Postlude to Peace, Part 1

Tonight we come to the concluding portion of our study in 1 Peter. He wanted, as he said at the very outset in chapter 1, that peace would be multiplied among God's people in your heart. And in your life. Peter heard Christ say these words on the eve of the crucifixion: My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you, but my peace I give unto you. John chapter 14, verse number 27. So Peter would hear the Lord talk about peace. He understood the Lord as he watched him throughout his ministry to describe peace.

The kind of peace that God gives is unlike the world gives. It can't be the same. For he said, My peace I give unto you. Not like the world gives. They can't give it, but I can give it because it's my peace. What kind of peace is that? The kind of peace that took place when there was a storm on the outside of the boat and the disciples were fearful for their lives, but the Lord was sleeping at the stern of the boat. They were afraid for their lives. The storm was so severe, but the Lord was asleep.

When they finally awoke him, he was able to calm the sea, make it like glass. The kind of peace that's undisturbed by turmoil on the outside because of the truth on the inside. That's the kind of peace God gives. You have turmoil? Sure you do. We face it every day. But that turmoil on the outside does not det from the truth that's on the inside. For peace, as we have said before, is not the absence of conflict. It's not the absence of chaos. It's the presence of Christ in the life. That's peace. And so Peter wants to write to people who on the outside experience all kinds of anxiety, all kinds of persecution, all kinds of problems way beyond anything we can ever imagine in 21st century Christianity here in America.

And says, I want peace to be multiplied in your life. Now, if these people going through what they were going through could experience peace. We should be able to experience that same kind of peace. And that was Peter's emphasis. He wanted Us to experience that peace. You know, there's a real sad verse in the Gospels in Mark chapter 14, verse number 54. It's a commentary on peace. And it simply reads this: Peter followed him at a distance. That is a load ph. It was at that time that Peter had no peace.

He was in turmoil. He was filled with anxiety. He would deny his God because he was fearful for his life. Because you followed at a distance. You see, peace is not the absence of something, it's the presence of something, it's the presence of Christ. And when Peter walked with his L, he was at peace. When he strayed from his Lord, he was not at peace. Implications are simple. If you have no peace, it's because you are far from the Lord. You're walking Far from Him. You're not walking hand in hand with Him.

You're not walking close with Him. We, Well, how can I be far from Him if He's taken up residence in my heart? How can I be far from him if he lives within me? Well, simply by not acknowledging his existence, by not trusting him and following him and spending time with him. Begin to distance yourself from him. People who are close with the Lord are at peace. People who are far from the Lord are not. So, Peter is going to close his epistle. And tonight I want to give you just some explanations about pain.

Nothing probably you've never heard before. And then just to give you some observations from 1 Peter as it relates to pain. And then give you his benediction as it pertains to peace. And what he says at the end, you'll be surprised on how he closes his epistle and how different. The people he was writing to are compared to you and me. First of all, some explanations about pain.

Personally, that's where we're going to begin. Let me give an explanation about pain. Pain happens to me personally because God wants to develop my faith. Peter addressed that in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse number 3. When he recorded these words, he said, 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. He goes on to say in verse number 6, In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.

That the 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. Peter says, Look, there's a reason for pain. Personally, it's to develop your faith, it's to prove the genuineness of your relationship with the living God. In his book, Principles for Spiritual Growth, it was Miles Stanford who writes, A student of a school asked the president whether he could not take a shorter course than the one that was prescribed.

Oh, yes, replied the President, but then it depends upon what you want to be. When God wants to make an oak, He takes a hundred years. But when he wants to make a squash, he takes about six weeks. Point being is you want to be as strong as an oak or as soft as a squash. How strong do you want your faith to be? And Peter gives us some explanations about About pain. Paul would say this in Romans chapter 5, verse number 3. He said, And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations. Knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope.

Does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. God develops our faith. And we had this hope that's never disappointing. When God is at work in your life, you're not disappointed because God is strengthening you and developing your faith. Number two, doctrinally, pain comes to expose sin, doesn't it?

An error in our lives. There is a reason that pain is present. Personally, it's because God wants to develop our faith, and doctrinally, it's because He needs to expose sin over in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse number 7, Peter talked about the fact that the genuineness of your faith needs to be proven. That is, are you truly in the faith? And the Apostle Paul would write over in 1 Corinthians 11 about how many there in the church of Corinth were sick. And some even died because they would partake of the Lord's table in an unworthy kind of manner.

James would say in James chapter 5, verse number 13 and following, some very peculiar words when it comes to people who suffer. He says, Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Can't imagine if you are. But if you are, great. Let him sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. And the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

Sometimes people are sick because of their sin. Not always, because many people get sick. Because they're righteous. Job is a perfect example of that, right? But there are some people who are sick because of sin. And God allows pain to persist because he needs to expose that sin so that person might confess that sin and get right with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Ananias and Sapphir? They lied. Great pain came upon them. God killed them right there in the church. Right there in the church, God killed them because all they did was tell a simple little lie.

But God had to expose the sin. God had to make the church aware that if you're going to be a holy church to reach an unholy world, you can't allow sin to persist. The Bible says great fear came upon the people there in Jerusalem.

It also said that God kept adding to that church. God adds to a pure church. God adds to a holy church. He wants people to be holy. And so therefore God causes pain to expose sin and to expose error. Remember over in Matthew chapter 13, talked about the parable of the sower and the soil. And Christ explains that parable to us. And it says in verse number 20: And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is a man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no firm root in himself, but is Only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

Here's one who heard the word of the Lord and got on the Jesus bandwagon and was excited about what was going on in the church and thought he could be a part of that church and man, this is great. And he was receiving the word with joy, but because there was no firm root, because there wasn't a true Conversion experience when persecutions arose, when tribulations came, he fell away. He fell away. His sin was exposed, the sin of unbelief. See, when the believer faces persecution difficulty, he doesn't fall away.

No, he digs his roots down deeper into the ground. It solidifies that relationship because he knows his God is in control. See, su produces perseverance. And so, personally, pain comes to develop our faith. Doctor, pain comes to expose error and sin if it is this. And vertically, pain comes in order for us to learn obedience to God. Learn obedience to God. Peter would talk about it in First Peter chapter four.

He said this in verse number 1 and verse number 2. Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. There's something about the purification of trials and tribulation that causes a man to learn to walk with God and not to sin. And so I learned to be obedient to my God. That's why the Bible says in Hebrews 5, verse number 8, that the Lord learned obedience to the things that he suffered.

It talks about it in Deuteronomy chapter 8, verses 1 to 5. When the Lord would lead the nation of Israel through the wilderness to test them, to prove them, that they might learn to follow the commands of God, that they might learn to be obedient to God. Sometimes pain comes so that we might learn obedience. There's a fourth reason. Sometimes pain comes horizontally or relationally in order to cultivate humility. To cultivate humility. Paul experienced that in 2 Corinthians 12:7. His thorn in the flesh caused him not to.

To think more highly of himself than he ought to think, even though he was caught up to the third heaven and was able to see things nobody else had seen.

God had given him a thorn of the flesh to keep him humble. Peter would say in 1 Peter 5: Clothe yourself with humility. Do that. Romans chapter 8 talks about the fact that those who have been predestined are predestined by God to, chosen by God, are predestined by God to be conformed to His image. What's the image of God? Remember, he said in Matthew 11:2, where he revealed to us his inner character: Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, for I am gentle. I am meek. I am lowly. That's who He is. And God wants to cultivate that kind of spirit in us as well.

But ultimately, pain comes for one reason, and one reason only, primarily, and that is to glorify God. To glorify God. Peter said it in 1 Peter 4, verse number 16, when he wrote these words: If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God. If you're suffering because of your faith, if you're suffering because of your relationship with God, honor him, praise him, glorify. His name. Chapter 5, verse number 11. We read verse 10 earlier that after you've suffered for a little while, God's going to do some things in your life.

And then, verse 11: to him be dominion forever and ever. To him be the glory forever and ever, because he is the king of the universe. Over in chapter 2, verse number 12. Peter said, Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evild, they may, on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. Because of what God is doing in your life, they glorify the Lord. He's honored and put on display. Just some observations or some exhortations concerning p.

And maybe you're experiencing pain this evening. Maybe something's happened in your life that you don't know what's going on. Maybe God wants to expose some sin in your life. I don know. But you need to ask the Lord, search me, try me, see if there be any wicked way in me. Lead me in the way of everlasting life. If there's no sin, maybe God wants to cultivate humility in your life. Maybe you're a little too arrogant, a little too prideful. He wants to bring you down a couple hundred notches. Or maybe he's just trying to strengthen you because down the road is going to come an even heavier trial, and you've got to be prepared for it.

So, right now, this is happening so that when A month down the road comes, you are stronger than you were today. Who knows? But whatever. You got to glorify God in it, right? God wants to be honored, put on display in your life. So, those are just some exhortations about pain. Let me give some observations about Peter as he addresses pain.

You will note that in his epistle, maybe you missed this, maybe you got it. I don't know. I didn't get it until I went back and reviewed it. That Peter addresses the bel three times in five chapters. And each time he addresses them, it sets the tone for what he wants to say on how they can find comfort amidst all kinds of crazy chaos in their lives. We all need that. We all face chaos. We all face crises. But how do we find the comfort in them? Well, Peter gives us the answers. He says, listen, if you're going to find comfort amidst any kind of chaos, you've got to re the living hope.

Once you receive the living hope, you need to recognize your pilgrim life. And once you recognize the pilgrim life, then you need to realize the fiery trial that exists in that pilgrim life. He says this over in chapter one, verse number three.

He addresses the people, Peter and Apostle, verse number one of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bith.

Who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. And then he says, This: 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. He's caused us to be born again by a living hope. He deals with the doctrine of salvation.

He talks about the living hope. And that living hope, as you go on and read, is received because of the living wor. And you can receive it because of the living stone, who was Jesus Christ Himself. So in chapter 1 and in chapter 2, he talks about the living hope that comes because of the living word. That comes because of the living stone that was rejected by men but accepted by us. He talks about the blessedness that comes. Because of the hope that God gives. Let me tell you something.

When you are facing any kind of difficulty, you want to be able to see h. Right? You got to know there's hope at the other end of the tunnel. There's something else beside the light you see, and it's a train coming down. There's got to be something else out there, and it's the hope that God gives because of the resurrection. There's hope of a better life, there's hope of the perfect life, there's hope of the tranquil life. There's hope of God's peace. That's why Peter could say, May grace and peace be multiplied unto you.

Well, how's that going to happen? Because the blessedness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's caused us to be born again because of a living hope. And then he says, therefore, verse 13, because the living hope, gird your minds for action. Be sober in spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Get it all together. Tie it in a knot. Make sure you're ready because Jesus is coming back. And then he says this. He says, verse 2: Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, firmly love one another from the heart.

For you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is through the li and ab word of God. You have a living hope because of the living word. You know, I love how Peter describes it because sometimes we feel like we're just dead in the water. We can't move, we can't go anywhere, but it's about a living hope, it's about a living word, it's about a living stone, it's about something that's active, something that' Vibrant that we possess because of who God is. And Peter says, We've been born again by the living word of God.

He says this: He says, All flesh is like grass in all its glory, like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord abides forever. And this is the word which was preached to you. It's a living word. And then it says, Therefore, therefore.

Putting aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, slander. Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word that you may grow in respect to salvation. He says, Have you received the living hope? Because of the living word, because of the living stone. He says in verse 4, and coming to him as a living stone. Rejected by men, but 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. Wow. Because he was the living stone, we're like little living stones being built up together into the temple of God, the spiritual house of God.

Acting as priests in that house, meaning that we're to actively be serving our God, imp this: that when you find com. In the midst of your chaos, when you are cons with ser your God as a priest in his temple. Filled with living stones. Peter says, You need to receive the living hope through the living word, through the living stone. And number two, he talks about the pilgrim life and how to live it.

Chapter two, verse 11, he says, Beloved! Second time he addresses his people. He says, Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. And then he goes into this long dissertation about sub. If you're going to find comfort amidst chaos, there must be, number one, salvation that comes through.

The living word of God. Second of all, there must be submission. Because without that, you'll always face chaos. You'll be a lightning rod for conflict. And he goes through a whole rest of chapter 2, into chapter 3, verses 13 to 17, talking about. How we submit as citizens in our country, verses 18 to 25, how we submit as employees to our employer. Chapter 3, verses 1 to 7, how we submit to one another in the home, verses 8 to 12 of chapter 3, and verses 7 to 11, chapter 4, how we submit to one another in the church, and then, of course, chapter 3, verse number 13, down through chapter 4, verse number 6.

How we submit to one another in the commun. And then he says, he says this in verse number 12 of chapter 4. Beloved, one more time. 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. He says, listen, you need to realize this fiery trial and how to bear up under it. And he talks about how God's Son controls the heat. And then in chapter 5, how God's shepherds console the heated. And then, how God's she are to cons to the heat.

That's how he closes his epistle. We can't bear it alone. We need some help. So God's sovereignty regulates the heat. That's chapter 4, verses 12 to 19. God's shepherds lovingly tend to those who are hurting because of the heat. Chapter 5, verses 1 to 4. And then chapter 5, verses 6 to 11: God's sheep rely upon the power of God available to them through the grace of God. That's Peter's perspective in a nutshell in his epistle on pain