Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from 1 Pet. 1. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Most of us begin thinking of God’s gift of eternal life in the context of coming to grips with the fact of death, our own mortality. Death is terribly frightening for most people, and so we think it a wonderful thing that we “WILL” have eternal life. We don’t look at it as a current possession, but something that we will hopefully have in the future.
- God’s Word speaks of “eternal life” a bit differently. It is hard for us to fathom – in view of the reality of death, but God’s Word speaks of eternal life as a present possession and reality for all who believe in Jesus. You remember what He said about this: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
- The ramification of thinking of eternal life as a present possession – that we who believe in Jesus “shall never die” is a dramatic change in our perspective. We no longer think of our existence in terms of a “normal” physical life expectancy, but we rather look simply at “being” forever. Yes, physical death will bring some changes to us, but nothing of real substance will change – because we have eternal life in Christ.
- This means that our principle concerns are not planning and implementing a “reasonable” plan for a certain period of “working years” and then a “retirement.” Rather, we are urged to look at our lives – from beginning to the end of physical life in this world and beyond, forever – as a constant opportunity to serve God. Our retirement, our “rest from our labors,” occurs when physical death occurs and we go to be with the Lord in His heavenly kingdom.
- This is the perspective from which Peter writes, and he assumes that his readers are of the same mind, that they already know that they have eternal life as a present possession. So his words of encouragement and instruction are essentially a description of how to “LIVE WITH ETERNAL LIFE” in our lifetime here on earth – which he describes as “the time of your exile” – a very interesting way of speaking. He first reminds us that:
I. All Are Ransomed In Christ’s Blood – And Christians, Believers, Know This – And Their Whole Life Is Informed And Conditioned By This Blessed Reality
Text: “Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers.”
A. This Ransom Is In Christ’s Precious Blood – It Is Not Of Our Work, But God’s Work, God’s Free And Gracious Gift to Us In Christ Jesus
Text: “you were ransomed . . . not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
B. This Ransom Was Foreknown And Planned By God Before Creation
Text: “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for your sake.”
Statement: Peter lifts us up from the mundane and common way of looking at things – our earthbound perspective. He describes in broad strokes the cosmic realities – that the Father foreknew that mankind would fall into sin, that He would send His Son to save the world, and that He would renew human nature and call men back to Himself with this gift of love. This is what you are called to know and believe as Christians – it is the most basic foundation of our being, our only hope, confidence, peace, and joy. We are washed and cleansed from all sin, and have eternal life by faith in Jesus.
Application: This reality is pressed upon us throughout God’s Word, and God’s Word seeks to conform our hearts and minds to this reality – but our sinful nature objects. Our sinful nature wants us to remain in an earthbound perspective, to live for today, to live for ourselves, to “hope” that maybe sometime in the future we might have newness of life and eternal life. Peter instead reminds us that the time we spend in this world is actually an “alien” existence for believers, a time of exile.
Transition: And this leads us to his next consideration, that:
II. Christians Have Faith And Hope In God
Text: “Christ was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through Him are believers in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
A. Such Faith And Hope In God, In His Gift Of Ransoming In Christ Jesus, Is Obedience To The Truth
Text: “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth.”
B. This Faith Is Worked In Us By The Imperishable And Eternal Word Of God, The Gospel of Jesus Christ – And It Is A Rebirth To Life, Eternal Life
Text: “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God. . . . And the Word of the Lord remains forever . . . this Word is the good news that was preached to you.”
Statement: So, God not only planned our redemption and ransoming from the beginning, He also brought us to faith in Jesus, which is being born again to new life, eternal life. This He accomplishes by means of His own Word, a living, abiding, and eternal Word of good news!
Application: Such faith and hope in God, in His Word, changes the way that we look at ourselves and our lives. Though all flesh is like grass and withers and falls, God’s Word and those who receive it “remain forever.” To be “LIVING WITH ETERNAL LIFE” we must first know that we have it – and then allow that realization to have its consequences on our thinking and our living.
Transition: So Peter describes the ramifications of faith and “LIVING WITH ETERNAL LIFE”:
III. Knowing That We Have Eternal Life We Live Reverently In View Of God’s Blessed Love
A. No Longer Walking In The Futile Ways Of Sin
Text: “Conduct yourselves with fear [reverence] throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers.”
B. Instead, We Walk In Brotherly Love And A Pure Heart
Text: “You have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love; love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”
Statement: Living in the knowledge that we have eternal life resets our hearts and minds, so that we are no longer focused on common earthly and futile things, but now we are focused on truth and sincere and earnest love for others. This is the natural dynamic of “LIVING WITH ETERNAL LIFE” – we are transformed into the image of the One Who has given us this gift, God Himself, and “God is love.” Jesus also is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
Application: Again, this is the gift of God – by means of His Word. We are acted upon – we are “born again,” we are involved though we are passive at the onset; but the consequent effect is life, real human life and being, eternal life. Another way of putting this is “we love, because He first loved us.”
Conclusion: So in the gift of God in Christ Jesus, His ransom and salvation, we are enlightened with a new perspective on our lives here in this world. Our timeline has been adjusted, and along with this, our values, goals, objectives, and purposes have changed. We live not in “potentiality,” but in reality – what God has wrought for us and worked in us in Christ Jesus.
I’m sorry to say that many Christians never really take time to think about these things, and so they spend a good deal of their earthly lives in “the futile ways inherited from our forefathers.” Peter urges us to not cheat ourselves in this way, but to fully embrace the blessings of the kingdom, and to allow God’s love and blessings to permeate our “living” and our “being.” The fact is, we can be “LIVING WITH ETERNAL LIFE,” and we can clearly understand the shape and nature of such a life. God grant it to us all, Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.