Anchored #1 - Introducing 1 Peter (1 Peter 1:1-2)

Redeemer Bible Fellowship

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Faith family, I'm incredibly excited because we are beginning a new sermon series that will take us through the summer that I have called anchored

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Anchored stabilizing truths for a shaky world and as I mentioned

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We are going to be studying the letter of first Peter first Peter and as we study first Peter What we're going to find is that there is a lot of rich truth that acts as anchors and destabilizers for us in a world that continues to feel increasingly unstable for the people of God and So I'll say more about that as we start the message

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But for now if you have your Bibles, and I hope you do take them and turn with me to two passages We're gonna read of the letter in chapter 1 and then we'll read from the end of the letter in chapter 5 so first Peter chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 and Then first Peter chapter 5 verses 10

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Through 12. So first Peter chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 and then first Peter chapter 5 verses 10 through 12 and If you're able to do so Can I invite you to stand with me out of reverence for God's Word as we come to the hearing and the preaching of it?

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First Peter chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 will return to our usual habits of reading responsibly, so I will read the odd numbered verses and We'll read the even numbered verses together

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So I'll read the odd numbered verses by myself and the even numbered verses we'll read together

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So first Peter chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 and then chapter 5 verses 10 through 12

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The text says Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those chosen

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Living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the

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Father Through the sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ May grace and peace be multiplied to you turn over to chapter 5 chapter 5 and verses 10 through 12 verse 10

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The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory will himself restore

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Establish strengthen and support you after you have suffered a little while to him be dominion forever

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Amen Through Sylvanus a faithful brother as I consider him

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I have written to you briefly in order to encourage you to testify that this is the true grace of God Stand firm in it pray that God will bless that reading of his word and grant us understanding

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Let me pray ask the spirits help and we will get to work in this text Heavenly Father we thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy to us

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Thank you that we have yet another opportunity to open up your word and to hear it speak to us as your people

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Pray that as we begin this study in first Peter that you would open our eyes That we would see wonderful things out of your law help us to see

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The blessing that is the Christian life even in the midst of suffering and instability and help us to see how we find

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Hope how we find Stability and security how we find an anchor not in ourselves

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But in our Lord Jesus Christ Father as I pray that for us.

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I also pray that for Gold Valley Fellowship out there in Gold Hill pray for my brother Pastor Dave Gomez and the ministry has their pray for them as they

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Navigate a season of unsureness about what the next steps are pray that you would be with them Grant them wisdom grant them insight bless their ministry there

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And father even as you bless the ministry of the word there pray that you would bless the ministry of the word even now We ask all these things in Jesus name and for his sake.

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Amen Please be seated if you were to ask me

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What I think the top invention of this millennium was My answer might surprise you

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It's some of you know, I love my books But it's not the book because the book as we know it the codex

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Actually was invented in the 2nd century AD so not this millennium It's not the

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Internet. I think we can all agree that the Internet is a blessing and a curse Sometimes it's more curse than blessing

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No, you know what my top invention of the millennium is if you had to kind of pin me to the wall and say Kofi What do you think is the greatest thing we've come up with in the last thousand years?

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Do you know what my answer would be? satellite navigation Never again.

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Do I have to be lost going somewhere? It's wonderful. I hate being lost Never have to do that again

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Never do I need to spend more time going somewhere than I actually need to Some of you, you know,

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I travel a bit. I don't like traveling. I like getting to where I'm going. I hate traveling But at least when

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I'm in my car, I can get there in the quickest amount of time possible I don't have to waste time if I just humble myself and listen to the instructions

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I get from point A to point B in lightning speed or what feels like it anyway, I Don't have to mess with maps.

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I don't have to remember how I got there. I don't have to explore Don't have time for that. Just nice and efficient movement from point

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A to point B If I'm one of those people weird people that when I travel I look up where I'm going

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I look up when I'm where I'm going to eat usually the same one or two places any other things I want to do even where I'm going to church and Generally, I won't go somewhere if I can't find a good church on a

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Sunday before I get there because again Efficiency It's helpful to know where you're going before you go, isn't it?

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If you just kind of I mean some people thrive on that like I'm just gonna go and get lost I don't have time for that.

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I'll just be honest. I don't I Like to know where I'm going so when I get there

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I can enjoy the destination and not spend my time planning the journey Kofi what does this have to do with first Peter?

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Well actually has everything to do with first Peter Because I would argue that principle of knowing where you're going before you get there is a helpful principle

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But when you come to study your Bible That when you come to study a Bible don't just jump into chapter 1 verse 1 you might want to take a second

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Do some background work So that as you

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Well walk your way through the book of the Bible that you find yourself studying You'll actually get far more out of the book than you imagine

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As I said, we are kicking off a summer series that we are quoting anchored Stabilizing truths from a shaky waters.

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I've said we're going to be in first Peter And if I'm honest, I can only think of a handful of books that are more relevant to this time

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Than the one that we're about to spend the next 13 weeks studying together in an age of frighteningly low levels of biblical literacy

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I'm firmly in agreement with Pastor David Helm. David Helm is director of the Charles Simeon Trust Their job is they train preachers in expository preaching

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Excellent ministry highly recommend them David Helm who's the director of that and a pastor himself,

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Pastors Christ Church Chicago in the downtown area of Chicago He wrote this in his commentary on first Peter, which

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I recommend in this week's study guide highly recommend it He said quote life is difficult

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But this harsh truth has not always been understood by those following Jesus Christ Many Christians today have trouble sorting out the complexity of their identity and calling in Christ they were rare to believe that a

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Christian should only experience the joys of Being one of God's elect

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They have been taught nothing of our exilic state I don't disagree

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I'll be honest we who stand behind the sacred desk have not always done a good job of getting people ready for Hard times and so when the hard times hit what usually happens is

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People go down like pins and bowling because they've not been adequately grounded

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For when those times come and that's not to say when hard times come that we don't find them difficult that we kind of adopt

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You know the stiff upper lip. No nothing. No, we're not saying that But when tough times come we should not be completely flawed as though tough times are weirdness in the

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Christian life Well as a Bible teacher and more importantly as a shepherd of souls who's one day going to give an account

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For how I shepherded I feel it's my duty as it were to give some anchors from God's Word for the days approaching us

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I Feel that this letter that we're about to spend the rest of the summer

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Walking through is going to help us to gain some stability when it comes to the world in which we find ourselves because I don't know about you sometimes this world feels like it's moving a little too quickly and If I'm not holding on to something firm,

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I might be shaken of course So this afternoon I want to take a little time introducing first Peter I want to take a little time introducing first Peter and I'm going to use verses 1 & 2 at least initially to give us a bit of a rubric for Introducing this letter that we're about to study

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To help us get oriented and to plan our journey through this letter because again I want to be able to plan this our journey through this letter so that as we get into the details of it

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We won't be lost along the way To help us get oriented this afternoon

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I want to consider six questions Six questions that are designed to open up our study of first Peter and to help us get our bearings as we begin

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I want to consider six questions. I'll give you a heads up the first two are gonna move really slow

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The next four will move very quickly So six questions two slow ones and four quick ones

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Hopefully you have something to write with you grab the study guide on the way in And you may want one of those because I have some maps and stuff that I'm not gonna have on screen

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So I hope that you have a copy of that with you Six questions then are gonna help us open up our study of first Peter question number one

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Who's our author? Who is our author? Well, we meet him in the first part of verse one so verse one says

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Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ Peter calls himself an apostle a term that I think if you read your

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New Testament You're very familiar with it comes up over and over and over again But I think at times is a term that we don't really grasp the full import of The word apostle is a literal translation is pulling the letters from Greek straight into English it means one who is sent an

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Emissary one who is going in the name and the authority of another

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To be an apostle wasn't just a title. It was a responsibility. It was a sacred

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Responsibility and not everybody was called to this responsibility The Quota as it were of Apostles was very very small.

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Not everybody who claimed the name of Christ was an apostle There were certain qualifications that were required for an apostle.

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Let me just share some of them with you first of all Biblical Apostles had to have seen the risen

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Christ to be qualified to be an apostle You had to have seen the risen

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Christ So in Acts chapter 1 the disciples following the return of Jesus into glory

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Recognize that one of their number Jew. I'm not you Judas. Excuse me is dead Recognizing that I'm that okay

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We need somebody to fill up the place that was take that was left behind. I should say by Judas We need another one.

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Listen to what the Apostle see Acts chapter 1 Because of time I won't read the whole thing

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I'm gonna jump to verse 21 Acts chapter 1 of verse 21 It says therefore in light of the fact that Judas had killed himself and was no longer part of the twelve

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Therefore from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the

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Lord Jesus went in and out from among us Beginning from the baptism of John until the day.

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He was taken up from us from among these it is necessary that one become a witness with us and please know a

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Witness with us of his resurrection so the specific thing at least one of them that made an apostle an apostle was the fact that an apostle was a witness to the resurrection

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Paul could say of himself first Corinthians chapter 9 verse 1 He's establishing why it's perfectly legitimate for him to receive payment for gospel ministry first Corinthians chapter 9 verse 1

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He says am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our

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Lord? You read the New Testament is clear that one of the qualifications for being an apostle was that They had to have seen the risen

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Christ But not only had they had to have seen the risen Christ secondly, they had to have been commissioned by Christ So in Matthew chapter 10 verses 1 through 4

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We have a list of the 12 and it says that Jesus summons the 12 He gives them authority of the unclean spirits, and then he sends them out to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom

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So you couldn't just pick yourself up all morning and say I'm an apostle No You had to be commissioned by Christ In Acts chapter 1 a verse that many people quote

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But I don't think they get the full import of Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 it says but you are

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Jesus speaking to the 12 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all

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Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth that term witnesses There's an interesting one. It literally means one who has seen these things and testifies of these things on pain of death

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It's where we got one martyr from but again, who is the one who does the sending here?

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Jesus is the one who does the sending so Biblical Apostles had to have seen the risen

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Christ secondly biblical Apostles had to be commissioned by Christ They didn't send themselves. They were sent by Christ the third mark that marked out true

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Apostles from false were that they performed authentic miracles

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They performed authentic miracles and these miracles were proof that they were sent from God So in 2nd

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Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12 Paul will speak of himself and he will say the signs of an Apostle were performed with unfailing endurance among you including signs and wonders and miracles

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Paul said you want to prove him second Corinthians is a fascinating letter it's Paul's defense of his ministry against the claims of some who claim that they were

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Apostles, but weren't and Paul says the signs of an Apostle were performed among you and they included signs wonders and miracles

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Tell me to Hebrew chapter 2 this one. I want you to see for yourself Hebrews chapter 2 Hebrews chapter 2 beginning in verse 1

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Hebrews chapter 2 beginning in verse 1 text says for this reason

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And who Jesus is that's chapter 1 for this reason We must pay attention all the war to what we have heard so that we will not drift away

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For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received the just punishment

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Verse 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

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This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord So you have number one

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Jesus who is the Lord here he comes and he proclaims his gospel Secondly it was confirmed to us by those who heard him so there were those who heard

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Jesus his Apostles and Then the authors of the Hebrew says there was a group called us by the way

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That's why I don't think Paul wrote Hebrews because Paul's in the category of the Apostles not those who heard

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That's a conversation for another time, but for now verse 4 is what I want to get to at the same time

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God also testified by signs and wonders and various miracles and distributions of gifts from the

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Holy Spirit according to his will oh Here are those same three words in the

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English and the original language signs wonders and miracles Being taught about in relation to the

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Apostles and the author to the Hebrew says that God Confirmed the message of the

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Apostles by the presence of these signs and wonders You read the book of Acts not everybody's out here doing miracles in the book of Acts.

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It's mostly the Apostles why? The the signs were basically proof that these men were from God and that the message

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Which was more important than the miracle that the message that they were bringing came from God and so those are your three signs as you think about an

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Apostle an Apostle had to have seen the risen Christ He had to have been commissioned by Christ, and he had to perform authentic miracles

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Well the question is did Peter meet that standard? Well, yes, he does you read the

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Gospels Peter saw and interacted with the risen Christ The most notable a number of times actually the most notable of which is in John chapter 21

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Remember the if you love me feed my sheep dialogue That was with the risen Christ Peter was a member of the twelve in fact in every list we have of the twelve

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Peter is top of the list every time We have four lists of the Apostles given to us in the

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Gospels. I won't tell you where that's your homework for this week Go find them, but in the four lists that we have you know whose name comes up every time top of the list

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Peter okay, so Peter saw the risen

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Christ. He was sent by Christ. Okay. What about miracles? Did he do those actually read the early chapters of Acts and Peter is party to a number of miracles

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Including the raising of the dead and so Peter was absolutely an

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Apostle He absolutely bore the marks of one who had been sent by Christ Peter seems pretty impressive when you first meet him and when you meet him here in first Peter He's like he's quite put together.

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This is the reflections of a mature man more about that in a moment But if you know Peter's backstory

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Peter was anything but polished and put together So yes, he's something of a senior figure among the twelve

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But Peter is pretty outspoken In fact in one of my favorite books on the life of the disciples

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Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur, you know the nickname that John MacArthur gave Peter in his book The Apostle with the foot shaped mouth

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Because when Peter opens his mouth, he's usually sticking his foot in it in some way One moment he could say something that was so profound so deep with insight

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My favorite of them is Peter the first time he meets Jesus, I believe it's in Mark's gospel

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The first time that he meets Jesus, Jesus tells him to go out to fish and he's like listen we were out all night

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Well boss, we're fishermen. We know how this works. Like we caught nothing But since you said we should go, we'll go

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They go and they catch more fish than they know what to do with and Peter's response is I think very profound

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I think it's an underrated response from him He says Lord depart from me. I'm a sinful man. There's something about you that's different and I shouldn't be here

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Peter was capable of profound insight one minute and Then the next minute

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I imagine if you tell we'll have our heads in our hands wondering if we were there like seriously Who is this guy like seriously?

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What are you talking about? The Apostle with the foot shaped mouth not only that Peter was brash and impetuous

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Peter as far as we can tell from the Gospels is the only Apostle the only one of the twelve

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Who had the gall to tell Jesus he was wrong and not only does he does this more than once More than once you meet

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Peter and he's telling Jesus. No, no, that can't go like that Some people say that he was older than Jesus age -wise possibly

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But kind of points to a bit of a brash and impetuous speak in him By the way, Peter's the only one of the

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Apostles as far as we know who got violent for the cause They come to arrest Jesus.

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He's like nah, that's not happening today Pulls out a sword and cuts off a soldier's ear

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You eat pizza in the Gospels and Peter is a work in progress to put it mildly But can

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I pause for a moment allow me to make a point of application real quickly Isn't it good to know that God does his best work with works in progress

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I don't know about you But ain't it comforting to know that the kind of bumbling but kind of sincere guy with not much impulse control

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Ended up being a pillar in the Lord's Church Isn't it reassuring to know that our flaws don't dis

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Disqualify us or basically kick us off from God being able to use us In a lot of ways,

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I mean Paul's actually my hero when I read the New Testament But I like Peter for a lot of reasons one of which is

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I know what it is for people who have told me Tell my face. I think you're disqualified.

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You have no business being in ministry. Just like kick him to the curb I can multiply for you stories of people who told me that over the years mostly for minor things that okay

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He's young he'll grow out of it. Show some grace. No, no grace. He's done, but isn't it good to know?

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That's not how God deals with people the flaws and imperfections that we have might disqualify us before people

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But isn't it good to know that people don't qualify us for the Lord's use. It's the Lord who qualifies us You see believer his faithfulness is our standing place.

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And since his faithfulness is our standing place even with our imperfections We can still be used by him

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And I put it to you that the Peter that we meet here in first Peter knows that all too well And that's why it colors the tone that we meet here

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I would argue that the Peter we meet in first Peter is an older man. He's a wiser man He's a man who's now been walking with Jesus for quite some time

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If I flip over to chapter 5 for a moment first Peter chapter 5 and know how

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Peter describes himself there first Peter chapter 5 Peter says

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I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and Witness to the sufferings of Christ as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed

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We'll come to this in more detail when we come to chapter 5, but I think that when Peter calls himself an elder here He's not just talking about as a fellow pastor overseer elder true

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But I also think he's talking about his age This is not a young man at this point, so who's our author?

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Our author Is Peter the Apostle and I put it to you that Peter is nearing the end of his life

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Not quite as close as second Peter, which Lord willing will come to in a future series but this is older wiser slightly more mature

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Peter Who as he's walked with Jesus over the years the Spirit of God has been able to do the work of Sanctification and to do the work of making him like Christ more and more and that shines through as you read this letter

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So that's question number one question number two Told you my two first questions gonna be a little long question number two

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Who's our who's his audience? Who is Peter actually writing to? So if question number one is who is our author question number two is who is his audience?

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I think we get a clue from reading the end of verse 1 and the beginning of verse 2 Now it's easy to think that when we study our

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Bibles. This isn't important after all you know most of us have been taught

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You know you pick up your Bible you read it You just kind of figure out what the text is saying and then you get to the really important work

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Which is not even what it says or what it means, but then you get to the work of applying it But for a moment allow me to get technical and talk about how we read our

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Bibles I'll meet a little technical here and for this I'm going to borrow from a professor of Biblical theology who has long gone home to be with the

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Lord. His name was Edmund Clowney and Ed Clowney Had something that's become known in some circles as Clowney Square The diagram you're about to see is often borrowed and recycled and today

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I'm borrowing it for the purpose of explaining something when we read our

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Bibles We are making a journey from the text as it was written To the world of today

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Now for many of us our temptation is to cross from the world as it was back then

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Straight to today. So I read this passage.

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It says something. It's speaking to me off I go But can

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I put it to you that if you go just straight from your text to today? You're going to end up making a text say things it was never intended to say why?

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Because you've ignored the point that the original author both human and divine

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Intended to make you see the way that God actually inspired the Bible was he wrote the

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Bible And as he writes the Bible he writes it to a first audience

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So Peter has an audience he has specific people He's writing to with specific backgrounds and specific circumstances and specific events that make them them

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Now you can't stop there and say okay now I understand who the first audience is

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I can now go straight to me and not quite can't do that either because That's how you end up with Sort of moralistic or legalistic applications moralism.

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Try harder and do better legalistic. Do this so God will love you Why because you've missed out the key component you need to do some

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Understanding of how this text fits in the wider story of what God is doing really the story of redemption

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So in that sense, you actually need to move One more lateral move across through some reflection thinking about the gospel

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Seeing how can this text connects to the gospel and then You can come on down and see how this text applies to me today.

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I Do that for a moment because I think it's important that we ask the question who's Peter writing to Because as we see who

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Peter is writing to we will see how they're different from us But we'll also see ways in which they're just like us and the ways in which they're just like us

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Will help us to apply this book not in a sort of slapdash fashion, but in the way that the

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Spirit of God intended So for a moment Who's Peter's audience?

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Like I said, I think we get a couple of clues From verse 1 and verse 2. First of all, this is a spread -out audience

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This is a spread -out audience So you see that there in verse 1 Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those

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Chosen living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia now if you picked up one of the study guides this afternoon, you'll see that there's a map there the map there

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Kind of shows the region to which this letter was written as you can see it covers a really wide area

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It's in Asia Minor what we today know as Turkey Unlike the letters of Paul Which are usually written to specific churches and they're written for specific purposes

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Peter is writing the kind of letter that is intended for mass readership

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But did you catch it? He says something else. He doesn't just say he's writing to those in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia He says he's writing to those chosen.

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We'll come back to that in a minute living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia This ties back with the theme of the exile in the

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Old Testament God's people living in a land not their own But called to glorify him while they're in this land.

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That's not their own If I came to theological this afternoon while I don't believe that the church replaces

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Israel I do believe that the church is the people of God just as saved

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Israelites were part of God's true people and in that sense the story of God's true people is

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The story of God's church in the New Covenant as well Just as God's people experienced times of being exiles and pilgrims language that Peter will pick up later on in our letter

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So we too find ourselves as exiles in a world that isn't our home

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So this is a spread -out audience

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But all these is a spread -out audience secondly, this is a select and a saved audience

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It's a select and a saved audience So again, look at verse 2 with me to those chosen according to the full knowledge of God the

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Father Through the sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ In verse 2

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Peter gets into a little more detail about what it means for these people who are living as exiles to be chosen and In particularly he says three things.

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He says first of all that they were chosen According to the foreknowledge of God the Father see out there in verse 2

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According to the foreknowledge of God the Father That the Father had loved these people from the foundation of the world and he had marked them out to be his forever people

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That's all that means when it says the foreknowledge of God the Father He's pulling this language from the Old Testament where God says he knows his people

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He has an intimate relationship with them, but Peter doesn't just posit that in time. He says listen before time

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God knew these people and he marked out these people to be his

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Secondly, he says that they were chosen not just according to the foreknowledge of God the Father But secondly through the sanctifying work of the

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Spirit the sanctifying work of the Spirit Now what is his sanctifying work here?

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This is not a reference to the Ongoing sanctification of the Christian. That's how we often think when we hear that term sanctification

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But the word here actually carries the idea of this once for all Oppositioning of the

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Christian the fact that the Christian when he becomes saved is set apart from the world and set apart for God So when he says that they were chosen through the

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Sanctifying work of the Spirit is that when they were saved God took them and he set them apart through the

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Spirit and made them his They were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the

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Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit Thirdly he says they were chosen to be spring to be obedient to excuse me to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Now this is the most interesting of the three

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What does Peter exactly mean when he ties obedience and being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus?

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If you're taking notes Exodus chapter 24 In your own time, I encourage you to read that Exodus chapter 24

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In Exodus 24 the children of Israel are Entering formally into the covenant that they had that God had made with them

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Allow me for a moment to read verses 3 through 8 Exodus 24 verses 3 through 8 Moses came and told all the people told the people all the commands of the

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Lord and All the ordinances then all the people responded with a single voice. We will do everything that Yahweh the covenant

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God has commanded And Moses wrote down all the words of Lord He rose early the next morning and took an altar and 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain

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Then he sent out young Israelite men and they offered burnt sacrifices as sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the

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Lord Moses took half the blood and set it in basins The other half of the blood he splattered on the altar

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He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people they responded

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We will do and obey all that the Lord has commanded verse 8

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Moses took the blood on behalf the blood of all the sacrifice is now splattered over this altar

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Verse 8 says Moses took the blood the other half that remained splattered it on the people and said

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This is the blood of the covenant that God has made with you concerning all these words

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This is the only time that people are sprinkled with blood in the context of obedience.

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Only time we see this in the Old Testament Here's the interesting thing They had already been redeemed by blood when they came out of Egypt Remember Exodus chapter 12 those of you of a certain generation 10

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Commandments of another generation the Prince of Egypt All of those tell you the same story This event that took place on the

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Passover night It's one of my favorite verses in the Old Testament Exodus chapter 12 verse 13

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And it will be for and it will be that I will I give you the blood as a token upon the houses where you

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Are and it will be that when I see the blood I will pass over you These were already redeemed people but here the blood is applied in a different context.

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This is not for their salvation This is for their obedience to the Lord It's a visible reminder of this is what you are calling yourselves to you said you'll do everything.

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Okay, this is what this looks like Did you catch come back to first Peter if you did turn that in first Peter?

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Did you catch that both of these point to a future act? He Says that they were chosen to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ Here's what

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I think Peter's getting at That the same medium that led to deliverance for God's people also calls

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God's people to obedience That as God's people are saved by the blood of Christ They are also empowered and called to obedience by the same blood of Christ Here's the difference between us and the children of Israel The children of Israel have the blood of bulls and goats which couldn't empower obedience

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But for the people of God, we have the blood of Jesus Christ Which is more than able to empower not just our salvation but to sanctify us and to produce good works

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And so Peter writes his audience and all he's saying is you're saved You're set apart

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I'm not writing to people whose salvation I have questions about You're the real deal So who's his audience?

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Believers through Asia Minor who recognize that this world isn't their home Believers throughout

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Asia Minor who recognize that this world isn't their home.

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I Told you those are my two big ones the next four will move very quickly through Question number three you saw we've asked the question.

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Who's the audience you ask the question. Who's the author? Question number three When did he write this?

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Peter doesn't give us a specific date But we can actually work out a little bit from reading the book and a little bit from just understanding the world of the time

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So in 1st Peter chapter 2 verses 13 and 14 Peter commands Christians to submit to every human authority and he basically says it's unconditionally

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Why? Because The Emperor at this point was not calling for the

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Emperor worship that would later follow and cause persecution for Christians That hasn't happened yet.

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So Peter can say unconditionally submit yourself to Every human authority because of the

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Lord if Emperor worship which later became the law what's happening?

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He couldn't say submit yourself to every human institute. He would say what he said in Acts 5

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We obey God rather than men, but he doesn't say that here Also in chapter 5 verse 13 when it says the she who is in Babylon who is chosen together with you greets you

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Most scholars is almost all of them universally agree That when

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Peter says he's writing from Babylon, he's not writing from the city in the east But he's actually writing from Rome and Babylon is a veiled reference to Rome Follow me with this

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The reason why I think there's a merit to this He says he's writing to people who are in exile.

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Where did the majority of God's people go in the exile? They went to Babylon.

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Babylon was the seat of the Empire that put them in exile well While Rome had not put them in exile these people were scattered where they were within Rome And so he says

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Babylon kind of has the seat of the Empire Just as Babylon was the seat of the Empire when the people of God was scattered in the

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Old Testament So he's in Rome when he writes this Now history tells us those of you who like your classical history like I do

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Nero would burn Rome in 64 AD. In fact we have a date for that July 18th July 18th of 64

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AD and He would blame the Christians. It's interesting early writers kind of thought

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Nero was completely lying and we have a good reason to think he was But Nero blames the

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Christians, and that's when the real the first real empire wide persecution begins

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Now convention says we usually give 18 years to two months for some sort of distribution for a letter like this because it's the ancient world

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If that's the case He probably wrote this around 62 to 64 AD Definitely had to be earlier because time needs to get round to Get this letter around So he's writing very early before I would argue that when he talks about in chapter 5 the fiery trial that's gonna come upon you

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Chapter 4, excuse me The fiery trial he's talking about is the persecution that would follow from the burning of Rome So 62 to 64

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AD Number four, what's the structure of 1 Peter? This is important because if you understand the structure of a book you'll see how the author makes his main point

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What we call the emphasis of the book Now this is where it gets a little difficult, but I'll do my best to move quickly.

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1 Peter is really hard to outline Just this week as I was finally putting preparations together for this first message.

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I Reread almost a dozen different outlines different commentators. Just read their outlines and Most of them couldn't agree to save their lives

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But as I read it and reread it this week I think I landed on a structure that makes sense and I got a little help

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I'll say who from in a moment, but let me walk you through how I got there real quickly so up to 1 verse 1 and 2 that's the

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Natural introduction to the book that one everyone agrees Everyone else agrees that the next big unit starts in verse 3 and goes all the way to chapter 2 verse 10

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And in chapter 2 from chapter 1 verse 3 to chapter 2 verse 10. He's talking about our salvation

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He's spending and devoting a lot of time To who we are and what

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God has done in our salvation But if you read chapter 2 verse 11, it feels like there's an abrupt move away from that So look at chapter 2 verse 11.

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He says Beloved I urge you as Strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul.

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It's like he's just made a hard turn into a new topic And I think he is The theme switches as you look from chapter 2 11 through to 4 7 the subject switches from salvation to submission

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Now that's not disconnected from everything he's just said the reason why we can submit is because of what

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God has done but there is a heavy emphasis on the as it were the

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Outward posture of the Christian in relation to the world being one of submission

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So we submit to authority we submit in the home we submit in the church and Then chapter 4.

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Here's the attitude of which you do that Now look at chapter 4 verse 7 and as you look at chapter 4 verse 7, he starts switching again

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So just before verse 7 the end of all things is near therefore Be alert and be sober minded for prayer.

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He starts to speaking very heavily about the return of Christ and how we're supposed to live in light of the fact that Christ is returning and That theme runs all the way through to chapter 5 verse 11 12 13 and 14 of chapter 5 are your conclusion and you're done

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Now with a little help from John MacArthur in both his commentary and study Bible that I thought was very helpful Here's the outline that I struck the structure that I landed on in coming to first Peter So you've got an introduction in 1 1 & 2

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The first major section I've said is that believers are anchored by the reality of salvation chapter 2 11 to 4 6 we're anchored in our role of submission and In chapter 4 verse 7 through 5 11 we're anchored in the return where I could buy excuse me the return of the

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Savior Those are his three big points Which then leads to a question, okay

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Kofi, how did you land on this anchored theme? That seems like you got it from nowhere not quite

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That's gonna lead me to question number five. So we've asked the question. Who's our author? Who's his audience?

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When did he write this? What's the structure? number five

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What's the melodic line of first Peter? when I say melodic line

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Those of you who come to Redeemer regularly You've heard me say this phrase to death for those of you who are visiting or you're new here when

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I say melodic line I mean the main message that connects the book as a whole It's the melody that holds the song together as it were and I would argue that every book of the

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Bible that you read all 66 of them have one so what's the

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Music as it were that holds this book together well two things

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I think are important and I had you read the beginning of the letter and The end of letter especially the end of the letter.

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Did you catch what it was? You heard it? In fact, let me read to you a few verses in the middle of the letter

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And then I'll come to that final one first Peter chapter 1 verse 11 they the prophets inquired into what time or what circumstances the

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Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he Testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow

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First Peter 4 13 instead rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ So that when you read so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed

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First Peter 4 16, but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify

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God in having that name First Corinthians 5 1

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I saw the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ as well as one

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Who shares in the glory about to be revealed? And then the end of the letter that we read 510 the

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God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ Will himself restore establish strengthen and support you after you have suffered a while.

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Did you catch the theme? It's a twin theme suffering and glory

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Again and again, you see suffering glory is not too far behind. In fact, those are two of the biggest words in this letter

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Suffering suffer glory glorify come up again and again and again as you read this letter

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That clues me in as I read it that these are important themes to Peter The other clue

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Which not every book of the Bible gives but this one does is that Peter tells you why he wrote this Not every letter has one of these but when we do have one we pay attention so first Peter chapter 5 verse 12

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Peter says Through Sylvanus a faithful brother as I consider him I have written to you briefly in order to encourage you and to testify

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That this and I would argue that this will come back to this when we get to chapter 5 in the end of our study

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That the this is this twin reality of suffering and glory for the Christian which mirrors

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Christ's suffering and glory That this is the true grace of God Stand firm in it

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Peter explicitly says God is doing something through the suffering that you are experiencing now

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He's preparing you for glory. So here's why I'm writing I'm writing so that you're encouraged and you're not shaken by the fact that you suffer

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Can I pause for a moment make another point of application? It should not be weird for Christians that we live in a world where suffering exists

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It surprises me often that you talk to some Christians and they get the sense like I don't know where this came from I don't know why this is happening

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Peter would say seriously And again, I imagine that Peter still had some of that spunk that he had as a younger man.

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He probably look at me like Seriously Suffering is not abnormal for the

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Christian Actually suffering in a weird way as we'll see especially when

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Peter starts talking about submission in chapter 2 11 through 4 7 Suffering Peter seems to think it's a grace that's giving to you every bit as much as the glory that we experience on the other side and So he's writing to them and he basically says listen.

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I'm writing to you to testify that this is The true grace of God. And so what should the response of the

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Christian be stand firm in it? Literally be anchored in it. That's why

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I gave our series the name anchored In one sentence if I had to summarize first Peter it would be this that believers navigate through suffering to glory by remaining anchored in the grace of God that believers navigate through suffering to glory by remaining anchored in the grace of God Now if you didn't get to write that down, don't worry.

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It was going to be on the top of every handout going forward But that's in one sentence what

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I think is the melodic line of this book. I'm almost done. God bless you for your patience I've been moving kind of slowly

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Our author is Peter. We know whose audience is he's writing to believers throughout Asia Minor who recognize the world is not their home

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He wrote this in 62 to 64 AD We've seen how Peter structures the letter and we've seen what his main point is finally and most importantly

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I would argue How do we see Christ in first Peter? How do we see

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Christ in first Peter and this I just put straight in the study guide so you can have that Peter is the

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OG as it were One of the original apostles. He's been walking with Jesus for a minute now he has seen some things and he has learned some things and The mature results of years of walking with Christ come through as you read this letter

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So in chapter 1 Peter can say that Christ is the source of the believers hope in the face of suffering

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Again in chapter 1 he can say that Christ is the center of Scripture that the prophets as they read the scripture

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They read the scripture with two things in mind Who is this?

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Why is he suffering? Well really the sufferings of this person and the glories that would follow and All they were asking was who is this and when is this gonna happen?

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Multiple times in Peter's letter He makes the point that Christ is the lamb who was slain for the salvation and the sanctification of God's people

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He makes the point that Christ is the believer the excuse me Christ gives the believer Identity through their union with him.

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I can't wait to get to chapter 2 verses 4 through 10 I would argue is one of the best treatments of what the church is in all the

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Bible but all of that is true because As Peter says as you come to him as you come to Christ Multiple times in Peter's letter.

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He makes the point that Christ is the great example of life in the spirit Submitted to the will of God Oftentimes you'll hear people who would say you can have

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Jesus as Savior or Jesus as example And I want to say why do I want to split things that are meant to be together?

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our great Savior is also our great example and Peter would have us to understand that Christ's Christ's resurrection excuse me is the fountain of spiritual blessing for the

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Christian So we're born again because of Christ. We're reconciled because of Christ. We have faith and hope because of Christ And so far from thinking this is a bunch of to do's and a bunch of life principles

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Really what we're seeing in first Peter is the reflections of a man who has walked with Jesus and as he walks with Jesus He realizes the more

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I walk with Jesus the more grounded I am in a world that is very not grounded Faith help me.

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I'm done But can I put we are in for a rich feast in God's Word this summer as we take our time and we work through first Peter There is so much here for us to dig into and be nourished by and my prayer is that God would be gracious to us

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In giving us some anchors in giving us some stability in the world in which we live

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As we work our way through this portion of His Word Let's pray together

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Our Father and our God we thank you so much for the word We thank you so much for the reality that You allow us to experience suffering

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For the purpose of preparing us to enjoy the glories that follow Father we thank you that it's not your will for us to be floored and shaken and destabilized by the sufferings and the hard times we endure

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But that actually you desire for us to be made stable for us to be made firm in light of that Father I pray that as we begin this study in first Peter, this would be a profitable study

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It would be a rich study that it would be a study that gives us some steel in the soul

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As we seek to glorify you as your people be with us now as we come to the