WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.800 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.760 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.920 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:31.520 for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:37.939 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really, 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:42.579 I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible, 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:48.760 they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:54.560 do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.340 non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:04.680 hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.760 types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:11.900 --> 00:01:17.599 There we go. Let's pray. Father, sometimes Your Word is really hard to understand, 00:01:18.420 --> 00:01:23.879 and we ask, Father, that You help us to be patient as we come to parts of Your Word that we don't 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:32.179 understand. But most of all, Father, we know that Your Word speaks to us as we really are in the real 00:01:32.179 --> 00:01:39.679 world. And we ask, Lord, that You help us to hear the questions and the challenges and the comfort and 00:01:39.679 --> 00:01:47.079 the hope that Your Word brings to us this morning, to the real us in this real world. And so, Father, 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:52.079 we ask that You would be kind to us and do this in the power of Your Holy Spirit. And we ask it in the 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:56.799 name of Jesus, Your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:01.539 --> 00:02:10.680 So, just to be clear, I pray most days, I'd be a liar if I said I prayed about this every day, 00:02:10.740 --> 00:02:15.360 because some days I forget. But I pray most days that God would give me some opportunity during the 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:21.400 day to bear witness to Jesus with my words. Most days He doesn't give me an opportunity like that, 00:02:21.440 --> 00:02:29.220 or if He does, I didn't catch it. But some days He does. But I'm not always happy when He gives me 00:02:29.220 --> 00:02:36.380 this opportunity. So, a couple of weeks ago, I had a lot to do. And I had a personal errand that I had 00:02:36.380 --> 00:02:40.500 to do, and I thought it's like a five-minute walk, maybe five minutes there, ten minutes there, 00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:45.759 five minutes back. But I need to do it. And I can only do it, you know, during sort of working 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:52.960 business hours. So, I'm going to go get it done. And I go there, and within a minute or two, as I'm 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:58.819 getting the task done that I have to get done, I get into this conversation with a man who'd grown up 00:02:58.819 --> 00:03:06.139 in a Muslim-majority country, in fact, overwhelmingly Muslim country. He'd left that Muslim country, come to 00:03:06.139 --> 00:03:12.019 North America, and he was now an atheist. And for some reason, we just got chatting about things that 00:03:12.019 --> 00:03:17.479 were going on in his home country that I happen to know something about. And then before we know it, 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:24.500 he finds out I'm a pastor. And then we go into an hour-long conversation about Christianity and 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:30.479 religions and atheism and all of that type of stuff, and why he's left all religion behind. 00:03:31.299 --> 00:03:34.679 And I'm just, here's my business, me being honest. So, first of all, thank you for those who are 00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:40.080 praying as well that I would have opportunities to do this. But I pray that I'm a more holy person 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:44.480 in the future, because I have to confess, after about five minutes, I started to resent it. 00:03:44.920 --> 00:03:51.800 I was thinking to myself, I have all this work to do. I have emails to answer, amongst other things. 00:03:51.860 --> 00:03:55.340 And then it was like as if God said, okay, George, one moment, don't you pray for this all the time? 00:03:55.460 --> 00:03:59.460 Like, you know, one of the nice things about emails, they just sit there forever, right? 00:03:59.700 --> 00:04:03.480 You can always get back to them eventually. So, we end up having this, you know, 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:09.939 very interesting conversation about a whole pile of things. And, you know, he talked to me a little 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:14.939 bit about, you know, he challenged me and said, George, why is it if your religion is true that 00:04:14.939 --> 00:04:20.519 there are other religions? And I gave him a quick answer about how Christianity accounts for the 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:25.519 existence of other religions. And I said to him, back to you, I mean, the real interesting question 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:29.719 is, how does your atheism explain the fact that there's so many religions in the world? To which 00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:35.400 he'd never thought they had to think about that. So, he switched the topic, which is fine. That's 00:04:35.400 --> 00:04:40.060 fine. And we got into other things about, you know, in particular, he, I guess he was recently 00:04:40.060 --> 00:04:45.840 talking to a Baha'i and he was a little bit fascinated with the idea that religions were time 00:04:45.840 --> 00:04:51.100 specific. Now, he would have also said, eventually, if it's time specific, you get to today where if 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:55.200 you're enlightened, you don't believe in any God whatsoever. But he asked me a little bit about 00:04:55.199 --> 00:05:01.759 what I thought about that. And I, amongst other things, said to him, well, just because you say 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:05.860 it's a religion doesn't mean that the law of non-contradiction doesn't apply. In other words, 00:05:05.939 --> 00:05:11.480 if religions and religious leaders say different things, seek different things, promise completely 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:14.959 different things, they can't all be true. It doesn't matter if there's one time or another. 00:05:15.579 --> 00:05:19.620 And we ended up getting into a very interesting discussion about that. And that all fits in, 00:05:19.620 --> 00:05:25.639 actually, to the sermon that we're going to look at today, which talks about, well, you'll see it, 00:05:25.699 --> 00:05:31.819 it's going to talk about different ways that people answer the question, a very, very good and 00:05:31.819 --> 00:05:37.819 important question. What does it mean to love life and see good days? Like, that's something you can 00:05:37.819 --> 00:05:41.540 ask people. You know, what do you think it means to love life and see good days? Like, that's what 00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:45.259 you'd like. Everybody likes that, wouldn't they? We'd like to love life. We'd like to see good days. 00:05:45.259 --> 00:05:51.039 Like, how did that, like, what do you, how do you think about that and understand that? And the text 00:05:51.039 --> 00:05:55.899 is going to talk about this in a very profound way, because it's going to introduce how does that, 00:05:56.699 --> 00:06:01.920 your understanding of what a good life is like, like, what is it, what, what does a really good 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:08.459 life look like? And then the Bible is going to throw a curveball or a screwball and say, 00:06:08.539 --> 00:06:13.379 and how does that fit with suffering? That's something we don't normally think about. Anyway, let's look. 00:06:13.379 --> 00:06:19.219 It's 1 Peter chapter 3. We preach through books of the Bible, and we're going through 1 Peter, 00:06:19.540 --> 00:06:26.480 and it's 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 8. And just as you sort of turn to that and follow along, 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:29.620 the words will be on the screen, but it's always good to have your own Bible with you, 00:06:29.699 --> 00:06:35.139 to read it for yourself and to look around what's going on. And for some people, they like paper Bibles 00:06:35.139 --> 00:06:38.680 to underline things and make little notes on the side, and that's really good as well. 00:06:38.680 --> 00:06:45.120 Well, just as we read it, this is a letter that was originally a circular letter to a group of 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:52.800 Christians who'd come from paganism in an area that we now call Turkey. And Peter is one of Jesus's 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:59.899 closest disciples. He was the man who denied Jesus on the night that he was captured. He was a witness 00:06:59.899 --> 00:07:04.300 of the resurrection. And this has been written about 30 years or so after the death and resurrection 00:07:04.300 --> 00:07:11.060 of Jesus. And it's written a year or two before Peter will die a martyr's death. And in that martyr's 00:07:11.060 --> 00:07:16.100 death, he could have avoided it if he had just said that Jesus really didn't rise from the dead. 00:07:16.300 --> 00:07:22.100 If he had just said that, he would be able to live. But he's going to die a martyr's death 00:07:22.100 --> 00:07:28.019 all because he would not deny that truth. But let's see what he has to say. Verse 8, 00:07:28.019 --> 00:07:39.339 chapter 3, finally, all of you, finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, 00:07:39.859 --> 00:07:46.219 a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, 00:07:46.779 --> 00:07:52.159 but on the contrary, bless. For this, to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing. 00:07:52.339 --> 00:07:56.399 Now just sort of pause here for a second. What does he say about finally? Well, what he's talking 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:04.439 about is just before this, he's talked about how Christians, so Christians are a sort of a minority, 00:08:04.779 --> 00:08:13.719 an unpopular minority. The general culture sees them with some suspicion. And he's talked a little 00:08:13.719 --> 00:08:19.539 bit about how you relate to the emperor and authorities in general. Then he's talked about 00:08:19.539 --> 00:08:25.779 how Christians who are slaves are to relate to their masters. Then he's talked about husbands and 00:08:25.779 --> 00:08:30.359 wives. And I've talked about these in the last couple of weeks. And when he says finally, 00:08:30.979 --> 00:08:35.659 he's sort of finishing up this section about how you talk, how you think through these things. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:41.539 And you can go back and listen to my sermons. But one of the things I said is that I said sort of two 00:08:41.539 --> 00:08:46.839 things which are relevant here. The first is that words like submission are like a dimmer switch, 00:08:46.899 --> 00:08:53.159 not an off and on switch, or an honor. Those are like dimmer switches. And what's required is that 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:59.699 Christians need to be able to have good conversations with each other to be able to help each other figure 00:08:59.699 --> 00:09:05.100 out what that means in their context. You need to have those face-to-face conversations where you cry 00:09:05.100 --> 00:09:10.699 together, you give high fives together, you pray together, you read the word together, and you need 00:09:10.699 --> 00:09:16.199 to be able to have these conversations to figure this stuff out. And so when Peter says finally, he's 00:09:16.199 --> 00:09:22.240 bringing this section to a close. So if you look again at it, it's very interesting. He's talking about how do you 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:29.620 have those good conversations in churches. Like how do you have them? And what he's going to do is he paints a picture 00:09:29.620 --> 00:09:36.960 of seven types of virtues, or seven aspects of it. And the way to understand the seven is, once again, it's like an 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:44.480 ancient arch, where there's no, they don't have rebar to hold things together. They have to cut the stones in such a way 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:49.920 that when all the stones, gravity sort of pushes the stones down and creates this very powerful, strong 00:09:49.920 --> 00:09:55.480 arch. And all seven of these stones have to be together. You take one out, the thing falls apart. 00:09:56.060 --> 00:10:00.840 And so here's what he says. Here's what you have to have to have this type of conversation in your 00:10:00.840 --> 00:10:05.399 church and between churches as well, actually. It's very interesting. Look at it again, verse 8, 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:12.139 have unity of mind. And what that means, it's not calling us to groupthink. It's not calling us to be an 00:10:12.139 --> 00:10:17.960 echo chamber. It's not calling us to have an algorithm, so we only get outraged at the same 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:24.879 things and delighted by the same things. It's nothing like that. And underneath it is an idea 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:31.080 that you've got to think out of the same truths. You've got to think out of things, the same ideas, 00:10:31.199 --> 00:10:37.439 or the same basic content. I won't go into it. You can just sort of think about it. But it's actually 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:45.880 more important what you think from than what you think to. Because at the end, over the course of 00:10:45.880 --> 00:10:55.020 your life, what you think from will determine more things than what you think to. So it could be that 00:10:55.020 --> 00:11:02.140 an atheist, for instance, and a Christian, for different reasons, come to maybe believe that, 00:11:02.139 --> 00:11:08.120 I don't know, like something like taking a life in the womb is wrong. But they're going to think 00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:13.120 about it from different premises, which means that there's going to be a whole lot of other areas 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:17.559 where they don't, or they might actually both come to the conclusion that it's a human being, 00:11:17.639 --> 00:11:22.419 but the atheist then might go further and say you can do this and that. And what you argue from 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:28.200 is more important. And so this unity of mind is really calling us to think from the same basis. 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:33.280 It's to think from the scriptures and the gospel. And to think from that. And if you think from that, 00:11:33.379 --> 00:11:38.060 then that's going to be hopeful. Hopefully you can come to some type of harmony in how you think. 00:11:38.840 --> 00:11:42.220 And then, you know, when you think, to think together with sympathy, 00:11:43.420 --> 00:11:48.940 that means really having a sense of the struggles that somebody else is going through, 00:11:49.020 --> 00:11:55.140 and maybe how that's going to mean that they have blind spots to certain types of things. 00:11:55.139 --> 00:11:59.779 And you need to have sympathy as you're talking and trying to figure that out. At the same time, 00:11:59.860 --> 00:12:04.960 maybe because you haven't had those hard times, you have some blind spots. And the person who has 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:10.000 had the hard times needs to have some sympathy to you. And you're going to have a different type of 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.220 conversation if you're studying the scriptures together and you have that sympathetic heart 00:12:14.220 --> 00:12:20.639 to each other. And then to have brotherly love is that you're to talk as if you take an ideal of 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:25.720 what a really good family or really good marriage looks like. And that's how you're to talk to each 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:30.580 other. Because you understand that your family is going to continue on into the years and have 00:12:30.580 --> 00:12:35.960 relationships on into the years. And you want to have that good type of conversation as if you're 00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:41.379 almost like a family. And then a tender heart, that's a different thing than sympathy. It's really 00:12:41.379 --> 00:12:48.120 more that you can be convicted of wrongdoing. Like that when you're having this conversation and 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:51.480 somebody says, you know, I think what you just said is out of line. Rather than saying, 00:12:51.539 --> 00:12:55.379 how dare you say that I'm out of line? I'm not out of line. Like, no, no, no, that's hard-heartedness. 00:12:55.460 --> 00:13:01.679 A tender-heartedness goes, you know what? I think you're right. I was out of line when I said that. 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:09.080 I was too harsh. I was being too, I was attacking when I shouldn't have been. That's what tender heart 00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:15.180 means. And then humble mind, well, that's the most wonderful of all. Humble mind doesn't mean 00:13:15.179 --> 00:13:21.879 gullible. In fact, if you have a humble mind, you'll never be gullible. A humble mind means that 00:13:21.879 --> 00:13:27.339 you really desire to look, you're not thinking about yourself. You're looking out to see what's 00:13:27.339 --> 00:13:31.779 really there. And you really want to learn. And you really want to grow. You want to see what's 00:13:31.779 --> 00:13:37.759 the truth and what's real. And you're willing to set aside your own preoccupations, maybe your own 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:43.559 party politics, your own philosophy. You're willing to set that aside, look out, see what's really there, 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:49.699 and learn. That's a humble mind. A humble mind is an active mind, not a passive mind. It's not gullible. 00:13:50.239 --> 00:13:56.259 It's not stupid. It's looking out. And then the other two things, do not repay, verse 9, do not repay 00:13:56.259 --> 00:14:01.739 evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless for as you were called, 00:14:02.199 --> 00:14:06.959 that you, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. These last two things are very 00:14:06.959 --> 00:14:12.799 important as well. I've shared this illustration before, but I'll share it again. I had two boys, 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:18.019 then a girl, and then two boys. And then of course I had some other kids. But here's the thing. You 00:14:18.019 --> 00:14:24.259 have four boys relatively close to age. And I have great boys, by the way. And they're wonderful men. 00:14:24.359 --> 00:14:32.199 I'm very proud of them. But there was a certain age where the two boys would be sitting together 00:14:32.199 --> 00:14:37.419 or something, and yet one pokes the other. And then the one who gets poked pokes the other one back. And 00:14:37.419 --> 00:14:41.279 then the one who got poked back pokes that. And then they poke back. And then there's a slug. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:48.240 And then there's a slug back. And you can imagine what can happen, the chaos that can assume when 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:52.980 you have several boys. And I would, of course, attempt my best to discipline them and all that. 00:14:53.079 --> 00:14:55.679 But at the end of the day, I realized when they reached a certain age, I had to have a bit of a 00:14:55.679 --> 00:15:02.500 conversation with them. More than once, by the way. By the way, you know, Louise never has to say 00:15:02.500 --> 00:15:07.480 things to me more than once. I just instantly get it and always just immediately repent. 00:15:07.480 --> 00:15:12.460 I'm just... Sometimes many of us need to be talked to more than once, right? Anyway, 00:15:12.560 --> 00:15:17.620 but I would say to them, listen, here's the issue. You guys need to decide what type of family you want 00:15:17.620 --> 00:15:24.000 to live in and what type of home you want to have. You need to make a decision because you see that if 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:31.120 you want to make sure you're the last one to do the poking, and if you want to never have it that 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:35.860 you're the last one poked, you're just going to have poking and punching all the time. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:40.740 And you won't want to come home. And you won't want to do things together. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:49.000 And the only way to break that cycle is if someone says, I will be the last one punched in the 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:56.039 shoulder. There's no other way around it. Somebody has to actually say, I'll be the last one poked. 00:15:56.039 --> 00:16:05.480 And you need that if you're going to have some peace and harmony. So there was a Christian a long 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:09.379 time ago who said, whenever two or more Christians are gathered together there, there is friction. 00:16:10.699 --> 00:16:17.059 And that's always true. And so if you're going to have good conversations in a congregation and 00:16:17.059 --> 00:16:23.419 between congregations, on top of thinking out of the same thing and having sympathy for others and 00:16:23.419 --> 00:16:28.159 understanding what they're going through and having an understanding that you're talking like a 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:33.259 family, a good family, and having a tender heart, you're praying that you'll be convicted of sin and 00:16:33.259 --> 00:16:39.860 open to confess it, that you also will realize that when things get heated, because sometimes get 00:16:39.860 --> 00:16:45.219 heated and you say this and then you say that and then you say this and then you say that, and what 00:16:45.219 --> 00:16:49.959 happens when that's going on is each of you forget the first things, all the other things that you've 00:16:49.960 --> 00:16:53.780 said, all you remember are the things the other person said. And at some point in time, if you want 00:16:53.780 --> 00:17:01.860 to stop all of that, you just got to stop it. You got to let the other person have that last angry 00:17:01.860 --> 00:17:06.980 word, otherwise there's going to be no peace. And that's a very, very beautiful vision about how you 00:17:06.980 --> 00:17:13.500 have good conversations in a congregation. And it's something that we should pray that would happen to 00:17:13.500 --> 00:17:28.099 us as a church, that these are something that we'll grow in. But now, Peter goes in a very, very 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:36.740 interesting direction. And he, so, you know, this is all really good. Here's how we're going to have 00:17:36.740 --> 00:17:44.120 good conversations. And now he's going to get really realistic. Because some of the people in the 00:17:44.120 --> 00:17:50.160 congregation are suffering. We already know that he's talked about husbands and wives. And if we know 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:55.079 anything about families, and it includes, it means sometimes the husband's going to suffer, sometimes 00:17:55.079 --> 00:18:01.299 the wife is going to suffer, slaves always suffer. And that's separate from the fact that sometimes you're going 00:18:01.299 --> 00:18:06.500 to suffer because the local authority is demanding you do this, your boss is demanding you do this, 00:18:06.539 --> 00:18:13.599 and you can't do it because you're a Christian. And he's now going to sort of bring suffering into 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:20.759 the mix of all of this. But he does it in a very curious way. He begins, in a sense, by assuming that 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:26.879 we ask, we all can, that we ask this type of question. What does it mean to love life and see good days? 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:34.300 What does that look like? If you were to ask Canadians, what does it look like to love life and see good days? 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:42.500 Well, for a lot of us in our culture, a lot of Canadians in our culture, a good life is a life filled with 00:18:42.500 --> 00:18:51.000 pleasure. It's filled with material things and other non-material pleasures. And for others, it's all about 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:57.019 maybe having power and applause. And for others, it might be about having their political party win. 00:18:57.160 --> 00:19:02.799 And if you get away from North America or aspects of, you know, those are perennial things that the good 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:10.099 life is a life of pleasure and lots of material things. But if you get beyond that in other cultures, 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:16.460 honor-shame cultures, is the good life is where you bring honor to your family and to your group. 00:19:16.460 --> 00:19:23.860 And a bad life is where you cause any type of shame to your family, any type of shame in some 00:19:23.860 --> 00:19:30.140 cultures to your ancestors as well. You want to honor your family, you want to honor your unit or 00:19:30.140 --> 00:19:36.420 your regiment, you want to honor your family, you want to avoid all shame at all cost. And then, 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:43.600 of course, if you get even more sort of philosophical about it, in certain religions, the goal of life is 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:50.259 to live such a life that the cycle of reincarnation ends and you can merge with the one. And a good 00:19:50.259 --> 00:19:55.539 life is a life that ends with that, that you've achieved nirvana and the whole cycle of birth and 00:19:55.539 --> 00:20:01.559 rebirth ends. Buddhists would say that the whole problem, the good life is a life where you kill all 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:07.639 desire because suffering is connected to desire. And once you've stopped that, then that's the good life 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:13.580 when you no longer suffer. In fact, actually, here's the very interesting thing throughout all of these 00:20:13.580 --> 00:20:19.860 things. And Buddhists, in a sense, help Canadians to ask this type of question is, where does suffering 00:20:19.860 --> 00:20:27.759 fit in with your good life? And for the average consumerist Canadian, the average soccer mom or soccer 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:37.340 dad in a suburb, suffering always just, if you start to suffer, that's just the end. Like, 00:20:37.339 --> 00:20:41.959 suffer has no meaning. You have to do everything you can to try to avoid suffering and to maximize 00:20:41.959 --> 00:20:47.319 pleasure. And that sounds like a very attractive philosophy, and it's what advertisers push, but 00:20:47.319 --> 00:20:53.240 it's actually only a philosophy that works when you're young and good-looking and have a job and 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:58.899 making lots of money. And once those things start to go, once you have some physical illness or once 00:20:58.899 --> 00:21:03.759 you have not enough money and all those other types of things, you realize that all the promises 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:09.539 around having a good life centered on possessions and getting stuff and pleasure, that those things 00:21:09.539 --> 00:21:16.019 fall apart. It's the ideology, it's the type of belief of the good life that only really works for 00:21:16.019 --> 00:21:20.680 those years that you're young and good-looking and healthy and successful and making piles of money. 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:27.680 And once those things start to come undone... 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:34.259 There's a man, he was one of the richest people in Ottawa. Well, no, he wasn't one of the richest, 00:21:34.320 --> 00:21:40.680 he was a very rich man who'd done a lot of things in Ottawa. And he became a Christian through our church 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:47.820 very, very late in life. And one of the things about him is he regretted that he had lived his life 00:21:47.819 --> 00:21:57.859 according to that philosophy, especially as his body fell apart and his family relationships fell apart. 00:21:58.700 --> 00:22:04.500 And he realized, in a sense, how it's like that old thing, nobody on their deathbed wishes they'd spent 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:10.599 more time at the office. Like nobody on their deathbed wishes they'd spent more time watching Netflix. 00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:16.359 Like nobody thinks that once things come that are very, very hard. 00:22:17.659 --> 00:22:21.099 Well, what's the Christian answer to having a good life? 00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:27.819 Well, that's what he talks about now in verse 10. And it's setting up this other issue, which is very 00:22:27.819 --> 00:22:33.439 important. Look at verse 10 and following. He says, whoever desires to love life and see good days. 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:40.500 Now, here's a very different thing. Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:49.860 Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. Now, that little thing 00:22:49.860 --> 00:22:54.420 there, you can see it maybe on the screen, it's poetry. And the way the poetry works from there's a 00:22:54.420 --> 00:23:00.960 connection between turning from evil and doing good and seeking peace and pursuing it. And because this is 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:06.720 quoting a poem written by David a thousand years earlier, so three thousand years ago now, the word 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:13.759 for peace in the original language is shalom. And what that word shalom has added is a type of balance 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:20.559 or harmony. But it's a balance in harmony that not only is a balance in harmony within the individual, 00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:28.200 it's a balance in harmony between individuals. It's a balance in harmony between the individual and 00:23:28.200 --> 00:23:33.340 other individuals in the created order. And it's a balance in harmony, most importantly, 00:23:33.340 --> 00:23:42.519 between the human being and the triune God. It's a balance in harmony with the triune God. 00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:49.660 So it's saying here, then what is the good life? The good life is one where you don't speak evil and 00:23:49.660 --> 00:23:55.400 you're not deceit, which is lying. You're turning away from all types of evil, not just speaking it, 00:23:55.400 --> 00:24:00.180 and you're pursuing to do that which is good. And you're seeking peace. In other words, it's going 00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:04.540 to define the good, not in terms of how our culture defines good, but in the fact that there 00:24:04.540 --> 00:24:10.580 has to be this internal harmony or balance within you that also is connected to other people, but most 00:24:10.580 --> 00:24:15.759 importantly is a harmony and balance with God and that you're to pursue this. And then in verse 12, 00:24:15.820 --> 00:24:22.120 it goes even deeper, for it says, for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to 00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:27.879 their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. And that's a very, very interesting 00:24:27.879 --> 00:24:34.779 set of things because the word righteous here has two particular aspects to it. It means not only 00:24:34.779 --> 00:24:41.039 doing right things, but it also means being right with God. That's what the word righteous means in 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:48.879 the Bible, doing right things and being right with God. And so the good life, to love life, to have a good 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:55.020 life is one where you are pursuing a life where you are right with God and doing right things, 00:24:55.620 --> 00:25:01.520 knowing that as you do that, his ear is open to your prayer, that he has this relationship with you, 00:25:01.580 --> 00:25:06.560 which is close. And then this final thing, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, 00:25:06.740 --> 00:25:12.880 which is a very, very shocking type of thought. It means that every time you do something which is 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:18.720 wrong, and that, and doing wrong, by the way, it, it, it, it has two different senses. It means either 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:24.720 doing something which is wrong or turning away from doing something which is right when you should 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:29.500 do what's right. So in other words, there's two types of wrong. One type of wrong would be if I 00:25:29.500 --> 00:25:37.180 slander Bob. And if I slander Bob, say lies about Bob in such a way that everybody's going to look 00:25:37.180 --> 00:25:43.240 down their noses at Bob and not like Bob, that's slandering Bob. But the other way that I can do 00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:50.680 evil is that I might hear Andy and Sue slandering Bob. And I happen to know that Bob is innocent of 00:25:50.680 --> 00:25:55.539 all of those things. And I, I have the knowledge to know that he, they're, they're, they're not telling 00:25:55.539 --> 00:26:01.480 the truth that, that he's actually really innocent. And if I say nothing, then that's also wrong. 00:26:01.660 --> 00:26:07.160 They're both wrong, right? You can be wrong by what you fail to do when you should, and by what 00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:12.100 you actually do that you shouldn't. And what the Bible here is saying is that every time a human 00:26:12.100 --> 00:26:19.860 being does that, it's as if they're waging war on God himself. So that when I slander Bob, 00:26:20.700 --> 00:26:28.880 I'm not just slandering Bob, I'm waging war, fighting against the triune God. And when Andy and Sue 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:34.500 slander Bob, and I know that Bob is innocent, and I don't say anything to defend Bob, I don't stand up 00:26:34.500 --> 00:26:42.180 for Bob. Once again, I'm in effect fighting against God himself. I'm choosing to fight against God, 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:49.960 whether I'm conscious of it or not. That's a very, very interesting whole way of describing 00:26:49.960 --> 00:26:55.160 what it means to live a good life. But now here's the problem. 00:26:55.160 --> 00:27:05.460 Some of you might have seen the whole controversy that's going on around Sir John A. McDonald's, 00:27:06.320 --> 00:27:09.980 the house that he lived in for a couple of years in Kingston. I think it's the only 00:27:09.980 --> 00:27:15.300 place that they can commemorate Sir John A. McDonald, the founding prime minister of our country. 00:27:15.800 --> 00:27:21.180 If you haven't followed it, if you're not on the right algorithms to get outraged. 00:27:21.180 --> 00:27:28.740 And it's all about how racist and colonialist and pro-slavery and all this, like there's a whole 00:27:28.740 --> 00:27:35.180 series of slanders against the man. But, and it's a very common thing in our day and age right now 00:27:35.180 --> 00:27:43.480 to speak these types of slanders against earlier generations. And the great problem with all of them, 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:47.519 apart from the fact that they're saying untruths and it's slanderous, 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:57.180 but there's an implied type of moral virtue signaling about themselves that implies that if 00:27:57.180 --> 00:28:05.259 I lived back then when there was slavery, I would have been an abolitionist. When I, if I had lived 00:28:05.259 --> 00:28:09.960 back there when this was going on, I would have spoken out. I would have been one of the people 00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:16.940 leading to fight against all of those types of things. Now here's where the Bible is very, 00:28:16.940 --> 00:28:22.460 very subtle and very, very clever because it asks the question, what does the good life look like? 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:27.180 How do you live a good life? How do you live a life that's very satisfying? And you could get lots 00:28:27.180 --> 00:28:32.320 of Canadians who could give you answers and, and by and large, like the, the most common answers about 00:28:32.320 --> 00:28:38.700 seeking pleasure and having lots of material possessions and being well-liked and having good 00:28:38.700 --> 00:28:42.420 relationships and all of those things. And the Bible isn't saying any of those things are wrong. 00:28:42.420 --> 00:28:46.380 It's just going to say that these things are incomplete. And then it asks the question, 00:28:46.940 --> 00:28:52.160 what's going to ask the question over the next couple of weeks is how does that view of the world 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:59.560 handle when you suffer? That's not the question it asks right now. What it asks is, does your view 00:28:59.559 --> 00:29:11.259 of the world lead you to be brave enough to suffer for what is right? In other words, if your view of what 00:29:11.259 --> 00:29:17.159 the good life is, is having lots of possessions and having good relationships and having good money 00:29:17.159 --> 00:29:21.940 and good health, would that lead you to be a Martin Luther King? 00:29:21.940 --> 00:29:27.400 Would that lead you to be another Harriet Tubman? 00:29:29.779 --> 00:29:37.720 Would that lead you to be a Dietrich Bonhoeffer who worked to try to defeat the Nazis and by direct 00:29:37.720 --> 00:29:44.059 order of the Fuhrer was killed shortly before the Fuhrer took his own life because he hated him so much? 00:29:44.940 --> 00:29:51.259 Would that view of life lead you to be like one of Corrie Ten Boom and her sister and her dad 00:29:51.259 --> 00:29:56.400 and hide the Jews? Would your view of life lead you to that? 00:30:02.259 --> 00:30:07.660 We all know that if your view of life is that the good life is having as many possessions as possible, 00:30:07.660 --> 00:30:09.720 you are not going to endanger it. 00:30:12.539 --> 00:30:16.099 And this is a Christian problem, not just a non-Christian problem. If you ever read, 00:30:16.220 --> 00:30:20.059 it's a brilliant letter by Martin Luther King, his letter from a Birmingham jail, 00:30:20.059 --> 00:30:27.799 where a whole pile of white pastors condemned him for making too much of the evil of segregation 00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:36.819 from their comfortable pulpits and their comfortable pews and not being willing to shake up the establishment. 00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:41.339 And he just, it's a very powerful letter, well worth reading even today. 00:30:41.700 --> 00:30:45.139 Letters from a Birmingham, a letter from a Birmingham jail by Martin Luther King. 00:30:45.140 --> 00:30:53.880 Now, you see, this is what the Bible says here, and this is where the Bible's understanding of the good life is so profound, 00:30:54.840 --> 00:31:00.440 because as the Bible's view of the good life grips you, it will lead you to bravery and heroism, 00:31:00.520 --> 00:31:01.920 even if it's just small acts. 00:31:02.660 --> 00:31:09.180 And it's so wise and profound, because it not only, if you have this understanding, 00:31:09.180 --> 00:31:12.000 and you realize there's problems with that, that you're not brave enough, etc. 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:16.220 Everything about what follows is to build into you, 00:31:16.940 --> 00:31:18.580 well, let's look, verse 13. 00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:23.420 Now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good, right? 00:31:23.480 --> 00:31:27.940 The thing is just set before you, that the good life is doing what you should be zealous for. 00:31:27.940 --> 00:31:35.000 And it's not a stupid, naive question, because what he's going to show, 00:31:35.059 --> 00:31:39.460 he's going to show you how, if you grasp that last little bit, 00:31:39.580 --> 00:31:43.200 that if you do wrong, you're actually waging war against God, 00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:48.519 what it's doing, it's relativizing the power of the corporation, 00:31:48.779 --> 00:31:51.400 it's relativizing the power of the Supreme Court, 00:31:51.500 --> 00:31:53.600 it's relativizing the power of the state, 00:31:53.740 --> 00:31:55.820 it's relativizing the power of your family, 00:31:55.819 --> 00:31:59.359 it's realizing, making you realize that God is way more powerful 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:01.179 than all these other things. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:04.619 And why are you worried about them when you should really be thinking about 00:32:04.619 --> 00:32:05.939 what God thinks about it all? 00:32:06.679 --> 00:32:07.740 See, verse 14. 00:32:08.759 --> 00:32:11.299 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sakes, 00:32:11.539 --> 00:32:12.700 you will be blessed. 00:32:13.460 --> 00:32:15.579 Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. 00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:20.500 And we're going to see down in verse 17, it's going to say even more. 00:32:20.679 --> 00:32:22.059 And what it's saying is this, 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:24.679 that if you are pursuing, 00:32:24.680 --> 00:32:27.140 it's not that God wills that you suffer. 00:32:28.440 --> 00:32:31.259 He wills that you do that which is good. 00:32:31.420 --> 00:32:32.980 You do that which is just. 00:32:33.140 --> 00:32:34.620 You do that which is merciful. 00:32:34.820 --> 00:32:36.220 You do that which is beautiful. 00:32:36.620 --> 00:32:37.900 You do that which is good. 00:32:37.980 --> 00:32:40.860 And if you pursue to do that which is good, 00:32:41.400 --> 00:32:45.799 it will sometimes mean that you will suffer for doing good. 00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:50.460 And it's not that God desires that you suffer. 00:32:50.460 --> 00:32:52.740 He desires that you do good. 00:32:52.740 --> 00:32:56.339 But he knows that if you desire to do that which is good, 00:32:56.420 --> 00:32:59.559 you will sometimes be forced into a position where, 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:00.960 like Martin Luther King, 00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:05.019 you will be kneeling and praying on a street corner 00:33:05.019 --> 00:33:08.059 while you're beaten by batons, 00:33:08.579 --> 00:33:10.880 and fire hoses are fired on you, 00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:13.160 and dogs bark in your faces. 00:33:14.600 --> 00:33:16.660 It means like Harriet Tubman, 00:33:16.780 --> 00:33:20.520 you have to live underground as the authorities try to capture you 00:33:20.520 --> 00:33:25.240 as you're leading slaves out of bondage in slavery into Canada 00:33:25.240 --> 00:33:28.540 and the Underground Railway in Canada where they can be free. 00:33:28.539 --> 00:33:31.079 It means you hide the Jews, 00:33:31.579 --> 00:33:34.159 even in a profound anti-Semitic time. 00:33:34.379 --> 00:33:37.839 We are living in a profoundly anti-Semitic time right now, 00:33:38.279 --> 00:33:40.680 deeply anti-Semitic, 00:33:41.720 --> 00:33:46.000 where most of the brightest and best in Canada 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:51.420 are showing a disturbing moral equivalence 00:33:51.420 --> 00:33:55.740 between anti-Semites and what is the right thing to do. 00:33:55.740 --> 00:33:59.599 Do we have the courage to speak into it? 00:34:02.900 --> 00:34:05.339 Are we willing to lose an election over it? 00:34:06.299 --> 00:34:09.860 Are we willing to lose customers or church members over it? 00:34:15.860 --> 00:34:19.260 So God knows that if you pursue the good, 00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:21.800 there will maybe be times you have to suffer, 00:34:21.960 --> 00:34:24.380 but this whole thing is he said you should do good anyway. 00:34:24.380 --> 00:34:26.519 And then people might say, 00:34:26.599 --> 00:34:27.740 George, but I don't have your courage. 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:28.400 I don't have those. 00:34:28.539 --> 00:34:31.720 You see, here's what, so George doesn't have the courage. 00:34:32.200 --> 00:34:35.000 Here's what Peter is going to talk about very, very briefly 00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:36.119 in the words that follow, 00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:39.180 and I'll try to do it very, very briefly. 00:34:43.660 --> 00:34:46.240 I need Jesus to make me right with God 00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:50.279 because I do wrong things and fail to do the right things. 00:34:50.919 --> 00:34:54.519 And I don't only need Jesus to make me right with God. 00:34:55.059 --> 00:34:57.919 I need Jesus to remake me. 00:35:01.139 --> 00:35:05.159 Every day I need him to remake me. 00:35:05.159 --> 00:35:12.299 And the wonderful thing about it is that Jesus loves me so deeply 00:35:12.299 --> 00:35:13.940 that he died on the cross for me. 00:35:15.379 --> 00:35:18.819 He died so that he could bring me to God. 00:35:19.219 --> 00:35:22.599 And he doesn't just sort of bring me to God and forget about me, 00:35:23.019 --> 00:35:25.899 but that he has triumphed over sin. 00:35:26.119 --> 00:35:27.960 He has triumphed over death. 00:35:28.319 --> 00:35:31.420 He has triumphed in a way that makes us right with God. 00:35:31.420 --> 00:35:34.619 And he has triumphed over all authorities, 00:35:34.880 --> 00:35:36.860 even hostile spiritual powers. 00:35:37.059 --> 00:35:40.639 And he stands over them all, which is why we can pray to him. 00:35:41.119 --> 00:35:44.280 Everybody who prays assumes that God is sovereign enough to act. 00:35:45.820 --> 00:35:47.960 And that's what the rest of it says very briefly. 00:35:48.099 --> 00:35:48.619 Let's just look. 00:35:48.740 --> 00:35:50.840 I have to, I've, well, let's just look. 00:35:50.980 --> 00:35:52.920 Verse 15. 00:35:54.340 --> 00:35:56.119 So at the last part of verse 14, 00:35:56.260 --> 00:35:58.039 have no fear of them nor be troubled. 00:35:59.659 --> 00:36:00.900 This is not an invitation. 00:36:00.900 --> 00:36:03.180 This is not to be condemned if we are fear. 00:36:03.300 --> 00:36:05.680 It's an invitation to grow in fearlessness. 00:36:06.099 --> 00:36:08.220 The fearlessness to do that which is right. 00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:09.860 How do we do that? 00:36:10.380 --> 00:36:11.300 Well, verse 15. 00:36:11.420 --> 00:36:15.119 In your hearts, honor or set apart Christ the Lord as holy. 00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:21.180 That's part of the reason why we gather together in church on a Sunday morning. 00:36:21.400 --> 00:36:23.700 And whatever we're going to think out of or talk out of, 00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:27.079 it's a matter of encouraging each other and praying for each other 00:36:27.079 --> 00:36:31.199 and hugging each other and crying with each other and celebrating with each other 00:36:31.199 --> 00:36:36.739 as we encourage people to remember that Christ is the Lord and that he is over all. 00:36:36.739 --> 00:36:38.559 And that continues. 00:36:38.559 --> 00:36:44.639 Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason of the hope that is in you. 00:36:44.979 --> 00:36:46.619 Yet do it with gentleness and respect. 00:36:46.759 --> 00:36:49.019 You can pray that I can do that in my sermons. 00:36:49.259 --> 00:36:52.639 That as I help us to read the Bible together, 00:36:52.679 --> 00:36:55.679 and as we read the Bible together by ourselves in our small group, 00:36:55.779 --> 00:37:00.279 that we're learning how that even if a person from a Muslim-majority country 00:37:00.280 --> 00:37:02.900 who's now become an atheist and has rejected all religion 00:37:02.900 --> 00:37:06.220 and you get into a conversation that maybe you have some little way 00:37:06.220 --> 00:37:08.900 of beginning to describe to him what your hope is in Christ. 00:37:10.960 --> 00:37:13.080 And when you fail like I fail all the time, 00:37:13.180 --> 00:37:15.560 that you can say, God, forgive me for failing. 00:37:15.700 --> 00:37:18.940 Do some work in that man's life, even if I have not spoken as I should, 00:37:18.980 --> 00:37:20.360 and give me some other opportunity. 00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:23.980 Because you know that Christ knew about your failures. 00:37:23.980 --> 00:37:25.400 He knew about your lacks. 00:37:25.600 --> 00:37:26.980 He knew about your inadequacies. 00:37:26.980 --> 00:37:30.800 He still uses ordinary people, fallible people like you and me, 00:37:31.460 --> 00:37:34.199 to speak the truth about who Jesus is. 00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:38.840 Verse 16, having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, 00:37:39.400 --> 00:37:42.880 those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 00:37:43.699 --> 00:37:46.900 In other words, just as within the church you want to try to avoid, 00:37:47.139 --> 00:37:50.460 you know, casting mud back and forth with each other, 00:37:50.460 --> 00:37:51.480 just try to do that. 00:37:51.679 --> 00:37:54.480 Be always, the more a person dislikes you, 00:37:54.519 --> 00:37:56.420 to try to be the one who's the calm one. 00:37:56.980 --> 00:37:58.539 The one who doesn't lose their temper. 00:37:58.740 --> 00:38:01.320 The one you call out to Christ and ask for his help, 00:38:01.380 --> 00:38:03.579 to be the one who speaks clearly and simply. 00:38:04.440 --> 00:38:05.820 And then here there's verse 17. 00:38:05.940 --> 00:38:06.960 I've already hinted at it. 00:38:07.019 --> 00:38:09.340 For it is better to suffer for doing good, 00:38:09.340 --> 00:38:12.179 if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. 00:38:13.139 --> 00:38:13.340 Right? 00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:15.320 The good life is doing that which is good. 00:38:16.780 --> 00:38:19.320 Martin Luther King looks at the segregation. 00:38:19.780 --> 00:38:21.780 Harriet Tubman looking at the slavery. 00:38:21.780 --> 00:38:26.120 The tenbins and Bonhoeffer looking at the evil of Nazism, 00:38:26.120 --> 00:38:28.840 and you're still called to do good. 00:38:29.440 --> 00:38:31.140 The good life is doing good. 00:38:31.740 --> 00:38:33.580 And even if it's going to cost you to suffer, 00:38:33.700 --> 00:38:34.840 you do that which is good. 00:38:36.840 --> 00:38:41.000 And then here, where do we get that strength and power to do it? 00:38:41.080 --> 00:38:42.140 Look at this, verse 18. 00:38:42.220 --> 00:38:42.880 It's so beautiful. 00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:46.400 For Christ also suffered once for sins, 00:38:46.840 --> 00:38:49.160 the righteous for the unrighteous, 00:38:49.940 --> 00:38:52.000 that he might bring us to God, 00:38:52.720 --> 00:38:54.780 being put to death in the flesh, 00:38:54.780 --> 00:38:56.240 but made alive in the Spirit. 00:38:56.360 --> 00:38:57.760 And that should be capitalized to the Holy Spirit. 00:38:57.860 --> 00:39:00.000 By the way, did you see yourself in the text? 00:39:00.539 --> 00:39:01.980 I see myself in the text. 00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:03.539 Did you see yourself in the text? 00:39:04.680 --> 00:39:06.320 You say, no, it doesn't mention your name, George. 00:39:06.420 --> 00:39:07.059 No, it does. 00:39:07.160 --> 00:39:07.619 Look again. 00:39:07.619 --> 00:39:10.539 For Christ also suffered once for sins, 00:39:10.639 --> 00:39:11.539 just once for all. 00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:14.659 The righteous for the unrighteous, 00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:16.539 that's George. 00:39:17.579 --> 00:39:19.159 You can put down there, 00:39:20.079 --> 00:39:22.319 the righteous Christ died for George. 00:39:23.259 --> 00:39:26.039 The righteous Christ died for Elias. 00:39:26.380 --> 00:39:29.639 The righteous Christ died for Rachel. 00:39:30.659 --> 00:39:33.859 The righteous died for Lisa. 00:39:33.860 --> 00:39:39.980 That he might bring George to God. 00:39:41.260 --> 00:39:42.320 Ross to God. 00:39:42.860 --> 00:39:43.920 Elias to God. 00:39:44.160 --> 00:39:45.059 Rachel to God. 00:39:45.480 --> 00:39:46.340 Lisa to God. 00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:48.760 You're there in the text. 00:39:50.440 --> 00:39:51.140 That's you. 00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:55.320 Oh, but does he know how, 00:39:55.420 --> 00:39:58.120 does he know how I don't have any bravery? 00:39:58.780 --> 00:40:00.740 Does he know how much of a coward I am? 00:40:00.739 --> 00:40:04.299 Does he know how much I can resent people 00:40:04.299 --> 00:40:05.539 and have unforgiveness 00:40:05.539 --> 00:40:09.259 and how lack of generosity can consume my heart? 00:40:09.959 --> 00:40:11.079 Yes, he knows all of that. 00:40:13.759 --> 00:40:15.339 He knew that when he died for you. 00:40:17.399 --> 00:40:18.399 But did he know how, 00:40:18.599 --> 00:40:19.899 I'm just really, I'm a coward. 00:40:20.059 --> 00:40:21.479 Yeah, he knew that when he died for you. 00:40:21.480 --> 00:40:28.760 And then it goes here. 00:40:28.840 --> 00:40:29.860 This is, by the way, 00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:32.039 from the verses 19 and 20 00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:35.639 are the most hard passage in the Bible to understand. 00:40:36.139 --> 00:40:37.219 Scholars will say that. 00:40:38.360 --> 00:40:39.199 I read, 00:40:40.820 --> 00:40:41.199 anyway, 00:40:41.559 --> 00:40:43.260 here's what this means very briefly. 00:40:43.420 --> 00:40:44.659 In which he went and proclaimed, 00:40:44.659 --> 00:40:45.519 so he's risen, 00:40:45.699 --> 00:40:46.860 so he dies on the cross, 00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:48.719 the Holy Spirit raises him from death, 00:40:48.719 --> 00:40:51.559 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison 00:40:51.559 --> 00:40:53.459 because they formerly did not obey 00:40:53.459 --> 00:40:54.859 when God's patience waited 00:40:54.859 --> 00:40:57.919 in the days of Noah 00:40:57.919 --> 00:40:59.339 while the ark was being prepared 00:40:59.339 --> 00:41:00.059 in which a few, 00:41:00.139 --> 00:41:00.899 that is eight persons, 00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:02.139 were brought safely through water. 00:41:02.219 --> 00:41:02.839 You go, what? 00:41:03.959 --> 00:41:05.659 It's using cultural imagery 00:41:05.659 --> 00:41:07.699 from the day which we've lost. 00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:09.319 And basically what it's saying, 00:41:09.719 --> 00:41:12.159 the word spirits there mean evil spirits. 00:41:12.579 --> 00:41:13.559 And what it's saying is 00:41:13.559 --> 00:41:14.739 that partly what happened 00:41:14.739 --> 00:41:16.359 is the time, 00:41:16.699 --> 00:41:18.159 the greatest time 00:41:18.159 --> 00:41:20.879 that evil spirits thought they triumphed 00:41:20.879 --> 00:41:22.639 was when they put God, 00:41:22.719 --> 00:41:23.539 the Son of God, 00:41:23.619 --> 00:41:24.919 to death on the cross. 00:41:25.459 --> 00:41:26.719 And the time before that, 00:41:26.799 --> 00:41:28.919 which was the greatest time of their triumph, 00:41:29.279 --> 00:41:31.239 was just before God destroyed 00:41:31.239 --> 00:41:33.639 the ancient world with a flood. 00:41:34.179 --> 00:41:36.579 And then God went and surprised them. 00:41:36.699 --> 00:41:38.199 He not only defeated those demons, 00:41:38.439 --> 00:41:39.859 he saved eight people, 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:41.359 recreated the created order, 00:41:41.559 --> 00:41:43.479 and created a new thing out of Noah. 00:41:43.480 --> 00:41:46.780 And this is Jesus going to proclaim, 00:41:47.360 --> 00:41:48.420 you think you've won, 00:41:48.519 --> 00:41:49.360 but you lost. 00:41:50.760 --> 00:41:52.260 You think you won, 00:41:52.360 --> 00:41:53.240 but you lost. 00:41:55.860 --> 00:41:57.860 Up from the grave he arose 00:41:57.860 --> 00:41:59.940 with a mighty triumph 00:41:59.940 --> 00:42:01.099 for his foes. 00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:04.219 That great old hymn. 00:42:04.480 --> 00:42:05.519 We should sing it right now. 00:42:06.539 --> 00:42:08.000 And then it mentions verse 20, 00:42:08.079 --> 00:42:08.639 in baptism, 00:42:08.820 --> 00:42:09.940 which corresponds to this, 00:42:10.039 --> 00:42:10.760 now saves you, 00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:12.619 not as a removal from dirt from the body, 00:42:12.619 --> 00:42:13.639 but an appeal to God 00:42:13.639 --> 00:42:14.480 for a good conscience 00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:15.940 to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:42:16.299 --> 00:42:17.380 All that means is 00:42:17.380 --> 00:42:18.420 it's making a connection 00:42:18.420 --> 00:42:20.440 that the waters of the flood, 00:42:20.599 --> 00:42:21.679 which were God's judgment 00:42:21.679 --> 00:42:22.759 on sin and evil, 00:42:23.219 --> 00:42:24.880 and then there was this little ark 00:42:24.880 --> 00:42:26.739 that carried that new seed 00:42:26.739 --> 00:42:28.199 of a new humanity, 00:42:28.639 --> 00:42:29.859 which still was fallen, 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:31.539 but would be another sense 00:42:31.539 --> 00:42:33.039 and a chance for the human race. 00:42:33.599 --> 00:42:34.940 And we now understand 00:42:34.940 --> 00:42:36.699 that there is a far greater ark, 00:42:36.779 --> 00:42:37.940 and his name is Jesus, 00:42:37.940 --> 00:42:39.579 and that in a sense 00:42:39.579 --> 00:42:41.599 the waters of baptism over us 00:42:41.599 --> 00:42:42.980 are illustrating both death 00:42:42.980 --> 00:42:43.960 and God's judgment, 00:42:44.340 --> 00:42:45.320 but we understand 00:42:45.320 --> 00:42:47.740 that we have put our faith 00:42:47.740 --> 00:42:48.639 and trust in Christ 00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:49.380 and we are carried 00:42:49.380 --> 00:42:50.500 through death and judgment, 00:42:50.960 --> 00:42:52.619 and it's because of his resurrection 00:42:52.619 --> 00:42:53.740 and his triumph, 00:42:54.079 --> 00:42:55.139 his death upon the cross 00:42:55.139 --> 00:42:55.940 and his resurrection, 00:42:56.300 --> 00:42:58.500 that we are made right with God. 00:42:59.119 --> 00:42:59.880 And then it ends 00:42:59.880 --> 00:43:01.179 with who has gone into heaven 00:43:01.179 --> 00:43:02.539 and is at the right hand of God 00:43:02.539 --> 00:43:03.659 with angels, authorities, 00:43:03.659 --> 00:43:05.920 and powers having been subject to him. 00:43:06.699 --> 00:43:08.219 And so this text is saying, 00:43:09.199 --> 00:43:11.399 you know how we said 00:43:11.399 --> 00:43:13.059 that if you fight against evil, 00:43:13.219 --> 00:43:14.379 if you do evil, 00:43:14.460 --> 00:43:16.299 you're really waging war against God. 00:43:17.139 --> 00:43:19.019 And if you do that which is good, 00:43:19.099 --> 00:43:21.819 you're doing that which pleases God immensely, 00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:23.119 and it's also exactly 00:43:23.119 --> 00:43:24.139 what you were made for. 00:43:24.259 --> 00:43:26.179 God made you to do that which is good. 00:43:26.279 --> 00:43:27.739 He made you to know the truth. 00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:29.279 He made you to know that 00:43:29.279 --> 00:43:31.319 which is just and merciful and beautiful. 00:43:31.759 --> 00:43:33.219 He made you to know that. 00:43:33.219 --> 00:43:34.959 He made you to want to know that. 00:43:35.179 --> 00:43:36.279 When you know these things, 00:43:36.379 --> 00:43:37.639 you're fitting in with your nature, 00:43:37.759 --> 00:43:38.639 not only your nature, 00:43:38.759 --> 00:43:40.299 but what heaven is going to be like. 00:43:40.739 --> 00:43:41.859 And that's what you should do. 00:43:41.939 --> 00:43:42.939 That's what you should pursue, 00:43:43.059 --> 00:43:44.139 even if it means going 00:43:44.139 --> 00:43:45.379 and you're having to suffer. 00:43:46.559 --> 00:43:48.019 Just look at Jesus. 00:43:48.219 --> 00:43:50.239 He died so you could be made right with God, 00:43:50.339 --> 00:43:52.399 and he's defeated all powers 00:43:52.399 --> 00:43:53.319 and all authorities, 00:43:53.500 --> 00:43:54.519 and he is in heaven. 00:43:55.239 --> 00:44:00.899 And your suffering might be a moment, 00:44:00.900 --> 00:44:03.780 but heaven is forever. 00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:06.180 And he is sovereign 00:44:06.180 --> 00:44:08.480 even over the hardest times in your life, 00:44:08.680 --> 00:44:10.400 and you can call out to him in prayer. 00:44:12.760 --> 00:44:13.840 And he looks at you, 00:44:13.860 --> 00:44:14.639 and he loves you, 00:44:14.840 --> 00:44:15.900 and he delights 00:44:15.900 --> 00:44:17.800 that you would be willing to suffer 00:44:17.800 --> 00:44:19.300 for doing that which is good. 00:44:20.940 --> 00:44:23.519 And so this Christian understanding 00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:24.360 of the good life, 00:44:24.460 --> 00:44:25.740 to live a life which means 00:44:25.740 --> 00:44:26.780 being right with God 00:44:26.780 --> 00:44:28.000 and doing right things, 00:44:28.080 --> 00:44:29.920 it fits so deeply with us. 00:44:30.940 --> 00:44:32.800 And it's a philosophy of life 00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:35.400 that not only is a good life to live, 00:44:35.620 --> 00:44:37.820 that the softest pillow in the world 00:44:37.820 --> 00:44:39.000 is a clean conscience. 00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:43.300 Softest pillow in the world 00:44:43.300 --> 00:44:44.400 is a clean conscience. 00:44:47.240 --> 00:44:48.780 It knows our weakness, 00:44:49.780 --> 00:44:51.920 and it makes us brave. 00:44:51.920 --> 00:44:55.420 I love it. 00:44:55.599 --> 00:44:56.720 It's over and over again. 00:44:56.960 --> 00:44:57.639 Lech Valencia, 00:44:58.079 --> 00:44:59.360 who defied the communists, 00:44:59.559 --> 00:44:59.639 brought, 00:44:59.900 --> 00:45:01.599 it was the beginning of the work 00:45:01.599 --> 00:45:02.260 which brought down 00:45:02.260 --> 00:45:03.320 the communist empire 00:45:03.320 --> 00:45:04.340 of the Soviet Union. 00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:06.500 It was said by people. 00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:09.639 He and those other Polish people 00:45:09.639 --> 00:45:11.420 would get on their knees 00:45:11.420 --> 00:45:12.340 before God 00:45:12.340 --> 00:45:15.200 so they could stand defiant 00:45:15.200 --> 00:45:17.000 before tyrants. 00:45:18.599 --> 00:45:19.740 Let's stand and pray. 00:45:19.739 --> 00:45:22.139 Please stand. 00:45:27.659 --> 00:45:29.039 Let's bow our heads in prayer. 00:45:33.679 --> 00:45:35.399 Father, we're so frail, 00:45:35.819 --> 00:45:39.639 and we're so frail, 00:45:40.779 --> 00:45:42.059 yet you love us, 00:45:42.659 --> 00:45:45.500 and your son took on human flesh 00:45:45.500 --> 00:45:47.019 and walked amongst us 00:45:47.019 --> 00:45:47.739 and lived the life 00:45:47.739 --> 00:45:48.799 that we could not live 00:45:48.799 --> 00:45:49.559 but we should have, 00:45:49.559 --> 00:45:51.440 and he died the death 00:45:51.440 --> 00:45:52.559 that he did not deserve 00:45:52.559 --> 00:45:53.380 but we deserved, 00:45:53.539 --> 00:45:54.619 and he did it all 00:45:54.619 --> 00:45:55.880 to make us right with you 00:45:55.880 --> 00:45:59.179 to not just to do something symbolic, 00:45:59.420 --> 00:46:00.579 but when we put our faith 00:46:00.579 --> 00:46:01.460 and trust in him, 00:46:01.599 --> 00:46:01.779 Father, 00:46:01.860 --> 00:46:03.219 he brings us to God. 00:46:03.360 --> 00:46:05.420 He brings us into this new heaven 00:46:05.420 --> 00:46:06.039 and the new earth. 00:46:06.119 --> 00:46:08.239 He brings us to be born again 00:46:08.239 --> 00:46:09.039 in this new life. 00:46:09.139 --> 00:46:10.360 Father, he does it all. 00:46:10.539 --> 00:46:11.699 He did it all for us, 00:46:11.779 --> 00:46:12.639 and so, Father, 00:46:12.699 --> 00:46:14.420 we ask that you would grip us deeply 00:46:14.420 --> 00:46:15.980 with this profound truth, 00:46:16.639 --> 00:46:17.840 that you would help us 00:46:17.840 --> 00:46:18.779 as a congregation, 00:46:18.780 --> 00:46:20.780 whether it's in the women's ministry 00:46:20.780 --> 00:46:21.840 or the men's group 00:46:21.840 --> 00:46:22.700 that we'll start up 00:46:22.700 --> 00:46:23.840 or our small groups 00:46:23.840 --> 00:46:24.900 or Sunday school 00:46:24.900 --> 00:46:26.100 or church service 00:46:26.100 --> 00:46:27.540 or just friendships, 00:46:27.840 --> 00:46:28.080 Father, 00:46:28.080 --> 00:46:29.000 that you would help us 00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:30.300 to talk about the Bible 00:46:30.300 --> 00:46:31.500 and talk about prayer 00:46:31.500 --> 00:46:32.600 and talk about Jesus 00:46:32.600 --> 00:46:33.800 in such a way 00:46:33.800 --> 00:46:34.780 that we can figure out 00:46:34.780 --> 00:46:35.960 how to live a good life 00:46:35.960 --> 00:46:36.840 in this context 00:46:36.840 --> 00:46:38.200 and how we can be brave, 00:46:38.199 --> 00:46:39.739 and we thank you, Father. 00:46:39.799 --> 00:46:41.500 We don't do it all by ourselves, 00:46:41.500 --> 00:46:42.519 but that you, Father, 00:46:42.579 --> 00:46:43.500 look over us 00:46:43.500 --> 00:46:45.059 as we have these conversations 00:46:45.059 --> 00:46:46.779 and as we celebrate 00:46:46.779 --> 00:46:47.559 with each other 00:46:47.559 --> 00:46:48.699 and commiserate 00:46:48.699 --> 00:46:49.339 with each other. 00:46:49.460 --> 00:46:49.699 Father, 00:46:49.759 --> 00:46:50.539 we give you thanks 00:46:50.539 --> 00:46:51.539 and praise that you love us 00:46:51.539 --> 00:46:52.379 and watch over us 00:46:52.379 --> 00:46:53.939 and help us to be a church 00:46:53.939 --> 00:46:55.419 that does these things well 00:46:55.419 --> 00:46:57.839 and help us to live well, 00:46:58.259 --> 00:46:58.980 to do good, 00:46:59.719 --> 00:47:00.579 to be brave, 00:47:00.960 --> 00:47:01.839 all for your glory, 00:47:01.840 --> 00:47:03.079 and we ask this 00:47:03.079 --> 00:47:03.880 in Jesus' name. 00:47:04.600 --> 00:47:04.920 Amen.