In 1st Peter 1:2 we have a glorious promise: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied.” Redemption is the work of God, and so many want to make it the work of man. Yes, we are saved by grace, and not of works, but when we read this portion of Scripture, we rejoice. Listen this morning: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: from the dead.” Remember the wage of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life! “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you.” (Great promise to get a hold of.) Verse 5 and now verse 6. “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: “ I remember the days of my youth as a believer, being so blessed, having shortly come to Christ, and I was on top of the mountain, but eventually I was lead down into the valley, and my confidence was shaken, when temptation came, and of course, at that point I was hearing almost every service how I could lose my salvation. I remember thinking within myself, who then can be saved. It was a difficult time, and yet God was faithful.
Maybe you are there even now, uncertain, in a trial of your faith, and wavering. Listen to the inspired writer of this portion. Peter, who denied Christ three times in one night, has been quickened to write this portion of scripture. Listen and rejoice! In verse 7 we read: “That the trail of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” Instead of gloom and doom, Peter, one who had been there, gloriously writes, about the salvation in verse 10 that the prophets inquired about. “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the gracethat should come unto you.” “Barns writes that God tests the quality of gold to remove those alloys so that by fire only the pure comes forth. It is a picture for us to see, that it is God the works in you to will and do of his good pleasure. It is he that transforms the life from being natural to being spiritual using the Word of God, by the Holy Spirit to do it. We did not walk with Christ, but now we are in Christ and Christ is in us by the indwelling Spirit. Peter in this portion writes beautifully. I sit here this morning remembering the quilt and condemnation I was under when I walked out of church, and yet by the grace of God, I continued in the Word of God as a disciple, sitting under the authority of another, (the Holy Ghost) being quickened by God unto repentance. Peter cries out in this Chapter and in verse 13, he speaks as one who is running a race. “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
In verse 18 Peter gets specific. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver or gold, from your vain (empty) conversations received by tradition from your fathers: but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Are any of us spotless? Without blemish? There was one Savior, Jesus Christ, the lamb of God who in verse 20 we read, “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory: that your faith and hope might be in God.” If we trust in ourselves, we will be deceived. But in verse 21, “who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.” Walk in the Spirit and have no confidence in the flesh, the flesh being weak, but by the Spirit we overcome the flesh and we walk in the light, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness.” I am so glad this morning that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, and we repent, and in verse 25 I love these words. “But the word of the Lord, endures for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. In Chapter 2:2-3 he say, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life!!! I am thankful this morning that we do not have our confidence in the blood of bulls and goats, but in the Son of God, who offered Himself for us, that the sacrifice was made once, and death could not hold Him, seeing he rose from the dead, gaining us victory through His atonement. Glory be to God and to our Savior, and to the work of the Spirit to bring light to us in the midst of darkness.
