Testing... - 1 Peter 1:6-9 - March 28, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for March 28, 2021. We are meeting at the church with specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Covid-19 plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

 1 Peter 1:6-9 Testing…

Good morning, we are back in 1 Peter chapter 1 today, page 1014 in the pew Bibles. Not that it really matters, but I’m not sure how you’re going to feel about this. I hope, in the end, you’ll be encouraged, but it’s going to take a little work, I think, to get there. We’re going to have to wade through the pricker bushes to get there.

Last week we looked at the first few verses of this paragraph in 1 Peter 1, and this week I’m hoping to get through the rest of it. So let’s read that entire text just to refresh our memories together.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Let’s pray

So our text here this morning is a little bit like an Oreo cookie, it’s a little sandwich with tasty cookies on the outside but in the middle instead of creamy filling it’s more like liver and onions… Blech!

But we need the first cookie to get us through the liver and onions to the cookie on the other side. Last week we looked at the first cookie, verses 3-5…

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

We can be encouraged by the worship of God, the reminder of His mercy towards us in our rebirth, rebirth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus, the living hope of an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance kept in heaven for us. We can be encouraged by the promise that God Himself guards and shields us through faith and He will continue to do so until the return of Christ and the inauguration of His heavenly, eternal kingdom.

These are very encouraging words and thoughts, but the warm fuzzies is not the point. We need to be able to lean on these encouraging thoughts because of the liver and onions on the horizon of our text.

We need verses 3-5 to make it through verses to make it through verse 6-7 to verses 8-9, and that’s exactly how verse 6 starts…

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials

In our living hope of our heavenly inheritance through faith in Jesus, in our living hope of being guarded by God the Father, we rejoice.

This rejoicing is not a theoretical joy either. The word Peter used means to be extremely joyful, often involving verbal expression and appropriate body movement, to exult and be glad! Our living hope should fill us with exceeding joy so that we can face the various trials that we are or will be grieved with.

Though the idea of being grieved by various trials is troubling, the words that Peter uses here, if properly understood, should bring us joy as well. (even though they may taste like liver and onions.)

The main idea is the church being grieved by various trials.

The word translated, “to be grieved,” literally means to cause someone to be distressed, sorrowful or sad.

There is a beauty in this though, I think. The beauty is in the idea that though we rejoice in our living hope, that doesn’t mean that we cannot be distressed or sad when times are tough and when things that we perceive are bad happen to us or those we love. To grin and bear it is lost in this thought. Nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to smile despite the pain, you don’t want to look sad because the Lord doesn’t like frowny faces. There is no faking it, being what the old song calls, “happy plastic people, under shiny plastic steeples.”

Peter is describing the reality of the effects of various trials upon us: grief, sadness, and distress, but yet we still rejoice.

We rejoice, not only in the promise of our living hope, but also in how Peter describes the various trials. Notice the two things that he says about our being grieved by various trials: “for a little while,” and “If necessary.”

The phrase, “For a little while,” should give us hope because we can confidently expect the trials to be temporary. There is no more explaining to do here, the Greek doesn’t hold any secrets here, our trials, no matter how severe, are temporary.

Perhaps our ideas about what is temporary need some adjustment though.

Let me ask you this, because we are all experts at experiencing trials in our lives, if a trial lasts your whole life, is it still temporary? If you’ve dealt with a birth defect or degenerative condition, or some other health challenge that won’t ever just go away, is that trial temporary?

If you have a living hope of a heavenly inheritance and protection by God through faith in Jesus Christ, the simple answer is: yes, that trial is temporary, the trial itself will not follow you into your eternal, heavenly inheritance. 

What will follow you into eternity are the effects of the trial, how that trial shaped you.

The second phrase Peter uses to describe the various trials builds on that thought, the phrase, “if necessary.”

The scholars say that the phrase, “if necessary,” supposes that the trials are temporary as well, and that their lengths and severity have been declared by God. They won’t last one minute more than is necessary.

The phrase, “if necessary,” also points to one major idea, that, if we think about it, we all probably hate: Our trials are necessary. But there is also comfort in that thought, that our trials serve a purpose.

Water, if left alone, will lie perfectly still, but the slightest tremor disturbs the surface. And when a stream flows, every rock or branch in the water directs the path that it flows. Trials function in the same way, sometimes, we experience trials to alter our path.

Growing up, I remember that my Pastor, George Waterman used to say, problems are guidelines not stop signs. This is the same idea, sometimes our trials are necessary. Though they can be difficult, there is still comfort available to us in that idea.

So, being encouraged by our living hope of an eternal, heavenly inheritance, and that God the Father is shielding us, knowing that our trials are temporary, and from time to time necessary, I think it’s time we talked about what Peter meant by, “trials.”

When I think of what a trial is, I immediately think of some random problem or thing that goes sideways that appears just to make my life more difficult and irritate me, like having your hands full and your keys are in the wrong pocket, then catching your pocket on a doorknob when you’re already irritated about your keys, just to walk into your house to find that the cat threw up, and you knocked the stupid empty egg cartons off the shelf as you walked in for the thousandth time…

Well, that might qualify, but the word Peter used that is translated, “trial,” doesn’t mean, just some random difficulty or minor irritation. In fact, in my opinion, the word, “trial,” is a poor translation considering what the Greek word actually means, especially in the light of the purpose of them described in verse 7.

The word should really be: tests.

The words, “various trials,” literally mean, diverse attempts to learn the nature or character of someone or something by submitting such to thorough and extensive testing.

James uses the same word in James chapter one, verses two and three, when he says, “2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials [tests] of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

Even there, the word, “dokimion,” is translated both “trial” and “testing.”

In the Old Testament, Job, who was the king of enduring trials said in Job 23:10, But [God] knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

So the difficulties that we face are not just random occurrences of things that we think are bad, but they actually have purpose.

James says that they produce steadfastness, the ability to stand firm in hard times, Hebrews 12:11 says that trials and testing are for our discipline and produce fruit, 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

We’ve sung the song over the last few weeks, “Refiner’s Fire.” Purify my heart, let me be as gold, and precious silver, purify my heart, let me as gold, pure gold.

As gold is refined by fire, so is our faith. The heat of the fire separates the dross and alloys from gold, all the impurities rise to the top to be removed. The heat of testing exposes and separates from us the impurities of pride, self-reliance, and worldly wisdom, among a host of other impurities within our hearts. 

Our trials, our tests, tend to discourage us because we don’t see the purpose, and perhaps we never will, but if we can recognize that God is in the process of refining our faith we can rejoice in the face of trials like James said, we can rejoice in the face of discipline like Hebrews said because our testing will produce the fruit of righteousness and steadfastness, our precious faith will be refined as gold.

6 In [your heavenly, eternal inheritance] you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Amen

So Heavenly Minded We're No Earthly Good - 1 Peter 1:3-5 - March 21, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for March 21, 2021. We are meeting at the church with specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Covid-19 plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

 1 Peter 1:3-5 So Heavenly Minded We’re No Earthly Good

Good morning! We are in 1 Peter this morning, verses 3-9, page 1014 in the pew Bibles.

When we first began our study in 1 Peter, we talked a little bit about the author’s intent, what was Peter’s intent in writing this letter to the elect exiles of the dispersion, those Jewish Christians living in modern-day Turkey.

We discovered, as is written in 1 Peter 5:12 that his intent was, to: exhort and declare the grace of God and to instruct the church to stand firm in it, and in verses 3-9 we can see that purpose at work.

Peter’s purpose was to encourage the church. They had experienced and were experiencing trials and difficulties, and even greater difficulties were on the horizon. Nero was the Emperor of Rome and soon persecuting the church would be a policy of the State.

And though we face trials and difficulties at times, being burned at the stake to light the Emperor’s banquets is a long ways off for us. But that doesn’t free us from the burden of discouragement.

If Peter’s original intent was to encourage the church, that purpose remains for this letter, to encourage the church.

Let’s pray.

I am a born and bred New Englander (despite what my accent may indicate). And as a true new Englander I am intimately aware of the concept of hope, especially when it comes to the weather.

It works something like this: I hope it warms up soon so this snow will melt… I hope it doesn’t get too hot this summer… I hope this humidity breaks soon… I hope we have snow for Christmas… I hope this snow melts soon…

It’s a vicious cycle of dying hope, a constant source of discouragement. 

But our text for this morning is not like that, it speaks of a living hope for our encouragement. Let’s look at it together.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

If Peter’s intent was to encourage the church, I can’t think of a more fitting text than this to accomplish that work. If you’re in the business of designing inspirational coffee mugs and calendars this should absolutely be a go-to text for you.

Peter begins with worship. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is the One to be praised, He is worthy of praise. That is what is meant by the word, “blessed.” He is both the God of Jesus Christ and the Father of Jesus Christ. He is God to Jesus in His humanity, and He is Father to Jesus in His divinity, and He is worthy of praise.

The next phrase, according to His great mercy He has caused us to be born again…

“According to His great mercy,” 

This is the expression of the Father’s great kindness to us in our need. 

God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ caused us to be born again according to His great mercy, not that we deserved it or earned any good will from Him. This statement is a reminder that in our sinfulness we did not deserve to be born again but God showed great kindness to us in our great need and so He caused us to be born again.

Even the phrase, “born again,” is a great encouragement to us. It is a reminder that we have been changed from one thing to a completely different kind of thing.

Peter is remembering Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

What we were before was what Paul called in Ephesians 2:3, “children of wrath,” but according to God’s great mercy he caused us to be born again and now we are what 2 Corinthians 5:17calls, “a new creation.”

But He didn’t just cause us to be born again and then left to figure life out on our own or to cling to the empty and dying hopes of the world, left hoping that the weather is better tomorrow, According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope…

A living hope is a hope that is the opposite of the hopes of this dying world that simply seeks to make this life better for itself but still ends in death. Living hope has life in itself, it gives life, and has life as its object. That life is eternal life that is only available to us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The living hope that God the Father has caused us to be born again into is not just hope for this life. A life of faith in Jesus is not just so we can have some crutch to lean on to get us through hard times with a dying, worldly hope that things will eventually get better.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 15:19, If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people to be most pitied.

Jesus did not die and rise to life simply to make this life easier, He didn’t do all that to make us better people. Jesus died and rose again to give us a living hope beyond this world and this life.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

I don’t know what kind of inheritance you have waiting for you here on earth, whether it’s houses or lands or money or a sweet Kubota tractor, or what you hope to leave behind to your children or grandchildren, but the inheritance that is kept in heaven for us who have faith in the Lord Jesus is not subject to the same forces as those things.

Houses, lands, money, and property is all temporary, it won’t last forever no matter how good a care you take of it. The stuff of this earth is all tainted by sin and its effects. Just as a valuable classic car will eventually rust way to nothing so will all these other earthly things but the inheritance that is kept in heaven is unfading.

JP Lange wrote, “While here below in the strange country of our pilgrimage all possessions are insecure, the inheritance above is in the surest custody, for it is in the almighty hand of God. As it has been designed and prepared for believers from everlasting, so it is perpetually kept; and believers, on the other hand, are kept for it, so that they can in no way lose it.”

That’s what Peter means when he says, [an inheritance] kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Our inheritance is kept by God in heaven, it is not subject to decay and death, it is untainted by sin and its effects, and it will forever retain its wonderful character. And the same God that keeps it, keeps us.

We are guarded by God’s power, shielded, protected by the garrison through faith. 

“Faith is the means in which salvation is procured and constantly kept up, acknowledging Jesus as Messiah and confidently surrendering to Him.”

It’s been said that, “It is God’s power that saves us from our enemies, and it is His patience that saves us from ourselves.”

So we are guarded by God’s power through faith, but what does it mean to be guarded for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time? Aren’t we already saved through faith in Jesus Christ?

Yes, we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. There is no second salvation, there is only the completion of our salvation.

What Peter means by “the last time” is the return of Christ when this time will end, the age of the church will become the never-ending age of the Kingdom of God. Sin and death and the grave will be destroyed as will Satan and his demons. And we will take possession of our inheritance in God’s eternal kingdom.

Martin Luther wrote, “The inheritance to which you are ordained, has been acquired long since and prepared from the beginning of the world, but lies as yet concealed, covered and sealed; but in a short time, it will be opened in a moment and disclosed, so that we may see it.”

I had every intention of finishing this paragraph but I’m going to leave it there at verse five.

Brothers and sisters, there is no such thing as being so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. The thoughts of what awaits us at the return of Christ should encourage our hearts and lift our spirits, reminding us that this world is not our home, we are citizens of a heavenly kingdom and children of the Heavenly King. 

Next time we’ll look at how these thoughts should hold us up when we face difficulties in this life, but for now let’s beencouraged by these words…

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  

Amen.

Key Words - 1 Peter 1:1-2 - March 14, 2021

These are the Sermon Notes for March 14, 2021. We are meeting at the church with specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Covid-19 plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

 1 Peter 1:1-2 Key Words

Good morning! Now it’s time to dig into 1 Peter! We are going to be looking at 1 Peter 1:1-2 this morning, page 1014 in the pew Bibles.

Last week we considered the original author, his original audience, and his intent in writing. Here in these verses all three are in view and Peter’s intent of comforting and encouraging the church is very clear. There is some very deep and rich theology in these two verses and we are going to focus on the key words of this brief text and examine their meanings and implications for us as Christians in hopes that Peter’s intent will be effective and we will be comforted and encouraged.

So let’s look at the text together.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, 

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Let’s pray.

So last week we talked about Peter, the author of this epistle, or letter. We walked with him through the Gospel of Mark and saw his boldness and brashness, we walked with him through his many failures. There is a huge difference between the Peter in the Gospels and the Peter we see here, and that is the Holy Spirit. But there was a subtle difference in how I referred to Peter and the others throughout our study in Mark and how Peter refers to himself in the opening line of this letter.

Do you know what it is?

Throughout the study in Mark I tried hard to consistently refer to Peter and the rest of the Twelve as “the disciples,” never, “the Apostles.” The reason being is that they weren’t Apostles yet.

So what’s the difference? Thanks for asking!

A disciple is a student, a learner. An Apostle is one who is sent and speaks on behalf of the sender Jesus Christ. Peter and the remaining ten disciples were made Apostles when Jesus gave them His Great Commission, based on His authority to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that He commanded.

Peter was no longer merely a disciple, he was an Apostle.

Last week we touched briefly on the original audience of this letter, its original recipients, the elect exiles of the dispersion. 

The word, “exiles,” has also been translated as, foreigners, pilgrims, and sojourners. This referred to Jewish Christians living outside of Israel. And though we may not be children of Abraham by our own blood, we can relate to this idea because we are children of Abraham by Christ’s blood and living as foreigners here in this world. God’s eternal kingdom is our home. Here and now, in this life and this world, we are just passing through.

It’s the sticky word, “elect,” that I want to focus on first. Who are the elect in a general sense, and what does it mean to be elect? 

First, who are the elect? In the New Testament, the elect are all those people who belong, or will belong, to the purified people of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible calls these people, “the church.” The world may have other ideas about what the church is, but as far as the Word of God is concerned, the church, the elect, are all those who trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sin and adoption into God’s family.

The sticky word, “elect,” is connected to the other sticky word, “foreknowledge.” 

To be elect means to be chosen, in this case, chosen by God for salvation and inclusion in the church.

JP Lange wrote, “The final cause of this election is free grace, its end salvation, and its condition penitent faith.”

This election by God has nothing to do with our own merits or our own worth, we weren’t elected because God needed what we had to offer as if He was cooking a cosmic stew. There are no conditions to our election, God chose us because He chose us, plain and simple.

This is the second of the five points of Calvinism, “unconditional election.”

And though our election is not based on what we bring to the table, it is also not random, it is according to God’s foreknowledge. Election and foreknowledge are indelibly linked.

Foreknowledge doesn’t simply mean that God knew beforehand, as our English word would imply, it means that God decided and decreed before we were created. As Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

 Jesus said in John 10:14, “I know my own and my own know me.”

Paul wrote in Romans 8:29-30, “ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

God the Father has a definite plan and we, those who believe in Him, are a part of it.

And that’s another beautiful part of these key words here in these opening verses, the comfort and encouragement that comes from the work of the Trininty.

It starts with the election and foreknowledge of God our Father, His plan.

Next, the sanctification of the Spirit.

What does, “sanctification,” mean? Sanctification is consecration, dedication to God, to be made holy, set apart. This is the gracious work of the Holy Spirit to put the Father’s choice and purpose in election into effect.

Hebrews 10:10 says, “…by [God’s] will we have been sanctified [been made holy, separated for God’s use] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

John Calvin put it beautifully, “[Sanctification is] the application of the merit of the Son to the soul by the gospel.”

We grow in our knowledge of and walk with Christ, we learn to trust Him more, we grow in wisdom and strength by the power of the Holy Spirit, but when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, when we turn from our sin and put our trust in Him, we are set apart from the rest of the world, we are dragged out of the muck and mire and our feet are set upon the rock. We are not of this world and we shouldn’t live as if we are. According to the foreknowledge of God the Father we are set apart as belonging to Him by the Holy Spirit.

Why were we set apart? For obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood.

Here is the rest of the Trinity, Jesus, the eternal Son of God. 

We were chosen by God the Father according to His will and purpose, not according to our own merits, we were set apart from the world by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit and now we are led and instructed by Jesus Christ having been sprinkled by His blood.

There are two parts here for Jesus, two key words, obedience and sprinkling.

First, obedience, what does that mean? Here are the rules. Follow them. Is that it? Obedience is much richer than that, at least in this context.

Obedience consists of faith and flows from faith. Faith claims obedience as its fruit while faith itself is obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Obedience means to believe the truth and perform the duties which it imposes on us.

Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments…” 

In our day it is much more popular to just say you love Jesus than to prove it by following His commandments. 

But the temptation also is to hyper-interpret Jesus’ commandments and make up rules to make absolute sure no one ever sins or has anything to do with this lost and dying world forcing the church to keep the instrument of their salvation private and clean behind glass.

Obedience to Christ demands the opposite, it consists of faith and flows from faith, by faith we submit to His authority and obey His instruction.

JP Lange wrote, “It is only by the obedience of faith and our firm purpose to subject ourselves to the claims of the Divine Law, that we are made partakers of the atoning virtue of the blood of Jesus.”

And that points to “the sprinkling with His blood.”

Peter is referring here to Moses at the foot of mount Sinai in Exodus 24, and his Jewish audience would understand that. In Leviticus the Lord instructed how the Ark and the altar and the lampstands and the holy instruments in the Temple were to be sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice for purification, but only in Exodus 24 are the people themselves sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice.

3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

The blood of the covenant was not sprinkled on the people until they declared that they were ready to comply with the demands of the Divine Law. And now, in the New Covenant, it’s not Moses that applies the blood but the Holy Spirit when we declare that we are ready to comply with the demands of obedience to Jesus Christ.

And finally the last words, “may grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

Grace: the free gift of God the Father, the gift of justification, of salvation, God’s unmerited favor. We didn’t earn it and we don’t deserve it. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

We are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Grace brings peace and peace testifies of grace.

Peace with God and in God.

Martin Luther wrote, “Peace is the favor of God which now begins in us but must work more and more and multiply unto death. If a man knows and believes in a gracious God, he has Him; his heart finds peace, and he fears neither the world nor the devil, for he knows that God, who controls all things, is his friend, and will deliver him from death, hell, and all calamity; therefore his confidence is full of peace and joy. This is what Peter desires for all believers; it is a right Christian salutation, with which all Christians should greet one another.”

So, to you, elect exiles in CrossRoads Church, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for the sprinkling with His blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Amen