Stand Firm in The True Grace of God

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Well, I'd like to speak to you about staying firm in the true grace of God. That is our message from God's Word today as we conclude this wonderful epistle from 1
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Peter. So please go with me to chapter 5, 1 Peter chapter 5, and we will read the
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Apostle's closing words, his exhortation given to him by the Holy Spirit.
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I believe when you write a letter, all of it is important, of course, the way you begin it, and the middle of it, and especially the conclusion.
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And the conclusion tells us a lot what's on his heart. And it's going to say much to us today, and I believe it's going to be a great exhortation for each and every one here,
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I'm sure of that, by God's help. So, beginning with verse 8, and we will read to the end of the chapter, verse 14.
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Verse 8 to 14, hear the word of the living God. I'm reading from the
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NASB this morning. Be sober spirit, be on the alert.
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Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
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But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
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After you have suffered, there's that word again, suffered for a little while, the
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God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
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To him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. Through Sibelius, our faithful brother, for so I regard him,
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I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying this to the true grace of God.
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Stand firm in it. She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends your greetings, and so does my son
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Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ.
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Let's bow in prayer and ask our Lord to help us in this hour. Our Father and our
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God, Lord, we thank you for your great revelation you've given to us.
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We ask you, Lord, in a simple, humble way, speak, Lord, for your servant hears.
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Open our eyes that we may see Jesus. We ask this in his name and for his glory and your glory.
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Amen. There's a very cruel and grave error that is being proclaimed from many of the pulpits and churches in our day.
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This is nothing old. Even false teaching is actually new, but it goes back.
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Nothing new under the sun, I meant to say, but especially with our television preachers today that most of them, sad to say, are seeking to draw people to themselves.
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They're hirelings and false shepherds that preach poison. They are teaching that they're assuring, giving a false assurance to their audience that Christ is death and Calvary's cross means the end of suffering and the end of Satan.
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The end of suffering and the end of Satan. And to all those who have enough faith to believe, beloved, let me say boldly that this is poison.
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This is error. This is simply not true and it's contrary to the gospel of the grace of God.
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The apostle Peter's final words of his first epistle addresses with clarity the relationship between Satan, suffering, and the saints.
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Those three things. Satan, suffering, and the saints. And heeding the word of God may not deliver us from suffering.
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God doesn't always do that. Sometimes he chooses to, sometimes he doesn't. But it may not heed us as we heed the word of God delivers from suffering, but one thing it will do, it will deliver us from the error of those who desire to tickle ears.
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And for those who are in the ministry for sordid gain. It was the
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Puritan Thomas Watson, as you well know Watson, he had a way with words. These Puritans, I mean, they ate the word of God and everything they pretty much say comes right out of Scripture.
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They just soaked up Scripture. That's why I love the Puritans. I know Brother Brian reads a lot of them too and he knows what
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I'm talking about and everyone else here that reads the Puritans. Each and everybody in this room. I know
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Sister Lily and Brother Keith and Brother Ben and all the rest of you.
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You know what I'm talking about. The Puritans knew God. They knew themselves too, but they knew the word of God.
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Thomas Watson said this, and it goes right along with everything the Apostle Peter is saying to us.
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Christianity, he says, is not the removal of suffering, but the addition of grace to endure suffering triumphantly.
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That is good, isn't it? Christianity is not the removal of suffering. Matter of fact, suffering is going to come.
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You will suffer persecution if you live a godly life. All those that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
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Jesus said it, and when you do suffer, would it rejoice and count it a great privilege because our reward in heaven is great.
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Now this very truth here is what the
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Apostle Peter is giving the exhortation to the persecuted church in Asia Minor.
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This whole book is to a persecuted church. That's the audience. And he's concluding this letter to stand firm in the faith to the true grace of God.
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So what I'm going to do, I don't have a particular outline, but I got points we're going to look at.
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And I'm going to just take off from verse 8, recap a little bit what we looked at in previous weeks before we celebrated the
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Palm Sunday and the Resurrection Sunday. But we're going to look back a little bit at our enemy.
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We have an enemy of our souls. And you know that. You know who he is. He's the devil. And he's stronger than we are, but we know who is greater, and that is the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And Satan inflicts suffering upon us, but it's not going to stop the church, is it?
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Because we know who's truly in charge. Let me look, let's look at verse 8. Look at verse 8.
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Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
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Now right here we have a command. This is imperative. That calls us to a basic element of godly thinking, biblical thinking.
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Be sober. What does that mean? We looked at that. Be self -controlled. Be self -controlled.
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Have a disciplined mind. Have a disciplined body. And actually if you have a disciplined mind, your body would be disciplined.
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That avoids all the allurements of the intoxications of this world.
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Be sober spirit. Then he says, be on alert. These are commands. Notice, be, be, be, meaning to be watchful, stay alert, stay awake.
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And the spiritual forces that assault Christians, not only directly, but he speaks of indirect demand that we not be ignorant of Satan's devices.
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That those who love Jesus Christ maintain vigilance in the midst of persecution. Vigilance.
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And our Lord Jesus Christ warned the disciples of this in Matthew 26, and if you read Matthew 26, that whole chapter, here you see
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Jesus is on His way to the cross, and here He falls upon His face in the Garden of Gethsemane, and He takes
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His inner group of disciples with Him, Peter, James, and John. In verse 21,
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He says, keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation.
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The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And they really didn't listen much to Him on that, did they?
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He was giving them warning, and all of them fell, and went away. And Peter denied the
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Lord three times, you know the story. And there's Jesus in the Garden, falls on His face, goes a little further, prays into the point of great drops of blood, and He sees the cross before Him, He's fulfilling the will of God, and that is what
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He came for, and the will of God was to go to the cross as the man of sorrows, and take our sin, and become that sin, and take it to a tree, and hang there between this earth and heaven, and God will unleash all of His wrath upon His Son.
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That's why He came, is to become that sin offering. He that knew no sin, became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God, it's incredible.
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And what an amazing love that sent Jesus to that cross. And you see that love in full demonstration, but what does
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Jesus say to them? Spirit's willing, the flesh is weak. What a warning. Then Peter tells us, why are we to be sober?
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Why are we to be on the alert? Well, obviously, there's an enemy. Notice what he says, your adversary.
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Your adversary. That word, your, makes that very personal, doesn't it? Personal pronoun, making a very personal, it's your adversary.
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What does that mean? Your legal opponent, in the Greek. He is your legal opponent, and he doesn't play by the rules, does he?
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He does not play by the rules. And matter of fact, he plays very ugly. The devil, diabolos, is spoken of in Scripture much.
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We did a whole message on that. But we know in short, he's the accuser of the brethren, he's the father of all lies.
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This whole world is deceived because of him. This world is in deception because of what he's doing.
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He's the God of this world. He's blinded the minds of those that do not believe.
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The enemy of God, and he's also the enemy of God's people. He's malicious. He slanders.
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That's one of his biggest weapons. He's a slanderer. He's the accuser of the brethren.
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And he attacks, and he stabs behind backs. He prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
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So the devil has really different poses and different strategies, but sometimes he comes like a serpent.
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He's very crafty, seeking to lure people in to moral corruption.
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We see a lot of this. Even here nowadays, it's sad to say, but you have leaders of the church that's falling prey to immorality, even secret sins.
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That has happened here in the past, and it's been exposed.
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And God's allowed it to be exposed. Judgment begins in the house of God. So Satan is the one that's doing this, even though he's on a leash of God.
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But God has given him permission to do these things. He always slanders God's Word, and he always casts doubt on God's Word.
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And that's his number one strategy, isn't it? You go back to Genesis. Has not God said? Has not
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God said? That's his strategy, and he's very successful at it.
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Sometimes he disguises himself as an angel of light. He comes in a very indirect way, not always direct.
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He attempts to deceive people.
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He comes with a smile. I'll put it very frankly, he comes with a tie and a suit, and he comes preaching a so -called gospel.
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But it's another gospel. It's another Jesus. We know that. He even knows the
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Word of God quite well, and he knows how to misquote it. I'm not going to say he knows how to quote it.
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He misquotes it. He does a twist on it. And that's his strategy.
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He doesn't come with a pitchfork and horns of this superstitious nonsense, but he appears as an angel of light.
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Now, I've got something written down here in a few paragraphs, and I'm going to give it to you. As we all know here, we love
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Charles Spurgeon. This is from a sermon that Charles Spurgeon preached years back in his congregation in London.
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And I don't know the title of the sermon, but this is what Spurgeon said in a sermon preaching about your adversary, the devil.
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He says this, quote, Satan knows how to use God's providence to serve his own ends.
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One of the greatest mercies God grants is not permitting our inclinations and opportunities to meet.
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Have we not sometimes noticed that when we have had the inclination to sin, there has been no opportunity?
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And when the opportunity has presented itself, we have had no inclination toward it?
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Satan's principal aim with believers, he says, is to bring their appetites and his temptations together to get their souls into a dry, seared state, and then to strike the match and make them burn.
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Boy, how true that is. Spurgeon goes on to say, he's so crafty and wily, while the experience of many centuries that human beings, who are but of yesterday, can scarcely be considered a match for him.
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What should we do to overcome this adversary, he says. Scripture says it.
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Resist him. Resist him. Firm in the faith.
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Firm in the faith. And he closes with this thought, and there's much more to the sermon, I'm sure you can pull it up and read it somewhere.
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He says, this is our first means of defense. The devil will soon give up if he finds that his attacks drive us to Jesus Christ.
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I love that. Amen. It drives us to Jesus Christ, he's going to pull back.
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Because you're resisting him, because he's really afraid of Christ. He fears
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Christ. And he also fears the weakest saint who prays on his knees.
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You know, for even Jesus our Lord, his temptation in the wilderness, as you know, he met the devil head on in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights.
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And he was, actually, if you read the text, the Spirit of God literally drove Jesus in the wilderness.
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It drove him as if he was led. But that word led means he was driven by the Holy Spirit.
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And he was hungered after fasting 40 days and 40 nights. And the devil comes to the
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Lord, he tempts Jesus to doubt what? If you be the
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Son of God. Every time he gave a temptation, it was always, if you be the
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Son of God, if you be the Son of God, if you be the Son of God. Well, what happened?
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The Father just spoke previously 40 days at the
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River Jordan when John the Baptist baptized Christ. And the Father spoke from heaven, this is my beloved
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Son in whom I'm well pleased. Of course Satan heard that.
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And he comes to Christ and tries to tempt him that he is the
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Son of the living God. He knew he was the Son of God. He was just trying to attack his flesh.
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But Jesus knew what to do. Now, if Jesus saw that it was important to come at those three waves that was temptations of the lust of the eye and the pride of life and the lust of the world.
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How much more important it is for us to come back and resist him and give him the word of God.
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And Jesus came back, it is written, it is written. And then he says, again it is written.
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So how important that is. Well, that's a great lesson, that's another message.
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But we need to remember that, don't we? Because it's so important. So, the
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Lord, the Word, He unsheathed the word of the living
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God, the sword of the Spirit. And He hacked away Satan. How much more for us to do the same, to win the victory over temptation.
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So, there's vigilance. We see vigilance here. Well, after vigilance, in verse 8, we see fortitude.
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Fortitude, look at verse 9. But resist him, it goes on talking about, resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
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Now, even though the devil is like a roaring lion, he is bent on terrorizing
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God's people. He is, and you see this. And he does it by persecution.
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Persecution. Many, many martyrs has burned. But you know, it came to the point, who do they fear?
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They feared God. And I'm here to tell you, they proved themselves to be true in the faith.
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When they went all the way, and gave their lives to be burned. Many, many other horrific ways that God's people, in the early days, in the
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Roman times, many Christians were thrown to the lions. You've read about it.
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All you got to do is read the Fox's Book of Martyrs. It's a gory story, beloved, but I'm telling you.
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But it seems like the more that Satan persecuted the church, and more blood was spilled, the more the church grew.
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Tertullian said, the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs, is the seeds of the church.
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You can't stop the church of the living God. And especially when you know your flesh, and your body is going to all decay, and we're all going to die someday.
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These men and these women who thought it a privilege to die, and suffer for Christ, said, hey,
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I'll lay my life down. Why did they have such boldness to do that? Because they got a vision of Jesus Christ.
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From this book, knowing what Christ and who He is, and what He did, their sacrifice was nothing in comparison.
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So they got a vision of Christ, of course. Now, we're not to surrender to the fury of the devil, are we?
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Scripture says, greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. So, the greatness is in us.
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God forbid, you hear that preached everywhere today. Unfortunately, like you're somebody, you got a strut,
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I look at it backwards. You're nobody, and I got a fall. And by the way, if you're not humbling yourself, if you lift it up in pride, you're right in friends with the devil.
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He's already got you. Because pride is what caused the archangel to be turned into the devil.
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We're no match against Satan, but we know that Jesus Christ, the greater one, has given him a crushing blow to his head.
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When Jesus died on Calvary's cross, He crushed the head of the serpent. By only bruising our
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Lord's heel, a great victory was won. Therefore, we are to resist the devil.
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How? Firm in the faith. Firm in the faith. The word resist actually means to take a stand against.
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And to be firm. To make that stand solid. Now did you get that?
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You take a stand against, and to be firm is to make that stand solid.
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So that means you're balanced at both ends. There's a balance. So that is by being solidly fixed on the faith.
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The faith. That's the biblical revelation. This is found in the 66 books of the
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Bible that is inerrant, infallible, all -sufficient. Word of God, it will not fail you.
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It's guaranteed not to fail you. God has never failed no one. He's got a perfect record.
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People say, what about the persecutions and the sufferings and the martyrdom? He still has not failed, because He always gives sufficient grace for them people to make it.
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They just get promoted to glory. You see, that's what it means when promotion comes from the
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Lord. Beloved, this is a call to know and believe and sound doctrine.
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That's what it means. That means to discern the truth, and this is missing today, sadly to say, in the church.
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To discern the truth from error, and to be willing to defend the truth and to expose the error.
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And I guarantee you, when you do that, Satan's coming after you. Because he hates the truth.
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And he hates anyone that speaks the truth. Well, the Apostle Jude said this in verse 3.
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Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about the common salvation. It's interesting, he starts his little epistle.
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It's very short. It's almost like he's thinking, how can I start this letter? Well, he said,
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I'm going to talk about the common salvation. There's a common salvation. And I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered, handed down to the saints.
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That faith. The just shall live by faith. It is faith in God.
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And without faith, we cannot please God. So God gives us that faith.
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We're going to look at that later. It is a gift from God. And actually, when it speaks in Ephesians 2, that you're saved by grace through faith, it's actually that gift is from unmerited favor.
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And that gift is actually faith itself. And repentance is a faith. It's a twin gift.
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So, here you have the command. That's the command. That's the call.
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That's fortitude. So another scripture comes to my mind that I think is very important.
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Then we hold fast to the truth and firm. It's found in 2 Corinthians 10, 3 -5.
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It gives to us what is true spiritual warfare looks like. It's not just fighting a devil and demons, but it is taking the defense of the truth.
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And of course, Satan hates the truth. Paul says, but though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
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What is he talking about? We don't war in a carnal way, a fleshly way, with fleshly weapons.
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It's not going to work against Satan. The only weapon is the weapon that's found in the scriptures and the truth of God's word.
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And then he says this, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
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We are destroying speculations. This is what the power of the truth does.
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It's so divinely powerful. It destroys speculations. And every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, listen to that, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
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There it is. Every thought captive. You see that? It's the way people think.
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Now look around the world today, even in the churches, is not the thinking of people unbiblical an error?
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Because they go to the world, they go to psychology, they go to every other thing's fault, but except for the word of the living
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God. It's sad. And I think to myself, where are these people getting this?
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And I'm saying this straight from the pit of hell. You know, you see on church signs out there, I miss you slash
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God. I said, they're going to answer for that. They are giving addition to the word of God.
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God never said that. You don't sign God's name to that. If you want to know what God says, read it from the book.
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Right here. This is the only book, 66 books compiled into one, that is inspired.
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People have no right putting God's name on such nonsense.
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That's what I'm talking about. These are churches. I see this everywhere. I ride back and forth on a milk truck and I see these signs and I'm just shaking my head.
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I say a prayer. I said, oh God have mercy on them. They need to take that down.
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All they need to do is put the Scriptures. Well, there's a lot more to be said about that, but Ephesians 6, speaking of the word of God, Ephesians 6, 10 through 18, listen to this, notice with me how many times
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Paul says stand firm. Listen to this. Verse 10, Finally be strong in the
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Lord and in the strength of His might, not ours, God's might, His power.
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Verse 11, Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm, there it is, against the schemes of the devil.
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Verse 12, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness and the heavenly places.
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Verse 13, Therefore take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist, same thing
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Peter says, in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm, there it is again.
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Verse 14, Stand firm, therefore, is standing firm important? Amen. Stand firm, therefore having girded your loins with the truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the dressing up of the armor here.
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Verse 16, In addition to all, take up the shield of faith which you will be able to extinguish, quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
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Take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And then he says in verse 18,
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With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.
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And here we have the character of the believer's prayer life. Right before us. I like what
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John MacArthur says here. He says, Number one, all prayer and petition focuses on variety.
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Two, at all times focuses on the frequency. Three, in the spirit focuses on submission as we line up with the will of God.
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Four, be on the alert focuses on the manner. Five, all perseverance focuses on the persistence.
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And six, all the saints focuses on the objects. The objects. End quote.
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Well, that's fortitude. Fortitude. We need fortitude, don't we? Well, Peter concludes this section with the word of assurance.
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As we go back to Peter 5. Go back to 5. And in his reading,
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As they persevered humbly and submissively, vigilantly and courageously in the midst of persecutions, sufferings and trials, they were not alone.
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He encourages. And I don't know about you. As a pastor, at times
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I have been through some hard times in churches down the road and went through some very difficult times.
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And it was so encouraging to know as I was sharing my notes with someone else, that same pastor said, you know,
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I've been through the same thing. And I can't tell you, and you know what I'm talking about. When you get someone else and you share the notes and they can relate to everything that you've gone through and they can share and we can pray for one another and lift your voices up to God and they say,
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I understand exactly. That's what Peter is saying. Peter been down this road. Peter, and then he's also, not only
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I have been down this road, the same experiences of suffering were being accomplished by their brethren who are in the world.
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You are not alone. Be encouraged. After Peter gives his encouragement of the persecuted
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Christians, he then gives them a word of hope. Look at verse 10. And after you have suffered for a little while, underscore that word, a little while, because I assure you in comparison to eternity, it is a little while.
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The God of all grace who called you to the eternal glory, in Christ, there's the key, in Christ, he will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
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Get those four words. Those are four words of hope. Four words of hope.
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Perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. And God himself would do it.
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Hope provides believers with a settling confidence that after trouble, after difficulty of this life in which we go through, every man that's born in this life,
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Job says, born of woman is born into trouble. Trouble is going to come. You can't escape it.
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Trouble. J .C. Ryle says, many crosses, many losses.
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You can count on it. But you can also count on God. You can count on God.
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And you can count on him because he's going to be glorified in heaven. And he's going to glorify us once we get to heaven.
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We're not there yet. There's crosses. There's trouble. As long as we're in this life, that's part of life, isn't it?
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But we've got to know how to handle it. And we go to Jesus and we tell Jesus and we cast our burden on him.
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During this life, we can count on God's continued work of sanctifying them through that suffering.
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See, that's what we can count on. That as we go through the persecution, go through the trials, and have the crosses and the losses, and it's different for each one of God's people.
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But God's grace is sufficient. And God's grace is always sufficient. But also there's something beautiful about this.
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It's for your sanctification. It's for you to come closer to Jesus Christ than me.
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It is for us to be Christ -like. That is God's goal for us. That is to develop character in us.
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Go with me to Romans chapter 8. I want you to see this. I wish I had time to really break this down.
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But I will just read just verses 18 -30. This is actually a little section that Paul...
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You know Romans 8, it's loaded, isn't it? Well, if you look at verse 18 -30, this is actually taking us from suffering to glory.
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From 18 -30, Paul takes you from suffering to glory. Verse 18,
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I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us.
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Know what Paul went through. And this is light to him. Incredible.
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He's talking about a man that was stoned three times, beaten, shipwrecked, naked, destitute.
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It goes on. But he says in verse 19, For the anxious longings of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
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For the creation was subjected to the futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope, now keep that in mind, in hope, that the creation itself would be set free from its slavery to corruption and to the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
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Now listen to what he's talking about. Verse 22, For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together unto now.
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And then in verse 23, he says this interesting statement, and not only this, but also we ourselves, we ourselves having the firstfruits of the
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Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
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Let me stop right there. What's he talking about? He's talking about as the children of God, that in the Spirit we are the firstfruits, the first pieces of produce to appear on a tree to provide that hope for a future harvest.
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That's what he's talking about. The fruit which will the Spirit produce in us now, and what he's talking about is that groaning, is that remaining sin that is within us, that sin that remains even though we are redeemed and saved, we're not going to shake that until we're glorified.
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Forget about these people teaching this sanctification of total eradication. That's false.
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That total eradication is not going to happen. That doesn't happen until we are glorified with Jesus Christ.
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Then it's re -eradicated. But until then, all we can do is lean as hard as we can and go to the
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Word of God and allow the sanctifying process of God's Word to sanctify us, to cleanse us, to purge us.
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And God does it a lot of times by allowing the troubles and the trials. And he does it in his loving kindness to purge us and to clean us up and draw us nearer to himself.
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Isn't it wonderful how God orchestrates these things? Because if we go through a trial, I like to put it this way,
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I always examine my heart and I say, Lord, that's suited for me. You had that trial for me, no matter how hard it is.
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If it's the death of a loved one or a child, the hardships,
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I say to myself, God, you have orchestrated, you have ordained that for me. And you hear people angry toward God for these things.
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Well, they need to repent. Because they're not seeing the goodness of God in this. God orders everything.
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And how do we know this? Well, look at what Paul says. Verse 24, For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope.
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For who hopes for what he already sees? Verse 25, But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
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Now here's something that gives wonderful confidence in verse 26. In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses.
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The old King James is our affirmatives. But that means weaknesses. We are weak.
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We can't stand up to it. God has to give us strength to make us stand. Cause us to stand.
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For we do not know how to pray as we should. You ever feel that way? How can
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I pray? I'm so burdened. I'm so under a heavy burden. I don't even know what to say.
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But he says, but the Spirit does. The Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us. And then he says this with groanings.
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Isn't that wonderful? Groanings. Too deep for words. Too deep for words.
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And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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Isn't that glorious? And then he goes into this wonderful section. Verse 28, For we know that God causes all things to work together for the good to those who love
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God. Not to everybody. It's for those who love God. And to those who are the call, that's the effectual calling, according to his purpose.
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And here's the wonderful golden chain of redemption. Don't you love it? Verse 29, For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his
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Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren.
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And these whom he predestined, he also called. And these whom he called, he also justified.
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And these whom he justified, he also glorified. That is a golden chain that cannot be broken.
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These are the elect of God. And what he's saying is, when God calls effectually, when
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God justifies by grace through faith alone, and these whom he justifies will be glorified.
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It's going to happen. It's not going to be, oh, it might be. No, it's going to happen.
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All glory to God. Now, that's wonderful. I could stay right there, but I've got to move on. Okay. This section actually takes us from suffering to glory.
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Isn't it great? Suffering to glory. That's wonderful. We could give a benediction right there, and we say we've been fed by God's Word, because that section there is rich.
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Oh, beloved, that's true victory, isn't it? In the midst of persecution, that we could see the mighty hand of God, and we can humble ourselves under God's mighty hand, and his wonderful sovereign plan and his purposes.
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No matter what our trials should be, we should remember, first of all, that he is the God of all grace.
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He's the God of all grace. It makes me think also, Paul said, he's the God of all comfort. He's the comforter.
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He sent the comforter. He comforts his own. Why does he comfort his own? Because he loves his own.
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And by the way, he loves his own to the end, to the very end. He's the God of all grace.
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This wonderful title of a gracious God reminds us that his dealings with us is not based upon what we deserve.
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And by the way, if we got what we deserve, we'd all be in hell right now. We would be suffering under the wrath of God, but God has given us unmerited favor through Jesus Christ.
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That is enough to just bless him and praise him forever and ever. But his thoughts is love to us, and his thoughts is not our thoughts.
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By the way, I like what MacArthur said, if you could lose your salvation, you would.
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But God keeps. He has sustaining grace to keep us. Grace saved us. Grace keeps us.
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He is the one that will begin it. He's the author. He's the finisher of our faith.
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Oh, beloved, no matter how fierce our testings are today and what you're going through, I'm telling you, we can always be thankful that we are not in hell this moment and that God has saved us and you for a purpose.
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He has his hand on you. And isn't it great? God's grace is not only promised for us here, which is promised here, but it's here later too for eternity.
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All eternity. 1 Peter 4 .10, As each one that has received a special gift employ it as serving one another as good stewards to the manifold grace of God.
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1 Peter 5 .5b Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another for God is opposed to the proud, but does what?
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Gives grace to the humble. To the humble. Jesus is meek and humble in heart.
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James 4 .6, But he gives grace a greater grace. Therefore it says, God is opposed to the proud.
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Same scripture. Peter quotes. But gives grace to the humble. Grace. Hebrews 4 .16,
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Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy.
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That's God's compassion. And find grace to help in time of need. That's why we go. To find grace.
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And our help comes from who? The Lord. The maker of heaven and earth. He is the helper. He is the
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God. Read through the Psalms. David had that confidence in God. He could go to God no matter what was going on.
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Even if he was struggling with sin. Just read the Psalms of penance. Psalm 51.
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You know that wonderful Psalm. And he even goes and he pleads for mercy. Have mercy upon me, oh God.
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And he goes on in that great prayer and he realizes, I'm unworthy.
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I'm not worth anything here. But God, you love me. You have mercy on me and I plead your mercy.
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Well, God has plenty of mercy and He has plenty of grace. Oh, Peter, it's wonderful. Peter has so much to say to us.
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But he further notes that God has called believers and this is a reference to God's effectual saving call and grace.
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First Peter 1 .15 They're called, but like the Holy One who has called you.
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There's a calling there. That's a command. Be ye holy.
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Be holy yourselves also in your behavior. Why? Because it is written, You shall be holy for I am holy.
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That's the calling. We're called unto holiness. We're called to be separate from the world.
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We're called because you are God's own possession. Praise God. All this is
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God's call. It's God's effectual saving call. And ultimately this effectual call will end up into eternal glory.
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Eternal glory. And that's only in Jesus Christ, right? Notice what He said back to 1 Peter? It's in Christ.
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It's in Christ. I like what 1 John 3 .2 and 3 says,
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Beloved, now we are the children of God. And it has not appeared yet what we will be.
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But we know. There's the confidence. We know that when He appears we will be like Him.
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Because we will see Him just as He is. We will see Him face to face.
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And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him. There it is.
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Purifies himself. There's the sanctification. There's purification.
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And why? Just as He's pure. You put yourself up against Jesus Christ in Scripture and measure yourself up there.
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I don't know about you. I come awful short. And I know even in Jesus Christ, I said,
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Lord, still work on me. I mean, get these idols out of my heart. Because they crop up.
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They can pop up easily. That's what Calvin says. The heart is a factory of idols.
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It's an idol maker. So we've got to cast down those idols, right? We've got to, Lord, chop away.
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I mean, purge away all these unnecessary, these sins within my heart that displease
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Him. Don't you feel like that? When you get in God's Word and get before Him in prayer? Oh God, I see my sin.
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But He knows how to purge us. Purify. Jesus said it. Matthew 5, 8.
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Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. What a glorious promise. The saints' glory will be to be made in the likeness of Jesus Christ.
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Well, because of that objective, God Himself personally says this. While they're still here, and the believers' suffering is to mold them into the image of Jesus Christ, that's sanctification.
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Notice how concisely Peter describes this wonderful promise that the sanctifying process of spiritual maturity takes place.
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Notice these four words. Perfect you. That is to bring wholeness. Confirm you.
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To sit fast. Strengthen you. To make you sturdy.
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Forth. To establish you. And that means to lay as a foundation. All these terms speak of strength and immovability, which
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God wants for all of His believers as they face day by day the spiritual battles. And we need it, don't we?
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And only God can help us. Perfect you. Establish you. Strengthen you.
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Strengthen us. Settle us. Vigilance. Fortitude. And hope. Well, next, verse 11.
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Notice with me verse 11. He goes from self -control, vigilance, fortitude, and hope.
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Now we go to worship. Now, this is a whole sermon, but I will make this short. Verse 11,
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He says it in one verse. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
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It's almost like in contemplating of God's amazing grace, being overwhelmed by the thought of sanctification and glorification as well as wanting to illustrate a mindset of worship,
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Peter all of a sudden bursts out in a short doxology. He's rejoicing that God has dominion over all things forever and ever.
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Isn't that great? Paul does the same thing in chapter 11. The end of chapter 11. It's like he gets to speaking about the goodness of God and the sovereignty of God and His election and Israel rejecting and the
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Gentiles coming in and he gets caught up in the... Who can give God counsel? God is all wise.
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And he literally gets caught up in worship and he gives a doxology. That theology that is sound leads to pure doxology in worship.
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Doesn't it? And that's the way it should be. It leads to worship. And that's how
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Peter goes here. His view of marvelous way in which God overrules in persecution and suffering for His glory and our good and little wonder that Peter causes a burst of doxology.
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To Him be glory. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Only such a one who is our
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God is worthy of such glory. Only in the hands of such one is dominion safe.
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Hallelujah. Well, we look at self -control, vigilance, fortitude, hope, worship.
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Next we see faithfulness. Faithfulness. Look at verse 12. Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, he says in parentheses here, for I so regard him,
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I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
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Now, let me briefly say something about this particular section because Peter's final greetings illustrate several attitudes of the
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Christian mind here. Although Peter does not command his readers to exhibit this, it is very evident that in his references to believers that he is speaking of, notice
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Peter says, through Silvanus, our faithful brother, so I regard him.
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A loyal fellow servant of Jesus Christ. And Silvanus is mentioned and is another name for Silas.
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This is actually Silas who traveled with Paul. Now, you can go through the book of Acts, you can go through Paul's writings, and you see
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Silas. He was a godly man and he traveled along with the apostle Paul. It appears often in the letters of Paul.
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But here in this verse, Peter is actually calling Silas a faithful brother. And some commentators have said more than likely he dictated a lot what
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Peter was saying and he delivered the message, the letter, to the persecuted church. He was the deliverer boy.
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Silas was probably the messenger who delivered it, this epistle to the persecuted church in Asia Minor.
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He's a faithful brother. Now, that says a great deal from this apostle, doesn't it? How would you like to have the apostle
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Peter say, you're a faithful brother? That's a high compliment. A faithful brother.
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A model. He's an example of the truth of the church. And Peter himself personally regards him as faithful.
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Faithful. That's all that really is going to matter in the end, isn't it? Were we faithful? Is Jesus going to say, well done, good and faithful servant?
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Faithful servant. Now, you could see right there and think and meditate on that because really when it comes down to it, that's all that's really going to matter in the last.
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And Silas is a faithful brother. Peter is encouraging persecuted believers, testifying that this is the true grace of God, perhaps in the heat of severe persecution.
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I don't know. They might be tempted to wonder if they had been right, to embrace the faith,
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Christianity. And all of a sudden Peter is saying, stand firm in it.
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Some might have doubted it. I don't know. But it would make sense. And we've got a reason to stand firm.
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Romans 5, 1 and 2 says, Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
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Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
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1 Corinthians 15, 1 and 2. Brother Ben read this last week on our Easter service. Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which
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I preached to you, which also you received and which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which
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I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Beloved true believers hold fast. They hold fast to the end.
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They that persevere and dare to the end shall be saved, Jesus said. The gospel to the very end.
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The gospel is the true grace of God. Now, verse 13. We see all this and we lead to this.
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We see love. We see love. Notice what he says. She who is in Babylon chosen together with you sends you greetings and so does my son
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Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love. A lot of commentators have wondered who is she?
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What is he talking about when he says she? But I've read some good commentators on this.
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And what he's saying is interesting. He's closed this epistle by not commanding the attitude of love, but by personally illustrating it.
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And who is he talking about? She is in Babylon. Well, Babylon is probably referring to Jerusalem or Rome.
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And the she is an effeminate voice.
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That she could very well be the church. She. The church.
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The church of Jesus Christ. Together with you. Together. Send you greetings.
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It could be Peter's way and said the church is sending you greetings.
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And this is Peter's code word. It's code word. And a symbolic way of referring to Rome and Jerusalem.
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Well, there were two cities on Peter's day that was famous for wickedness and spiritual rebellion.
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That was Babylon. And the church was right in the midst of it. It's so true. And Mark was like his son.
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Just like Timothy was Paul's son. Well, I need to get to some application here.
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As much more could be said on this. But we spoke about self -control, vigilance, fortitude, hope, worship, faithfulness, love, and peace.
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Wonderful, isn't it? And by the way, let me back up. The peace. He ends it.
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Peace be to you. All that in Christ. Let me give a closing footnote here. Isn't it interesting?
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Peter closes his letter with a simple statement. Peace be to you.
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All who are in Jesus Christ. Peace. And what did Jesus do in the midst of a storm?
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What did He say? Peace be still. He's basically saying, be quiet.
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He told that storm, you hush. And it calmed. It was a great calm.
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All you have to do is speak the word. Peter is saying, peace. Even after Jesus' resurrection.
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We talked about it. Brother Keith, you brought this up last week. Jesus comes to appear to His disciples.
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And what does He say to them? He doesn't rebuke them. He doesn't say, where have you been? Why aren't you out?
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No, He didn't rebuke them. He said, peace be unto you. Peace. Jesus always whispers peace to His blood -bought church.
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Isn't that wonderful? In the midst of the horrific storm that's turbulent going on.
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He speaks peace. He speaks peace. That has to be the power of the Holy Spirit. That has to be
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God. Who else could do that? Only God. Well, personal application.
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Let me go through this very quickly. Because, I don't know if I'm going to get through all this. But really, our whole study through this has been really wonderful.
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And our focus and our main question is. Did we truly leave, or I should say, learn what the word of God has taught us.
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As we've gone through this epistle in the past two years. What has God taught me? How can
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I apply these great truths to my everyday living? And we need to remember these great truths. This is a wonderful epistle.
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And I pray that God the Holy Spirit has encouraged you. As we have gone through His word, verse by verse, through this great epistle.
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We remember these great truths. We don't need to forget them. Well, what does this speak of?
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Suffering and glory. Let me give you a quick survey. Suffering and glory. First is the cross, then the crown, right?
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Always the cross, then the crown. Never the other way around. It's not your best life now.
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I like what MacArthur says. If you live in your best life now, you're probably going to hell. That's the truth.
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It's our worst life. Our best life don't come until we get to heaven. That's the truth, isn't it?
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Well, this book actually reflects this focus. It's first doctrine. And then encourages.
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Paul was very much the same. He breaks it down. First part, half of his doctrine. The second part is application.
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Personal. Peter makes four of these back -to -back, four cycles. And let me give them to you so that you apply these great truths to your lives.
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Number one, Peter begins his letter by calling Christians aliens and foreigners to the
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Roman Empire. Then he goes on to explain the relationship between suffering and salvation.
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And suffering that lasts only for a little while. And the glory that can come later.
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Therefore, Christians are called to suffer, to be holy, to be set apart. They should and are called to love one another.
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Long for the word of God as a baby desires the milk of the word of God. And a newborn baby, believe me, cries out for milk.
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And that's the way we should be crying out and desiring this word. Secondly, after explaining why
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Christians are different and they're to be set apart. They're aliens. Peter goes into what
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Christian family it was about. We looked at that. The family. He goes into the family life.
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What it looks like. A spiritual house. And within the children and the kingdom of God.
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A chosen race. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. A people of God's own possession. Therefore, Christians ought to be keeping their behavior excellent.
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By the power of the Holy Spirit, of course. And so that even their oppressors will glorify
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God. They should submit to authorities. And we looked at that because they're ordained of God.
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And the only time we don't submit to authorities. When it's contrary to the word of God. We are to obey God rather than men.
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But that's the only time. That's the only inception. But, outside of that, there's to be submission to God.
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Submission to authorities. Submission to one another. Honor the spouses. Demonstrate kindness and love and peace towards one another.
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Even when suffering as a Christian. That takes grace to help us in all that.
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Doesn't it? Thirdly. And who set the greatest example of suffering to the glory of God?
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Of course, the answer is only in one. The Lord Jesus Christ himself. Jesus is our example.
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Therefore, the Christians should live for the will of God. Use their spiritual gifts to serve one another. Glorify God.
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And be like Jesus. And as if these folks had any more questions about suffering.
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Peter goes into one more time. Makes his point clear. Suffering is a test.
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It's always a test. I like to look at it as a school. The university of suffering.
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Are you going to pass the test? It's a way that we identify with Jesus Christ.
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And the fellowship of his sufferings. He's doing something good. He's purifying us. It never gives us an excuse to sin.
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No matter how bad it gets. The suffering. Christians always will do what is right before God and man.
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Therefore, even the church leaders should set a good example of integrity. And be Christ like.
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Not only in doctrine. But in truth and in behavior. He talks about that. About shepherds.
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As to elders. The flock of God. And all Christians. Especially Christian leaders.
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Should humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. Stand firm in the faith. As they look forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
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The chief shepherd. Well, the apostle Peter's suffering is no doubt. Something that Christians are to expect.
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I never will forget Elizabeth Elliot saying this. When she was alive years ago. She'll listen to her on Back to Bible. She said, let me give you an encouragement.
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He said, but suffering is normal in the Christian life. She says, expect it as normal.
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Don't look at it as abnormal. It's very normal. I thought, wow. We are foreigners, aliens here in this world.
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Only for a short time. First Peter 4 .16. If anyone suffers as a
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Christian. He is not to be ashamed. But is to glorify God in this name.
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No suffering is enjoyable. But Peter calls it a blessing. We are to rejoice.
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And here are reasons why we see it this way. Number one, when we suffer as Christians.
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We identify with Jesus. After we share in the hardship. We share in the King's everlasting glory.
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Suffering is an opportunity to prove our faith in Christ. It's an opportunity also to do what is right.
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Even when we are wronged. Jesus Christ himself set the great example. As the sufferer.
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And the greatest sufferer for us. And we are to follow in his footsteps. And the way we deal with persecution.
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Will bring our persecutors to glorify God. And when we do that. What is right. No matter what.
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The circumstances. God is well pleased. And God is glorified in this. Not that what really matters.
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It is. First Peter 2 .20. So beloved. If anyone is an expert on suffering.
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The apostle Peter definitely was. And he passed the test. He went through the university of suffering.
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Jesus himself is the greatest example. Just read Hebrews 11. Then go up to Hebrews 12.
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And it points to Jesus. Always to Christ. Well Christ is the great sufferer.
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And we are to follow in his footsteps. Now. My time is gone.
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But. What are we to do? We are to have a firm foundation. We sung about it this morning.
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And I am going to give you this closing thought. From what Jesus gives. In the sermon on the plateau.
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Not the sermon on the mountain. I am going to say this very quickly. And I will close with this. Jesus said.
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Why do you call me Lord, Lord. And do not do what I say. These are people that listen to him.
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They knew his teaching. And we can fall in this very same snare. If we are not careful. Everyone who comes to me.
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Jesus said. Hears my words. Acts on them. He gives the positive first here.
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I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man building a house. Who dug deep.
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He laid a foundation on the rock. And when a flood occurred.
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That is the persecution. The storm. But there is a coming storm coming too. That is the judgment of God. The torrent burst against that house.
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And could not shake it. Because it had been built well. Verse 49.
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But the one who has heard. And has not acted. Acted. No obedience.
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He just hears it. He knows it. But no obedience. That is what he is talking about. According. He is like a man who has built a house on the ground.
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Without any foundation. And the torrent burst against it. Immediately it collapsed.
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And the ruin of that house was great. It is a great truth here. What our
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Lord is saying in the conclusion of that sermon is. Very similar to the one on the
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Sermon on the Mount. He used the same conclusion. It is not sufficient to just give lip service to Jesus Christ and his
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Lordship. We must obey our Lord. That is what
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Jesus said. Why call me Lord, Lord. You do not obey me. And I am thinking how many.
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But I search. It is a soul search into my own heart. Lord I know the truth.
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And the more truth is given. The more responsibility is given. Much is given. Much will be required. It makes me shake and tremble.
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All the grace that is given. God help me to obey. Trust and obey.
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For there is no other way to be happy in Jesus. But to trust and obey. And by the way. Obedience does not save us.
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But obedience is definitely a fruit. That follows. How do we know that? Jesus said it.
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Every tree is known by its fruit. For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit. On the other hand a bad tree which produces good fruit.
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For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns. Nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.
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The good man of the good treasure of his heart. Brings forth what is good. He is talking about obedience. And the evil man of the evil treasure.
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Brings forth what is evil. For his mouth. His mouth. Speaks from that which fills his heart.
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That's powerful. Now. What do we see here? This is so important folks.
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Here we only see two kinds of trees. Two. One good.
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One bad. That's pretty simple. I think our Lord knew exactly what he was doing. When he preached these sermons.
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He made it as simple. But in its simplicity it's profound.
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But he clears it up doesn't he? There's no gray area with God. It's black and white.
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It's good and bad. It's false. It's truth. It's one of the two.
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You're saved or you're not. No one can be half saved. You're in the kingdom or you're not in the kingdom.
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One's false. Oh by the way. One's dead faith. One's living faith. One's godly.
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One's corrupt. One that is true repentance. One's false repentance. One's a
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Peter. One's a Judas. You see that? This is soul searching.
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Then John the Baptist. When he was preaching. He said one short verse. And I tell you.
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If this one verse can be preached. And the power of the Holy Spirit. And the
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Holy Spirit would come. And search. People allow God to just search their hearts.
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And open up the word of God. There will be a revival. He said this in Matthew 3 .8. Therefore bear fruit.
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In keeping with repentance. That's powerful. Faith. True faith.
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True repentance. Are gifts from God. Repentance is turning from one sin.
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Faith is turning to God. That's all it is. But it's a gift. We can't do this within our power.
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Amen. God has to do it. The Holy Spirit has to do it. And this is the only.
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This is going to stand. Up against the storm of the coming judgment. The only thing that's going to stand.
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Is a sure foundation. That foundation is that rock. And that is Jesus Christ. And I'm thinking.
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How are people building their lives today? Look around you. Everything else but Jesus.
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It's got to be Jesus. And Jesus only. Jesus and Jesus only. Trust and obey.
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There's no other way to be happy in Jesus. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
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Let's pray. Father we thank you for this time. We thank you for the grace.
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That you saved us. You washed us. You cleansed us. You purified us.
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Lord it's nothing of us. It's all of your grace. We had nothing
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Lord to do with this. You elected us before the foundation of the world. You elected your people.
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Just as Esau and Jacob. They had nothing to do with it. Esau you hated.
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Jacob you loved. Oh wow. It's not Esau that you hate that's profound.
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It's Jacob that you loved. That makes us fall to our faces. Why you ever loved us we'll never know.
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But Lord we know it's in your great love through Jesus Christ. And by your grace. You saved us.
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You cleansed us. You washed us. You redeemed us. And it's grace that will keep us until we're glorified.
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We pray this. Keep us. Keep us Lord. In your grace.