Greatest sermon Voddie Baucham #faith #power #believe

all right now let's go ahead and get into the actual paragraph um i hope you were helped by the the background work that we did uh in the last session and um i think that as we get into this familiar text it'll be helpful so let's let's look at that paragraph first peter three beginning verse 13. let's look at 13 through 17. now who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake you will be blessed have no fear of them nor be troubled but in your hearts honor christ the lord as holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you yet do it with gentleness and respect having a good conscience so that when you are slandered those who revile your good behavior in christ may be put to shame for it is better to suffer for doing good if it should be god's will than for doing evil so first we we look at this and we see that our righteousness actually makes us strangers and aliens we've already noted that peter referred to believers as sojourners and exiles in chapter 2 verse 11 however his statement prior to that explains why we are such look at chapter 2 verses 9 to 10 but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light once you were not a people but now you are god's people once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy so there's a real sense in which christians regardless of where their earthly citizenship may be are a people within and among a people so this is the first issue the first issue is that we actually are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation okay we we are a people within a people we and when when you have an opportunity to go outside of your own environment even even if you just get to go across town to another church you don't have to go to another country right you just go across town to another church and you find people you recognize that there is something that we share that is more significant than just the songs we sing or the place we go and and the more and deeper we go in our walk with christ the more we realize that in a very real sense and for those of you who've been walking with christ for a long time you've probably already had this experience in your family to a very real extent the people of god become more family to you than your blood relatives okay this is a real thing and oftentimes they don't understand that they'll get offended by that right um but but we are a people right it it it really is a a mystery um it's not really the only one there's there's another example of it so my wife and i are not blood relatives but she's my next of kin huh she's my closest living relative and we're not related by blood okay this is a real phenomenon it's like children who come into a family by adoption they are our children for real we have you know adopted children in our family and i'm always you know people will come okay well which one are your real children i'm like no they're all real you know well i mean which one are your natural children yeah they're all natural too well i don't know about that one but for the most part you know they're natural ah you know what i mean which one are yours yeah they're all ours you know what i'm trying to ask you yeah i know what you're trying to ask me but the point i'm making is you don't and that's a problem because you're a christian and god only has adopted children so if you don't understand that these are our real children that these are our natural children that these are our own children then you don't understand your relationship to god you don't have security and your salvation you're probably always worried about god stopping loving you nine times out of ten they just kind of go you know what i do of course you do the doctrine of adoption you know we always talk about salvation we talk about justification and sanctification and glorification the order salutus goes like this justification adoption sanctification glorification you can't understand theologically what it means to be a child of god if you don't get that adopted children are real natural yours we're a people god has adopted us into his family and the and the more and deeper we go into this and the more we walk with god and the more we live in communion with god's people the more we begin to see this these people are my real family and some of you may have even had that discussion you know yeah but i'm your real family i'm your blood no that's my real family my brothers and sisters in christ they're my real family they're my natural family they're my own family and the bond that we have ah you can't even you know yeah well it's not a bond by blood actually it is it is the blood of the lamb is what makes us one so this eventually our christian citizenship manifests itself in ways that are irreconcilable with our non-christian neighbors eventually when when you begin to live as a citizen of the kingdom of god if eventually as you begin to manifest the likeness that we're being conformed to that we begin to see irreconcilable differences between us and the world and when that happens we face opposition sometimes persecution and suffering all of which relate directly to our righteousness in christ as we're conformed to his image it remember people know that there's a god there's no such thing as an atheist god does not believe in atheists everybody knows that there's god according to romans chapter 1 but they suppress the knowledge in unrighteousness that's what romans 1 says everybody knows there's a god but they suppress the knowledge in unrighteousness so here you come displaying righteousness that's a problem okay that's a problem secondly our righteousness brings suffering and opposition 13-14 now who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake you will be blessed with these ominous words peter introduces what is undoubtedly the best known apologetics text in the bible from which we derive the very word for apologetics it's therefore important to note the tone his words set as well as their connection to the overall theme listen to this in first peter 2 21-24 for to this you have been called because christ also suffered for you leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps this is about suffering and by the way listen first peter kills the prosperity gospel slays it hits it in the forehead with a stone cuts off his head and then opens up the ground to swallow it up okay you simply cannot read first peter in its context and come away with anything remotely resembling the prosperity gospel you just can't for this you have been called to be the head and not the tail no because christ also suffered for you leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps and do what suffer he committed no sin neither was deceit found in his mouth when he was reviled he did not revile in return we just talked about that when he suffered he did not threaten but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly he himself bore our sins and his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness it's important to note that peter is talking about more than people thinking ill of us or causing calling us names this is about more than that the analogy he draws here is the suffering of christ in his death at the hands of sinful men you don't get this you don't understand what he's dealing with nor were jesus faithful followers spared this fate philip was scourged and thrown into prison and afterwards crucified matthew was slain with a halberd in the city of uh nadaba andrew was crucified on a cross the two ends of which were transfixed were fixed transversely in the ground mark was dragged to pieces by the people of alexandria peter himself was crucified his head being down and his feet being upward himself so requiring because he was he said unworthy to be crucified after the same form and manner as the lord jesus was again how do you preach the prosperity gospel in light of what happened to the apostles only one died a natural death and he died in exile on the island of patmos come on now did they not believe enough we know then apologetics is not a tool to make people like or accept us can't be in this context it's not what peter's talking about although that is precisely the way many of us engage the culture it's as though we believe that if we just make the right argument refute the right falsehood unpack the right set of facts then people will bow the knee and surrender to christ or at least lay down their weapons and leave us alone however as peter notes here the opposite is actually more likely instead of being a tool that alleviates the tension between us and the world apologetics is often a tool that heightens the tension nevertheless we echo the words of luther's great hymn and though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us we will not fear for god hath willed his truth to triumph through us the prince of darkness grim we tremble not for him his rage we can endure for lo his doom is sure one little word shall fell him we also see that our righteousness is actually born of our devotion to christ in words remember reminiscent of isaiah peter urges but in your hearts honor christ the lord as holy peter is here adapting the prophet's words in isaiah 13. he says but the lord of hosts him you shall honor as holy let him be your fear and let him be your dread uh this one is a huge problem for the jehovah's witnesses because it couldn't be more obvious that peter is quoting isaiah talking about jesus and isaiah is talking about jehovah jesus is jehovah amen hallelujah praise the lord right the context here in isaiah is informative simon kistamaker observes in his day isaiah told the people not to fear the invading assyrian armies but to revere god in his epistle peter has the same encouraging message remember isaiah is saying hey uh don't don't do not do not respond out of fear for the assyrian army the lord of hosts him you shall honor as holy let him be your fear let him be your dread don't fear these people who are marching at us in light of the context it's clear that peter is not calling for a mere spiritual devotion to christ though that is certainly in view but a choice to honor christ in the face of a culture that opposes and even punishes our devotion that's what he's talking about moreover the reason for this choice is clear jesus is the lord almighty again kiss democracy notes peter changes isaiah's wording by honoring christ as the lord almighty so that he is the lord christ thus the christian does not merely choose christ as one among many options instead christ is set apart as the only one we fear as the only one we worship most christians do not engage in apologetics because we're afraid however now we see the true nature of this fear ultimately it's fear of man this is a result of holding men and their approval in higher regard than we do the lord this is what we're being called to to regard him as holy and higher than anything else therefore unless i remind myself constantly of my need to honor christ the lord as holy i will end up honoring my reputation or worse yet the opinions of men as most prized and precious in my heart the result is compromise that dishonors christ and deprives my hearers of the greatest news that they will ever know oh how i need to sanctify christ in my heart this goes right back to what we talked about in the first session right in jude this whole idea of the fear of men and in this this horizontal relationship being held above all being esteemed above all and caring more about what you think about me than i do not only about what god thinks about me but more than i care about you i don't care enough about you to tell you the greatest truth that you could ever know our righteousness also requires an explanation and here's where we get to apologetics okay this is rooted in our righteousness too right our righteousness makes us it really makes us outsiders it causes the opposition and and it requires an explanation always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you it's amazing at the context here you know a lot of people are like well you know apologetics um you know you only do apologetics if somebody asks you that's that's not his point his point here is that you know what we are righteous and because we're righteous we're going to be outsiders because we're outsiders we're we're going to suffer and we're going to be persecuted right so we have to be devoted to christ and not have fear of men and then what's going to happen is that's going to require an explanation an explanation of what why you suffer the way you suffer but how do we think about apologetics an explanation of you know my understanding of the problem of evil and suffering no that's not what peter's talking about here it's great it's great if you can answer people's questions but i think sometimes because we have changed our understanding of what apologetics is all about and because we've made it this sort of philosophical exercise we completely miss what peter is saying everything in this section before this is about suffering for righteousness sake everything in this paragraph is about suffering for righteousness sake and when he finally gets to the verse that gives us the word for apologetics what he's saying is when you suffer in a way that they've never seen before be ready to answer when they ask you why lord how we've missed this this is nothing like the way we look at this words this is the hope that is in you this is the object and subject of your faith without this there'd be no reason for anyone to ask you anything about god or the gospel since without this you wouldn't be a christian it's about knowing what we believe peter makes it clear have a reason for the hope that is in us this is where i get my definition from right knowing what we believed on why we believe it being able to communicate that in an effective and winsome way we know the reason for the hope that is in us we don't merely hope for hope's sake we hope because we've come to believe amen we have a reason to hope this of course assumes that we actually believe something there is some objective reality out there in which we believe we believe the gospel amen that's why we've come to the lord in repentance and faith because we believe the gospel right listen to paul's admonition to timothy second timothy 1 13-14 follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in christ jesus by the holy spirit who dwells within us guard the good deposit entrusted to you this is some objective truth he's talking about here 2nd timothy 2 2 chapter 2 the admonition includes a call to pass it on to others what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust the faithful men who will be able to teach others also so there's something that has been deposited in you it is a truth it is the truth of the gospel here's what i want you to do i want you to preach this gospel faithfully by the way they're killing us right the context of the letter of ii timothy is i'm getting ready to die fought the good fight prince of chorus kept the faith right i i'm about to die hope i get to see you it'd be great if i could see you before i die but if i don't here's what i want you to do hey guard that good deposit that's been entrusted to you and oh by the way if they kill me they're probably gonna kill you too so pass it on to somebody else so that when your turn comes it doesn't die with you and in the third chapter paul reminds young timothy of the source of his hope when he urges continue in what you have learned and firmly believed knowing from whom you've learned it every one of these is about that objective truth that we hold on to it is about the gospel that is everything hebrews 2 1-4 therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard unless we drift away from it for since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation it was declared at first by the lord and it was attested to us by those who heard while god also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the holy spirit distributed according to his will we can't neglect this we have to hold on to it explain what you believe technically this defense this epiloguia means to give a verbal defense it's actually a legal term essentially a lawyer gives an apology in a courtroom the goal is not merely to give information in a dispassionate matter the goal is to convince since we must be winsome in our delivery this too is a product of our righteousness in christ this is where our winsomeness comes from our righteousness doesn't just call for an explanation our righteousness actually also shapes our explanation yet do it with gentleness and respect gentleness is not a lack of strength it is actually strength under control gentleness is me wrestling with my three-year-old that that's gentleness okay and again in our feminized culture we don't even understand what gentleness is because of our feminized culture we're again we try to stamp out every vestige of masculinity we can for men and try to instill every bit of masculinity we can in our young girls right in in this we don't understand and so because of that we don't understand what gentleness even is being gentle is not about being emasculated or effeminate it is power under control it is strength under control that's gentleness so as christians listen if you want to see gentleness gentleness is christ on the cross he could have called legions of angels he was in control of the whole thing because he is the creator of the universe he made the tree from which they got the wood to hang him on he called together the molecules that made the nails breathed breath into the life of the ones who were crucifying him and yet he allowed himself to be killed that's gentleness strength under control power under control so here's what's amazing peter says you're going to suffer you're going to suffer for the sake of your righteousness you're going to suffer and here we are he says we're this peculiar people we're this nation with again we are powerful people the power that raised christ from the dead resides in us and yet we're humble we don't return reviling for reviling see that's gentleness there's power under control respect on the other hand is a word that can also be translated fear however it is not seeking the approval of man instead it's fear and respect for god is interesting remember we talked about those two audiences gentleness that's our dealing with our horizontal audience and respect fear reverence that's our dealing with our vertical audience in other words our defense should be given as though we are keenly aware of the fact that god is watching i remember a soft word turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger this is what we keep in mind in our horizontal exchange righteousness also vindicates our explanation 16-17 having a good conscience so that when you are slandered those who revile your good behavior in christ may be put to shame for it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be god's will than for doing evil again man this just slays the prosperity gospel right suffering in accordance with the will of god sorry because you don't have enough faith ah get that out of here so in where we began remember you open the paragraph with the words now who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake you'll be blessed and now we've come full circle we've come full circle we've given our answer we've done it with gentleness and with reverence and now we're suffering but we're suffering for righteousness sake and we're doing it so that these guys are the ones to be put to shame verse 18. by framing the discussion with suffering on either side peter makes it clear that he's not offering a means by which christians dominate discussions overthrow empires or change public opinion apologetics is ultimately an expression of our willingness to suffer rather than to compromise it is the explanation for our suffering both in terms of why we suffer and how we suffer apologetics is our answer to those at whose hands we suffer as well as those witnessing our suffering apologetics says to a watching world we have been captured by something so profound that we are willing not only to be considered fools but to suffer as such verse 18 for christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit that last phrase that last phrase is awesome right that last phrase is the answer like wait a minute this guy is kind of sounding a little crazy they're persecuting me and i'm suffering i'm worried about suffering in the right way i'm worried about you know suffering for righteousness sake but still at the end i'm suffering in the end i'm persecuted in the end i'm dead yes just like jesus was for three days and then death couldn't hold him and it won't hold you either this is the key this is the answer what why why and when they ask us right what are they what are they asking how is it that you can suffer like this how is it that you can endure like this because this is not my home i am living in anxious anticipation of a city whose builder and maker is god what can you do to me i mean ultimately last time i checked the death rate was one per person huh but there is one who has overcome death there is one who has overcome the grave and i am found in him so i too will be raised on the last day that's my hope that's why i'm not afraid of you oh yeah i have fear in the immediate sense but ultimately i fear god more than i fear you but he's my daddy man what a far cry this is from this whole attitude of arrogant obnoxious you know win when when you know i'm better than you put you in your place how do we ever get that from this text i'll tell you how by ripping verse 15 kicking and screaming out of context that's how you just take verse you know chapter 3 verse 15 and we just just rip it out of context and it's going no no no i need my other verses you got gotta go back to the paragraph before and the whole argument about suffering or you won't understand me that's what he was saying you know but we didn't hear it because they're more concerned with winning arguments than winning souls okay i'm telling you when when we see this text this way it doesn't just change our attitude about apologetics it just it changes everything it changes our entire disposition right our entire disposition and then here in the midst of this amazing context where in terms of history we've had this freakish inconsistent experience in america you know for the last 200 plus years where christianity here and in the west in general has not experienced what most christians in the world throughout history have experienced and it's given us this over realized eschatology you know where we believe that this is the promised land and that apologetics exist in order to you know to get our side back in control right come on that's not what peter's talking about not at all and so we rejoice in the freedoms that we have amen we rejoice in them but we don't allow them to transform the very way we understand apologetics the very way we approach those with whom we disagree and the very way in which we give a response to those who are asking us the reason for the hope that is in this right all right all right we've left a few minutes before we have to go do you have questions before we close out

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Id: xRGGzqxSP1c

Length: 35min 55sec (2155 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 06 2020