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He's Still Been A Good God to me
I Peter 1: 1-9
Intro: It has been said that Longfellow could take a worthless sheet of paper, write a poem on it, and make it worth $6000 now that's genius
Rockefeller could sign his name to a piece of paper and make it worth a million dollars – now that is capital
Uncle Sam could take paper and stamp an eagle on it, and make it worth $100 – now that is money
An artist can take a canvas worth very little and paint a picture on it and make it worth $1000 – now that's art
But God can take a worthless, hell bound, lost and dying sinner wash him in the blood of the lamb, regenerate his soul and birth him into the family of God – now that is salvation.
As we gather and glean from these nine verses of I Peter chapter 1, there is no doubt in our minds that these believers and Peter himself were in the midst of great persecution. But Peter, instead of listing these trials and tribulations seems to be saying, “even with all this persecution, My God has still been a good God to me. Instead of dwelling on the height of persecution, he delivers a hymn of praise. That storm that is looming on the horizon in America today probably will send persecution, trials and tribulations to the saints of God. In these days of apostasy, in light of a gloomy economy, in the midst of a God-defying government, we need to look back, look out and look up, for our God has still been a good God to us.
Yesterday, He acquired me
Today, He amazes me
Tomorrow, He adorns me
I. YESTERDAY, HE ACQUIRED ME (verse 3)
The keyword in vs 3 is “mercy”. This word in used in the NT to describe the kindness of a holy God in bringing the outside, the God defying one, the lost one, the dead in trespasses one, the fallen short of the glory of God one, the hell bound one, the totally unworthy one into the realm of God's compassion so that he shares in the eternal riches of salvation wrought by Christ on Calvary. This extending of mercy can be divided into two parts:
A) New Life (“begotten us again”)
Christ's answer to Nicodemus in John 3 was “ye must be born again”. This seems to be what Peter is thinking about here – regeneration. The word “begotten” is in aris tense in the Greek language. In the English language we have past tense, present tense, and future tense, but the Greek language contains a tense which means “it happened, never to be repeated again”. You were born physically one time – can never be repeated. You are born spiritually one time, and it can never be repeated. You did not birth yourself physically, and you cannot birth yourself spiritually. It took two parents to bring you into this world physically, and the new birth also requires two parents, the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Our first birth was a birth of the flesh, but our second birth is one of forever. We begin to die on the first day of our physical birth, but we begin to live on the first day of our spiritual birth. Our first birth was dependent on our adaptation to the environment, but our second birth is dependent upon our acceptance of enlightenment.
B) A New Longing (“unto a lively hope”)
Just as Paul is the apostle of faith, and John is the apostle of love, so Peter is the apostle of hope. The world's hope is more of a disney land hope that would say, “I sure hope I win the lottery”. But Bible hope is a divine hope that says, “Because of Christ's past performance and present promises, I know these promises will come to pass”. Ours is not a lottery hope, but is a living and lively hope grounded on the living Word of God and demonstrated in our life by a living Son of God. Our hope is built on a foundation, while the world's hope is built on foolishness.
II. TODAY, HE AMAZES ME (verses 5-6)
A) I'm amazed at His Power (“kept by the power of God”)
We now are presented with a beautiful portrait of the unified work of the trinity of God. All three per-sons of the godhead are actively involved in our being kept:
1. The witness of God within (Holy Ghost)
The day we were adopted into the family of God, the Holy Ghost moved into our souls, and set up housekeeping. When He moved in, He shut and locked the door behind him, and sealed that door by the power of God, and by the blood of the lamb. He now serves as guide and as our guard
2. The Word of God withstanding (Son of God)
Not only are we kept secure by the fortifier within, but we are also kept by the fortress of God's Word that withstands all attacks by the enemy. This is established by the words of our Lord Jesus, “And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. It was the Word of God (logos) that chose us, contacted us, that convicted us, that converted us, and now that contains us
3. The Will of God Working (Sovereign Father)
In verse 4, the word “incorruptible” means “imperishable”, incorruptible, and immortal, not liable to death, not subject to destruction”. This is the will of God working to convert us in salvation, is working to contain us in security, is working to constrain us in service, and is working to complete us in sanctification.
B) I'm Amazed by His presence (wherein ye greatly rejoice)
We are dazzled when we begin to entertain the divine thought that the creator of all the universe could and would have fellowship with the lowly creature. It is an amazing fact that as a child of the king, we only have to call on His holy name and He will entertain our presence. It is an equally amazing thought that two of us can gather in His name, and He will be in the midst. That Jesus would pass by us in salvation is a fact beyond the realm of our finite minds, but we enter a region of ectasy when we find out that , not only will He pass by, but he will stop and communicate with us.
C) I'm amazed by His Participation (6b-7)
Our Saviour and commander is not sitting behind the battle lines is suing out orders. He is there in the midst of trials and tribulations. He is out front leading the attack. He is with the troops making sure that there is not a trial or tribulation too heavy for us to bear. There is never a funeral that we have to attend alone. There is never a midnight of darkness that we have to spend alone. There is never a midnight of darkness that he is there to shed light. There He is always there, handing out more mercy and more
grace.
III. TOMORROW HE ADORNS ME (verse 8-9)
A) In the courtroom of justice (verse 7)
Verse 7 speaks of two elements that have to be present at this trial. They are faith and fire. One says, “the trial of your faith” and the other says, “it be tried by fire”. Peter is telling us that unless our faith cannot stand the heat of the fire, then there will be no praise, honour, and glory at His appearing. This is the “Daniel in the lions den faith, this is the three Hebrew boy's faith, this is boil infested Job's faith this is the faith that endures and shouts “He's still been a Good God to me”. This is the faith that will hear the voice of our commander say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant”.
B) In the Coronation room of joy (verse 8)
Although we have sense His presence, even though we are mindful of His presence and even though we feel His presence, we still have never seen Him with our eyes. This is the ultimate extension, expression and extension of our faith, in that, though we have never seen Him, yet we love Him, and even though we see Him not, we believe in Him. This is the shouting ground of our faith, because we are filled and flooded with joy unspeakable. Even though we have never seen Him, we can still shout, “He's still been a good God to me”.
C) At the Consumation of the Journey (vs 9)
Our faith is like a rope which has two ends. We are on this end by faith, but on the other end is our Lord Jesus. Oh, how many times we would have turned back, had it not been for the tug on the rope. Those dark nights of depression would never have ended, had we not felt the pull of the rope. The end of the rope will be the end of our faith. At the end of the journey, we will need our faith nor the rope any more because we can shout “He's still been a good God to me”