Peter Barnes | 1 Peter 1:6-9
SERMON NOTES
JOY IN TRIALS
1 Peter 1:6-9
– Psalm 30:5; 2 Cor.4:17.
1. We are tested in this life.
– 1:6-7; James 1:2-3. Job (Job 1-2), Abraham (Gen.22), and Peter (Luke 22:31-32) were all tested.
– Luke 8:13; Thomas Case: ‘Affliction is a furnace to try the faith of God’s people and to see God’s faithfulness in his promises.’
2. We are to rejoice in Christ.
– 1:6-8. Do you know trials as a Christian? I trust so. But do you also know joy?
– centred on someone they had not seen – John 20:29.
– one letter: ‘As a child I saw Christ in Bible pictures and as a result I never doubted the reality of His existence. When I taught children I found that they had problems in understanding the nature of an invisible God, but because I used the old Bible picture rolls, the reality of Jesus Christ was never questioned.’ That contains as many illogical claims as one could hope to compress into two sentences.
3. Faith leads to salvation.
– 1:7c; to Christ and to those who are in Christ.
– 1:9. Edmund Clowney: ‘Christians live in a future that is already present’. For all the trials, the joys far outweigh them.