back to indexWed Bible Study (1 Peter) Lesson 2 • 01-18-17
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So today, I had some warm-up questions and whatnot, but I hope you guys got an opportunity 00:00:27.920 |
For tonight, we're going to move on ahead with the study and then starting from next 00:00:31.960 |
week at the beginning when you guys enter in. 00:00:35.600 |
As you guys come in and fill the table and stuff, we're going to just begin with having 00:00:40.000 |
some time of discussion with each other as a way to think about the passage, take a look 00:00:45.840 |
So just letting you guys know what to expect. 00:00:48.480 |
So let's all turn our Bibles to 1 Peter 1, verses 6 through 12. 00:01:06.400 |
And it says this, "In this, you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, 00:01:13.920 |
you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more 00:01:19.200 |
precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result 00:01:25.000 |
in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:01:29.520 |
And though you have not seen him, you love him. 00:01:32.400 |
And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible 00:01:38.860 |
and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 00:01:45.000 |
As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful 00:01:50.720 |
searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within 00:01:56.040 |
them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 00:02:01.860 |
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you. 00:02:05.960 |
And these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel 00:02:09.760 |
to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look." 00:02:22.680 |
And God, we want to just saturate our time with both prayerful hearts and expectant hearts. 00:02:29.960 |
God, that you by your spirit would give light, that you by your spirit would give conviction. 00:02:36.600 |
Lord, help us to have hearts that are constantly yearning, yearning for the knowledge of truth, 00:02:50.240 |
So, jumping right into the passage tonight, we begin with verse six that says, "In this 00:02:57.200 |
you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been 00:03:05.800 |
By way of introduction, I don't know if you, if someone were to ask you, "When was the 00:03:13.920 |
When was the last time where you were just like so happy, like tears are coming out? 00:03:19.080 |
Maybe if you were just like laughing so hard or whatever it may be, where the emotion was 00:03:23.880 |
so strong that it almost looked the opposite. 00:03:32.160 |
And you know, for me, the last time I can remember is the time just seeing Josiah being 00:03:38.760 |
You know, I don't know if you consider me like an emotional guy or whatever, I can't 00:03:44.480 |
But like, I remember distinctly seeing him come out and just like this welling up, you 00:03:51.080 |
And the reason why I asked that is because this passage has a lot to do with incredible 00:03:58.960 |
Now what's interesting is in verse six, it says, "Hey, in this you greatly rejoice," 00:04:04.760 |
But rather than just passing it over, let's ask the question. 00:04:09.080 |
Question number one, what does "in this" refer to? 00:04:18.120 |
What are we talking about when we ask, "In this we rejoice"? 00:04:27.240 |
Is he talking about the things that are necessary? 00:04:30.520 |
Is he talking about the fact that things, you know, in terms of the suffering, it's 00:04:37.520 |
And I want to do a quick review with you from the last time, okay? 00:04:42.800 |
Remember last time, an apostle Peter went at length to describe the work of God in salvation. 00:04:49.960 |
So he had a bunch of things that he talked about. 00:04:52.960 |
Apostle Peter talked about how you are chosen, that God had made you born again, and that 00:05:03.200 |
He made an incredible kind of, you know, packed sermon almost of these three things 00:05:09.080 |
that he has accomplished for you, and then he described how he did that according to 00:05:13.700 |
his knowledge, his sovereign knowledge, according to his mercy and his power. 00:05:20.600 |
So in terms of our being chosen, in terms of being born again, and in terms of being 00:05:25.240 |
protected, it is accordance with his great might and strength. 00:05:32.400 |
The way, the means by which he accomplished this is by the work of the spirit, by the 00:05:40.840 |
Then lastly, and all of that continues to have a trajectory for obedience, for his purity, 00:05:49.680 |
or for purity, for hope and an inheritance that remember was imperishable, upgrade proof, 00:06:01.640 |
And wrapping our minds around this, in terms of the thing that causes us to rejoice, we 00:06:07.120 |
have to think about all of that, all of what Apostle Peter described as our great salvation 00:06:12.080 |
accomplished by God, these are the things that's causing great joy even, even when there's 00:06:24.720 |
When you take a look at this passage, he describes the trials that they go through and there's 00:06:33.480 |
There's a comparison between the trials and the joy that he sees in the people. 00:06:40.940 |
In verse six through nine, or six through eight, let's ask this question. 00:06:49.560 |
And then we're going to try continual audience participation here. 00:06:54.120 |
Take a look at the passage, verse six and then verse eight also. 00:06:59.480 |
How does he describe the joy when they have this joy in the work of God? 00:07:06.560 |
So just, you don't have to even raise your hand, just yell it out what you see in the 00:07:53.240 |
One of the things that we see just in verse six is this kind of idea of greatly rejoice, 00:08:03.680 |
Now, in terms of this great rejoicing, let's talk about this a little bit. 00:08:09.800 |
The kind of joy that Apostle Peter is describing here, there's a sense in which we, for us, 00:08:17.680 |
there's like different synonyms that we can use too. 00:08:21.200 |
We can be happy and then we could be elated, right? 00:08:25.200 |
In the Greek terminology for this word, for greatly rejoice, there's two different words 00:08:32.040 |
I'm not going to even try to pronounce the first one. 00:08:39.120 |
Many passages in the scriptures use kairo on the side. 00:08:47.240 |
This is talking about the kind of like jump for joy, okay? 00:08:51.160 |
This is talking about something that's where it's causing you an immense amount of intense 00:08:57.880 |
And the reason why I bring this up is because the way that he's talking about this passage, 00:09:03.160 |
what's kind of interesting is he describes it as something that people that he's talking 00:09:11.880 |
He's not saying like, "Ah, you know, I know it's super impossible for all of us and I 00:09:15.680 |
know it goes contrary to what's normal, but can you guys please be happy?" 00:09:20.880 |
What he's saying is, "Although you're going through all this stuff, you are happy, right? 00:09:28.760 |
And I wanted to highlight that because I think a lot of times when we go through difficulty 00:09:32.920 |
and we go through hardship and someone says something to the extent of like, "Ah, but 00:09:37.720 |
we need to have, we need to rejoice always," or, "We need to have a sense of still contentment 00:09:45.640 |
Do we sometimes respond to that with like, "Yeah, but that's probably, you're saying 00:09:50.960 |
that because you probably haven't suffered much." 00:09:58.360 |
Is it possible to come out of suffering with an immense gratitude and joy? 00:10:06.400 |
Now what's really interesting about this is as he adds that kind of stuff, that in verse 00:10:09.640 |
six and eight, putting it together, there's this inexpressible joy, too much for words 00:10:13.920 |
almost, and there's glorious joy, full of glory, right? 00:10:18.160 |
And when I look at that, I don't know, when I read it, I wondered, "Is Apostle Peter being 00:10:25.400 |
And it's kind of like, right now, because I haven't exercised in a long time, if I go 00:10:28.840 |
on the basketball court, I'm just like hurting and I'm super slow. 00:10:31.720 |
And if someone was like, "Ha ha, you're so fast," you know, I'd be like, "You be quiet, 00:10:45.000 |
Apostle Peter is continuing to encourage a group of Christians who are expressing joy 00:10:50.080 |
in the circumstance, and then he's adding to it further encouragement as he goes. 00:10:55.760 |
Now for us, if perhaps this concept of great joy, not just a little bit of joy, not just 00:11:04.480 |
like, "Yeah, I'm content," but this kind of like, "Wow, yes!" 00:11:10.600 |
If that seems a little far-fetched, I think Apostle Peter adds to it. 00:11:17.120 |
So there was the verse eight inexpressible joy. 00:11:24.160 |
In verse nine through 12, he says, "Obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of 00:11:29.160 |
your souls, as to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come 00:11:36.320 |
to you made careful inquiries, or searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person 00:11:42.080 |
or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings 00:11:49.640 |
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things 00:11:54.840 |
which now have been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the 00:11:59.480 |
Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look." 00:12:06.640 |
Now I want to ask you a question, and cause you guys to just think about it, okay? 00:12:12.120 |
Why is Apostle Peter, who desires the people, the Christians, who are experiencing suffering 00:12:18.920 |
yet happy, and he desires them to be even more happy, and remember he said last time, 00:12:23.480 |
"I want you to have grace and peace to the fullest." 00:12:29.040 |
How does talking about the prophets looking into this, and the angels looking into this, 00:12:42.320 |
How does the fact that prophets were making careful inquiries, and how does the fact that 00:12:46.360 |
angels are looking contribute to adding to their joy? 00:13:33.720 |
So for the people, obviously, from the experience of the Christian, yeah, like the salvation 00:13:40.920 |
that Apostle Peter is highlighting is something they already have. 00:13:45.200 |
And then so I want to kind of further the question here a little bit, but how does the 00:13:49.520 |
angels looking into this, and the prophets from long ago looking into the salvation, 00:13:57.400 |
So if God's word is described as the revelation of God, then there was even in heaven a mystery 00:14:04.400 |
of salvation ready to be revealed at the right time. 00:14:05.400 |
The angels were anticipating the native breath, and curious to see how will God glorify himself 00:14:08.400 |
They got to experience the creme de la creme, the culminating point of the revelation of 00:14:09.400 |
Christ, the mystery of the salvation, of the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:10.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:11.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:12.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:13.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:14.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:15.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:16.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:40.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:41.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:42.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:43.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:44.400 |
And they got to experience the salvation of the native breath. 00:14:45.400 |
And I just want you guys to think about that a little bit, okay. Are any of you guys actually 00:14:50.100 |
Chicago Coast fans in here? Okay. Well you guys know the story, right? 00:14:58.040 |
I mean absolutely. Anything that is so long-awaited, you know, highly anticipated. Something that 00:15:05.420 |
there has been great expectation for, longing for. The fulfillment is fantastic, right? 00:15:12.760 |
Now for perhaps, sometimes when we fail to appreciate something, perhaps we don't get 00:15:18.180 |
that. That this has been a mystery, hidden for generations, coming to fulfillment, the 00:15:24.760 |
fruition of time, and many steps having to accomplish prior to this time, and at the 00:15:29.680 |
pinnacle moment, they get to have this. Now I want you to think about another concept. 00:15:34.840 |
So the first thing you should jot down right underneath this is this idea of this long-awaited 00:15:40.560 |
anticipation. But the second word I want you guys to write down is exclusivity. Exclusivity. 00:15:48.720 |
Bless you. Okay. Why am I talking about that? Because the prophets were looking into this, 00:15:56.840 |
the angels were looking into this, and the thing about it is, are, I want to ask an interesting 00:16:02.040 |
question here, are angels privy to this salvation? Please turn your Bibles over to Hebrews chapter 00:16:08.880 |
2. I've preached this passage before like three or four times, but every time I look 00:16:13.840 |
at it, I'm just still floored. I'm in awe and absolutely in wonder. Okay? Hebrews chapter 00:16:21.640 |
2, and we're going to start in verse 14 and go down to verse 17. Okay? Now, in this passage, 00:16:34.000 |
he talks about why Jesus had to be fully man, and it speaks to the glory of Christ. But 00:16:41.320 |
this is what he says, verse 14, "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, 00:16:47.640 |
he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless 00:16:53.360 |
him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who through fear 00:16:58.040 |
of death were subject to slavery all their lives." Look at this, okay? Look at this. 00:17:05.120 |
"For surely he does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the descendants of Abraham. 00:17:12.120 |
Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful 00:17:18.000 |
and faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God." Did you catch that? The angels are 00:17:24.840 |
looking into this like, "Wow, what is God doing? When is this happening? What is he 00:17:29.520 |
doing for them?" And they realize God is not serving the angels. God is serving who? Our 00:17:35.880 |
kind. And you ask the question, what we have is not just cheap and privy to all. It is 00:17:43.720 |
actually incredibly exclusive to those God has desired and chosen to help, namely the 00:17:50.200 |
children of Abraham. And I wonder if some of the angels are looking on with jealousy 00:17:56.080 |
even. This is an incredible unique privilege for the Christian who by faith can see an 00:18:03.600 |
incredible huge long plan salvation plan of God that is incredibly exclusive for those 00:18:10.280 |
who have been chosen. Does that contribute to the joy of what we have? Of course. My 00:18:18.080 |
goodness. My God did not have to help everybody. He actually was not obligated to give anything. 00:18:25.600 |
But when he decided to help, then he obligated himself by which his son, Jesus Christ would 00:18:30.840 |
have to come and by obligation then be like us in every way, in flesh, and to make every 00:18:39.160 |
requirement to take on that obligation when he absolutely did not have to because he chose 00:18:44.800 |
to help us. What an amazing truth of the gospel. So I say, Apostle Peter is adding to their 00:18:51.600 |
joy by adding to the value of salvation. What it is you have in the work of God. Right? 00:19:00.040 |
And in that he says, you rejoice. You rejoice. So by way of application, sometimes at looking 00:19:11.400 |
at certain other passages of the scripture, when people suffer, there is almost this misconception. 00:19:18.760 |
Am I supposed to be glad in my suffering? You don't have to be like a sadomasochist. 00:19:25.480 |
No, you're not just be like, yeah, hey, I got hit today. No, it's even though, right? 00:19:34.880 |
Even though these things are happening to you, you have such a great salvation. You 00:19:40.400 |
have a joy that is inexpressible, full of glory, is great, and it doesn't depend on 00:19:45.880 |
any circumstance in your life. Remember how I said last week, you have such a great salvation. 00:19:52.280 |
You have a solution. You have a joy that supersedes even the solution of removing all pain. You 00:19:59.920 |
have an incredible salvation in Christ. So that's our first part. And when we perceive 00:20:06.780 |
that this salvation is so grand, then our perspective of salvation falls into place. 00:20:14.120 |
Right? When we perceive the value, the depth of the salvation that we have, then our perception 00:20:21.600 |
of the difficulties, the hardships, now all of a sudden come into place. I want to ask 00:20:27.960 |
you this question. How does Apostle Peter describe, so let's jump back to our passage. 00:20:34.060 |
How does Apostle Peter describe the suffering and the hardships that people are experiencing? 00:20:43.160 |
Let's just look at them and kind of throw them out again. 00:20:47.160 |
Okay, various. Okay, you have various trials. What else? You guys can jot these in, okay? 00:21:07.340 |
Various trials. These are the toss-up one, guys, where you just have to list them from 00:21:20.060 |
the passage. So let's just throw them out. So there's various, and then there's distressing, 00:21:25.940 |
okay, which in the NIV, it kind of says it's grief, right? So there's painful. It's painful. 00:21:33.800 |
Anything else? For a little while, and then if necessary, right? So let's jot those four 00:21:47.220 |
things down. It was various trials. It was distressing for a little while, and then if 00:21:56.420 |
necessary, right? So I said just a moment ago, he began by describing the greatness 00:22:02.520 |
of salvation, and then he described after that the description of the kind of experiences 00:22:07.980 |
that they're having. Now, if you read that for a little bit, I don't know if that kind 00:22:12.940 |
of sounds like, "Hmm, is he kind of diminishing their experience?" You know, someone's like, 00:22:17.740 |
"Oh, I have such a hard time, and I'm having such a difficult day," and then the pastor 00:22:22.820 |
goes like, "You know what the Bible says? It's like light and momentary suffering. It's 00:22:27.380 |
light, man," and you're like, "All right, I'm never talking to you again," you know? 00:22:33.180 |
Because you kind of, you know, it's kind of almost patronizing, and it's almost like diminishing 00:22:37.340 |
their experience. Is that what Apostle Peter is doing? No, it is not. He's putting it into 00:22:43.560 |
perspective. When he says this is various trials, yeah, I mean, he gets it. He gets 00:22:48.600 |
that people are going through lots of different kinds of trials. The word for various trials 00:22:52.960 |
is multi-colored in the Greek. So he knows, just like we experience, for you guys, too, 00:22:59.160 |
sometimes when things go bad, you know how the ADM goes, when it rains, it pours? Yeah, 00:23:04.080 |
sometimes it's like multifaceted, coming at different angles, and it's like, "Man, just 00:23:07.520 |
when I thought one thing was over." And he describes how, yes, we do experience grief. 00:23:13.220 |
We do experience pain, and yes, it is distressing, but then he also describes how it is for a 00:23:21.240 |
little while. This is temporary, right? It's not going to last forever. As a matter of 00:23:27.080 |
fact, we're hoping in Christ, who is going to bring that day when there is no tear. And 00:23:32.680 |
lastly, if it's necessary, saying, "Even the suffering, though, it's purposeful." Okay? 00:23:39.240 |
Oh, shoot. I totally forgot to use this thing. Okay, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, and then bam, 00:23:48.000 |
bam, bam, bam, bam. Okay. You know what? I don't know if I'm going to use a PowerPoint 00:23:53.600 |
next time, because I forget about it. Okay. So the reason why I'm describing this to us 00:23:59.720 |
is because there's an important question we have to ask, right? When you experience suffering, 00:24:06.720 |
when you experience difficulty, and maybe even persecution because of your faith, how 00:24:12.360 |
is that supposed to look then in terms of your response? Right? The reason why I ask 00:24:19.040 |
that question is because I think sometimes when I ask people, when we talk about suffering, 00:24:23.520 |
it's like they always kind of say, "Oh, I feel like this, but I know I should, and I 00:24:27.680 |
know I should," and they almost have to like justify why they feel bad, and they're like, 00:24:31.640 |
"Oh, but I'm okay." And I'm like, "We don't have to, you know, do that, because truthfully 00:24:39.880 |
speaking in terms of our experience, I mean, like, we don't have to feel like, 'Oh, yeah, 00:24:46.240 |
I'm supposed to be happy when I suffer.'" Jesus wept when the people around him were 00:24:51.680 |
suffering. Jesus looked at the entire city, and he was just like stirred in his heart, 00:24:57.320 |
and he said, "Oh my gosh, I wish, I wish you were different. I wish that you would be receptive 00:25:04.200 |
so I can bring you in like a mother, you know, hen." Remember that? And remember before the 00:25:10.880 |
cross he would say, "My soul is troubled within me." He's saying like, "My guts and insides 00:25:17.000 |
are being all turned around." Are we not supposed to feel anything? I remember actually listening 00:25:22.880 |
to a pastor's sermon one time, and he gave this, you know, he was teaching on suffering, 00:25:27.760 |
and then he gave this analogy when his child was sick, when he was super young. His child 00:25:31.760 |
had seizures, and he was talking about how they were at the hospital, and his wife was 00:25:35.560 |
losing it. She was just weeping and bawling in the waiting room, and she just couldn't 00:25:38.920 |
hold it together. And then he kind of had, he said he had to admonish his wife to keep 00:25:43.880 |
it together because we believe in stronger, better things. And I was like, "Dang." You 00:25:49.280 |
know? I don't know if at that moment I would have been like, "Hey, keep it together because 00:25:53.960 |
we're stronger than that," you know? Because the fact of the matter is, in our experience, 00:26:00.960 |
we have a full gamut of various trials that we go through. And we have a full gamut of 00:26:06.800 |
various experiences. And sometimes they are distressing. Sometimes they are troubling, 00:26:11.200 |
and they're incredibly painful. Right? But should we have no tears? Should we have no, 00:26:16.400 |
you know, like, like working through the questions? No, that is not the case. There is a process. 00:26:24.440 |
There is a spiritual fight where we see what we see with our physical eyes, and then we 00:26:31.440 |
start to consider, we start to remember, and we start to rehearse what we know. Just yesterday, 00:26:37.760 |
actually, Pastor Peter and I were digging dirt with Eugene and stuff over at the church, 00:26:42.280 |
and we just started talking about this. Is it weird if we're like more happy when things 00:26:46.360 |
are good and sad when things are bad? And then Pastor Peter brought up a great passage. 00:26:51.800 |
In the book of James, chapter 1, he says, "Consider it all joy when you face various 00:26:57.960 |
trials." Right? Now, on a knee-jerk reaction, it's like, "So you should be happy." No. He 00:27:03.080 |
says, "Consider." Which means you have to do a work. If some of you guys are frustrated, 00:27:09.040 |
like, "I don't know, man. I don't feel that joy when I'm hurt." And it's like, "Yeah, 00:27:12.720 |
because in order to feel the joy, there's actually work required." And what is that 00:27:16.800 |
work? It's a spiritual work. It's a spiritual work of prayer. It's a spiritual work with 00:27:23.320 |
grappling with spiritual truth. It's a spiritual work of considering and remembering. Please 00:27:30.320 |
turn your Bibles over to Hebrews, chapter 10. Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 32 through 00:27:36.320 |
36. And the author of this book essentially says the same. So, Hebrews 10, verse 32 through 00:27:45.000 |
36. He says, "But remember the former days when after being enlightened, you endured 00:27:52.000 |
a great conflict of suffering, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches 00:28:03.960 |
and tribulations, and partly by becoming shares with those who were so treated. For you showed 00:28:08.980 |
sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that 00:28:14.600 |
you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw 00:28:19.520 |
away your confidence, which has great reward, for you have need of endurance, so that when 00:28:24.520 |
you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised." So, there is a work here 00:28:31.520 |
of remembering, of knowing, and looking forward to the reward. Your joy is not simply in the 00:28:38.800 |
fact that, like, "Okay, I get to suffer." Because otherwise, later on in the book, he 00:28:42.920 |
says, "Why are y'all suffering for doing silly things? If you're gonna suffer, you better 00:28:48.040 |
suffer for good. If you suffer for bad, then God's gonna judge you too." Right? So, he 00:28:55.040 |
says here, "Your joy is not found in just the circumstances. Your joy is found when 00:28:59.560 |
you are remembering, considering, and engaging in the spiritual battle, spiritual eyes and 00:29:05.280 |
spiritual faith, versus physical sight as we live." Okay? So, that's verse 6. Took us 00:29:12.640 |
about 30 minutes. We've got a bunch more to go. Now, I'm gonna kinda push everything together 00:29:18.880 |
too, so we're not gonna be here too long. Okay? But, let's take a moment to think about 00:29:23.840 |
this, right? There are times when we experience suffering, and then we try. We try really 00:29:30.840 |
hard. We contemplate, we try to remember, and we try to pray. Now, here's an interesting 00:29:38.160 |
thing. A mind prayer is that every single one of us would learn, because if we didn't 00:29:45.160 |
go through a bunch of suffering already, we're probably gonna go through it in the future, 00:29:48.680 |
right? At some point or another, we're gonna go through it. That we would be prepared and 00:29:52.680 |
know to continue to pursue rejoicing and being grateful to Christ, even in the midst of dire 00:29:59.680 |
circumstances. Because, if after going through that process, if after trying to remember, 00:30:06.600 |
if after being counseled and after being instructed and reminded, you find no joy, then that's 00:30:13.600 |
an incredibly kind of alarming and concerning place to be. Because in that moment, there 00:30:21.080 |
is no proof of faith. And that's what we're getting at in the next verse. Let's take a 00:30:26.480 |
look at verse 7. Okay? Let's take a look at verse 7. 00:30:34.480 |
Okay. In verse 7 it says, "So that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold 00:30:41.480 |
which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and 00:30:51.840 |
glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Now, if you take a look, just for 00:30:58.960 |
the sake of visual effect, typically what I do is, again, I try to diagram and break 00:31:03.800 |
down the phrases. But the way that this kind of, there's a, you know, parenthetical clause 00:31:09.840 |
right there. Parenthetical meaning it's just kind of squished into the main sentence. But 00:31:14.040 |
if we just take a look at the main sentence, it should read, "So that the proof of your 00:31:17.680 |
faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor." That's the main phrase. 00:31:23.400 |
Right? And so what you find there is a purpose clause. "So that." Anytime I see a purpose 00:31:30.400 |
clause I always circle that. "So that," and then I highlight that because I want to remember 00:31:35.000 |
that. He says, "You have this rejoicing and you have this inexpressible joy even in the 00:31:40.520 |
midst of suffering." And then he says this, "So that the proof of your faith may be found 00:31:47.360 |
to result in praise, glory, and honor." Now, I want to ask you guys this question, okay? 00:31:54.360 |
And this one, you guys can just take one minute to discuss it in your group. What do you consider 00:32:01.160 |
to be proof of faith? Both existent in this passage, so kind of looking at verses 6 through 00:32:08.160 |
12, what do you think is considered the proof of faith? But in terms of other things you 00:32:14.080 |
can list that come to mind, what is a proof of faith? Okay? Go. 00:34:15.080 |
Okay, great. So can you guys just shout out some of the answers that you guys discussed, 00:34:25.080 |
you know, throughout there? Any volunteers? One more time? 00:34:32.080 |
Repentance. Great. Repentance as a proof of faith. Good. What else? 00:34:40.080 |
They loved Jesus. And let's talk about that a little bit, okay? Let's take a look at, 00:34:51.080 |
oh, did I miss something? Okay. Let's take a look at verse 8, okay? Let's take a look 00:34:58.080 |
at verse 8 and it says, "Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do 00:35:02.080 |
not see Him now, but you believe in Him. You greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and 00:35:07.080 |
full of glory." Okay? When you look at that, there is an interesting thing happening there, 00:35:13.080 |
okay? To me, if I was preparing a sermon, rather than taking all of these passages, 00:35:18.080 |
I would just take verse 7 and 8, sandwiches together, and I would say, "This is the proof 00:35:25.080 |
of your faith." The proof of your faith is that even in the midst of suffering, you, 00:35:31.080 |
and even in the midst of a moment when God's love seems most unreal, right? That even in 00:35:42.080 |
those moments, you still love Him. It's not just the fact that, like, "I don't see you, 00:35:47.080 |
but okay, I'll try." No, it's what they're experiencing to them on a humanistic level 00:35:53.080 |
goes contrary. "God, if you love me, why are you letting me go through this?" That's the 00:35:57.080 |
kind of question we ask in our day. Oh, God, and a lot of people these days, it's not even 00:36:01.080 |
that. They don't even have to go through suffering. It's just if they're not tall enough, they 00:36:04.080 |
don't have enough skill, if they don't have enough money, their automatic question is, 00:36:08.080 |
"God, why'd you make me like this? Don't you love me?" But in their time, they're actually 00:36:13.080 |
being persecuted. So it's not just simply, "I don't see you." It's, "I see contrary, but 00:36:21.080 |
I love you. I believe you." Right? That's the essence of our Christian faith. What else 00:36:28.080 |
is there in terms of proof of our faith? Yes, Denise? One more time? Bearing spiritual fruits, 00:36:39.080 |
right? That there is actual transformation. That one person who goes from angry to more 00:36:45.080 |
gentle, right? What else? Obedience. A submission of the will. Before we were Christians, our 00:36:54.080 |
greatest will is our own. After you're a Christian, we continue to submit to the will of God. 00:37:01.080 |
What else is there? Anything? Praise. Excellent. When you are a genuine Christian and your 00:37:14.080 |
eyes are open to the greatness of God, you will be in wonder. You will be in awe, right? 00:37:20.080 |
And these are the things that need to rise. But today, what we're talking about is these 00:37:24.080 |
are the things that need to rise even in the midst of unfavorable circumstances. Even in 00:37:31.080 |
the midst when there's a huge hurdle and praising is hard, when change is hard, when there's 00:37:35.080 |
temptation to continue to revert back, right? Because that's what we're talking about today. 00:37:40.080 |
That even though you're experiencing these things, what you have is unexplicable joy. 00:37:46.080 |
That the joy itself is a proof in and of itself that although what should be there is grief, 00:37:52.080 |
disenchantment, a sense of bitterness, a sense of I give up, but rather there's joy there. 00:38:01.080 |
And you know what's really interesting is even the word proof, right? Even the word 00:38:06.080 |
proof. What's really interesting is the NIV kind of just kind of spells it out for you. 00:38:10.080 |
It says, "All these trials, these have come to you so that your faith may be proved genuine." 00:38:15.080 |
What's really interesting about that is there's like two interesting words that are at play. 00:38:20.080 |
The term for genuine or proof is a term that's used often in metal work where people would 00:38:28.080 |
apply intense heat and you know that process of purifying the metal and boiling it and 00:38:34.080 |
letting all the jaws come to the top. The residue, meaning the remaining pure stuff, 00:38:40.080 |
that's the term used for genuine or proof. It's the evidence. It's the remaining, lasting, 00:38:46.080 |
residual, genuine part. Right? He says, "Let that come out." And so God is using the 00:38:55.080 |
suffering. God is using the circumstance and those are the moments where we're going to 00:38:59.080 |
see our faith tested. When we're going to see our faith tested. And by application for 00:39:04.080 |
us, I want us to think about that. And let's really put our own hearts on the table here. 00:39:11.080 |
Okay? He's saying that in this moment, what's really, really good is that your faith be 00:39:20.080 |
purified. But sometimes in our lives when we experience suffering, we're challenged. 00:39:26.080 |
We're challenged because in suffering we are challenged about what we want, what we seek 00:39:32.080 |
as a solution, what we're desiring in the moments of suffering. A lot of times what 00:39:37.080 |
we want is fixed, like a quick fix. What we want is a solution. What we want is a pragmatic 00:39:42.080 |
way out. And that challenges your faith. Right? That automatically challenges your faith. 00:39:49.080 |
Because when we do that, when we're asking God for a solution, we might be asking for 00:39:54.080 |
something that is completely contrary to what he's doing for our faith. Because for our 00:40:00.080 |
faith, he is challenging us to still believe when we don't see it. And so yes, sometimes 00:40:06.080 |
we're asking God, "Show me. Can you change me? Can you challenge me?" But he's saying, 00:40:11.080 |
"I want you to believe even when I'm not showing you." Right? "I want you to believe even if 00:40:17.080 |
it's not there. Even if it's not tangible. Even if it's not close." Remember, it's Christ 00:40:24.080 |
who said in John chapter 20 verse 29, he says to him, "Because you have seen me, have you 00:40:29.080 |
believed?" He's talking to Thomas. And then he says, "Blessed are they who did not see 00:40:35.080 |
yet believe." When Jesus said, "Blessed are they who believe when they don't see," he 00:40:42.080 |
completely radically challenges our value system. Right? What's good for us is actually 00:40:48.080 |
being able to have a firm footing when we see it. When I land on something. He says, 00:40:53.080 |
"No, blessed are you when your faith is so strong you don't need to see it with your 00:40:56.080 |
eyes." It's also Christ in Matthew chapter 5 in the Beatitudes who said, "Blessed are 00:41:02.080 |
those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom 00:41:06.080 |
of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all 00:41:12.080 |
kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great 00:41:17.080 |
for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." So, in Christ's 00:41:25.080 |
eyes, looking at our circumstances, what does he desire as a result? So that what? That 00:41:33.080 |
your faith would be bolstered. That your belief would be strengthened. That you would come 00:41:38.080 |
out with an assurance and a confirmation and a conviction. I believe my God. Yes, all 00:41:44.080 |
this stuff might go haywire, but I absolutely believe my God and I love him. That's what 00:41:52.080 |
he wants us to come out with. Let's not ask for other stuff then. Yes, we could still 00:41:57.080 |
ask for things to pass. Yes, we could ask for God to change circumstances, pray for 00:42:03.080 |
when there's physical amen for healing and provision and all of that because he's our 00:42:07.080 |
Father. But if his answer is by necessity, right? If this is necessary, then God desires 00:42:17.080 |
our faith to be purified. That's what I'm saying. And so, in kind of wrapping up, let's 00:42:24.080 |
move to the next section. If you notice in verse 7, he says, "So that the proof of your 00:42:36.080 |
faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable even though tested by fire." 00:42:41.080 |
And he says this, "May be found to result in praise, glory, and honor." Praise, glory, 00:42:48.080 |
and honor. And I wanted you to ask the question, I wanted to ask the question, it's just a 00:42:52.080 |
simple question. Whose praise, glory, and honor is Apostle Peter talking about? He says 00:43:11.080 |
later on, you know, after experiencing all this, there's going to be a result. It's going 00:43:17.080 |
to be praise, it's going to be glory, and honor. Whose praise, glory, and honor is he 00:43:23.080 |
talking about? Correct. Yes. Yes. That's a good question. You know, I mean, I'm not 00:43:46.080 |
going to draw a strict line, because in the end, well if I answer that, then I'm just 00:43:57.080 |
giving you the answer. Tricky, tricky. A lot of things in the Bible, it's not so clear 00:44:11.080 |
cut. I mean, I'm talking about my sermon would have been proof of your faith, but I could 00:44:15.080 |
have done it sources of joy, sources of, you know, and then the other way, backwards, right? 00:44:22.080 |
But, so anyway, alright, thanks for ruining my question. I'm just kidding. Well, let's 00:44:28.080 |
think about this a little bit. What naturally, the reason why I ask it is because what naturally 00:44:33.080 |
we presume to be exclusively for God. Who else deserves praise, glory, and honor? God 00:44:41.080 |
alone, right? You're taught, like, God alone deserves praise, glory, and honor. And that's 00:44:48.080 |
what, that's your knee jerk reaction when you read that passage. So sometimes, again, 00:44:52.080 |
if you just read it in cursory, it's like, all this stuff is happening, he causes you 00:44:56.080 |
to rejoice, and what I'm, God is praised, amen. And you move on. But in this passage, 00:45:01.080 |
you read that again, and you just kind of realize, like, hmm, that's really interesting. 00:45:05.080 |
He says that this may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation 00:45:11.080 |
of Jesus Christ, right? What's really interesting about that passage is there's a kind of succession, 00:45:19.080 |
and I don't want to show it here, okay? Oh no, I forgot again. Okay, here, praise, glory, 00:45:29.080 |
and honor. Let's take a look at this. There's a little paragraph there where I have arrows, 00:45:37.080 |
and there is a sequence of connection, relationships between phrases that I put together, and if 00:45:46.080 |
you guys observe it, you know, see if you guys just see it, some of it's really obvious, 00:45:51.080 |
and some of it, you know, we kind of gleaning from the passage here. Well, first he begins 00:45:57.080 |
with, "You greatly rejoice," right? And then we noticed that he introduced the next part 00:46:03.080 |
by saying, "So that." So he says, "You greatly rejoice, so that the proof of your 00:46:09.080 |
faith." The proof of your faith results in, results in what? Glory, praise, glory, honor. 00:46:18.080 |
Obtaining, as a salvation, as the outcome, salvation of your souls. This whole entire 00:46:25.080 |
section is a progressive thought of what faith is doing for you. Is it not? I could phrase 00:46:34.080 |
this in another way. Why is your faith so great? Because it was in accordance to God's 00:46:41.080 |
plan, that by faith you would receive everything He promised you. So when He commends you, 00:46:48.080 |
He commends you for your faith, because when you have faith, then God accomplishes His 00:46:52.080 |
masterful intent, which is to thoroughly bless you in Christ, simply through faith. And by 00:46:59.080 |
faith, you have all of this. Praise, glory, honor, salvation of your soul. Right? Now 00:47:08.080 |
to me, that's quite profound. Because God does, interestingly enough, commend us. We 00:47:18.080 |
know Jesus Christ, who said, who taught, that for those who serve well, God is going 00:47:24.080 |
to say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." We know that God is going to reward, richly 00:47:32.080 |
reward, those who continue to give and serve the Lord, especially those who would even 00:47:37.080 |
sacrifice their lives for the Lord. Now let me ask you a question. What does this teach 00:47:45.080 |
us about God, who commends genuine faith? And I want you to think about that for a moment. 00:47:53.080 |
What does this teach us about God, who so desired to give us the inheritance, who so 00:47:59.080 |
desired to give us the resurrection and being born again, who desired to give us His protection, 00:48:05.080 |
who desires to give us honor and share His glory with us, simply upon faith. What does 00:48:14.080 |
that teach us about our God? Let's jot some of these down. I would say, "My, what a glorious 00:48:25.080 |
and unique God." Because He's God. What God gives recognition to His creatures. What 00:48:34.080 |
master over a slave has, "Hey, let's have slaves appreciation day. Everybody blow balloons 00:48:40.080 |
and let's like start, you know, bring up the, you know, slave of the month or something 00:48:44.080 |
like that." No. Why? Because they're only doing what they're expected to do. What Lord 00:48:49.080 |
continues to share His space, His wealth with His servants. Wow, God is unique. And wow, 00:49:00.080 |
God is generous. Scripture says, you know, when Apostle Paul was preaching to the people 00:49:07.080 |
of Athens, he was like, "You guys are so silly. You guys put down these altars and 00:49:11.080 |
you guys give your altars food and you guys put all this stuff and you guys make temples 00:49:15.080 |
and stuff. God, who is in the heavens, is not served by you." Why? Because He don't 00:49:20.080 |
need you. God's not using you. God's not benefiting by your services and your sacrifice. 00:49:30.080 |
But what does that tell us? By Him wanting to give His promises simply upon faith, what 00:49:36.080 |
a generous God we have. Right? And what's more, God is truly loving. Because to me, 00:49:47.080 |
when God wants faith, it's like saying earlier, God earlier, sorry, in verse 8, one of the, 00:49:56.080 |
you know, profound and emphatic proofs of faith was that we love Him. So when He commends 00:50:03.080 |
good faith, what is He actually commending? Love. What does God desire to have between 00:50:10.080 |
Him and His people? Love. What is He orchestrating? What has He accomplished through all this 00:50:19.080 |
salvation? He has accomplished a love relationship by which He is pouring out His blessing simply 00:50:24.080 |
upon those who are having confidence and not throwing that away. What an amazing, loving 00:50:31.080 |
God we have. And I think in that, we rejoice. It's not in the circumstance. It is not in 00:50:39.080 |
like, "Hey, there's going to be better days." No! Days aren't getting better. I don't know 00:50:45.080 |
anybody who's like, you know, much older who's saying like, "Oh yeah, yeah, just wait and 00:50:49.080 |
it's all going to get better." You know? Life just gets harder and harder. We don't have 00:50:55.080 |
confidence in that. We have confidence in an amazing God in whom we can rejoice to the 00:51:04.080 |
Father, Lord, we thank you so much for your salvation. God, we realize maybe, you know,