Tonight, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Peter, chapter 1. 1 Peter, chapter 1. So read together the first nine verses, a very beautiful, familiar portion of Scripture. We often reference the living hope that Peter speaks of that we have in Christ Jesus. And if you would also turn in the back of the Psalter, Hymnal to page 16. Page 16. As we consider this portion of 1 Peter in connection with Lord's Day 9. Last week we considered how the articles of the Apostles' Creed are divided into God the Father and our creation, God the Son and our deliverance, God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification. And we begin tonight with God the Father. Lord's Day 9, question 26, to which we respond together with the answer. The question, what do you believe when you say, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth? That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by His eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ His Son. I trust Him so much that I do not doubt He will provide whatever I need for body and soul. And He will turn to my good whatever adversity He sends me in this sad world. He is able to do this because He is Almighty God. He desires to do this. Because He is faithful Father. 1 Peter 1, beginning at verse 1. Hear now God's holy, inspired, inerrant, infallible Word. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood, grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trials, these have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And even though you do not see Him, now you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. May God add His blessing to the reading of His Word tonight. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, question and answer 22 of the Catechism asks us once again, what then must a Christian believe following up on that definition of true faith? And the answer begins, everything God promises us in the Gospel. And the answer goes on, that Gospel is summarized for us in the articles of our Christian faith, a creed beyond doubt pointing to the Apostles' Creed and confessed throughout the world. And then, of course, as we know, that first article of that creed says, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. That is the very first truth that we confess. And we are to believe it. We are to take a stand of faith on it. But at the very same time that we take a stand of faith on that truth, it causes us to take a stand against the world. The world rejects a Creator and creation in favor of evolution. The world rejects a sovereign God who rules all that takes place and all that comes to pass in favor of maybe a God who is there to come to my aid if and when I need Him or for me controlling my own destiny. The world rejects a God who is Father because that offends. Especially as some have memories of their own earthly fathers which aren't so good and they try to put God the Father in the pattern of their earthly father. Or because it's not politically correct. And especially they reject a God who is Father because they reject His Son, Jesus Christ. Yet we take our stand on this God who is our Father because this is how He has revealed Himself in His Word as Father. It is part of His eternal character. It is a part of His essential being. He is Eternal Father who is God Almighty who has made all things and preserves that which He has made. And we have enduring comfort. We have sure confidence in Him because as the Catechism says, He is willing to do all that we need and He is able to do all that we need. And therefore, we confess the undoubted fatherhood of God. Undoubted in the sense of not doubting His fatherhood, not doubting that He is Father, and undoubted in the sense that we do not doubt our benefit from His fatherhood. We confess the undoubted fatherhood of God, first of all, for Jesus' sake. Secondly, for the believer's sake. First, for Jesus' sake in the sense of on account of Him, because of Him. But secondly, for the believer's sake in the sense of for the believer's benefit. I believe that Peter points to this comfort. He points to this confidence in the context of holding before us the glorious eternal inheritance of salvation. A salvation that is ours that is clear from Peter, from the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And this portion of Scripture, this early portion of 1 Peter is a clear statement of not only what we look forward to one day, but because of that, what we rest assured in, even now, we confess the undoubted fatherhood of God for Jesus' sake, on account of Him, Because of Him, which points to the foundation of God as my Father. The question again, what do you believe when you say, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth? Really a simple statement. And we ought to be thankful for this wonderful explanation that the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by His eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father. Why? Because of Christ His Son. Now notice again the main sentence of that portion of the answer. That the Eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is my God and Father because of Christ His Son. God is not our Father because He is the Creator and the Preserver of all that He has made. He is these things which points to Him being Almighty, which in turn points to why we have such confidence in Him. But He did not become Father when He created. He always has been Father. The foundation of His fatherhood of being our Father is that He is eternal Father. There was never a time when God was not Father. He always has been Father. And to be eternal Father means that there had to be someone that He was Father of. And He has always been the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, even as Peter refers to Him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice, beloved, that when we confess God the Father, therefore, we also automatically confess God the Son. You cannot separate the two. If there is no Son, then He could not be Father. But to confess God the Father is also to confess Jesus Christ His Son, who then is the reason that God is my Father. Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the catechism summarizing the truth of Scripture, calls Jesus our Lord Jesus Christ, pointing to our relationship with Him, our identity with Him as our Savior, as His people. And therefore, to confess God the Father as ours is also at the same time to confess the glory of our salvation. God's Son is our Savior, As Peter says in the second part of verse 3, in His, in the Father's great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Apart from Jesus Christ, God is not our Father. That's why the Catechism rightly says He is my God and Father because of Christ His Son. We would not know God as Father or Creator for that matter apart from new life, apart from faith in Jesus Christ. And that means that on the one hand, God's fatherhood is restricted. It's not for everybody. It's only to those who confess and honor Christ as God's Son and as their Savior. Many call Him Father. Many utter the words of the Lord's Prayer and say, our Father who art in heaven, but at the very same time, they deny the necessity of the work of Jesus. They deny His necessary substitutionary atonement. They deny His satisfaction for sin. However, beloved, to deny Jesus Christ means that God is not their Father. It means that God is their judge. The fatherhood of God is restricted only to those who confess and honor Christ as God's Son and their Savior. Yet at the very same time, then God's fatherhood is extended gloriously over all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. As the Apostle John says in John 1, verse 12, yet to all who received Him, that is Jesus, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. And as Paul says, it is by the Holy Spirit of God that we call Him Abba, Father. Through Jesus Christ, The number of God's children grows out of all generations and languages and nations and races. And each and every one enjoys God's Father love and care as if each, including you and me, as if each of us were His only child. He loves and cares for you and me as if each of us were His only child with all the rights and privileges of children of God. Our salvation depends on knowing, believing, confessing that the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is our Father only because of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the highest and most beautiful proof of the Father's love. Think of Jonah. Boys and girls, you remember when God gave Jonah the command to go and preach to Nineveh, Jonah ran. And he got on a ship and as they were out to sea, a raging storm came up. And just as Jonah was thrown into the raging sea as a sort of sacrifice to calm the waves, in essence, our Savior was cast into the world to calm the wrath, to remove the wrath of God against the sin of His children. The foundation of God as our Father is that He is the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the reason that God is our Father. But notice also the catechism leads us in the response to God being our Father. The second part of verse 26 says, I trust Him so much in light of what was said before, in light of that He is our Father for Jesus' sake and that we have the confidence of salvation in Him. I trust Him so much that I do not doubt He will provide whatever I need for body and soul and He will turn to my good whatever adversity He sends me into this sad world. I trust Him so much that I do not doubt these things. It's right there. It's in black and white. That's our confession, beloved. But we might ask ourselves, is this our reality? Because we must admit that we do at times, oftentimes, we do struggle with doubt and temptation and we do question what takes place in our lives, especially if it seems to contradict the fatherhood of God as we think it ought to be. Again, we often want to limit God's fatherhood to what we think a father ought to be. And I believe that oftentimes we think that our fathers in this life ought to do everything they can to make our lives as enjoyable for us as we want them to be. And we limit the fatherhood of God to what we think it ought to be. We do struggle with doubt and temptation. We often question what takes place in our lives when it seems to contradict in our minds the fatherhood of God. Yet, beloved, the truth is we ought to be able to trust Him so much. We ought to be able to trust Him without a doubt when we know the truth of the Father. We know Him as Father again only through Jesus Christ. But we also only know Him as Almighty, Maker, Sustainer, and Preserver of heaven and earth through Jesus Christ. As John Calvin says, that special revelation in Jesus is the crown of our God's special revelation is as spectacles, eyeglasses with which to see clearly, to read clearly that most elegant book, as the Belcher Confession says, that most elegant book of creation, that general revelation. It's only through Jesus Christ that we truly know God, not only as Father, but also as Almighty Maker of heaven and earth. Now, Lord's Day 10, we'll deal more specifically with the providence of God and we'll consider that more there. Yet, as we come to understand by faith that though our needs can be great, but our Helper is greater. As we come to understand by faith that though our enemies are strong, that our God is stronger when we come to understand by faith that nothing is impossible for Him, that He is sovereign over all things, that everything depends on Him, and that nothing happens by chance and He makes no mistakes and there is no oversight on His part. When we come to understand by faith the truth and the power and the presence of God and that He uses all that He is for the benefit of His children, for your benefit and mine, then we cannot help but to have undoubted trust that the blessings of His fatherhood in Jesus Christ in the second place are for the believer's sake, for your sake, for my sake, not on account of us, as His fatherhood is on account of because of Jesus. It's not on account of us. It's not because of us. It's not because we have merited these benefits in some way. But it's for our benefit. Now, Peter in this portion of Scripture speaks of the believer's salvation. He speaks of that living hope that is ours and he very confidently speaks of that as a fact. It is a fact. But beautifully, Peter doesn't just leave it there. He goes on and makes it clear that with regard to this fact, God keeps our salvation. What I mean is He protects it. It is certain. It is an inheritance, as Peter calls it. And we understand that, don't we? We understand the idea of an inheritance. An inheritance is something that we look forward to. The only catch is, in order for us to enjoy an inheritance in this life, Somebody has to die in order for us to enjoy it. But with regard to the inheritance that Peter is speaking of, we look forward to it because Jesus lives. It is not a temporary inheritance like an earthly inheritance that moth and rust destroys that thieves can break in and steal. This salvation inheritance, as we might call it, It is so great that Peter describes it by telling what it is not. Notice the heavenly description of this inheritance. It is imperishable, Peter says. Another translation says it is incorruptible. It will never change for the worse. Think of the possessions we enjoy in this life. Our houses, for example. When they're brand new, fresh coat of paint, everything is new. The wood is strong and solid. but after time, it needs to be painted again. The windows may need to be replaced. Your automobile might rust out. Well, especially if you live in the Midwest. Maybe not here. But our earthly possessions change for the worse. But not this inheritance. They are not subject to death and destruction. It is not subject to death and destruction. But also, Peter says, it will never spoil, which also means it is undefiled. It will never become rotten or polluted. Sin will not spoil it. It is pure. It is free from blemishes. It is pure than the purest diamond. It will never fade. It will never become unattractive. The beauty and the luster of this inheritance will not fade with time like a flower. Instead, it is lasting. It is kept. it is reserved, it is protected in heaven for all who know God as Father through Jesus Christ the Lord. It is sealed, it is secured, it is unlosable. Yet, beloved, not only does God keep our salvation reserved for us, it will never be taken away from us. But also notice what else He says. God keeps us. For that salvation. Verse 5. For you who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. For you who are shielded by God's power. With an earthly inheritance, there is no guarantee that we will get to enjoy it because you and I might die before the one who is to give us the inheritance. But we are shielded for that eternal inheritance, protected and guarded. Not only is it kept for us, we are kept for it. There are two possible meanings in Scripture for this word shielded. The first one, or one of them, has to do with guarding someone to prevent that one from escaping. We think of a hardened criminal. I suspect that if Osama bin Laden had been taken alive, there would have been the tightest security possible surrounding him to keep him from escaping or from his followers from trying to free him. The other meaning which is used here in this passage means to guard one, to protect them from danger. We think of the President of the United States guarded by a secret serviceman. The whole military for that matter. Or a parent guarding a young child in a busy, dangerous place. For example, at the beach and playing around in the waves. I remember holding my young children before they could swim, holding them tight by the hand, by the arm, even by their body, so the waves would not drag them away. Guarding them to protect them. We are shielded in that way. Protected. Guarded. By God's power, body and soul. He shields our soul. Indeed, Jesus Christ has saved us and we have the assurance that He will take our soul to Himself in glory upon death to this life. But until that day, we might say that He shields our soul by nourishing our faith with the promise of Philippians 1. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. The Catechism says that I trust Him to provide whatever I need for body and soul that means that he will never allow satan to snatch us from him he will never allow satan to have us for his very own but also he shields our body he shields us in this life beloved our confidence our comfort of being kept is not only for after this life but because of that that assures us on the journey. That assures us as we travel this life. That assures us as we meet up with adversity, as we face trials and temptations and difficulties and struggles. He shields our body. He shields our very life. He provides and protects us in this life. Whatever I need, God promises our needs. And this is the catch, isn't it? Our needs, not our wants. How do we define our needs? What can we say are necessities? Well, I think a simple definition of necessities is that which we cannot do without. That's what God promises. There are many things in this life that we enjoy, many things that we have come to expect, many things that we have turned, that were at one time luxuries, we might say, that we have turned into needs. yet they are not necessary for our existence. We can do without them. We are used to so much more that we need that if and when God holds back from us the extras that we have become accustomed to, we become disappointed in Him. But remember, He also provides what we need for our soul and in this life. And therefore, He may very well withhold physical things from us for the sake of our soul that we might not become independent from Him, that we might not become arrogant in His presence, that we might not forget God and forget that we need Him. The Father will not give for the body what would be dangerous for your soul and my soul. Yet our confidence that He upholds and rules all things, even our lives. Now think about that. He upholds and rules all things. Again, an amazing confession. An amazing confession. And it is a confession that is easy to make, at least for me, maybe for you too. It is a confession that is easy to make when all is going well. It is a confession that is easy to make when material possessions are in great supply. It is a confession that is easy to make when health is good, but we must also remember that He keeps me in adversity. He upholds and rules all things even when you and I face adversity. And in many ways, beloved, this is where the rubber meets the road, isn't it? How do we view adversity? When we face adversity, do we question God's love? Do we question His power? Do we question His ability? we confess that He keeps us in adversity. Answer 26. And He will turn to my good whatever adversity He sends me in this sad world. And Peter, beginning in verse 6, in this, in that inheritance, in being shielded by God's power, in that whole package, in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Peter's context here was persecution for the faith. He was addressing those who had lost their jobs and their possessions and whose loved ones had lost their lives because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are suffering slander and being cursed because of their faith. And Peter makes it clear that God uses trials to refine, to purify one's faith, to prove that faith genuine and real, to prove it is genuine to us, not to Him. He knows it's genuine. But to strengthen our faith. It's a part of making our calling and election sure, as Peter says in 2 Peter 1. It is a part of working out our salvation with fear and trembling, as Paul says in Philippians 2. And the undoubted fatherhood of God, beloved, is active for His children in all the adversities of life that He sends upon us. Amos 3, verse 6 says, When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? Now that does not mean that God causes evil. It does not mean that He is the author of evil and sin. But at times, He removes His restraining hand and He uses it. He uses it whether it be in the form of discipline because we need discipline or whether it simply be in the form of trials for whatever reason, to build our confidence in Him. But He uses it. He controls all things, even Satan. Satan cannot act if God does not allow. Yet in times of adversity, beloved, our struggle is that we are tempted to shout out how could a loving Father allow bad things to happen to us? Or how could a loving Father deprive us of what we think we need? Again, we treat Him at those times as if He has cheated us, as if He has failed us according to what we think He ought to do for us. Our tendency is to say that He is in control, to make that confession. Yet, when adversity comes, then to object to what He does. To object to what He asks of us. To object to what He demands of us. Because in our assessment of the situation, it is not the best for us. As one minister preached, it is easy to say God is in control and then to insist that we are too young to die. That we have too many things to enjoy. That we are too healthy to become seriously sick. Too smart to get into an accident. So God the Father and His will will just have to wait. Beloved, do you believe that God the Father controls your life? That He rules it all. That He appoints your time to live. And your time to know trials. And your time to die. That He is in control of the adversity that you and I might be called upon to face. You see, when sickness and difficulties come, we often see them as the hand of the devil, don't we? and not the hand of the Father. And therefore then we look for a cure, we look for a way out at any cost because we just assume that God would not want us to have this trouble because we don't want it. Now, it's not wrong to seek a cure. It's not wrong to look for a remedy. But it's the attitude that is wrong. To assume that God would not want us to have this trouble because we don't want it is incorrect. God is the One who allows us, who sends it upon us. It is a part of His plan for us and therefore we are to face them in the strength of the Lord. We are to face these things with confidence that He is in control. We are to face adversity with contentment that even though we cannot always see clearly in the midst of the storm, it is for our good, though we cannot figure that out at the moment, and it will always be for our good. Even discipline. God shields us by His power when we fall away for a season when we fall into sin He will discipline His children because it's for our good and He will discipline us when it's needed He will allow trials to come upon us and we are not to measure the love of the Father by what He does in our favor according to our opinion nor are we to deny His love when His hand lays heavy upon us because sometimes there is greater love shown through discipline than through permissiveness. And that is true for parents too, boys and girls and young people. You have a hard time seeing it. I understand that. So did I. But sometimes there is greater love shown when parents discipline and say no than when they are permissive. Sometimes that permissiveness is not for our good. Whenever God disciplines, it is always greater love being shown than if He were to permit us to have our way. Praise God that He even restrains us. Beloved, trials come to prove that our faith is genuine, to strengthen our faith. Trials come to assure us of our Father's love for us, to assure us that God takes care of His children even in the face of pain and suffering and death, boys and girls, just as your parents do when you're sick. They're by your side. Sometimes they don't sleep at night if you're really sick because they're busy watching over you. Our Father's love and care is perfect over us, exactly what we need, and He promises to turn adversity to our good. That does not mean that the circumstances will necessarily change. There are those who suffer certain difficulties and turmoils for many, many years of life. And they never receive any relief from it, whether it be physical pain in their bodies or hardships in their family. They suffer these things for many, many years in their life. But yet God turns it to our good. We may not see it at the time, but He shows us in His time. It is used by Him for our best, whether it be to strengthen our faith, whether it be to teach us humility, patience, or gratitude, whether it be to draw us closer to Him, but ultimately to prepare us for that eternal inheritance when Jesus Christ is revealed. God keeps us. He shields us, even through adversity. And He keeps us as God, our Father. He is able to do this. That is, provide whatever I need for body and soul and turn to my good whatever adversity He sends. He is able to do this because He is Almighty God. He desires to do this because He is a faithful Father. Beloved, hardly a more comforting statement in our confession. He is able because He is Almighty God. There is nothing beyond, nothing outside of His power. You know, we can boast in our moms and dads, boys and girls. And a lot of times our boasting isn't often true. My dad can beat up your dad. My dad can do anything. Well, as dads, we don't always want to hear that from our kids because we don't want to be put in that situation. but we can never boast enough about our Heavenly Father. And He is willing. He is willing to do for us all that we need because He is a faithful Father. He is willing, beloved, to do whatever it takes that our lives would glorify and enjoy Him forever. That's the Father's love. And that is a comfort that we can't have with our earthly parents because at times our parents are willing, but they're not able. And that is torment to the parents. There are also times when our parents are able but not willing and that is torment for the child. But this is comfort that we can have with our Heavenly Father and it is certain because of Jesus Christ. And once again, this fatherhood of God calls for a response, doesn't it? It calls for you and me to live as His children, to trust in Him without a doubt. Even when we face the most treacherous days of life, To understand that because of what we have in Christ Jesus, that our Father shields us by His power. And nothing that we face in this life can separate us from Him and from that inheritance. At the same time, we are not to be inactive. We are not to, as it were, let go and let God. For example, when I trust that He will provide all that I need, I am also called upon to remember the Word of God in Genesis. By the sweat of your brow you will eat. But it is God who will bless our labor. And when I trust that He will turn to my good adversity that He sends upon me, I am not to walk blindly and carelessly into evil and temptation, but instead to resist it in the strength of the Holy Spirit. We are called, beloved, to learn from Him. To learn what pleases Him. To learn what glorifies Him. And as His children, our lives are to resemble our Heavenly Father. The world's father is the father of lies, Satan. And he only deceives, he will only do what's worst for you and me. And those who follow him will be sorely disappointed. But our father is the eternal father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And for all who look to him in humble repentance and faith, he has already done what's best. And it is for all of His children forever. Amen. Let's pray together. Our Father who art in heaven, indeed, You have so much to teach us. We have so much to learn. And we thank You for the confidence and assurance that we might have in You through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Father, we can say, I believe, but we must all say at the same time, help Thou my unbelief when I fall short. When the situations and hardships of this life become huge in our sight. And we take our eyes off of You. We thank You for Your Father, love and care. through Jesus Christ, our Lord. We thank you for the promise that is ours, that you shield us, you guard us and protect us throughout this life because you intend to give to us in all of its fullness and completeness that which Jesus Christ has earned salvation in all of its glory. And Father, we pray that you would help us to walk with you day by day. We thank You for loving us and caring for us. Increase our confidence and assurance in You. And may all the praise and the honor and the glory go to You. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.