for our time then this evening. Let us return to 1 Peter 1, and we will choose our text there, verse 8. 1 Peter 1, verse 8, for our text, whom having not seen ye love. in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And seeking the Lord's blessing, we would like to meditate upon these words in context for our sermon this evening. And the title is derived from the text Loving the unseen Christ. I was going to call it blind love, but that would not be true at all because they do see Christ in some sense, and therefore the title I've given is Loving the Unseen Christ. Just as I was reading the chapter there before you, It struck me how profound most of that chapter is. Every verse is so full of deep, profound things. And it just reminds you that the wonderful change that came upon Peter, he was an apostle, of course. He had his ups and downs. He was a genuine believer. But when you think about what he has written in 1 and 2 Peter, you can see how the grace of God was upon him. and how he matured. Oh yes, we know the Holy Spirit led him and guided him and inspired him to write, but nevertheless, These things are profound, what are laid before us here today. And there is so much in this general epistle. We have looked at it before. I certainly hope not to go over what we've said on a previous occasion, because there is so much here. But we have here Peter writing to poor, persecuted, scattered Christians. who were going to experience some severe official persecution. They had already been persecuted, and they were what we would regard today as nobodies. Nobody cares about them. They are Christians. Persecute them. It doesn't matter. Who's going to stand up for them? Well, having been persecuted, they were going to now face more fierce official persecution. But Peter's writing to them that they might stand up, that they might shine in these days when that persecution would come, that they would prove their mettle, prove the reality of their faith. And he would remind them of what they have in Christ to encourage them. And very often, friends, we need to step back sometimes and encourage ourselves in the Word of God and to encourage us in the things of God and the things that the Lord Jesus has freely provided for all his people. We need to count our spiritual blessings. We can be ones who will know something of the toil and the hardship and the heartache and the persecutions that come by being a Christian. We're not going to say for one moment that we know it to the extent that others do. The others mentioned here, for instance. But we do know something about it. And sometimes these things can Bring us down. Well, it's time to look up. It's time to fix and to be focused upon what Christ has done and what belongs to every sincere, genuine Christian. For instance, verse 7, that the trial of your faith be more precious than of gold. Do you have saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as defined in the Word of God? Have you crucified in some sense your self-righteousness? Have you taken your eyes off yourself? Have you seen something of the beauty of the crucified Christ? Have you trusted in Him? Are you trusting in Him? Do you look to Him? Do you confess that He is your Lord and your Savior? Well, friends, if you have the elements of saving faith, What a wonderful thing you have. What a priceless, yes, absolutely priceless possession that you have. You have faith that will take you to glory. You have faith, you possess it now. You have eternal life now. All because of what Jesus Christ has done and what he has given to you by grace. These are the things that belong to you. These are your portions, and you are to delight in them. And therefore, these people who are going to face this persecution, they were going to take these things with them. And these blessings and these privileges would enable them to stand up against the might of the Roman emperor, and they would not in any sense say that Caesar is Lord. To them, Jesus Christ was Lord. And come what may, they would pay the price, but nevertheless, their faith they recognized. It was more precious than all the gold in the world. And Christian, that's the kind of mindset you're to have. This is to be your thoughts on the faith that Christ has given to you. It's so precious. You cannot buy it. You can only receive it by grace. And that's what happened to them. And this faith, this faith that we all have if we're Christians, and we all have it in various degrees, one day it will blossom, one day it will bloom, one day we'll see it in its finery. We'll see it in that day when Christ, when he comes in the clouds, then we will appreciate the reality of that faith that we have in Christ. This is what he says, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Let us be steadfast, let us be unmovable, let us always be abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. Well, here our text in verse eight, Peter is speaking to them, whom having not seen, ye love. And it's particularly these words that I wish to focus on with you tonight. How did they know that they had this faith? How did they know? How did Peter know that they had this faith? How do you know you have this faith? Some people like ignorance. The Bible doesn't like us to be ignorant of things that we need to know. The Bible's there to teach us. The Bible wants us to be informed. God would have us to know the reality of things. And he wants you to know tonight whether you have this faith or not. And Peter was telling them that they had this faith. How did he know? The likelihood is he's never seen them. He may have heard about them, How does he know that they have this precious faith that's more precious than gold? Well, he says it here, whom having seen ye love. Well, I want to say one or two things about this this evening. Peter, first of all, he doesn't speak about his own personal experience. He's not presenting himself. Peter had much to say, and he could say much. He had wonderful experiences. A fisherman called from that manual labor called to be a fisher of men, being with the Lord Jesus Christ for at least three years, being with him day and night along with other disciples, hearing him speak like no one ever spoke, see him performing miracles, all his miracles, no doubt Peter saw. And some miracles only he and James and John were witnesses of. He was intimate with the Savior. The Savior spoke to him. The Savior rebuked him. The Savior did many things with Peter, and he had wonderful, wonderful, blessed experiences, and he could talk about them all day, and they were real and genuine. He had been with the Savior. He knew what it was like. He heard his teaching that others didn't hear. We know that Jesus preached on many occasions to thousands, but very often he withdrew and spoke to his disciples. Things that he never said to the crowd. And Peter was a witness to all of these things, and he benefited from them. But he does not mention his own personal experience when he talks to these individuals here. There are some people, friends, when you speak to them, it is about their own personal experience. That's all you get from them. Not so, Peter. Not so. Peter wasn't going to draw them to him. No. They were to be ones who were to look to the Savior, not to the apostle, not to the servant, but to the Savior himself. And therefore, Peter, first of all, he doesn't mention his own personal experience, although he could have spoken of that. No. He does not. He doesn't highlight it at all. He doesn't want to draw attention to himself. He would rather that they would fix their eyes and their focus and their thoughts and their minds upon Jesus Christ, the Lord. And therefore, what he's saying to them is not because of what he has experienced, It is because of their own experience. Because many people would be able to say with Peter that he had experienced the same things as Peter. We could think of Judas. Judas in many ways would share in many, many of the experiences that Peter underwent. Judas was one who could perform miracles, so could Peter under God. Peter was a preacher of the gospel. So was Judas. He could do all of that. Oh yes, Judas wasn't so intimate with the Savior as Peter and James and John were, but nevertheless, Judas had wonderful experiences. He heard the Savior. He was there at the last Passover. Many, many things he enjoyed. But Peter wisely doesn't focus upon his experiences because the things that he experienced, many others experienced. The Pharisees and the scribes, they saw the Lord Jesus Christ with their eyes, they heard him speak, yet it did not benefit them at all. Instead, friends, he goes to the Christian way to know the reality of their faith. Because what he says to them here is, I know you have this faith, because whom have ye not seen, ye love. That's the Christian way. And we might sum it up by saying, as Paul says to the Corinthians, for we walk by faith, not by sight. And these people who are going to be facing persecution were showing the reality of their faith, not because they had seen or heard the Lord Jesus Christ in a physical sense. It was because they hadn't seen him, and they hadn't heard him in a physical sense, they showed their love towards him. That's how they knew, that's how Peter knew the reality of their experience. Whom having not seen. Now we can identify with these individuals. We look at people like Peter, and we acknowledge that we cannot enter into their experience in some sense. But these people, we can. They never cast their eyes upon the Savior. They never heard the audible voice of the Savior. yet they loved him." What a wonderful testimony. Peter was able to determine the reality of their faith in Christ because they loved the Lord Jesus Christ. And friends, this is a good test for us this evening as we're in the house of God. Can we honestly say that we love the Lord Jesus Christ, one that we have never seen with our physical eyes, one that we have never heard with our ears, yet we can say honestly, as every Christian can, that they love the Lord Jesus Christ. Is this your position this evening? Do you know anything of loving the Savior? Sometimes, friends, love can be somewhat divorced in many religious circles today. Love truly is a funny thing. Not funny in the sense of being ha ha, but it's funny to define on many occasions. But if you look at, for instance, natural love, the love between a man and a woman, or between a parent and a child, once you love someone, you might not be able to articulate it, but you will know you love them. You will know it. Young people, as they grow up, When they fall in love, they might not be able to articulate what that means and to describe it, but they will know it. They won't need anyone to tell them. They will know it. They will want to be with that person. They will want to share their time and all they have with that person. That person will, in some sense, take up their thoughts, take up their affections. Their eyes will gravitate towards that person and that person only. and they will not be distracted by a third party. If the love is truly love, that's what happens. And friends, it's nothing different for the Christian. When the Christian is in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, when he has that real saving faith, his eyes are fixed and focused upon Christ in a spiritual manner. He looks to him for light. He looks to him for life. He looks to him for liberty. He looks to him for everything. His whole life, his whole spiritual life is revolved and taken up with the Lord Jesus, and he looks to him for everything. He is the sum and the substance of his faith. It's in Christ Jesus alone. Now this faith or this love indeed can vary. Sometimes in your experience it can be a hot passion. Other times it can be cold. Oh friends, we are to fan it into flames. We are to be ones who are totally engrossed and taken up with this glorious person. For who is this one? Who is he? He is the Son of God. What's he done? He's done what no one else could possibly do. He has saved wretches who were on that broad road that leads to destruction. He saved wretches who had no hope in this world, who were without God, without Christ, who were up to their neck in sin, who were under the wrath and condemnation of God. But by the mighty grace of God, Jesus Christ rescued them. His precious blood was shed on their behalf. He was punished in their room and in their place. He is their substitute, the only substitute, the one that God himself has provided, that perfect mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And the more that you know of him, the more you love him. And we might say also, the more that you know of yourself from a biblical perspective, the more that you're aware of your plight. And indeed, what a plight it is to be under the thralldom of sin, to be under the domain of the evil one, to hate, yes, hate God who has made you and formed you. That God who has been kind, gracious, all the days of your life, even when you were full of unbelief, God was there. He was faithful. And one day He revealed His Son to you. Oh, what majesty! Oh, what divine love! Who can comprehend it? And friends, once you're gripped with this, once you have a sense of your own unworthiness and your lostness and hopelessness and deadness, and when you see what Christ has done, it in some sense encapsulate you. You are apprehended. You are struck dumb in many ways. You can hardly get over that someone of such glory, of such wonder, should look upon a worm such as you are. But that's what happened, and that's what happened to these nobodies there. And Peter was able to determine that the real faith was in them because they loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we all hope that is your experience. That you can say that you love the Lord. You love the Lord, because as they were going to find out, if they didn't know already, they were going to know it certainly in the near future, there was going to be a terrible time of persecution that would come upon them. And during that time of persecution, they would have to fight the good fight of faith. As we were considering earlier on, the Christian life is a life of warfare. Oh, it's not guns, it's not bullets, it's not swords, it's not physical fighting. No, no, no. Away with that. Leave the other religions. Have that to their cost. No. But we have a fight. And we have to war a good warfare. And we have weapons. Yes. We have weapons that have been given to us, and we have defense. We have the armor of God. We find it in Ephesians. But we also have weapons because we are to attack. How can we attack, preacher? Well, our weapons are not carnal, as it says in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. That means they're not of the flesh. They're not of this world. They're not human. What are they? They're prayer. And when these people were going to face persecution, they would need to pray. Pray that they might handle the persecution. Pray that they would stand up. Pray that they would not fall into temptation. Pray that they might overcome. Pray that they might be delivered from evil. Oh, friends, we have much to pray for. And this is a wonderful weapon, a divine weapon, a weapon that God has given to us. You hear it or you read it sometimes. I'm not sure how true it is. I'm not sure if I even like it, but I can get the sentiments of it. Something like this, Satan doesn't like to see the saints on their knees praying. Well, there may be an element of truth in that, but you can be sure God would have you to pray. God would have you to pray. And if you find prayer difficult, then call upon God that he would teach you to pray. Because when God teaches you to pray, it is an order that he might bless you because the blessings that God has for his people are to be obtained by prayer. You cannot change the mind of God. Don't think your prayers change anything. No, yet you're commanded to pray, but God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. But he would seek to bring to pass by the prayers of his people. And therefore, if you're prayerless, cry out to God that he might give you prayer, that you might pray according to his will. as you wore the good warfare, because that's one of the weapons of our warfare, it's prayer. And what else? Well, we have the word of God. We have God's will. Some people say, I want to know what God's will is. Well, friends, I can tell you what God's word is. You'll find it here. You'll find it here. And the more you're acquainted with it, you'll find the will for your life in this book here, because God would have you do nothing that is contrary to his word. And the more you're intimate with it, you'll know the will of God. We acknowledge sometimes it can be difficult to discern the will of God for a particular occasion, for an individual. But prayerfully seek the will of God and the Word of God, and he will lead, and he will guide, and he will get you through the warfare. The Word of God. What else are our weapons for our warfare? Well, I would say holy living. Holy living. This is what Peter is reminding them. I don't want to drift my text, but verse 16 will tell us, Be ye holy, for I am holy. You know Herod? You remember Herod? You remember that sensual king? He looked upon John the Baptist. He loved to hear him preach. Oh, he can preach. John the Baptist, I like to hear him. He tells me things. He's consistent. He's a man of God. He knows his scriptures. He'll open them up. I love to hear him. He knew that John the Baptist was holy. And when John the Baptist put his finger upon his pet sin, Herod didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. He liked it when John the Baptist would speak about others and highlight other sins, but not his pet sin. What am I trying to say? Friends, a holy life is a wonderful weapon. A holy life, a life dedicated to the service of the Lord Jesus, a life lived walking close with Christ will speak a sermon. As soon as we go out to the church, it will speak a sermon. It will speak a sermon that people might not like to hear, but they cannot avoid it. They don't come into the house of God, they don't hear the sermons that the minister will proclaim, but they'll hear your sermon. And a mighty, holy man or woman or boy and girl can do wonderful things in a community. And the reverse is also true. Someone who goes to the house of God and who says they're a Christian, but doesn't live like a Christian, what are they saying? What are they preaching? They're preaching inconsistency. That's what they're doing. And the Word goes out from the Word of God this evening, as it does from Peter. Be ye holy, for I am holy. Here, Christian, you're to be holy. You're to be dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're to walk with Him. Not with the world. We notice that today, do we not? This is what happened, the compromise between the sons of God and the daughters of men. What do we have? We have compromise, the professing Christian church or the professing church of that day compromising with the world. Well, if the love of the world is in you, friend, you better get it out. You better be done with it, because if you love the world, the love of the Father's not in you. That's what the Bible says. That's what John, in 1 John, will tell us. John, whose heart was full of love towards the Savior. If you love the world, then the love of the Father's not in you. And when we talk about the world in that context, we're talking of the mindset of the world. We're not talking about the creation. The creation, although it is cursed, is beautiful. It's the world. It's the thinking of the world. It's living like the world. It's being like the world. It's being like the world. That's what we must avoid. And we must stand out. We have to be like a city that's set upon a hill. Well, they were. Whom have ye not seen ye love? They loved the Lord Jesus. Persecution was coming upon them and had come upon them. And during that time, they showed their devotion, they showed their obedience, they showed their allegiance to Christ by loving Him. Oh, how is your faith? How is your religion? Where does it stand? Is there any room for love in your religion? There must be, because this is the very essence, this is the very heart of real biblical saving Christianity. The Savior loves his people, and therefore those who are saved will love the Savior. This is what we find here in these primitive people. They loved the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was evident. Christian, you have been reminded on many occasions, you have an enemy. You have an enemy. Your own heart is an enemy. The world is an enemy. But you have an enemy that seeks your destruction. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion. He's not a lion. He's not a lion. But he's like a lion. He goes about here, there, everywhere. He's after the Christian. He wants to bring you down. And he is so successful today, we might say. How many people have fallen? How many high-profile people have fallen? What about the standard of the professing Christian today? How does it compare with 40 years ago, 100 years ago, I often hear it from some people, it's not what it was. Well, that may well be true. Well, that roaring lion is going around looking whom he may devour. He's after you. He was after them. It was going to come in the form of persecution. But throughout that persecution, whatever was going to befall them, Peter was confident, having not seen, he loved. He loved the Lord Jesus. And friends, when you love the Lord Jesus, that devil Like a roaring lion, he can do no harm to you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. That's what the Bible would teach us. When we have real love for Jesus Christ, when that love is fervent, when that love controls us, when that love motivates us, the Christian, you're safe. Whatever might come the way. And in a day of declining standards, all around us, shine. Be ones who, it can be evident, even from their complexion, even from their conversation, even by their manner, that they're in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now why does The Christian love Christ. If you go to the cross, if we go to what Isaiah tells us about the cross, prophesying about 600 years before the crucifixion actually took place, part of that prophecy in Isaiah 52 verse 14 says this concerning the servant of the Lord, the Messiah. As many were astonished at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. We want to speak reverently about this because the cross is so central to the Christian message. Creation, crucifixion, and the consummation of the three great things, if you like, on God's diary. Creation, the crucifixion of the Son of God, and the consummation when Christ returns in glory. But dear friends, when the Lamb of God was on the cross, was it a spectacular thing? Did people like to look upon it? Oh no, the Savior was ugly. It was a horrible sight. Blood flowing from the thorns, the crown of thorns. His hands bleeding. His feet bleeding. The blood, the sweat, the tears, everything. The blood and the water coming from the side of the Savior. He was raxed in pain and agony that we cannot comprehend or enter into, it's beyond us. His visage, his whole appearance was so marred, more than any man, more than any man. The most hated man in all the history of humanity. It was an ugly sight. But by faith, the Christian looks past the physical, and the Christian sees there Christ in all his splendor and all his glory. Why? Because God is doing something wonderful there. There! God is imputing on Christ the sins of his people. Christ is securing the eternal salvation of all his people. He's not just clearing a monetary debt. He's clearing a debt that no one else could clear. He's clearing a debt that hell itself could never expunge. That's what he's doing. And friends, we see it. We see it. That's what these people saw. They saw there in Christ on the cross. They saw him in all his glory. They saw the Son of Man taking on the devil. They saw the Son of Man making a fool of the devil on the cross. That's what they saw. And that's what we see. And when we see these things and many more things, because ultimately we see Christ and His glory coming in power upon the crowds, we love Him. We love Him. The Christian loves Him. ultimately, friends, because he first loved us. Oh, what a wonderful thing to think on, that Christ's love for his people is eternal. Eternal. You cannot understand it. Oh, we can talk about it, we have a word for it, we can think about it, but you can never plumb the depths of it. Before the creation, in eternity, Christ loved his people. He loved, and he manifested that love, and that love became real to you when the Holy Spirit applied the work of Christ to your heart and soul. You began to love him only because he first loved you. This is what we find here. Whom have ye not seen, ye love. And it's all because you believe. Not because you see with your eyes, but you believe. Believing is seeing. and you rejoice with joy unspeakable. Oh, do we not need more of this in our day? Do we not need more rejoicing and joyfulness? Well, friends, you'll find it in Christ. You'll find it in him. You will be full to the brim of rejoicing and joyfulness in the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe not now, Persecution, trials, difficulties are not pleasant things, but in that day when he's revealed, and when his people are revealed, you will know it. Whom you love. Is that your position? Can you say that tonight? Do you love the unseen Christ? Well, friends, if you do, you have the blessing of all blessings. And if you don't, then you must come and avail yourself of him. Come, he says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. Amen. May God bless his word to us. Let us pray together.