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We are here again to behold in a fresh way our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to share a couple of verses, and you’ll see as we go through our introduction study to 1 Peter how these verses apply; Psalm 39:4, this is a prayer, “Lord, let me know my end, what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am.” Isn’t that a wonderful verse? Let me know how transient, fleeting. You have the KJV it says, “Let me know how frail I am.” I just like the idea of transient because 1 Peter will touch on that.
I have another verse on fleeting. Many years ago, this was my marriage verse. It’s from a book you wouldn’t expect because it’s under the sun in Ecclesiastes 9:9, “Enjoy life with the woman you love all the days of your fleeting life which the Lord has given you under the sun.” Isn’t that a wonderful life? Let’s bow and commit our time to the Lord.
Heavenly Father, thank You again for Your presence, for Your indwelling presence in our heart. Thank You for always pointing us to the Lord Jesus. Lord, as we look forward to this wonderful epistle, we just ask for your guidance. Unveil the Lord Jesus and then grace us to receive Him as You propose Him to us. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Welcome to a different kind of study than we have been having. Exodus was a book of pictures. In fact, the Old Testament is a book of pictures, most of the Old Testament, and when you have the truth stretched out in chapters and in stories and in history, it’s a lot easier to see the principle because it’s illustrated. We saw that in the book of Exodus, in the plagues, in the miracles, with the water out of the rock, and the cloud and the manna, Mt. Sinai, the tabernacle, and many, many pictures that contain the truth. It’s easy because the story carries the principles, and the principles point us to the Lord Jesus.
When we come to the gospels, it’s not long chapters telling a story. There are still stories, but they are now in miracles and in discourses and in parables and so on. I like to say that the Old Testament is the truth in the seed, and the gospels are the truth in the bud, and the epistles are the truth in fully developed form. Now, it’s not stretched out into big, long chapters, or even paragraphs. When you come to the epistles, every verse is pregnant with truth. So, it’s a different kind of study. There are still a few stories, especially when you bring in the background, but mostly it’s instruction, teaching, doctrine and exhortation and counsel, but I want to remind my heart and yours that it is still Christ. It’s still the Lord Jesus Himself.
1 Peter is an epistle, that is a letter, a letter addressed to a certain group. Whether the letter is addressed to a church or a certain group of churches or an individual, regardless, we know the letters, the epistles, were written by the Holy Spirit, and therefore I don’t feel guilty, like I’m reading someone else’s mail when I read their letter, because it’s addressed to me, and it’s addressed to you, and it’s addressed to us. So, it’s personal. Every book in the Bible, whether it’s a large book, like Psalms or Jeremiah or Isaiah or whether it’s a short book like the book of Obadiah or 3 John, or whether it’s a historical book or a poetical book or prophetic book or a personal epistle, every book in the Bible presents the Lord Jesus in a way that no other book presents Him. There is a unique revelation of Christ in every book of the Bible, and 1 Peter is no exception. There is a revelation of the Lord Jesus in 1 Peter you won’t find anywhere else in the Bible. We would be missing something wonderful if the Lord removed 1 Peter from our Bibles, and if He removed the message of 1 Peter from our hearts. So, that’s our prayer, that we see the distinctive revelation of the Lord Jesus in 1 Peter.
We’re going to be discussing that in our introduction, how does the Holy Spirit put the spotlight on the Lord Jesus? How will that revelation affect my life? How will it affect the lives of all those in the circle of my influence? What is God seeking to accomplish in our lives and hearts in the study of 1 Peter?
This is the first introductory lesson. I think there is going to be one more, and maybe two more introductions, but we’re trusting God in an introduction to give us a flavor or the book, a taste. We’re not going to begin in chapter 1:1 and then go through verse 12, or something like that. There’s a place for that, and we’ll get into that, but for now we just want to sort of fly over the whole book and get a sense of how the Holy Spirit is presenting the Lord Jesus. Is there a theme that can be identified, a distinctive revelation of Christ? So, we need to look at the book. Are there recurring emphasis in this book! What prompted the human author? I know the Holy Spirit, but was there any background that prompted Him to write a book like this? Does it help to know how the book begins and how the book ends, the terminal points? How is the message developed, and why did God choose Peter as the human instrument? Why not the Apostle Paul or James? Does it make a difference that Peter is the author? Obviously, we won’t answer all those questions this morning, but we’ll touch on them as we go through the study. This morning I want to begin to introduce this beautiful epistle and show how Peter presents the Lord Jesus. That’s the bottom line, and that’s where we’re going. To see the revelation of Jesus, however, I think it would be helpful if we looked at some of the background of the book. We’re not going to get to all the background, but we’ll get to some of it.
To introduce 1 Peter, I think it would be helpful to home in at the beginning. I’m not going to give the full theme, but an emphasis in 1 Peter that will carry the theme and finally reveal our Lord Jesus. The reason I want to start there is because then once we see Jesus every part of the letter will come back and relate to that revelation. I’d like to show you also to get to that, the occasion of the book, in other words the historical background”, the cultural, the political, the religious background and how God uses that to unveil the Lord Jesus. And then, finally, and we won’t get to it this morning, but there’s another part of the background that’s very important, and it’s biographical. In other words, 1 Peter 5:12 informs us how he’s going to write this epistle. He said, “Through Sylvanus, our faithful brother, for so I regard him, I’ve written to you briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand in it.” Those two words, exhorting and testifying, is how Peter is writing. When you go through the book, you’re going to find exhortation. When you go through the book, you’re going to find testimony. So, as I went through the book many times, I saw a lot of exhortation. There’s a lot of earnest advise and counsel and strong warning. But then I asked, “Where is the testimony?” He said that it was going to be exhorting and testimony.
I understand he is faithfully testifying of the distinctive revelation of Christ. The Holy Spirit gave him this picture of the Lord Jesus, and I know he’s being faithful to testify of that, but I think there’s more in that word testimony, “I’m going to exhort and testify.” I think it’s more than receiving the inspired message of 1 Peter. Peter says things in 1 Peter that he would have never said in the gospels. He says things in 1 Peter that he wouldn’t have even said in the book of Acts. It’s a different Peter. The Peter of the gospels and Acts has been wonderfully transformed. There are things in 1 Peter that he actually contradicted in the gospel record, and I’ll try to show you that. So, Peter’s heart and direction and viewpoint have been radically changed, and the book is the testimony of Peter’s change, and it was the message that he gives in 1 Peter that caused that change. So, he’s going to exhort and testify, and the testimony is his own life.
What I have in mind when I say that it will be helpful to know the background, not only the political and religious and cultural, but also the background of Peter because the Peter that is in the epistle is different. Do you remember the very first words our Lord Jesus ever spoke to Peter? What are the first words of Christ that Peter ever heard? It’s in John 1:42, “He brought him to Jesus, and Jesus looked at him, and said, ‘You are Simon, son of John, and you shall be called Cephas,’” which is translated Peter. I just want to take these words, “You are…you shall be.” That’s the first words Peter ever heard, “You are this, but the day is coming when you will be this.” That’s the importance of the testimony of Peter. So, that’s what we’re going to look at: the theme, the revelation of Christ and how the background carries that theme.
Let me begin and attempt to give you the first part of that prevailing theme that runs through the entire epistle. Let me read selected verses. 1 Peter 1:1, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, who are chosen.” Verse 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; 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.” 1 Peter 2:11, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” 1 Peter 5:10, “After you’ve suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” Finally, 1 Peter 5:13, “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.”
Let me state for you what I think is presented with this emphasis. It’s hinted at in the first verse. The theme is pictured in the words, “residing aliens, sojourners.” KJV says, “pilgrims.”
In 1 Peter 1:1 he’s addressing those who have been scattered and are called aliens, residing aliens. Some teach that Peter was writing this book only to the Jews, because he was the apostle to the Jews, but if you notice verses like 1 Peter 2:10, “For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now have received mercy.” He includes the gentiles. We aren’t going to read it but 1 Peter 4:3 is a great illustration that he is also addressing gentiles. He’s writing to fellow aliens, fellow sojourners, both Jew and gentile. When we come closer to the historical background, you’ll see why they were scattered. They were scattered because of persecution. That’s why they were scattered. They were chased out of their homes and chased from their land. They were being persecuted.
You look at 1 Peter and say, “Well, that must be the theme: we’re pilgrims and strangers. This world is not our home. We’re just passing through.” Peter claims to have written this from Babylon. 1 Peter 5:13, “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you…” Commentators have several ways of looking at that, because there was a literal Babylon in Assyria, but there’s never a record that Peter went there. There’s another Babylon that’s in Egypt, but there’s no record that Peter ever went there. Some think that’s a figurative word, that he’s writing from Babylon. When Paul Bunyon was in prison he wrote letters, and he would always address them, “from the royal palace in Aberdeen.” Well, his prison was the royal palace. Some think that Babylon is just a symbolic word for this world, this terrible world system. We’ll see that fully developed if we ever get to Revelation. Babylon the great is just a picture of this world.
I incline to that figurative understanding of Babylon. “I’m writing to you strangers, those of you that have been scattered, you pilgrims, and I’m writing from Babylon, this world. I’m in this world as much as you are.” He was writing to pilgrims who were scattered in spiritual Babylon. 1 Peter 2:11, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” The NAS says, “aliens and strangers.” The Authorized Version or the KJV, “I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims.” But I want you to notice from the first chapter and first verse, he’s not only addressing strangers, sojourners, pilgrims, scattered pilgrims, but he also says, “residing.” This world is not my home, but I live here. It’s not my home but I reside here. It’s not your home; you’re just passing through. You are a stranger and a pilgrim and a sojourner and an alien because God delivered you from this world.
That message of pilgrim, sojourner is not new to Peter. Peter is not the first mention. Peter is the full mention of this kind of a life, but all the way through the Bible. Genesis 47:9, listen to Jacob, “So Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.” Jacob said, “I’m a sojourner, and so were all of my fathers who have come before.” Who can forget Abraham and the way Hebrews expresses it? Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” So, we don’t live here. You’re a Christian and I’m a Christian, and we’ve been delivered out of this world, and we’re pilgrims and aliens and sojourners, but we’re residing pilgrims, residing aliens. We do live here. In our deep hearts we’re looking for a city whose architect and builder is God and has foundations.
We love the psalms. Do you know where many of the psalms came from? Listen to Psalm 119:54, “Your statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.” David was a pilgrim, and through that he had to learn how to sing to the Lord. Psalm 39:12, “Hear my prayer, oh Lord, and give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner like all my fathers.” Pilgrimage is the history of God’s redeemed people. As I said, Peter is not the first mention, but I believe in this epistle we’re going to see the full mention of whatever is intended by the pilgrim life. We had a shadow of it in Numbers as they were on the pilgrimage to the Promised Land, and certainly suggested many times by the life of Jesus; He made comments to His disciples, “You are not of this world. In this world you will have tribulation. I’ve chosen you out of this world,” and especially expressions we read in Hebrews 10:34, “For you showed sympathy to prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.”
Hebrews 11:13-16, “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.” So, you see in 1 Peter with this recurring emphasis, we have the truth of the residing alien, the residing pilgrim. Now note that is not the theme of the book. That’s going to carry the theme, but that’s not the theme of the book. We haven’t touched the heart yet, the message of the book. Until God opens our eyes to the theme, what is God’s provision to enable me to live as residing alien, I need that. That’s the theme, God’s provision to enable me to live when I’m being unjustly persecuted as an alien residing in this world.
The great temptation suggested all through the book is the danger that residing aliens might become settlers in this world, instead of being a residing pilgrim. The world, the flesh, and the devil have a constant pull on Christian pilgrims to get them to become settlers in a world in which they do not belong. This is not our citizenship. If God doesn’t burn the distinctive revelation of Christ that Peter presents into our hearts, we will certainly become settlers. We don’t have it in us not to become settlers. We’ll begin to look for our portion here and will begin to set our heart on treasures here. We’ll become entangled and easily distracted from what is real, and we’ll begin to drop roots here. 1 Peter is designed to show us how God has made a provision, that we can be residing aliens, pilgrims, sojourners, and we need to see that provision. Knowing that I have an inheritance in heaven is not enough incentive to let me live as a pilgrim here. Knowing that my stay on earth is short and I will be living eternally in heaven is not enough provision to enable me to live as a residing pilgrim here.
1 Peter 1:17 again, “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.” The time of your stay… Moses speaks about that time as years, three score and ten. Job speaks about that time as months. Job 14:5, “…the number of months is with You; and his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.” David speaks of that time as, “..the days that are ordained for me,” Psalm 139. Hebrews calls it, “a very little while.” That’s why I began with Psalm 39:4, “Let me know how transient I am.” Oh, I need to know that! We’ve all experienced this, the realization of our mortality. When you are a kid and young it looks so far away, “I can’t wait until I’m sixteen,” or, “I can’t wait until I’m twenty-one,” or, “I can’t wait until I’m married and have a child,” or something like that. Now, as you stand a little further down the road and look back, you say, “Where did it go? How fast! Proverbs 10 talks about life as a whirlwind, and indeed it is! Psalms 90:10, “For soon it is gone, and we fly away.” I have a dear sister, Sherry Shein, and she wants that sung at her funeral, “I’ll Fly Away,” and she based it on that verse. Soon it is gone, and we fly away.
It’s in that light that brother Peter gives us this epistle, reminding us that we are only tenants here and we can be turned out of this clay cottage without a moment’s notice. The older you get, the more that becomes real. How does Peter present this? With that in mind, let me state that partial theme by telling you it’s not the full thing. Until you see Jesus you don’t have the theme of 1 Peter.
Let me give a little of the historical background. On the handout sheet is one of the recurring emphases. There’s many in 1 Peter. It’s unique. Here is an old fisherman and there are sixty-one words in this epistle and his second one that is not used anywhere else in the whole New Testament. His Greek here is called polished Greek. He’s changed. This man is amazing, and one of the emphases is suffering. All I want you to know for now, and we aren’t going to go through those verses yet, is how much emphasis is given to that, because, if indeed, we are resident aliens in this earth, you need to know that you have to expect suffering and suffering unjustly. In that connection Psalm 56 is 1 Peter in song. So, if you read Psalm 56 you’ve got the whole message of 1 Peter.
At this time, we aren’t going to be looking at those verses. The first part of the background I want to mention is Nero. The history I’m about to express is a terrible history, but it’s the background of the revelation of Christ in this book. What I’m going to share is just fact, it’s just history. You can look it up, but it’s violent. If you can get through this and wait to see Jesus, you’ll be thankful for this history.
Let me tell you about Nero. He was sort of a strange man. He became the emperor of Rome at a very young age. This man was proud. He was more of a narcissist than anybody you could ever think of. He was a musician and he said, “The best the world every had was him.” He thought he was an actor and the best. There was no other actor as good as him. He thought he was an artisan, the best, and there was none like him. When he became emperor, he said, “I’m the best they could possibly have.” He actually drained the Roman treasury by his own lust. He built a large palace for himself and a three-hundred-acre private garden, just for himself, so that he could enjoy it.
Every now and again we’ll see a political leader, even the president, and he’ll be pictured at a ball game or at a theater watching a certain thing. Nero went to the theater as an actor. He wasn’t in the audience. Can you imagine going to a theater and seeing your president as an actor? That’s what he did. You know that politicians like to drink and get drunk, and they probably have their little private bar somewhere. He would go in town to the local taverns. You would go out there and see your emperor getting drunk sitting in a local bar. That’s how he was. He had his own mother put to death. He had his first wife put to death. He was vile and corrupt and violent. He was a terrible, terrible man.
In 64 A.D., and everybody knows this historical fact, there was a fire that burned Rome almost to the ground, and it lasted for about a week. Many thought that Nero started that fire because he had been boasting that he wished he had been around when the buildings were built, because he’d show how to build buildings. Some people think he burned down Rome. There is a saying, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.” We know that can’t be literally true because the fiddle wasn’t created until several hundred years later, but he’s the kind of man that would fiddle when Rome burned. You’ve got to understand Nero. To take the suspicion off himself, he said that Christians burned Rome. That began what the historians speak about as the great Roman persecutions. That happened in 64 A.D. when Rome burned. Those persecutions went from emperor to emperor all the way to past 300 A.D. when Constantine reigned. Christians were already being persecuted by Jews, religious unbelieving Jews, but now the government is in the mix. In 70 A.D., as you know, Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, the Roman emperor, and burned the temple to the ground, and so on.
As background I want to mention three distinct things about Nero that will shed light on the theme of 1 Peter. I warned you already this is brutal, but it’s history. The first step was that Nero would take Christians and bring them to the Coliseum and depraved people would pay money to watch them be beaten to death, but Nero got bored with that. So, stage two of his persecution, he would put ram skins and goat skins on Christians, and bring them to the Coliseum and fill the Coliseum with wild dogs which would tear the Christians to shreds. That also got boring, so he traded the dogs for half starved lions, and the people would pay to see that. The third stage of the Neronic persecution, he had the private 300-acre garden and Nero decided to open that private garden to the public, but only at night. In order to walk through the trails of that 300-acre garden, he would put Christians on stakes and set them on fire. They would light up Nero’s gardens. These are facts and happened.
Some people think that this persecution was at its height when Peter wrote 1 Peter. There are several suggestions that it might be the case. 1 Peter 1 :6, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.” That word “various trials” is not really talking about increased intensity, but various different kinds of trials. 1 Peter 1:6&7, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire…” So, they think that there is an illustration. 1 Peter 4:12, “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.” And then the reference in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” That reference to Satan as a roaring lion trying to devour people at least gives the possibility that this was taking place when Peter wrote his epistle.
One problem with that is that if you give a fair reading to 1 Peter, from another point of view it looks he’s writing it in peace time. When you go through it he’s talking about family life, “Wives, submit to your husbands,” and he’s warning them that they’re in the world and don’t get fleshly lusts and don’t go out and get drunk, and don’t go after strange flesh. He’s talking about being good stewards and about submitting to elders. That looks like church life is going on, and slaves are to submit to their masters. When you read Peter one way it looks like you are residing and its normal life; you’re on the farm, you’re in the city, you’re in the church, you’re in the family. So, the question is, when was 1 Peter written? Was it in peace time or at the height of this persecution?
Scholars are not able to nail down the exact date of the writing of 1 Peter. Most of them say that it was written between 62 and 65 A.D. The fire was in 64 A.D. Sometime in there it was written. The earliest that I read in my research, some people say that it could have been as early as 57 A.D., and some say Peter didn’t even write it, so it was written in 90 A.D., and that kind of thing. But it was around the persecution time. We know that this persecution was either at the door or they were in the midst of it, and probably it had already begun. Others had been experiencing it, and Peter heard about it and was warning, and so on.
Let me give you another piece of historical background. I already told you that Rome wasn’t the first to persecute Christians. They were already being persecuted by unbelieving Jews. That was clearly the case when Jesus was on the earth. How did He arrive? There was no room in the Inn. How did it end? He’s hanging between heaven and earth. How was it in the middle? No place to lay His head. It was all rejection. They rejected Him. The disciples knew that would continue because Jesus, the day before He died gave this warning, John 16:1-3, “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of the. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.” John 15:18, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”
You need to understand the religious side. I gave you the Roman side – Nero. Let me tell you about the religious side. We need to understand the power of the synagogue. The synagogue was the center of Hebrew life. Everything was focused on the synagogue and the rabbis, and that was their educational center. The rabbis would be the teacher. That was their center of economy. If one was excommunicated from the synagogue, he lost all his rights. He lost all his social life, because that was the social center. His kids lost their education. That was the educational center. They were banned from business. They were considered to be gentile dogs. If you got kicked out of the synagogue you were regarded as a leper. A Jewish owner of a market would not be allowed to sell to you. You were completely cut off and excommunication was the strongest form of punishment the Roman government allowed the Jews to have. The right of capital punishment they kept for themselves, even though the Jews violated that right, as we know. Acts 7:54, “When they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.” That’s Stephen. Peter and John were beaten and thrown into prison publicly, and Stephen is stoned.
Because the synagogue had such power over the whole life, if you were executed, you’re in trouble because there’s no way to sustain yourself. That’s the background for Acts 2:44, “All those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.” They had lost their livelihood, and now this is love responding to hate. That’s what this is all about. It was prompted by love. God is not teaching here that Christians should become socialists or communists or live in communes. This is love responding to hate. They were a family. Later on, we’re going to see that God has two provisions for the pilgrim; He has Christ, and He has Christians. That’s all we have in this world. We have Christ and we have each other, and he’ll develop that, and I’ll do that at another time.
Acts 8:1, after the death of Stephen, “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” That’s the beginning of the scattering. They were driven to Samaria, and then driven further north up the Mediterranean to Antioch, and the Jews pursued them there, and they were driven up into Asia Minor, the places we read about in verse one, modern day Turkey. That’s where they went. It’s to these scattered pilgrims Peter writes to encourage them and show them God’s provision for them to live, having undeserved suffering in a world like this.
Let me return for a moment to God’s wisdom through His servant, Peter. God suggests for us, and it’s illustrated in Nero, suffering at its worst – martyrdom. That’s as bad as it gets, torture and martyrdom. On the other side Peter mentioned what we would say is minor trials. 1 Peter 5:6&7, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” You’ve got the whole gamut. On one side you’ve got martyrdom, being a candle in Nero’s Garden. On the other side are all your anxieties, whatever they are. At one extreme you are burning at the stake and on the other extreme you are anxious about your finances, your anxious about your lack of control over emotions or you are in bondage to some sin and temptation, or you have mental concerns, and so on.
The principle followed in all of 1 Peter is that the lesser is included in the greater. If God can meet the martyr there, I think He can meet me here where I am. That’s going to go all the way through. The provision for the martyr is going to become the provision for everyone. When we get into Peter, I’ll show you that the suffering there is not every kind of suffering. He’s not talking about discipline or chastening or pruning. There’s one kind of suffering, undeserved suffering. So, he’s going to stress that, but the lesser is included in the greater. I may never be bound by some government and made into a light for somebody’s garden, but I have their provision.
I want to call attention to God’s provision. We’re getting close to the revelation of Christ. We’re only three verses deep in the book, and we read, 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy, caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Where did these pilgrims find a living hope? The answer is that it’s in a living Christ. I want to close with what I believe is the distinctive revelation of Jesus. The question has to be kept in mind and answered, “What is God’s provision for those who are going through the worse, all the way to us?”
Some would say, “The promises of God.” When you read 2 Peter 1:3, “By these He’s granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust,” exceeding and magnificent promises. If you are going through what they went through, is that enough to get you through, the promises of God? I suggest that they are great, and they are magnificent, but I’m suggesting that is not enough. It’s better than that. The end of Peter and the last verse, 1 Peter 5:12, “…this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!” Is that the message of Peter, that you’re going through hard times, God gives dying grace to dying men, and He’ll give you what you need when you need it, and not before?
Remember when Paul had his thorn in the flesh? 2 Corinthians 12:9, “He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you; My power is perfected in weakness.’” That is certainly a great and magnificent promise. Is that all I need? Is grace enough to get me through? I’m suggesting it’s better than that. That’s not enough to get you through. That’s part of it but that’s not the main point. His great and precious promises are wonderful, His grace is awesome, amazing grace. Those who study 1 Peter are almost convinced, many of them, the thing that got them through was the hope of glory at the end, the inheritance in front of them. So, they taught, “Realize eternity. As you go through time keep your mind on the city. You are going to heaven.” 1 Peter 1 :4, “…to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” That’s an emphasis in this book. 1 Peter 1:13, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 4:7, “The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.” 1 Peter 5:4, “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” And there is that in 1 Peter. I don’t know if you know the song, “It will be worth it all,” it will be worth it all when we see Jesus. These trials will seem so small, but is it enough?
If I’m hungry, starving, is it enough to say, “There’s no hunger in heaven”? That’s not going to help me very much. And if I’m writhing on a bed of pain, and I can hardly turn over because of the pain, and someone comes and says, “Be encouraged, there’s no pain in heaven,” is that going to help you, really? I think I need more than that. I thank God for the promises, and I thank God for the grace, and I thank God for every hope in the future; I’m going to heaven and I know it, and up there there’s no sorrow and there’s no tears, but when I’m crying now, I need something now. It’s not enough when I’m standing at the gravesite of a loved one to say, “But there’s no death in heaven.” An unsaved, unbelieving atheist has those kinds of hopes, because he’s going to die and it’s over. So, he can say, “When I die there’s no more suffering, no more pain and no more tears.” That’s the same hope an unsaved person has.
Heaven and eternity certainly bring some hope and some relief, but there’s more than that. We have His Word, praise God for His promise! We have His grace, praise God for His grace! Keep on singing “Amazing Grace,” and at the end we have glory, we have heaven at the end. So, don’t stop singing at the “Sweet By and By”, but it’s better than that. When he talks about suffering in this book, he doesn’t say, “Suffering and glory to follow.” He brings suffering and glory together. He says, “Suffering and glory now.” It’s in Peter we have the words, “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Do you know what they’re going through? How can I have joy unspeakable and full of glory now, not only at the end? 1 Peter 4:14, “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” NOW! 1 Peter 5:1, Peter’s testimony, “I exhort the elders among, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.” He’s a partaker now of the glory that will be revealed. 1 Peter 1:3, back to the real answer, “Blessed by 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.” Not His promises, not His grace, not our inheritance, but His Life now, Him.
What sustained the martyrs in the fire? The answer is the indwelling Christ. They had Jesus. What is going to sustain me? I have Jesus. What’s going to sustain you? You have Jesus. Jesus is all you need for the worse case, and Jesus is all you need for any lesser case. I don’t have a tithe of what those martyrs suffered in my life, but I have 100% of the support they had. They had Christ, and I have Christ. He’s all they needed in the fire, and He’s all I need right now, in my chronic sickness or in the aches and pains that come with aging or my burdens or my confusion or my anxieties or my crosses or my disappointments and my losses and my vexations and all of the discouragements and even depression. They had Christ and I have Christ.
Know this, brothers and sisters, and believe it with all of your heart, and may God burn it into us in our study of 1 Peter, God does not have one provision for great sufferers and another provision for slight sufferers. That is not Bible. What supported the martyrs must support me. It’s the same Jesus. You have Christ indwelling. If I’m to lose my life, I need Jesus. If I’m to lose my wife, I need Jesus. If I’m to lose my way, I need Jesus. If I’m to lose my patience, I need Jesus. If I’m to lose my temper, I need Jesus. If I’m to lose my wallet, I need Jesus. If I’m to lose my keys, I need Jesus. If I’m to lose my glasses or my pen, I need Jesus. If I’m going to lose my memory, I need Jesus. It’s the same Jesus. That’s God’s provision. All I need is Christ, and the same Jesus that supports me in the worst will support me all along the way. I need Him if I lose my life or a loved one. I need Him if I lose a button off my shirt. I need the same Christ.
So, what’s the theme. Let me close with this. You might say that the theme is the pilgrim life, “I’m a pilgrim, I’m a Christian, I’m an alien.” Not in 1 Peter. 1 Peter presents the Lord Jesus as the true Pilgrim, as the Alien. I have the Pilgrim living in my heart, in order that I may live a Pilgrim Life. I’ll show you as we go through 1 Peter how he presents Him as the true Pilgrim. He’s gone through it once when He was in His incarnate body, and now He’s going through it again in His mystical body, for the same reason – to bring redemption to the earth. That’s Peter. Peter is saying, “You aliens, you strangers, you that are residing in this world, you have a provision, Christ the true Pilgrim, because He resides in you, you can reside in this world.” And that is the message of 1 Peter, and he’s going to develop that, and we’ll continue our introduction. I hope you get the sense, and I’m praising God that He started with the worst and comes down to the least because God’s provision in Christ Jesus is exactly the same. No other book presents Jesus as the Pilgrim, and 1 Peter does.
Heavenly Father, thank You for this marvelous epistle, and as we go through it, Lord, I just pray that increasingly we would allow You, the indwelling Pilgrim, to live our Pilgrim Life. Thank You that we can trust You for this. Work it in us, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.