Born of the Spirit

Colin gave us a great historical context last week to set up the letter that Peter wrote to the churches in Asia Minor. The words that Peter wrote, through the Spirit, resonate with us, and in us, to this day and will continue to speak to humanity until the Day that all scripture is fulfilled. 

We are currently in a time of anxiety, separation, and trouble. No doubt that this is a storm. It is sure to be a sign of things to come but we have hope. A hope that is living and secure in Jesus Christ whose Spirit now dwells in our hearts as seal or guarantee of our faith. Peter will show us that this all begins with salvation. Today we will be reading 1 Peter 1:3-12. Please turn there with me as we read God’s Word together. You might want to grab a pen or pencil and some paper to take notes because we will be searching through a lot of scripture. 

1 Peter 1:3-12 (ESV)

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.

¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, ¹¹ inquiring what person or time^[a] the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

You may not know this, but this is my first sermon, so if I’m a little nervous you know why. Although, I am not afraid to speak God’s Word because the Holy Spirit has been speaking through men and women long before me and will continue after I die, unless of course the Lord returns in His glory before that time. That is why I can come with an attitude of confidence that if anything is going to be learned or taught, it will come from the Spirit. I acknowledge my place as a vessel in which the Holy Spirit resides. 

Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight.

Many of you know me well and know that I teach high school. Of the 3 subjects I teach, math is my favorite, Calculus to be exact. I get great joy out of helping my students understand how the math they have been learning their whole life can become rich and meaningful in ways they never thought about. They may know how to graph lines and solve equations, but I like to expand their understanding with a concept that is not from us, infinity. Infinity is a complex idea. Numbers can be infinitely large and infinitely small. The concept of infinity can radically change a math problem. Likewise, the concept of eternity can radically change a person’s life.

In Ecclesiastes 3:11 King Solomon said this: He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6:23 that: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. This raises an interesting point, if life can be eternal, then so can death. How often has someone’s life been affected by their mortality? Many ask what the meaning is to this life. When we die is that it or is there more? When the concept of infinity or eternity is realized, the implications in this life are both magnificent and terrifying.  Who has the power to place this reality into a person’s heart and use it to bring forth a new creation? A new creation is born of the Spirit and only God can do this.

We can understand this more clearly by looking at the 2 men who were born only of the Spirit, Adam and Jesus. The first, Adam, was created out of the dust of the earth and had life ‘breathed’ into him. Breath is closely related to the Spirit, so God breathed His Spirit into Adam and didn’t just make him physically alive, but spiritually alive as well. Ultimately, Adam chose sin and the desires of the flesh. He disregarded the commands of the Father, resulting in his, and our, separation from God. This separation represents our spiritual death. 

The second, Jesus, was conceived in the virgin Mary’s womb through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus chose righteousness and the desires of the Spirit. His obedience to the Father in that He committed no sin but took the punishment for the sins of all mankind resulted in unity and Oneness with the God. This unity represents the spiritual life that we can receive through faith alone. By His stripes we are healed. 

The rest of us are born of the flesh. We are born into the sin of Adam and separated from God, initially. Paul says in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The eternal life that Jesus has with the Father He graciously extends to every person. Jesus says in Luke 13:5 that “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” When confronted with our sin, we can run away, hide, blame others or we can repent and ask for forgiveness. 

There is a certain grief and anguish that leads to repentance in knowing that you have disobeyed, but there is freedom in knowing that we are forgiven. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians he speaks about the grief that his previous letter caused them because it confronted their sin. Paul says chapter 7:10 that godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. The salvation that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus is free but came it at a price. Peter knew Jesus intimately as the Messiah and experienced persecution firsthand because of his faith. Twice he was thrown in prison by those in opposition to Christ. The confidence he declares in this letter comes from the risen Lord who personally restored him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

In this text:

• Peter praises God for this amazing gift of salvation.
• He helps us understand that salvation is a life’s pursuit through many tests and trails.
• And he encourages us to have faith despite our circumstances. 

So, let’s dig in and start with verses 3 – 5.

1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV)

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.

Peter was obviously excited- notice the exclamation point. I’ll read it again. The exclamation point puts emphasis and importance on this sentence. I admit, sometimes I ignore the exclamation points when reading the Bible and this raises questions for me. Do I also ignore the exclamation points when I worship? Do I pray with exclamation points? This is all very challenging for me and we are just getting started.

Peter was excited to share his praise and rightly so. He is a witness to the amazing grace received through faith in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection to the right hand of the Father. Peter uses the words like ‘us’ and ‘you’ (saying that He -the Father has caused ‘us’ to be born again & that there is an inheritance that is kept in heaven for ‘you’). This draws us into his experience. He states that we, the saints, have been born again. This new birth, from the Spirit, has renewed and cleansed us and has set us apart for His purpose. This is the source of Peter’s praise and we share in it.

Let’s look closer at what Peter has to say about salvation in these verses. He says that the cause of salvation is God’s great mercy. Charles Spurgeon writes that “No other attribute could have helped us had mercy been refused. As we are by nature, justice condemns us, holiness frowns upon us, power crushes us, truth confirms the threatening of the law, and wrath fulfils it. It is from the mercy of our God that all our hopes begin.” 

God’s great mercy causes this rebirth through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. When confronted with the truth about our sin nature and our desperate need of a savior each person makes a choice to receive the forgiveness that comes only through Jesus’ redeeming work on the cross. To those who receive and believe, something happens on a divine level. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.” This is the miracle of salvation, the work only God can do. He adopts us into His family as children. He is a living God, that is why Peter says we are born into a living hope. There is hope! 

Some of you may be feeling hopeless today, but Peter along with all God’s children can declare that there is hope. With this hope there is also an expectation for our future. Our future is in Jesus who defeated death, rose from the grave and who has prepared a place for us in heaven. The expectation is that our place is reserved, and that no one can take it away from us- talk about security. To share in Christ’s resurrection and be in community with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is our inheritance. 

Peter expands upon who we are in Christ after our new birth. He says we are being guarded or shielded through faith. One of the names of God is Jehovah-Rohi which means The Lord is my Shepherd. Shepherds not only lead their flock, but also protect them. There are two prominent shepherds in scripture, David and Jesus. David was a good shepherd that cared for and protected his flock; He is known as a man after God’s own heart. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His flock and for all people. Listen to the words of King David in Psalm 18: 1-2 when he was delivered from the hands of Saul: 

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.
² The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” 

We are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Peter is telling us that salvation has a future aspect to it, that it is in a state of preparedness ready to be unveiled at just the right time or season. There is more to salvation than the initial conversion and new birth. Our salvation is a life’s pursuit. Alan Redpath, a British evangelist and pastor said it this way: “The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, but the making of a saint is the task of a lifetime.” 

When someone enters God’s family, they are saved, they are being saved and they will be saved. Again, there is an immediate result to our salvation, which is conversion or new birth, and there is a final result of our salvation, being declared righteous through Christ on the Day of judgement. The continuing aspect of our salvation between these two times is not a holiday or a waiting room, it is a battlefield or a war room. 

Let’s read on in verses 6-9:

1 Peter 1:6-9 (ESV)

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.

Peter is saying that we can rejoice in our salvation even though we encounter tests and trials because of it. The tests and trials are in fact ordained by God. In Judges 3, we read that after Israel was brought into the promised land, God in His infinite wisdom, allowed some of the Canaanites, Philistines, Sidonians and Hivites to remain in the land, why?, to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands. This shows us that when we are born into God’s family, it is not His intention to remove us from the world, but to keep us here as a vessel of His mercy and grace. It is so the genuineness of our faith may be tried and tested and when proven pure, may glorify God. 

Peter uses gold to show how precious our faith is. Gold, one of the most precious metals, melts when brought under extreme heat, 1,943 degrees Fahrenheit to be exact. If we were thrown into that heat, our physical bodies would certainly perish, but our faith can remain. 

Heat and fire are used to test and purify gold. When gold is melted, all its impurities will rise to the top and can be removed. Likewise, our faith is purified through the tests, trials and suffering of this life. All this is to bring praise and glory and honor to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. 

Eugene Peterson expresses it this way in The Message paraphrase: “Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.”

In a series written by J.R.R. Tolkien, called Lord of the Rings, there was a ring made of gold. The ring itself was not evil, but the will of the one who made it was. The ring drew out the evil in a person’s heart and tested their faith in what was good and true. The only way to remove this evil was to purify the ring in the fire from which it was created. In the closing scenes, as the gold ring was melting in the lava of mount doom, the evil will that was attached to it was released and burned in the fire and all who were under its control were set free. When the Lord removes our impurities through by fire of His presence, He is setting us free.

There are numerous verses in Scripture that help us understand more about the fire that will be used to test and purify our faith. I will read a few, but I suggest that you do some studying on your own, because this is an extremely rich topic.

Isaiah 48:10 (ESV)

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
    I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

Silver seems precious, so why not refine us as silver? Well, as I found out, it has a relatively low melting point, so what the verse is saying is that the heat the Lord will use to refine us will not be low. The word furnace references heat and the word affliction references suffering, and some translations use the word ‘chosen’ in place of ‘tried’. So, the last part of the verse could read, I have chosen you through how you suffer in the fire, so suffer well.

Proverbs 17:3 (ESV)

The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
    and the Lord tests hearts.

I had to look up what a crucible is. It’s a refining pot or a container used to melt substances at a high temperature, but it doesn’t get quite as hot as a furnace. The proverb is saying that different elements are tested and refined in different ways as fitting to their nature. Silver has a low melting point where gold’s is much higher. But the heart is made of something else and it can only be refined or tested by the Lord Himself. How we live out our salvation will show the true desires of our heart.

The next two passages are from the New testament:

1 Corinthians 3:13 (ESV)

each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day (capital D) will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 

Hebrews 12:28-29 (ESV)

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.

These passages show to how the fire or trials will be used to refine or test our faith. Each one’s work and worship, the physical expressions of our faith, will be revealed by fire; it is a test of who or what has our heart. This begs the question:

Are we offering God acceptable worship with reverence and awe through our current tests?

The tests, trials and suffering in this life can also give us a new, richer, understanding of scripture and God’s nature. In the storms of life God often reveals Himself to us. He revealed Himself to the disciples when he calmed the storm in Mark 4. After this event Jesus said to His disciples in verse 40, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

He strengthened, comforted, and protected Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who were thrown into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3. Since they would not bow down and serve the gods of Babylon, they were persecuted, but by walking out of the fire unharmed, the glory of God was made visible. I pray that the glory of God would be made visible by how the church walks out of this current storm.

I have a very personal storm that I walked through not too long ago. My dad, Randy Ray Mills Sr., passed away in 2014, at the age of 58. It all happened so fast. The hurt is still fresh, and I honestly don’t know if it will ever heal, this side of heaven. I will always deal with the fact that I never got to say ‘goodbye’ properly. My faith was tested in this moment. To say I struggled is an understatement, but God who is rich in mercy picked me up like the loving Father He is and carried me through it. God demonstrated His love to me in a personal way that opened my eyes. He showed me that even though my earthly father has passed, I have a heavenly Father who will never leave me or forsake me. The impact of this in my life is shown in how I am raising my two boys. I want them to know that they have a heavenly father that is so much better than me and will be with them after they leave my house. I know some of you may be struggling with different things in your own lives and I pray that this story brings you even a little hope.

We read in verse 8 that Peter’s intended audience for this letter was not witness to Jesus’ earthly ministry. Should that stop them, and us, from loving Him and believing in Him? Absolutely not, the prophets bore witness to the Messiah’s presence, as revealed by His Spirit, and believed beforehand the salvation that is given to us through Him. This same Spirit resides in us and should cause us to rejoice with a joy that is beyond words and filled with glory. Believers can rejoice because we are receiving what was promised, salvation, the goal of our faith. 

Peter writes in verses 10 -12:

1 Peter 1:10-12 (ESV)

¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, ¹¹ inquiring what person or time^[a] the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

So sought after is the salvation we have received that the prophets of old, who spoke about it, searched and asked God many questions about when and in whom it would be fulfilled. The Holy Spirit led them to know only a portion of what was going to come through Christ. Having this limited perspective, they did not truly understand how the sufferings of Jesus and the glory revealed through His work on the cross would come to be. But they believed anyway! To get a better understanding of how much was revealed to the old testament prophets about the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories, read Isaiah 52 & 53 and Daniel 8-12. 

With this in mind, how blessed we are to have the words of the Apostles, and saints, who spoke through the Spirit the very words Jesus gave them. After His resurrection, we read in Luke 24 that Jesus appeared to His disciples and beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. This is so special that even heavenly beings desire to know. 

Hebrews 11 is considered the faith hall of fame where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, along with Joseph, Moses, Rahab and others were commended for their faith. They kept the faith even though the good news of Jesus Christ had yet to be revealed. What did their faith look like and how does it serve us? Well, let’s see, starting in verse 33 we read of those:

who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵ Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. ³⁶ Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn in two,^[a] they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

³⁹ And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

 The same salvation that we receive through faith in Christ alone is their salvation as well. It was revealed to them that their faith would in some way make our faith a little easier and that our faith would be in the One who would make their faith perfect.

How does all this apply to us? Speaking for myself, this has given me a greater desire to lead my family in righteousness and make God known to my children in a way that goes beyond words. I know that it is not what is taught, but what is caught that children remember. I want my life to be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, so that when the fire comes, a fragrant aroma rises to heaven. I want my children to witness this in my life.

There are at least 2 other areas of application that we can take from this passage. The first is that when we come under a specific test or trial, we now have a testimony to share with others who may be going through the same thing. To comfort someone else who is going through a tough time is a perfect way to show the comfort that God has shown us. We are called to celebrate with our brothers and sisters who celebrate and to mourn with those who mourn. We can be self-centered and think that our stuff is all about us, or we can be God-centered and know that He puts stuff in our life so we can share it with others. That means sharing our experiences, resources, and ultimately our life. We are blessed to be a blessing, but it’s hard to bless others when we think the blessing is ours alone. Is there anything that you have gone through or are going through that God has put in your life that maybe for someone else?

The second area of application is how this living hope we received causes us to witness to God’s eternal glory even when we make mistakes. There is a reason that we are told to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling in Philippians 2. It is not something we do of ourselves, but what Christ does in us. How we react when we make a mistake will either harden our hearts to sin or soften it to the will of the Lord. I’m not talking about the physical reaction per se, but the spiritual reaction. If we despise sin like God does, then we will be quick to repent and turn away from it. We are being completed in Christ, but until the Day His work in our life is finished, we will make mistakes. For some, including myself, we find ourselves walking in the same sin over and over. Does this mean we are not good Christians? First, only God is good, and second, I will continue to repent and turn away from sin until the Lord sees fit to remove it from my life. We are arrogant to think that we have any power over sin without the work of the Holy Spirit. Is there anything in your life that you need to repent of? If so, stop the recording and do it now, don’t wait.

These are perilous times we live in, and it may be difficult to know how to navigate through these troubled waters. One of my favorite passages, Proverbs 3:5-6 says this: 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.

In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. For those who love and believe in Jesus Christ, salvation is our past (v. 3 “He has given us new birth,”), it is our present (v. 5 “being guarded through faith by God’s power,”), and it is our future (our v. 4 “inheritance,”, which will “be revealed in the last time,” v. 5, and is “the goal of our faith,” v.9). Our salvation is being realized moment by moment until the Day when it becomes fully known in Christ. What a great and terrible Day. If anyone hearing these words does not know where your future lies. If you are unsure of your eternity, know that you are loved by the God of creation. He loves you uniquely and desires a relationship with you. I can speak for everyone on our church staff that we would find no greater joy than to speak with you about the saving grace of our Father in heaven. New, eternal, life is available to all who declare with their mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead.