Fake Rolexes and False Faith: Is Your Faith the Real Thing?

In the watch industry, 20 million fake Rolexes are sold every year, and the

difference between the real thing and the fake is difficult to spot. Well

watches are one thing, but what about when it comes to faith? How do you know

that your faith is genuine and authentic, the real thing? Is inauthentic faith, fake

faith, easy to spot or difficult, like the fake Rolexes? Well that is what 1Peter

is going to help us to answer this morning. What does real authentic faith

in Jesus look like in our world? So it would be great if you've got 1Peter

there to have it open. And 1Peter is a letter written by the Apostle Peter.

Peter is an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is the same Peter who was with Jesus, who

witnessed Jesus' death and resurrection, who is bold and brash and is someone who

has been humbled by Jesus, and apart from Jesus, is the first leader of Jesus'

church. And he writes to the churches, to God's elect. The elect are those chosen

by God to receive salvation, those who believe the gospel and make up Jesus'

church. And this letter is written to Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor. Pontus,

Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, we're told. It was to be read aloud at each congregation,

and ultimately it was written to be read aloud for us today. And we know that it is for us

today because in verse 2, it is to those who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge

of God, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and

sprinkled with his blood. Here we see all three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son

and Spirit, our one God, at work in our salvation. And that is who this letter is to. Christians

with faith in Jesus, who know that their salvation is from our Trinitarian God. And the first

thing that Peter addresses in this letter is faith. Faith for eternity, faith proved

genuine and faith in the gospel. We're going to look at those three headings briefly now.

First, faith for eternity. The letter starts with praise. Praise be to the God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ, in verse 3. Now why is Peter breaking out in praise?

It's because God in his great mercy has given us new birth into a living hope through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It's a picture of new life, of bringing life into the

world, of life given to us by God. Newborns, they're not responsible for being brought into

the world. No baby comes out of the womb and goes, oh, I'm so glad I made that decision.

No, they play no part in it. Well, our being born again through faith is a work of God in our lives.

The Father, the Son and the Spirit. He caused us to be born again and we are born into a living hope

through the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus rose from the grave. He is alive, a living hope,

not a dead hope, not a dormant hope, not a sleeping hope, but a living hope.

Our hope rests on Jesus, risen from the grave.

But then in verse 4, as well as being born into a living hope, we're born into an inheritance

that can never perish, spoil or fade. An inheritance kept in heaven for us.

This inheritance is not going to rust, it's not going to expire. I like getting new technology,

getting new technology. I love getting a new phone or a new computer and I unwrap the box

and I pull the computer out and it's all shiny and clean. But then you know what happens?

After about four years, the shiny, clean, new computer or phone,

it doesn't quite work like it used to. It's dirty, maybe the screen is cracked.

And at about that four or five year mark, I start thinking, maybe it's time to get a replacement.

Our inheritance in heaven is not like that. It is forever shiny, forever new.

When we receive it on day one, when Jesus returns,

it's going to be just as glorious in a million years time. And then a million years after that,

and then a million years after that.

It's going to be glorious. And we know this because our inheritance

is not being stored in this world. This world is passing away.

But the inheritance that Peter talks about here, the living hope,

is being kept for us in heaven. Because that's where Jesus is.

The inheritance is being with Jesus for all eternity.

And it is being kept for us,

verse five, who through faith are shielded by God's power,

until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

We participate in this inheritance through faith in Jesus.

Our faith is being shielded by God's power. Now our faith might seem feeble. It might seem small,

small as a mustard seed even. Last week, we lit the Paschal candle on Saturday night.

But there was a bit of a drama because you might remember, Saturday night was windy,

and we had the doors open. And so keeping the Paschal candle alight was actually very tricky.

It kept going out.

Once we closed the doors and lit the candle, it stayed alight. And that's what God is doing

with our faith. He is shielding it, protecting it from going out, from being snuffed out.

It's protected by God, ensuring that our certain eternal hope can never be taken away.

Now you might be wondering at this point, well how does this work?

My faith is something I choose, right? Many of us remember the day that we put our faith in Jesus.

I do. November 1999.

But what we actually learn here is that our faith

is given to us by God. It's protected by God's glorious power.

And that while we do have agency and we do have choice, and it was definitely my choice to put my

faith in Jesus, I would not have made that choice except for the work of God in my life.

And so if we choose Jesus, if we persevere in holding on to Jesus, we can be confident that God

has chosen us, that we are elect, and that God has given us this gift of faith,

which he is shielding, he is protecting from going out.

And so how good that our faith, our salvation, our eternal future is not dependent on us,

on our works, on our energy, on our strength. Because if it was just based on us protecting

our faith, I feel like it might be a little bit like us trying to light the Paschal candle last week.

That kept going out. But it's not relying on us. God is at work and we have a living hope

and an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

So praise God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The next thing that Peter says about faith is that it is proved genuine.

Imagine being the tester of whether a Rolex is fake or not.

Someone brings you in their barley knockoff and at first it looks legit, but then you test it,

you tap the band and see if it's made of the right material, you shake it and see if there's

any kind of moving parts on the inside. You put the watch through a bunch of tests

and only the genuine Rolex passes the test. Well, God tests our faith

to show us that it is the genuine, real product.

And the test of faith is somewhat surprising. It's suffering. Verse 6,

though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

Now in 1 Peter, we learn God's people are suffering for doing good.

They're being imprisoned for their faith. That's the case across the world today as well. A

conservative estimate is that 388 million Christians across the world face high levels

of persecution. That's one in every seven Christians. But even if we're not being

persecuted for our faith, we do have griefs and trials, don't we? Life isn't always a walk in the

park. There's sickness, arguments with family, loneliness, disappointment, anxiety. You know

your own griefs and trials. Well, this verse helps us to see that these trials, they're just for a

short time. The words are a little while. After a little while, Jesus is going to return. The

inheritance is going to be revealed and a little while will be over. But meanwhile, God is using

this little while so that in verse 7, that our faith might be proved genuine of greater worth than gold.

God is using these trials and griefs to strengthen our faith, to refine it.

At gold in the first century, when it was refined, it got put into hot ovens

that would reach temperatures of about 800 degrees so that all the impurities would be burnt off.

And then once it was cooled down, it was then tested to find out its quality.

Well, God says our faith is more valuable than gold. Our faith goes through the furnace of

griefs and trials that we face so that our faith will be refined, made more pure,

so that the quality of our faith will be graded genuine. And that's what we want, isn't it?

We want our faith to be genuine. We want our faith to be authentic.

And so as Christians, when we go through hard times, we can know that God is refining us.

We might not have the perspective to see how he's refining us in the moment,

but we can trust that he is. God is removing from us the dross of sin, the misaligned worship,

the heart that wants to live with us as God, instead with as God as God, and he's increasing

our trust and dependency on him. There's a Christian called Gillian. She told her story

in Eternity News, and she lost her husband and her oldest son, and she speaks to how God used that.

She said, looking back, I think the grief helped me to see that God was close and real,

walking with me, grieving with me. I know it was never about my ability to stay close to him,

but it was about his faithfulness in staying close to me. It's exactly like the words you

hear other people say. I would never wish to go through that terrible time,

but having been through it, I know how remarkable it is that God draws me.

As an example of how God used Gillian's grief and trial to draw her close to him,

to refine her faith, and God does that to us as well.

And in the midst of that suffering, we can actually have joy.

Verse 8, though you have not seen him, you love him. Even though you do not see him now,

you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible

and glorious joy, for you're receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

It's not a joy that cancels out the grief and the suffering,

but rather it's a joy that sits alongside it,

knowing that God is good and that through Jesus we have eternal life. It's knowing that God is for us,

that God has got this great inheritance waiting for us, that he's shielding and protecting our faith.

So real faith will be tested, authentic faith will be tried.

And what we need to make sure that when we're going through those trials and those sufferings

that we don't start to doubt our faith.

See, the devil wants you to think that your faith is fake, even when you've got the real thing.

And one of the subtle schemes that the devil uses, especially when we're suffering,

is to put the question of doubt in front of us,

is to put the question of doubt in our minds.

The devil, like in the Garden of Eden, when the devil tricked Eve and Adam,

did God really say you would suffer as a Christian?

Did God really say that he would use this sucky time that you're going through

to show that your faith is genuine?

And the devil whispers in your ear, well, if God really loved you,

you wouldn't be suffering right now, would you?

That's what the devil wants us to believe, and maybe you've heard people say that.

But we need to know that trials and griefs are part of being an authentic Christian.

God is refining our faith.

So stand firm.

You're not a candle about to go out.

We are the church of the living God.

And God thinks that we're worth refining, worth shaping.

What grace.

Now lastly, and more briefly, our faith is in the Gospel.

Faith is always in something, and Christian faith is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And Gospel just means announcement of good news.

And the announcement of this Gospel happened long before Jesus walked the earth.

In verse 10, concerning the salvation,

the prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you

searched intently and with the greatest care.

The prophets prophesied it.

They looked forward.

They recognised that God's plans had more to come.

And in verse 11, they wanted to know when God's King and suffering Messiah would come.

And he did, didn't he?

Our Saviour has gone before us.

As we suffer, it's good to know that our Saviour suffered beyond what we could imagine.

He was betrayed by his friends, physically beaten, mocked, scorned, hung on a cross.

The worst way to die.

But to add to that, he actually, he died for our sins.

Jesus took the punishment that we deserve, the punishment that would send us to hell.

He took it for us.

He bled for us to forgive us so that we could place our faith in him.

And the prophets of the Old Testament were looking forward to that time.

The time when God's salvation plan would be fully revealed in Jesus.

The prophets searched it.

The angels in verse 12 long to look into it.

And we have it.

The gospel.

Authentic faith is given by God and believes the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Maybe you do have that question where you wonder whether you're a fake Rolex or not.

Where you wonder whether your faith is the real deal or not.

You lack certainty.

You lack assurance.

But this passage is designed not to make us doubt, but confident.

Because if you really want to know if a Rolex is authentic, you take it back to its creator.

You take it back to Rolex.

Well, if we want to know our faith is the real thing, we take it back to God.

We take it back to God.

And God says here in 1 Peter, believe the gospel.

Do you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ?

That he died for your sins?

That he's raised?

Your faith is legit.

Your future is secure.

The inheritance is yours.

Doesn't matter if your faith is as small as a mustard seed.

If you trust Jesus.

If you keep trusting Jesus.

Even when it's tough.

Especially when it's tough.

You're legit.

You're genuine.

With authentic faith.

And you can have assurance of your salvation as much as anyone has had assurance of their

salvation throughout all of history.

And so with Peter, we can say praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It's in his great mercy he's given us new birth into our living hope through the resurrection

of Jesus Christ from the dead into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

Kept in heaven for us.

Praise the Lord.