THE PROSPECT OF GRACE
“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." - Peter 1:8-9
If you were presented with a tray of gold nuggets and invited to choose just one, you might have a hard time making your selection. That is our case here today. The chapter is very rich, and making a selection is, indeed a challenge. One can only trust the Lord to superintend this feeble effort, both in selection and in development.
The believer has in Christ what the apostle here calls “a living hope.” It is the same hope the apostle Paul refers to
when he says, “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it [Rom. 8:24-25]. Writing to Titus he calls it the “hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began [Titus 1:2].” And the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews declares, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil [Heb. 6:19].”
This hope is not a vague uncertainty, as our word “hope” commonly suggests: it is “hope” only because it is as yet “unseen.” Our hope, in all its aspects, centers in Jesus Christ. He is it ground and assurance. If Christ is trustworthy, this hope is sure. If this hope is not sure, the Lord Jesus Christ is a deceiver.
For now “we see Him not,” but believing that He is Truth (John 14:6) eventuates in three things suggested by our text. The first is love for the Son of God Who loves us and gave Himself for us. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him,” and “We love Him because He first loved us [I John 4:9, 19].” The word declares, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends [Jn. 15:13].” Christ’s love is greater than this, for “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son [Rom. 5:10a].” Who, understanding and believing this, would not love Him back! We are moved to cry with the Psalmist, whose vision of the redeemer had not yet the cross to look back to, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength [Psalm 18:1].”
The second thing resulting from this conviction is faith. Faith is both the ground of our hope and the sustaining power of it. “In Whom…believing.” Generally our concept of what is certain is based upon our senses—what can be seen, heard, touched, etc. Faith gives substance for the believer to “things not seen as yet [Heb. 11:7].” “Now faith is [that which gives substance to] things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen [Heb. 11:1, my paraphrase].” It is wondrously illustrated in the account of Noah’s spiritual experience: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith [Heb. 11:7, my italics].” Faith is the window through which we are given a glimpse of things eternal!
Thirdly, this grace results in joy; inexpressible, irrepressible joy. The scripture puts it, “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” There is a false and superficial excitement in some quarters of professing Christendom ofttimes stirred up through the flesh. That is not the kind of joy referred to here. This is the reflected glory of the Savior Himself registering in the soul and running deep, where true faith is found. The Savior prayed, “And now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves [John 17:13].” His joy is referred to when we are encouraged to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God [Heb. 12:1-2].” It is a joy that comes from “seeing Him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:27) and maintaining faith in Him.
This love, faith and joy leads to assurance in the end result of trusting Christ, “the salvation of your souls.” We live in a world, and in an hour where from many quarters “doubts arise and fears dismay.” Here is our “life raft,” if I may say it reverently. “Stayed upon Jehovah hearts are fully blessed, finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.”
Get a fix on “the Bright and Morning Star,” and you will never be thrown off course!
For a secure future,
"Pastor" Frasier
If you were presented with a tray of gold nuggets and invited to choose just one, you might have a hard time making your selection. That is our case here today. The chapter is very rich, and making a selection is, indeed a challenge. One can only trust the Lord to superintend this feeble effort, both in selection and in development.
The believer has in Christ what the apostle here calls “a living hope.” It is the same hope the apostle Paul refers to
when he says, “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it [Rom. 8:24-25]. Writing to Titus he calls it the “hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began [Titus 1:2].” And the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews declares, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil [Heb. 6:19].”
This hope is not a vague uncertainty, as our word “hope” commonly suggests: it is “hope” only because it is as yet “unseen.” Our hope, in all its aspects, centers in Jesus Christ. He is it ground and assurance. If Christ is trustworthy, this hope is sure. If this hope is not sure, the Lord Jesus Christ is a deceiver.
For now “we see Him not,” but believing that He is Truth (John 14:6) eventuates in three things suggested by our text. The first is love for the Son of God Who loves us and gave Himself for us. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him,” and “We love Him because He first loved us [I John 4:9, 19].” The word declares, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends [Jn. 15:13].” Christ’s love is greater than this, for “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son [Rom. 5:10a].” Who, understanding and believing this, would not love Him back! We are moved to cry with the Psalmist, whose vision of the redeemer had not yet the cross to look back to, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength [Psalm 18:1].”
The second thing resulting from this conviction is faith. Faith is both the ground of our hope and the sustaining power of it. “In Whom…believing.” Generally our concept of what is certain is based upon our senses—what can be seen, heard, touched, etc. Faith gives substance for the believer to “things not seen as yet [Heb. 11:7].” “Now faith is [that which gives substance to] things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen [Heb. 11:1, my paraphrase].” It is wondrously illustrated in the account of Noah’s spiritual experience: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith [Heb. 11:7, my italics].” Faith is the window through which we are given a glimpse of things eternal!
Thirdly, this grace results in joy; inexpressible, irrepressible joy. The scripture puts it, “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” There is a false and superficial excitement in some quarters of professing Christendom ofttimes stirred up through the flesh. That is not the kind of joy referred to here. This is the reflected glory of the Savior Himself registering in the soul and running deep, where true faith is found. The Savior prayed, “And now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves [John 17:13].” His joy is referred to when we are encouraged to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God [Heb. 12:1-2].” It is a joy that comes from “seeing Him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:27) and maintaining faith in Him.
This love, faith and joy leads to assurance in the end result of trusting Christ, “the salvation of your souls.” We live in a world, and in an hour where from many quarters “doubts arise and fears dismay.” Here is our “life raft,” if I may say it reverently. “Stayed upon Jehovah hearts are fully blessed, finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.”
Get a fix on “the Bright and Morning Star,” and you will never be thrown off course!
For a secure future,
"Pastor" Frasier
No comments:
Post a Comment