Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] All right, well, it's good to see you guys again. You can go ahead and open to First Peter. First Peter 1. That's where we'll be.
[00:00:15] Now. Lately, I've just recently had to book some flights for my family. So I was thinking about flying, and I was wondering, have you ever flown before? Has anyone not flown before?
[00:00:28] Flown an airplane? Okay, some of you guys, okay, you may not get this, but you'll have to. You'll just have to trust that this is an experience.
[00:00:36] Now, has anyone ever flown through a storm?
[00:00:39] Any. Anyone flown through a storm? Yeah. Or even, you know, it doesn't have to be a terrible storm. A light storm.
[00:00:46] Yeah. You know, as you. As you ascend from takeoff, you can kind of feel the turbulence blowing you up, down and around, and it's a little scary. I don't know, maybe. Maybe you guys are braver than me. But it. I don't know, it makes me a little nervous. I'm not a pilot. I don't really know how close to death we are. I have no clue.
[00:01:08] So if you're like me, you may be nervously grip your armrest as it's shaking. No, I don't do it the whole flight. It's just. If it's like real bad, you know, I might. Might grip, you know, so I've been. Sometimes I grab the chair in front of me because it's like, you know, six inches from my face as it is, and, you know, grip it, or you look around. One time I felt good. It was a real shaky flying and an aisle over was a spare pilot, and he looked fine. He was not afraid, so I felt a lot better seeing him. But, you know, you shake around and then. Then you enter the clouds, right? You get into the clouds. And those are crazy, too. Even if it's not stormy, you know, cloud can kind of make it a little bit choppy. And you can't see anything on top of that. If you're sitting by a window, you can't see anything at all. So it kind of makes it worse.
[00:01:51] But after several minutes, you might pop out the top of the clouds and suddenly it's sunny, it's smooth. You're at your cruising altitude. Now, not every flight is exactly as turbulent as others, but flying through the cloud, I think, you know, that experience of shaking and then entering into smooth airspace after, I think it helps us understand something about the original audience of this letter. I do. They were in the cloud.
[00:02:24] It was hard to see very far. It was choppy. It was dangerous.
[00:02:29] They were suffering. They were being persecuted for being Christians.
[00:02:34] Now, to be sure, they knew they had a living hope.
[00:02:39] There was calm airspace, so to speak, just outside of the cloud.
[00:02:45] But the apostle and close friend of Jesus, Peter, the author of 1 and 2 Peter, as you might have guessed, he wanted to help them to see this living hope. He wanted them to grasp it and understand it.
[00:03:01] So that's why I think, just as a whole, the main theme of First Peter. So just as a reminder, we like to have maybe a phrase that encapsulates each book to. To help us remember as we encounter each passage. This is the main theme of the book. The main theme of all of First Peter is suffering now, but glory later.
[00:03:23] Suffering now, but glory later.
[00:03:29] Now, first Peter 1:1:12 sets the stage.
[00:03:35] All of this is a foundation for the rest of the book. This is like the introduction. It is telling us what is to come. It's giving us kind of the thesis and the theme.
[00:03:48] Even these first few verses, which often we maybe glaze over or skip, kind of help. They help us see what is Peter trying to communicate to the readers.
[00:03:59] Now, the theme we're going to meditate deeply on tonight is hope.
[00:04:04] Hope is a significant theme. So as we read here in a second, I want you to look for reasons to have hope. Look for reasons to have hope.
[00:04:14] Now, the main idea of first Peter 1:1:12, so not the whole book, but just this passage, is that. And this would be at the top of your handouts. Christians suffer in life, but they can have lasting hope.
[00:04:29] Christians suffer in life, but they can have lasting hope in God, the Trinity and Christ the one who suffered and now lives. So Christians suffer in life, but they can have lasting hope in God, the Trinity, in Christ the one who suffered and now lives.
[00:04:47] Let's read this passage. We're going to read all 12 verses and then we'll talk about them.
[00:04:52] Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion and Pontus Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you.
[00:05:15] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:05:19] According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
[00:05:28] 2 An inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
[00:05:42] In this you rejoice, though now for a little while if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[00:06:02] Though you have not seen him, you love him.
[00:06:05] Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
[00:06:18] Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating. When he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories, it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look.
[00:06:50] Again, the theme to focus on is hope. Reasons to have hope in Christ and the Apostle Peter, one of Jesus closest earthly companions. He offers the readers of this letter multiple significant reasons to have hope even in the midst of the most intense, brutal, and devastating circumstances.
[00:07:12] They may be suffering now, but there will be, through Christ, glory later.
[00:07:19] Now again, the main idea Christians suffer in life, but they can have lasting hope in God, the Trinity and Christ, the one who suffered and now lives. From this text we'll focus on three reasons to have hope. So first, hope in the triune God.
[00:07:34] Hope in the triune God T R I U N E T R I U N E that's a different way. The God who is a trinity, the triune God.
[00:07:46] As said before, Peter was an apostle of Jesus Christ, which means that he was a witness of the resurrected Christ and was specifically called into his ministry by Christ, witnessed the resurrected Christ, and was called into ministry by him. That is what an apostle is.
[00:08:06] Thus he has authority to teach, command and even to write Scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That's why we're reading his letter tonight.
[00:08:15] He wrote, as you can see in verse one, to those who are elect, exiles of the dispersion.
[00:08:25] We may naturally read.
[00:08:27] The way we may naturally read is to read elect as an adjective, so a descriptor. They are exiles who are elect, as you know, it's an adjective of the exiles, but it's not actually that the two words are independent, but they're speaking of the same group. So to say elect exiles is like saying Peter, an apostle. It is two words referring to the same group of people.
[00:08:52] They were elect and they were exiles in the dispersion.
[00:08:58] So first, let's think about that for a second. They were elect.
[00:09:01] This simply means that God had chosen or elected them to be Christians to have faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:09:07] And second, they were exiles of the dispersion.
[00:09:11] This means that they were dispersed exiles of the dispersion. They were dispersed over the earth and they were not all together. So he's not writing this to one individual church, he's writing this to churches and Christians that are spread abroad. And he lists these countries. You can kind of see he's writing to scattered Christians.
[00:09:32] So here we see and just in this opening verse, the first glimmer of hope for the readers.
[00:09:39] They might be exhausted, they might be beat up, discouraged, emotional, as they read this letter. We don't know the state it could be, it could vary from person to person. But the first thing they're reminded of is that the creator of the universe, God himself, chose them.
[00:10:00] That's their first reminder of hope. God chose them. They are not just exiles, they are elect exiles.
[00:10:09] In other words, if you are in Christ, don't doubt that you are in the right place. Don't doubt that the present suffering is worth it.
[00:10:17] God chose you for this, and so you can and should trust him.
[00:10:22] That's Peter's message to these Christians.
[00:10:25] Their state as exiles is because of the fact that God has chosen them. So it's not just that the word elect is an encouragement for hope, but even being called an exile is an encouragement for hope. Because they are exiles, because they've been called out of the dark world and are now citizens of heaven.
[00:10:46] They're called out of these cities. Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia. Now these cities are all in modern day Turkey.
[00:10:54] They may live there, but they are citizens of heaven. They are now exiles in their hometowns.
[00:11:01] Now look at verse two here. In verse two we see three prepositional phrases. You could say, do you guys know what a prepositional phrase is?
[00:11:14] That's good. I hope you do. It's important. It's good to know one, because when you're reading the Bible, sometimes you come across these and you need to know that a prepositional phrase, it can't float around on its own.
[00:11:25] It can't be a sentence by itself. It needs to be attached to something else. It needs to be modifying Something. And so it is attached to the word elect. All three of these phrases are attached to them as elect or chosen.
[00:11:44] So first to kind of read them together, we would understand that they were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father says, number one, they're chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.
[00:11:58] That's the first one in that list. Paul also links election or you know, Paul, not Peter, Paul in another letter, he links election and God's foreknowledge. For God to foreknow or know beforehand, there's another way to say that for him to foreknow someone means that he is choosing them to be saved. How do I know this? Well, Paul writes in Romans 8:29, he says, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. So those he knows will be predestined and they will also be conformed. They will be saved. They will be like Christ. So all of it is linked together. The foreknowledge, the election, the predestination, the conformity to the Son. Foreknowledge is not just God's knowledge of every person on earth through history. It's indicating his love and divine choice of certain people.
[00:12:53] His love and divine choice of them.
[00:12:56] If he foreknew everyone, then everyone would be conformed to the image of His Son. We know that is not the case. But as it is, and the reason that Peter is mentioning it here is because all believers can have hope. Because God the Father foreknew them before they were even born, before they did anything right or wrong, God knew them.
[00:13:20] That is why this is an encouragement. That's why he's bringing up foreknowledge at the beginning of this letter. It's an encouragement for hope because God's divine choice will not change.
[00:13:32] So do you belong to Christ through faith?
[00:13:35] If you do, if you're being sanctified to look like Christ, it is because the Father chose you before you did anything to earn it, before you were even created, before you were a thought in your parents mind, he knew you.
[00:13:53] He foreknows. Therefore he does not forget. You can have hope because he's not going to unchoose. He's not going to unknow those whom he loves so they can have hope in the foreknowledge of God the Father. Second. So that second phrase here, they were chosen in being converted by the Spirit. So we see this phrase, or at least most of your Bibles probably say the sanctification of the Spirit, right? There might be some differences, but most of them probably say that.
[00:14:25] So this phrase, sanctification, typically refers to a progressive growth in holiness for Christians during their lifetime.
[00:14:34] But it doesn't always mean that.
[00:14:38] There's another sense in which sanctification can be used. Sometimes it means the act of setting apart something as holy.
[00:14:45] Or another word we might say is regeneration. Being made new, being set apart as holy. In this context, it refers to this.
[00:14:54] It is the setting apart, the making holy.
[00:14:58] It is referring to when someone is given a new nature by the Spirit at the time of conversion.
[00:15:05] Why does this matter? Well, it fits the context because it is the direct result of the Father's foreknowledge. His foreknowledge sets people apart.
[00:15:15] And because Christians being a holy nation is something that will come up later in the letter, so you'll need to look out for that theme as well.
[00:15:26] So in a sense, they are holy and set apart as a holy nation for the Lord already.
[00:15:33] While they might be discouraged, they might feel scattered and alone, and maybe in a very small church, they feel insignificant in the world. But they can have hope because they are sanctified in the Spirit. They have been saved by the Spirit and set apart as a holy nation that God will return for again. This is another way God gives believers hope.
[00:15:57] The Spirit has set you apart. If you trust in Christ, when you love someone, you set them apart. That is what God does, too. You could imagine.
[00:16:10] You know, when I fell in love with my wife, my wonderful wife Katie, I did not continue to treat her like every one of my friends.
[00:16:19] I treated her differently.
[00:16:22] I made a distinction with her. I set her apart from the others.
[00:16:27] She got a different treatment. And God loves even more than that. When he consecrates or sanctifies someone in the Spirit, calls them out of darkness and into his marvelous light.
[00:16:40] The third phrase in verse two is a little bit longer. They were chosen, I'll say, to obey God and to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. We see here the ESV and others translate this phrase as for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.
[00:17:00] This is actually kind of a bit of a mess.
[00:17:02] You may not see it. It might sound fine. One commentator that I respect, I thought this was funny. He calls this a quote, a grammatical monstrosity.
[00:17:12] Your thoughts exactly, I'm sure, right? Were you guys thinking this is a grammatical monstrosity? No. You weren't thinking that. Now it kind of is.
[00:17:21] The Reason why is in its language, it's taking Jesus as both the object of obedience and the subject of sprinkling with his blood.
[00:17:30] A word does not do both of those things in the same sentence. It can't be the object and the subject at the same time.
[00:17:37] So I think we should understand that the Father's foreknowledge and being set apart by the Spirit go hand in hand with human obedience and the forgiveness of our sins by Jesus blood.
[00:17:48] That is why I'm saying they were chosen to obey God and they were chosen to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
[00:17:56] So Christians, you can have hope in the Son because He has sprinkled you with his blood and forgiven you your sins. And you can have hope because you can now obey God.
[00:18:09] He has chosen you to obedience.
[00:18:12] So as you happily obey God, if you do, if you can happily obey God, you can recognize that he has freed you to do so.
[00:18:19] So in your ability to honor and please God, you have another reason to have hope and have confidence that the Lord loves you. He has given you the ability to do so.
[00:18:30] That should give you hope.
[00:18:32] So in this way, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit bring hope to the Christian.
[00:18:40] Let's go to the main point. Number two.
[00:18:43] Hope in the living Christ. This is the second reason that Christians can have hope. Hope in the living Christ.
[00:18:51] God the Father who foreknew them is blessed. So I'm looking mostly at verses three through nine in this section.
[00:18:59] God the Father is blessed because in his mercy, his foreknowledge leads to salvation. They were born again to a living hope.
[00:19:07] How could anyone have a hope that is dead?
[00:19:10] Well, without Christ, your hope is dead. There is no living hope apart from Christ. You must know him to have a living hope because he is alive. He is more alive than even we are. He is resurrected from the dead and he is life in Himself.
[00:19:29] This hope will never die. To hope in anything else is either hope in something that has no life or hope to hoping in another person who will lose his or her life. But Christ is life in Himself.
[00:19:41] That is a living hope.
[00:19:45] And what is crucial to remember is that Christ is in heaven.
[00:19:51] Verse 3. We see the word inheritance. The inheritance, which is eternal life for all who believe, is being kept and guarded by God in heaven. So it cannot be seen by us. It is there. It is safe, but we cannot see it.
[00:20:06] For the suffering Christians receiving this letter, they need to know that there is a hope, a living hope. But they can't see it.
[00:20:16] At least not until the Last time. In verse five, we see that phrase, the last time. It'll be revealed then.
[00:20:24] But they rejoice even though they suffer.
[00:20:28] Now, let me be clear. This section is for Christian believers. This is not an encouragement to anyone who might merely, even just stumble into church because their family does. This is for those who by faith, have been saved through Christ. You must be born again through faith in Christ to rejoice in this way.
[00:20:48] But if you have, here are three reasons that you can rejoice in suffering. I think these are on your handouts.
[00:20:55] Number one of these is suffering is only for a little while. Look at verse six. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary. You've been grieved by various trials.
[00:21:06] Suffering is only for a little while.
[00:21:10] That's good news.
[00:21:11] It is not eternal. It is only for a little while.
[00:21:16] You might ask, but what if I suffer for a long time?
[00:21:21] What if my whole life is suffering?
[00:21:25] There are people that can say that their whole life is suffering, but that's where there's hope.
[00:21:33] Eternal life is infinitely longer still than even 80, 90, 100 years of suffering.
[00:21:41] So for those in Christ, their suffering is still but a blip on the eternal timeline.
[00:21:46] That is good news, that suffering is only for a little while.
[00:21:51] Second reason that you can rejoice in suffering if you're in Christ is that your inheritance won't spoil or disappear.
[00:21:59] Verse 4 says that they have been born to a living hope, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you. It won't spoil. It won't disappear.
[00:22:12] Because the inheritance is Christ, and He lives and is life in himself.
[00:22:17] So Christ won't spoil. He won't disappear. He won't fade away. He is eternal. He is life in himself.
[00:22:25] So when you suffer, remember, your inheritance will not die. He lives.
[00:22:31] Third reason that you can rejoice in suffering.
[00:22:34] Suffering will increase the value and strength of of your faith.
[00:22:40] Look at verse seven.
[00:22:42] So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire.
[00:22:53] This is one of those truths, I think, that's far easier to affirm and believe when you aren't enduring it yourself.
[00:23:03] When you aren't enduring the fire refinement, it's a lot easier to remember that, yeah, our faith is strengthened through trials, and yet when we go through them, it's hard.
[00:23:18] Well, you need faith to be able to suffer well, and to suffer over the long haul.
[00:23:24] We need Christ to sustain us and over time, if you are truly leaning on Christ, you will trust him and and love him more.
[00:23:34] Your faith will grow to be more valuable than even gold.
[00:23:38] When we look in the rear view mirror, when we get through suffering, if we do indeed get through it in this life, we will be thankful for God for disciplining us, for helping us to love him more, for blessing us in this way. So if you are suffering and you get through it and your faith is weaker or gone or the same, that might be an issue.
[00:24:00] Suffering should strengthen your faith, not kill it.
[00:24:06] That's what Peter says. Suffering will increase the value and strength of your faith. Now, Christians should hope in the living Christ, though we don't see Him. Notice what is true of those who are in Christ. They don't see him, but they still love Him. They still believe in Him.
[00:24:23] They don't need to see him personally because God has foreknown them, the Spirit has set them apart and Jesus has forgiven them.
[00:24:32] Believers also rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with joy. See that in verse 8.
[00:24:39] Rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.
[00:24:46] Wow.
[00:24:47] When you read that phrase. I'll just read it again.
[00:24:51] Rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.
[00:24:58] Do you think that describes any part of your life?
[00:25:03] Rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. Does that describe your life?
[00:25:12] A pastor you may have heard of named John Piper says that joy in Christ is a gift from God, but it is also something you must fight for. It's something we need to work for and pray and long for. Having no joy in Christ is a sickness that could prove terminal over time.
[00:25:32] Fight on your knees in prayer. Make yourself rejoice in the Lord even when it is most difficult.
[00:25:40] That is what we need to do to fight for joy, even though we can't see Jesus at this time.
[00:25:48] So do you struggle with accepting Jesus Christ because you just can't see Him?
[00:25:53] Is it difficult to trust what you cannot see? Difficult to believe in what you cannot empirically prove, or whatever?
[00:26:02] Maybe you just don't see how it all adds up. How do you really know all of this is true? How can you stake your life on something that you doubt?
[00:26:10] I understand these questions. You know what if you don't see him working in your life?
[00:26:14] Maybe your life is really hard.
[00:26:17] So it is difficult to believe that God is really up there letting everything happen to you.
[00:26:24] Though difficult.
[00:26:26] The only answer is to believe and put Your faith in Christ, to believe in this living hope that is eternal, that is kept in heaven.
[00:26:35] Because you don't have any hope apart from him.
[00:26:38] You must have faith. The Bible tells us that faith is the hope of things unseen.
[00:26:45] You don't need to see to have hope and faith.
[00:26:49] Friends, it is worth it to take a step out in faith. Because verse nine says the outcome of your faith is the salvation of your souls.
[00:27:01] So hope in the living Christ, because the outcome of faith is the salvation of your soul. It is worth it.
[00:27:10] Point number three, Hope in the suffering Christ.
[00:27:14] We're going to be looking at these last few verses 10 through 12.
[00:27:19] In the movie Kung Fu Panda, all of the Kung Fu warriors covet one thing.
[00:27:28] The Dragon Scroll.
[00:27:31] The legend was that it contained the secret to limitless power and strength.
[00:27:38] Only when the chosen Dragon Warrior was ready may it be read.
[00:27:42] This is the conflict of the movie. Not to spoil too much, but the villain Tai Lung wanted the scroll but was never chosen for it.
[00:27:51] Now whenever Po opens it and eventually time long, you see them kind of wide eyed as this glowing gold scroll shines light into their faces. If you've seen the movie, maybe you can remember this image. If you've seen it as many times as I have, I'm sure you can remember.
[00:28:09] Likewise, Peter says that the prophets of the Old Testament, from Moses all the way to haggai, longed to look inside the scroll and see the glorious plan of God to save Israel.
[00:28:22] Far more than this silly movie. They wanted to see what was inside. They wanted to see the secrets of which they were telling the people.
[00:28:30] Moses, these are mighty men. Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Haggai, all of them and more. Verses 10 through 11 say, inquired carefully to know the timing of the Messiah's arrival.
[00:28:49] They wanted to know more. They wanted to see it with their own eyes.
[00:28:54] What's more is that verse 12 says even angels long to see these glorious plans.
[00:28:59] Yet God is pleased to reveal them to us.
[00:29:05] To sinful, unworthy humans.
[00:29:10] What the Bible serves to us is something so precious that Frodo Baggins can't comprehend it. So beautiful that great photographers cannot capture it. So sweet the tongue cannot discern its flavors. So bright that even you know those glasses that you use to look at a solar eclipse, they can't block out the brightness.
[00:29:33] This is the gospel summarized aptly by these words in verse 11. The sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory.
[00:29:42] The sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
[00:29:45] How can the Christ, which means Messiah be so glorious that the prophets of old and even the mighty angels long and crave and claw at the opportunity to see these things.
[00:29:59] This salvation in verse nine is said to be the outcome of your faith. Well, the prophets could not see.
[00:30:06] The angels do not fully comprehend because God has made it so.
[00:30:11] But the reason so many people on earth today don't see is because we lack faith.
[00:30:17] We do not believe.
[00:30:20] If we believe, we can see.
[00:30:23] In a book I actually just recently read to my family, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
[00:30:30] It took me a long time to read it.
[00:30:33] As Prince Caspian, Edmund and Lucy Eustace and the crew are traveling closer and closer to the edge of the world. They notice the sun. I found this fascinating. Is growing bigger and bigger and brighter and brighter to the point where it would be totally blinding and overwhelming to any normal person.
[00:30:51] But they can withstand it because they had drunk some special magic water so they could bear it.
[00:30:59] Students, I think in this image we can think of the water as faith in the big bright sun. As the sufferings of Christ in the subsequent glories.
[00:31:09] Can't claim that that was the intent. I think we can understand it this way.
[00:31:13] God must change your heart to make you able to see and understand the glory of the sufferings of Christ.
[00:31:22] And he makes you able to see through faith in Christ.
[00:31:26] You must believe in him to see and bear its beauty.
[00:31:34] God the Son, enjoying perfect unity and glory eternally with the Father and the Spirit put on flesh. Because our American English words cannot explain, our eyes cannot fully see.
[00:31:49] God came to us.
[00:31:51] He condescended to us. He put on flesh and came to our level.
[00:31:56] Our hope is in the Trinity.
[00:32:00] Though being born of woman and his works, he is actually causing those he has chosen beforehand to be born again. How well he can give a sinful person new eternal life. Because He Himself died and reclaimed his life.
[00:32:17] His body did not and shall not decay in the dirt because he lives.
[00:32:21] So our hope is living.
[00:32:24] No matter what trials and difficulties and even tragedies happen to you, Christ has suffered more.
[00:32:32] He completely understands and sympathizes with your weaknesses and pains and all you've been through.
[00:32:38] He turns your pains into a testing that leads to glory and honor in heaven.
[00:32:47] Never forget the subsequent glories.
[00:32:50] Christ did not merely suffer, he overcame. He did not merely die. He lives.
[00:32:58] And so through faith, you can live too.
[00:33:02] So do you feel ever like life maybe is pointless?
[00:33:07] You need a greater hope.
[00:33:09] Do you actually feel hopeless? Well, there is great hope. He is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The one true God.
[00:33:17] He is alive and gives hope that lives to all who repent of their sins and believe in Him. He suffered all things, including and most intensely the full hot wrath of God the Father. And now he lives and all who trust in him and obey him, those who are delivered from that very same wrath.
[00:33:41] That is hope. And it's only found in Christ.
[00:33:45] I know some of you don't believe. And even if you think you're doing a good job of fooling me or fooling your parents or even fooling yourself, will you surrender your pride and your sinful idols and your pet sins and put your whole trust and your life in the hands of the Christ who suffered and to those of you have turned from your sins and believed. Remember, Christians suffer in life, but they can have lasting hope in God the Trinity and Christ the one who suffered and now lives. Let's pray.
[00:34:24] Father, thank you for your word and hope that you offer us.
[00:34:29] Lord, we pray that for those who feel hopeless, that they would find you as their great, lasting and living hope, that they would turn from their sins and trust in you. That those who have trust in you that are struggling with this, that you would fill them with joy, that you would help them to remember these wonderful truths that you've given us in your word.
[00:34:55] Lord, help us to praise you and enjoy you forever.
[00:34:58] Lord, help us to greater and greater appreciate the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
[00:35:07] Lord, help us to look into these things and praise you for them. And we pray all of this in your Son's name. Amen.
