The Greatness of Salvation

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Praise God now speaking of praising God. We're going to talk about praising God for the greatness of our the greatness of salvation
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The greatness of salvation and the Apostle Peter We go back to first Peter.
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You can go ahead and turn there, but say a few words before we actually stand for God's Word and read it and read our text, but Keep in mind here as we return to this study
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That the Apostle Peter gives us and an objective view an objective view of salvation not subjective not in a theological way, but in a very practical way and with the response as we will look
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Lord willing later of the response of How to live out this salvation?
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but we're going to look at praising God for the greatness of salvation the praising of God of Salvation so as we continue our study in the
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New Testament from the letter First Peter this morning. I would just like to say that the
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Apostle Peter was writing to Christians in Asian minor a group of Christians Who were severely suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ in that time period and in the first chapter as we have seen weeks back
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Peter writes to them about the glory and the greatness of salvation in God. God is a
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Savior. God is all about salvation He's gracious. He's merciful He's slow to anger.
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He's willing to save to the uttermost That is the very theme that we see all the way through this wonderful book the
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Bible There is hardly another word is blessed hopeful comforting as assuring as the word salvation
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He wrote in such a wonderful detail by the Spirit of the Living God For good reason and very practical reason and the
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Apostle desire to display the wonders of God's salvation to display this among the people and to encourage them and their suffering in order to encourage them and That the end of their faith is eternal glory in heaven because of their suffering in other words
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I'm going to tell you something wonderful and and What when the cause of your suffering there is something good that waits for you at the end of the journey?
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and not something bad God has something glorious to those who are born again of the
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Spirit of God and Therefore it is worth whatever it may cost Them suffering
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Christians for Jesus sake and it's just for a little while on this earth I mean, that's what the theme is really in chapter 1 the greatness of God's salvation
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So in saying that turn with me if you're not already there to the book of first Peter first Peter chapter 1
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I'm just going to look at three verses we're going to look at verse 10 to 12 10 to 12 and These three verses are really loaded up this morning
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So I'm going to have to go at a very rapid pace as much as I possibly can so we can cover this material
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But it's going to be worth our while to worship our God and as we look into his holy word
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So please stand with me as we read these verses just briefly in honor of God's Word in honor of God's Word Hear the word of the
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Living God verse 10 chapter 1 of 1st Peter of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully
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Who prophesied of the grace that would come to you Searching what or what manner of time?
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the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he Testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow to them
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It was revealed that not to themselves But to us or to you they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you
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Through those who have preached the gospel To you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things which angels desire to look into Let's pray very briefly
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And seek the face of our God and his help this morning as we study his word together our
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Father in heaven we Thank you. Oh Lord How we thank you
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For all that you have given you give and give and give again, no one can out give you
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Oh Lord You give us sunshine. Give us rain. You give us breath to give us life
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You give us new birth. You have given so much you give us eternal life Through Jesus Christ our
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Lord Help us. Oh Lord Help us. Oh Lord to be truly thankful and not take this great salvation for granted this morning
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But to be truly appreciative Save us Oh Lord from apathy this morning.
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I pray Oh Lord, may we not be apathetic toward this great salvation.
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Oh Father how we need your blessed Holy Spirit this morning to help me speak to help us hear
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Your words and only see Jesus Christ and only in his book and see his glories and the sufferings of his cross his resurrection
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Lord give us eyes to see only Only through the spectacles of the
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Holy Spirit Can we see can we hear and can we have a heart to perceive and to understand the great truth that you've given us?
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And so father in the end change us with our word Save us Oh God from religion save us from ourselves
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Save us Oh Lord from apathy and deliver us Oh God For your great namesake and I pray this in Jesus name.
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Amen. And amen, you may be seated. Thank you so much years back on PBS our family
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Enjoyed a longtime television program called antiques Roadshow. I'm sure you're well familiar with it.
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It's a very popular Show I'm sure they still air it.
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I have it checked out that recently, but It's a very popular show and this program has become an amazingly popular over the years
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Apparently watched by over millions of viewers regular on each week for good reason
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Like I said each episode of antiques Roadshow Is taped in various locations around the country?
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If you see it, they travel about and people would bring their antiques or as some people would say junk
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Someone has one person said one person's trash is another person's treasure or rare collectible items to show and they meet up with qualified experts and the antique field who carefully look the item over and over and to ask questions of the owners about where they got the item where did it come from that the rarity of it and what they
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Would know about it and then these experts would tell them the actual history of this item that they brought in and Give them an estimated dollar amount or dollar value
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That they might reasonably expect to fetch for it if they were to sell it at an auction.
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I personally think the greatest reason that people love to watch this show and is one of the reasons
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I like to watch it personally as well is because They truly enjoyed seeing the reactions of the owners of the various items when a qualified expert tells them the real value of the thing that they brought
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Now it may be have some have something that they had in their family for years
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Never thought much about it. It was maybe a great find that they had. I remember one specific
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Episode that they had a baseball With Babe Ruth's signature on it.
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It was worth a million dollars Incredible because of the rarity of it Or it may be something that they had picked up at a secondhand
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Five and dime store you could say for only a few dollars and it become a great value
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People would bring items without having a single clue What in the world their items are and then the expert that is qualified tells them the value of this item and usually these experts were very familiar with these items that they would put on these shows as you will know if you've ever seen the show and the audience joined in with anticipation and listening in at times they've become so stunned and Quite often even brought to tears believe it or not over certain things because of the great value that they had of what they possessed
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Now when they are told how rare and precious the valuable thing that thing is and how much that is really worth
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Again, it was shocked and sometimes they were shocked that it wasn't worth as much as so But the point here
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I'm making is they had no idea of how precious and How valuable the thing that they had owned was was until of course
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They were told of its value by by the experts from someone else
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That gave another perspective Who knew far more about it than they did?
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in a way Beloved this is exactly the way
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I feel personally is I ministered the words of God to you this morning and this message because you and I have been
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Given a precious Precious treasure far more than any item on this earth
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It's the pearl of great price And through the blood of the everlasting covenant, which is in Jesus Christ salvation through faith alone that not of ourselves
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It is the gift of God it is a precious gift and it has been given to us freely by God Even though this marvelous salvation is fully ours by God's grace we may not appreciate that true value of its greatness towards it as we should and Really that's not a good thing
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But we that's why I prayed this morning Lord save us from apathy towards this great gift that God has given to us
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When we don't know what a marvelously precious great thing that we have and can
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I say this Salvation is the greatest thing that you can possess Salvation and Jesus really is as we might easily grow
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Apathetic and indifferent towards God's greatness and I pray that God would save us from that This could have been very a very big problem that the
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Apostle Peter was dealing with in his first letter There were many
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Jewish Christians that he was writing to Christians who were severely suffering greatly under Nero for their faith in Jesus We looked at that because of their faith since some of them had lost their jobs.
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They lost their homes. They're lost their friends They lost everything and some of them lost their very lives to martyrdom
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Some had to flee from their homelands and dwell in Gentile lands Which is why
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Peter begins his letter by calling them pilgrims or sojourners of the dispersion and what's more the ungodly cultures and communities to which they fled were also often hostile toward the faith and in all of the surrounding pressure that might
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Easily have been tempted to call it quits Abandon your commitment to following Jesus or just go with the flow
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Do the easy thing. It's too hard to be a Christian too hard to carry across too hard to suffer.
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I Believe this is what Peter was dealing with Is the heat of the battle and you and I know that the battle was very real, isn't it?
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The world the flesh and the devil is against This world is not a friend of grace
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As you well know there's a hatred toward Christianity There's a hatred toward the truth
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Because it's offensive the cross is offensive and It's not easy to bear the name of Jesus, but we gladly we gladly tell people
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But the flesh fights us doesn't it the world fights us the devil fights us and it's not only real
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Can I say it's constant? Do you feel that? week by week the constant
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Battle the struggle Just like those Christians of old as Peter addressed here in this wonderful letter
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We can easily feel tempted to say hey call it quits abandon our commitment to Jesus and just go with the flow
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This message is for you. It's for me and actually
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Peter was seeking to deal with that temptation and And what he was doing he was urging and encouraging the
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Christians the Saints to stay true and faithful to the end and persevere and then he gives them good reason to Praise God for your salvation
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Praise God because it's worth every mile of the way. It's worth all the sufferings. It's worth all the hurt
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It's worth all the pain and even if it cost your very life it is worth it And this is what he's doing
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And he and we'll look at this, but he gives praise ahead of the heavenly inheritance
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Verse 13, he even says therefore gird up the loins of your mind be sober and rest your hope
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Fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ when Christ comes in Power and glory as we looked at the past month of the second coming of Jesus Where the
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Apostle Peter desired to encourage these Saints that were suffering? Isn't that the case?
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Not to give up don't give up Even though it's costing you everything don't give up and in the contemporary way.
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Let me paraphrase He's basically saying when he says gird up the loins of your mind. He's basically saying
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Roll up the sleeves of your thinking And the battle roll up your sleeves and and fight the good fight of faith and lay hold of eternal life with a death -like grip
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Be serious and be sound -minded in the faith and keep your eyes and keep your hope fixed firmly on the
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Lord Jesus Christ Get locked in That's what he's saying
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So in doing so he praises God for the salvation. He praises by God's help and God's grace
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To help them help us as children of the
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Living God to appreciate the immeasurable greatness of salvation in Jesus Christ the value of salvation
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About faith through grace alone by faith alone for the glory of God alone and Hearing from those who knew more and this is what he does.
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He directs in this letter He directs their attention to those who knew more about it the experts
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Then we can never know They were the qualified experts so Peter calls in these experts as it were
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That have examined our great salvation this great salvation in Jesus Christ and who have expressed
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Great excitement about it great joy about it and who studied it diligently and who say to us
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Do you truly realize what a precious treasure that you have in Jesus? Do you have any idea how great and valuable?
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That the gift of God that you have in Jesus Christ and how glorious it really is
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And this is what he's saying Salvation is of the Lord and salvation in the
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Lord. Jesus Christ has made us very rich You are rich If you have
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Jesus you're you're Wonderfully rich. I mean glorious really rich and heaven.
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You may not have much here on this earth But you got everything if you have
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God you got it all Praise God well, we're going to look at passage as passages verse 10 and through 12 and we're gonna look at three verses here and The Apostle calls forth the
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Apostle Peter calls forth four experts for qualified experts
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Divine agents, would you please who were involved with the glorious message of salvation and I Studied this from different commentators and the best the best points
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I could find was pastor John MacArthur He really hits my heart and I love just the way he brings it down so simple
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So I'm borrowing from him this morning these points There's four points
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I'd like to Give four views I'd like to give to you and give credit to him on this as I studied this in his commentary on first Peter first The Old Testament prophets who studied it the
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Old Testament prophets who studied it second the Holy Spirit who inspired it Third the
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New Testament apostles Apostles who preached it and fourth we will look at the angels who examined it and that beautiful That's the thing
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The theme and the opening chapter of this letter is the blessedness of the greatness of salvation
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It is great and again, the Apostle Peter encourages us and Encourages the
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Saints to be true to our faith in God by showing us the great value that others have placed in salvation in Jesus Christ alone and no matter what trouble or what you're going through today and What I've been going through this past week or whatever it may be we can stop and pause and praise
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God for our salvation Jesus said rejoice that your names written in the land's book of life
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Well, let's look at it. The first point is first Salvation was the theme of the
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Old Testament Prophets study and not only was you could say salvation in that verb was as a salvation is the theme of the
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Old Testament Prophets study as well. It was and it is Look at verse 10 with me
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Through the Holy Spirit the Apostle Peter says of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched
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Carefully who prophesied of the grace that would come to you and then in verse 11 a
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Searching what or what manner of time? Let's stop right there now the
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Apostle Peter described something of that grace for us And we looked at this and notice how he begins in verse 3 through 5.
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Let me read it. I don't think this we can Have it. No, we're not read this enough.
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Amen. And what does he do? He praises God blessed Be the
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God Blessed the God there's a doxology. He's praising God Well, then heaven heavenly inheritance blessed be the
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God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy Has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away
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Reserved in heaven for you. It's reserved Verse 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time and Then he says in this you greatly rejoice.
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He's telling us we rejoice in this We we rejoice in the great salvation that God has given us in this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while If need be you have been grieved by various trials
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Well, there's a purpose God does everything for purpose even your trials
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Notice verse 7 that the genuineness of your faith the proof of your faith
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Another translation may say being much more precious than gold that perishes though It be tested by fire may be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ Whom have it not seen you love?
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Though now you do not see him Yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory
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Receiving the end of your faith. Notice what he says the salvation of your souls and That's what he's talking about.
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He's talking about salvation not in a subjective way, but in a But an objective way not theologically, but very practical from the
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Word of God And that is what he's talking about so he gives praise in this doxology and is that isn't it wonderful it teaches us a lot in the worst of times and the hardest of times to praise our
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God and the prophets of the Old Testament era wrote about that grace that was promised in Salvation in God and we know that God is a
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Savior But they did it from afar The prophets wrote it down and they were looking forward to Christ the
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Messiah to come And the Holy Spirit was breathing upon them. And by the way was actually residing within those who wrote this
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Centuries before our Lord Jesus Christ walked upon the earth and came on the scene and God incarnate in the flesh
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Of all the truth of the Old Testament prophets received through divine revelation the truth of salvation beloved was the greatest of their passion
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All the way from Moses to Malachi The whole entire
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Old Testament prophets and all the Old Testament prophets and by the way Not only the minor prophets and the major prophets in which we're so familiar with but also the prophets within the scriptures spoke as The Spirit of God was breathing upon them.
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We had the writers But there was also any of the prophets who spoke the Word of the
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Lord The great story of salvation. Is it simply the product of human creativity?
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Aren't you glad? It isn't just the product of a afterthought
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It does not come from the mind of so -called great minds of men. This is the divine revelation of God Almighty Incredible The creator of the ends of the earth who made the world's has spoken in these last days through his son
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This is the Almighty God and they were given a specific message from Almighty God himself
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And they were told to write it down to declare the things that would later Do for us and aren't you glad God has preserved this great word for us?
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This past week October 6th a man by the end year and I can't remember exactly the year but back years ago
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William Tyndall was burned to a state because of his translation of this wonderful book into English It has come to us on a sea of blood beloved
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So every time you read this book, I want you to think of that But the
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Word of God declares the things That God would do through Jesus Christ and it was all fulfilled in Jesus Christ Our wonderful Lord and Savior when the
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Apostle Peter tells us about this Also, please turn with me to second Peter. Let's go over the next book
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And he speaks about this how the Word of God came to us and notice. This is a very familiar verse
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Verses I should say to those who study the Word of God, but I think this is one that we should know diligently
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First Peter, I'm sorry second Peter chapter 1 look at 19 through 21 How did the
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Word of God come to us Well, let me back up a little bit and notice what he says verse 16
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And by the way, this word is trustworthy Don't you hear the lies of today of the evolutionists and the atheists and say that they do not believe that This is the
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Word of God Let every man be liar let God be true
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And these are the kind of people that tell you these things believe and fairies Verse 16 for we did not follow cunningly devised fables even mentions it
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When we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty
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Peters is basically saying we We me and the other Apostles we were eyewitnesses of the majesty of Jesus Christ and he gives an example and what happened and you can read this in the gospel account for We he received from God the
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Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory
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This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well -pleased in Verse 18 and we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain
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He's speaking about the Mount of Olives the transfiguration And that's when
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Elijah and Moses appeared Representing the law and the prophets and Christ is in the middle
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In verse 19 here it is. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed which you do well to heed as a light
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That shines in a dark place until that day dawns in the morning star rises in your hearts
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Knowing that this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation
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For prophecy never came by the will of man How did it come but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the
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Holy Spirit? And read it these prophets suffered many of them died of Giving the truth and the
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Word of God and they always had a message and when they had a message as an oracle from God They said thus says the
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Lord That's what we need today. I Don't care what this is so and so or dr
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So and so says or what anybody so -called special would say we need to hear that thus saith the
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Lord May God help us to return back to that Well, these
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Old Testament prophets were focused and intensely and focusing and trying to comprehend the person in the work of Jesus Christ and It was centered on that because they spoke of the grace that would come
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And when Jesus came and when God came in flesh He was full of grace and truth.
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God's always been gracious Since man's fall you let man live another day, but that fullness of grace came when
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Jesus came And what who is he gracious to? Sinners Sinners like you and me sinners like everyone else
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Salvation Concerns primarily the divine act of saving lost sinners
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And this is what this is the message we have to the world
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Lost sinners Paul the Apostle said said I'm the chiefest of sinners Matthew 20 28
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Jesus said this just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life for a ransom for many
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John 12 verse 32 through 33 Jesus says and I if I am lifted up and that word lifted up literally means if I am crucified
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Up from the earth will draw all peoples to myself And he said signifying what death he would die
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This salvation this grace encompasses the entire Motive beloved the entire motive of God's saving work in Jesus Christ God does not delight in the death of the wicked
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Beloved if he can remember anything and know that anything and praise God for anything is that God loves to save sinners
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And by the way, I was thinking about this and the story of redemption when God saves sinners he is most glorified
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He's glorified in all of his creation and all of his wonders, but he's most glorified in the saving of sinners
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Salvation is the greatest work that God has ever done and has continued to do
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This salvation this grace encompasses the entire motive behind God's saving work
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Praise God and the Old Testament prophets sought diligently to understand
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God's grace and mercy in Jesus Christ They sought it they studied it They studied the free his forgiveness his goodness is unmerited favor his blessing
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That was lavished on poor undeserving wretched sinners like you and me Oh beloved
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Now the Old Testament prophets would have envied you and me today Of all that we know about Jesus They didn't have the revelation we had look at Job.
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He didn't have a Bible He had God. I believe that was enough And look at what he did with what little revelation he did have
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He puts us all to shame doesn't he? We have all this great revelation and the power of the
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Holy Spirit residing within us Makes me think of what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13 verse 16 through 17
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Jesus said to his disciples and then at that time when Jesus came on the scene God in the flesh
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But blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear
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And notice what he says in verse 17 for truly truly or surely I say unto you that Many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it and hear
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What you hear and did not hear it Your ears are blessed We're blessed today to have this great revelation
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That God saved to the uttermost through Jesus Christ Oh my That's so convicting isn't it because we have all this revelation and what do we do with it?
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Do we obey God? Do we love him more? Something so great something so great is our salvation and the holy prophets long to experience such to make
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Us blessed It should make us blessed and thankful So through their own writings described the future manifestation of the salvation to come
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And their desire to understand these prophecies was so compelling It was so pervasive and that the prophets actually as the scripture says they inquired and searched carefully
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Isn't that beautiful? Basically through the Old Testament prophets studied they studied their own writings
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Isn't that amazing? It shows you they wrote as the Holy Spirit was breathing upon them But they had to go back and study their own writings
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About what? About the promise of salvation to come About the Messiah to come
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They believed it personally They were saved from their sin by faith in that and that Christ They placed their faith in that The Messiah that would come
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Through the sacrifice that God would provide in Jesus Christ And they did not even fully understand it what they were involved in But they studied it inquired in it carefully
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Let's go to the second point Second salvation was the theme of the Spirit's inspiration
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Salvation was the theme of the Spirit's inspiration Verse 11b to 12a says the
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Spirit of Christ Who was in them was indicating when he was testified beforehand
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The sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow And then it says to them it was revealed that not to themselves but to us or to you
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Now I'd like you to notice a couple things here very important The prophecies of the
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Holy Spirit revealed to the prophets The Old Testament prophets were divinely inspired That word inspiration means
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God was breathing upon them Or in them as well as God was breathing
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And overall the overall theme of those prophecies was twofold
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Underscore this The great truth is that they spoke of was number one the sufferings of Christ Second the glories to follow
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You've got to get that Because that's what the promise encompasses in the person and work of Jesus Christ His sufferings and his glories
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I don't have time to go into all the Old Testament prophecies on this But you can read about the sufferings of Christ in passages such as Psalm 22
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Which is a messianic psalm Isaiah 53 or Daniel chapter 9 verse 24 to 26
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And even Zechariah 12, 10 And then he had the glories to follow including such truths as the resurrection
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His ascension and his enthronement Appear in passages like Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 and 7
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Daniel 2, 44 Daniel 7, 13, 14 And Zechariah 2, 10 and 13
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And Zechariah 14, 16 and 17 And by the way scores and scores of many other verses That's brief
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Not only was the spirit of Christ breathing upon them in our text here as Peter says The spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand
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The sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow Basically meaning that the person of the
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Holy Spirit Took up residence of the writers in the Old Testament Enabling them to write about the glories of salvation of Jesus Christ You know that God was breathing upon them
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And the spirit of God would come upon them But here as they were writing it was the spirit of Christ within them
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It's great Go with me to Acts chapter 3
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And see just briefly something here Even the apostle Peter in his own sermon
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In Acts chapter 3 as he stood up and preached Look at verse 22
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Well let me back up a little bit I believe it's worth speaking of Look at verse 17 all the way to the end
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Yet now brethren I know that you did it in ignorance as did also your rulers But those things which
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God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets There it is That Christ would suffer
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Notice what he's preaching He has thus fulfilled And what does he say to them?
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Repent therefore and be converted That your sins may be blotted out So that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the
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Lord And that he may send Jesus Christ Who was preached to you before Whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things
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Which God has spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets
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Since the world began For Moses truly said to the fathers
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The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me From your brethren
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Him you shall hear all things Whatever he says to you And it shall be that every soul
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Who will not hear that prophet Shall be utterly destroyed from among the people That's powerful
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In other words you're for him or you're against him You hear him or you don't You repent or you go to hell
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The word of God is straightforward In verse 24 Yes again he speaks
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And all the prophets from Samuel And to those who follow As many as have spoken
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Have also foretold these days You are the sons of the prophets
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And of the covenant which God made with our fathers Saying to Abraham And in your seed all the families of the earth
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Shall be blessed And to you first God Having raised up his servant Jesus Send him to bless you
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And turning away every one of you From your iniquities You see how the message is given
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He gives of the graciousness of God That Jesus Christ comes The Messiah has come
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And he's basically saying Therefore you need to repent Turn from your sins
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Repent therefore be converted That your sins may be blotted out So that the times of refreshing may come
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From the presence of the Lord You want the times of refreshing to come to you Repent and be converted Wonderful scripture
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Well let's go to the third point Back to 1 Peter 1 .12
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The third is salvation was the theme of the apostles preaching To them it was revealed
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Verse 12 That not to themselves but to us To you they were ministering to things Which now have been reported to you
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Through those who have preached the gospel to you By the Holy Spirit sent from heaven Now stop right there
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Now The Holy Spirit Inspired not only the Old Testament prophets
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But also the New Testament apostles They took the fully revealed gospel of Jesus Christ As the theme of their preaching
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I promise you Read the word of God In the book of Acts They preached Christ crucified
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They preached Christ resurrected They preached Christ and not themselves They preached
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Christ, Christ, Christ And isn't that what preachers should be preaching today? Spurgeon says if you don't preach
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Christ Go home and don't preach again He's point blank
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And by the way When the Holy Spirit is in a ministry
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The Holy Spirit always glorifies Jesus Christ How do we know this?
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The word of God tells us this Because John It's not by some experience or emotionalism The word of God tells us
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John chapter 16 verse 12 through 14 Listen to the word of God Jesus says this
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I still have many things to say to you But you cannot bear them now Verse 13
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However when He, the Spirit of truth Has come He will guide you into all truth For He will speak not of His own authority
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But whatever He hears He will speak And He will tell you things to come And by the way He's addressing specifically the apostles here
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This does apply to us But He's basically speaking specifically To the apostles and their ministry
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As they would write of Jesus Christ And the truths The revelation Verse 14
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He will glorify me Speaking of the Spirit of God He will glorify me
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And He will take of what is mine And declare it to you
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Notice what He says in verse 12 It refers specifically to the apostles Technically what the Lord Jesus says
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About the ministry of the Holy Spirit In verses 12 through 15 Applies primarily to the apostles
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Because they will write of Jesus Christ And the revelation The Holy Spirit's ministry
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It was a three -fold ministry He would guide them into all truth Number one Number two
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He would tell them of the future Verse 13 And number three He would help them Come alongside them
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To glorify Jesus Christ So Jesus' words were fulfilled
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In the apostles In their preaching And in their writings And we saw that As we read 2
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Peter chapter 1 So salvation was the theme of the prophet's study Salvation was or is the theme
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Of the Spirit's inspiration Salvation is the theme Of the apostles' preaching And last
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Fourth Salvation is the theme Of the angels' examination
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The angels' examination Look at verse The latter part of verse 12 Things into which the angels long to look
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Into Things in which the angels long to look into Now This is glorious As we look into this
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Believe that according to the scriptures That the apostle Peter is no doubt Through the inspiration of the
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Holy Spirit In which he writes this Is primarily talking about the angels of God The elect angels in heaven
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Who praise and worship God Who did not fall with Satan And even though the fallen angels
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Look upon Christ But they look upon Him in a different way There's even some reserved
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As Jude says Reserved in chains of judgment But here these are the angelic
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Elect angels The angels that did not fall with Satan In his rebellion The angels that are constantly adoring
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God The sovereign God of glory The sovereign King The exalted Savior And behold
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Him in the glories of heaven You see this in Revelation Look at all what the angels do
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Powerful angels Ministering angels Messengers Preaching the gospel
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Even in the very last days Before Jesus Christ comes And the angels before God in heaven
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Are amazed even themselves Of the wonderful salvation That God has brought to wicked sinners
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I want you to see this They see and they behold What? The marvel and the wonder
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Of God's glorious grace In saving sinners That He would even look down From His throne in heaven
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In mercy To poor, wretched, ruined sinners like us
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Who are far lower than the angels in present glory That's a warm you heart
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Fallen sinners Unworthy as we are To redeem us from our sin
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To redeem us by God's grace Through Jesus Christ God is such a gracious, saving
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God The angels are desiring to even look upon Him Look down at this
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How God saves through the blood of Christ To secure our future in glorification
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By His resurrection To sit at the Father's right hand of power To intercede for us continually
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To destine us For heaven
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To make us heirs of God And join heirs with Jesus Christ You know what
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He says? Angels long to look at That'll make you pause
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That's a seal, isn't it? Meditate on this Can I tell you a couple of words
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It means here And this really gives some light on this The word long in the
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Greek Translates describing having a strong desire Or an overpowering impulse
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That is not easily satisfied These angels have a strong desire
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Overpowering impulse That is not easily satisfied And desiring to look at this
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That term indicates that angels' interest in salvation Is not just merely for curiosity
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But it's a strong passion with them
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That's the word long What about the word look? You'll love this The word look literally in the
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Greek here Means to stretch one's head forward Or down to bend It's like they look down And they desire so much to look down From God's heaven and God's throne
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And say, oh God, look at how you're saving these ruined sinners In other words, the angels of God, as it were
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Want to get down close, down deeply Into the matters related to salvation We're talking about angels here
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That know nothing of sin I'm talking about the fallen angels
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MacArthur says this in his commentary They have a holy curiosity to understand
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The kind of grace they would never experience The holy angels do not need to be saved
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And fallen angels cannot be saved But the holy ones, he says Seek to understand salvation
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So that they might glorify God more fully Which is their primary reason for existence
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Well said So the angels of heaven are certainly
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Great experts of the value of this great salvation Given to ruined sinners like you and me
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They gaze at the wonder of it They desire to look into it And it's not that the angels of God have been
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They're messengers And you know, it's not that these angels of God Have not been involved in God's plan of salvation
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We know they were involved in God's plan of salvation If you read the scriptures Here's a few things
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I've noticed As I was studying this The angels of God announced Christ's birth
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They ministered to Jesus While He was here on this earth in the flesh In His times of testing on earth
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They stood by the grave When He rose from the dead They attended
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His ascension in heaven And now they serve Him ministering to all believers And God has made
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His angels Witnesses to what occurs in the body of Jesus Christ in the church
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And also they rejoice and they praise God in heaven When a sinner is saved They were watching the apostle
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Paul The scripture says As other apostles, as God continues to put His saving grace on display
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Before the angels And the scripture says that the manifold wisdom of God Might be made known through the church
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Rulers and authorities in the heavenly places Well, let me conclude Stop and think back a little bit now
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To my introduction Antiques Roadshow Think of how it must have felt after having an expert
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A qualified expert by the way Come alongside and tell them the remarkable value Of a possession that they had
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Think of how much more dearly it would mean and value What treasure they had
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When the expert said This is worth a lot But think much more care they would show towards it
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Knowing so much more of the great value that they had before Now something to think about, isn't it?
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Beloved, this is exactly what the apostle Peter has just given us As assessment of the great value of our salvation
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By the experts The salvation of the
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Old Testament prophets Studied it They inquired in it
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They searched diligently The salvation that was inspired by the Holy Spirit The salvation that the apostles preached
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And the salvation that the holy angels longed to look into Oh, how great the salvation of God is
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Let me ask some personal questions Paul Washer said it like this And I love Paul Washer And as you well know
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I quoted a strong verse A quote by him last Lord's Day But I really think a lot of Paul Washer He's a great evangelist
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He said this The question is not Do you want heaven? Do you want to go to heaven?
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Rather the question is Do you want God? That's the question
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And by the way That's the question we should ask people When we go in the highways and the byways It's not Do you want to go to heaven?
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Do you want God? That's the question Jonathan Edwards says
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How can you expect to dwell with God forever If you so neglect and forsake Him here? Wow Edwards also said this
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They who truly come to God for mercy Come to God as beggars and not creditors Very to the point
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Two questions I'm going to leave you an application here Number one What do we need to be saved from?
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And two What do we need to be saved for? What do we need to be saved from?
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And what do we need to be saved for? The word of God tells us these answers The first one Let me answer first of all
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From Matthew chapter 1 verse 21 That answers the first question What do we need to be saved from?
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Well the scripture says Speaking of the Virgin Mary We'll bring forth a son
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And you shall call his name Jesus That means Jehovah saves For he will or shall
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Save his people from their sins That's what he saves us from From our sins
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Romans 5 verse 18 and 19 Therefore as though through one man's offense
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Judgment came to all men Resulting in condemnation Cannot escape the human race
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Even though through one man's righteous act The free gift came to all men
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Resulting in justification of life For as by one man's disobedience
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Speaking of Adam Many were made sinners But also by one man's obedience
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Many will be made righteous 1 Peter 2 verse 24
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He, speaking of Jesus Christ himself Bore our sins in his body On the tree and on the cross
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That we might die to sin And live to righteousness That's the gospel beloved For by his wounds he says
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You were healed And it doesn't mean physical healing It means spiritual healing
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Christ bore our sins Because we need to be saved from our sins They are like a terminal disease
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That will kill us forever It's like a cancer That will damn us forever That's the way sin is
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It's like leprosy That will eat away with you Eat you away spiritually
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And take you to damnation And hell and eternal judgment But God desires to save to the uttermost
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Only the wounds of Jesus Christ Can heal that disease Only the blood of Jesus Christ And the gospel is the remedy
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This is our message This is the gospel 1 Peter 3 verse 18 says
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Christ also died for sins Once for all The just for the unjust
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In order that he might bring us to God To reconcile us to God Notice, don't you love that?
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The just for the unjust He came to call sinners to repentance Not the righteous
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Who is it that needs a physician? Is it those who are well?
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No It's those who are sick Jesus said He came to save sick sinners
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Christ died for our sins Because we need to be saved from our sins That's pretty plain, isn't it?
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1 Peter 4 verse 17 It is time for judgment to begin
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With the household of God This is strong This is Peter now And if it begins with us first What shall the end be
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For those who do not obey the gospel of God? That's a probing question, isn't it?
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We also need to be saved from God's judgment Not only do we need to be saved from our sins
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We need to be saved from the judgment to come Flee from the wrath to come, John said And then, by the way,
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John the Baptist And when Christ came, he said Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world
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He was basically pointing to him He's the Savior He's the Messiah There's not going to be any salvation in no one else
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Only He can save you Sin is not just a terminal disease that needs healing
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It is also a terminal guilt that deserves judgment You see, the gospel is good news
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It's glad tidings It's about salvation And God desires to save sinners
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Isn't that great? It's good news The bad news
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They got to understand the bad news Before they can appreciate the good news The bad news is You're a sinner
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And judgment's on you Condemnation's on you And there's a perfect standard That you're going to stand before God one day
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And every one of us falls short of that perfect standard And there demands a verdict
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We all stand guilty All have sinned and come short of the glory of God But there's someone
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There's someone that has come and fulfilled the law of God There's someone that lived and died for you
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That took your place of judgment That's the gospel
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And His name is Jesus Christ The gospel is good news That Christ bore the judgment
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The sins of all who trust in Him alone and repent
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I can't say it no more clearly than that This is exactly why At the beginning of Jesus' ministry
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In Mark chapter 1 verse 15 And He, speaking of Jesus, said this
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This is the first thing He started preaching The time is fulfilled And the kingdom of God is at hand
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Why is the kingdom of God at hand? Because the King This is the King that was speaking What did
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He say? Repent And believe in the gospel
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We need to be saved from sin We need to be saved from judgment And only the gospel of Jesus Christ is the remedy
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That can save us from sin and judgment, beloved Next question is this
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What do we need to be saved for? That's a good question, isn't it? What do we need to be saved for?
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Well, beloved Are we in danger of losing anything precious? Anything valuable?
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Is there a future life and joy That we are about to forfeit and throw away
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And need to be saved for? Listen to 1 Peter 2 .25
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And let the word of God in chapter and verse answer that Peter says, you were continually straying like sheep
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The apostle says this You, you were continually straying All we like sheep have gone astray
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The prophet says Not a one of us can say we don't stray He says you were continually straying
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Continually But now you have returned to the shepherd The guardian of your souls
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Isn't that great? Salvation means being brought home
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And reconciled to God by a loving shepherd Who will lead us in the green pastures As brother Keith spoke about this morning
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Can I quote a little bit from Psalm 23, 2 and 3? He makes me to lie down in green pastures
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He leads me beside the still waters He restores my soul
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He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake Did you notice that?
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He makes me He leads me He restores me
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He leads me And at the first of it he says The Lord is my shepherd
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Did you get that? He's my personal shepherd Can I ask you this morning?
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Is Jesus Christ Who is the good shepherd Who laid down His life for the sheep
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Is He your personal shepherd to this morning? Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
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Do you love Him? 1 Peter 5, 4 When this chief shepherd appears
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And he's talking about when He comes back a second time In His second coming You will receive an unfading crown of glory
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This is the unfading inheritance of verse 4 So we were saved for our inheritance of glory
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No more shame but honor No more disgrace or humiliation
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But the revelation of the glory of the children of God Last verse, Peter 5, 10
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Says that God has called us to this That the God of all grace has called you to His eternal glory in Christ This is the great inheritance that we have in Christ We are saved to share in the glory of Christ This is what
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He saves us for For His glory For His namesake
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And the result of this, of course Is that everlasting eternal joy in Heaven Isn't it glorious?
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1 Peter 4, 13 To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ Keep on rejoicing
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So that also at the revelation of His glory You may rejoice with exultation And beloved, can
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I say this? What we are saved for Is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ He saves you for that To know
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Him Didn't Jesus say it? He prayed it actually He says, and this is eternal life
01:01:27
That they may know you The only true God And Jesus Christ whom you have sent
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Do you know Him today? Do you love Him? Do you cherish that unspeakable gift?
01:01:44
That's only in Jesus Christ our Lord Well, let's pray Father, we thank
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You for this time of study And this wonderful, wonderful chapter Lord of all these wonders
01:01:58
And the glories of salvation That is given to our souls in Jesus Christ In which the prophets
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Longly searched into Carefully prophesied of the grace
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That unmerited favor that's only in You, Lord They searched it out
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Even the time frame The Spirit of Christ who was in them
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All of the glories that was revealed All in Jesus And everything that they prophesied
01:02:32
All in the Word of God Is fulfilled in Jesus Christ Lord, we thank
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You and we praise You For this great salvation Lord, we thank You today that We cannot save ourselves
01:02:46
This is not an act that we can do within ourselves It's only an act That we can be born from above By the
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Holy Spirit It is all an act of You It's not saying a prayer
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It's not doing this Or a performance It's not being religious It's not going to church
01:03:04
It is being born from above And solely even putting our faith in You Is an act of God Repenting is
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Your granting us that So Father, I pray that if there is anyone here today
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That does not know You I pray Lord Through Your Holy Word Give life to them
01:03:25
Grant them the repentance That they need to turn from their sin And to love and serve
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You forever and ever We ask this for Your glory In Your name Jesus Christ, the