WEBVTT 00:00:00.700 --> 00:00:06.431 If you want to open your Bible to 1 Peter, chapter 1,. 00:00:06.431 --> 00:00:09.461 We're at the very beginning of a new series. 00:00:09.461 --> 00:00:12.550 In 1 Peter we're calling Grace Under Fire. 00:00:12.550 --> 00:00:13.772 Grace Under Fire. 00:00:13.900 --> 00:00:29.207 And last week, as you know if you were here, mark introduced so well the man who penned this letter, the Apostle Peter, and the lessons that we can learn that he learned from his time walking with Jesus that were so transformative for Peter's own life. 00:00:29.207 --> 00:00:38.180 And so we've looked at the man, and now I want us to see we're going to look at his message what he has to say to us in this letter, peter's purpose. 00:00:38.180 --> 00:00:50.155 From the end of the letter he tells us in 1 Peter 5, 12, he says I have written briefly to you exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. 00:00:50.155 --> 00:00:52.652 Stand firm in it. 00:00:52.652 --> 00:00:54.545 Stand firm in it. 00:00:54.545 --> 00:01:01.848 Peter knows that too well, because there was a time in his life where he had once himself fallen and denied the Lord three times. 00:01:01.848 --> 00:01:09.489 You talk about a failure, but as someone once wisely said, failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. 00:01:09.489 --> 00:01:18.572 And so Peter had learned from his mistakes and he has got, I guess, at a place where he is a lot more mature and a lot more wise. 00:01:18.572 --> 00:01:23.569 He has turned the corner and he's changed in so many ways. 00:01:23.569 --> 00:01:31.233 So Jesus stuck to Peter and Peter stuck to Jesus, and when that happens, things can transform. 00:01:31.233 --> 00:01:40.840 Peter, for example, describes himself as a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:52.599 And so now, in this letter, a lot wiser, peter lays out for us and these readers the path for these people who are going to experience some growing pressure in some places. 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:57.230 They never thought they would be suffering for things they never thought they would have to go through. 00:01:57.230 --> 00:02:04.543 And so this becomes a real, practical thing for us, a letter for us, and I have to ask the question what is the significance, then, of Jesus? 00:02:04.543 --> 00:02:07.989 He modeled his letter off the Jesus' own suffering. 00:02:07.989 --> 00:02:11.281 What is that significance of Jesus' suffering? 00:02:11.281 --> 00:02:18.461 How should we, as Christ followers, live out our faith in light of the reality of this resurrection? 00:02:18.461 --> 00:02:20.225 Because Jesus is alive, right. 00:02:20.225 --> 00:02:23.253 So get ready for a truth bomb. 00:02:23.253 --> 00:02:31.092 Let me just tell you, let me give you some other ways, that people have kind of felt the impact of this letter and maybe, hopefully, you will too. 00:02:31.211 --> 00:02:40.506 Some have accurately described 1 Peter as the most condensed New Testament resume of the Christian faith and of the conduct it inspires. 00:02:40.506 --> 00:02:52.370 Martin Luther described it as one of the noblest books in the New Testament and a paradigm paragon of excellence, on par with Romans and the gospel of John. 00:02:52.370 --> 00:03:13.766 Luther believed it contained all that we need to know, all that's necessary for a Christian to know to live this life, and so today we're going to see that it all starts with a solid foundation, and what we're going to see this morning, in chapter 1 through 12, is you have to get this in order to live life well. 00:03:13.766 --> 00:03:19.453 So let's open the first chapter and hear how to live well in a culture of chaos. 00:03:19.453 --> 00:03:20.585 1 Peter 1,. 00:03:20.585 --> 00:03:21.247 1 through 12. 00:03:21.340 --> 00:03:47.111 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, galatia, Cappadocia, asia and Bithynia, 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. 00:03:47.111 --> 00:04:00.123 Let's stop right there just a minute, because these first two verses that open the letter they tell us obviously where, who wrote it and to whom it was written, and we know the writer was obviously Peter, right, and he's an apostle. 00:04:00.123 --> 00:04:15.346 He says, though, of Jesus Christ and as one of the original 12 whom Jesus had chosen, peter is basically telling to his readers you know, you need to listen up because this is an authoritative word, it comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:15.346 --> 00:04:20.764 This is not a merely human word, these are the words of God and so we need to take it that way. 00:04:20.764 --> 00:04:30.987 Jesus had a unique position to basically hear from a master teacher and his name was Jesus, and so we do too, because of what he shared. 00:04:30.987 --> 00:04:42.906 So the writer and then the readers, peter's writing to believers in a foreign land and he calls them if you'll pay attention to those two words elect exiles. 00:04:42.906 --> 00:04:45.656 These are elect exiles of the dispersion. 00:04:45.656 --> 00:05:05.874 So you just see those two words kind of back to back and they don't really make sense because in one sense, elect means that they've been chosen, exiles means they've been kind of put out of the normal comfort zone and sometimes we ask that question if I'm a Christian, why am I experiencing these bad things? 00:05:05.874 --> 00:05:07.927 And we're going to find that a little bit. 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:14.180 What a conflicted identity that sometimes that is for us and as it was for these readers, in a couple of ways. 00:05:14.180 --> 00:05:21.211 Number one is that, in relation to the world, there's this horizontal dimension and he calls them there. 00:05:21.211 --> 00:05:23.714 He calls them exiles. 00:05:23.714 --> 00:05:30.827 Exiles, that's an interesting term and it really referred to someone who didn't hold citizenship in a foreign land. 00:05:30.827 --> 00:05:37.932 So you can imagine the people who experienced these people, who were foreigners in their own land, in that dominant culture. 00:05:37.932 --> 00:05:47.081 They were described as, in your version it might say diaspora the exiles of the diaspora, or exiles of the dispersion. 00:05:47.081 --> 00:05:48.144 You say what is that about? 00:05:48.144 --> 00:05:51.211 That word contains this idea of being scattered. 00:05:51.211 --> 00:06:00.266 And so Peter takes this metaphor and say that you're obviously you're scattered from places that you wouldn't say are really comfortable for you. 00:06:00.687 --> 00:06:02.451 And this is literally what happened to them. 00:06:02.451 --> 00:06:12.963 Because of their faith, because of their belief in Jesus, they were scattered, and they did so to avoid political, social, physical persecution that they were experiencing in that day. 00:06:12.963 --> 00:06:20.702 So their exiles, not only literally but also figuratively, Think about this Christians. 00:06:20.702 --> 00:06:27.925 When they did that, they were often viewed, as they are in our day, with suspicion, almost like subversives of the culture. 00:06:27.925 --> 00:06:30.752 It's like what are these Christians talking about? 00:06:30.752 --> 00:06:36.293 They're subversives and they were against the social structures, though often seen in the day. 00:06:36.293 --> 00:06:38.324 So Karen Jobes writes this. 00:06:38.324 --> 00:06:54.374 She says because of their Christian faith, they were being marginalized by their society, alienated in their relationships and threatened with, if not experiencing, a loss of honor and socioeconomic standing, and possibly worse. 00:06:54.374 --> 00:07:04.326 The Christians to whom Peter wrote were suffering because they were living by different priorities, values and allegiances than their pagan neighbors. 00:07:04.326 --> 00:07:10.187 Sound familiar If a church and a Christian lives that way in our society. 00:07:10.187 --> 00:07:12.653 We experience the same things and we are. 00:07:12.653 --> 00:07:15.567 You hear stories all around about that. 00:07:15.567 --> 00:07:19.841 But his words speak directly to their situation and it speaks to ours. 00:07:20.521 --> 00:07:33.240 So someone said, as Christians, we live in strange times, or the times we live in make stranger folks out of us, and that's the way the culture sometimes looks at the Christian Boy. 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:34.524 What strange people. 00:07:34.524 --> 00:07:42.812 Odd so exiles or strangers in relation to the world, but at the same time elect. 00:07:42.812 --> 00:07:48.901 They're elect in relation to God, and this is the vertical relationship. 00:07:48.901 --> 00:07:54.581 So they're citizens, literally, of heaven at the same time, because they're God's chosen people. 00:07:55.122 --> 00:08:07.692 Peter says in chapter 4, verse 12, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. 00:08:07.692 --> 00:08:11.800 This is normal when you live like a Christian. 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:17.567 So what was happening to these Christians that may have made it may not have made sense to them, just like. 00:08:17.567 --> 00:08:20.110 We wonder, like what in the world is going on? 00:08:20.110 --> 00:08:26.956 All this stuff, this pushback, this warfare between good and evil, what in the world is going on? 00:08:26.956 --> 00:08:33.578 But Peter tells them that their trials have maybe a deeper meaning than they might not have thought of at first. 00:08:33.578 --> 00:08:40.912 And he says basically, trials are actually a way of God's glorious dealings with his people. 00:08:40.912 --> 00:08:42.313 Do you get that? 00:08:42.313 --> 00:08:48.342 Trials are actually signs of God's gracious dealings with us who are Christians? 00:08:48.965 --> 00:08:56.370 And someone said one time, and I always remember this if I know the why I can deal with any what. 00:08:56.370 --> 00:08:59.638 If I know the why I can deal with any what. 00:08:59.638 --> 00:09:02.806 And really that's what Peter is getting ready to do. 00:09:02.806 --> 00:09:17.969 So if you're going through all kinds of trials sickness, disease, broken relationships, loss, betrayal, your dream has died all these are trials that at all times we experience different times in our lives. 00:09:17.969 --> 00:09:34.537 If I know the why I can get through any what and I always just think about this as I was preparing the message If you thought of your life as just this singular line from beginning to end, and all the things that you would say, these were negative, these were bad. 00:09:34.537 --> 00:09:41.157 I wish they hadn't happened to me and they were just kind of represented by dots alongside of that line. 00:09:41.157 --> 00:09:47.423 How many of those would you put along the line and say this is what God actually purposed in my life? 00:09:47.423 --> 00:09:54.527 That would be hard to do, but this is the perspective that Peter's trying to bring us to, and he tells them why. 00:09:55.168 --> 00:09:56.751 Sometimes you say, well, why do people suffer? 00:09:56.751 --> 00:09:57.601 Well, it's right here. 00:09:57.601 --> 00:10:02.673 He says their circumstances are according to the foreknowledge of God. 00:10:02.673 --> 00:10:05.489 In other words, the Father has allowed it to happen. 00:10:05.489 --> 00:10:09.630 It's in his purpose and plan, in his larger purpose and plan. 00:10:09.630 --> 00:10:14.000 And then he says their suffering is in the sanctification of the Spirit. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:21.308 In other words, by these trials, the Holy Spirit is actually forming them into the image of Christ. 00:10:21.308 --> 00:10:24.948 They may not see it, but that's what's happening. 00:10:24.948 --> 00:10:31.510 And then their pressures are for, he says, obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. 00:10:31.510 --> 00:10:35.567 In other words, they're learning to obey in a place that is hard. 00:10:35.567 --> 00:10:42.025 A lot of times we want to give up and quit or we act out because we hate the place we're living in. 00:10:42.025 --> 00:10:55.855 And he said we learn to obey by those things, and sprinkling with his blood just speaks of the fact that we have assurance that if all these things are happening to us, that we're in covenant with Christ. 00:10:56.557 --> 00:11:09.202 Listen to this verse Philippians 1.29 says For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. 00:11:09.202 --> 00:11:12.113 So Peter's trying to get us to understand. 00:11:12.113 --> 00:11:17.047 This is the path that Jesus walked and this is the path that a Christian will walk. 00:11:17.047 --> 00:11:21.865 But every place that Jesus walked and every place that we will walk, he will be with us. 00:11:21.865 --> 00:11:25.893 All the way Acts 14.22 says place that he will be with us. 00:11:25.893 --> 00:11:32.302 All the way Acts 14.22 says through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 00:11:32.302 --> 00:11:35.067 See, I don't want to hear that, and sometimes I don't either. 00:11:35.067 --> 00:11:52.356 But if you're in a place of trouble or trial or hurting, hardship, suffering, today, let me just say don't waste your suffering. 00:11:52.356 --> 00:11:52.980 Don't waste your suffering. 00:11:52.980 --> 00:11:56.481 God, the Father, knew you'd face it. 00:11:56.481 --> 00:11:59.048 The Spirit of Christ is forming you in it and the Son will confirm His covenant love with you along the way. 00:11:59.048 --> 00:12:00.610 This is His purpose and His plan. 00:12:00.610 --> 00:12:03.384 So let's go on in this letter and see what he has to say. 00:12:03.384 --> 00:12:08.384 He says blessed be the God and father of our Lord, jesus Christ. 00:12:08.625 --> 00:12:11.412 Peter, with an outburst of praise right before he tells us. 00:12:11.412 --> 00:12:16.712 Everything he's going to tell us is basically saying let's worship God for our great salvation. 00:12:16.712 --> 00:12:18.825 Do you really know what you have here? 00:12:18.825 --> 00:12:22.195 And so he is praising God. 00:12:22.195 --> 00:12:25.748 Before he tells us what he's going to tell us, let's see what he says. 00:12:25.748 --> 00:12:42.601 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. 00:12:42.601 --> 00:12:50.405 For you who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 00:12:50.405 --> 00:13:14.373 In this you rejoice, though now, for a little while, if necessary, you've 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. 00:13:14.373 --> 00:13:17.469 Though you've not seen him, you love him. 00:13:17.469 --> 00:13:29.427 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. 00:13:30.428 --> 00:13:46.610 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 00:13:46.610 --> 00:13:51.780 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you. 00:13:51.780 --> 00:14:03.506 In the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look. 00:14:03.506 --> 00:14:13.469 So let's ask God this morning to show us the truths of this passage and let's pray, father, we are so grateful for your word this morning. 00:14:13.469 --> 00:14:17.466 Lord, we're here ready to receive and Holy Spirit, I pray right now. 00:14:17.466 --> 00:14:21.249 By your power you'd open our eyes to these spiritual realities. 00:14:21.249 --> 00:14:30.613 Lord, we thank you for your goodness to us and your gracious and kind ways toward us, and we just give these things to you in Jesus' name. 00:14:31.659 --> 00:14:37.552 So here's the question what does a Christian response look like in a culture like ours? 00:14:37.552 --> 00:14:41.909 In times like these, how do you keep the faith in a hard place? 00:14:41.909 --> 00:14:48.485 Because I think we all see things kind of headed that direction and maybe experience a summit even now. 00:14:48.485 --> 00:14:54.269 Here's the thing you have to know what you believe before you can know how to live. 00:14:54.269 --> 00:14:59.611 You have to know what you believe before you can know how to live. 00:15:00.419 --> 00:15:06.246 So one of the books I read first time as I was a new Christian was someone put it in my hand. 00:15:06.246 --> 00:15:10.331 It was a little book called Know why you Believe by Paul Little. 00:15:10.331 --> 00:15:13.567 I still have that book and it made such a great impact on me. 00:15:13.567 --> 00:15:20.830 He has another book that follows up with it called Know what you Believe, know why and Know what you Believe. 00:15:20.830 --> 00:15:26.182 And those books transformed my life and they were basically what they were called apologetics. 00:15:26.182 --> 00:15:33.965 They were defenses of this faith that we call Christianity toward those who are outsiders, so we would know what to tell them. 00:15:33.965 --> 00:15:42.630 But I would kind of say this it was great to know that, but in our day we need an apologetic, a defense for ourselves. 00:15:42.630 --> 00:15:47.743 In this culture that we're living, we need to know what we believe and why we believe it. 00:15:48.403 --> 00:15:54.100 So, right here, at the beginning, the apostle Peter is giving the Christian. 00:15:54.100 --> 00:16:00.214 What I would just say is this just picture him flying at a 30,000 foot level. 00:16:00.214 --> 00:16:02.822 Looking down, he says I understand this. 00:16:02.822 --> 00:16:04.365 I want to tell you what I've learned from Jesus level. 00:16:04.365 --> 00:16:05.586 Looking down, he says I understand this. 00:16:05.586 --> 00:16:06.687 I want to tell you what I've learned from Jesus. 00:16:06.687 --> 00:16:10.253 And he's telling this as he shares this bird's eye view of who they are. 00:16:10.253 --> 00:16:21.203 That is their identity and what they have to believe in order to know how they have to live in the days ahead. 00:16:21.203 --> 00:16:21.605 So let's look at it. 00:16:21.625 --> 00:16:26.475 Verses 3 through 12 tell us what we must believe, and so I would just say think of this as the foundation. 00:16:26.475 --> 00:16:34.683 This is a theological statement that we're going to get before we see the rest of the story, how to live it out. 00:16:34.683 --> 00:16:40.562 So what you must believe, that's what we're talking, and there are three basic areas he goes through here. 00:16:40.562 --> 00:16:44.110 Listen to these the realities of the new birth, number one. 00:16:44.110 --> 00:16:47.365 The certainties of real faith number two. 00:16:47.365 --> 00:16:50.254 And then the privileges of amazing grace. 00:16:50.975 --> 00:17:05.932 Now, this is a really interesting sentence in the Greek because in verses 3 through 12, it's a single sentence, one long sentence in the Greek, and it's almost like Peter falls all over himself to try to get out the words of what he's learned. 00:17:05.932 --> 00:17:11.109 It's dense, it's highly compacted, and so we're going to try to unravel it this morning. 00:17:11.109 --> 00:17:13.001 And let's look at the first one. 00:17:13.001 --> 00:17:20.644 He writes first of all the realities of new birth, and he says there according to his great mercy, he has caused us. 00:17:20.644 --> 00:17:21.065 Who is the? 00:17:21.065 --> 00:17:22.386 He, god, the Father. 00:17:22.386 --> 00:17:25.071 He has caused us to be born again. 00:17:26.594 --> 00:17:30.508 We've heard that term born again but it's the most basic truth. 00:17:30.508 --> 00:17:32.932 Because Jesus is alive. 00:17:32.932 --> 00:17:45.912 We can be alive, spiritually alive, and some of you have come to that point where you have made a profession of faith, you've received Christ and you, by virtue of that, have been born again. 00:17:45.912 --> 00:17:48.525 That new life of Christ has come into you. 00:17:48.525 --> 00:17:52.382 If you don't have that experience, we'd love to share that with you. 00:17:52.382 --> 00:17:56.692 Maybe after the time today, come down and we'd like to share that. 00:17:57.079 --> 00:18:00.163 So this is the most basic truth, and Jesus said it. 00:18:00.163 --> 00:18:02.425 Listen to this. 00:18:02.425 --> 00:18:05.348 You can be born again. 00:18:05.348 --> 00:18:06.671 Is that right? 00:18:06.671 --> 00:18:11.817 Or you should be born again, is that right? 00:18:11.817 --> 00:18:15.104 No, he said you must be born again. 00:18:15.104 --> 00:18:29.626 You must be born again, and without this new birth, what I think Peter is wanting to see, because these are already believers that he's talking to Without this new birth, you cannot see correctly. 00:18:30.568 --> 00:18:38.654 So we have to have these solid foundations in our life before we can realize the power they can have for us to live this new life. 00:18:38.654 --> 00:18:46.834 He says in John 3, jesus speaking truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom. 00:18:46.834 --> 00:18:52.971 So that new birth is a spiritual birth which opens our eyes to spiritual realities. 00:18:52.971 --> 00:18:56.108 But if we're born again, guess what Paul says. 00:18:56.108 --> 00:18:58.971 He says we make judgments about all things. 00:18:58.971 --> 00:18:59.954 He says we make judgments about all things. 00:18:59.954 --> 00:19:02.922 To be born again means we receive Christ. 00:19:02.922 --> 00:19:08.982 And when we receive Christ we're given new eyes, spiritual eyes, to see reality and what's going on around us. 00:19:09.222 --> 00:19:15.424 And I'm sure Peter's readers might have thought well, I know all that, I know that, I know the gospel. 00:19:15.424 --> 00:19:19.598 But Peter's reminding them that they must really believe all that. 00:19:19.598 --> 00:19:32.039 You see, so many Christians I see who go through life worrying and wondering whether they, when they die, will have eternal life. 00:19:32.039 --> 00:19:33.281 They'll go to heaven. 00:19:33.281 --> 00:19:38.316 And if you lack assurance that you know him, guess what? 00:19:38.316 --> 00:19:39.778 You're a Christian in life. 00:19:39.778 --> 00:19:40.558 You're going to lack courage. 00:19:40.558 --> 00:19:41.319 You're going to be, you're going to be. 00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:46.105 You're going to lack courage, you're going to lack confidence in how to live out your faith. 00:19:46.425 --> 00:19:50.431 But the Bible says John speaks in his letter to first John. 00:19:50.431 --> 00:19:58.939 He says I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 00:19:58.939 --> 00:20:02.565 Do you know that you have eternal life and do you know that you know it? 00:20:02.565 --> 00:20:03.826 You can. 00:20:03.826 --> 00:20:14.237 Well, he tells us those who are born again, those who are spiritually alive will know certain realities and the language here. 00:20:14.237 --> 00:20:15.140 I like to think of this. 00:20:15.140 --> 00:20:27.998 And as he gets to start his message here is like coming out of the womb spiritually and opening your eyes for the first time to some realities that you've never experienced before. 00:20:27.998 --> 00:20:33.446 And the first one, he says, is a living hope. 00:20:33.446 --> 00:20:36.396 A living hope, he says, born again. 00:20:36.396 --> 00:20:37.298 To what? 00:20:37.298 --> 00:20:42.249 To a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 00:20:42.535 --> 00:20:47.448 You know, when you hear someone say they have hope, it's kind of interesting. 00:20:47.448 --> 00:20:56.863 They typically mean they desire something in the future that really they don't really know if it will happen at all, just kind of a I hope that happens kind of thing. 00:20:56.863 --> 00:20:58.381 I hope I get this new job. 00:20:58.381 --> 00:20:59.961 I hope I can get this new car. 00:20:59.961 --> 00:21:01.781 I hope I can find a place to live. 00:21:01.781 --> 00:21:03.835 I hope I can fix this relationship. 00:21:03.835 --> 00:21:06.556 I hope my pants fit after this meal. 00:21:06.556 --> 00:21:13.987 It's possible, but it may not happen, right. 00:21:13.987 --> 00:21:16.776 So that's the kind of hope that we think of. 00:21:16.836 --> 00:21:19.584 But Christian hope is different. 00:21:19.584 --> 00:21:21.068 Biblical hope is different. 00:21:21.068 --> 00:21:26.586 It not only desires something out there in the future, but it actually expects it to happen. 00:21:26.586 --> 00:21:30.243 Its expectation is grounded in something. 00:21:30.243 --> 00:21:38.648 It's grounded in God's power, and the greatest power that ever happened in history was Jesus was resurrected from the dead. 00:21:38.648 --> 00:21:42.664 It's based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:21:42.664 --> 00:21:56.144 So the problem today, I think, is that as we look around, there is so much hopelessness, so much discouragement, and people will talk to people and they'll say you talk about the future and they say what's the point? 00:21:56.144 --> 00:22:01.240 Or I don't expect anything to change, I don't expect anything to get better. 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:09.326 You ask them what they're looking forward to in the future and they say, well, nothing really, nothing really. 00:22:09.326 --> 00:22:18.741 But the Christians should never think that way, and the reason is because we don't put our hope in our circumstances or in ourself. 00:22:18.741 --> 00:22:21.755 We put our hope in a person whose name is Jesus. 00:22:21.755 --> 00:22:28.028 A born-again person lives in the expectation of that living hope. 00:22:29.295 --> 00:22:36.557 Peter mentions a second reality for those who see with these newborn eyes, a lasting inheritance. 00:22:36.557 --> 00:22:49.367 A lasting inheritance, he says to an inheritance that is imperishable, inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading. 00:22:49.367 --> 00:22:50.574 Kept in heaven for you. 00:22:50.574 --> 00:22:54.818 And it was very likely that these readers to whom Peter had been talking. 00:22:54.818 --> 00:22:58.907 They had lost things like their family relationships as they moved away from where they were. 00:22:58.907 --> 00:23:13.201 They lost jobs, they lost positions, they lost their status, they lost privileges as they moved out of their comfort zone and lived out their faith. 00:23:13.201 --> 00:23:21.782 But Peter is reminding them that the new birth gave them something that no one could take away and it was eternal. 00:23:21.782 --> 00:23:26.249 That inheritance is described by Jesus as treasure in heaven. 00:23:26.249 --> 00:23:28.597 Do you have treasure in heaven this morning? 00:23:28.597 --> 00:23:35.058 That kind of thinking was what Peter has intended, and it was intended to encourage them. 00:23:35.058 --> 00:23:51.807 When everything else goes, when everything else is in your life, when the rug is pulled out from under you because of whatever reason, for whatever purpose that you're going through, you have something that will never be taken from you Eternal life. 00:23:57.195 --> 00:24:04.730 Peter mentions a third reality here of those who are living born again, a loving protection. 00:24:04.730 --> 00:24:14.468 Those who are living born again, a loving protection he says it in verse 5, who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 00:24:14.468 --> 00:24:21.009 And I can't help but think of the person who suffered maybe more than beyond Christ. 00:24:21.009 --> 00:24:30.806 In the Old Testament we have this character named Job and Job, if you think about it, he experienced everything we would not want to experience. 00:24:30.806 --> 00:24:53.612 But in that behind-the-scenes conversation, before Job began to experience all his suffering, you have God and Satan in conversation, and God tells Satan he's going to limit what he can do to Job, because Satan has accused God of being kind of a hedge of protection around Job, and that was true. 00:24:53.612 --> 00:25:02.815 Still, as we Christians think about these things, we know that terrible things still can and do happen. 00:25:02.815 --> 00:25:12.325 We can suffer physically, we can suffer emotionally, we can suffer emotionally, we can suffer psychologically, and it's because, a lot of times, because of our faith. 00:25:12.635 --> 00:25:27.586 But Jesus, he gives us a pattern I think even in Matthew 6, how we look at these things, and he includes the words in that prayer, his pattern of prayer, and he says deliver us, god, from evil. 00:25:27.586 --> 00:25:41.208 And that may be including delivering us from the pressure that the world wants to squeeze in to conform us to its ways and thinking, to direct spiritual warfare from the enemy. 00:25:41.208 --> 00:25:41.836 Maybe. 00:25:41.836 --> 00:25:48.788 Deliverance from things that you struggle with, habits, hurts and hang-upsups that you have, that you just seem to struggle with, to be delivered from those. 00:25:48.788 --> 00:25:50.136 Deliver us from evil. 00:25:50.136 --> 00:26:04.808 But Peter says here that, no matter how his readers were alienated by all these things, including the culture, god was going to help them endure and stand firm in their faith. 00:26:04.808 --> 00:26:10.414 God was going to help them endure and stand firm in their faith, and so this is a good thing. 00:26:10.414 --> 00:26:14.000 So, peter, he's calling these Christians to see the realities of the new birth. 00:26:14.039 --> 00:26:18.823 He also says, in verses 6-9, the next major truth tells him about it the certainties of real faith. 00:26:18.823 --> 00:26:27.528 The certainties of real faith, he says in verse 6, in this you rejoice, though now, for a little while, if necessary. 00:26:27.528 --> 00:26:36.269 You have been grieved by various trials, so the end, this is what are they rejoicing in? 00:26:36.269 --> 00:26:37.036 Their salvation? 00:26:37.036 --> 00:26:47.799 This is a great thing, but it's how many of you know that sometimes all that can seem to go away when our trials face us, hit us face to face. 00:26:49.036 --> 00:26:56.480 He points us back to our great salvation, but he focuses now on the pain, and that's a different story. 00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:57.644 Sometimes, isn't it? 00:26:57.644 --> 00:27:04.236 What we have to go through hurts, and none of us want to hurt, right, peter? 00:27:04.236 --> 00:27:07.736 What do we need to know, then, to believe and make it through? 00:27:07.736 --> 00:27:10.463 And he tells us three things that I think are so valuable. 00:27:10.463 --> 00:27:16.063 Number one is that tested faith endures the fire, if it's real. 00:27:16.063 --> 00:27:21.678 Tested faith endures the fire so that he says, why are the suffering and the trials? 00:27:21.678 --> 00:27:37.844 So that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire and you see, the only way for you to know, and for me to know, if your faith is real is if it is tested by the fire. 00:27:37.844 --> 00:27:43.164 Tested by the fire, if it makes it through the fire, you're golden. 00:27:43.164 --> 00:27:48.105 And when you do, when you make it through the test and you look back on it, what do you have? 00:27:48.105 --> 00:27:49.923 You have something really valuable. 00:27:49.923 --> 00:27:59.866 I have heard over and over people who've gone through and have exited their time of struggle and trial in whatever physical, whatever problem they go through. 00:27:59.866 --> 00:28:10.627 They look back on it and they say I wouldn't trade that for a million dollars, for anything, because they gained something they could never have had unless they had gone through the suffering. 00:28:10.627 --> 00:28:20.423 We don't choose it, but in the middle of it, god did turn it around and make something of it Right, and so every Christian will be tested. 00:28:20.423 --> 00:28:22.421 Every Christian will be tested. 00:28:24.258 --> 00:28:27.471 Have you ever heard this expression to cook someone, this expression to cook someone's goose? 00:28:27.471 --> 00:28:29.657 To cook someone's goose? 00:28:29.657 --> 00:28:36.038 Actually, it was a reference of about a man who lived back in the 1400s. 00:28:36.038 --> 00:28:51.478 His name, his last name, means goose in Czech, and his name was John Hus, and his name was John Hoos John Hoos the goose. 00:28:51.478 --> 00:29:01.667 John was a pastor of Bethlehem Church in Prague, where he preached to over 3,000 people every week, and the Spirit of God was all over his ministry, and people came from everywhere to hear him proclaim the gospel. 00:29:02.770 --> 00:29:06.159 The Archbishop of Prague, though, didn't really care for what he was sharing. 00:29:06.159 --> 00:29:11.316 He told John you got to stop preaching, and these were religious kinds of people. 00:29:11.316 --> 00:29:12.719 But John refused. 00:29:12.719 --> 00:29:18.137 He kept on preaching, and he ended up being condemned and removed from his pastorate because of it. 00:29:18.137 --> 00:29:20.743 So guess what he did? 00:29:20.743 --> 00:29:30.615 He went out and he began to preach in the streets, and people still came to listen to him until the religious leaders decided to put an end to it all and they decided to put him to death. 00:29:31.857 --> 00:29:45.525 And on July 16th 1415, hus was burned at the stake while singing an old Latin chant Christ thou, son of the living God, have mercy on me. 00:29:45.525 --> 00:29:50.459 So he's singing as he's burned to death. 00:29:50.459 --> 00:30:02.103 I remember watching a film one time about his life that the days before he actually went and was at the stake ready to be burned before his life was taken. 00:30:02.103 --> 00:30:21.779 That scene showed him in his cell, in his dark cell, that they were keeping him and he had a little candle on a table, and you see John Hus in that scene taking his hand and putting it over the flame and just kind of seeing what it would be like to experience the fire. 00:30:21.779 --> 00:30:33.760 Here's what I know Is that God's grace will be with you when you go through the fire and you will get it when you need it and not before. 00:30:33.760 --> 00:30:37.786 God's grace will be with you in your suffering. 00:30:39.431 --> 00:30:49.742 And Peter goes on to say faith has been shown, proven by testing, is more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire. 00:30:49.742 --> 00:30:51.636 It's more precious than gold. 00:30:51.636 --> 00:30:56.840 Gold is put in the fire and the fire is so hot that gold just melts away. 00:30:56.840 --> 00:31:00.559 He says your faith is more valuable than that. 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:04.743 It's more valuable because gold. 00:31:04.743 --> 00:31:12.387 There are some tests that even gold can't endure, but faith that endures is something that is precious. 00:31:12.387 --> 00:31:13.770 He uses that word precious. 00:31:13.770 --> 00:31:15.653 Real faith is precious. 00:31:16.933 --> 00:31:25.003 Do you realize that one day, when Christ returns, everything that exists will burn up? 00:31:25.003 --> 00:31:30.097 That's not been made to last, everything when Christ returns? 00:31:30.097 --> 00:31:35.039 Malachi says it like this but who will be able to endure it when he comes? 00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:39.161 Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? 00:31:39.161 --> 00:31:43.678 For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal. 00:31:43.678 --> 00:31:57.536 Paul writes it like this his workmanship will be evident, because the day will bring it to light, it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man's work. 00:31:57.536 --> 00:32:06.046 So your faith, if it endures, will last forever. 00:32:07.190 --> 00:32:18.842 Tested faith will go through fire and come out on the other side, and so we have to know Peter kind of gets this to us what we're getting when we go through the darkness of trials. 00:32:18.842 --> 00:32:26.400 It's not just the pain that we get, we get the fruit of it, the benefit of it. 00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:30.218 He offers one more another thing. 00:32:30.218 --> 00:32:36.075 He said Christian suffering has a purpose, and what is it that we may be found? 00:32:36.075 --> 00:32:41.798 It may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:32:41.798 --> 00:32:48.641 That's why we need to know what we believe, because it will settle us and ground us for the days to come. 00:32:49.289 --> 00:32:56.662 Sometimes, in the fire of our suffering, we're so close to the flames that we can't see the bigger picture. 00:32:56.662 --> 00:33:21.761 You know, when we were first married, one of the first things we did, we went to a little shop and I don't remember maybe it was at the mall and together my wife and I picked out a picture and I liked ships and boats and the sea, and so we picked out a boat that still we have the picture today. 00:33:21.761 --> 00:33:29.721 It's kind of crude, an oil painting, and the picture is of a boat, a ship, out on the ocean. 00:33:29.721 --> 00:33:36.059 The ocean is in turmoil, the waves are high and it looks like the boat is in trouble. 00:33:36.059 --> 00:33:44.176 And for years that hung on our wall and what we looked at was the boat and we never saw. 00:33:44.176 --> 00:34:04.121 In the distance there was a lighthouse, because we were looking at the boat and Peter is trying to get us in the same way to say look beyond the boat and the storm that you're in and look to the light that I offer you in the gospel. 00:34:04.121 --> 00:34:08.159 It will give you and will get you where you need to be. 00:34:10.351 --> 00:34:11.072 Remember Joseph. 00:34:11.072 --> 00:34:18.952 Joseph was in a pit and then he got thrown into prison and ultimately he wound up in the palace. 00:34:18.952 --> 00:34:24.550 And it wasn't until Joseph realized, through all that suffering, trouble and trial. 00:34:24.550 --> 00:34:28.760 It was only then that he could see God's hand in it all. 00:34:28.760 --> 00:34:38.943 Unfairly treated, unjustly accused, he said to those who had hurt him, his brothers, he said you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. 00:34:38.943 --> 00:34:41.315 What a perspective. 00:34:41.315 --> 00:34:51.579 And it's the perspective we all have to have as we go through things we don't particularly care for God's going to use it and make good out of it. 00:34:51.579 --> 00:34:54.478 I ask you, do you have a theology of suffering? 00:34:54.478 --> 00:34:58.981 Do you have a perspective of how God works in your suffering? 00:34:59.269 --> 00:35:06.177 Peter's trying to tell us that whenever we go, whatever trial we go through, it's scoring points for us in heaven. 00:35:06.177 --> 00:35:27.596 Paul says it like this for this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory, beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 00:35:27.596 --> 00:35:46.572 So Peter says if you do this right, if you think of this right, if you're grounded in the gospel, it results in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, and remembering that will carry us through all the distresses we may be experiencing in this life. 00:35:46.572 --> 00:35:56.275 In fact, I will say this this is the consistent pattern in the New Testament Suffering is followed by glory. 00:35:56.275 --> 00:35:59.338 You say, where did Peter get this? 00:35:59.338 --> 00:36:06.244 Well, he just watched Jesus suffering, followed by glory. 00:36:06.244 --> 00:36:13.938 And Jesus passed on to him these truths, not just for Peter's readers, but for us too. 00:36:15.802 --> 00:36:37.179 And then the third thing he says we can see fruit even now Verses 8 and 9, though you have not seen him, you love him, though you do not see him now, but 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 soul. 00:36:37.179 --> 00:36:39.853 Peter is saying that we don't have to see to believe. 00:36:39.853 --> 00:36:54.771 There are some things that are more real than what we can see with our physical eyes, and if you want to know that your faith is real, you don't have to look any further than the fruit that's coming out of your life. 00:36:54.771 --> 00:36:58.996 He mentioned some love for God, love for others. 00:36:58.996 --> 00:37:19.657 You see that in your life, trust that obeys, no matter what you might feel that it's hard, joy that rises above your circumstances, that inward sense of things are okay, and I'm a contented person, yeah, yeah, we walk by faith and not by sight right. 00:37:21.179 --> 00:37:32.018 So all these are things that are great evidences of real faith and by them we know we are obtaining the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls. 00:37:32.018 --> 00:37:40.782 And you know that doesn't make our current situation, our current circumstances doesn't make them go away. 00:37:40.782 --> 00:37:45.802 It doesn't make them less painful, but it should encourage us that we can make it. 00:37:45.802 --> 00:37:49.639 We can make it standing in all kinds of trials. 00:37:49.639 --> 00:37:56.583 And so if we rejoice and have this attitude, we're to have this attitude in the midst of our troubles. 00:37:56.583 --> 00:37:59.373 Listen to what James says Count it all. 00:37:59.373 --> 00:38:02.730 Joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. 00:38:02.730 --> 00:38:03.010 Count it all. 00:38:03.010 --> 00:38:11.175 Joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, produces steadfastness. 00:38:11.175 --> 00:38:17.400 You can stand up in the middle of it and you'll last. 00:38:17.742 --> 00:38:32.081 Oh, he goes on this last thing he talks about here living well, in a culture of chaos is to consider this gospel in verses 3-12, and the privileges, the privileges of amazing grace. 00:38:32.081 --> 00:38:33.505 That's a key word, privileges. 00:38:33.505 --> 00:38:35.432 And he talks about this. 00:38:35.432 --> 00:38:47.494 He says, concerning this salvation, the prophets and this is what the prophets sought, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully. 00:38:47.494 --> 00:38:47.976 I mean. 00:38:47.976 --> 00:39:04.623 They were painstaking, trying to figure out what God was giving and what it meant, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 00:39:04.623 --> 00:39:24.231 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you, readers of Peter, and you, trinity, and every Christian in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. 00:39:24.231 --> 00:39:33.675 The prophets didn't know who it was or when it would happen when they gave their predicted prophecy about Christ's suffering. 00:39:33.675 --> 00:39:52.364 Someone, I think, has compared their task as almost like taking an arrow and shooting it in the air, with the prophecy and that arrow landing somewhere out there, and it just so happens to land at our feet hundreds of years later. 00:39:52.364 --> 00:40:00.443 And so what a privilege it is the arrow of God's grace landing at your feet. 00:40:01.971 --> 00:40:06.039 All the prophets knew what they were searching for. 00:40:06.039 --> 00:40:19.976 They only knew this it was for you, they were serving you, and that ought to make us feel humbled and blessed and thankful for this great salvation that we have. 00:40:19.976 --> 00:40:21.940 Jesus said. 00:40:21.940 --> 00:40:29.561 I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. 00:40:29.561 --> 00:40:38.320 This is what the prophets sought Let me end with this and it's what the angels desired. 00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:42.514 This is so cool Things into which angels long to look. 00:40:42.514 --> 00:40:44.981 And this is an amazing verse. 00:40:45.070 --> 00:40:48.396 The phrase there long to look, the angels long to look. 00:40:48.396 --> 00:40:55.081 It's a single word in the original it means to bend down and look in from the outside. 00:40:55.081 --> 00:41:01.322 It was used when Peter ran ahead of all the disciples at the day of the resurrection. 00:41:01.322 --> 00:41:11.681 And he runs ahead of everyone and he gets to the tomb and he bends down to look in to see is there anyone there to peer inside? 00:41:11.681 --> 00:41:30.436 So the picture here is of the angels bending down over the rails of heaven to see what only you can know the great salvation, looking and peering from the outside in about the wonders of salvation. 00:41:30.436 --> 00:41:34.251 Why would the angels marvel at our salvation? 00:41:34.251 --> 00:41:37.135 Because angels aren't saved. 00:41:37.135 --> 00:41:40.659 Only humans can be redeemed. 00:41:40.659 --> 00:41:49.139 They can only wonder by looking from the outside in and looking on as outsiders about what we've been given. 00:41:49.139 --> 00:41:50.842 What a privilege. 00:41:50.842 --> 00:41:52.411 Listen. 00:41:52.411 --> 00:41:56.295 If the angels get excited about this salvation, why don't we? 00:41:56.295 --> 00:42:07.402 We should be so amazed by this salvation that we don't take it for granted. 00:42:07.402 --> 00:42:10.958 It is an immeasurable privilege. 00:42:12.831 --> 00:42:21.161 The writer to the Hebrews in Hebrews 2, verse 3, asks how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? 00:42:21.161 --> 00:42:32.864 John Piper, commenting on that verse, says Is there a sense of greatness in your mind about your salvation or do you neglect it? 00:42:32.864 --> 00:42:43.777 Do you respond to the greatness of your salvation or do you treat it in the way you treat your last will and testament or the title to your car or the deed on your house. 00:42:43.777 --> 00:42:52.342 You signed it once and it is in a file drawer somewhere, but it's not a really great thing in your mind. 00:42:52.342 --> 00:42:54.570 You rarely think about it. 00:42:54.570 --> 00:42:57.333 It has no daily effect on you. 00:42:57.333 --> 00:43:01.219 Basically, you neglect it. 00:43:03.201 --> 00:43:12.253 But, my friends, we can't afford to Looking at what may be coming and looking at what we go through on a daily basis. 00:43:12.253 --> 00:43:20.291 We need to see the great privilege of our amazing grace, god's amazing grace. 00:43:20.291 --> 00:43:23.518 We need to see what the angels saw. 00:43:23.518 --> 00:43:31.369 Well, these are the foundational truths we have to believe if we're going to know how to live. 00:43:31.369 --> 00:43:34.559 And the question is can the gospel fix what's broken? 00:43:34.559 --> 00:43:40.143 Can the gospel prepare us for what's next or what's next in your life? 00:43:40.143 --> 00:43:42.893 Yes, that's the right answer. 00:43:42.893 --> 00:43:43.313 Yes, but only if. 00:43:43.333 --> 00:43:43.954 Right answer. 00:43:43.954 --> 00:43:52.313 Yes, but only if we believe it and stand on its realities, its certainties, its privileges. 00:43:52.313 --> 00:43:53.538 You say how do you do that? 00:43:53.538 --> 00:43:58.958 Hang on, that's for the weeks to come. 00:43:58.958 --> 00:44:04.070 So, father, we're thankful. 00:44:04.070 --> 00:44:34.239 We're thankful for who you are and what you've done for us and lord this great salvation that has come to us and like an arrow shot from generations and hundreds of years ago, has landed at our feet, would help us not to take it for granted, but to discover the truths that it shares with us about life and eternity, and about you, jesus. 00:44:34.239 --> 00:44:37.217 We'll apply these truths to our lives. 00:44:37.217 --> 00:44:41.208 We pray In Jesus' name, amen.