Reasons For Praise (part 2) - [1 Peter 1:3-9]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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It is certainly easy to praise the Lord when things are going well, is it not? It is harder to praise the

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Lord when things are more difficult and we're in trials. Yesterday, I needed to go to Logan and I took

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Luke's friend, Renee, to the airport. And Renee, he and I, we thought, well, you know what?

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Why don't we stop at the north end and grab some Italian food and maybe Mike's pastry and then drop you off at the airport.

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It's kind of hard to park there, but let's give it a shot. So we drive to the north end and found a parking spot right away.

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Went to the number one Italian restaurant rated on Yelp. Walked in, supposed to be a long line, can't get in, have to have reservations for a month.

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Oh, you can sit right here, watch the chefs cook. I mean, the little neck clams, the garlic.

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I got some homemade pasta, had olives on it, capers.

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Did I mention garlic? And we sat there and we were eating.

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I said, I'm afraid to go out to the car because I got the perfect spot to park. I've got the perfect restaurant and now the car's going to be exploded or blown up or stolen or something.

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This is too good to be true. And I couldn't wait to get home, brought some for Kim so she could try it.

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And I just think, man, the chefs, the service, the taste, the capers, everything else is so great.

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Then I dropped Renee off at the airport and then the police officers were there and they said the

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Sumner Tunnel's closed. We're now going to close the Ted Williams Tunnel as well. See you in Chelsea.

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And I thought, I've gone from the highest highs of praise palate to I'm stuck in Revere someplace on the 1A with 50 other thousand people.

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It was a lot easier to praise God when I was sitting at that restaurant than when I was stuck on the 1A.

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If you take your Bibles and turn to 1 Peter 1, we're looking at praising God in spite of.

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I would like 2023 to be for you, dear congregation, and of course beyond 2023, a time where you can praise

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God. That you can think well of Him. That you can celebrate Him even though there are trials.

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It's a fallen world. Adam's sin is real. It's affected us. The creation has been affected. Our bodies have been affected.

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And there will be sickness and famine and fires and floods and death and all kinds of trials in our life in the next year.

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But I want you to know through 1 Peter, through scripture that's inspired by God, there's always a reason to praise

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God. Not necessarily for the trial, but who's in charge of the world and who the

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Lord is. Right? So in other words, you can always find reasons to praise God if you praise

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Him even though you might be in difficult circumstances. And so last week we looked at 1

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Peter 1 and following where it basically had Peter telling people that were persecuted on the run how to praise

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God. You think he might say gather together, there's strength in numbers, shelter, hunker down, share your food, here's a good place to run.

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I guess he could have said any of those things, but he mainly said I'm going to start off with a demonstration of praise.

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And no matter what has happened in your life the last year, week, or day, dear

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Christian, you have a lot to praise God for. Yes? And so today is a good reminder for all of us that as we try to lift our eyes up to the hills from where our help comes, that we're not just constantly bogged down in a land that if we're not careful will force us to be grumblers, complainers, people that always see the glass half full and we never praise

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God. You know, you can even praise God when you're persecuted for righteousness sake.

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And so I want this to be a template. Remember the introduction verses 1 and 2, just to read it and make a quick comment to catch us up to speed.

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I know there's some people that were not here last week. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, he's writing to those who are elect, chosen exiles of the dispersion.

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And these are the cities that they were dispersed to because of persecution. Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, some not even cities, some areas.

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According to the foreknowledge, the love of God ahead of time, of God the Father, in the sanctification of the

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Spirit, for the obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with His blood. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

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And Peter will tell us, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way.

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Peter will tell us, wives, here is how you're to act. Peter will tell us this is how we're to deal with government.

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But at the very beginning, front loaded if you will, he talks about praise. If you say, what is praise?

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I mean, that was a question I had when I was a kid. My mother would drive me to school every day that I missed the bus or didn't want to go on the bus.

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And we would listen to Jimmy Swigert on the radio. And there would be another show called Praise the

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Lord. And I had no idea. I thought it was like the name of a show. I didn't know what praise was.

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I knew what the Lord was. Praise the Lord. I mean, what really is praise? And here, we get a little idea.

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Verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is true praise. As Peter says,

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God is blessed. That's a good synonym for praise. God is blessed.

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God is to be celebrated. And to think about what God has given you with your body so that you can celebrate and bless

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God and speak well of Him. That's what to praise means. To speak well of God and to be thankful for what

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He's done and who He is. Think about what we have to praise God. Think about your voice.

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Think about your body. Think about your hands. Think about your eyes and ears. God has so given you everything you need so that you might praise.

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Now, sometimes that praise might be more, I don't know, I'm German, so maybe more stoic.

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And I don't have to be external. I'm not talking about praise has to be hands up or dancing or something like that.

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But from the heart, Peter, you can just see right from the very beginning, he wants to praise

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God. For who He is. To be spoken well of. That's what he wants.

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And so when I come to this passage, verses 3 through 9, it's a simple outline today.

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Nine reasons you can praise God no matter what you're going through or what you will go through.

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This is not some big exegetical sermon or what modifies what. Here's what I want to do today.

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I want to teach you the passage, but I also want to model something. I want you to go to a psalm, for instance, and see what the psalmist praises

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God for. And you say, that's exactly how I should praise God. You go to Ephesians chapter 1 and Paul praises

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God for election, for redemption, for sealing. And you say, that's exactly what I should praise God for.

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And so it's easy. You watch somebody praise God and you say, that's exactly what I should be doing. And it's not just watching a mother or father or grandmother praise

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God. It's Peter here, the inspired apostle, praising

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God. So we went through a few last week. Let's just catch ourselves up. There are about nine reasons you can praise

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God, no matter what. The first one was praising God for being triune.

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I asked the question, when was the last time you praised God for being triune? Maybe it was last week during the sermon. Do you see what he says in verse 3?

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And while he doesn't say the

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Holy Spirit, of course he believes in the Holy Spirit. He just talked about Him in the verse prior. So this section is about the triune

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God. God is one. There's one God. And there are three persons. And those persons aren't the same.

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The Father's not the Son, and the Son's not the Spirit, and the Spirit's not the Father. And these three persons, one

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God, they're the God of the Bible. Now, really, the rub in evangelicalism and the rub in New England in the 1700s was this.

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Jesus isn't God. We know the Father's God will lead the Spirit to another time.

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Maybe He's a force or something. But the argument was, Jesus isn't God. And it was right here in New England where congregational churches in central

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Massachusetts and in Boston said, You know, the Jesus of the Bible, not the kind Jesus who heals lepers, but the

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Jesus of the Bible who's coming back with flaming eyes and a sword and is going to be judging.

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That's too much for us. I mean, we're enlightened people. We're sophisticated people. Judgment, wrath, that kind of Jesus we don't really want.

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Jesus is more of a teacher. He's more kind. He might be enlightened, but He's not God. And there's a battle within the

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Trinity always for the deity of Christ. That's the first thing that people attack. And I remember,

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I think it was not our Bob Bowman, but a different Bob Bowman, he always talked about that acronym HAND.

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So the next time somebody's hand comes to your door and knocks and says, I'm a Jehovah's Witness or a

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Mormon, and Jesus isn't God, they use their hand to knock. I want you to think of that acronym HAND.

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H, honor, right? Does Jesus receive honor as God? I mean,

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John is falling down at an angel's feet. If you met an angel, you'd fall down as well. And that angel would say every single time what?

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Keep going, but a little bit more enthusiasm. He'd say, get up, I'm a created being.

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But when people fall at the feet of Jesus and kiss Him or take ointment and rub His feet or worship

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Him and treat Him like God, guess what He does? He accepts it. H, honor.

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A, attributes. God is love. God is good. God is just.

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God is holy. Jesus is all those. Whatever's in God, God is.

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And Jesus is all that. Honor, attributes. Names is the

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N. So when somebody puts a hand on your door and says, Jesus isn't God, I've got some spiritual strychnine for you.

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Honor, attributes, names. Was the Old Testament describing God as Alpha and Omega?

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Yes. Is Jesus called the Alpha and Omega? The first and the last? How about Savior?

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How about Redeemer? How about Creator? Honor, attributes, names, and the last one,

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D for deeds. Did Jesus do things that only God could do? Of course,

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He could walk on water. He could heal people. He could forgive sins.

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Remember what they said to Him? I mean, there was that paralytic in Jesus said, Your sins are forgiven. They're like, that's easy for you to say.

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And Jesus said, what's easier to say? Your sins are forgiven. Rise and walk. So that, you know, the Son of Man has come to seek and save.

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I'm going to tell you, rise up and walk. And so that's exactly what He did. And they said, He's blaspheming because He is forgiving people's sins.

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We see Peter here praising God. Because God the Father is God. God the

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Son is God. And God the Holy Spirit is God. Secondly, we saw last week that you can praise

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God for His mercy. No matter what's going on in your life, you can say, God, thank you for your mercy.

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Do you see it in verse 3? According to His great mercy. I mean, we just talk about mercy in one of the songs.

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We should be given justice. Remember the angels that fell? No mercy given. No grace given.

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Only justice. What do we deserve? Justice. And God gives us mercy.

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And not just a little bit mercy, but a great amount of mercy. A mega amount of mercy.

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Ephesians 2 calls the rich in mercy. If you had to ask yourself the question,

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I'm a Christian because... What would you say? Because I deserved it?

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Because I'm better than other people? You should say, I'm a Christian because of God's mercy.

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Mercy there was great... Let's see, how does the song go? Charlie, help me. Mercy there was great and grace was free.

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Yeah. Pardon multiplied to me. You know, I've been here for 26 years and I've never done special music.

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Now you know why. I mean, what could be a bigger miracle than God taking someone who deserves justice and gives them mercy and saves them?

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This is very, very important for us, especially in a world of religion. I remember the tax collector and the

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Pharisee. And the Pharisee said, God, I thank you. I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

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I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but beat his breast saying,

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God, be what? Just to me? No, he said, be merciful to me.

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A sinner. We need mercy. Number three we saw last week. Third reason to praise

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God no matter what. We can praise Him for being triune. Praise Him for having great mercy. He sees us in pity and He does something about it.

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And now, number three, He caused your new birth. Right there in the text. We're just coming to the passage. We're looking for things that God has done and who

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He is. And we say, Peter praised Him for that. We'll praise Him for that too. And praise Him for who He is. He caused us to be born again.

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You didn't cause yourself to go to heaven. Your baptism didn't cause you. We have something called baptismal regeneration that some people believe when you're immersed or sprinkled that God makes you alive through that process.

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That's not what the Bible teaches because it's through faith and faith alone. Some people believe in decisional regeneration.

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And all you have to do is make one decision, you walk an aisle, everything's set. No, no, God causes you to be born again.

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He makes you born again. And by the way, some folks don't really like the theology that God's in charge of salvation.

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But you, dear friend, have to reckon with this first, do you not? God caused you to be born again.

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I am born again. I didn't bear myself. I am born again.

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The Greek language has had kind of three time periods generally. Classical Greek, New Testament Greek, and modern

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Greek. And there are some similarities. I find it fascinating that to be born again in secular or classical

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Greek was used with trees and spring and botany. Where all of a sudden you walk out after a long winter and the trees start to turn green and the plants start to turn green.

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And it's like they're alive again and born again. And I think about my life before I was saved.

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Kind of a dry, shriveled up, spiritual person. And then God makes you alive.

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You respond with faith. How can a man be born when he's old?

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Nicodemus said to Jesus. He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? And Jesus said, truly, truly,

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I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

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That's Jesus teaching Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, something right from the Old Testament. What's being born again all about?

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Listen to Ezekiel talking about God's work in us. I will sprinkle clean water on you.

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Wouldn't you like to be clean? And cleanse you from all filthiness and all your idols.

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I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you. I'll remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a new heart.

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Who does that work? Do we? I will sprinkle. I will make you clean. I will cleanse you from filthiness.

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I will give you a new heart. By the way, if I made myself born again,

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I'd praise myself. All the praise is for God and God alone.

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Number four, found in verse three still, just coming to the passage, very simple. You can do this with any kind of praise section or the

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Psalms. You just look for areas where they praise God, you praise God as well. And I know that's what Peter intended, to be a model of praise for these people.

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Caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

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A living hope versus a dead hope. A living God versus a dead God. Hopeless?

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No. Despair? No. I love 1 Thessalonians 5, it says we have armor.

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Remember like Ephesians 6 with the armor of God and you've got swords and breastplates and shoes.

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And there's a helmet. And here's what the helmet is called in 1 Thessalonians 5. The helmet, the hope of salvation.

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Because we live in a hopeless world. Everybody has no hope. And we're to protect our mind thinking there's something better that's in the future.

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That's what hope is. I'm expecting something great in the future. That's what hope is. I not only desire something good in the future, but it's going to happen.

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And now we move to number five, the resurrection. Praising God for the resurrection. In the original language, it's a tie -in with living hope.

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But we'll isolate it because it's certainly praiseworthy that Jesus is alive, is it not?

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I just officiated a funeral this week and where would we be without Jesus, the resurrection and the life?

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Through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Now we know that Jesus was raised, but let me just read to you

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Romans 6 and see the tie -in between Jesus' death and your death, Christian. Jesus' resurrection and your resurrection,

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Christian. For if we've been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

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We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

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So here's the picture of union with Christ. As Jesus died, we died with Him. That old life died.

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And as Jesus was raised, we were raised with Him unto newness of life. Now we move to number six.

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Praise God for your inheritance. You get an inheritance, dear Christian, verse 4 and 5.

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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 a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

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You get an inheritance. This is especially good because many people's inheritances are everyone's inheritance on earth.

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Moths can destroy, rust can destroy, thieves can take. But there's a special inheritance that every

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Christian gets. By the way, I have no grandparents. I have no parents.

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I have no uncles. I have no aunts. Kim has no parents, no grandparents, no uncles, no aunts.

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I think of, we're all out of inheritances. Some of you have parents that are rich or you're thinking, one day

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I'm going to get that payoff. We want them to stay alive as long as possible. But when they do die, we know what's coming. Can you imagine going in that room with the lawyer and everything's divvied up?

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They call your name, how much money you get. Oh, I envy you. Now, if you have rich parents, you have a glorious inheritance, a lot of inheritance, and you think, oh,

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I was born into privilege and I'm a blue blood and I just can't wait for that day. Well, what if you're poor and you have nothing?

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What if you're poor and everything's taken because you're in exile and you're running and you're living in Cappadocia, you're on the run, you're just a pilgrim, you have nothing, and you're thinking, wait a second,

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I'd like an inheritance. You mean to tell me that I can praise God for an inheritance? Yes. Now, if you think like a

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Jew just for a minute, a Jewish person coming to this passage, what was the great inheritance of every Jew?

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What were they looking forward to? And if you can look at Numbers 32, Deuteronomy chapter 2,

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Deuteronomy 12, what's the inheritance, the ultimate for the Jewish person as they were thinking through things?

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The ultimate thing was land. Now, this is not a sermon about future for national

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Israel and do they have a land or not. That's not even coming into question. That's not what the passage is about.

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Here's what he's after. Jewish people, you thought the land was the end all. I'm telling you that you get a better inheritance than the land even.

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That's amazing. The inheritance is in heaven reserved. Why? Because you're a son or you're a daughter.

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Listen to Spurgeon. Joy, my brethren, in the glorious inheritance which is prepared for you.

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Unstained, uncorrupted, perfectly pure, and therefore it will last forever because the elements which produce decay are not in it.

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You should know you have an expected possession in heaven. And it's not gold or silver, but it's the

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Lord Jesus Himself. Listen to Philippians. For our citizenship is in heaven, for which we also eagerly wait for a

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Savior, Jesus the Lord and Savior, who will transform the body of your humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He even has subject to all things to Himself.

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By virtue, think about it, by virtue of birth, you get an inheritance. By virtue of being born again spiritually, you get an inheritance.

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What kind of inheritance? Look at how he modifies it with three descriptions to magnify your praise.

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First, it's imperishable. Nothing can corrupt it. Nothing can tamper with it.

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This is language of an invading army comes in. And when an invading army comes in, what does it do?

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It ravages. It destroys. It conquers. It takes over. It makes everything perish.

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So he's trying to tell you, you know what? While sin, transgression, sullies everything on earth, you have an inheritance that's not going to fade away.

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I love the Lord Jesus' description in Hebrews 7. It was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, and undefiled.

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No sin. And not only that, unfading. You see, it's right there in your text.

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It will not fade away. It won't wither. It won't go away. It is unfading.

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And lest I forget, imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

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Well, there's more reasons to praise. There's number seven. Oh, this is a big one. This is a debatable topic with so many people.

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I don't think it should be. Praise God that your salvation is secure. It's found right there in verse 5.

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And in verse 4. Two key words that I want you to focus in on for your salvation. Kept and guarded.

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To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading. Kept in heaven for you.

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Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation. Ready to be revealed in the last time.

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To keep. To be guarded. Of course, if you're thinking like a Bible person, you're saying, where would people put inheritances back in those days?

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In the bank? No. Probably in the ground? Yes. Probably hidden in the wall of their home?

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Yes. And people can have access to those? And how are we going to keep those safe? Listen to some words that have keep in them.

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That describe how God the Son keeps people. I'm no more in the world,

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Jesus said. And yet they themselves are in the world. And I come to you, Holy Father. Keep them in my name.

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John 17 goes on. While I was with them, Father, I was keeping them in thy name. Which thou has given me.

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And I guarded them. Can you imagine corruption within? Satan without?

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And left to ourselves, we are going to be decimated. But God keeps. Jesus keeps.

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He also protects. It's kind of interesting if you look at the root word protect. It just means to stare at for a long time.

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And then it came to mean you stare at it a long time. Because you want to make sure they're watched.

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And they're guarded. And they're protected. It's this kind of idea. Don't take your eyes off of them.

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I remember years ago when Kim and I took the kids to Agawam.

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What's it? Six Flags. What's the water park called there? Six Flags Water Park. Okay, thanks.

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Thanks. And Luke was little. And I said,

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Luke, let's go to the water park. Let's go. They've got these guns that shoot water.

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And I'm not going to shoot you, Luke. I'm going to shoot everybody else's kid. And I'm up there just shooting these other people.

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These parents, they don't know what's coming. You're just shooting them with these water guns. I thought, man, this is, I love

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Massachusetts. That's what I thought. We'd never do this in sophisticated California. But here,

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I took my eye off him for a second. It's like I took my care off of him for a second. And then he was with a thousand other people.

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And then I'm running around, Luke, Luke, Luke. Never found him. He's still just as lost as he was.

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Brian Bartlett's going to leave and go call Luke right now. Because you're staring. You're looking.

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It's concern. I'm looking. I've got my eyes on you. And then it developed into protection.

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Then it developed into army language, where you have to protect people so you're not under a siege.

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It was fortress. It was strong. Through many dangers, toils, and snares,

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I have already come to his grace that brought me safe thus far. And grace will lead me home.

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You're guarded, Christian. God won't lose you. If God could lose you, he wouldn't be faithful.

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Because whoever believes in him has eternal life. And you will persevere to the end by his preservation.

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Will I make it to the end? Will I die well? Will I be

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Peter one day and a Judas the next day? You're guarded. You're kept.

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Isn't that good to know? That's worthy of saying, God, I'm hurting, I've lost loved ones, but still, you are my all in all.

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Psalm 121, My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip.

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He who keeps you will not slumber. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

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The Lord will protect you from all evil. He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth forever.

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He guards you. He protects you. He keeps you. You're safe. You say,

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I'm weak. He's strong. I'm tempted and sometimes fall. But God is faithful.

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People say, well, the doctrine of eternal security and the doctrine of the perseverance of saints, this is a doctrine.

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Okay, it's something about God that's true, that he keeps us. But it's more than a doctrine. It's a praise.

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God will keep you to the very end. For the mountains may depart and the hills may be removed, but my steadfast love,

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God says, shall not depart from you. Isaiah 54 I mean, as I just read the

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New Testament, I could just go from Matthew to Revelation and just read verses like this to show how great

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God is in His protecting and His keeping. God shows His love for us that while we are still sinners,

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Christ died for us. Since therefore we have been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.

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There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

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Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

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Knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring you into His presence.

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Sealed for the day of redemption. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of the

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Lord Jesus. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. And this is the promise that He made to us, eternal life.

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Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only

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God our Savior through Jesus our Lord be glory, dominion, authority, majesty before all time, now and forever.

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Is that all? Number eight. You can praise God for many things in spite of circumstances like Him being triune, merciful, causing your new birth.

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You've got a living hope, resurrection, inheritance, secure salvation. And now number eight.

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Interestingly, maybe harder. Number eight.

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Praising God for His refining tests. God wants you to mature.

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God wants you to grow. And the way He grows us and matures us is through trials.

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Testing. Verse six. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

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Trials are real. Cancer is real. Suffering is real. Death is real. Getting fired is real.

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And we grieve. We're not stoic. We're not robots. But what's going on behind the scenes?

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Why is God doing this? So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it's tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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What happens when God puts us in the refining fire? We say to ourselves things like, well,

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I didn't respond perfectly to that trial, Lord, but I still trust in You. Though You slay me like Job said,

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I'll trust in You. 2 Corinthians 4.

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Our momentary light affliction is working out for us more and more, surpassing an eternal heavy weight of glory.

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We say to ourselves, the Lord Jesus, He was perfect and He even suffered.

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And the servant who suffered has servants that suffer, and we're going to suffer. It's God's will that we suffer.

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Why? Why? Because He's trying to exact punishment on us? No, but He is teaching us.

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Listen to James. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, knowing that the testing of your faith produces what?

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You ever pray for more patience? You better duck. No, sorry. That would be a pagan thing to say.

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You better be prepared for the trials. It produces steadfastness. Not only that,

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Romans 5, we rejoice in our sufferings. Why? Because we're masochistic? No. Knowing that suffering produces what?

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Endurance. Don't you need endurance? The trials get bigger and bigger in life. And endurance produces character.

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Character produces hope. Hope doesn't put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts.

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J .C. Rowell said, Every cross or trial is a message from God and intended to do us good in the end.

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God, I thank You for the trial. I thank You for what You're doing in me. I'll praise You. And then lastly, number nine.

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Taylor, did you know I was going to talk about this sermon? And so you picked that song. That's very wise of you.

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You remain hired. Wonderful ministry. Thank you for that.

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Praise God that you'll see Jesus face -to -face one day. One day face -to -face.

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No longer faith but sight. Great implication of that here in verses 8 and 9. Though you've not seen

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Him... Now, Peter, did he see Jesus? Yes, but the people that were persecuted, they didn't see

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Jesus. They're on the run. They never saw the risen Savior. He said, though you've not seen Him, you love Him.

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Though you do not now see Him, meaning you'll see Him one day, you believe in Him. I can't see

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Him by walking by faith and not by sight and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

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He is saying that even though you can't see Jesus, Peter, the one who saw Jesus, you can't see

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Him, you love Him, and you're excited one day to be with Him. This is language in this passage.

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Like you're so happy, you jump for joy. Some of you older people can identify with me.

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Do you remember what it's like to jump? That's my jumping right now.

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How about this? It's the language of what people do when they skip.

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Kids are so happy, they can't hardly stand it anymore, and instead of walking, instead of running, what do they do when they're most happy?

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Skip. Hey, little skipper. So full of joy.

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How can it be, though? I have issues in life. I have health issues, friend issues, family issues, work issues, the world seems to be going to H -E -double -toothpicks -in -a -hand -basket.

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What's going on? How can I? Listen, there's an after. There's a later. Jesus has promised.

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And now you don't see Him, but you will see Him, and you can have not great joy only now, but think about it then.

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Did you know that hope in the future determines your joy in the present?

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It fuels it. And you say, I'm kind of a joyless person, and I struggle, and I'm the downer, and I'm this, and I'm that, and I'm just trying to do the right thing.

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I'm repenting. I don't want to do that anymore. Well, what Peter is saying is, think future. Think future.

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You've had loved ones that have probably died in Christ, and you know their suffering, and morphine, and pain, and they close their eyes for the last time, and just think of the difference between the pain on earth and then glory the next second.

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What's the difference there? What a difference there. Great joy.

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Jesus was teaching the men, and He said regarding some master, well done, good and faithful slave or servant.

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You were faithful with a few things. I'll put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.

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No wonder with Luke 2, great news, great joy for all people when

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Jesus showed up. One scholar defined joy this way, triumphant overflow of Christian gladness.

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I mean, isn't it so convicting? Because I know left of myself, I'm just the, just kind of slog through, and I know

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I'm supposed to have joy, and here Peter is given the template. When you look to yourself, not too good.

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When you're looking up, there's always a reason to praise. Spurgeon said it this way, little faith will take your soul to heaven.

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You have a little faith in the right object. But great faith will bring heaven into your soul.

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Did you get that? Little faith will take your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul. I know one day,

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I'm going to see Jesus face to face. I have no idea what that expression is going to be like.

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We won't have to bow because of our sins, but we'll probably bow in worship. To think about heaven, and I think the opposite, here's what the world says,

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Mark Twain, go to heaven for the climate, hell for the company. Nietzsche, in heaven, all the interesting people are missing.

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Doris Day, if there's a heaven, I'm sure Rock Hudson is there. He was such a kind person.

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There will be somebody interesting in heaven. Very interesting. With a superlative degree.

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Remember sometimes when we talk about loved ones who die, they've gone to glory? Remember how we talk that way?

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He's gone to glory. Why do we say that? Gone to glory. Well, he's glorified. That's true.

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I think Owen helps us because heaven's more of a person than a place. And Jesus the Lord of glory is there.

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You're gone to glory. Owen, the reason why God is said to be in heaven is not because His essence is included in a certain place so -called.

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It's not like He's only in heaven. But because of the more eminent manifestations of His glory there.

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That's why Hebrews 2 says He brings many sons to glory. We shall be always with the

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Lord in heaven. 1 Thessalonians 4. Revelation 21, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be

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His people, and God Himself shall be among them. We'll see

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Him face to face. Jesus said it in John 14. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself.

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And where I am, you'll never come. Is that what

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He said? You may be there also.

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I'd like you to turn to Revelation 5, and we're going to end here. I just want you to get a glimpse of what heaven's going to be like.

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And you, dear Christian, are going to see this with your own eyes. If you're not a Christian, you should be praising

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God for the Lord Jesus. And maybe you should ask Him to help you do that and repent of your sins and trust in the

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Lord, the risen Savior, because you're going to need an advocate on that great day. But for Christians, we understand who that advocate is.

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And we get a little scene of heaven. What's heaven going to be like? Clouds and cherubs and floating and people think you're just going to be bored all day.

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Here is heaven. And it rings with the truths of 1 Peter 1.

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Rejoicing with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. Here is

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Revelation 5 .1 the scene of who Jesus is. Pick it up in verse 6.

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And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, resurrected, as though He had been slain, crucified.

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With seven horns, power, seven eyes, all seeing, seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

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He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne. And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the

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Lamb, each holding a harp and the golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of saints. And they sang a new song.

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There's praise already in heaven. Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain and by Your blood

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You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and You've made them a kingdom and priests to our

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God. They shall reign on the earth. I looked around. I heard around the throne the living creatures and the elders and the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

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Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wisdom and wealth and might and honor and glory and blessing.

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I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying, To Him who sits on the throne and to the

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Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said,

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Amen. And the elders fell down to worship. Did you see the word glory in verse 12 and the word glory in verse 13?

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I know you did. No matter what this year comes our way, what comes our way this year, you can praise

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God for who He is. Let's pray. Father, I'm thankful for these dear people that You would give us these scriptures to help us.

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I'm sure, Father, as the pastor, I could say on behalf of these dear folks, we do struggle with praise.

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We do struggle with anxious thoughts and complaining hearts.

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Father, would You forgive us? Would You help us replace that with praise, with thanks?

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We have so much to thank You for. And with the hymn this week, we can say, Count Your many blessings, name them one by one.

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Count the many blessings, see what the Lord has done. And who You are, Triune, and what You've done, great mercy causing us to be born again.

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We thank You for that. We praise You for that. Father, would You help us to be good witnesses this year as we suffer, as we're in trials, so that other people might see and they might glorify

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You as Jesus had preached in Matthew 5. It's in His name we pray. Amen.