[0:00] You're listening to the sermon podcast of Grace Reformed Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee. To learn more about us, visit our website at gracereformed.org.
[0:11] And now, today's sermon. 1 Peter chapter 1, we've already covered the first two verses, so we're going to begin in verse 3 this morning.
[0:23] Hear the word of the Lord, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 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, to an inheritance that is imperishable and defiled 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.
[0:49] 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 that was tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[1:11] This is the word of the Lord. Father, we have asked now that you will come and bless these words, that you will encourage us with them, and that you will guide and direct our hearts by the means of the preaching of the gospel.
[1:22] In Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. When thinking about what Peter is writing, this is the question that came to mind this week as I was contemplating his letter.
[1:42] What matters most in life? Now how you would answer this question, what matters most in life? When you answer this question, I think most of us would likely know the right answer.
[1:58] But do our desires and our ambitions match the answer we know in our head? It's like, how do we move it from here to here? To know the truth is to have knowledge, but to believe the truth is to have hope.
[2:18] That's the difference. And hope that is based on the truth of Christ cannot be altered by this world. That's a summary of what Peter is communicating to us.
[2:31] In the opening seven verses of this letter, he wants us to know how do you survive a world that is not only falling apart because of the curse that it's underneath, but also how does your faith survive persecution and hatred toward a God you love?
[2:52] It's not just a God you're a part of. It's a God we love, and we're hated for loving him. I think that we are feeling this more and more in our country because the gospel has not been preached as it should in churches today or for the last few years.
[3:13] The good news for most is connected to morality, a moral government, a good health care system, a healthy stock market.
[3:30] And then what we're encouraged to do, based upon the moral values that we have, we're encouraged to choose a candidate that we believe that will most likely fulfill the obligations that we have set before them.
[3:44] And to hope for a better life is not sinful. To hope for a life of joy and meaning and without pain, it's not sinful to desire that. So don't misinterpret what I am saying.
[3:58] I think even more so that Christians are called to do their part, to suppress evil and to promote godliness and to be a part of the Christian call.
[4:10] I don't think it's an either or. But it is a point by which where do you put your hope? There's one what's called obligation to then extend the hand and the mercy of Christ to people, but it's another to then put your hope in the extension of it.
[4:30] And so there's a difference between wanting what is good and right for your neighbor and putting our hope in the succession of the world. I love how John Calvin, when commenting on this particular passage, I felt like he just really, he worded this beautifully.
[4:49] Let me read this to you. This is him reflecting on 1 Peter chapter 1. He says,
[5:55] Man, it's hard to find people who write like that anymore. It's good.
[6:07] For those of us who wonder if there is any more reason for life, for those of us who have no joy or hope left inside your soul, for those who have lost everything that is of value and have nothing left to live for.
[6:24] I believe Calvin said it well, that Peter is providing us Christ, the hope of Christ. Christ. And it's not a matter of if when it comes to struggle and pain and sorrow.
[6:44] But when this world finally shows us its teeth and you lose what you have so desperately been clinging on to, when that happens, Peter says, this is for you.
[7:00] This is for you. During the Reformation, the Reformers, as they were writing the creeds and confessions, they wrote something called a catechism to catechize children or the congregation to teach them in the ways of, and it was a mechanism where you read a question and you have an answer for them.
[7:18] On the first day, they would have all throughout the month, the first day of the Lord, Lord's Day 1, they would ask this beginning question. What is your only comfort in life and death?
[7:29] It's a great question. What is your only comfort? Not what is a comfort. What is a good comfort? It's the only comfort.
[7:41] The answer, that I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both life and death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood and has set me free from all the power of the devil.
[8:01] He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head. Indeed, all things must work together for my salvation.
[8:12] Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.
[8:26] It's a pretty good answer. Peter. They write this because they are aware of Peter's promises. Peter is preparing us to learn how to live for our king and in doing so to let go of the world's promises.
[8:45] And when we face darkness and we face trial, how it is that we walk through them with hope and joy. And so this morning, we are going to be encouraged to reread Calvin's quote.
[9:00] He says, with the wonderful grace of God in Christ that we may not deem it much to give up the world in order that we may enjoy the inevitable treasures of the eternal life.
[9:11] That's the part, right? I could stand up here and say, stop loving the world and give up hope in it. The question is, how? How? How many of you have just told your children to stop obeying?
[9:25] And you just raise your voice and your face gets a little redder. Does it help them? Right? Saying it multiple times. So if you need to just stand up here and say, don't love the world.
[9:37] Love your spouse. Be good. Be good. Me telling you to do that does not give you the capacities to do so. So Peter says, I have something for you.
[9:50] And this is what we're going to look at this morning. It's the hope that he gives us to one, find joy, but also endure this world while we let it go.
[10:05] So the first seven verses are really broken up into three sections. We've already covered section one, but we're going to do it just as a review this morning. And Amanda did such a wonderful job in her prayer just reminding us of that last week.
[10:16] So here's the three sections that are broken up. Verses one and two. Peter is telling us who we are in the opening sections of this. Who we are. This is our identity.
[10:28] Not only our identity, but he describes it as your new identity. Because you had one before, which is the enemy of God. So verses one and two is who we are. Our new identity. Verses three through five we're going to cover this morning.
[10:39] This is what we have. Our new motivation. What we have. What have we been given? We've been given a brand new way of looking at life. And the verses six and seven.
[10:50] Why does it matter? There's new meaning behind our life. So the who, what, and why is what we're going to be covering this morning. Just as for those of you that weren't here and if you want to write these notes down.
[11:05] This is the identity that he gave us in verses one and two. Peter describes the Christian as elect exiles. Which means you were chosen. You didn't follow Christ. He brought you to himself and then he adopted you.
[11:17] Which means you aren't just on his team. You are loved as a child. And then he comes and he lives inside you. This is, we're spirit empowered. So we are elect exiles.
[11:28] Adopted. Spirit empowered. The evidence of this is that we are believers. We actually have faith. And that comes from him. And lastly he calls us the temple of God.
[11:39] We actually house God as a means for others to benefit from. When he says sprinkled with his blood. This is what he means. We are priests who represent him to the world.
[11:53] So just to help us to go into this next section. Here is the application that really we need to keep in mind as we look at these next few verses. Everything, every single point Peter provides concerning who you are is not tied to any aspect of you.
[12:12] That's what's amazing about our identity. He doesn't look at your past or your future. He doesn't look at how you failed or your potential. It's his decision to love you, to change you and preserve you and give you a new hope.
[12:27] So you gain his name. You gain his nature and his status. You gain his home and his strength. And you fulfill his divine will. And that's an identity that can change your life.
[12:40] Because you are not the sum of your actions or the lack thereof. But man, the world loves to tell us this. So when our bodies and our minds begin to fail us, we go back and be reminded of who we are in Christ.
[12:57] Number two, what we have. Our new motivation, verses three through five. What we have. Something I've been teaching and preaching for almost, now that I think about it, for 15 years.
[13:12] Is the grace-motivated life. There's no reason to look past the gospel to find all the motivation that you need for living for Christ.
[13:27] Just for the sake to remind ourselves. Read with me verse three and following again. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 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.
[13:49] So because of what? What has Christ given us? It's God's motivation to move towards us.
[14:00] And what is it? Mercy. Right? Mercy. Mercy. He sees our sins. He sees us as a sinner. And his response to us is because of not just some mercy.
[14:13] But he says because of his great, abundant. I love how we read this in the psalm today. That the mercy is so large and vast. It's like an ocean. And our sins get lost in it.
[14:25] Or he separates them from himself as far as the east is from the west. And so this new motivation that we have, first of all, it is mercy. God's mercy should be what motivates you to love him and to live for him.
[14:40] Not fear. Not anxiety. Not doubt. Let me read this again. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again.
[14:52] To a living hope. Hope. So what he's connected is that his mercy is actually connecting you to the result of the mercy. And that is not just hope.
[15:03] But I love how Peter writes this. He says a living hope. A living hope. Now, what's the difference between a living hope and a dead hope?
[15:15] When I was 13, I think, maybe 12, I got my first dirt bike. I was so excited. I paid for it with my own money. And it was a Kawasaki 80. It was green. And it was gorgeous.
[15:27] But it didn't run. And I pulled that entire engine apart. Never done it before. And took the piston over to a friend of mine. And he says to me, I think our hopes for this bike running have all but died.
[15:45] Oh, I had a lot of hope in this bike. And I continued to have hope in that bike. But we call that a dead hope. It doesn't matter how much hope I put into it. That bike was not going to run with a seized engine.
[15:59] But that's not what Peter connects it to. He says the mercy of God has come towards you, removing your status. And so your first motivation to obey God is that he's been merciful to me.
[16:12] But what are we running towards? Not a dead hope. And not a hope connected to your performance. He says a living hope. And how is it that he connects it to it?
[16:24] Because he connects it to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus can't unrise. And he's not going to die. So as long as Jesus sits on the throne, where does your hope remain?
[16:38] Alive. I love this. This is 1 John 4, 8. If you want to write it down or you can turn there with me. We already know that according to verses 1 and 2, that the mercy that comes to us is based upon his love.
[16:53] So therefore, God's been merciful to us. And he connects our hope to Christ. And what continues to provide this living hope, it's God's love.
[17:04] I love this. This is 1 John 4, 18. It says this. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment.
[17:15] What is mercy? Mercy is to not punish us. Mercy is to not punish us. So he says, fear has to do with punishment. And whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
[17:27] If you believe that God's mercy comes to you by his choosing and by his love, then you have every reason to have a living hope. You could also write down Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 23.
[17:43] It says, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Why? For he who promised is faithful.
[17:54] You see, your hope, which is a living hope, is connected to a living God with his capacity. This is the motivation that Peter is giving believers. As you walk through this world and you've got to let go of the world and you have a purpose for your life, the first is that God has been merciful to you and he will continue to do so.
[18:10] And what you are living for, which is this hope of the resurrection of Christ, has been given to you. One last one because it's good. Romans 5, 5. Romans 5, 5.
[18:20] And he says, and hope does not put us to shame. Now, I could continue to hope in something of no value and it could at the end, when the results come, bring a lot of shame. But he's saying, if you're putting your hope in that which is from Christ, there is no reason at the end of your life to be ashamed of what you have done.
[18:38] And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Our motivation very much should be a merciful, loving God who has given us a living hope.
[18:56] This leads us to the third part of what we have received, this new motivation. He says it's an inheritance. An inheritance.
[19:09] Now, before we read the verses, I want us to just think about the concept of an inheritance. It's not something we really use today. I never really thought about what I'm going to inherit. When my parents passed away, when my father passed away, he was a missionary, so he had nothing.
[19:28] I think at the time I was even paying for his phone bill. But the concept of an inheritance is not one. I don't know if anyone here is really anticipating that. But this would make sense.
[19:39] There was emperors. There were kings. Israel was aware of the kings. And the king would pass down to its children the inheritance of what he had had.
[19:51] And so you are now being described as the adopted child of the king. And we are told that we are receiving our brother's inheritance, which is Jesus. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure Jesus has the most epic inheritance in the world, in the universe, and ever.
[20:08] Like, how do you even contemplate that? Like, how do you even wrap your mind around that idea? But what we learn from Scripture is that we will be sharing in this inheritance.
[20:19] Why is this significant to be writing this to people who are suffering? Because what Peter is wanting the church to understand is that this faith that we often put in our wealth or in our capacities or what our future might hold, he says, you don't have to do that.
[20:39] Because of who you are in Christ and because of what you receive, anything of the world, you can let it go. You don't have to put any value on it, which is so hard to do because we labor, we work hard, and we enjoy nice things.
[20:52] I mean, you do. I don't. I've never enjoyed nice things. But you are all shame of yourself. How dare you? You know, I have this theory.
[21:03] If I just take a hammer out as soon as I got a nice car and I just put a dent in it right away, I'm good. True story. Like, bought this car, most expensive car I ever purchased. Bring it home in California, and I park it, and the broom hits the chair that's hanging in the rafters and lands right on my hood.
[21:22] I had not even owned a car for a day. And I was like, well, Lord, we got that over with, didn't we? It's not wrong to keep your cars nice, okay?
[21:32] I'm not judging you. But it is interesting where we put value. If you go back and read it, I want you to listen to how he says what we have received.
[21:46] For some reason. Verse 4. To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
[21:59] Well, this means that anything of value that we could ever have is already in Christ Jesus. But let's say God wants to continue to bless us in a physical manner. He does so by promising us that any wealth or any protection or our future is insignificant here because it's waiting for us.
[22:19] And this list of words that he provides. It cannot be affected. It's not going to fade. You can't alter it. But he's removing the capacities for us to look at our performance and go, well, man, I'm just, when I get to heaven, there's going to be nothing there because look at my life.
[22:38] There's no reason to ever think you're going to have a less of an inheritance or blessing or your life is going to look different than anyone else. I think some of us are like, well, Paul's going to have like this amazing life.
[22:49] He gets the same inheritance as you do. Peter and Paul are not getting bigger inheritances. They're getting Christ and so are you. Listen to this. Listen to verse 5.
[23:00] Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last times. You see, it's not your obedience that guards your inheritance, that guards your future.
[23:11] It's God's power. And the evidence that it's there is you believing it. The evidence is of your faith. So God is the guardian of the new life. This becomes invaluable because, church, we all know that when we're facing certain struggles and we are facing temptations and when we're underneath enough pain, our hearts waver and our minds waver and our bodies waver.
[23:35] And there are times we have such shameful attitudes and shameful thoughts. And we question God and we get angry at him. It's at that moment Peter goes, yeah, I know.
[23:48] But that's why God's guarding it. You see, when you doubt him, he doesn't doubt himself. When you fail, he does not fail. The power of God's protecting your inheritance is designed to draw you back and realize, what was I putting my hope in anyways?
[24:09] Lord, forgive me. His mercy and his love and the hope that's beyond this circumstance is all guarded by a gracious and loving God.
[24:20] And so what are these motivations that we have? Mercy. Number two, a living hope. Number three, an inheritance. And number four, God's power.
[24:31] See, all of these are given. Because Peter's about to talk about what life looks like now. So he's giving them their motivation. How are you going to survive all the work that's ahead of you and all the persecution that's coming? How are you going to do this?
[24:42] Mercy, hope. Your blessings are far beyond this world. And it's all going to be accomplished by God's power. So we live each day not focusing on what we can do for God.
[24:58] That's not our motivation. We focus on what God has done for us. Then we work. This is really hard to do because at points, as a natural person, we love to look at our own efforts.
[25:15] We love to see how well we're doing. What's our progress? And we even convince ourselves that God wants to look at our progress. And he's up there cheering us on.
[25:26] As if somehow God needs our progress. You see, that's a danger and a lie. God wants, for whatever reason, he wants us to proclaim his wonders.
[25:39] And he wants us to share his love so that others might benefit. But he doesn't do so so that we might be rewarded. Our inheritance is already secure. We don't do so that we might earn mercy.
[25:51] That's transactional. We do so because it brings glory and honor and power to him. You see, this is what allows me to get up here on Sunday mornings and preach to you.
[26:03] It's that I know that my father is looking at the example of the son. And he says, John, when you preach this morning, don't get up there assuming that people are going to be impressed with how holy and righteous you are.
[26:20] There are far more holy and righteous people in that congregation. Do not get up there and assume that people are going to be impressed by how well you speak.
[26:33] There's a reason why the Bible calls it the foolishness of preaching. It says, John, get up there and wear the righteousness of Christ and show them the joy of what it looks like to live in his righteousness.
[26:46] I stand here with confidence and boldness. And I'm not running out of that room ashamed of myself for one reason. His mercy is more. I'm clothed in his righteousness.
[26:59] I have a hope far beyond your criticisms. And I stand here in the power of God. But all of us are called to live this way. You see, why would God look past the righteousness and the capacity of himself to look to your power and to look to your abilities?
[27:16] He wouldn't do that. One, because it would leave us in utter despair. But two, he has his own righteousness with Christ and he has his own power.
[27:27] And so this leads us to our third and final point, verses six and seven. Then why does this matter then? You know, because some of you are thinking like, well, John, then why do we obey?
[27:39] Then why do we do what we do? He tells us. So who we are, our new identity, one and two. What we have, this new motivation, verses three through five, and why it matters.
[27:54] He's giving you a whole new meaning to life, verses six and seven. Listen, in this, verses six, in this you rejoice, your new identity, your new motivation.
[28:07] 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 the praise and the glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[28:24] The new meaning that you have is that once you understand who you are and what your motivation for life is, he gives you a new meaning of joy.
[28:39] You see, joy is not based upon your performance. Listen to what he says. In this you rejoice. His finger is not pointing towards you. It's pointing towards God and his power and his mercy and his grace and what he has done for you.
[28:52] And he says, child, rejoice in that. Because it's unmovable and unshakable and nothing you ever do will ever result in changing it. Do you know what that means?
[29:03] Your spouse and this world, your friends and your neighbor, your government, or any other government, can remove your joy from you. Your joy is not circumstantial.
[29:15] There's nothing else in the world that is like this. Nothing. The joy that you can have to actually give you a life of meaning and value is not circumstantial.
[29:33] It's in the past. It's called gospel. It's the good news of what Jesus Christ has done. That's why on Sunday when you show up here and you're like, John, I am weak, I am messed up, I'm tired, I'm exhausted.
[29:47] You don't want better circumstances because that means they're vulnerable to change. You don't want to know what you need to do in your strength. How about I give you a list of five things to go home and try this week to find new joy?
[29:59] Or I could say, how about I point you to the five things he's already done? In this you rejoice. Well, God in his wisdom and kindness knows that we're really not good at looking at the gospel.
[30:16] And so he uses the world and the structure of the world to help us see that where our hope is is often weak. Peter instructs us to look at life in a very different way.
[30:37] He says we rejoice through the trials because trials can't change the outcome of your joy. But you know what they do? They remove the distractions of joy.
[30:48] This is why at times I find myself trying to get out of a trial or avoid them at any cost because, well, they mess with my source of joy.
[31:00] They mess with, I find comfort and security. And Peter's about to teach us here that God allows these trials because he's pulling one out of our hand and putting the eternal one back in it.
[31:12] So if a trial can mess with the ultimate source of my joy, how weak and frivolous is the source of my joy. This is what he's saying. How shallow is my heart's desire at that point if a circumstance can change it.
[31:27] See, trials are what test the legitimacy of the source of your joy. If in a trial you still have joy, you know you are now untouchable.
[31:39] You are living in the power of God. And this really leads us to our next point under why this matters. First of all, you have a new meaning of joy because it's not based upon a circumstance.
[31:55] It's based upon a person. Number two, you have a new meaning of trials. Look at this, 1 Peter verse 7. 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 the praise and the glory and honor of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[32:14] Peter is referencing this practice that many of us probably understand. It's the refiner's fire. That trials are that which burn away the dross. One commentator puts it this way.
[32:25] Dross is a substance related to the process of refining precious metals. The waste metals that are separated then when metals are purified. Intense heat causes the dross to separate from the ore and rise to the top where it forms a scum and can be extracted, leaving a pure metal base.
[32:48] That which that is causing the metal to be less valuable. So our faith, he's saying, is being tested by trials. And when our faith is under the heat of this world, the promise that Peter is saying that what ends up coming through it is the faithfulness of God.
[33:10] So trials are the heat of life. Expose the weak parts of our hope and then remove them, leaving behind the purity of the gospel.
[33:22] You see, this kind of helps us when James 1, you guys know this passage. Write it down if you want to. James 1, 2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when meet trials of various kinds.
[33:35] So we're taking Peter's idea. The trials come in and they create the heat. They start kicking up the dross. Well, once you understand what that means is that anything that's causing a distraction from my joy and my hope that's in my life, the father graciously comes and moves it to the top to get rid of it.
[33:55] So as you enter into a trial, you can say, all right, the father is about to provide for me a clearer, more concise joy. Because the trial is going to remove that which is not necessary for my life.
[34:10] It's not necessary. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you might be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
[34:22] Trials, unfortunately, we often see them as the results of either God's disapproval or our lack of obedience. But that's not necessarily true. According to God, trials are his design to help us so that we function as we should.
[34:41] Read verse 7 with me again. Because this is going to lead us to our last and final point this morning under this new motivation that we have. Why this matters. He says, Which means we have a new motivation.
[35:07] We have a new meaning for praise. We often say we want to live our lives for the praise of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
[35:18] But our words don't always match our motivation. And I'm guilty of this. I find it interesting how angry people get at me because I refuse to praise them for their Christian life.
[35:31] Or praise myself or anyone else. I've never really met a Christian that I'm impressed with. If you understand the requirement of the law, the law requires perfection.
[35:44] I've never met anyone who's even come close. Not in deed or in thought. So if I look to Christ who deserves all my praise and awe, why would I be impressed with you for somewhat, somehow, reflecting him in some small way?
[36:04] You see, at the end of all of this, the result is look at what he has done. You know why this is so important? I had to really think about this for a long time this week. Why is it so important that Peter says that? Because this has nothing to do with you.
[36:20] You know, that may sound cold. No, no. What that means is the Father comes and he wraps his arm around you and says, Child, this is a rough life. This is rough. This is tough. It's going to be a lot expected of you and this is going to be really hard.
[36:34] But I'm going to be here every step of the way. And let my mercy and my love be the reminder that as you do the work and as you proclaim goodness and you proclaim the gospel and you love your neighbor and you lay your life down, once like you may die and suffer for me, just remember, I will empower you to do all of that.
[36:52] And there's no expectation at the end of your life. As a matter of fact, all the praise is going to go to my son. So that means there's not any expectation on you. You see what it does?
[37:03] It removes that pressure that I have to perform. It's like, no, no, you don't have to perform. No. You walk in my love. You walk by faith.
[37:14] You trust in me. And at the end, the son will get you through and he will receive all the, you see what it does? It removes from you that pressure that somehow when I get to the end, I need to have God's approval.
[37:25] He says, then you already have it. All that I am doing is for the praise of the son. So get out of the way. This has nothing to do with you. You are but the object of my mercy and my love.
[37:37] And then, here's what's crazy. Jesus gets all the praise and the glory. And he holds his inheritance up.
[37:49] And he walks over and he goes, will you enjoy this with me? That's nuts. Will you enjoy all my work with me? Because I want to love you and I want you to feel my love.
[38:03] That verse should bring you comfort. At the end of it, he gets all the praise. And for whatever reason, he shares his glory with us. Because he loves us. Because we're his own.
[38:14] May be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So as trials come and expose our weakness, the result of these trials will be the evidence of God's power.
[38:30] And at the end, Christ is glorified and we share in those benefits. Just going back to verse 5, it says, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed at the last times.
[38:59] So this is what makes Sunday so important. This is why we as elders constantly evaluate and make sure that we are offering you Christ.
[39:10] Christ, if he is your living hope and he is your mercy and your love, you need to know more of him. And then Peter just does a phenomenal job of doing that.
[39:22] And so the rest of our time together, we're going to learn how to suffer together. We're going to learn how to carry each other's burdens. We're going to learn how to pray. We're going to learn how to take this light that the world hates and take it to them.
[39:34] So that they too might be rescued and might receive. But in order for us to have the strength to do that, if you're like me, evangelism is just like terrifying.
[39:47] I like to be approved. I don't like it when people disapprove of me. I even find myself wearing things that I don't like, but I know you do. It's not weird.
[39:58] It's so weird. I cut my hair in a certain way because I want you to actually just not notice me. Let me go, like, just leave me alone. Don't comment on my hair. Please don't comment on my hair.
[40:10] But we are so self-absorbed, aren't we? But then you realize you're but a blip. You're but a vapor. You die. It doesn't matter. But in the end, you get to represent the King of Kings, the Lord.
[40:21] You get to be the representation of God to somebody who wants to give up on life. Or who is pursuing sex, money, and fame as life. And will be burned.
[40:32] And will destroy themselves if they haven't already. You get to be that to them. By God's power. So, as a church, may every day we wake up and remind ourselves, who am I in Christ?
[40:46] I'm adopted. What motivations do I have to live for him? His mercy. What's this new meaning I have? Well, it's for his praise and his glory.
[41:00] I'll be able to, at the end of my life, realize that I had something far more significant than my pleasure. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful that in your word you have made it clear what you think of us and what you have promised.
[41:18] Lord, we are so often holding up other objects in place of you. Father, today you graciously walked over and you removed them out of our hands.
[41:30] And you put the sun back in our hands and said, this is your living hope. Here is my great mercy. Now go and love and obey. And show this to others.
[41:42] Father, thank you for doing this. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to the sermon podcast of Grace Reformed Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee, where everyone is in equal need of grace.
[41:56] To plan a visit or to learn more about us, visit our website at gracereformed.org.