- All right, I want to start off with a, just a discussion really fast, and I'm gonna give you guys just two to three minutes to talk about this, okay? There is the dilemma in our lives, and that dilemma is suffering and hardship, okay? That problem that everybody faces, you know, Solomon says everybody under the sun is going to go through toiling, he says, you know?

Hardship in their lives, and he sees it as like unavoidable, right? Now, there's a question of why that happens, okay? So, really quickly, if you guys would, just look to each other, and some of the answers are obvious, some of the answers can be a little bit more, you know, deep or whatnot, but just kind of go around and throw at each other a couple reasons as to why suffering happens in our lives.

Ready, go. (audience chatter) (audience laughter) (audience laughter) (audience laughter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience laughter) (audience chatter) (audience laughter) (audience chatter) (audience laughter) Okay, so, sounds like you guys, I know that was really short, and I know it was a really broad question, but just real quick, just raise your hand, and please share what you guys mentioned as reason as to why there's suffering.

Oh, I thought that was a hand, but someone was just fixing their hair. Or how about, let's see, table on the far right with Andy. Discipline, God is disciplining. What else? How about table right in front of me with John? To test our faith, okay? How about ladies to the far left, Diane?

Sin, okay? Good, so, in terms of just, these are just obvious things that happen in our lives, and so, there's a sense to which, with just simply those reasons, the reason that God could be working behind the scenes, God could be disciplining us for our sins, I'm surprised no one just said because we're fools, and like, we just do silly things, we can expect that there's going to be suffering, okay?

Now, in your packet, I asked you this question. On top of what's to be expected, which is suffering and hardship in our lives, we as Christians have a cherry on top, so to speak. We can expect, actually, above and beyond the suffering that everybody in this life goes through, we can expect more, right?

Why? Because we as Christians often go through persecution. Now, we asked a question, and I don't know if you guys ever asked a question, or thought about this, why are Christians persecuted, you know? I remember sitting there thinking, as a younger Christian one time, like, it doesn't make sense to me.

Christians are, by conviction, like, by doctrine, supposed to be the most loving, kind, and gracious people ever, and forgiving as well. Why is it that the world continues to hate? Why is it that the world continues to persecute Christians, right? And we realize there's a lot of reasons for that, too.

Whether it's just a clash of truth, whether it's because we have an enemy, we have an enemy who is constantly trying to attack us, whether it's because, you know what scripture says sometimes is that when Christians talk about their peace, talk about their purity, talk about how God has changed them, there's a sense in which the dark, perverse world is jealous of that.

Or, our light continues to expose them, and for that reason alone, they will continue to hate on Christians. So, my point with these series of questions is to just kind of say to us, there is the commonality for all, man, that we're gonna have hardship and suffering. But for you as a Christian, you can actually expect not less hardship and pain, but rather more.

And what the scripture teaches us is that we are going to constantly experience opposition, rejection, scorn, contempt, and maybe even martyrdom. And Jesus was the one who taught his disciples, a disciple, you know, a pupil, a slave, or anybody who is in a lowly position is not above his master.

And if they treated the master like this, attributing Christ to satanic works, what do you think is going to happen to you? And then Apostle Paul said it very, very explicitly, this comes from 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ, "Jesus, will be persecuted." That's as clear and explicit as you can get.

What you can expect and anticipate for your life is that on top of just simple hardship, and the commonalities of, you know, whether it's lack of health, lack of money, lack of freedom, lack of whatever it may be, you're going to also expect persecution in your life. Now my question is, is that what we actually expect, or are we absolutely surprised whenever there's hardship?

What's going on? You know? Are we crumbling because certain things happen and we feel ostracized, and maybe all of a sudden we feel lonely because of our faith, and then our worldview is shattered and we start questioning, what is God doing? Why? You know? That's a sobering question for us, is it not?

What was our expectation, just worldview-wise, in terms of what to anticipate as we live our lives? And that's something that this book, 1 Peter, actually challenges us on. Because Apostle Peter is speaking to a body of believers, not in one specific congregation, but broadly, to the many Christians who are experiencing suffering and hardship.

Apostle Peter is gonna address them, and he's gonna minister to them. Now there's a question, how is Apostle Peter going to encourage these individuals who are not just simply suffering, but actually being persecuted? You know? I'm pretty sure that in this room, that if we, you know, kinda tally, or make a list of all the experiences that we had, I'm pretty sure we can make a really extensive list of the different kinds of sufferings you've experienced.

Because, again, I know that from your personal experiences, maybe, whether it was relationships and broken family, whether it was, you know, health issues, or whether it was financial issues, I know that we've experienced a lot of suffering. But, on top of the suffering, the people that Apostle Peter is talking to are people who are being intentionally persecuted, and intensely persecuted.

How is Apostle Paul going to strengthen them? Sorry, Apostle Peter. How is Apostle Peter going to encourage them, and give them hope? That's what we're looking at when we look at 1 Peter, okay? Well, let's take a look at the passage, and let's take our Bibles out and go to 1 Peter.

We're looking at 1 Peter, chapter one. Today, we're gonna take a look at verses one through six. Okay, here we go. And let's take a look at that passage. I'm sorry. Okay. All right. So it says, "Peter, an apostle to Jesus Christ, "to those who reside as aliens "scattered throughout Pontius Galatia, "Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, "who are chosen according to the foreknowledge "of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, "to obey Jesus Christ, and be sprinkled with his blood.

"May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "who according to his great mercy "has caused us to be born again to a living hope, "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, "to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, "and undefiled, and will not fade away, "reserved in heaven for you, "who are protected by the power of God "through faith for a salvation, "ready to be revealed in the last time.

"In this, you greatly rejoice, "even though now for a little while, if necessary, "you have been distressed by various trials." Amen. Let's take a moment to pray. Lord, as we take a time to look into your word, Father, help us, God, to see and observe just your truth, and that by the Spirit we'll be convicted.

Lord, if there's anything in our hearts that's preventing us, that's a hurdle to your Spirit working in our lives, I ask that by the power of your Spirit, you would cleanse us of those things. And God, would you give us just a surrendered heart and spirit and attitude, that Lord, we would lay those things aside.

Lord, we thank you for this time, it's in Christ's name. Amen. Okay. So, let's take a look at the first section here. So I've kinda divided the section by section for us. And we're looking at this. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now, going pretty slowly, we're just looking at an introduction where he addresses them and gives an introduction identifying himself.

Now, we could just, if you're reading your Bibles, you could just read it and go on to the next part. But, I would highly encourage that whenever we do Bible study, you ask good questions. Even if it's something as plain Jane as this. Well, what I mean by that is, here are some questions we could ask.

First question, who is an apostle? Now, if you guys have been with the church a long time, Pastor Peter, I was about to call him Apostle Peter. Pastor Peter, our pastor, one time gave a long series about the credentials of being an apostle. Who are apostles and who are not?

How do you identify them? Can anybody call themselves an apostle? You do realize that there are people today who call themselves apostles. Is that legit? Or is that like, that's crazy? What is that? We could ask the question, so you guys can jot some of these questions down. We could ask the question, what makes them different from normal disciples?

Do they have certain privileges? Do they have certain authorities? That's something important to answer. And do you actually, my question to you is, do you know the answer to these questions? Another question you can ask is, what is the general attitude towards an apostle among the intended audience? Like, you can just say, oh, you know, Apostle Peter.

Well, at that time, you do realize they didn't have a long history of like, you know, apostles from Christ and then everybody knew automatically what that was all about, right? So you gotta ask some of these questions. So real quickly, we don't have to answer all of these questions, but let's have audience participation and somebody kinda say, you know, on a general gist, when Apostle Peter says, I'm the apostle of Jesus Christ, what kinda weight does that carry for this letter?

Someone bold, let's answer. How about this? All right, let's just move forward. (laughing) Okay, oh yes. Thank you. - So, Apostle is someone that Jesus hand-picked - Okay. - To be a witness. - Excellent. Yes, apostleship is not something that's like, that's nice, I'd like to be one. Apostles are hand-picked by Christ, right?

And so, in terms of the position of apostle, it was very limited and just as he said, because it came with that kind of appointment, it also came with that kind of authority. So when Apostle Peter says, I'm the apostle of Jesus Christ, later on, he's gonna talk about how Christ is our Lord and it comes with that kind of authority.

And so, whenever you see that term being used within the church context or even in the letters, you will see that there's a defense of the kind of authority behind it because the position itself was truly like an ambassador. Somebody who is carrying the message that the Lord desires to send, okay?

We're not gonna spend too much extensive time on that, but I just wanna encourage again, that we ask great questions as we study the passage. The next part of it, part B of verse one says, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, who are chosen.

And at this point, I wanna share with you that whenever I do my Bible study, I typically take it phrase at a time, okay? Phrase at a time. And I try to look at how each phrase continues to relate to one another. So, the way that I would do this is this.

I start with just a phrase, to those who, and then I immediately, let me see if I can do this today. This is why I did it. Who, these are the recipients, okay? Can you see that? (audience laughing) You know what, I'm probably not gonna do this. All right, to those who, these are the recipients.

And there's an emphasis on the individuals that are his recipients that he's talking about. And the next phrases all describe them. What comes reside as aliens. So, I'm just gonna draw a line. Oh, no. Okay. Right here. And these next several ones are all gonna be, okay, connected to this concept.

Here we go. Scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, okay? So, it's hard for you to see the red line. Next time, I'm gonna try something different. But when I diagram my verse, this is how I do it. And I say, to those who reside as aliens, to those who are scattered, and then the last one is to those who are chosen, right?

So, when I'm starting to look at, I guess, sometimes even when I'm trying to prepare a Bible study, if I see that there is a connection like this, I realize now there's going to be an added to one bucket, one concept, a kind of full theme. These are individuals who are residing as aliens, scattered, and chosen, okay?

Now, I have a bunch of questions to ask. What does he mean by aliens? Right? So, also, right now, you guys don't have to copy or rewrite the entire thing, sorry. The reason why I put the verse there is because what you can do is as you're going through your Bibles, you guys can just, again, highlight one thing, and then just draw a little line, you know?

Like that, between each phrase is to chop it up. And then you guys can draw a line towards what it modifies. So, when I look at the relationship of phrases, I start asking the question, what does this phrase modify? These phrases modify the concept of who it is. That was what I kind of repetitively said.

But, as I ask that question, you know what I'm doing is I'm practicing the hermeneutical principle of syntax. I am observing the relationship between phrase to phrase, word to word, and that actually teaches me a whole lot, okay? Going forward, I ask this question. Aliens, what does he mean by aliens?

Is he just metaphorically saying, oh, you guys are pilgrims in this day and age. You have a heavenly place, so you're just pilgrims. Is this metaphorical? Is it just simply spiritual? Is he talking more like social? Because socially, you guys are aliens to those individuals? Here's another question. When he says they're scattered, you can ask, what does that mean?

But also, you wanna ask, why are they scattered, right? Here's another question. He actually gives a list of Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, and he gives a name of cities, right? So, as you make this observation, you realize, hey, is there any significance to that location? So, now we have a lot to say, okay?

But, hold on here. Oops. But, this is what we'll do. Rather than answering all the questions, this is what I'm gonna say. In answering the first one, is it metaphorical, is it spiritual, in order for something to be metaphorical, there has to be good reason. Let me say that again.

When you do your Bible interpretation, in order for something to be metaphorical, there has to be something in the text where the plain reading, the literal reading of the word, okay, the literal reading of the word, is kinda, doesn't make sense, or it's not sufficient, but rather, something in the text tells me that this is metaphorical.

But, here, in this passage, because of the list of cities, and because, if you study the background, we know that there was intense persecution, especially in this region. We realize, actually, Apostle Peter is literally saying, all of you who are scattered across. So, he's not speaking to a specific church, but he's speaking to the Christians who are dispersed, and as a matter of fact, the term scattered is diaspora, which, historically, referred to how the Jews have been scattered, whether by, you know, that, you know, like, captivity, and all that kinda stuff, okay?

Let me share with you a little bit about the background, as an introduction to the book, but also, as an important place right now to talk about who he's speaking to. The Christians at that time, around the time when Apostle Peter was writing this, again, they were not under just hardship.

They were intensely persecuted. You guys have probably heard the name Emperor Nero. This individual, in history, according to, not just Christians, but every historian, was a lunatic, a madman. As a matter of fact, when I was a philosophy major at UCI, I read a book called The Twelve Caesars, from one of my philosophy classes in classical studies and stuff, and it talks about the Caesars of the day, and Nero was seen as one of the most vicious emperors that I've ever lived.

This man was insane, and he had an insanity where he had an obsession with building, so much so that what he would do is he would set fire to certain areas, burn it down purely for the sake of building things to his name and glory. So you'd imagine, like, you know, he would sometimes burn places down.

Because of his insanity, he would even clear the area, and now, there was kind of an uproar. There was suspicion of, what in the world is this man doing? In order to divert that attention, Emperor Nero decided to scapegoat on the Christians. Christians were already seen as, like, a weird sect, almost as cultish and whatnot, because they wouldn't worship the emperor.

They wouldn't worship the gods of the Romans. And so what eventually happened was Emperor Nero blamed the Christians, and in order to show the people, like, look how righteous I am, Emperor Nero would murder Christians regularly. There are stories of how Emperor Nero would wax Christians and burn them.

There are stories of how Emperor Nero would send the Christians into the gauntlet, how Emperor Nero would send them amongst the beast for sport that he would cause, you know, them to be chased and all this kind of stuff. And the things that are listed about what he would do to Christians is almost too vocal to even mention in this place.

It's wild. So the people that he's talking to, literally, they were aliens, as in refugees. Right? Refugees who are running for their lives. Refugees, just as you would imagine today, who are losing their parents, losing their brothers and all their family, and on the run. That's the kind of concept we're thinking about, and it was literal.

It wasn't just metaphorical. And so, in this kind of time, Apostle Peter is addressing them, and he recognizes you are aliens. You are scattered. But what ends up happening is, as he goes down this list, there is this emphasis on this last one, who are chosen. Because yes, he's talking about how they were, you know, getting chased, and how they were scattered across, and all that kind of stuff.

But all of a sudden, there's almost like a contrast that says, but, you're chosen. And this concept of being chosen is a doctrine for us that's rich and deep, is it not? The doctrine of election. And Apostle Peter, when we ask the question, how does he address and encourage these Christians, he's going to teach them and remind them of the doctrine of election.

So, let's take a look at verse two. Verse two says, according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. Okay? So, we first have, the way that I would diagram it is, if you're writing on your paper, again, for you guys right now on the paragraph, you guys can just start drawing segments, draw a line to break up the phrases, and then draw connecting lines, okay?

He goes from who, and then, da, da, da, da, da, are chosen, and then from chosen, his thought continues to progress. And then he says this, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, right? Chosen by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, and lastly, chosen to obey Christ and be sprinkled with his blood.

So, oops, oh no, okay? So again, if I was diagramming this, I would start drawing a line here, coming down to this way. But as we make our observations, we really start to have lots that we can ask. So, I want you guys to just take about two to three minutes, okay?

And this is just gonna be, again, an exercise for us. We look at this verse that emphasizes this concept and doctrine of being chosen. What kind of questions can you ask about these phrases? Okay? You guys can do it as a team, and then take about three minutes. Ready, go.

(audience chatter) (audience chatter) , (audience chatter) (audience chatter) , (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (audience chatter) Okay, so for those of you guys who don't have packets, apologize, I'll print some more next time.

I just sent some to the printer and we'll have some of those coming real soon, okay? Let's gather our thoughts here, okay? So I asked you to think about some questions pertaining to this verse, focusing on the concept of chosen, okay? What are some questions that you guys came up with?

Cool, yes, thank you, Matthew. - My team asked the question, is there any relationship between Peter being chosen as an apostle and his audience being chosen? - Okay, great question. Who does this chosen apply to? Is there a relationship between Peter being chosen and the people being chosen as well, good.

Others, other questions? How about, let's see, this group in the front. - Are we chosen to obey or do we choose to obey? - Ooh, okay, are we chosen to obey or do we choose to obey? Good, that's a question about how this, the idea of God's sovereignty over us is working, okay?

So there are some really good questions that you guys can ask. Some of the questions that I asked was, what is the nature of God's foreknowledge, okay? What is the nature of God's foreknowledge? Another question I asked was, how does the sanctifying work of the Spirit work together with God's foreknowledge, okay?

So there's a lot of questions that you guys can ask. Now, on the side, you guys can't see it. Again, I'm just gonna, I was initially trying to do something on my iPad, it's not working. But anyway, on the first one, on the first one, top number two, or verse two, I wrote an S because as I look at this passage, I'm trying to observe and ask the question.

He's saying you are chosen, and he says according to. These prepositional words, I always try to ask, what is that trying to teach me? Because it teaches you a lot. If something is according to his foreknowledge, then that means it has, it resembles that thing. Or another way you can put it is, it has its source in God's foreknowledge.

So a lot of times what I'll do is, when I'm preparing a Bible study, I'll say, hey, today we're gonna talk about being chosen. First, you're chosen, and the source of being chosen is God's foreknowledge, you know, of you. So I'll put source. By, the preposition by tells us in terms of the means, or how, right?

So by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, and so I'll talk, I'll teach on the idea of, you know, like the means and how God continues to work out salvation and his election of us. To, the simple word to tells us the result or the purpose, right? So now I have a three-point sermon.

Our election, the source, the means, the purpose. Bam, sermon done, right? That's how I do it. So you can see how asking the question of how the phrases attach to those simple concepts is the exercise of syntax, and it teaches us a lot, okay? Now I wanna take a moment here to think about this.

Let's, actually, you know, I have some of these questions here. Or let me just think about this for a minute. What do we learn about God, you know? When we say that, oh, God is choosing us, and then you can read your Bible and cursory, again, just go over and say, oh yeah, Doctrine and Covenants, great.

That's like every other letter that, you know, Apostle Paul or whoever it may be is, always starts with, you know, thank God for our salvation. But on another side, you can ask this deeply into this question of what does that teach us about God? Well, let's answer some of these questions, you know?

Like, you know, are there other passages that describe God having a foreknowledge, a knowledge of people? And in asking that question, we ask, what is the nature of God's foreknowledge? And I wanna ask you that question. Like, what is the nature of God's knowledge of us? There have been camps of people who will say, God's knowledge of us is kinda like prediction.

There are those individuals who believe God's foreknowledge is like God looking down into time, knowing what you're going to do, and therefore, he behaves in a certain fashion. So he looks down the corridor of time, knows you're gonna choose and receive his gospel, and therefore, he accepts you into his kingdom, or whatever it may be.

That's a whole camp of theology. Is that the nature of God's foreknowledge that we can learn even from this passage? There's a, you know, when I ask the question, like how does God's sanctifying work work together with his foreknowledge, these are all questions that we can actually observe from this passage alone.

But I wanna start with this question that I asked just a moment ago. And again, I'm asking for audience participation here. Are there evidences, or at least examples from the Old Testament or New Testament where scripture talks about God having a foreknowledge, a knowledge of somebody before they even were?

Yes? Oh, come on. (laughs) Yes, right? Can you guys tell me, like, can we just, you know, again, as an exercise of jogging our memories, what are some passages? Yes, Grace? Excellent. Psalm 139, when King David says, in that passage, he says, like, you search me and you know me.

In my mother's womb, right? So scripture actually talks much, not just King David, but a lot of the prophets, like Jeremiah, Isaiah, when it talks about certain individuals, they kinda wonder, and not wonder as in pensive, but they are amazed at the fact that God knows them so intimately, to the degree, not that he just knows them, but that he is intimately forming them.

So, from other passages of the scripture, is God's foreknowledge a foreknowledge in which he just sees what you're gonna do? No. As a matter of fact, his foreknowledge, then, is a lot more purposeful, it's more intentional, and it's formative, right? And that's what scripture continues to teach us. As a matter of fact, when we look at this passage alone, when we ask the question, in his foreknowledge, what is actually happening, let's just kinda take a cursory look at the whole passage.

In verse two, he talked about how, again, according to this foreknowledge, he chose us, he said, by the sanctifying work, and then in verse three, he says, blessed be God of our father, Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his mercies, caused us to be born again, and then, verse four, he says, to obtain a hope inheritance, actually, let's go to verse five, and who protected you by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be reeled in the last time.

Does that seem like a God who, uninvolved, is just looking into the future? Absolutely not. Actually, that sounds like a God who, according to his foreknowledge, planned, then worked, then executed, and then accomplished. Right? That is God's foreknowledge of us. It is not one that is absent, not absentee, but rather, he is calling us out, separating us for a unique purpose, and he is going to accomplish it with this power.

He directs our minds, he directs our will, he directs everything. That is the way in which Apostle Peter is encouraging those who feel, perhaps, that God is far, who feel, perhaps, that that most powerful person is emperor and hero. That's what's happening. And so, I wanna encourage us, there's this passage in Isaiah, chapter 46, verse eight through 11, that reads like this.

Remember this and be assured, recall it to your mind. Remember the former things long past, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is no one like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times, the things which have not been done, saying my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.

Calling a bird of prey from the east, a man of my purpose from a far country. Truly, I have spoken, truly, I will bring to pass. I have planned it, surely, I will do it. Just from asking a simple question of what is the nature of God's foreknowledge, we can be reminded, God is a God of absolute sovereignty and what he knows is not simply in his intellect, what he knows, he decrees and accomplishes, amen?

What a great encouragement for us. Whenever we feel so stressed and we feel like things are spiraling out of control, what a great encouragement for us when we feel and when we see is other people in power, other forces in play that we cannot, that's out of our control.

And sometimes because things are out of our control, we assume hopeless. But then Apostle Peter is reminding them, God has chosen you, right? With his foreknowledge, with the work of his spirit. Now, moving forward just a little bit, he asks this question, or he says that this, again, this being chosen has a source, has a means, and has a purpose.

We're not gonna spend an incredible amount of time on this for the sake of time, but that's something that we could look into too. You know, when it says to obey, to be sprinkled with his blood. Now, that's pretty unique, right? Because we've read Ephesians and we've memorized those passages, we know like we were saved by grace, as a workmanship, like destined for good works, right?

Served for good works. But then we have here to obey, and then he has this idea of being sprinkled with his blood. I wanna encourage you, if you have the ESV Bible, the NASB Bible with the cross references, look at those. You know, look at those passages. And this is another exercise you do when you ask the question of, I wonder why he gave this unique phrase, be sprinkled with his blood.

What's the significance there? Does that just mean salvation? You should ask, right? And if you look up those cross references, if you look up either the ESV reference Bible, or you look up the NASB, you'll find two verses. Hebrews 10.22 and Hebrews 12.24. I have those in your packet, right?

In your own time, you can take a look at those and ask the question, when the Bible talks about being sprinkled with his blood, what does it typically refer to? Or what does it seem like in this context, because remember, you always have to look at the immediate context here first.

What do you think he's looking at, right? Moving forward, verse three. Verse three. And verse three through six, we're gonna go through a little bit faster. So let's read it together, or I'll read it for us. Verse three through, let's say five first, and bunch that together. He says, "Blessed be God, "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, okay?

"Who according to his great mercy "has caused us to be born again to a living hope "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. "To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable "and undefiled and will not fade away, "reserved in heaven for you, "who are protected by the power of God through faith "for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Okay?

Now what's hard about this is verse three through five is one incredible run-on sentence, okay? And actually, even longer, it's just like run-on going down. So there's a sentiment already in which there is kind of like an overflowing passion and thought to what he's about to say, and what he's about to say is to focus on the great salvation that we have, right?

But let's break it down a little bit. First, "Blessed be God, "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," and then let's break these things down. "Who has caused us to be born again," and then I put a little lips because in terms of according to his great mercy, that's another phrase describing this idea of being born, or caused to be born again.

Next, "He has caused us to be born again to a living hope." Lastly, "He has caused us to be born again "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." And just like before, when we asked the question, from all these phrases, how do they relate to the concept beforehand?

Well, first and foremost, it starts off, "God should be blessed." Why? Because God has caused us to be born again, according to his mercy, to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And just like before, we have a similar structure, and that structure is, when he focuses on the concept of being born again, there is a source, his mercies.

There is a means, right, through the resurrection, and there is a purpose to hope. That's the kind of relationships you can observe as you look at this passage. Let's move forward, okay, let's move forward into the next verse, verse four. "To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable "and undefiled and will not fade away, "reserved in heaven for you." So, the way that I would put this is, in verse four, it connects to this idea of being caused to be born again.

We asked a question, when it says, "To obtain an inheritance," what does that modify? What's that connected to? And it's the idea that God has caused you to be born again for this, to have an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

So, now we take a moment to pause. Oh, man, maybe when I, again, in cursory reading, it was just like, oh, man, they're lofty words. I remember thinking sometimes, you know, when I was an early Christian, and a pastor would come up to pray, and then they would use words like majestic, you know, unending, you know, transcendent, this and that, I would always have a sentiment of like, oh, man, over-exaggeration, irreal, you know, so cliche.

But the fact of the matter is, if you start to slow down to look at the details, he's just adding upon one and the other the magnitude of what God has done for us in causing us to be born again, that there's so much involved, that there's so much of this, I guess you could say, advantage, and when I look at this passage, and he talks about us receiving this inheritance by God causing us to be born again, it totally convicts me.

Look at what he talks about, how he addresses this concept of having our inheritance, the inheritance imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. It convicts me because, to tell you truthfully, I get excited about the next device, the next iPhone, the next this, when they say like, oh, it's 15% lighter, wow, this laptop's so heavy, the battery last 20% longer, oh, 20% longer, you know?

Now it's almost waterproof. Not quite, but almost, you know? The pixels won't fade. But when we think about this, Apostle Peter's trying to remind us, we have something that's not simply going to improve, it is truly upgrade-proof. It is not going to fade. It is not going to be defiled.

And we have this inheritance for us. So, by application for us, kind of putting it in our context, to tell you truthfully, there are a lot of people who complain about how things perish, how things continue to fade, like their memories, like their bodies are starting to degrade. They start to complain about the possessions they have, their house problems, their relational problems, their work problems.

We start to complain about all those things, but then we ask the question, and we wonder again, what did we expect? We're supposed to be challenged, and we're supposed to be encouraged. We have something that even if your kids are ruining your house and defiling everything, you have nothing to fear for your inheritance.

Won't ever be defiled. Won't ever fade. Imperishable for us. And then he continues to keep adding it on. He continues to add on the magnitude of the salvation that we have by saying, you who are protected by the power of God, through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

Now, I wish that I had this really, really long, really, really big outline, because then we could see the buildup. The buildup, right? Let's put it together and summarize what we've been saying. If you put it together and run your eyes through chapter one, verses one down to verse five, there's so much.

He says, you, you are chosen. You're born again. And you are protected. This is true of you, even if by sight and current circumstance, you're suffering, you're persecuted, and you've been chased everywhere. He says, you've been given and afforded all this according to the knowledge of God, the mercy of God, and the power of God.

And all of this is being accomplished for you by the work of the Spirit, the resurrection of Christ, and through your faith. This for the purpose of building you up towards obedience, purifying you for hope, inheritance, and a salvation that's incredible. Right? That kind of buildup should overpower us to make us feel like, my goodness, I've lost sight of something so amazing and so great.

I'm gonna tell you sometimes, you know, when I counsel people, I get a little bit apprehensive, because there have been times when you try to counsel individuals, and they're just not hearing it. So I'm not gonna name anybody specific. Let's just say they're a guy named John. I'm not talking about you Johns.

All right, let's talk about somebody else. Is there a Bart in here? Okay, so Bart comes in for counseling, and he's just in a world of hurt. So he says, oh my goodness, pastor, there's like everything going wrong. You know, like I went to work, and someone jacked my reserve parking spot.

You know, and it's like, okay, big whoop. And it's like, and that was just an indication what's gonna happen, because as they jacked my parking spot, I go in, and I gotta let go. I've been given the slip. I got replaced. And he says, yeah, and also my wife, like she's embittered with me because I was frustrated, and then now she's frustrated, and she's mad at me.

And then my kids, they're just driving me crazy. I'm losing all my hair, and they're not obedient. They're causing me all this stress. And then just the list goes on. Da da da da da da da da da da, you know? I asked a question earlier of like how Apostle Peter would encourage the people who are suffering like that.

And I just kind of played a scenario, a hypothetical scenario like this in my head. Imagine if to Bart I said, you know, you have an inheritance that's so much greater. The scripture says that there is an inheritance for you that's imperishable, and I went on. There are times in which people like Bart will listen to that, and they might listen, and what they'll typically say is, yes, yes, I get that.

If they're bad, they'll say, man, don't throw Bible verses at me. That doesn't help. At best, they'll say, I get it, but still, it doesn't help the situation. Something that I want to encourage us and challenge us with today is there is something really wrong, really inappropriate, and off about that kind of concept.

Because when you have that kind of worldview, what you're saying is the solution I'm looking for is not that kind of hope. The solution I'm looking for is not what you're saying in the passage, in the scriptures, in what God has given us in the Holy Spirit, and in salvation and redemption.

What that kind of solution is saying, all I want is the solution of get rid of this for me. And that's a lot of times what people experience. The solution that what they're looking for is remove the difficulty, change the circumstance. But what Apostle Peter is saying, you have to have faith.

You have to have faith to believe that even the solution, even if God said, okay, I'll remove that from you, you have something even greater than that. You have something greater than just simple peace, the absence of discomfort, and the removal of all pain. You have something imperishable. You have something reserved for you that no one can touch, that only God can give you.

And that's why he says, so what I wanna give you is the abounding fullness of grace and peace. I skipped it because I wanted to save it for the end. Apostle Peter's purpose for us is that we would abound to the full measure of grace and peace in his heart, and that grace and peace is not gonna come because we got rid of all the animosity, because we got a lot of friends, and because we had all the suffering and persecution removed from our lives.

Apostle Peter is saying, have this faith and belief and trust in your heart that you have something so much greater than the solution you so eagerly are desiring to seek. The eradication of discomfort is actually weak compared to what we have in the gospel, amen? And so this is the purpose of 1 Peter.

There's a passage that Apostle Peter says at the very end of the book, 1 Peter chapter five, verse 12, and he says, through Silvanus, our faithful brother, for I regard him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God, stam-fer-minent. And I am reminded and I'm challenged again.

Sometimes we're looking for practical advice, we're looking for application, all that kind of stuff, but it comes back to this conviction again. Our Christian lives, dealing with suffering, dealing with persecution, comes down to this, our belief. And I was so challenged. It comes down to those questions of, do I trust that God is still merciful to me when I feel like there's too much pain?

Do I trust that God is still powerful, that he has chosen with his great foreknowledge? Do I trust that God is ever-present, still working by his spirit, sanctifying me through all of this? And do I trust that in an incredible way, God is moving me towards his end, what he purposed for me?

It's a question of belief. And we have to pray and we have to fight the battle on the level of, where is my faith? So I wanna challenge us with this first lesson, with the theme of the entirety of 1 Peter. Apostle Peter is going to then address that.

Where is the condition of our faith in this moment of suffering? And is it one where it's strong and standing firm in the graces of God? Let's take a moment to pray. Father God, we wanna pray, Lord, that by your spirit, you would convict us of truth. And then in your grace, you would remind us of the truth and allow us to walk daily in it, God.

Lord, we confess and we also repent of the fact that we are often so forgetful. We are often so easily distracted. But I pray, Father God, that we would not live our lives by our physical sight, but truly that we would live by faith. God, trusting and believing that the salvation we have is worth all the sacrifice, is worth all the things that we have to go through and overcome.

And I pray, Father God, that if there's anybody in here who is tempted with quitting, tempted with despairing, and tempted with giving up, I ask, Lord, that these words from Apostle Peter today would have encouraged their hearts. That God, you are a God who have been actively working since the beginning.

And Lord, you will always accomplish your will, no matter how tough the situation seems. Father, we again wanna thank you for the encouragement in the spirit. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.