It's always a delight for me to be able to come and worship you. I'm thankful for this kind invitation and for Pastor Gord's willingness to preach for me in Essex. We're so thankful for your prayers for us. And as we go into a new year, it's our commitment to continue to pray for you as well and for the work of Christ among you. Now if you would please take your Bibles and turn with me in the New Testament to the book of 1 Peter chapter one. 1 Peter chapter one. And we'll read the first nine verses. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, all those places in modern-day Turkey, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him, Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Well, let's again look to God in prayer. Heavenly Father, what a great privilege is ours to gather together in your presence. How we thank you that the Lord Jesus has promised to meet with his people even when two or three are gathered. Oh, our Father, we are here confessing the Lord Jesus as our King. We're under his authority. We want to know the presence of his spirit working in our lives today. Heavenly Father, you know how we've come this morning. You know the desires of our heart, what our thoughts have been. Perhaps many of your people have come with a longing to be closer to Christ, to know more of the spirits working in their lives. Would you grant that to them today? Father, perhaps some have come with no expectation, with no thought of spiritual work going on in their hearts. Would you be pleased to surprise them? Would you be pleased, our God, to come by your Holy Spirit and work mightily in their hearts? Grant, our God, that we might be people, all of us, believing in Christ, loving the Lord Jesus Christ, rejoicing in our Savior. We know that this is your great work, And we pray that you would accomplish it in our hearts today. And we ask that you would receive all of the honor and the glory. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. One of the modern objections to the gospel goes something like this. I can't see Jesus. So how can I believe in someone that I can't see? How can I trust someone that, how do I have a relationship with him if I can't even see him? If you were talking with someone and trying to present the gospel to them, and they brought that objection to you, what would you say to them? Is it possible to have a relationship with someone that you can't see? Well, we know from our reading here in 1 Peter 1, how the apostle Peter would answer their objection. He would point us to people in his day who had never met the Lord Jesus, they'd never laid eyes upon him, and yet they were believing in him. They were trusting in him. And not only were they believing in the Lord Jesus, they were rejoicing in that relationship and they were looking forward to heaven one day to be with him forever. These people, being believers in the Lord Jesus, they had gone through great trials because of their faith. They were experiencing persecution. And so if anyone had a reason to turn away and to say, I'm not gonna keep believing in the Lord Jesus, they would have had a reasonable excuse. But despite all of their difficulties, all of their trials, the persecution they were up against, Peter said, these people that I'm writing to, they're believing in the Lord Jesus, and they're rejoicing in that relationship. Now it's noteworthy that as he speaks of these people here in verse eight, Two times he refers to their relationship with the unseen Christ. The first time when he says, though you have not seen him, Peter seems to be referring to the public ministry of the Lord Jesus when he was here in this world ministering among the people of Israel. The gospels tell us all about that. the teaching, the preaching that Jesus did, the various miracles he performed, so many that they couldn't even all be included in the gospel accounts. Peter says to these people, though you didn't see him, you weren't there, you weren't privileged like the apostles to walk the roads of Israel and to observe the miracles and hear the teaching. But even though you weren't there, you are believing in him. But then in that second reference, where he goes on and says, though you do not see him now, that seems to indicate that they didn't have any ongoing experience of seeing Christ in their Christian life. So where they were living in these various provinces of Asia Minor, Having heard the gospel, having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, having as men and women, as young people, following, living out the Christian life, it wasn't their daily experience to see Jesus. He didn't appear to them. They didn't have visions of Christ, dreams of Christ. They couldn't see the Lord Jesus, and it's not something that they expected during this life. So Peter would say, look at these people who humanly speaking perhaps you would say had every reason not to believe in the Lord Jesus and yet they're trusting in Christ and they're rejoicing in a relationship with the Savior. Now let's stop and ask this question. Why is this a problem? Why would people make such an objection? I can't see Jesus. Why should I believe in him? Well, one answer might go something like this. We struggle to establish and build a relationship with people that we have never seen. We struggle to establish and build relationships with people that we have never seen. Just look at your own earthly experience. How many close relationships do you have with people that you have never seen? Just think through, however old you are, all your years, how many close relationships do you have with people and you've never seen them? Yes, there are some exceptions, like maybe a pen pal or an email friend that you've fallen into correspondence with. But even then, we usually recognize that we get to know someone really well when we can look them eyeball to eyeball. That's just a reality of human life. Certainly that struggle is illustrated when we read of the relationship of the disciples of Jesus to our Savior. They, of course, were the ones who knew him during his earthly life. They rubbed shoulders with him. They listened to his teaching. They watched and participated in his miracles. But when he died, they were so crestfallen, they thought it was all over. He had gone. He wasn't standing in front of them anymore. They couldn't enjoy that fellowship that they had had with him. And so they were prepared, it seems, to give it up. When the reports finally came to them of his resurrection, some of them we read this morning, at first they wouldn't believe it. Was there a real person who had risen from the dead? Could it be Jesus? And you remember that record of Thomas that we did read from John 20. He wasn't there that first time in the upper room when Jesus appeared to the disciples. And so when they told him of their experience, he said, no, no, I'm never gonna believe it. Unless I can take my finger and put it right into those prints of the nails, the wounds, unless I can take my hand and put it into his side, I'll never believe. You remember the record. When Jesus, that next Sunday evening, came and met with the disciples, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. The Lord Jesus pronounced a benediction upon these believers that Peter wrote to, along with every other believer since those days, because our Savior knows that it's a struggle to believe in someone that you have never seen. It's a blessing from God if you can get past that hurdle. Now that is surely one of the reasons Why people struggle to come to faith in the Lord Jesus. They're waiting to see something, to feel something that will convince them to come to the Lord Jesus. How do we deal with such a problem? Well, we have to begin by recognizing that God has given us everything that we need to know to have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ right here in our Bibles. This is where you begin to have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. to use your eyes, as it were, through the witnesses of Scripture, to see the Lord Jesus and to come to know Him. And as we read the Scriptures, we can say many things about the Lord Jesus. We know who He is. We know that He's the eternal Son of God, who dwelled at His Father's right hand from all eternity. We know that he was willing to come into this world. We've just been thinking about that over this Christmas season. He was willing to leave the glories of heaven to come down into this world and to take true humanity to himself, to live among men and women and young people and children, and to experience human life from the inside, we might say. and to come and be our Savior. We know that he was willing to humble himself in obedience to God to do that. We know that in the course of that obedience, following out the Father's plan, he went to the cross to die voluntarily in the place of sinners. Though it looked like his enemies had gotten hold of him and they were gonna do with him whatever they wanted to do, we know that they could have done nothing except the Lord Jesus, in a sense, gave himself to them to suffer and die in our place. We know that he paid the penalty for sin and rebellion against God and he's won forgiveness and eternal life for all who will come to him. We know that he really died and was buried in a tomb, where on the third day he was raised from the dead, showing himself to many people as proof of the resurrection. We know that he has returned to heaven, where he has been enthroned in heavenly splendor. There he reigns over the entire world on behalf of the church, ministering to his people in all their needs. We know that he's coming again one day to judge all men, bringing this world's history to a close, assigning the unrepentant to hell and welcoming his believing repentant people into heaven. Those are all truths we know about the Lord Jesus Christ from the Bible that God has revealed to us. And they're not merely truths to know in terms of, you know, I know that several hundred years ago George Washington lived. These are truths on the basis of which we can establish a relationship with someone. Because these truths are not merely truths to know, they're truths to be embraced. They're truths to bring us to the Lord Jesus to say to him, I believe these things about you. I want to know you. I want you to be my savior. I want to have a relationship with you for all eternity. Here is a Savior that you can trust. Here is a Savior that you can cast your whole life on, knowing that he will never disappoint you, but always prove himself to be faithful in everything. That is a Savior that you can love as you consider all that he did for you to rescue you from hell and to give you the gift of eternal life. Even this morning, when we come to the Lord's table, we have to deal with this same reality. We can't see the Savior that we're seeking to remember. But these symbols that he has given to us point us back to these wonderful realities of Christ's redemptive work for us. That's the basis of our relationship. So we think of his body given as a sacrifice on the cross. We think of his blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins. And we come to him and say, Lord Jesus, that you would do that for me. that you would forgive me, that you would desire a relationship with me. Oh Lord Jesus, I want to love you, I want to live for you, I want to serve you, I want to know your presence with me day after day. We glory in these things, and by these means we confess our faith in Christ, and we tell him that we love him, and we rejoice in his sacrifice for us, and we commit ourselves again to walk with him day by day. As we ask the question, why is this a problem, an unseen Christ, here's a second issue to consider. As we think about a relationship with our Savior, we want our comforter and sympathizer to be with us in the midst of our trials. We want our comforter and sympathizer to be with us in the midst of our trials. If a person is really going to prove their value to us, we want them to be with us when we're in the midst of difficulties. Now that's true in a variety of human experiences. For instance, if you're sick and in the hospital, you want someone that you love, someone that's really close to be there with you in the room. perhaps even hold your hand, help you as you go through this time of difficulty. Maybe if your heart, you're at home, your heart is breaking over some emotional dilemma, you want to be able to sit down with a trusted confident and pour out your soul. We even find this reality in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. You remember how in John's Gospel we read about the sickness of Lazarus. And when Lazarus got sick and was in great trouble, you remember that his sisters Mary and Martha, they wrote the Lord Jesus a note. What did they want? They wanted Jesus to come and be with them and minister to them. When he failed to come according to their hopes until after Lazarus had died, their evident disappointment came out in those sad words, Lord, if you had been here, our brother would not have died. They wanted Jesus to be right there with them as they went through this trial and difficulty. They obviously couldn't discern that there was a divine reason for our Savior's physical absence. Our Lord Jesus was going to accomplish much more through Lazarus's death and resurrection than if he had simply come and raised him from his sickbed. But here's the issue. They struggled, they were disappointed, because the Lord Jesus wasn't with them when they thought they needed him most. But brethren, that brings to us a very important reality, a reality that every Christian knows, not only from the testimony of the Word of God, but from the experience of our own lives as well. This is one of the great benefits of trials in the Christian life because it proves to us the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. We will never see him with these physical eyes in this life as the apostles did. We cannot expect that to be part of our experience, but the trials that God has been pleased to ordain for our lives, these grant us certain proof that the Lord Jesus is with us by his spirit, even though we cannot see him with our physical eyes. Our experience is something like that of Daniel's three friends. You remember that excellent story from the book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They're called with all of the government officials to bow down before Nebuchadnezzar's idol of gold. and they refuse to do it. They won't compromise their obedience to God by worshiping a false god. And so, of course, that puts them in danger of Nebuchadnezzar's wrath and anger, and he condemns them to be thrown into that fiery furnace, heats it many times hotter, and then they're thrown in. And of course, they expect that those men are just going to perish immediately, just feeling the impact of that heat. But as Nebuchadnezzar looks into that blazing furnace, he asks the question, didn't we throw in three men? How come I see four? And the fourth one looks like some divine person. How can that be? Well, we know who it was, don't we? It was our Lord Jesus Christ in a pre-incarnate experience coming into that furnace to be with those men and to help them and encourage them. Brethren, that's a picture for us. That's a reminder to us that when our God is pleased to put us through trials and difficulties, we never have to go through them alone, that the Lord Jesus comes and he's with us. It's a fulfillment of that wonderful promise God gave to his people in the book of Isaiah, chapter 43. But now, thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. So these various experiences that come to God's people, going through floodwaters, going through flames like Daniel's friends, maybe not literally, sometimes literally, sometimes emotionally in our ongoing experience, this precious promise from the Lord, I will be with you. I will be with you. That was the very experience of the Apostle Paul. As he wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy, probably the last letter he would write. He's in Caesar's court. He's expecting that he's gonna lose his head on the executioner's block pretty soon. And he writes to tell Timothy of his trial. He says, at my first offense, no one stood with me, but all forsook me. How devastating that must have been. All of these people who in life had professed to be his friends, people who had ministered side by side with him, people that he would expect would stand there with him right to the end, but for whatever reason, they all forsook him and left. And so it looked like Paul was standing there by himself in front of Caesar's court. But you remember, he goes on to say this, may it not be charged against them, but the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. What a blessing for Paul, as he's surrounded by all of these people with great hatred and readiness to put him to death, to know that the Lord of glory The Lord who rules over heaven and earth was standing right there with him in Caesar's court. That's the glorious experience of the child of God. Maybe sometime in the middle of the night when everyone else has gone to sleep and you're filled with pain or your heart is in anguish over some issue, And you're able to cry out, Lord Jesus, I need you. Please come and help me. And to know his presence, bringing mercy and grace, filling your heart with peace, to realize that King Jesus, enthroned in heaven, is listening to your prayer and coming by his spirit to be with you. These are some of the greatest joys of the Christian life. As the apostle intimates, There are dimension to these experiences that are indescribable. Several years ago, as sort of a prelude to Pastors Conference in New Jersey, I got to be part of a group touring Princeton Seminary. And it was really a wonderful day. place that in years gone by was the home of champions of biblical Christianity. Men like Archibald Alexander, Samuel Miller, Charles Hodge, B.B. Warfield, their works still being published today, godly, godly men, great lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we got to go through some of the buildings where they lived and where they taught, the chapel where they gathered to sing the praises of God. It was a glorious day. We ended the day at Princeton Cemetery. Very sobering experience. And to be just feet away from where the bones of Jonathan Edwards lay. And these other men, I never felt so close to these men that I've so loved and appreciated and benefited from their written ministry over the years. And so we read the various things on the tombstones and were reminded of their lives. as we stood at the tomb of Charles Hodge, a great theologian of biblical Christianity, a lover of Jesus Christ. His theological books and commentaries on the Bible are still very helpful today. We were told about the death of Charles Hodge's first wife. Listen to the record. Her husband asked her, do you love the Lord Jesus? She replied, I hope so. He asked, do you trust in him? Entirely, said Sarah. Is he precious to you, Charles asked. Very, she responded, and then added, inexpressibly, he is my all in all. Almost 30 years later, It was the turn of Charles Hodge to cross that river of death, and this time it was his second wife who was ministering to him. Listen again to the record. On his deathbed, to the loving inquiry of his wife, he answered, yes, my love, my Savior is with me every step of the way, but I am too weak to talk about it. He died repeating to himself the hymn, Jesus, I am never weary when upon this bed of pain. If thy presence only cheer me, all my loss I count but gain. Ever near me, ever near me, Lord remain. That's the experience of the Christian. He can't see the Lord Jesus with his physical eyes, but by faith he knows that this glorious person who laid down his life at the cross is now alive and with us and traveling through this life and granting us grace for our every need. So let me close this morning by asking this. Do you know this experience of the unseen Christ? Though you cannot see him, you cannot go back to the days of the apostles, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? And though you can't see him today, yet you're trusting in him. and you're rejoicing in him, and you're looking forward to those days of glory when you will be with him forever in his physical presence. Do you know that experience of the presence of Christ? If you can say yes this morning, yes, I do believe in the Lord Jesus, even though I can't see him, you're gonna be ready to say with Charles Hodge, Ever near me, ever near me, Lord, remain. That's what you want. You want the presence of your Savior every day to be with you. This morning, if you have to say honestly no to that question, that you're not trusting in the unseen Christ, let me tell you this morning, you need the Lord Jesus. You need him. You need him to rescue you from your sin. You need him to rescue you from the condemnation of hell. You need him to rescue you from all of the struggles and trials that you're going through in this life. And the glorious invitation of the gospel is that he says, come to me, and he never turns anyone away. So come to Him this morning. Turn from a life of sin and trust in the Lord Jesus. Trust in the Savior who can rescue you and bring to you peace and joy and eternal life. Let's bow in prayer. Heavenly Father, We thank you, our God, that though we cannot see the Lord Jesus with our physical eyes this morning, we believe he's here with us. We believe he is faithful to his word, faithful to his promise. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the saving grace that you have brought to so many here this morning, so that we can agree with these people in Peter's letter, and we rejoice to have you as our Savior. We know you as we go through all of the difficulties of this life. Thank you, our God, for this gift of faith. Will you not come and work in the hearts of those who don't know the Savior today? May they, through the pages of Scripture, see the Lord Jesus and come to embrace Him even today to call on the name of the Lord for salvation. Heavenly Father, do these things to bring glory to your name. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.