Better Than Gold - [1 Peter 1:3-9]

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Thank You Pat, you know, I was thinking even as we sang the the worship songs the contemporary section this morning
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I thought you know what I Would be happy to preach from any of those songs
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You can go straight to the Bible and dig out every truth out of those songs And those are exactly the kind of songs that I want to sing just to give you a brief update
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Kim and the kids did get to Germany all as well there Mike is especially happy to have high -speed internet
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Connection a little bit surprised to have that and he's expressed that surprise by sending me a number of emails though dead he speaketh so Well his warmest greetings to you of course and it is a blessing to be here this morning,
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I don't know if you know the sanctified among you Which I would not be but if you if you happen to see the news every now and then
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If you saw here this last week a couple weeks ago Leona Helmsley a very rich woman, and I think
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I don't really know that much better All I know is you know basically she was famous for two things number one.
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She was rich number two She had a reputation for not being very nice I don't I don't know if those are two things that you want to be necessarily famous for but She she landed on a third one after she died and that was she left twelve million dollars for her dog
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Now I I'm a dog lover my wife will tell you that anybody who's been around me and my dogs knows what a goofball
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I can be but this just kind of Showed me a couple things one is
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Being rich does not make you wise and number two the only reason
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I can fathom that this was on the news It's because the American people love Watching a train wreck and that that is just a horrible way to be remembered as the person who supplied your dog with an endless supply
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Of chew toys and number three the number three lesson I learned is no matter what else may be true about riches.
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You cannot take them with you and As believers we know that Intellectually we know that but do we live it out?
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Do we live like? Everything we have here is staying here and our greatest treasure is in heaven
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Our greatest have our greatest treasure is to come last week
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This is a review portion short last week we saw the overriding purpose of Peter's writing and That was to give us hope to give his readers hope in the midst of persecution and trial life is tough and Here's hope not life is tough, and then you die
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Peter wanted to give his people. Hope the readers hope and He encouraged them first off By showing them three divine initiatives that are true in the lives of every believer number one the father's election of believers
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That is that he chose them before the foundation of the world as it would say in Ephesians 1 secondly the
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Spirit Sanctification of you in other words the Spirit has called you out of the world has called you to be a holy and separate people to be used by God as he sees fit and third the son's redemption of you
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Jesus Christ redeemed you and that results in two things number one your desire to obey
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God and secondly forgiveness from God Now of our passage this morning first Peter Chapter 1 verses 3 to 9 and I would invite you to turn there if you haven't already done
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So first Peter chapter 1 verses 3 to 9 of this passage one commentator
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Hebert writes and I had to include this because of The second word here it transmutes
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Present sufferings and turns them into abiding heavenly
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Treasures it evokes or brings out a song of praise to God amid present tests and afflictions and in case you're wondering transmutes means to Change something for the better So if I was to read that again this passage here this morning
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Take something our present sufferings and makes them into something better It turns them into heavenly treasures.
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It is a promise of hope first Peter chapter 1 verses 3 to 9
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Blessed be The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his great mercy
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Has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance, which is imperishable and undefiled and Will not fade away
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Reserved in heaven for you Who are protected by the power of God through faith
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For a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time In this you greatly rejoice
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Even though now for a little while if necessary you have been distressed by various trials
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So that the proof of your faith Being more precious than gold which is perishable
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Even though tested by fire May be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ and Though you have not seen him you love him and Though you do not see him now, but believe in him you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory
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Obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls
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Now this morning I want you to see the answers to five salvific questions five questions that I'm going to pose
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So that you can measure yourself against God's standard and see if you are born again
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Knowing that those who are have a gift and a promise that is indeed better than gold
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When you answer these questions You should rejoice in what God has done for you and what he has promised you
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I Want believers to rejoice in God's goodness? Just as Peter did that's why he presented this as I said last week
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He gave us the inner working of the Trinity to encourage Readers that he knew we're going to be persecuted.
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He gives us this this morning for the same reason Question number one salvific question number one
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Why are you born again? Or what by what cause are you born again?
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The answer is right in verse 3 Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again
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To a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead Peter begins by using the word blessed
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Which is a word of reverence and it is used in the New Testament eight times and every single time it refers to God and It carries with it an overwhelming sense of adoration
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And I as we walk through verses 3 to 9. I just want everyone to think this is me
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This is what I have. This is what God has given me. I should be saying this to God every single day
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Do you have that overwhelming sense of adoration for God for what he has done?
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Peter is thankful to God. Are you? Peter understands what
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God has done on his behalf and he's about to explain it to his readers And can
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I just say something about the excitement that Peter shows here it is contagious and I mean that this way
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If you're running around work school the gym wherever you are and You're praising
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God because of the salvation that he has granted you There are two possible reactions that people are gonna have
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One is that they're gonna walk way around it. They're gonna give you that wide berth There is something wrong with this guy and it's contagious in that sense because just like if you had some disease people just avoid you
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Like the plague as they say But the second possibility
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Is that they will try to figure out what is wrong with you and they will want to talk to you. You know what? Joy then mark this joy frightens people
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If you're happy people are concerned because they're not happy.
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They're not happy But think about this what greater contradiction could there be than the unhappy Christian the sullen
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Christian the displeased Christian the Christian who's just kind of going through life
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Neither here nor there not very happy Peter was excited Paul was excited
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These men were excited why because they knew what God had done for them and they could not stop talking about it but joy frightens people and I I just will never forget
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When I really? Comprehended who Jesus Christ was going in to work that next day and one of the people who worked for me now they knew me quite well one of the people said what is wrong with you and I said
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I became a Christian last night She said not a born -again
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Christian She didn't get it, you know born again meant something to her, but it's not what the
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Bible meant People don't get it. They have no Lasting joy, they have momentary.
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They you know, the unbelieving life is like this Peaks and valleys lots of valleys not so many peaks the
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Christian life should be a series of peaks No matter how bad the situation is is your joy contagious?
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Are people trying to figure out why you're so happy also note the word here or the wording the
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God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ that is distinctly
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Christian some called a concise Profession of faith or confession of faith
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Why? Well Muslims say that what God has no son
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Though they would call him Allah. Allah has no son and Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God.
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Well, that's false John 10 You don't have to turn there
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But John 10 verses 30 or 33 I and the Father are one Jesus speaking the Jews picked up stones again to stone him
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Jesus answered them. I Showed you many good works from the Father for which of them are you stoning me the
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Jews answered him for a good work, we do not stone you but for blasphemy and Because you being a man make yourself out to be
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God they understood exactly what he was saying They understood his claim to be and Jesus never said.
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Oh, no, wait, wait, wait, you guys have me wrong That's not what I'm saying at all It was exactly what he was saying and they got it and Peter repeats the implication here
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To be a son in that culture was to reflect all that the father was in fact, how does
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Hebrew the writer of Hebrews described Jesus as the exact replica Representation or the icon of God God in the flesh that is
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Jesus Christ fully God But Peter's phrase also makes it clear that Jesus is fully man
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Man because the father is described what as the God of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is also
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God because the father is his father as I said so Jesus is also
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Lord in this phrase a further display of his deity No one as the scripture says no one can say
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Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit Jesus is
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Lord meaning he is God he is in charge So why is
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God to be praised we have this confession of faith here why is God to be praised because In verse 3 because of his great mercy according to his great mercy he has
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Caused us to be born again Note well that Peter doesn't say Blessed be the
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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his great mercy has given us the choice to be born again
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It's not there Matter of fact, it's not anywhere in the Bible now, which demands more praise
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God gave us a chance. God was fair and gave us a shot or God caused us to be born again
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Which demands more praise I chose Christ or he chose me it's the first No, it's the second
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God choosing us God causing us to be born again God saving us must elicit praise why because we didn't do it and Peter doesn't present that kind of Problem for us.
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He doesn't give us that dichotomy of thoughts The English rendering is right
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God caused us to be born again It is a passive verb.
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What does passive mean? That means something is done to you not you do something Every single believer is a believer by virtue of the new birth and no
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Person chose to be born again. They are born again. It is a fact
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We could go through John 3 how the Spirit brings us to regeneration this is not
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It's just not a debate scripturally people can introduce whatever kind of thoughts they want but the Bible is very clear God Causes us to be born again.
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And this is regeneration being born again means What what is regeneration?
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What does it mean to be born again? What is the new birth? Means becoming a new creature in Christ a new creation in Christ It is synonymous with being saved one cannot expect to see heaven without being born again.
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Why? Because Jesus told us that the scriptures full of reference with that because we are born dead spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins and God must make us alive.
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God must cause us to be born again That's the only way we can enter into God's presence
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That causes us to praise him to be joyful because of what God has done on our behalf
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Something we could not do for ourselves Something we would not do for ourselves and something the
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Bible never says we can do for ourselves Peter also tells us about God's motivation
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Talks about his great mercy. And of course mercy is his favor unmerited favor
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Directed toward those who deserve his wrath his graciousness toward us Ephesians 2 for verse, you know, well says
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God, but God Being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us
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Now I there are so many truths as we go through first Peter. You're gonna see this and and and I I read something
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You know, you read a lot of things while you're doing these these things, but I read something that really made me laugh there's a theory that They say well, you know, maybe
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Peter wrote this maybe he didn't write it, you know, I mean scholars What else are they going to do? They have to debate these things
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But there's one theory that I just found very very funny and that's this that Peter wasn't really very bright
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After all so much of what he writes is similar to what Jesus said So much of what he said is so similar to what
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Paul wrote Where's the innovation? Where are the new thoughts
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Peter? That's just dopey Innovation is not
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The the Holy Spirit doesn't you know come up with hey, you know what Peter here's something new that Jesus didn't know or You know, here's some insight that I never gave
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Paul Different applications of the same truths There is one author there are many authors of scripture, but there's one author many men one spirit
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Superintending the writing of Scripture the Word of God never says
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Whether it's Peter or Paul or Jesus that God caused us to be born again because of our merit because of because of foreseen faith because of Us being smarter and choosing to believe in him.
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It never says anything other than His love his mercy his sovereign choice
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God chooses God loves God has mercy. That's why we are born again
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Why? Exactly for the reason or for what exactly what Peter is doing here
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He's praising God when it is all of God salvation is of the Lord And when that is true his people praise him for what he has done for them.
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So our first salvific question Why are you born again?
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the answer Because God caused it Because of his sovereign mercy.
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It's also interesting again. What's not here? God caused us to be born again, but We can reject it.
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How does a baby refuse to be born? How does that happen You ever have a child just go up nope, not me
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How much more will God? Never suffer through that that he sets his affection on someone that he gives his mercy to someone that he causes them to be born again, and they reject it
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Impossible the sovereign God of the universe does not fail in his purpose Question number two
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What are the results of being born again? Look again at verse 3
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To a living hope he's caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
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To it verse 4 to obtain an inheritance Which is imperishable undefiled and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you first notice that we have a living hope
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Again, remember what Peter's purpose in writing this book is to provide hope in the face of adversity
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Hope what is that? What is hope is a future good? It's not current good
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And likewise when we present hope to people and we want to give people hope
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We live in a hopeless world a world that should be looking for hope
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We don't promise people that Jesus will solve all their problems because Peter never did Paul never did no one ever said that if you became a
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Christian Everything would be wonderful in this life So it's a lie.
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We don't tell people that because it's not what the Bible says Secondly the issue is never about This life our
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Conditions in this life is about the life beyond this hope always looks toward the future not the present and And if you are living for today so many people are out there if your focus is on your circumstances your happiness your pleasure in today
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Then you're living a life without hope. But again, why does
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Peter describe it as a living hope? Because our hope first of all is founded in the living self -existing creator of the universe who identified himself as I am to Moses and Signify the fact that he is life and in him.
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We all live and move and have our being that he is self -sustaining He cannot run out of energy
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God is God always has been always will be we have a living hope because it is based on that and secondly because Jesus Christ himself is risen from the dead.
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He is our living hope because he is our living Savior Paul said in first Corinthians 15 that Jesus Christ if he is not raised from the dead what we have no hope
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Our faith is in vain but God did raise him from the dead and therefore we do have hope and our hope is
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Alive This is a footnote
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There can be no Christianity there is no Christian faith without the resurrection if Jesus Christ is in the tomb.
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There is no hope there is no Christianity There is nothing for us to praise God about because we will not be raised
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This is so vital We have a living hope because God himself lives
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Because God cannot die because God is self -sustaining because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead
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None of those things can be reversed. That's where our hope is Born, that's where it lives now also
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Talking about the results of being born again first, we have a living hope second. We have an inheritance We are the adopted children of God once children of wrath now in the family of God and we are so blessed
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Romans 8 17 says that we are fellow heirs with Christ Fellow heirs with Christ.
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I mean when I think about that I think about sitting listening to the will being read and there's the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the table and here we are somewhere in the
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Room and we get a portion of the inheritance. I can't even fathom that Our inheritance is not in worldly riches
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Not the twelve million dollars Leona left for her dog Not in anything in this world.
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Our text tells us that it is reserved in heaven Note that verb reserved again passive passive.
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We don't do it. We're not the ones reserving That inheritance for us,
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I mean think about even inheritance I don't think most of us get to determine our inheritance and this verb would just emphasize that it is
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Reserved in heaven is protected in heaven for you. You can't do it yourself You don't do it.
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You can't do it. You can't obtain it and you can't reserve it Salvation and the promises of God are from beginning to end
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His to dispense as he pleases Now the
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Greek verb reserved is also in the perfect tense meaning that is something that has happened in the past and it has ongoing results
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That's what the perfect tense means. It is a One -time event that has ongoing results and we think about our salvation
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That is the case our inheritance if we could go into the counsels of God before the foundation of the world
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It was accomplished Then in time and it is reserved by God for us forever and ever
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Now it's described in the three interesting words here imperishable and undefiled and then it will not fade away and First I I thought it was interesting when
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I was studying this that all three words are negative and I was even talking to my wife about this It just strikes me that what why does
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Peter use the negative? You know, sometimes you get into trouble when you answer the question why?
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But it just struck me that if if he was to compare it to anything positive It would have to be something in this world and that would right away
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Diminish what it is that we are going to inherit because everything in this world is tainted by sin What words could he possibly use to describe our inheritance in a way that Would we could grasp and that would be right?
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So he uses three negative terms and this is what he says. He says it's imperishable means it's not subject to decay
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In Matthew 6 verses 19 and 20. It's so similar again.
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Peter is not an innovator. He is a truth -teller Matthew 6 verses 19 and 20.
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You don't have to turn there. I'll read it Jesus says do not store up for yourselves Treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but store for yourselves treasure in heaven
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Where moth neither or where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal or steal
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It's that idea of destroying It cannot be rusted cannot destroy cannot nothing can happen to it
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It is not subject to decay to rot Also says it's undefiled
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Literally, it cannot spoil or be stained again the idea that it will remain perfect for ever and ever and ever nothing can taint it in any way and Finally, it will not fade away.
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It is Permanent and permanently beautiful. It is the flower that will not wither it is the bloom that will not die it is as McDonald said
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Gordon McDonald said that these promises are death proof sin proof and time proof
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Nothing will taint them. They will not fade. They are perfect and will remain that by the power of God question number three
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What assurance is there in being born again? What assurance is there in being born again verse 5?
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Who talking about us are protected by the power of God Through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time
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Peter says our hope is secured by the power of God Now, is there any possibility of being lost then?
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Can you become saved and then lose it? I guess if God runs out of power
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Can that happen? The answer of course is an emphatic. No You know
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God is sustained created in the sustained the universe from the beginning of time and how much power has he exhausted?
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Zero, he still got the same as when he started. It's an inexhaustible untouchable power of supply now think about the comforts of God causing you to be born again and then protecting that protecting you by his power
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Again, I just think this passage is so great if you are discouraged if you are struggling this passage
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And maybe a few others are on par with it in terms of encouragement and all of Scripture I mean this would be like a route
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Mount Rushmore passage along with Romans 8 Towards the end where he talks about all the things and I'm not going to take the time to read it
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But all the things that cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ all the things The impossibility of bringing a charge against God's elect
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God justifies us. No one can condemn us is the essence of what he's saying and no one
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Nothing Nothing created nothing uncreated nothing seen or unseen all these other things nothing can separate us from the love of God Which is in Christ Jesus our
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Lord? It's that same kind of clarity that Peter brings here Nothing can separate us
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Barring God running out of power. Our faith is mentioned as The proof or evidence of God exercising his power in our lives.
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In other words God Sustains us he causes to be born again. He sustains us in our faith
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Who are protected by the power of God through faith faith is the vehicle we display?
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God's work in our lives by our obedience by our faithfulness. Do we do so perfectly?
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Absolutely not But if you don't love God if you don't have faith in God How can you claim to be protected to be preserved by him now?
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I suppose we could say here that there are two sides of this coin Does God protect absolutely we understand that do we persevere?
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Yes, we do Does the Bible not call us more than conquerors does the Bible not say you know that those who are faithful to the end all these things it absolutely does
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But as God's power is the Holy Spirit working in us that keeps us faithful If God just saved us and then left us alone we would all
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We wouldn't last very well and Peter knows that better than anyone Going on in the verse through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time
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So wait a second. Is there a second salvation here? What is it that he's talking about? Is there a second salvation?
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Well, I suppose we could say there are at least four Salvations if we want to get into that and he's talking about one of them
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We were saved we are saved and we are being saved and we will be saved we were saved
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From the foundation of the world the Father chose us the Son agreed to redeem us and the Spirit agreed to sanctify and seal us
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Our salvation was accomplished in time by the life -death resurrection of the work of the
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Holy Spirit But what Peter's specifically talking about here is our salvation will be completely revealed completely accomplished completely
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Brought to fruition at the judgment of the Lord when God judges every man woman and child that is when our
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Salvation will be made plain MacArthur writes this Christians possess some of the benefits of salvation in this life true for example, we are
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Free to now to obey we have peace with God. We have a lot of benefits in this life
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But he writes the great fullness of redemption is yet to come God has promised unfathomable glory is another great word unfathomable beyond our ability to comprehend
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Glories in the eternal perfection of heaven that will one day be the conscious experience of every believer things that we could not even if Paul could have written about it when he went up to the third heaven even if he he
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Could have put those things in a word into words. We could not fully understand them Why because it's just beyond our ability to grasp
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Someday, it will be our conscious experience God is the source of every believers inheritance
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MacArthur writes it came because of his mercy and by the gracious means of the new birth and it remains perfect and eternally secure a reality all believers can fix their hope on Again, that's
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Peter's purpose in writing this whole book to give us hope Self -evident question number four.
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What does being born again look like? Look at verse 6 in This you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary you have been distressed by various trials
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For seven so the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable Even though tested by fire may be found a result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ first Verse 6 in this you greatly rejoice
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Believers rejoice, they're joyful. We greatly rejoice Regardless of circumstances why because of what's transpired in verses 3 to 5
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We have an inheritance from the untold riches of God that is waiting for us in heaven
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Guarded over as it were by God himself who has adopted us as sons and daughters
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So that he could give us this inheritance This is the great
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God that we worship and adore My question for you. Are you greatly rejoicing?
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Regardless of circumstances We are to be a people who are supremely and abundantly happy Nothing separates us more dramatically from the fallen world than joy than hope
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Then indifference to our circumstances Now it's not a command here to be joyful But it is a description of the joy that necessarily follows when we comprehend
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When we believe when we live out What God has accomplished for us?
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Back to the verse even though now for a little while if necessary you have been distressed by various trials
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Now it's not certain that we will have trials. Some people will some people will have
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Little bumps in the road other people's lives will be turned upside down frequently constantly
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But our joy is not to be based on Whether we do have trials whether we do get distressed or whether we don't now it's certainly right
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As it says here that our faith be tested Peter compares it to gold and gold is refined.
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It's heated up All the dross is removed as the hymn writer wrote thy dross to refine
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The dross is burned off The waste product is burned off so that only the pure gold remains and it's the same with faith.
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Our faith is tested Through trials afflictions difficulties in our lives, but it is always
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God always brings these things into our lives not because he's angry with us
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Not because he wants to see how much we can deal with But the scripture says for our good
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For our good all things All things work together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose
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We want to categorize things and say well, this is good. And this is bad. God doesn't work like that all these things are good and God uses them to conform us
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Into the image of his beloved Son and our Savior our genuine and tested faith
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Shows that we are born again. It also results It also results in What praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ?
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We're going to praise him We're going to praise him why? Because of the things that he has done in our lives the things that he has brought us through the difficulties that he has seen us through we are ultimately going to Be rewarded in heaven for the things that we do and what are we going to do with those rewards?
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We're going to cast them at Christ's feet because we understand what he has done for us salvific question number five
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What sort of faith? Do those who are born again have? verse 8 and Though you have not seen him you love him and though you do not see him now
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But believe in him you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory Obtaining is the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls faith is
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We know from Hebrews 11 1 the assurance of things hope for the conviction of things not seen
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That's what Peter says here again. Peter's not innovative He's just collecting all these truths together and presenting them for our benefit so that we will have hope
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We have not seen Jesus And what does that mean ultimately? What does it mean?
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It means that we won't start a cult for one thing We will claim to see him to have seen Jesus, but we're also not qualified to be
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Apostles But it means we've been given faith We have not seen him and yet We love him.
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We have not seen him and we know him we intimately know him Now when it says you have not seen him, but you believe it is past due.
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Oh, it is we have faith in him We consider him worthy of Our trust we consider him to be true
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We believe in him fully we invest ourselves Fully in him and belief as we've said many times belief is not a gathering of facts
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We entrust our lives to Jesus Christ We believe in him belief saving faith being born again is
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Not selecting a good answer from among many Christianity is not a way it is the way
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We are not generic people of some nebulous faith in other words people will say, you know, I'm a person of faith
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What does that mean Means they have some nebulous sense that there is something greater than themselves and that's great when someone says that I say great
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What's the basis for your faith? And if it's not the person and the work of Jesus Christ Then that person that you are talking to needs to hear the gospel because they have no hope.
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What is it? What sort of faith do those who are born again have they have a faith that is completely entirely fixed upon Jesus Christ Our hope is seen and we greatly rejoice again notice again and again this theme of rejoicing
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Greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible Now do you do you show that? Do you have hope or are you known as you know, mr.
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Mrs. Or miss gloomy Do people dread talking to you because they're gonna hear about the latest laundry list of disasters in your life
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The joy depicted is present
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We say that in a different way in other words, we've been talking about hope in a future hope
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But the joy depicted is Present it's right now Even after For a time for a season for a brief short interlude of time
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Even if that brief short interlude of time is 80 years So I said a week or so ago 80 years in comparison to eternity is pretty short period of time it's a season
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It's a weekend and Even if you have afflictions and difficulties in life
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You have joy right now if you're thinking rightly This glory is partly in a present sense, but partly because of the guarantee of what lies ahead we have in verse 9 out
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Obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. Look at what we get. God gives us faith
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He keeps us faithful and then he rewards us for that faith and that faithfulness with the salvation of our souls
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This is as one commentator says the crowning consummation of the work of God We get what we did not earn we obtain what we do not deserve
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Our souls that once were lost dead hopeless Have been brought to life by the power of God and they've been brought to shepherded protected to their ultimate end, which is eternity with God notice that Word there that's translated in the
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New America Standard outcome the outcome of our faith. It's the word tell us It's the goal the goal toward which a movement is being directed the end the goal
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This is the ultimate goal of God's plan he chose us Long before we were born
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Determined to have a relationship with us brought us to himself Reconciled himself to us through the life -death resurrection of his son
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Set the seal of his spirit upon us with the purpose of bringing us to this one outcome
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Eternal life. So what sort of faith did those who are born again have we have an enduring faith?
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We have a joyful faith We have one that will see us to the end not because of our own faithfulness, but because of the faithfulness of God Five salvific questions.
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Why are you born again? Because God caused it What are the results among them joy?
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What assurance is there of being in being born again, we're protected by the power of God what greater assurance is there
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What does being born again look like again, I just go back and I just look at how many times he talks about being joyful New creation in Christ the old things have passed the old problems
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May still linger on But we have a different attitude about it. We have a hope that looks forward now.
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I don't know how much Money total that Leona Helmsley had and I don't really care.
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I didn't look it up. I didn't read any stories about her I just saw it on the news and thought that's dopey.
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I know one thing for sure As she lay there dying She got zero comfort
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From the treasure. She had accumulated in this life. None. She might have had billions of dollars.
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I have no way of knowing. I Don't know if she was saved or unsaved We could speculate all we want but it doesn't really matter
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I Do know this That the Lord has promised his children
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Those he has caused to be born again an inheritance that cannot cannot be diminished or damaged or fade away that is reserved by his power and that this inheritance is more precious than gold and This promise is our joy and our hope in this life as we look forward to the next life
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There is nothing on this earth with greater value than salvation
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If you are born again, you have the greatest Gift the greatest inheritance awaiting you that anyone could ever have
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Now I have a challenge for you this week I'm not going to challenge you to read first Peter 50 times because I know you won't do that But here's what
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I would like you to do And I think this would be great I would love it if even one person this week and You don't have to draw straws you can all do this, but if you live with such joy this week
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Rejoicing in your inheritance that is better than gold your salvation what God has promised you
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If you live in such a way if you were so giddy at work or at school or in the library or wherever it is
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That you're supposed to be quiet and you're just bubbling over with joy That someone said to you What's gotten into you?
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Then tell them you know people say well
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I I don't really know you know I get all choked up I get nervous when I talk about when I try to present the gospel of somebody
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And I don't know if I'll get it right and you know pastor. Would you talk to him or whatever? This is what I want you to know I want you to know that if you live a life filled with joy and hope
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People will just think you're out of your mind, and they will talk to you You don't have to figure out some way to preach the gospel you preach it with your life
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But you do it in such a way that people just can't figure out quite. What's wrong with you You have something that is better than gold better than anything on earth.
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Don't hide it Rejoice in it Can I just say to?
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You know we're going to be doing grace evangelism, and we haven't talked exactly about what that is Let me just put and I would call it a shameless plug except for I don't get a cent for this
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This isn't what it's about I want you to be able to take every conversation that you're in and find some way
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To turn it into a gospel Conversation I want you to be confident that you can share
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Christ with anyone And that's what this whole that that's what this class is designed to do
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We're going to talk about many ways that you can take conversations about just about anything and And point them toward Christ and hope and forgiveness of sins
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And that's what we're here for we have hope we need to share that hope Let's pray our sovereign
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God You who have caused us to be born again. You have given us a
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Living hope peace with you a joy that cannot be measured if we rightly understand your promises to us
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How by your power you have promised To give us an inheritance to bring us to that day of judgment where you will look at us
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And you will say well done though good and faithful servant even though sometimes we weren't faithful You will send us off with your sheep even though sometimes we did not act like your sheep
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What a great God you are who forgives? Who is abundant in loving kindness and mercy
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Father I pray that you would make this a congregation that lives with joy that expects difficulty but rejoices knowing
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That there is nothing that comes into our lives first that you haven't planned for our good and Secondly that you have not given us the grace to deal with What a great
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Treasure what a great blessing you have given us Father I pray that every single person here who loves you would rejoice in that For those who don't know you
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For those who are here. I pray that you would call them to repentance For those that we interact with our family our friends our co -workers the people we go to school with Lord would you so?
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infect them with this contagious hope
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That they would long to know the truth that we believe father.
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Would you make us faithful witnesses to that truth? Would you save many? Through your spirit through your word