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Please open your bibles to 1 Peter 1.
We are studying through this letter from the apostle Peter, that was written to believers around 60 AD.
As we have been looking at this book, we see that we are just like those believers.
Though we are separated by almost 2000 years, we are very much the same, and this letter applies to us just as much as it did to them.
In this letter, Peter wants us to see that the good news about God saving us is something that concerns our everyday lives.
In this letter we will see how this should effect our personal relationships, our marriages, our friendships, our working lives, and our political lives.
To start out, Peter wants us to focus on the right facts.
You are God's elect!
Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father
through the sanctifying work of the Spirit
to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood.
You were given new birth into a living hope!
You have an inheritance waiting for you!
You rejoice in this hough for now you have all kinds of trials
And remember, the trials are not meant for you to fail.
They are meant for you to succeed and your faith to be shown to be genuine
So, knowing all that God has done for you, and the inheritance and hope that is yours...
Set your hope fully on the grace being brought to you when Jesus comes.
Do not conform to your old evil desires, but be holy.
Be like your Father who is holy.
And... for the passage we have been working through for the past few weeks...
After all the talk about God's grace and peace.
After talking about this great inheritance, the glory that is coming, the praise and honor that they will receive... Peter writes, your Father will judge you.
Live in Reverent fear.
What is reverent fear?
What does he mean by living in reverent fear?
What is that fear?
Some people fear death, or rather what comes after death.
There has been a belief among many Christians that after death you enter a place of purification, a place of punishment for sins that were committed and not dealt with properly.
So, some people say living in reverent fear means fearing punishment after you die if you do not live properly.
Actually, this teaching is not in the Bible, but came from Origen who was nearly 200 years after Christ was here on the Earth.
Someone accurately pointed out to me that Origen was declared a heretic about 300 years after his death.
This was due largely to what some had done with some of his teachings, but other teachings of his remained influential, like the teaching of purgatory.
So, do we live in reverent fear because God will make us suffer after death to purify us from sin?
To answer that, last week we looked at what the Bible says happens after death.
Someone asked me to review that briefly, so here we go quickly.
What happens when you die?
First, we need to understand that we are created as living beings with a physical body, and a living soul.
Physical death is when the living soul is separated from the physical body.
The body is buried to decay, and the living soul goes… where?
The Bible tells us.
Three Important words:
Sheol (Hebrew)
Hades (Greek)
Hell (English)
Last week, we saw that these all refer to “the Place of the Dead”
Now, Sheol, the Place of the dead is always referred to as being down, in the depths of the Earth.
Everyone who died went literally ‘down’ to the place of the dead.
Now, Jesus, in Luke 16 described it for us in the story of Lazarus and the Rich man.
In that account, Jesus related that Sheol was divided into two compartments.
I picture Sheol like this.
The upper part, a place of peace, refreshment, comfort was also known as Abraham’s bosom/side, or Paradise.
The lower part, was a place of torment.
Those who like Abraham, heard God’s word and believed were in the upper part.
Those who did not hear and believe were in torment.
Jesus when dying on the cross said,
Jesus died on the cross, and went down to the depths, to Paradise which was in the place of the dead.
However, Jesus did not stay dead.
As was foretold in Psalm 16:10
God raised Jesus.
When God raised Jesus, Jesus took all those who had died in faith, waiting for Him to pay for sins as God had promised with Him as he now moved Paradise up to Heaven to be with Him.
Paul mentions this in Ephesians 4:8-10, which is also a of Psalm 68:18.
Paradise to Heaven
Paradise held all those who died in faith, waiting for the day when God’s promised deliverer would die to pay for our sins.
So, once Jesus died and made the payment for sin, he then took Paradise and those held there to heaven with Him.
So now, for those who die in faith--that is, for those who believe God who has declared that He will forgive and save anyone who believes that Jesus died for their sins, and rose again—they will go to Paradise.
Their soul immediately leaves their body behind and goes to be with Jesus.
For those who do not believe, they still go to the fire and torment of Hades.
So, if it is not because of fear of punishment after death,
Why should we live in reverent fear?
Because God will judge us impartially
I believe it has to do with the fact that God judges us.
Peter said, since your Father judges you impartially, live in reverent fear.
Wait, first we said there would not be a time of punishment after death, but now we are talking about judgment.
Doesn’t that show some kind of punishment?
Like we did last week, let’s look to the Bible to find the answers.
God has told us, we just need to look it up.
As Micah read this morning, everyone will face judgment.
Everyone will face a judgment.
We who die in faith, believing in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins will be judged.
Peter mentions it here in 1 Peter 1:17.
Paul also mentions it in Romans 14:10-12 and 2 Corinthians 5:10.
This judgment of believers is often called the Bema Judgment, because the Greek word for the Judgment seat is ‘Βημαʼ.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 describes this judgment.
This takes place in heaven after our resurrection.
Last week we read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and saw how Jesus is going to come in the air for those of us who believe in Him.
Those who died, well their souls will come with Him in the air.
Their bodies will be restored, resurrected and changed.
Then, any believer who is alive will also be ‘caught-up’ together with them in the air.
Why in the air?
Because Jesus said he was going to come and take us to be with him.
When Jesus comes back for us in the air, we will go to be with Jesus in Heaven.
There, we will stand before His judgment seat as Paul describes here, and we will give an account.
However, what is the outcome of this judgment?
REWARD!
A judgment for prizes and rewards
This is not a judgment like in a criminal court where guilt is determined and punishment is meted out.
No, this is like the science or craft fair where the judge examines the work, and gives out prizes/rewards based upon what was done.
Everyone is going to be saved.
Everyone will come through this judgment, saved.
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