Joy - 1 Peter 1:8

Good evening. In the 1870s, there was a man, a lawyer and a businessman who lived in Chicago. This man could probably be referred to as the modern day Job. He had a wife, five kids, and a full and successful life by any worldly metric. But starting in 1871, he went through a series of personal tragedies and trials. Firstly, in 1871, his son died of pneumonia. And in the same year, one of his properties was lost in the Great Chicago Fire. And two years later, he lost his four remaining daughters to a sinking ship in the Atlantic Ocean. His wife and his daughters had been sailing across the Atlantic to Europe, and four days into their voyage, their ship collided with another. And within a matter of minutes, more than 200 passengers, including the man's four daughters, sank beneath the surface with the ship. His wife survived, and upon hearing the news from her, the businessman left Chicago and sailed across the Atlantic to join her to meet his grieving wife. This man's name was Horatio Spafford. And Mr. Spafford, as he sailed across sea waters where his daughters had perished, wrote the words to a cherished hymn that we still sing today. A hymn that expresses joy and bliss in Christ amidst a sea of suffering. These are his words. when peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh, my soul. Now this is the kind of joy that we as Christians possess. This is the kind of joy that we will think about today. And this joy is not a fleeting feeling of happiness that's dependent on circumstances, but it's a lasting cheerfulness or bliss or a calm delight that comes from believing in God and his promises. Mr. Spafford possessed the kind of joy that Peter describes here in 1 Peter 1 verse 8. Here, Peter is writing to Christians who are under persecution and suffering for their faith. And he writes, though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. And from this verse, we'll see that we as Christians possess an unshakable joy that comes from simply believing in Christ and looking ahead to our future salvation. We as Christians possess an unshakable joy that comes from simply believing in Christ and looking ahead to our future salvation. And there are three observations we can make from this verse that show us that this is true. Firstly, we'll see that joy is the fruit of faith. This joy looks to the future and it is ineffable and firm. So joy is the fruit of faith. Our joy looks to the future and our joy is ineffable and firm. Now Peter writes, though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice. Now there are two coupled actions here or two verbs that we see, believing in Christ and rejoicing. And what's interesting is that Peter isn't commanding his readers to rejoice or to work up within themselves some sort of joy, but he's commending it. He states it as a matter of fact that they are presently rejoicing. Joy is present with their faith in the same way peaches are found on a peach tree. It's supposed to be there. And this is because joy is a fruit of this spirit. So joy is not something that we generate within ourselves, but rather it is the result of the regenerative and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in us. Joy is a virtue that we are born again with. And being regenerated, we then see him, believe in him, and are justified and united to Christ. And being united to Christ the vine, we as the branches then bear fruit. We produce fruit that buds when we're born again, but it grows, matures, and ripens as we grow in Christ. So joy is present with faith here in 1 Peter 1.8, because joy is a fruit of the faith that unites us to Christ. So if we want to pursue joy and grow in joy, we must first simply believe. We must first simply believe in him. We don't have to work up within ourselves some fleeting emotion of happiness. We must simply look to Christ and believe in him. Lasting joy originates from believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this gospel is great news for us, right? Us sinners, because it is the news that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. For God so loved us, loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And as Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. So if we believe this, not only can we rejoice in the fact that he has come once, and has given himself as an offering once for all for all of our sins, we can rejoice as we look ahead to his return, when he will save us who are eagerly waiting for him. And we see this in 1 Peter 1 8. We see that this is a joy that looks to the future. Peter says these Christians rejoice though they do not now see him. And I think the key word here is the word now. It implies that though we do not now see Christ we will one day. He's promised to return and we like Peter's audience can rejoice in that day when we look ahead in faith to our future salvation when Christ returns. And Peter gives us an abundance of things to look forward to throughout chapter one of his letter. Here he reminds his persecuted readers of their heavenly inheritance, the sum total of all that God has promised us who believe in Christ. And he refers to Christians as elect exiles in verse one. And this is who we are. We are strangers and exiles on the earth seeking a better and heavenly country. Christians are by definition people who look forward to entering our promised land. And we can rejoice when we look ahead to that land, though we do not see it now. Look at Revelation 22 and 22, or 21 and 22 when you get home. Look at what God tells us is ahead of us who believe in him. We will dwell in a new heaven and a new earth. We will dwell in a holy city whose designer and builder is God. And there, the dwelling place of God will be with us, and we will dwell with God. And God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for these things will have passed away." We can also look ahead to the future and rejoice in the fact that we will see our Lord face to face. And we look forward to seeing him because we love him, right? Verse 8 begins with Peter writing that though we have not seen him, we love him. And though we do not now see him, we will one day see his face. And this is great cause for joy. People like Moses have asked God to see his glory and could only see God's hind parts lest he die. The holiness of God would have incinerated Moses, a sinful man. But we who believe in Christ have the hope and the expectation that we will see his face with our very own glorified eyes. And one day we will see the one who sacrificed himself for us, our savior, our king, our great high priest, our friend, our beloved. We'll see him. We will see our God. And we will no longer see in a mirror dimly. We will no longer know him partly, but we'll know him fully, even as we have been fully known. We will see him face to face and dwell with him forever. So when we're in trials, we must look ahead to Christ's return and the inheritance that awaits us. John Calvin says of our inheritance that we do not have the full enjoyment of it at present, but we walk in hope. And though we do not see the thing as if it were present, we see it by faith. Although then, the world gives itself liberty to trample us underfoot, although the Lord humbles us in such a way that it may seem that we are sheep appointed to the slaughter, yet we are not destitute of a good remedy. In seeing that the Holy Spirit reigns in our hearts, we have something for which to give praise even in the midst of all of our trials. Therefore, we should rejoice, give thanks, be content, and wait. So Christian joy looks to the future. And this joy that is founded in faith and looks to the future, Peter tells us, is ineffable and firm. Peter writes that Christians rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. Peter says that Christian joy is ineffable. It is too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words. And this is because it does not originate from within us, right? Joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is a divine joy. And as a divine joy that's alien to us, it's a joy unspeakable. It's a joy beyond the scope of human expression. And as a divine joy, it is a joy filled with glory. And by glory, we mean weight, majesty, and heaviness. This joy is full of weight. And being full of weight, it's a joy that cannot be shaken. And so it is majestic and brings glory to the God who plants and prunes it. This joy flows from faith, we see in 1 Peter, that is tested to be genuine through various trials. And rooted in a steadfast faith, Christian joy stands firm amidst trials. And while this joy might be inexpressible, it should be exhibited. The word rejoice here is a verb. It's acted out and exhibited. And when it's acted out, we see its full majesty and strength. We see the weight of Christian joy when men like Horatio Spafford write hymns like it as well, even while grieving the death of his four daughters. We see the glory of this joy when Paul and Silas sing praises and hymns to God, even while in a Macedonian prison. And this joy lasted to the end of Paul's life. Paul in second Timothy seems to anticipate that he's about to die. And in this context, he writes, the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I finished the race. I've kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Paul, even as he was about to pass, looked ahead to his salvation and his vindication at Christ's return. And looking ahead, he found joy. And yes, Paul suffered greatly for Christ. He was imprisoned. beaten, stoned, and whipped, and all the more. And no doubt he felt the pain of all of his trials. But his joy did not falter. It stood firm to the end. Paul is the man that says that he does not consider that the sufferings of this present time are worthy of comparison with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Just as Peter is calling his readers and us to do, Paul looked ahead in faith amidst trials to what will be revealed and found joy. This joy is not just Paul's or Mr. Spafford's, but this joy is ours. We also possess the same kind of joy because we share the same salvation and the same faith and the same God. We possess an unshakable joy that comes from simply believing in Christ and looking ahead to his return. So if we want joy, we must first simply believe. Believe in Christ. Believe in his gospel. And then believing, we must look ahead. Look ahead to his return like Paul. We must endure the race we have here under the sun. But while we run, we can look ahead to the day where the Lord will award us a crown of righteousness and to all of us who have loved his appearing. And by believing and looking ahead in faith, our joy will stand firm. It is unshakable, weighty, and full of glory. Let us therefore rejoice. Please pray with me. Father, we thank you for your great love to us, your great salvation for us sinners who have hated you, Father, we find joy in this simple truth that Christ Jesus came to save sinners. Father, we rejoice that though we have sinned, you have loved us and promised us the hope of eternal life. And in that world that is to come, you have promised to rid the world of all that gives us grief. There will be no more tears, no more mourning, no more death, no more pain. But we will behold and see you face to face. Father, help us to look ahead to these things as we live our lives here under the sun. Help us to look ahead and rejoice for these things are trustworthy and true. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.