WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.760 So we're in our second week of Advent. 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:14.320 We had been going through the Book of Acts, and then when we hit Advent, we took a break from the Book of Acts, and now we're working our way through Advent using different scriptures that have been laid out before us through a historical scripture guide called the Lectionary. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:16.160 So Advent is a season of waiting. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:19.359 It's the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:29.519 Now, when I was 15 years old, I can distinctly remember sitting outside of Hooper Gym in Lawrenceville, Georgia, where everybody had their basketball practices at. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:32.640 Sitting out there waiting for my mom. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:35.840 And of course, you knew what I was thinking. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:38.079 I can't wait to get my license. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:42.159 I mean, when you're 15 years old, you are counting the days. 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:53.439 You cannot wait for this to happen, for this freedom, because you're so tired of waiting everywhere, waiting on a ride, waiting for your mom, waiting for your older sister. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:56.079 You're just waiting everywhere you go. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:58.000 Then you get your license. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.079 Can't wait to go to college. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:02.000 Go to college. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:06.560 And at a certain point, you can't wait, you can't wait to graduate. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:08.000 I actually graduated early. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:09.040 I couldn't wait so much. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:12.159 And people sort of nod with approval, like, look at him. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:15.760 That was one of the dumbest decisions I've ever made in my life was to graduate. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.280 Don't graduate early. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:18.400 Like, what was I think? 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:20.239 What was I in a hurry for? 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:22.000 I was in a hurry for more school. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:24.079 Yeah, that was really smart. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:26.719 And then eventually you can't wait to get married. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:28.879 And then you get married, you have little kids, perhaps. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:30.719 Not always, but sometimes. 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:34.400 And when you have little kids, you can't wait for that baby to get out of diapers. 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:49.200 And then that baby walks, and you're like, oh, I should have enjoyed the days when that baby didn't walk, and then the baby's walking, and you can't wait for that kid to take care of you can't wait for your child yesterday to take care of their own snowsuit and gloves. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:02:00.719 I mean, that would be remarkable in my household to have my children be able to manage their snow gloves and their snowsuit and their snow boots on their own. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:02.879 I can't wait for that day. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:04.239 I can't wait for it. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:12.319 And then they go to college, and you can't wait for, you can't wait for them to come home, right? 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:17.520 Maybe they get married, and you can't wait for them to bring grandkids over, to have grandkids in the world. 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:22.960 And you just keep, you keep going on and on not being able to wait. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:26.960 Like you can't wait for retirement. 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:30.400 You can't wait for the illness to go away. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:43.759 You can't wait for the romance to finally happen, or the romance that you had to come back to life, or for him or to her to finally actually love you like you think, or for the career to happen. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:45.039 You can't wait. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:49.280 Or maybe you're like me and you just keep waiting for life to get a little bit easier. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:49.919 Or right? 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.960 Or maybe to handle stress a little bit better, or fear better, anxiety better, or friendships better. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:55.759 You can't wait. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:56.719 You just can't wait. 00:02:56.800 --> 00:02:57.520 Like you can't wait. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.319 And I mention all that because we're in the season of Advent. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:05.120 And the season of Advent is a season of us waiting. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:11.439 It's a season for a desire for what is to come, but it's not here yet. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:13.280 And so our passage is more than St. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:16.240 Peter writing, and he's writing to us comfort. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:18.960 He's writing to us comfort about holiness. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:20.800 There's a word for us. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:22.319 We're going, oh, holiness. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:30.400 And the reason why we kind of, whoa, holy, because most of the time when we hear that word, it's like, let's let the preacher make us feel guilty for a little bit, then we can go on with our lives. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:33.759 Now Peter's not writing to make us feel guilty. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:37.919 He's writing to comfort us and he's writing to inspire us. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:44.800 He's asking, what does it mean to be holy when it seems most of our lives are in waiting? 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:48.639 During which we're not very holy, right? 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:49.599 At least not now. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:50.800 So here's our text. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:52.319 2 Peter 3, 8 and 9. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:54.960 We'll reread this and kind of work our way through it, make a few points. 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:55.919 8 and 9. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:57.520 But do not overlook this one fact. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:03:58.000 Beloved. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:03:59.759 So right away, he calls you beloved. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:01.919 Peter does this over and over and over again. 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:06.240 While he's giving you challenges, he is giving you comfort. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:09.039 Beloved, you are already this. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:10.639 That's the starting point. 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:13.599 Don't overlook this one fact, beloved. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:17.920 That with the Lord, one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:26.480 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:28.319 So point number one is this. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:29.839 Pretty philosophical. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:31.600 Yeah, think with me this morning. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:37.839 God exists outside of time, yet we know God's presence and love inside of time. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:39.759 I'm not into that. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:40.560 Like that's too much. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:42.319 That's too heavy for the morning. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:45.680 It actually means a lot for you if you can work with me a little bit. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:49.759 God exists outside of time, yet we know God's presence and love inside of time. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.279 Peter's making both of these points in the same breath. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:05:00.879 See, most of our disillusionment is thinking God is bound by time, only seeing things as we see things. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:04.319 And Peter's point is God's not being slow. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:09.040 Slow is not even really a thing with God because he's outside of time. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:13.839 He's just patiently for you because he sees more. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:26.240 He's for you and your life and your heart, even in the frustration of how you don't see how your life is working out and the complexity of this universe and other people's lives, you don't see that. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:27.680 Of course you don't see that. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:28.879 I don't see that. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:30.480 God can see it. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:42.399 And God's heart is for all of us to know life, for all of us to come to repentance, which is to say, I will turn from all the other ways I try to self-save. 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:54.160 I will turn from all of that, whether it be religion and church or whether it be secular stuff, I will turn from all of that and rest in God's grace alone in Jesus. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:57.839 And he is patient toward us in that process. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:00.480 Have you ever been in a dinner table? 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:02.480 And let's say there's a guy there named Bill. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:04.720 Sorry if your name's Bill, I'm just picking a random name. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:15.279 Say Bill is there, and Bill is telling you the story of his career, and he talks about how when he was at Harvard, he just mentioned that, slid that in real sly, like nobody was gonna notice. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:16.160 He just mentioned it. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:25.199 Well, he was at Harvard, get his MBA, he had all these great parties, and he had these great friends, and you're nodding along and thinking, okay, this isn't a bad story. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:34.639 And then he and some friends created uh, you know, a tech startup, and then like right at the end of graduation, they found an investor, just like just the door opened. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:39.600 It was amazing how all this the door opened, an investor, there was no waiting. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.240 The tech startup just right away was hitting it. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:43.360 It was doing great. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:44.720 There was always money. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:48.399 There was all I mean every time a challenge came, they always knew the idea. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:50.000 There was no waiting. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:56.079 Eventually, Amazon bought the company, because Amazon buys all the companies, and Bill's just ragingly successful. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:11.439 The whole time, his sweet, beautiful wife sitting on there nodding along, and she's saying, you know, the whole time he was a family man and he made it home by 515, and you're sitting there and you're going, like, I it wasn't his success that's bothering you, but it's that he never had to wait. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:14.720 By the end of the story, you're going, I don't like Bill. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:18.079 Bill's arrogant. 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:19.839 Right? 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:21.600 He never had to wait. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:23.759 He never had a challenge. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:25.600 Bill's a punk. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:28.319 Then there's another dinner party story. 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:29.439 I was at dinner this week. 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:30.319 It was a real story. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:33.680 I was at a Christmas party, sitting next to a couple from Pakistan. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:37.199 And maybe halfway through the dinner, I turned and I looked at him. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:41.120 His name is Victor, and I said, Victor, tell me your life story. 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:43.839 And he said, Well, that's an interesting story. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:44.959 That's going to take a while. 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:46.560 He's about my age. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:50.160 He had moved from Pakistan to Dubai when he was in his 20s. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:56.720 He had been a translator for missionaries in Pakistan and persecution built up against him, and eventually he had to run for his life. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:07:58.879 He moves to Dubai when he's in his 20s. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:02.480 While he's in Dubai, he meets his wife, they marry, they have some children. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:09.439 They can't afford to stay in Dubai because in Dubai you pay if you're not like in the family tree of Dubai. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.000 You pay to stay there, you pay per child. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:16.720 He didn't have enough money, went hitting in the income levels, and so they have to move back to Pakistan. 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:18.079 They're back in Pakistan. 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:22.000 He's translating again for missionaries, and persecution builds back up. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:25.360 And finally I say, hey, hey, you know, I'm trying to speed the story up a little bit. 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:27.519 I'm like, hey, well, how did you end up here? 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:30.800 Like we're sitting in Atlanta, Georgia, eating dinner. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:31.759 How did you get here? 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.320 He's like, well, that that's good, that's an interesting story. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:35.200 That's going to take a while. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:36.720 And I'm like, hey, we're here. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:37.919 Let's, you know, let's hear it. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:39.039 Let's keep going. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:45.759 And he says, well, like, you know, we filed for a visa, and it took four years of waiting. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:48.320 That would feel like a thousand years. 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:48.799 Right? 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:53.039 That would be a thousand, that would be like you going to God, God, what's going on? 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:54.320 And God's going, you know what? 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:56.720 Like one day, thousand years to him, it's all the same. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:09:03.759 But to you, to him, in that experience, every day feels like a thousand years. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:13.200 Four years they wait, persecution's building up, all of a sudden they get this notice that they can come on a visa into the U.S., they get, they pack their suitcases, they get on a plane. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:15.120 They know like a few people in the U.S. 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:20.159 They fly to New York, they get a train to Philadelphia because they know one person in Philadelphia. 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:22.720 They get to Philadelphia, they have nothing. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.240 They find an apartment. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:30.720 Amazingly, he finds a job, and just right after that, his wife comes to him and says, Hey, we can't stay here. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:32.639 The Lord doesn't want us to stay here. 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:35.200 I think we're supposed to go to Atlanta. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:38.159 And he's going, hold on a second. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:49.519 Um, we waited for four years for a visa, and somehow we managed to fly to the other side of the world, and then we trained to a city we don't know anything about. 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:56.320 Somehow we got an apartment and I got a job, and now you're saying, you're saying that we need to move. 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:58.799 And she said, just reach out to whoever you know. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:00.559 He has one contact in Atlanta. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:04.799 He calls that contact, he says, Hey, um, I think we're supposed to come down there. 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:10.720 And the contest says, Okay, yeah, um, well, you could do like a plane or a car or a train to get here. 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:12.240 He says, Well, I can't afford any of those. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:13.360 We don't have any money. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:14.720 We have nothing. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:21.279 And the pastor, there's a pastor he knew, and the pastor says, Well, let's just take a few days and then I'll call you back. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:25.360 Three days later, the pastor calls back, and the pastor says, Hey, here's what we're gonna do. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:27.039 I'm going to drive up there. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:30.480 I will pick you and your family up, and then I will bring you back. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:34.799 Twelve hours up, pick up your family, I barely know, and drive you back. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:37.519 Now, I love Sam and Rachel. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:40.720 I wouldn't even drive them to Arby's. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:48.639 If it's out of the way, I really don't know if the roast beef sandwich is going to be enough to get me inspired. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:52.240 This pastor drives 12 hours. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:54.720 12 hours to get this family. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:11:00.080 They come down here, they get an apartment, he doesn't have a job, has nothing. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:03.759 And so I said, Well, what happened? 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:04.799 Well, that's an interesting story. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:05.360 Do you have time? 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:06.080 Yes, I have time. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:07.919 Let's, you know, let's speed this up. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:08.559 What's going on? 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:09.519 Tell me the story. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:11.200 And he keeps telling me the story. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:13.600 And he says, Well, we get an apartment, we don't have any money. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:16.320 We don't even have food for days. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:18.159 I mean, you talk about waiting. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:26.320 But the thing about it is the whole time he's talking, it's like you can see the compassion and the patience in this guy. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:38.399 He goes every other day to this landscape company he could walk to, and he asks for a job, and every other day the boss says, No, you don't have any experience. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:40.879 He goes for three weeks every other day. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:43.919 And finally, the boss gives in and gives him a job. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:46.240 He waited for three weeks for a job. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:55.759 Six months later, he gets a job in a store, and then eventually, about that time, uh, the wife gets invited to a worship event next door to their apartment complex. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:58.080 She's at the worship event, he's in the apartment. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:02.720 In the middle of the worship event, he feels like he's supposed to go out of his house, down into the parking lot. 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:07.519 At the same time, a pastor inside the worship event feels like he's supposed to go out into the parking lot. 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:18.399 The two of them meet, and the pastor connects Victor and his family to some people who helped them get Social Security numbers, driver's license, a car, and a better job. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:19.600 I'm going nuts. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:22.960 I'm like, these are the most amazing people at the party. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:25.440 A lot better than Bill, right? 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:31.919 And yet all of it felt like to them a thousand years. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:36.320 And you felt that, right? 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:38.080 You're waiting on something? 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:44.720 Waiting on somebody, waiting on something to play out, and you're like, this feels like a thousand years. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:46.000 This is painful. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:48.559 Waiting on something inside of you to change? 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:51.440 It can feel like a thousand years. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:13:03.600 But as we understand God is outside of time and yet we experience his presence, love inside of time, there's this surrender that comes in that deep, profound truth. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:08.240 Point number two God is on a redemption movement in history and in you. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:10.639 God is on a redemption movement in history and in you. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:11.200 Verse 10. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:22.799 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth, and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:27.360 I thought about getting a megaphone and um like a sign like repent or you will die. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:30.960 Um, not in favor of that. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:39.840 We were at a game recently, and one guy was doing that, um, very mean, very mean spirit, not kind spirit, very mean spirit. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:42.879 When you walk by and you're like, is that productive? 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:48.320 Yeah, you're going, like maybe, I don't know, but I'm thinking not, just personally. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:55.919 The next guy, further up the sidewalk, he was just saying, um, I think all he was saying is he said, um, God loves you. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:57.840 He had a southern, God loves you. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:13:59.600 You are loved by God. 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:00.720 God loves you. 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:02.159 You are loved by that's all he was saying. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:04.080 And Christian had looked at me, I was like, I like that. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:08.720 That like that's the guy, that's the guy I want to stop and go, can you tell me, can you tell me more? 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:10.320 Will you tell me more about that? 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:16.159 So there's this phrase, the day of the Lord, this verse, this verse has been used so often to scare people. 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:18.960 Like, it's imagery, though. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:20.159 It's imagery. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:21.919 It's not used to scare people. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:29.279 The truth of this, the truth of this is that there will be a future day where God makes all things right. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:33.200 But beloved, there's nothing for you to be scared about here. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:40.720 As my little girl's Bible says, God will make all the sad things untrue. 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:45.360 This is the good news of this verse, that there will be a day of the Lord. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:47.279 We don't know when it'll be. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:53.120 But stuff will get dissolved that doesn't matter, and all the sad stuff will become untrue. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:56.320 And then Peter's train of thought it moves on. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:06.480 And he goes, Okay, if this is true, if God is eternal and you are loved, and all of this will dissolve, and waiting is hard, what kind of person should you be? 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:11.440 When you're you're 14 years old, what kind of person should you be? 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:15.039 You're 40 years old, you're 80 years old, what kind of person should you be? 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:32.159 And then he goes into verses 11 through 15, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:38.320 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:43.120 Therefore, beloved, again, therefore, beloved, remember who you are. 00:15:43.360 --> 00:16:00.399 Beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace, and count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.679 So point number three, your life should mirror, it should. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:08.080 It should mirror to some degree that which you are already deemed. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:13.519 Your life should mirror in some degree that which you are already deemed. 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:17.600 Peter doesn't say you will be without spot or blemish. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:22.080 He says, strive to be without spot or blemish. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:25.200 He says, you are beloved, you are waiting. 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:35.279 Now strive for a life where you in this world match, to some degree, match who you've already deemed to be. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:41.600 See, religion and moralism is obey as to be accepted. 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:46.799 I will obey, I'll do enough, I'll be good enough, then I'll be accepted by God. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:49.039 That's religion and moralism. 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:52.559 Christianity is you are accepted. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:54.080 You are beloved. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:56.879 Now obey. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:06.799 The difference between those two is the difference between a life of merit and exhaustion, pride and despair, depending on how you think you're doing, or one of faith and freedom. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:13.039 You've got to remember the guy who's writing this, Peter, he's perhaps one of the greatest fools of the New Testament. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:16.640 I mean, this guy infamously denied Christ three times. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:18.640 Jesus says to him, Hey, you're gonna deny me. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:20.319 He's like, I'm not gonna deny you. 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:25.920 You know, it's like the kid, don't touch the stove, don't touch the stove, and he touches it three times, he touches it. 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:29.279 He has no loyalty, no honesty, no friendship. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:31.119 And he was a weasel. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:33.279 Peter was a weasel. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:36.480 He had to be full of shame. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:41.119 He had to be filled with those statements like, I'm never enough. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:44.240 I'll never be enough. 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:51.200 You've got to imagine the days of this guy wondering, working out, will I ever not feel like a failure? 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:53.440 Will I ever work out of this failure? 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:54.799 Will I ever be any more? 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:57.119 Could anything ever happen out of me? 00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:00.319 How can there be redemption of this for me? 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:10.640 How does he begin, how does Peter begin to understand himself as beloved to write a letter like this and have some sort of life that mirrors his belovedness? 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:19.519 Soren Kierkegaard, the 19th-century philosopher, he brings us the answer in his book, Works of Love. 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:27.759 Christ's love for Peter was so boundless that in loving Peter he accomplished loving the person one sees. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:32.960 He did not say Peter must change first and become another man before I can love him again. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:34.480 No, just the opposite. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:38.640 He said, Peter is Peter, and I love him. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:44.240 Love, if anything, will help him to become another man. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:57.359 So, my brothers and sisters, may the love of Christ be so boundless to you that your heart rests and your life turns to honor him to some degree to that which you have already been deemed. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:58.799 Let's pray together. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:06.319 God, thank you for your grace and mercy to us, which we need when we start to think about holiness and godliness. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:12.160 For we are not always that which you have called to be, we are not always that which we want to be. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:26.240 Thank you that you love us as you see us, that Peter is Peter and you loved him, that Russ is Russ and you loved me, that we are who we are, and you love us, and it is that love that turns us. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:27.920 We are so grateful. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:35.920 That is the story, that it is a story of redemption and history and redemption in us. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:41.279 God give us great trust as we wait. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:46.480 For some of us waiting on things that seem like they'll never happen. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:57.359 And it is so frustrating when our days feel like a thousand years when we rest back in the great truth that for you you are outside of time, and yet we know you inside of time. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:02.000 Help us, help us to trust in you in Jesus' name. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:02.720 Amen.