The Believer's Privileges | 1 Peter 1:3-9

Dr. Derek Thomas preaches "The Believer's Privileges" from 1 Peter 1:3-9 at The Lord's Day Service at The King's Chapel, Sunday, July 5, 2026.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

You may be seated. We are privileged this morning to have a guest speaker while Grant is away. Dr. Derek Thomas is a friend. He's also an author. You may notice that several of his books are out in our bookstore. He has been a pastor. He has since retired from that. He is a fellow teacher with Ligonier Ministries. He is also an adjunct professor at the Master Seminary, where he is a colleague of mine. But more than that, he is an opera aficionado. I would call him that. Some of you may know that I was a professional opera singer for many years. And I think he probably knows more about what I did than I know. So we have struck up a friendship over our common knowledge and love for beautiful music. And I'm thrilled that he has driven here from South Carolina to preach this morning. So, Dr. Thomas, would you come? And would you give him a welcome, please?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Well, thank you. Thank you, Phil. And uh yes, I was listening to um Do I need to put this on? We're good? Good. Um that's better. Um so thank you, Phil, for that uh uh wonderful introduction. It's wonderful to be here. And um uh I was listening to some some opera on the way up, and I intend to do so on the way down uh today. And um thank you also for including uh a Welsh tune this morning, and um it made me feel quite at home and uh as a recent uh naturalized citizen of these great United States. Uh I've been a citizen now for 11 years and uh I love being a citizen of the United States. Let me join in uh wishing you all a very, very happy Fourth of July. I have to remind my British uh family that it is the Fourth of July, and uh otherwise they might just forget. Um our passage this morning is in 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1, and uh I'm going to read the first nine verses, including uh the introduction, verses 1 and 2. Now, do you normally stand for the reading? Please stand. 1 Peter chapter 1, beginning at the first verse. 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, undefiled, 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. 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, may 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 soul. So far God's holy and inerrant word, and may he add his blessing, to the reading of it. Please be seated. Now let me just say a quick word about the introduction, the greeting. Peter is writing. Perhaps a year and a half, at most two years from the time of his crucifixion in Rome. He was crucified upside down at his request because he did not feel worthy to be crucified in the manner of his Savior. After the spat with the Apostle Paul in the church in Antioch, you remember that Peter went and sat with his Jewish friends. Thereby, in Paul's eyes, when the men of James appeared from Jerusalem, in Paul's eyes, he had by de facto denied the doctrine of justification by faith, adding some significance now to ceremonial food laws and obedience to those laws. And there was a showdown at the high chorale, as we might say, in the church at Antioch. And Peter more or less disappears for the next 15 years or so. He appears in Jerusalem for the Jerusalem Council, but after that he kind of disappears. And here we see a little hint that Peter's ministry lay in these dispersions, these exiles of the dispersion, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bethynia, in what we would now call North and West Turkey. And perhaps his ministry was here among these churches, quietly, not uh not the ministry that we read of in the first twelve chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, where he is sent to stage. But then he is outstaged, I think, by the appearance of Saul. And he's writing to these elect exiles. Interesting, isn't it, that Peter has no qualms in the opening verse of using the doctrine of election. I mean, he could have waited until the end, he could have hidden it somewhere in the middle of chapter three, but now it's right up uh close and personal in verse one. These exiles, they are exiles because of persecution. The same persecution that will kill both Peter and Paul. The Neronian persecution. Rome demanded the worship of Roman gods and public gods, and in particular the worship of Caesar as God, and Christians, especially living in the cities, were of course unable to do that, and they fled. They became exiles, they went to the smaller towns where they were less likely to meet a garrison of Roman soldiers, and he's writing to them, they've lost everything. They've lost their homes, they've lost their jobs. Some of them feel as though they've lost their identities, but he wants them to know that they are elect in the sight of God. God has chosen them. And he means that in a precious way, he means that in a in a loving way. Peter doesn't want to get all engrossed in all the philosophical problems of predestination and uses the word foreknowledge in verse 2 according to the foreknowledge of God. God had set his love upon them from before the foundation of the world. And therefore they were special. And he wants them to feel special. Notice how Peter uses the doctrine of the Trinity. He mentions the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, this Trinitarian faith into which they have been brought by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ that has cleansed them from all of their sin. And now in verses three to nine, he wants to say something to encourage them. This is a word of encouragement. And it begins in verse 3 with the word blessed. Of all people, Christians are blessed. Now, Americans are blessed, and we celebrated that yesterday. I had to put my dog to sleep with some very strong meds because she goes to pieces at the celebration of July 4th and fireworks and so on. So she did not think of it as blessed, but but it was a blessed day. And I trust you had a lot of fun and gave thanks to God for all the freedoms that we enjoy. But Christians know a blessing that's way beyond that. A blessing that touches not just now and not just the future. Wow, this pulpit moves. I need to. Okay. Have you ever had an accident where it's landed on the floor? I'm going to step back. Blessed. There was a man, an elder in the church, uh who's gone to glory, and you'd ask him, How are you? And he'd say, I'm blessed. Actually, he was going through a lot of personal difficulties and a lot of medical issues and a lot of personal issues with his wife and family and so on, all the typical things that we go through in the later stages of our of our lives. But you ask him how he was doing, I'm blessed, he would say. Blessed. Here, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The source of this blessing is the great mercy of God. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope. This idea of being born again, it's not, as you might think in the 20th century, or Billy Graham and so on, you must be born again. And actually it doesn't occur that often in the New Testament, and it doesn't appear to be a term that the Apostle Paul, for example, uses. John, you remember, records in John chapter 3 Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus, unless a man is born again. Actually, the translation might be born from above, not so much a second birth, but a sovereign birth. Unless you experience the divine sovereignty of the Holy Spirit bringing you out of darkness and into light, you cannot see, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. He's talking about the doctrine of regeneration. Well, let me let me ask you, are you born again? Have you felt the Holy Spirit bringing you out of darkness and into light? Taking away that great load and burden of sin and casting it upon the shoulders of our Lord Jesus Christ and giving you a new birth, a new energy, new life, new insight, new affections, a new heart. The cause of it, you see, is not just your decision. You make a decision. We're not robots. God doesn't work over our heads, he works through us. He engages us, he engages our minds and our wills and our affections. But the cause of it, according to his great mercy, he has caused us. He has caused us. God the Father has caused us to be born again. Even Arminians, you know, they they acknowledge this. Deep down they acknowledge this. When you hear an Arminian pray who believes in total free will, absolute, total free will. But then when they get down to pray, what do they say? Time out, Lord, I'm I just want to thank myself. I I just had a wonderful moment there. I've never heard that prayer. They thank God for their salvation because they know deep down that they in and of themselves cannot affect their salvation because they're dead in trespasses and in sins. And unless they experience the sovereign wind of the Holy Spirit bringing them to new life in Jesus Christ, they will remain dead in trespasses and in sins. The ground, do you notice, of their great assurance of their rebirth is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What does the new birth look like? It looks like a resurrection. When Jesus, who is dead in the tomb, no pulse, no heartbeat, no brainwaves for thirty-six hours from Friday afternoon until early Sunday morning. They put him in a borrowed tomb. Because he only needed it for the weekend. And God brought him to life. And Peter saw him. Ah, we don't read much about it. It's tucked away in 1 Corinthians 15. Peter had let Jesus down. He had denied him three times, and I think that that first greeting of the resurrected Jesus with Peter must have been emotionally painful. And so scripture doesn't record it. It just says he appeared to Cephas. It was a private meeting. But Peter was there in the upper room when Jesus appeared with the ten and then with the eleven when Thomas reappeared. He was there on the shores of the Sea of Galilee when he thought he would go back fishing because it was the only thing he now knew how to do, and God said no, and he caught nothing. He fished all night and caught nothing. And then this voice that says, let down your nets. And this great great catch of of fish, and there on the shore was was Jesus. He is the great um He is the great guarantee that we have a living hope, do you see? Not a dead hope. Not a hope, so hope, but a hope that is alive. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What a what an extraordinary thing. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He has caused us to be born again, and the template is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Blessed be the God. Is that what you want to say this morning? Lord, I bless you. I worship you, I set you apart. I give you my total self. I give you my affections. I give you my mind and my will and my future. Because look at what you've done for me. You've given me a living hope. A lot of people have no hope. A lot of politicians have no hope. Their message is one of no hope. No future. And the culture wars that we live in. Isn't it a wonderful thing to say I'm a Christian? But of all things, I I know. I know that I've been born again. I know that I'm heading for glory. I have this living hope, this living assurance. Isn't it great to be able to say that this morning? The second thing in verse 4 is an indestructible inheritance. A living hope. An indestructible inheritance. You see these folk, these exiles that Peter is writing to in North and West Turkey. They were despised. They had nothing in this world. They'd probably lost much of what they had, their homes, their employment, their earthly futures. Separated perhaps from members of their families as they've been dispersed. To an inheritance. It's a very Roman word. He's writing to the first century folk living in the Roman Empire, and it's writing in their language of Greek. And it's a it's a very Roman word, inheritance. That sons inherited. Now I know in 20 we want to say sons and daughters, but that doesn't, you see, that doesn't make sense in the first century because daughters didn't inherit. That's why Paul talks about sonship, that we are sons. Yes, we are sons and daughters, but but in the Roman sense, sons inherited, and Paul is, and Peter is saying, to an inheritance. Well, it doesn't come across so well in the English, in the Greek, all three of these words begin with the first letter of the Greek alphabet, alpha. To an inheritance that is imperishable, it cannot decay from within, undefiled, it cannot be, it cannot be destroyed and stained from without, and unfading in the sense that it never loses its beauty and its capacity to delight. Is that how you think of your salvation this morning? Imperishable and undefiled and unfading. You have something that no one can take from you. Nothing can take it from you. Not even the devil himself can take this from you. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor powers, nor principalities, nor things present. Present, nor things to come, no height, no depth, nor anything in all of God's creation can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Kept in heaven for you. Kept in heaven for you. Our ultimate prize, you see, is not this world. Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one which is to come whose builder and maker is God. We're on the glory train. And the final stop is heaven. Actually, the final stop is the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness will dwell. And notice in verse 5, he goes on to say, who by God's power are being guarded, that you're being guarded. It's a military word. God has set a garrison around you to protect you as you make your journey from the city of destruction to the new Jerusalem. That you're guarded and protected and garrisoned. You won't arrive in heaven and find that your inheritance has been stolen. He protects you now and he will protect you forever. Powers of almighty God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, the one who sent his son into the world to die for us. The one who raised him from the dead. He protects you, he guards you every step of the way. Peter, you see, had let the Savior down. Oh, it's incalculable the damage that Peter did. That he denied the Lord three times. And Mark tells us, and Mark's gospel is actually Peter's diary, that his notes. And Mark tells us that when he denied the Lord three times, the Lord from the other side was looking at him. That he made eye contact with him. What a glorious assurance. What can shake thy sure repose? With salvation's walls surrounded, thou mayest smile at all thy foes, a living hope, an indestructible inheritance. And then in verses six through nine, a persistent joy. In this you rejoice. Now Peter wants to be realistic. I think he can foresee his own end. I think he knew that he would be brought before Nero and that he would be killed, he would be crucified. I think he knew it. The gathering storm is all around. The chains are rattling, the cage doors are opening. And he has a realism, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. He's writing in all likelihood to people that he didn't necessarily know and certainly not know in an intimate way. But he knew this that if they were Christians, there would be trials. There would be difficulties. He uses the word various trials, poikolos in Greek, meaning multi-colored, multi-variegated. There are all kinds of trials. Psychological trials, imaginary trials, real trials, health trials, identity trials, the loss of loved ones, disease, all kinds of trials. In a room this size, there are there are all kinds of trials. You come here the day after the Fourth of July, and you have your trials. A loved one who is sick, your health is in danger. A son, a daughter who's become a prodigal. All kinds of trials. You notice how he puts it, if necessary. These trials, you see, only occur if God deems them to be necessary. They're not whimsical. They're not happenstance. They don't just occur. There's something necessary about them. God, in his inscrutable wisdom. A wisdom that he may not disclose to us, do you see? Like Job. He never answered any of Job's questions. It wasn't necessary for Job to understand why, all that it was necessary for Job was to know that God was in control and that he trusted him. That God had a purpose and a reason and that he trusted him. And what is the purpose of these trials? Trials have a purpose. That the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it be tested by fire. Your faith is precious. More precious than gold. What a wonderful thing it is to be a Christian. To have faith. But God puts it through the fire. Like impure gold, he puts it in the furnace so that the dross will rise to the surface and it can be scraped away so that what is left is pure. You must see your trials as affecting that, do you see? We can get angry at our trials. We can stop speaking to God. I've met people. Trials have come into their lives and they've just stopped talking to God. If you ask them, do you still believe? they would probably say yes, but they've just stopped talking to him. But don't waste your trials. Use them. Let them use you, let them employ you, so that you come out on the other side purer, stronger, one who can disciple others who are passing through similar trials. It's the perspective of Scripture, isn't it, everywhere? In Romans 5, suffering produces patience and patience, endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope that makes us not ashamed. It's Romans 8. I consider the present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed hereafter. It's 2 Corinthians 4. Our light and momentary afflictions are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far exceeds them all. So we fix our eyes not on what we can see but what we cannot see. It's Hebrews 12. It is the evidence that we're not illegitimate children, but sons and inheritors. George Whitfield, the great evangelist of the 18th century, and ministered, of course, here in the Carolinas, and he says God puts burrs, little prickly things that fall off bushes. God puts burrs in our bed to keep us watchful and awake. Our troubles, do you see, are birth pangs. And they are a prospect of what is to come. 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. You see through the trials, you see through the difficulties to the joy of what is to come. Well, my dear friend, Christianity is a religion of joy, exceeding joy, where you want to burst out with acclamation, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because what is the glorious end of your faith? The salvation of your souls. Oh yes, we're saved now. But we're not yet fully saved. Yes, we have a salvation now that cannot be taken away. But there's a now and a not yet tension in the New Testament. Now are we the sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him even as he is. We've already obtained our salvation. Our sins are washed away. But we're not yet in glory. We haven't yet passed through the river, we haven't entered the pearly gates, we're not yet with the angels and archangels and the church triumphant. We're still in the battle, we're still in the warfare. But ultimate peace is coming. The revolution brought about many great things. But it didn't solve all of America's problems, did it? You're living in cloud cuckoo land if you think that. You probably need therapy if you actually think that. It brought about many blessings. It's similar to the Christian life. Being born again brings many blessings, but we're not out of trouble. There are still various trials, poikolos, multicolored, multivariegated trials that we go through. But coming, coming is the salvation of your souls, the ultimate salvation of your souls. Keep your eye upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Well, may God bless his word to us. May we sense something of the joy that Peter experienced, even though he knew that he was going to be crucified. In a year, year and a half from writing this epistle. He could see it coming, I think. But he wanted to see beyond that to the glory that is the true end of every believer in Jesus Christ. My dear friend, do you know anything about this blessedness? Do you know anything about this hope? Do you know anything about this peace? If not, call upon the Holy Spirit to cause you to be born again and brought to a living faith in Jesus Christ. And do so. Do so now. Ask the Lord to save you. That you might know an end to the things of this world that can only bring despair and doubt. And that you may experience something of the joy of the certainties of the Christian faith. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you that it's just a wonderful thing to be a Christian, to know you, our Heavenly Father, and your Son Jesus Christ, to know the assurance of sins forgiven, to have this living hope, this persistent joy. And though we pass through many trials to know that at the end there is the salvation of our souls, as we trust you every step of the way, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.