peter’s
seeing Jesus did not save him it was his faith in Jesus as Lord that brought
salvation. It is by the Word that we know about Him, it is the application of
truth into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that we believe in Him and it is by
God’s grace that we are saved by Him and so Peter reminds us that even though
we do not see Him we really ought to love Him.
But do you?
What does love for Jesus look like? I have over the years
seen much of what love for Jesus is portrayed to be. In some circles it is
hippy-love! What do I mean by that? Remember the days of flowers in the air,
the end of war and free love towards all. Mostly drug induced soppy
sentimentalism!
"All You Need Is Love"
Love, love, love (X3)
There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy
Nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy
All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love
All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy
All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
All you need is love (All together, now!)
All you need is love (Everybody!)
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Yee-hai! (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Yesterday (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Oh yeah! (Love is all you need)
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah (Love is all you need)
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah (Love is all you need)
This type of sentiment has infiltrated the church and so we
can all live out a dream that says everything is well and we end up singing
dreamy love songs to Jesus with our hands waving like trees and our eyes
looking into the back of our heads making us look more like zombies than lovers
of Jesus. Well of course that is not the problem with us here but we are equally
prone to displaying false love. Read the reformers and the puritans: they knew
about heart felt love for God!
As reformed believers emotions are so well and truly planted
into our pockets. How much have we been forgiven, our great and wonderful
theology tells us plainly. Does it not move yours hearts?
"In the very
beginning, when this great universe lay in the mind of God, like unborn forests
in the acorn cup; long before the echoes awoke the solitudes; before the
mountains were brought forth; and long before the light flashed through the
sky, God loved His chosen creatures. Before there was any created being ---
when the ether was not fanned by an angel's wing, when space itself had not an
existence, where there was nothing save God alone --- even then, in that
loneliness of Deity, and in that deep quiet and profundity, His heart moved
with love for His chosen. Their names were written on His heart, and then were
they dear to His soul. Jesus loved His people before the foundation of the
world --- even from eternity! and when He called me by His grace, He said to
me, 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness
have I drawn thee’”
- C. H. Spurgeon said that. God’s love through Jesus
is set upon us; do we truly reciprocate His love to us or is our love a
careless love? It is pathetic to see the face of a parent who loves their child
but the child has only contempt for them. God must feel broken by our lack of
true love for Him!
v You cannot see Him. But: You
believe in Him.
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith
is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen!”
We are so often told that if only God would reveal Himself,
if only He would leave heaven, come to earth and visit us then we would
believe. That is utter clap-trap, He did come and even His own would not
receive Him. Jesus the very representation of God become man and man not only
would not believe in Him but they murdered Him. Jesus will only be believed if
a work of grace has already taken place. It is a gift of God: Ephesians 1:8-9 “By grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works,
so that no one may boast.”
The gospel has done its work in our hearts therefore we
believe in Him. We believe in all that He is, all that He has done and all that
He is yet to do. We believe that he is the creator of all things that has
brought to life our dead souls and has made us alive in Him. We may not see Him
until we have done with this life and we are transported into the presence of
the Father. Our guide on that day will be our Saviour Jesus who will present us
to God who will see righteousness given by the One carrying the scars of
sacrifice.
We believe this don’t we??
Do you?
You have not seen Him but you love Him and you believe in
Him.
The result being:
v You are filled with joy beyond compare! Because: The end is coming.
Joy unspeakable fills every part
Life is wonderful, yes it's wonderful
Life is wonderful now to me
I let Jesus in, He changed everything
Life is wonderful now.
Since His blessings came into my heart
Joy unspeakable fills every part
Now I want to live for my Lord
Life is wonderful now.
I can pick holes in the theology; in parts it is plain wrong
but the one thing that it can teach us is about Joy. Joy unspeakable; do you
know what that means?
That is what Peter is saying that salvation means to Him and
it is what it ought to mean to us. There is no room for manic Jesus loves me
grins but joy unspeakable is what we have. How does that come out? Jesus for
the joy of the Lord which was set before Him beyond the cross endured the pain,
suffering and rejection of death! It was a joy to Jesus.
What is our joy? Belonging to Him eternally, does that not at
least warm your heart even if it cannot raise a smile?
Rejoice, the Lord is
King! Your Lord and King adore;
Mortals give thanks and
sing, and triumph evermore;
Lift up your heart, lift
up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say,
rejoice!
Jesus, the Savior,
reigns, the God of truth and love;
When He had purged our
stains He took His seat above;
Lift up your heart, lift
up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say,
rejoice!
His kingdom cannot fail,
He rules o’er earth and Heav’n,
The keys of death and
hell are to our Jesus giv’n;
Lift up your heart, lift
up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say,
rejoice!
He sits at God’s right
hand till all His foes submit,
And bow to His command,
and fall beneath His feet:
Lift up your heart, lift
up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say,
rejoice!
Rejoice in glorious
hope! Jesus the Judge shall come,
And take His servants up
to their eternal home.
We soon shall hear
th’archangel’s voice;
The trump of God shall
sound, rejoice!
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