1 Peter chapter 1 the Bible reads, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
The first thing I want to talk about with 1 Peter is who this book is being written
to.
Now some people have classified the books of 1 and 2 Peter as being quote unquote universal
epistles or epistles written to all believers as opposed to being written to a certain geography,
but yet there is a clear geography that is laid out in verse number 1.
Just like we have the epistle of Paul to the Romans, we have 1 and 2 Corinthians, we have
Galatians, Ephesians, where he's writing to these different churches in these various
areas, well we actually see a specific area brought out in verse 1.
Now at first glance you might look at this list of places and just think, oh well this
sounds like it's just places all over, you know, that he's just sending this letter out
in all directions, right?
But actually if you look up these places, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
they're all in what is modern day Turkey.
So the country today that we know as Turkey, what the Bible calls Asia, commonly known
as Asia Minor, or the Anatolian Peninsula, or, you know, like I said, modern day Turkey,
that's who he's writing to.
Now why does that matter or why is that important is because that is a Greek speaking area and
that is a Gentile area, okay, that he's writing to.
He's not writing to the Jews, he's writing to the Gentiles and specifically he's writing
to the churches in Asia.
Just like the book of Revelation is addressed too, the seven churches in Asia.
Just like the apostle Paul is writing to the Galatians, he's writing to the Galatians.
I mean Galatia is mentioned and then the other places that are mentioned there are all in
the region of Galatia and the neighborhood that is in the modern day country of Turkey.
All five of those places mention that.
Now if you would, flip over to 2 Peter and look at chapter 3 verse 1.
2 Peter chapter 3 verse 1 and the Bible reads,
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure
minds by way of remembrance.
So we see here that the audience of 2 Peter is the same audience as the first Peter because
he's saying I'm writing the second epistle to you, okay.
Now if you look at 1 Peter chapter number 2, I'm going to show you more evidence of
this that he's writing to the Gentiles in the Greek speaking world.
He says in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people,
but now are the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
How could this be talking about the Jews when in time past the Jews were the people of God?
He's saying these are people who were not the people of God, but now they are, okay.
Why do these things matter?
Because today there's so much false doctrine out there from the Judaizers and people who
want to teach a false doctrine about the word of God, which is the foundation of our faith,
and it is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
So it matters when people try to attack this and say, oh, the Bible wasn't written in
Greek.
It was actually written in Hebrew.
Or, oh, it was actually written in Aramaic.
Here's the problem with that.
The King James Version is not translated from an Aramaic Bible or a Hebrew Bible.
It's translated from a Greek New Testament.
So if the Greek is wrong, then that means the King James Bible is wrong.
And you know what?
Not only that, it would mean that all English Bibles are wrong because virtually all the
English Bibles that are out there, aside from just a few fringe versions, are all translated
from the Greek.
The Spanish Bible is translated from the Greek.
I mean, the New Testament was written in Greek.
There are 5,900 and some handwritten manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek, but yet people
come at you with these crazy ideas that it was written in Hebrew or Aramaic, even though
there's no evidence of that.
Now think about how foolish this idea is that it was written in Aramaic.
Well, stop and think about this book, The Epistle to the Romans.
Why would you write a letter to believers in Rome and write it in Aramaic?
They don't speak Aramaic in Rome.
They have never spoken Aramaic in Rome.
That makes no sense.
But in the Roman Empire, and specifically in the city of Rome, there were virtually
as many people speaking Greek as speaking Latin, even though Latin was the language
of the Roman Empire.
When a Greek speaker would come and address the Senate in Rome, they didn't need a translator
because all the senators all spoke Greek fluently, and this is why, because the Romans conquered
the Greeks.
If you remember in the film Babylon USA or in the Daniel series that we did, I talked
a lot about that, about how you had Babylon and then Persia and then Greece and then Rome.
So the Romans conquered the Greeks, and because the Romans conquered the Greeks, they took
a lot of slaves out of Greece, and it was a status symbol in Rome to have a Greek slave.
Anybody who is anybody is going to have Greek servants.
All the senators and all the well-to-do people, the wealthy people in the city, they all have
Greek slaves teaching their children because the Greeks were more highly educated in many
cases than the Romans.
They had a higher level of literature and culture, and so therefore, you wanted your
kids to be taught the Greek language and to learn from these Greek servants.
So many children growing up in Rome literally back then learned how to read and write in
Greek before they even learned it in Latin.
So it makes sense that Paul is able to write an epistle to the Romans in Greek, and they
can understand it no problem because that was the main language in the world at that
time in the part of the world that these books are being written to.
All over North Africa, Italy, the Middle East, Turkey, all of those places were Greek-speaking
places.
It was like English is today where English is sort of a universal second language, where
English is just everywhere.
That's how Greek was.
That's why God put the New Testament in Greek so that the most people could read it.
Now when we think of Turkey, we don't think of Greek because we're thinking of it after
the Ottoman Empire came in and took over, and now we think of it as a Muslim country
and we think of them speaking Turkish, but there are still a lot of people in Turkey
that speak Greek to this day, but back then, that was the language in that region.
The New Testament was written in Greek.
Don't ever let anybody shake your faith in that with foolish words.
You don't write a book to a guy named Theophilus in Aramaic.
You don't write to people like Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, and Lucas, and you don't write about
Demetrius and Diotrephes.
Those are all Greek names.
When Paul's talking about his buddies, when John's writing an epistle to the beloved Gaius,
and they're talking about all the Demetrius, and they're talking about all these Greek
people, the book of Luke was written in Greek, Acts is written in Greek, Romans, 1-2 Corinthians,
and look, it's so easy to just look at a book like Ephesians and know, okay, this is written
in Greek, or the book of Revelation to the seventh church in Asia, which is Turkey, which
is a Greek-speaking place at that time, but you say, well, but Matthew, you know, I think
Matthew, folks, it's been proven so many times over and over again, there's no merit
to this stupid theory that these books were written in Aramaic.
Some bozo recently tried to tell me that Romans was written in Aramaic and that 1 Timothy
is written in Aramaic to Timotheus in Aramaic, right?
It's garbage.
It's a foolish doctrine.
And look, it's so important because these people attack the very name of our savior.
They say, oh, Jesus isn't supposed to be Jesus, and it's actually Yeshua, and it's in Aramaic,
and all this garbage.
Folks, that's important.
I want to stop and make that point because it's critical.
And then another key point I want to make is that the Gentiles are the chosen people
in the New Testament.
What does the Bible say?
We just looked at it in 1 Peter 2.
He said, you are a chosen generation, verse 9.
You're a royal priesthood.
You're a holy nation.
You're a peculiar people.
Who is he talking to?
The Jews?
He's talking to Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, saying you are the chosen
people.
You are the elect.
You know what elect means?
Chosen.
You know who used to be the chosen people?
The Jews.
Israel in the Old Testament.
They've been replaced in the New Testament by Bible-believing Christians, which in time
past were not a people, but now they are the people of God.
You say, why spend so much time on that?
Because it helps us to understand the very next verse.
Look at verse 2 of chapter 1.
Elect.
What's the first word?
Elect.
Now, why is he just in the first breath telling them, you're elect?
Why does the Book of Romans spend so much time saying, you're elect?
Why do these books, like Ephesians, focus on being elect?
Because the apostle Paul, and in this case the apostle Peter, are writing to the Gentiles,
letting them know you are the chosen people.
You are not a second-class citizen.
You're not taking a backseat to the Jews.
The Jews aren't even in the car anymore.
You've got a shotgun.
You are the chosen people.
So this is meant to be an encouragement.
He's starting out right away, positive, encouraging, saying, I'm writing to the strangers.
You know what stranger means in the Bible?
Foreigner.
He's saying, I'm writing to the foreigners, I'm writing to the strangers that are all
over modern-day Turkey, what the Bible calls Asia, Cappadocia, Bithynia, and he's saying,
you are elect.
Not only are you elect, you're elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.
You know what he's saying?
You guys were always the plan.
You were always the plan.
It's not like, well, God wanted to save Israel, but they rejected the Savior, so then he moved
on to plan B, the Gentiles.
Is that what the Bible teaches?
No.
Cappadocia and Pontus and Galatia and Bithynia were elect.
These saved Christians, obviously not everybody there is elect, only the people who got saved,
but he's saying, you that are saved, you that are believers, you are the chosen people,
and God had always planned it that way.
You are not a plan B. It's not like he's on the rebound from being rejected by the Jews,
and then he just marries the first girl that comes along, the Greeks, the Gentiles.
That's a false doctrine, folks.
This was always God's plan.
Even in the Old Testament, he keeps prophesying how Abraham is going to be a father of many
nations, and he says, in these shall all nations of the earth be blessed.
He said, you're going to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, all the way back in the book
of Isaiah.
So he says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Grace unto you and peace be multiplied.
Now he says here, obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Some people will misunderstand this obedience here, and they'll think, well, obedience,
that means I have to follow the commandments in the Bible in order to be saved.
You know, I've got to have obedience to the commandments, but that's actually not what
this is talking about.
In fact, if you'll jump down to verse 22 of this chapter, he says, seeing ye have purified
your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Notice he says, obeying the truth.
He didn't say, obey the commandments.
He didn't say, obeying the law of Moses.
He said, obeying the truth.
What does it mean to obey the truth?
Well, keep your finger here.
Go back to Second Thessalonians chapter one, Second Thessalonians chapter number one.
The Bible says in Second Thessalonians chapter one, beginning in verse eight, inflaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, watch this, and that obey not the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we've seen obeying the truth.
Now we're seeing obeying the gospel, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to
be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony
among you was believed in that day.
So notice these two parallel statements in verse 10.
He should come to be glorified in his saints and be admired in all them that believe, because
guess what?
Those that believe are the saints, and those that are the saints are those that believe.
And those who believe and those that are the saints, you know what they are?
They're the ones who obey the gospel.
So those who obey the gospel are the saints, the believers.
The people who don't obey the gospel are the people that are the unbelievers that are not
the saints.
Now stop and think about this.
What is the gospel?
The gospel is the good news, that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that he was buried and
that he rose again.
How do you obey that good news?
By not stealing?
Is that how you obey that?
No.
The obedience to the gospel, the obedience to the faith, the obeying of the truth is
that you believe it.
So when the Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal
life, that's good news.
How do you obey that?
By believing.
When the Bible commands you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved,
you obey it.
So don't add in the idea of obeying commandments or obeying the laws.
No.
What the Bible is teaching for salvation is obeying the gospel, obeying the truth, which
has to do with believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior.
So go back to 1 Peter 1 and I'm going to show you how consistent this is in 1 Peter 1.
Look at verse 17.
It says, and if you call on the Father.
So notice here we have the calling upon the Lord, right?
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
He says, if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every
man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.
So what's he saying?
If you call on the Father, so he's talking to a certain group of people, right, that
have done what?
That have called on the Father.
He's saying if you call on the Father, another way of saying if you're saved, if you call
on the Father, then pass the time of your sojourning here with fear.
This life is just a sojourn.
This life is a temporary place for us because obviously our home is in heaven and that's
where we're going to be for all eternity.
This world's not our home.
We're just passing through.
We're on a sojourn here.
So he says if you call on the Father, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.
Why?
Because God is going to judge your work.
And look at the next verse, verse 18.
For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things.
So what we see here is that the same people who call on the Father are the same people
who are redeemed.
You call on the Father in verse 17, then you're the redeemed that he's talking to in verse
18.
So if you call on the Father, well guess what, you're redeemed in the next verse, right?
And then in the next verse, he talks about how they're redeemed by the blood.
And then in verse 20, he says, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of
the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God.
See that's the same group of people here that are the people who call on the Father.
They're the people who are redeemed and they're the people who believe in God that raised
him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God.
Verse 22, seeing you've purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.
And then if you jump down to verse 23, he says, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
So notice in verse 21, by Jesus Christ, you believe in God.
You're redeemed.
You're born again.
You call on the Father.
You're the elect.
You're saved, right?
So what is it that saves us?
It's believing consistently throughout the Bible.
Those who believe are the saved.
Those who are saved are those that believe, right?
Notice there's no mention here of, hey, you have to do good works to be saved.
In fact, the opposite is being taught in this chapter because he's clearly talking to people
that are already saved because he says, I'm writing to those of you that are elect.
I'm writing to you in verse three that are begotten again, which is another way of saying
born again.
I'm writing to you that are redeemed.
I'm writing to you that call on the Father.
I'm writing to you that by Jesus have believed in God.
I'm writing to you that have purified your souls by obeying the truth.
I'm writing to you that are sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ.
And what's he telling them to do?
Hey, I want you to be holy.
Be holy as he's holy.
And he's saying, love the brethren.
Love one another.
Be holy.
And he says, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.
You're already saved.
You're already redeemed.
You're already born again.
But now it's time to do more.
So doing works doesn't get us saved.
Doing works doesn't make us saved or keep us saved.
But those of us that are saved are commanded to do works.
We should do works.
So what if somebody gets saved, but they don't do the works?
Well guess what?
They're still saved because salvation is by faith, not of works.
If they don't do the works, they're still saved.
Guess what?
That's why he has to tell them here to do the work.
Because if the work was automatic, he wouldn't have to spend all his time telling them to
do the work.
Because some people say, well, but if you believe, you'll automatically do the works.
Really?
Then why does he have to spend so much time telling you be holy, love people, because
guess what?
Loving people is not going to be automatic.
Being holy is not going to be automatic.
Passing the time of your sojourning here with fear is not going to be automatic.
These are things that we have to work at every day if we want to be a good Christian.
But we have to separate that out from salvation, which is something that is achieved by believing
in Christ.
So let's go back to the beginning here with that in mind.
So he says in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And again, this completely destroys the oneness theology or modalism, which denies the Trinity.
Because notice that God the Father is the God of Jesus and the Father of Jesus.
Now it doesn't take away Christ's divinity, because we know that the Father is God, the
Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and these three are one.
But these are three distinct persons, and that's what the Trinity teaches.
And so that's why Jesus Christ said that he was going to ascend to my Father and your
Father and to my God and your God, he said.
So Jesus Christ has his God, which is God the Father.
You say, well that's multiple Gods.
Really?
Because the Bible says that it's one God.
The Bible says there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And the Bible also says that Jesus is God.
So if the Bible teaches that Jesus is God, and that there's only one God, and that God
the Father is God, you say, well I don't understand it.
Well it doesn't matter, that's what the Bible says.
And the doctrine that explains this is called the Trinity.
The Trinity teaches that God eternally exists as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
So that's just who God is.
You say, well that's one God.
And guess what?
There's no other God to compare it to, because there's only one God in the universe.
So there's not this other, like, monolithic type God.
There's no such thing as a God that's only one person, just one individualistic, just,
you know, oneness God, like the Muslim God, or the Jewish God.
That doesn't exist, friend, because there's only one, isn't there only one true God?
And the one true God is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
That's all there is, folks.
That's the only true God that there is.
The God of Islam is a false God.
The God of Judaism is a false God, because they don't believe in the triune God.
They don't believe in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Look, the Bible flat out says, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.
So he was both with God, and he was God.
And here we have Jesus Christ, who the Bible teaches is God, yet calling God the Father
his God when he resurrects and speaks with Mary.
But here it's Peter telling us, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So this is significant.
Which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
So we're saved or born again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The resurrection is what saves us, right?
It's resurrection.
And if we believe, we shall be saved.
The Bible says in verse 4, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth
not away reserved in heaven for you.
The Bible says, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth
corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through
nor steal, for where your treasure is that where your heart be also.
And look what he says in verse 4, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth
not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Let me ask this.
There are people out there that teach that you could lose your salvation.
Okay.
Well then explain to me this.
If I'm saved and I lay up a bunch of treasure in heaven and God basically tells me, hey,
that's reserved for you, it's up there, it's not going to wither, moth and rust will not
corrupt, thieves will not break through and steal, you've got an inheritance up there
waiting for you.
Oh, just kidding.
I'm going to take it away from you.
Folks, that makes no sense.
And you know why we know that's not going to happen is because we're not kept by our
own power.
We're not kept saved by the power of Stephen Anderson or by your own, insert your name
here, you know.
It's not your power that keeps you saved.
You know what?
We're kept by the power of God.
So how do we know that we're still going to be saved tomorrow or next week or next year
is because we're kept by the power of God and that that inheritance that we have, that
thing is reserved, it's undefiled, it's not going to fade away, moth and rust will not
corrupt, thieves will not break through nor steal, look, it is there, reserved, waiting,
and we are kept and sealed and secure and preserved.
I mean, how many ways can God say you're preserved, you're saved, you're secure, I mean, he just
goes, you're sealed, you're kept by the power of God, okay, we're saved, period.
Now what does he mean by you're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time?
See, we have not received all of our salvation yet.
When we got saved, which is past tense, we're already saved, I'm saved, you're saved, right?
But when we got saved, it was our soul that was saved, but not the body, right?
Our body, our flesh is not saved.
That's why our flesh is the same old sinful flesh from before we were saved and that's
why if we walk in the flesh, we're going to fulfill the lust of the flesh because our
flesh is unregenerate.
The soul is regenerate, the flesh is not, okay?
So there's a salvation that has already taken place in the past when we say us who are saved.
That salvation that already took place in the past is our soul being saved.
But there's another salvation that we have coming in the future, which is our flesh being
saved, our body being saved.
This is what's known as the bodily resurrection, right?
When we're actually going to be resurrected and this takes place at the second coming
of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus Christ comes in the clouds, the dead in Christ shall rise first and we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord, wherefore comfort one another with these words.
And the Bible says that at that time he 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 to himself.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an
eye, right?
So we're going to be changed.
This corruptible must put on incorruption.
This mortal must put on immortality, okay?
So that's the salvation we're looking for.
That's why the Bible tells in Romans 13, the night is far spent, the day is at hand, let
us therefore put on the, I'm sorry, I'm quoting it wrong.
Let's go to Romans 13 and look at it.
I'm jumping into it midstream, but he basically says to us in Romans 13 that our salvation
is nearer than when we believed, right?
Look at Romans chapter 13, I'll read it correctly.
It says in verse 12, the night is far spent, verse 11, there we go, and that knowing the
time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, watch this, for now is our salvation
nearer than when we believe.
So we don't want to twist this into saying, oh, you're not saved yet.
You know, you got to get saved in the future.
No, you're already saved spiritually, but you haven't received the full package yet.
You have right now the earnest of the spirit.
You have the down payment of your salvation.
You have the first installment, which is your soul and spirit being quickened and regenerated,
but you haven't gotten the full benefit of salvation yet.
You have not received the full benefit yet because you're still living in the sinful
flesh.
Don't you want to be saved from that?
Right?
We want to be saved from death.
We want to be saved from mortality and corruption, and we want to be saved from our sinful flesh.
So in Romans 13, he says, now is our salvation nearer than when we believe.
You say, well, how did he know that it was nearer than when they believed?
Well, because, you know, that's just the way time works, you know, even if it's really
far away.
I can promise you tonight that the second coming of Christ is nearer than when you believed.
So it's nearer than when you believe, and he says, the night is far spent.
The day is at hand.
Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.
So that's the same idea in Romans 13.
Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed, where it says in verse 5 of 1 Peter chapter
1, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time.
So here we see that it's faith that is the reason for us being kept by the power of God.
Because we have faith, because we believe on Jesus Christ, that's why we're kept by
the power of God, because of our faith.
So it says in verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need
be, you're in heaviness through manifold temptations.
So not everybody's in heaviness.
Not everybody's sad and depressed.
But many of you are, he's saying, if need be, through manifold temptations.
What does manifold mean?
Well, just change that I into a Y, and it's our word many, right?
It just means all different kinds of temptations, just diverse temptations that we go through.
So he says, you're in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having
not seeing ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory.
So notice that the message is always emphasizing faith in this epistle, right?
Have you noticed how chapter 1 of 1 Peter just keeps mentioning faith, believe, believe,
faith, faith?
He keeps on bringing up faith over and over again.
And then he says in verse 9, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your
souls.
So what's the end of your faith?
What is the result of your faith?
Where does faith get you?
It gets your soul saved, okay?
It's faith for salvation.
And you know, again, we talked about the false doctrine of the Judaizers and the false doctrine
of those who would try to say that the Jews are the elect or they're the chosen ones when
in reality the New Testament is teaching us that we as Gentile believers, we're the
chosen.
And obviously if a Jewish person believes on Christ, then they'll be the chosen people
too.
But then at that point, they'll just stop calling themselves a Jew and start calling
themselves a Christian, right?
But another false doctrine that's out there is the doctrine that says, well, you know,
Paul, the apostle Paul, he's the apostle to the Gentiles.
And you know, the rest of the apostles are sent to the Jews.
Really?
Because I seem to recall Jesus telling the 11 apostles and Paul wasn't even there.
He told them, go teach all nations.
Isn't that what Jesus said?
Now of course, there was a time when some of the apostles were hanging around in Jerusalem
and they told Paul, all right, Paul, you know, Galatians chapter 2 tells us, all right, Paul,
you know, you go to the Gentiles and we're going to go to the circumcision.
You know, you go to the uncircumcision, hey, is that what Christ told him to do?
No.
Christ told him to go teach all nations.
They disobeyed and hung out in Jerusalem too long, even though he told them to only wait
in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high.
Well, at the day of Pentecost, when they got endued with power from on high, it's time
to go teach all nations.
It's time to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
But the dispensationalists have this doctrine that, you know, Paul is our apostle.
No, Peter's my apostle.
If I'm living in Bithynia, if I'm living in, if I'm Joe Gentile living in Cappadocia, sounds
like Peter's my apostle since he's writing me a letter.
And guess what?
If I'm in, if I'm in one of the churches of Galatia, who's my apostle?
Well, I got a letter from Paul last week, but I got a letter from Peter this week.
Looks like I got a couple of apostles talking to me here.
Right?
I mean, who's he writing to?
Galatians.
And you know what he's teaching them?
Salvation by faith.
Because this stupid dispensational doctrine, it leads into this other heresy that says
that basically salvation by faith is only for the church-age Gentiles.
And they believe that Old Testament salvation was by works, and that salvation for the Jews
is by works, or that salvation in the tribulation is going to be by works.
Folks, how could salvation ever be by works when works that we do are like filthy rags?
If our righteousness is as filthy rags, how could that save you in any dispensation?
The filthy rag dispensation?
What kind of a dispensation is that?
Well back in the Old Testament, man, they just went to heaven on good works.
That's nonsense.
If you could ever do that, then you could always do that.
But guess what?
Just like today, there's none righteous, no, not one.
Guess what?
Back then there was none righteous, no, not one.
And in the future there's going to be none righteous, no, not one.
And so to sit there and say, well, Paul's gospel is a different gospel.
You know, it's the church-age Gentile gospel.
Well, it sounds like Peter's got the same gospel.
Faith, faith, faith, believe, believe, believe.
And isn't it interesting that when we read the book of John and we see the words of Christ,
he's talking about believe and faith more than anybody else.
Think about the book of John says 90 times in the book of John alone, the word believe
is used.
And the book of John claims to be a book written that you'd believe and have eternal life.
It's the only book in the New Testament that claims to be a book written to tell you how
to get saved and just happens to have the word believe in it 90 times.
And you know what word it doesn't have in it at all?
It never has the word repent one time.
So that's such an intrinsic thing.
Well, you know, you're not preaching repent of your sins to be saved.
Well, folks, that's funny because the book of John never mentioned repent and it's the
book that claims to be the book to tell me how to get saved and it says believe 90 times.
And you know what word?
You won't find in the book of John in regard to the mother of Christ, Mary.
John is the gospel where Mary is not mentioned by name.
There are other Mary's are mentioned just other random Mary's.
But you know what the Bible calls Mary in the book of John woman.
You know, she said, you know, Mary says to Jesus, Hey, that, you know, they have no wine
woman.
What have I to do with thee?
And then when he's on the cross again, he says, woman, behold thy son.
Look, if Mary is such a key part of salvation, boy, the book of John should emphasize that
and quit having her be called woman and actually give her a name.
Mary, right?
Because guess what?
Mary has nothing to do with your salvation.
Okay.
And you know what else doesn't have to do with your salvation?
You turning from your sins because that's a workspace salvation.
You know, you know, when I turned from my sins today, you know, when I turned from my
sins yesterday, you know, when I'm going to turn my sins tomorrow, you know what, you
know, when we're supposed to turn from our sins all the time, every day, folks, every
day, we have to deny self and take up the cross and follow Jesus.
But do we get saved every day?
No.
You get born again, not born again and again and again and again and again.
He said you're begotten again unto a lively hope.
You're born again, not born again and again and again and again and again.
You get saved one time, but you repent of your sins a thousand times.
That's life.
That's just life, right?
Life is when we go to sin and then we turn from that sin.
Oh, not going to do that.
Don't want to do that.
Don't want to screw up and commit a sin and say, I don't want to do that again.
Sorry about that, God.
I shouldn't have done that.
Sorry for doing this, Lord.
Sorry for this.
Sorry for that.
I'm sorry.
I repent.
I'm going to change.
I need to fix this.
That's life.
That's a process.
That's an ongoing thing.
And anybody, oh, 20 years ago I repented of my sins.
Really that's interesting because I can, I actually have a list of sins I'd like to give
you, things that I see you doing, you know what I mean?
And look, I don't want to point out people's sins to them, but if somebody is going to
get up and say, well, I repented of my sins, it's like, okay, well, here's a list of sins
you haven't repented from, porky, chunky, you know, it's like, oh man, I repented of
all my sins.
Well, that's interesting because you look like you ate a lot and the Bible said, don't
be a glutton.
That's interesting.
You repented of all your sins.
Really?
How about pride?
Because you're prideful and arrogant.
To think that you're better than other people because you repented of your sins.
Oh, I repented of all my sins.
Really?
Because I can point out all kinds of sins, but, you know, and obviously I don't want
to point out people's sins, but you get the idea here, folks.
How can somebody sit there and say, oh, I've made my heart clean.
I purified myself from sin.
That's a foolish statement.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
So the Bible here is saying that salvation is by faith receiving the end of your faith,
verse nine, even the salvation of your souls.
Hey, that's what the Gospel of John will teach you.
And of course it's not coming from John, it's coming from Jesus, right?
It's Jesus who tells us in John chapter three that salvation is by faith and to be born
again.
It's Jesus who tells us in John chapter four that all we have to do is just take the water
of life and drink and never be thirsty again.
It's Jesus who tells us in John 647, verily, verily, I say unto thee, he that believeth
on me has everlasting life.
It's Jesus who says, I'm the resurrection of life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die.
So the Gospel that Jesus preached is by faith.
Paul teaches in Romans and everywhere else that salvation is by faith.
And what's Peter teaching?
That salvation is by faith.
So this dispensational thing of all these different Gospels and that Paul is our specific
of no, you know, Paul is no more my apostle than Peter, James, and John or anybody else.
Every promise in the book is mine, every chapter, every verse, every line.
And you know what?
The book of Jude was written to me.
The book of Titus is written to me, even though my name's not Titus, that book's still written
to me.
Why?
Because I'm like Titus.
I'm like Timothy.
You are like Timothy.
You're like a Titus, right?
Whatever you are like Philemon or maybe you're like, you say, well, I'm a woman.
Well, the book of Philemon's written to Philemon and his wife and his kid because he says,
to our dearly beloved Philemon, but he says, and to our beloved Appiah and to Archippus,
our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house.
So he's writing to the husband, he's writing to the wife, he's writing to the son.
Well, guess what?
You're included in that or you're going to love the book of 2 John because it's written
to the elect lady and her children.
So the book of 2 John is written to a woman.
So there you go, women.
You got a book that's written for you.
So the point is, it doesn't matter if we don't live in, we don't have to move to Galatia and
say now I can finally read the book of Galatians.
You know what I mean?
Look, I want to get on a plane to Ephesus just so that I can claim that Ephesians 2
8 and 9.
I want that to be written to me.
Isn't that silly?
I don't have to change my name to Titus so that I can enjoy the book of Titus.
The Bible is written to you.
All the apostles are talking to you.
Jesus is talking to you, dispensationalism.
You know what?
It's just that they have a small mind.
So because their mind is so small, this book is just too big for them.
They don't want to have to figure all this out.
So they're like, I'm just going to mess with Romans through Philemon.
That's all they can wrap their mind around is Romans through Philemon.
Hey, I'm ready to take on all 66 books.
So it's pretty clear here what the gospel is.
Let's keep going.
It says in verse 10 of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently
who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.
So is this thing of salvation by grace or this thing of the Gentiles being saved, is
that a new thing or an afterthought?
This is what the prophets are preaching about.
This is what the prophets are talking about.
And again, this goes back to the fact that they were elect according to the foreknowledge
of God.
They are the chosen people.
This is God's plan that the Gentiles receive Christ.
And he says, verse 11, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which
was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the
glory that should follow.
Now this is key.
This is going to come up later in the book of 1 Peter.
So I want to point this out now so that when we get to this later in the book of 1 Peter
you'll remember it.
Don't miss verse 11.
It's easy sometimes to just read over things quickly and blow past profound truths from
the word of God.
Don't miss verse 11.
Searching what?
Now who's doing the searching?
The prophets, right?
The prophets of old.
In the past they inquired and searched diligently.
They prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.
Look at verse 11.
Searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify.
Stop right there and let me point out something.
The spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets.
Everybody got that?
The spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets.
When it, what's the it?
The it is the spirit of Christ because the spirit of Christ, spirit of God is often referred
to with that neuter pronoun of it.
Like when the Bible says the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we're
the children of God, Romans 8 16.
Look at what the Bible says here.
When it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
So the spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets speaking through them.
The spirit of Christ was speaking through them and testifying of the sufferings of Christ
and the glory that should follow.
So it's all, that's just a different dispensation, totally different.
Folks, Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The Gentiles are elect according to the foreknowledge of God.
If they believe in Christ, if they have obeyed the truth and been sprinkled by the blood
of Jesus Christ, those that are saved are elect.
They're the chosen people, not by ethnicity, not because they're Jews or other ethnicities,
but because they're believers, because they're saved.
This whole gospel of Jesus Christ has always been the message.
Even in the Old Testament, they're preaching Christ.
That's why the Bible said to him, give all the prophets witness that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins.
So the spirit of Christ testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that
should follow.
Verse 12, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did
minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel
unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to
look into.
So the Bible and specifically the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, et cetera,
are more relevant for us than they were for them back then.
So they said, well, the whole Bible's written for you, but the whole Bible's not written
to you, where they try to act like, well, that was for another dispensation, that was
for the Old Testament days.
Look, the book of Isaiah was a blessing to Isaiah's contemporaries.
When Isaiah preached to them, hey, they profited from that.
And then the next few generations and 200 years, 300 years went by, 400 years went by,
Folks, the Old Testament saints profited from the book of Isaiah, but not as much as I do.
Not as much as you do.
And you know who the main audience is of the book of Isaiah?
Is New Testament Christians.
You know who the main audience is of the book of Jeremiah and the book of Ezekiel?
New Testament Christians, folks.
And you say, that doesn't sound right.
Look, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, it teaches the exact same thing.
Do you notice how Peter and Paul are teaching the same thing?
Why?
Because it's the same Holy Spirit.
The word of God's consistent.
Whether you're reading Peter or Paul, you're getting the same doctrine, right?
Keep your finger here and go to 1 Corinthians 10, because it's so important that we see
this.
1 Corinthians 10 talks about Bible stories.
It talks about crossing the Red Sea.
It talks about drinking from the water and the rock in the book of Numbers.
It talks about people being killed in the wilderness.
It talks about people committing fornication.
Talks about the fiery serpents.
So it tells all these Old Testament stories that are from the Mosaic law, and then it
says in verse 11, Now all these things happen unto them for
in samples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
So who is Exodus written for?
Us.
It's for our admonition.
Upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Who is Numbers written for?
Us.
Well, what is Peter saying?
Hey, the prophets that prophesied, they ministered these things not unto themselves, but unto
us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
So we notice clearly that the Old Testament prophets had a ministry for New Testament
Christians, because I guarantee you that I'm getting way more out of Isaiah, and you're
getting way more out of Isaiah in the New Testament, knowing what you know about Christ,
having read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who do you think is going to get more out
of Isaiah 53, us or them?
We're getting way more out of it.
We're the main intended audience.
I guarantee you that if you were to somehow calculate how many man hours were spent reading
the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament under the Old Covenant versus how many man hours
have been spent reading the book of Isaiah since 33 AD, it wouldn't even be close that
probably the book of Isaiah has been read a thousand times as much in the New Testament.
So doesn't it make sense that God's gearing it toward us since we're the main readers?
Since there are 7.4 billion people on earth and, you know, millions of them and even billions
of them are reading or hearing scripture from the book of Isaiah today, right now.
So don't get sucked into these doctrines that sound so smooth about, oh, no, no, no, that
Old Testament, that's not for you, Isaiah's not for you, Peter's not for you, stick to
your guy, stick to Paul, stick with Romans through Philemon.
And of course, we believe that the book of Hebrews is written by Paul too, but they don't
believe that, so they don't include that because that flies in the face of what they're trying
to do there.
So let's hurry up and finish here.
This is a great chapter though, there's a lot of good stuff here.
He says in verse 13, wherefore, meaning because of this, gird up the loins of your mind, be
sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ.
And of course, the revelation of Jesus Christ, that's the name of a book, the book of Revelation.
That's talking about the second coming of Christ.
And so he's saying, hey, hang in there.
Right now, you're going through manifold temptations.
Right now, you're in heaviness.
Right now, you might be depressed.
Your faith is being tried right now.
You're gonna come forth as gold.
You're elect, you're the people of God, hang in there, you're sealed, you're kept
by the power of God.
This is meant to be encouraging.
This whole chapter is encouraging you.
It's building you up.
Hey, look, the prophets, man, they wrote that stuff for you.
That stuff's to help you.
It's geared toward you.
And he says, hope to the end, hang in there, the grace that is to be brought unto you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children, he says, not fashioning yourselves
according to the former lusts and your ignorance, but as he which had called you is holy, so
be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written, be holy for I'm holy.
So he's saying, look, don't get discouraged, don't get down because you know what a lot
of people do when they get discouraged and down?
You wanna know what they do?
They go back into sin.
They go out and live a life of sin.
Look, when I'm in a good mood and when things are going great and I'm feeling good and happy,
boy, the temptation to sin is not even close to when you start getting down and depressed
and you're feeling bad and then you're just like, whatever.
And then that's when you throw up your hands and start sinning, true or false?
I mean, how many times, right?
It's when you're feeling down and depressed, that's when you're more vulnerable to temptation.
And so that's when you really gotta be careful.
And that's why he's talking to them saying, look, I know you might be in heaviness right
now and you're going through temptations, you're going through hard times, but look,
don't sin.
Be holy.
Do what's right.
Don't be disobedient children.
You're born again.
You're begotten again.
Be obedient children because guess what?
There are two kinds of children, obedient children and disobedient children.
They're both children.
They're both in the family.
One's obedient, one isn't.
And then the verses that we already covered, he talks about if you call on the father,
then pass the time of your sojourning in fear.
We talked about that.
You've been redeemed.
What have you been redeemed from?
Look at verse 18.
For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
So what was the vain tradition that they received from their fathers?
Oh, is this being written to the Jews?
Really?
No, folks.
The vain tradition received from their fathers isn't an Old Testament religion that they
were handed down.
It's not the Torah that they were handed, right?
You know what?
Their vain conversation and vain tradition received from their fathers was basically
a bunch of Greek mythology or Roman mythology or whatever the false gods, whatever the idols
of the heathen, where the Gentiles sacrificed unto idols.
That's what they received.
That's what they inherited.
You know, it's like today if someone inherited Hinduism or if they inherited...
And by the way, Hinduism is the closest thing to that pagan religion today that's got a
lot of followers because Greek mythology doesn't have a lot of followers today.
Roman mythology, not a lot of followers.
Scandinavian Norse mythology, it's not really a thing anymore.
You know, you'll find your occasional bozo that's into Thor and Zeus and, you know, Jupiter
and whatever.
But let's face it, folks, that's not really a thing.
But you got 1.1 billion Hindus bound down to their gods and goddesses.
That's the closest thing you're going to find in the modern world that has a mass following,
okay?
But then you've got other vain traditions like Buddhism.
You've got other vain traditions like Islam, okay?
You got other vain traditions and false doctrines like Roman Catholicism which is also a lot
of those same gods and goddesses.
Now they're just called saints.
There used to be this goddess that was over a river or something and now you have this
saint that's the saint of rivers.
You got the saint of the trees, the saint of the desert.
You got the saint of the ocean.
You got the saint of the mountain.
You got the saint of the valley.
You got a – I jokingly said you probably have a patron saint for plumbers.
And somebody emailed me the next day and said, here is the patron saint for plumbers in Roman
Catholicism.
You know, because you got the patron saint of carpenters and you got the patron saint
of, you know, custodians and janitors.
And you got the patron saint of people who party and get drunk.
There are saints like that.
Oh, saints so and so help us, you know?
Pray for us.
Folks, they got a saint for everything because the Greeks and Romans had a god and a goddess
for everything.
And it's just all they did is absorb all that pagan garbage.
Well, you know what the Bible is saying here is that we're supposed to be redeemed from
that junk, okay?
When we get saved, we're not supposed to be keeping the vain tradition and say, well,
but this is what my parents did so I got to keep this little fat Buddha, you know, smiling
Buddha or I've got to keep this little, you know, Shiva or four-armed Goro or whatever
it is, you know?
You know, I got to keep this – I got to keep this crucifix and I've got to keep
this tiki mask and the rosary and I've got to keep all the, you know, I mean this is
my tradition, you know, it's just part of my tradition.
Well, you know what?
You need to get rid of your tradition.
Now look, I'm all for you keeping parts of your culture that are wholesome and benign.
I don't think there's anything wrong with people who are from India, you know, dressing
in Indian garb.
You know, a lot of it is more modest and classy than a lot of what other people wear, amen?
I don't think there's anything wrong with wearing an African garb.
I don't think there's anything wrong with wearing whatever the Chinese garb or the Japanese
garb as long as it's modest apparel, as long as it's, you know, just normal clothing, okay?
And look, you don't have to stop eating curry to stop being a Hindu.
You can still eat tikka masala, you know?
You can still have the food and the clothing and the language, but you know what?
You need to get rid of the idols.
You need to get rid of the prayers to false gods.
You need to get rid of the superstitions, the good luck charms and that kind of stuff.
You need to trash that stuff.
And you need to get rid of that vain tradition.
And you know, some people, they just hang out, well, I was born this and I'm going to
die.
You know what?
You're going to die and go to hell if you don't get saved.
So don't just follow your parents and grandparents to hell.
You know, if they believed a false religion, you need to get out of it.
And you need to believe on Christ and you need to be saved.
So he's saying you were redeemed by the blood of Christ from your vain tradition, your vain
conversation received from your fathers, you know, your parents or whatever, because these
are the Gentiles, right?
These are not the Jews that he's writing to.
The precious blood of Christ is of a lamb without blemish, without spot, who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by him do believe in God.
All right?
That's, people say, well, I believe in God, but the right way to believe in God is doing
it by Jesus.
You know, because why?
Because Jesus said, no man cometh to the father, but by me.
So you do it by Jesus.
That your faith and hope at the end of verse 21 might be in God, seeing that you've purified
your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit and the unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently, being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever.
That's a great verse, by the way, on the preservation of God's word.
God's word liveth and abideth forever.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away, the Bible says.
For all flesh is as grass, all the glory of man as the flower of grass, the grass withereth
and the flower thereof falleth away.
But the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is
preached unto you.
Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer.
Father, thank you so much for this powerful chapter, Lord, and help us to be encouraged
by it.
I know it was written to encourage and motivate these Galatians and Cappadocians and others
from Asia Minor there that this is written to, Lord.
Help us also to be encouraged because being encouraged and rejoicing with joy unspeakable,
that's going to help us live a clean life and be holy as you're holy and to love one
another and do all the things we need to do, Lord, when we know we're saved and when
we don't get depressed and down, but rather we rejoice, Lord.
So please help us to be encouraged and have joy and be motivated to serve you to the best
of our ability.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.