Christianity In A Nutshell
I Peter 1:8-9
Listen online at - https://www.facebook.com/Stockdalebaptist or http://www.stockdalebaptist.com/
- Several weeks ago Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) killed a bill on the floor of the senate by using a method that is called a "filibuster". This is a procedure where debate over a proposed piece of legislation is extended, allowing one or more members to delay or entirely prevent a vote on the proposal. It is sometimes referred to as "talking out a bill" or "talking a bill to death". Senator Paul spent 10 hours saying what could be summed up in 2 minutes. Of course that was his intended goal.
- But sometimes people have a tendency to take forever getting to the point of a conversation. They will inadvertently "talk a subject to death" and before they get their point across they have lost their audience. As a Pastor I have learned that you only have a short timeframe in which to grab hold of people's attention or you will lose them. When we share with an unbeliever what Christianity is all about, it is best to give them the heart of the message. We must sum it up and get to the point! In I Peter 1:8-9, With only 37 words, in 2 sentences Peter sums up the heart of Christianity. I would like to walk through these verses and consider "Christianity In A Nutshell"
- This phrase 'in a nutshell' speaks of anything that could be written in so few words that it would fit into a nutshell. It speaks of a conversation or speech that is brief and to the point. When it comes to the subject of Christianity there is no shortage of debate. When discussing the Bible you will hear many different views and opinions. There are questions that you may ask that there is just no answer to. There are certain subjects that are very difficult to understand. There are some very deep and often controversial subjects such as Calvinism, Dispensationalism, and Eschatology. But when it comes to what really matters...when it comes to the fundamentals of the faith, they are plain, clear and simple to understand! And we see those fundamentals in our selected text today. We see: Our Love For Christ ...Our Faith In Christ ...Our Joy Through Christ and ...Our Reward From Christ. We truly see "Christianity In A Nutshell"
- Look with me to verse 8 as we examine:
I. Our Love For Christ - 8a You love him even though you have never seen him.
- Peter saw something in these believers. He saw that they possessed a love for the Savior who they had not seen in the flesh. Peter had walked and talked with the Lord. He had physically touched him But these early Christians had only seen Jesus with eyes of faith. But their faith was so real that they possessed the same love as those who had spent time with Jesus while He was present upon the Earth. Though we have yet to see Christ with our physical eyes... we have seen Him! We have seen Him though the preaching of the Gospel.
- When Jesus was present upon the Earth there were multitudes who saw Him. But they didn't see Him for Who He was! John 1:11 tells us that "He came unto His own and His own received Him not". -- We have seen Jesus because God has shown Him to us! - 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- The people that we read about in the Bible did not know Jesus the way that we do. They did not have all of the information that we have.
1) The Wise Men, the Shepherds, Simeon and Anna got a glimpse of Christ as a babe.
2) The scribes in the Temple spent a brief amount of time with Him as a young child.
3) Peter's mother in law got to see Him shortly when He healed her.
4) Lazarus, Mary and Martha were close and special to Jesus but they did not see it all.
5) The deaf, the dumb, the blind, the lame, the demon possessed and the lepers saw certain aspects of His ministry.
- There are many accounts in the scriptures that describe the great miracles that Jesus performed in people's lives. But all of those people only had brief encounters with Jesus. Even the Apostles didn't see everything that we have seen, Consider: There were 3 occasions where Peter, James and John saw things that the other disciples did not see 1. Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead. 2. The transfiguration 3. The prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. -- When Jesus appeared after His resurrection Thomas missed out on that first appearance completely. Through the Gospels we have as much information (if not more) than the Apostles possessed as these things took place. We are privileged to see things that even the closest of Jesus' followers did not see.
- And it is through the Word of God that Christ has been revealed to us. It is because of the scriptures that we can know Him. And because we know Him, we love Him!! The Apostle John said that - "We love him, because he first loved us."(1 John 4:19) - It is because what we see in the bible that we see His love for us. Through the Word of God we are told that: He was born of a virgin, Lived a sinless life, Taught with authority, Performed countless miracles, Went to the cross, Laid down His life, Paid the ultimate sacrifice, Rose from the grave on the 3rd day!!
- He defeated Sin, Satan, Death, Hell and The Grave. After this He then ascended to Heaven, Sat down at the right hand of the Father, He has provided atonement for our sins, He is making intercession on our behalf. He has forgiven our sins, Saved our souls from Hell, Changed our lives, Provided eternal life and He has promised to come again to receive us.
- Because of the scriptures we know that He did all of this for us!! Because of the scriptures we have seen Him. Because of the scriptures we know Him and because we know Him ...we love Him. Because of what He has done for us ...we love Him. Because of our personal relationship with Him...We love Him!!! That my friend is the heart of Christianity! That is why Peter could proclaim that those these early Christians had not seen Him, they loved Him! That is why we can declare that thought we have not seen Him, we too love Him!!! We could not love Him if it were not for our faith in Him.
- This brings us to the second aspect of Christianity that I would like to consider:
II. Our Faith In Christ - 8b Though you do not see him now, you trust him;
- "yet believing" literally means to put your faith in. Though we do not see Him physically as of yet, we see Him with eyes of faith. Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 ¶Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Also in Hebrews 11 we are given several examples of people who had not seen the Christ but had faith in Him. In fact, these people lived before He was even born. We are told of the amazing acts of faith in the lives of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab Gideon, Samson, David and others. These people were saved by faith looking forward to the work of Christ! We are saved by faith...looking back at the finished work of Christ!
- The Christian life is a life of faith. Just think for a moment about the things that a Christian believes: The Christian believes that we were created by a God that we have never seen with our eyes. We believe that we were born in sin and destined for an eternity of torment in a place we have never seen. We believe that this God that we have never seen sent His Son that we have never seen to save us from the torture of the place that we have never seen. The Christian believes that God took on human flesh and was born of a virgin in a stable almost 2,000 years ago. We believe that this child grew up and lived a perfect life. We believe that He: gave blind their sight, made the deaf to hear, healed the sick & the lame, cast demons from possessed people. We believe that He raised the dead. We believe that He Himself, by His own power rose from the grave after physically being dead for 3 days. We believe that this same Jesus ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. We believe through the sacrifice of this Son of God who we have never seen, we can be saved from the torture of the place that we have never seen and spend eternity in a Heaven that we have never seen. We also believe that along with The Father we have never seen and The Son we have never seen, that there is a third entity called the Holy Spirit (who we have never seen) who abides within us and guides us through this life.
- It is no wonder the lost man thinks that we are crazy! But we are not... We do believe these things. And we have confidence that these things are true. And we believe this THROUGH FAITH! But even this faith that we possess is a gift from Almighty God! Because of our faith in Christ we are saved from our sins. Because of our faith in Christ we have assurance of our deliverance from hell. Because of our faith in Christ we have hope in eternal life. Because of our faith in Christ we look forward to a home in Heaven. And because of all of these things that our faith in Christ brings we have great joy through Christ! In fact, Peter says that it is inexpressible joy and it is full of glory!
Notice with me (still in verse 8):
III. Our Joy Through Christ - 8c and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
- Peter says that these believers were able to " rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy". Let us not forget the context of this chapter. Think for a moment about their current circumstances. In the previous verses Peter speaks of their present sufferings - 1 Peter 1:6 ¶Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations" - The reason that they could rejoice even in the midst of trials and suffering was because of their hope in Jesus Christ. Is it possible for a lost person to be happy for a while. This is because happiness depends on what happens. But true joy is only found in the Lord. Paul tells us to rejoice, but notice just how we can rejoice - Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice - Do you see that? our rejoicing in "in the Lord" ..."our joy is "in the Lord"
* Adrian Rogers said that "Happiness is like a thermometer, it only registers your conditions, joy is the thermostat that controls your conditions."
- Happiness will dissolve in the midst of fiery trials, but our joy can and will intensify in those same trials and sufferings. Peter describes Christian joy as "unspeakable" or "inexpressible" . It is not possible to fully describe or define the joy that we possess in Christ. But this joy in Christ motivates us to rejoice regardless of our circumstances. There is something wrong with a professing Christian who does not have joy. From what we read in scripture, a joyless Christian is a contradiction in terms. Jesus said to his disciples "these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you that your joy might be full." -- When we are truly "in Christ" we have that "full joy" and it is "unspeakable joy full of glory" even in the face of great difficulty.
* A Russian countess accepted the Lord Jesus as her Savior and was open about her testimony. The Tsar was displeased and threw her into prison. After 24 hours with the lowest level of Russian society, in the most miserable conditions imaginable, he ordered her brought into his presence. He smiled sarcastically and said, “Well, are you ready now to renounce your silly faith and come back to the pleasures of the court?” To his surprise, the countess smiled serenely and said, “I have known more real joy and more real happiness in one day in prison with Jesus than I have known in a lifetime in the courts of the Tsar.” No matter what you face in this life.... in Christ you can experience "joy unspeakable and full of glory".
* R. A. Torrey said - “There is more joy in Jesus in 24 hours than there is in the world in 365 days. (trust me) I have tried them both.”
- The Christian loves Jesus but only because He first loved us. We have faith in Christ but only because He has enabled us to. And because of these things we have joy though Christ.
- But as we examine Christianity a little further we see that it only gets better. Look with me to verse 9 as we see:
IV. Our Reward From Christ - v9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
- Here Peter declares that salvation is the outcome of our faith and our suffering. The reward for trusting Christ (having faith in Him) is the salvation of our souls. When you look at the tense of this verse it could be translated “presently receiving for yourselves the salvation of your soul.” The Christian already possesses salvation.But salvation is an act that is past, present and future.
1. Past - We have been delivered from the penalty of sin. 2. Present - We are currently being delivered from the power of sin. 3. Future - One day we will be delivered from the very presence of sin.
- The reward for our faith is salvation in Jesus Christ. Do you see what I see in this verse? Jesus has done all of the work. And the very faith that secures our salvation comes from Him. And then we get rewarded... we are rewarded for what He did! That is amazing.... THAT IS GRACE...THAT IS CHRISTIANITY... THAT IS JESUS!!! In these two verses Peter sums up the entirety of Christianity.He shows us "Christianity In A Nutshell": a. The Christian loves Jesus b. The Christian trusts Jesus c. The Christian has joy through Jesus d. The Christian is rewarded by Jesus
- We love Him though we have never seen Him. Though we do not see Him presently we trust Him. We can and should rejoice with a glorious inexpressible joy. The reward of this faith that we possess is the salvation of our souls. This message is important for each person here. These verses shows us that the Christian can and should rejoice even in the midst of suffering. And these verses show the lost person just how simple salvation really is. If you are trying to earn your way to Heaven, you are wasting your time. But Jesus paid the great debt and has made a way of salvation for you. Perhaps He is drawing you to Him today. Right now He is offering you access to this great salvation. If you will accept that offer, you will love Him even though you have never seen Him. He has been revealed in the scriptures and you can trust Him, through faith. When you come to know Him in the free pardon of sin, you can possess "joy unspeakable and full of glory"
And your faith will be rewarded with salvation. That my friend is "Christianity In A Nutshell"
