All right, now, you may or may not remember that we are in the middle of a series. This is the third week of a series, and it's one we started very purposely on Palm Sunday, and there's a reason for that. We are talking about the king returning and establishing everything in his kingdom, and we're calling it resurrection life or resurrection people. That's who we are. We are resurrection people, and that's important, right? We are not death people, we are not repentance people, we are not show-how-much-we-believe people, or I don't know, I'm just trying to make up things. We are resurrection people. Jesus Christ is alive. We are alive, we are on the winning side of a spiritual warfare that's been going on for thousands of years, and we have the Lamb of God behind us who's already won the victory. If you remember when I preached through Revelation a couple times, there's this great passage in Revelation 13 where You have the battle set, right? Revelation 12 sets before us the beast and the dragon, and we're ready for this huge warfare. And then Revelation 13 describes the lamb and his fair army of 10,000 upon 10,000, and you're ready for a huge battle. And then instead, the soldiers just start playing music. They're playing the victory song, because the battle's already been fought. Jesus has already won. And our job is just to play the song and let the world know. So, you know, we're describing this return of the king and his setting of the kingdom right. And we said the Palm Sunday was the Sunday when, remember we're using the Lion King illustration. This is a snow leopard, not a lion. I know that. But it's the only acute one they had. And the snow leopard has been fighting, is Jesus, and he's been fighting skirmishes around the outside of Jerusalem, and he's been defeating Satan. He was taken into the wilderness and tempted. And this is something I just learned this week. This is the only time in the Bible that Satan tempted anybody and he lost. That's an interesting thought, isn't it? See, we got something new. It's the only time Satan tried to tempt somebody and failed. I'm not sure how Job works in that. Let me think about that one for a second. I may not be right. Anyway, Jesus comes out the victor, and he goes around casting out demons. He goes around healing people, releasing people from Satan's bonds. And now, on Palm Sunday, he is turned with his jaw like flint toward Jerusalem. No more skirmishes, no more guerrilla warfare. He's coming straight down Main Street. And he faces Satan, and he faces sin, and he faces death. He became sin for us, and he submitted to death for us. In John 10, he said, no one can take my life from me. It's my own. I lay it down, I take it back. And he submitted to death for us. And then on Resurrection Sunday, last Sunday, we talked about his victory over death. He exploded the grave from the inside. The grave is now just nothing more than a transition for us. And today we're going to talk about what that means for us. We are resurrection people. We are bringing the power and the message and the joy and the victory of resurrection wherever we go. We're going to start by reading out of 1 Peter. We're going to do different texts through this series. It's going to go through the end of May. We're going to start with this great one in 1 Peter. The reason I pick it is because it's addressed to people like us. This is after the persecutions. in Jerusalem have gotten just terrible. And the Christians, all the believers who originally were Jews, they have been dispersed all through Asia. And so Paul is writing this letter to them explaining, okay, you're a believer, but let me tell you how you live amongst a pagan culture. You're living amongst unbelievers now. It's not like when you all lived together and you had your little sweet fellowship all the time. You're living amongst unbelievers now. Let me explain to you how that goes. This is the letter for us. The first thing he reminds us of is the resurrection. Please stand as we read from 1 Peter 1 verses 1-12. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, in accordance to the foreknowledge of God the Father and the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for 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 to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice. Though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, though it's tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully Inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves But you and the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look This far the reading of God's holy word. All men are like grass, and all of our glory is like the flowers of the field, and the grass withers and the flowers fall, but not God's word. God's word stands forever. You may be seated. There's a few movies, stories, things that just never seem to die. And they're not going to. One's the Wizard of Oz. I think about the Wizard of Oz every year about this time. When the wind is blowing so hard, I'm sure I'm gonna wake up in Kansas. And it's just hard not to think about it, right? Another one's Peter Pan. Every little boy's dream to just wake up in another world, able to fly, and able to sword fight with pirates. And when? Those kind of stories, they just last forever. We long, there's something inside of us that's weird. You wouldn't expect it, but there's something inside of us that just dreams of waking up in a new world with new abilities. and everything being different. And what the Apostle Peter is reminding us of, he says, I know where you are, you're in all these ancient cities, but you belong to the Lord. You belong to the Lord and you are resurrection people. He has made you alive just with the same power that he used to raise Christ from the dead. You are Dorothy and Oz. You are Wendy in Neverland. You are a new person in a new place with new abilities and a new duty. You're different. You are a different, new person. You have new responsibilities, and you have a new destiny. And that's what I want you to see in this text, that the resurrection gives us a new identity, a new destiny, and a new duty. The first thing I want you to see is the resurrection changes our identity. God has made us holy. He has sanctified us. Let's just read a couple of these verses and then I'll point them out to you. Verse 2, according to the foreknowledge of God, the foreknowledge of God, again, you know the word knowledge in the Bible. It's not, you know, 2 plus 2 equals 4. It's a loving word. When Adam knew Eve, she bore children. It's a loving, intimate word. According to the foreknowledge of God, according to the love of God, the forelove of God, before we were even born, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Christ, and for sprinkling with His blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. There's so much in that. What is he saying? He is saying that God has already done these things to you. He's already made you holy. He's already sanctified you by the blood of Christ. You're striving to be holy, which is something we should do. You should be better. You should strive to be better, be more like Jesus, sure. You're growing into it, though. It's not trying to be something that you're not. You are holy. You need to embrace that. That's who you are. You are new creation. You were born again. You're growing into it. We grow in holiness. Much like a prince grows into a man and becomes a king, or a princess grows into a woman and becomes a queen, there's things you have to learn. There's a maturity that has to be added to us. We have to, you know, grow. But we're not trying to earn anything. We get it by his election. We get it because he's already set us apart. We are holy, so act that way. That's essentially what Peter's saying here. You are born again. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he's caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You are a new creation. Even more than that, there's a word, there's a phrase in Galatians, Galatians 2.20, I believe, I'm terrible with numbers. but I'm right about that one, where the construction of the sentence is really awkward. It says this, if anyone is in Christ, new creation. It's as if Paul is saying, if anyone is in Christ, Oz. You're in a new place. You're a new person. Everything is different. And the world is different to you. You are different. You are new. That's who you are. Your heart is changed. Peter says, I love this verse so much, though you have not seen him, you love him. You haven't even seen him, but you love him. Your heart is changed. That's not something you can possibly drum up by yourself. You love this person, this man who you've not even seen. Your character is changed. You are now, you've gone from being whatever you were like by nature to rejoicing with a joy that is unspeakable, filled with glory. You're rejoicing with a joy that is unspeakable, filled with joy. I just want us to meditate right here for a few minutes, okay? What does it mean to us specifically that you are new creation? What does it mean that your identity is new creation? Some of these illustrations you will have heard before, but they bear repeating. It means that you are not defined by the worst sins that you've committed. You're not defined by the sins that you've committed. You've not destroyed yourself. You've not ruined yourself. You've not made yourself unworthy or unwantable. I've told many times the story of a sweet, terribly, terribly convicted, repentant college student who had done what she never thought she would do over the summer. She'd had an abortion and she was just convinced that nobody was ever going to want her again. And the joy I had in reminding her that she's new creation. What's done is done. That's past. That person is dead and gone. You are in Christ. You're new. You're not defined by what you've done. You're not defined by your people, by your family. I've told you before how much A, I despise and B, how untrue it is that an apple never falls far from the tree. The saying that means basically you're not going to rise above your family. What your family was, you're going to be. If you come from a family of drunks, you're going to be a drunk. I say with great joy and confidence in my heart, Fuji on that Fuji apples got a bowl full of them in my house Grown in Japan. I dropped one the other day it fell in Tulsa Because God's grace can take an apple and move it wherever he wants to move it. And he can make it new. You're not condemned by your family. You're not condemned by your, you're not defined by your failures. You're not defined by your successes. You're not defined by your abilities. You're not defined by your struggles. Yeah, we're going to struggle. And Jesus has purposes for those, and God left Jesus here to struggle. As a matter of fact, later in the letter of Peter, he's gonna tell us that we should look like him who suffered and died on the cross. It's as if he's saying, you know, it's one of those commercials, you know, they're trying to sell you a piece of workout equipment. We used to have this commercial all the time with the Solaflex commercials. They would show a man who'd just gotten finished working out, and his body looks like a work of art. Pretty much like this. Just kidding. The hidden, not so hidden meaning is, buy this equipment, look like this. Peter's saying this, believe this gospel, Look like this, and he points to one who's been beaten and scourged and has been bloodied and crucified. Look like this. Beloved of the Lord. Yes, you're gonna suffer, but your suffering is gonna purify your faith. It doesn't mean that God has rejected you. It means that God is in you and using you and loves you and refining you. Why is he doing that? Well, let's look at the second thing Peter talks about us getting. Not only do we have a new identity, being born again, but we have a new destiny. He says, we're born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. He's preparing you, he's using your sufferings to prepare you for an undefiled, unperishable destiny. That he is assured you're going to receive. He is giving you the gift of faith. Your faith isn't going to run out. He is preserving you by giving you faith. And that faith assures you of this destiny, this imperishable inheritance. Why do we suffer? Why does he send suffering? One of the reasons is because he wants us to put our faith in something that can't be taken away and to put our hope in something that is imperishable. There's an old, old Puritan story about a lumberjack. And we don't have too many lumberjacks these days. We need more lumberjacks. And he was sitting in this forest, started cutting down trees, and he noticed this bird who was just now, she was starting to nest. And she was starting to make her nest so she could lay her eggs. And he noticed that the tree she was putting her nest in was the one he was sent to cut down. And so he, you know, he wanted to be kind to the bird. He didn't want to ruin her day. And so he starts banging against the tree with the side of his axe. Just thwack, thwack, thwack. Until finally she's like, all right, I got it. And she flies to another tree. And he goes to work. But then he looks up and sees that the tree she's in now is the one he's cutting down tomorrow. So he goes over there. She's just getting shaken and what's done of her, you know, started of a nest flies out of her mouth and flies out of the tree and she goes to another tree. I'm cutting that one down too. And the same thing over and over until finally she just gets frustrated. She flies way up into onto a cliffside and makes a nest start making a nest in a rock in the rocks way above reach. And in the same way, the Lord, every time he sees us making our nest in family, in wealth, in appearance, in anything that can be taken away, he just sends, he lets us suffer. He starts hitting the tree. to until we go and we make our nest, put all of our hope in the destiny that can't be taken away and to the assured inheritance that is in the rock that can't be reached. And he promises that this inheritance will bring us praise and honor. What an amazing promise. He says, You kind of have to skip that parenthetical bit because it makes it confusing. You know how your teacher told you you could skip the parentheses? That's what you kind of have to do, but that's what he's saying, right? Your faith is going to result in glory and praise and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Has that ever occurred to you? Do you see kind of the reverse of what you expect? He's not saying because you have faith, you're going to praise and bring glory and honor to Jesus when you see him. He's saying your faith is going to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. In other words, when Jesus is revealed, there's a ton of importance in that just phrase, we'll get to it later. When Jesus is revealed, he's going to heap praise on you. You did it. You believed. You didn't let it go. You didn't quit. I know it was hard. I saw you. I saw all those times when you struggled, and you began to wonder, God, surely you wouldn't treat me like this. Surely, Lord, and all those times you failed, you tried, but you failed, you wanted to be a good neighbor and bring your neighbors over, but they didn't want to hear anything about you or the gospel, and you tried all these things, and it was hard, but you, gosh, you hung in there. You did it. You made it. You thought you were the worst mom in the history of the world, but look at those children. You did it. You hung in there. You got them to church only five minutes late. I'm so proud of you. Jesus, when we see him, he is going to be proud of us. That's our destiny. The revelation of Jesus Christ in this, I don't know, this kind of, It's kind of a reverse sports banquet. Y'all know, I hadn't told you in a while, but I played eight years of football when I was in junior high and high school, and I was probably the worst player to ever dress out. I was tiny. I was 4'8 as a freshman in high school. I got up to a huge 5'5 by the time I was a senior. I topped 100 pounds when I was a junior in high school. So not only was I the skinniest and the shortest guy on the team, I was also the slowest. I ran a record 6.2 40-yard dash. Just embarrassing, you know? And when the sportsmaker would come and they would give the awards, you know, best offensive, best defensive, best whatever, most valuable player, secretly I kind of thought, well, yeah, if I had their bodies, I mean, it was easy for them. I'm the one who should be getting the award. I let them beat up on me every day of practice. I mean, they just were tattooing me. I had no chance, but I kept coming out there. And I love the fact that on the last day, that's exactly what Jesus is going to do. He's going to say, you tried so hard. I saw it. I saw every tear. I saw every night you went to bed feeling like a failure. I was there. You tried so hard. Thank you. Thank you. It's our destiny. He is our destiny. And having a new identity and a new destiny gives us a new duty. The resurrection is our duty. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him. And rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. What's the duty? Rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. You are the people, resurrection people are the ones that have the only true excuse to be happy. We have the true reason for joy. The Lord of the universe is raised from the dead and he loves us. And he puts all of his power at our behest. And he loves us. And we, every time we bring joy, We are ready to give a reason for the joy that we have, for the hope that is within us. We are His ambassadors. And by bringing joy, we are living in this new world. It's hard to explain. That's why I'm taking several weeks, and we're going to go over it until it hopefully begins to really soak into you. Because what I'm trying to say, and I haven't come right out and said it until now, but this is what it is. You ready? In Christ, your new creation, you know that. Also, in Christ, you are already living in new creation. You are part of the new creation. We're already doing it. We're planting the seeds. We're a long way away from the final product, and he's gonna have to do a lot to kind of transform it, but you're already planting the seeds. You're already bringing it. You're already making it. You are new creation. Again, the text is strange. You know, if anyone is in Christ, bam, new creation. Your life is new creation, and by bringing, joy into it, by rejoicing. You're transforming this world of cynicism, of pessimism. I mean, it's shocking. Every single human who's ever existed when they turned 40 years old started shaking their head going, man, things are going to pot. Every single one of them, which is kind of hilarious. If you can't see the progress of the last 10 years, I can't help you. Progress, we'll say the last 40 years. Just, well, never mind. How do we do it? By bringing joy, by rejoicing, by just rejoicing. There's other ways we'll talk about over the next few weeks, but I want you to focus on right now is the impact it brings when we rejoice. Bianca and I watched a little biopic yesterday. It was more of a documentary of John Williams. John Williams is the composer who wrote the score for every Steven Spielberg movie. I didn't know that until yesterday. But also for a lot of other people. And basically, you know, if there are violins and horns, he wrote it. From, you know, Jaws to Star Wars to Raiders of the Lost Ark to Schindler's List, he wrote it. And one of his hugest fans is Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay. And he's such a fan that he wrote him and asked permission to play the theme of E.T. every time he has a concert. So if you ever go see Cole play and you're wondering when are they going to get on the stage, when you start hearing the theme to E.T., he's about to walk out. He loves it so much. And he said, I've walked on the stage a thousand times with that song. You'd think he'd get tired of it, but he loves it that much. And he says about John Williams at the end of the documentary, I love this, he said, people love him because he brings joy. No one's ever had a worse day because they heard a John Williams song. And I want you to take part of that with you. I want it to be your goal that at your funeral somebody says, I never had a worse day because Ricky walked in the room. I never had a worse day because you walked in the room. I want somebody to say that to me when I'm preaching your funeral, if I get that opportunity. It's okay if that's not been your personality till now, just pray that the Lord will do it. You're born again. You are a new creation. You can do it. You can be that person. Please pray with me. Father in heaven, we are new creation. The power of the resurrection that brought Jesus from the dead has brought us from the dead. And now we love him we don't even see. And we rejoice with a joy that can't be explained. And I pray Lord that we would bring new creation with us wherever we go. And whenever we get discouraged, or hurt, or broken, or tempted to just give up, that we would remember our inheritance as being kept for us undefiled and unfading. Jesus Christ waiting to reward us, waiting to be our reward.