What are the marks of a genuine Christian?  Peter lays out 4 of them in this section.

Teaching Notes:

Marks of True Christianity

1 Peter 1:8-9

Intro:

Read. Pray. 1:3-5 – future salvation. 1:6-9 – present salvation. Christian life marked by 1) distressed by various trials, and 2) greatly rejoicing. Develops #1 in 1:7. Develops #2 in 1:8-9. Christian life made up of Joy & Trial. Greatly Rejoice – same phrase in 6 & 8. Links 2 sections together. Peter mentions 4 Aspects of Genuine Christianity: Love, Faith, Joy, Salvation. True Christianity is Loving Christ, Trusting Christ, Enjoying Christ, and Being Saved by Christ. Why mention these? Wants them to know they are doing well. Experiencing Real Christianity. If in future, these marks absent, wake up and return!

1. Love:

love for Christ is essential mark of true believer. Rom.8:28; Jn.8:42; 1Cor.16:22. What is it? Experiencing Christ as precious because of His Character. It is Being Attracted to Christ for Who He Is. “Have not seen Him” – Peter had, but these believers had not. They in same position we are.
How do you know you love Jesus?

2. Faith:

another mark of true believer. Eph.2:8-9; Jn.3:36. Experiencing Christ as Reliable in all His promises. It is Being Confident in Christ for What He Will Do.

You do not see Him now – but how do we love and believe in One we can’t see? Don’t see Him with physical eyes, but do see Him in another way. Rom.15:20-21. Thousands of people saw Jesus physically, but did not really see Him for who He is. 2Cor.4:6. Can see w/ eyes or heart. This is spiritual seeing in heart of glory of Christ. W/o this no one saved. How do we see His glory in our heart? Through Word. Through Gospels we can see Jesus more clearly than others who saw Him in flesh (like Nicodemus, Zaccheus, woman at well, thief on cross, thronging multitudes). They saw snatches here and there. We see full, complete view of Christ. We can go into inner circle of disciples, hear whole sermons, see fullness of His character and power, follow Him to Gethsemane and cross, and then to empty tomb. See His freedom from worry, courage, wisdom, love for glory of God, compassion for outcast, meekness in suffering. Actually we have something better than being there! Word able to help us see glory of Christ! You don’t see Him now, but in another sense do see Him far better than thousands who saw Him face to face. See glory of God shining in Jesus’ face all through gospels. Cuz see Him with eyes of your heart, you love Him, trust Him, and rejoice in Him.
How do you know you believe in Jesus?

3. Joy:

what is it? Spontaneous good feelings that flow from love and faith. Echo in our hearts from experiencing Christ as precious and reliable. Good feelings that flow from being attracted to Him for who He is, and confident in Him for what He will do. Would you say, “I’m attracted to preciousness of Christ, but have no good feelings about it? Or I’m confident in His reliability, but no good feelings”?
“Inexpressible and full of glory” – why is our joy inexpressible? Because Christ’s preciousness and reliability are inexpressibly great, so our joy is inexpressibly great in Him. Why is our joy full of glory? Because Christ is full of glory. He is the glory of God. Jn.1:14. Our joy is inexpressible and full of glory because it is joy in loving Jesus and trusting Jesus who is inexpressibly glorious!
When do you experience joy in Christ?

4. Salvation:

as Christians love, believe, and rejoice they experience the salvation of their souls. “Obtaining” is in present tense. In Gr. means continual and ongoing. We are continually obtaining the salvation of our souls. Though our final salvation not revealed until Christ returns (1:5), we presently experience salv. of souls. Salvation = rescue, deliverance. What are we rescued from? Power & bondage of sin. As believers love, trust, and rejoice in Jesus they experience God’s work of sanctification. We have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved. Penalty, power, presence of sin. Peter talking about power of sin here. More we love Him, trust Him and rejoice in Him, more power of sin broken in our lives. Outcome of our faith: notice our deliverance from sins’ bondage is simply the outcome of faith. Result of abiding relationship with Him. 2Cor.3:17. Think of a time when the bondage of sin began to lose its grip in your life. How was that happening?

Application:

This is real Christianity. Anything short of this is counterfeit. If we don’t love Jesus, believe in Jesus, rejoice in Jesus, or experience His deliverance in our lives presently, it is a wake up call to return to Him. We’ve either not been saved or been drifting away from Him. We are swimming upstream against current of godlessness with stroke of love, faith and joy. Peter is on shore saying “You are doing well. I’m putting flag even with where you are in river. Mark this – this is where you are.” If we stop using strokes of love, faith and joy, and float downstream in river of godlessness, we can look to shore and see the flag. It’s upstream. Call us back to True Christianity.

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