Our Christian Joy right Now is A Prophetic Revelation of our Perfect Future Joy that Will Last Forever
1 Peter 1:3-9
(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)
Please turn to 1 Peter 1:3-9. As you are turning there, I want to point out something that has been consistent since the fall of Adam and Eve. It has been something that has haunted the world on through history and into the New Covenant age. It is the irritating effect of sin that envelopes the world. Sin hurts humanity. We feel sin's effects everywhere we go. It is really strange, because in the midst of the oppressiveness, and hurt, of sin, there are times when people will still experience joy. It is even expressible joy. The problem is that it is a kind of joy that doesn't last. This is because this type of joy is based upon feelings, and feelings don't last. Sooner or later the feelings of the irritation of the results of sin become heightened. Sin does its job like a professional thief. It quickly steals away this kind of joy. But sin does something else with joy that is really strange. Basically, there is a certain kind of joy that is a kind of pleasure with sin. One of the curses of sin is that it is a clever con-artist. It promises a kind of joy in the pleasures of sin, and at the same time, it is already looking forward to the moment when it steals that kind of joy away. Sin is a liar. It says
"Eat from this forbidden tree and you will have the kind of joy where you will be like God. Your eyes will finally be opened to true goodness."
When people believe it, and eat, they recognize that this lie has a sweet taste. They find that they experience the pleasures of sin for a season. When the season is over, they realize they are empty, naked, and exposed. They are in sin, lied to by sin, and hurt by sin. Sin is the same insidious liar that looks like it has good intentions when it contradicts the Lord by saying,
"Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." Matthew 16:22
Sin is that deceptive fruit that appears pious, courageous, and devoted as it seeks to correct the Lord by saying,
"Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" Matthew 26:35
The various manifestations of sin are packaged in so many ways. Some seem innocent. Some seem nobel. Some are colorful and enticing. Others are grotesque and repulsive. Sexual sins permeate the world. Every kind of sexual perversion that one may be able conceive has been practiced, and is probably being practiced as I preach. People love sin; but sometimes they hate sin. They especially love it when they can satisfy their lusts. They hate it when they are victimized by its hurting consequences. Sins like murders, mutilations, rape, incest, and molestation continue in every culture. News reports, personal discoveries, and personal experiences, reveal to us that such things go on in our own neighborhoods. Some of us may have been personally stung by the presence of some of these things in our own lives--even in our own homes. Cheating, scandal, stealing, lying, and greed is found everywhere. Sickness, depression, and despair, permeates the atmosphere of the world. It is like a kind of smog that won't go way. It is hard to find joy in the middle of the smog of depression and despair. Sometimes it seems like the smog has lifted; but turn the corner, and there it is again. Suicides occur in staggering numbers each day. This means that today we can expect that a number of people will murder their own selves because they don't want to live in a world that is falling apart in the disgusting hopelessness that they see in it all. It is an eerie calculation to contemplate statistically that today, and tomorrow, multitudes of people will plan, will prepare, will go through the process, and then complete the deed of murdering their own self. Then the same thing will happen with multitudes the next day, and the next, and on, and on. The world is immersed in sin, and it is very, very, painful. In a painful world, it is hard to have "feelings" of joy. It is harder to maintain such "feelings." As a consequence, billions upon billions of people try a different route than committing self murder. They just go on and attempt to have joy in the experiences of "the now." They try to find moment to moment joy in eating, drinking, and being merry, in their sin. But it is hard to do because the world is cursed with all the horrible things I have just mentioned, and more. "Now" comes and goes. Then "now" becomes the past. I am really wanting us to strongly consider the effects of sin on this world and the despair it brings with it. People who are unsaved, who are dying in the cursed world, and immersed in the cursed world, without Christ, don't have hope. If they have a kind of hope in a false religion, then it is a futile hope. All their reasons for existence in the now are hopelessly meaningless. Sometimes people recognize that a life without God is meaningless, and since they are immersed in their sin, in rebellion against God, their thoughts of the doom of the future don't bring joy. The thoughts can be summed up in the sin filled joyless sermonizing words of a man who died in the cursed world, while immersed in the cursed world, with no hope. Listen as I read of his sobering recognition of joylessness in hopelessness without Christ,
"A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle for bread; they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; shames and humiliations bring down their prides and their vanities; those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. The burden of pain, care, misery, grows heavier year by year; at length, ambition is dead, pride is dead; vanity is dead; longing for release is in their place. It comes at last--the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them--and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing; where they were a mistake and a failure and a foolishness; there they have left no sign that they have existed--a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever. Then another myriad takes their place, and copies all they did, and goes along the same profitless road, and vanishes as they vanished--to make room for another, and another, and a million other myriads, to follow the same arid path through the same desert, and accomplish what the first myriad, and all the myriads that came after it, accomplished--nothing!" (1)
Do you know who wrote that? Mark Twain wrote that in his autobiography; Mark Twain, who wrote children's books to bring joy to people; Mark Twain who traveled the world to see the temporal joys of the various cultures unfold before his eyes; Mark Twain, who rejected God as an atheist. When Twain said that "the joy of life turned to aching grief," he was describing more than his words could express for people who die lost in their sins without Christ as their Lord and Savior. As we think about this, we must consider that the scattered Christians that Peter wrote this letter to were also experiencing aches, pain, and certain sorrows that come because of the curse; but not the grief that Mark Twain preached. The Christians that Peter is writing to were not regenerated to
"vanish from a world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing; where they were a mistake and a failure and a foolishness."--Mark Twain (aka. Samuel Clemens)
No, they were intentionally recreated to live forever in a Kingdom of righteousness as a success of God's infinite wisdom. So are all of us who are saved. In the meantime, they were being persecuted for loving Jesus Christ. They are like us--living among the dark culture of the lost as pilgrims passing through before being promoted to perfection in glory. The "now" experience of everyday life, with seeming lack of social security, constant persecution, and the spiritual darkness all around, was something that hurt them in a pronounced way. Peter indicates, in the passage we are going to study this morning, that these Christians were being grieved through the distress of various trials. But there is something truly beautiful about all of this. It has to do with the fact that though we are touched by the curse, and though we grieve because of it, we are also clothed in the blessing. The blessing is deep, and abiding. The blessing is an anchor. It is not the superficial sway of outward displays. It is not merely smiling faces, and giddy laughter that even the lost can have at times in the deception of sin. It is true, lasting, ever present, joy. Though sadness may press against our soul, joy burns there with a fire that can not be drowned away. I want us to think about this joy as we read God's word. It is in direct opposition to the empty sermon of sin and sadness that the world preaches. Starting in verse 3,
"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be regenerated [begotten] to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the proof [tested genuineness ESV] of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls."
Please prepare your heart to learn, along with me, from the preaching of God's word in this sermon titled,
Our Christian Joy right Now is A Prophetic Revelation of our Perfect Future Joy that Will Last Forever
[pray]
This morning I am wanting us to glean some important principles from our text in respect to the beautiful fact that our Christian joy, that we have right now, is a prophetic revelation of our perfect future joy that lasts forever.
/1/
The first thing we can glean, is an understanding that our joy right now is a deep inner spiritual joy that is actually "in" something. Further, this joy that we have that is in something, is joy that is always there in all who are truly saved. This is important, so please follow me carefully: What Peter is talking about here is not something that culture can sometimes hastily call "joy." Peter says some amazing things about this joy that seems, to the untaught and unstable, to be somehow wrong. He says that this joy exists even though you are grieved. He also calls it "inexpressible" which means it can not be expressed; and though it can not be expressed, it is also full of glory. Notice the facts,
"In this you greatly rejoice, even though now ... you have been grieved ... you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, ... " 1 Peter 1:6, 8
This is the joy of the Lord that is full of glory. It is not like when someone looks at you and says,
"I sense an expression of joy, so everything must be great! You must be full of glory!"
Or,
"I don't sense an expression of joy, so something must be wrong."
"I don't sense an expression of joy, so there must not be a fullness of glory."
and so they theorize, based upon their own subjective observations, feelings, and definitions from religiosity of what joy is supposed to be, that the "inexpressible" joy of the Lord must not be there. This joy that Peter is talking about is different. It is God's definition. It is the inexpressible joy that is full of glory that Christians have who grieve. It is the inexpressible joy that is full of glory that Christians have who may manifest a blank facial expression. This is the joy that Christians have while grimacing in excruciating pain. This is the joy that prophets have as they weep over others. This is the joy that Christians have who are sober, serious, and stable, in their spiritual focus. At the same time, this is also joy that Christians have who are smiling, who are giggling, and who are jovial. It is there in both. This joy is in all Christians who are manifesting various kinds of outward emotions. Why? Because this joy is not a feeling, a mood, or a facial expression. This is the consistent joy that we all have because this joy is spiritually generated in us. Also, this spiritually generated joy is always there concerning something else that is spiritually generated. This is the Holy Spirit generated joy that is in the fact that we, who are the elect, were conceived again and born again in the past as living expressions of hope, where God caused it all to happen as a miracle. It is joy that we inherently have because we know God as our Father. Peter says,
"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be regenerated [re-begotten] to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,"
@1 In salvation God causes us to be ________________________ through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3
The Spirit reveals to us that we have this joy because of what God has done to us in His great mercy. Its power is found in the event where the Father resurrected Christ. There is great joy in this powerful event that establishes our spiritual conception. If you are saved, you know this joy don't you? Nobody has to tell you that you have it. Judgmental people do not have a right to tell you that you don't have it. This joy comes with your regeneration. It is part of it. The Greek word (anagennesas) that is often translated as regeneration, describes what happens at conception. Sometimes the word is translated as "born again" but it really means being "rebegotten." Peter uses similar terminology in a few verses in 23 to explain how God produces His true children,
"23 because you have been regenerated [regenerated from a seed, anagegennemenoi] not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God." 1 Peter 1:23
This new conception is radically different than our first one in Adam. We become a completely new kind of creature. We become a part of a new nation where we have citizenship in a new and better Kingdom. The process to get us there started way back when Christ was first humbled, rejected, and crucified. It is through that first stage that the great mercy plan was fulfilled in Him, where our Old Self was crucified with Him. It was joyous to Christ, but at the same time the whole experience brought a sense of grief, pain, and hardship, that was very real. But God had joy in it as part of the plan in glorifying His Son forever in resurrected majesty. God had joy in it in securing the eternal spiritual salvation for all the elect. For us, we have joy in the fact that the humbled Christ has absorbed the wrath that we deserve for our sins in a grace gifting. We have joy in the fact that He purchased us on the cross. It is our joy to share His inexpressible joy in all its fullness of glory, where in His resurrection, we are resurrected spiritually in Him. Though the world may be falling apart all around us, we are saved in a real spiritual rebirth through the finished work of Christ. It is all a joyous miracle. If you are saved, then you are very familiar with the miraculous joy that I am talking about that gives blessing and praise to God. Now, you might be saying,
"But I am not happy all the time, so does this mean that I am not saved?"
"I am not jovial and full of glee on a consistent basis. Does this mean I am not a miracle experiencing the miracle?"
"Does this mean that I am not filled with the Spirit?"
"Does this mean that the Spirit is not present?"
Let me answer those questions by asking you some questions:
"Do you have joy, or do you have sorrow, concerning the fact that in Christ's death on the cross, He completely cleansed you from your sins on the cross?"
Let me guess ... You have joy, right?
"Do you have joy, or do you have sorrow, concerning the fact that through His death and resurrection, your hope to come is eternal-glorious life in Him?"
Sure, you have joy in that.
"Do you have joy, or do you have sorrow, in respect to being saved by grace through faith in His finished work?"
Of course, you have joy. This is why it is important to not confuse being happy all the time, in a carnal sense, with the joy in your spirit that comes from a spiritual sense and is always there in an eternal sense. The main point is that God causes this inexpressible joyousness to happen to His elect in Christ. He causes this to happen to you to, if indeed you are in Christ. Why? Because His Spirit is always present with you! But the point is that the joy, and the cause of the joy, goes back to Christ. Let's look at the ways that God keeps presenting it,
"He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything." Colossians 1:18
Christ is the first born. He is the beginning of the church. He is the heir. We follow Him in our regeneration. We are the afterborn. Jesus prophetically pointed to the regeneration in Him, when He told His students in His pre-cross ministry,
"28 ... you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, ..." Matthew 19:28
All of us are in the body of Christ as the church because we have been re-begotten in Christ. This is where the abiding joy rests. The elect are crucified with Him, nevertheless we live, yet it is not us who live, but it is the first born from the dead who lives in us, Galatians 2:20. In our resurrected state, in Him
"neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation." Galatians 6:15
It is the regeneration of being
"His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" Ephesians 2:10
It is Paul's foundational point in 2 Corinthians 5,
"14 ... one died for all, therefore all died; ... 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; ... 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature [being regenerate]; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ... 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
It is all completely a work in Christ by the Spirit,
"he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit," Titus 3:5
@2 God made Christ Who knew no sin, to be ____________ on our behalf. 2 Corinthians 5:21
Those who don't have this, not only do not have joy in it, but they don't understand it, and in their ignorance, they loathe it. For us, we must fully embrace this so that we understand that our joy is an inner work of Christ.
/2/
This leads to a second thing we can glean: Our Christian joy that we have right now is a prophetic revelation of our perfect future joy that will last forever. That perfect joy is guaranteed. God regenerated you
"4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ... 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls."
@3 The outcome of _________________ in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior is eternal salvation that will not fade away. 1 Peter 1:4-9
There is great joy in being assured that your salvation is safe and secure. Peter is making a proclamation of being Once Saved in Eternal Spiritual Salvation (OSIESS). What this means is that there is more to our hope than just wanting to be saved forever. Part of our joy now is that this faith alone in Christ's work alone, is what obtains the eternal salvation of our souls. All of us who are in the New Covenant, by grace through faith, have been given a reservation already. In other words, God has given you an inheritance deposit that is as if it is in a heavenly bank. It is being held for you to get at the ordained time. It already exists there. It is not theoretical. It is real, and it is already waiting for you. And it is imperishable. It can not, and will not, fade away. If someone says to you,
"How do you know this inheritance is true?"
We know it is true because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ the first born heir. The resurrection has occurred because of the power of God. We know this is true because of God's revelation of it. We know that it is true because we have been enabled to believe it. This power of God is what protects you through faith. Peter says plainly,
"4 to obtain an inheritance ... reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ... 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls."
This is the good news: Your faith that you have now is for the outcome of a salvation that is the preservation of your regenerated soul forever. Think about the prophetic aspect of this: Your future salvation is demonstrated as existing now because of your faith that you have now. (see faith as a miraculous gift from God John 6:29, Philippians 1:29, 2 Peter 1:1, Romans 12:3, Hebrews 12:2, and Ephesians 2:8). You can not lose it because both the faith, and the regeneration, are miracle giftings that are protected by the power of God. Someday we will be resurrected from the dead like Christ was. Then we will be with Christ experiencing our inheritance forever. We rejoice in this in our prophetic faith.
/3/
This leads to the third principle,
"6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,"
Our Christian joy that we have right now, as a prophetic revelation of our perfect future joy that will last forever in salvation, exists in the midst of grief. It exists in the midst of pain, hardship, and persecution, that comes from being Christians among the lost world culture. There is no place in God's word that says that we will not experience grief, pain, hardship, and persecution, as a matter of our current salvation experience. In fact, our Christian roots demonstrate, and God reveals in His word, that the opposite is not only true, but is to be expected. Since Christ was rejected, mocked, and persecuted, we inherit the same thing because Christ is in us as our hope of glory. But we also inherit our eternal painless glory in our future too. Our hope is prophetically in something better which we taste now in our regeneration, but will experience in a more glorious way in our eternal transformation after we go to be with Christ. I want us to notice that Peter says, "if necessary."
"6 In this
[which is that we know we will obtain the reserved inheritance in being protected by the power of God]
you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,"
This little clarifier of being grieved by various trials, but only if necessary, leads to the next principle;
/4/
which is the fourth principle. As I read, I want us to notice the big "so that." Peter says,
"7 so that the proof [tested genuineness ESV] of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"
Essentially we have joy now because in our tested faith itself we see the substance of what demonstrates the reality of our salvation. Our faith is made manifest through suffering that God ordains. This is a consistent biblical principle. In chapter 4, Peter says that God wills suffering for doing what is right, plus it is also His will that we have trust in Him through it all,
"19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right." 1 Peter 4:19
The point is that sometimes God thinks it is necessary to prove out our faith. The way God does it is through the fire of the whole experience of pain, hardship, and persecution for simply being children of God in Christ. The persecution is heightened whenever you speak out for Christ and share the gospel, or live for Christ without compromise. What is happening (and God know this, so this is why He thinks it would be necessary for His children to suffer according to His will) is that the purity of your faith is being demonstrated. It is being showcased; and so our faith is being spotlighted as existing as something that withstands the fires of life. Peter says that our faith is more precious than gold; but your faith is still tested with fire. Why? When the purity of gold is tested, it is melted by fire. Two things happen:
First it is shown to be gold.
Secondly, the gold ore is melted, and then the impurities float to the top. The impurities are skimmed off the top, and the remaining gold is left in a more purified state.
If you want the benefits of this process, then you have to apply the furnace to get it. Purified gold is durable. Purified gold does not tarnish. It shines. This is why archaeologists can dig up gold items today that are from the time of Peter and they are still shining in their purity. But, I want us to think about this. Gold may have value but it does not remotely compare to the value of your gift of faith. Purified gold may be durable, but it can not endure forever. Your faith does endure forever, and it is made evident through the fires of purifying with pain, hardship, and persecution. Again, what have we been studying? Your faith as prophetic revelation. And so in the end, it is still there, but in the meantime, it is more purely manifested. Whereas, James says that the testing of our faith produces endurance in James 1:3, the principle here that Peter is conveying, is that the testing of your faith produces the manifestation of the enduring faith, and the manifestation of your tested faith is the demonstration of the reality of your eternal spiritual salvation. This is a prophetic revelation of the glorious existence you will experience forever at the revelation of Christ.
/5/
This leads to the last thing I want us to consider. Our Christian joy that we have right now, as a prophetic revelation of our perfect future joy that will last forever in salvation, is joined with our love for our Lord whom we have not seen, nor do we see now. This is an integral part of the miracle that demonstrates our faith;
"8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,"
@4 Though you have not seen Him, you ________________ Him, and though you do not see Him now, but you __________________ in Him. 1 Peter 1:8
The Christians that Peter is writing to, have never seen Christ. The reason is because they were not among the Israelites decades earlier when Christ ministered in His pre-cross mission. Their miraculous joy, and our miraculous joy, is in the fact that we love Christ, in faith, though none of us have seen Him. We don't see Him now. We don't see Him in our pain, hardship, and persecution; but we know that He is resurrected. We know He is seated at the right hand of the Father. We also know that He is in us spiritually. We know that we love Him. This is the prophetic faith that we have that I have been preaching. It is not like the dead faith of people like Mark Twain who are lost in their sins. His humanistic faith, and that of others like him, is a prophetic revelation of their doom. There is great joy in our faith in Christ while we go on each day through this world awaiting our glorious future when we will be with Him.
I urge you to be mindful of all of these wonderful truths. Be remembering the first thing. The joy that we have, in Christ right now, is a deep inner spiritual joy that is actually in something. It is always there for those who are truly saved. It is the consistent joy that you have because this joy is spiritually generated, and is joy that is perpetually in something spiritually generated. It is the joy we have in the fact that we have been regenerated as a miracle work of God. Remember that your Christian joy that you have right now is a prophetic revelation of your perfect future joy that will last forever. It is guaranteed. It is reserved in heaven. The joy is in being assured that your salvation is safe and secure. You can not lose your salvation. You will not walk away from it. It is protected. Be mindful that your Christian joy that you have right now, as a prophetic revelation of your perfect future joy, exists in the midst of the grief, pain, hardship, and persecution, that comes from being a Christian among the lost world culture. Always know that in the faith that you have during grief, pain, hardship, and persecution, we see the substance of what demonstrates the reality of your salvation. The purity of your faith is being demonstrated as existing as something authentic that withstands the fire. Finally, your Christian joy that you have right now, as a prophetic revelation of our perfect future joy that will last forever in salvation, is connected to your love for your Lord whom we have not seen, nor see now.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Mark Twain's Own Autobiography, Ch. 3, p. 28
@1 In salvation God causes us to be ________________________ through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3
@2 God made Christ Who knew no sin, to be ____________ on our behalf. 2 Corinthians 5:21
@3 The outcome of _________________ in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior is eternal salvation that will not fade away. 1 Peter 1:4-9
@4 Though you have not seen Him, you ________________ Him, and though you do not see Him now, but you __________________ in Him. 1 Peter 1:8
