February 3, 2023 • 17 mins
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Peter wrote to churches that were enduring the scourge of persecution. He wasted no time in pointing them back to what was important; the hope that Christ-followers have in the finished work of Jesus Christ, especially His resurrection. Peter wanted the Church to understand that it makes no difference what trials, tribulations, persecutions, or hardships are happening to believers on this earth because they have an eternal hope that can never be taken away.
Why can it never be taken away?
Because it is secured by the finished work of Jesus alone, and He will see it through to its completion. From the first words of his letters to the Church, Peter was reminding them that their faith was worth it, that following Jesus was worth it because of the great hope of salvation they had been given. He was preparing them to persevere in obedience until God's work for their lives was finished. He was refocusing them on the only thing that matters; Jesus.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:06):
Welcome to drippings from the honeycomb, the official
podcast of Another 12ministries. We are so glad that
you have decided to join us aswe enjoy the sweetness of God's
word, one verse at a time.
Hello, and welcome to episodetwo of our journey through the
letters from Peter to thechurch. In our first episode, we
(00:27):
took a detailed look at whoPeter was the man that he was
the disciple that he was theapostle that he ultimately
became, and how his leadershipwas foundational for the
creation of the church, and howhe led the church in its
beginning. In this episode,we're going to shift our focus
into the actual letters fromPeter. And we're going to start
(00:49):
in first Peter one, verse three,and that reads, bless it be the
God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist, according to His great
mercy He has caused us to beborn again, to a living hope,
through the resurrection ofJesus Christ from the dead. Now
whenever we examine a passagefrom the scriptures, it's
important that we take a look atthe context in which this verse
(01:11):
was originally written. Thisverse is being written by Peter
or dictated by Peter to ascribe, and being written down
for the benefit of churches thatare undergoing heavy
persecution. These churches aresuffering for their faith, and
Christianity is relatively new,the death and resurrection of
(01:31):
Jesus Christ had happened notthat many years before this is
written. And so this fledglingreligion or fledgling practice
of worshipping God, a departurefrom the Old Testament
prescribed laws of worship andof ceremonial living, is under
attack, both from those who arefaithful to Judaism, and those
(01:52):
who hate Christianity. Inessence, the church is under
attack with persecution fromevery side. And that's exactly
how Satan wants it. He wants todiscourage these Christians, he
wants to get them to abandontheir faith, he wants to do
whatever he can to stamp out thegospel going forward, he does
not want the church to grow,because the more the church
(02:15):
grows, and the deeper the faithof these new believers becomes,
the more entrenched Christianitywill become in the world. And
the greater the light of Jesuswill prevail against Satan's
lordship over this world. And soPeter, in his letter starts out
by encouraging the believers, hestarts out by telling them that
(02:36):
they have a hope. And what isthat hope? It is the hope that
is found in the resurrection ofJesus Christ from the dead sea,
he doesn't tell them, you havehope in the cross, or you have
hope in the community of thechurch, or you have just hope in
God, just a blanket statement ofsaying you have hope in God,
which wouldn't be inaccurate.
(02:58):
There is hope to be found in Godin faith in God. But he goes
specific. He says, You have ahope, in the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead. Now,why would this be important? Why
would a church that is underheavy persecution, need to have
this kind of hope put back inthe forefront of their minds by
(03:20):
an apostolic letter? Well, thereason is pretty simple. When
you think about persecution,especially in the modern Western
world, you think about maybebeing called names or
experiencing hurtful rejectionfrom someone that maybe you
thought was your friend, ormaybe even being physically
bullied for having faith inJesus Christ and being willing
(03:41):
to step out of your comfort zoneand share the gospel with
someone. Many people in theWestern Church have never
encountered serious physicalpersecution, such as being
beaten or even executed fortheir faith. But the churches
that Peter is writing to areunder fire, they are being
killed for their belief in JesusChrist, they are being executed,
(04:01):
both by people who hate thechurch and by a government that
hates the church. And so theyare dying for their faith. They
are seeing lives extinguished,families torn apart, fathers
arrested mothers executedchildren killed for their faith.
To further understand this, weneed only turn over to First
(04:23):
Thessalonians four where itsays, Brothers and sisters, we
do not want you to be uninformedabout those who fall asleep in
death, so that you do not grievelike the rest of mankind, you
have no hope. For we believethat Jesus died and rose again.
And so we believe that God willbring with Jesus, those who have
fallen asleep in him. Accordingto the Lord's word, we tell you
(04:45):
that we who are still alive, whoare left until the coming of the
Lord will certainly not precedethose who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will comedown from heaven with a loud
command with the voice of anarchangel and with the trumpet.
Call All of God and the dead inChrist will rise first. After
that we who are still alive andour left will be caught up
(05:07):
together with them in theclouds, to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with theLord forever. Therefore
encourage one another with thesewords. You see, Peter was
writing to the church about thehope that we have in the
resurrection of Jesus, becauseHe wanted them to look past the
pain and the suffering of thisworld. He wanted them to look at
(05:29):
their future, he wanted them tounderstand that this life is
going to be difficult that thislife is going to have trials
that in this life, you may beimprisoned or you may even be
killed for your faith. If youare a parent, you may lose your
child to persecution. If you'rea child, your parents may be
(05:50):
murdered for their faith inJesus Christ. But this life
isn't the last place that wewill be. This life is only the
beginning of life for those whoare in Jesus Christ, and there
will be a great reunion. WhenJesus returns and brings
judgment and justice to theworld. When God the Father sees
(06:11):
the resurrection of JesusChrist, and the sacrifice that
he has paid for those who arefound in Him, for those who have
cried out to Jesus for salvationin this life, those people will
be granted eternal life and theywill be recompensed for their
suffering. See, there is a hopethat goes beyond time, there's a
(06:32):
hope that goes beyond the 70 or80 years that we have here on
this earth. And Peter wants thischurch to know that everything
that they are suffering is worthit. That even in the worst case,
scenario, imprisonment,execution, there is an
overwhelming hope, of eternallife found in Jesus. And it's
(06:53):
not just that that person whowas executed will have eternal
life for themselves. But theywill be with all believers at
the end of time when Jesus comesback. And that means that if
they have lost children, or aspouse, or friends or parents to
persecution, they will see themagain, they will be with them in
(07:15):
glory, they will have thiseternity to have that
relationship that was cut shorthere in this life on Earth. And
so they should be hopeful. Butlike usual, when we're talking
about the perfection, and thebeauty and the majesty of God's
plan, it goes even deeper thanthis. And if we look into what
(07:36):
Peter is communicating to thechurch, we can see that the core
principles of what Peter iscommunicating apply to the
church today. See, Peter wastrying to focus these Christians
on the fact that the center oftheir universe should be God.
See, because God authored andaccomplished salvation for them.
(07:58):
This was all his plan. He is theone who devised it. He is the
one who brought it about he isthe one who accomplished it, and
he is the one who will finish itultimately. And it's through the
work of Jesus Christ, that thosewho are followers, those who are
believers, Christians have beenborn again and have this hope.
(08:19):
And they have this hope, becauseJesus Christ finished the
redemptive work, he didn't gohalfway, he didn't do a partial
job, he finished the work, hewent to the cross after living a
perfectly obedient life. Andafter he had been in the grave
for three days, he was raisedfrom the dead by the power of
the Holy Spirit. And he is nowliving at the right hand of God
(08:44):
interceding for his people whoare still on Earth. And because
of that hope, we have hope in aliving God who is active on our
behalf. And that's exactly whatPeter was trying to tell this
church, and his words have beenpreserved for us because God is
telling us through his writingsthrough the inspired writing of
Peter here, that we have hope ina living Jesus.
(09:09):
We don't believe in a dead god,we don't believe in an idol. We
believe in a living God who isall powerful. And that is the
center of our hope. And that iswhy Peter is focusing these
believers who are going throughthese sufferings and saying,
focus on God, God has to be thecenter of it all. If you focus
(09:29):
on anything else, you will losehope. But if you focus on God
and and Jesus Christ, and whathas been done for you, you will
have hope. Now, what is thishope? What is the hope that we
cling to? Because it's easy tosay have hope? But if there's
nothing specific to hope in,then what is it we're actually
hoping for? Most of us haveheard the term pie in the sky.
(09:53):
If you're hoping without anytangible, realistic potential of
a physical manifestation Haveyour hope than it's pie in the
sky, it's worthless, it is falsehope it would be the same as
sitting in front of your stoveand hoping that if you look at
it long enough, dinner willmaterialize on the stove fully
(10:13):
cooked and you can just serveyourself a plate of delicious
food. This would be a falsehope. Why? Because we have
nothing tangible that we arehoping in. We know that dinner
doesn't just cook itself, eventhough that would be really
nice. And we would all enjoy forthat to happen. It just isn't a
reality in the world. But wehave real hope in tangible
(10:35):
things that we can lay hold offwhen it comes to being a
Christian, and placing our hopein Jesus Christ. First, we have
forgiveness of sins, as sinfulpeople. Our sins constantly
separate us from God. They arethe thing that keep us from
fellowship with God. But becauseof Christ's work on the cross,
(10:57):
we have forgiveness of sins, andwe can have that fellowship
restored through the work ofJesus Christ. We have been
adopted into God's family, wewill have fellowship with Him
not just as people, but as sonsand daughters of God, for
eternity, we will be with him inperfect harmony forever. There
(11:19):
will never be a break in ourfellowship ever again. See, when
Adam and Eve ate of theforbidden fruit, they
experienced a break in perfectfellowship with God. But through
the work of Jesus Christ, thoseof us who have put our faith and
trust in Him for salvation, havea restored Fellowship, which
will just continue to growthroughout the ages of eternity.
(11:43):
It will be greater after we goto be with him than it is now.
But it will never ever be brokenagain. We also have escape from
eternal punishment. BecauseJesus bore our punishment, we
escaped from having to bear thatpunishment. Part of the gift of
salvation is not that ourpunishment is erased. It is that
(12:05):
Jesus paid it for us seepunishment from God was still
meted out for our sin. It wasjust meted out on Jesus not on
us. He paid the price. Andbecause He paid the price, we
are now able to escape from thateternal punishment into eternal
life, because he loved us enoughto take our punishment for us.
(12:30):
In addition, in the presence ofGod, we will be free from
everything that pains us on thisearth, there will be no more
sorrow, no more pain, no moresuffering, no more sin, no more
sickness, no more death, no morepoverty, no more need or want.
We will live as redeemed peoplein a perfect kingdom in endless
(12:55):
bliss for eternity. That doesnot mean that we are going to be
some disembodied people, we aregoing to be humans living on
this earth that has beenrecreated by God, full of
beautiful nature, full ofincredible cities full of
nations that God says will comebefore Him in His holy city and
(13:16):
will worship before him with joyfor ever. One of the things I
look forward to personally inthe New Earth when God has come
back and he has remade the earthand he has brought his children
home to live with him thereforever, is the joy of walking
through the woods at night. Onthis earth. When we walk through
(13:37):
the woods at night, there areall kinds of things that could
happen. We could trip and falland hurt ourselves. We could be
attacked by a wild animal. Wecould be subjected to cold, bad
weather, hunger, any kind of anumber of things could happen to
us on a walk through the woodsat night. But in the New Earth
where everything is restored,where God removes animosity
(13:57):
between prey and Predator, wherehe removes death and injury and
sickness, I will literally beable to walk through the woods
at night and enjoy the beauty ofGod's creation. See the moon
rise, gaze at the stars. Look atthe sunrise in the morning.
without fear, without worry,without concerned, completely
(14:20):
free to enjoy God's creation, inperfect harmony with God. And
most of all, because God lovesus He will create a place for us
to be with him where we will betotally fulfilled. Our hearts
will be changed to be likeJesus, we will be made holy,
(14:40):
because he is holy. We will lovethe things that he loves. And we
will despise anything that hedoes not love. In other words,
we will shun everything that isunrighteous everything that is
unholy, and we will love onlythat which is good and right and
holy we will be free from theburden of sin Then, and we will
(15:01):
find total fulfillment. That isa thing that is nearly
impossible to find on a fallenearth. It is possible to be
fulfilled by filling ourselveswith the Word of God, and
meditating on the love of God,and worshiping God and having
our mind centered upon God. Butthe fallen condition of this
(15:24):
earth will never permit us to befully fulfilled, the way we will
be fulfilled when we are inheaven with God on the new
earth. Because on this earth, wewill still have trials, we will
still have sin, we will stillhave troubles. But when we are
with Jesus, all of that will begone. And that is what Peter is
(15:45):
trying to communicate to thechurch, both the church that he
actually wrote these letters toand the church in the ages to
come that would read his letterslike we're doing right now. He's
trying to say, give it all up.
For the one who gave it all upfor you have hope, that
sufferings that you're goingthrough right now are nothing
compared to the joy that youwill experience when you're with
(16:09):
your Savior. Don't worry aboutbeing imprisoned or being mocked
or being beaten or being stonedor being killed for your faith.
Because you have a hope thattranscends this temporary life,
you have a hope that goes beyondanything you could ever imagine.
And that hope is found in theresurrected Jesus Christ and the
(16:32):
work that he has accomplished onyour behalf. So go be a faithful
witness. Be a faithful witness,no matter what the cost, because
in the end, your hope issecured. Your hope is
guaranteed, and your hope isperfect. And it's held by God
through the sacrifice of JesusChrist on the cross.
(17:02):
I hope you enjoyed this episodeof drippings from the honeycomb.
If you would like to learn moreabout another 12 ministries and
the work that we are doing totrain youth ministry leaders to
bring the Gospel to youngpeople, visit another
twelve.org. If you would like tosupport our ministry, click on
the Donate link in thedescription below.
Welcome to drippings from the honeycomb, the official
podcast of Another 12ministries. We are so glad that
you have decided to join us aswe enjoy the sweetness of God's
word, one verse at a time.
Hello, and welcome to episodetwo of our journey through the
letters from Peter to thechurch. In our first episode, we
(00:27):
took a detailed look at whoPeter was the man that he was
the disciple that he was theapostle that he ultimately
became, and how his leadershipwas foundational for the
creation of the church, and howhe led the church in its
beginning. In this episode,we're going to shift our focus
into the actual letters fromPeter. And we're going to start
(00:49):
in first Peter one, verse three,and that reads, bless it be the
God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist, according to His great
mercy He has caused us to beborn again, to a living hope,
through the resurrection ofJesus Christ from the dead. Now
whenever we examine a passagefrom the scriptures, it's
important that we take a look atthe context in which this verse
(01:11):
was originally written. Thisverse is being written by Peter
or dictated by Peter to ascribe, and being written down
for the benefit of churches thatare undergoing heavy
persecution. These churches aresuffering for their faith, and
Christianity is relatively new,the death and resurrection of
(01:31):
Jesus Christ had happened notthat many years before this is
written. And so this fledglingreligion or fledgling practice
of worshipping God, a departurefrom the Old Testament
prescribed laws of worship andof ceremonial living, is under
attack, both from those who arefaithful to Judaism, and those
(01:52):
who hate Christianity. Inessence, the church is under
attack with persecution fromevery side. And that's exactly
how Satan wants it. He wants todiscourage these Christians, he
wants to get them to abandontheir faith, he wants to do
whatever he can to stamp out thegospel going forward, he does
not want the church to grow,because the more the church
(02:15):
grows, and the deeper the faithof these new believers becomes,
the more entrenched Christianitywill become in the world. And
the greater the light of Jesuswill prevail against Satan's
lordship over this world. And soPeter, in his letter starts out
by encouraging the believers, hestarts out by telling them that
(02:36):
they have a hope. And what isthat hope? It is the hope that
is found in the resurrection ofJesus Christ from the dead sea,
he doesn't tell them, you havehope in the cross, or you have
hope in the community of thechurch, or you have just hope in
God, just a blanket statement ofsaying you have hope in God,
which wouldn't be inaccurate.
(02:58):
There is hope to be found in Godin faith in God. But he goes
specific. He says, You have ahope, in the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead. Now,why would this be important? Why
would a church that is underheavy persecution, need to have
this kind of hope put back inthe forefront of their minds by
(03:20):
an apostolic letter? Well, thereason is pretty simple. When
you think about persecution,especially in the modern Western
world, you think about maybebeing called names or
experiencing hurtful rejectionfrom someone that maybe you
thought was your friend, ormaybe even being physically
bullied for having faith inJesus Christ and being willing
(03:41):
to step out of your comfort zoneand share the gospel with
someone. Many people in theWestern Church have never
encountered serious physicalpersecution, such as being
beaten or even executed fortheir faith. But the churches
that Peter is writing to areunder fire, they are being
killed for their belief in JesusChrist, they are being executed,
(04:01):
both by people who hate thechurch and by a government that
hates the church. And so theyare dying for their faith. They
are seeing lives extinguished,families torn apart, fathers
arrested mothers executedchildren killed for their faith.
To further understand this, weneed only turn over to First
(04:23):
Thessalonians four where itsays, Brothers and sisters, we
do not want you to be uninformedabout those who fall asleep in
death, so that you do not grievelike the rest of mankind, you
have no hope. For we believethat Jesus died and rose again.
And so we believe that God willbring with Jesus, those who have
fallen asleep in him. Accordingto the Lord's word, we tell you
(04:45):
that we who are still alive, whoare left until the coming of the
Lord will certainly not precedethose who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will comedown from heaven with a loud
command with the voice of anarchangel and with the trumpet.
Call All of God and the dead inChrist will rise first. After
that we who are still alive andour left will be caught up
(05:07):
together with them in theclouds, to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with theLord forever. Therefore
encourage one another with thesewords. You see, Peter was
writing to the church about thehope that we have in the
resurrection of Jesus, becauseHe wanted them to look past the
pain and the suffering of thisworld. He wanted them to look at
(05:29):
their future, he wanted them tounderstand that this life is
going to be difficult that thislife is going to have trials
that in this life, you may beimprisoned or you may even be
killed for your faith. If youare a parent, you may lose your
child to persecution. If you'rea child, your parents may be
(05:50):
murdered for their faith inJesus Christ. But this life
isn't the last place that wewill be. This life is only the
beginning of life for those whoare in Jesus Christ, and there
will be a great reunion. WhenJesus returns and brings
judgment and justice to theworld. When God the Father sees
(06:11):
the resurrection of JesusChrist, and the sacrifice that
he has paid for those who arefound in Him, for those who have
cried out to Jesus for salvationin this life, those people will
be granted eternal life and theywill be recompensed for their
suffering. See, there is a hopethat goes beyond time, there's a
(06:32):
hope that goes beyond the 70 or80 years that we have here on
this earth. And Peter wants thischurch to know that everything
that they are suffering is worthit. That even in the worst case,
scenario, imprisonment,execution, there is an
overwhelming hope, of eternallife found in Jesus. And it's
(06:53):
not just that that person whowas executed will have eternal
life for themselves. But theywill be with all believers at
the end of time when Jesus comesback. And that means that if
they have lost children, or aspouse, or friends or parents to
persecution, they will see themagain, they will be with them in
(07:15):
glory, they will have thiseternity to have that
relationship that was cut shorthere in this life on Earth. And
so they should be hopeful. Butlike usual, when we're talking
about the perfection, and thebeauty and the majesty of God's
plan, it goes even deeper thanthis. And if we look into what
(07:36):
Peter is communicating to thechurch, we can see that the core
principles of what Peter iscommunicating apply to the
church today. See, Peter wastrying to focus these Christians
on the fact that the center oftheir universe should be God.
See, because God authored andaccomplished salvation for them.
(07:58):
This was all his plan. He is theone who devised it. He is the
one who brought it about he isthe one who accomplished it, and
he is the one who will finish itultimately. And it's through the
work of Jesus Christ, that thosewho are followers, those who are
believers, Christians have beenborn again and have this hope.
(08:19):
And they have this hope, becauseJesus Christ finished the
redemptive work, he didn't gohalfway, he didn't do a partial
job, he finished the work, hewent to the cross after living a
perfectly obedient life. Andafter he had been in the grave
for three days, he was raisedfrom the dead by the power of
the Holy Spirit. And he is nowliving at the right hand of God
(08:44):
interceding for his people whoare still on Earth. And because
of that hope, we have hope in aliving God who is active on our
behalf. And that's exactly whatPeter was trying to tell this
church, and his words have beenpreserved for us because God is
telling us through his writingsthrough the inspired writing of
Peter here, that we have hope ina living Jesus.
(09:09):
We don't believe in a dead god,we don't believe in an idol. We
believe in a living God who isall powerful. And that is the
center of our hope. And that iswhy Peter is focusing these
believers who are going throughthese sufferings and saying,
focus on God, God has to be thecenter of it all. If you focus
(09:29):
on anything else, you will losehope. But if you focus on God
and and Jesus Christ, and whathas been done for you, you will
have hope. Now, what is thishope? What is the hope that we
cling to? Because it's easy tosay have hope? But if there's
nothing specific to hope in,then what is it we're actually
hoping for? Most of us haveheard the term pie in the sky.
(09:53):
If you're hoping without anytangible, realistic potential of
a physical manifestation Haveyour hope than it's pie in the
sky, it's worthless, it is falsehope it would be the same as
sitting in front of your stoveand hoping that if you look at
it long enough, dinner willmaterialize on the stove fully
(10:13):
cooked and you can just serveyourself a plate of delicious
food. This would be a falsehope. Why? Because we have
nothing tangible that we arehoping in. We know that dinner
doesn't just cook itself, eventhough that would be really
nice. And we would all enjoy forthat to happen. It just isn't a
reality in the world. But wehave real hope in tangible
(10:35):
things that we can lay hold offwhen it comes to being a
Christian, and placing our hopein Jesus Christ. First, we have
forgiveness of sins, as sinfulpeople. Our sins constantly
separate us from God. They arethe thing that keep us from
fellowship with God. But becauseof Christ's work on the cross,
(10:57):
we have forgiveness of sins, andwe can have that fellowship
restored through the work ofJesus Christ. We have been
adopted into God's family, wewill have fellowship with Him
not just as people, but as sonsand daughters of God, for
eternity, we will be with him inperfect harmony forever. There
(11:19):
will never be a break in ourfellowship ever again. See, when
Adam and Eve ate of theforbidden fruit, they
experienced a break in perfectfellowship with God. But through
the work of Jesus Christ, thoseof us who have put our faith and
trust in Him for salvation, havea restored Fellowship, which
will just continue to growthroughout the ages of eternity.
(11:43):
It will be greater after we goto be with him than it is now.
But it will never ever be brokenagain. We also have escape from
eternal punishment. BecauseJesus bore our punishment, we
escaped from having to bear thatpunishment. Part of the gift of
salvation is not that ourpunishment is erased. It is that
(12:05):
Jesus paid it for us seepunishment from God was still
meted out for our sin. It wasjust meted out on Jesus not on
us. He paid the price. Andbecause He paid the price, we
are now able to escape from thateternal punishment into eternal
life, because he loved us enoughto take our punishment for us.
(12:30):
In addition, in the presence ofGod, we will be free from
everything that pains us on thisearth, there will be no more
sorrow, no more pain, no moresuffering, no more sin, no more
sickness, no more death, no morepoverty, no more need or want.
We will live as redeemed peoplein a perfect kingdom in endless
(12:55):
bliss for eternity. That doesnot mean that we are going to be
some disembodied people, we aregoing to be humans living on
this earth that has beenrecreated by God, full of
beautiful nature, full ofincredible cities full of
nations that God says will comebefore Him in His holy city and
(13:16):
will worship before him with joyfor ever. One of the things I
look forward to personally inthe New Earth when God has come
back and he has remade the earthand he has brought his children
home to live with him thereforever, is the joy of walking
through the woods at night. Onthis earth. When we walk through
(13:37):
the woods at night, there areall kinds of things that could
happen. We could trip and falland hurt ourselves. We could be
attacked by a wild animal. Wecould be subjected to cold, bad
weather, hunger, any kind of anumber of things could happen to
us on a walk through the woodsat night. But in the New Earth
where everything is restored,where God removes animosity
(13:57):
between prey and Predator, wherehe removes death and injury and
sickness, I will literally beable to walk through the woods
at night and enjoy the beauty ofGod's creation. See the moon
rise, gaze at the stars. Look atthe sunrise in the morning.
without fear, without worry,without concerned, completely
(14:20):
free to enjoy God's creation, inperfect harmony with God. And
most of all, because God lovesus He will create a place for us
to be with him where we will betotally fulfilled. Our hearts
will be changed to be likeJesus, we will be made holy,
(14:40):
because he is holy. We will lovethe things that he loves. And we
will despise anything that hedoes not love. In other words,
we will shun everything that isunrighteous everything that is
unholy, and we will love onlythat which is good and right and
holy we will be free from theburden of sin Then, and we will
(15:01):
find total fulfillment. That isa thing that is nearly
impossible to find on a fallenearth. It is possible to be
fulfilled by filling ourselveswith the Word of God, and
meditating on the love of God,and worshiping God and having
our mind centered upon God. Butthe fallen condition of this
(15:24):
earth will never permit us to befully fulfilled, the way we will
be fulfilled when we are inheaven with God on the new
earth. Because on this earth, wewill still have trials, we will
still have sin, we will stillhave troubles. But when we are
with Jesus, all of that will begone. And that is what Peter is
(15:45):
trying to communicate to thechurch, both the church that he
actually wrote these letters toand the church in the ages to
come that would read his letterslike we're doing right now. He's
trying to say, give it all up.
For the one who gave it all upfor you have hope, that
sufferings that you're goingthrough right now are nothing
compared to the joy that youwill experience when you're with
(16:09):
your Savior. Don't worry aboutbeing imprisoned or being mocked
or being beaten or being stonedor being killed for your faith.
Because you have a hope thattranscends this temporary life,
you have a hope that goes beyondanything you could ever imagine.
And that hope is found in theresurrected Jesus Christ and the
(16:32):
work that he has accomplished onyour behalf. So go be a faithful
witness. Be a faithful witness,no matter what the cost, because
in the end, your hope issecured. Your hope is
guaranteed, and your hope isperfect. And it's held by God
through the sacrifice of JesusChrist on the cross.
(17:02):
I hope you enjoyed this episodeof drippings from the honeycomb.
If you would like to learn moreabout another 12 ministries and
the work that we are doing totrain youth ministry leaders to
bring the Gospel to youngpeople, visit another
twelve.org. If you would like tosupport our ministry, click on
the Donate link in thedescription below.
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