0:06 tonight we begin a brief Series in First
0:17 1-12 Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to
0:21 the sojourners scattered throughout
0:27 pontis galatia capid doia Asia and
0:30 bethenia elect according to the for
0:31 knowledge of God the
0:35 Father through sanctification of the
0:40 spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of
0:43 the blood of Jesus
0:48 Christ Grace unto you and peace be
0:51 multiplied blessed be the God and father
0:54 of our Lord Jesus Christ who according
0:58 to His abundant Mercy hath begotten us
1:00 again unto a living
1:03 Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
1:07 from the dead to an
1:10 inheritance Incorruptible and
1:13 undefiled and that fadeth not away
1:16 reserved in heaven for you who are kept
1:21 by the power of God through faith unto
1:23 salvation ready to be revealed in the last
1:25 last
1:28 time in this ye greatly
1:31 Rejoice though now now for a season if
1:33 need be ye are in heaviness through
1:37 manifold trials that the trial of your
1:40 faith being much more precious than of
1:43 gold that perisheth though it be tried
1:46 with fire might be found under praise
1:50 and honor and Glory at the appearing of
1:53 Jesus Christ whom having not seen ye
1:58 love in whom though now ye see him not
2:00 yet believe
2:03 ye Rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
2:08 of Glory receiving the end of your faith
2:10 even the salvation of your
2:14 souls of which salvation the prophets
2:17 have inquired and searched diligently
2:19 who prophesied of the grace that should
2:23 come unto you searching what or what
2:26 manner of time the spirit of Christ who
2:27 was in them did
2:31 signify when he testified IED beforehand
2:33 the sufferings of Christ and the glory
2:34 that should
2:37 follow unto whom it was revealed that
2:40 not unto themselves but unto us they did
2:43 Minister the things which are now
2:46 reported unto you by them that have
2:49 preached the gospel unto you with the
2:53 Holy Spirit sent down from heaven which
2:58 things the Angels desire to look
3:00 into if we were to read read this entire
3:03 letter tonight we would find that Peter
3:06 is talking about
3:09 suffering this is a letter of
3:11 encouragement he's writing to Christians
3:14 who were scattered in various parts of the
3:15 the
3:18 world and he's writing for the purpose
3:20 of encouragement now we need
3:22 encouragement these days doesn't take
3:25 much to discourage some of the
3:28 Saints but even the strongest Christian
3:31 has his days when he's just a little bit
3:34 discouraged now as far as the world was
3:37 concerned these people weren't very
3:41 important he calls them strangers or or
3:43 sojourners resident aliens here were
3:46 people who had no permanent
3:48 home and I can just see their friends
3:50 and neighbors saying you we feel sorry
3:52 for you people you're Christians you
3:54 just don't have any permanent home
3:56 you're really strangers in this world
3:58 and they were scattered they were
4:00 scattered throughout these different
4:03 provinces and so here we have sojourners
4:06 who are scattered who are suffering in
4:09 verse 6 they were in heaviness through
4:13 manifold trials over in chapter 3
4:16 beginning about verse 13 He talks about
4:18 having to submit themselves and the way
4:21 people were lying about them and falsely accusing
4:23 accusing
4:26 them over in chapter 4 he talks about
4:28 the trial the fiery trial they're going
4:31 to go through down in verse 12 and so
4:35 here were scattered people
4:39 sojourners strangers to this world
4:40 people who were going through suffering
4:43 and they needed some encouragement now
4:44 in these first 12
4:47 verses the Apostle Peter does such a
4:51 beautiful thing he says as far as the
4:54 world's concerned you are strangers
4:57 sojourners scattered you aren't too
5:01 important but as far as God is concerned
5:04 you belong to the
5:07 elite in fact some of the translations
5:10 read like this Peter an apostle of Jesus
5:17 Souljers now if you look at the word
5:20 Sojourner you'd get discouraged this
5:23 world is not my home the world doesn't
5:25 love me the world doesn't want me
5:27 there's nothing here that I want but
5:30 here I am so don't look at the word
5:33 sojourners look at the word elect that
5:36 word elect dignifies the
5:40 Christian we belong to God's Elite we
5:44 are God's special
5:46 people that's the whole themea this
5:49 first part of the chapter verses
5:53 1-2 so when you find yourself
5:56 discouraged when the world Slanders you
5:58 and when life gets difficult when
6:00 business isn't working the way you think
6:04 it ought to or when your own life is not
6:06 what you think it ought to
6:10 be when you look into that mirror and
6:13 say I'm never going to make it read 1
6:16 Peter 1: 1
6:19 through2 and notice the
6:22 distinctives that make the Christian
6:24 special now there are four of them there
6:27 are in this section four
6:30 distinctives that take the Christian and
6:32 lift him out of the
6:36 herd make him special take him out of the
6:37 the
6:39 crowd and make him special now what are
6:42 these distinctives well verses 1
6:45 through3 we are special because we
6:48 belong to a special
6:53 family verses 3 and four we are special
6:57 because we share a special
7:01 future verses 5 through n we are special
7:05 because we possess a special
7:09 faith and verses 10 through 12 we are
7:12 special because we enjoy a special
7:15 Fellowship now let me repeat those we
7:19 belong to a special family that makes us
7:23 Elite we share a special future that
7:28 makes us Elite we possess a special
7:31 faith that makes us God's
7:37 Elite and we enjoy a special Fellowship
7:39 now let's take these distinctives
7:42 individually and I hope we can go out of
7:45 here into the murky night and say praise
7:48 God I'm glad I'm saved first we belong
7:52 to a special family we have been born
7:56 again according to verse three this term
7:58 born again is being thrown around quite
8:01 a bit I notice in the TV Guide this next
8:02 week there's going to be a special
8:06 television presentation on the born
8:08 again I'm always a little bit afraid
8:10 when something that belongs to the
8:13 Christian becomes common property out
8:15 there in the entertainment world that
8:17 sort of cheapens it just a little bit
8:19 but we're glad for any witness that can
8:23 be given the Greek people were not
8:26 strangers to this term Born
8:28 Again a lot of people have the idea that
8:30 when Jesus said to emus you must be born
8:33 again he was inventing something new no
8:35 the Greek people had used this phrase
8:39 born again whenever they wanted to refer
8:43 to any new stage in something when there
8:46 was a change in the seasons nature was
8:50 born again when a child moved into a new
8:54 stage of life such as from childhood to
8:57 adolescence he was born again whenever
8:59 there was a change politically and the
9:01 the nation moved into a new phase of
9:04 History they said the nation has been
9:07 born again the phrase Born Again carries
9:10 with it the idea of change something new
9:14 and you and I have been born
9:18 again we belong to a special family now
9:22 Peter explains the process to us in
9:26 verse two look at it God the father is
9:29 involved elect according to the for of
9:31 God the Father you can't be born without a
9:32 a
9:36 father God the spirit is involved
9:39 through sanctification of the spirit and
9:43 God the son is involved unto obedience
9:45 and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
9:47 Christ a man said to me one day I don't
9:51 know why you people emphasize the
9:54 Trinity well we have to emphasize the
9:57 Trinity because our Salvation depends on
10:00 it we have to emphasize the Trinity
10:02 because all of the revelation of
10:04 scripture depends on it here we have God
10:07 the father and God the spirit and God
10:11 the son all involved in this marvelous
10:13 experience of being born
10:16 again you see Peter is not telling
10:19 unsaved people how to get
10:23 saved Peter is telling Christians how
10:26 they got saved he's not
10:30 explaining salvation to to unbelievers
10:32 trusting they'll believe he is
10:34 explaining salvation to Believers you
10:37 would not understand your own physical
10:40 birth if somebody didn't explain it to
10:43 you and Peter says I want you to
10:44 understand your spiritual birth how did
10:48 all this come about number one
10:51 elect according to the forn knowledge of
10:54 God the father now you cannot separate
10:58 election and Grace he had set up here
11:02 Grace be unto you peace be multiplied
11:04 you can't separate
11:09 those my God and your God is light he's
11:12 Holiness and he could condemn everybody
11:14 and nobody say a
11:18 word God is love and in his love he
11:21 might want to save everybody but if
11:22 everyone is saved what about his
11:25 Holiness if everyone is condemned what
11:27 about his
11:30 love what is it that resolves the
11:32 theoretical conflict between a holy God
11:35 who judges sin and a loving God who
11:37 forgives Sinners the grace of
11:40 God and the grace of God means that God
11:43 in his grace
11:46 chooses before the foundation of the
11:50 world some to be saved now at this point
11:52 someone looks at me and all of the
11:56 arguments all of the problems stem up
11:58 but may I remind you that the entire
12:01 Trin trity is involved in
12:05 Salvation election is not a detriment to
12:07 Salvation it's an encouragement to
12:09 Salvation if you're here tonight and
12:11 you're not a Believer I don't know if
12:13 you're among God's elect or not but I do
12:15 know this Jesus died for
12:18 you I do know this God is not willing
12:20 that any should perish I do know this
12:23 God who will have all men to be saved
12:26 and I do know this he's commanded me to
12:33 as far as God the father is concerned I was
12:35 was
12:38 saved when he chose me in Christ before
12:41 the foundation of the world but it took
12:42 more than
12:45 that as far as God the son is concerned
12:48 I was saved when he died for me on the
12:51 cross as far as God the holy spirit is
12:54 concerned I was saved on May the 12
12:56 1945 when the spirit of God put all of
12:59 this together convicted me and I
13:02 believed on Jesus Christ and then I
13:05 discovered I was chosen in Christ before
13:06 the foundation of the
13:09 world it's a beautiful picture here
13:11 chosen by God the father now we're
13:13 chosen by God the Father according to
13:16 his for knowledge forn knowledge does
13:18 not mean to know beforehand there are
13:21 those who say God the Father looked down
13:23 the ages and he saw who was going to
13:26 believe so he chose
13:28 them there's a problem with that because
13:30 this word word forn knowledge is used
13:35 over in the book of Acts 2: 23 relating
13:38 to the death of Jesus
13:42 Christ Jesus Christ died according to
13:44 the forn knowledge of God does that mean
13:46 that God the Father looked down the ages
13:48 and saw that somebody was going to kill
13:51 Jesus so he chose it to happen no for
13:53 knowledge is the same as for
13:56 ordination God the father in The
13:59 councils of Eternity by his own Grace
14:03 has chosen
14:05 foreordained that's all the word of God
14:08 tells us one of my professors used to
14:10 say to me and to our class try to explain
14:12 explain
14:14 election you may lose your
14:17 mind but if you explain it
14:20 away you could lose your
14:23 soul either we're saved by grace or we
14:25 aren't saved at all if it's Grace then
14:28 it's the working of God God the Father chosen
14:30 chosen
14:32 through sanctification of the spirit now
14:35 the holy spirit of God goes to work to
14:39 set apart The Sinner to be saved now how
14:40 does he do this he does it through the
14:43 word of God look at verse
14:47 22 of 1 Peter chapter 1 seeing that ye
14:52 have purified your souls in obeying the
14:57 truth through the spirit verse 23 being
15:00 born again not of of corruptible
15:05 seed but of Incorruptible by the word of
15:09 God so God the Father chooses God the
15:13 Holy Spirit uses the word of God to
15:16 speak to the unbelieving Sinner and to
15:19 set him apart and bring him to Faith
15:21 where does faith come from faith comes
15:28 God now Peter believed that and so did
15:32 Paul PA over in 2 Thessalonians Paul
15:34 tells us how the people got saved in
15:36 thessalonica listen to this second
15:39 Thessalonians chapter 2 but we are bound
15:42 to give thanks verse 13 always to God
15:44 for you Brethren beloved of the Lord
15:47 because God hath from the beginning
15:51 chosen you to Salvation you can't escape
15:55 it through sanctification of the spirit
15:59 there it is and belief of the truth unto
16:04 which he called you by Our Gospel how
16:06 does God get people saved people go out
16:07 with the
16:10 gospel and they share the gospel the
16:14 good news and God the spirit uses the
16:20 word to impart saving faith and a new
16:23 nature to the believing sinner which
16:25 leads us to the third person who's
16:28 involved chosen by God the Father set AP
16:33 Heart by God the spirit unto obedience
16:34 now what does that obedience mean it
16:37 means the same thing it says in verse 22
16:40 of 1 Peter 1 saying you've purified your
16:43 souls in obeying the truth did you know
16:46 that the unbelieving sinner is a
16:50 rebel God doesn't suggest that we repent
16:53 God doesn't hint that we repent he has
16:56 commanded men everywhere to repent and
16:58 The Sinner who says I will not believe
17:00 is disobedient
17:02 but the sinner who is convicted by the
17:05 spirit of God enlightened by the word of
17:08 God believes he is obeying the truth
17:12 unto obedience and sprinkling of the
17:16 blood of Jesus Christ it costs something
17:18 for us to be born
17:22 again our Lord Jesus Christ had to die
17:25 his death is given in verse two his
17:27 resurrection in verse three unto a
17:30 Living Hope by the resurrection of Jesus
17:34 Christ from the dead the cost of our
17:36 Salvation what did it cost God the
17:39 Father to choose me what did it cost God
17:43 the spirit to sanctify me set me apart
17:46 what did it cost God the son to make
17:49 this possible he had to die now
17:51 salvation is free but bless your heart
17:52 salvation is not
17:55 cheap and the person who says I will not
17:58 believe is not only disobedient to the
18:01 holy SP Spirit he is walking on the
18:03 blood of Jesus
18:05 Christ that's why rejecting Jesus Christ
18:09 is such a serious thing you sometimes we
18:11 witness to people as though well take it
18:13 or leave it if you leave it so what oh
18:16 no it's
18:19 dangerous to play with the gospel
18:23 invitation and it is deadly to reject it
18:24 now what happens when we believe on
18:26 Jesus Christ we're sprinkled by his
18:29 blood in the Old Testament you find the
18:33 sprinkling of the blood in three
18:36 cases number one the nation was
18:38 sprinkled with the blood of the
18:41 sacrifice when they were entering into
18:43 their Covenant with
18:46 God when they became a holy nation they
18:49 were sprinkled with the blood of the
18:52 sacrifice two the priests were
18:55 sprinkled when a when a man was made a
18:57 priest he was sprinkled the blood was
19:01 applied to his body three the lepers
19:04 when a leper was cleansed he came to the
19:06 priest and the priest spent a week
19:08 examining him finally he says you're
19:10 clean and he sprinkled him with the
19:12 blood that's what happens when you're
19:15 saved I came to Jesus Christ as a
19:17 citizen of this world I didn't belong to
19:20 any holy nation and when I trusted him
19:23 he sprinkled me with his blood and I
19:24 became a citizen of
19:28 Heaven I came to Jesus Christ I was not
19:31 a priest that was an outcast I couldn't
19:33 offer any worship or spiritual
19:35 sacrifices to please him but when I
19:37 trusted Jesus Christ he said I'm going
19:39 to make you a priest and he sprinkled me
19:42 with his blood I came as a
19:44 leper not a cleansed leper either I came
19:47 as a leper I came as a moral leper a
19:50 spiritual leper I was dying I was in a
19:53 living death and he sprinkled me with
19:55 his blood and made me one of his
19:57 children Peter must have had this in
20:01 mind because over in Chapter
20:04 2 he talks about
20:09 this in verse 5 ye also as living stones
20:13 are being built up a holy
20:15 priesthood so we're a
20:20 priesthood also in chapter 2 verse 9 you
20:22 are a chosen
20:25 generation a royal priesthood a holy
20:28 nation so when you trust Jesus Christ is
20:32 your savior this is the result of being
20:36 chosen by God the Father set apart by
20:39 God the Holy Spirit who uses the very
20:41 word that I'm preaching and you're
20:43 sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ
20:49 we belong to a special family now that
20:51 makes us Elite
20:53 chosen set apart
20:55 apart
20:59 sprinkled by the blood of Christ
21:01 no Christian ever has to walk
21:04 around with a sad
21:09 expression his head down his chin
21:13 dragging saying to himself oh how
21:16 terrible I'm a
21:18 Christian the way most of us live that's
21:22 our attitude instead he should stand
21:25 tall and straight and just look anybody
21:29 right Square in the eye and say you know
21:33 what I may be suffering and I may be
21:35 part of a scattered people and I may be
21:38 a stranger in this world and you may
21:40 think I'm a strange person but I want
21:42 you to know something I've been born
21:45 into a special family I belong to a
21:49 special family I am among God's
21:52 Elite and by the grace of God I'm proud of
21:53 of
21:56 it a second distinctive is given to us
21:58 we not only belong to a special family
22:02 but we share a special
22:04 future you see some people are looked
22:06 upon as being very special because the
22:09 family they belong to I was waiting at
22:12 the Hancock Center one day a friend was
22:13 going to meet me there and we were going
22:16 to go off someplace for lunch he arrived
22:18 just about that time a very well-dressed
22:20 lady came out of the Hancock Center with
22:23 some other people got into her limousine
22:25 and off she went he said did you know
22:28 who that was I said no but I could tell
22:30 she some somebody special he told me who she
22:30 she
22:33 was some people brag because of the
22:35 family they belong to we belong to a
22:37 special family some people brag because
22:39 of what they're going to get I'm going
22:42 to inherit something someday oh I tell
22:44 you I'm in my uncle's will I'm in my
22:46 father's will and I'm going to inherit
22:49 something my future is tremendous I'm
22:51 special well we share in a very special
22:54 future look at it verse three he has
22:59 begotten us again unto a Living Hope
23:01 by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
23:04 the dead to an inheritance who are kept
23:06 by the power of God now here's a
23:09 marvelous thing we share a special
23:12 future now when I was not a Christian I
23:20 future none at all I was without God and
23:23 without hope in this world have you ever
23:30 hope I've gone into hospital rooms maybe
23:31 you've had this experience I'm sure
23:34 Pastor filin has had this experience in
23:37 his visitation Ministry and the doctor
23:39 has said to the family now there's no
23:43 hope that's a hard thing no hope we
23:48 Christians Never Can Say no hope because
23:52 we're born again unto a marvelous hope
23:55 we share a special future now he makes
23:58 two remarks about this hope it's a
24:03 Living Hope verse three It's A Lasting
24:07 Hope Verses 4 and five now I want a
24:10 living hope I don't want a dead
24:13 hope most of the world is living on dead
24:17 hope I want a Living Hope and our hope
24:20 is a Living Hope because it depends upon
24:23 a living Christ as long as Jesus Christ
24:26 is alive I have
24:30 hope he lives by the power of an endless
24:33 life he ever lives to make intercession
24:37 for me and he being raised from the dead
24:41 dieth no more and he is my hope now my
24:45 hope is not a promise my hope is a
24:49 person Jesus Christ without Jesus Christ
24:52 The Promise means nothing and so it is a
24:55 living hope it's a Living Hope because
24:57 it's based on the living Christ it's a
24:59 Living Hope because it's based on the
25:02 Living Word Peter tells us here we're
25:05 born again not of corruptible
25:08 seed when my mother conceived me and
25:11 when your mother conceived you that was
25:14 a conception of corruptible seed and the
25:16 instant you're born you start to
25:19 die and you and I are physically headed
25:22 for corruption unless our Lord returns
25:24 and changes our bodies we are redeemed
25:26 we are born again not by corruptible
25:29 seed but incorruptible by the word of
25:30 God which
25:34 liveth so I have a Living Hope because
25:37 of the living Christ and I have a Living
25:39 Hope because of the Living Word now when
25:43 a hope is a living hope it's always
25:46 growing a dead hope gets smaller and
25:49 smaller and
25:51 vanishes but a Living Hope gets brighter
25:54 and brighter and bigger and bigger and
25:57 that's the kind of hope we have as
26:01 Christians we share a special future
26:04 because we have a Living Hope and the
26:08 path of the just is as The Shining Light
26:12 that shineth more and more unto that
26:15 perfect day and Peter's encouraging
26:17 these Saints he's saying I know you're
26:18 going through the furnace but remember
26:20 you've got a living
26:22 hope you may die but your hope will
26:25 never die your job may die but your your
26:28 hope will never die your whole world may
26:31 Fall to Pieces around you but that hope
26:34 will never die on the other hand quite
26:37 the contrary that hope will get bigger
26:40 and bigger and brighter and brighter
26:44 because it is alive it's a lasting
26:47 hope some of us can remember when
26:49 Neville Chamberlain came back from
26:52 meeting with Adolf Hitler with his
26:53 umbrella in one
26:56 hand and a piece of paper in the other hand
26:59 hand hope
27:01 hope
27:03 peace we've averted a
27:06 war yeah for how
27:10 long about 5 weeks was it and then
27:14 Poland was invaded and we were on the
27:17 Move in World War II there are some
27:20 hopes that
27:23 die we have a hope there is a Living
27:27 Hope and A Lasting Hope look at it to an
27:29 inheritance now the only way to get an
27:31 inheritance is for somebody to die well
27:34 he did die then he arose again to make
27:35 sure nobody would steal the inheritance from
27:36 from
27:40 us my Lord Jesus Christ is not only the
27:44 testator who made out the will and then
27:47 died so the will goes into effect he's
27:49 also the executive of the estate he
27:53 arose again and now he is taking care of my
27:54 my
27:56 inheritance an inheritance
28:00 Incorruptible every Earthly
28:02 inheritance Falls to Pieces eventually there's
28:04 there's
28:07 corruption the moth and the rust can
28:11 ruin material things thieves can break
28:13 in and steal someone leaves you a
28:16 beautiful estate a lovely house and
28:17 you've got to spend thousands of dollars
28:20 to keep it from falling apart our
28:22 inheritance isn't that way it's
28:24 Incorruptible there is no
28:28 damage it cannot be damaged it is
28:31 undefiled it cannot be stained it cannot
28:33 be defiled there's no
28:36 dirt it fadeth not away it cannot Decay
28:43 flower you've had people bring you
28:45 flowers and they're so beautiful when
28:47 they come those Roses are so gorgeous
28:49 and they open up a little bit but after
28:51 two or 3 days what happens to them you
28:53 finally pick the whole thing up shake
28:55 the water off of them throw them in the
28:58 trash can they fade away
29:01 we fade away but our inheritance doesn't
29:05 Fade Away we have a lasting inheritance
29:09 because it is reserved in heaven for you
29:13 I was preaching over in Denmark back in
29:16 1957 and I had to travel all the way
29:19 from Copenhagen Denmark way across the
29:22 islands there about 400 Islands there on
29:25 by train to a a a village where I was
29:26 going to
29:29 preach and no one told me that on Danish
29:31 trains you have to have a
29:33 reservation now you do on American
29:35 trains too I
29:38 understand Pastor Smith is the only one
29:40 who travels by train around here he's
29:42 the train
29:45 addict and so I'm on this train and I'm
29:47 sitting on this seat and going to enjoy
29:48 the Danish
29:50 Countryside and some conductor comes
29:53 along and looks at me and begins to say
29:55 things in Danish that I did not
29:58 understand and so I no speak of the
30:00 English you
30:03 know so finally someone there who knew
30:05 English and danish said you know you're
30:07 sitting in somebody else's seat who has
30:09 a reservation you've got to have a
30:11 reservation I said where do I get one he
30:12 said off the
30:14 conductor and so I felt around for some
30:16 croner to see if I could afford a
30:19 reservation and I got a
30:21 reservation it's a marvelous thing when
30:23 you're going to a concert or going to a
30:26 ball game just to relax and say I've got
30:29 a reservation
30:32 I arrived at a motel one morning about
30:34 1:30 in the
30:38 morning and the reservation had not been
30:40 covered now she said I'm sorry if you'd
30:42 have been here at 6:00 we could have let
30:44 you in but that room is gone 130 in the
30:47 morning now The Inheritance that I have
30:50 in Jesus Christ is
30:54 reserved in heaven for us who are kept
30:56 you say oh it's a marvelous thing to
30:58 have the inheritance it won't fail but I
31:03 may fail oh no Jesus Christ cannot throw
31:06 you out of his
31:08 will I'm glad I haven't had any
31:10 relatives and I don't know of any now
31:12 that would do it who kept holding the
31:14 will over my head you better be good you
31:16 better do the I'll cut you out of my
31:19 will our Lord will never do that he says
31:21 not only am I keeping the inheritance
31:24 for you up there I'm keeping you down
31:28 there we are kept by the power of God
31:30 we're not kept by ourselves when we put
31:34 Faith in Jesus Christ the power of God
31:36 goes to work in our lives and we're kept
31:41 we're preserved we are reserved it is a lasting
31:48 hope now we've noticed that we belong to
31:50 a special family that makes us Elite and
31:54 we share a special future we don't have
31:56 to worry about the future but there's a
32:01 third distinct of the believer verses
32:05 5-9 he possesses a special Faith I've
32:09 had people say to me oh I wish I had
32:12 Faith you've heard that haven't you oh I
32:14 wish I had Faith you know what the
32:17 answer to that is you do have faith
32:19 everybody has
32:21 Faith the only difference between my
32:24 faith and the faith of an unsaved
32:28 neighbor is what we're trusting
32:29 everybody's got faith a little baby's
32:32 got faith put a pacifier in the baby's
32:35 mouth that takes Faith the baby doesn't
32:37 know what it is feed the baby some kind
32:39 of food takes faith our dear little
32:41 children have faith they trust us
32:43 everybody's got faith the difference is
32:45 that a Christian has put his faith in
32:48 Jesus Christ now we possess a special
32:50 Faith it's a faith that can be
32:53 trusted and it's a faith that can be
32:55 tested that's a good kind of Faith to
32:58 have it's the faith that can be trusted
33:01 who are kept by the power of God through
33:04 faith that word kept is a military term
33:15 soldiers now the Bible does say keep
33:17 yourselves in the love of God doesn't
33:19 say keep yourself saved keep yourselves
33:21 in the love of God the way children by
33:23 their obedience keep themselves in the
33:26 love of their parents it does say keep
33:28 yourself from idols it does say you'll
33:31 keep yourself from the wicked one but it
33:33 never says keep yourself saved it says
33:37 unto him who is able to keep you from
33:40 falling I am the Alpha and the Omega the
33:42 beginning and the ending being confident
33:44 of this very thing that he that hath
33:47 begun a good work in you will perform it
33:50 until the day of Jesus Christ so it is a
33:53 faith that can be trusted because we are
33:57 guarded who are kept by the power of God
33:58 through fath
34:02 Faith literally it says having once and
34:04 for all been
34:08 kept the tense of that verb is you have
34:11 been kept you are being kept you always
34:13 will be
34:16 kept which sort of hints to me that a
34:19 truly born- again person cannot lose his
34:22 salvation we possess a special faith it
34:25 can be trusted why can it be trusted
34:28 because we're kept by the power of God
34:30 we are not kept by our own power or by
34:33 the power of a church or by the power of
34:36 sacraments or ordinances or ceremonies
34:38 were kept by the power of God what why
34:40 are we being kept because he has
34:43 something marvelous in the future
34:46 through faith unto salvation ready to be
34:50 revealed in the last time I have been
34:54 saved from the guilt and the penalty of
34:59 sin it's all settled I am being
35:03 saved from the power of sin he talks
35:06 about that later on thank God one day we
35:09 shall be saved from the very presence of
35:11 sin that's the Salvation he's talking
35:14 about waiting for the adoption that is
35:16 the Redemption of our
35:19 bodies so it's a faith that can be
35:21 trusted can your faith be
35:22 trusted there are a lot of people who
35:25 are trusting a faith that can't be
35:28 trusted our faith is special because it
35:31 can be tested a lot of folks have the
35:33 idea Christians don't go through any
35:37 problems look at this in this ye greatly
35:39 Rejoice though now for a season if need
35:41 be you are in
35:44 heaviness through manifold trials but
35:46 you know you go from heaviness to
35:50 happiness verse eight joy unspeakable
35:53 and full of Glory now only a Christian
35:55 can have heaviness and happiness at the
35:57 same time only a Christian can have
36:00 sorrow and joy at the same time only a
36:03 Christian because of his
36:05 faith can go through the
36:08 furnace and praise God you know what
36:10 he's saying here he's saying our faith
36:14 can be tested Don't Be Afraid we have a
36:17 faith that has passed every
36:21 test now God always tests your faith he
36:23 tests my faith he called Abraham and
36:25 said Abraham you go to a land I'm going
36:26 to show you Abraham said all right I'm
36:28 going to go so he went no map he marched
36:31 right off the map there was no no no
36:32 place for him to know where he was going
36:34 he got there and discovered the place
36:37 was U hungry it was a famine his faith was
36:39 was
36:42 tested Along Came lot one day and lot
36:44 caused trouble Abraham's Faith was
36:46 tested God said Abraham I'm going to
36:48 give you a son he waited and waited and
36:50 waited his faith was
36:52 tested finally when Abraham did get the
36:55 son the son was grown God said Abraham
36:57 want you take that son now and lay him
36:59 on the altar his faith was tested a
37:02 faith that can't be tested can't be
37:04 trusted you say oh I don't know why I'm
37:06 going through these difficult I tell you
37:09 why God's testing your faith you say but
37:11 God knows me that's right you don't know
37:13 me and you don't know you and you don't
37:15 know God I don't know God as I should
37:17 and so as I go through these
37:19 difficulties I am learning what my faith
37:22 is like I am learning what I am like and
37:25 best of all I'm learning what he is like
37:28 it's a faith that can be tested tested
37:30 he Compares it
37:34 to an a Sayer who takes
37:37 ore you know back in the Gold Rush days
37:39 a fellow would be digging away and he'd
37:41 find what looked like gold ore might be
37:43 fool's gold and he takes his ore down to
37:45 the assaying office he says you test
37:49 this ore and so that ore is tested and
37:51 then out comes the
37:53 report now what Peter is saying is this
37:57 the report is worth more than the ore
38:00 because the report says hey there's more
38:03 wealth back there now our faith is
38:05 tested God puts us through the refining
38:08 furnace God takes the dross away from us
38:12 God purges us our faith is tested and
38:14 then when we come through the trial of
38:17 our faith is much more precious than the
38:20 trial of gold cu the gold perishes but
38:21 you know when you've been through the
38:24 trial and your faith has stood the test
38:29 that is worth more than everything
38:30 because then you know you can face the
38:33 next trial and you can always trust God
38:37 and the result of it is joy unspeakable
38:40 and full of Glory would you connect
38:43 verses 8 and N in your Bible
38:46 believing receiving
38:48 believing receiving that's the way it
38:51 works suffering believing
38:54 believing
38:58 receiving we possess a special
39:01 faith and Peter tells me in verse
39:05 7 that the best part of the test is not
39:08 here oh we know we get joy unspeakable
39:10 and full of Glory as we go through the
39:14 trying of our faith our muscles grow we
39:17 have joy we Rejoice we are refined
39:20 that's not the best part of it might be
39:24 found under praise and honor and Glory
39:27 at the appearing of Jesus Christ it will
39:30 be worth it all when we see Jesus and
39:32 somebody here tonight is saying oh I'm
39:35 going through it I'm going through it I
39:38 don't know what I'm facing God is trying
39:41 me well it's going to mean blessing to us
39:42 us
39:45 here but when we see the Lord Jesus and
39:47 he smiles and says I know what you went
39:50 through and you stood true you trusted
39:53 me and that's going to be praise and
39:55 honor and
39:58 glory in heaven
40:00 we're a special people because we belong
40:02 to a special family and we share a
40:05 special future and we possess a special
40:08 Faith real quick now in the latter part
40:11 of this section verses 10 through
40:16 12 we enjoy a special
40:19 Fellowship a person is known by the
40:21 company he keeps he's also known by the
40:23 enemies he makes but he's known by the
40:24 company he
40:26 keeps and there are always people who
40:29 like to be name droppers do you have any
40:31 friends who are name
40:34 droppers I have a an acquaintance who's
40:37 in Christian music if I named him you'd
40:38 know him because you've all heard him
40:42 sing but oh what a name dropper he is
40:44 and you can't be with him you cannot be
40:46 with him 30 seconds before he's talking
40:48 about having seen Frank
40:51 Sinatra or somebody else or somebody
40:53 else it gets nauseating cuz I'm not
40:55 interested in
40:58 that a person's
41:01 Elite position may come from the company
41:04 he keeps look at the company we keep we
41:07 are a very special people because we
41:09 enjoy a special Fellowship the
41:13 prophets the apostles the Holy Spirit the
41:15 the
41:17 Angels here are the prophet did you know
41:27 me Isaiah worked for me so Jeremiah
41:29 Hosea went through all he went through
41:31 with his wife for
41:34 me you know David did it for me that's
41:37 what he says this salvation that you are
41:40 enjoying the Old Testament prophets were
41:43 inquiring into and they would polish
41:45 their by focals and they would read the
41:47 Old Testament Scrolls and they'd listen
41:49 to the message of God and they'd say
41:52 what is this all about in one place he
41:55 talks about a suffering messiah in
41:57 another place he talks about a glory
42:00 glorious Kingdom what's going
42:02 on they were working for me they were
42:04 working for
42:07 you unto whom it was revealed that not
42:09 unto themselves but unto
42:12 us they did Minister the things that are
42:15 now reported to you that just blesses me
42:17 that gives me the whole Old Testament
42:20 that makes Jonah my friend and Ezekiel
42:22 my friend and Solomon my friend cuz they
42:25 work for me that's great
42:27 Fellowship someone says who are your
42:32 important back when I was in Youth for
42:34 Christ we used to have a lot of teenage
42:38 conventions and Carol th will remember
42:39 this because she was a part of the
42:41 ministry there for a while we'd be at
42:42 these conventions you know these kids
42:44 were great autograph
42:46 Seekers they come up to you and say are
42:51 important I had one friend who'd say yes
42:53 I am he'd take the Bible and he'd sign
43:00 do you know anybody important I sure do
43:07 Moses you don't look that old Moses
43:09 Moses
43:13 David you see I'm a special person long
43:16 before ever I was born God had all the
43:20 Old Testament prophets working for me
43:21 and then there's the
43:24 apostles they did Minister the things
43:26 which are now reported unto you by them
43:29 that have preached the gospel unto you
43:30 these were second generation Christians
43:32 these people had never seen Jesus Christ
43:34 whom having not seen you love the
43:37 apostles came along and and helped to
43:40 win these people to Christ that gives me
43:41 my new
43:46 testament here is Paul in a in a
43:50 Roman prison and he's chained to a Roman
43:52 soldier and he's writing Ephesians you
43:54 know why it's for
43:58 me Paul worked for me
44:01 and Peter worked for you and me and so
44:04 did Matthew and Mark and Luke and
44:07 John and John's an old man and he's on
44:10 the aisle of patmas and and God says
44:11 John I want you to write the things that
44:14 you've seen and write them down cuz weby
44:19 someday well you want to know how
44:22 special we are look at the fellowship we
44:23 keep we belong to a very special
44:25 Fellowship we've got friends that are
44:28 fantastic the Old Testament prophets the
44:32 New Testament Apostles and preachers and
44:34 then there's the holy
44:36 spirit in fact he mentions the Holy
44:38 Spirit several times here in this
44:41 passage verse 11 searching what or what
44:43 manner of time the spirit of Christ did
44:46 signify when he testified the sufferings
44:48 of Christ and the glory that should
44:50 follow verse 12 they preached the gospel
44:52 unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down
44:54 from heaven here's a remarkable thing
44:56 the holy spirit is a part of my fellowship
44:57 fellowship
45:01 he lives in me and he wrote the Old
45:03 Testament through the prophets and he
45:04 wrote the New Testament through the
45:09 apostles and now he teaches me what he
45:11 wrote I can recall when I was in my
45:13 student days I would like to have gotten
45:15 some of those textbook authors right
45:18 there to ask them a few
45:20 questions well I've got the author
45:22 living with me you say do you have any
45:24 special friends I certainly do you
45:26 belong to any special group I certainly
45:28 do I got the Holy Spirit who wrote the
45:33 Bible teaching me what the Bible
45:35 says doesn't stop there we've got the
45:38 Angels which things the Angels desire to
45:40 look into so kind of an interesting
45:42 picture it really means which things the
45:45 Angels desire to stoop over and peek
45:48 into did you know the Angels watch the
45:50 church when the church gets together to
45:53 worship Paul says over in Ephesians chapter
45:54 chapter
45:57 3 verse 10
45:59 that God is through the church teaching
46:02 the Angels oh are they
46:05 learning I'm sure the Angels must learn
46:07 a great deal from some business meetings
46:08 some committee
46:12 meetings the angels are watching us now
46:15 and the angels work for us are they not
46:18 all ministering Spirits sent to do
46:26 Salvation I'm not going to stand here
46:28 here for the next half hour and give you
46:30 story after story of how the angels of
46:32 God have protected the people of God we
46:35 could all tell stories like that it's
46:37 true all the world laughs at this the
46:40 world says we're crazy but we aren't
46:43 crazy we belong to a special Fellowship
46:46 the prophets and the apostles and the
46:49 Holy Spirit and the
46:52 angels so what difference does it make
46:54 what kind of a house I live
46:57 in when I've got friends like that
46:59 what difference does it make what kind
47:01 of a future there is for the economy
47:04 when I've got an inheritance like this I
47:06 want you to go away
47:09 tonight with a
47:12 Sanctified superiority
47:15 complex now not a false not a carnal
47:18 superiority complex oh no no Jesus
47:21 doesn't want that but a Sanctified
47:24 superiority complex the kind that the
47:27 Roman citizens had that Soldier picked
47:31 up that Whip and Paul said I am a Roman
47:39 dropped whenever you feel like you're
47:41 left out you're one of the scattered
47:45 people a Sojourner a resident
47:48 alien the world is moving faster than we
47:50 are the world's got more than we've got
47:52 we seem to be on the losing end of every
47:55 deal just
48:03 Elite you belong to a special family it
48:05 started way back before creation it's
48:08 going to end way down there when Jesus
48:12 comes you share in a special future an
48:15 inheritance Incorruptible undefiled that
48:21 away you possess a special faith and
48:23 that faith is going to be tested but the
48:26 testing of our faith is the secret of
48:29 our joy and our
48:32 Victory and you enjoy a special
48:34 Fellowship you're never
48:37 alone the prophets are working for you
48:39 and the apostles are working for you and
48:41 the Holy Spirit is working for you and
48:46 the angels are working for you now don't
48:48 take any of this for
48:51 granted please don't take any of this for
48:51 for
48:55 granted because all of this cost Jesus
49:02 let's go out this coming
49:06 week humbly
49:09 proud that we are a part of God's
49:12 Elite we don't have to
49:14 apologize we don't have to hang our
49:17 heads in defeat and
49:20 shame because we belong to
49:24 him gracious Father in
49:27 heaven we Marvel that we are here here
49:31 tonight because back in
49:34 eternity you chose us we don't
49:36 understand all of the ramifications of
49:39 this marvelous
49:42 process but we're thankful that we
49:45 understand enough to know whom we have
49:48 believed I pray for any here tonight who
49:50 have never been born into the
49:54 family tonight they'll trust Christ who
49:56 have no bright future before them they
50:03 fire I pray Heavenly Father for those
50:07 who have never put their faith in Jesus
50:10 Christ for those oh Lord who don't
50:12 belong to this marvelous
50:14 Fellowship that they'll trust
50:18 him and father I pray that those of us
50:20 who are saved and know
50:23 it will rejoice in
50:26 it and not look upon it as some kind of a
50:27 a
50:30 handicap but rather look upon it as the
50:33 greatest experience in all the world I
50:35 pray in jesus'
Chrome Extension