Hello and welcome
to "Books of the Book."
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My name is Deyvy Rodriguez
and with us is Dr. Tom Shepherd,
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he's currently a Professor
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of New Testament Interpretation
at Andrews University.
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We are studying the
writings of the Apostle Peter.
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Dr. Shepherd, and the last
time we were studying here,
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we talked about
how God chose us.
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We didn't choose
Him, He chose us.
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And also how the
Trinity God, the Father, the Son
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and the Holy Spirit are
working together to save us.
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How does Peter unpack this?
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All right, so let's
turn to the Book of 1 Peter.
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In these studies,
we're gonna read through
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the entire Book of 1 Peter
and the entire Book of 2 Peter.
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I tell people in when
I teach Sabbath school,
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if we do nothing else,
we should open the Bible.
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And we should
read the word of God.
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Okay. I think that's important.
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So now we're gonna start
in 1 Peter 1:3 through 9.
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I'm reading the
English Standard Version.
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"Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
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According to his great
mercy, he has caused us
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to be born
again to a living hope
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through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead,
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to an inheritance that
is imperishable, undefiled,
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and unfading,
kept in heaven for you,
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who by God's power are
being guarded through faith
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for a salvation ready to
be revealed in the last time.
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In this you rejoice,
though now for a little while,
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if necessary, you have
been grieved by various trials,
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so that the tested
genuineness of your faith,
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more precious
than gold that perishes
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though it is tested by fire,
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may be found to
result in praise and glory
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and honor at the
revelation of Jesus Christ.
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Though you have not
seen him, you love him.
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Though you do not now see him,
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you believe in him
and rejoice with joy
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that is inexpressible
and filled with glory,
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obtaining the
outcome of your faith,
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the salvation of your souls."
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So we look at the
beginning of this,
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the very first word
that Peter uses in verse 3
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is the word "Blessed."
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"Blessed be the God and father
of our lord Jesus Christ!"
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Now I don't know, it's
funny at least in our church,
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this isn't words
that we usually say.
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Blessed be God, you know.
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What exactly is going on here,
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it's actually an Old
Testament way of talking.
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The Hebrew term is
berakah, the blessing.
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And it was to praise God,
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to praise God for
blessings that you had received.
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You thank Him
because He gave you life.
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You thank Him
because He gave you family.
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He created the world,
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you know, there's all
these different things.
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They are praising God for
the things that He has done.
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Now the question is
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what is the blessing
that we have received?
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What did you notice?
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Well, "According
to his abundant mercy
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has begotten us
again to a living hope
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through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead."
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Yeah.
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Okay, so that's a new
birth experience, isn't that?
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It sounds like a
new birth. Yeah, to be--
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"Begotten us
again." To be born again.
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It almost sounds
like the conversation
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Jesus had with Nicodemus.
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Nicodemus, in fact,
let's turn over there.
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Okay. To John 3:3 to 8.
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I read the first
one, you read this one.
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John 3:3 to 8.
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"Jesus answered
him and said to him,
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"Most assuredly I say to
you unless one is born again,
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he cannot see
the kingdom of God."
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Nicodemus said to him,
"How can a man can be born
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when he's old.
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Can he enter a second time
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into his mother's
womb and be born?"
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Jesus answered, "Most
assuredly I say to you,
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unless one is born
of water and the Spirit,
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he cannot enter
the kingdom of God.
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That which is born
of the flesh is flesh,
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and that which is born
of the Spirit is Spirit.
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Do not marvel that I say to you,
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'You must be born again.'
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The wind blows where it wishes
and you hear the sound of it.
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But cannot tell
where it comes from
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and where it goes.
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So everyone who is
born, so as everyone
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who is born of the Spirit."
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All right, now we don't
have time to unpack all of this.
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But this is
interesting conversation
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that Jesus had with Nicodemus.
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And the thing that is
quite interesting here
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is that there is a
play on words several times.
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One that a lot
of people recognize
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is down in verse 8.
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He uses the word "Wind."
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Well, the word wind in
Greek is also the word Spirit.
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So the wind blows where
it wishes and you don't know,
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so is the spirit,
it's the same word you see.
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Well, the interesting
thing about being born again
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in verse 3 is
that the word "again"
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also means from above.
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Being born from above.
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From above, that
means God has given you
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this birth experience,
this new birth experience.
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Now which way did
Nicodemus take it?
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Did he take it to
mean from above or again?
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Again. Yeah.
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Because he asked a
question, how can a man
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return to his mother's
womb and be born again?"
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So he was thinking karno.
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Yeah, no, this
kind of interesting,
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why would he think that way?
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Why would he, you know,
say, a man can't be born again,
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he can't go back
into his mother's womb,
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and you know, be born
a second time, can he?
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And it's interesting
because Nicodemus himself
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was a professor at
religion, you know.
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Why he would ask
something like that,
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you would think he knows
what Jesus is talking about.
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He does know what
Jesus is talking about.
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What he didn't like was
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that Jesus was
saying that he needed it.
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Because he was a
professor, you know--
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He was talking to his heart.
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Yeah. Let me tell you about it.
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Yeah, it was a heart
question, that's right.
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And he was
applying it to his heart.
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So it's kind of
ironic in a sense
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when we say or that
you must be born again,
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we are using Nicodemus'
words instead of Jesus' words
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that you must
be born form above.
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But still it's
that birth experience,
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spiritual birth experience
that he's talking about.
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He says of being born of water,
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that's baptism and the Spirit,
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that's the Holy
Spirit working in your life,
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sanctifying you, cleansing you
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of that all the way of life.
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So if we go back
to Peter now. Okay.
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And he says, "Blessed be the God
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and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
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According to his great mercy,
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he has caused us
to be born again."
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He's caused us to be born again.
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Now here's the question.
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When did that rebirth experience
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happened for the people
that Peter is writing to?
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That's a good question.
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Maybe you can
answer that question.
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Well, if I say, if I
put it in to their past,
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their present, or their future,
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what would it be? Their past.
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Their past, because he's
right, he gave and he says,
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you know, he gave
us, he has caused us
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to be born again
to a living hope.
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So that is an
experience of their past, okay.
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Now so, just to
keep that in mind,
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now he's talked about something
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that has happened in their past.
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Now if we keep
looking in the verse,
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he keeps going and he
says, "Born unto a living hope
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through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead."
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Just like Jesus was
raised from the dead.
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He had new life come into him.
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God raised him from the dead.
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So God by the
resurrection of Jesus,
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notice here,
through the resurrection
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of Jesus Christ from the dead.
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Notice, he says that phrase
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through the
resurrection of Jesus.
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That that's how you and I got
that new birth experience too.
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That new life
came into our lives
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through the
resurrection of Jesus.
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So you start thinking about
this and you think about baptism
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and how baptism is a
sign, a symbol of the death,
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the burial and the
resurrection of Jesus.
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And so when you're born
again, when you're baptized,
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then you enter into
that salvation experience.
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That's the kind of thing that
Peter is talking about here.
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But he uses the word "Hope."
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When you think of the word hope,
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what do you think of?
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I think of I
have-- I can take courage
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that there is a solution to
may be a problem that I have.
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That it is not the end.
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That eventually with
time, God will provide
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whatever I may need.
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So I have hope that this is not
the end of my problem, you know.
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There is a hope. The
biblical concept of hope.
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Looking forward to something.
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Is a very forward
looking kind of a concept. Yeah.
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It looks forward to
something better that's coming.
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And you can almost
say, it implies that
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things aren't quite as
good as you want them now.
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You have hope that
things are going to go forward
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and get better and
you know go up from here.
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So notice, there is
a past been born again
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and there is a hope
that's in the future, all right.
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So there is a past
and there is a future
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that he talks about.
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He keeps on
going and he says that
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you have this hope
and then verse 4 says,
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"To an inheritance
that is imperishable,
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undefiled and unfading."
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He used these three words,
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in Greek, we call
them alpha privatives.
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They begin with an alpha
and so that makes him negative,
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it's not this, it's
not this, it's not this.
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And he says it's not perishable,
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it's not defiled and
it's not fading away.
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It's a beautiful kind of picture
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of--one scholar
speaks of it in this way;
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they say that it's a
freedom from death, okay.
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Because it's not gonna
perish, the perishable is that
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which decays and dies.
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Freedom from death, freedom
from impurity is undefiled.
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And freedom from it's unfading.
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You know, you start to look in--
00:11:02.19\00:11:03.79
well, most of us don't
see it in the mirror every day
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but if you look at
the picture of yourself--
00:11:05.79\00:11:09.83
oh, you're still very young.
00:11:09.86\00:11:12.00
But if you look at
the picture of yourself
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when you're a young person
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and then you look
at this later picture,
00:11:14.87\00:11:17.67
you can really
see the difference.
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I remember, a student of mine
00:11:19.11\00:11:20.71
seeing a picture of my wedding,
00:11:20.74\00:11:22.78
you know, my wedding day.
00:11:22.81\00:11:24.51
They looked at that
picture and they laughed.
00:11:24.55\00:11:29.45
Shepherd, you don't look
like you used too, you know.
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This is untouched by the ravages
of time, this inheritance.
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So there's
three wonderful things
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about this inheritance, you see.
00:11:40.43\00:11:42.46
It is, it will not
decay, it's not gonna die,
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it is not touched by impurity,
00:11:46.60\00:11:49.40
and it's untouched
by the ravages of time.
00:11:49.44\00:11:52.94
Well, certainly is something
that I can look forward to,
00:11:52.97\00:11:55.21
there is the hope
in my life to say,
00:11:55.24\00:11:56.61
well, my life has a purpose.
00:11:56.64\00:11:59.21
God has a plan for me.
00:11:59.25\00:12:00.68
And I look forward to
this incorruptible treasure
00:12:00.72\00:12:04.45
that never fades
away, as you've mentioned.
00:12:04.49\00:12:05.99
Right.
00:12:06.02\00:12:07.39
It's an inheritance, you see,
00:12:07.42\00:12:08.89
so you've made a
covenant with the God.
00:12:08.92\00:12:10.66
We've already been
talking about that,
00:12:10.69\00:12:12.06
you are now His child.
00:12:12.09\00:12:14.00
You are
inheriting, you are receiving
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the blessings from God.
00:12:16.46\00:12:18.37
Is there anything in this life
00:12:18.40\00:12:20.10
that can destroy or
touch that inheritance?
00:12:20.14\00:12:23.51
And the answer is no, no.
00:12:23.54\00:12:27.21
That's a wonderful security,
you see, that these people need.
00:12:27.24\00:12:30.71
And the third thing he says,
00:12:30.75\00:12:32.65
it is kept for
them in heaven for you.
00:12:32.68\00:12:36.65
That's at the end of verse 4.
00:12:36.69\00:12:38.32
And then in verse 5, he says,
00:12:38.35\00:12:40.69
"Who by God
power are being guarded
00:12:40.72\00:12:44.49
through faith for a salvation
00:12:44.53\00:12:47.96
ready to be
revealed at the last time."
00:12:48.00\00:12:51.17
So he's combined these
great words about the future,
00:12:51.20\00:12:56.67
you see, he has an inheritance,
00:12:56.71\00:13:02.64
he has a-also the salvation
00:13:02.68\00:13:08.22
that is kept for them
00:13:08.25\00:13:10.72
into the future,
and a living hope.
00:13:10.75\00:13:13.96
So a living hope, and
salvation, and inheritance.
00:13:13.99\00:13:19.16
These three
together, these three outcomes
00:13:19.19\00:13:22.50
are their's and
they're all secured.
00:13:22.53\00:13:26.23
The question is, are they
present now or they future?
00:13:26.27\00:13:31.34
That's a very
good question and also,
00:13:31.37\00:13:33.78
perhaps you can
help us understand,
00:13:33.81\00:13:35.64
you know, because we've studied
00:13:35.68\00:13:37.31
that these people are suffering
and you help us to understand
00:13:37.35\00:13:42.38
I hope that how can these,
00:13:42.42\00:13:43.79
how can a person
rejoice when they are suffering?
00:13:43.82\00:13:47.89
Yeah.
00:13:47.92\00:13:49.29
And perhaps you can
answer those questions
00:13:49.32\00:13:51.53
after a brief break.
00:13:51.56\00:13:52.93
This is a very interesting
study on the book. Yeah.
00:13:52.96\00:13:54.73
Now we're getting more involved
00:13:54.73\00:13:56.10
into the
writings and the messages
00:13:56.13\00:13:57.80
that Peter has for these people.
00:13:57.83\00:13:59.67
Stay tuned, we'll be
right back after these messages.
00:13:59.70\00:14:02.64