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1 Peter 1:3,9 -Our Rejoicing, A Living Hope- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2026-04-05
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First Peter chapter one verses three through nine, a living hope is our text today, our rejoicing in a living hope. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again under a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that faded not away reserved in heaven for you. Who are kept by the power of God through faith under salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein you greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be, you're in heaviness through manifold temptations. That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes though it be tried with fire might be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Whom having not seen you love in whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls. Father, thank you for the privilege and the blessing of being Christians, of being awakened, to our need of you, Lord, by the quickening work of your holy spirit. Thank you for invading our comfort zones. Thank you for parents and grandparents, maybe that planted those seeds and others came and watered or people like me, Lord, that didn't have a clue. And, Lord, you just you just revealed yourself to me when I was 20, and Lord, I've never been the same. And and so, Lord, I just I just thank you. I thank you for my salvation. I thank you for the faith that you've blessed me with. I thank you for the hope, the love that we have, the work of the Holy Spirit. I thank you that my name is written in the lamb's book of life, and Lord, that nothing nothing ever ever ever can separate me from your love. And I thank you this morning, Lord, as we get to look at the resurrection of your dear son being crucified, buried, and raised from the dead three days later. Lord, I just thank you for the hope that is ours. It's a living hope. We serve a living risen savior. So blessed now. Be our teacher. Open the scriptures to our understanding and teach us Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? The apostle Paul, he's writing concerning the heart of the gospel in first Corinthians chapter 15, which is the resurrection, He says, if if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. And he goes on to say, we ought to eat and drink today for tomorrow we die. So we ought to live a life of hedonism. We ought to just go for the gusto, so to speak, if Christ isn't raised from the dead. He said our preaching is vain if Christ isn't risen from the dead. I mean, people are following dead men, Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, and all. But Jesus is different. Jesus said destroy this temple, in three days I'll raise it up. Jesus warned his generation, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. The only sign you're gonna get is a sign of the prophet Jonah. So he's authenticating the book of Jonah by quoting out of Jonah. Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And so after Jesus was crucified and laid in the tomb with Joseph of Arimathea, you know, letting him use the tomb for the weekend, the religious leaders knew the contention of Christ. Destroy this temple, speaking of his body, in three days I'll raise it up. So they helped us by putting a quaternion of soldiers around that tomb to guard that tomb, sealing that tomb or the Roman seal punishable by death if anybody got to that tomb and, stole the body and all. And so we know the story. The the angels that came there and sat upon the stones and the stone rolled away, a 2,000 pound stone pushed uphill and the tomb was empty. The reason the stone was rolled away, not so Jesus could get out, but so that the witnesses could get in and see that the tomb was empty. And then he was seen by by Mary Magdalene whom seven demons were cast out of. And then the women that were coming to anoint him and all, they saw him next on that day, that first day of the week as he rose very early in the morning. And then after that, he was seen of Peter. And then he was seen of the two on the road to Emmaus. And then later that evening, the 10 gathered together. Thomas being absent, Jesus Jesus came into the room and revealed himself under the 10. And then eight days later, the 11 being assembled, Thomas being present, Thomas said that he wouldn't believe unless he could take his finger and put it in this place where the centurion took the spear and pierced the pericardium of Jesus and blood and water poured out. And Jesus said, look at my hands and my feet still bearing the scars of that crucifixion. And he says, my lord and my god. And Jesus said, blessed are they that believe and haven't seen Thomas, you know. And so after that, we see that the next account is the seven at the Sea Of Tiberias or Sea Of Galilee. As Peter said, I'm gonna go fishing and and, they're out there fishing kind of a deja vu. Children, you caught any fish and no, we haven't caught any fish. Cast your net on the other side. And, he'd called them to be fishers of men. But Peter, in denying the Lord three times, and the other disciples, when the shepherd was smitten, the sheep scattered, they just felt like they just solely totally blew it. They totally blew it where Jesus was apprehended in the Garden Of Gethsemane from by Judas for 30 of silver betraying the lord with a kiss, you know, portrays thou the son of man with a kiss Judas. Jesus still giving Judas a chance, and and then these these religious leaders and their their little army and stuff coming to apprehend Jesus in the Garden Of Gethsemane, and he's praying, sweating as it were great drops of blood, and he's crying out to God, if you're willing, remove this cup from me, but nevertheless, not as I will, but thy will be done. And so he's he's he's giving in to the inevitability. There is no other way. It's only by way of the cross. And the devil tried to tempt him in saying, you don't need to go by way of the cross. You can bow down and worship me, and I'll give you all these kingdoms of the world. And so he was offering Jesus the crown without the cross, and Jesus said no, because for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross despising the shame, and he's seated down at the right hand of the father. You were that joy. We are that joy that was set before him. The joy of spilling his blood, his blood being used to pay for your sins and my sins. And so this glorious good news that he's crucified, buried, raised from the dead, and the seven there, they came to the shore and children come and dine and they come to the shore and it's the Lord, you know, and he's looking a little different, but it's the Lord and he's got some bread there and he's got some coals of fish and all and and then he begins to minister to the disciples to restore them once again. Jesus had previously warned Peter that Satan desires you, Peter, to sift you as wheat to beat on you. But I'm praying for you, Peter, that your faith fail not. And when you're converted, strengthen your brethren. This is Jesus converting Peter, restoring Peter because Peter denied the Lord on three different occasions on that evening where Jesus was apprehended. He went to the house of Annas first, the previous high priest. His son-in-law Caiaphas was the acting high priest, then he went to the home of Caiaphas, then he stood before officially before the Sanhedrin on that evening. Then he was sent over to Pilate, then over to King Herod, then back to Pilate, and Pilate scourged him and had him crucified. And so we we acknowledge that. We see that. We see that none of this was by accident. It was all foreordained of God that Jesus is the lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. But what makes him different than everybody else that's ever come along to give you a promise or a hope or hope and change or build back better or mega or whatever it is, or Buddha Mohammed Confucius is he's a living savior. Yes. And he challenged the authority. He challenged the devil. He challenged the principalities and powers. He spoiled all principalities and powers. He triumphed over them in it. Pilate said, don't you know that I have power to crucify you? Jesus said, you don't have any power except that which is given you from above. Jesus had told told them, no man takes my life from me, but I willingly lay it down. I have power. You wanna know power? I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. You know, you pretenders. And so if Christ is not risen, we're of all men most miserable. Dead saviors, dead presidents, dead prophets do not instill within us a lasting hope. The hope we place in them died with them. It proved to be dead hope. Just empty promises, the hopium of deceit. The very heart of the gospel, our good news is he is risen, risen indeed, a 100% as they say today. Produce a dead body and you destroy Christianity. That's all they had to do. Produce a dead body. The best that they could come up with was lies. They paid the soldiers to say his disciples stole his body. Yeah. Right. You guys are spec ops. You guys are a quaternion, 16 soldiers guarding that tomb, and you're gonna tell me that these wimpy fishermen are able to, overthrow you and take that that that, body out of there and hide the body. Other theories, the swoon theory. Oh, it was nice and cold in there and he really didn't die. He resuscitated with the coolness of that cave type stuff. You know? No. No. No. No. No. He's we have eyewitness account. We can prove this in a court of law based upon eyewitness testimony because each and every person that saw the resurrected Christ of the disciples went to a violent death of martyrdom for the truth. All except for John the beloved, John the revelator, they tried to boil him in oil and he wouldn't boil. So they exiled him to the island of Patmos where he wrote the apocalypse, the revelation of Jesus Christ. But men are not gonna go to a to their death willingly for a known lie. Yes. Islam guys that are offering themselves as human bombs and all and thinking they're gonna get 70 virgins and all, it's because they believe a lie. But in the case of the disciples, had they stolen the body of Jesus, they would not have had the courage to go and die a death of martyrdom, violent death for a lie that they that they have. What was the benefit thereof? But because he is risen from the dead, they didn't fear death and that's what Peter's bringing out here is that we have a lively hope. We have cause for rejoicing. No matter what trials you go through, no matter what difficulty you face, we have a risen savior, and he's begun a good work in us, and he's gonna complete that work that he's begun in us because he's active. He's active right now. We could look back at the account historically, and we do that based, you know, looking for evidence thereof, Evidence that demands a verdict is Josh McDowell write a book, you know, and you look at the evidence. And it's not proven in a science room because we need to make a hypothesis and have an observation and see some changes. Christianity is proven in a courtroom of law based upon eyewitness testimony. And we also, Peter said, have the more sure word of prophecy. Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies. But we have a further proof in that. We can see it active, the work of God's salvation in each of us. Because he's a risen savior. And that work that he's begun in each of us, he's continuing to do. Transforming and changing us in the image of his dear son. Buddha can't do that. Mohammed can't do this. Confucius can't do that. Elon Musk and Jared Kushner can't do it. They can lie to you and tell you you're never gonna die, that they have technology, that they're gonna merge with, know, your humanists and transhuman and all, but it's just a lie. It's pie in the sky. I mean, you could have your head, you know, cut off and frozen and wait for a point in time that you think the medical, ability to put your head on some other body or whatever. There may be cloning. There's all other sorts of weird stuff going on and the people wearing masks and clones and doubles and all that, and I think it's this whole big part of the the delusion, setting people up for the grand delusion where as people reject the truth, we're told in second Thessalonians two that they're, God's gonna give them over to a strong delusion that they believe the lie, the lie that Satan brought forth to Adam and Eve that you won't die, promising eternal life. And here we have Jesus destroy this temple and in three days, I'll raise it up. So you produce a body, a dead Jesus after three days in the tomb and you destroy Christianity, destroy our faith. Our lives become unmanageable, miserable, empty, worthless, and hopeless. But ours is a living hope. The risen savior reserved in heaven revealed at the rapture of his church, our living hope. Number one, his resurrection. Notice verse three. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, mercy is not getting what we deserve. According to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope. So we're a new creation in Christ, begotten us again unto a lively hope, a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection in first Corinthians 15. So there's more to follow. And so the dead in Christ are during the church age at the rapture are gonna be raised from the dead. The old testament saints, they waited the crucifixion, for Jesus to he that us send it in Ephesians four had to first descend into lower parts of the earth to set Abraham, Abraham's bosom. This day, you'll be with me in paradise, Jesus told the thief upon the cross. And he emptied that compartment out. And Peter in chapter three here talks about how Jesus went into that, place called hell or shield in the Hebrew, a double compartment. Luke sixteen, one side a place of comfort, the other side a place of torment. And he emptied out the place of comfort. He emptied out the old testament, patriarchs who are waiting to be asked of the body to be present with the Lord. But still, they're awaiting the resurrection of their bodies. They're awaiting the end of the tribulation period where the old testament saints are resurrected and the tribulation saints. But you and I, we're next. You and I in the church, the church age, all those who have died, during the church age, we ask somebody to be present with the lord, their spirit is with the lord, but awaiting the resurrection. So Jesus, the first fruits, and then, the church, there, thereafter, and then we go to heaven. And then the seven year tribulation period after that, we've got the, tribulation saints, the innumerable multitude of people that died during the tribulation period by refusing the mark of the beast, and and we, we see the two witnesses also. They're a part of that first resurrection and, and then the, Old Testament saints. And then they're a part of the marriage supper of the lamb where Jesus sets up his kingdom upon earth, and he rules and reigns for a thousand years. And so four types of saints, the old testament saints, the church saints, the tribulation saints, and the millennial saints. Those during the millennium, a thousand year rule and reign of Jesus upon the earth. And we're in our new glorified bodies and fashioned after the type that Jesus could walk through walls and such, and we're so excited that we have a living hope. And we don't fear death because be absent of the bodies to be present with the Lord. Destroy this body in three days, I'll raise it up, Jesus said, and he did it. And so the early church was fearless. They didn't fear death anymore after they saw the risen savior. They didn't they didn't you would do them a favor because death is just moving out of this body into your new glorified body. And so our living hope of the resurrection now turn to Mark chapter 16. We're gonna look at the account of Mark's gospel of the resurrection the first day of the week when the ladies got to the tomb. And so he's been in the tomb three days and three nights and very early in the morning, the women are coming with spices because they know that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus didn't do it right. So they've gotta go there and do it right. And when they get there, the stone's been rolled away and the body's not in there. And there's a loin, there's a cloth that's been folded and set aside and but no no Jesus. And they don't know where he is. And so when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome. Salome is the mother of James and John. And and had brought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him and very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came under the sepulchre at the rising of the sun and they said among themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And so we're always wondering ahead of time, hey, how are we gonna get that stone? And by faith, we continue to we continue to go and and when they looked, they saw the stone was rolled away for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment and they were affrighted. And he say it unto them, be not affrighted. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go your way and tell his disciples and Peter. So singling out Peter because Peter denied the Lord on three occasions that that night. And Peter's really hurting. He's really hurting. That he goes before you into Galilee, there shall you see him as he said unto you. So he told him, he kept preempting it saying, I'm gonna be crucified and, I'm gonna be taken by wicked hands and all that, And, they just couldn't fathom that. They just kept thinking that, no. No. You're the guy that raises the dead. We saw you raise, you know, Lazarus from the dead. We saw you raise the widow of Nain's son from the dead. We saw you raise Jairus' daughter from the dead. We saw you cause the blind to see, the lame to walk, the lepers cleanse, demoniacs, you know, delivered and all. There's nothing you can't do. Why would you ever be subjected to a human power that would seek to, crucify you, kill you, capital punishment by means of crucifixion. We just don't get it. Aren't you here to overthrow the Romans? Aren't you here to set up your kingdom as the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one? We don't get it. We don't get it. And he kept telling them, tell them, tell them, tell them. And it wasn't till after the resurrection that they began to get it. And so and he say it unto them, be not afraid that you seek Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him, but go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goes before you into Galilee and there shall you see him as he said unto you. And they went out quickly and fled from the sepulchre for they trembled and were amazed. Neither said any, thing to any man for they were afraid. Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, Mary out of whom had cast seven devils. And he went and told them, that they had been with him as they mourned and wept. And so they're mourning and weeping because their hope is a dead hope. They believed in Jesus but they believed he's dead. And they when they had heard that he was alive and had seen of her, they believed not. They didn't have the faith to believe that he's actually alive. Do you believe he's alive? Do you believe he's a risen savior? After that, he appeared in another form under two of them as they walked and went into the country. So these are the two on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. And so the order of his resurrection that first day, five different appearances on that first day, was first to Mary Magdalene, whom seven demons were cast out. Then he appeared to the women, a group of women that were coming toward the tomb. Then he appeared unto Peter because Peter and John ran to the tomb, saw it empty, but then the Lord appeared unto unto Peter. And then the two on the road to Emmaus that we read about here, and, their hearts were burning after Jesus expounded unto them, the scriptures. And then he appeared in the afternoon later in the later in toward the evening, the 10, Thomas being absent as he walked into the room. And then after that, eight days later, Thomas being present, he appeared under the 11, and then then the seven beside the Sea Of Galilee. And then to the apostles in first Corinthians 15, he appeared under the apostles. He appeared under his brother, James. James and Jude did not believe in their brother as the Messiah until after the resurrection. James became a leader within the church as you see in the book of Acts chapter 15. He wasn't one of the apostles, but, Paul is making clear that James also saw the risen Christ. Then he was seen of over 500 people at one time. He's seen of the people at the at the, ascension and all as he walked upon the earth for forty days and forty nights thereafter. And then he went and ascended the ascension at the Mount Of Olives, and people there saw him. And, ten days later was Pentecost, that of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the upon the church. And so so in here, in Mark's account, the two on the road to Emmaus who went into the country, and they went and told it under the residue, neither believed they them. Afterward, it appeared under the 11 as they sat at meet and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe in my name, shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Yeah. After the resurrection, after he's seen them, think of how bold they are. In the book of Acts, you know, they these that have turned the world upside down are here, you know. You couldn't stop them. You could beat them. You could threaten them. You could do everything you want. They just wouldn't stop. We're gonna obey God rather than men. They would not stop. And no matter how much you beat upon Saul of Tarsus, Saul also in first Corinthians 15, he was also seen of me, one born out of due time. And so the Lord appeared to Saul in Acts chapter nine. Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Can you continue to kick against the goads and all? And so the Lord possibly filling up Judas' spot by bringing in, you know, Saul of Tarsus and all, a chosen vessel unto the Lord. And so the eyewitness accounts, not just an empty tomb, but of a risen savior still bearing the scars. As Thomas said, I'm not gonna believe unless I can take my finger and put it in the spot where the centurion pierced the pericardium and the blood and the water popped out. And so we see Jesus in Revelation chapter five, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose the seals. Don't weep John the lion of the tribe of Judah. He's he's prevailed. And John says, he saw a lamb as it had been slain. And so as pastor Chuck Missler used to say, the only thing human in heaven are the scars that we gave Jesus. Still bearing those scars, a reminder of his love for you and I. The nail prints in his hands, the nail prints in his feet, the centurion. And also, the disfigurement on the road to Emmaus, they didn't recognize him. It could very well be he's disfigured from the beating that he took because Isaiah fifty two fifty three says he was beaten. His visage, which means his face was so marred more than any man, more than the sons of men. So, I mean, he really really took a beating with the scourging and the different places that he was on trial, six different trials that night and beaten beyond the recognition of a man because of his love for you and I. Our living hope, first his resurrection, secondly, his reservation. Verse four, to an inheritance incorruptible, none defiled and that faded not away reserved in heaven for you. And so we have a a home called heaven. The earth is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven. And Paul in writing the church of Philippians Philippi, he says, citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for the savior, the lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. And so Jesus has reserved a place for us in heaven. This place is incorruptible. Our home in heaven is incorruptible. Our body that we're going to be within is an incorruptible body. A body that won't die. A body that can't fade away. A body that's not gonna get sick, you know, and all that. He's also has a crown for us, rewards, our inheritance. Part of that inheritance are the rewards that he lavishes upon his his bride. He has a crown of life for those who have died of martyrdom. He has a crown of rejoicing for those who have been sad. He has a crown of glory. He has a incorruptible crown that faded not away. Not a celery wreath that the Olympians would wear that fades away the fading glory of man, but an incorruptible crown in heaven that we can lay at the feet of Jesus in Revelation four with the four and twenty elders and we can sing and we can worship. Thou art worthy, oh lord, to receive glory, honor, and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure, they are and were created. Don't you want something to lay at Jesus' feet? Jesus has reserved for you an inheritance. You're a joint heir with Jesus. And all that he's purchased, all that he's won back that was forfeited by the first federal head by Adam, that the usurper, the little g god of this world that he that he stole, Jesus has has redeemed. Jesus has paid the goel price. It's because you're a prize, because you are that treasure in that field. He doesn't need another planet, but it's this planet, planet Earth that he created and he's redeemed because you're the object of his love, the one he loves. To redeem you, to destroy the power of the devil, to destroy the power of sin and death and hell, To set the captives free. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give his life a ransom and that ransom prices is precious blood. And you and I, as he receives his inheritance as king of kings and lord of lords, you and I are joint heirs with him. We share in his inheritance and this inheritance is incorruptible, fades not away. And so the blessing of this reservation that we have, this this inheritance that nobody can ever take, our living hope, his resurrection, his reservation. Thirdly, his revelation. Verse five, who are kept. This word kept is a military term, a garrison, where you're guarded. Jesus said nobody's gonna be able to pluck you out of my hand. And so he's he's gonna keep us. He's gonna finish that work that he's begun in us, who are kept by the power of God through faith, under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. And so the apocalypse, the revelation of Jesus Christ for his bride, the rapture of the church, he's ready. And so this work of salvation started. We've been saved. The word salvation is in three tenses. We've been saved from the past penalty of sin. There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We are being saved from the power of sin. In Romans six, sin shall not have dominion over you. We have a liberty of freedom because we have a risen savior, an active faith, and a living savior with the gift of the holy spirit to empower us to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. And we're being changed from glory to glory into the image of Christ, but we're not there yet. In the future tense, there's a revelation in the future tense where we're gonna be like Jesus. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. And he that has his hope in him, this living hope, my god's active. Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius can't change me. I can look back historically to the death, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension of Jesus. My faith is an intelligent faith based upon facts and I have the more sure word of prophecy, 300 prophecies fulfilled in his first coming and my faith is built on these facts. Many infallible proofs, but I also can testify I was once blind and now I see. I was once a drunk and now I'm sober. I was once a filthy rotten sinner and God has transformed and changed me. He's not done with me yet. He's got a work that he's still gonna do, but at the revelation of Jesus Christ, that work is gonna be complete, finished in the future tense, the salvation that I enjoy. So we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. The blessing of Jesus coming for his bride, the rapture of the church. All things are now ready reserved in heaven for you. Jesus told his disciples, let not your heart be troubled. I'm gonna be leaving you. I've been with you three and a half years and I know it's hard for you to comprehend. I know it's hard for you to understand, but it's expedient that I go because if I go, I can send the comforter unto you. I can send the holy spirit, the paracletus who's come alongside, but he's gonna be with you. He's gonna be in you. He's gonna be upon you. And he says, so let not your heart be troubled. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions, dwelling places. If it weren't so, I'd tell you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you onto myself that where I am, there you may be also. That's the hope of the revealing of Jesus Christ, the revelation of Jesus Christ as he's coming for his bride, the church. For you and I, he's gone to the father's house to prepare a place for his bride, and soon, very soon, with the Israeli imagery, the Hebrew imagery of a marriage where the bride of Christ, the nation of Israel, the wife of Jehovah, the next stage is that of the fetching. So we have the espousal, we're espoused to him, And Paul said, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy because I've espoused you under one husband, even Christ. But I fear as the serpent beguiled Eve that you'd be tricked, that you'd be guiled from the simplicity that's in Christ. If anybody comes along with a different Jesus or a different gospel or a different spirit, don't bear with it. Be on guard of it. Prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good, you know. And so we we need to wait for the true fetching as he comes for his bride, and so we're the five wise virgins who have oil. We have the oil of the holy spirit. We're watching. We're ready. And then after the fetching, he takes us to the father's house. At the father's house, he lavishes us with gifts, that inheritance we saw, that reservation reserved for us in heaven. And then after these gifts are poured out, we come back with him to the marriage supper of the lamb upon earth and the friend of the bridegroom, John the Baptist, and all the old testament saints are there, and the tribulation saints, but we are in the beloved. We are in Christ. We are the bride of Christ. In Revelation 19, we're in unspotted, unblemished, clean white garments, which is the righteousness of the saints. And we come back as Jude said, Jesus comes back with 10 thousands and thousands of a saint. Don't confuse the rapture with the second coming. He's coming for us. He's coming for his bride. In first Thessalonians four sixteen, Paul said, the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and the dead in Christ. What's that phrase mean? It's those who have died during the church age. When did the church age start? At Pentecost. Where's the church age end? At the rapture. So Romans Romans eleven twenty five, blindness apart has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. So this church age, there's a calling to whosoever will let them come. And so the so the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remain, you and I, we're still alive and remain, we're part of the church, shall be caught up into the clouds together with those who have been resurrected. The dead in Christ rise first and we which alive and remain shall be caught up. The Greek word is harpazo. The Latin word is rapturus. Don't listen to people say the word rapture isn't even the bible. The word trinity is in the bible. The word bible isn't in the bible. We're gonna be caught up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, so shall we ever be with the Lord. And Paul says, in first Corinthians 15, behold I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in the moment, in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump. The trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raised incorruptible. We shall be changed for this corruption must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. And so this happens at the revelation. That's the finishing of our salvation. That's the completion of our salvation is that the rapture of the church that we enter into our new glorified bodies as in a moment, a twinkling of an eye. Right now, we're struggling. We're having difficulty. We have this war that's going on between the flesh and the spirit. We believe there's there's righteousness imputed to our account. We're in Romans six, sin shall not have dominion over us. We're getting victory, but there's times we fall. If we say we have no sin, we lie and the truth isn't in us. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. But we're being changed from glory to glory into the image of Christ. As we go through trials, as we go through difficulty, as we yield to the Holy Spirit, there's a work of sanctification where we're being changed into his image. That work's gonna be completed at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Isn't that exciting? We have a risen savior, a living savior who's coming again. Buddha Muhammad Confucius can't do that. There's no reincarnation. There's no annihilation. There's no purgatory and pain to pull people out of a holding compartment. Either in Christ or you're not. You're either saint or you're an aide. You're either pregnant or not. You're there's no in betweeners. You're either forming or against him. You're gathering with him scattered abroad. You're either in heaven or you're in hell. There's no other way. There's no colonizing Mars. There's no going to the moon and getting water. There's no planet out there. There's no technology. There's no other gospel. There's no other way. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. It's simple. A child can understand, but a person who is unwilling because they love their sin, they love darkness, they'll come up with a myriad of evolutionary theories and ideas and things that stumble people. Give them a false sense of security, all because they know deep down within that one day they're gonna give an account because it's appointed unto all men once to die and then the judgment. But you've passed from death to life. You have a living hope, a living savior, and he's gonna complete that work that he's begun in you because he's alive. Your faith is active. Your hope is active. Hope is a confident expectation. What's your expectation of the future? If you base it upon the politicians, you're of all men most miserable. You're you're clueless. It's getting so bad. It's so it's embarrassing how bad it's getting. But Jesus said, there'd be a time of perplexity. No way out. Jesus said, when you see these things begin to come to pass, it's not doom and gloom. Prophecy is not doom and gloom unless you're in love with this world, unless you don't want this world to end, unless you've got a plan and a purpose and, hey, I gotta accomplish these things first. Well, good luck with that, the way things are going. Everything's imploding. Everything's being collapsed to bring forth the beast system because it's time. It's time for the stage to be set for Jesus to destroy the works of the devil, to destroy the works of the principalities and powers, and to usher in his kingdom where he's ruling and reigning with righteousness as king of kings, as lord of lords, and you and I ruling and reigning with him as kings and priests. It's very very exciting to know that all these children that have been pedophiled and preyed upon and and all the different sordid crazy horrible horrible things that have been taking place, nobody's gonna stop it. Nobody's gonna stand trial for it until they're bodily raised from the dead. The second resurrection is of the wicked dead in Revelation chapter 20, and they're gonna stand at the great white throne judgment. Not you and I. Our sins have already been paid for. The wrath of God was poured out upon his son. You and I have never a fearful looking to have judgment. When we have the Bema Seat judgment, the award ceremony in heaven at the rapture when we're at the father's house, he's lavishing rewards and gifts on us, that inheritance reserved for us in heaven. But the wicked dead, there's a fearful looking to of judgment. For the wicked dead, there is no annihilation. There is no reincarnation. The wicked dead are going to live forever, but defined as death separated from God. Outer darkness. The lake of fire. Now the lake of fire was made for the fallen angels. One third of the stars fell with Lucifer when Lucifer rebelled against God as we see in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. He rebelled against God. He wanted to be as God and he had his five I will statements in Isaiah 14. So God allows the devil to be used to show the free will of man, to tempt and seduce men if they'll follow Jesus or follow the pretender. And John three says, the reason people don't believe is not because they can't believe, they can't think it. Because the demons believe there's no such thing as an atheist. But they try to pride themselves on it because they know there's a fearful looking to have judgment. So the wicked dead are bodily raised from the dead and they stand the great white throne judgment and God plays the movie. He's got these data centers that they're building and all the data is there about you that the NSA is up compiling. And remember the devil's a counterfeit. God is omniscient. He knows everything. God is omnipresent. He's everywhere. And God is omnipotent. He's all powerful. The devil's a counterfeit. He has a limited authority and limited power. So he has to use technology. And the Lord at the great white throne judgment, he just plays the the tape. This is your life. And the only reason anybody goes to hell is not because they've sinned, because all those sins are paid for. The only reason a person goes to hell is because they choose to go to hell by rejecting Jesus Christ. He's the savior of the whole world, but especially qualified to those who believe. Do you believe this morning? Is your coming to church today simply because there's historical record of a savior that was crucified, buried, raised from the dead the third day, seen by witnesses, ascended to the right hand of the father forty days later, he's coming again. To you, it's not even he's coming again, it's historical. You live in a Christian nation and hey, I need to go to church on Christmas and Easter because it makes my wife happy, it makes my mom, my dad happy. We're wanting you to know that we have a living home, an active faith. He wants to take your religious consent to the historical facts and he wants to bring life. He wants to breathe life into you. He wants your hope to be a living hope where you get introduced to a living savior as Jesus reveals himself unto you. Without the resurrection where of all men most miserable, ours is a living hope. A blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ, Titus two thirteen. That's our hope. We're looking for the return of Jesus. He says, verse six, wherein you greatly rejoice. I don't need to be miserable, I can rejoice. I can be rejoicing. I I don't need to fear death. Jesus said don't fear them that can kill your body but fear him who can kill your body and cast your soul into hell. The devil wants to threaten you, wants to leverage you. You're gonna lose your job, you're gonna lose your house, you're gonna lose this, you're gonna lose that. How about I walk by faith and trust the Lord? How big is our God? Ours is a living hope. The two on the road to Emmaus, they're walking along and Jesus met up with them. They didn't recognize him and he asked them, why are you sad? Why are you so sad? And the answer is he's dead. Who's dead? Don't you know the prophet of Nazareth? Haven't you heard all the great things that he's done? And it says, and we had hoped in the past and we had hoped that he was the one. He was the one to overthrow the Romans, but he's dead. Our hope is dead. We trusted that it had been he. Now they have a dead hope, a dead prophet, a dead empty unbelieving heart. Then he said to them, oh fools. Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ in Luke 24, you can read it. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory. Don't you understand there's no crown without the cross? You gotta go by way of the cross first. There's no cheap gospel. There's no cheap savior. You're loved and it's his precious blood that proves your worth, that you're very valuable unto God, that you weren't redeemed of the corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Don't you guys understand that? And then it says, he expounded unto them the scriptures. That he began to expound unto them from Moses. So he's taken the old testament, he's taken the the Pentateuch, the first five books of the bible. He's taking the prophets, he's taken the Psalms, and he's preaching expounding expositional teaching going through the old testament, preaching Christ. The volume of the book is written of him. Search the scriptures and then you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me, Jesus said. So he's going through the scriptures and he's teaching them, showing them that prophetically speaking in Psalm 22 written a thousand years before Jesus is crucified, it starts out by saying, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Why are thou so far from my roaring? In Isaiah 53, he's despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him. We esteemed him not. In Genesis 22, Abraham is told by God to take his son, his only son. He's got another son, Ishmael. Oh, that Ishmael might live before you, the work of the flesh. No one, Isaac shall thy seed be called. Take thy son, thy only son, unto a mount that I'm gonna show you. Where's that mount? Mount Moriah. Where's Mount Moriah? Calvary, Golgotha. Take thy son, thy only son, and offer him as a burnt offering. In Hosea twelve ten, God said he spoke through the prophets. He also spoke through similitudes, pictures. What's the picture in Genesis 22? That a father would take his only begotten son upon Mount Calvary and offer him as a sacrifice. And Isaac being a type of Christ, Abraham being a type of God the father, Isaac says, dad, we've got the wood, dad, we've got the knife, we've got the fire, but dad, where's the lamb for the sacrifice? And Abraham responded, Jehovah Jireh, God will provide himself a lamb for a sacrifice. Jesus told the religious leaders in John eight, Abraham rejoice to see my day, and he saw it and he was glad. Paul said the gospel was before preached on to Abraham. Looking future that one day Jesus would go to the cross. The disciples missed it. They were so fixated on make Jerusalem great now that they couldn't see the cross. They couldn't see the importance of repentance and confession of sin and calling out to God to transform and change me, you know. The people of Nineveh, they were smart enough. They repented from the king on down. But they that observe lying vanities for forsake their own mercy. And Jesus is weeping over the city. He's weeping over the city four days earlier, seven days earlier as they're crying out, Hosanna, save now, save now. Psalm a 118. The same cry that they're gonna bring when he finally comes to Basra. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord, but they're saying, Hosanna, save now. And four days later, they're shouting out, crucify him, crucify him. And as he as he came on this thy day, thy very day, but you you didn't recognize me when I came in my on this thy very day, the hundred and seventy three, eight hundred and eighty days later from the command to go and restore and rebuild Jerusalem on March as Artaxerxes gave the command. And a hundred and seventy three, eight hundred and eighty days later on this thy very day, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on April. You guys missed it. And your city is left unto you desolate and he weeps over the city of Jerusalem knowing that in seventy AD, forty years future, Titus would surround that city, put a siege upon it. 2,000,000 Jews are gonna die and not one stone would remain upon another. And he's preaching this. He's teaching this. He's expounding the scriptures to these two on the road to Emmaus. And what's the result? Their hearts are burning within them. Burning hearts. No longer unbelieving hearts. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. They have a living hope, a lively hope within their hearts because of the scripture. Are you a student of God's word? Are you losing hope? Spend time in God's word. Spend time studying his word. Meditate upon his word. I saw a thing this week that that described our attention span due to social media and how small our attention span is and how little or how ineffective we are at meditation. There's a good meditation. The meditating that we speak of is not emptying your mind, it's filling your mind with the scriptures. It's Psalm one. Blessed is a man who walks not in the accounts of the ungodly nor stands on the of sinners but sit nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night. That person who goes deep with the Lord and spends time with the Lord, his faith, hope, and love are increased. You're in fellowship with the living savior. You're not going through somebody else to the savior. He's alive and he's revealing himself to you individually. God's no respecter of persons. He wants to show himself to you in your devotion, in your time as you sit at his feet. Martha, there's a lot of things to be done, but Mary's chosen the better way to hear the words of Jesus. He says verse six, wherein you greatly rejoice, and now a contrast here. Six b, though now for a season, if need be Lord, you don't need be. There's no need be. I'm good. I'm good. If need be, you're in heaviness through manifold temptations or trials or testing. God tested Abraham to see what he do in Genesis 22. And Abraham lifted the knife because he said, I said that Ishmael lived before you. You said in Isaac shall they see be called. And Hebrews 11 said that Abraham believed in the resurrection. It's coming down. God, it's your problem. And when the Lord saw that Abraham loved God supremely and that his tent was filled with laughter with Isaac, that he didn't even love love Isaac or Sarah as much as he loved the true and living God. Abraham is a man of worship. He built altars wherever he went. He didn't own any real estate except the cave at McPhilah to bury his beloved Sarah in. He was a pilgrim, a sojourner just passing through and his cousin Lot gained an affinity and appetite for the things of Egypt and then went to Sodom and Gomorrah and pitched his tent and wound up in there and he vexed his soul just overwhelmed with the things of the world. But Abram, Abraham, father of many, he was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. That's who we wanna be. We want our hope to be a lively hope, not a dead hope and dead promises. And so the now for a season, if need be be in heaviness through manifold temptations, that manifold or variegated or multitude, all of us go through temptations, all of us go through trials. This word heaviness is is pretty heavy. It speaks of the loss of a loved one. How heavy that is. The grief of losing a loved one. And as we go through this, we experience the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death because Jesus is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. It's in the valley. It's in that grieving. It's in the it's in the pit, not the mountaintop that we truly enter into fellowship with Jesus. I love the mountain top. Let's stay here. Let's build some some houses here, Lord. But God says, no, the fruit is born in the valleys. It's in the valley. It's in the suffering that you're molded and shaped. It's in the suffering, the furnace of fire that the dross is burned off, the impurities are burned away. It's it's in the valley. It's in the fire, the crucible, the trial that you yearn for heaven even more. Where you begin to let go of the world because your loved ones gone before you. Your loved ones are there reserved in heaven for you. There's a reunion. There's a time of resurrection, a time where we're gonna see him again. And the things of the world are stripped away. The things of my own personal life are stripped away. There's a transparency, humility, a brokenness and I see my human depravity and I yearn ever more for the Lord to help me throw off this old man, to throw off this old Rick that's always worn with me, that's tripping me up. How do I know how well I'm doing? The Lord gives me trials. If I pass the test, I don't have to retake it. If I fail the test, how do you fail the test? By being a whiner. How do you overcome? By rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory. As you and I become worshipers, we're focused on a risen savior. We're focused on heaven. The focus is not self. We're not obsessed with self. We're not obsessed in demanding of God that he make me a winner. I saw an article, I posted it where many people within the church are losing hope. They're leaving the church because what they were promised with Jesus as a life coach and their best life now as a different gospel is presented, no suffering. As they go through suffering, they don't have any working knowledge of the scripture to deal with the reality of the life they're facing now. They're bereaved, they're empty, they're ill equipped to handle life as it comes. They were promised a panacea, they were promised something a false prophet can't deliver. Their best life now. What are they to do? Become worshipers. He says that the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, Though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Satan wants to get you to blaspheme the Lord, to quit, to run away. You have a risen living hope, a living savior, but Satan wants you to quit. Don't ever quit. No matter what trials come your way, God can use those trials to transform and change you. God can use those trials as you suffer with him. You're gonna receive glory with him. You're gonna glorify him. So have you considered my servant Job, a man who's perfect and upright in all of his ways? A man that fears God and excuse evil. And Satan in Job one is like, well, he doesn't love you. He's a mercenary. He he's just there for the goods. He's just there for the Bennies. Take away his stuff and he'll curse you to your face. How many of you started and stopped several times, all your stuff taken away? Did you curse God and die? It may have been hard the first time, the second time. It may maybe you got it right the first time like Job. Job said, naked came I into the world. Naked I'm gonna go, the Lord giveth, the Lord take it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. His response was worship. And I know many of you are here with Job's second one. Satan says, well, skin for skin, all that a man has will he give for his life. Let me afflict him physically. Let me put him in a place of pain, perpetual pain where his knees hurt, his ankles hurt, his hips hurt, his head hurts, his back hurts. Let me give him pain, unrelenting pain, and he'll curse you to your face. And God said, alright, but don't take his life. And so Job has already taken Job's family, his children, not his wife, but his children, taken all of his wealth and now he's afflicted with boils from the crown of his head to his feet. He's reduced to being like a beggar. He's scraping himself with a potsherd. It's a and still, Job maintained his integrity. He sinned not with his lips. Job's able to say, though he slay me yet will I trust in him. Job's able to say, he knows the way that I take and when he's tried me, I'm gonna come forth as gold. I'm going through this fiery trial like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but it's making me better not bitter. I'm a worshiper and Jesus is with me in this trial. King Nebbe is on the outside of this trial. I prefer to be in this trial and God's will with Jesus as he's helping me, transforming me, making me new. When does the metal or just know that the silver or the gold is pure? When he can see his face reflected in the molten metal. We're gonna see Jesus face to face, and we'll know even as we are known, and we'll be reflecting Christ. The Greeks will come to Philip and say, sir, we would see Jesus. People say, I see Jesus in him. He reminds me of Jesus. No. Not when you're filled with rage. I have a hard time driving, you know. That's not a time I reflect Christ. I think I reflect the devil when I'm driving. But God's working on me. He's gonna complete that work that he's begun in me. Paul and Silas, they're beaten. And they're not beaten for doing anything bad. They're beaten for sharing the gospel in acts 16. And what's their response? Worship. They're beaten. They're taking the stripes. They're taking the beating and at twelve midnight, they're singing unto the lord. They're praising the lord and they bring the house down and all the prisoners stay there because they've never seen that quality. They've never seen that character, that type of bravery if you will or or depth of character that you're willing to worship Jesus. Their response, if we don't respond in worship, take note, it can create bitterness. That bitterness is a poison that'll ruin, that will stifle our growth, that will stifle our fellowship with God. Meditate upon our living hope. He's coming again. It's just for a season. This light affliction which is but for a moment, it's working a far more eternal weight of glory. While we look not on the things which are seen because the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which you're not seeing are eternal. We gain perspective. We recognize, hey, this this this just a light affliction. It could be far worse. But soon, very soon, I'm looking, I'm watching, Jesus is coming for me. He's gonna reveal himself to me. He's gonna complete this work that has begun in me. And I get to experience the fellowship of his sufferings. I need I get to fill up his sufferings during the church age reminding people that, yeah, maybe Friday but Sunday's coming. It may be Thursday, crucified on Thursday, but Sunday's coming. He's coming again. He's gonna complete that work that he's begun to me. Verse eight, whom have you not seen you love, whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. We don't wait for heaven to worship the Lord, we worship now. We're worshipers with joy unspeakable and full of glory. People people people can't even comprehend this. I think the closest thing you can see to this kind of fanaticism Might be at the Seahawk game. These crazies, the way they idolize and worship, you know, a football team. Looks crazy, doesn't it? But what about Christians who refuse to take a bit of incense and pinch it into a pagan temple and say Caesar is Lord. All they gotta do is pinch that incense and they can live another year. But they refuse to. So they're grabbed hold of and they're put into the coliseum and what is it that Christians are doing? Worshiping. They're huddled in a group and they're worshiping their God while these beasts are sent out in all these different ways that men invent to torture and maim and kill Christians. Eighty and six years, Polycarp said, the lord Jesus been faithful unto me. I'm not gonna deny him now. John the beloved, they boiled him in oil but he wouldn't boil. He's the revelator on the Patmos Island in present day Turkey. All of the disciples, all of the apostles if you will, they died violent deaths of martyrdom. You can look in Fox's book of martyrs, all except for John the beloved. They would not back down and they considered it a joy. They considered it a privilege. Peter, he, tradition says was being moved out of Rome because he was a marked man. They're trying to hide Peter from being murdered. And it says that Peter got a vision and in that vision, it was Jesus walking back into Jerusalem or excuse me, into Rome. And it clicked with Peter, the Lord Jesus wants me to go be crucified. So Peter didn't think of himself as worthy to die in the way that his Lord died upon that cross head up, he asked to be crucified upside down. And earlier in John 21, the lord Jesus let Peter know that when you're young Peter, you get to go where you wanna go. You're a strong dude and you you've got a good life ahead of you as far as serving me. It's not gonna be easy but you're gonna accomplish it. You're gonna do, you're gonna fulfill what I've called you to do. But when you're older, and I'm not old yet, another's gonna grab hold of you and take you where you would not. So Peter knew how he was gonna die, he just didn't know when. So when he was young and he was in Acts chapter 12 and they grabbed hold of James, the brother of John and they killed James, threw him off the top of the temple and and beat him to death. And it saw that it pleased the Jews and Herod, you know, grabbed hold of Peter and put him in a prison. But as the as the Passover, he had to wait till after the Passover to kill Peter. Angel came and unlocked the chains, didn't it? Open the doors. And what was Peter doing? He wasn't pacing. He wasn't pacing the room. He wasn't wringing his hands and there was a prayer meeting going on. And when Peter was finally released, you know, he's sleeping and the angel has to wake him up. Put your shoes on. We're getting out of here. So at peace, not afraid of death. Knowing he's still young, it isn't time yet. Somehow, God's gonna deliver me. And then as he's leaving there, Peter comes to the gate or the the gate where the early church was praying and Rhoda comes to the gate and she sees Peter and she goes back in, and he lets the prayer meeting know Peter's there, and they didn't believe her. Ain't that funny? We're praying for rain and we don't bring an umbrella. It's really funny. Rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Job nineteen twenty five, Job says, I know that my redeemer lives. I know. I know. I know that my redeemer lives. Do you know that your redeemer lives? Jesus said, I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he are dead, yet shall he live and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Believest thou this? And Job's saying, I know that my redeemer lives and though after worms come and destroy my body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. He's believing in a risen savior that's gonna resurrect him. In John twenty twenty seven, then say it he to Thomas, reach here to thy finger and behold my hand and hither thy thy hand and thrust it into my side and and be not faithless but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, my lord and my god. And Jesus say it unto him, Thomas, because thou see it me, thou has believed, blessed are they that have not seen and yet believed. And verse eight said, whom having not seen we love and whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable. We haven't seen him. I haven't seen the risen lord. Jesus said, blessed are they that believe and haven't seen. That's where faith comes in. Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the substance of things not seen. God's given me a gift of faith. I don't find it hard to believe this. It's easy for me to believe this. And this faith is precious. I don't wanna lose my faith. And God's not gonna take it away from me and I wanna nurture that faith and cultivate that faith. I want my faith to grow, my trust and dependency in Jesus to grow more and more, not wane. I don't wanna be living in the past of when I was once excited about his soon return. I want in the present tense to be on tiptoes looking up, watching, waiting for his soon return to complete this work that he's begun in me. Blessed are they that believe Thomas and haven't seen. He says verse nine, receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls. It's the word soul, body, soul, and spirit. Why art thou cast down, oh my soul? David says in Psalm 42. The soul is the center of the mind, the will, the emotions. We're a three part being. The word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword dividing us under of soul and spirit and joint and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That's why bible teaching, that's why bible study can get at the root of the problem. Psychology can't do that. Man doesn't understand the soul. Man doesn't understand the mind of God. He can behaviorally study but he can't get in there and cut away the cancer. Cut away. Best he can hope for is to reform a sinner, reform him, make him a a better liar, a better criminal, a white knuckle drunk. But God can change me from the inside and take away the desire. God can make me a new man. If any man being Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away, all things have become new. There's a transformation. There's a change. My psyche hates to walk by faith. My psyche wants to put my trust in someone on television or in church that tells me what I want to hear. My psyche is filled with pride and wants to trust in self or in another pretender promising hope and change, build back better or MAGA. You're an idolater. You're putting your hope, your trust in dead men who have lied to you your whole life, and you know it's true, but you go at it again and again and again every election cycle. And we have a living hope. We have a standard to live by, non negotiable. We don't negotiate these truths. We're like John the Baptist and we say, you sinned. We're like Nathan to David. You're the man. We don't We we have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, rather expose them. And they hate being exposed, but they wanna coop your church. They wanna coop your life and get you to negotiate with Pontius Pilate and find that place of neutrality. There's no place of neutrality. Either you're zealous, you have a living hope, you're excited about Jesus and the soon return, nonnegotiable with the world, Or you're lukewarm and sip it and powerless, just going through the motions? There's no in between. I'm coming my father's name and you receive me not, Jesus said in John five. Another shall come in his own name and him you will receive. The world is being preempted. The world is being groomed to receive the anti Christ. Jesus or Barabbas. Barabbas is the son of the father. The people will choose Barabbas, the people's choice, the counterfeit resurrection, the counterfeit trinity. Walking by faith not by sight is more than professing to believe in Jesus. A faith that cannot be tested, cannot be trusted, and will never experience joy unspeakable and full of glory. How do I know I'm really saved? There's a change within. How do I know I'm really saved? Is during the trials, God puts his love within me, puts his joy within me, the fruit of the spirit, and I'm able to worship. I'm able to lift my heart and my hands and I don't understand. I don't know why it's happening. I don't have a clue, but I walk by faith not by sight. I know that my redeemer lives. And he shall stand the latter day upon the earth and though worms destroy this body, and in my flesh I shall see God. I'm gonna be with Jesus soon. This is soon gonna be over. This light affliction. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Is God finishing the work that he began in you and transforming me into the image of Jesus Christ? I'm a new creation. The old things are passed away. All things are become new. Body, soul, and spirit. Nick, you must be born again. Your body and soul, but you need to be born again. Need to be born of the spirit, born of above. The holy spirit living and dwelling within me, incorruptible, undefiled that faded not away. My faith and my hope is based upon so much more than historical facts of his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Mine is an active faith in a living savior who has given me a living hope that he will never fail me. That all things are working together for good, that nothing can ever separate me from his love. Jesus is making me a worshiper. Not of men, not of self, not of the devil, not of the anti Christ but of God. No cheap counterfeits. We are and we're made for his pleasure. Worship Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, our living hope. The Bible says, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. It's an issue of the heart. Jesus living within your heart. Jesus came onto his own in John one and his own received him not. The nation rejected him. The people of Nazareth rejected him. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God even under them who believe in his name. Do you believe in Jesus? Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Your faith is a living faith, an active faith. Your hope is a living active hope and a risen savior, not a dead savior. If Christ be not resurrected from the dead, then we're of all men most miserable. We ought to eat and drink today for tomorrow we die. So live for the gusto, live for the moment or live for Jesus. Prepare your heart for eternity. Pray unto the Lord, Lord, here am I, use me. Send me to the lost, send me to the hurting, send me to the hopeless. May I introduce them to you, Lord, our living hope. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for the cross, Lord. Thank you for the tomb, the test of the tomb, Lord. And thank you, Lord, for the victory, the resurrection. You spoiled all principalities and powers. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory been swallowed up? No fear of death. We have a living savior, a living hope in you, Lord Jesus. And Lord, we pray that our hope would grow evermore. Lord, we pray for those that are here that are going through great heaviness, great trials of faith that wanna weight them down. And Lord, you said, come on to me all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me from meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest under your souls. Casting all our cares upon you, Lord, for you care for us. Too big a burden for us to carry, but Lord, we can worship. We can turn this pain into worship. Make us worshipers Lord. While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed on this Easter Sunday, this resurrection Sunday, this may be your resurrection day. Maybe you're dead and your sins and trespasses, your body and soul. God wants to raise you from the dead. He wants to give you eternal life as a free gift. You receive this gift by grace through faith, unmerited favor. You can't be good enough. You're a sinner. But it's a free gift and you receive that through faith. By believing in him, calling upon the name of the Lord while he's near. Today's the day of salvation. Anyone here this morning? God's drawing you by his spirit. He's wooing you. He's speaking to your heart even now. He's a living savior. He's saving you now. Just lift your hand up. We wanna lead you in prayer. We don't present a dead orthodoxy. We don't present a historical, exclusive historical facts of his death, burial, resurrection, ascension. We're saying he's alive And he wants to dwell within your heart. He's knocking on the door of your heart. Anyone here this morning? Just lift your hand. We wanna pray with you. Father, thank you once again. The peace, the joy, the assurance of salvation, the blessing of leaving here today and just just so jazzed, so excited about who we are in Christ. No fear of any wars. No fear of what's going out there in the world because you told us, you promised us there'd be wars and rumors of wars. You told us that these things, these cataclysmic events, this chaos would ensue. And it's a sign of the times in which we're living, Lord. That we see these things to look up knowing our redemption draws nigh. Lord, we're looking up. We're we're watching. We're waiting. We're praying always that we'd be accounted worthy to escape these things and to stand before the son of man. So Lord, we pray, use our lives. Use our lives this week. But first Lord, teach us once again what it means to sit at your feet, to cultivate, to meditate, to be in fellowship with you as we study your word, as we pray, as we worship. Make us worshipers. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
