Faith Results in Future Glory, and Believers Love the Unseen Christ

HYMN

#135 – O Worship the King

We started by reviewing and discussing through 1 Peter 1:1-6.

• We can have joy in life, even when we endure various

• Even when we face the reality of death, Christians have peace with God because Christ paid for their sins.

• We rejoice together in Christian fellowship, even if the rest of the world turns away.

Afterward, we continued studying through 1 Peter 1, concentrating on verses 7-8.

PROPOSITIONS & EXPLANATORY NOTES

• Genuine faith will result in future glorification.

  • Genuine faith is more valuable and precious than anything else.

  • Believers will experience glorification and praise for our proven and genuine faith.

    • Romans 2:5-10 –God will render to each person according to his deeds. Those who persevere in doing good seek for glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life. Those who do good will also receive glory and honor and peace from God.

    • Hebrews 2:7-10 – Christ as man is “crowned with glory and honor, and appointed over the works of God’s hands” and He also leads man to similar glory.

    • 1 Peter 5:4 – Elders will receive “the unfading crown of glory.

    • Philippians 3:20-21 – Believers will be conformed to Christ’s glory.

    • Romans 8:17 – Believers are co-heirs of Christ, and will be glorified with Him.

    • 1 John 3:2 – Believers will be like Him, because they will see Him just as He is.

• A true believer loves the unseen Christ.

  • Christ is the object of our love. Our current life is lived with love for Him and belief in Him.

  • Genuine believers exercise faith in someone they have not seen and do not see.

  • None of us today have seen Christ, and yet we love Him.

  • Some people may confess that they “love God”, but do not believe in Christ the Son nor heed His words. The truth is that there is no way to truly love God without loving His Son. The only way to have a true relationship with God is through Christ and His salvation. (Colossians 1:15)

Reading and Prayer - November 24, 2018

HYMN

We started off our time by singing hymn #416, "I Need Thee Every Hour"

SCRIPTURE READING & PRAYER

We spent our time together today by taking turns reading past exposition passages, and praying a prayer in response. Below is the list of passages:

Matthew 5:3-12

Matthew 5:13-16

Matthew 5:17-20

Matthew 5:21-26

Matthew 5:27-32

Matthew 5:33-37

Matthew 5:38-42

Matthew 5:43-48

Matthew 6:1-6

Matthew 6:7-15

Matthew 6:16-18

Matthew 6:19-24

Matthew 6:25-34

Matthew 7:1-6

Matthew 7:7-11

Matthew 7:12

Matthew 7:13-14

Matthew 7:15-20

Matthew 7:21-23

Matthew 7:24-27

Matthew 7:28-29

James 1:1-4

James 1:5-8

James 1:9-11

James 1:12-18

James 1:19-25

James 1:26-27

James 2:1-13

James 2:14-26

James 3:1-12

James 3:13-18

James 4:1-10

James 4:11-12

James 4:13-17

James 5:1-6

James 5:7-11

James 5:12

James 5:13-18

James 5:19-20

Rejoice In All That God Is Doing, Even Through Various Trials

HYMN

#302 “Nothing But The Blood”

We continued studying through 1 Peter 1, concentrating on verses 6-9.

PROPOSITIONS & EXPLANATORY NOTES

• We are overjoyed in our security in God and in our future salvation.

  • Christians greatly rejoice in all the work that God is doing. For example, we rejoice in God's work of saving people through faith in Christ, in the sanctifying work of the Spirit in the walk of every believer, and in the certainty of our fulfilled hope that we will obtain eternal life, reserved for us in heaven.

  • Christians greatly rejoice in the protective power of God. What are some ways that God protects us?

    • By shielding us from false teaching

    • In the prevention of falling into sin

    • Through suffering or discipline for sin, which teaches us to turn away from evil

    • By giving us a fear of Him that precludes a committing of sin

    • In the provision of God-fearing and faithful shepherds and teachers in the church

    • Through the encouragement and fellowship of brethren in the church

• Trials are not of one type.

  • "Various trials" encompasses any and all types of trials or suffering. Some examples: disease, sickness, insecurity, death, loneliness, persecution, loss of employment, or rebellious children.

• Trials are temporary.

  • Trials are temporary in the sense that they will only persist during our earthly lives. They may be momentary or sustained, but they will not carry over into eternity.

• God deems trials as necessary.

  • We endure trials so that the proof of our faith may result in salvation and glorification. (Proof refers to the genuineness or character of our faith.)

  • Through the endurance of trials and suffering, we can have confidence that our faith is real and genuine. This is valuable because we can truly know that we have salvation waiting for us at the end. In this sense, the endurance of suffering is necessary and even joyful.

• Genuine faith is more valuable than money.

  • There is a ceiling to what earthly riches can buy. Even the purest of gold can only purchase that which is produced in this temporary life. It can’t buy you love, peace, security, or wisdom.

  • In comparison, a genuine faith is precious and incomparably more valuable than any asset or precious resource found on earth.

  • Genuine faith is able to "buy" something that no amount of gold can buy - the salvation of our souls, the forgiveness of sin, and eternity in heaven.

Christ Is Our Master, and We Have A Living Hope

HYMN

#198 Across the Lands

This week we continued studying through 1 Peter 1.

PROPOSITIONS & EXPLANATORY NOTES

• Christ is the master.

  • God gave us salvation in His sovereignty for the purpose of obedience to Christ.

  • True believers obey the Lord.

• Christ is the cleanser.

  • Sinners are cleansed by the precious blood of Christ.

• Blessing others is a normal Christian disposition.

  • Greetings such as Peter's were common and normal, as all Christians extended warm and gracious greetings to each other.

  • Our warm disposition toward one another comes from a natural love that Christians have for one another in Christ. We ought to desire to bless and extend the grace and peace of God to each other.

• God the Father is the God of Jesus Christ.

  • In bearing full humanity, Christ worshiped the Father as His God.

• We worship the Father as the initiator of our salvation.

  • The Father has initiated and executed our regeneration. God is the one who caused us to be born again.

  • It is by God's great mercy that we have been chosen for salvation. We do not deserve regeneration, and we did not merit or earn regeneration. We are entirely at the hands of God's mercy and recipients of the blessing of salvation. God deserves all of the recognition and all of our praise.

• Our hope is in our future glorified life.

  • Because Christ rose from the dead, we have hope and confidence that we will also be raised from the dead.

  • Christ literally died and was raised again in the same physical body. He literally came back from the dead, and has mastery and victory over death and mortality. This is why we can have a living hope in Him.

  • The quality of our life in future glory will be much greater than any life we can live now on earth.

• Our inheritance is unlike earthly inheritance.

  • Things in this life will fade, rust, and degrade, but our inheritance is imperishable, permanent, and indestructible.

  • The present world is corrupted and tainted by sin, but our heavenly inheritance is pure and undefiled.

  • Earthly things lose their luster and appeal, but our heavenly inheritance is unfading, and will never get old.

  • The good life is ahead of us, and will continue forever.