Our Living Hope (1 Peter 1:3-12 Gary Camlin)

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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org Our Living Hope

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I just look at the verses we just read, and I see peace,
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I see love, I see hope, I see salvation. We all desire, and it's all because our hearts and our lives are focused on the
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Word of God. And hope is going to be kind of a key theme today as Gary brings the
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Word of God to us. So we're very thankful to have Gary with us today, and he is going to bring
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God's Word to us. We're also very thankful that the Lord has just been very gracious in his wife
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Terri's surgery within the last little bit, and Gary's going to give us an update on that. We're so thankful for that, and we're going to pray for that in a minute.
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But also some announcements today. If you would like to come to prayer night, prayer meeting tonight, 6 o 'clock here, and we'll be meeting and just praying about many things.
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One thing in particular is going to be BBS. BBS is not starting
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Monday the 24th, but the next Monday the 31st, and we are really looking forward to it.
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We had a great opportunity this week to pop over to Calvary Chapel Marlton and visit with Bill Lupkeman and the church over there.
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And as we just showed up, he says, hey, guess who was just here? And I don't know, but Jeff Cleaver was just here.
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He was over there just seeing how their BBS ran and just being supportive, and I was like, oh, man, we just missed him.
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But it was great to see that Pastor Jeff and Pastor Bill just had that great relationship.
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And Bill told us that they had, I think, six salvation proclamations at their
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BBS, and we just rejoiced with the Lord with them. And we also want to lift that up in prayer. So praying for our
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BBS, but also for those at Calvary Chapel who were apparently the Lord has saved some young people.
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We're so grateful for that. Thank you for signing up for the snacks for BBS on Friday night, which is
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August the 4th. If you'd like to do that, there's a sign up in the foyer. And also, there's going to be a meeting right after church today.
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I'm going to hand out more of these T -shirts to all the workers, and hopefully we're going to get our picture together.
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So if you're a BBS worker and be here after the service, please do so. We're going to meet right up here, right after the service, about 10 minutes.
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So let's go to the Lord in prayer and be thankful for who he is. Father, thank you,
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Lord, for your graciousness in our lives, Father. Father, we can't understand how a holy, perfect, righteous
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God can call us your children, Lord, and is who we are,
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Lord, the types of people we are, the thoughts we have, the things we do, the things we say.
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But yet, Lord, we have been washed clean by the blood of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Father, and through that we have a relationship with you, the holy, perfect God of the universe,
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Father. And we are so thankful, Lord, to just realize that this morning. We thank you for your holy word, which you have given to us,
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Father. And the psalmist says, seven times a day I praise you because of thine righteous ordinances.
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Father, I hope that that's our heart this morning, Lord. Our heart's thankful, Father, for the healing that you are bringing to Terri Camlin this morning.
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And we are so grateful, Father, for the work that you're doing in her heart and her life and Gary's life and that Gary's here teaching us today.
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We pray especially, Father, that you would continue, Father, to work in Terri's body and heal her,
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Lord. We're so thankful, Father, for hearts and souls that are being saved through the message of the gospel of grace brought forth by VBS, both at Calvary Chapel and the
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Rock earlier than that, and then here at Cornerstone coming up, Father. We thank you that you would be the one working in our midst.
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We know we can do nothing without you, Father. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Will you stand with me?
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In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall.
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Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him
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Lord. Rose in seed of Israel's race, he ransomed from the fall.
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Hail him who saved you by his grace and crown him
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Lord of all. Hail him who saved you by his grace and crown him
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Lord of all. Every kindred, every tribe on this terrestrial ball.
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To him all majesty astride and crown him
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Lord of all. To him all majesty astride and crown him
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Lord of all. Crown him
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Lord of all.
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It is great to be together singing praises to his name. In Psalm 148 verse 13 it says,
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Let us praise the name of the Lord together, for his name alone is to be exalted.
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His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. Let's continue to sing together.
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Psalm 148. Reaches of heaven.
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Starry eyes. Lights of the evening.
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Dancing in silent skies. Brilliance of morning.
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Breaking day. Oh, let them praise him.
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Praise his name. Oh, praise his name.
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Oh, praise his name. Let all his wondrous works
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Declare his praise.
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Mightiest mountain. Peaceful plain.
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Snowfall and fire. Thundering ocean waves.
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Kings and their kingdoms. Age to age.
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Oh, let them praise him. Praise his name.
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Let all his wondrous works Declare his praise.
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Oh, praise his name. Oh, praise his name.
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Let all his wondrous works Declare his praise.
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King enthroned in majesty. All things made by his decree.
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Hear creation's melody. Praise him.
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Praise him. Everything with life and breath.
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Everywhere from east to west. Every heart raised from the dead.
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Praise him. Praise him. Angels echo the refrain.
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Jesus left for sinners slain. Name above all other names.
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Praise him. Praise him.
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Oh, praise his name. Let all his wondrous works
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Declare his praise. Oh, praise his name.
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Oh, praise his name. Let all his wondrous works
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Declare his praise. Pray together.
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Lord, we are thankful for your word. We thank you. Thank you that you came to this earth and that you came as a sinful man, not denying your godly self, but on that cross, on the cross that you knew that was necessary to pay the sin debt, that you were the only one that could say, it is finished.
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The debt was paid in full, and we could spend eternity with you. We are so thankful,
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Lord Jesus, that you give us a song to sing. Your grace and your mercy is undeserved.
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We sing praises to your name because you deserve all of our praise.
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All sufficient merit Shining like the sun
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A fortune I inherit
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By no work I have done My righteousness
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I forfeit At my Savior's cross
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Where all sufficient merit
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Did what I could not In love he condescended
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Eternal now in time A life without a blemish
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The maker made to die The law could never save us
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A lawlessness that was Until the pure and spotless
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Death had finally come It is done, it is finished
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No more debt I owe Paid in full
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All sufficient merit Now my own
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I lay down my garments
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Any empty book Good works all corrupted
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By the sinful host Dressed in my
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Lord Jesus A crimson robe made white
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No more fear of judgment His righteousness is mine
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It is done, it is finished
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Paid in full All sufficient merit
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Now my own It is done, it is finished No more debt
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I owe Paid in full All sufficient merit
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All sufficient merit
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Firm in life and death The joy of my salvation
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Shall be my final breath And when
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I stand accepted Before the throne of God I'll kiss upon my
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Jesus And thank Him for the cross
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Yes, I'll thank Him for the cross It is done, it is finished
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No more debt I owe Paid in full
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All sufficient merit Now my own
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It is done, it is finished No more debt
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I owe All sufficient merit
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Now my own Oh, you're merit now my own
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Oh, you're merit now my own
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Good morning, church.
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Oh, man, that's great. It is done, it is finished. Paid in full. For those of you who died, probably were missionaries in Portugal for about 26 years, and now we're back in the
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U .S., sort of semi -retired, still doing some ministry. But I know that you also want to hear about Terry because you've all been praying for her in light of the surgery that she had, and I'm so thankful to let you know that she is doing very well.
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Her recuperation is going much better than we would even expect.
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She left the hospital on Monday. She had to stay about five days for observation because of the nature of the surgery, taking out a large portion of the pancreas and the spleen.
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But she's doing very, very well, has pretty good energy, moving around, eating pretty well.
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And in fact, at this point at least, they did not prescribe any further digestive enzymes.
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So that means that the pancreas, the remainder of the pancreas, is doing what it's supposed to do.
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So we're really thankful for that and for your prayers. I know many of you have sent cards.
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You have a caring team here. It's nice to feel cared for, prayed for. We know you're praying, and we believe with all our hearts that that does make a big difference in our lives.
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So thank you very much. And we just continue to pray that Terry will build up her strength.
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Her follow -up visit with the doctor will be on the 31st with the surgeon, when he will give his evaluation of things, including probably the pathology report.
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Well, I'd like to talk this morning about the subject of suffering.
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Problems, difficulties. And the thing is, it's something we all have to face.
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We don't look forward to it, and I would say most of us would probably prefer to avoid it.
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But we all have to face it. And sometimes we feel like it's undeserved.
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At least from our standpoint. And the people of God have struggled with this whole subject since the beginning of time.
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If you're struggling with the whole subject of why the good people suffer, join the group.
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A lot of people. The Old Testament saints struggled with this as they tried to wrap their heads around the whole thing.
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And I just want to read a couple of references to you. For instance, David. King David, good man.
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Psalm 13 .1. He says, How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?
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How long will you hide your face from me? He was at a point, that isn't a description of all his life, but he was at a point of utter despair.
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Trying to understand, why am I suffering like this? And why does it seem like you have forgotten me?
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Habakkuk in his prophecies says much the same thing as he begins in verse 2 of chapter 1.
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O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear?
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And then there's Job, our friend Job. A good man. A righteous man.
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Who suffered intensely and Job never really finds out the why of all his suffering.
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We know from reading the book, the things going on behind the scenes. But it's amazing to look at what he suffered.
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And then you get to the New Testament and the disciples of Jesus are scratching their heads trying to get their heads around this concept.
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You claim to be Messiah and you tell us you're going to suffer.
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Good, righteous people don't suffer. Was their perspective.
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They were expecting triumphant victory, not the cross. You remember on that occasion when the light finally went on in their heads and they finally,
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God revealed, opened up their minds and Peter said as spokesman of the group,
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You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And what did
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Jesus do immediately after that? He began to teach his disciples and now the
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Son of Man will go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of sinful men and be crucified.
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And what was Peter's reaction? Do you remember? He says, first of all, he rebukes
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Jesus. Got to be careful about that. And he says, For be it from you,
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Lord, this shall never happen to you. Because he couldn't understand.
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He couldn't put that together. And we do have that difficulty.
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We have that difficulty, especially when we feel like we have been living righteous lives, obeying the word of God, and we still encounter times of difficulty and it's frustrating, but it is a reality.
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Whether you're a Christian or not a Christian, it doesn't really seem to matter. We're all part of this fallen world and we all face difficulties, whether we like it or not.
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So the real question today is, I'm not going to tell you how to avoid suffering.
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Can't do that. But how can we respond in our times of difficulty?
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What's the best way to respond? In other words, will we plunge ourselves into self -pity?
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That's a favorite of mine. Or will we respond in anger? Maybe even anger at God because life isn't turning out the way we want it.
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Will we isolate ourselves from the body of Christ, assuming no one cares? Or will we indulge in a sinful lifestyle, concluding it doesn't really matter if we live righteous lives because it seems, after all, that the ungodly are the ones that have the good life and free from troubles.
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As you would expect me to say, there's a better way to respond and the
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Bible is full of encouragement for us so that we can walk through this life more victoriously.
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And the passage I want to look at with you today is 1 Peter 1, verses 3 -12, 1
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Peter 1. And I really like the letter that Peter wrote because he wrote this to a group of people who were suffering unjustly and were trying to put the pieces together.
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And Peter tries to explain to them how they can live their lives in the light of this.
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But let's have a word of prayer before we dive into the text. Father, we come before you humbly.
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You know our struggles. You know our thoughts. You know our feelings, our emotions with all of this subject.
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And I just pray, Father, that this morning you would help us to reorient our minds and our hearts so that we can think about these issues from your perspective.
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Teach us from your word. Work in our hearts. Through your Holy Spirit, we ask in Jesus' name, amen.
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Before we get into the verses, there's a couple of interesting things that I just wanted to inform you about concerning this letter.
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The first one, we'll put up a map here as one of our slides just as introductory because I want you to see that Peter's letter is kind of unique in that it's not addressed to one group of people in one city like Colossians or to the
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Corinthians. It's addressed to a group of people who live in a large area of the
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Roman Empire which you see here on the map. And you can follow on the map as I read the first verse of the letter.
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Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
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So they're really spread out as you can see. That's modern -day Turkey. They're spread out across the whole land, kind of isolated, and Peter is writing to this group to try to encourage them.
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Now the other interesting thing that you need to know about this letter is that if you come to this letter expecting nice words like, cheer up, it'll get better, this isn't the letter for you because Peter says realistically to his group because they're probably just before the
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Neronian persecution of the Christians or at the beginning. In other words, there are troubles but the dark clouds are gathering on the horizon and they see more coming.
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And Peter writes to say exactly that. In this life, you will face trials and difficulties and I'm writing to show you how to navigate through that.
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Okay? So we get here, 1 Peter 1, verses 3 -12 and I find it really instructive.
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We're going to focus on three main points here this morning in regard to this section of the letter.
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As I give you an overview of this section, we're going to look at a future perspective that he gives the believers and then our present reality and then of all things,
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Peter ends with helping us to understand the privilege that it really is to live in the time period in which we live.
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And that sounds a little strange but I'll explain. The way Peter begins to me is very instructive because watch how he begins.
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He says this in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for his salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
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So how does Peter begin? Peter does not begin with a rehearsal of their problems.
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He does not begin telling them about his problems. You think you have problems, let me tell you about my problems.
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Peter begins focusing their attention on God and the hope that they have because of Jesus Christ.
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And so our first point is simply that we have been born again as Christians to a living hope and we are being protected by the power of God until the day that we receive our future inheritance.
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Now Peter does talk about the past. We have been born again by his mercy, all by his mercy.
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Born again is a term that comes from the lips of Jesus. You remember when he talked to Nicodemus, that esteemed teacher of the law,
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Pharisee, part of the Jewish Supreme Council. And he came to Jesus and he wanted to know what do
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I really need to do to be sure, to be really sure that I will inherit eternal life, be in the kingdom.
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And Jesus looks at him and he says, you remember, Nicodemus, you have to be born again.
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Which didn't make any sense to Nicodemus because he's thinking in normal physical terms.
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But the fact of the matter is, salvation is not a result of me bettering myself or doing the right things.
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Salvation is a gift of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, whom
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God sent to die in my place on the cross. And so I've been born again, it requires a complete transformation of life to be fitted for the kingdom of God.
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But it's interesting that Peter is praising the Lord, blessed be the God and Father of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. But his focus in this paragraph is mostly on the future, on our living hope, our inheritance, that we will receive on that day when
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Jesus Christ is revealed in all of his majesty and all of his glory, our living hope.
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This really distinguishes Christianity from a lot of other religions and philosophies in this world.
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It's interesting how Paul described us before knowing
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Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 2 .12, he wrote to the people and said, remember that you were at that time before Christ, separated from Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world.
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What an awful way to live, right? No hope, without God in the world. The next time, let me tell you, the next time you begin to sort of get jealous of what the ungodly have and the easy life, think about this.
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They're living with no eternal hope. They have no idea what happens after this life.
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But thanks be to God and Jesus Christ, we've been given a living hope, sure and certain.
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In fact, the author of Hebrews, in Hebrews 6 .18, describes it like this, the
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Christian hope, that it's a sure and steadfast anchor for the soul.
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That's what keeps us stable, is that living hope that we have in Jesus Christ.
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Paul's writing in the context of Peter. Peter's writing in the context of the
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Greek and Roman civilization. And you know, those of you who know a little bit about it know that the
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Greek and Roman civilization was a wonderful thing. It was a world of fascinating beauty.
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It could boast of splendid courage, high intellectual power, and superb loveliness of poetry and art.
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But in spite of all the grandeur and charm, all the glitz of Rome, it was a world without hope.
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And unlike their pagan neighbors, the early Christians were indeed people of hope, who could look steadfastly into the future, not with fear, not with mere resignation, but with eager anticipation.
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And this hopelessness was not just a problem of Greek and Roman society, right?
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What do you see in the faces of the people around you? I don't mean necessarily here in the church, but as you go out from the church into the world, what do you see?
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What do you hear in the news? What do you read in the papers? It's a sense of utter, complete hopelessness.
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Where is our society headed? What are the answers? What are we going to do?
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And that's without even bringing up the issue of an eternal destiny. And when you do that, people have no idea, no assurance in how can you live like that.
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Someone has said, and I think this is pretty true, you can live without a lot of things in this life, but you can't live without hope.
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Once a person is hopeless, once they've lost all hope, they've lost all reason to live.
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Now, we as Christians have the tremendous privilege to go out into the world and share with the people around us.
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We have a firm and sure hope that anchors us through the storms of this life because we're followers of Jesus Christ.
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And Peter describes that hope that we have that is so sure because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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We know that we have a future because he was raised from the dead. But Peter describes this hope as an inheritance.
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And I can't help but think that Peter being a Jew is thinking back to the
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Old Testament because the people of Israel were also given promises of an inheritance, land inheritance, something they would possess.
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And they rejoiced in that, but you know what happened if you remember the story. The people of Israel rebelled against God time after time after time, and what happened to that inheritance?
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It was ruined by marauders, by enemies attacking, destroyed, taken from them.
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But Peter says, you know what? We have something even better because it's not just something from this life.
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Peter calls it in verse 4, it's an inheritance that is, watch this, imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
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It's yours for keeps. No one, no one can take it from you.
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There's a lot of things that can happen with your possessions. We've all got a lot of possessions at home, a lot of junk.
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And you could have a fire in your home and it all disappear. You could have thieves come in and take it.
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There's things that can happen to our bodies, health -wise, but there's one thing that can never happen.
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You can never, ever, ever lose your eternal inheritance.
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Because Peter says here, it's being guarded by God until that day when you will receive it.
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It's kept by Him. And not only that, not only is your inheritance being guarded by God, but you, in verse 5, he says you are being guarded by God.
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Isn't that great? So as you go through life, you remember this, you're trudging through life and all the difficulties that you have to face, but you're being guarded by God as a sentinel as you march through enemy territory and you will reach the end, victoriously, and inherit the glories of heaven and the kingdom of heaven and have that wonderful, full fellowship with Jesus Christ.
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These are wonderful truths that Peter helps us focus on here. And we do all this, as the verse says, by walking by faith, not by sight.
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We keep our eyes focused on Jesus and our living hope, our sure and certain hope, not the kind of thing where you say,
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I hope it won't rain today or I hope I pass that test.
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It is a sure and certain hope guaranteed by the God who promised it, who will carry it through to the very end.
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And Peter is saying to his readers and to us, keep your eyes focused on that.
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That's the first thing he says in this passage. Whatever you're going through, whatever comes your way, keep your eyes focused on your living hope, the inheritance that is imperishable and unfading that you will receive.
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But, the Bible, God, Peter, they're all realistic.
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And they know what life is like this side of eternity. Especially after the cross.
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When the conflict between the powers of light and the powers of darkness is even greater.
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And so the next thing that Peter does, now that he has exalted the name of God and put our focus where it ought to be, on our living hope, the next thing
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Peter introduces here is the reality of our suffering. But he says at the same time, he doesn't forget about the future.
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He says that as odd as it may seem, Christians can rejoice during their times of suffering, knowing that God is using all things to build up our faith and fill us with even greater joy in our relationship with Jesus.
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How does Peter start? Let's look at this.
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In this, we'll just do verses six and seven for now.
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In this, you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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So I want to just highlight three things here that Peter says about suffering, your times of difficulty, however you want to word it, problems, stress, anxieties.
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The first thing that Peter says, he recognizes that it's real for the
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Christian life. And he uses an interesting word here because he says that we face times of grief because of our problems.
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I just want to pause there for a minute because I'm concerned by a certain idea that sometimes spreads in Christianity, that we always have to have smiley faces and say, it's okay, not a problem.
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I got this. It's wonderful. It'll all work out.
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I'm praising the Lord. Now I don't want to be blasphemous and I don't want to say that it's wrong to praise the
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Lord in times of difficulty, but it is also correct to lament, to cry out to God, and to just lay before Him your confusion and your turmoil as you go through what may be very, very difficult times.
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I remind you again of David in the Old Testament, right? You may feel that way at times, but maybe you've been kind of taught, no, no, no,
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Christians shouldn't say that. How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
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And then we read the book of Job. Wow. And Job says, when you read the book of Job, you say to yourself, you'd like to say to Job, be careful,
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Job. You're crossing the line. You don't talk that way to God.
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When you read the book of Job, he just pours out his heart before God. But one thing that's remarkable to me with Job, with David, with the prophets of the
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Old Testament, that in their crying out to God, they are doing it as believers.
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They are not doing it really as skeptics, unbelievers. They are trying to wrap their heads around this difficulty.
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I have been trying to follow the Lord, and I am suffering, and I don't understand it.
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And so I cry out to you, God. It's the only thing I can do. And that's the best thing that you can do.
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I'm not against talking to other people. I think it can be helpful. But we can get carried away with it, too.
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I said sometimes I get into fits of self -pity. But you know how some of us get.
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We get kind of whiny. And everybody around us knows it.
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And you talk to somebody like that, and you're trying to be interested, and you want to care, but part of you, you're looking around for that escape hatch.
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How can I get out of here? This is just going on and on and on. You know, the best thing to do, again,
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I'm not against talking to people, but we need to talk to God honestly. God, this is where I am.
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I don't understand. This is a difficult situation. I'm at wit's end.
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I don't know what to do. God can take it. You know that, right?
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He's a big guy. It's not like, again, sometimes we've been taught, oh, if you say certain things, you're going to get hit by a lightning bolt, and we even move away a little bit from the person.
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We probably do that with Job, right? Job's talking, but God wants to hear from you, and he wants to help you.
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Even Jesus himself in the Garden of Gethsemane cried out to God in anguish, absolute anguish.
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Read that passage again. I have never seen such torment as in the
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Garden of Gethsemane as he looks toward the cross. But Peter reminds us of two things.
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I said I'd say three things. Here's two other things about suffering to help us keep it in perspective.
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The second thing I want to bring out is that suffering, although it is a reality in this life for all of us, it's passing.
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I don't mean necessarily that you'll get over it in this life, because let's face it, some people have to face difficulty all their lives.
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It just is what it is. But we know that in comparison with... Peter would say, remember what
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I said first. Blessed be the God and Savior of our Lord Jesus Christ who has given us a living hope in comparison to eternity.
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This is nothing. Yeah, you might live 70, 80, 90...
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If you really eat healthy, 100, I don't know. But that's it.
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And then they nail down the coffin, the lid on the coffin, that's it. But you've got all eternity to praise the
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Lord and enjoy fellowship, intimacy with Jesus Christ. And so Peter, as Paul does as well, just helps us remember, just keep in mind, this is passing.
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This is temporary. It's just for now. But the other thing that Peter says here, and this is...
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I admit, it's a hard thing for us to grapple with. There is a good purpose in suffering, because look at what
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Peter says here. So that the tested... Verse 7 now.
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So that the tested genuineness of your faith... I like that. I like how he puts it.
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In other words, faith has been tested through the fires of suffering and has been demonstrated to be genuine, and that results in praise and honor and glory to God.
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And he says, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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So he's testing your faith. He's maturing your faith.
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He's building you up. Don't get it confused. Satan's objective is a lot different from God's, right?
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Satan uses suffering. He wants to tear you down and get you to deny God and do kind of like what
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Job's wife said. Just curse God and die. Just be done with it. This is enough.
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But God uses suffering to build us up, to build our character, to give us more depth in our relationship with Jesus, to prepare us for eternity.
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It's not an isolated teaching. Our faith needs to be refined like gold.
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Gold's a very precious commodity, isn't it? But it's passing. It's part of this world. It won't last for eternity.
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Well, there's still gold, but that's a whole different story. But you understand.
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But our faith is different. It's eternal. And God is refining. Just like with gold, he's taking out the impurities gradually, step by step.
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And it's a process. No pain, no gain, right?
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I said that once to my physical therapist, and he said, not necessarily. James says it's a common teaching, as I said.
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And James says in chapter 1, verses 2 through 4,
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Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
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See, it's for your good. It's beneficial. But it all depends on how you and I respond in the midst of the suffering.
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Isn't it remarkable in verses 8 and 9 that Peter now ties in this whole theme of joy, which he doesn't leave, with the intimacy of our relationship with Jesus, because he wants us to understand that what he is talking about is not just some ephemeral idea about the future.
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It's not just a set of beliefs that get us through hard times. It's actually a relationship with a person, a relationship of love.
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And I see this in verses 8 through 9. Let me read those for you. Though you have not seen him,
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Jesus Christ, you love him. This is a description of the believer.
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Though you do not see him, you believe in him, and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith is salvation of your souls.
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It's a relationship. When you're preaching the gospel to people, please, please help people understand they're not just giving assent to a list of beliefs, quoting verses, saying yes to those things.
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They are entering into a relationship with a person, Jesus Christ, our
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Lord and Savior, and it's as we keep our eyes focused on him and as we allow these difficult times to draw us to him instead of away from him, we run to him, we cling to him because we have nowhere else to turn, and we rest in his arms knowing that come what may, if I could quote one of the happier times in Job's life, he says, though he slay me yet will
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I trust in him. As Daniel's three friends said as well, they said to the king, we have total confidence in the
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Lord our God that he will deliver us from this situation, but even if he doesn't, we will not bow to your idols, we will serve him.
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This is what God wants from us. He doesn't want, how can I put it, he doesn't want a transactional
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Christianity. Do you understand what I mean by that? We have this idea sometimes in life, you do something for me,
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I'll do something for you. Hey, my cousin Vinny, I know somebody, right?
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And sometimes we take that into our relationship with the Lord and it's though we're saying to God, God, you do nice things for me and I'll follow you.
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Bless me with riches, a nice home, this and that. I'll be your follower to the very end.
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Don't you dare. What God wants from us is just for us to be able to say,
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God, Jesus, I love you. It doesn't matter what happens in this life.
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I'm with you, you're with me, and I understand in this world there will be conflicts and difficulties, but I know
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I'm in your hands. And what happens as a result of that relationship is just remarkable.
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We are filled with what? It's a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.
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It's filled with glory because this is an anticipation of the joy we will have when we are in the presence of Jesus and we're experiencing it now.
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But it's also inexpressible because you just can't put words to it. You've seen people like that, right?
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I hope you're one of them. In the midst of difficulties, you just have such tremendous peace and deep joy that it's hard to explain.
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And if someone were to ask you, they'd say, I don't get it. You're going through these difficult times and you seem to be okay.
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It is hard, but I am okay because I'm in the hands of my loving Jesus and I'm receiving the outcome of my faith, the salvation of my soul.
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So fantastic. Keep your eyes focused on the living hope.
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Remember, God's got a purpose in everything, and he uses everything to build you, not to tear you down.
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But now we've got something really remarkable here, and it may surprise you, the last paragraph.
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We really are very privileged people. And sometimes we forget that because we're good with negativity, especially when we watch the news too much.
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Verse 10, Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours diligently searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the
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Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
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In other words, the prophets prophesied about our day, the day of grace, the day when
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God would pour out his redemptive blessing, his grace on people, but they couldn't understand the details and all
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God told them was, it's okay, you're serving for a future generation, and that's us.
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We are that generation. And then he says, it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the
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Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which even angels long to look.
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Are you kidding me? Angels, they've got the life, right?
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They're in heaven strumming harps. I don't know what the angels are doing right now, but they're taking care of us too, right?
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I like angels. But as great as angels are, they look with care at the redemptive grace of God that is going on in the church and they marvel at that.
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In fact, Paul says in Ephesians 3 -2, when he's talking about God's purpose and what he's doing in the church, and he says in Ephesians 3 -10, so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
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It's a great time to live. I know the world's got a lot of problems.
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I don't know what's happening in our country. It seems to be getting worse and worse and on and on we can go to the point where we want to just say,
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I'm just going back to bed, I can't take it anymore. But I tell you,
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I like what one commentator said about this time in which we're living.
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She says, of all the times to be alive in human history, it is a supreme privilege to be alive in the period of history following the coming of Christ when the gospel is preached.
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When it's preached, when it's known, when it's understood, the fullness of the grace of God.
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So let's just kind of keep a little balance. We are a privileged people.
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But we can't stop there because I go back with you to the beginning because our hope, after all, is not in this life.
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We have a living hope of an eternal inheritance. And we rejoice in that and that keeps us going.
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And look, as I said in the beginning, you may wish it wasn't this way, but whether you're faithful or not to the
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Lord, you're still going to face difficulties in this life. And what
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I'm encouraging you to do is just to put your focus more on the future, on eternity, on what you have in Christ, on your glorious inheritance, on all the glory that's waiting for you, an undeserving sinner but saved by the mercy and grace of God, and praise him for what he's doing in your life even now as he works in you and refines your faith and builds you up as you continue to trust him in these difficult times.
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Sometimes we live kind of in a tension. Charles Dickens started The Tale of Two Cities.
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This has been much quoted, but it's interesting because I think we can relate to it. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
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It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.
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It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
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There's so many people around us that are living in that winter of despair. And we go out from here and we have that fabulous knowledge.
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My life is secure in the hands of Jesus, my savior. God, my redeemer.
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And as much as I want to be helpful in this life, I look forward to that time when
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I will be with him. And that reminds me of, there's an illustration that's been passed around.
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This wasn't about somebody I know. It's just one of those illustrations that's passed around. And I just thought, you know,
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I brought home the idea really well. There was a woman, faithful woman, church attender, very good
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Christian, and she was diagnosed with a terminal illness. And the doctor said, you probably only have about three months to live, so I would kind of get your things in order.
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And so she went to her pastor and she began talking about, you know, the funeral service and what she would like.
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And they talked about the music and the scripture verses and the dress that she would like put on her in planning the funeral service.
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And she said, I'd like also to be buried with my Bible because that was very important to her.
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And the pastor thought, well, okay, we've got everything wrapped up now. You can be assured of our prayers for you as you go through these difficult last months.
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But I've got enough here to guide me in bringing out a funeral service that will really glorify the
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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The woman said, wait, there's one thing. I forgot one thing.
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When they put me in the casket, I want you to put a fork in my right hand.
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Of course, the pastor's like, what? A fork in your right hand? You're going to have to explain that one, okay?
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Here's her explanations. In all my years of attending church socials and functions where food was involved, my favorite part was when whoever was clearing away the dishes of the main course would lean over and say, you can keep your fork.
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It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming.
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When they told me to keep my fork, I knew that something great was about to be given to me.
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It wasn't Jell -O or pudding. It was cake or pie.
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Something with substance. I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand, and I want them to wonder, what's with the fork?
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Then I want you to tell them she believed something better is coming.
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That's what we believe. Whatever we face in this life, and God never pulls punches.
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He never tries to say it won't happen. Whatever we face in this life, we are assured the best is yet to come.
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As Paul says, it's even impossible to describe the glories that await for us.
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Rejoice, dear one. Don't become overly attached to the things of this life.
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Keep your focus so that as you do walk through trials,
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God can kind of reorient your mind and heart to keep following him faithfully.
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I said in the first service, and I just want to say this again as I close, Sunday is by far my favorite day of the week.
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Thank you, Michael. Because, not just Michael, but Jeff too, when
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I come to church, God uses the church service and the fellowship of believers to reorient my mind and my heart so that I can have a proper perspective about life.
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We need that so dearly because day after day, we keep getting the stuff of life, right, coming at us.
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And Satan, of course, as I said already, he wants to get you to the point where you say, well, phooey,
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I've had it with this Christianity business. God is with you, and he wants you to come to the point to say, come what may,
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I am a follower of Jesus Christ because he has given me way more than I deserve as I await the glories of the eternal kingdom.
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Will you sing with me as we close? ♪ Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look fully in his wonderful face
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And the things of earth
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Will grow strangely dim In the light of his glory
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And eternal rise
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Up inside Where justice and mercy embrace
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There the Son of God Gave his life
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And our measureless debt was eased
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Jesus, to you we lift our lives
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Jesus, our glory yet We adore you, behold you
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Our Savior ever true Oh, Jesus, return our eyes
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Turn your eyes to the morn
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See Christ, the Lion of What a glorious dawn
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Jesus, to you we lift our lives
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Jesus, our glory yet We adore you, behold you
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Our Savior ever true Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you
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Turn your eyes to the heaven
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Our King will return for his own
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Every knee will bow every time
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All glory to Jesus alone
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Jesus, to you we lift our lives
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Jesus, our glory yet We adore you, behold you
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Our Savior ever true Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you