WEBVTT 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:07.340 If you got a Bible this morning, I want to encourage you to turn to First Peter, where we're going in together in the series that we're on and on the topic of Jesus. 00:00:08.119 --> 00:00:11.310 And this is our last message in this series together. 00:00:12.040 --> 00:00:19.300 And the reason we've been going over it is because the centrality of who Christ is, the Christology, understanding the biblical picture of Christ is central 00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:24.080 to the Christian faith, because everything that we are as a church is found in who Christ is. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:27.620 Jesus is the one that said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. 00:00:27.820 --> 00:00:29.480 He is the one that has established the church. 00:00:29.880 --> 00:00:33.320 He is eternal God and he has come for us. 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:35.060 Life is foundational in him. 00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:37.590 In fact, he says, I am the way, the truth in the life. 00:00:37.800 --> 00:00:45.100 And so this message, this last topic that we're going in together, we're you may be wondering if we're talking about Jesus, why are we not continuing in 00:00:45.100 --> 00:00:45.590 the Gospels? 00:00:46.540 --> 00:00:53.560 Well, it really has to do with the message that Christ shared with us that we have now been called as a church to go 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:56.560 forth into this world and share for him. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:00.060 And, this message we've seen together. 00:01:00.780 --> 00:01:07.860 Christ was a king who came for us, served us though he was a king and rules and reigns, and he 00:01:07.860 --> 00:01:11.380 has called us to represent his kingdom in this world. 00:01:11.780 --> 00:01:19.020 And so when you turn to the book of acts, it's going to give us a little bit of backdrop to First Peter as 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:20.160 we get ready to dive into that. 00:01:20.160 --> 00:01:20.880 So let me set up. 00:01:20.980 --> 00:01:22.630 You're going to have to get there for me. 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:27.280 Set up a little foundational backdrop as you find your place in First Peter chapter one. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:34.560 But in the book of acts, in chapter one and verse six, it 00:01:34.600 --> 00:01:36.780 gives a response to the early church. 00:01:36.860 --> 00:01:41.280 As Jesus has been resurrected, he's about to ascend into heaven. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.420 And it tells, that tells us that the group of disciples are gathered together, and it says this. 00:01:45.420 --> 00:01:50.120 And they gathered around him and asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:57.160 He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the 00:01:57.160 --> 00:02:00.350 Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. 00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:03.440 In all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 00:02:05.060 --> 00:02:10.080 Jesus is outlining for us his calling upon his church in which he has built. 00:02:10.139 --> 00:02:17.200 There is a redemption story that now we are all a part of, and declaring to this world what Christ has done for 00:02:17.200 --> 00:02:17.500 us. 00:02:18.460 --> 00:02:25.740 In fact, in a in the very basic sense, the word apostle, which Jesus called the 12 and the 70, it really means 00:02:25.740 --> 00:02:32.810 in its root terms one sent forth if we're just to maybe correlate that to an expression that we use today, it would be maybe the terms missionary, 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:35.980 someone that you send forth in the proclamation of the gospel. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:43.060 But the reality is, based on this passage, God calls all of us to proclaim the good news in which he shared the word 00:02:43.460 --> 00:02:46.040 gospel is a message of proclamation. 00:02:46.780 --> 00:02:47.950 It's something that we declare. 00:02:48.100 --> 00:02:49.880 It literally means good news. 00:02:50.300 --> 00:02:59.000 And so the idea of God calling the apostles to go forth in this world, to share this good news, if you if you picture him for just a moment as a king, when 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:06.360 a king would go into battle, if a if a king was victorious, the first thing that would happen, or if he wasn't victorious, he would send someone 00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:10.840 out ahead of the army to go back to the cities to declare the victory. 00:03:12.600 --> 00:03:19.880 And Jesus, being king, called his apostles to go forth throughout the world into the cities among the people, to declare 00:03:19.880 --> 00:03:21.520 the victory of the King. 00:03:21.600 --> 00:03:23.910 It is a proclamation of good news. 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:29.660 It's the reason for which the church has the opportunity to rejoice and all that God has done for us. 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:32.840 We turn to the Book of First Peter. 00:03:33.160 --> 00:03:40.260 It's important for us to see how this message, this context, when God calls his people to share His Word, 00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:42.590 just plays out throughout the rest of Scripture. 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:50.140 And first, Peter is a is a beautiful book that really defines for us the essentials of living for Christ because of God's redemption 00:03:50.260 --> 00:03:53.690 story on our behalf, how we become a part of it. 00:03:54.320 --> 00:04:01.480 The reason I love the Book of First Peter is because Peter is writing his book to believers who are enduring significant 00:04:01.480 --> 00:04:06.450 hardship because of their faith in Christ, even in that adversity. 00:04:06.900 --> 00:04:08.760 Peter's encouragement to them. 00:04:10.780 --> 00:04:12.930 Is to live for their king and kingdom. 00:04:14.720 --> 00:04:18.260 This message of redemption we refer to as the gospel. 00:04:19.860 --> 00:04:21.779 Is sacred. 00:04:22.700 --> 00:04:26.140 I want to start in verse ten for just a moment. 00:04:26.140 --> 00:04:29.100 We're going to look at verse ten to verse 12 and this section of Scripture. 00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:34.200 I want to kind of give an idea of how this portion lays in the chapter for just a moment. 00:04:34.200 --> 00:04:39.900 So as you're as you're looking at it, verse ten to verse 12 is sort of an interruption statement. 00:04:41.320 --> 00:04:45.840 So verses 3 to 7, Peter gives his explanation of living for the gospel and why we should live for the gospel. 00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:53.800 He goes on from verse 13 and does it again, but in verse ten to 12 he kind of gives this interruption statement, and he's almost kind of presupposing 00:04:53.800 --> 00:05:01.040 in his mind, as he's writing this letter to the church, that they're asking these questions within their mind, these thoughts that they're wrestling 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:02.980 with over the significance of the gospel. 00:05:03.200 --> 00:05:04.600 And he interrupts his story. 00:05:04.700 --> 00:05:11.800 And I think good speakers have the tendency to do that, to anticipate what someone's questions may be, to interrupt that thought, to answer those 00:05:11.800 --> 00:05:15.260 questions, to relate it back to the text of why it's important for our lives. 00:05:15.440 --> 00:05:21.800 And so when Peter writes in First Peter chapter one and verse ten. 00:05:23.880 --> 00:05:31.300 It says as to the salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that you would come, that would come to you, made careful 00:05:31.300 --> 00:05:38.300 searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was, indicating, as he 00:05:38.300 --> 00:05:41.320 predicted, the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 00:05:42.460 --> 00:05:49.700 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you and these things which now have been announced to you through 00:05:49.700 --> 00:05:58.370 those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven things into which angels long to look. 00:05:58.540 --> 00:06:05.820 Now Peter starts his message as he as he's laying out for the church the significance of living for Christ in light of what Jesus has done for us. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:13.340 And he just points to the importance of this message, how God has laid this redemption story throughout time 00:06:13.340 --> 00:06:14.660 on earth. 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:19.800 From the from the beginning of Genesis three, people have been proclaiming this message of Christ. 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:26.840 And in the Old Testament, when you think of the prophet prophets that have given this proclamation, it tells us they were carefully. 00:06:28.840 --> 00:06:29.160 Searching. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:35.750 These inquiries about the gospel of which God was laying on their hearts to share. 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:37.580 This. 00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:45.140 This search in the Greek text means one is one that's done diligently, one that's done anxiously, one that's done 00:06:45.140 --> 00:06:45.840 carefully. 00:06:47.480 --> 00:06:54.840 Just wanting to know how God would map all of this out for us, how this story would play out, knowing 00:06:54.840 --> 00:06:59.680 that they weren't the end of the story, but they were a part of the story. 00:07:00.840 --> 00:07:04.280 I try to think about how we could even relate this to our lives. 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:04.640 Maybe. 00:07:05.500 --> 00:07:12.680 Maybe you think, as a parent, for the first time when you have a child, how precious it is, how 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:19.800 those moments you just savor how the first time you change the diaper in the hospital room to the to the time you load the child 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:21.260 in the car and you take it home. 00:07:21.320 --> 00:07:26.880 Just the significance of this moment, this gospel is so precious. 00:07:27.020 --> 00:07:34.280 There's redemption that God has brought is so important, so much so that when you even when you read the book of Galatians, Paul 00:07:34.280 --> 00:07:40.100 opposes Peter to his face because he's living a lifestyle contrary to what the gospel is. 00:07:41.840 --> 00:07:45.460 And how Peter's reminding us of its significance. 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:51.220 I think in, in my life, I've, I've had two boys. 00:07:51.460 --> 00:07:53.100 Well, not me, but my wife did. 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:55.960 And I'm responsible for them though, right. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:03.800 And, both times she was, going to have a child, I remember going in and we're going 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:06.850 to find out what gender the child is going to be. 00:08:06.980 --> 00:08:14.060 And I got to be honest, as we go into that room, both times we've done that, I've been extremely nervous because with a boy, 00:08:14.080 --> 00:08:18.840 I feel like in my heart I know this isn't true for everybody, but I could relax a little bit more. 00:08:18.940 --> 00:08:22.700 Okay, I'm just thinking I would be one of those obsessive, I know I would. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:24.100 I would be one of those obsessive dads. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:25.620 I could kill somebody, right? 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:33.200 But, I was thinking about it this week because I saw this picture online of this father that said it was a quote across the photo that said, 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:35.150 whatever you do to my daughter, I'm going to do to you. 00:08:35.260 --> 00:08:36.100 Right. 00:08:36.299 --> 00:08:40.610 And so it says this prom picture of this, of this girl with her boyfriend. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:42.020 And then it shows the next picture. 00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:45.610 It's the dad having the same pose with the boyfriend. 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:49.030 So it was whatever you do to me I want to do to my daughter lived to the max. 00:08:49.380 --> 00:08:53.260 But the point is, there are things in our lives that are precious. 00:08:54.940 --> 00:08:56.260 That are sacred. 00:08:57.760 --> 00:08:59.760 Had her a gift, right? 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:02.040 Things that we hold in high esteem. 00:09:02.640 --> 00:09:05.300 Things that you write fragile on when you transport with. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:08.050 that's the gospel. 00:09:10.020 --> 00:09:13.570 It's the foundation of the Christian faith because of what Christ has done. 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:16.720 It's something that we take serious. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:18.560 Something that. 00:09:18.820 --> 00:09:22.400 That Peter even goes on from here and tells us angels long to look into. 00:09:23.920 --> 00:09:31.000 I would say to us, as we think about this text for just a moment in verse 11 and 12, he tells us how 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:32.660 this message was delivered. 00:09:32.660 --> 00:09:39.820 It was it was seeking to know what person or at the time, the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating, as he predicted, the sufferings 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:47.180 of Christ and the glories of the father that was revealed to them, that they were not serving themselves but you in these things which now has been 00:09:47.180 --> 00:09:54.610 announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, which angels long to look into. 00:09:58.100 --> 00:09:58.420 Jesus. 00:09:58.520 --> 00:10:00.900 Paul's identifying through the Lord here. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:05.420 Exactly how God's Spirit works, right? 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:12.880 I mean, you said last week, as we looked at John 14, Jesus would send his advocate that would enable the church to live for the Lord in this world. 00:10:13.800 --> 00:10:19.100 And the next two chapters, he continues to describe the aspects of the Holy Spirit and what it would fulfill. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:23.640 But listen to this for just a minute in John chapter 16 and verse 13. 00:10:23.660 --> 00:10:30.660 But when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak 00:10:30.660 --> 00:10:31.570 on his own initiative. 00:10:31.820 --> 00:10:35.940 But whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:41.520 He will glorify me, for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you. 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:48.000 You know, we talked a little bit last week of what it looks like when the Spirit of God is working within our lives. 00:10:48.180 --> 00:10:51.360 There's this fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness. 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:57.140 But, the truth is, religious lifestyle can fabricate that apart from Christ, right? 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:04.740 And when you can dive into religion the way a religion validates itself, as it says, you know I'm good, therefore I must be godly. 00:11:04.900 --> 00:11:11.960 But the truth is, when God identifies for us the way that the spirit works, it says in John chapter 16, verses 13 00:11:11.980 --> 00:11:17.100 and 14, the spirit is going to testify to the truth. 00:11:17.940 --> 00:11:20.800 It's going to, magnify God's word. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:25.180 It's going to proclaim the gospel, and it's going to make much of Jesus. 00:11:26.680 --> 00:11:29.000 The point of the spirit is to glorify Jesus. 00:11:30.340 --> 00:11:37.520 In fact, when you go to first John chapter four and verse one, it says, brothers, believe not every Spirit of God, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:39.920 because many false prophets have gone in the world. 00:11:40.920 --> 00:11:43.180 And then it tells us in verse two and three how that happens. 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:46.980 It identifies for us again how that spirit makes itself known. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:49.520 It proclaims the truth and it makes much of Jesus. 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:57.240 What Peter is saying to us is identifying for us that the spirit is at work here, because it is doing that very thing. 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:01.120 The prophets long to look into this Christ. 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:05.530 It was pushing to them the significance of who this Jesus is. 00:12:05.580 --> 00:12:07.100 The identity of who Christ is. 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:09.220 It is glorifying him. 00:12:09.300 --> 00:12:16.500 When Jesus, when the Spirit of God is working within your life, your desire is to make much of Jesus, because we understand as it relates to 00:12:16.500 --> 00:12:17.780 his redemption story. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:20.060 Apart from Christ, there is no redemption. 00:12:20.060 --> 00:12:21.660 There is no hope. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:24.660 Jesus is everything. 00:12:26.280 --> 00:12:31.020 And so he says at the end of this, the angels long to look at this. 00:12:32.020 --> 00:12:34.110 This is this is the idea of just staring intently. 00:12:34.460 --> 00:12:41.740 Maybe as a kid, if you remember that moment in your life where you got that little thing that you would click on the side and the pictures would change, or the little kaleidoscope, you 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:48.040 just spin around and you just look intently into that, or that awkward person that stares at you way too long and you're like, stop looking at me, creep. 00:12:48.040 --> 00:12:52.230 Like that kind of that kind of gazing is happening here. 00:12:53.780 --> 00:13:01.720 One of the one of the, speakers I've heard, share on this passage by the name of, of Tim Keller was 00:13:01.860 --> 00:13:08.940 talking about, how we might view this passage of Scripture when it relates to the gospel, because sometimes we hear the word gospel 00:13:09.640 --> 00:13:13.420 and we have an incorrect understanding of what it means. 00:13:14.700 --> 00:13:21.100 And he says, he literally said about this section of Scripture, he says the angels aren't longing to look into this because they're idiots, right? 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:29.340 I mean, if you just look at the gospel as this story of information, the angels aren't looking at 00:13:29.340 --> 00:13:31.130 this gospel and saying, you know what? 00:13:31.620 --> 00:13:32.290 That's a great story. 00:13:32.400 --> 00:13:34.240 And walking away and be like, oh, I forgot. 00:13:34.380 --> 00:13:34.860 I gotta go back and look. 00:13:35.100 --> 00:13:35.940 Oh yeah, that's what it was. 00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:36.140 Okay. 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:38.620 Oh I forgot that's not that's not what it's saying. 00:13:38.620 --> 00:13:40.820 These angels are doing these angels aren't ignorant. 00:13:42.300 --> 00:13:49.140 What he's pointing out in this passage is there's so much more to the gospel than just a story or an event. 00:13:49.140 --> 00:13:51.460 It is for certain an event. 00:13:52.640 --> 00:13:55.520 But maybe you've even had a child, in church. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:14:02.040 Or maybe you've been like this in church at some point in your life where they're going to go to class and they know what the story is and they're like, I know it. 00:14:02.540 --> 00:14:06.700 You know, I know David killed Goliath and Noah was on a boat. 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:07.370 I know that story. 00:14:07.940 --> 00:14:09.420 Right? 00:14:09.560 --> 00:14:16.220 But what he's identifying for us in these angels, through Peter, is to recognize in our lives that the gospel, it is an event. 00:14:16.940 --> 00:14:20.840 But that event transforms not not just us. 00:14:20.880 --> 00:14:27.900 In a moment of saying, you get this ticket out of out of hell free card, but it transforms the identity of who you are as a 00:14:27.900 --> 00:14:28.200 person. 00:14:30.460 --> 00:14:34.320 The gospel, the gospel is more to us than that. 00:14:34.640 --> 00:14:37.940 It alleviates aspects of our life. 00:14:37.980 --> 00:14:41.280 It transforms us, transforms us to other parts of our lives. 00:14:41.280 --> 00:14:42.960 Let me just give you an illustration of what I mean. 00:14:44.680 --> 00:14:51.680 If you understand what the gospel is, then why do we as people that troubles 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:52.600 overthrow us? 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:57.160 Why do we take our identity from what others say? 00:14:59.820 --> 00:15:06.820 You can't belong to Jesus, or you shouldn't belong to Jesus and live life for 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:07.880 the praise of others. 00:15:09.380 --> 00:15:20.420 If we know what the gospel is about, why do we live for earthly kingdoms rather than 00:15:20.420 --> 00:15:20.420 for eternal kingdoms? 00:15:20.420 --> 00:15:20.420 Right? 00:15:20.420 --> 00:15:22.700 This message tells us in the Bible. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:26.320 In Second Corinthians chapter five and verse 17 is quoted right at the bottom. 00:15:27.640 --> 00:15:29.480 In Christ you are a new creation. 00:15:31.760 --> 00:15:34.500 It transforms your identity. 00:15:34.520 --> 00:15:41.600 It transforms the way you live life, the way you perceive the world, what you think is valuable versus what you 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:43.120 think is invaluable. 00:15:43.280 --> 00:15:50.420 The gospel, the gospel, God's redemption story involves you into a plan for a kingdom of which you didn't belong, and gives you 00:15:50.420 --> 00:15:53.760 a new identity in him that is a of a broader scope than beyond. 00:15:54.020 --> 00:15:55.720 Today, it lasts for eternity. 00:15:57.420 --> 00:15:58.500 So how should we respond? 00:16:00.280 --> 00:16:03.700 See the profits looking into these things. 00:16:03.740 --> 00:16:08.080 The angels just gazing at what God's doing in our lives. 00:16:09.740 --> 00:16:12.160 First Peter chapter one and verse 3 to 7. 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:19.500 Peter goes on to describe just how we should respond to the gospel and why we don't 00:16:19.500 --> 00:16:22.840 want to respond the way the gospel shares about our lives. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:30.260 But this is what he says in chapter one and verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy, has caused 00:16:30.260 --> 00:16:37.460 us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to obtain an inheritance who are protected by the power 00:16:37.460 --> 00:16:41.200 of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last times. 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:49.600 And this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 00:16:49.660 --> 00:16:56.940 so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable even though tested by fire, fire may be found 00:16:56.940 --> 00:16:59.260 to result in praise and glory and honor. 00:16:59.260 --> 00:17:01.750 At the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:17:03.400 --> 00:17:05.250 How does it tell us to respond to this message? 00:17:06.540 --> 00:17:12.060 In verse six it says that we greatly rejoice in what God has done. 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:15.849 Why do we not respond this way? 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:24.940 Why is it sometimes our heart finds adversity in rejoicing in the gospel? 00:17:24.940 --> 00:17:25.970 Let me just give you some thoughts. 00:17:27.520 --> 00:17:34.580 I'm going to share just an idea from my life as I've wrestled with this tax, knowing some points in my life, I'm not rejoicing other points 00:17:34.580 --> 00:17:36.160 in my life, I delight in it. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:36.280 Why? 00:17:36.560 --> 00:17:38.850 Why is it I, I, I'm not rejoicing. 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:43.790 I'm going to tell you can disagree with this because this is just a viewpoint from this passage. 00:17:43.940 --> 00:17:49.680 But in my own heart, knowing what God's called me to do and looking at these angels and prophets, rejoicing in this, why? 00:17:49.940 --> 00:17:52.320 Why is it sometimes we struggle to rejoice? 00:17:53.940 --> 00:18:01.740 I think sometimes we have a hard time relating to a verse like this, because in our Christian bubble, 00:18:01.740 --> 00:18:08.040 we don't take opportunity to step out of our comfort comfort zone and to begin to appreciate what God has done. 00:18:09.540 --> 00:18:16.880 I think in this passage that we can intellectually agree to ourselves that what this verse says is true. 00:18:18.900 --> 00:18:23.120 But sometimes within my heart, or maybe our hearts were not rejoicing. 00:18:25.080 --> 00:18:27.720 We're going to say it's going to be great in heaven. 00:18:27.800 --> 00:18:31.420 But the truth is we think it's pretty good down here. 00:18:33.300 --> 00:18:37.590 And then rather than long to see Jesus, we'll tell him, give us, give us just a little bit longer. 00:18:37.860 --> 00:18:37.980 Christ. 00:18:38.580 --> 00:18:40.030 I've got it pretty good right now. 00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:46.190 Or praise God, we'll think of someone as a new believer. 00:18:46.280 --> 00:18:49.020 You know, we'll hear life transformed in Christ and someone's a new believer. 00:18:49.020 --> 00:18:50.610 And we're like, that's great, rejoice. 00:18:50.860 --> 00:18:52.620 And now can I get back to the ball game right. 00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:02.080 Or when hardships happen, we say, heaven will be better, but really, we just want 00:19:02.080 --> 00:19:06.980 whatever's going on negative in our earthly life to go away so I can get back to living my comfortable life. 00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:17.860 And the truth is, when I talk about rejoicing in the gospel, sometimes there's adversity in that because 00:19:17.860 --> 00:19:18.620 I don't like discomfort. 00:19:21.360 --> 00:19:25.570 And God, my God, sometimes could become comfort. 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:35.080 Now, I'm not saying comfort is wrong, but in the book of Second Timothy, chapter three and verse four, talking 00:19:35.180 --> 00:19:38.200 about those that live godless lives, it says this about them. 00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:39.920 They love pleasure more than they love God. 00:19:42.600 --> 00:19:49.620 And to appreciate what the gospel is and what God's redemption story for us is, you have to you have to call the facade of earthly pleasure 00:19:49.620 --> 00:19:51.990 what it really is a temporary place. 00:19:52.260 --> 00:19:56.220 God has given me to be a steward to make much of him. 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:00.510 To rejoice in this passage. 00:20:00.860 --> 00:20:08.280 Sometimes it's important to remind ourselves in what God has done, because most of the world doesn't live in the luxury of what a 00:20:08.280 --> 00:20:10.240 society in America experiences today. 00:20:12.520 --> 00:20:18.360 I think about even right now, Christians in Syria that are suffering because of their faith. 00:20:19.780 --> 00:20:20.890 Too many of those believers. 00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:28.600 This passage is all that they have to cling to someone whose body may be wrecked 00:20:28.620 --> 00:20:33.490 with disease, to someone who has just lost a loved one. 00:20:33.620 --> 00:20:33.780 The. 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:38.260 This passage of Scripture is one to remind us of the hope of what is to come. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:46.700 And for many of us, we have to fight the battle of not lying to ourselves that our earthly kingdom is more pleasing than our heavenly kingdom. 00:20:48.760 --> 00:20:49.500 And what I'm saying. 00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:52.970 I'm not telling you to go torture yourself. 00:20:56.340 --> 00:21:01.420 I think for us to appreciate what God has done. 00:21:03.100 --> 00:21:11.000 It's not about torturing ourselves, but it's about giving ourselves the opportunity to 00:21:11.040 --> 00:21:11.320 get uncomfortable. 00:21:13.260 --> 00:21:16.220 Don't torture yourselves, but don't shelter yourself. 00:21:18.060 --> 00:21:25.600 In fact, in first Peter chapter four and verse one, a little later, when Peter describes the suffering of the Christians, he says to them, if you're 00:21:25.600 --> 00:21:33.180 willing to let your life endure, endure torture for Christ, or hardship for Christ, or physical pain 00:21:33.180 --> 00:21:40.280 for Christ, there is nothing this world can hold over you because of your faith in 00:21:40.280 --> 00:21:40.680 Christ. 00:21:40.740 --> 00:21:47.890 And I don't think Peter's encouraging the believers to pursue it, but I'm thinking he's encouraging the believers not to turn from it if given the opportunity. 00:21:49.860 --> 00:21:56.500 I think if you allow yourselves in uncomfortable situations for Christ, it helps you to appreciate the gospel more. 00:21:59.320 --> 00:22:06.270 Were calloused by pleasure, and in that sense, pain becomes helpful. 00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:11.300 David Livingston, a Christian missionary from the 1800s from Africa, said this. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:16.380 People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:18.640 It is emphatically no sacrifice. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:21.870 Rather, it is a privilege. 00:22:24.060 --> 00:22:27.680 So I think for David Livingston, the trials of Africa drew him closer to Jesus. 00:22:31.020 --> 00:22:38.020 You know what I think about how even my family can learn to live and what it means to rejoice 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:39.000 in this gospel. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:44.880 and I think about our church family and what it means to learn to live, to rejoice in the gospel. 00:22:47.180 --> 00:22:47.800 For us. 00:22:48.340 --> 00:22:55.440 We have to take a mentality of not looking at this place as a fortress to hide, but what we are equipped and called to do as a as a 00:22:55.440 --> 00:23:02.660 church family happens outside of these doors, beyond Sunday, that we go into a broken and hurting world representing who Christ 00:23:02.660 --> 00:23:07.400 is and in that brokenness, get the opportunity to rejoice in what the gospel is. 00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:10.300 God's plan of redemption. 00:23:12.040 --> 00:23:19.180 And one of the things that my family not encouraging you to doing this, but my family fighting to figure out how to live this verse 00:23:19.180 --> 00:23:21.300 the way God has called me to and not rejoice. 00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:26.320 I know there's some wisdom in protecting our children, but to still be in the reality of the world. 00:23:26.320 --> 00:23:33.380 As we started to go through foster care classes for the purpose of getting with families and children in 00:23:33.620 --> 00:23:38.120 situations that are broken and just loving and helping mend families closer to Christ. 00:23:39.980 --> 00:23:41.280 Now, I'm not saying copy that. 00:23:41.300 --> 00:23:43.600 And I'm not saying praise me because I haven't even started it yet. 00:23:46.100 --> 00:23:53.140 What I'm saying is, in our lives, the purpose of this gospel plays a significant role in the way that we choose to 00:23:53.140 --> 00:23:53.750 live as people. 00:23:56.920 --> 00:23:59.920 And the redemption of what Christ has done in our own brokenness. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:07.300 Sometimes we get to a place where the comfort of Judeo Christian society, we just forget of how 00:24:07.300 --> 00:24:09.200 broken the world might be around us. 00:24:11.580 --> 00:24:19.100 And when you get a look into the brokenness, rather than hiding from it gives you the opportunity more 00:24:19.100 --> 00:24:25.600 to be thankful of a God who cares so much that he has written you into his redemption story. 00:24:27.420 --> 00:24:34.420 And how, rather than running away from the battles in front of us and cowering from it, rather than hiding 00:24:34.420 --> 00:24:41.740 from that pain just to please comfort and pleasure, it gives us the opportunity to run straight into it as 00:24:41.740 --> 00:24:47.420 light for redemption, rejoicing in what Christ has done in our lives. 00:24:52.980 --> 00:24:53.400 Peter goes on. 00:24:55.120 --> 00:24:55.380 How else? 00:24:58.240 --> 00:24:59.100 Verse 13. 00:25:01.180 --> 00:25:02.280 How to respond to the gospel. 00:25:05.740 --> 00:25:08.630 I think it's by preparing our lives to see him face to face. 00:25:08.700 --> 00:25:09.400 It says this. 00:25:10.660 --> 00:25:13.400 Therefore, prepare your minds for action. 00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:17.040 Keep sober in spirit. 00:25:17.040 --> 00:25:21.880 Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:28.300 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance. 00:25:28.660 --> 00:25:35.880 But like the Holy One, who called you, be holy yourselves also in all of your behavior, because it is written, you shall be holy, 00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:36.440 for I am holy. 00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:44.060 If you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time 00:25:44.060 --> 00:25:45.270 of your stay on earth. 00:25:46.380 --> 00:25:53.420 This word for fear is one that plays into reverence to God. 00:25:54.040 --> 00:26:01.060 One of the reasons we struggle to live a life like this that Peter describes is because sometimes we love our 00:26:01.180 --> 00:26:04.550 kingdom here more than we love the kingdom for which we were given in Christ. 00:26:06.580 --> 00:26:09.690 But what Peter calls us to here is this word of holiness. 00:26:09.780 --> 00:26:10.180 Holiness. 00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:11.660 It means separation. 00:26:13.360 --> 00:26:18.280 It means to recognize that you are a foreigner in a foreign land now that your kingdom belongs not here on earth. 00:26:18.280 --> 00:26:25.400 And so you separate yourself for that kingdom and preparing your mind to live your life for 00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:26.020 that kingdom. 00:26:26.020 --> 00:26:28.780 Now, this is what I don't think this passage is saying, okay. 00:26:29.560 --> 00:26:36.620 I don't think this passage is saying, stop everything you're doing and just go out and go, go be a full time 00:26:36.620 --> 00:26:37.460 missionary for Christ. 00:26:37.540 --> 00:26:40.300 Quit your job, quit everything, and just go be a full time missionary for Christ. 00:26:40.380 --> 00:26:40.480 Now. 00:26:40.800 --> 00:26:48.000 Now it may lead us, some of us to something like that, but what I'm saying is, I think this passage is encouraging us 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:55.000 to the to the way we live our lives and what we're doing in our lives to reorient it for the purpose of which we are proclaiming Christ. 00:26:55.020 --> 00:26:55.680 Let me let me give you an example. 00:26:57.840 --> 00:27:05.140 Martin Luther, not King Jr, but the one who led the Reformation was once asked, what 00:27:05.140 --> 00:27:07.200 would you do today if you knew it was the end of the world? 00:27:08.900 --> 00:27:14.300 And he said, if I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree. 00:27:16.040 --> 00:27:23.080 Now here is a guy leading a reformation in the 1500s, and he's telling us if he knew tomorrow was 00:27:23.080 --> 00:27:27.680 the end of the world, he would plant an apple tree of which we know he would get no apple from. 00:27:28.040 --> 00:27:28.180 Right? 00:27:28.940 --> 00:27:29.920 Why would you do that? 00:27:32.260 --> 00:27:37.410 The point is, I think Martin Luther understands exactly why God has called him in this world what he's living for. 00:27:39.980 --> 00:27:42.560 When the Bible created us man. 00:27:42.560 --> 00:27:48.270 In the beginning it told us to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth. 00:27:50.040 --> 00:27:57.740 And what I think it means for us is that God has called us to represent him wherever we are in this world, right? 00:27:57.840 --> 00:28:04.640 Whether it be in relationship to your family, whether it be relationship to coworker, whether it be how you work at your job. 00:28:05.780 --> 00:28:09.840 God wants you to display the glory of who he is in all that you do. 00:28:10.260 --> 00:28:11.300 Right. 00:28:11.420 --> 00:28:13.460 And Martin Luther was living his life that way. 00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:22.260 God, I'm going to plant a tree because God has called me to take care of the earth, and I'm going to reflect his glory and goodness and be thankful for the opportunity 00:28:22.260 --> 00:28:23.850 to plant this tree. 00:28:25.280 --> 00:28:28.460 But, we also know by his life he also stood up for Christ. 00:28:30.360 --> 00:28:33.150 He didn't back down from the opportunity to proclaim his truth. 00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:35.970 He just lived in light of the kingdom. 00:28:37.740 --> 00:28:43.380 You know, I think in our lives that can go all the way down to get this, the way you take vacations as a person. 00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:49.240 Well, I think about the life of Jesus and the way that he took breaks within his life. 00:28:49.380 --> 00:28:51.420 Jesus would go up to the mountains and spend time by himself. 00:28:53.180 --> 00:28:54.090 It's been time in prayer. 00:28:55.760 --> 00:29:01.520 But he didn't work and live his life so that he could vacation, right? 00:29:01.600 --> 00:29:08.180 He took vacations so he could go back and live his life for the father. 00:29:10.700 --> 00:29:15.060 I know Jesus's vacations were often followed by crowds of people, and it's probably not fair to call it a vacation. 00:29:15.300 --> 00:29:16.340 It was more like five minutes away. 00:29:19.280 --> 00:29:20.360 But even you in your life. 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:25.980 Sometimes we get in the rat race of life, and we work so hard to get stuff so that we could go on vacation. 00:29:28.220 --> 00:29:35.400 The truth is, those are opportunities for you to refresh yourself in the Lord so that when you get back to the to the life 00:29:35.580 --> 00:29:39.360 in which God has called you to live on a daily basis, you can reflect his goodness. 00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:45.520 And things don't necessarily have to change in the way that you structure your life. 00:29:45.640 --> 00:29:49.420 But what is important is that when you orient your life, it is to the glory of God. 00:29:51.860 --> 00:29:52.780 Prepare your minds for action. 00:29:54.340 --> 00:29:55.120 Keep sober in spirit. 00:29:57.300 --> 00:30:00.260 Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus. 00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:05.200 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lust which you were in your ignorance, but like the Holy One. 00:30:08.020 --> 00:30:08.920 Who called you. 00:30:10.260 --> 00:30:12.510 Be holy yourselves and your behavior. 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:15.730 How do we respond? 00:30:18.220 --> 00:30:19.080 Reality is with a pure heart. 00:30:21.690 --> 00:30:23.050 Respond with a pure heart. 00:30:26.260 --> 00:30:33.440 At the end of the Book of Revelation in chapter 22 and verse 20, the desire of 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:34.080 the end of the Bible. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:38.790 Is to want to see the return of Christ. 00:30:40.520 --> 00:30:47.540 Our lives are so oriented that the goodness of his kingdom in which we live for that we just can't wait to experience the freedom of the from the 00:30:47.760 --> 00:30:49.080 suffering and the oppression of the world. 00:30:49.100 --> 00:30:51.220 God's redemption story is bigger than me. 00:30:51.240 --> 00:30:57.360 When God talks about his return, there's a recreation of all things, all things restored in him. 00:30:57.360 --> 00:30:59.170 No more pain, no more sorrow. 00:30:59.280 --> 00:31:02.200 And so the Book of Revelation ends, just longing for that return. 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:09.640 But as Christ tarry, so in our hearts we live for that kingdom of redemption, and going rejoicing in what the gospel 00:31:09.640 --> 00:31:10.420 represents. 00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:15.370 Because for us as people, it is hope that we root ourselves in our King and His kingdom. 00:31:19.760 --> 00:31:21.640 Sometimes we don't long to see him. 00:31:21.820 --> 00:31:22.020 See him? 00:31:24.020 --> 00:31:24.860 It's one we love. 00:31:24.860 --> 00:31:26.700 What we have more than we honestly love him. 00:31:29.360 --> 00:31:30.080 Or two. 00:31:30.080 --> 00:31:35.270 We don't really want to see him face to face because our lives have not been wholly. 00:31:35.460 --> 00:31:36.400 We're not ready yet. 00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:39.300 We know we've been living for something other than him. 00:31:39.320 --> 00:31:43.060 So rather than rejoicing at the presence of Christ, we want to cower away from it. 00:31:43.580 --> 00:31:50.500 But the Bible for us as individuals, sometimes we get in this mentality of the good old days are behind us, right? 00:31:51.480 --> 00:31:59.400 Well, it's not like it used to be, but the reality is the good old days are in front of all of us to 00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:00.530 those who hope in Christ. 00:32:02.340 --> 00:32:07.960 I think David Livingston quoted him earlier, but I think he understood this picture. 00:32:07.980 --> 00:32:09.140 Listen to what he says here. 00:32:09.420 --> 00:32:15.700 If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a heavenly king be considered a sacrifice? 00:32:18.100 --> 00:32:24.580 This message that the angels long to look into this event that transforms our lives and God's redemption to us. 00:32:24.860 --> 00:32:25.330 It is sacred. 00:32:27.560 --> 00:32:32.730 If you if you were to read the story of David Livingstone, he was he was born in the early 1800s in Scotland. 00:32:33.300 --> 00:32:35.120 He went on to become a doctor. 00:32:35.380 --> 00:32:36.620 He studied in England. 00:32:36.920 --> 00:32:43.300 He eventually was trained in some Bible training and he went to Africa as a missionary. 00:32:45.120 --> 00:32:50.380 He started off in South Africa and he traveled into the interior parts of Africa itself. 00:32:50.700 --> 00:32:54.060 He was an incredible, godly individual. 00:32:54.160 --> 00:32:56.640 Both he and his wife living for the Lord. 00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:59.820 He was a strong abolitionist against slavery. 00:33:01.120 --> 00:33:08.600 In fact, he gives in one of his biographies, it tells a story of him going into the inner parts of Africa and seeing this horrific 00:33:08.600 --> 00:33:13.000 accounts of those that were captured into slavery and what was happening. 00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:14.750 And he became a strong abolitionist. 00:33:15.820 --> 00:33:21.830 He was an individual that he was mangled by a lion at some point because of his faith in Christ that took him to Africa. 00:33:21.940 --> 00:33:23.480 He lost an eye. 00:33:25.540 --> 00:33:30.880 His wife passed away from an illness as a missionary in Africa. 00:33:31.900 --> 00:33:38.580 At one point he no one had contact with him in Africa for a while, and they thought he had lost his life in a battle that was fought there. 00:33:38.860 --> 00:33:45.180 And they sent a man by the name of Henry Stanley into Africa, from the, from England to find him. 00:33:45.520 --> 00:33:51.720 And when he walks in and finds David Livingstone, he makes it known that he is an atheist. 00:33:51.900 --> 00:33:54.700 He doesn't want anything to do with David Livingstone. 00:33:54.760 --> 00:34:01.270 He spends a year with him, goes back to England, reports he's still alive within that time, spending his life with David Livingstone. 00:34:01.640 --> 00:34:08.800 Henry Stanley put his faith in Christ, became a believer, and wrote one of the best biographies on the life of David 00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:09.179 Livingstone. 00:34:11.699 --> 00:34:16.540 When he was 60 years old, Livingstone lost his life to malaria. 00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:20.300 He was in the country of Zambia. 00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:29.380 And, the story goes that when he lost his life, two of his companions carried 00:34:29.380 --> 00:34:36.520 his body over a thousand miles through Africa to the coast so that he could be 00:34:36.659 --> 00:34:43.800 placed upon a ship and his body sent back to England, but before they carried his body out of Zambia. 00:34:44.840 --> 00:34:52.239 It's kind of a graphic story, but those individuals cut out his heart and 00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:55.920 they buried it beside a tree where David Livingstone lost his life. 00:34:57.660 --> 00:34:58.080 Why? 00:35:00.240 --> 00:35:03.480 Because they knew David Livingston started his life in England. 00:35:05.580 --> 00:35:08.980 But David Livingston gave his heart for the Lord in Africa. 00:35:12.340 --> 00:35:19.210 The opportunity you have to rejoice in the gospel is found in carrying a similar heart to what David Livingston did. 00:35:21.140 --> 00:35:28.380 Giving himself for the sake of Christ and a world of brokenness and finding opportunity 00:35:28.380 --> 00:35:30.800 to rejoice in the Lord.