The Acts of the Apostles 84

Subtitle: Showdown in Jerusalem V

Acts 23:6-22.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 13, 2024.

We join Paul today before the Sanhedrin, the head legal council of first century Judea.  The Roman commander appears to be observing because he wants to understand exactly what the charges are against Paul, who is a Roman citizen.

We saw last week that Paul was struck on the mouth when his opening statement offended the high priest.  Basically, Paul explained that he had a good conscience in all that he had done.

Let’s pick it up there.

Paul faces the Sanhedrin before the commander (v. 6-10)

After he is unjustly struck for his testimony, Paul realizes that he is not going to receive a real hearing, much less a fair one.  It seems that he chooses to switch tactics here.  If they are not going to listen to him presenting the Gospel, then he can at least couch his position in terms that at least some of them can accept.  Those terms would be the belief in resurrection.

Regardless of what people think about Jesus personally, the resurrection of Jesus is the true sticking point.  If he wasn’t raised from the dead, then his followers were conducting a ruse and should be exposed, resisted.  Yet, if he did come back from the dead, then this is a reality that must be faced.

From their reading of the Old Testament, the rabbis who were Pharisees held that God would raise all the righteous dead from the grave in order to participate in the promised kingdom age under King Messiah.  They were not expecting Messiah himself to be resurrected, but they did believe that God planned to do it, i.e., it should be expected at some point.  The Sadducees, however, not only believed that resurrection was impossible and not prophesied, but they rejected the reality of spirits and angels.  They would scoff at the very idea of resurrection, whereas the Pharisees would only scoff at Jesus being resurrected.

When Paul complains that he is under attack because of his belief in resurrection, it would bring immediate scoffing from the Sadducees.  Their outward scoffing at the very idea of resurrection would naturally provoke a defense from the Pharisees because they had been strongly arguing this point for a long time.  They would not like Paul, and they would reject that Jesus was resurrected, but they would resist the tendency of the Sadducees to use belief in resurrection as proof that Paul was in error.

We should recognize that our traditions can hem us into positions that refuse to see the truth and ignore its attempts to open our eyes.  Christians make this mistake every bit as much as the Jews of the first century.

Paul’s complaint will provoke a fight between the Sadducees and the Pharisees.  We could accuse him of being a trouble maker, but several things are brought to the surface here.  The Sanhedrin is not a united group.  There are great dissensions among them.  Their anger and rage is affecting their ability to reason.

It is not Paul who is creating, or causing, their troubles.  He is only bringing them to the surface in front of the Roman commander.  Romans did not like being involved in points of religious belief.

I think the Pharisees started out defending the concept of resurrection, but throughout the angry arguing, they ended up somewhat defending Paul, or at least the possibility of the things Paul described.

Notice that Paul speaks of “the hope and resurrection from the dead.”  The resurrection is itself a hope to those who are living righteously in this wicked world.  Even if we are put to death by the wicked, or die having lived under the boot of wickedness, God will resurrect the righteous in order to reward their life of faith in Him.

Think of it this way.  The God of the universe created all things “very good.”  Yet, humans (along with some of the angels) have messed up this universe (particularly the earth).  Yet, God has promised to help humans and save us from this state that we have fallen into.  When humans died, their spirits went into a spiritual holding place, Sheol, Hades, The Grave.  However, the wicked would be held for a final judgment, but the righteous are held for the day when God rewards the righteous. He will empty Sheol and give the kingdoms of this world to the righteous, but the wicked will inherit everlasting shame and darkness.

May God help us to grasp this hope and to hold on to it stubbornly.  The resurrection of Jesus gives evidence to us that our resurrection will one day come about at his command.  God help us not to be too cynical, too quick to quit and declare that it is not worth it to serve God.  We want Jesus to find us doing what we are supposed to be doing, and, if he doesn’t come back in our lifetime, we want him to see that we lived out righteousness by faith in him.

At some point, the Roman commander sees that the heated argument is going to engulf Paul and bring harm to him.  He sends in his soldiers to rescue Paul again.  They take him into custody and back into the fortress.

The Lord protects Paul (v. 11-22)

Though we have seen this Roman commander protecting Paul in this story, it really is the Lord who is protecting Paul.  In a bit, we are also going to see how the Lord uses Paul’s nephew to protect Paul again.  We can be too fixated on the mechanism, the person, that God uses to help us.  We can treat a person or thing as if they are the solution to our problems.  Is the solution for an oppressive Pharaoh a shepherd from Midian?  Of course, not.  Are guys with beards and bearing a staff a weakness for Pharaoh, his Kryptonite?  Or perhaps, there is something about the Red Sea that always hits Pharaoh where it hurts.  We can make an idol of the things that God uses to help us.  Israel did this with the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted in the wilderness (see Numbers 21 and 2 Kings 18:4).  In truth, before the Lord all powers of heaven and earth are weak.  It is the LORD who is Pharaoh’s weakness, and Paul understood this. 

Verse 11 tells us that the Lord “stood by” Paul that night.  I believe that Paul was wrestling with the Lord in prayer over how he could have done a better job that day.  We need to understand that Paul’s desire was to turn his people’s hearts back to Messiah Jesus, not to provoke them into riot.  It is easy to think that nothing phases guys like Paul, or Elijah.  However, the truth is that these are men who wrestled with what it was going to take to reach their people.  Perhaps, they prayed asking for God to reveal what they were doing wrong.  If only I spoke more eloquently and had greater passion, then they would all believe!  Don’t you think?

Yet, that night, the Lord stood by him and gives him a message.  I don’t know if this was a vision of Jesus standing by him, or if Jesus actually materialized to him.  Both are quite possible.  Yet, let’s look at how Jesus encourages him.

Paul is told to be of good cheer.  It is possible, even when things are not “working,” to be cheerful in God.  How?  We can do it by remaining focused on what we can control, our actions.  God does not send us to save people.  He sends us to put the message of salvation in front of them.  However, it will be their response to the work of the Holy Spirit that will bring about their salvation.  Paul had faithfully done what Christ wanted him to do.  Jesus was well pleased with Paul, and he could take joy in that (so can we).

Jesus also tells Paul that he has testified of him to Jerusalem and so he must do in Rome.  We don’t always understand the full purpose of God’s work through us.  Humility teaches us to step out in faith, and then be joyful that God is working through you.  Yet, God sometimes gives us light on our path ahead.  Jesus reminds Paul of that part of his future that he was aware of already.  He would go to Rome and testify of Jesus there.

In order to be cheerful in Jesus, we will have to quit looking at politics, economies, and the possibility of world war.  We will have to keep our eyes upon him and what he is giving us to do.

You may not have a visitation or a vision of Jesus.  Yet, he is speaking to you now through his Word.

There can be a part in all of us that says, “I wish the Lord would stand by me,” as if his Word and his Holy Spirit are not enough.  It is not visions and physical manifestations that give encouragement.  We have to be careful that we are not being dishonest.  Many generations that had a large amount of physical manifestations from God failed to trust God, while others believed without those things.

Let me emphasize my point by asking this question.  Do you realize how impossible it is to impress the God who created everything in the universe?  You could say that it is impossible.  Yet, what impressed Jesus the most about any person while he was on this earth?  He was impressed by a Gentile soldier who said that Jesus didn’t need to come to his house in order to heal his servant.  All he needed to do was give the command and it would happen.  Jesus was impressed with the faith that this Gentile had, when many in Israel couldn’t believe half as well.

It takes faith, and faith is not necessarily helped by great physical manifestations and miracles.  If God always manifested and jumped through our hoops in order to get us to trust Him, then, at some point, it would cease to be faith.  It becomes a negotiating over what He has to do in order to obtain our faithfulness.

Do you not know that God cares about you?  There will be moments in your life where He will show up in special ways.  It may only be a spiritual experience, or it could involve a dream, a vision.  It might be through a person that He uses to speak into your life.  Such times are like milestones in our lives where God refreshes us and keeps us pointed in the right direction.  Yet, at the end of the day, He wants us to trust Him and to keep going on in faith.

Paul went to Jerusalem by faith.  Not a faith that declares that I won’t be touched by anything.  It is a faith that says, “I will follow You, regardless what I face, because You are worth it!”  In the end, it is not up to what we can see that will protect us.  It is up to the Lord Jesus, and that should give us great hope!

The next day, we are told about a plot that develops to kill Paul.  Forty plus men have bound themselves with an oath that they will not eat until they have killed Paul.  No doubt, they did this in the name of God.  They come to the Sanhedrin and tell them their plot.  They want the Sanhedrin to ask the Roman commander to bring Paul back for more questioning, but it would be a ruse in order to create an opportunity for ambush.

We keep running into this tendency to mix wicked things with God and His things.  This is just how we are as humans.   When we get into positions of power and authority, we become entrenched in a system that we protect because it protects us.  We can use the color of law and the color of morality to cloak wicked actions. 

Of course, we know that Paul will live years following this.  I doubt that these men were spiritual enough to actually starve themselves to death.  I’m sure that they went back to the same rabbis and ask for some kind of ritual absolution for their rash vow.  But the real question is this.  Will they repent?  Will they actually see that God is goading them to turn away from the wicked path that they are on?

We are told that Paul’s sister’s son (nephew) learns about this plot and reveals it to Paul.  The term used for “young man” here refers to a man in his 20’s or 30’s.  Paul has the guard take his nephew before the commander in order to reveal the plot against him.

This is the grace of God that the right person is in the right place at the right time in order to expose a wicked thing. 

Of course, the commander is rankled by the idea that he would be tricked into having a Roman citizen killed under his watch.  He plans to thwart it, and he commands the young man not to tell anyone that he has made the commander aware of the plot.

Paul is rescued by the Roman commander over and over, and now his nephew helps to protect him.  In all of these things, we must not lose sight that God is working through them to accomplish His purpose.  God is not necessarily protecting Paul from pain and suffering.  But, He is protecting Paul’s ability to share the Gospel.

This is where we need to understand that God can use anyone, even our enemies, to work something for the good of the mission.  This is at the core of the message of the cross of Jesus.  Without the cross, there can be no eternity with God the Father, there can be no redemption for human beings.

When you prayerfully step out in faith, you will get a mixed response.  Don’t let negative responses dissuade you from what God is leading you to do.  Keep your eyes upon Him.  Trust Him.  He will be with you and help you in a multitude of ways.  However, will I trust Him and step out in faith?

Worry easily crops up in our human hearts.  So, let me remind us all of Philippians 4:6-7.  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

That is the path that God has for us.  Anxieties will arise, but take hold of them and bring them to God in prayer with thanksgiving.  He will aid us and bring us to the good thing that He intends through those things that cause us worry.

Showdown V audio

Lessons from the Underground Church 9: Permissible Stratagems

This is a 13 week series that will not be posted on our website.  If you would like an audio of the sermon or a written article on the sermon contents then please contact the church at AbundantLifeEverett@frontier.com.  You can also leave a message at 425.438.1500.  Thank you for your interest.

The Spirit of the Age

Ephesians 2:1-3; 6:10-13.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 6, 2020.

We have reached Mark chapter 13, which is a big transition in the book.  We will also have a visiting evangelist next Sunday.  Therefore, I have decided to go a different direction today and talk about the Spirit of this Age.

Throughout history, it has been noticed that people groups can be infected by an idea that seizes them to such a degree that they are caught up into something that is bigger than themselves.  The group energy often pulls the individuals that comprise it beyond where they would go on their own. 

Fyodor Dostoevsky, among others, saw this happening in his country of Russia, and, at the end of the 1860’s, published his novel The Possessed (depending on how it is translated it could also be called The Demonized).  At one point in the book, some revolutionaries have started a poorer part of town on fire.  During the pandemonium of trying to put the fire out, one character that has been a bit of a goof, even borderline mental, shouts one of the best lines of the book.  “You can’t put out the fire; the fire is in the minds of men!” 

We similar activity in our own country today, and must ask ourselves the question.  Just what has seized the minds of not just 21^st century Americans, but people all over the world?  The Bible refers to it by many names, but we are going to use “The Spirit of the Age.”

The reality of the unholy spirit

In the opening verses of Ephesians 2, the Apostle Paul points out the reality of a spirit that is influencing this world.  Satan loves to mimic God.  If there is something that God has done then he will mock it with a false version of his own.  Just as there are true prophets of God so, he sends false prophets.  Those who pretend to speak on behalf of God, but delude the people.  Just as there is a true Christ so, he sends all manner of antichrists, or false Christs, in order to deceive the people.  The Bible warns of a coming, ultimate Antichrist who will deceive the whole world with the help of the ultimate False Prophet.  It should be no shock that there would also be the work of an unholy spirit, which represents the whole force of spiritual wickedness led by Satan.

Notice how Paul portrays those who do not follow Christ.  Yes, they are walking in their sins, but they are also under the influence of the “prince of the power of the air.”  In fact, he says more pointedly that this unholy spirit is presently “working in the sons of disobedience.”  They are those who refuse to follow the Holy Spirit of God and believe upon Jesus Christ.

There are some who disobey the Holy Spirit knowingly.  They believe that the God of the Bible and Jesus of the cross have misled the world.  They work directly against the Truth of God.  However, the great majority of people in this world participate in disobedience unknowingly.  They are simply following the course of this world that was laid out in front of them, and going with the overall flow of this Age.

Paul explains that this spirit uses the lusts of our flesh and the desires of our mind to influence and direct us.  Like a harness on a horse, we can be pulled around away from truth and towards the destructive ends of our own desires.

Satan didn’t make Eve want the fruit of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  He only influenced her towards the idea of rebellion against God’s command.  The Bible tells us, “when the woman saw [who saw?] that the tree was good for food [good for whom?], that it was pleasant to the eyes [whose eyes], and a tree desirable to make one wise [which one?], she took of its fruit and ate.”  The strong desires and appetites of our flesh do not want to be limited by the Truth of God.  The willfulness of our mind wants to go in particular directions that God warns against.  On top of all of this, there is a spiritual realm with beings who are working overtime to influence and manipulate us towards rebellion against God, whether knowingly or unknowingly.  This is the Spirit of the Age.

You should go ahead and read all of Ephesians 2.  When reading verses 1-3, it seems a rather dark image with little hope.  However, verse four says,

“But God, rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.”

Christians are no longer a part of the “walking dead.”  Instead, we have been delivered and made alive.  The biblical picture is not one of Zombie movies, or games, in which we are trying to slaughter all the zombies created by the evil spirit of this world.  Rather, we are the hand of Christ to touch the minds and hearts of the zombies so that they may have a renewed mind.  Everywhere he went, Jesus touched people and healed them.  He has given us the antidote to the greatest wound, the direst disease, that this world has.  We have compassion because, “we too were zombies once.” 

Let us never forget the battle that is going on all around us.  If we merely go through life trying “to get ours,” or trying to change the world according to the philosophies of this world, then we will find ourselves part of a fire that may promise a better future by which to warm ourselves, but in the end only leaves mankind in cinders and shackles. 

Later in the letter, Paul touches on this spiritual dimension again.

Our battle is not with people, but with the Spirit of the Age

In Ephesians 6:10-13, we are reminded of our real enemy.  Jesus has given us a clear directive, but it is easy for us to lose sight of the one we should be fighting.  Paul reminds us that our battle is with the spiritual powers that are enslaving people by their own lusts and self-will.

An important part of any battle is one’s protective gear.  Paul tells us to put on the armor of God.  The things that he lists involve the very things that often make us afraid.  The Spirit of the Age (SotA) warns us not to tell the truth because it will cause us trouble.  The SotA tells us that doing the “right thing” will only get us into trouble.  The SotA tells us not to share the Gospel because we will look stupid; don’t trust God because He doesn’t exist; don’t trust Jesus to save you, take your salvation into your own hands.  And, the antibiblical messages never stop.  Through fear, the Spirit of this Age convinces people to lay aside the only things that can protect them from it.

Christians, we cannot put our faith in Jesus without also trusting his armor.  Too many Christians are wearing the armor of Saul, the armor of this world.  However, Christ calls us to wear the armor that the world can’t see and it can’t understand.  It is an armor that protects our hearts and minds from the lies of a deceptive enemy.  Now is the day to stand on the Truth of God’s Word even when the world says it isn’t true.  Now is the time to do what God says is right rather than what the world says is right.  We need to be a people of the Gospel, walking in faith, and holding onto the salvation of Jesus through prayer.  This is the only protection we have against an enemy that is to us much more than Goliath was to little David.  However, always remember that is sufficient for the task.

Paul does list one offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit.  He makes it clear that he is talking about the Word of God, the Bible itself.  It is powerful and able to cut to the hearts and minds of people.  It is the Good News of Jesus, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.  Becoming a student of God’s Word, and a follower of the Holy Spirit of God, will enable us to both stop attacks against ourselves, and rescue others from the grip of the spirit of this world.

Jesus said that you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.  This world tells us that our problem is that we don’t have stuff that other people have.  But, the truth of God tells us not to covet anything that belongs to our neighbor, much less steal or destroy it.  It tells us to love our neighbor like we love ourselves.  Yet, the spirit of this age stirs up envy, jealously, resentment, and then anger and rage.  It seeks to light a fire of passions in you that can be used to destroy you and your neighbor (and our communities, nations, world). 

The spirit of this age tells us that our problem is all the differences that we have: gender, race, economic status, etc…  But, the truth of God tells us that there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  It is not that these distinctions and affect on our lives aren’t real, but that they are used to manipulate us.  Men and women fighting against each other, blacks and whites, the have-nots against the haves, these are the things that only destroy us further.  In Christ, believers are to cease living for their distinctions.  They are to lay down the bloody flag of earthly revolutions in the flesh, and join God’s revolution against the spirit of this age.  If we will do this then we will truly find life.

Spirit Age Audio

Our Great Joy in Jesus

1 Peter 1:3-9.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 09, 2017.

Today we will spend some time in a passage that focuses on the joy that we have as believers in Jesus Christ.  It is easy to let the things of the world around us drag our hearts down into a dreary drudgery.  We see individuals rejecting the gospel and plunging down the “wide way,” and we see the nations of the world rejecting the ways of God and pursuing their own ways.  In the midst of this is the onslaught of both individual and political evils that continue to tear the world apart and create massive suffering.  So I want us not to forget about the world’s plight, and yet not to be infected by a spirit of hopelessness.  The follower of Jesus has nothing to hang their head over.  We are never defeated or losers.  We are the true overcomers as we keep our eyes upon Jesus and the mission that He gave us.

We Give Thanks to God

In verses 3-5, Peter starts out by thanking God for His blessings and yet he is also reminding the believers of the blessings that they have.  And so, we do have much to be thankful for, and it all finds its source in God the Father.  He is the architect of creation, and the giver of life and all its wonderful aspects.  Am I thankful?  And, do I take time to thank God?  We should wake every morning and recount the amazing blessings with which God has surrounded us.  He has been good to us and grateful thanks should be the foundation of our daily life.

In fact Peter uses the phrase, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  It could also be translated as “Praise the God…”  Our praise is the proper acknowledgment that is actually due to God.  All creation should praise Him, but not all of creation does.  Of course giving God His due praise speaks to those who are not doing so.  But to us who do praise Him, it should not be about duty and obligation.  It should be about gratefulness and thanks.  Our thanks and praise rises up to God in the midst of a world that takes God’s goodness for granted, and a spiritual realm that has a rebellion against Him.  The devil and his angels believe that they can do better than God and are ungrateful for His decisions.    We are those who have rebelled against the rebellion, and have put our faith in Jesus.  We are not under the shadow of judgment, but can see and recognize the goodness of God.  Because of this, we are the recipients of the greater treasures that God is in the middle of giving to those who trust Him.

Peter particularly points out the “abundant mercy” of God.  He is not obligated by justice to give us mercy.  However, He is kind, loving, and merciful.  Salvation always begins with the mercy of God and we must never forget that.  His holiness and justice would come against our lives and bring us to account and to punishment.  But in His mercy, God makes a way for us to be saved from punishment.  He holds out the offer of eternal life to those who will trust Him.  So what are some of these mercies?  Peter lists some for us.

He uses the phrase, “He has begotten us again.”  This is very similar to the phrase used by Jesus in John 3:3, “You must be born again.”  We are all born physically and because of the will of two humans.  Yet, we are not spiritually alive.  Thus all humans are in need of being “born again,” but not physically.  This second birth is a spiritual birth and is because of the will of God, not man.  Even though we are alive to the world around us, we are spiritually unable to recognize and interact with the God who created us.  If we were to use the analogy of a still birth, we can think of it like this.  Though a still born physically exists, they cannot interact with the physical world around them.  Similarly, though we do have an inner spirit, it is still born towards the Holy Spirit of God.  It will never be able to sense and interact with God unless a spiritual miracle occurs. The analogy is not perfect, but it does help to see what the Bible is saying.  This is called being born again.  So to compare the two births we have this.  Physical birth is the first birth, caused by humans, in which we are able to interact with the physical world.  Being born again is Spiritual birth, a second birth, caused by God, in which we are able to interact with the Spirit of God.  What a blessing and mercy this is.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  In John 1:12-13 we are told that such a birth makes us the children of God.  “But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

So why has God made us spiritually alive?  Peter says it is for the purpose of receiving a “living hope.”  Regardless of what our lot is in life because of our physical birth, our spiritual birth leaves all of that in the dust.  All that we might hope for in this life will one day be taken away from us.  Thus it is a hope, but a dying one.  Our spiritual birth gives us hope of things that cannot be taken away, even in physical death.  If a person is born into royalty or a family of great power, that is nothing compared to being born again in Jesus.  Even, if I have been born into squalor and have little hope in the things of this world, in Christ I have a living hope that is so much greater than anything this world can offer.  Peter further describes this living hope.  It is a living hope because of “the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  It is living because it is based upon the living Jesus.  He is alive and can no longer die.  Similarly because our hope is in Him, even if we die physically our hope cannot die because it is in one who cannot die again.  Even more than this, we believers in Jesus are promised a day of Resurrection in which we will fully join Christ in that state of eternal life through a body that cannot die and a spirit that dwells in the presence of God every second.  Thus even our physical death because an entering into the presence of the Lord of Life.  What a living hope we have in Jesus!

Peter also describes this living hope as “incorruptible,” and “reserved in heaven” for us (vs. 4).  It is called an inheritance because there is a future aspect to what God is giving us.  Yes, I have eternal life already, but I have not received all that eternal life has to offer, yet.  Thus he uses the word “hope.”  We are already experiencing some of His promises now and thus the hope that is future is already “living” within us and blessing us.  Peter uses several words to show that this hope is secure for the ages.  It is incorruptible, and will not decay or go bad.  There is no expiration date on the promises of God.  It is also “undefiled.”  It is a hope that is untainted by the sin and rebellion of this world.  No matter how much the rebels of this world hope in a Utopia, it is a defiled hope.  They will continually slam up against the reality that the hope is tainted by the sin of mankind and the fallen angels.  Lastly, Peter says that it doesn’t “fade away.”  It is a hope that will not lose its luster and beauty.  This world fades and dims, but our hope does not.  It is reserved in heaven for us.  Thus it is safe in God’s hands, and guarded by none other than God Himself.  If God be for us who can be against us?  On this earth our inheritance and blessings are always in danger of others who may want to steal it, but the inheritance of God cannot be touched by any, not even the devil himself.

However, God does more than just guard our inheritance.  In verse 5 it says that we ourselves are guarded by the power of God.  The same God who guards our inheritance is also insuring that we can make it to that inheritance.  The word “kept” in verse 5 is similar to the word “reserved” in verse 4.  They both have the sense of guarding something.  However, the word in verse 5 adds the sense of a military guard.  It has a higher sense of protection to it.  Thus God stations His forces around us, to ensure that we make it to the day of inheritance, which is the completion of our salvation (notice the future sense of salvation in this verse- more on that later).  The only thing that can derail it is our own faith.  Satan cannot win by destroying us physically, financially, or emotionally.  But, he uses those things to try and destroy our trust in God.  Now, God doesn’t just put a carrot in front of us.  He also protects us along our way to make sure that we will be able to dine upon it.  All of this is “through faith,” our faith in Him.  This living hope and inheritance from God cannot be earned or purchased by the power of this world.  It can only be the gift of God to those who trust Him.

Our Thanks Endure Even Our Various Trials

In verses 6-9, Peter acknowledges that Christians go through difficult things, even though they have much to be joyful.  It is easy to be so focused on making people look happy that we can forget that there is a time to cry, and a time to mourn.  We must deal with the difficult things of life, not by shutting them down, but by overcoming them.  They devil is trying to disqualify us through those trials and tests of life.  But God allows them for the purpose of proving that we qualify and ultimately making us stronger.

So let’s look first at how the trials of life can grieve us for a little while.  Do not make light of the emotional side of trials.  They are difficult and tend to weigh us down with an internal heaviness.  God does not call us to be unfeeling automatons, or robots.  As we grieve and yet remind ourselves of the goodness of God, our faith in God can be deepened.  We can also understand the depths of God’s love towards us.  Trials also help us to see the depths to which our enemy will stoop in order to try and disqualify us.  If we shed tears in this life, then we can shed them knowing that God sees them and will keep a record of them.  He will right every wrong and then bring us to a place where we will cry no more and have pain no more.  And, on that day, He will reward us for those tears and pains of this life that we endured while hanging on to the promise of eternal life, our living hope.  The enemy, however, wants to drown us in our sorrows and difficulties.  He wants us to blame God for our pains, so that we will lose faith in God and walk away from our inheritance.

Peter reminds us in verse 7 that these tests prove our faith.  Have I really trusted in God?  If God stepped in and removed every difficult thing in our life then we would never truly know if our faith is founded on solid ground.  In a sense many people say, “God I trust you, if You keep everything from hurting me.”  This is not trust.  Yet, Job said, “Even if God slay me, yet I will trust Him!”  Some follow Jesus because of what they obtain in this life: people who care for you, and love you, among other comforts of life.  But what about when I lose all of those things?  Like John the Baptist sitting in prison about to lose his head, we can begin to question and waver in our faith in Jesus.  Thus the picture of trials being a refining fire is used by Peter.  The trials are called various because there are innumerable ways to be tried in this life.  Some are seductive, with hidden motives, and we can enjoy their presence to some degree.  Others are brutish, with the obvious motive to overwhelm and destroy us.  Typically we do not enjoy these.  But our faith, Peter says, is more precious than gold.  We are tempted by things that are really not as precious as we think.  The truth about our faith will be made clear at the “revelation of Jesus,” which is His Second Coming.  This will be our glory and honor in the day that He returns: we world will see that we belong to Him.

In verse 8 He commends them for their faith and love for Jesus.  They are keeping their eyes on Jesus even in the face of trials.  Peter had seen Jesus with his own eyes.  But then Jesus was taken into heaven and now Peter no longer can see Jesus.  He must use the eyes of faith, trust.  Even harder it is for those who had never seen Jesus in the flesh.  They are taking the witness of Peter, and the Holy Spirit.  They have come to love this Jesus that they have learned about.  They are not about to be scammed out of the inheritance they have in Jesus.  So also, keeping our eyes upon Jesus, we await that day when He will split the clouds and return to earth.  Even if I die, I do so keeping my trust upon the one who said, “He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.”  Our love for Jesus is birthed in the love that He had for us.  He died in my place even while I was still a rebel against Him.  He did so to make an inheritance for me with Him.  He paid the price that I might sit with Him at the Father’s table.  He purchased us back from the place of slavery to which we had sold ourselves.  And, He does this to make us His beloved ones.  In the words of Paul, “[love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails. 

So this love that Jesus has for us and that we have for Him fills us with a joy that is inexpressible and full of glory.  In the face of our own death, His death and resurrection assures us that He loves us and will keep His word.  The daily joy that we have as a Christian should never be based upon the earthly joys and comforts that we have.  Yes, we should be thankful for any such things that we experience.  But they must never be the foundation of our joy.  The foundation of our joy is the relationship of love that Jesus has given to us.  As the old song says, “I’ve got something the world can’t give, and the world can’t take it away!”  It is called inexpressible or unspeakable because it goes beyond the ability of words to fully express.  Not that we don’t express our thanks, but that they too fall short.  “O, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemers praise, the glories of our God and King, the triumphs of His grace.”  So we continue to describe to people that which can never be fully expressed.  Such is the joy of the believer.  It is also described as “full of glory” because it is given by God Himself.  Glory is often described as brilliant light in the spirit realm (within Scripture).    God has given us Himself and the glorious shining of God sits at the center of our heart and life like a blazing sun.  Thus our joy and faith in Him, which is set on fire by the blazing glory of God, cannot be extinguished by the devil. 

In the midst of such glorious joy, Peter says we are receiving the salvation of our souls.  In fact this is part of the joy.  I may endure a difficult trial, but it is part of me receiving something much better.  Verse 5 speaks of our salvation in the future, but verse 9 speaks of it as a present thing.  That is because we are in the process of receiving a salvation that will one day be completed at the second coming of Christ.  Thus we can look back to the day that we began receiving salvation, we can look around at our current salvation, and we can look forward to its completion at the Second Coming of Christ!  Amen!

Our Great Joy audio