Joyfully fixed upon a Supern..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good morning, everyone. Please open up your Bibles to First Peter.

First Peter chapter one. So we continue with our messages through the first letter of Peter. This morning, we're going to be focusing our studies from verse six to verse nine. And let's pray and let's hope that the spirit might help us to see what he has for his church. We're going to be reading from verse one to verse nine, but as I said, I want you to pay special attention to what the apostle is going to do from verse six onwards, because we're going to be addressing that passage from verse six to verse nine, these two Lord's Day that we're going to be sharing together.

So this is the Word of God. I'm going to be reading from the English Standard Version. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect, exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable and defile and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Number six, in this you rejoice. Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, might be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, You believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Amen.

That's the word of God. Beloved here in verse six, we have a very important transition in the development of the thinking process of the apostle Peter. And this is very important for us to have in our mind. There's going to be a transition, a change in the argument of the Apostle Peter. He's going to move from the theology that he has given us from verse one to verse five into the practical application of that theology from verse six to verse nine.

This transition is very important. He's moving from gospel truth into gospel life. or if you wish, he is moving from gospel theology into gospel experience. And this relationship between these two things are going to define and are going to be the structure for us to understand those things that are derived from the theology that he has given us so far. From gospel truth into gospel life.

The truth that he has given us from verse 1 to verse 5, that we are chosen or elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in eternity past, that in the present time we have been begotten again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we have been made the children of God, and that this status of being children of God is to an eternal hope or a living hope, an eternal inheritance. that that inheritance is kept and is reserved in heaven just as we are kept and protected and guarded and preserved by God's power through our faith. All of that is gospel truth. Those things is when you go deep into the message of the gospel and that you will see the character of God, what he has done for us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and those blessings that we inherit because of Jesus Christ. That is gospel truth.

But now the apostle is going to move into gospel life, the things that we do on a daily basis, the things that we experience on a daily basis. And he is going to assume, by inspiration of the Spirit, that the truth that is given in the gospel defines the way that we live that gospel life. Two very simple words. He says, in this you rejoice, in verse 6. in this you rejoice that this is all that gospel truth that he has given to us already from verse one to verse five and i don't want you to miss that important concept i don't want you to miss that important transition beloved because the apostle is assuming that in his theology by the inspiration of the spirit but he's also teaching us something very important that which we know of god defines the way that we live our life as Christians.

The gospel truth that we have through the Spirit defines the life that we live as Christians. And he does it in two glorious words in this. The Greeks, the Greek gives us a little bit of more insight into these two words. It is something like fixed upon this or established upon this. And then he says, you rejoice, even though you have to go through tribulations or trials for the testing of your faith.

So, beloved, this is very important. Gospel truth is the foundation for gospel life, and we have to understand the relationship between the truth that is given to us and how that truth communicates and feeds our Christian living, because the apostle is making a huge assumption here. He's saying that in this, or established upon this truth, You are to do something that is very difficult, that you are supposed to rejoice in the midst of tribulations. And that is worth the testing of your faith so that the substance of my doing rejoicing or having joy is derived, beloved, is derived entirely from the truth of the gospel that is given to us. This assumption is huge.

That which we know of God through the Gospel, nor should, nor could, but must define how we live our lives in the Gospel. It is not a possibility. It's not an option. It's not something that you can choose or not. That which we know, the truth that we have inside of us, must define the way that we live our lives.

And let me submit to you that the main topic from verse 6 to verse 9, yes, of course, is joy, is rejoicing in the midst of tribulations for the testing of our faith. But if we do not understand what the canon or what the Holy Spirit says to us in the Scripture about that relationship between knowledge, between wisdom, or between theology, or between truth and practice or experience, We might disconnect our Christian living from the power that is contained in the gospel. You see, beloved, it is very simple to live a life that does not correspond to real substance inside of us. The gospel assumes that we live our lives in an organic relationship between that which we know of God through the gospel and the experience of our life in the gospel. And this is an apostolic assumption that the Apostle Peter here is given just very simply.

In this, you rejoice. The gospel or the knowledge of the gospel must define our lives, beloved. Let me submit to you that at least for three reasons this message is supernatural. The reason why this knowledge defines how we live, simply put, it is because it's a supernatural message. It is just not a knowledge or it's just not a piece of information that goes into our brain.

The message of the gospel is supernatural. And when I say supernatural, what I mean is that it goes beyond human ability, that it goes beyond flesh and blood, that it goes beyond the ability of men. The message of the gospel, beloved, is supernatural. It goes beyond that. And because the message is supernatural, then that message will produce supernatural living.

And we have to say that because the gospel is not only a message of relationship between God and those who are redeemed. It's also the most profound message available for human understanding that transforms the being entirely from the mind to the heart. And it has to mass affect and define the way that we live. The message giver is supernatural in nature, beloved. God is the one who gives this message.

He is the creator of heaven and earth, as the early disciples would say in Acts chapter 4, that he is the sovereign creator of heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. God, the giver of the gospel, is spirit. He is supernatural in nature. But he's not only the creator of everything. He's also a living God, as the same Peter will testify to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, when he says, who do they say that I am?

He will say that you are the Christ, the son of the living God, beloved, the giver of this message, which we call the gospel is a living God. And I pray and I pray, Lord, I pray that as I say these things, you might see the depths of what I'm saying. God is not simply a concept that is just out there that is monitoring the things that we do. He is a living God. He is a living God and when he gives this glorious message, he communicates, he conveys, he transfers, he dispenses this living power.

So it's not only that the giver of the message is living and is powerful, but it's also that the message itself, beloved, is a supernatural message. that has power. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jews first, and also to the Greek. In the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. The gospel, the message, this piece of knowledge is the power of that living God.

So it's a living message. And in the wisdom of God, He has defined that people will not know Him through the wisdom of the world, 1 Corinthians, but that people will know Him through the foolishness of the preaching of the gospel, because the gospel is the power of God and is the wisdom of God. It is Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. It is this living God communicating to a powerful message, a supernatural message, the knowledge that cannot be obtained by any other means of God. Beloved, this is so profound.

This is so profound. We cannot know God apart from the revelation that he has given of himself. So we have a supernatural God who is the giver of this message, giving a supernatural message, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And you know what? When he gives that message to the recipients of that message, They are, or they become, supernatural creatures.

They are removed from death and they are passed into life. That blood and flesh that were dead in the trespasses, they are given life entirely. Those who receive the message of the gospel are born again. This is what John says in chapter 1, that those who believe, or those who receive Him, Jesus Christ and His message, and those who believe in Him and receive His message, they have the right or they receive the right to be the children of God, that they are born of God and they are born not of the will of the flesh, not of blood of flesh, not of the will of men, but beloved, they are born of the will of God. And I know that you know all of these things, but beloved, I want you to see the depths and the power of what I'm assuming or what the apostle is assuming here, because our life, our practical life, should correspond to a supernatural reality that goes inside of us.

That is a supernatural being who is given, this living God, a supernatural message that is the gospel. And this gospel, when it's received by the person, the nature of a person is transformed entirely. When we say that we are made children of God, we are actually saying something very profound. We're actually saying something very deep, beloved. We are saying that our whole nature has been transformed.

That it's not us, the previous or the past, us that we live, but it's another being, another nature that we have in us, that we have been transformed entirely by this power, by this message of this gospel. The same apostle John, beloved, pay attention to this, who says, that we have received this right to be the children of God then in chapter 3 we'll say that if we want to see the kingdom of God that we have to be born again that we have to be transformed entirely and then later on in that passage he will say beloved that this begottenness that this new birth only happens by water and the spirit from water and the spirit it is the spirit of God beloved that takes the message of this living and supernatural God and being and applies it to the life of those who are dead and gives them life. So the life that we have and the life that we live is a life that is derived from God himself. Titus will say that we had been saved by the washing of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit who has been poured on us ritually by or through Jesus Christ. We have a living God beloved that is given communicating all of this powerful message to us through himself.

the Spirit of God comes and dwells in us, among us. The Lord Jesus Christ calls this Helper, this Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, the one that dwells within us and the one that will be in us. That's chapter 14. And then in chapter 16, in John, he will say that this Spirit of Truth will guide us in everything and that this Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit Beloved. direct us and He speaks to us, not of His own authority, but just as He hears of the Triune God or the God, He speaks to us.

Beloved, this implication is very important because the life of the Christian is a supernatural life. It's a life that goes beyond blood and flesh and human things and human abilities and human capabilities. So because of our communion with God, we have been empowered through the Spirit to live a supernatural life, living God, a living message, and a living children. So then everything that I produce in my Christian life will be derived not from myself, but it will be derived from the God who gave me His power and His life through this message, through His Holy Spirit. This is very important, beloved, because the fruits of our Christian living are rooted necessarily in the supernatural nature that the Christian has.

And if you disconnect those two things, you will find yourself trying to produce in the flesh, by the works of the law, those things that the Bible calls you to live by or to have in your life. We produce the fruits of our Christian life just in the living power of the God who rescued us and who gave us life. Because the apostle now is gonna say, in this, you rejoice. Based on this powerful message, based on this gospel truth, beloved, the result of it in your Christian life is joy. It's joy that is produced in you.

And he assumes that those who are in Christ rejoice and have joy in their lives, beloved. He says in this, fixed upon this truth, you Christians, you rejoice. And I don't know about you, but the Christian life or the pilgrimage that we have in this world is sometimes very apart from joy. It's very apart from rejoicing in everything that we do. Sometimes it feels that the opposite is a reality, that distress and tribulation and trials and difficulties.

But beloved, experiences in the Christian life are an organic and natural result of a spiritual reality. So experiences in my Christian life are defined by the spiritual reality that I have inside of me. I do not define my spiritual life by the experiences that I live or I go through. It's all the way around. The apostle assumes here, established upon these truths of the gospel, you rejoice, even though you go through trials and difficulties for the testing of your faith.

So if we do not, beloved, if we do not understand this glorious relationship between the living power inside of the Christian with the experience that we are called to produce, we can have a gap that is not only painful for our lives, but it also could be damning. It could be damning because then empty experiences, fake experiences, can be produced by morality and by many principles of men. But the real experiences that correspond to the spiritual reality of the gospel can never be fake. the joy that we have because of the gospel and our union with Christ through his spirit, this joy can never be produced by men. That's why the apostle assumes that these people who are going to tribulation and difficulties, not even being next to them, he assumes that they rejoice in these things.

In this, you rejoice, even though they are going to trials and difficulties. So, beloved, what I'm saying here is that we have a supernatural God. who has given us a supernatural message, which is the only means to know truly that God, nobody can know God apart from the message of the gospel, and that by His Spirit, He has opened our eyes to receive that message, and we have been entirely transformed. So it's because He, the Living God, started everything from the very beginning, that all my Christian life will be always governed and submitted to the power of the Holy Spirit. This joy that the Apostle speaks here, and that we are going to define, of course, from the passage, is produced by the Holy Spirit.

We are not able, beloved, to produce rejoicement or gladness or joy in and of ourselves. This is a natural and organic relationship between the knowledge, the true knowledge of God that I have and my life and the fruit of it. Beloved, this assumption is huge and is very important. Because this message should field with reality everything that we do and everything that we say. I don't know about you, but it's so simple to do things just to pretend to be something and to lack of substance and reality inside.

It is so easy to pretend before others and in front others that I know this, that I do this, that this is the way that I do things, when inside there is a lack of reality. Those practices, those external practices in my life that lack that spiritual power that is given from the living God are very dangerous for the Christian living, are very dangerous for your faith, are very dangerous for the church. What we want to have, not only in our church, but in our personal life, are practices, are experiences that correspond to a true knowledge of God. And that can be only done by the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit of God as he works conformity to Christ in our lives, the one that produces gospel experiences and gospel life.

And this is what Apostle is assuming here with this concept of joy. That's why the Apostle Paul, then in Galatians chapter 5, he will say that joy is one of the fruit of the Spirit. So let's go there and let's just read that passage together. It's going to give us a little bit of insight in what I'm trying to communicate. Galatians chapter 5, verse 16 to 26.

Galatians 5, 16 to 26. And beloved, this is the point in which we have to say that we don't have to be afraid or scared to speak about walking in the power of the Spirit and to think that that vocabulary is just a vocabulary that belongs to brothers and sisters who are charismatic. We are called to be led and to walk in the Spirit and in the power of the Spirit. Galatians 5 says, but I say, walk by the Spirit. and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, feats of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orges, and things like this.

I warn you, As I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit. The apostle is speaking about things that we do. And now he's going to say that those things that we are supposed to do are fruit of the Spirit. And then he says it's love, and then we have joy, the one that Peter is calling us to in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6.

that we have love, joy, peace, and patience, and kindness, and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with his passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Beloved, our brother, as he was explaining Genesis 15, as he was speaking of this covenant that was given to Abraham and the animals on both sides, and he was explaining how this covenant is established, he spoke and he mentioned a very important concept. He says that that was the manifested presence of God. that the manifested presence of God was given to Abram as he was sleeping there, but at least in that particular moment. There is a sense, beloved, or not a sense, there is a reality in which once we are united to Jesus Christ by grace through faith, that we become the temple of the Holy Spirit and the fullness of God in the Spirit dwells in us. And actually, Paul will say in Galatians that it's not us who live this life, but it's actually Jesus Christ who lives this life for us.

And then the life in the flesh will live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. We are, beloved, the dwelling of God, the dwelling where the temple of God, and everything that we do, that which is produced from a Christian life, is done and performed and achieved and accomplished uniquely by the power of the God who saved us. Beloved, good works are not something that are in your nature. Good things is not something that you have the ability to perform. Christlikeness is not something that you achieve by your efforts or by just having a list of things that you should do and things that you should not do and accomplishing those tasks.

Christ-likeness is not achieved with morality or with principles. Christ-likeness is not accomplished and achieved by following the precepts or the directions of men. Christ-likeness, conformity to our Savior, is only accomplished by the same power that saved us, the same power that redeemed us, the same power that brought us from life, from death to life. and the life that we live now, we live it in union and in communion with the triune God in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit for the glory of the Father. We cannot separate those things, beloved, because it's so easy to fill these heads with knowledge that is empty and dead and dry and cold.

It doesn't matter how many books we have read. It doesn't matter how many books we have in our library. It doesn't matter how many things we know. If the knowledge of God that we have does not correspond to a spiritual reality that is empowered by the Spirit, that produces real fruits, that knowledge is damning, is dangerous. And you want to run from that.

You want to flee from that, because you want to please God, not with your own efforts, not with your own wisdom and knowledge. You want to please God through Him, because it's for Him. So this joy that Peter is mentioning as he's speaking here, beloved, it's a joy that is produced by the Spirit. It's a fruit of the Spirit. It's not something that we can produce.

So that means that if we are going to understand what the Apostle Peter says in the rest of the passage, all of the things that he attaches to joy, we have to understand that this joy is a, as I have called it, a supernatural thing. It's a supernatural fruit. It's something that goes beyond. And this morning I was a little bit concerned about that word supernatural, because I didn't even know if it existed in English. And I was just checking online if it actually exists in English, but it does exist in English.

So it means that it goes beyond blood and flesh, that it goes beyond the natural. So beloved, this experience, pay attention to this, all the experience that Peter is going to speak here now, joy and trials and the testing of our faith, has to be understood under the framework of the apostolic assumption that is derived from the New Testament that those fruits that we are supposed to produce, like joy, are produced uniquely through the power of the Holy Spirit. So this joy that Peter has in mind is a supernatural joy. It's a supernatural joy. Put your eyes in the text, and I'm going to give you a little bit of evidence of why this joy is supernatural.

He says in verse 6, In this you rejoice, though now for a little while," and I love that, how he says, now for a little while, you are grieved by various trials. Beloved, this joy that the Apostle Peter speaks about is a supernatural joy. It's a spiritual joy. It is a joy that is given by the Spirit of God because its nature is contradictory. Just read the verse.

It says that in this you rejoice even though you suffer. You rejoice even though you go through tribulations. that you rejoice, that you have joy and gladness in your life even though you have distress and tribulations and trials. This is a paradox, a paradox of rejoicing and gladness and then suffering and tribulation and trials and difficulties. The answer to that is that my rejoicing and my gladness is of a different nature than my trials and my tribulations.

My rejoicing inside is spiritual, it's a supernatural thing or a fruit that is rooted in God Himself and what He is and has done for me, while my trials and my tribulations belong to this sinful, evil, present age, that once it disappears, tribulations and trials will be removed, and then that which is overarching reality will endure for all eternity. So that means that as Christians, we have this supernatural joy that can coexist with the reality of tribulations and difficulties. But I want you to see that the apostle assumes both. He assumes trials and difficulties and distress. And also he assumes this joy that is given.

They both coexist. They both like two different streams of water that go into the same river until one of those streams of water is taken and removed when the consummation of things come. It's a supernatural beloved. It's a spiritual joy that we have as Christians. But not only that, it's also an eternal It's an eternal joy.

And we know that because the apostle there says, even though now for a little while you suffer or you are grieved by various trials. And then the question is, what is that little while referring to? The apostle in chapter five is going to say something very similar. He's going to use the same words. And he's going to say, after you have suffered for a little while, The God of mercy who has called you to an eternal glory in Jesus Christ will establish you and confirm you and strengthen you.

Beloved, that little while is your life. It doesn't matter if you are 5, or 6, or 10, or 15, or 20, or 70, or 100, 200 years old. It doesn't matter. That little while is your life. And he says, little while, comparing it with the glory of the joy that we have and that we rejoice, because it is eternal.

Life and the trials or the duration of our trials and our sufferings are just a little while compared with the rejoicing that we have by the power of the living God given to us because of Christ through his glorious Holy Spirit. A little while. Life is a vapor. It appears and it vanishes away and it goes. But the Joy that we have through the Spirit is eternal.

And this is going to be confirmed, beloved, in verse eight. Go to verse eight. And I love what the apostle is gonna do here. In verse eight, he's going to say, though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice.

with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. Beloved, you might remember this passage in Romans 8. Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. And those whom he predestined he called, and those whom he called he justified, and those whom he justified he glorified. Speaking of the glory that the Christian will be given in the last time, the same word that is used for the glorification of the believer is used here by the apostle to speak of the joy that we have.

For that reason, some of the translations will speak of an unspeakable joy or a glorified and unspeakable joy. The Apostle Beloved is saying that the joy with which we rejoice in this present life is a glorified joy. It's a glorified rejoicement to gladness. It's an already not yet fullness of the glory of the joy that we have, but We have a glimpse by the Spirit into the joy that we will celebrate, that we will partake, and that we will have in the eternity that is to come. Why?

Because this joy, beloved, is a supernatural joy. It is not of this world. It is a spiritual joy. It's something that goes beyond us. It's something that goes through the power of God in us.

This has been given to us is this contradictory nature of joy and the trials and the tribulations. But it's also this eternality of this joy that is compared with a little while of our sufferings. And also now the apostle is telling us that this is a glorified joy. My beloved, the apostle is going to give us even more proofs that this is a spiritual, that this is a supernatural joy, because he's going to attach this rejoicement or this gladness or this joy, which is glorified, eternal. He's going to touch it with the nature of faith.

In verse eight, he says, look, verse eight, he says, though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible. You might remember the definition of faith in Hebrews 11 that says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things that we have not seen. The apostle is connecting. The fact that we have not seen Jesus Christ with the love that we have with Him.

The fact that we have not seen Jesus Christ with the faith or the belief that we have in Him. And the fact that we have not seen Jesus Christ with the joy that we have in Him and through Him by His Holy Spirit. The joy that we have, this glorified joy that is available for the Christian, is obtained, is achieved, is worked to, it is operated by the same faith that saved us and by which we live our Christian life. My words are not sufficient to convey the depths of what I'm saying here, beloved. We have a supernatural God and you will accept that.

We have a supernatural God who is a spirit who is living. He has given us a message that is supernatural, beloved, that do not only justify us when we believe, it also transforms us and empower us to live through his spirit for his glory and the exaltation of the name of Jesus Christ. So we are called to live our faith or we are called to live our lives better. by faith in Jesus Christ, as the Apostle will say in Galatians, but also, beloved, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit through the world.

We are to dwell richly in the Word of Christ, that we might exhort one another with sins and psalms and all of these things as beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to commune with God through His Holy Spirit. We have been baptized by the Spirit into the body, 1 Corinthians, and then we have also drink of that Spirit constantly. Our communion with God, it is necessary and it's so important, so beloved. our Christian experience will correspond to an inner reality.

You don't know how concerned I am that our actions and the things that we do, not only individually, but as a church, might not correspond to an inner reality, beloved. We have to strive to see Jesus Christ, to see him crucified, and to try to be like him by the power of the Spirit. So then when I have joy in my life, through tribulations, it will correspond not to my moral strength that I can go through difficulties, but rather it might come from the Holy Spirit who is taking me through tribulations and difficulties. Now, beloved, when I was preparing this, I went and read many things. People try to give definitions of joy.

But as I was just meditating upon this whole passage, I came to the conclusion that joy does not have to be defined, that there is no need for me to define joy. And at least for two reasons. The second one is more important than the first one. But the first one, it is because joy, as I have said to you, it is a natural and organic response of a spiritual reality that happens inside. So it's a natural response.

I don't need to know how to rejoice in order to come and turn on the switch and rejoice. Rejoicement or gladness is something that is a natural response to something that happens outside of me. It's natural. When I see the beauty of creation, then I rejoice. I have this joy that naturally happens within me.

It's a natural and organic response. But the second more important reason is that the Apostle says that this joy is unspeakable, that this joy is inexpressible. Other translations would say that there is no words to describe this joy. So there's no need to define that joy because this joy that we have is an unspeakable joy. Why?

Because it does not belong to this world. It's a supernatural, spiritual reality that belongs and is founded and is rooted in our gut. that allows us and empower us through the Spirit, by His power, to enjoy and to actually have inner lives. Beloved, As we walk through this pilgrimage, as we walk through this present evil age, the Lord lives in us and through us, but he has also called us to actively commune with him so that the spirit will produce that fruit in us. It's not that depend on us, but he has called us to do so.

So let me give you a principle, what I believe a biblical principle, and not only how we will have joy, but rather how we will produce that which God wants us and has in His Word for believers through the power of His Spirit. If my experiences correspond to the knowledge that I have of God, and not only about God, but of God and how much I know God, Then, the more that I know, the more that I commune, the more that I spend time with God, the more that I will love Him, and the more that I will believe in Him, as Peter says here in verse 8. The more that I will love Him, and the more that I will believe in Him, and the more that I know God, and I know not only about Him, but know Him, in communion, in abiding with Him in His Word and through prayer and with the gathering of the saints and my mind and in my heart, everything is given to Him. The more that I know Him, I will love Him, I will believe in Him, I will trust Him, and I will have this joy in my life. So then when tribulation comes and when difficulty comes, yes, I will have distress and I will have trials and I will have sorrow in my heart, but there will also be the presence of this glorified joy that is given to me by the Spirit, beloved.

And not only that, but this will necessarily conform us to Christ, to who He is. We will produce not only the fruit of joy, but also other fruits of conformity to Jesus Christ. So the more that I know Him and I commune with Him, the more that I will produce these fruits through this Holy Spirit. But beloved, the opposite is also true. The less that I know Him and the less that I'm interested in spending time and communing with Him, and the less that I'm interested in the things of God and knowing about God, the less that we are going to produce those fruits.

the less that we are going to be like Jesus Christ, the less that I'm going to believe in Him, and the less that I'm going to have faith in Him, and the less that I'm going to love Him. That's why the trials here for Peter are tests for our faith, because the devil is interested in destroying our faith, because the less faith that we have, the less interest that we have to spend time with God Beloved. Beloved, remember, please, the story of David in the Old Testament, that this might be a good reflection for us as a church, that when he was a king, he was supposed to be busy in the things of God, that he was supposed to go in war, to battle, And then he decided he did not do the things that he was supposed to do in his role as a king, that is a role given from God and by God. And he just remained in his palace. He was in the comfort in his palace and is in the passivity and in the not doing the things that God has called him to do, that he goes upstairs to the roof and then he's just walking around in the roof of the palace.

And then he saw Bathsheba bathing. He could have turned away, but then he remained there. The lust consumed him inside of him. And then he ended up taking the life of her husband, taking her, and then having a child who will have to pay for his sin. Not doing the things that God has called us to do, not giving us ourselves to a real and intimate communion with God will necessarily, beloved, take us not only to slothfulness and laziness and passivity, but in the midst of slothfulness and laziness and passivity, there is always a big door for sin.

And sin has a joy-destroying power. This is what David will confess later on in Psalm 51. Let me just direct your minds to what is contained there in Psalm 51 and we'll finish there. Go please to Psalm 51. Psalm 51 is what David says after he was confronted by Nathan, after the Word of God confronted him with the reality of his sin.

And I want you to see here, beloved, what our brother said, the manifested presence of God and then the consequences of sin in diminishing and taking our joy as Christians. He says in verse one, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. wash me truthfully from my inequity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know that's through the word of God that was given to him by Nathan the prophet. I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth, in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my inequities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me."

Not that it is possible, but the scene produces that less awareness of the immediate manifested presence of the Spirit of God. And then he says in verse 12, Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit." This is the destroying power of sin, the joy-destroying power of sin. Beloved, my prayer is, let me just finish with this, that if you get something from this message, beloved, is that We cannot be empty of reality inside of us. It's very easy for us just to end up just playing and doing church and things that have this label of Christianity, but they have to correspond to an inward reality that is given to us only by the living power of the Spirit.

We have a supernatural nature and we are supposed to live in this glorious union, this supernatural reality that has been given to us by Christ. May the Lord help us. Amen.