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[2899.58 --> 2900.08] Right?
[2901.18 --> 2902.20] And here's the thing.
[2902.28 --> 2908.88] When you are in school, you have a test in order to prove to the teacher or to the professor
[2908.88 --> 2910.56] that this is what you've learned.
[2912.04 --> 2913.80] Is that what Peter means?
[2915.68 --> 2916.18] Right?
[2916.26 --> 2921.80] And in this case then, if a test is to prove what we have learned to the teacher,
[2922.04 --> 2924.92] in that case, would the teacher here be God?
[2926.22 --> 2926.68] Right?
[2926.68 --> 2933.82] Are tests in life and trials and temptations, are they to prove to God that we've got it all figured out?
[2933.88 --> 2935.06] That we've got it right?
[2935.14 --> 2938.26] That, you know, in the core of our being we've really changed?
[2938.82 --> 2939.06] Right?
[2939.08 --> 2942.66] That we've checked all the doctrine boxes of knowing what to do.
[2942.74 --> 2946.88] We can answer all the Heidelberg Catechism or New City Catechism questions.
[2947.24 --> 2947.44] Right?
[2947.50 --> 2949.20] And that we've now made it?
[2950.32 --> 2951.70] Is that what a test is like?
[2951.70 --> 2958.18] And if that's what a test is like, are we able to, at some point in that journey, say to the teacher,
[2958.84 --> 2959.84] you should have taught me better?
[2962.32 --> 2967.64] Or is a test in Peter's construction, it's not going to surprise you, I think it's this latter one,
[2967.64 --> 2973.48] is it more like a weightlifter going for a personal best?
[2974.48 --> 2974.60] Right?
[2974.66 --> 2975.10] A PB.
[2976.10 --> 2976.30] Right?
[2976.34 --> 2987.14] And that if you lift a max weight until failure or you increase your bench press weight until you can only do one clean, proper form, drop and press.
[2987.38 --> 2987.54] Right?
[2987.58 --> 2989.44] That's your fail point.
[2989.54 --> 2991.28] That's your new personal best.
[2991.28 --> 2996.42] And in that case, right, that's a test of your personal ability.
[2996.54 --> 2998.22] In that case, who is the test for?
[2999.56 --> 3000.92] The test is for you.
[3002.02 --> 3009.88] As you learn what your personal best is, as you learn what your limit is, I think that is what Peter has in mind.
[3010.46 --> 3010.64] Right?
[3010.66 --> 3015.90] That the test, the trial, the struggle isn't to prove your faith to God.
[3015.90 --> 3022.26] It's to prove your faith genuine or to make your faith stronger to you.
[3023.84 --> 3029.76] And that's why, ultimately, you can rejoice, if we follow the logic of Peter, when the trial comes,
[3030.02 --> 3034.42] because it means that you are participating in the sufferings of Christ.
[3034.54 --> 3034.60] Right?
[3034.84 --> 3035.76] Here's what I mean.
[3035.76 --> 3042.86] When the world does to us as Christians what it did to Jesus in his life and death,
[3042.98 --> 3048.50] it can only be because when they look at us, they see Jesus.
[3050.54 --> 3056.08] If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, Peter says,
[3056.32 --> 3060.08] for the spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
[3060.08 --> 3067.62] Have you ever been made fun of for being Christian?
[3068.78 --> 3072.60] Have you ever been looked down on or been ridiculed for being Christian?
[3072.68 --> 3079.82] Have you ever been passed over for a promotion or not gotten a job because you don't fit the company culture
[3079.82 --> 3084.12] that has the idolatry of busyness and profit at any cost?
[3084.12 --> 3089.22] Or have your teammates not invited you to the after party?
[3089.64 --> 3094.24] Or have your teammates gotten quiet when you walk into the locker room after the game
[3094.24 --> 3096.28] just because you've entered that space?
[3097.46 --> 3104.90] Or how about a family member who just doesn't get it when you're starting to grow in faith?
[3105.26 --> 3108.60] Who just doesn't understand your new Christian faith?
[3109.48 --> 3112.62] When these things happen to you, what do you feel?
[3112.62 --> 3116.00] What's going on in your heart in that moment?
[3116.80 --> 3121.92] And to be frank, if those things never happen to you, why not?
[3130.96 --> 3134.78] Do you rejoice when you're ridiculed?
[3135.30 --> 3138.00] Do you feel blessed when you are insulted?
[3138.28 --> 3139.62] Do you glorify God?
[3139.62 --> 3139.64] Do you glorify God?
[3142.62 --> 3146.20] Or do you get scared?
[3148.70 --> 3155.32] Are you ashamed or embarrassed and worried about what they might be thinking of you?
[3160.84 --> 3164.76] We're going to live in that tension for a little while this morning.
[3164.76 --> 3170.70] To help us live in that tension, I want you to hear this.
[3172.94 --> 3176.22] The glory of Jesus in the cross
[3176.22 --> 3181.78] is the same as the glory of Jesus in the crown.
[3182.64 --> 3185.10] Now, I'm going to use that image and that phrase
[3185.10 --> 3186.90] for the rest of our time together this morning.
[3186.90 --> 3191.46] So, let it situate and land and percolate in your mind space, right?
[3191.50 --> 3193.12] The cross and the crown.
[3194.88 --> 3195.58] Here's what I mean.
[3195.64 --> 3198.54] The glory of Jesus in the crown, right,
[3198.60 --> 3200.46] is referenced to his resurrection,
[3200.98 --> 3202.58] to his exaltation.
[3202.84 --> 3205.86] The glory of Jesus in the crown is the empty tomb
[3205.86 --> 3208.78] and his ascension to the right hand of the Father.
[3208.78 --> 3213.72] The glory of Jesus in the crown is his return to this world as king
[3213.72 --> 3216.24] over all creation in the consummation,
[3216.56 --> 3217.68] the end of history,
[3217.94 --> 3221.44] when that celestial city comes down forever
[3221.44 --> 3223.72] and heaven and earth are one
[3223.72 --> 3224.70] and there is no temple
[3224.70 --> 3226.58] because God has made his dwelling among us
[3226.58 --> 3231.32] and Jesus lives here with us as face to face.
[3231.32 --> 3233.92] That's the glory of the crown.
[3235.68 --> 3236.04] And,
[3236.60 --> 3242.80] and there is glory in the cross.
[3243.80 --> 3248.46] The glory in the cross is his suffering, right?
[3248.50 --> 3250.52] There's glory in his agony.
[3250.78 --> 3252.74] There's glory in his death.
[3252.90 --> 3255.52] There is glory in Jesus emptying himself
[3255.52 --> 3257.78] and taking on the nature of a slave.
[3257.94 --> 3261.30] There is glory in him becoming obedient unto death.
[3261.74 --> 3263.74] Even death on the cross.
[3263.82 --> 3264.12] And in fact,
[3264.36 --> 3266.08] let me just stay right there for a minute, right?
[3266.14 --> 3267.48] Here in Philippians 2,
[3268.80 --> 3269.40] Paul writes,
[3269.86 --> 3270.22] Jesus,
[3271.38 --> 3273.82] being in very nature God,