The Triumphant Church R1703

Sometimes we find ourselves facing defeat, but we can have triumph that we bond together with the Triumphant Church. The Triumphant Church. That's today's topic with Dr. Don Wilton, well-known author, evangelist, seminary professor, and pastor. I hope you'll open your heart to see what God's going to teach us all as we head to 1 Peter, Chapter 1, discussing the Triumphant Church. The Encouraging Word.

And now, Dr. Don Wilton. I'm going to ask you today to open your Bibles to 1 Peter, Chapter 1. Folks, it's going to be so critical that you look at this as you always do. We're a people of the book of the Bible. I cannot overstress that to you during these weeks as we launch out into a Bible study that God has put in my heart. God began to burn this into my heart some months ago. This incredible first epistle to Peter, and I want to say to you right up front, I'm asking the Lord Jesus just to hide me.

Don't listen to me. I'm just an instrument, but listen to what God says through me. I want to speak God, Jesus. What we're about to talk about, I cannot imagine anything more critical or more important, more relevant to us in our world today. And I'm also going to tell you this is deep. You need to be prepared for this. This is a deep study. My prayer, and you pray for me, there's hardly a sentence or a word that I get through in my study, and I've spent hours doing this, pouring my heart out before the Lord Jesus.

There's hardly any time that I feel like I need to be there for the next 12 weeks, and I'm not being funny. I'm not trying to be cute or preachy. For everything that Don might say that the word of God has put in my heart, there are going to be so many applications that the Spirit is going to give to you. Listen to the Spirit of God, my beloved congregation. Listen. Listen to what God has to say through his word.

I grapple with God's word, but I want so desperately to grow to be more like the Lord Jesus. And this series is entitled The Triumphant Church. This is going to be the best news we've ever heard. And how much we need good news in today's world. How much we need that in our families, our nation.

Our churches, our church, bringing up our sons and daughters, our education system, all the social stuff that's going on, the changing norms, the threats, the quandary of this world, the triumphant church, beloved congregation. I cannot make you listen to this, but God by his Spirit will give you a receptive heart. Ask God the Spirit to do that for you.

I promise you he'll do it. Say, Spirit of God, come upon me. Guide me into truth.

Show me. I want to do it your way. I want to live your way because people are in the way. My feelings are in the way. My country's in the way.

The government's in the way. Everybody knows better than God these days. And a lot of people couldn't care less about God and his word. The triumphant church, 1 Peter chapter 1, I read just the first few verses. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are the elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit. For obedience to Jesus Christ, because of the sprinkling with his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. May the name of Jesus be glorified and may God by his Spirit add his blessing and his understanding to the reading of his word. I'm going to try to help us understand in a very cursory way some simple truths.

I'm going to go to four segments that are very easy to remember. Number one, from whom was this written? Number two, to whom was this written? Number three, by whom, who wrote this? And number four, for whom, who are the recipients?

What's the purpose? I don't have to say this to a lot of historians here. I've had educators in my mind so much this week, haven't you? All our wonderful teachers, home school teachers and educators and moms and dads, people that pass on knowledge.

They know the history. I do think it very pertinent just to say to all of us here today, it's important to remember that as Peter, this is the first letter of Peter, as Peter wrote this, dark clouds were everywhere. Dark clouds. Just take the awful narrowing Nero's persecutions, the burning of Jerusalem in AD 64 alone.

Can you imagine a city being razed to the ground? The terror. That's when he wrote this, facing his own imminent execution because he loved Jesus.

So let's unpack this a little bit. From whom? From whom did this letter come? Well, the first obvious one is it's from Peter. That's his name. In fact, Peter's name's the first name. They did everything backwards back in their time. They just weren't quite as educated as we were. We always put it at the end.

Love you mom so much, your son, Don. They put their name up front. This is from Peter.

Now we do that in memos today if we are using computers and things, but just that was their way of doing it. Peter was from Peter. He was a servant. Tells us right there, apostle of Jesus Christ.

One who had seen the risen Lord. So how much time do we have to talk about Peter? This absolutely perfect Christian gentleman, all right? Peter, when I began to take a look at this as we always do, just go back. You've almost got to go when Jesus called him to forsake his nets. I mean, this man had experienced the whole gamut of life.

He saw it all. Peter, an apostle of Jesus. We also know that Peter was most likely the acknowledged leader who had something very real to say. It based upon a real understanding of real life. But we do know that what he had to say was very spiritual. You can be a Christian man or lady with very real experiences, but that doesn't necessarily mean that what you say and do is spiritual. That's why this is going to be about the triumphant church. I have to guard that all the time because I've got a human nature.

We all do because we have a battle going on within us. Peter had the same. He was impetuous, spoke out of line.

We know all about Peter. This man had something. Evidently, God used him.

Can you imagine that? God used him. So from whom? Through Peter and secondly, by the Holy Spirit. You know, 2 Timothy chapter 3, probably one of the most powerful verses of Scripture. And if you don't get this, understand this, own this and obey this and follow, you need to as a believer. This is our church. This is the church.

This is believers. 2 Timothy 3 verse 16. All Scripture is breathed out by God. And is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness. So that the man or woman of God, watch this, may be complete and get this one, be fully equipped to handle life.

Did you get that? All Scripture, some people today even question that this is God's infallible, inerrant word. The Bible, the best book to read is the Bible. It is God's complete Holy Spirit inspired word of the living God.

This is our authority. God, I've loved that about our church. The Bible is the centerpiece on the mantelpiece in every life group.

Enjoy talking about football, enjoy bantering about the camping trip, enjoy praying. But the centerpiece in everything, what does the Bible say? All Scripture is breathed out by God and it is, the word profitable carries with it the idea it is in every way fully applicable. 100% in every way for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, in how to live. What does the Spirit of God do? Convicts us of sin, judgment and righteousness. We're going to hear this coming up in Peter. Be holy because I'm holy.

How do I do that? Where do I go? Where do I find my marching orders? How does God teach me? He teach me through his word for training in righteousness.

What is the end game here? So that the person of God may be complete. I want to be complete. I want all the days of my life to matter for God. I want to be found faithful to God. No matter what the circumstances, no matter what, no matter how deeply I grieve, no matter how horrible I feel, no matter what circumstance I go through, no matter what the government is doing, no matter what sin is going on. I want to be complete. And in order to respond to my world, in order to know how to bring up my children, in order to deal with sin, in order to face this world in which I live, I must be complete and fully equipped for every good work.

So powerful. This is the word of God from whom? Given through Peter, breathed by the Spirit of God. So the second issue that we need to look at is to whom? To whom is this addressed?

Who are the recipients? Well, if you haven't had a clue yet, I think you'll know now. He says something here to those who are the elect exiles. Now let's just talk about this. This is a huge subject, and I'm going to be very brief, and I ask you to beg my pardon, but we're going to unpack this. To whom? The elect exiles of the dispersion. So let's go backwards, all right? The dispersion, the word to disperse, if you disperse something, what do you do?

You spread it all out all over the place. Does that sound like Christians in America? We're all over the place, right? I know you and I look at each other and say, well, we're in Genesis and we're in celebration. Yeah, that's us, but we're everywhere. Do you know that there are fellow Christians in Somalia? Did you know that? Did you stop to think there might have been some wonderful Christian men and women in that hotel?

I'm not thinking. They're all over the world. We are everywhere. Well, at any rate, back here, there's something being said here, and the word that is used here is the word exile. Now, if you go and study the word exile, an exile is somebody who lives somewhere that they don't actually belong, right? They're in exile.

They're living somewhere that they don't actually, they're not from there. The word here really is a word stranger, is a good use of the word, but here's the best word that you get. You get it in the King James Version, but it's the root word and it's the word alien.

Isn't that horrible? Did you know that you're an alien? Did you know that Jesus calls every Christian an alien, an exile, a stranger?

Now, I want you to just bear with me in this. Now, wait a minute. I thought I'm an American citizen. In your case, not in my case, you're born and raised here, right?

You're not an alien. The day you gave your heart to Jesus, you became one because what God is about to show us that every believer does not actually belong to the norm of the world in which they live because the world hates Jesus. Jesus said that. Going to 1 John, going to the Gospels. Do you know what the Bible says in John's Gospel in the first chapter? He came to his own, but his own received him not.

This is like a shocking thing. Evidently, Jesus wants us to understand something about what it means to be a Christian. If you belong to Jesus, you don't actually belong to the world.

You cannot. You cannot serve God and man. It has to be one or the other.

You have to forsake one in order to accept and be part of the other. Jesus doesn't share his face. This is a powerful statement here in Peter because he's establishing something. He's about to tell us how we got there, how that happened. So he says here, to whom? Well, we are living aliens. We're strangers.

And we're living in a world full of suffering where there's a meteoric clash between truth and error. Opposition. Aliens.

Scorn. I'm praying today for our students who love Jesus. Yes, they're on their campus, but they're aliens on the campus. Folks, listen to God's word. Every student who loves Jesus is never going to be fully accepted. How can they be? They're strangers.

What the world says and what Jesus says are poles apart. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with the rest of today's message from Dr. Don Wilton. But Dr. Don wants you to know that we're here for you. We're taking your calls right now at 866-899-WORD. We'd love to pray with you or connect you with great resources. 866-899-9673. Or meet us on our website, tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org where you'll discover wonderful resources like this. What an incredible privilege to be the friend and pastor of Dr. Billy Graham for so many years. That's why I have just written Saturdays with Billy. This is not a biography. It is my experience with this most precious man who has changed my life and the lives of thousands of people around the world.

You want to get a copy right now, Saturdays with Billy. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton on the message The Triumphant Church. Righteousness and unrighteousness have no fellowship. That's tough. That's a dilemma.

It's very hard. That's what Peter, he's laying, God's laying the foundation for us. So to whom is this written? A, to us, we're called living aliens who are scattered everywhere. Now specific to this, he's talking about this region of Turkey, Asia Minor, Pontus and Galatia, Cappadocia, these places.

That's where the church was scattered during this very difficult time in which Peter in the New Testament was written. The living aliens, our designation, identifies who God is talking to. He says this is for you. He's looking at me and he's saying, well, pastor, you're born again of the Spirit of God.

He's going to clarify that. He says you've been born unto a living hope. Yes, I have, Lord Jesus. I belong to you. Well, first thing I want you to know is you're an alien. You're a stranger. You're an exile. And the second thing that he says related to that is you're not only living aliens, but you are in the world. This is where it gets very interesting, but it's so true. So he's addressing me as an alien, a stranger, an exile, living in exile as a stranger, as an alien in the world.

Jesus wants us to know that we're not walking around with a blindfold on. We actually are living in this world. We actually are on that campus.

We actually do have an office. We do have work to do. We do face sin. We do deal with hardship. We do struggle with our health. We're living in this sinful world. We do have governments that do everything they can to remove everything about God from everything that we have.

This is real. You are aliens because you belong to me, and yet at the same time, you're not living in a cave. By the way, I admire them greatly, but many of the monastic orders going back into the early centuries, they began out of that approach. I belong to God.

If you take someone like Francis of Assisi, just I love reading about Saint Francis of Assisi because he came out of such wealth. His father was one of the wealthy people of their town and their village and their community, and he had such an encounter with the living God. And he said, man, I just can't do this. He just for sake gave it all up and went into a life of abject poverty. He didn't even wear shoes again.

That's how far he went to absent himself. And God is saying to us, I'm not telling you to go and live in a cave. I'm telling you that you are living in your world.

This is real stuff. But I'm about to show you how to appropriate this and take this as and to live righteously and be complete in him so that your every action and your every work is going to be pleasing to the Lord Jesus. All right, from whom? Peter, from whom? Through the Holy Spirit. To whom?

Me and you, living aliens, living in our world. By whom? So who did this come from? Now we folks, have you ever heard the word theology? It means that which is about God. In these opening verses, God lets us know.

And I'm going to put it in two frameworks for you to understand today. So by whom? According to whose authority are these things being said?

According to whose authority? Let me just read you one verse. Chapter two and verse nine. Chapter two and verse nine.

We'll get there. You are a chosen race. By the way, you aliens, look at me. Strangers, fellow Christians, listen to word. You are a chosen race. A royal priesthood, a holy nation.

A people for his own possession in order that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light. Let's have fun doing this, folks. Come on, let's have joy. This is why our future is so incredible. This is what we've got to look forward to. This is why tomorrow is going to be so much greater than we could ever imagine.

This is what our sons and daughters have got to look forward to. Because our whole world is filled with, oh me, what do we do now? The triumphant church. By whom? Number one, the divine foreknowledge of God. Who's the authority? Where did it come from?

It came from the divine foreknowledge of God. What does that mean in a simple term? It means all credit goes to God the Father. Period. Somebody say amen. Everything goes to God. You and I can spend all day trying to explain. It begins with God, it ends with God.

Any further questions? In the beginning, God. Genesis 1 verse 1 is one of the most powerful statements that you and I can ever imagine in the beginning. And I've said a million times, when was the beginning?

It was in the beginning. You will find yourself growing dizzy trying to figure out the deep, profound mystery of an eternal, holy, and righteous God. Faith is the demand of God our Heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit to accept the fact that God is God and to give it all to Him and to obey Him completely. What powerful teaching from Dr. Don Wilton today on what it ultimately means to be triumphant and to gather together as the body of Christ. The triumphant church, God has called you and me, not to the particular church you go to or I go to or the church you drove by earlier today, but God is calling us to a community where we come together, live together, grow together, and lives are changed for eternity. Perhaps you have an opportunity to talk with someone or want someone to pray with you.

We're here at 866-899-WORD anytime. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Welcome to the family of God. I'm confident some of you were praying along with Dr. Wilton moments ago to give your life to Christ or rededicate your life to Jesus. Know that Dr. Don would love to pray for you and put some free resources in your hands that will help you grow in your faith. If you'll call and share your decision at 866-899-WORD, we'll send these free resources out right away. Again, call us at 866-899-9673, and we would love to pray with you and pray for you.

Dr. Don would love to pray for you. We also can connect on our website as well, where you'll find tremendous resources like the new one about the Book of Martyrs and the ultimate sacrifice. Again, it's all on our website, tewonline.org. And while you're there, be sure and sign up for the daily Encouraging Word email from Dr. Don. It's all there at tewonline.org. The Encouraging Word