December 9th

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Welcome to On the Way with Tony Chris. Each weekday, Dr. Chris will be discussing biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Tune in daily to start your day right and deepen your understanding of how to better walk the way and enjoy the journey. Here's your host, Dr. Tony Chris.

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Welcome to On the Way. This is Tony Chris, and this is the 365 Bible reading plan. Today is December the 9th, and our passage for today is the first chapter of the book of 1 Peter. Now I'm going to get right into this because there is so much in every one of these chapters. I'm only going to be able to, even in this commentary, give you a running commentary at best. I will stop on a couple of places, try not to take too much time, but I want you to get the gist of how Peter encourages these people who are scattered because of persecution. They are strangers, they are pilgrims, they are on a journey with God to a place that is beyond time. But now they are in a strange land. Now what he says to them he also says to us. And so he begins by saying who he is Peter, a sent one from God, an apostle of Jesus the anointed one, the Christ, the Mashiach, to pilgrims, that is, to those who have settled in for a temporary settlement until they get home. Pilgrims of the diaspora, that is, those that were scattered because of persecution, Jews and Gentiles that were scattered after the period of the church, during the period of the church, but primarily he is speaking to those Jews that are scattered because of the persecution that arose in Jerusalem. And he is writing to those who would be in what is modern day Turkey today, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethynia. And then he addresses them as the selected. That's right, electas, those who are elected, those who are selected, that God the Father, notice the entire involvement of the Trinity here, of the triune God. Elect selected by God Himself, because God has foreknowledge. Now we're not going to get into the theological arguments about what is the basis of foreknowledge, how that election process is accomplished, because quite honestly, your little peanut brain and mind will never be able to get a hold of the triune God, how he does things, how he acts, except how he tells us. But he doesn't tell us all that you and I want to know. And as a matter of fact, if he did, he would blow up our minds. We wouldn't even be able to take it. As he said to the church at Ephesus, he is able to do exceedingly above, beyond. That's three superlatives. Anything we could ever ask or imagine, think. And so God the Father chose us. The Holy Spirit of God set us apart. That's what sanctification means. He set us apart from the world, dedicated us unto God. And it was for the purpose that we might become obedient to the obedient one himself, the Lord Jesus, who is our Christas, our Meshiach, our Messiah, the anointed one. Araine, that is, peace to you, and Karas, grace. Those were the standard greetings. It would have been much like saying in Hebrew, Shalom. And so he wants that to be multiplied to them. And then starting at verse three, going all the way down to verse 13, where the therefore comes in, this is all one thought. He's talking about what God has done for us, how blessed he is, and how we are to bless him, and how we are blessed. So he says, eulogates, blessed, eulogized, say good things about God. And that's the word you, which is uh prefix, which means good or well pleasing, and the word logas or logo, that is where we get the word eulogize, to speak good things about someone. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, above and beyond mercy, has borne us again, has birthed us by a living hope, to a living hope, for a living hope. That is, our hope, our expectation is not in a grave somewhere. Our expectation is not in a person like Confucius or Buddha or Muhammad. Our trust, our hope, our expectation is one who was dead and is alive forevermore, and he has the keys of both hell and death. He is Jesus the Messiah who rose from the dead. And we are given because of him an inheritance that is incorruptible. It cannot be corrupted, it will not decay, it will not be defiled, it will not be sullied, and it does not ever fade away, and it has a lock. There is a reserve place, there is a place in heaven with your name on it, and we are kept to the end by the power of God through trusting Jesus for our salvation, and all of this will be revealed in the last time. Now let me just stop and say to you, God finishes with everyone he starts with. You see, when you read Romans chapter 8 and verse 28, you need to go ahead and read verse 29. Romans 8, 28, yes, for we know that God works all things together for good, to those who love God for those who are called according to his purpose. And then you stop there because we want to talk about, you know, all the things that come out of bad things. But the verse doesn't stop there, the thought doesn't stop there. That verse divides it and it should just all be together because he talks about those that he starts with, everyone that he calls, everyone that comes to him. That is where predestination comes in. He sets out a mark for us, a horizon for us. The word is proherizo. That means that he's already got our destiny marked out. And what is our destiny? Our destiny is to be like Jesus, his son. You see, God so loved the world that he gave his one of a kind son that whoever trust in him would never be ruined, their life would never be wasted, but they would have life everlasting, life eternal, life that begins now and lasts forever. So God so loved the world that he gave his one of a kind son. But God so loves his son that he said, I'm going to make all of heaven just like you. And so we are predestined to be conformed, to be molded unto the image of Jesus. This is why John the apostle said, Beloved, right now are we the sons of God, this very moment. But it does not yet appear what we shall be. I mean, look at us, watch us, listen to us. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Right now we have possession. We are the sons of God. Not one day, we are now. But he says, It does not yet appear right now what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. This is why Paul said in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6 the one who started a good work in you, who birthed a good work in you, who began a good work in you, shall complete it, shall perform that good work until the day of Jesus Christ. If you started with him, you're going to end with him. Well, I don't know. I'm trying to hold on. No, you start with him, you end with him. It's like when we start walking across the road with a three-year-old, a four-year-old, a five-year-old. I, as a father, used to reach down with my children. I'd have one on each arm, and I would have a five-year-old and a three-year-old, and I would walk across the street. Well, you think I trusted them to hold my hand? They could be distracted. They could try to run off. No, no, no, no, no, no. No. They thought they were holding my hand, but in actuality I was holding theirs because if they'd started to stray and would have been hurt, would have gotten away from me, then that would have been trouble. But the fact is I had hold of them. They could have squirmed, I would have carried them across. Aren't you glad that God does us like that? Aren't you glad that he will never let you go? You say, but you don't understand what I've done. You don't know what he can do. You don't understand what he can do. He can pick you up and carry you. And one of these days you're going to look back and see how many times God picked you up, and you thought you had done that, and he carried you to safety. You know why? Because he's God. And you are just like me. You're prone to wonder. The psalmist over and over again talked about how he would run away and God would pursue him. And David said, Surely the goodness and mercy of God will follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's at the end and the closing of Psalm 23. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me? What a lame translation, quite honestly. I don't want to be respectful. But that word in the King James Version is translated two other ways. One is hotly pursue and one's chase after. Many of you have stood with me beside the great Wadi that runs from Jerusalem to Jericho, that's referred to as the shadow of death, the valley of the shadow of death. And I've shared with you at that very spot, looking over into the wilderness where Jesus was tempted, where for forty days and forty nights he fought the devil himself, Satan himself, and he won. And the angels ministered to him. But do you realize what David said? He said, Surely the goodness and mercy of God will follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Oh no, that's not in meaning what he said. Let's use these words that he uses in other places. Surely the goodness of God, Tov, and Hesit, that is translated twelve different ways in our English Bibles, because not one word, not two words, not five words, not half a dozen words, not ten words, but a dozen words it takes to capture the splendor of that word. It's grace, mercy, goodness, kindness, generosity, all of those things that we look at. Love, loyalty, all of those things. David said, Surely, the goodness of God and the Hesed of God will hotly pursue me all the days of my life. Surely the goodness of God and the mercy of God, the Hesed of God, will chase after me all the days of my life. Why would it hotly pursue us? Why would it chase after us? I'll tell you because many times we're running as hard as we can away from God, but he will not let us go. The Holy Spirit pursues us and brings us back to himself. And because of that, you and I will make it. Because of that, we're going to cross the finish line. Because of that, God will never let us go, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's what he's saying. He said, In this, in this, verse six, you greatly rejoice, you're thrilled about this. Though now, in the present time in which they were living and were living, you have been grieved, you've been hurt, you've been in sorrow because of all of these variegated and various sizes and colors of trial. Now God did this that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tested with fire, might be found to the praise and honor and glory at the revealing, at the parocia of Jesus Christ, the manifestation of Jesus Christ, who having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see him, yet trusting in him, trusting in what he says, trusting in what he do. Why? Because you can trust him, he's faithful. You rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. And in this we receive the very end of our trust, which is the salvation of our souls. We're experiencing it now. Now listen to this. Though now we rejoice, but for a time we may go through some hard times. Listen, if we suffer all of our life, it is a drop in the ocean to eternity with Him. So we need to rejoice. He said that God is allowing your faith to be tested, not to bring out the bad in you, but to bring out the good in you. The enemy of our souls wants to tempt you to do evil so he can bring out the bad that's there, and it's there in every one of us. Save the grace of God, we'd all be falling. But God tests us to bring out the best, the shiny part of us. I'm reminded of what Leo Edelman told me years ago. Oh it would have been now forty five years ago. I asked him about this and I said, What is this the meaning of? He said, Oh, Brother Tony. He said back during the days of Peter, when this was written, during the days of the first century, the great silversmiths and those who worked with metal would begin to put in the ore from the earth, and they would get the fire just right, and as that dross began to boil to the top, the silver and the gold would drop to the bottom. And he said the great silversmiths would then take a ladle and would take all of that dross and impurities and they would bring it off the top. They would ladle it off the top and throw it to the side. Then they would heat the fire even more, and they would let more of those impurities come to the top and come to the top. And I'm telling you, he was embellishing this and I was into it. I bet my eyes looked like saucers. And I said to him, because he was just kept on, he's going to do it over and over again. I said, Dr. Edelman, how did he know when it was finished? When it was ready to pour into the mole so it wouldn't break, so it could be pliable. He said, Oh, that's easy. When that silversmith looked over into that pot and he saw the reflection of his own face, then he knew it was ready to be poured in the mole. Oh dear God in heaven. Keep us in the fire as long as it takes to get us to the point to where we are a reflection of your dear son and your face. May it be as we walk on the way. This is Tony Crisp.

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Thanks for listening to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Tune in every weekday for information on biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Fridays are for your questions. Email your questions to questions at TonyCrisp.org. Then just listen for your question to be answered on Friday's podcast. That's Questions at Tony C R I S P dot.org. Thanks for listening and have a blessed day on the way.