FIRST PETER 1:9

Peter is on the subject of what a Christian has to rejoice about. You may be suffering great trials of some kind, but you always have at least this one thing to rejoice about. The Bible says in First Peter 1:9, “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” The most important thing to thank God for is the salvation of our souls. This is the same message that Jesus Himself gave. Jesus said in Luke 10:20, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” Jesus also made it very clear that the most important issue for any human being is the question of one’s eternal destiny. Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” If you have been saved through faith in Christ, rejoice. Compared to this, anything else that may happen to you in life is of little importance.

Not only are we blessed because we have the salvation of our souls, but we are also blessed because of the things that we know about salvation and that we know about Christ that other generations have not known. Peter wrote by the Holy Spirit in First Peter 1:10, “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.” Undoubtedly Peter learned this from Jesus. Jesus said the very same thing in Luke 10:24: “For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”

We live in the age of grace. What a wonderful time to be alive. Great and mighty and blessed things have been revealed to the children of God that the best of men in other ages could not understand and could not know. What a privilege we have! How blessed we are to know the things that we know about Jesus and His salvation and His grace! Of course, this also shows how the sovereignty of God is involved in the affairs of men. There are some things that are only going to happen if God chooses for them to happen. He has His ways and His reasons. The prophets of old “inquired and searched diligently,” but what they wanted to know was not revealed to them. They wanted to know more about the Messiah and about this great salvation, but they only had a few small details. We have the Word of God in its entirety. We have knowledge of the life of Christ and more of the marvelous things that He did and taught.

The prophets of old would have given anything to know what we know. But they were not allowed because it was not God’s will for them. They know now, but they did not know while they were on the earth. Even in the age in which we live, there are those who would like to know more about the events leading up to the return of Christ, but they cannot know them. Those things are reserved for those for whom they are being prepared. The apostles wanted to know more about the return of Christ, but Jesus said to them in Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” One of the reasons that some people go into really crazy things when they attempt to teach prophesy is that they want to teach things and to know things that just have not been revealed for our age. Stick to the things that God has revealed in His Word. That is the message that He wants you to teach.

Concerning the things that were revealed to the prophets of old, the Bible says in First Peter 1:11, “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” They knew that the Messiah would suffer, but they did not know when it would happen. For example, the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53:4-5, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” They knew that the Messiah would suffer, but many of the details concerning that suffering they did not know. They did not even know the matchless name of Jesus. That important detail was not revealed until an angel spoke to Mary and said in Luke 1:31, “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.”

Peter was writing to believers who were suffering. They were “strangers scattered.” Therefore, we should notice that First Peter 1:11 mentioned the “sufferings of Christ” and the fact that something followed the sufferings: “glory.” That same thing will happen in the life of every believer. There will be trials, but blessed are those who endure the trials because the glory that will be given them will far outweigh whatever burden God gives them for this life. The sufferings are for a short time. The glory is forever.

First Peter 1:12, “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.” God has a plan. The things that God allows to happen to you are for a reason, and probably you have no idea of what the reason is. That is the way God works. He promises that if we follow Him, He will use us. But the truth is that much of the time we do not really know how He is using us. Undoubtedly it is better that way because no human gets the glory that only God should get. Things were revealed to the prophets of old, but many of the things that were revealed to them were not even for them to understand: those revelations were for other generations. They never saw the best results of their service to God. That same principle is true in regards to sufferings. Often we do not know why, but we can be assured that somehow it is a part of God’s plan. But whether you know the reason or not, remember what Paul said in Romans 8:18 concerning the things that he suffered in the plan of God, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

The great privilege that we have is emphasized once again in First Peter 1:11 when it says that the gospel is something that “the angels desire to look into.” We were already told that the prophets of old desired to know about this gospel of Christ, but it was not revealed to them. The angels cannot understand the gospel the way that we can perhaps because they cannot experience it. Only a sinner saved by grace can appreciate fully what Christ did in giving him salvation. Only a sinner saved by grace could sing the words, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” An angel cannot sing those words or know what they mean because an angel was never a “wretch.”

Peter wrote in First Peter 1:14, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Many people have appeared to hope for a time, but then fell away from the hope of the gospel. At some time in your life, the things that happen to you may be so terrible that you give up hope. That is what the devil wants to happen. To keep that from happening we must remain focused on Christ. We must look back to two events: 1. the death of Christ on the cross for our sins, 2. the salvation that Jesus gave to each one of us who truly bowed at His feet for the forgiveness of sin. We must also look forward. We must look forward beyond this life and beyond the sufferings and disappointments of this life. We must look to Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith. He has already given to us His grace, but there are yet more things to come that are a part of His grace, especially the glory that we will share when we see Him face to face at His appearing.

One reason that people give up is because they begin to think that the trouble and sorrow will never end. Yes, sufferings will come. “They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” “In the world you shall have tribulation.” But sufferings will also end. That is what Jesus was talking about when He said in Matthew 10:22, “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” In Matthew 24:12-13 Jesus also said about the last days in which we are now living, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Jesus was not saying that we must endure to the end to have our souls saved. He was saying that we must endure to the end of whatever we are suffering, because that is God’s way to get the victory over whatever we are suffering. Too many people take things into their own hands or simply give up instead of enduring to the end. Enduring to the end is the only option for a believer who wants to continue to follow Jesus Christ: “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end…”

Peter continues with this theme in First Peter 1:14 and says, “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.” The word that is translated “fashioning” is used one other place in the New Testament: Romans 12:2 that says, “And be not conformed to this world…” You have fashioned yourself a certain way when you have seen another’s way and have patterned your own behavior after it. Notice that the motivation to pattern yourself in this ungodly way is your own lusts.

According to the Holy Spirit as He spoke through Peter, a human being will do one of two things. A human being will either pattern himself according to the ungodly behaviors around him, or else a human being will be “obedient” to God. The word that is translated “obedient” means “give ear to, listen, give heed to.” You will either give heed to the worldly people around you or you will give heed to the voice of God as it is revealed through the Word of God. Notice that Peter tells us to be “obedient children.” We are already children if we are the children of God having been saved by faith in Christ. This phrase “obedient children” implies that there is another type of children: “disobedient children.” What determines if a child is an obedient child or a disobedient child? The child will determine the issue by his or her own decisions.God wants all of His children to be obedient children, but they are not all obedient. Some children are disobedient children because they choose to be that. Only one of the Ten Commandments is concerning the parent-child relationship, and it gives a commandment to the child, not to the parent. It says, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” Ephesians 6:1-2 refers to this commandment and says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise.”

If you are a child of God, seek out His teachings for the purpose of following them. Do that because you are a child of God, and also do that because First Peter 1:15 says, “But as he which has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.” The phrase that is translated “manner of conversation” means “walk” or “life-style” or “behavior.” The idea is this: as you go through life, you may turn to the left or to the right, but whatever way you go, make sure you do the right thing and make sure you do things God’s way. In First Peter 1:15 pay close attention to the word “all” in the phrase “all manner of conversation.” The life that Jesus has called you to has the highest of all standards. There can be no excuses. No matter what anyone else does, and no matter what are your weaknesses, God wants you to be holy in every area of your life and in everything that you do. Are you? If not, you need to repent and confess your sins so that you can be in fellowship with the Savior once again.

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