Heb. 12:14 stresses the essentiality of sanctification.  It says, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”  Sanctification is the purpose, Paul says, for which we are saved. 1Thess. 4:7 “For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.”

Now Peter never uses the word sanctification, per se.  He does however refer to the sanctifying work of the Spirit in us, back in chapter 1vs2.  But I believe that the general thrust of Peter’s epistle is the subject of our sanctification.  His central thesis is found in the first chapter, vs 16, “Because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.”  Sanctification is simply holiness.  They are synonymous.  To be sanctified is to be holy, set apart, for good works.  Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  That is the goal of our sanctification, that we should be fit for service to God.

Last week we looked at a list of motivations that Peter gave us for sanctification. Now this week I believe we can find another list, Peter’s 12 step program, if you will, for sanctification.  And as I said, the purpose for our sanctification is that we might be of service to the Lord.  So without further introduction let’s look at Peter’s 12 steps to sanctification as presented in the first 10 verses of chapter 2.

The first step in our sanctification is love with a pure heart.  Peter has already referenced this in the previous chapter in vs 22, saying, “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.”  And as I said previously, the KJV and other translations include the word “pure” heart.  That indicates that Christian love is not possible without sanctification.  That it has to be unhypocritical love.  It’s really a shame how modern society has redefined the idea of love.  They have exchanged love for lust.  They have debased love to the point of lusting after sexual gratification.  But true Christian love is something you do for others, not for yourselves.  It’s sacrificial, not selfish. 

Paul says in Romans 12:9-13 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;  not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;  rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,  contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”  That’s the kind of love, the kind of devotion we should have towards one another.  

So therefore in pursuit of such pure love Peter says, in vs.1, “putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.”  All those attitudes are antagonistic towards Christian love.  That reminds me of another beneficial translation in the KJV, when it talks of agape love, or sacrificial love, it often translates it as the word charity.  That’s an old fashioned word perhaps, but it indicates that Christian love is focused on other’s benefit, not towards our own selfish ends. And all these attributes that Peter gives are signs of a selfish, self centered love of self first and foremost. So sanctification involves putting off selfishness and envy and hypocrisy and slander and  learning how to love like Christ loved the church, sacrificially. 

Number two in our 12 steps to sanctification, Peter says, is long for the pure word.  He actually says in vs 2, “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word.”  Back in the previous chapter in vs 23, Peter had told us that we were born again by the seed of the word. “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”  

Now he says, as new born babies long for the pure milk of the word that you may grow.  Many years ago when I was a kid, there was a trend in society for women to not breastfeed babies and instead to give them formula.  Perhaps it was an attempt to make women more independent and be able to go to work and so forth which was the goal of the women’s liberation movement at that time.  But over the last couple of decades, more and more research has come out which shows the tremendous nutritional benefits of breast milk. Everything a baby needs for optimum health is found in the mother’s milk.

In the same way, there is an inherent benefit in the word of God which cannot be found in psychology, in self help books, or in science.  It has the ability to give life. Jesus said, “the words that I have spoken to you, they are spirit and they are life.” On another occasion, Jesus rebuked the devil by quoting from the scripture, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”   The word of God is authored by the Spirit, it is life to the soul, it is bread for the body, and it will keep you from sin.  Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” So a proper diet of the word of God keeps you from sin which is directly counter to  holiness.

Thirdly, Peter says the next step of sanctification is to grow up.  Now our text makes it clear that our maturity is closely related to feeding on the word of God.  “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”  Maturity, or growing in your salvation, is essentially the process of sanctification.  Sanctification is the maturing process of becoming conformed to the image of Christ.  The goal is that we do not stay babies, or even children, but we become mature.  We grow up in Christ. 

Paul speaks of this in Ephesians 4:14-16 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;  but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,  from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

The problem with the church today is that it is full of spiritual infants.  They have a doctrine which is an inch thick and a mile wide.  They get a lot of their teaching from self promoting television evangelists and you tube prophets.  The sound doctrine of the scriptures has too often been reduced to a sentimental ditty sung to a modern rock tune which repeats again and again and again, without any substance. Peter and Paul are saying, you need to grow up.  Stop being deceived by every wind of doctrine. Stop being swayed this way and that way.  The gospel doesn’t change according to the winds of the culture. It is founded upon the rock which is Christ, who is the Word of God made flesh and we have being conformed to His likeness as we meditate on HIs word.  And that is how we grow as we spend time studying Him, copying Him, following Him.

The fourth step in sanctification is we are to partake of His goodness.  Peter says in vs3, “if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”  This is sort of a difficult verse to exegete, but I would say that Peter is talking about partaking of the goodness of the Lord.  The idea follows the previous principle in which we drink of the pure milk of the word.  Now Peter speaks of tasting the goodness or kindness of the Lord. So feeding upon the word is what is being spoken of here.  He is doubling up on the exhortation to eat of the word, to taste of the word, so that you might grow in sanctification.  If you don’t eat, then you will be malnurished, you will be under developed.  So the goal is to grow, and the means of doing that is to eat the good things which the Lord has given us to eat, the bread of life, the pure milk of the word.  Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him.”

 The fifth step in our sanctification is to go out to Him. Peter says in vs4 “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God…”  Listen, if we are going to be like Christ, if we’re going to follow Christ, we’re going to have to go out to Him.  Go out to Him who is outside of the camp, outside of the  religious centers, outside of the political centers, outside of the intellectual centers of society. Jesus did most of His ministry outside of the political and religious centers of His day.  He was an outcast.  He was rejected by the mainstream religious leaders and political leaders.  Being a true follower of Jesus wasn’t popular then, and it’s not popular now.

Paul said in Romans 12 “be not conformed to this world.” The opposite of being conformed to this word is to go out to Christ.  Hebrews 13:13 tells us, “So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” Jesus himself said if we were going to be His disciples we must take up our cross and follow Him. I think we go a long way in our process of sanctification if we would just get over the idea that we need to be popular, we want to be accepted by the world, and instead we identify with Christ.

The sixth step in our sanctification Peter says is we are to build up the church.  Vs 4-5 “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,  you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

First of all note that a building is not the temple of God, but our bodies are.  Paul says in 1Cor. 3:16 “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

I like how Peter refers to Christ as the chief stone, the foundation stone, a living stone, and we also are living stones built on the rock which is Christ. Peter realized that he was not the rock upon which the church was built, but Jesus was.  Peter was just a living stone, built on Christ the cornerstone. Our identity is in Christ, and He is in turn identified in us by His Spirit which lives in us and through us.  But the idea that God dwells in houses built by men is not a principle taught in the New Testament.  Rather, we are being built into a holy temple; a Spirit filled congregation of saints. 

And so we must recognize the importance and the need for other stones in this temple.  We are designed to be in fellowship with other believers in the church, corporately forming the temple of God.  And so Peter is saying in our sanctification there is a need to build up, or edify the church.  That is the whole purpose of spiritual gifts.  Spiritual gifts are not for self edification, which the charismatics teach, but for the edification of the body of Christ, the church.

Paul says in 1Cor. 14:12 “So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.”  So your gifts are for building up of the church.  He speaks specifically of some of those gifts in Rom. 12: 6-8 “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;  or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”   So exercise your gifts to build up the church.

The next is closely related to that.  The seventh step in our sanctification is to offer spiritual sacrifices.  Peter says, “you also, as living stones,]are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  One of the primary duties of priests in the temple service was to offer up sacrifices and offerings.  And so in the new covenant, in the new temple not made with hands, we as priests to God offer sacrifices as well.  But not the sacrifices of bulls and goats, but our own bodies, our own lives in service to God.  We are to be sanctified for service to God.

Paul says in Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  So holy living is a spiritual sacrifice.  Paul says service is worship.  Worship is not in what we say, but what we do. It’s not just lip service.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”   Be holy as God is holy.  That’s the sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.

The eight step to sanctification in Peter’s 12 step program is to trust in the Lord. To believe in the Lord is not just an intellectual assent, but it’s a commitment of your trust, to do all that He says, and to do all He commanded us to do.  Vs6 “For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”  This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone.”

To believe in Christ, to have faith in Christ, is the  basis of our justification. Rom 10:9-11says “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

But not only are we justified by faith, but we are sanctified by faith.  The scriptures say in four different places that the just shall live by faith.  We trust the Lord as we do what He commands us to do, and find that He will supply our needs and our strength to do His will as we step out in faith.  And God promises that if we trust in Him we will not be disappointed.  By the way, Peter was referencing a quotation from Isaiah 28:16, a prophecy concerning the Messiah which says, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.”  Jesus is the Rock which we can depend upon as we live by faith, doing what He commanded us.

The ninth step in our sanctification is to fulfill your calling. Vs 9, one of my favorite verses in Peter’s epistles says, “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

What I like about Peter is he is constantly reminding us of the glories of our salvation.  He doesn’t hold back from giving us the hard or difficult parts, but at the same time he is encouraging us by reminding us of our inheritance.  Look at what God has called us to be.  A chosen race; called and chosen to be sons of God. A royal priesthood.  We are given a dual title. Thats better than the priesthood of Levi.  We are priests and princes of God.  Revelation 1:6 says, “and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father.”

Revelation 5:10 reiterates that promise, saying, “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”  But the interesting thing is that this is something we are to be engaged in now.  Paul said to Timothy in 2Tim. 4:5 “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”  Be about the business of the kingdom.  That is our calling, our duty, our commission.  We all have a calling, we all have a ministry. And fulfilling that calling it is the path to sanctification.  

The tenth step in our sanctification is closely associated with that ministry, and it is to proclaim His gospel. Vs. 10, “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  

Our primary ministry is to proclaim the good news of the gospel. Our primary calling is not to be a carpenter, or a banker or a doctor or lawyer, but to be a witness; to testify to the world the truth of the gospel. Jesus said in Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  He is recorded as saying in Matt. 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  It’s easy to think that witnessing is someone else’s job.  The pastor perhaps, or a missionary; it’s their job.  Someone else should go, but not us.  Someone else should witness, but not us.  But Jesus commissioned you to be His ambassadors, to bear witness of what He has said and done. And we cannot be like Him, unless we bear witness of Him to the world, even as He faithfully bore witness of the Father.

Closely related to that is the eleventh step, which is to be a light in the darkness. “So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  What is the light which we are to shine in the darkness?  It is the light of the world; the truth of Jesus Christ as revealed in the word of God. We are to be lights in the world.  Jesus said in Matt. 5:14-16  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;  nor does [anyone] light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  That’s how we let our light shine.  By our good works, and by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.  Both are necessary if either is to be effective.

Lastly, the 12th step in our sanctification is that you remember who you are.  Peter says in vs10, “for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”  You are a child of God.  Act like it.  Remember who your Father is.  Be careful not to bring shame upon the name of Christ.  Don’t be arrogant in who you are.  Remember Paul said in 1Cor. 1:26-29 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;  but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,  and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,  so that no man may boast before God.”

But on the other hand, remember your calling, remember you were chosen, you were justified, and that you have been given a promise of inheritance.  Remember you are a royal priesthood, created to serve the kingdom of God.  You are a citizen of a chosen nation. A light set on a hill. You are the people of God.  Stand in that promise.  Stand in that reality.  Stand on that Rock which is Jesus, our cornerstone. And be holy, even as He is holy.

Last week, we ended our study in the preceding verses by expounding the text found in vs 16, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”  This is God’s command to the church, as it was His command to the Israelites.  God first said it in Leviticus 11:44.  Then Peter updates it under the new covenant to the church, so that it becomes the commandment for our sanctification.  We are made holy and righteous positionally due to our justification. We are credited with the righteousness of Jesus Christ to our account.  But then we are becoming holy practically through the process of sanctification.  Sanctification is the practice of becoming who you were created to be.  It is the process of becoming conformed to the image of Jesus Christ as we walk in His footsteps, according to the pattern which he laid for us.

Peter speaks about this pattern of sanctification in chapter 2:21 saying, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” The word in the Greek translated as example is “hypogrammos”, which means a writing copy of the letters of the alphabet, which was given to children as an aid in learning to draw them.  We still give school children such things today, letting them trace over the letters so that they may learn to write.  In the same manner,  we are to live in such a way that we follow the example laid down by Jesus, so that we might be conformed to His image.  In this way, as we are obedient to His word,  we become like Him. That is the process of sanctification that Peter is referring to here; that we may become holy in all our behavior, even as He is holy.

So in preparation for the rest of the epistle’s emphasis on holy living, he gives us a list of reasons by which we should find motivation to become sanctified. 

Now his whole epistle is really teaching us and instructing us how we are to live now that we are Christians, how we are to become like Christ. And in these last verses of the first chapter, he is presenting this list of reasons to us in order to motivate us to be sanctified.  Because the process of sanctification is not something achieved on autopilot.  Peter has already alluded in vs 6 to the fact that suffering trials is often part and parcel of the process of sanctification.  So Peter wants to motivate us to persevere in sanctification.

It’s kind of like working out.  We all know the benefits of working out.  We know that it’s the means of staying healthy and fit and being energetic and having a productive life.  But we also know it’s something that takes discipline, it’s hard work.  It’s not always fun.  But the end goal makes it worth it.  That same mindset is applicable to our sanctification as well, when we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  As Paul said in Phil. 2:12-13 “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;  for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for [His] good pleasure.”

I don’t know about you, but I find that I need motivation in order to stick with my work out regime.  I sometimes find that motivation in reading certain books, or watching videos or something on you tube in order to motivate myself to keep going.  And I suppose that Peter adds this list for the same effect; hoping to motivate us in this process of sanctification, and remind us of the benefits in store, that we might not fall short of our purpose.

So the first motivation for our sanctification he gives is because God is our Father.  He says in vs 17, “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth.”  Our primary motivation to become holy should be because we are the children of God. We have been born again of the Spirit of God. Our Father is holy, and as His children our desire should be to please our Father and be like our Father.  And even as our earthly fathers are wont to do, our Heavenly Father will bring discipline to bear in order to correct us when our behavior does not meet His expectations.  

There is a lot of push in evangelical circles today to make the fear of God into something less onerous, something more in the way of awe or respect.  And awe and respect  certainly are a part of the fear of God.  But when you look at the way the word fear is used in the vast majority of cases in the New Testament,  it means more than that.  The Greek word is phobos, which is the word we get phobia from.  And it means terror, dread, reverence.  For instance, when the disciples were on the sea in the storm and the waves terrified them, the word used is phobos.  So there is a real fear that should come from realizing the holiness of God, and that He is our Father who will discipline us for our good, according to Hebrews 12:10, that we might share in His holiness.

You know, when I was a kid, nothing struck fear into my heart and kept me in line more than my mother saying, “Wait until your father gets home. I’m going to tell him what you’ve done.”  I knew that my Dad would give me a spanking.  But contrary to all the psycho babble that you hear from parenting gurus today, that discipline did not make me love my Dad less. Nor did I ever believe after I had been on the receiving end of discipline that my Dad did not love me. Proper discipline is an expression of love.  In fact, Hebrews tells us that whom God loves He disciplines, and if you are without discipline, you are not really His child.  So a healthy fear of God produces sanctification in His children.

There is another type of fear though that should be mentioned.  And that is a fear of bringing shame upon Him.  If you have a holy reverence for your Father, you would be careful not to ever do anything by which you might bring shame upon the family name.  I remember my Dad telling me when I was a young boy, that the Harrell’s may not have much, but they did have a good name, and I should never do anything to bring shame upon that name. That kind of attitude is the attitude we should have towards our Lord.  So our first motivation for sanctification should be because God is our Father.

The second reason for motivation Peter says is because our citizenship is in heaven.  He says, “conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth.”  What he’s saying, in reality, is that we don’t live here, we are just resident aliens.  Some of the other translations may say it differently than the NASB, such as the KJV which says “the time of your sojourning.”  NIV says, “as foreigners.”  The RSV says the “time of your exile.”  

I remember a movie I saw many years ago, in which the main character was referred to by someone as being like a “prince in exile.”  That phrase always stuck with me for some reason. That’s what we are to live like.  Paul said in Phil. 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven.”  He expands on that idea in Col. 3:2 “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”  Because heaven is our home.  We’re just passing through here. We are born of a royal lineage, we belong to a different kingdom, we live by a superior constitution, we have a better heritage.

The third reason for our motivation for sanctification Peter gives is because of the price of our redemption.  The priceless cost of our ransom should motivate us to be sanctified.  If you have ever purchased something extremely valuable, or been given something extremely valuable, then you should recognize that because of how much it cost you are very careful in the way that you handle it. I used to sometimes have that experience in the antiques field in which I used to work.  I had a problem with damaging things soon after I got them.  Something could have survived in perfect condition for a hundred years, but an hour after I got it I broke it.  

But if I bought something that was extremely valuable, that had taken all my money and then some, I handled it very carefully.  I would put it where it would not be touched, where it would be safe, because I knew how valuable it was.

In a similar respect, when we come to know the supreme cost which Jesus paid to effect our redemption, the price that He paid to pay our ransom, then how careful should we be to handle our salvation. We certainly shouldn’t  want it stained and soiled by the world. Paul said in 1Cor. 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit [who is] in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 

Notice how Peter describes our redemption as from the futile way of life inherited from our forefathers.  What he is saying there is that our life before our redemption was empty, it was meaningless.  Like Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, our lives were vanity, chasing after the wind. Our lives were purposeless.  There is nothing more unfulfilling than chasing after the lusts of the world.  They never satisfy you.  You never get enough.  Whether it’s money, or sex or alcohol or fame or whatever this world has to offer, it’s never enough.  Only God satisfies.  Only God is able to fill the hole in your soul.  

Notice also the price of our redemption.  What kind of price can you put on a life?  When someone is killed in an accident, and it’s someone else’s fault, the relatives may find themselves in front of a court that will determine the monetary compensation for the loss of life.  And usually it is in the millions of dollars when someone has lost a life. 

But the price of our redemption is even harder to fathom.  Peter says it was “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”  The word precious there was commonly used in reference to precious stones, things of great value.  The price of our redemption required first of all that the substitute would be holy, blameless and spotless.  The price required a human life.  But it also required  Deity.  If there can scarcely be a value determined for a man, how can you put a value on the very God Himself who took on flesh? How can you put a value on the supreme righteousness of a Holy God?

Think of it! The only Son of God died for sinners.  The innocent suffered for the guilty. The King of Kings offered His life for peasants.  The perfect for the imperfect.  The spotless for the stained. How can we consider such a cost paid for our penalty and not be motivated to live for Him?

The next motivation for our sanctification is because it is the eternal plan of God. Vs 20, “For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.”  At some unknown time long before the creation of the universe, the Godhead agreed together on the plan of salvation.  God did not convene a meeting several hundred years after Noah and say “hey, we need to come up with some way to fix this mess.”  But in the omnipotence and sovereignty of God the Trinity designed a plan long before the world was even formed.  The word world there is kosmos, which indicates all the stars and planets.  

Now the idea of foreknowledge there in relation to Christ may be better understood as predestined.  It was determined beforehand which of the Deity would become flesh and offer themselves as a substitional sacrifice for man’s sin.  Jesus Christ volunteered to leave His glory in heaven, and forever take on human flesh. 

And notice that Peter says this was done for us.  For you. For your sakes, he says.  God made this grand plan to bring about your salvation, in His foreknowledge electing those who would be saved.  And knowing that we are a part and the purpose of this grand design should motivate us to be all that God has designed us to be.

Another reason Peter gives for our sanctification is that we might love one another.  Vs 22, “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.”   Jesus said that a new commandment He gave to us, which was to love one another. But our sanctification enables us to love one another as we ought, and that is because sanctification purifies your heart.  

Some of the other versions include the word pure in the last phrase, so that it would read; “love one another fervently with a pure heart.”  See, love that does not come from a pure heart is hypocritical love.  It’s love for show. It’s love for an ulterior motive.  But love from a pure heart is one in which there is no guile.  It’s love in which there is no jealousy, no selfish motives, no strife. 

Paul said this is pure love of the brethren; “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends. (1 Cor. 13:4)

Only by sanctification can we love like that.  That’s why Peter says in vs 22, that we must in obedience to the truth purify our souls so that we might have a sincere love of the brethren. Sanctification is the sacrifice of self for the sake of Christ.  And only in that way can we be sincere in our love for one another, with a pure heart, without selfish motives.

There is another reason Peter gives that should motivate us in our sanctification, and that is because you have been born again. Vs 23, “for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”  Born again means that we are a new creation, old things are passed away, and all things have become new.  Born again means we have a new nature, a new spirit, a new hope, a new perspective, a new reason to live, a new life in Christ.

This present body was born of perishable seed.  My father died, as his father died, and his father before him.  One day this body of mine will die. But when I became born again, I received eternal life immediately, and the promise of a new, glorified body at the resurrection when Jesus returns.  I received this eternal life by promise.  It is written in the Bible, God’s word.  It was proclaimed by Jesus, that whosoever believes in Me will never die. 

What Peter indicates here is that the word of God is the imperishable seed by which man is born again.  Paul said in 1Cor. 1:21 “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”  

I’m sure you all are familiar with the parable of the soils that Jesus gave.  He spoke of man sowing seed, and some fell on rocky ground, some fell beside the road and were eaten by the birds, some sprouted up but were choked out by weeds, some fell on good soil.  And when the disciples asked Him to explain the parable He said that the seed was the word of God. Peter must have been thinking of that parable when he wrote this verse.  The imperishable seed is the word of God which endures forever.  

There is another reason for our sanctification that bears mentioning, and that is because this life is soon past.  Peter quoting from Isaiah 40 says, “ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF.   James said something similar in James 4:14 “whereas you do not know what [will happen] tomorrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”  

There was a saying that I heard my mother repeat many times growing up.  I don’t know who the original author was, but she used to say, “Only one life will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”   Why would we waste this life, purchased at such a great cost, chasing after the things of this world which will soon be over? I’m just amazed at how quickly life is passing by.  Each year goes more swiftly than the last.  More and more friends and loved ones have passed over to the other side.

Only one life will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.  I want to use whatever time I have left to serve the Lord, to do those things which are pleasing to Him. I’m going to see Him one day soon.  I hope that I will be found faithful when that day comes. On that day, my time of sanctification will be complete, and God will complete that which He began in me.  1John 3:2 says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

There is one final motivation for our sanctification, and that is because the word of the Lord endures forever.  The word of God is given to be our rule and guide for this life.  But it will also be the rule and guide for eternity.  How much then should we even now be living in obedience to the word of God?  Remember what Peter said back in vs 22?  In obedience to the truth purify your souls.  Sanctification comes through obedience to the word of God.  Sanctification doesn’t happen through some sort of ecstatic experience.  It’s not through ritual, or ceremony or keeping the Sabbath or observing some other religious holiday.  But it’s through obedience to the truth.  Because the truth is the word of God, and it endures forever.  It is the imperishable seed by which we live by faith.   It’s the means by which we walk by faith. 

Listen, sanctification is simply living by faith in the word of God. Day by day, moment by moment.  We are saved by faith, and so we live by faith.  We trust and obey every day, relying on the truth of God’s word for every word and deed.  Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  His word will sustain you and strengthen you, and equip you to do His will. 

Heb 12:12-14  Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,  and make straight paths for your feet, so that [the limb] which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

As we began our study of 1 Peter a couple of weeks ago we first looked at the surety of our salvation in vs1-5, as Peter tells us we are chosen 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, 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, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven, and protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  What a tremendous salvation has been granted to us by faith in Christ, that is promised by the Father, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and signed with the blood of Jesus Christ.   That is the surety of our salvation.

Then in vs 6-9 we looked at the sanctification of our salvation, brought about by the proving of our faith, even through sufferings, as we are tested by fire, that our faith might be refined like pure gold.  Now today, we look at the sanctity of our salvation, in which the Spirit of Christ working in us, through the scriptures, we become holy even as He is Holy.

So Peter continues by expounding the sanctity of our salvation in vs 10 saying, “As to this salvation…” Though it may seem superfluous when preaching to the choir, I should make sure that everyone understands what salvation is.  The word salvation in both natural and spiritual applications means very simply deliverance from peril.  In human terms, if you were at the beach, wading in the water and suddenly a great wave came and knocked you off your feet, and then the undertow from that wave caused a rip current to pull you out to sea, and you could not swim, you would be in very grave danger of drowning unless someone came to save you. A rescuer who was capable of not only swimming against the current, and contending with the waves, but someone who was able to also carry you back to safety. 

I’m sure you have heard of people who had some sort of escape from death, perhaps they even went so far as to have a near death experience, and afterwards they believed that they had a new purpose in life.  They certainly had a new perspective on life and from that day on they lived differently.  

I suppose in many respects you could say spiritual salvation is like that.  But in the spiritual realm, the Bible teaches that all men are lost, swept up in the current of the world and held captive by sin, and in imminent danger of eternal death.  Our salvation comes about by calling upon the name of Jesus, who is able to save, who has overcome the world and sin and death, and so He is able to save us as well.  But His purpose in saving us is not to just deliver us from death, but to give us new life.  And like the person who had the near death experience, our experience of salvation gives us a new perspective on life, which causes us to live differently from that day forward.

Theologians tell us that salvation has a three fold purpose; to deliver us from the penalty of sin, to deliver us from the power of sin, and to deliver us from the presence of sin. And make no mistake, sin is the antithesis of life.  Sin causes death.  Sin destroys life. So salvation delivers us from the penalty, the power and the presence of sin so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. 

 Now those three phases are often spoken of in theological terms as justification, sanctification, and glorification.  In justification, when we by faith believe in Jesus Christ and trust Him as our Savior and Lord, we are delivered from the penalty of sin, and given new life.  In sanctification, we are delivered from the power of sin. Sin no longer has dominion over us, but the Lord is our new master.  Paul speaking of this in Romans 6:18-19 says, “and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.  For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in [further] lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”

And then the final phase is glorification, when we are delivered at Christ’s second coming from the presence of sin.  We will be given a new, glorified body without a sin nature, to live in a new world without sin. That aspect of our salvation is still to come, as Peter mentions in vs 13 saying, “fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  As you can see, there is a past, present and future tense to grace as well. Grace is God’s gift of salvation in all it’s effects. As the scripture says, He gives us “grace upon grace.”

Now this grace was made manifest by proclamation.  Peter says, it was proclaimed to you by the prophets of old. Vs 10, “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”  He is speaking of the Old Testament prophets.  And he is saying that their proclamation came by inspiration of the Spirit of Christ.   What’s interesting is that Peter says that the Spirit of Christ prophesied of His own sufferings and the glories to follow.  And another point he makes is that they did not fully comprehend all that the Spirit was saying through them, but they came to understand that they were speaking to us in the future who would understand.  

It’s almost as if they were adding pieces to a puzzle that they could not see finished.  But generation after generation, the prophets were given inspiration in a continuous progression of truth, so that the picture began to be filled in more and more.  I think he’s indicating that they looked at and studied previously written scriptures in order to try to understand what the Spirit was saying. 

Peter expands on the same idea in vs 12 saying,  “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven–things into which angels long to look.”

That last phrase indicates that the angels also are seeking to understand the prophecies of the gospel.  Salvation is not a grace that is given to angels.  And so it speaks of our better position than that of the angels.  Hebrews chapter 2 says we were made lower than the angels for a little while, but at the consummation of all things, Jesus said we will one day judge angels.  And so it would seem that our salvation is of great interest to the angels and they are observing the prophecies come to fulfillment even as we are.

You know, Peter said something to Jesus one day in response to His question if they were going to leave Him too, and Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”  And that understanding is fundamental to our salvation, and to this life we have been given.  That’s why it’s so important to recognize what Peter says about the inspiration of the scriptures, it comes by the Spirit of Christ.  I think he uses that title intentionally to signify the unity of scripture.  That the same Spirit of Christ that spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament also spoke as the Word made flesh in His earthly ministry, and still speaks to us today through the epistles of the apostles which are the scriptures.  

Please understand that the gospel of salvation was foreordained before creation.  The gospel of salvation was manifested by typology and allegory and metaphor from Adam to Noah, from Abraham to Moses and so on through the prophets.  It’s the same gospel that Jesus preached.  And it’s a gospel of salvation from death to life.  The word of Christ is life.  Jesus quoting from Deuteronomy said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  If you want to have the abundant life that Jesus spoke of, then you need to live by the word, you need to obey the word.  That’s the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit which Peter referred to in vs2, when he said, according to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ.   

This is the Word of Life.  Eat it and live.  Aren’t you glad that the prophets of old wrote it down?  Aren’t you glad we don’t depend upon oral tradition?  Every word, every syllable has been meted out by the Holy Spirit and tried and tested and is true.  Psalm 12:6, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”  Some of us are anemic, weak Christians because of a lack of spiritual food. Peter is going to say in the beginning of the next chapter, 1Peter 2:2 that we should, “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”  Because the new life of salvation is intended to grow from infancy to maturity, as a continuing process of sanctification and we grow through a healthy diet of the word of God.

Now this necessity of our sanctification is what Peter really wants to drive home here.  He has laid down the foundations of our faith, the calling of God, the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that we might obey Jesus Christ who has sprinkled us with His blood.  He has established the authority of scripture as the guiding light of our life.  And now he wants to tell us what our responsibility is as we live this life which has been given to us.  

And he indicates that first of all it starts in our minds.  He says “Gird your minds for action.” The word “gird” references an old phrase which was to gird up your loins.  What that is speaking of is the robes that were worn in those days were very long and somewhat cumbersome.  And so if you were going to work, or going to run, then you would tuck the robe under your belt to free up your legs so you wouldn’t trip or be hampered from moving.  

Now he uses that analogy in regards to our minds.  Our spirit has been born again, but in this new life our minds have to now become subject to the Spirit instead of the flesh.  And that’s why the scripture is so important to us.  It is the means of renewing our minds. It changes the way we think.  By meditating on the word of Christ, we gain the mind of Christ.  We can’t be conformed to the image of Christ until we have the mind of Christ.

Paul speaks of this need for renewing our minds in Romans 12:1,2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

What this indicates is that what we put in our minds has a spiritual impact on our life. It’s actually harmful to feed your mind on a steady diet of the culture of the world.   The movies, the music, the television shows, the pop stars we follow on social media, all of that leads to a mind fettered by the world.  Peter says we need to clear that out of the way so we won’t be hindered, so we don’t fall, so we don’t get tripped up.   Prov. 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”  If you are constantly putting the world’s perspective and morals and mannerisms in your mind, then it shouldn’t be surprising when your spiritual life is practically nonexistent.  It’s not surprising that you have no appetite for spiritual things.

Peter emphasizes what should be obvious, that the Christian life requires action.  Faith requires action. The Christian life is not just some sort of intellectual exercise that we do once a week.  But we apply the word of God to our lives. Peter says in chapter 2 vs 2, “We work out our salvation with fear and trembling.”  We exercise our faith daily, in every situation of life.

Then Peter says, we are to keep sober in spirit.  To be sober is not talking about alcohol or drugs necessarily, though it may certainly include that.  But it’s referring to an attitude, a perspective of watchfulness, of seriousness, of carefulness. Peter refers to this again later on in his epistle in chapter 5 vs 8, “Be of sober [spirit,] be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  

Maybe now we understand perhaps better what he is getting at.  The devil takes opportunity through your mind, especially a mind that is undisciplined.  A mind that is not renewed by the word, but is conformed to the world, or more interested in entertainment or amusement. There is nothing wrong with having fun or being entertained.  But we need to gird up our minds, be disciplined, what Paul calls “taking every thought captive to obedience of Christ.” (2Cor. 10:5) The battleground of our souls is in our mind. 

Peter refers to this need for mental focus in the next phrase, “fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  The past grace was when we first believed and our sins were forgiven.  The present grace is by which we now stand.  But the grace to come is the grace that will be given to us at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is coming soon.  Or we will go to Him soon.  But one way or another, there is soon coming a day when we will be face to face with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  We should live our lives in anticipation of that day, looking forward to it, and making each day count for Him until that grace appears.

Next, Peter likens the church to obedient children.  I don’t know if he is being deliberately sarcastic there or not.  I’m not sure I would characterize most Christians today as obedient children.  Perhaps he’s using reverse psychology there.  Kind of the way the Lord named him the Rock.  He wasn’t really a rock, but God wanted him to become one.  Maybe that’s what Peter is trying to do here.  Calling us what he hopes we will become.  

But the point is that if we are saved then we are children of God. And if God is your Father, then it is expedient that you are an obedient child of God.  If we as imperfect parents discipline our children, then how much more will the perfect Father in Heaven discipline His children so that they may share in His holiness?  Hebrews 12:9-11 says, “Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He [disciplines us] for [our] good, so that we may share His holiness.  All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

That’s why suffering and trials are such an essential part of sanctification.  It’s the way God trains us and teaches us and produces in us the fruit of holiness.  So Peter says, in obedience to God do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance. In other words, you should know better than that now.  Don’t go back to the former things.  Remember Romans 12:2 which we quoted a few minutes ago, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” 

We got a new dog a few years ago. A husky, named Jackson. One of the many duties we have is to train Jackson, and keep the him clean and brushed. He’s a house dog, and so he needs to smell decent and not bring mud and dirt and who knows what into the house.  Turns out we could brush him everyday and he still would shed fur everywhere.  And when he goes outside it seems all he wants to do is stick his face into every smelly, stinky, dirty thing that he can.  It’s his nature.  But we have to train him out of his nature.

And we Christians have an old nature as well.  When we were saved we got a new nature, but the old nature is still there.  We just aren’t supposed to listen to it anymore.  We are supposed to obey our new nature. And the starvation of the old nature and the obedience to the new nature should cause the old to pass quietly away.  But unfortunately I seem to see a lot of Christians still living according to the old nature.  

Peter speaks of this old nature in chapter 4 vs 3, “For the time already past is sufficient [for you] to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.”  He said, be sober, remember? Don’t go back to that stuff anymore, it only leads to destruction. It’s not the new way of life which we’ve been given.  In fact, he says in the previous verse, “so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”

So now we know how not to live, how then the logical question is how are we supposed to live?  The answer is in vs15 “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all [your] behavior;  because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”  

What does holy mean?  I think that’s a reasonable question. The word holy is overused today in contemporary Christian music so much that I think the real meaning is in danger of being lost.  But holy means consecrated, set apart, righteous, pure, undefiled, perfect.  God is all those things. The hymn we sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy” says the eye of sinful man cannot see God because of His holiness.

Isaiah saw a vision of the Holy God in Isaiah 6 and it says this: In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.  Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”  And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.  Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”  Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.  He touched my mouth [with it] and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

Listen, a proper view of God’s holiness results in living a holy life.  We must be holy because God is holy.  We are in our new creation made holy, set apart, and so we should be holy and live not conformed to this world, but be conformed rather to Jesus Christ.  I’m going to deal with these next verses more next week but in the context of the holiness of God and our responsibility to Him I would read them now:  vs17 “If you address as Father (that is if you are a child of God) the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay [on earth;]  knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,  but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, [the blood] of Christ.”  

Jesus was holy, blameless, the spotless Lamb of God who died to make you holy and blameless.  Our standard of holiness then is to walk like He walked, talk like He talked, act like He acted.  He was obedient to the Father in all that He did.  And by the Spirit of Christ that lives in us, we can live like Christ.  We are to be like Christ.  Paul said it well in Phil. 2:5, 12-13 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, … 12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;  for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for [His] good pleasure.”

May God grant you His grace to live by the Spirit and not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  

I have titled today’s message the Proof of Your Faith.  It comes directly from our text today, in vs 7 in the NASB.  Other translations render it “the trial of your faith,” or better, “the genuineness of your faith.”  Others have called it the character of your faith.  I think I could add one more, which is the evidence of your faith.

I have often found myself as a pastor, thinking of an individual who may have given a profession of faith at some point in their life, but yet I find myself wondering if in fact they really are truly saved. And let me quickly say that I am unable to determine whether or not a person is saved or not.  I can examine their fruit, and make an educated guess, but I cannot see their hearts.  Only God can do that.  So I am not the judge of a person’s salvation.  

However, I think there is a critical problem today in evangelicalism to reduce salvation to a formula by which we attempt to get people to say some sort of prayer, and then “presto” they are saved.  They instantly escape hell and are guaranteed salvation.  They are set free from any possible punishment for sin.  And yet, oftentimes when you consider the way their lives are lived, there is very little evidence to support that they have indeed become a new creation in Christ, that they are converted.

And yet, as I alluded to a couple of weeks ago in a previous message, at it’s most simplest, the gospel promises that if you just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you shall be saved.  To believe is to have faith in who Christ is and what He has done.  The conundrum is faith is simple enough for a child to do, but complex enough  for an adult to miss it.  I think that the simplest way for me to express salvation is to say, that you have faith as a child, simply believing in what God’s word says about Christ, but then a willingness to continue to follow all that Christ teaches.  Perhaps that’s what is meant by the great number of Biblical references which say “if you continue to the end,” or something to that effect.

I’ll give you a couple of examples; John 8:31 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, [then] you are truly disciples of Mine.’”

Rom. 11:22 “Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.”  

Let’s do a couple of more from Hebrews; Heb 3:14 “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.”  And then Heb. 10:38 “BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.”  There are many more, but that should suffice for now.

Now to be fair, I don’t think that all cases in which we fail to see much evidence of faith is an indication that a person is not saved, but rather an indication that they are unfaithful stewards, or that their love has grown cold, or that they are what we used to call back in the day, just plain old backslidden. It’s also possible that they are immature in their faith, just recently saved, and not yet convicted about certain areas of their life.  Though I think the latter reason is the least likely.

But nevertheless, Peter has been addressing the reality  of our salvation, and last time we looked at his salutation which was full of affirmation and the promise of a glorious inheritance.  I think it is impossible to read the first 5 verses and not be uplifted and encouraged by the promise of what God has planned for those who have faith in Him. 

But now starting in vs 6, Peter speaks of the sanctifying work of the Spirit through trials in our lives, which he says we can still rejoice in, even though it’s a period of your life that involves suffering.  Peter indicates that suffering and trials are a part of our journey of faith, and you might even go so far as to say it is a necessary part of our salvation.  Peter says that suffering or trials is the proof, or evidence of the genuineness of our salvation.  Trials are the fire that results in the purified gold.  And so let’s look at how Peter delineates this testing of faith.

First note that in vs6, there is a continuation of thought from the previous passage.  He says “In this you greatly rejoice…”  And of course we must ask what is referred to in the phrase, “in this…”  I would suggest that it is our salvation which is stated in vs 5; “you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  So “in this” refers to our salvation. 

And Peter indicates in vs 5 that faith results in salvation.  And as I alluded to earlier,  faith at it’s most basic is simply believing in Jesus Christ.  Believing that He can help you, believing that He was who He said He was, and believing in what He came to do. You may not initially understand all of it, but you believe in Him. You trust in Him. And then you continue to believe and trust as you follow Him and obey Him as He reveals truth to you through His word.

So Peter says, in this salvation you greatly rejoice.  I think we have already thoroughly examined the reasons for rejoicing in our salvation in our last study covering vs 1-5; i.e., because we have been elected by God, sanctified by the Spirit, and purified through the blood of Jesus, our inheritance reserved in heaven which cannot decay, or erode, or be taken away, promised the hope of resurrection,  our entry into the kingdom paid for by Christ and secured by the deposit of the Holy Spirit.  Those are all things to rejoice about.

But now he introduces another element of our salvation which is usually viewed as antagonistic to rejoicing, and that is suffering.  He says, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.”  There is a great error today in some regions of evangelicalism which want to say that suffering never has to be a part of the Christian experience.  That kind of theology obviously appeals to a lot of people, but that flies in the face of what the Bible says.  Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation.” 

In fact, Peter uses this word translated “trials” in two other places in his epistles.  Look at 1Peter 4:12 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing (which is the same word in the Greek as trials) as though some strange thing were happening to you.”  And then the other is 2Peter 2:9, which says, “ [then] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, (that’s the same word rendered trials elsewhere) and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.”

So just from Peter’s writings, we can learn that trials can be interpreted as  suffering, or  temptations, or  testing. All types of trials are permitted by God, though not all trials are produced by God. Notice Peter describes them as various trials.  Some trials may come from Satan, some may come from just the cares of this world, some may come from the weakness of our flesh. They may  cover a wide range of difficulties.  But God superintends all of our troubles and uses them for His glory. In fact, even evil God can use for good.  As Joseph told his brothers who had sold him into slavery, “you meant it to me for evil, but God used it for good.”  Rom. 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to [His] purpose.”  And it goes on to say in the next verse that His purpose is to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ.  So all things, all trials, are used to make us like Jesus Christ. 

And He has another purpose in our trials.  And that purpose is to reveal our faith.  Now God knows the extent of our faith, so it’s not that He allows trials to reveal our faith to Him, but to reveal our faith to ourselves and to others.  Peter says He allows trials in our lives “so that the proof, or evidence, or character, or genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  

In other words, our trials reveal the nature of our faith to us and to others.  You may have heard the expression, the test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is looking.  Well, perhaps you could add to that, the test of a man’s faith reveals what he is to himself and to those who are watching. 

So suffering in trials through faith that doesn’t waver, that doesn’t buckle, that doesn’t give in, that doesn’t give way, that doesn’t give up trusting in Jesus, is evidence of saving faith.  It’s indicative that your salvation is genuine.  It’s proof to yourself, and proof to a watching world.  And it’s a testimony that results in praise and glory to God.  We make much of praise in the church nowadays.  But all too often it is only lip service.  It’s praise that costs us nothing, that’s offered without sacrifice.  But to be steadfast in faith in the midst of suffering or trials will bring praise to God from others who see your steadfastness.  And it will produce praise in your own life as you see the faithfulness of God in your trials.

Peter also makes the point that trials are the refining fire that purifies your faith.  In the hymn, How Firm a Foundation, the writer says “the flames shall not hurt thee, I only design, thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”  I’m sure the hymn writer was thinking of this very text when he wrote that line. 

Peter says that this proof or evidence of your faith is more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire.  This can be interpreted in a couple of different ways. But what I think it’s referring to is the process of proof testing by fire, in which the alloys and the impurities are burned away so that only the pure gold remains.  And I think that’s what trails produce in our lives, a purified faith that is like pure gold in the eyes of God. I would suggest that faith through the fire is a means of laying up treasure in heaven. Our steadfast faith in the midst of trials  will result in eternal rewards in heaven.  And just as fire refines gold by burning out the impurities, so does testing refine our faith by revealing that which is true and burning up that which is impure.

Now regardless of what type of trial we go through, the evidence of our faith will be seen in three ways.  Peter says, 1, you will love Him who is unseen, 2, you believe in Him who is not seen now, and 3, you greatly rejoice.  Now let’s look at each of those evidences briefly.

First, the evidence of your faith is that you love Him who is unseen.  What does it mean to love Jesus? Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”  Now that’s a Biblical definition of love.  Obedience is the visible manifestation of love.  Love isn’t just an emotion, or a sentiment, but a commitment.  In fact, to love God is a commandment, which Jesus said is the foremost commandment.  Furthermore, Jesus said in Luke 6:46  “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” 

I will tell you this.  When the Devil comes to tempt you, to try your faith, the area in which he will most likely tempt you is in the area of loving God.  He will try to get you to love the world more, to love money more, to love your family more, to love your grandchildren more, to love your independence more.  And I’m sure all of us, even if caught in the act of putting others before Christ, would still protest, even as Peter protested, “Oh Lord, you know that I love you.”  

But the Lord knows the hearts.  And if you love Him, then you will obey Him and put Him first in your life.  Three times when Peter protested to Jesus “I love you,”  Jesus responded with “Then feed My sheep.”  The church is His sheep.  And I think Jesus was saying that one way our faith is evidenced is by our service to His church.

Even more to the point though our love for Christ is evidenced by obedience.  When temptations seem to offer a better, more natural, more rational option, but it’s not in accordance to God’s word, then I must choose obedience.  When it would be easier to fold to the world’s expectations than to remain faithful to God, I must choose obedience.  Obedience is the evidence that I love the Lord.  The evidence of my love for God is not by my singing, not even my praises, but my obedience. 

But let me make an important distinction here.  Obedience is not faith.  But obedience is the evidence of faith.  Faith is the means of righteousness by which we are saved.  Not obedience. But having received the gift of Christ’s righteousness by faith, the result is obedience to Christ’s  word.  So by faith we are converted, our hearts changed, so that we have a desire to follow Christ, to love Christ, to obey Christ.  Obedience follows faith. Make sure you get that.

Now in this verse, Peter gives us such a great description of what faith is.  He says, “and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him.”  That really hits the same notes as Hebrews 11:1, which says, “Now faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  

Listen, the problem with the word of faith movement is that they are attempting to make faith the evidence of things seen.  They proclaim that if you just have enough faith, you can see God evidenced in your life by giving your what you want when you want it – the so called blessings of God, such as health and prosperity.  But it’s evident in these verses that the faith that God desires is a faith in Him despite the fact that we don’t see what we want to see.  It’s a faith that is obedient despite the fact that it might even include suffering through trials.  

The second evidence of faith, Peter says, is you believe in Christ, even though you don’t see Him now.  I think the idea of believing here is speaking of trusting God in the midst of trials.  When grief strikes, when calamity comes, when the prognosis of the doctor is exactly what you didn’t want to hear, when your spouse leaves you, when your children desert the faith, whatever happens, you still trust the Lord. That’s the hardest part of trials, believing that God sees, when we can’t see God.  Believing that God cares, when circumstances would seem to indicate the opposite.  But faith endures to the end.  Faith keeps on believing, keeps on trusting our souls to a faithful creator.

And the third evidence of faith, Peter says,  is to greatly rejoice in spite of trials.  Notice how twice in this passage he uses the phrase, “greatly rejoice.”   The first is in vs 6, and now again in vs 8; “you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”  To be honest, I don’t think I often do that.  I think it must be a supernatural gift of God that comes to us in our trials.  Maybe it comes in the midst of trials,  but maybe it comes after the outcome of our trials, I don’t know for sure.  But I would think that most often rejoicing comes after the suffering, when God has brought us through it.  But Peter seems emphatic about the idea that we can rejoice in trials.

In chapter 4 which is another text which Peter talks about these fiery trials, he has some things to say which may help us know more precisely what he’s talking about.  1Peter 4:12 says “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;  but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”

First he says, to the degree that you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ.  That qualifies our suffering. Not all suffering is a result of being like Christ. And not all suffering may be joyful. Heb 12:11 says “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” 

But it is possible to have joy when you share in the sufferings of Christ.  How?  I think it’s because as we come to suffer with Him, we come to know Him and have fellowship with Him in a more intimate way.  Paul spoke of this in Phil. 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” 

Listen, to know Him is to love Him.  And to love Him is to come to know the kind of joy that is inexpressible.  And we come to know Him most intimately when we are conformed to His sufferings, and conformed to His death, when we die to sin and die to the world.  In that way, we become conformed to His image. In other words, we live for what He lived for.  We die for what He died for.  We suffer for what He suffered for.  And when we do those things,  we will we also share in His glory.

Now these proofs of our faith, Peter says, results in “obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.”  I think that when he says this, he is referring to more than just the moment that you are born again.  Salvation speaks of more than that.  In fact, I think vs 8 is speaking of this, there are three phases of our salvation.  There is the point at which you believe and are converted, which is justification. Then there is the process by which you are sanctified, or  being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, that is called sanctification.  And then there is the final stage of salvation which is when we are translated into glory, what is called glorification. And all three phases are referred to as salvation.  But I think that the Bible teaches that all three are essential components of salvation.

We are justified by faith as indicated in vs 3.  We are sanctified by obedience through the Holy Spirit according to vs 2. And we are glorified to our inheritance according to vs 5.  And all of this results in the outcome; the salvation of our souls as promised in vs 9.  That is indeed something to rejoice in.  No matter the depth of the trial, or the heat of the refiner’s fire, it will be worth it all in the end. 

It is said about Jesus in Hebrews 12:2 who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The temporary suffering of the cross may not have been something at that moment of crucifixion to rejoice about, but He considered the eternal joy set before Him, and willingly went through it knowing what was in store on the other side.  The same promise is for us as well who endure to the end, who endure the suffering, who persevere through the trials of life, who are not ashamed of Him, but willing to forsake all to be with Him.  There is laid up for us a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award to us on that day. 

I don’t want in any way to trivialize whatever suffering or trial you may be going through today.  But I do want to assure you that God sees your trials, and He has promised to be with you to the end. I want to encourage you to be faithful, to trust Him, to obey Him, to love Him, and I can assure you that in that process, you will find His presence and power to be with you in an intimate way that is able to sustain you and give you strength to endure.  May you be found faithful when He comes.  God’s purpose in all of our trials is multifaceted beyond our comprehension sometimes.  But though we can’t always see His purposes, we love Him and believe in Him. 

William Cowper, died in 1800, was known for his poems and hymns.  One of his most famous poems was “God moves in mysterious ways.”  The first few lines of that poem says,   

“God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines Of never failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs And works His sov’reign will.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence  He hides a smiling face.”

One thing that should be clear from this scripture we looked at today is that God uses such trials to refine our faith, so that we may come forth like gold. This gold is not just precious to man, but also to God. And so He will be faithful to perform His promises to you as well, when the Lord Jesus comes again to receive His bride, the church.

As we begin this new study in the epistle of 1st Peter, I want to forego a lot of the preliminary background information that might be customary when beginning a new book.  Peter is a very practical book, and though there is a tremendous amount of important doctrine contained in it, it is not presented as many of the other epistles, with chapter after chapter of doctrine and then a small amount of application at the end.  Peter’s epistle presents doctrine and immediately application, which is kind of a reflection on his personality.  Peter was a man of action.  And there are problems which he wants to address and to help the early church to overcome.  So his style is more direct, addressing the issues, and then presenting the remedy.  

I”m sure you all know who Peter is.  He needs little introduction. He says in the first phrase of verse one that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ. That means he was directly commissioned by Christ to be the foundation of the church. He was the chief elder of the church in Jerusalem. He was a man filled with the Spirit, and yet often weak in the flesh.  And in that regard he is very much like most of us.  He’s probably writing just a few years before his martyrdom, before the fall of Israel and the destruction of the temple, but during a time of increasing persecution of Christians.  In this letter he specifically addresses the church which he says is scattered abroad in what was known as Asia Minor, which was under Roman occupation.  Today that area is known as Turkey. 

Now he is writing to the church to fulfill his apostolic commission to build up the church and to shepherd and feed the flock.  They are undergoing or about to undergo trials and tribulations which would seem to include persecution.  And so it was important to get to the point and offer them help.  

So even in his greeting he is beginning to lay a foundation to that effect.  Notice that as he identifies who he’s writing to, he also lays down a series of facts which are intended to shore up their faith, to assure them of the outcome of their faith, and their security in Christ.  And that confidence is essential as a Christian encounters trials in their lives.  Usually the first question when you are faced with trials is why would God allow this to happen? To ask, where is God?  Does God really care?  Has God forsaken me? And the devil is right beside you in those times to try to push you into despair, to tempt you to think that God doesn’t care what you’re going through, and that He has abandoned you.

So look what Peter does. As he addresses the church, he lays down a series of facts, or doctrines, which are intended to offer the church hope and assure them of their security in the Lord.  First he says he is addressing  those who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.  Included in this statement are the doctrines of election and foreknowledge.  These are doctrines that far too often cause confusion, discouragement and fear in the church because it is something that our finite minds cannot comprehend.  But that is not the intent of Peter.  He’s stating these doctrines to show that God has chosen them for salvation.  And God’s purposes cannot fail. The emphasis on these doctrines is not intended to be exclusionary but to show the unchangeable purpose of God to include in the kingdom those who believe in Him. And so the fact that we are saved is not according to our abilities but according to God’s ability.  God is able to bring us to salvation according to His divine sovereign will.  As Jonah prayed, “Salvation is from the Lord.”  Hebrews 12:2 says He is the author and finisher of our faith.  And because of that principle, we can be confident irregardless of circumstances the devil may use to try to make us think otherwise.  The election and foreknowledge of God should be a great encouragement to us that our salvation is secured by God.

Notice also Peter says that our election is of God the Father.  In fact, we see here that the entire trinity is involved in our salvation.  We are chosen by the Father, sanctified by the Spirit, and cleansed by the blood of Christ.  All three members of the trinity are at work in our salvation.  The sanctifying work of the Spirit means to be set apart by the Spirit, to be brought under conviction, to be led by the Spirit through the word of God and to obey Christ through the Spirit.  Our sanctification is brought about it says through the Spirit.   It’s a work of the Spirit in us, changing us.  Changing our desires, changing our nature, conforming us to the image of Jesus Christ.

And then the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus speaks to the work of the Son in His crucifixion.  He is the better sacrifice spoken of in Hebrews, the all sufficient sacrifice through which the payment for the penalty of our sin was made.  And by whose stripes we are healed of the disease of sin.  And this work of all three of the members of the trinity provides us with a three fold assurance of our salvation that secures us through the trials and tribulations of life.

Peter concludes his address by saying that through this three fold assurance we are given grace and peace to the fullest measure.  Grace is not given stingily.  Grace is not measured by the drop.  But it is poured out, pressed down, running over. John 1:16 “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”  He has lavished grace upon us.  And because we have received the grace of God, we have peace.  Both peace with God, and peace by God.  We have peace with God because we are made citizens of His kingdom, made members of God’s royal family, transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light by the grace of God. And we have peace within because we have no fear of death and we have the forgiveness of sins.  

Notice how this unlearned, rough and tumble fisherman who has been transformed by the power of God, who has been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, is moved to praise the Lord for His salvation, which should also serve to move us to praise God as we consider the wonders of His mercy towards us.  He says, “Blessed be the God and 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.”  

The word blessed when used in regards to God means to praise God. Peter praises God the Father and Jesus Christ, for causing us to be born again.  This hope of our salvation, which is being born again, is founded upon the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross, and was resurrected by the power of God.  Remember that Peter personally knew Jesus as a man of Galilee.  He knew Jesus in all His humanity.  And in that human form, Jesus was completely a man.  He wasn’t a superman.  He had no stately form or majesty.  He had no angels attending his every move.  He had no outward signs like a halo to indicate His being deity. So for Peter especially, it was a life changing truth to recognize that Jesus was the Son of God.  

Remember when Jesus asked the disciples who do men say that I am?  And Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of God.”  That was the moment of believing in Jesus which resulted in His salvation. In being born again, not of a corruptible seed, but an incorruptible seed, which is the word of God. Down in vs23 Peter says,  “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God.” But there was another moment when Peter’s faith was made more sure, and that was at the resurrection.  That’s when his joy was complete.  That’s when God confirmed the gospel message. That’s when God made public that Christ’s sacrifice was complete and sufficient for all men.  Christ’s resurrection by God was proof that our salvation is guaranteed.  The resurrection proved that God found Christ’s atonement satisfactory.  And by that atonement, we are saved and assured of our salvation.  That is worthy of our praise.  

I want to make sure that we don’t gloss over the phrase “has caused us to be born again.”  To be born again is to be given new life. It’s to be born again in the spirit.  I was discussing this question the other day when my wife and I were driving back from the airport; what constitutes salvation?  And I was addressing that on the basis of what is the very least that must happen to ensure salvation.  At what point is there a new birth?  What must be done in order for that to begin?  Because there must be a starting point to birth, to new life.  

And yet I was aware as I was discussing this, that the question is not the best question because it’s based on determining this new life by it’s lowest denominator.  It’s like planting a seed in a jar of earth and setting it on the windowsill, and watering it and making sure it gets sunshine.  And waiting to see when it starts to grow.  There must be four factors involved simultaneously.  There must be a good seed.  There must be good ground.  There must be water.  There must be sunshine.  And if those four things are there, then you can count on the seed to metamorphosis into a plant, to begin new life. Now that is just for life to begin.  In order for the life of the plant to reach fulfillment, to reach maturity, and to bear fruit, there often needs to be many other factors as well in addition to those needed at the beginning.  And I will add something else, the sprout changes as it matures.  The seed of an oak tree bears no resemblance to a mighty oak, and neither does the first sprout from the earth.  But gradually it take the form of an oak tree, as it grows and matures.

And I suppose that can be an analogy of salvation.  There must be certain things which happen in order to for there to be new birth.  We’ve already seen in the beginning of salvation the choosing of God, the sanctifying work of the Spirit, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. And Peter says the seed is the word of God. The only ingredient that is left is faith on the part of the believer. You must receive the word of God. The jailer asked Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?”  And the answer was, ““Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”  And Acts says they spoke the word of God to them. 

Now there is more to salvation, which is the maturing, or growth that happens as a result of the new birth.  But there must be a new birth.  Being spiritually born again. And that happens simply by believing that Jesus the Son of God has died for your sins and receiving forgiveness.  There doesn’t have to be a full theological understanding of all the doctrines and theology.  Just call upon the Lord to save you.  Coming to the end of yourself and calling on God to have mercy on you and save you.  And if you do that, He will do it. 1 John 1:9 says when we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  That’s when we are born again, we receive a new nature.

And because we are born again Peter says we now have a living hope.  What does that mean?  It means that we have a living faith.  We have a new life by faith.  It’s a live faith.  It’s growing faith. It’s faith by which we live. Faith is hoping for, believing in what we cannot see.  Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

This faith is not just in the past work of Christ on the cross, but the present work of Christ in heaven and the future work of Christ when He comes for His own.  That’s why it’s a living hope.  It’s a faith that trusts in what Christ did at the cross, confirmed by the resurrection, but it’s also faith in this new life we now live by faith.  As it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”  It’s a faith that can endure trials and tribulations now because we believe in the power of God to raise the dead and give life to the dead.  And so our faith is that God will one day resurrect us, and this new life will be joined to a new body, in a new realm and dimension that cannot now be understood or even conceived of.

That inability to be able to comprehend what Peter calls our inheritance is because what we call “heaven” is indescribable.  And so Peter, as well as many of the other gospel writers, doesn’t even try to describe this inheritance, other than to say what it is not.  Notice what he says it is not.  It is not perishable.  This eternal life will never die. We will never die.  Jesus said, “He who believes in Me will never die, do you believe this?”  Our inheritance is imperishable. Because we will never die we ought not to ever be afraid.  “What can man do to me?”  What can Satan do to me?  I am a child of God and I am immortal.  This body may pass away, but my soul and spirit will live forever and at the resurrection I will receive a new immortal body as part of that inheritance.

Secondly, our inheritance is undefiled. I have been credited with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  I did not receive a little bit of righteousness.  I received an eternal measure of righteousness.  1 Cor. 5:21, “God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” We have the undefiled righteousness of God abiding in us, forever.  Our penalty has been paid in full, forever.

Thirdly, our inheritance will not fade away.  Have you ever hoped for something and you waited a long, long time for it?  And the longer you waited and hoped for it, the more unlikely it became that you would ever get it.  Your hopes start to fade, and then one day you realize that there is no more hope.  Well, Peter is saying that our inheritance is not like that.  It is guaranteed and promised by God, ratified by the blood of Jesus, and secured by the Holy Spirit.  As Hebrews tells us, God has made a unilateral covenant with Himself.  Heb. 6:17-18  “In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath,  so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”

This inheritance which has been defined by three things it is not, is reserved in heaven for us.  God has made a reservation for us.  It is guaranteed by the Father. It has been paid for by the Son.  And it has been secured by the Holy Spirit. And it has been reserved for us, who Peter says, are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation to be revealed in the last time. So not only do we have a reservation in heaven, but that reservation is protected by the power of God.  There is no power in heaven or on earth that can affect our reservation. Jesus said nothing can snatch you out of My Father’s hand.  Sin cannot defeat me.  The devil cannot stop me.  The world cannot overcome me. No person can discourage me.  Nothing can take away my inheritance.  Jesus died on the cross for me, and I am written in God’s will and testament with the blood of Jesus Christ  I have been bequeathed His inheritance, and it is more secure than if I had the last will and testament drawn up and deposited in Fort Knox. Fort Knox might be secure, but it pales in comparison to being kept in heaven under the watchful, powerful eye of God Almighty.  

Then Peter says in vs 5 that this inheritance will be revealed at the culmination or the consummation of our salvation in the last time. He’s going to go on to speak of those last days as we go further along in the book.  He says in chapter 4 vs 7 “The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober [spirit] for the purpose of prayer.”  If it was near in the days of Peter, how much more in our day?  

He goes on to say in his second epistle, 2Peter 3:8 “But do not let this one [fact] escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that we are living in those last days, like the days before the flood, like the days before the fire and brimstone fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah.  I believe the most significant and telling mark of the end of the age is not the world market’s financial meltdown, nor widespread plagues or diseases, nor natural catastrophes such as earthquakes and hurricanes, nor wars and rumors of war.  The most significant indication that the end of the ages is near is the degradation of morality.  This was the telling sign of Sodom and Gomorra’s impending judgment.  It was the telling sign of the days before the flood. It was the condition in the land of Israel before it was taken into captivity.  It was the predominant condition of the Greek and  Roman empires before their fall. And though the world has seen all sorts of tribulation in the last 2000 years, the present degradation of morality as evidenced in the western world is  to my mind the most telling that the time is at hand.  Paul said in 2Tim. 3:1-5 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,  unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,  treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”

Peter said in as a follow up to 2 Peter 3:8, speaking about the way the earth and it’s works will be burned up in the last days, he said in chapter 3 vs.11 “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!  But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.  Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,  and regard the patience of our Lord [as] salvation.” 

Listen, do you have that peace with God?  Do you believe in Jesus Christ and His atonement for your sins?  Have you been born again into this righteousness which will live eternally with God?  God is calling you today.  The Holy Spirit is convicting you.  The Lord Jesus has shed His blood for you that you might be spotless and blameless before God, and inherit all the things which are promised to those who are born again. The only thing preventing you today from being born again is your reluctance to call upon Him to save you.  I pray you repent of that unbelief today, and call upon the Lord in the day that He may be found.  Jesus said, all who come to Me I will never cast out.  Come to Jesus today.  Call upon Jesus in faith today that you might be born again, and have an eternal inheritance reserved in heaven. 

This is the last message I will preach in the book of John.  I think that we have been in John for a little over one year and four months. But that means today is the seventieth message.  

And it’s with a certain sadness that we finish this book today.  There is no more satisfying sermon series in my estimation, than studying one of the gospels. 

John however, ends his gospel a little differently than some of the others.  He doesn’t focus on the Savior ascending into heaven as one might expect, but rather he ends with a focus on Peter, the fallen disciple.  He spends this last passage showing us Christ’s compassion and grace towards that disciple that needed restoration.

And I think that John chooses to focus on Peter’s restoration because restoration is really the purpose of the gospel.  And in that respect, Peter is emblematic of all of us.  He is the prototypical disciple. He is in this portrait a failed disciple.  He has fallen, he has failed to live up to his promises, and he has denied Christ on three separate occasions.  

Yet Peter is beloved by all of us probably because he is so much like us. He has all the failures that we are so familiar with in our own lives. He is prideful.  He overestimates his strengths and underestimates temptation. He thinks he’s more committed than he is. He thinks he loves the Lord more than he does. He thinks he can face any trial triumphantly; but he finds out he can’t. 

But by the time we get to this point, even though he has seen the risen Christ, he is really a broken man.  In fact, it’s even possible that the triumph of Christ’s resurrection has accentuated Peter’s despondency at failing Christ.  Now he sees just how foolish his fears were and how tragic was his failure of faith.

So John focuses on Peter’s reconciliation as the last message of his gospel, perhaps because he knows that it will prove instructive in the ages to come to so many other disciples, disciples like us, who just like Peter find themselves at some point in their lives having failed in their Christian life.  And John wants us to know, that just like Peter, we can find forgiveness, reconciliation and usefulness again through Jesus Christ.

I don’t want to take the time to recap all the events that has brought them to that beach on this particular morning.  But I would like to pick up where we left off last time, with Jesus appearing on the beach after a long night of the disciples fishing and catching nothing,  and then telling them to throw their net on the other side, which resulted in a catch of 153 large fish. Then recognizing it is  Jesus, who had breakfast already waiting for His disciples on the beach. 

Verse 15 picks it up after they have finished eating breakfast, probably lounging on the beach, talking with one another.  And suddenly, Jesus speaks to Peter publicly, deliberately in order to produce a public  restoration, so that the other disciples would know that Peter was reconciled to Christ again.  And this is important.  Luke tells us that Jesus had already appeared earlier to Peter privately. So this is not just for Peter’s benefit, but for the other disciples benefit as well, since Peter was their leader.  And furthermore, it is for our benefit, that we might know the desire God has for us to be reconciled with Him, and to restore our usefulness to Him.

We see in this exchange between Peter and the Lord, three sets of three: three questions, three affirmations of love, and three exhortations.  Three as a number, indicates divine completeness.  But more importantly, I believe, three corresponds with the number of times Peter denied the Lord. 

I think what Jesus is doing here is purposefully asking Peter three times, in order to completely expunge Peter’s three denials.  Christ isn’t so much rubbing Peter’s nose in it, as He is giving Peter a chance to fully repent.  Because true repentance is essential to restoration.  Partial or half hearted repentance will leave a bitter taste in the mouth that if not dealt with, it will produce eventual bitterness.  God wants full repentance so there can be full restoration.  

Remember, Judas was also sorry for his betrayal of Christ.  And that betrayal and Peter’s denial are only a handbreadth apart.  The difference is that Judas was sorry and wept bitterly.  Peter was sorry and repented.  One was destroyed, and the other was restored.

I also think that there is an echo of a principle here that Jesus taught in Matthew 18.  Where if a brother sins against you, you speak to him privately.  If he rejects that, you take another person and go to him a second time.  And if he rejects that, you take him before the church.  Three opportunities for repentance.  Because the purpose of church discipline is reconciliation, not punishment.

So Jesus has the opportunity to take Peter to task for his failures. He has the right to disqualify Peter from further office.  But He doesn’t do that. Instead of asking Peter if he is really, really sorry, if he is willing to pay the penalty to be allowed back in good standing, instead of demanding that Peter do some sort of penance or probation, Jesus just wants Peter to come to love Him more than anything else.  That is really the full extent of the law, isn’t it?  To love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, your mind and your strength.  Jesus said in Matt.22 that is the whole law.  So if sin is breaking God’s law, then the solution is to love God more, in order that we might fulfill the law.

So Jesus wants to bring that principle to bear in order to produce restoration.  So He asks Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me more than these?”  Jesus calls Peter by his old name, Simon, which meant hearer.  Jesus had renamed him Peter, which meant Rock.  But now He calls him by his given name, his full name, Simon, son of Jonas.  He called him by the name that signified his actions, or lack of action.  Peter had gone back on his commitment to the Lord, he had even gone back on his ministry.  He had gone back to his old career.  And so the Lord calls him out publicly, in front of the other disciples, “Simon, do you love me more than these?”

There is a lot of debate as to what is meant by “these.”  I think the most straightforward answer is “more than these” represents the 153 fish laying on the shore.  It was a mountain of fish.  The other disciples were probably tallying up how much  a haul like that might be worth at the market.  It probably represented a lot of money.  So Jesus asks, do you love Me more than these fish, more than your career, more than your the self sufficiency represented by his boat and nets and the large catch of fish.

But Jesus has also specifically used a word in His question, “do you love Me,” which is the Greek word agapao, which means the highest degree of love.  It means a sacrificial love – a love of the will.  Simon, are you willing to love me sacrificially, even to the point of giving up this career, this source of income, this self reliance?

Well, Peter is still smarting from the fact that he had failed miserably to measure up to that kind of love as he had boasted of in the Upper Room on the night of Christ’s betrayal.  So he probably hangs his head in shame as he says, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”  But Peter in his answer uses a different word for love, the Greek word “phileo” which means brotherly love, or a familial type of love.  It’s less strident than the sacrificial love Jesus is asking for. And I believe it’s because Peter has lost his confidence in the strength of his love.  He knows that his love failed and so he offers a less strident promise of love.

But Jesus is gracious, and He accepts Peter’s response without rebuke, and gives him an exhortation.  “Tend My lambs.” The emphasis of the word translated lambs indicates a little lamb.  I tend to think it has the quality of helplessness, or innocence.  Feed or tend, my little ones.  The exhortation is to take on the job of a shepherd.  Rather than be a fisherman, it’s a calling to be a shepherd.  That’s what a pastor is, by the way.  He is a shepherd, under the Great Shepherd, who is Christ.  

But I like the translation of the KJV, which is “feed my lambs.” The word of God is our spiritual food. And Christ tasks the pastor with feeding the flock the word of God. That’s job one of the shepherd. To preach the word. Not to entertain the sheep. But to teach them the word of God.

Peter will say to the elders of the church later on in his epistle in  1Peter 5:2, “shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.”  

I will say this without any sense of arrogance, the shepherd is not a sheep.  He is given responsibility for the feeding and tending and care of the sheep. He is given responsibility for the safety of the sheep, watching and protecting them from false shepherds, false teaching.  It is a serious charge, and one that should not be taken lightly.  God will hold the shepherd to a stricter standard, and a greater condemnation.  “Let not many of you become teachers knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.”… says James 3:1.

But what is amazing here is that Jesus takes this broken, failed disciple, and He restores him, not just to reconciliation, but to usefulness. Not just to some behind the scenes position, but Jesus puts Peter at the fore front of His church, to be the leader again, not just  as leader of this motley group of 11 disciples, but of the first church in Jerusalem.  God uses the weak things, and the the foolish things, to shame the wise and the strong.

That offers hope for all of us broken disciples here today.   God has a plan to restore you, to be reconciled to God, and to be used by Him for His kingdom.  No matter how many times you have fallen, or how many times you have failed Him, Jesus stands ready to forgive and restore you.  God loves you so much, He has already punished His own Son so that He might restore you to usefulness.   Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  Whatever sin you have committed, Jesus paid for with His life, that you might have everlasting, abundant life, knowing that He loves you and wants to be reconciled to you.  And if you will submit to that, He will use you and give you a purpose that has eternal rewards.

Well, you know the story.  Jesus asks Simon Peter the same question again.  ““Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?”  Though Jesus accepted Peter’s answer the first time, He isn’t satisfied with Peter’s lesser degree of love. So He asks again if Peter agapao’s Him.  Does he sacrificially love Him. Christ wants Peter to love Him with all His heart, all His soul, all His mind and all His strength.  He isn’t satisfied with a sentimental love.  He isn’t satisfied with a brotherly love.  But He wants a love of the will.  A committed love that will endure no matter the  consequences, no matter the cost. 

Why does Jesus make such a big deal out of love?  Because love is the ultimate motivator.  The motivation of money just makes you a marketeer.  The motivation of popularity makes you an entertainer.  But the motivation of love for Christ makes you leave everything, sacrifice anything, for His sake.  And that is what God wants from us.  He wants an unwavering love from His bride that will endure through sickness or in health, in poverty or in wealth, unto death us do part.  He doesn’t want to guilt trip us into serving Him.  He doesn’t want to legally require us to serve Him.  He doesn’t want to force us to love Him.  That isn’t real love.  But real love is it’s own motivation.  It’s a change of heart, a change of desires, and that is to please Him because we love Him.  To die before we bring shame upon Him.

Maybe this time Peter tries to say it with more conviction in his voice, but he ends up saying the same thing.  I am fond of You.  I love you like a brother.  You’re like family.  “Yes Lord, You know that I love you.”

Once again, Jesus accepts Peter’s lesser response and says virtually the same thing He said before;  “Shepherd My sheep.”  Perhaps the emphasis is somewhat stronger in this second command of Christ because you will remember that Jesus said if you love me you will keep My commandments.  So maybe Jesus is saying, “Ok, Peter. You SAY you love Me, then keep My commandments, and that command is to shepherd My sheep.  

It’s like Paul said in  1Cor, 9:16, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.”  True shepherds are not hirelings.  They have a stewardship, and the love of Christ compels me to fulfill it.  And I think that is what was being impressed on Peter.

A third time Jesus asks the question, ““Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” This time though, Jesus changed the word for love to that which Peter had been using.  Jesus used “phileo”.  He came down to Peter’s level.  God  knows that we can’t meet the level of commitment that we should meet.  And so rather than making us climb up to heaven, God comes down to the level of man.  But John says that Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you phileo Me?”  Peter is grieved, because He knows that Jesus knows his heart – that he is less committed than he should be.  And yet Jesus is merciful and gracious and comes to accommodate his weakness so that he might be reconciled to God.

Peter’s response shows his grief, saying, ““Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”  He still confesses a phileo love for Christ, but he confesses something more important than that; “You know all things.”  The Lord knows our hearts.  He knows our weaknesses.  He knows if we really measure up to what we claim to be.  The Lord knows our hearts and yet He still loves us.  

Peter’s response is an echo of Jeremiah 17:9 which says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”  Well, we don’t really know our hearts, I’m afraid.  We think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.  But the Lord knows our hearts, and yet He still loves us.  We are like Hosea’s wife of whoredom; lusting after the world and the things of the world.  Never ceasing to have eyes of adultery.  And yet God loves us, even sometimes from afar, taking us back and caring for us even when we are all used up  and spent and no longer much good for anything anymore. Yet He still loves us, and reconciles us and restores us to usefulness.

Jesus repeats for the third time; “Tend My sheep.”  Take care of that which I love.  If you love Me, you will love your neighbor as yourself.  Tend My sheep.  Whether you are tasked with being a pastor, or a teacher, or just a disciple within the flock, we are all tasked with tending to His sheep.  To love one another.  Love is manifested in service to His church. Jesus said they will know you are My disciples by your love for one another, as you care for one another, and tend to one another.

Well, we could just stop there.  But John makes two quick final points. Jesus not only calls us to love Him, but secondly He calls us to sacrifice and then finally He calls us to obey.  The second point then is found in vs 18, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He *said to him, “Follow Me!”

Peter had boasted before the crucifixion that he would follow Jesus even to the death if necessary.  He would die before denial.  But of course, he failed that test when it came and he denied the Lord three times.  Now after Peter’s confession of love three times, Jesus tells him that he will be called upon to sacrifice his life for the Lord.  

Tradition tells us that when Peter was crucified, he asked to be crucified upside down on the cross, because he didn’t feel that he was worthy to die as Christ had died.  But whether or not that is true, we aren’t sure.  But we do know from what Jesus prophesied that Peter would die a martyrs death when he became old.  And I recently read someone who said that he felt Peter would have been glad to hear that.  To know that he would be  given another opportunity to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Lord.  I was sort of taken back by that statement, but the more I thought about it, the more I can see it as a possibility.  Peter did love the Lord.  And I believe that he had meant it when he said he would die for Christ.  But when the moment of truth came he failed to follow through.  And I’m sure that he wished he could go back and do it over again, this time gladly offering himself as a sacrifice for the sake of the gospel.  Now, Jesus was giving him another chance to make that sacrifice after all.  To claim the victory over fear and selfishness. So I think perhaps it was a more encouraging statement to Peter than what we might think.

I hope that martyrdom is something I will never be called on to do, because I don’t know how I would handle it.  But I do know that being willing to take up our cross and follow Jesus, regardless of how great the cost, is something all disciples are called to do.  In fact, three times in the gospels it is recorded that Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”  Matt.16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23.  That’s what agapao love is, sacrificial love.  Willing to lay down your life for HIs sake.  

Paul defines such love in Romans 12:1, 2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The final point John indicates in this passage is that we are called to obey.  Regardless of what we see other’s doing.  Regardless if it seems we are all alone in suffering, or how great the sacrifice.  Just obey.  If you love the Lord, you will obey.  

Vs.20, “Peter, turning around, *saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” So Peter seeing him *said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” Jesus *said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”

A life that is truly dedicated to the Lord is compelled by love for Christ, characterized by sacrifice for Christ, and content with following Christ in obedience.  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. (1Sam.15:22)  Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)  Follow Me.  That’s a pretty simple directive, isn’t it?  Just keep on keeping on.  Satan may get you to stumble, you may be a weak disciple, but if you fall, get up, brush yourself off, repent and keep on following Jesus. You may not have all the love that you know you ought to have for God.  Just love Him with the love you have.  Follow Him with the strength that you have. Jesus will take care of your sin, He will pick you up when you fall, but just keep on following Jesus until Jesus comes back or you go to Him. He is the way, the truth, and the life.  Follow Him.

This is how you show that you love the Lord.  This is how you grow your love for the Lord.  You do as He did.  You go where He went.  You love as He loved.  You imitate Him.  You emulate Him.  You follow in His footsteps. Peter said as much in  1Peter 2:21 saying, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.”  You pattern your life as He lived His.  Follow Him. That’s what produces agapao love.  Not by being a hearer of the word, but a doer.  Not conjuring up some sort of passion or sentimentality.  But just follow Him.  Don’t quit.  Never stop. No matter the cost, no matter the sacrifice.  Just follow Jesus.  

In last week’s sermon, we said that the last section of chapter 20 taught five principles of the gospel.  And one of those principles was the abiding presence of Christ.  That is an essential doctrine of the gospel; that Jesus Christ is alive – that though He died on the cross, He arose from the dead, and ever lives to make intercession for us.  

That’s an important doctrine, because it reveals that Christ has procured two essential things for the Christian life.  One; that the death of Jesus Christ provided the payment for the penalty of our sins.  But two, His resurrection has provided new life for those who have been forgiven.  Jesus died on the cross that we might die to sin, and that our penalty for our sin would be paid.  But Jesus rose from the grave to show that we have new life, a life free from sin and death, a life of fruitfulness and purpose and an eternal inheritance.

The reason we are given new life is so that we may have a life of fellowship with  God. Our justification is the beginning of spiritual life. But God desires not just that we have the forgiveness of sins, but that we enter into the relationship of communion with him, constant communion with him. True spiritual life is life in communion with God. That is what enables this new life to be the abundant life which Jesus promised.  It’s abundant, because the Lord is with us, in us, and working through us, and it’s everlasting life.  You cannot have more abundant life than that.

So that is what John is illustrating in this record of yet another post resurrection appearance of Jesus Christ.  There is obviously recorded here an additional confirmation of His resurrection, but even more importantly, it serves to teach us the presence and power of Christ that is available to us, even though He has bodily ascended into heaven.

Now notice that John intentionally uses a word to describe Jesus’s appearance which helps us to understand this principle.  Twice in vs.1 and again in vs.14, in the NASB translation, John uses the word “manifests” to describe Jesus’s appearance.  On the one hand, we might recognize that means He suddenly appeared, as if to say He was instantly there.  But more concisely than that, “manifest” means that He made what was already there,  visible.  He made the invisible, visible.  That is the important principle; Jesus is always there.  He is always with us.  We may not see Him, but like Thomas discovered in last week’s message, Jesus was aware of all that he had said to the disciples in Jesus’s physical absence.  So as both Moses and David stated in the OT, the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you. He is always with us, whether we see Him manifested in presence or in power or simply known by faith, He will be with us always.  Jesus said in Matt.28:20, “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Now while it is easy to proclaim such principles in times of peace and plenty, it is another to hold to such belief in times of feeling abandoned, or discouraged, or frightened, or in times of persecution.  I’m not sure what the disciples were feeling as we catch up to them in vs.2, but I assume it might have been a little bit of all of the above.  The last time Jesus had appeared to the disciples was the second Sunday after His resurrection.  Eight days after the resurrection, on a Sunday evening, Jesus appeared in the locked room to meet with Thomas who was disbelieving the disciples report of the resurrection.  And so Jesus made a divine appointment to reconcile Thomas. 

But now it’s probably been a couple of weeks or more since that day.  Jesus was on the earth for a total of 40 days after His resurrection.  And John tells us in vs.14 that this was the 3rd time that He had appeared to the 11 disciples.  We don’t know how long had it had been between the eighth day and this day.  But we do know that Jesus had told the disciples in Matthew 28 to go to Galilee and that He would meet them there on a particular mountain.  And we can surmise from vs 14 that they had been waiting for Jesus to show up at the mountain as He indicated, but He had not yet appeared.  It might have been a week or more that they had sat on this desolate mountainside waiting for the Lord.  There probably wasn’t much to eat.  It might have  been the same mountain that Jesus fed the 5000.  There were no supermarkets out there.  And maybe the disciples managed for a few days, and then they began to get hungry, frustrated and tired of waiting.  

So Peter wakes up one morning, looks down the mountain at the Sea of Tiberius below, also known as the Sea of Galilee, and says, “I’m going fishing.”  And the other six disciples that were there with him said, “We will come with you.”  

By now, we all should realize that Peter was a natural leader.  If Peter said it was a good idea, then everyone else did too.  Peter is always presented first in any list of the disciples.  It was because he was a natural leader.  He was also probably a pretty big guy, a strong man. Verse 11 makes it sound like Peter pulled the net to shore all by himself. I’m not sure that’s what it means, but that’s a possibility.  But no doubt he was a big, strong guy.  A courageous man.  He wasn’t afraid of too much.  He hardly ever held up his finger to see which way the wind was blowing. He just jumped in.  And the disciples followed his leadership.

But we also need to learn a lesson from this. There are a lot of men out there that are natural leaders that have found their way into the pastorate in churches across this country.  They may have a natural talent for communication.  They may be funny, they can tell interesting stories. They may have a talent of convincing people to follow them.  They may be naturally charismatic people.  It’s easy to follow charismatic people. But they may not always be acting on behalf of God.  They may be acting on their ego, or on their appetite, or they may be on a power trip.  And we need to be careful to discern whether or not such men are being led by God or not.

Well, it’s obvious that in this situation that Peter was not being led by God.  He was led by his appetite.  He was led by his desire to do something, to make something happen.  Nothing was happening up on that cold mountain.  But down at that lake he knew he had his little fishing boat docked and ready to go fishing.  

Another lesson to be learned here is that man’s timing is not always God’s timing.  Peter was ready to get moving.  It had been weeks since the crucifixion, Jesus hadn’t shown up again and Peter was restless.  But to move when God hasn’t told you to move is a foolish thing.  As a pastor of this church, I can assure you that I constantly have to check my motivation.  Is it God appointed, or man appointed?  Is it God’s timing, or my timing?  In my opinion, most of the time God seems to move really, really slowly.  And sometimes, to be frank, God seems really late.  

I have to confess that I get a little irritated when some self righteous person pontificates about how God is always on time.  I don’t doubt that God is always on time.  But I also believe that God has a different clock than what we use.  Peter said as much in  2Peter 3:8 when he said, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”  I think it’s possible Peter learned that valuable lesson on this very fishing expedition.  God’s clock looks a lot different than our clock.  So learning to wait on the Lord’s timing is a difficult thing for us, as it was for Peter and the disciples.

Another lesson to be learned from this is that man’s talent is worthless in the new life of a Christian without God repurposing it.  Peter and all of those guys with him were experienced fishermen.  They were professional fishermen.  They had made a career out of fishing prior to becoming disciples.  But they were supposed to be fishers of men now.  They left their nets, remember, to follow the Lord.  That occasion was another fishing expedition when Jesus told Peter to cast on the other side of the boat and Peter said, “Lord, we’ve been fishing all night and caught nothing. And we are expert fishermen.  But to show what an understanding guy I am, I will do it at your request.  Just to show you I know what I’m talking about.” And on that occasion, they caught so many fish that the boat started sinking.  So afterward when Jesus said, “Come and follow Me and I will make you fishers of men,” they left their fishing business and followed the Lord.

But now here they are after the resurrection, obviously still not understanding what this post resurrection ministry was all about, and so Peter thinks he’s going to take matters into his own hands and get the ball rolling. He decides to go back to his old profession.  After all, they are going to need to eat.  They have to make a living. Jesus isn’t here to feed them, so they have to provide for themselves.  Makes perfect common sense.  If we had of been there, we would all have said, “Wait for us, we’re coming too.”  Especially Nick.  He always wants to fish.

And yet all the natural talent in the world couldn’t fill their boat with fish.  They caught nothing.  And they fished all night long.  Not a bite.  Nothing to show for it.  I think the lesson is pretty clear.  Our talents, our wisdom, our experience, are useless in the Christian life if they are not directed by the Lord as He would have us to work.  I don’t care how much talent some musician or singer may have.  I don’t care how much natural ability to communicate a person may have.  

You know, there is a worksheet that has found its way into many churches which you can fill out and supposedly discover your spiritual gift.  And maybe you have done that worksheet.  I did it once.  Let me tell you something.  That’s man’s approach.  God doesn’t use a worksheet.  He doesn’t look at your natural talents or abilities. He doesn’t consider your proclivities – He looks at your potential.  He looks at your heart.  He looks at your willingness to yield to the Holy Spirit’s leading.  He looks at what He can do through you, and not what you can do without Him.

Listen, make sure you understand this very important principle.  Natural talents do not equate to spiritual gifts.  Spiritual gifts are things that God wants you to do which you may not have much talent to do naturally.  So God gives you the Holy Spirit to equip you and lead you and develop you to do what He wants you to do. It’s not of the flesh, but of the Spirit.  God doesn’t look at your capability, but your capacity.  Your willingness to be obedient to Him.  Then He will fill you with the power to do it.  A work of God doesn’t come from you, it comes through you from God.

A good illustration of that is found in the previous chapter. In John 20:22, it says Jesus breathed on the disciples and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  So they received the Holy Spirit then, several weeks before Pentecost.  Then on the day of Pentecost, in Acts 2:4, it says that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages that they had no previous knowledge of,  as the Holy Spirit was giving them utterance.  See, the principle is having the right capacity, and being yielded to the Lord in obedience, He is able to fill you to fulfill His purposes.  He is able to give you the talent or wisdom or strength to do what He wants you to do.  And as we see in Acts, this unlearned fisherman named Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, stands up and preaches from the word of God and has an unbelievable harvest of 3000 souls.  That’s the secret of fruitfulness that is being taught here in this passage.

So back to our story, they worked all night but were unfruitful. They accomplished nothing because they were relying on their own experience and talent and wisdom.  And then Jesus appears.  He manifests Himself to them, standing a hundred yards away on the shore.  But at first, they don’t know it’s Jesus.  That’s been the typical response in all of Jesus’s post resurrection appearances.  No one recognizes Him until He is ready to be recognized. But Jesus has been there all night long.  Watching them, listening to them, waiting for them to get tired of doing it their way.  Waiting for them to come to the realization that they had accomplished nothing.  And then Jesus kind of rubs it in, just a little bit.  He calls out to them, “Children, have you caught any fish?”  I think it’s funny that Jesus calls them children.  Not an especially endearing term to fishermen.

And the disciples have to say what no fisherman ever wants to admit; they had caught nothing. I’ve asked Nick that very question many times before, and he never gives a straight answer.  He always start talking about the one that got away.  No fisherman likes to admit failure.  So they said, “No.” I bet they said a little more than what John records for us.  But maybe it’s better he didn’t record it.  I’m sure they had a few choice words to say though when Jesus responded, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.”   But again, discretion being the better part of valor, John simply records that they cast their net on the other side and then were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.

Listen, the principle being taught here is not fish on the right side versus the left side. It’s not one method over another method.  It’s not one program over another program. The answer to a church’s fruitfulness is not a children’s ministry or a youth ministry or this program or that program, or following a prescription in a book about church growth.  The point is it’s God’s way or no way.  If you want real fruitfulness in God’s church, you need to do it God’s way.  You may have a lot of activity, you may have a lot of enthusiasm, you may have a nice boat, and a lot of people rowing and shouting commands.  But if it’s God’s church, you need to do it God’s way.  God has a blueprint for the church.  And I got to tell you, most churches don’t have a clue what that is.  But if you want your church to make a difference for the kingdom of God, then you better find His blueprint and stick to it.

Isaiah 55:9 says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  So also if we are going to see fruitfulness, we need to make sure we rely not on common sense but on uncommon grace.   1Cor. 1:27, “but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.”  

Now what does fruitfulness look like?  Well, it may not look like what you think.  Let’s notice what happens here when the disciples obey Christ.  First, it produced recognition of Christ.  John immediately recognizes when they start hauling in this load of fish that it has to be the Lord.  He tells Peter, and Peter gets so excited he puts on his clothes and throws himself in the water and starts swimming to shore.  He wants to be first to see Jesus.  I have to say that I love Peter’s enthusiasm.  He may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was enthusiastic.  And I think this shows how much he loves the Lord.

Listen, when real fruitfulness happens, it produces the realization of Christ likeness in His people.  That is what fruitfulness looks like.  It’s not just converts. It’s not members.  It’s not the size of your building or your congregation. But people recognize Christ in your church. Fruitfulness produces the nature and character of Christ in the church which is recognizable.  And secondly, it produces love for the Lord.  You know how you can tell Peter loved the Lord?  He left his boat, he left his nets, he left this incredible haul of fish.  Peter didn’t care about fishing anymore. He didn’t care about his career anymore. He cared about being with Jesus.

Well, I’m sure some smart guy out there is saying, “Well sure, but fruitfulness is also defined by 153 fish.”  But I would suggest that it isn’t the numbers that we should focus on.  I’m suggesting we focus on the abundance that the Lord provides, and in particular the capacity of the nets.  The text says that even though all those fish were in them, they did not break.  In other words, the Lord increases your capacity.  That’s the true nature of a spiritual gift.  It’s not a natural thing, it’s not according to natural talent, but when you are yielded and  obedient to what God wants you to do, He increases your capacity.  Matt. 13:12, “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

When Peter got to shore, he discovered that the Lord already had a fire going, and fish and bread already cooked ready to eat.  And the Lord told them to come and eat breakfast, and to bring some of their fish as well.  

Listen, we can read a lot of things into this breakfast that aren’t necessarily there if we’re not careful.  But what I can say with certainty is that the Lord wants us to bring to Him our contribution, but it is His grace that provides the resources that we need for our new life in Christ.  He is the provider, He is the means of power, the means of provision.  He wants our contribution, but mainly, I think He wants our fellowship.  He wants communion with us.  Jesus said to the church in Laodicea in Rev. 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”  

We tend to use that verse as an invitation to unbelievers.  But in reality it is an invitation to believers, to a busy, self absorbed church that has no time for real fellowship with the Lord. He is calling us, knocking on our heart’s door, wanting to have intimacy and communion with us.  That is the purpose of the gospel.  To restore us to the relationship man enjoyed with God back in the Garden of Eden.  To restore us to fellowship with Him.  And when we abide with Him in fellowship, we will have fruitfulness in the church.

Jesus talked about this relationship of fruitfulness and fellowship in John 14:15, and I will end with this passage as a summary of the message this morning.  Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper,  that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

In today’s passage, we are continuing to look at the first day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.  He arose early in the morning on the first day of the week, which is, of course, Sunday.  In the preceding verses we saw Mary Magdalene and John and Peter’s response to the resurrection.  But in presenting the chronology of the events on this most important of days, John does so in such a way as to teach a lesson.  He is teaching, in this last section of chapter 20, the gospel, and he does so by showcasing for us the first Sunday church service in the New Testament period.  

We meet as a church as 21st century Christians on Sunday’s to celebrate the Lord’s Day, so named because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week.  And so John is showcasing this first church service on Sunday, and he does so by giving us a classic sermon outline, featuring five principles of the gospel, followed by a personal illustration of the gospel, and then a closing synopsis of the gospel.  

As we look at this passage, we see that the disciples are gathered together on Sunday evening, and they have locked the doors for fear of the Jews.  This is a closed door church service.  And John tells us why they have locked the doors, because of the fear of the Jews.  What that means is that the Jewish religious leaders are incensed over Jesus having risen from the tomb, they have paid off the Roman soldiers to lie about it, and they might very well have schemed to arrest or even put to death the disciples so that they might not broadcast Jesus’s resurrection. 

But I think that God has intentionally put the disciples there at such a time to set an example for generations of Christians yet to come that we might meet on Sundays to assemble together for fellowship and to worship the Lord, and to proclaim the gospel.  The gospel, by the way,  meaning simply the good news of God’s plan, the Way of life, the Way of salvation.  

Now there are as I said five principles of the gospel that are being taught here.  The first principle of the gospel being presented is the assurance of the presence of Christ.  The whole premise of the gospel is that Jesus has triumphed over death, so that we might know that God had accepted His atonement, and that we might not fear death.  He died on the cross, but He also rose from the dead, securing our salvation.  And so as the disciples have heard testimony earlier from Mary that she had seen the Lord, and heard from Peter and John that the tomb was empty, they were certainly talking among themselves as to what to make of all of this.  And as they meet together, behind locked doors, suddenly Jesus appears in their midst.  

Luke’s gospel tells us that the disciples were alarmed.  They thought they were seeing a ghost.  And so Jesus says to them, “Peace be with you.”  And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (vs20).  

This was a direct fulfillment of the Lord’s prophesy in which He said “If you destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up again.”  But it is also a fulfillment of the promise in Matt. 18:20 which says, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”  And while that was true for the disciples,  that is also a promise for all who believe in the gospel even today.  We believe that the Lord is with us today as we gather in His name.  He is present with us when we have Bible study on Wednesday evening.  He is present wherever and whenever we gather together as a church.  And we can be assured of that because He rose from the dead.

Much is made by theologians over the fact that Jesus appears in a locked room without having to go through a door.  They attribute this ability to the nature of His resurrection body, and offer us the hope that we too will one day have a body that can walk through doors.  But I would say such a view is shortsighted.  Jesus had power to walk through doors before His death.  The fact that He appears in such a way is just further evidence that He is Jesus.  I will say this about His resurrected body.  He does not seem immediately recognizable in any of the post resurrection appearances unless He produces some evidence of who He is.  In this case, He shows His wounds, which are unmistakably those of His crucifixion.  They are convincing proof of His resurrection and identity.  

And as modern day Christians, we are promised His living presence with us, that He will never leave us nor forsake us.  And we can rely upon that promise because He lives, because He rose from the dead, and was witnessed alive not only by the disciples gathered there, but Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 15;6 that He was seen by 500 people at one time after His death.  The great principle of the gospel is that Jesus is alive, and He is with us, and because He lives He can assure for us the benefits and blessings of the gospel, and that one day we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is when we are resurrected even as He was.

The second principle of the gospel presented to us is that He gives us not only His presence, but His peace.  Twice Jesus says, “Peace be with you.”  Anytime you see something stated twice in scripture you can rest assured that it is a undeniable promise that will surely come about.  The first peace that Jesus gave was to quiet their fear, to calm their alarm.  The second peace is to assure them of their peace with God.  

This great promise is reiterated in  Romans 5:1 which says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Men are searching today for peace – peace of mind, peace with men, peace from strife and war.  “Peace, peace!” they cry, but there is no peace.  But Jesus said in  John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” 

How can Jesus give this peace?  Because He took the offense of our sin against God upon Himself.  He bore God’s wrath towards our sin upon His shoulders, bearing our sins upon the cross, paying the ultimate price on our behalf.  And His resurrection is evidence that God was satisfied by His sacrifice for sin, that we might be made right with God, justified by faith in Christ, so that we have peace with God. 

So we might know that if God is for us, who can be against us?  If God so loves us that He spared not His only Son, what have we to fear?  We have an Advocate with God, even Jesus Christ our Intercessor, so that we need not be afraid of anything.  God is for us.  We have peace with God.  What a great tenet of the gospel; the peace of God has been established for us through Christ.

Thirdly, we have through the gospel not only the presence of Christ with us, and the peace of God with us, but we are given the same purpose which God gave Christ.  Vs 21, Jesus says, “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  Jesus Christ came to Earth with a specific purpose; that is that He might manifest to the world the truth of God.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by Me.”  Furthermore, He said, “I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly.”  

Listen, this is what the world doesn’t understand about the gospel. Christianity is not some method by which God restricts man, takes away the joy of living, by which God condemns man.  But the gospel is God’s plan for man, to give him life, abundant life.  It is God’s plan to restore man to the innocence of the Garden, to restore man to the joy before the fall.  It is God’s plan for man to have a life of joy and peace and all the blessings which God originally designed man to have but were taken away by man’s fall into sin.  The gospel is not just a list of what you can’t do.  It is a list of promises of what God will do, when man comes under His plan of reconciliation. 

2Cor. 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”  

This is our purpose, having been reconciled to God, we become ambassadors of Christ to the world, so that we might announce to all men the promise of reconciliation.  We are ambassadors.  We have the same ministry that Christ had.  We tell the world the truth of God, we tell the world the promise of the gospel, the hope of the gospel.  

Listen, some of you Christians are missing out on your purpose.  And you wonder why your Christian experience seems lacking.  Perhaps it’s because you are not recognizing that just as Jesus was sent to a lost and dying world to tell them the good news, so He has sent us also.  We are not saved just so we may selfishly bask in the love of God for us, and reap all the blessings of God for ourselves, like the lepers in the OT that found the enemy camp deserted and full of food, knowing that their own people were starving.  But it is better to give than to receive. It is better to serve than to be served. There are hundreds of men and women that you come into contact with everyday, and God has sent you to them to tell them the gospel of salvation.  We have a commission to be ambassadors for Christ, to carry on His work, His ministry of reconciliation.  I hope you take that commission seriously. I hope you understand your purpose is that Christ is sending you to tell your unsaved family, your unsaved friends, your unsaved coworkers, your unsaved neighbors about the good news of the gospel. If we would all take seriously this commission, that Christ is sending you to share the gospel with your neighbor,  I think we would truly see a revival in our communities.  

Fourthly, the principle of the gospel presented here next is the means by which we are able to fulfill our purpose, and that is by the power of the Holy Spirit.  John says in vs.22, And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  Someone once said, I think it was Alistair Begg, that the difference between the OT and the NT is that in the OT we were given the law but we couldn’t perform it, but in the NT we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit that we might have the power to do the works of God.

It’s interesting that when Jesus gives them the permanent presence of the Holy Spirit to dwell in them, He breathes on them.  There seems to be in the language a deliberate reference to Genesis 2, when God made Adam and breathed in him the breath of life, and man became a living soul.  Paul speaks of this parallel in 1Cor. 15:45, saying “So also it is written, The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”  Jesus breathed on the disciples, giving them the Spirit to dwell permanently in them. 

It’s also interesting in light of what Jesus said earlier about us being sent as He was sent, to notice the parallels between Jesus’s ministry  and the disciples’ ministry.  Jesus you will remember, after coming up from the water of His baptism which symbolized the resurrection, had the Spirit descend upon Him in the form of a dove.  And immediately He went out into the wilderness being led by the Holy Spirit and for 40 days He was tempted.  It’s interesting that the disciples receive the Spirit through Christ breathing on them, and then they will wait for 40 days before receiving power through the filling of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  So again, we have the same benefit for our ministry that Christ had in His.  After the forty days of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, Luke 4:14 says, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.”  And such power is given to us as well that we might fulfill the ministry of Christ.

The last principle of the gospel presented here is that of authority.  Jesus says in vs.23, “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”  What Jesus is saying here is not that we have the power to forgive sins.  The Bible makes it clear in many other places that only God has the power to forgive sins.  But rather He is saying that as we fulfill our ministry of the gospel, to share the good news, that we have the authority to announce the forgiveness of sins for those that confess Jesus as Lord and have faith in Him.  

We have the authority of the gospel to say that if you confess your sins He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. But there is also the flip side to the gospel. If you reject Jesus as your Lord and God, then we have the authority to tell them that they are still in their sins.

That’s the message that Peter and the apostles had after Pentecost. They spoke with authority.  They spoke with the authority of the Holy Spirit.  They preached with the power of the Spirit, and through the authority of the Word of God.  And we have that same resource.  So many people want to focus on the apostles speaking in tongues as their manifestation of the power of the Spirit.  But I would suggest that more significant was the message of the sermon Peter preached.  Suddenly this backwoods, unlearned fisherman was preaching a message to thousands of people, quoting and interpreting scripture and people’s hearts were cut to the quick under conviction of their sins.  Three thousand people weren’t saved by hearing someone speak in tongues, they became saved by hearing the gospel preached.  That is power.  The Holy Spirit works through the gospel, works through the scriptures, to bring men under conviction that leads to salvation.  That is edifying to the church, and not just self edification. (Romans 1:16) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…”

So those are the five principles of the gospel that John records for us here as he really begins to wrap up his gospel.  And like a good preacher, he gives a personal illustration for his message;  he presents the account of Thomas, who had been missing from the first service when Jesus appeared.  And though Thomas knows well these disciples, having been with them constantly for three years or more, yet he rejects their testimony.  When they tell him that they had seen the risen Jesus, he says quite callously that unless he sees the nail prints in His hands, and actually puts his finger in them, and unless he puts his hand into the wound in His side, he will not believe that they have actually seen Jesus alive.  

Well, 8 days later, it’s once again Sunday evening.  And the disciples are having the second Sunday service, and they have locked the doors again. But this time, Thomas is with them.  And Jesus suddenly appears in the midst of them and says to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

Thomas is undoubtedly taken aback.  For one because he sees the risen Savior.  But also because he hears the Lord repeat back to him the things he said privately to the disciples.  And so he understands in a special way what it means to have the presence of Christ in his life.  Realizing that Jesus had heard him when he said that must have had a major impact on him.  I would to God that we might realize that Jesus hears everything we say.  That He is watching us, and walking among us every day. Jesus told the Pharisees in Matt.12:36 that they would give an account on judgment day for every careless word that they spoke.  And Jesus told the 7 churches in Revelation, “I know your deeds.”  He is described as walking among the churches, watching and hearing all that they have to say and do.  If we truly understood that it would be hard for us to continue living the way we do, wouldn’t it?  We need to realize the presence of Christ 24/7, as we go through our daily lives.

Well, Thomas suddenly doesn’t want to put his finger in the nail holes.  He doesn’t want to put his hand in Jesus’ side.  Instead, Thomas gives the strongest confession of any of the disciples up to that point.  He says, “My Lord and my God!”  That is the confession that John has been working towards in the gospel up to this point.  It’s to bring the reader to the point of confessing Jesus as our Lord and our God.  That we might come to the place where we are willing to accept Jesus as our Master and Lord, that He has the right to determine for us how we are to live this new life He has given us.  Because He is also God.  He is the Creator of all things.  He has formed us for His glory.  

That confession of Thomas is what is meant by believing in Jesus.  It is to declare Him as My Master, and My God.  And therefore, my allegiance and commitment is given completely to Him. And having faith in Him, we are made righteous, we have peace with God.  We are given new life by the Spirit of God.  We are a new creation.  Old things have passed away and all things have become new.  We have new life in Christ, and a new purpose in life.

Jesus accepts Thomas’s confession.  But He gives a rebuke for his lack of faith.  Jesus says, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”  Listen, we need to guard against the carnal desire of seeking of physical verification of the Lord like that which Thomas exhibited.  We all get discouraged from time to time.  We all may have doubts from time to time.  To do so is human.  But to stubbornly seek that is carnal. It is fleshly.  It is to want special validation from God just for me, according to exactly what I think God needs to do to prove Himself.  Jesus was gracious to Thomas.  But that attitude is not what He desires.

A lot of Christians may feel like we are disadvantaged because we don’t have the physical validation that the early disciples had.  We don’t have the physical signs of power perhaps.  We don’t have the physical presence of the Lord.  But Jesus is saying in this statement that not having Him physically here is not a disadvantage, but it is really a blessing.  Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed.  There is a special blessing for us Christians today that don’t have the physical evidence to validate or prove our faith.  But then if we did, it wouldn’t be such great faith would it?  And we know that God rewards and blesses great faith.  And that kind of faith is what is required.  We believe the testimony of faithful men, trustworthy witnesses and the record of the scripture. God will bless you for it.  Matt. 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

And that brings us to the conclusion, or synopsis of John’s gospel.  It comes a chapter early.  But it’s really like the conclusion of John’s gospel.  He says in vs.30, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”  

Listen, these truths have been written that you might have life in His name.  Abundant life.  Real life.  A life of joy and blessing.  Life that never dies.  Jesus did not come to teach philosophy.  He did not come to show us how to be prosperous or successful.  He didn’t come as God in the flesh to make new inventions that would make our lives easier. He didn’t die on the cross to give us a cure for cancer. But He came that we might believe that He has come from God, to teach us the truth of God, that we might be reconciled to God, that we may have the new life which God has designed for us to enjoy, and that we might enjoy fellowship with Him forever.  I hope that you have confessed Jesus as your Lord and your God, that you might have the life which He died on the cross to procure for you.  If you believe in Him,  I announce to you by the authority of Christ that your sins have been forgiven you.  But if you reject Him, I must tell you that you remain dead in your sins and will face the final judgment without Him.  I pray you come to Jesus today and receive all that He has done for you.  

Secret Disciples, John 19:38-42                                                                 Psalm 56

We live in a culture today when death is portrayed in movies and television with all sorts of blood and gore and people are unmoved by it.  But on the other hand, in reality, in our day to day lives, we go to great lengths to avoid seeing death.  If the average person even saw a steer killed and butchered they would probably be so traumatized that they would swear off eating meat forever.  

We have an unrealistic perception of death, and perhaps because of that, we have an unrealistic perception of life.  Even in the death of a loved one, it is rare that we really see much of the person as they die, or after they are dead, but rather doctors and nurses and morticians whisk the body away as soon as possible and what we end up seeing eventually at the funeral doesn’t even look like the real  person anymore. And a funeral is rare today.  The person is usually cremated, and so no one even sees the dead body.

It must have been a tremendously shocking thing to witness the crucifixion of Jesus.  The savagery of it is something that is hard for us to fathom.  The suffering is something that would not be tolerated today even in the execution of the worst criminals.  The Romans view of a merciful hurrying of the death by crucifixion was to break the legs of the victims so that they ended up suffocating due to being unable to push their chest up enough to breath.

Christ, as we saw last week, gave up His life before the soldiers would have finally taken it from Him by breaking His legs.  But that doesn’t mean He didn’t suffer immensely. Not only did He suffer in His flesh, but He suffered shame that only a righteous God could suffer.  To be holy and innocent of all sin and have all the sins of the world put upon your back and then be stripped naked and hung on a cross as the worst of criminals, and have your mother and a few friends watch you in your agony is beyond our comprehension.  But to have the wrath of God upon you as you take on the weight of the sins of the world is even more incomprehensible for our mortal minds.

We are not given in John’s gospel all the details of Christ’s crucifixion.  Even if we piece together the four gospels there are still gaps in what God has given us in the gospel record.  John says that there were many other things that he could have included, but that these were given that we might believe that Jesus was the Son of God and that believing we might have life in His name.

So as we come to this last section, the burial of Christ, it is important that we understand the full significance which John intends for us to gather from  this passage.  And I think that one of the main things that John wants to illustrate for us in the end of this chapter and the next chapter is the various responses of the disciples to the crucifixion and the resurrection.  There are many different responses that are presented in chapter 19 and 20. And I think that John illustrates these various responses in order to show that salvation is an individual response to the gospel.  Salvation did not come to all the world simply through the crucifixion of Christ, but salvation comes through an individual’s faith in what Christ did on the cross.  Salvation requires more than a head knowledge, or an intellectual assent to the facts, but it requires the response of faith for it to be efficacious.

To become saved means not only to be justified by faith in what Christ has done for us, but to be saved, practically speaking,  is to become a disciple.  To follow Christ, to follow His teachings, to be led by Him in all aspects of our life.  Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, “Go into the world and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”  Discipleship then is the goal of evangelism. Not just to make converts, but disciples. Not just to have people raise their hand or repeat a prayer and then they are given an insurance policy from hell, but to have people become transformed into the image of Christ. 

Micah tells us what discipleship is. Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”  To follow Christ is to walk with God. And to walk humbly is to walk circumspectly in His footsteps, following His example in all things.

Now in this last section of chapter 19, we see two men, who are called secret disciples.  I think that is somewhat of an oxymoron.  But if we give them the benefit of the doubt, let’s say that they had come to a saving knowledge of Christ, but that faith had not become public, and therefore not transformative.  I’m not sure such a thing is possible, but God knows the heart, not I, and He knows what are the intentions of the heart even before we act on them.  

So if John, under the influence of the Holy Spirit calls them disciples, then maybe they have been saved prior to the cross.  However, I will remind you that in John 6, after Jesus said “my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink,” it goes on to say in vs66 that after this “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”  So there is a sense in which you could be considered a disciple of Christ but not be saved and turn and walk away from the Lord.  Not that you can lose your salvation, but that you never had it.  You were considered a disciple because you were in the group, but you never truly believed unto salvation.

And I think that is indicative of many in the church today.  There are some who have a head knowledge of Christ, they attend  church occasionally, holding on loosely so to speak to the things of God, but in times of difficulty they will expose their true nature; they will turn away and stop following.  They will turn to something more edifying to their ego.  Something not as demanding.  And so we have churches today filled with people who move from group to group, from church to church, in an attempt to avoid the rigors and demands of true discipleship.

So Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were secret disciples up to this point.  Whether they had truly been saved or not we don’t know, but we do know that as they came face to face with the crucifixion of Christ they came all the way into discipleship. At the cross of Christ they faced the true nature of Christianity, and they chose to identify and  suffer with Christ.

Now who were Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus?  Well, I’m sure most of you are familiar with Nicodemus.  We met him in the third chapter, he came to see Jesus at night. And we are told there that he was a ruler, that means a member of the Sanhedrin.  Jesus calls him a teacher.  John also calls him a Pharisee.  That means that he believed in the afterlife, and he practiced the law to the nth degree. In that famous discourse in chapter 3, Jesus told him that he needed to be born again of the Spirit. And so we can assume that message resonated with Nicodemus, and eventually produced saving faith. 

There is one other note about Nicodemus in chapter 7, around vs 50, we see Nicodemus coming to the defense of Christ, saying that He should be given a fair hearing before they judged Him.  And in that passage, the Pharisees rebuked him for that defense.  So at that point there is an indication of the Spirit at work in him, but he has not yet come forward completely as a disciple.

The other man we know less about.  Mark tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was a prominent member of the Sanhedrin as well. Matthew says he was a rich man. And Mark also adds that he was waiting for the kingdom of God. That means he was looking for the Messiah. Some traditions say that Joseph and Nicodemus were actually brothers.  They both were rich men, they both were members of the Sanhedrin. They both were very prominent in Jewish religion and society.

And because of those things, they had a lot to lose for becoming disciples of Christ.  John says that Joseph was a disciple, but secretly for fear of the Jews.  He doesn’t mean just the Jewish people at large necessarily, but the Jewish leaders, the ruling party.  There were 70 men that were part of the Sanhedrin.  And there were undoubtedly thousands of Pharisees.  These were the leaders of the community, and these two men were considered the most prominent of the leaders. And so to come out publicly as Christ’s disciples meant the possible loss of their positions in society, their careers, and their wealth. So up to this point they hid their growing faith. I personally think that most of the Sanhedrin and the priests knew that Jesus was the Messiah.  But they were not willing to confess Him as such because they wanted to preserve their authority and position. And they would actually murder the Messiah in order to maintain their positions. So also Joseph and Nicodemus were believing, and until the crucifixion had not yet reached the point of confessing Jesus publicly as Lord.

I think that it should be obvious God does not save us, He does not shine His light in us, that we might hide it under a basket. Jesus said in  Matt. 5:14, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  So we are not saved to hide our discipleship, but to reflect the light of Christ.

The application to disciples today should be pretty obvious as well.  Christ died to save us not just to escape the sentence of hell, but that we might shine His light through us to the world by looking like Christ, by acting like Christ.  That the world might see our good works, and bring glory to our Father in heaven.  

What stops us from doing that?  Well, it’s the same things that stopped Joseph and Nicodemus.  They feared the excommunication of the ruling party.  They feared what their peers might say if they really stepped out and followed the Lord.  They were afraid they might lose their friends.  Lose their social standing in the community.  And I’m afraid that the same concerns keep many of us from truly following Christ today.  If we really gave Christ 100% it would cost us friendships or jobs or money or something that we hold dear.

You know, tradition says that these men did eventually lose all those things.  Not so much is known about Joseph, but there are traditions about Nicodemus that say that as a result of his coming forward to claim the body of Christ and becoming a true disciple that  he lost his position in the Sanhedrin, he lost his wealth, and one historian recounts one of his daughters being so destitute that she was seen picking grain from manure.

Jesus speaks of what it means to truly follow Him, to be a true disciple.  In Matt. 16:24

Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”  

So it would seem that Joseph and Nicodemus attended the crucifixion. They would have had to have been there, to be able to respond so quickly to Jesus’s death that they were able to appeal to Pilate for His body and prepare His embalmment before nightfall and the Sabbath began.  It’s ironic, all His disciples save John had fled Him in the darkest hour.  And yet in the providence of God, these two fearful, secret disciples are the ones who are there to take Him to a tomb and prepare Him for burial.  

Somehow in the death of Christ, these men’s reservations fell away.  When they saw the way that He died, they must have come to the same conclusion that the Roman centurion did, saying, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”(Mark 15:39)  All their reservations fell away.  And in that moment, they realized that they had participated in some way in the crucifixion of the very Son of God. They knew that their sin had caused the death of God’s Son. And in light of that realization, they knew that their lives meant nothing if they were not sealed in Christ.

I can’t help but think that Nicodemus remembered what Christ had told him back in chapter 3:14, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.”  When He saw Jesus lifted up on the cross, I’m sure this statement came flooding back to him, and He realized not only the fulfillment of prophecy, but also realized that for the deathly sting of his sin to be removed, he had to look unto Christ as his Savior and Lord.  That instead of death from the serpent’s sting he might receive the eternal life that God promised to those who believe in Him.  And so I believe Nicodemus and Joseph came to full discipleship when they saw Jesus hanging on that cross for their sins.

And that is where true discipleship starts for us as well.  When we consider the horror of our sins, when we consider the Son of God taking our penalty by His death, when we consider the shame and suffering that we deserved, placed upon Him who did not deserve it, then the least that we can do is to follow Him in forsaking our sin, being willing to give up our hold on this life, so that we might have spiritual life, even eternal life through Him. 

So I think that Joseph and Nicodemus not only got a vision of the cross, but they considered the cost of discipleship in light of what Christ did for them, and they realized that whatever it cost them, He was worth it all. In Mark 15:43, it says Joseph went in before Pilate and gathered up his courage, and asked for the body of Jesus.  I think it took a lot of courage to do that.  Pilate had after all just condemned Jesus to death.  What prevented him from doing the same to Joseph for revealing he was Christ’s disciple?  

But it also took a lot of courage because it would have been known to all his colleagues in the Sanhedrin.  With this one bold act, he pretty much sounded the death knell on his career.  That kind of courage and commitment to Christ, no matter how great the cost, is what is required of disciples.   Jesus said in  Matt. 10:37, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”  So to take up your cross means to count the cost, and consider as Paul said the things I once thought valuable in this life as nothing but rubbish for the sake of knowing Christ.  Phil. 3:8 “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.”  

That kind of abandon in following Christ is illustrated in two sacrificial gifts that each man gave to the Lord in His death.  First of all, Joseph gave Jesus his own personal tomb.  If not for this act of love on the part of Joseph, Jesus’s body would have been dragged off to Gehana, a trash pile outside of town that was always burning.  Gehena was a picture of hell that Jesus had often referred to.  But Isaiah 53:9 had prophesied that  “His grave was assigned with wicked men,Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”  

John gives us some information about this tomb.  It was a tomb fit for a King.  He says that no body had ever been laid in it.  And he also mentions that this tomb was in a garden.  It’s interesting that when the first Adam sinned it was in a garden, and when the second Adam atoned for that sin, He was laid to rest in a garden.The fellowship with God that had been broken by sin in the first garden was restored by atonement in the second.  

So Joseph’s gift to Christ was fit for a King.  A new tomb, in a garden.  An extravagant gift to honor Christ as his King in death.  And of course God used this gift of Joseph to prove conclusively that the resurrection of Christ had taken place.  If Jesus’s burial place had not been well known, there would not have been the numerous witnesses to His resurrection.

And then Nicodemus also gives an extravagant, sacrificial gift suitable for a king. John tells us that he brought a hundred pounds weight of spices, made from myrrh and aloes.  Myrrh was brought at the birth of Jesus as well, by the wise men, who noted that a King had been born and came to worship Him.  Now in Christ’s death, another wise man brought myrrh to honor the King.  A hundred pounds weight would have represented a fortune in perfume.  Much more than simply sprinkled in the folds of the shroud, it would have filled the tomb where Jesus’s body was laid.

And so I suggest that a true disciple is known by his extravagance, by sacrificial giving to honor God.  Material things are recognized as merely offerings we give back to God.  Whether it be our time, or our treasure, we realize that no sacrifice is too great, when we consider the sacrifice He gave first for us.

When Joseph and Nicodemus stepped up to full discipleship, they claimed Christ’s body and boldly took on all the associations that came with that.  So we too as Christians  must  claim His body – which is His church – and embrace all the associations that come with that.  All the stigma.  All the social rejection.  There is no cost too great for the sake of Him who suffered for me.  It requires stepping out of our comfort zone.  It requires fellowship in His suffering.  It requires a sacrifice of time, money and resources for the sake of the Kingdom of God.  Being a true disciple requires that we lose our identity in the world, and claim our identity with Christ.  And when we give up our hold on this life and follow Him completely in true discipleship, then we will know the spiritual, abundant life that God promises to those who trust Him. 

I would ask you to consider your relationship to Christ this morning.  Are you living in effect as as secret disciple?  Are you trying to hold on to control of your life?  Are you holding onto things that are keeping you from fully committing to the Lord?  True discipleship demands our all, renouncing sin and clinging to the cross of Christ.  And when that kind of commitment has been made in our life, then it will be revealed in an extravagant love for Christ that considers anything that was once considered gain as loss for the sake of knowing Him.  I pray that today you see clearly what Christ did for you at the cross, and that you fully commit to take up your cross as well and follow Him.

For most Christians, the events surrounding the crucifixion of Christ are very familiar.  We’ve all probably heard many messages on the crucifixion and even possibly seen movies or plays depicting it.  Not to mention, there are four gospel accounts of the crucifixion in the New Testament.  However, not all the gospels recount the exact same details.  One gospel might include some things which others leave out.  In John’s gospel, he includes some details which others have not, and also, he has left out some events that others included.  So the tendency among preachers and expositors preaching on this text is to fill in the blanks, so to speak, as if to make up for what John’s gospel is lacking. 

Now in the case of the synoptic gospel writers, Matthew, Mark and Luke, that could be considered an appropriate method of exposition, since you could make the case that those three writers were not actually in attendance at the crucifixion.  However, that’s not the case with John.  He makes it clear that He was there.  He is the disciple whom Jesus loved mentioned in vs.26 and 35 who was there and who had personally witnessed  the crucifixion.

So then the question is, why did John include some things and not others?  Well, the answer is that John is not writing a history book, but he’s writing a gospel.  He is telling and emphasizing certain events to present the gospel of Jesus Christ which leads to salvation.  That’s what he says in chapter 20:30, 31, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”  

My concern then is to figure out exactly how to elucidate this gospel message that John is endeavoring to give us.  And as I prayed about and studied this text, I came to a very simple conclusion; John is presenting the fact that Jesus gave His life to accomplish salvation, not just focusing on the morbid aspects of the crucifixion, but on the aspects which teach the principles of Christ’s atonement for us.  So as someone has well said, Christ gave His life not to engender sentimentality but spirituality.  Not just so that we might be mortified by the physical torture and bloody gore of the crucifixion, but that it might teach us the knowledge leading to salvation. And as another writer said, Salvation is based on believing. Believing is based on truth. And truth is revealed in Scripture.  That believing we might have life in His name.

So then, we will examine this principle of Christ giving His life to accomplish salvation through four vignettes which John presents to us.  The first is Jesus gave up His garments, then He gave up His mother, then He gave up His Spirit, and finally He gave out His water and blood.

I also want to add at the beginning that John correlates some of these events with Old Testament prophesies, showing that they were fulfilled in Jesus’s crucifixion.  And I believe three of the references he mentions are found in Psalm 22, and one in Psalm 34.  And I just want to point out that the Psalms were written  about 1000 years before Christ.  There is absolute proof of that.  It is indisputable.  In fact, the enemies of Christ, the Jews, would have been very familiar with these Psalms. Though they probably did not consider those references as Messianic prophesies. So they would not have contived to correlate Christ’s crucifixion with the prophesies even if they had wanted to.  

The Romans, on the other hand, did what Roman soldiers did, irregardless of what the Jews wanted. So they would not have deliberately acted in a way to confirm scriptural prophesies.  So these prophetic fulfillments are very important for John to point out, so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ.  And John wanted to make sure you understood that certain events of the crucifixion fulfilled scripture.  But now let’s focus on the four vignettes of how Jesus gave His life to accomplish our salvation.

First. Jesus gave up His garments.  We’ve all heard the phrase made about someone, that “he didn’t own anything but the clothes on his back.”  Well, that was especially true of Jesus.  He had no possessions, no home, nothing of any value.  All that He had were the clothes on His back.  And we see in vs 23, that the soldiers took those clothes and divided them up between themselves.  When Jesus came down from heaven’s glory to earth, He came all the way down to the lowest level of humanity to accomplish our salvation.  He let go of all His pride, all His royal garments, becoming completely poor for us, so that we might become rich in Him.  He became naked, bearing all the shame which that brings.  It’s the same shame that Adam and Eve felt in the garden of Eden when they realized they were naked and hid from God.  Christ became naked for us, Christ became sin for us,  bearing the shame, the scoffing, the stares, as He gave Himself to be our substitute.

2 Cor. 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”  Now how does this incident illustrate that we became rich?  Because these four soldiers each received a part of His clothing.  There were no greater sinners than these soldiers who had stripped Jesus’s clothes from Him, whipped Him with a cat of nine tails to within an inch of His life, crushed a crown of thorns upon His head and nailed Him to a cross.  And yet we know that even as they did so, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  

What John illustrates here is that the garments of Christ were made available at the cross for the covering of sinners.  Just as when after the fall God skinned animals to make clothing for Adam and Eve, so also He slew Jesus to provide a garment of righteousness for you and me.  Isaiah 61:10 says, “For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness.” 

The hymn we sing, The Solid Rock, says, “dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.”  2 Cor. 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  There is no better picture of our sin situation than that we are naked and ashamed before God.  Christ took that upon Himself, that we might become clothed in His righteousness.

But John adds that there is another piece of clothing there, which was not divided, because it was made in one piece.  It was a tunic, worn under the outer clothing.  And I see two pictures in this; first it is the inner garment, signifying the Spirit.  And secondly, it was without seams.  It’s not in part, it’s complete.  The Spirit of Christ is not given piecemeal.  

Now as we see this dividing of His clothing played out by the soldiers, it may seem that Jesus has no control over these events. Yet John informs us that the invisible hand of God guides all things, so that specific prophecy is specifically fulfilled. Psalm 22:18 says, “They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.” The fact that it was foreordained indicates that Jesus gave His clothing willingly, even as He gave His life willingly.

The picture teaches us that we need to be clothed in His righteousness if we are to be saved. It is the means of our justification; Christ’s righteousness is given to us in exchange for our sin. And when we are saved, then we receive the spiritual covering of  His Spirit, so that we might be joined with Christ.

Secondly, Christ gave up His mother.  I know that heading sounds awkward.  Maybe it would be better to say, He gave up His family associations.  But all we have presented here is His mother.  There are indications from this text and others that Joseph was long dead and Jesus had, as the eldest son, taken on the responsibility as the head of the family of His mother and His brothers.  His brothers at this point had not believed in Him.  There is no evidence that they were there at the crucifixion.  In fact, all his disciples had fled except for John and these four women.  

Jesus would have been very aware of the pain that His crucifixion was causing to Mary. She was the only one of His family that had believed in Him.  And now as Simeon had prophesied to her 33 years earlier,  a sword would pierce her soul.  I’m sure in some part of His humanity, Jesus would have loved to have used His divine power to come down from the cross and spare His mother this grief.  But He was obedient even unto death to the will of the Father, knowing that through His death He would accomplish salvation not only for her soul, but millions more.  And make no mistake, Mary needed salvation, just as all sinners need salvation.  She was not without sin, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There was only one sinless One, and that was Christ Jesus, the Lamb slain for the sins of the world.

So in Jesus’s instructions to John, He indicates that John is not only part of the kingdom, but a child of God.  Jesus said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”  Not only was Jesus concerned about her physical care, but He was emphasizing also the nature of family in the kingdom of God. There is a new family dimension in the Kingdom of God.  Our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers are those who have been born of God. In Luke 8:21 Jesus said, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” And in John 1:11-13 it says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Thirdly, Jesus gave up His Spirit.  Vs. 30 “ Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” Phil. 2:8 says, “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Giving up His Spirit means first of all, that He gave up His life. That is a tremendous thing.  It was not an act of suicide.  His hands and feet are nailed to a cross.  He can’t take His life by violence against Himself. But what He does is an act of divinity.  He gives up His life willingly, of His own volition. 

But before He acts in divinity, John shows His humanity.  Jesus became thirsty and asks for a drink.  So they give Him vinegar to drink.  He suffered as any man would suffer  the torments of the cross.  His divinity did not prevent His suffering. As a man, He thirsted. We should be reminded when Jesus cried out; at the feast in John 7:37-39  saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet [given], because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

 As God, He had the power over His life. But He gave up His life, voluntarily. As Jesus said in John 10:17, “I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” 

The gospels record 7 statements or words of Jesus on the cross.  John only gives us three.  One was the statement to John and His mother.  The second was He was thirsty.  And now John records another statement that Jesus made as He gives up His Spirit.  He cries, “Tetelistai!” it is finished.  Tetelistai means it is complete, perfect.  His ministry on earth as a man was complete.  He lived from the first moment to the last, a sinless, perfect life.  By the death of His perfect life He paid in full the debt of mankind who could never live a perfect life.  And by dying, He paid the complete price which we owed; that God might place upon Him our sins as our substitute.  The work of atonement that Jesus came to do in the flesh was finished, it was complete.

1Peter 3:18 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison.” Not only did He give up His life, but He surrendered up His Spirit to death, to the abode of the dead.  Very little in scripture is given to us concerning the three days Christ’s body was in the grave.  But according to both Peter and Paul, though His body was in the tomb, His Spirit was alive in the abode of the dead. As the Apostle’s Creed confirms, “He descended into Hell.” A better translation would be that He descended into the lower regions of the earth, which is what the Bible calls Hades, so He might triumph over death through His resurrection.  

The human body is spirit, soul and body.  Our spirit is the spiritual part of our being that is connected to God, which has died as the result of sin. That is why Jesus said to Nicodemus back in John chapter 3 that it is necessary to be born again of the Spirit. The reborn spirit then rules over the mind and the body. We must be born of the Spirit, if we are to be spiritual. And then we must give up our self rule to the rule of the Spirit if we are going to live as God would have us live, dying to the lusts of the flesh, even as Christ died in the flesh but was alive in the Spirit.

Finally, the last vignette John presents for us is He gave up water and blood.  The soldiers, in order to hurry the death of those who were crucified, broke their legs, which would cause them to suffocate from the weight of their body.  But coming to Jesus, these executioners realize that He is already dead.  So one of them took his spear and stabbed Him in the side, presumably to prove He was dead, and John tells us that blood and water came out.  Now doctors have said that this water-like liquid was from the pericardium surrounding the heart and flowed out with partly coagulated blood.  That’s the physical explanation.  

Other, more sentimental explanations have said it was a sign of a broken heart.  I’m not sure that such a thing has been established as physically possible.  But there is no doubt that there is a symbolic reference in the blood and water coming out of His side.  And perhaps it is best stated in the old hymn, Rock of Ages, which says, “Let the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, save from death and make me pure.”  The blood therefore representing justification from sin, and the water being purification from sin. 

Matthew Henry, an 18th century theologian said it like this; “The blood and water that flowed out, signified those two great benefits which all believers partake of through Christ, justification and sanctification; blood for atonement, water for purification. They both flow from the pierced side of our Redeemer. To Christ crucified we owe merit for our justification, and Spirit and grace for our sanctification.”

Therefore, we can say that He gave His life to save us not only from the penalty of sin, but the power of sin.  As I have said numerous times, there are three phases in salvation.  All must be accomplished for salvation to be complete.  Justification is deliverance from the penalty of sin.  Sanctification is the deliverance from the power of sin.  And glorification is the deliverance from the presence of sin.  The glorification phase will not happen until the resurrection when we will be given a glorified body.  But all three phases are necessary for our salvation to be complete. 

John has given us these vignettes of salvation tucked into the greater story of the cross, so that we might get a better understanding of what Christ gave His life for.  Salvation must be more than just believing intellectually in Christ’s existence, otherwise everyone attending the crucifixion would have been saved that night.  But we know that is not the case. Salvation is more than partaking of the elements of His body, or drinking His blood, otherwise the soldiers that were splattered with the blood of Christ would have been saved.   Salvation is more than just some sort of superficial belief in the historicity of the events. 

And I will add something else that you may find disconcerting; salvation is more than just what Christ did on the cross.  If salvation was accomplished for the world by what Christ did on the cross, then all men have been saved.  There is no need to evangelize.  Christ has done everything.  We do nothing.  Everyone goes to heaven, irregardless. 

No, we must do something, we must believe.  We must believe with saving faith. And faith is not merely intellectual, but it is also a matter of the will.   Romans  10:10 says, “with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”  Faith is a matter of both the intellect and the will.  It is a commitment to surrender your life to Christ to live by His Spirit.  And in those two aspects of faith, the intellect and will,  are couched justification and sanctification. So that James may rightly say, “show me your faith by your works. Faith without works is dead.”

Christ dying on the cross in our place has freed us from  the enslavement to sin that the devil has held all of mankind in.  The symbolism of the blood and the water is the crux of the gospel, it is powerful for the destruction of fortresses. And it provides complete salvation.  It is able to justify us, to deliver from the penalty of sin, but it is also powerful to sanctify us, to deliver us from the power of sin.  Sin no longer has dominion over us.  The truth will make us free from the captivity of sin when we embrace the whole truth of the gospel.  Let us take up our cross and follow Christ, dressed in His righteousness, our justification.  And being made free from the penalty of sin, let us live as free from the power of sin as we yield to the Spirit who lives in us and rules over our will. 

I hope that you have seen the purpose of gospel in these four vignettes of the cross.  I hope you have seen first of all that you are a sinner, lost and without hope. And because your are a sinner you are condemned to death by the Great Judge over all the earth. But Jesus, the Son of God, has offered Himself to be our substitute, to take our punishment upon Himself, that we might be given freedom from sin and everlasting life.  The only requirement for you is to repent and believe that He will save you and give you new life if you trust in Him as your Savior and Lord. 

John says back in chapter one that Jesus came to His own, that is His own people, and they did not receive Him. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name,  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  Receive Jesus today as your Lord, and be born again in the Spirit, that you may have life in His name.