For those of you who are visiting with us today over the last, well, quite a while, we've considered on and off the book of 1 Peter, and this morning we come to an official close of that as we will consider together chapter 5, verses 10 and 11. And in connection with that, I would ask you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 41, where we read together the first 16 verses, Isaiah 41, and also over to the book of 1 Peter where we will read the first part of chapter 1 and then the last part of chapter 5. Isaiah 41, beginning at verse 1 as we give our attention to the Word of God. Be silent before me, you islands. Let the nations renew their strength. Let them come forward and speak. Let us meet together at the place of judgment. Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to wind-blown chaff with his bow. He pursues them and moves on unscathed by a path his feet have not traveled before. Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, with the first of them and with the last, I am he. The islands have seen it and fear the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward. Each helps the other and says to his brother, be strong. The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who smooths with a hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says of the welding, it is good. He nails down the idol, so it will not topple. But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham, my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced. Those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear, I will help you. Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you, declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them and reduce the hills to chaff. You will winnow them and wind will pick them up. and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel. I'm turning over to 1 Peter 1. The first nine verses. 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 in 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. In chapter 5, begin with me at verse 6, again verses 10 and 11, being the text for our consideration this morning. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen. With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. Let's bow together in prayer. Father, we do thank You and praise You for Your Word. And we pray, Father, that You would be busy and active through Your Holy Spirit in this room and the hearts and lives of each and every person here. That, Father, even as we have read these words, as these words have come to our ears, we pray that You would open our hearts and illumine us by the power of Your Holy Spirit that these words as well might penetrate. Your Word would penetrate deeply into our hearts and lives. That You would fill us with joy, with confidence, with assurance of not only Your grace for this life, but the glory that we, Your people, along with all of those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, enjoy forever and ever. Hear our prayer for Jesus' sake, and in His name we pray. Amen. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, many of you may remember the phrase of the song that says, just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Boys and girls, certain medicines don't always taste very good, do they? We don't like to take them. I don't remember my mom ever giving me a spoonful of cough medicine, let's say, followed up by a teaspoonful of sugar or even mixing the two to help the medicine taste better. Just take it, get it over with, you see. But the idea is that something sweet will help something bad or bitter taste a little bit better. Something good always helps us to handle something that is bad. Now we know, we know as a congregation here in this place, having considered together this book of 1 Peter, we know that Peter in no way, shape, or form has done anything whatsoever to sugarcoat the fact, the truth, that believers suffer for the faith at the hands of unbelievers. He's made that very clear along with the rest of Scripture. And just before this text, as we read, he looks his audience, including you and me, he looks us in the eye, as it were, and he says that ultimately we face the prince of darkness himself, Satan, the devil, the one who stands behind evil, the one who sends out his hosts to attack you and me, who fires his flaming arrows one after the other. And as terrifying as that may be, Peter doesn't leave us to think only of coming face to face with this prowling, this roaring lion. But Peter very beautifully here in this text gives us that spoonful of sugar in the form of a blessed reminder through which then God gives us strength to resist the devil and to stand firm in the faith. Now, this text really marks the end of Peter's first epistle before he then goes on to give the final greetings and a benediction. But if you notice, if you recall, his letter is written between the covers of God's grace, we might say. The bookends of God's grace. He begins by reminding believers of their gracious election by God, which we know, as Paul says, is from before the creation of the world and has nothing to do with you or me in any way. Nothing we have done, could do, or will do. And now Peter ends by reminding his readers, believers of their gracious calling unto eternal glory. What a beautiful reminder to us of what God has done. And the God of all grace who called you to His eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a little while will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. Even in the midst of suffering for the faith, God's people are to be comforted because they are recipients, receivers of the grace of God. There's nothing more important than that. There's nothing greater than that. Peter says He is the God of all grace. Now we know that grace in general, we say, is unmerited favor. Grace is something that's undeserved. It cannot be earned. It is a gift, full and free. And we can speak of God's grace of salvation, including our calling, our regeneration and conversion, complete with repentance and faith, our justification in Christ Jesus, our adoption by God to be His children, our sanctification by the work of the Holy Spirit, our preservation, and one day our glorification. Peter also talks in chapter 4, verse 10 about God's grace in its various forms. You see, His grace may take on different forms, be poured out in different forms, we might say, depending on the circumstances, whether in sickness or in health. Whether in richness or whether one is poor. Whether in times of prosperity or adversity. And as well, we know that He uses some of His people to pour out His grace upon others of His people with those gifts of hospitality and encouragement and prayer and many other things. But God is the author of all grace. And we know that no matter what the situation, as the Lord said to Paul, My grace is sufficient for you. What's interesting is that in the same breath, as it were, Peter reminds Christian pilgrims on the one hand of the grace of God and on the other hand of their suffering. In some ways that might seem to be contradictory. The grace of God and their suffering as if to remind them that the suffering that they are called upon to endure will not destroy them. It will not separate them from God because they are the recipients of God's amazing grace which is sufficient for them. That amazing grace which has called to them, saves them, and preserves them. They could sing with confidence, just as you and I just did. Amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. It was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. His grace hath brought me safe thus far. And grace will lead me home. It's sufficient. Beloved, along with all believers, ours is the comfort of that which we read in Isaiah 41, verse 10. So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. You see, Peter is reminding God's people that we are exactly that. That we are God's people. In His grace, He has called us to His eternal glory. Now, there's a very important and comforting point here that we need to notice. When we speak of calling, we speak on the one hand of the outward call of the Gospel that is to go to all the world through the preaching of the Word of God. But not all respond. Jesus said many are called, but few are chosen. Many reject the call to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But God's call here, as Peter speaks of it in 1 Peter 5, is not simply an invitation. An outward call that can be accepted or rejected based on if one feels like it or not. Peter is talking here about a divine summons. A royal command. Which the recipient must obey and cannot ignore. This is talking about that inward call. Which the Holy Spirit of God alone makes effective. It is that irresistible call which is the result of God's electing grace. And the result of that, beloved, is a new identity. In chapter 2, Peter said, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. And notice, too, beloved, that God's call is from somewhere to somewhere. From one state or condition to another. It's from out of darkness, the darkness of sin and shame and death and hell, into His wonderful light. The light of His truth and righteousness and life. The light of His eternal glory. You see, that is the wonderful destination to which God has called you and me as believers. Did you get that? Let that sink in for a moment. Into His eternal glory. That's the wonderful, the awesome destination. That's where we're headed. Beloved, He who calls will provide all the grace that we need until we are brought into glory. Our guarantee is that all who are called into a state of grace, all who are blessed with God's saving grace will partake of eternal glory and happiness. But then Peter also gives the foundation. He's done that throughout this book. He tells us how and why this is possible only in Christ Jesus. That's been his focus from beginning to end, hasn't it? Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus. And this is a fitting and a necessary reminder at the close of this letter that there is only one way to the Father. Boys and girls, there is only one way to get to heaven. And that is through Jesus Christ. The very one, the devil, the roaring and prowling lion wants to tear us away from. He alone is the only name under heaven given among men by which we might be saved. We are called in Him unto God's eternal glory. Those who believe on Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. In the midst of suffering for the faith, faith in Jesus Christ, our comfort, beloved, is that this very same Jesus Himself is the guarantee that this suffering is indeed the pathway to eternal glory. Not only is Jesus Christ the example for suffering, as Peter has made clear earlier in his letter, even as Christ suffered, we are called upon to suffer. But He is also our Savior in suffering. You see, beloved Satan, that roaring lion, and he seeks to attack and devour those whose sins have been washed away by that imperishable blood of Jesus. And his attack may hurt at times. It may be difficult. It may even seem hopeless at times. But Peter reminds us to take courage. Why? Because of what God has done. In His grace, He has called us in Christ His Son. He has saved us through Christ His Son. And He preserves us, guaranteed, for the sake of Christ His Son. And therefore, when Satan and the wicked world may seem to have the upper hand, our God says, you are mine. You are mine. You belong to me. Trust me. And these words from Isaiah 41 become even more wonderful. All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced. Those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Can you imagine that? Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear, I will help you. Beloved, when life is difficult and its burdens make you anxious and weigh you down, then heed the words of Peter in verse 7. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. And again, as we said in connection with that verse, what that means is not that we will never have to engage difficulty or trouble or trial and temptation, but our God takes the burden of those things, that which would drive us down, that which would drive us to despair and to hopelessness. He takes it upon Himself for you and for me so we can face these things with confidence, with joy, with comfort. And remember that He has amazingly and wonderfully demonstrated that care already by what He has done through His Son, our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ. And then also, beloved, be comforted and confident of what God will do. Again, and the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. Now notice the contrast between suffering for a little while and being called to His eternal glory. Now, suffering for a little while may simply mean for a temporary period of time, yet, of course, we know that this temporary period might very well be for this whole life, earthly life. But that, compared to the endless time of eternity, could also mean a small amount of suffering, or small in comparison with great suffering. We know, of course, that God visits some of His people with greater and more intense suffering than others, but His purpose in all of it, for all of us, is to mold us and shape us after His will. It's for our eternal good. And we also know that He will not give us more than we can bear, but He will give to us the strength to endure it. But the focus is on the contrast between the brevity or the shortness of human suffering compared to the eternity of God's glory. Beloved, when we are in the middle of suffering, it seems intense, it seems severe, it seems never-ending. When I was going through chemotherapy, eight months seems like an eternity. When you're going through something, it seems like, will this never come to an end? But in the reality of God's plan, beloved, it is both little and it lasts only a short time compared to the glory of eternity. That's what Paul says in Romans 8, verse 18. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. And Peter makes it clear that God Himself prepares us for His glory. Again, Peter began this letter by addressing God's elect strangers in the world 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. Those whose sins have been washed away by the blood of the Lamb of God are guaranteed to be made fit for heaven to live with Him. Paul says in Philippians 1, Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Even now, this day, maybe even this very hour, God is in the process of restoring us. Restoring you. Restoring me. The idea here is to put in order. To mend. To make whole. It has a medical sense of setting a broken bone or repairing and refitting a damaged object. Boys and girls, in sin, we are like Humpty Dumpty. That egg character in the nursery rhyme who fell off the wall and shattered into many pieces and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. We are like Humpty Dumpty broken in sin and you and your family and your friends and every acquaintance you have cannot put you back together again. We are shattered in sin. Sin shattered everything about us, our heart and soul and mind and desires, Our motives and thoughts and words and actions. Our entire being. This word for restore is also used in Mark 1 verse 19 where we read that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, just before Jesus called them to follow Him as His apostles, we read that they were mending their nets, preparing them, the nets, for the service of fishing once again. The Holy Spirit works daily, sanctifying us, fixing us, cleansing us, polishing us, putting all the parts of us back together into a right relationship. I'm not talking about our relationship with God. Jesus Christ has put that back in order already. The Holy Spirit is busy mending our lives so that more and more we might be equipped for useful service for our God, making us ready for glory. His work is to restore us to the original beauty with which God made man and to the original function for which God made man. And the Holy Spirit restores us. The process of restoration includes making us strong, firm, and steadfast. One commentator says, restoration occurs as God reinforces what is weak, supports what is unstable, and establishes each one on the foundation of Jesus Christ. And we know, don't we, many of us by experience, we know that God uses different means and different situations and circumstances to restore us. On the one hand, He gives us that which we need. But at the same time, He withholds from us that which would destroy us. He uses people and experiences in our lives to challenge us in the faith, to draw us closer to Himself as well to teach us to depend upon Him. He uses His Word and the preaching of His Word worked in us and applied by the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in our knowledge and assurance of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our salvation in Him and to teach us how we are to live before the face of God and before the eyes of a watching world. People of God, in the midst of this world where Satan is still on the attack and where life is not always easy and instead is often very difficult, our comfort is that we are being prepared. You are being prepared. I'm being prepared. We are being prepared to enter the eternal glory of our God and one day when we see Him face to face, make no mistake about it, we will be completely prepared. Jesus Christ has prepared us by paying for and removing our sin and guilt before God and removing God's wrath from us. And He has prepared us by freely giving to us His righteousness so that His Father would claim us as His very own children. The Holy Spirit has prepared us by giving us that new heart of faith, and He is preparing us by cleansing us from the pollution of sin so that more and more we desire to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And that's the last blessed reminder that Peter gives us of what God deserves. Verse 11, To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen. This is a doxology. it's an expression of glory and praise to God. Now, Peter only mentions power here, unlike we might think, like at the close of the Lord's Prayer, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Peter mentions only power here, most likely to remind his audience that God alone is all-powerful and that it is only by God's power that all that Peter has said in this letter is possible. God's grace is poured out upon His people by His power. We are safe and protected under the mighty, powerful hand of God. He alone is powerful, beloved, to carry our burdens and our anxieties. It is only by God's power that we can resist the devil. And it is by God's power alone that we are called, saved, restored. and will be brought into His eternal glory. But this is also a reminder to us that God deserves our glory and our praise, not only when things are going well and life is good, it's easy then, isn't it? But even when life hurts, even when we are called upon to endure pain and suffering, especially for the sake of Jesus. Indeed, Paul says that whatever we do, we are to do it all to the glory of God in all of life, in all of life's experiences, whether good or bad, whether difficult or not so difficult, others are to see God alive and working in us. But this is especially true when we suffer. Sometimes when we suffer that which is the result of sin in the world, the things that take place because of sin, like sickness, disappointments, hardships, boys and girls, a bad grade on your report card, or maybe a flat tire in the most inconvenient place. It's easy to look like the world at those times. It's easy to show our frustration and our disappointment and to become bitter like the world and to show it. But may that never be. You see, beloved, even in these things we are called to be different. Those aren't just words. We are called to be different. Even in those things, we are called to put our trust in God and cast all of our anxieties and burdens on Him because He has already proven to us in Christ that He cares for us. In his commentary on Genesis 39 regarding the life of Joseph, Dr. James Boyce wrote these words. Allow me to read this paragraph. Billy Graham, he says, tells of a friend who went through the Great Depression. depression, losing a job, a fortune, a wife, and a home. He was a believer in Jesus Christ and he tenaciously held to his faith even though he was naturally depressed and cast down by circumstances. One day in the midst of his depression, he stopped to watch some men doing stonework on a huge church in the city. One was busy chiseling a triangular piece of stone. What are you going to do with that? He asked. The workman stopped and pointed to a little opening near the top of the spire. See that little opening up there near the top? He said. Well, I'm shaping this down here so that it will fit in up there. The friend said that tears filled his eyes as he walked away from the workman for a scene that God had spoken to him personally to say that he was shaping him for heaven by the ordeal through which he was passing. Beloved, Peter gives such a blessed reminder and the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a little while will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast to Him be the power forever and ever. Amen. All of this life is preparation for the next, but especially our suffering for Jesus' sake. And when we find our refuge and our rest and our strength in God's power alone, oh, what glory that gives to Him. You see, nothing, nothing can stop God from finishing the work that He has planned and begun. Which means nothing can keep us from reaching that destination of eternal glory. Now, that doesn't mean that the attacks from Satan will stop. Those attacks will be there until we take our final breath. But it does mean that these assurances are real for you and me who believe. We can and we must take God at His word, which will not return to Him empty and void, but will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it. His Word alone gives strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. And because of this, beloved, we don't have to worry about what men can do to us. How often don't we waste our time worrying about what He is thinking of me or what she is saying about me or what they are going to do to me. Jesus said, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. David says in Psalm 56, In God whose word I praise, in the Lord whose word I praise, in God I trust, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? And David knew the answer. Man might be able to fire me from my job, but he can never take my calling as a child of God away from me. Man may be able to hurt me physically, but he can never separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, my Lord. Man may be able to turn others against me, but he can never remove the angels who rejoiced at my conversion. Man might be able to do countless things to me in this life, but he can never, ever rob me of such a great salvation, which is mine, through Jesus Christ, the Lord. Beloved, may we never find ourselves compromising the truth of God and doing what is right because we are afraid of what our friends or our boss or even our enemies might do or say to us. Instead, may our every desire be first of all to glorify God even though it may hurt our earthly reputation or our earthly position. Those who don't know the saving power of Jesus Christ cannot. and will not have the comfort of God's eternal glory. And reserved for them is the torment of eternal hell. But those, all those, yet only those, including you here today, if you have not yet looked to the Lord Jesus Christ, all those who repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by God's grace, they find the one and the only way to the Father. And what blessed assurance of eternal security is theirs. That's ours, beloved. That's ours. Only we as believers by God's grace can live this life in full confidence with joy. Confident of the great faithfulness of our God. Is this your confidence and joy? May it be. And together, beloved, may we glory all the days. All the days in the great salvation of our God. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, You give to us such a precious guarantee of eternal life, of enjoying eternal glory, Your glory, in Your presence. And we must confess that there are times when we have a hard time taking You at Your Word. When the walls of this life seem to close in around us with difficulties and troubles, especially for being Christians, we have a hard time seeing the big picture. We're only able to see what is right before our eyes. We pray, Father, that in those times You would remove the cloud that hides Your glory from us. That you would ever remind us, give us this blessed reminder that we have been called in Christ to your eternal glory. That this life is temporary. That it will end. We are called to serve you and worship you and work for you all the days of this life even as you prepare us for glory. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for Jesus' sake and in his name alone. Amen. Thank you.