Bible In A Year - 1 Peter

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Our Father in Heaven, You are great, and You are our
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God, and our Father, and our King. And we praise
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You for the opportunity to be able to come today before Your throne, the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy first.
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And Lord, how we need mercy for our sins to be covered, to be forgiven. And we confess our sins, and we're thankful that You're faithful and righteous to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that You wipe the slate absolutely clean, and that the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to cover it all for time and for eternity.
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We're grateful that we can also come for grace, for favor. Lord, and we ask that Your favor this morning upon us, that the
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Holy Spirit would teach us, that we would be helped this morning in this life here below, that we live for You, for the glory of Christ, to be a good testimony, to live lives that are befitting to the gospel, to live in such a way that not only thought, but word and deed would be acceptable in Your sight.
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We pray that this book would be of help to us as we consider the struggles that we go through as believers, that we might be able to think properly, and to come with the right attitude, and to behave and conduct ourselves wisely and godly in this present evil world.
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Help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the book this morning before us is 1
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Peter. We're down the homestretch, aren't we? We're getting close, and through the
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Bible in a year or two or three. 1 Peter, among all the disciples, when you consider the
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Gospels, when you consider the New Testament, probably when you think of any person in the New Testament, first and foremost, of course, the
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Lord Jesus Christ. But then when you think of any of His followers, any of His disciples, of course, Peter stands out.
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And what a great testimony of the grace of God in the life of a man who, as we look at him, we say, how could he do that?
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And how could he say that? How could he have thought that way? And it would be very humbling for us to put ourselves in the same place and say, we probably would have said and done and behaved ourselves in the same way.
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And if we look at our lives, we can see that it is because of God's favor, it is because of God's mercy that we are who we are and that God does forgive us.
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And God, like Peter, with all of his failings, with all of his open mouth and insert foot, so to speak, as we'd say, not so,
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Lord, he would say, Satan, Peter, Satan has desired to sift thee like wheat.
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I'll follow you to the end of the earth. I'll I'll never forsake you. And then we see him denying the
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Lord three times. And yet the Lord looks at him with that look of mercy and love and grace.
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And Peter goes out and weeps bitterly. And we see in the opening chapters of the book of Acts that God takes this man and uses him as a powerful instrument in his hand to preach the gospel and to go on and to be a faithful servant all the days of his life.
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He's certainly as he penned in first Peter, chapter one and in verse five, he said, we are definitely, he says, we are people who are kept by the power of God.
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That was a testimony of his life kept by the Lord. Peter, one of the most recognizable names of the
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New Testament, probably first among those that Jesus specifically called to take, take up the cross and to follow him.
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The last recorded words of the Lord Jesus to Peter talking to him is talk to him in John, chapter 21 about following him even after the
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Lord would depart to continue to follow after the Lord all along the way in in his in his life.
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We know that the Lord replaced his name with Simon from Simon to Peter, which is the
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Greek. And of course, you see Cephas in the New Testament also, which is the Aramaic, both meaning a stone and a rock.
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But the Lord had singularly chosen and Peter for special lessons.
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We see that in the in the pages of the gospels. And we see that Peter is a spokesman, his name being at the top of the list.
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Even he's recognized among the disciples as as being one who is preeminent among them.
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But he is one that shares their thoughts. The disciples thought speaks for them.
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Sometimes, no doubt, speaks for himself, but he spoke for for the group. And he is he is one who penned this book in the next one, first and second,
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Peter. This one here written about 64 to 65 AD. And you notice that from the very beginning of the book, the very first mention right out of the gate,
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Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, chapter one, verse one, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the stranger scattered throughout
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Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.
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And we see that he writes this. Writes this book, and I want to look at the consider some of the background in the setting, because I believe that it will certainly help us because we as we study a book, it's good for us to know what is this all about?
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Why was this written? To whom was it written? And hopefully we can glean from it ourselves as we consider.
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What does the Lord have for us in all the days that we have remaining upon the earth? What is going to come our way and how is it that we ought to live before God?
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What is the word of God here say to us in this book to help us? And we are going to definitely see a prominent theme and a subject that we can really focus in on this morning.
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And hopefully we can glean from. But his audience, Peter's audience of believers, of course, was no doubt facing increasing signs of persecution throughout the
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Roman Empire. I'm pretty much just going to read through this background and setting because it just really says it as it needs to be said.
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Conditions were right for the for the tactics used by Nero to deflect blame for the burning of Rome from himself to the
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Christians. And once Nero spread the word that Christians had set the fires, the accusation stuck because the
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Christians, they were already they were already hated. They were already hated because they were associated with the
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Jews who were hostile against the Roman culture and the Roman rule. And this vicious persecution that ensued touched the far corners of the empire, reaching the very places mentioned by Peter's in his salutation here in verse one.
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Their persecution, the spreading of the of the of the disciples of Christians throughout the world.
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There is this letter is coming to them because they are in great need, because persecution has come upon them.
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The general addresses of the letter, the ambiguous place that Peter says he writes this from, if you notice in First Peter, Chapter five and at the very end of the book in verse 13, the church that is in Babylon elected together with you, saluted you.
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And so does Marcus, my son. It is likely that Babylon was an alias for Rome that needed to be protection.
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They couldn't just come out and say, say where they were. And he this is just probably something he did in his writing because there was this underground networking going on, the hiding of of believers to spare life.
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And of course, the letter would go out and Peter's letter would go to these different places. And the envoys, whoever was carrying this letter or bringing it about would need would need to be.
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They need to be careful in this and so that there was this underground network established.
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Nevertheless, the apostle realized that these scattered and battered
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Christians needed help. They needed spiritual strengthening. They needed to be encouraged.
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And so don't we today. I mean, we may not be living in the same exact circumstances that they lived in, of course, with the extreme persecution.
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But I remember I remember the words, I believe it's in Second Timothy, chapter three,
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I believe it is. It says, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution to some extent or another.
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If we live as believers in this lost world and desire to make the name of Christ known and to let people know that we are
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Christians and we're going to live differently. And we let the people in our immediate families who may be lost, the people who are extended family, our relatives that are that don't live under our roof at work, at school, in our neighborhood, in public.
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If we let them know that we are Christians and we so desire to live by the word of God, no doubt the attack will come.
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It'll come our way and there will be the labeling. There will be the
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I don't know if you've ever experienced this yet. Almost like a belittling, like you don't even use your mind.
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You don't even think or you're brainwashed. You got somebody else kind of just leading you around by a leash and you don't really have any life of your own.
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And really, it's completely the opposite, isn't it? But there's this there's this discrediting.
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There's this reviling. There's this, you know, even even the talk where you when when they when they are on the job, you may have experienced this when the conversation begins to go in such a way that is is not quite upright.
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Or maybe the words chosen are not those that ought to be used. There's always the apologies that go out to the
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Christians. It's like, you know, sorry for saying this. Well, and, you know, in my if I don't say it openly and I have in the past, but if I say it in my head, it's like, don't be sorry to me.
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Be sorry to the Lord who created you because you were not created to speak and to act that way.
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But we get that that type of attack that comes maybe not onto blood, the shedding of blood. Maybe not.
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Maybe not the physical attacks here. Maybe some of you have had that happen to you. Maybe evangelizing.
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You've had the you've had the door slammed in your face. So you've had the shove away so that people would because they desire for you not to be with with them or to hear the things that that you're trying to share with them.
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But it it does come our way and there is a need for us. And I and I believe that we could be greatly helped because of this book that Peter has put together.
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And his theme, of course, he mentions it some 16 times. The theme of suffering with no less than five direct referrals to the sufferings of the
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Lord Jesus Christ himself. And if you'll notice under background and setting in the second paragraph, about the second half of the paragraph down way over to the right hand side, after there's some parentheses with some
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Bible verses there, a sentence begins with Peter. And this the from here to the end of that is ones that I've highlighted.
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And it's really been a help to me as I've reconsidered this book this week. Peter writes to give a divine perspective.
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And by that and what's so important about that is it does not matter what our opinion is when it comes to life and living and persecution and trial and suffering.
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And we'll kind of get into that because we kind of frame suffering sometimes. We frame trials or we frame persecution in a wrong way.
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But this is going to be a divine perspective. This is the word of God. This is what God says about about the the characteristics of suffering, the characteristics of persecution, what it's all about and what is the fruit supposed to be at the at the tail?
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What is the result of it supposed to be? And how is it that we are to to go through it?
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How is it that we are to respond to persecution? How are we supposed to respond to the trials and the afflictions that come our way?
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Because you can improperly respond. You can properly respond to to these circumstances that we find ourselves in.
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So it's a divine perspective so that the readers will be able to endure persecutions and sufferings without wavering.
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Without throwing in the towel, without reacting in such a way, and I'll probably do it this morning.
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I'm just going to get ahead of myself without improperly responding or in a poor way by giving up, by being impatient, by complaining to God, by being a poor testimony before the lost and saved.
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I mean, we can be a poor testimony both ways. Being constantly sad faced, upset, sour, pessimistic, pouting, grumbling, defeated, just not joyous.
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One of the worst things I believe that a child of God can do before a lost world in times of persecution.
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I mean, not only in your relationship to the Lord and grumbling and complaining and not trusting God through it all, but before a lost world is to show that we have absolutely no joy.
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Because it doesn't have anything to do with happiness. And we all know that. We know that as concept and we know that in our mind.
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But when it comes to the time when we are being stripped clean of our own self dependence and we're going through a difficult trial, suffering, persecution, whatever, the testings here.
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Peter, as he says in 1 Peter 1, he says one of the first times when he speaks of this, and in chapter one, in verse seven, after he has listed all these great promises and the blessedness of being a believer, that we are in verse two, elect according to the foreknowledge of God.
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That in verse three, God has begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
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I mean, he just piles it on. Verse four, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you.
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In verse five, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. I mean, those are true and those are real.
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And it's almost like, you know, the TV evangelists or preachers who get on there and say everything is rosy.
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Everything is great. And that's about that's about where those are the types of verses that they'll go to. The positive, the the the great blessings, the things whereby we receive things that are very great and easy and encouraging for us.
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But Peter doesn't stop there. He gives the whole picture. Like Paul, he preaches the whole counsel of God. He gives everything that we need to know.
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He balances it all and he says we're in verse six. We greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations.
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You've got some type of grief. You've got some type of mental distress. You've got some type of sadness through this many faceted temptations that for this purpose, the trial of your faith, the testing of your faith, the proving of your faith.
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Now, that word has this idea of proving the genuineness of. It's kind of like if you've ever seen the old
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Western movie, the gold. What do they call them in the gold rush?
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California going out and they bring it back to the office to cash it in to get some get whatever for it.
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And the person picks it up and for whatever reason they bite it. I don't know what that whole that's some type of test to prove that it's gold soft,
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I guess, maybe because gold, if it was iron or some other type of metal, it would be hard, but it was soft.
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And it was that test was to prove that it truly is gold. And when it comes to the testings, the persecutions, the trials, brethren, the afflictions, these tough times, it is not a deliberate purpose of God just to make life difficult.
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God is an ogre and he's just kind of squeezing, squeezing his people as as a religious
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God would be kind of making people crawl over a glass and walk on their knees upstairs.
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And and everything is just everything is is just horrible when it comes to Christian living. But what the idea is, is that it is going to prove the genuineness of this salvation that has come to us, this faith that God has given to us, this
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Christianity. And it goes through these these tests. And as he says here, the trial of your faith, he says, being much more precious than of gold, that faith is much more precious than gold is that perishes, gold perishes.
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But this faith, which is which is the eternal, gracious gift of the Lord is going to be tried.
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It's going to be proven and it's going to be to purify us. It is going to be that when we come out on the other end, we're going to be refined.
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We're going to be better off. And see, this is how this is what Peter does as he goes through this book.
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He talks about the blessings that come to us. But he also talks about the responsibilities of a believer as you're going through these trials, how it is that we ought to conduct ourselves, how we ought to live, how we ought to speak, how we ought to think.
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How do we how do we maintain relationships with others? What ought to we think about the Lord when it comes to trials in these tribulations?
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And on the other hand, people who don't go through properly, like I said, who grumble and complain, they're not trusting in God, maybe being ashamed of being a
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Christian, hiding their Christianity, not speaking about God, not speaking about the church, not speaking the gospel, maybe even come to the place where when things are difficult, taking matters into their own hands and being afraid.
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And we're going to see how all of these that I just mentioned are all of these improper ways.
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Peter shows us how we ought to properly go through them. Now, I want to first just step back and get your help.
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And I want to think I want you to think about how is it. That these trials, these testings, persecutions, sufferings, afflictions, when they come, when they come our way, how do they come to us?
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They come to us at the hand of what or of who? They come to us at the hand of God.
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OK, first, it is the it is absolutely clear in Scripture.
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That we can see that that it is underneath all of it, no matter what source it really comes from.
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It is all coming from the Lord. It is God's doing. God is God is the one who is trying our faith for a purpose.
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How else would we receive what at who or what other hands do we receive difficult times, trials, persecutions?
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OK, so God is there. But we have we see another personality than at the hand of Satan.
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OK, we see at the hand of Satan. We see in First Peter, chapter five, if you turn there. Notice these verses.
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First Peter five and verse six, humble yourselves. Therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
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Verse seven, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Then verse eight, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.
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First Peter five and in verse eight, Satan at the hands of Satan, there are the fiery darts of doubt that come our way.
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There are there is the attack upon the church, the attack upon the individual Christian. Yes. So we have
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God, Satan. How else at the hands of what, Charlie? Of ourselves. Yes, sure.
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Any other examples of maybe somebody else who thought of self? How is it that it can come our way by self?
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Daniel, man attacking man,
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Satan attacking man. I was thinking I was thinking of this one. Here's I was talking earlier. Remember, I talked about framing things, persecution in the wrong way.
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You have a you have a man and and bear with me, because I just made this up this morning. You have a man who goes to bed at night,
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Christian, and he's recounting his day and he's thinking. The onslaught was just heavy today.
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I was super persecuted for my faith. He says, I mean,
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I got up in the morning, I went to work. I'm trying to be a Christian there and faithfully serve. And the boss was all over my case and the people
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I work with had nothing good to say to me. Then I went to lunch, went to the place down the street to get something to eat.
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And all the people in line were complaining. All the people behind me, they're all complaining to me and saying all manner of evil against me.
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And I'm just trying to be righteous before the Lord. Then I go on my way home from work and the policeman stops me.
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I mean, you know, it's just terrible as he stops me and and he gives me a piece of paper. Then I get close to home and his red lights all the way there.
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I mean, it's got to be Satan coming against me. I just I mean, I'm trying to get home and it's, you know, and then
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I get home and the kids run away from me. And my wife has doesn't want to have anything to do with me.
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Oh, woe is me. I'm persecuted. We talk about at the hands of self. But the rest of the story is, is that when the guy get up in the morning and he went to work, he gets there late, 30 minutes late.
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He's always late. And he gets into his desk. He's always going out on the Internet, looking at whatever it is that he wants to look at.
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He's not doing his job. His boss has been waiting for something for him for a deliverable that day.
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And he's been waiting for it for three days. And all the people around him in the in the in his cubicle bin, they all know that they're having to pull his weight.
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And yet he's a Christian. You see the idea as far as, you know, we say, oh, what was me? I'm a Christian.
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But if we're not living righteously, if we're not living godly, if we're not living in such a way where it's totally different, that type of person.
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Well, let me finish the story. So he goes to lunch. Right. The reason why they're all complaining behind him in lunches is because he's going to the place and he sees that there's some other people coming and he's going to beat him to the door and he runs and he flings the door open and slams it right in their face.
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And of course, they're going to be upset at him. Then he goes and the reason why he got that piece of paper from the policeman is because he exceeded the speed limit.
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And the red lights have nothing to do with Satan. They're just timed. It's just circumstance.
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I mean, it just comes out. I mean, that's just the way that they are. And when he got home with the kids, he was he was moaning and groaning and complaining because their toys were all over the place and he was letting them know that.
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And so they're running away. And for his wife, he's just barking out commands over and over again.
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Do this. Do that. No hello. No hug. No kiss. You see, we do bring it upon ourselves.
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Sometimes we attribute to Satan and we we attribute you we attribute to the world and ungodliness.
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All of these things coming at us. But we don't look at the fact that sometimes we're just plain sinful and we're just plain shirking our duties and responsibilities as a believer.
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Now, it would be totally different, wouldn't it, if that guy, while he was on his job, was always on time, always got every deliverable in on time, always doing a good job.
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But he everybody knew he was a Christian. And yet they shirked him. They overlooked him when it came when it came to promotions, because they went to their friends and their buddies and did all that.
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If he was if he was had gone to that lunch place and saw those people coming and was gracious and opened the door for them, let them go first.
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I mean, and then if they were in front of him complaining about his Christianity, because they knew him maybe from work or whatever, it would be a different it would be a different story.
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And if he went home, maybe he has a lost wife and the home is in disarray.
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And if he went home and he was gracious and he was kind and he was loving and and still suffered and things came his way, then it would be understandable.
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He would be he would be able to justify in some measure the persecution and the trial of his faith.
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That's that's happening because he did not bring it upon himself. It's one thing.
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It is one thing to contend for the faith. But it's another thing to be contentious when we're living for Christ and to, you know, to just go out and just be so totally.
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And I like the word winsome. And I don't know what the opposite of it is, but but unwinsome. I mean, just to just totally beat people over the head and just not not live in such a way that is just so humble and gracious and loving and kind in this lost world and live that way.
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And then think all these things that are happening to me. We bring them upon ourselves many times.
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Daniel, Jesus Christ.
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Jesus Christ does. And if you look at you look at the apostle, you look at I mean, what about what about are you talking about an example of somebody who lives right or not right?
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Oh, OK. I'm sorry. Yeah. Are you
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Charlie? Sure.
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Lewis. Yes. Dallas.
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Sure. Good. Good point. Sure. Yeah.
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That's the pattern. If that pattern there is the improperly. Responding to persecution or just not exhibiting the fruit of grace in the life, then we we can come to the point where we question self or person, whether they're truly in the faith or not.
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And we can talk more about your specifics. Yeah.
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And I was kind of pushing the envelope as far as, you know, I mean, but but sometimes even we as Christians do.
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A tribute, our persecution and affliction to Satan, to ungodly world.
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And really, if we examine it, we brought it upon ourselves because we didn't speak.
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Maybe it's not a pattern of our life, but inappropriately we we had a bad day.
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We had a headache with things going wrong at the house and we we explode. But what do we do when we explode and we have a bad day?
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We go back to our coworker. We go back to our relative. We go back to our friend. We go back to the other student and we say,
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I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have acted in such a way. There is remorse.
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There is repentance and there is restitution that is so desired in the in the life of the believer.
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OK, let's do this. Let's look at some of the instances in this book where Peter deals with the subject of suffering, gives its attributes, characteristics, how it is that we're to respond.
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And and right before I do that, we can we can receive persecution and trials at the hands of the
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Lord. Of course, all of it ultimately comes from the Lord, the hands of Satan, the hands of self. It is the hands of just natural occurrences that take place.
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Of course, those are under the the sovereign hand of God, of course, when it comes to storms and winds and trees falling on your house and things like that.
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We we don't have to look for the devil under every rock and say Satan did it. I mean, just sometimes it's what the
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Lord desires is a reason for it. The consequences of sin. Because of that, we can receive persecution and we or we can receive a trial or affliction because of that and so on.
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But let's look at what Peter wrote again in chapter one. Peter says the trial of your faith in verse seven.
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I already touched on this one. He says it is much being much more precious than of golden perishes, though it be tried with fire might be found unto the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
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Whom having not seen you love in whom, though you yet see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy, unspeakable and full of glory.
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He goes on about receiving the end of your salvation with your end of your faith, which is salvation. Here he's speaking of that.
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It is a trial in the verse before that in verse six. Some of the the the things that we find ourselves in is that there's this mental distress.
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There's this heaviness. There is this sadness. There is this grief that this burden that can be upon us.
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But the purpose for that all is for good. God does work all things for good in our in the life of his of his children.
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And in this case here, it is to prove that our faith is real. And when it comes to learning one of the best classrooms to ever go through and most difficult to go through, but God is gracious in it is persecution, trial, tough times, difficult times.
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We learn the most during those. And then we come out of that saying, I truly am
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God's child. It can't be attributed to anything else, because the way that I responded was a favor of God.
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God graced me to be able to do that. The Holy Spirit strengthened me to be able to respond in a way where I endured.
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And I stayed I stayed true to the Lord. But I was a testimony for the goodness and the graciousness of the
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Lord in my life. And it just in all of this has to be a genuine faith that is brought by God.
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And if we if we move on to chapter the next example, look in Chapter two, if you would, with me in Chapter two.
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When Paul is giving speaking about living well and well, well doing, verse 15, for so is the will of God that with well doing or with right living, right doing, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God, honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear
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God, honor the king. And he's just instructing them is the servants be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward.
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Then he goes into he deals with the subject again and he says, for this is thankworthy. If a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully, he's saying here, if you if you suffer unjustly, that means you're living right.
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You're doing well and you you suffer at the hands of man unjustly.
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He said a person it's it's thankworthy or this is a this is a good thing.
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This is a blessed thing. This is something that we'll be able to turn back and say, thank you, Lord, for for going through this, though it is difficult because you had a purpose in all of this.
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And notice the frame of reference is that a person does this, a man for his conscience towards God.
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He's doing this and we ought to do this living before God in the in the face of God and in the fear of the
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Lord. As we go through these things, we understand that this isn't just something that we do on our own.
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And we don't look at it from our perspective, but we look at it from a divine perspective that God says here that if we if we suffer this way, living right and unjustly.
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Notice what he says in verse 20. For what glory is it if you are buffeted for your faults?
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You take it patiently. What what's the big deal about that? If you've done something wrong and then you pay the consequences, there's there's no this.
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And you were and you did that patiently. There's no big deal because you're the one that's at fault.
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You're the one that brought it upon yourself. But he says, but if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently.
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This is acceptable with God. That is where we find favor.
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That's we find favor with the Lord when we are living right. And yet we suffer unjustly.
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That is pleasing to the Lord. And so what he says in here is that wrongful suffering will occur.
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So put that before you when you go out into this world, that it's going to happen to us.
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It's going to come to believers that we are going to suffer for. I mean, we're going to do something. And it's going to if it hasn't happened to you lately, it will.
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You're going to pour your heart into somebody, try to help them, and you're going to get cut.
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They're going to come back because they're going to think your motives were wrong. They're going to just come back and attack.
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That's just one example. So we are going to wrongfully suffer.
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But patience in suffering pleases the Lord. And I want you to notice the next verse for even here and to where you called.
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That is so important. It is part and parcel of the life of the believer that not only have we been called into God, into salvation, but we have been called into the sufferings of Jesus Christ.
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And here he goes into the examples of Christ. He says, because for even on here and to where you called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.
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It is the it is it is the example of Christ here. He said he uses this word example. And in the in the
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Greek, this is Hupo Gramos. And what this means, it's a writing tablet. I don't know.
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When I was a kid, when learning how to color, they had tracing books. I don't know if they still have those today, but but or you could use tracing paper.
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You could stick it over something and use your crayon and just kind of trace out the form. Well, this this idea, this word, this word example is like the tablets that they use for students to learn
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Greek. It had all the Greek alphabet on it and they would trace over the letters so they could learn the alphabet.
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And the idea here is, is that we as believers are to use the life of the suffering of Jesus Christ as a tracing tablet.
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So that we learn wisdom and so that we learn godliness and we learn from the example of the
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Lord. How is it that he suffered and how did he respond when he was reviled?
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What does it say? Well, let's read on. Well, how how did Jesus how what is his example?
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Verse 22, who did no sin in the whole context here is in persecution. It's in trial.
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It's in suffering who did no sin. Neither was any guile in his mouth who, when he was reviled, he did not revile again.
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When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he committed himself to him, to the father who judges righteously, who his own self bear our sins and his own body in the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you are healed.
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And the idea is, is that we need to respond to unjust words and unjust treatment to the reviling, to the rejection, to the being despised, to being mocked or reviled or criticized or hated or even physically attacked.
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If it gets there the same way the Lord Jesus did, you don't answer kind with kind and you commit yourself to the
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Lord. You trust yourself to God who is able to keep your soul and to be able to keep his promise that that if if you do these things, he's pleased.
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There is a reward coming for those who would live in and respond to persecution and trials in this way.
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And we see the perfect example of Christ here. Look in Chapter four in verse one and notice how
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Peter also kind of explains this. He says, for as much then first Peter for one for as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh.
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He says, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind. And the word arm there means equip yourself with a weapon, just like a soldier taking on weapons or instruments for offensive warfare.
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And he says, what are we as believers to arm ourselves with the same mindset that the
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Lord Jesus had when he suffered? And the way that he the way that he responded was, this is the father's will for me, not my will, but yours.
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And he would not give it up. And he continued to go forward in it. And and he was doing it for the joy that was set before him, for he would redeem his very own us, the people of God.
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And he and out of his great love for us, he he went forward and he suffered. And we are called to have
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Christ be our tracing tablet, arming ourselves with the same readiness of mind here to suffer and die.
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And to be and to be ready to suffer for Christ's sake, living for Christ's sake, for righteousness sake.
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And if we are ready to suffer in this way, we are prepared if we are prepared to be tested and tried and persecuted.
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Sometimes it just kind of hits people and just knocks them right off their saddle because they don't expect it to come.
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But expect it, expect it, expect it. The persecution is going to come against the people of God and the suffering and the trials will come in the testing.
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But if we arm ourselves with the same thinking of the Lord, notice he says for he for he that had suffered in the flesh have ceased from sin.
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And what that's saying there is if a Christian becomes dead to the world and crucified with Christ in the
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Romans, chapter six thinking it will it will curtail the propensity of sitting in our lives.
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It'll it'll give us the right focus that we're alive in Christ, dead to this world, dead to sin.
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And we should be a people who are armed with this type of thinking, even in the midst of suffering. And notice what he says in verse two, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the loss of men, but to the will of God.
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That's the whole purpose of this, that we might please the Lord and do his will and part of the will of God for his people.
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And maybe we don't want to hear it is, is that we will suffer. And I don't know what degree you've suffered in your in your
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Christian walk. Many of us. It could be a great loss that has come your way.
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It could be somebody who is just that that goat in the side just keeps keeps pushing you.
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It could be just something you're labeled the name that you're called at work. You're passed over. I mean, what whatever it might be, it might be.
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It could be it could be like Paul's thorn in the flesh, some physical, mental or emotional ailment that you have that is just so trying and so difficult.
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But through it all, through it all, you will see that if we have Christ as our as our tablet, our tracing tablet and we use his life of suffering, we cannot go wrong in the in the way of our thinking that this will be unto the
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Lord for the glory of the Lord. And it will please the Lord if we do it patiently. Well, I've got to go on. If I'm going to finish the next one's chapter three, look in chapter three.
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I go right to the verse, notice verse 14, 314. I'll read 13 first.
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And who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? But and if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are you and be not afraid of their terror.
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Neither be troubled. He says here that the believer who lives, who suffers for doing right or righteousness sake is blessed, is happy, truly happy, truly joyous, because we know that we've been counted worthy to suffer shame or reproach for the name of Jesus Christ, because it's attributed to the name of Christ.
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We're suffering for Christ's sake. That's what that's what it's all about. Do you remember the the apostles in Acts, chapter four, when they were preaching, they were thrown in the prison and they were beaten and they and when they were released, they were just praising
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God, not that they were delivered, but they were praising God that they were worthy to be to suffer, to be identified with Christ, to be the elect of God and to be saved, but also to suffer for his name's sake, to take on that mark, to take on that glorious badge that we are owned of God and that we will suffer.
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And we're called to this type of living. And that's what he says here. That's the fruit of it. The result of it ought to be that where we understand that we are blessed and happy and that we don't need to be afraid.
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We can trust in God. He is going to to take to take care of us. And if we trust God in the midst of our suffering, it will help calm our fears.
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And then he goes on to say here, down in verse 17, for it is better if the will of God be so, that you suffer for well -doing than for evil doing.
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For example, here it is again. Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit.
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And I don't have a whole lot of time to touch on this, but consider this if you would with me. We we need to recognize here, he says, that that it is
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God's will, not that he's displeased with us, but it's God's will at times that we suffer.
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And we are becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus if we suffer as he suffered, if we respond as he responded.
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And really consider this, too. What did Jesus' suffering bring us? Well, Jesus' suffering, as it says in verse 18, brought us a forgiveness of dealing with our sins, and he brought us to God into a relationship, an eternal relationship with God.
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And I have a note in my margin. Jesus' suffering gave us eternal life and brought us into a relationship with God.
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What might our suffering give birth to in the lives of others?
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I don't know if you ever thought of it that way. But if we're to suffer as believers on the face of this earth,
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God has us here for a purpose. And if we suffer, what might that birth in somebody else?
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Could we be those who are instruments in the hands of God, a great testimony through suffering, showing that we have the joy of the
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Lord, which is our strength? And they might look at us, and I believe that's why in context we have verse 15,
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Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that seeks the reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
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I think it's all couched in this whole thinking of going through persecution. How is it that you, as a believer, could have hope?
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Why is it that you don't give up? Why is it that you don't throw in the towel? Well, I have my hope in God. It's not in myself.
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He's going to take care of me, and I can commit myself to him as my Lord committed himself to his
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Father. Chapter 4. I've got two more passages to do in like six minutes.
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Chapter 4, verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you.
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One thing to think about here is you are not alone, brothers and sisters, in this. This is something that happens to other believers.
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You'll remember in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13,
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There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may not be able to bear it.
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But the point that I brought out in that verse is that it is common to man. If you look in 1 Peter 5, and in verse 9, after those verses dealing with Satan, it says,
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Whom resist, resist Satan steadfast in the faith. 1 Peter 5, 9,
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Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. So brethren, we're not alone.
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The brother and sister that you're sitting beside or is the row ahead of you or behind you, you're not the only one going through the suffering and the affliction of the trial.
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And sometimes it might be good just to talk to somebody else to encourage one another, to tell you what's going on.
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This is what's going, you know, it's not, how you doing, brother? Doing fine. Hi, sister, how are you?
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Just great. No problems. Come on, let's be real. There are problems and there are difficulties and there are struggles that we're going through.
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We need each other. We ought to encourage each other and love one another to do that. But he says here, don't think it's strange, verse 13, but rejoice in as much as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings.
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Again, we've covered that. When his glory shall be revealed, you shall be glad also with exceeding joy. There has some inference here to a reward for those who will stay true and faithful to the
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Lord. And then he says in verse 14, if you are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you for the spirit of the glory of glory and of God rests upon you.
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The spirit of God strengthens us in it and we can glory in God in this. But notice what he says in verse 15, let none of you suffer as a murderer, as a thief or as an evildoer, as a busybody in other men's manners.
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That's what we're talking about matters. That's what we're talking about earlier, bringing it upon yourself. Yet we're 16.
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If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. There's nothing to be ashamed about. God is not displeased with you.
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You are not an orphan. You are not stuck out to the side. And God is spanking you because because you're not living right.
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We are going to live right and do well and own the name of Christ and live above reproach.
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And these things are going to come our way. But we can see that they're all framed in the goodness and the love and the mercy of the
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Lord. There's a purpose for it all. Says, don't don't be ashamed, but let him glorify
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God on his behalf. Notice he goes down. I can't read these verse, but notice verse 19 at the end of verse chapter four.
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Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well -doing or in right living as unto a faithful creator.
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Do you remember in back in chapter two in verse twenty three, that's exactly what the Lord Jesus did. He committed himself to the father when he was reviled, when he was reproached.
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He says, not my will, but thine be done. And we as believers, as we're suffering according to the will of God while living right, commit ourselves to the
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Lord or we trust that God will take care of us and that this is right. And he's not he's not attacking us.
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Then lastly, in chapter five. Well, there's another thing about suffering, too.
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And I haven't really caught God on that. Not only does it help conform us to the image of Christ, but sometimes suffering reveals areas in our lives that need to be adjusted.
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And as as that pressure of the suffering comes and the grief and the sorrow of it, the question shouldn't be, why,
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God, are you doing this to me? But it ought to come toward us and not to be. What is it, Lord, that you're trying to teach me?
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What is it you're trying to show me about myself? How is it that I'm not godly or what what is it about this relationship that isn't right?
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Or how is it that what am I doing or not doing properly here at work or at school or in my relationships with others?
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What is it that needs to be tweaked and adjusted? And where do I need to repent? Where do I need to to to change in the way that I speak and so on?
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This is something else that's very important. And then we finish and conclude with. In chapter five, in verse 10,
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Peter says, but the God of all grace who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.
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Did you notice that it says here, the God of all grace, he's called us to eternal glory with Christ.
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He didn't say if you suffer, he says after you suffer, it is inevitable it will come.
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So we just need to be prepared for it. And there's a reason for it. And it's good. And God is difficult as it is.
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But God's grace will be sufficient to not get us like an ejection seat to get out of it, but to give us strength and power to endure, to go through it so that we don't waver and we don't give up and we don't throw in the towel.
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We're not a poor testimony, but we remain true for the Lord Jesus in this world that needs to see a testimony of grace.
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And Paul says here after that suffering, what does it work in our lives? It perfects us or it matures us.
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He says it establishes us. And that word in the Greek means to be steadfast, to turn resolutely in a certain direction.
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So the suffering that comes our way helps keep us steadfast and moving in the right direction, because if it was up to us, we would take the easy road.
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We would not want the suffering and then we wouldn't be perfected and we wouldn't be going in the direction that God would have us go.
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Then he says he says the word strengthen. And of course, sufferings strengthen us afterwards.
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We know that we are strengthened. It strengthened us to produce endurance in our lives so that we don't quit.
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And then lastly, it says it settles us. And that that word comes from a word which means sub construction.
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It has to do with a foundation to lay a basis under a foundation under. That's what this means.
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And the suffering that comes our way lays a foundation to make us extremely strong.
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And the life that is built upon on that endures and is faithful. And that's the whole purpose behind this, all the teaching of Peter in here.
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Speaking of the redeemer who redeems us in chapter one, verse 18 and 19, not with not with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, that valued blood of Christ, our redeemer, who bought us also would have us live a life following in his steps, suffering, responding properly so that we will not waver and we will be a great testimony for the glory of God.
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I'll take one question if you have one. Yes, sir. How does this all these texts to endure?
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OK, somebody asked me this question last week and they said, you know, well, we're supposed to.
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If somebody is attacking us, just turn the other cheek. And I believe that has to do with going, going the second mile and being humble and being gracious.
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And for the cause of Christ, if somebody wants to say something against you at work, let's say, and they're just deriding you, reviling you, let them go for it.
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You know, that's you know, that's that that whole attitude. But if somebody I mean, why do we have burglar alarms for our homes?
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Why do we have locks on our houses and locks in our cars? Why do we why do we have a defense in our nation, you know, in our in our nation, defend our country?
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And I believe for yourself, it's OK to protect yourself physically and your family. If somebody is coming against you to to be there, to protect them, you know, to to physically stand in the way.
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That's fine. But you don't go out looking for that. Yeah. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, so much to consider this morning from this book.
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And yet it is a great book and we thank you for it. There are no doubt some things that you have shined the light of the word of God upon our hearts this morning, even where we know that we have failed you.
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We know that we have not quite lived up to the measure of this word. And yet we know that you're gracious, ready to forgive and ready to enable us and equip us by the working of the spirit of God, strengthening us in the inner man so that we can live the life that pleases you and help us.
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Lord, as difficult as it is and in times when when we are just so grieving during times of trial and difficulty and sorrow and persecution and afflictions, help us to say with the psalmist that we're thankful for the affliction because it keeps us in your word.
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It keeps us loving you, keeps us depending upon you. And we see that it just proves the genuineness of the work that you've begun in our lives.
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It is to redound to the glory of God and it is to be living in the footsteps of that great example, that tracing tablet of our
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Lord Jesus' life of suffering. Oh, help us to live that way so that we might please you in all our ways, thoughts, and actions.