Rick & Bubba Bible Study Live - Sept. 2, 2020

five four three two one welcome in to the wednesday bible study from the rick and bubba broadcast plaza and teleport i'm rick burgess in case we have never met you may be joining us for the very first time uh but we do welcome you in today we start a brand new series uh we're gonna spend uh the next several weeks uh walking through first and second peter now if you have joined us and uh you're thinking i'd like to know what else you guys have studied uh here in the wednesday bible study there's all sorts of archives that are available for you uh if audio only is uh is fine with you uh you can go back and find a series that we've done over the last near five years of the wednesday bible study you can find those by going to burgessministries.com and just click on listen uh and then you'll see the wednesday bible study you can go there and go through all sorts of audio archives from multiple series within books of the bible within books that have been written commentaries standalone bible studies there's a lot of content available for you you can also use our youtube channel if you'd rather do that the youtube channel if you're watching as a youtuber right now just go to the playlist you can see wednesday bible study and click on it you can walk back through any of the bible studies that have been recorded on youtube as well so there there are your options uh if you're new because we had a virtual man church at my home church shades mountain baptist church sunday night and if you joined this bible study we welcome you if you're a first-timer and you're a member of shades mountain baptist church or maybe you're watching this anywhere around the world for the very first time welcome we do this most every single wednesday here now looking ahead to some things coming up because we we've we've done some visiting uh the manchurch.com this is this is a men's bible study even though we know that women watch it but it's a men's bible study at the heart uh and we have um a website it's a hub of men's ministry the man church.com where we can help you implement men's immense discipleship strategy in your church help you implement this in your community or if you're just an individual man and you'd like to see some of our resources to help you grow from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity continue your sanctification that's available for you there if you'd like to see some of the gatherings that are going to be taking place involving the man church.com september the 16th panama city florida highland park baptist church we'll be there with you september the 20th uh we'll be at fiddler's green a beautiful location outdoors in jacksonville alabama we'll be implementing our strategy there for the men and churches represented in that community uh on september the 27th first baptist tuscaloosa uh we'll be there having a man church you guys have been doing the discipleship strategy for a while but i'll be returning uh back to speak there i'll be speaking at all these i'm mentioning now and then september the 30th starting the man church discipleship strategy we'll have a gathering then plug men into our small groups on september the 30th in douglas georgia the overwatch men's ministry there at first baptist church you can find all these by going to burgessministries.com and look under events so why don't we open in prayer and then we'll dive in uh to our beginning study in the book of first peter and then we'll continue this all the way through second peter over the next several weeks several weeks together let's pray lord jesus thank you for your word thank you lord for the how so many of us that are men can look to the person of peter and and a lot of times he's our favorite uh we look to him because he's uh he's the type of man a lot of us can relate to we can also relate to the mistakes that he made in his life but now lord we're gonna hear from peter who's an older man as you have inspired him with your holy spirit to write down these most important truths that we need to begin to consume today in the name of jesus we pray amen so if you have your bible something with your bible on it let's go to the book of first peter remember if you can take notes it's always great i know some of you are listening to this while you're driving you certainly can't but if you can find time to take some notes it will serve you well this is something that's relatively new in my walk of bible study is to be sure i'm ready to take some notes write some things down you've heard me say this in bible studies past i credit adrian rogers with this famous pastor who's passed on to glory now he said the cheapest pen when you're studying the bible will serve you better than the greatest memory write it down so take your bibles and let's go to first peter chapter one verse one first of all we see who is writing this book he says peter an apostle of jesus christ now this is elementary for a lot of you but let's walk through it he's letting us know that he's an apostle what is an apostle well the apostle means that i walked with jesus i was there with jesus when he walked out his earthly ministry i'm a witness to jesus's ministry i'm a witness i'm a witness to jesus's resurrection i'm a witness to jesus after the resurrection as you know the original 12 had this experience but then there was always you know the apostle paul and he calls himself an apostle too and some of you may be saying well rick how can he call himself an apostle he didn't walk with jesus and he wasn't there for for that he was actually in opposition to the church and and and the resurrection that's true but remember paul was deemed an apostle because he had an encounter with the resurrected jesus on the road to damascus and he was constantly having to defend this and we know that there were times that that you know the reason why he and peter had had some run-ins nothing that lasted uh don't don't misunderstand me but they did have some run-ins from time to time because when you look at the original 12 peter was clearly the leader he was the one that always gets mentioned first he's the one that is isn't afraid to have something to say and the original uh 12 those 11 looked at him as their leader and even after uh we see the betrayal of judas and and he's replaced still peter stays in that leadership position so when the apostle paul comes in uh and now he's being heralded because you go from a fisherman uh uneducated uh but filled with the holy spirit who's leading the group now here comes this highly educated uh paul sometimes they would they would have a bit of a of a debate over the who who's the who's the leader now uh but god used them both they certainly loved each other greatly uh they held each other accountable uh paul had to hold peter accountable you know about his ongoing struggle with as a jewish man and the gentiles and uh but you do know at the end of both of their lives they were both uh martyred by nero uh and they certainly shared a kinship and you'll see that even right out of the gate because peter says i'm an apostle of jesus christ peter is a is a as a guy as i was saying in the prayer that most men look to and can relate to he was what we would call a man's man he was rugged he was by all accounts big he was a fisherman blue-collar kind of guy bowled many times after the holy spirit especially but when we start thinking about the mistakes that he made you know with the betrayal of jesus and and then being reconciled to jesus praise the lord and then being you know the new strength of the holy spirit now that standard of of the example of peter goes way up because he's a different man after the holy spirit we've talked about that in past bible studies especially our bible study where we walk through the book of acts but now these letters we have peter writing to us as an older man uh and peter seems to sense if you remember uh on when we walked through the gospel of john that was another past bible study that we've done for those who may be new there's the moment when jesus is telling peter that he will be martyred for the faith peter you you've often said many times that you'll be with me but you know what's going to happen now after the holy spirit and after we've been reconciled and i've told you to feed my sheep i've told you to tend to my lambs and then i'll kind of walk you away and i say there's come a day you're going to be martyred for me i hope you understand that so now follow me meaning peter had that moment with jesus and he accepted it and this is one of the first things we need to learn from peter is are we willing to accept that jesus says to follow me is going to cost you and eventually it may cost you your life and i want you to know that you've made some bold statements in the past when you said you would you would go to prison with me and you would die with me jesus talking to peter and you didn't but now after the resurrection you have been reconciled to me but i'm going to tell you again now's the moment peter for you to be done with empty words you've talked a big game up to this point you're about to receive the power of the holy spirit and now the time has come for me to say if you love me then you obey me john 14 15. if you love me then you'll do what i've called you to do and it's going to eventually cost you your life and then jesus said to peter follow me and peter had one final comment about what about john and jesus said john's life span is of no concern to you i'm speaking to you will you follow me and will you accept the responsibility and the call that i placed on your life and of course peter absolutely did and so now he's getting to the end of his life and we'll really find this out when we get to second peter but that that shadow that peter will be martyred he is sensing that that time is getting close and so that's why these letters are so incredible and he's even thinking uh because now the church is being persecuted uh nero is just waging war on the church when peter writes this first letter uh and he says that he's writing from babylon we do not think that the commentaries do not think that that is literal babylon we're not talking about egypt uh what he's talking about is a babylon he's talking about how bad it's gotten in rome and most everyone believes that this babylon he speaks of that he's writing this letter from that he is writing it uh from from rome we'll also find out that uh he is dictating this letter uh to his friend uh uh sylvanas or silvanus the way you say it we also many commentators say as you find in the bible that sometimes men including peter would have different names especially when you translate you know from the greek into the english and many of the commentators say the person who is actually dictating this letter a name that we would know a little better is silas uh and so so keep keep in mind keep in mind about that you'll hear about that as we go through more of of the letters also we find this interesting when he starts out he says to those still in verse 1 to those who are elect who are exiles of dispersion and then he goes saying i'm writing these to those you that are being persecuted because of your faith uh this persecution has scattered many of the early followers of christ mainly gentiles which is interesting with peter but also jewish people who have declared that christ is messiah and he lists all these different places some of them hard to to pronounce but the bottom line is and this is what makes this interesting at the beginning of this letter these places that he's writing to and you can see them there in your scripture these are places that are mainly known to be paul's ministry back to my back to my original comment so here's peter it's it's it's kind of up for debate on why peter feels like he needs to encourage uh these persecuted christians uh in the area he says they don't know whether the fact that that silas is is you know sitting here dictating this because we know that paul and silas did a lot together that silas has come back and reported to peter hey it's bad out there uh they need your encouragement it's bad out there hey you're you're you're kind of a patriarchal figure to us you've you've been a leader in in the early church and and they certainly have heard from paul but they need to hear from you uh so he is writing to this area in asia minor where they are being persecuted and they've been sojourners and they've been scattered because they're fleeing for their life and you'll see clearly in the first part chapter 1 of 1st peter he's going to address suffering head on he says in verse 2 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 he's reminding them don't forget who we are don't forget who we are now let me tell you what we're not going to do i and i've gotten to the point that if you want to see me talk uh a little bit about uh election and predestiny versus free will and choices uh you know we have a a bible study on the book of romans and and i and we talked about this a good bit in romans chapter nine but i'm just going to tell you this and this is something lord has been pre the lord has been pressing on me and and i want you to hear it now you may not like it and there may be pushback but i want you know i sincerely believe this is the lord talking to me because i know that throughout scripture it says be careful about engaging in foolish arguments you know especially when you're in front of people and i know this bible study goes out to people that are uh that are seeking your seekers you haven't made a decision for christ uh you're spiritual infants you you know you've been redeemed but you're trying to learn more some of you are are are pretty well on your way you're growing and you want to grow more and then there's some of you who may be more spiritually mature than i am and i know we have all extremes well i want to be very careful with our babies that i don't have conversations here that may confuse them because here's the facts okay there there is agreement and disagreement on this whole discussion about election pre-destiny free will for knowledge uh but there is no discussion there should be among those of us that are followers of christ inside the church on his that he's omniscient that he's sovereign that he's all-knowing how does that all work out i don't really know and i can i tell you something no human being really knows either we look to scripture and we see a lot of scripture about predestiny and election and foreknowledge and god's sovereignty absolutely we do we also see scriptures like the garden of eden for instance in matthew 23 37 and then we'll get into ii peter and we'll hear some things about what god has to say that seem to indicate that god is allowing choices to be made as well how does all that work out i don't really know and no one else does either because there's no finite human brain that is truly grasp all that god is he is you know it one way to put it i saw one commentary on this it's one thing for a human being to declare something's a fact and to know something to be a fact it's quite another for god to know something to be a fact and and god doesn't answer the time uh so what i think we need to be very careful of and god has convicted me because i love these conversations but i'm afraid some of this calvinism versus armenian all these different things have become a bunch of christians a hope or people who claim to be christians sitting around more concerned about winning an argument than than they are about advancing the kingdom of god it doesn't matter what your theology is you'll never get around the great commission we know that our lord and savior told peter he told paul he told the church he told you he told me all who claim his name that we are to go into the world and we are to make disciples we are to baptize people in the name of the father son of the holy spirit and we are to teach people to obey all that that christ has taught us to obey all that he's commanded us we're supposed to be teaching so if we do that i don't know that it really matters if we fully understand uh the the foreknowledge the election uh the the choices i i don't think that's really all that important i mean if somebody says i gotta tell you one thing i'm gonna come down i'm i'm i'm hyper i'm hyper calvinist or somebody else says well i tell you what i'm armenian and i'm i'm hyper that way and i'm immovable on that both of you better go out and make disciples baptize people in the name of the father son and the holy spirit and you better teach people what jesus has taught us because that's what we're all told to do and that's pure theology so i'm not going to get into these arguments because i don't think they serve anything other than i don't know how anyone's salvation is determined on these things and honestly i love all of you if you read scripture from beginning to end all of you will pivot to scriptures that support whatever you want to believe and ignore the ones that get in the way of it so how about this all none of us can fully comprehend god let's just do what he said to do and let's be thankful that we clearly understand how he provides redemption and it is it is how about this it is by grace through faith by grace through faith and he told us to go out and when i see it acts chapter two uh this same peter that we're studying right now when he gives uh the the the correct clear picture of christ uh under the authority of the holy spirit when he's done it says their hearts were cut and they cried out to him brothers with the other 11 standing their brothers what are we supposed to do and i know this i know what peter said it's in the bible acts chapter 2 he said repent he didn't say some of y'all repent because the rest of you are doomed he didn't say i don't know who should repent and not repent he just looked and said repent and then rise and come forth and be baptized and receive in the name of the father son the holy spirit and receive the holy spirit and receive the holy spirit we repent and we turn to redemption found in jesus and then we're supposed to be sanctified and go from spiritual empathy to spiritual maturity and that applies to everyone regardless of what your theology on the fore knowledge in the election and the choices are and and i think i think these arguments have become too important to us frankly and i think satan's laughing at that we're supposed to be making disciples and advancing his kingdom and you know what when we get to heaven we may find out that that god did it away you didn't think he did it but it didn't matter because that wasn't our part anyway we're supposed to do our part no matter what uh your theater now if you've got a different theology on redemption then we got a problem if you think that jesus is not the way true the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except through him if you think that there's not 100 man and 100 god on the cross if you don't believe in the resurrection if you believe there's many ways to heaven now then we got a real problem but if we all believe that and then we're now we're arguing about how god answers the time or doesn't and his sovereignty and foreknowledge and and human beings making choices in the middle of all that that that part right there that's not what we have to figure out in order to do what we're called to do so that that's about all i'm going to say on that topic uh so let's uh let's now move forward to what uh what peter says next y'all need and we really need to pray about that i'm seeing way too much of that uh let's go to now verse 3. so blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ according to his great mercy he caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead here's paul he's now saying let's not forget who we are let's not forget uh the church and and and why we're the church and what jesus has done he said to 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 so you know what this if you really want to take this first letter that peter has written and you want to put a label on it it would be hope peter is trying to encourage the persecuted church he's trying to encourage those that are suffering for christ and and through time he's now trying to encourage you and he's trying to encourage me he said no matter how things get that's the reason why we started i think god led us to this study i think peter is speaking to those of us that that maybe you may be in different parts of the world but the majority of you are in the united states of america and for the very first time we've talked about this now for weeks for the very first time in the history of the western church in the american church persecution is coming to the door now it's nothing like the persecution of the churches around the world yet but but i know there's some discouragement that's going on in the times we're living in and if we took peter writing to us right now he's telling us that we always have hope because what we're going to have to learn to do as followers of jesus is to not be so consumed with thinking about what is present always be able to deal with what is present by always looking to what is the future he said hey don't forget what jesus did for you don't forget who we are never forget our future we are now a new family jew and gentile has that's been resolved we are one family and in our kc we've talked about before this thing going on with ethnicity and and racial relations do you really think the united states of america is the only place that's had difficulty with race relations so we're the only place in the world that's ever happened of course not the jew and gentile situation was horrible they they had a they were constantly having to figure out and say hey hey you guys peter himself had to be told by paul i told you that when we started hey i noticed that you're not treating the gentiles the same way when your jewish brothers showed up have you forgotten that under the authority of jesus christ we are one church this is where true equality is there is no longer uh separate ethnicities under the the power of jesus jew and gentile in our case we would say jew and gentile but then we could get inside gentiles and say that would be asians that would be um that would be african-americans that that would be latinos that would be europeans that would be you name it whatever ethnicity you can come up with this peter would be writing to us saying hey don't forget those of you that have been redeemed by by jesus don't lose hope remember we're one family now and we're one family and we're under the authority of jesus christ and and and we have an inheritance remember uh paul tells us in romans that we're now coheirs with jesus we're now sharing with that same inheritance and we all are uh you remember what paul says to writing to some of the other letters is peter's trying to remind him remember once we all came under christ whatever standing you had uh you know what you know the the males and the females are are equal of course we're not the same all the ethnicities may have their own culture but under christ we're one church and and we have all this in common and let's never forget the future glory that has been saved for uh for us and as a jewish man writing you know what he's saying now we're all children of abraham we're all children of abraham don't forget this he said that the the god's power being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time you know what peter is saying to these christians that are being persecuted all over the world they've been scattered all over asia minor he's writing to them and saying don't forget who we are and don't forget the hope that we have in jesus man the world does not want to see a church out there walking around acting like we have no hope acting like we're terrified acting like we're anxious acting like we're fearful we can never forget the what jesus has already done you know what peter is reminding us he solved our biggest problem our salvation and that has been secured and is ready for us to be given what it really bought for us and that's that eternal life and i'll tell you he's saying he said look we're not getting completely out of the present i'll tell you that in a minute but don't ever forget about our future glory and then come some verses that that peter writes that we've talked about quite a bit uh and it's been verse it's it's verses that i have don't have i can't tell you the many times i've i've dove into these verses and reminded myself through difficulty and if you're having difficulty right now these verses are they're one of these places in the bible you remember we did a bible study on suffering and why we suffer and we talked about this one this is a big one when it talks about suffering peter is saying i'm going to give you a why we suffer and we mentioned this in that bible study but since we're walking through first peter let's walk through it again and see if i can't give you some new ideas on it too and for those of you that didn't hear that this will be new to you anyway so here's what he says in first peter chapter 1 verse 6 and 7 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 he is saying to these suffering people that are being persecuted for their faith in christ and we know that uh that the persecution was not mild i mean this is the kind of persecution going on where you could be killed by nero and his in his empire to the point that you could be burning as a lamp in the streets he's also going to set rome on fire and blame all the christians for doing it to try to turn all of the roman empire on the christians and peter is saying to these suffering christians and saying to you and me anytime that we suffer that suffering is actually good and can be beneficial because there's a precious faith that is developed by trial a faith that is more precious than gold as we begin to look to the return of christ suffering can be good and beneficial in this you rejoice though now for a little while it's not always going to be like this if necessary sometimes our suffering is necessary why to to help us to uh to grow a precious faith that is stronger than what our faith was before and he says that very clear he says if necessary you have been grieved by various trials meaning whatever you're going through it god has found that necessary and i remember this moment when my wife you know wrote the book uh that took her five years to walk through and these verses you know were part of that in first peter i remember this so uh and and stay with me this is a story i don't think i've ever told you about my wife's book uh it's called broner a journey to understand if you've never seen it broner is our son's name who died in 2008 at the age of two and a half well there was a time when sherry had spent these five years uh studying scripture and us trying to find everything that we could possibly find in scripture about suffering and where god is and all that and of course my wife said so beautifully i'll tell you where god is right in the middle of it here's peter saying the same thing but this is where we where our mindset has to go on this kind of when we suffer so my wife was offered a publishing deal from a publishing company that i won't name and they were going to make a big deal out of the book they came in and they they had some big advance they were going to put out in front of us and all that and and so we were having this discussion i thought it was going to be a day of celebration of all of sherry's hard work and this was going to be a publisher to really get it out there and it didn't take long for us to realize that this publisher either had never read the transcript or didn't believe it and as they began to talk to us about the book they wanted to make some changes they wanted to lighten it up a little bit they wanted to you know make it more of a have some rick and bubba stories in there and this kind of stuff and if you've ever read the book it couldn't have been anything further from from what the book was and what god intended it to be and here's sherry with five years of her life and multiple sacrifices to write this book and finally i i can't remember if it was sherry or me said have you read the transcript and you could tell they had skimmed it but i remember one of the people saying well my was a father or grandfather i can't remember which one a man that was in his 70s fell off a ladder you know hit the pavement and died and she said and i just didn't see any purpose in that and i remember sherry saying and and me agreeing to this person well then you missed it if you've never seen god working in that moment and what happened then you decided not to look for it you missed it and to no one's surprise my wife which i supported wholeheartedly decided that this was not the place she should be and we ended up finding a much smaller publisher that didn't have much of a budget of any kind but this was a publisher that read the same transcript and said this transcript is holy and we won't change a thing about it unless we see something misspelled or some more grammar it had been edited quite a bit before then and there wasn't much that needed to be changed but the bottom line the content would not be touched now that was a publisher that was not a pr a publisher that had all this prestige and certainly didn't have all this advancement uh you know of finances or anything like that but it was the publisher that god made for the book because the book was intended to say what it was meant to say this is what scripture says about god so if if you've been going through suffering and you don't see any purpose in it and you're not learning anything from it then you're missing it because peter is telling us clear that clearly it's good and beneficial and the thing it's beneficial most for if you are willing to be taught and really to submit and willing to run to god not away from him and suffering it will benefit you greatly because it'll test the genuineness of your faith and either it'll pass the test or if there's work that needs to be done on your faith then it'll be revealed and you'll you'll address it and it's more precious than gold that cannot handle fire you know think about when uh when we when we talked about last week about jesus saying to the church at laodice laodicea i want you to buy from me gold that's been refined by fire i want you to buy something of more value when is something more valuable when it's been refined by fire it's been clean all the impurities have been taken out of it and then peter says and and i hope that that faith will be the kind of faith that then focuses again on the return of jesus christ and and that's that's what he's saying in first peter 1 6 and 7 and if i could just sum it up you know what peter's saying when you suffer don't waste it don't waste it you've heard me mention this before my wife and i when we listen to people and sometimes they're very impressive people they have a great grasp of scripture and they certainly are going to be hopefully used by god and sometimes they'll get up there and they'll give us all the knowledge that they've learned and some great deep things in scripture praise the lord for that but sometimes there's just something just this it's not quite there yet and my beautiful wife will lean over to me and say they're going to be really good after they suffer and they're going to be taken to another place they've got the head knowledge but if god's going to refine them through suffering and they're going to develop a tone a baritone that comes only from suffering and an intimacy with god that comes only from suffering and an appreciation of a faith now refined by fire that says this faith is of great value because it's costing me something just like it cost god his holiness when he lowered himself to take on human flesh and to be treated as nothing special and it cost him his son when he took on that flesh and he went to the cross and he paid the debt that was owed us as we nailed him to the cross and we understand more clearly in luke 9 23 that when jesus says as he said to this church and to peter deny yourself pick up your cross and come with me and when you're suffering you know what you think to yourself wow i'm more like jesus right now because he said that those of us that follow him will suffer like he did and he's reminding uh these persecuted christians of this truth verse 8 though you have not seen him you love him i love that though you have not seen him you love him you know what he's saying i'm an apostle i understand uh that unlike me you didn't see jesus these christians he's talking to and and you know it reminded me if you have your bible or something with your bible on it turn to john chapter 20 john chapter 20 verse 29 this is jesus talk in john chapter 20 verse 29 um i know that ryan greenwood's listening to this write that down buddy john 20 29 i've been talking about taking better notes so so listen to this he said jesus said to to him talking to uh to to thomas after thomas had said i want to see the wounds i want to touch the hand i i i got to see and and then he when he sees him he says my lord my god and jesus says to him in verse 29 talking about the christians that peter's talking about talking about you talking about me he says have you believed because you've seen me to thomas blessed are those who have not seen and yet they have believed and then here's peter learning from jesus he's now saying to these persecuted christians though you have not seen him in verse 8 you love him though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory verse 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls don't forget he's such a great encourager you're loving christ even though you never saw him you believe in him even though you never saw him like i did as a an apostle and you know what i want to remind you of is that the very lord and savior that i served that i walked with that i denied that i got reconciled to i saw it i saw him after the resurrection i want to encourage you that you never saw the resurrection yet you believe in the resurrection you never saw the things i saw but you have believed and you know what it has resulted in your salvation don't fade press on press on don't forget so if you're suffering with him just just know that your faith is so strong because jesus said those of you that never saw him but still believed how much more powerful will that be as far as faith is concerned trust christ he keeps saying that trust christ listen to this concerning the salvation now and 10 the prophets who prophesized about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully inquiring what person or time the spirit of christ in them was indicated when he predicted the sufferings of christ and also the glories 12 it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you and 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 wow what about this so you you hear this he's encouraging them to continue to trust christ even though they've never seen him and he keeps talking about how much you loved him and and he's reminding them of what paul said you know in the famous verse and you often misquoted romans 8 28 we know all things work for good he's saying don't forget this we know that all things work for good for those who love him to to trust him is to love him so keep trusting christ even though he never saw him you believed even though you never saw him you loved him and those who love christ no matter what you're going through if you love christ we know that all this is going to work out for good that ought to keep you going keep in mind things don't always work out for good for those who do not love him now the bible says all things work out for good for those who love him who trust him if you don't love jesus and you don't trust jesus you really can't claim this verse i don't know whether things will work out for your good or not they may not but for those who love him and trust him yes these things will work out for good and i look at the suffering in my life as someone who does love jesus and someone who does trust jesus and someone who does believe in jesus though i've never seen him i've sensed him in his holy spirit no doubt which he promised me but i didn't see him but i can tell you this that my suffering and hardships even some of those that my own choices brought upon me the ones that i had no say in and the ones that i caused they have all been used by god for my good they have made me better and they have purified and removed sin from my life that nothing but suffering was going to accomplish so then he goes on and talks about rejoicing in christ he said you may not be able to rejoice in your circumstances but we can always rejoice in christ we we recede that rejoicing from christ look at what he says in verse 9 as i went on to read concerning the salvation of the prophets who prophesized about grace that was to uh that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully uh that we're going to obtain it we we we can we can experience today part of what the the future glory is think about this concerning this salvation the prophets uh you know we're talking about this but in nine he says obtaining the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls look don't don't forget a nine the word obtaining that means you you can now obtain some of the outcome of your faith because you have salvation and and i love this line that he's talking about in verse nine when he talks about obtaining it we can experience today like i said even though we won't get everything that is in our future glory he's saying christ will will allow you to access some of that future glory right now because you've already obtained it through your salvation your salvation is already done charles spurgeon said this little faith will take your soul to heaven but great faith will bring heaven to your soul anyone can long for heaven but peter is urging us to exercise love faith and rejoicing that we might experience some of the glory of heaven in the midst of the suffering right now we're in the church age we're in the church age and he starts talking about this and what i read you on 10-12 he says concerning the salvation so he's talked about what our salvation is and the joy that it should bring us because we understand what our future truly is there's nothing more dangerous than someone who knows what their future is hey rick what is your future i'm gonna spend it with jesus so so what if something happens to you okay because ultimately it's not gonna like he said it might be necessary and it might be for a little while and i can still rejoice in what i'm going through because i know what the future is and the future is i'm going to be with jesus and you know what i can take some of that hope and joy and i don't say well i'm going to sit here and be all downtrodden until that happens no that brings me some joy right now as spurgeon says a little faith will take your soul to heaven but a lot of faith will bring heaven right down to your soul you can long for heaven nothing wrong with that but peter says go ahead and exercise that love faith and rejoicing now let's experience some of that glory of heaven in the midst of our suffering right now so the church age is what he's talking about the jew and gentile we've become one we're now under the authority of christ christ has fulfilled all these things that the prophets were predicting listen to what he says concerning this salvation the prophets who prophesized about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully he said you realize the fulfillment of all you knew about these prophets all that they were looking for all that they were yearning for all that they were anticipating it's us it's here it's happened we are the church age and he says the prophets of the old testament were looking toward this future and the future is now no longer the future it's here it's the present celebrate he said in 11 they were inquiring what person or time the spirit of christ in them was indicating when they predicted the sufferings of christ and the glories that would follow he said we've watched all these things the prophets were telling us about jesus is who they were prophesying yes those sufferings that they kept talking about all the prophets of the old testament he's done that he's gone to the cross he's paid for our sins he is that lamb of god he did defeat our sin he did defeat our eternal death you may be suffering right now but don't forget these prophets they were they were yearning for this and you got it you are in the church age you're living in the time that they were looking forward to how can we take it be so apathetic about the fact that we live in the church age this is what the prophets of the old testament were saying we're we're excited about this future it's now our present and peter continues to remind them and listen to this he says that even the angels are interested in the church age did you know this he talks about this he says 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 well this shows up at other places in the bible you're saying peter's saying what he's saying the angels are interested in the church age the angels are kind of checking out this whole salvation thing for human beings yes if you have your bible turn it to first corinthians chapter four verse nine listen to what uh what um uh paul is saying to the church at corinth he's reminding them of this truth as well for i think that god has exhibited us apostles as last of all like men sentenced to death because we have become a spectacle to the world to angels and to men he said it's not just human beings watching what we're going through and the suffering we're going through and the fact that we've experienced christ he said this is something that's actually interesting uh to the uh to the angels as well they're they're watching this process why because the angels rebelled just like human beings did but guess what god did not offer the angels redemption he didn't offer them salvation and so paul's saying look those of us that are apostles some of the things we've done in our life and some of the sins we've done and the fact that we've been forgiven certainly we're suffering but but the angels are looking at us going they were forgiven you know there's a third of the angels that decided to go with lucifer and they had no option of redemption and he says so the angels are watching this redemption deal that god's doing with human beings and they're interested in it and they're watching it paul talks about this again in ephesians chapter 3 verse 10 look at this in chapter 3 verse 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of god might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places god is teaching and educating the angels through the church the church is a big deal and you know you like like we said before that's what's been so weird about those of us in america with this whole pandemic situation you know when when we were attacked by on 9 11 that ran us to the church and some people faded away now but it ran us to the church the pandemic's been kind of an odd thing because it's ran us away from church and the church age is a really really big deal and i know the church is not those buildings that's not what i'm talking about but it scattered us and we're not meeting together as the church which is the people and jesus as we once were we now have something here uh that that the prophets didn't have let me tell you what we have in the church age we have the complete word of god we now know who who is messiah we now know who is christ we now understand the suffering of the final lamb of god we have god's complete work right here and we can know everything we know the past we we know we know the present what's going on and we can see what the future is because we now have access to the word of god for the church this is glory we trusted christ and and and you know we we were born for glory we obey him we experience trials we love him we trust him and we rejoice in him this is the summation of the beginning of first peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 10. he says you got to remember what you have and you got to remember what's coming you have the complete word of god you are now part of this church that he's been talking about and your job is to glorify god this job of glorifying god has now been handed to you the church and jew and gentile and all ethnicities have become one nation uh under god that's not enough that's not the united states of america that's a people of the church all over the world the universal church all under the authority of christ all bringing him glory our response to his salvation is to obey him to to to not embarrass him through the trials we're to love him we're to trust him and the last thing the world should see and what peter is reminding these persecuted christians is the one thing the world should not see is the church when they're suffering to respond to it as if there is no hope and there is no future glory no we should be suffering in a way that looks different to the rest of the world we we should not lose hope and that's what peter wants us to know don't lose hope lose hope peter is reminding us of who we are as the church and i think as we go continue this journey with peter we don't need to forget it so if you're suffering peter says don't forget why if you're unsure and you're afraid peter says don't forget your future but if you don't belong to jesus and you are not part of the church because you haven't been redeemed well maybe today what peter is saying to you is this is what it looks like to be one of us and there's nothing good about us the only thing good about us is jesus i mean you think about peter and a lot of historians think that this actually took place we do know that that peter was martyred we'll get into that more in second peter as he's getting closer knowing that's coming but he even even the way that he finally was martyred as jesus told me would be he wanted everybody to know when they were about to kill him that he wasn't worthy to die the same way that jesus died he didn't see himself as being the big deal he saw jesus as being the big deal and once he experienced the holy spirit the the the cowardly peter and the one who would say things that he didn't really mean or really didn't understand that's over that's not who this letter is this letter is a mature devout sanctified follower of jesus and all peter was was just a fisherman was radically changed by jesus all i am is just some dad son husband brother man radio host who's been changed by jesus you certainly i'm not trying to point you anywhere for your hope or anywhere for your sanctification anywhere for your redemption i'm not trying to point you anywhere but to jesus because there's not nothing much good about all of us but there's something wonderful about him if you know jesus then let this be an encouragement to you today if you don't know jesus we're here to help as i said at the very beginning i'm not going to take you on some road where people sit around and pontificate about different theologies and right now what you need to be worried about is whether you know jesus or not and i certainly can point you to him and tell you exactly how we all became redeemed and that's by repenting of our sins submitting to his authority and just saying change me i want to be with you i believe in you and i want to love you though i've never seen you but i believe the accounts of those who did let's pray lord thank you for today we're excited about where we're going now as we walk through the the books of first and second peter lord i pray if there's anyone watching this and listening to this right now that doesn't know you as a savior and they they don't have that future glory they don't have that rejoicing and hope that peter reminds us of i pray right now any of them would just say lord jesus forgive me of my sins i repent of my sins and i turn to you i do believe that you walk this earth and i do believe that you paid for my sins on the cross and i do believe that you were resurrected i believe you defeated sin and you defeated death and i believe that you have accomplished what needs to be accomplished to make me fully righteous and maybe they just ask you lord make me righteous if there's anybody here or listening or watching that maybe he's done that for the first time or the first time you've ever met it and you want somebody tell you what to do next or to help you and walk with you you can reach out to me thank you lord jesus in your name we pray amen rick rickybubba.com if i can help you in any way thank you for being with us for the wednesday bible study and session one as we begin our journey through first and second peter

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Id: aAWLvolIrLo

Length: 55min 34sec (3334 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 02 2020