The Joy of Salvation: Part 3

Well, praise God. We'll continue our study in the book of 1

Peter. You know, this is a wonderful study. This is the third part.

I'm going to try to wrap it up today for us by God's help, because there's much to be said about the joy of salvation.

You see this all the way through Scripture. You know, genuine salvation and true joy belong together.

You cannot separate the two. And I say true joy, something that the world cannot give us, and only something that our

God can give us through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. And I'd like to set a question before each and every one of you today.

Is that, to you personally, do you have this joy unspeakable that's full of glory?

Do you have the joy that's unspeakable and full of glory? Have you experienced this great salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ?

And I'm not saying, have you heard the message? Many of us has heard it. Many people has heard it.

But do we have it? Do you have it? Well, the apostle

Peter's goal in this text that we've been studying for the past several weeks is that in the midst of trials and sufferings, the believers is to understand the great joy that should be their own constant expression in the light of eternal salvation.

That's what he's talking about. The salvation joy is not some brief, shallow, emotional feeling that comes and goes based upon our circumstances.

No. But rather, this is a joy that is in God, in God alone, that is something permanent, it's something deep, it's something profound.

And it comes from possessing eternal life in Jesus Christ. It comes through Jesus Christ alone and from God, through the crucified, risen

Lord Jesus Christ, who is our joy, by the way, and who is our life.

And that's what the apostle Paul said. Christ, who is our life, will appear in glory.

And this joy will be fully realized in glory in heaven when we see our

Savior face to face. Well, the apostle Peter gives to us the five reasons why the believer is to rejoice.

We've been looking at these five reasons. Five reasons we need not to forget in this text.

So please, as you're there, look at with me in chapter 1, verse 6 through 9, and we will see these five reasons that he speaks of.

I'm reading from the NASB translation. So hear the word of the living

God, verse 6. In this, you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, multicolored trials, or temptations.

Verse 7, so that the proof, that word proof means genuineness, the genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to the result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Verse 8, and though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not see

Him now, but believe in Him. And you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

And in verse 9, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

Let us pray and let's seek the Lord's help within this hour, that we would hear from heaven, that we would hear from His word, that we would hear from God, not from a preacher, not from me.

My words have no weight, my words have, I've got nothing to say. John MacArthur said that,

I believe that. We've got nothing to say, no preacher has anything to say, but God has something to say. And that,

I don't know about you, but I'm here to hear from God. I want to hear from God, and we need to hear from heaven.

So let's pray and let's ask the Lord to bless this time as we study this wonderful text once again.

Our Father, here we are in Your presence. Lord, our great desire this morning is to honor

You, and to glorify You, and to bless You, and to praise Your Son, the

Lord Jesus Christ, and to lift Him up. And as He said, if I be lifted up,

I would draw all men unto Me. So Lord, glorify Your name, honor

Your name, honor Your word. Father, that's where the authority and the power is.

You have something to say to us. So Father, in the midst of a land that is dry, and where there's a famine for the word of God, Lord, may it not be here at redeeming grace.

May we always hear from You, and hear from heaven, and hear the truth. Father, I pray that the

Holy Spirit would search our hearts. Jesus Christ, our

Lord, the searcher of our hearts, search out our hearts this morning, and may we see who we truly are in the light of Your glorious, holy presence.

And Father, then may we react on it, and do something about it. Father, we all stand in need of this great salvation,

Lord. It's here about us, it's presented to us as a work

You've already accomplished, as You did in creation. But Father, there may be here some that has not apprehended it, and believed in it, in faith.

So Father, I pray that this will be very real to them today. So Father, we have not come to hear just a mirror man, but we've come to hear

Your word, Lord. We've come to meet with the living God. So now, Father, meet with us, because we are desperately in need of You.

And Father, we pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen and Amen. There are five reasons here to rejoice.

To rejoice greatly, by the way. Greatly rejoice, that we see in this text.

We have already seen that for the believer in Jesus Christ, this is a salvation that is secure.

It's a salvation that is secure. Secondly, we have a faith that's been proven.

A faith that is proven. And third, and fourth, and fifth, and this is what we're going to cover today, and I pray by God's help, we can cover all this.

We have a commendation that is inevitable. We have a love that is unseen.

And fifth, and we have a deliverance that's in progress. So let me backtrack just a little bit.

First of all, we looked at a salvation. This is a great salvation. A salvation that's to the uttermost.

That is secure in Jesus Christ. And that is in heaven, because in Christ, it is secure.

And it is found in verse 6, In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.

This is a heavenly inheritance that's been given. And what he is referring to is in this, is all that he said from verse 3 to 5.

Blessed be the God, or blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

In other words, he's blessing God. There's a doxology. He's praising God for where this salvation has come from.

And he's giving comfort to suffering saints. And he's saying that it all started and began with God the

Father in eternity. And you could backtrack on that, and you could see verse 2,

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood, may grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

So it comes from God the Father, that God the Father has decreed it and has ordained it, and He's chosen a people for Himself.

A people that will believe in Him, that will love Him and worship Him through all eternity. That's the story of redemption.

Tozer said that God is in the business of taking rebels and making them worshippers.

That's the purpose of our redemption. And he says here, according to His great mercy, great mercy, that has caused us to be born again.

You must be born again to understand and to have this salvation. And it is to a living hope.

It is a hope that is in the future, by the way. We don't live in the past no more. We are going toward the future to a heavenly city that has foundation, whose builder and maker is

God. And all this living hope is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have none of it. So it's all through Jesus Christ because He's alive.

He is alive. Aren't you glad that Jesus is alive? And He's alive and well.

And He's coming back soon to vindicate in righteousness. But He's also coming to deliver

His people. And righteousness will dwell. And let me tell you, beloved, it's coming today and it's going to come very, very soon.

That Jesus Christ will come in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, at the sound of God's voice.

It's going to happen quickly. So we better be ready. And then

He says in verse 4, to obtain. We'll see this word again. Look, notice in verse 9, obtaining as the outcome of your faith.

He says it here in verse 4, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable. In other words, it does not fade away.

Imperishable, undefiled. It's clean. It will not fade away.

Reserved in heaven for you. It's reserved. Nothing can touch it.

And then in verse 5, who are protected by the power of God through faith. There's the word faith again.

Faith. It must be by faith. For a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

So actually we are reading the words of God here that are worship inspired.

He has given a doxology and worship that is directed to God the Father through our

Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the blessed Holy Spirit. Well, that's a salvation.

That's a great salvation that is secure. Second, we looked at a faith that is proven. Verse 7, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to the result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Christ Jesus.

The word proof again is a Greek term that is used in the science of metallurgy or a saying of the metals in which we looked at when a red hot high heat temperature that is applied to refine that metal by burning away all impurities, leaving only the most precious and purest of metals.

So what Peter is saying to us is or to the suffering saints is that this is how

God purifies His people. That faith must be tested. It must be put through the fire.

The trials of life, the fire of God, the fire of God, because our God is a consuming fire, uses to burn away the impurities of anything that is in our lives that does not please

God. There's many things in my life that does not please

God, but I pray that by faith, as we live and walk and trust the

Lord Jesus Christ, that our faith would be pleasing to God. And by the way, it's not our faith.

It's a gift from God, but it's the faith of the Son of God that's in you. Because within ourselves, we got nothing pleasing to God.

Paul said this, he says, if you're in the flesh, you cannot please God. That's in Romans 8.

But by faith. And then he says in Hebrews 11, 6, but it's impossible to please

God, and he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them to seek

Him, diligently seek Him. So it is only by and through faith that we please

God. So leaving only the most precious faith, that's how God uses, and we looked at that last week, a faith that is more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though it may be tested by fire, like the

Hebrew children. Their faith was tested. Are you going to bow down? Are we going to bow down?

No. We only bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't bow to no one else, only to Jesus.

And that's the kind of faith we got to have, especially in these days. Has your faith been tested like this?

Have you been up against a situation where, to compromise, to compromise your faith, or do you stand by faith alone and say, no,

I don't go along with the world, I don't go downstream like the trout. I swim against it, like those few trout that would swim upstream.

And that's the way it is with a Christian. You're swimming against the tide. You're swimming upstream.

Has your faith been tried by the fire of God? Our God is a consuming fire.

Well, Peter also gives us further insight into this by giving us four aspects, and these four aspects is that we've seen trials, the four aspects of trials serve a divine purpose.

There's a divine purpose that God uses the trial, or the testings of our faith, and you can look at this in the life of Abraham, you can look at this in the life of Joseph, you can look at this, for example, in the life of the patriarch

Job, and so forth. These trials serve a divine purpose, a divine purpose, and by the way, keep in mind that these trials are short -lived.

How do we know this? Look at verse 6. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now and the present.

Then he says this, underscore, for a little while. It's only for a season.

Only for a season. If necessary, you have been distressed or in heaviness by various multicolored trials.

It comes in multicolors. They may be painful. They may be diverse.

But even greatest, the most severe trials will only last for a little short time.

A very short season, a very short period. I wish dear

Miss Lillian was here this morning, but I cannot help but think of her daughter Candace for 50 so years of her life, all of her life on this earth, she went through suffering, she went through a painful experience of trials, handicapped to refine to a wheelchair all of her life, and now after 50 years, a few more, developed cancer, and as you well know, she's now graduated from the

University of Suffering. And it's like the Lord welcomes her home in eternity in heaven.

And think of this. Now there's no more pain, no more suffering, no more trials. It's all over.

She's graduated. The Lord says, Welcome home, my child. Isn't that glorious? For all eternity.

Even the worst that she had. She did not have the privilege of being able to run, and get up, and to walk, and she was confined to a wheelchair all her life, and went through severe sufferings, but yet she lived for the

Lord Jesus Christ, she served the Lord Jesus Christ, and most of all, the reason why she lived and served the

Lord is because she loved the Lord. That is the backbone, that is the core of all of it, is loving

God. So she loved the Lord. And as the Lord is saying,

Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord, prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Isn't that wonderful? And so it is for any saint that has suffered for His namesake.

And this is what Peter is talking about. He's talking to saints here that have suffered. And we know this right here from the beginning, to those who reside as aliens, pilgrims scattered throughout

Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, who are chosen. And he knows that what they're going through under the reign of Nero, one of the most wicked government rulers ever.

And I'm here to tell you, anybody that brings persecution to God's people are wicked. And this man here, burned everything that they had inside.

He had a lust for fire. He burned their homes. He burned everything. He burned them, just to light up his garden.

You read it in tradition, in history. He had a garden, and he would take stakes along the side of his garden and put

Christians on top of the poles and tie them there and burn them alive, just to light his garden.

Well think of this, those precious brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ that burned an awful death to the stake years ago are now in eternal glory, no longer suffering.

But what about Nero? Where's he at? He's got his reward. He loved fire so much,

God's given him the fire for all eternity. But beloved, we deserve that just the same.

That's how evil the heart can be. And I don't know if you notice all today, you're seeing all these things that's coming out.

And I try to stay off the media, but sometimes I cannot help it. These horrible things, these murders, and these terrible things that's taken place.

And I cannot help but think, Lord, you're coming back so soon. And as the days of Noah, Jesus says, so were the days of the

Son of Man before he comes back. What was it? Jesus has given us a clue.

Go to Genesis, read Genesis. Before the great flood, and before God judged the world with a flood, to cleanse it.

Next time he's going to purify it with fire. But what was happening? How was the condition of the earth?

The Bible says that the whole earth was filled with violence. Violence.

We think of them cavemen back then. No, no, they were not cavemen. They were very smart, intelligent people.

But there was a violence within the heart of a sinful, wicked, deceitful heart that could not cease from sinning.

And the Bible says, every intent of their thought was evil constantly.

Don't we see this today? Evil continually. Evil constantly.

Evil. And people are justifying the evil. And the scripture says in Isaiah, when the days will come, when good will be evil, and evil will be good, and sweet will be bitter, and bitter will be sweet.

We are in the last days. So we better be ready. Jesus is coming back soon. So these suffering saints went through it.

And we may have some sufferings come to us. But there's a joy that's set before the

Christian. And let me say this, that joy is only in salvation and nothing else.

If we don't have this salvation in Jesus Christ, we don't have this joy. We don't have this peace.

Because the peace and joy is in Jesus. Jesus made that very clear. He said, my joy

I give to you. My peace I give to you. Why? Because it's in Him. It's in the person of Jesus Christ.

And that is eternal life. No, eternal life is not shaking a preacher's hand.

Eternal life isn't just being baptized in water. Eternal life isn't just coming to a church, adjoining the church.

Eternal life isn't doing all these good works. Eternal life is putting our trust in the

Lord Jesus Christ of the price that He paid on Calvary's cross for our sin, for your sin, for my sin.

Buried. He buried the sin. And He rose again to say that this is the

Son of God and He is who He is and said that He is. And He's coming back once again.

The third thing is next we have a commendation, a commendation, a commendation,

I'm sorry, that is inevitable, inevitable. Let's see, what does that mean? What is He talking about? Well, the

Apostle Peter is saying once again, look at verse 7, that we could greatly rejoice in this essence that we can anticipate the acclamations of the praise, the honor, the triune

God that is, who has sanctified us. So verse 7 says this, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, a faith that's proven, which is perishable even though tested by fire, what's the result?

May be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So that's the proof, the genuineness of our faith is more precious than gold.

It's tried by fire, may be found the result, that's what He's talking about. It's inevitable.

It's a commendation that is inevitable that is in the praise and the glory and the honor of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What's this mean? Let's unpack this a little bit. What Peter, what the Apostle Peter is saying here and in the other text in which he speaks of is that we stand, when we all stand before Jesus Christ one day, and we all will, there's no escaping this.

People can try to live like they want to escape it and try to put it down, but I'm telling you, everybody will face

Christ. There's no escaping it. And so what he's saying is that when we stand before Him someday, to the believer,

He is going to praise and honor us. Now, whoa, pastor, that is heavy.

It is. That's incredible, isn't it? It's unimaginable knowing that the triune

God will praise and honor you. How do we know this? Well, let me suggest to you that one day as the believer in Jesus Christ will stand in the presence of His blazing glory, as we read, as Ben read this morning, that no one can look upon God and even live, and look upon Him who has the eyes of flame, is of fire, and His voice like the sound of thunder of many waters, and we will stand before Him blameless.

And why will we be blameless? Because we will be dressed in the robes of Jesus Christ.

Beloved, I'm telling you, I don't care who it is, if we're not dressed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, there's no way anybody can stand before a holy

God. Because the only thing that covers us from the judgment and His eternal glory is the righteousness of Jesus.

Beloved, can I say that this is the heart of the gospel? That He has given

His robes of righteousness for us and He has taken our sin? And beloved, can

I say that with great joy and in the river and all, we are going to look upon His face, and by the way, the saints are glad they will look upon His face.

If you read in Revelation, the wicked flee from His face. They hide from His face, and they cry out, let the mountains fall on us.

But not God's people. God's people say, oh, I want to see His face. I long to see

His face and look upon His face, being humbled and overwhelmed at the glory.

And as we stand there clothed in the robes of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the perfect righteousness, there clothed in His robes,

His robes, by the way, not ours, that He has given to us by the grace through faith, the cause of everything that Jesus has done for us, we will stand there actually speechless in everlasting delight, standing or falling before our face, casting our crown before His feet, before the

Creator and before the King of Kings and the King of Glory, the One who loved your soul and purchased your salvation with His precious blood.

He's going to honor us. That's what He's talking about here.

There's a poem that goes, Oh, the bliss of heaven's light, the seeing of His dear face.

Our soul cannot conceive this sight, nor song our joy relay.

Yet stand we will by grace alone, blameless with great joy.

Though undeserved His mercy shown, all praise our tongue employ. But nay, that day when we must shout the glories of His name, our

Savior then will turn about and praise us just the same. That's exactly what's going to happen.

All this is going to happen at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Notice that right there in the past.

At the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now what does that mean? That word revelation in the

Greek is apocalypse. That word apocalypse means the unveiling.

He will unveil it. It's like a curtain. There's something you've never seen before.

And it's behind that curtain. And it's like we look dimly at that now because of what we're going through here on this earth as pilgrims and strangers.

But one day it will be clear face to face and the curtain will be removed.

And then we will see it clearly. And who will we see? Jesus Christ.

That's the apocalypse. The revelation. The unveiling of Jesus Christ. When we will see

Him in all of His great glory. Beloved, can you imagine that? In all of His great glory?

That will be the time as the Lord reminds us in Matthew 25 that Jesus spoke of and when

He will declare His faithful servants well done, good and faithful slave. In the original that's what it means.

Slave. You were faithful with few things and I will put you in charge of many things.

Enter into the joy of your Lord. Notice that. The joy of the

Lord. Because we are slaves not of sin but we are slaves of Jesus Christ.

This will be a time according to Paul's words to us in Romans 2, 6 and 7 when the

Apostle Paul says we render to each person according to his deeds we are going to be judged according to what we've done or what we didn't do.

To those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality eternal life.

And then he says glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good. Can you imagine the joy that must have flooded the souls of all the saints as I mentioned a minute ago about seeing their precious children torn apart by animals in the days that was...

I'm telling you it was barbaric. Christians were fed to the lions eaten alive.

It's a sport. Don't you see this today? That's how evil people's hearts are.

You can go on YouTube now and they got YouTube by YouTube and it's sad. I passed through,

I didn't see it. But there are clips there you can just see people suffering the death burned alive.

I'm telling you, am I right about this? People get a thrill out of seeing people die and suffer.

It should grieve us. But what does that say about the human heart? It's wicked, it's sinful.

God help us. We have become just as barbaric as the Romans. Slaughtering babies.

People care about the death of one person. But what about the slaughter of billions of babies and the womb that was supposed to be protected?

God help us. No wonder judgment's here. Well he's speaking to those that's going to be before the throne, the majesty of God and these people have suffered.

They've seen loved ones and dipped in hot wax and burned alive at the stake. Those who lost everything for the sake of Christ.

And here, a three -fold commendation as inevitable as coming from the

Lord of glory himself. An amazing thing. It reminds me of the Lord's parable in Luke 12, 37 when he says,

Blessed are those slaves who the master will find on alert. Listen to this.

On alert when he comes. When he comes. He's coming.

And then he says, Truly I say to you that he will gird himself to serve. Jesus himself will serve.

And have them recline at the table and will come up and wait upon them.

Isn't that amazing? That God himself and Jesus Christ will serve his own people.

How humbling will that be? I would almost want to say,

Lord, no. But if I react that way, I'm reacting like Peter and Jesus says,

Well, if you don't allow me to do this, you have no part with me. And then Peter says, Hey, you tip from the top of my head to my toes, cleanse me.

Beloved, please remember this one great truth and don't miss this. And it will never be able to transcend the sufferings of this temporal life unless you and I are able to fix our heart and mind on the eternal things.

You know what our problem is? We're too earthbound. We're not eternity conscious enough.

And you know what I think it is? People want to push out the thought of eternity because they know they're not right with God.

It's a painful thing. So they want to just live and enjoy their best life now and then the

Scripture says it's appointed for once man to die and after that the judgment and then life is over, bam, and it's over with and there's no second chances.

But God wants us to live eternity conscious. You know, you and I cannot do that unless you and I understand the

Word of God by the Spirit of God, especially with respect to the living hope that's only found in Jesus Christ.

You know something, can I say this? This is why the doctrine of salvation is so critical. The redemption, the story of redemption is so great and it's so important and to understand from the beginning, from Genesis all the way to the end, to Revelation, that God's grace and God's goodness is all through it.

That it's God that seeks out a man that's gone astray from Him and doesn't want God.

There's none that seeks God. But God says, no, you come to Me. Turn from your wicked ways and live.

How do we know this? Look at verse 13 in chapter 1. Therefore prepare your minds for action.

Boy, that's a powerful word, isn't it? Prepare your minds for action.

Notice what he says. He says, keep sober in spirit. By the way, do you know what that word prepare means?

It means to gird up the loins of your mind. Gird up the loins in action, for action.

Keep sober, keep alert in spirit. And then he says this, fix your hope completely on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

That's what he's saying. So beloved, we've got to learn to live for heaven. We've got to learn to live for eternity.

And we can't do that unless the Spirit of God does it within you. You can't make people do it.

You've got to be born again. That's why he says that in verse 3. Because of God's great mercy,

He's caused us to be born again to a living hope. So which literally means we're to submit to the

Spirit of God as revealed to us through the Word. So not only as we rejoice because we possess a salvation that's secure, a faith that is proven, a commendation that is inevitable, but also there's a love that is unseen.

A love that is unseen. Notice verse 8. Though you have not seen

Him, you love Him. Doesn't the Apostle Peter by the Spirit of God get right down to what it really means, what salvation is?

You have not seen Him, but 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.

Now, you know, sometimes we're like to excuse our disobedience and sin, don't we?

We pamper ourselves. We excuse our sins and we disobey God and we say, well, the flesh is weak.

But you know, saying that is not an excuse to sin. It's a warning not to sin.

And we have a lack of spiritual discipline by saying all is so hard and I just give in to it.

And God, you understand and you forgive me and He does graciously. But does that mean practice it?

God forbid. And then we would say it would have been so much easier if we could have been with the

Savior back in the time that Jesus walked the earth. Just look at this. If only I could see

Jesus in person. Have you ever heard someone say that? If only I could walk with Jesus like the disciples.

Oh, I wouldn't be acting and doing what I'm doing now. If I could see

Jesus eye to eye, physically. If we were to see Him and walk with Him like the apostles did, then things should go much better then and much smoother.

Is that true? I don't think it is. Let me give you an example. A good example.

The apostle that's writing this letter. I personally believe that he's writing here because it was something that he had in his own life.

He was the lead apostle. There was that pecking order always.

Peter was always first and Judas was always last. On that order. Peter, James, John.

Peter, Andrew. Well, you and I know that Peter with the other disciples walked with Jesus for three years.

They witnessed the greatest, the most perfect, spotless man that ever lived.

That would have been privileged. They were chosen. If you notice,

Peter was always right there and he was asking questions. As a matter of fact, he asked so many questions,

Brother Keith. I think he got rebuked a lot too, didn't he? He was opening his mouth so much. And finally, you kind of see him kind of backing off a little.

But it was his personality. He was just out there. He was wanting to know everything about Jesus.

It should be commended. But yet, what did happen?

What happened to Peter? He walked and he talked with Jesus Christ, the

Lord of glory here in the flesh. God in the flesh. And at the end of the three year ministry of Jesus, right before the

Lord goes to the cross, the most important part in Jesus' ministry, in the

Garden of Gethsemane, Peter, afterwards, after the

Garden, Peter denies the Lord. You know the story. He not only denies

Him once, he not only denies Him twice, but three times. And Jesus predicted it.

Jesus even told him. Folks, we would have done the same thing.

People say, oh, no, no, no, no. Yes, we would have. If not that, we would have probably done something worse.

Later on, Jesus rose from the dead and in His glorified state, He comes back. Jesus had planned to restore

Peter. And how does He do it? He does it on the seashore. He dines with Him.

You know, Jesus wants dining time. He wants supper time with us. Breakfast time and dining time.

Amen. And Jesus asked

Peter in the presence of all the disciples, He said, Peter, do you love Me? Do you think

Peter is thinking of this when he wrote this, and though you have not seen Him, you love Him? And though you do not see

Him now, you believe in Him? I think it's referring back to what he was thinking when the

Lord Jesus three times pours the question, the most important question, Peter, do you love

Me? What if Jesus would ask you that today? Do you love

Me? If Christ was here today physically, and if He were to look at Brother Keith and Sister Fee and each and every one, my wife and Shiri and Leah, and my wife and Ben and Elizabeth, and Jesus were to look at you in the eye and say, do you love

Me? Would that convict you? Knowing that you down through the week, you know, you kind of neglected thinking about Him and worshiping

Him and loving Him and giving Him the very best? And also myself?

I don't know about you, if Jesus were to look me in the eye and say, David, do you love Me? I'd fall down on my face like Thomas, my

Lord and my God. Have mercy. Do you love

Me? And Peter is saying this, being aware of his shortcomings, his failures, his sin, recognizing the power of the

Spirit of God in the life of obedient Christians whose faith has been tested. And here he praises the dear saints for their own coming, their ongoing agape love for the

Lord. This is the kind of love, beloved, agape love,

God's love. It's yet another proof of the genuine faith. Little Claire at the table when

Abby came to visit us, and you know Abby, she's left her home and we love her so much.

But little Claire looks at Abby, says, Abby, do you love

God? You know, if I was going astray, just not from my parents, but from God, and if a child were to ask me something like that,

I tell you what, I'd be falling on my face repenting. Great evangelist there.

Better evangelist than I am. This is more than some shallow, this love is more than some shallow

Mr. Rogers sentimental love that's ooey and gooey. This is the kind of love that's powerful and strong and engages the mind and the will within the mind to believe in Him, and the heart, we can trust

Him, and the will, we make a final choice to obey Him in everything and persevere to the very end.

Beloved, this is because this He says, you greatly rejoice with joy and it's speakable and full of glory.

Inexpressible is that word in the Greek. You get the word, it is unspeakable. You know what that means?

What's unspeakable? It's something beyond words. Inevitable.

It's too wonderful to even speak with the lips. That's what He said. This is so glorious, so wonderful, so high,

I cannot even tell you how great it is. And it's like the Apostle Paul says, I saw things in heaven and the third heavens that is not lawful to speak.

But it's glorious and it's joy unspeakable. It causes me to shut my mouth and worship.

It's the type of joy that causes you to be still and know that God is God. Isn't it?

When you're in the presence of a holy God and all you can do is be still and shut your mouth. That's what one of the prophets did when he saw

God in His glory and His holiness, he put his hand to his mouth and he said, I'm going to stay shut.

Just don't know what to say. I'm speechless. It's when the mind is so overwhelmed with the sense of divine mystery that it cannot employ in words.

The tongue cannot utter words because it's so great. It's when the thoughts and the glories of heaven and salvation exceed our ability to even communicate.

Joy inexpressible, full of glory. And by the way, that word glory, that's the

Greek word that says doxorizo. It's the word we get doxology from that means an overflow of praise to God.

There's an overflow. It's flowing up. It's bubbling up to praise and glory to God.

How can I make this very practical? I don't need to be... Let me just say this. I don't need a screaming preacher to manipulate or music to manipulate or conjure up a sense of worship in my heart.

All I need is to hear the voice of God. Tremble at His voice. Hear the word of God preached.

Hear the word of God taught. Hear the word of God sung. I fall down before the word of God.

My conscience is bound by the word of God like Luther said. Because the object of the faith is the object of my love and that object is the

Lord Jesus Christ. None other. Well, fifth. Let's look at this last thought here.

Finally, the last point as we examine Peter's reasoning for rejoicing as if it weren't enough, glory, a salvation that's secure, a faith that is proven, a commendation that is inevitable, a love that is unseen.

Finally, he says, is a deliverance that is in progress. Now, beloved, this is what we need.

Notice what he says. Verse 9. Obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

You know that word obtaining here is so very critical and important. It comes from a root word that means to receive what is due or what is deserved.

Now, what he's literally saying here is to understand the grammar of the text is that we are to presently receiving for ourselves as the outcome of our faith of the salvation of our souls.

The outcome of our salvation. Blessed child of God, don't miss this great truth.

This is so precious. Right now, at this very moment, everyone has placed their trust and faith in Jesus Christ.

Is experiencing a process of salvation, a deliverance that is in progress, that one day the

Lord is going to deliver His people. It's going to be in God's good time, but God is going to deliver

His people. Now, let me tell you this. Paul says that all the words of God, everything that God says, let every man be a liar and let

God be true. And all the promises of God are yea and amen. So in one sense, the

Christian now possesses the result of the faith, a constant deliverance from the power of sin that God has delivered us by faith from the power of sin, but it's in progress.

But in another sense, we're waiting for the faith when it's going to be manifest in heaven.

The eternal glory and the redemption of our bodies. Paul speaks of this in Romans 8, 23. And he says this, and not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the

Spirit. We even, we ourselves, grown within ourselves, within, waiting, there it is, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

And what he's saying is, one day, there's going to be a full manifestation of this in heaven.

But not yet. As long as we're on this earth, we've got remaining sin as a child of God.

And that remaining sin hangs on to us like a corpse, like a dead body. But the

Bible says you've got to take that remaining sin and you cannot pamper it. You've got to put it to death.

Mortify it. In conclusion, let's look at what actually is involved in this process.

You may know where I'm going. It's one word called sanctification. Constantly, you see this throughout the

Scriptures. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no one will see the

Lord. Without sanctification, no one will see the Lord. Philippians, I quote this quite often.

So then, my beloved, in chapter 2, verse 12, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, here's obeying people of God, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And then he says this. For it is

God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

It's for the good pleasure of God. But first of all, you work it out. First, it's within you.

It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work. And then he goes on in detail.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing. I fell right there. So there's my sanctification.

How many times have you done everything without grumbling? I grumbled yesterday wiring up a chicken fence.

Serious. Scripture says, do all things without grumbling so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world holding the fast word of life so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of faith of your faith, then he says this,

I rejoice and share my joy with you all. Notice the joy. And you too,

I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me. Joy. Joy. Well, I've got to wrap this up.

But before we're sanctified, beloved, you've got to make sure you're justified. Because there's not going to be any true sanctification unless there's true justification.

That's the order. Before sanctification, there has to be justification. Don't be afraid of those theological words.

Justification basically means that God, first of all, declares you righteous in Jesus Christ before the throne of God, before his court.

He says, like, you're righteous? And the thing about justification, it's instant.

It's there. It's forever. It's settled. It's a new birth that takes place in that justification.

And then from that is a sanctification that is a constant progress.

And even though we are constantly repenting, we're mourning and groaning over our sin that remains, right?

Am I alone in this? I mourn and I grieve over the sin that constantly remains to me.

Like I said just a minute ago, I grumbled because I was in the hot heat yesterday burning up and my hands were swelled and I was grumbling.

I said, good night. All this for chickens? But I should have been saying, Lord, I'm doing this unto you, to your glory.

Joyfully. And for my wife and for my family. I'm just giving you an example. I'm showing my cracks a little bit.

That this preacher is not a perfect preacher. Nor are you. I don't think anybody in here is perfect.

Am I right? How many times have you failed this last past week? How many times have you sinned?

Am I alone? But do you grieve over it? And Jesus mentioned and he prayed in the upper room, by the way, in John 17, 17.

And he prays for his apostles and what does he pray? Sanctify them. In what? The truth.

What's the only thing that sanctifies? Right here. Stay in this word.

Oh beloved, stay in this word. You want to be cleansed? Stay in this word. You want your mind cleansed?

The mind gets foggy, doesn't it? We think, we think, we think thoughts that we shouldn't think. Get in here. Every thought.

Take captive by the obedience of Christ. Take it captive. Think on these things, pure, right, good, wholesome.

That's what he says in Philippians. I mean, there's a list. He tells you how to think. Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good repute, whatever is excellent, and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these, think on these things, the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.

Practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. That's Philippians 4, 8 through 9.

But sanctification, we've got to be sanctified. Now let me bring this right down to where you are. God's goal with you is to sanctify you and to make you more like Jesus.

Can I tell you this? God is desiring you to be like Jesus. That's His goal.

And that sanctification process is lifelong, beloved. He's still working on me to make me what

I ought to be. It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars. We sang that as children, didn't we? I love that theology.

But yet He's still working on me. Is He still working on you? Well, moreover the

Lord Jesus Christ right now intercedes for you. He wants to see you make it. He's not against you.

He's for you. And He has a deliverance that's in progress. So even when the Christian is in most heaviness, manifold temptations.

Listen to what Spurgeon says. He says, Ah, even the Christian is most in heaviness through manifold temptations.

What a mercy. It is that he can't know that he is still elect of God. That he can know,

I'm sorry, that he is still an elect of God. And any man who is assured that God has chosen him from before the foundation of the world may well say,

We're in. We greatly rejoice. You know,

J .C. Ryle said this, For a man to truly be happy, he must have sources of gladness that are not dependent on anything that is in this world.

That's the truth. If we're going to have joy, it's not going to be in this world. Amen? I'm telling you, joy is not the joy that people long for.

They search everything out in this world to try to find happiness in this world. And then it all fades and passes away.

What is left of this world? And come to find out, it's all in vain. But within the heart of man,

I tell you, you can see this through the suicides of stars down through the years. They seek glory.

They seek this praise. They make these millions. Elvis Presley is a good example.

He died heartbroken. He said they found him dead when he took pills and committed suicide and found a

Bible beside him. Seeking, seeking, seeking, seeking for peace and joy.

But it's not going to be found in this world, beloved. It's only found in Jesus Christ. I'm telling you.

We've got to repent. You want the joy of salvation restored unto you?

Go with me very quickly to Psalm 51.

Let's close with this. I was going to go to Revelation, but read Revelation chapter 1, 2, and 3 in your devotional time.

And Jesus talks about repentance to the churches, to the seven churches. But here repentance is packed out.

It's very practical, isn't it? Very practical. Look at 51.

David has sinned against the Lord. He not only committed adultery. You know the story. He committed murder.

In other words, to get what he wanted, he had to have somebody killed. Uriah. Sent him on the battle line, right on the front lines, and had him killed.

He was still, as a king, responsible for the murder of Uriah.

That was the husband of Bathsheba. He knew to get him out of the way so he can take what he wanted.

Self -centeredness. Susanna Wesley said that's the taproot of sinfulness is selfishness.

He wanted to take what he wanted to get so he can have it. Isn't that the way sin is?

I want it, and I want it now. Isn't that the way the world lives? I want it, and I want it now.

But the Christian lives different. He denies himself. He takes up the cross.

You know what that means? Jesus said, you're going to follow me. You're going to have to die to self. You've got to die to self.

And there's a cross. There's a cross. It's painful. But you know,

I gladly take up that cross because you know why? It's hard. It is. I will admit that.

But you know something? I gladly take it because I see the Lord of Glory, what He did for me. All sacrifices, when you get a hold of that sacrifice and see it, and fix your eyes on it, all of the sacrifices become nothing.

Amy Carmichael said something like that. Well, look at Psalm 51. I'm going to close with this. You want to restore the joy of your salvation?

Let's go there. That's in verse 12. But look, how does he get there? He begins by crying out to God, and it's a song.

Keep this in mind. The Psalms are psalters, and he's singing this. But he's singing this in brokenness, beloved.

He's broken. He's contrite of heart. He is broken because of his sin before God.

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving kindness, according to the greatness of Your compassion.

Blot out my transgressions. Blot out my transgressions. You desire

God to blot out your transgressions? It's only because God will be merciful in doing that. And notice what he says.

Wash me thoroughly, through and through, from my iniquity.

Then he says, Cleanse me from my sin. Notice what he says. Wash me, cleanse me from my sin.

He doesn't mention Bathsheba one time. And what does he say? For I know my transgressions.

He's a sinner. I've sinned. And what does he say? And my sin is ever before me.

You ever cry that out before God? Here's a man after God's own heart.

My sin is ever before me. And against you and you only have I sinned.

And done what is evil in your sight. In God's sight. And notice what he says.

And that you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge. It's like he's standing, he's bowing in brokenness right before the

Holy God and he says, Here I am. Here's my heart. I'm broken. My sin's ever before me.

And against you and you only have I sinned. And done this evil that is in your sight. In other words, what he's saying, this evil is horrible.

This sin is horrifying in your presence because you're so holy. And then he says in verse 5,

Behold I was brought forth in iniquity. It's part of my sin nature. I was born with this.

Birthday gift from Adam. And in sin my mother conceived me. Again, behold, you desire truth in the inmost being.

That's what God desires in us. In the reins of our very heart, God desires truth.

And in the hidden part, you will make me no wisdom. Purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean.

Again, he's crying out, God I want to be clean. I want to have a pure heart. Jesus says,

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness. See, it's only through repentance that we can hear joy and gladness.

God will make you hear joy and gladness. God does it. And then he says,

Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. See, God broke his bones. God broke him.

And you know something, what he's saying, in other words, real repentance is being broken and wounded before God. Hide your face from my sins.

In other words, God, you're so holy, I'm sinful. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.

And then he cries this wonderful statement, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a set fast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence. Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. And what does he say in verse 12?

Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Your salvation.

And sustain me with a willing heart. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you.

Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation. Then my tongue will be joyful, seeing of your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise. For you do not delight in the sacrifice, otherwise

I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offering and the sacrifices of God over a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart,

O God, you will not despise. There you go. Get broken before God over your sin.

Turn away from, turn and live. Turn from your sin. You will live.

And then he says, By your favor do good design, build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the righteous sacrifices and burnt offerings, and whole burnt offerings.

Then young bulls will be offered on your altar. And what he's basically saying, Do a thorough work in my heart, O God.

Now, isn't that your desire this morning? Come you sinners, poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore.

Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love and power. Come you thirsty, come and welcome.

God's free bounty glorified. True belief, true repentance, every grace that brings you nigh.

Come unto Him, all you heavy laden. Come you weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall.

If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. Let not conscience make you linger.

That word conscience. Only the blood of Jesus can give you a clear conscience. Not a fitness fondly dreamed.

All the fitness He requires is to feel your need of Him. View Him postured in the garden.

On the ground your maker lies. On the bloody tree He suffered. Sinner, will this not suffice?

Lo, the incarnate God ascended pleads the merit of His blood. Venture on Him, venture wholly.

Let no other trust intrude. I will rise and go to Jesus. There's your answer. Go to Jesus.

He stands ready to cleanse you. He stands ready to forgive you. Grace is greater than all of our sin.

He will embrace me in His arms, in the arms of my dear Savior. Oh, there are 10 ,000 charms.

Hallelujah. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time together, Lord, in Your Word. Lord, it's

Your Word. We honor it. We give You glory. Lord, do it work within all of our hearts as we stand before You.

You're faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But, Father, may we take this sin issue very serious.

It's a matter of eternal life and eternal death. So, Lord, may we turn from it and forever turn toward You in faith.

Turn from our sin. Come to the light while there's mercy. Before mercy flees, and then the wrath of God comes.

Oh, God, the only thing that's going to cover us is the righteousness of Jesus and His precious blood.

Thank You, Father, for providing such a sacrifice. Grace that is greater than all of our sin.

Hallelujah. We give You praise and glory. In Jesus' name, amen.