Hello and thank
you for joining us
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in this program of
"Books of the Book."
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We are studying in the
Books of 1 and 2 Peter.
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And with us is Dr. Tom Shepherd.
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He is a professor at
Andrews's University,
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teaching New
Testament interpretation.
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And we're studying about
how the Christian must face
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the world as
Jesus, his or her example.
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Dr. Shepherd, can
you summarize for us
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what we learned about that?
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All right, so
in this second half
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or second portion of the book
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in the three
sections we talked about.
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He starts off by describing--
well, he transitions into it,
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and then he describes
how the overriding concept
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is submission to
different kinds of individuals.
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We're gonna see
groups of individuals
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that he talks to,
that he tells to submit.
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Some of these relationships
are seen as a scandal today.
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The first one we
started talking about
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was the issue of
servants or slaves
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in relationship
to their masters.
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But what we're
going to turn to now
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is the example of Jesus
in suffering and submitting
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which is at the
centre of this passage.
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And actually is that the
centre of this whole section.
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It's kind of unexpected
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that when he starts
to talk to Christians
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that the very first group
that he talks to is the slaves.
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It's part of this idea of
subverting power structures
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and turning things upside down.
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In the ancient household,
the head of the household
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would be the father
figure called pater familias.
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And that would be the person
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you would expect
to talk to first.
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And yet, he's talked to last.
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So the first should be last
and the last should be first.
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And so they--the slaves
are held up as an example
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to Christians of submitting
to the powers around them.
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I had an
experience years ago in Brazil
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that was really an
unexpected example to me.
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I was struggling with Portuguese
when we first went there.
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After I'd been 5
months in the country
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I started teaching and
had these wonderful students.
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But the Brazilians who tend--
they were--they liked to talk.
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And I would, at the
beginning of the class
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each day, I would call the roll.
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Well, Brazilians
have very long names
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that involve both the
mother's and father's name.
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And you could
have something like
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Jose Ferreira
Nascimento DeSilveira
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you know, this
long thing, you know.
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And I was reading
through these names
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and I was just
mangling them, you know.
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And so every time I
would mangle these names,
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these talkative,
friendly students
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they would laugh because of me.
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It was funny, you know.
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But it got to me, you
know. It, eventually it hurt.
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And I was--one day I
was reading through the roll
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and I would say the
names and they would laugh.
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And I was say the
names and they would laugh.
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And finally I just,
I just closed the book.
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And one of the
students in the front, said,
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"Oh, professor, you
didn't call my name."
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'Cause they were very conscious
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that they had to be
marked in as present, you see?
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And I waited
till they quieted down
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and then I said in my
quite broken Portuguese.
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"You know, it's
hard for a foreigner
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that whenever he opens his
mouth that you laugh at him."
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Boy, you could hear a
pin drop in that room.
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Now they were hurt and
this was the beginning of class.
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Oh, it's terrible.
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And I went
through the class you know
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and I finished the class
and they were all going on,
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they say, "Good night professor.
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Good night professor."
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Actually, you made
many friends there as well.
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Oh, man, I just felt terrible.
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There were these three
young ladies--God bless them.
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They'd stayed by and
then walked back with me,
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backed out of walking home.
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And they said, "Oh, professor.
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Our people don't have manners.
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That's what they said.
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And I went home and I, oh,
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I prayed about
this, what should I do.
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You know, I just
felt quite discouraged
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about the whole thing.
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So I prayed it
through and I was just--no,
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I will be brave,
I will be strong,
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you know, I'm a missionary.
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And I went to
class the next time
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and I decided I would
say nothing about this,
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I would just go on.
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So I called the roll and
nobody laughed this time.
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I called the roll.
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And then it was time to
open the class with prayer.
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And I always had
them stand for prayer
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and I would always
ask one of them to pray.
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Because--I don't know,
if you, you know, found this
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but when you're
learning a foreign language,
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praying in public is
the last thing you'd do.
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Because you feel
like, I'm talking to God
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it's got to be right.
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So I always had them pray.
I said, "So who will pray?"
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Oh, somebody said, "I
will pray, I will pray."
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"No, no, no,"
said the whole class.
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"The president of the
class has to pray." Okay.
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So this was the class,
mostly of young ladies,
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it was education students.
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And there was a young man
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who was the
president of the class.
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So he comes up to
the front of the class--
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well, they
didn't usually do this.
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He comes up to the
front of the class to pray.
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So I don't know
what's happening, you know.
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He comes up to the
front and he prays in English.
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Now that might not seem
anything great to most people.
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But there weren't
many people on the campus
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who could speak English well.
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There weren't very many people
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that I could have a
conversation with and then
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about a handful of people that
I could have a conversation with
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and I don't recall this
young man was one of them.
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He prayed in English.
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And then he turned
to me after the prayer,
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he apologized on
behalf of the class.
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They gave me a little gift,
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it was a writing
pen all wrapped up.
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And then they sang a
song about friendship.
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Wow. Man.
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Talk about a bonding moment.
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That was the unexpected example
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that came to my life
in Brazil, unexpected.
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Peter has unexpected examples,
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the slaves, examples
to the Christian church.
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Now we're gonna come to
the greatest example of all.
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I want you to read verses 21-25.
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"For to this you were called,
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because Christ
also suffered for us,
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leaving us an example, that
you should follow His steps,
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'Who committed no sin nor
was deceit found in His mouth,'
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who, when He was reviled,
did not revile in return,
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when He suffered,
He did not threaten,
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but committed Himself to
Him who judges righteously.
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Who Himself bore our sins
in His own body on the tree,
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that we, having died to sins,
might live for righteousness
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by whose
stripes you were healed.
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For you were like
sheep going astray,
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but have now
returned to the Shepherd
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and Overseer of your souls."
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I've noticed on verse 21 here
that Peter speaks of a calling.
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What is this calling? Yes.
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To this you
were called, he says.
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This calling is actually
the last part of verse 20.
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It is to suffer
when you do what is good.
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Now it's not that it is
God's will for us to suffer,
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that's not what
Peter is teaching.
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Rather it is His
will that we do good.
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And if we suffer in the process
because we do what is good.
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It is no reason to
stop doing what is good.
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Doing good is more
important than suffering.
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Even if you have to suffer
for it it's better to do good
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than to turn
and do what is evil.
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So that's the
calling of the Christian.
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The calling of the
Christian is to do good.
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To emulate the example
of Jesus, to stand in line
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with the moral code
that God has laid down.
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Remember He laid
the chief cornerstone
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that sets the
directions of the house.
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And we are supposed
to line up our lives
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with the example of Jesus.
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What is this-- what
is the surprise verse 21?
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Now, I told you about
unexpected examples, you know.
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And there's a big surprise.
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In fact, there are
two surprises in verse 21
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that would
just-- you would miss it
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if you didn't realize
what was going on here.
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The first is this--the
most important is the statement,
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when it says in verse 21,
that Christ suffered for you.
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Someone says, "Well, I know.
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I know that's what the
New Testament teaches."
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This is the only
place in the New Testament
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that says Christ
suffered for you,
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only in 1 Peter
does it-- it is stated.
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He states it again
later in chapter 3.
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Christ suffered for you.
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Wait a minute, don't the--
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don't the gospels show
us Jesus suffering for us?
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Yes. Yes, they show
Him suffering for us.
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Well, didn't Paul say
that Christ suffered for you?
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No, Paul said, "The
Christ died for you."
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Peter says,
"Christ suffered for you."
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Is there any difference between
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dying for you
than suffering for you?
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Ah, it's a great question.
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I mean, in a sense
the two are intertwined.
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But suffering
comes before death.
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Dying for you is maybe the
end product of that suffering.
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And remember,
Peter is describing
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the Christian's response
to the world's persecution.
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And so what he wants to say is
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the Christian has an
example in front of him,
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not only of
death by of suffering.
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And that is the example of Jesus
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that he is going to talk about
here in this whole passage.
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And verses 22 and 23,
here talk about Jesus'
00:10:29.97\00:10:33.48
suffering before His death.
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What do they express?
00:10:35.57\00:10:36.94
Well, before we go there I
want you think for a moment
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about this whole idea of
following in Jesus' steps.
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In the Book of Mark 8:34-38,
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Jesus talk--we
better turn to the passage.
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Okay. Mark 8:34-38.
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This is an important turning
point in the gospel of Mark.
00:11:02.23\00:11:06.47
We talked about this in
"Books of the Book" before.
00:11:06.50\00:11:10.62
The Gospel of Mark and
here is the big turning point
00:11:10.65\00:11:13.90
is when Peter confesses
that Jesus is the Messiah.
00:11:13.93\00:11:17.14
And immediately
when Jesus explains
00:11:17.17\00:11:19.32
that He is the
Messiah, He starts to teach them
00:11:19.35\00:11:21.90
about His death,
where He's going.
00:11:21.93\00:11:25.03
He is the
Messiah, where's He going?
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He is going to the cross.
00:11:26.67\00:11:28.04
Mark 8:34-38,
this is what it says,
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"And calling the crowd
to him with His disciples,
00:11:30.54\00:11:32.80
He said to them, 'If
anyone would come after me,
00:11:32.83\00:11:34.91
let him deny himself and
take up his cross and follow me.
00:11:34.94\00:11:38.87
For whoever would
save his life will lose it,
00:11:38.90\00:11:41.17
but whoever loses
his life for my sake
00:11:41.20\00:11:43.20
and the gospel's will save it.
00:11:43.23\00:11:45.30
For what does it profit a man
00:11:45.33\00:11:47.32
to gain the whole
world and forfeit his soul?
00:11:47.35\00:11:50.70
For what can a man
give in return for his soul?
00:11:50.73\00:11:54.03
For whoever is
ashamed of me and of my words
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in this adulterous and
sinful generation, of him
00:11:56.36\00:11:58.91
will the Son of
Man also be ashamed
00:11:58.94\00:12:00.69
when he comes in
the glory of his Father
00:12:00.72\00:12:02.42
with the holy angels.'"
00:12:02.45\00:12:03.82
You see, you have to
follow the example of Jesus.
00:12:03.85\00:12:06.77
He said take the
cross and follow Me.
00:12:06.80\00:12:10.10
Now here's
exactly the same thing
00:12:10.13\00:12:12.25
that's going on with
these-- with these questions,
00:12:12.28\00:12:15.85
they're following
the example of Jesus.
00:12:15.88\00:12:20.14
So now I'll
come to your question
00:12:20.17\00:12:22.63
that you talked about--about
Jesus suffering and death
00:12:22.66\00:12:26.66
and what they
express to us, okay.
00:12:26.69\00:12:30.34
This is found in
verses 22 and 23.
00:12:30.37\00:12:32.13
I want you to
read verses 22 and 23
00:12:32.16\00:12:33.66
for us again of 1 Peter 2.
00:12:33.69\00:12:39.01
"'Who committed no
sin, nor was deceit found
00:12:39.04\00:12:41.45
in His mouth,' who,
when He was reviled,
00:12:41.48\00:12:44.78
did not revile in
return, when He suffered,
00:12:44.81\00:12:47.69
He did not threaten,
but committed Himself to Him
00:12:47.72\00:12:51.48
who judges righteously."
00:12:51.51\00:12:54.11
Now we don't have
much time here at this--
00:12:54.14\00:12:57.16
we're gonna take
little break here in a moment.
00:12:57.19\00:12:59.15
But Peter here is actually
drawing on the Old Testament,
00:12:59.18\00:13:04.56
from the Book of
Isaiah Chapter 53.
00:13:04.59\00:13:08.31
And in Isaiah 53, we
have this whole expression
00:13:08.34\00:13:14.61
of the servant of the
Lord and how he suffers
00:13:14.64\00:13:19.72
and goes through
these terrible experiences.
00:13:19.75\00:13:23.05
But Peter does this
in an interesting way.
00:13:23.08\00:13:26.30
And again it's one of those,
kind of, unexpected things.
00:13:26.33\00:13:30.42
And I think after the break,
00:13:30.45\00:13:32.54
we'll take and we'll
ponder little bit of Isaiah 53.
00:13:32.57\00:13:35.80
And we'll see how the
Book of 1 Peter orders,
00:13:35.83\00:13:41.58
or shall we say reorders,
the telling of Isaiah 53.
00:13:41.61\00:13:45.16
So we'll take a
break at this moment,
00:13:45.19\00:13:46.90
and then we'll come back to talk
to you in just a little bit.
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