Peter's Exhortation on Suffering: Part 1

Redeeming Grace Church

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Please open your Bible with me as we do return back to our study through the epistle of 1 Peter.

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I thought it was refreshing to, as we had communion, to look at Isaiah 6.

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That is always a tremendous text, isn't it? And you just can't do justice to that text of the holiness and the greatness of who

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God is. We need to keep our eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we?

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And especially in the days we're living in, it's so easily to get distracted. It's a battle, as you well know.

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It's a continual battle, and it doesn't let up. And sometimes it's very exhausting.

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It is exhausting. And we need strength from the Lord. I'm going to be honest, it wears me down sometimes in fighting this fight, and I'm sure you're with me.

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But God comes alongside, and He gives us strength as our day. And He gives us new strength, and He is our strength, right?

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And I pray that this is going to encourage your soul, as I've been feeding my soul on this, and I've been, once again,

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I cannot get away, no matter where you go in Scripture, you cannot get away from the holiness of God and being holy.

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Sanctification is such a laborous part of the child of God, and it's an important part, isn't it?

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Especially in the day we're living in, you see so little of it. And I think of myself, I said, Lord, do a work within me.

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I see the battle, and I get weary at times, and I said, no, I don't need to focus on myself so much, and help me to focus on Jesus.

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So many times we can get so inwardly focused, and we lose sight of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, and we become discouraged. And God knows what

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He needs to do in us, right? But we need to know ourselves. As I believe a

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Puritan said this, I don't remember who said it, you take one look at yourself, and a thousand looks to Christ. Well, we look at 1

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Peter chapter 3, and our text this morning on this Lord's Day is a wonderful one.

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It's verse 13 through 17, it's an exhortation that the

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Apostle Peter gives to persecuted Christians, and that's going to be what we're looking at. This is going to be a part one of a part two series, as we'll be looking at this, and I'm glad I broke it up because there's so much within this text.

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Verse 13 through 17, 1 Peter chapter 3, hear the word of the living God, I'm reading from the

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NASB translation. He begins with a question following from verse 12 of quoting

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Psalms, and Peter picks up his thought here by inspiration of the

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Spirit of God. First question he begins, Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?

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But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed, and do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled.

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But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make it a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.

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Verse 16, And keep a good conscience, so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

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For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than doing what is wrong.

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We'll stop right there. I think that's enough meat for us to chew on and to look at as God helps us within this hour as we study

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His word and worship Him. Let's pray and ask

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God to help us within this hour. Lord, our God and our

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Father, hallowed be Thy name. We pray,

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O Lord, that you alone who is worthy, exalted, will be glorified just not here within this small group, but Lord, with your church everywhere across this world, especially among those that are persecuted.

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O God, be glorified, be glorified. Lord, Thy kingdom come.

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Lord, we pray that your kingdom, which is forever and ever, will soon come, and we know it's coming.

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It's coming. We know it's in heaven, but it's coming on earth. It's coming on earth.

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Father, we know that your Son, who is King, you have set on your holy hill, will reign forever and ever.

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Lord, we think about the next section of prayer as we pray this before you, O Lord, the third petition,

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Thy will be done, Thy will be done. Lord, we pray that Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

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Father, for Thy will to be done, that means our will must be undone. Help us to pray,

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Lord. We're the sheep of your pasture, and sometimes we go astray. Lord, bring us back to the place we should be, under the shadow of the wings of the shepherd, the great shepherd of the sheep.

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Lord, may we be in submission to your King that you've set in Zion to reign forever and ever, the great shepherd of the sheep, the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for this time, and Lord, we last pray this morning, open our eyes that we may behold the wonderful things from your law.

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Prepare us, O Lord, need be for the days that are ahead of us, if you so will it, that we would be ready for anything that comes our way, any kind of suffering.

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Lord, you know, you know what's best. Our flesh pulls back on this, and Lord, you know what's best for us.

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May we believe it, may we obey it, and that in the end we may triumph in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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And we ask this in his blessed name for your glory. Amen and amen. Now, to help us to understand more clearly the text before us, we need a little background of what

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Peter is saying. Peter is a very evangelistic, isn't he? I love his evangelistic zeal.

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I think that has a lot to do because he's an apostle, but he's a fisherman. He's very, very practical.

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He's kind of a different type of an apostle than Paul the Apostle. Paul is more theological in many sense, being his background, what it was.

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But God called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles, but he had a background of knowing the

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Word of God. And it doesn't mean that Peter didn't know the Word of God, but Peter came in a different way as a fisherman.

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A practical fisherman. It's really neat how the Lord takes people and just makes them who they are, and they are still who they are.

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But the Spirit of God does a marvelous work, and they say some of the same things by the

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Spirit of God. So, we need a bit of background, don't we? Peter was saying in the text before, so Peter is a very evangelistic, and he gives good instructions to the

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Christians, the believers, and how that they should live before God and before a hostile world.

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This is relevant to us today because we're, as a believer in Jesus Christ, even though we're in a different culture, we're in the

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Western culture, even in the Eastern culture, they were more severely persecuted.

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So, in one sense in our mind, we're going to have a hard time wrapping our minds and our thoughts around this because it's hard, even though we've been through trials and persecutions in our own world, nothing like what they went through, especially here recently, the

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Christians in Afghanistan, as you well know. It's hard for us to understand this. But at the same time, if we cannot wrap our minds about this, may the

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Spirit of God apply this to our hearts and prepare us for the days that may come.

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And we may think of this as bad things for our children and for us and whatever may be, but you know,

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God is in control. God allows everything that is happening to happen. And we must understand this.

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We must know that God is sovereign. He is God. And I like what R .C.

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Sproul says, if God's not sovereign, then He's not God. But He is sovereign. And aren't you glad of that?

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If it wasn't for that, we didn't know that God was in control. And if we didn't know that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, we just might as well perish, right?

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And perish for no reason whatsoever because there would be no hope.

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But we know there's a living hope. We know that Christ is risen from the dead. Our faith is not in vain.

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God is sovereign. He's on the throne. He's holy. He's in charge. He knows what

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He's doing. Nothing gets by God. Now, this is an encouraging word to us because even though, again, we may not be able to understand what

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Peter is writing here, may the Holy Spirit apply this to our hearts and prepare us for whatever may be coming and teach it to our children.

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We don't need to forget this because it's important that we all are prepared. Now, the fact that this letter that Peter is writing in Asia Minor is addressed to persecuted believers, persecuted

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Jewish believers that were scattered abroad. We know that, don't we, from chapter 1. It's addressed to the persecuted believers specifically.

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And the church was very, very strong. I think of it at this time period, the apostolic church was strong.

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Now we've come to the point in day, especially in America, sad to say, we would see the apostate church that's gone back from God, has forgotten

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God, and we're living in that day. But these Christians were under heavy trials of being rejected by society and persecuted.

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They were severely rejected and hated for Christ's sake. The world was hostile toward them and they were experiencing some occasions of very hostile persecutions.

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So now as he writes this letter to the persecuted church, his desire, Peter's desire, is to give them a right and a biblical perspective, instructions encouraging them and encouraging their faith.

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Now isn't that what the apostle is to do? He's a servant of the Lord. He writes them this letter.

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The Spirit of God is breathing upon him and he helps them to get the eternal perspective, to be steadfast in this persecution and how to deal with this persecution.

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Aren't you glad for the Word of God? He even shows us how we can deal with the persecution. I need to hear this.

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I need, Lord, how can we deal with, even though persecution has not fully come here to America, but it's coming.

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We do not need to veer away from it. It is eventually coming. You can see some signs of that today.

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So the recipients of this exhortation, this encouraging letter from Peter, these people are experiencing severe persecution, trials, harsh treatments, sufferance.

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Now to understand this, let me give you the Word of God in this context. If you look at 1

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Peter, just back up a couple, a few chapters. Chapter 1, verse 6 and 7.

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Notice what Peter says. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a while, it's just for a temporary time, he has the eternal perspective.

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Isn't this what this church is about in a sense? It's not the building. It's coming here in the name of the

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Lord Jesus Christ in worship and it helps us get the eternal perspective. We set our mind on things above, not on earth.

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He says, just for a little while, a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that means temptations, so that the proof, that means the genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to the result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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Right there from the beginning, he's encouraging them that their faith would be genuine because it's much more precious than gold.

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It's going to be tested by fire. How many times that your faith has been tested by fire?

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And we're talking about real fire here. These people experienced real external fire physically and then that fire was tested to their faith and that, you know, the way

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I'm sure they looked at it was it's best to go through that now than to go to eternal hell fire.

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I'd rather be tested in the fires of faith now. If you go to the next chapter, that's chapter 1, chapter 2, look at verse 18 to 20.

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The apostle Peter says, servants, we looked at this and being submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable, that means perverse, but this finds favor if for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.

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For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience?

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Good question. And then he says this, but if when you do what is right, there's what

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Peter, his theme is on this. If you do what is right and suffer for it, patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

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This finds favor with God. Then if you go to chapter 3, verse 8 and 9, he says this, some translation says, finally, he's kind of come to this part, the heart of the message, the heart of the book, to sum it up, all of you be harmonious.

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Now, that word all, that means in the context husbands and wives and all believers, all of you be harmonious.

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There's the be, the character. This is the way where these characteristics that are named. He be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted and humble in spirit, not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.

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We're to give a blessing. And notice this, for you were called for the very purpose, for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

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That is so important to underscore that. That is their calling for that purpose.

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That was it. Now, if you back up to chapter 2, look at verse 21 to 25. For you have been called for this purpose.

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Again, he repeats himself and it's not by accident. He is reminding them that this is their calling.

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You have a purpose. God has a purpose. And you don't, it's not the message that you hear it in America today.

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America false teachers will tell your purpose is your best life now to get everything externally.

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That is not the purpose in which, that's all carnal purposes. The purpose in which

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God had these for these people here was to suffer for Jesus sake. But there is an inheritance on the other side.

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Right now is the cross. Then the crown comes. We got it backwards in America.

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False teachers are telling you now, get your crown now. Don't worry about the cross. Bypass the cross.

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But I'm telling you, to get the inheritance and the crown on the other side, there's a cross. There's a cross.

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If there's no cross now for the Christian here, there's no crown there. See, people wants their blessings and their external blessings and their millennium, their crowns.

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Now, does it work that way? God does bless us and foretaste to encourage us. But it's external, internal.

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But now if there's physical blessings, well, we thank God for that, yes. But we better make sure that our heart is in two things.

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Peter again, again states this great truth. For you have been called for this purpose. You've been called for this purpose.

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He's giving these persecuted Christians a glorious, eternal perspective.

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Aren't you glad of this? If we were undergoing severe persecution, we need to see there's something better than the now.

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You see, God has given them the purpose of their calling. And that purpose and the blessing calling was to endure the suffering for now, which is only little time in comparison to eternity.

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I'm telling you, the Puritan, I think it was Thomas Watson, it might have been Watson, correct me if I'm wrong, says, what fools are they that drink a drop of,

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I'm sorry. Yes, a drop of pleasure for a sea of wrath. That's sad, isn't it?

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But it's the truth. People now living for pleasures, for their external pleasures, but yet they're not living for eternity, the eternal.

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And that's the perspective Peter is given. He's evangelistic. He said, this is the way we should live.

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It's your calling. This is your vocation. You endure the suffering now. A blessed calling to endure suffering for Jesus' sake.

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It's not for our sake. It's not suffering we bring on ourselves. It's suffering for Jesus' sake, right?

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For righteousness. Since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.

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In other words, we're tracing out His steps. We follow the Master. The Master.

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How in the world do we think we're going to be treated so good from the world if the Master got hung on a tree and crucified because He was the truth?

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And it was the religious people that wanted Him dead. Folks, I'm telling you, things has not changed.

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There's nothing new under the sun. People do not want to hear. They want to hear about the blessings of God, but they don't want to hear about God and the cross.

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If you take away the cross, you have taken away Christianity.

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You have taken away the heart of the gospel. And Peter says, who committed no sin?

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Jesus did not commit sin. They still hung Him on the tree. Nor was any deceit found in His mouth.

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We got deceit in our mouth, but Jesus had no deceit. And while being reviled,

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He did not revile in return. While suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting

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Himself to Him who judges righteously. This is Jesus. And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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For by His stripes, by His wounds, you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

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Now, that gives us a background to what's happening here, right? Peter is given an exhortation to persecuted believers.

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Glorious rewards to come. There's a cross now, but there's a crown awaiting you. 1 Peter 1 .4

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To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

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It's reserved in heaven. We need to keep that in mind, don't we? These persecuted believers, I'm sure, was loving this encouraging...

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This is really an encouraging letter, this whole letter. These five chapters of 1

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Peter because it was to the persecuted believers. And again, we have a hard time relating to that because we're in a western civilization.

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We don't even come close to the persecution. But the reward, the inheritance that was bought by the blood of Jesus was received by faith to those that were born again, have a living hope.

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And that living hope is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. There would be no living hope if Jesus was not risen from the dead.

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But He's risen from the dead, right? So there you have justification by faith.

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That's the heart of the gospel. Justification by faith. There's no sanctification unless there's justification.

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But I can assure you this, even though they're separate, they link together. You have justification by faith, then you have sanctification that follows it.

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A holy life that follows a life that is justified. Well, you see this in the

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Word of God. Peter calls them to live holy lives. Look at chapter 1 verse 15. But like the

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Holy One who called you. There's the calling again. He has called you to be holy, be set apart.

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Be set apart from what? Be set apart from the world. Be set apart. We're supposed to be different from the world.

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Yourselves also in all your conduct. That means your behavior. You must be set apart.

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Jesus said that. You're to be lights of the world. He said, you're like a light on a hill that cannot be hidden.

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Everybody sees it. And then he says in verse 16, Peter says, because it is written.

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He quotes Leviticus. You shall be holy for I am holy. Then you go to chapter 2 verse 9.

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But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

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There's the calling again. Get that calling. The calling to suffer, the call to be holy, the call, the purpose.

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That's what we got to have in mind, folks. So what is Peter saying in all this?

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How is he giving them hope? Well, how is he giving encouragement to the people of God who are suffering at the hands of wicked people?

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He holds up the glorious gospel before them. That gospel is the living hope who is

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Jesus Christ. He holds up Christ before their eyes to build their faith, to strengthen them, to encourage them for a glorious purpose, for a future.

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It may not be here now. What is undergoing now is severe persecution.

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It's hardship. It is trials. You know what I'm talking about if you're a true believer in Jesus Christ.

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It's not your best life now. That is totally opposite of the gospel. I like what

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MacArthur says. If you live in your best life now, you're on your way to hell. The best life now comes when we die, when we enter into heaven's portals.

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But right now, there's a cross. There's taking up a cross. Jesus says you take up, you deny yourself.

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You take up your cross and follow me. That's the heart of the gospel. Sin has to be dealt with.

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And then you confront sin. And people don't like to hear that because they love sin. But there's sin. Well, God hates sin.

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He hates it with a passion more than we can ever know, folks. Well, there's a cross to bear now.

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And there's a crown to wear and heaven to come. That's what he's saying. He's encouraging them to be steadfast in the faith, in the midst of suffering, hardship, opposition, trials, and adversity.

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So in all that, Peter is mentioned previously, he's exhorting the believers and suffering for righteousness' sake.

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So in our text, verse 13 through 17, he continues the exhortation on suffering for right and wrong.

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He's preparing them for suffering. He's giving an exhortation. So in today's message, just like I said, this will be a part one of a two -part series.

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I want to just give you two points that I'd like to set before you. There's four. Let me mention them all.

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We're going to cover two today. Lord willing, we'll finish up the message next Lord's Day. Four major points, or should

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I say four major attitudes we need not to forget. If we're to be faithful in prevailing in the face of opposition and persecution, we must believe, we must believe that we follow after Christ until the end, every day, to live faithfully, continually contending for the faith, fight the good fight of faith, keeping our eyes on the

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Lord Jesus Christ. The first one is found in verse 13 and 14.

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Determination. Determination. We must have determination. The second one we'll be looking at is dedication.

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Dedication or devotion. You could say devotion as well as dedication. I think they go hand in glove.

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And then Lord willing, next week we'll be looking at the third and the fourth one. It will be a defense and a duty.

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But today we're going to look at the first attitude by the help of the

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Holy Spirit is our determination. What kind of determination do you have?

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That's an attitude we should have. Notice verse 13 and 14. Who is there to harm you if you prove what is good?

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He's resuming his argument with a question. Who is there to harm you if you prove what is good?

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The answer is implied. No one. That's the answer that's implied. No one can harm you.

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Even in the face of violent persecution, no one can ultimately harm you.

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Yet, let me say this. In the practical, realistic, I am a realist. History proves through the martyrs.

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More recently, like I said in the Church of Afghanistan, if you heard on the news and if you've been keeping up, many of the church underground there has been executed.

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They're at home with the Lord. As you well know, a lot of the Christians there were left behind and they were gunned down by Islamic terrorists.

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But the Scripture says, precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of the saints. It's homecoming for them.

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I'm telling you, this is real. And the persecuted church is real today as well. But you know, if you look at the history of the church, there seems to prove that the church has had many enemies.

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The worst enemy is within. But there's enemies that hate the church that will harm them physically.

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Spiritually, they cannot do harm. And that's what Peter has in mind. Now, I want us to look at this.

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The foes and the enemies of the faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ are real. There's at least two possible explanations of this paradox.

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I want to just touch on this. But the first one is, generally speaking, those who follow a path of righteousness for Jesus' sake are not harmed physically.

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Sometimes that if God wills it, He delivers His people physically.

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He does. You read this in Scripture. God is a God of deliverance. And we prayed for that for the church of Afghanistan.

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But God did not will that. He ultimately delivers them from the hand of the enemy so that they enter into portals into heaven, right?

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They leave this world through death. And sometimes it's torturing death.

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God does sometimes choose to deliver His people physically out of that for evil.

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Examples in Scripture is, so many examples. You find in 1 Samuel 17,

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David's victory over Goliath. That was a huge victory, wasn't it? You go on and you read in Judges 7,

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Gideon's little small band, as you well know, of soldiers achieved a victory, a great victory, over a much, much larger

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Mennonite army that was camped out against them. And they were coming in to destroy them. But that little band of small believers obeyed

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Gideon, obeyed the Lord ultimately. And you know the story. God gave the victory. And many times we see that in Scripture.

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So God sometimes chooses to deliver. The three Hebrew children is another one.

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Daniel 3. You know the story well there. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That was their heathen names that they gave them.

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They had Hebrew names. But this was their heathen names. And from the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, the king there that had been thrown, that thrown these men in the red hot fiery furnace.

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And they even made a confession, even if God chooses not to deliver us, we're still not going to bow down to your idol.

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But God chose to deliver them. God knows what He wanted to do to give glory to Himself.

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But sometimes He chooses not to deliver, and He lets people go through death.

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We'll look at that in just a minute. There's another one in the New Testament, is

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Peter in Acts 12. Peter, guarded by four squads of soldiers, was led out by an angel to freedom.

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Actually, the church was praying for him. You know the story. He comes, he gets led out.

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He goes and knocks on the door, and it's like, who are you? And there they are praying for him.

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They didn't expect God to deliver, but God delivered them. Wow. Now, these are just a few examples.

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Now, there's a second explanation. That's the first. The second explanation is worse to us, because the worst thing, let me say this, a foe can do to a

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Christian, a believer, is does not give him, it may give them physical harm, but not eternal harm.

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And I believe that's what Peter has in mind here. The enemy can't injure his body.

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The enemy can do some severe harm to the body, right? Physically. But he cannot touch or damage his soul.

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We need to keep that in mind. There's a story in World War II. A young Christian boy, 12 years old, refused to join a certain movement in Europe.

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I think it was the Nazi movement. 12 years old, the enemy said to the younger youngster, don't you know that we have the power to kill you, young man?

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The young man replied, don't you know? He said to the boy, courageously, quietly, that I have the power to die for Christ.

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Think about that. This young man was dedicated, folks. He was dedicated for the cause of righteousness, for dying for our

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Lord. And by the way, many, many, many died for righteousness sake, for the

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Lord. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of them in that time period.

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He was executed by Hitler. There was many others that we don't know of that stood for the faith and they were executed.

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This young man knew that he could not harm his soul. His soul. You know,

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Martin Luther said this. We're going to be singing this, Lord, really next week. The mighty fortress is our God. But within that hymn, that Reformation hymn, he says, the body they may kill,

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God's truth abided still. His kingdom is forever. Luther meant that. Better yet,

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Jesus himself said in Matthew 10, 28 through 31. You could turn there if you like. It's a great text.

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I mention this text quite often. It's one of my favorites because Jesus is actually teaching who to fear and who not to fear.

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Who are we to fear? God. We're to fear God. Who are we not to fear?

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Man. We're not to fear man. What little man can do unto us. There's something greater than us, folks.

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And it's righteousness sake, for truth sake, for the gospel sake, right? That's far greater than us.

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Jesus said this in verse 28 of chapter 10. Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul.

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But rather fear him who's able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And then he asked a question.

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This is to encourage us. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father.

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In other words, God sees all things. He knows all things. He knows even the very, he says, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

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Amazing. But God knows that to details. And then he says, so do not fear.

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You are more valuable than many sparrows. That should encourage us. That should encourage us to fear

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God and not fear little man. What man, what can man do unto me?

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David prayed. So the hope of persecuted Christians then would appear to be in an astrological viewpoint to be experienced in the last day at the last time that they might suffer now.

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They may bear the cross now, but God will vindicate them in the end. God will give vengeance to the end.

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And believe me, the judge of all the earth will do right. Now we have in our mind to these evil people, like we think of Charles Manson and Adolf Hitler, but there's many wicked people.

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God knows how to deal with sin. A lot of times I heard Ravenhill say this in one of his messages on the great white throne judgment.

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He says, Lord, turn up the temperature in hell for them. Look, we don't have to worry about that.

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God will do right. God will vindicate, but it's all about God.

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See, and people, a lot of people will not know this until they get there.

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That's what J .C. Ryle says, hell is a truth known too late. Whether a believer...

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Here's the deal. The apostle Paul says whether a believer lives or dies, he belongs to the Lord. He lives to the

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Lord, he dies to the Lord. He's the Lord's. So we know we've been bought with the price.

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Let's live like we've been bought with the price. That's what Peter is saying. Live it out. Sounds easy, but it's a struggle, isn't it?

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So whether it's God's will for a believer to be delivered or it's God's will for him to die in his faith, we're overcomers in Jesus Christ.

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We're more than conquerors. That reminds me. Turn with me to Romans 8. Now, Peter is tied in right by the

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Holy Spirit with what the apostle Paul is saying here. Now, as you well know, this is a wonderful, wonderful text here.

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Oh, you get into Romans 8. Now you're talking about Psalm 119 is the

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Mount Everest of the Psalms. This is the mountaintop of Romans. Notice what he says in verse 31.

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And this is a hymn, by the way. This section is a hymn to express the high praise of God, of His grace in bringing salvation to those whom

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He has chosen before the foundation of the world. It's a hymn of security. It speaks of God's everlasting love.

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Look at verse 31. Just a great reminder for us. Who can harm us, see? What then shall we say to these things?

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Question. If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all.

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How will he not also with him freely give us all things?

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Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.

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Who is the one? Who is the one? Who condemns? Christ Jesus is

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He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

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Notice the who's, the who's. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? You know,

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I had a Church of Christ man one time says, he said this, who will separate us from the love of Christ?

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He said, yourself. I said, I don't see that in Scripture. I said, prove that to me by chapter and verse.

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And he just looked at me like, well, he didn't have a leg to stand on. Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

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For tribulation? Or distress? Or persecution? Or famine?

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Or nakedness? Or peril? Or sword? Just as it is written, for your sake we're being put to death.

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All day long, we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But notice this, even though we are like considered to be sheep to be slaughtered, to be put to death, but in all these things, we're overwhelmingly conquered through Him who loved us.

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For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor death, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our

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Lord. And there's the answer, praise God. Nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

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Go with me very quickly to Hebrews. I want you to see this. Now, I was thinking about this as I was putting these words down in my notes about suffering.

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But the writer of Hebrews chapter 11 says a great deal about this as well.

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Hebrews 11, look at the latter part, verse 30. You know, this is a wonderful chapter.

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You go through this chapter 11. By faith, by faith, by faith, by faith.

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He's all died in faith. You see, by faith gives the definition. We understand that the worlds were created, prepared by the word of God.

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And by faith, Abraham, and by faith, Moses, and by faith, Sarah, and by faith, they all lived and died by faith.

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The heavenly help, the patriarchs, faith of Moses, faith of Abraham. And they all overcame by faith. But notice what the writer of Hebrews says here.

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By faith, in verse 30, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had encircled for seven days.

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By faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

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And then he says this, and what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, and David, and Samuel, and the prophets, and who by faith conquered kingdoms.

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They performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions.

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We think of Daniel. Quenched the power of fire. I think that's the Hebrew children.

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Escaped the edge of the sword. He's talking about God being the God of deliverance. Notice this, they did but walked and lived by faith.

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From weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

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Women received back their dead by the resurrection. That's Elijah and Elisha. And others were tortured.

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But notice what he says, others were tortured. Tortured. Not accepting their release so that they may obtain a better resurrection.

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And others experienced mockings and scourgings. Yes, also chains and imprisonment. It was suffering, folks.

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It was the cross. Much suffering. Much suffering. They were stoned. They were sewn in two.

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Sewn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword.

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They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill -treated. Men of whom the world was not worthy.

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Wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. But notice what he says.

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And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

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It's glorious. And then he goes right into the author and the finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ, the ultimate one that we're delivering.

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In other words, they are the ones why they made it through. All that they made it through, the sufferings and all, is because they had their eyes on Jesus.

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Well, you see, here we see the believers, overcomers by faith. Whether they lived or died, whether delivered or not, who is it that will harm you if you prove zealous?

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Zealous for the truth. Zealous for Christ. Zealous for God. For what is good? The answer is no one.

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But notice verse 14. Back to 1 Peter chapter 3. Verse 14.

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But suppose a Christian should suffer persecution because of his faithfulness and loyalty to the

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Savior. Verse 14. But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.

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You are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled. What then?

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What then? What then? Well, number one, let's look at three possibilities here.

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And they're all good possibilities. God overrules the suffering for His glory.

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He does that, doesn't He? God uses the suffering to bring blessings to others. He does that.

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God's sovereign. And three, God blesses the one who suffers for His name's sake.

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Everything that Peter is saying in the text, a way of exhortation, is taken from the teachings of Jesus Christ Himself.

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How do we know this? It lines right up perfectly what Jesus said in Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter 5, verse 10 to 12.

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You could go there if you like, but look at this. I know you're familiar with it. But may God save us from apathy.

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May this be like fresh bread to us. And then He says this. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake.

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He's talking about being persecuted for righteousness' sake. Jesus Himself. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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That's a great reward, isn't it? We have the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven is awaiting you for bearing the cross now for His sake.

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Because that's what's going to happen. That's the reality. Then He says this. Blessed are you.

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There's the blessing. This is the beatitudes, the blessing. You are blessed when people reproach you.

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They persecute you. And say all kinds of evil against you falsely. There's verbal abuse too.

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For my sake, for His sake, not our sake. I know people today, they step right into these arguments and they create problems.

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And a lot of times it's not for Jesus' sake. It's for their sake. But we're talking about people who suffer for Jesus' sake.

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And then He says this. How are we to respond? Rejoice. Be exceedingly glad.

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For great is your reward in heaven. Great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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We need to remember to rejoice when we're being persecuted. However it goes. I never will forget when

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I was at a pastor's conference with the Christian Missionary Alliance. And I just lost a whole congregation.

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And I was just bearing my burden. I was trying my best not to complain, you know. And I was just trying to bear my burden.

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And there was a veteran pastor and he basically looked at me and he said, Did you ever try rejoicing? I said,

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Wow. You answered my question. You answered my burden. I rejoiced.

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I didn't understand a lot of it at the time, but I rejoiced. Far worse as Christians today that's undergoing things they don't understand.

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But they're rejoicing. Because it's for Jesus' sake. You know, this is how

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Jesus concludes the section in the Sermon on the Mount. And isn't it amazing He concludes it like this.

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He talks about those who are being persecuted for righteousness. The Beatitudes. He gives them the reality of the cross.

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And ultimately ends with a great reward in heaven. Be exceedingly glad.

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Great is your reward in heaven. You got a crown. You're an overcomer in Jesus. Aren't you glad you're an overcomer?

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In Jesus Christ. We cannot be overcomers within ourselves. We are overcomers in Jesus.

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In Jesus. He that overcomes, Jesus said. And Peter also alludes to chapter 8 verse 12.

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Let me read it. You are not to say, the prophet says, it is a conspiracy.

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In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy. And you are not to fear what they fear.

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Or be in dread of it. Do not fear it. Do not be intimidated by it.

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And then he goes into, we speaks of about to sanctify the Lord God in your.

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The Lord Christ in your heart. Verse 13. But we'll look at this.

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It is the Lord of hosts whom you shall regard as holy. And he shall be your fear.

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And he shall be your dread. Now doesn't that give us the right eternal perspective.

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In the face of opposition and persecution. Don't be afraid of men. Don't be intimidated by them.

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Don't be terrified by their threats. And again, I cannot help but think about all the martyrs in Afghanistan.

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Here recently in the underground church. That were all put to death. But also you got Nigeria that's being tortured for Jesus sake.

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All the time. You've got Honduras. You've got all these different parts of the world over there. The Islamic terrorists are out to kill every

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Christian that's in their path. God will vindicate folks.

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But no wonder the church is so strong there. And we're so weak here.

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We're rich externally. But we're in poverty internally. It's like the church of Laodicea.

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You know in the Fox's book of martyrs. This is a credible book. I know you know what

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I'm talking about. There's so many martyrs that's put there. But I want to give one example that stands out to me the most.

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Is the martyrdom of Polycarp. You may know this story. But let me remind it to you and encourage you.

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He was a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. But he was also mentored by the apostle John. And did you know it is said that of Polycarp.

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That he would be promised to be released. They would release him from his chains of being imprisoned.

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Which he was put there because of Jesus sake. If he would blaspheme Jesus Christ publicly.

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You blaspheme Christ, we'll release you. Before a crowd of wicked people. Scores of people.

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He gave this testimony. Quote. And I quote the exact words. 86 years

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I have served Christ. And he has never done me wrong. How can

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I blaspheme my king and my savior? 86 years old.

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The pro council heard that. They threatened to even expose him to the wild beast.

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He said this. Quote. It is well for me to be speedily released from this life of misery.

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They got angry. Finally the wicked rulers threatened to burn him alive. Polycarp said,

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I fear not the fire that burns for a moment. You do not know that which burns forever and ever.

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That was his last words. They put him on the stake and they lit a match and burned him.

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And by the way, if you look and read that story. The fire kept going out. God was putting it out and for what purpose.

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But eventually they got it and burned him alive before scores of people.

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That's dedication folks. That's determination. That's determination. So in the face of persecution, opposition.

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Let's keep the attitude of sheer determination. What is to do the right thing no matter what the cost of an outcome is.

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What does determination mean? I look this up. It means resolutionness and resolute.

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You are resolved. You are resolute. You are firm of the purpose to do to the very end.

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A tendency to move to a fixed direction. Oh beloved, let's be determined.

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Let's be determined to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. In the face of persecution and opposition.

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The second point is the attitude of dedication. The attitude of dedication.

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Dedication, devotion, determination, firmness of purpose.

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That's what it means. Dedication means committed to a mission, a task or a purpose.

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Look at verse 15a. But sanctify Christ as Lord of your hearts. Again, the apostle is alluding to Isaiah 8, 13.

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Sanctify the Lord of hosts. Now I want to conclude with this and give some application here.

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How can we as believers sanctify Christ as Lord of our hearts? That's a good question. We need to know how to do this.

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The answer to this important question is to give the believers the victory over the flesh, the world and the devil.

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First John 5, 4. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.

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When believers set apart or sanctify by faith Christ as Lord in their hearts, they affirm their submission to God as being in sovereign control, instruction and guidance.

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So in doing this, the believer declares and submits to God's sovereign majesty, right? And all we do and should say and everything in our life will be in His will for His pleasure and for His glory.

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Here we have the Lordship of Jesus Christ as the dominant area of our lives, and that is dominant.

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It's everything, folks. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. You know, that's the confession of the church.

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That is the creed of the church right there. Jesus Christ is Lord. Our possessions, our occupations, our marriage, our spare time, and everything about us, nothing should be excluded.

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Now how do we do this? How do we sanctify Christ as Lord in our lives? It seems this answer, when

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I put this down, I said it seems so simple, but when it comes to living this out, it's so difficult, isn't it?

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You want me to tell you why it's difficult? Because the Spirit's willing and the flesh is weak. Our flesh is weak.

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But the key word, and by the way, that's not an excuse for us to sin, right? The key word here is sanctify.

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What does it mean? It means to set apart. It means to consecrate. Put it into context, it connotes giving the primary place, the first place of adoration, exaltation, worship to Jesus Christ.

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Martin Luther said this, whatever your heart clings to and confines in, that is really your

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God. How true that is. Believers who sanctify and set apart

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Christ, set Him apart from all others, and as the sole object of their love, first place in their life.

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Jesus is Lord of all, and He is first. He's our first love.

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We're to reverence Him, we're to give loyalty to Him, and we're to obey Him. So in the face of opposition, persecution, we sanctify

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Christ as Lord, just like the martyrs of the faith.

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That's what they did. They kept Christ first. That's what Polycarp was doing before that wicked crown.

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But you say, I don't know if I could do that. I'd hate to be burned to a stake like that. You know, it is a horrific thought, isn't it?

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Well, guess what? We can't do it in our own strength. That's the truth.

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And I thought about this in context to what Paul is really saying in Philippians 4 .13. This is why

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Paul said, but I could do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And that doesn't mean

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I apply that to the football game and to the baseball game and to this and that. He's talking about in the face of persecution.

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He's talking about, and this man was beheaded. I don't know what he was thinking before he died.

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He might have been thinking I could do all things through Christ and they took his head off. I don't know. But this is one of these misused verses today, isn't it?

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Misinterpreted. Paul wrote this in a dungeon, in a prison cell, suffering for Christ.

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A great man of God with great faith. And God allowed him to suffer.

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And Jesus told Ananias, when Paul was first converted from Saul of Tarsus, he said, there's many things he shall suffer for my name's sake.

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Suffer. He exclaims Christ. He worships the person who sanctifies the

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Lord Christ. Christ as Lord praises him and says, to me to live is

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Christ to die is gain. So we are to live in submission, communion to the

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Lord Jesus Christ, loving Him, obeying Him, and have nothing to fear. Only fear

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God. Reverence Christ. God's elect are set apart because they're on God's own special possession.

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1 Peter 2, 9. Ephesians 1, 4. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy.

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That we would be holy and blameless before Him. And keep in mind, because God's elect, elected us before the foundation of the world, predestined and marked us out, does not mean that we operate apart from our responsibility.

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There is a responsibility that we have. There's God's sovereignty and salvation. There's monergism, that God does everything.

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But there's our responsibility to sanctify Christ as Lord. To live as sanctified.

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And that's labor, isn't it? You cannot separate these two. Theologians have tried to separate them, but you cannot.

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They're mysteriously intertwined together. So how can we do this?

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Well, only by the help and the power of the Spirit of God. Philippians 2, 12 and 13.

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Go with me to Philippians 2, 12, 13. And I'm going to try to bring this to a conclusion here.

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He says this, So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, as not in my very presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation, your own salvation, with fear and trembling.

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For it is God who has worked in you, both to will and to work His good pleasure. First, we see in verse 12a, that the believer's fatal response to the divine commands of the apostle is taught them in his epistles that they work out your own salvation.

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Render this means to continually work. We continually go in that direction.

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We repent of our sins. We grow in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and the knowledge and faith of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And then bring something to fulfillment and completion. That's what he's talking about.

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And this takes dedication, doesn't it? It takes devotion. Have you found out that sanctification is serious labor?

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Praying is labor. Mortifying the flesh is labor by the help of the power of the

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Spirit. Now again, this is not salvation by works, folks. God does all that.

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Salvation to the Lord, that's justification by faith. We're talking about sanctification. And it's

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God that works in us. Sanctification is synergistic, as you well know.

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It's cooperating with God in our sanctification. But it's God that gives the energy by the power of His Spirit and then we're responsible for the repenting and for the praying and for reading the scriptures and abiding in Christ and by the help of the

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Spirit of God. So there's active pursuing holiness, right? Obedience.

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The process of sanctification. Our attitude is with fear and trembling. Don't you love that? Isaiah 66, 2.

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Brother Keith mentioned it this morning. God says, through the prophet, for my hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being, declares the

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Lord, but to this one I will look, to him who is humble and a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word.

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Beloved, we need a revival of this in the church today. May God send us a revival of His fear.

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The attitude of the believer is the pursuing holiness. Fear and trembling.

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A healthy fear of offending God. A healthy righteous awe and a respect of who

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He is. High and lifted up. It is God who is at work in you. Although the believer is responsible for the labor and repenting, it is

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God for the discipline, subject in our body to God and Christ.

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It is the Lord who produces the good works of spiritual fruit. It is accomplished only as He works through us by the

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Spirit of the living God. Let me bring this to a conclusion. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.

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Spurgeon said this concerning sanctification. Personally, I could never have overcome my own sinfulness.

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I tried and failed. My evil propensities were too many for me. Till in the belief that Christ died for me,

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I cast my guilty soul on Him and then I received a conquering principle by which

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I overcame my sinful self. End quote. He's right on it, isn't

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He? You know why? Because it comes right out of the Word of God. God's Word says 1

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Peter 2 .24 And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

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Same thing Paul says in Romans 6, 8 through 14. And he says,

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And for by His strikes you were healed, by His wounds you were healed. That brings healing. Well, may

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God give us determination. May God give us dedication, devotion.

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Let's pray. Father, we thank You this day.

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Lord, we thank You for the great redemption that's in Jesus. There's nothing that can take the place of that.

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And may we set our sights upon that great salvation. That anything that comes to us externally, even if by way of persecution, may we be prepared to pay the price and the cost, no matter what it may cost us.

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To pay the price. Because ultimately the greatest price was paid 2 ,000 years ago when the

01:03:38

Lamb of God, Your Lamb, shed His precious blood on the cross of Calvary for our salvation.

01:03:46

Took away our sins and gave us an inheritance to come. Lord, we thank

01:03:52

You. And I pray, Lord, by Your blessed Spirit, give us a greater desire to be holy.

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Give us a greater desire, God, to be sanctified and be set apart from this world. And may we set

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Christ as Lord before us. Oh Lord, to offer our body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto

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You, which is our reasonable act of worship. Lord, I pray that You would guard each and every one of our hearts today here.

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Guide our speeches. May it be edifying. Give us wisdom in the fear of the

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Lord. To work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. And for the hope, the living hope that's within us.

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And Lord, may we always stand bold to give an answer to that hope within us to the lost dying world.

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Help us, God, be determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. To be dedicated, be devoted fully to the

01:04:58

Lordship of Jesus Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.