1 Peter 1:6-9 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations:… I. FAITH. "In whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing." 1. Faith is the first Christian grace. Without it you are no Christian at all. 2. This faith is a personal trust in a personal Saviour. It is more than intellectual assent, even heart-reliance. 3. This faith was, moreover, a faith in an invisible Saviour. "In whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing." II. LOVE. "Whom, having not seen, ye love." 1. Love is one essential element of the Christian religion. This it is indeed which distinguishes the Christian religion from the other religions of the world. 2. Our supreme love. His place in our affection is unique — He enjoys a love deeper, profounder, more lasting, than that of father or mother, of brother or sister. 3. These strangers of the Dispersion evinced their supreme love of the Saviour by suffering themselves to be despoiled of all their possessions rather than deny Him. Their love was sorely tested. III. JOY. "Ye rejoice," etc. 1. Joy is an essential element in the religion of Jesus Christ; not joy to the exclusion of sorrow, lint joy in the midst thereof. 2. This joy not only defies philosophy to explain it, but language to express it — "joy unspeakable," that cannot be told out. (1) The innermost joy of the Christian's heart is too Divine a thing, of too delicate a texture, to be exposed to the curious, unhallowed view of worldlings. And we all know of experiences too sacred, too precious and sweet, to be exposed to every gazer's eyes. (2) The joy which wells up in the Christian's heart cannot be conveyed in language, being too subtle and volatile a thing, evaporating in the very attempt to pour it from the heart into the bottles of grammatical construction. 3. This joy is "full of glory," or already glorified. (1) The inner centre of this joy is already white and glowing. (2) This joy has the evidence in itself of its ultimate glorification in the world to come. The process has been begun here, it will be perfected yonder. (J. C. Jones, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: |
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