Beloved people of God, would you turn with me in God's Word to the Old Testament book of Isaiah first, to chapter 43, Isaiah 43. And I would like to read the first seven verses. Hear the word of the Lord. But now thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba and your place. Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you. Therefore, I will give men for you and people for your life. Fear not, for I am with you. I will bring your descendants from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, give them up, and to the south, do not keep them back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Everyone who is called by my name, whom I have created for my glory, I have formed him. Yes, I have made him. And would you turn with me to the New Testament book of 1 Peter. 1 Peter. Past the book of Hebrews, just after James. 1 Peter, chapter 1. And I would like to read the first 21 verses. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in sanctification of the Spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, who was in them, was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us, they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into. Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father who without partiality judges according to each one's work, Conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through Him believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. So far the reading of God's holy word. And I'd like to direct your attention this morning to verses 3 through 5 in this great language of certainty that the Apostle Peter gives us. That will be our text this morning. Beloved congregation of Jesus Christ, in the year 64 AD, something significant happened in Rome. the Emperor Nero burned the city and left the citizens of that city devastated as they looked around and they saw their cultural elements and religious elements annihilated. And they highly suspected Nero of having done this dastardly deed and he knew that he had to face these people who were disgruntled with him and he needed a scapegoat and needed one quick. So he blamed the Christians and subsequently launched a very vicious persecution upon the church there in Rome, doing such things as sending Christians and their families to the arena to face hungry lions while they were clothed in animal skins. Or he would cover them in pitch and make human torches of them in his garden while he entertained guests. Just terrible things like this. Now this epistle was probably written around that time or shortly thereafter. of this burning of Rome. And Peter was writing to Christians in these Roman provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia who were already struggling with much persecution from the Jews and a life of turmoil because they were Christians, because they lived in antithesis to this present evil age. They were already troubled by uncertainty. And now while there is no historical evidence to suggest that the persecution in Rome of Nero spread throughout the Roman Empire, nevertheless, these Christians were probably troubled greatly as they heard reports of what the emperor was doing to Christians, just like them in Rome, feeding them to lions and such. And so these people were troubled with an uncertain life, with an uncertain future. Life's circumstances were very vague and unclear. What was tomorrow going to bring? Would I be able to raise my children? Would I be able to live in this land that I live in as a normal citizen? And as we think about that and in the situation of these people in the first century, we're reminded that none of us like uncertainty, do we? You don't have to live in the first century. You can be in the first century or the 21st century to dislike uncertainty. By nature, we are people who like things to be certain. We are, what I once heard one of my professors say, eschatological beings. That is, we are people who hope. We look to the future. We look for things to get better. We're expecting something that's better than what we presently have. And by nature, we don't like things to go the wrong way. We want to know that we're going to be paid on time. We want to know that our plane is going to land. We want to know that things are going to work out the way they're supposed to. But, of course, we know that nothing's really certain in life. About the only thing certain in life is that you're going to die one day. And from now until that time, you're going to suffer a little bit. You'll probably experience some joy, too. But that's just about the only thing that's certain. Even as we look at a new year that's approaching, we don't know what this year is going to bring. We don't know if it's going to be a year of particular calmness and a particular blessing and the best year of our lives or if it's going to be the worst year of our lives. If our health is going to get better or worse, we don't know. These things are in God's hands. And for us, it's vague and it's unclear. So what is it then that we can hope for? What is it that we can put our trust in and have any sense of stability and certainty? Is there anything that we can look to with confident expectation? Well, Peter wrote to these Christians who were battling with a life turned upside down and he proclaimed to them the objective reality of their salvation in the accomplished work of Jesus Christ, which was their only solid anchor of hope in the midst of their stormy and troublesome lives. He reminded them here with this strong language of certainty that though life was difficult, that God was with them And that God would lead them by His omnipotent hand through the high waters, through the fire, and through thorny and difficult paths until they reached their glorious end. And though life circumstances around them might rage like a tempestuous sea, life at the center was anchored and calm and secure because their hope was fixed upon the objective fact of Christ and His resurrection. And it is that that Peter was seeking to do, to raise these people's eyes above their present circumstances and the vagueness of the future and fix them upon their hope in Christ. God has indeed preserved this language of certainty and this whole epistle for us throughout the centuries in order to raise our eyes above the temporary world that we live in and fix them upon the only true hope that we have, the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. And he does this in order that we might endure the fiery trials of this present evil age and wage the warfare that we've been called to wage against the world, the flesh, and the devil. So as we look at this text this morning, I'd like to ask you to think in terms of the certain salvation that God has provided, that He has promised, and that He has protected. And by this, we can rejoice and take comfort as pilgrims and sojourners traveling amidst uncertainty and adversity to the heavenly country that awaits us. So then, First, rejoice and be comforted, for God has provided to you a certain salvation. Look at what Peter says here in this beginning doxology. He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy... Now let's stop there for a moment. It's by God's abundant mercy that He has provided our certain salvation. Now, what is mercy? What is that? Well, mercy, quite simply, is just not getting what you deserve to get. Justice, on the other hand, is getting what you deserve to get, right? Children, you might think of it this way. Imagine you were in your car with your family, and your dad was driving, and he was going too fast in that car. And as he was driving along too fast, let's say he was going 55 miles an hour in a 35-mile-an-hour zone. Not that he would ever do that, but let's just imagine. And a policeman pulled him over. And as the policeman pulled him over, he walks up to the car, he knocks on the window, and you see your dad kind of let out of breath. Oh, no. And he's thinking of how it's going to cost him more money and his insurance is going to go up. And the policeman asked for his driver's license. And he broke the law. He deserves to pay a penalty, right? He deserves to get what he earned. And in this case, it was a ticket. Well, that would be justice. But let's say the policeman took the ticket and he tore it up. He said, sir, I'm not going to give this to you. Even though you deserve to get it, I'm not going to give it to you. Well, that would be mercy. He didn't get what he deserved. Grace, we can even go one step further, grace would be getting something that you don't deserve. Let's say the policeman says, not only am I not going to give you this ticket that you deserve to get, that you earned for breaking the law, but here. Here's two tickets to the symphony for you and your wife. Well, that would be grace. Well, you see, for us as Christians, this is exactly what it is. We deserve to be punished for our sins. And God, by His abundant mercy, has provided salvation. He's provided it in Jesus Christ. God didn't stop becoming just to give us mercy. He's both. He's merciful and He's just. He's merciful in that we didn't get the punishment we deserve. Hell. But He's just in the fact that He punished our sins in the person of Jesus Christ. If He's merciful to one person, He's by definition merciful. but he must punish every single person's sins in order to be just. And he does that by paying for our sins as those who believe in Christ, as the church, by punishing them in the person of Jesus Christ. And this is why salvation is not acquittal in the courtroom of God. Punishment was administered and justice was indeed served by Christ becoming sin for us and giving us righteousness in exchange. And this God is both abundantly merciful and perfectly just. We might ask, why should I get such a salvation? Well, we don't deserve it. It's according to his abundant mercy. What Peter is doing is he's reminding these readers that even as you face an uncertain life and as you face difficulty and adversity, God has gone to great lengths to provide you this salvation by sending his Son. It's according to his abundant mercy. People of God, that means you too. It means that God has set his love, his immutable love, his unchangeable love, and his mercy upon you. And you are the object of that love and that abundant mercy. So come what may in this life, we're reminded that you have a Father in heaven who has saved you by taking these great lengths. And it's according to his abundant mercy that he's provided a salvation that we wouldn't have even accepted on our own. Look with me what he says next. He says it's according to his abundant mercy that he has begotten us again to a living hope. I think the NIV says it, he has given us new birth, which might be better. I think the NASB says he has caused us to be born again, which is probably the best. You see, not only were we undeserving of this mercy that we have received and the salvation that God has provided, but as people who are born in Adam's sin, born children of wrath, we wouldn't have even have reached out and taken it on our own had God not rebirthed us. As the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 2, he says that we were dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world, according to the devil, all of us conducting ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our darkened mind. And that's a grim picture indeed. It means that our hearts were so inclined towards sin that we wouldn't even have reached out and accepted this wonderful gift of salvation had God not changed us, made us brand new. You see, we were once dead, lifeless, unresponsive, like Lazarus in the tomb for days. Nothing could bring him to life or make him new except the power of God. And God, according to His abundant mercy, brought you out of death and into life. And He gives you a new disposition, a new heart, that now has a love for Him, that the old man and Adam, dead in his sins, did not have. He gives you now a hatred for that sin that we constantly battle with, that the old man, dead in his sins, in Adam's lineage, did not have. He makes us new. But it cannot happen unless God rebirths us. This is why Jesus said, no man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. As Professor Cornelius Van Til long ago used to say, it would be as if you had a syringe full of life-giving serum and you walked into a graveyard of graves and you said to those graves, all who will come forward and exercise their free will and I will inject you with this life-giving serum and bring you back to life. Well, of course, nothing would happen. They're dead. They can't get out of the grave on their own. Rather, God, according to his abundant mercy, reaches into the grave and rescues his own people. That's what God had done for these Christians and what he has done for you. It means that we are part of his family. We are his own. He's gone to the greatest lengths to secure your soul safely in His hand. And Peter writes to these readers that although they were dead in their trespasses and sins and rightfully deserving of justice, he reminds them that God, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten them again and provided a salvation that is alive. Look with me. He says now, to a living hope. That's what we've been begotten again to. A living hope. Now, what is this living hope? Well, let's take that word hope. We use that word all the time in our English vocabulary. We toss it around. I hope this, I hope that. And that's not what Peter is talking about. We say, I hope it doesn't rain today. Or I hope I get a raise next year. Or I hope this seminarian doesn't go too long in a sermon. Or I hope this, or I hope that. That's not what Peter is speaking about. Rather, there is another hope that is much more definite, that is fixed upon something that you expect to happen. For instance, I have the hope I expect to have happen. The fact that tonight around 8 o'clock I'll be gathered around the table in my home and probably playing a game with my children. I expect that to happen. I have the hope that that will happen unless God chooses to orchestrate my circumstances otherwise. But biblical hope, the living hope, is something far greater because it rests upon a living Savior. And it's founded upon the fact that we expect God to fulfill His promises. And God has to fulfill His promises. He cannot go back on His Word. He cannot deny Himself. There are a few things that God can't do, and that's one of them. We expect Him to fulfill His promises just as He said He would. And as He has proven through redemptive history that He does. And Peter uses this adjective, living, to describe this living hope, which really implies that it's contrasted with a dead hope. There's a living hope and there's a dead hope. What's the difference? Well, the living hope looks back with certitude to the empty tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ. to His accomplished work upon the cross, to His resurrection. That's what the living hope looks to. The dead hope doesn't look to that. The dead hope doesn't look to an empty tomb. That's just folly and foolishness. The dead hope only looks to what it can find in this life, what's tangible to it. And consequently, it only knows fear and anxiety. The living hope looks forward with anticipation to the age to come when we will fully experience at our resurrection that which is now broken in on this present age and giving us a foretaste of what is yet to come. The living hope looks forward with anticipation to it. The dead hope does not. It has no such anticipation of salvation. It only has a foretaste of fear that will forever torment them now and in the future age. The living hope is what J.I. Packer once well called an ethic of pilgrimage for strangers on their way home. an ethic of pilgrimage for strangers on their way home. That's the living hope. It's a hope that reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven, where we are seated with Christ. But come what may in this life, come whatever circumstances, whatever trials, whatever, anything that happens at all, we are seated in heaven with Christ. That is where our citizenship is. And we have now an ethic of pilgrimage. And this hope and salvation that He has provided is an objective fact. Look what he says now. He says it's through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is the most amazing thing that Peter writes because he points them to the fact that God has provided a certain salvation for His people that is based upon something objective, not something subjective. You see, Peter, he didn't write he has begotten us again by his abundant mercy to a living hope through your Christian living or through your devotional life. You see, those things would be given to our own performance and they'd be given to ups and downs and we'd be like this on a roller coaster. No, rather, he points them to the fact that it's based upon this objective reality, This act that God did in history. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It's unchangeable. That is where your hope is to be. He points them to that. God has provided all of this. He's provided His mercy. He's provided a rebirth for us. He's provided a living hope. And it's all through His Son and His resurrection. This is the certain salvation that God has provided. And not only can Christians rejoice and be comforted by the salvation that God has provided in this life, but we can also rejoice and be comforted for the certain salvation that God has promised that is yet to come. Look with me in verse 4, what he says. He says that it's too an inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled and does not fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you. He uses those four powerful adjectives. it's incorruptible, it's undefiled, it's unfading, and it's reserved in heaven. You see, this inheritance that God has promised, that is yet to come, it's not like the inheritance that He gave to Israel, that of the land. Now that inheritance was indeed good, and God did in fact give it to them, but ultimately it was defiled. It was defiled with false worship. It was defiled with false gods. And it faded away, just like Jesus said it would, as he prophesied. And it wasn't reserved in heaven. It was reserved on earth. Well, beloved, the salvation, the certain salvation that God has promised you is different. It's reserved in heaven. Where it cannot be tarnished. It cannot wear away. Nobody can touch it. Nobody can steal it. And it is yours. What is this inheritance, you're wondering? What is this inheritance that I'm given? I remember as a boy in Sunday school and seeing little pictures of the Sunday school curriculum and thinking, well, my inheritance is going to be a big gold mansion with lots of treasure and streets of gold. Well, that's not exactly it. Our inheritance is our salvation and our resurrected bodies. I'll read to you quickly from 1 Corinthians where this is described so well. In chapter 15, Paul's great chapter on the resurrection, just a section of it, he says in verse 20, he says, But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, that is Adam, by man, Christ, also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end. You see, this inheritance that God has promised His people throughout the ages will come on the last day when Christ in His glorified and resurrected body shall descend physically where we will see Him. He is the firstfruits of that whole harvest that will be then resurrected. that we will then have bodies just like the Lord Jesus Christ does. If you want to know what that's like, we'll see what the Lord Jesus Christ's body was, how it was described in the Gospels. It was a real body. He really ate Him and people really touched Him. And that is your inheritance. A body that will not be subject to sin, will not be subject to the trials and difficulties of this age, to temptation, to suffering, to pain, to sorrow. It's a body that will be fit for the glory of the ages to come. That is your inheritance. It's far different than what we inherited from Adam, isn't it? What did we inherit from Adam? We inherited sin. We inherited death. And a body that decays. But in Christ, the last Adam, who came and fulfilled that which Adam failed, who fulfilled the covenant of works, who was obedient constantly to God's law, where Adam was not. And he's now resurrected in a glorious body. That is what you will inherit, what you will be given on the last day. And because we have this objective fact of his resurrection, we look to the future with confident expectation for the glory that awaits us. That time when God will wipe away every tear from our eye. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying. and death, the last enemy, will forever be destroyed. In contrast, this present evil age is not awaiting its inheritance. It's awaiting its judgment. The world has a promise not of salvation but a promise of condemnation. While the Christian is awaiting what is to be fully revealed in the future and has an ethic of pilgrimage, the world looks with anticipation only to the present treasures that it can accumulate in this temporary age. It only gives it a temporary happiness and a temporary sense of security. But ultimately, all those things are uncertain and will eventually perish. And while we live in this already-not-yet arrangement between the salvation that God has provided and the salvation that He has promised, finally, we can rejoice and be comforted, for God has protected our salvation. Look with me in verse 5. He says, Who are kept by the power of God? These Christians who were troubled with the uncertainty of their lives and possibly even worried over threats of what the Emperor Nero might do, Peter reminded them that their souls were kept by God's very power. And it is true of us as well. That the very power of God, His omnipotence that spoke the heavens and the earth into existence, is the same power that keeps you safe as you travel to your heavenly home. It's that power that keeps us from being disqualified. It's that power that makes it so that no one can snatch us out of the Father's hand. No one can rob our inheritance from us. As we were told by Paul to the Romans, he says, Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things to come, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Christ Jesus, the one who keeps us. our good shepherd, the one who persists in making sure that we're safe and kept, that we will not lose our inheritance. Listen to the very words of your Lord. He says, All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me. That of all He has given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day. and this is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day. None can snatch us out of the Father's hand, beloved. It is by his power that he keeps us. And then he goes on, he says, we are kept by the power of God through faith. Through faith. Very important two words that Peter writes to these people. It is by the power of God that we're kept. But it's through faith. You see, it's not by our faith that we're kept, just like it's not by our faith that we're saved. But what we're saved by is by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. By God's grace, He takes and credits to us. But it's through faith. Faith is the channel by which we receive those things. This is the means that God uses to keep us. And he builds faith. He keeps it alive. So every time you come in here to the preaching of the word and the administration of the sacraments, your faith is being built up. And when you don't sense it or realize it, it's God by his spirit working. And he's given us these things in order to build our faith and in order to keep us this way. He preserves faith. And this is why he says in Hebrews chapter 6, He speaks of the Christian's continued faith in God as the evidence of God's keeping power. He says, And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become lazy or sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. He goes on speaking of those who are kept through faith or those who do not draw back to destruction, but those who believe to the saving of the soul. You see, this is important for us to understand because what's taking place in much of modern Christianity today is that they will look at the Bible and say, well, on the one hand, God does keep the believer, and yeah, you're preserved. But then on the other hand, the Bible teaches that you can lose that salvation. And so the Bible teaches both is what is often embraced. But, beloved, God does not speak with a forked tongue. That's not God's nature. It's very clear from his word that his people are kept, they're protected. The salvation that he promised, the salvation that he has provided as we are traveling from one to the other, we are protected by his power. And it's through faith that he uses this faith that he keeps alive. Even when your faith is at its weakest, even when it's just so minuscule, if you are in Christ, he is keeping you alive through faith. It's grace from the beginning and grace at the end. It's all of the Lord. Martin Lloyd-Jones, a minister in England and Wales of some 50 years last century, understood this concept well. For near the end of his long life, he wrote a letter to a friend. In that letter, he said these words. He said, It is grace at the beginning, grace at the end, so that when you and I come to lie upon our deathbeds, the one thing that should comfort and help and strengthen us is the thing that helped us at the beginning. Not what we have been. Not what we have done. But the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The Christian life starts with grace. It must continue with grace. It ends with grace. Grace, wondrous grace. And he has protected this salvation for the last time. Finally, look with me in the last part of verse 5. He says, through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Ultimately, beloved, what are we comforted by? By the improvement of our circumstances? By the certainty of what's going to happen in 2002? Or the certainty of what's going to happen next week? Well, those things bring a temporary comfort indeed. But ultimately, we are comforted by the fact that Jesus Christ is returning and He's going to set things right. He's going to resurrect this world and end this present evil age. Everything that we battle now will be history. That is what encourages us. Not looking forward to some golden age where things get better. Rather, when Christ returns and sets things completely right and death is put to death and pain and sorrow are gone when things will be completely certain and they'll be clear. That is what our hope lies upon. What's so amazing is that Peter says it's ready to be revealed. It's expectant. It's imminent. It's going to happen. You know, often as Christians we can look at things in the future with sort of nebulous glasses, you know. We look at things and think, well, yeah, I know that I've heard about this and I believe it and I know it's going to happen, but then we sort of think, well, I just can't believe it's going to really happen. Children, you might think of Christmas time and how I'm sure you waited for Christmas with great anticipation. You saw the tree go up and you saw the presents go around the bottom of the tree and you saw your stocking hung and you were just waiting for Christmas. And if you're anything like me, when I was your age, you probably couldn't sleep the night before. And you just couldn't believe it was going to actually happen. But what happened? It happened, right? It really happened. You can look back on your life and think of all kinds of things like this. I can remember entering high school as a young man and being told if I pass all my classes and I complete my studies, then I will graduate one day. Like any other 14-year-old, four years of school just seems like a lifetime or an eternity. But indeed, it happened. I couldn't believe it was going to happen, even up until that last day. But it happened. I received my high school diploma. I wore the gown and the cap. I remember some time after that, I was engaged to my wife and waiting for these incredibly long months and weeks and days and seeing our wedding plans come together and seeing the ring that I had purchased for her and knowing that it was going to happen, believing it was going to happen. Yet I couldn't believe it was actually going to happen. even to the very last moment. It happened. It in fact happened. And some years later, my wife came home one day and said, we're going to have twins. And she even showed me the picture on the sonogram, these two little spots. And then watching her body change over months and preparing for these babies to arrive and bring them a home. And I couldn't believe it was actually going to happen. It happened. It really happened. Beloved, we have an appointment with the Lord Jesus Christ and it's actually going to happen. We will stand before Him and see our Lord and Savior in His own body. You will have a resurrected body. There's nothing nebulous. There's nothing unclear or uncertain. It's going to happen. And it's ready. It's ready to be revealed. It's imminent. It could happen sooner than we think. This is the hope that we have because if this is true Then whatever happens in this life, whatever adversity, whatever trials, whatever uncertainties we face, well, it's worth going through if we recognize that God himself has provided us a salvation and he's promised us a salvation and he's protected us until then. And that's going to happen. It's ready to be revealed. That's worth going through this life and fighting the world, the flesh, and the devil. It's worth resisting sin over because you are going to stand there uncondemned, presented faultless, with exceeding joy before God's own glory. That will be you and it shall happen. This is the certainty of our salvation that He has provided, that He has promised, and that He has protected. In this we greatly rejoice. Amen. Father, we are thankful for Your Word, Lord, that comforts us in times of uncertainty and in times of trial. Lord, reminding us of where our hope is, that it is in Christ Jesus, that objective fact. Lord, we thank You for the work of Your Spirit that raises our eyes, as it were, above our present circumstances and fixes them upon that. And we look forward, Lord, to the consummation of all things, to the resurrection of our bodies and the resurrection of this earth. We look forward, Lord, to the fullness of this salvation that You have provided. And Lord, we are thankful that it is so certain, even in an uncertain world and an uncertain future. So, Father, we pray that you would comfort our hearts this morning and that you would bless us, your children, this day. It is in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.