First Epistle of Peter
WE LOVE HIM
Scripture Text: 1 Peter 1:8 (KJV)
"Whom having not seen, ye love"
The Christians to whom Peter writes had never seen the Lord Jesus. Some, no doubt, were living at the time Christ was here, but they were natives of Asia Minor, and Christ had never been there. Nor was it likely that they had ever been to Palestine, yet they loved Him. Today, millions who have never seen Him, love Him. Is this not remarkable? We do not love anyone now on earth whom we have never seen. We all have dear ones, but we learned to love them through association. We have never seen the Lord Jesus, yet we do love Him. How do we account for this? While we have never seen Him, we have been brought into contact with Him. We realized we were guilty sinners, and we came to Him, confessing our sins, obeying His commandments, being born again, and because of the blood of His Son, He touched us and made us whole. We have talked to Him often in prayer, and He has talked to us, as we read of Him in His Word.
Then the Word has given us a picture of Him such as no artist has ever been able to print. Also, the moment we trusted and obeyed Christ, we became partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and this makes it possible for us to love Him.
Then we read in 1 John 4:19, "We love Him, because He first loved us." It is not hard to love one whom we know loves us. As we consider the love of Christ, how He came into this world and went to that cross to suffer and to bleed and to die, we just can't help loving Him in return.
All true Christians love the Lord Jesus. We read in 1 Corinthians 16:22, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maranatha." The word "Anathema" means "accursed." "Maranatha" means "the Lord cometh." If any man is accursed, certainly, he is not a true or faithful Christian.
Perhaps, none really love Him as He deserves. How often we must chide ourselves for the lack of true love. How often we feel sad about the fact that we have we have lost our first love. When we were first saved, we loved Him so much, but it seems to have grown dim lately, hasn't it? Let's get down on our knees and confess our sins, and ask Him "to restore unto us the joy of our salvation."
Many have demonstrated great love for Him. Rather than deny Him, they have suffered great hardships. Many have been imprisoned, persecuted, whipped, yea even killed for His sake. They went to the lions, they went to the rack, they went to the stake. "Love is strong as death" (Song of Solomon 8:6). "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it" (Song of Solomon 8:7). Many have given up all they held dear in order to serve Him. "To know Him is to love Him and to love Him is to serve Him." Many have given up paying positions and left home and dear ones in order to serve Him in some remote corner of our land or the world. Many have demonstrated by their self-sacrificing service, that they love Him dearly.
"though now ye see Him not, yet believing"
In connection with Thomas the Lord commends faith without sight. Thomas had said after Christ's resurrection, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe" (John 20:25). Eight days later, when Christ appeared to the disciples again, Thomas was there. He had missed the first meeting. Upon this second appearance, the Lord immediately speaks to Thomas saying, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing" (John 20:27). And Thomas answered and said, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28).
"yet believing, ye rejoice"
It's a great blessing to believe without seeing. The Lord makes a very striking statement in John 20:29. "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Sometimes folks say, "My, I would have liked to have been living in the time of Christ, and seen Him do all those wonderful things." Many that were with Him then did not believe on Him at all, even though they saw all those things. Besides, if they did believe on Him, they believed because they saw. Now we believe without seeing and the Lord says that is more worthy of praise.
Here we have faith again, and it is given as the beginning of Christian joy. We read about Christ, we believe in and obey Christ, and we rejoice in Christ. If we are not happy, it is because our faith is weak. Some Christians do not look very happy, nor act very happy.
One sour-looking brother was passing out tracts and inviting strangers to church. A passing man took a tract, heard the invitation, took one look at the sour face and said, "No, thank you, I have troubles enough of my own."
Another sour-looking brother stood at the door of the auditorium in the church building, passing out hymn books and showing folks to their seats. Probably most thought, "Dear brother, you are the last one in this congregation who should have that job." If our faith is strong, then doesn't it follow that our joy will be great, and we will have a shinning face, not a sour one?
The stronger our faith, the greater our joy; the stronger our faith, the less our trials will be able to depress us. Perhaps because of the deception of Satan, we have lost some of our first faith, and with it some of our first joy, and our first love. Let's get back; let's get back!
"joy unspeakable"
When this joy overwhelms us, we cannot describe it, we can but feel it. It is truly "unspeakable." We cannot explain it to our friends, and the unsaved do not understand it at all. They do not see that the Christians have a good time. In personal work I have had some ask, "What do you do for a good time? You do not seek out porn on the Internet; you don't watch X rated films; you don't do drugs; you don't frequent night clubs; you don't look for women. Your life must be a dry, dead existence." Then try to explain joys to them. You will find it a real job. And yet our joys so far surpass theirs that we would not want to go back to them for anything in the world.
Christianity is a truly happy religion. It's a singing religion. We use the word "religion" comparatively. Really it is not a religion, it is a life in a person. But no other religion has a hymn book. Mohammedanism, Hinduism, Heathenism; none of them sing at all. The Jews sing some, but many of their tunes are like funeral dirges. No hymns like, "O Happy Day,” that fixed my choice on Thee my Savior and my God." When we are strong- in faith, our hearts will sing, as well as our lips.
"full of glory."
Joy and glory are often linked together in the Word. Truly, when we get to Glory our hearts will leap with joy. But even now, as we are filled with joy, it brings us close to glory. As our faith is strong, our joy becomes great, and we are brought close to heaven. We can be brought close to heaven even in the midst of trials. Sometimes it is at that moment when we are the closest.
Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 1:9 (KJV)
"Receiving the end of your faith"
It would seem, although the apostle mentions only the soul in this verse, he is thinking of the time when salvation will be complete. This could be translated, "Upon receiving- the consummation of your faith," inferring that our greatest joy will come when we are at home with Him forevermore.
What a great place faith has in Peter's writings, as well as the whole of the New Testament. This is the third time in these few verses, we have had it mentioned. First, in verse five, then again in verse seven, and in verse eight we have "yet believing," which is almost synonymous with faith. How important it is. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Heb. 11:6). There is just no blessing at all without faith. In the first place, none could ever be saved without it. No work can be done for God without it. In Hebrews 11, we have an account of the great heroes of faith of the Old Testament. Notice they all accomplished great things through faith. If we are to do anything for God, it must come through faith in Him. Surely we can all agree that faith is vital to pleasing God.
"even the salvation of your souls."
Without faith in our Lord Jesus none of us would ever care about hearing and obeying the Word of God (Acts 28; Rom. 10:17), or repenting of our sins (Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38; Acts 17:30), or confessing our faith in Christ as the Son of God (Matt. 10:32-33; Rom. 10:9-10; 1 Tim. 6:12; Acts 8:37) or being baptized for (unto) remission of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38, 22:16). What a wonderful thing it is to be saved. We all were bound for hell and destruction. If we could gain a true vision of that terrible doom, how thankful we would be that we are saved. Then again, if we could gain a glimpse of the glories of heaven and those eternal joys that await us, our thankfulness would know no bounds.
When first saved, all we could think of was our sins are gone and we will never see hell. But, along with salvation we receive a host of other things. First of all, we receive Christ Himself. In fact, we receive God as our Father, Christ as our Savior and the Holy Spirit as our indweller, guide and comforter. We receive a new life, we become children of God. We receive a new nature, new aims, ambitions and desires. Besides this many other things known and unknown, become ours, when we trust Christ Jesus and receive him as our Savior, through obedience to His Word.
Perhaps the reason not many have yet to receive this great salvation, is because they do not feel their need of it. The Scriptures everywhere attest to the fact that man is a sinner. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). Therefore, we all need this salvation. Great or small, rich or poor, illiterate or educated, good or bad, matters not who; all need this salvation, and it can be ours by faith and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.
