Let me go ahead and get started. If you would, turn with me to
1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. I'm going to read the first five
verses. Simon Peter, a servant, and an
apostle of Jesus Christ. To them that have obtained like
precious faith. I'm in second Peter. Didn't sound right. I had that mark too, so. Let's
try first Peter one this time. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you, and here's what I want to concentrate on, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. Here we have Peter writing an
epistle to those scattered abroad, sojourners in this world. Specific
places are mentioned here, but written to all of God's people
because we are all strangers in this world. But we also know
he is talking to all of God's people because in verse 2 he
speaks of the elect. This is not necessarily my subject
this morning, but it says we are elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. Then it says through, and here's
where we begin to get into being kept by God. Paul says this,
he says, but when it pleased God who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in
me that I might preach him among the heathen, Immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood. Someone who is kept by God does
not consult with man. He goes to the one who keeps
him. We are the children of wrath even as others, yet when that
time comes, God has us right where he wants us because he
keeps us. We know the scripture, it says
that Christ died for us while we were yet enemies. Christ died
after some of those had went on. But we also know that he
is the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.
When we are born into this world, God puts a hedge around us so
that nothing can harm us. And in such a way that we do
not reach that point that, you know, He does it in such a way
that we don't reach, that we reach the point where he intends
for us to be. The scripture teaches us that,
it teaches us this, but even when I look at my life, there's
no other way for me to see it. Just all the stupid things I've
done that could have killed me. He preserved me to a certain
point, which we will look at, And that's not even talking about
all the evil things I've done, just the stupid things. He has
hedged me about, and he turneth me whithersoever he is pleased
to bring me to, to get me to this point that's talking about
in this passage here. That point being obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Christ. I know some like sprinkling.
Well, there's some sprinkling that you need. sprinkled with
the gospel of his dear son. We see in this chapter what all
men need, but all men do not have it. Grace and peace be multiplied. I cannot have too much grace
and peace from God. What he gives is just enough,
always. There can be no grace or peace
to one who hates the God of scripture until their dying breath. But
if grace and peace come to you, even at your dying breath, it
is enough to carry you home. I just wouldn't count on waiting
until then. We have read the scripture where
it says, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon
him while he is near. Because waiting in that sense,
then he may not be found. But we also must say that if
you are to see grace and peace, it will come from God that has
kept you. He will keep you unto salvation
and that to his own good pleasure, be it young or old. A sinner
is not less than a sinner just because he may not have sinned
as much as another. A sinner is one because that
is what he is, and sin pours forth from that fountain, but
also because this sin that he has committed has offended the
holy God. Let's be honest. I have sinned
and offended God even when I was born by my sin, because I am
born speaking lies. But let's look at this a little
further and talk about being kept by God. How are we kept? When are we kept? To what are
we kept? First, as we read in our text,
we are kept by the power of God. Here is one of those words that
Walter talked about last week. This power and the right that
God possesses to do with me as he wills. I have no input to
this. There are certainly effects of
him keeping me, and in the sense that it is said here, his keeping
me is a miracle. It is done by miraculous power. How much power does he have?
Matthew 28, 18 says, and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
all power is given to me, given me in heaven and in earth. So
if he has all the power, how much is left over for me or anyone
else? You know the saying, it's all
or nothing. Well, we have the nothing and
he has the all. This power is not just for those
who are his. No, this power is shown to men
in grace and peace. But he even has power over all
flesh, even the wicked. Romans 9, 17, we read, for the
scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. God, using Pharaoh,
would show and did show his power to the world by drowning Pharaoh
and his great army in the water. Man has no power at all. If man
has any power, it's because God has given it to him. What did
Christ tell Pilate? Jesus answered, thou couldest
have no power at all against me, except it were given thee
from above. Therefore, he that delivered
men to thee hath the greater sin. So the power that keeps
us is a divine power and it is a miraculous power. This power
brings those who are his faith because it says we are kept by
the power of God through faith. Faith to do something that we
would not otherwise do. Faith to be obedient unto the
sprinkling of the blood of Christ. We know we are kept by his power,
but when are we kept? We are kept from eternity. There
is never a time when we have not been kept. We were chosen
in Christ before the world began. So we were kept before we even
arrived here. You know, we read that scripture
in Romans that says, and we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. You know, this is true even before
you're called. But here's the thing about this
verse. Once he comes to you, revealing himself to you in the
gospel and through faith, you being obedient to it, it is then
and only then that we can say, and we know. But it is true from
all eternity that God has preserved and does preserve his saints.
All things truly do work together for good, they're good. Bad things
and good things. But then we also see that we
are kept in time. Time is a part of eternity, so
it's not separate. but we are kept in time. God,
as I said, hedges us about so that no one or no thing can harm
us, not even ourselves. He may not keep us as we would
have it, and thank God for that, but he will keep us. That is,
he will preserve us until that time of love. If Jesus Christ
died for us when we were enemies, then why would he not keep us
safe? And that is safe from falling
away from him. There is a time before we are
revealed Jesus Christ that we are kept by God. Before we knew
Christ, we were kept by God who used the schoolmaster, the law.
This keeping was to put us under the law so that we will keep
our mouth shut. until or unto Christ, that is
until faith came and then we began to believe God. That faith
coming we see in our text. This is how it says it though.
We are begotten by God and the source or the cause of that begetting
is by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So our
keeping starts there. Our keeping is because of that.
He then touches one of his. His spirit, it says right here
in 1 Peter, sets us apart. But we are not set apart for
no reason. There is a reason that we are
set apart by his spirit. It is unto the sprinkling of
the blood of Jesus Christ. We are meant by God to come to
know him and to believe him. It is for that very purpose that
we are kept by his power. When he does this, then we can
sing with grace in our hearts the following. Thou art my hiding
place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.
Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. See, la,
think about it. That was Psalms 32, seven. Our
songs are songs of deliverance from ourself with the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. Here in our text, we are said
to be kept unto something. So next, we have to what are
we kept? Salvation. If you're not in need
of saving, then this is not talking to you. But those who are in
need of salvation begin to see this salvation. This salvation
is a person, that person who keeps them. But this even talks
about a salvation that is yet to be revealed. It's not a different
salvation. It is the same salvation, a man,
that man Jesus Christ. What is it that will be revealed
to me? I certainly will be revealed
that I have eternal life. But I will be revealed and will
know even as I am known that my life is Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 13, 12 says,
for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
shall I know even as also I am known. I will know even as I
am known. I will one day come face to face
with my redeemer, my friend, my savior, and my keeper. I will know Him even as He knows
me. That is the salvation that is
ready to be revealed. I know some of that now. I mean, I know some of that now,
and I thank God, because if we did not know some of it now,
I'm afraid it would lead us to total despair. But it is God
who keeps us, and He keeps us as it says here, and He does
this by setting us apart by His Spirit. This being done for the
express purpose that we obey His gospel, that gospel that
speaks to us about a Redeemer who shed His blood for my very
soul. But it also speaks of a Savior
who is my life because He was resurrected from the dead. By
His being resurrected, life is certain for His people. There's
no doubt that God's people will come to know him. We are told
that it is sure. John 6.37 says, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. My safekeeping in eternity, my
safekeeping is in eternity, my safekeeping is in time. Let me try that again. My safekeeping
in eternity is my safekeeping in time. My safekeeping in time
will be my safekeeping in eternity. God is my keeper, and that God
is seen in the face of the one who gave up his life for mine.
He gave up his life because no man could take it from him, no
matter how many nails they put in him. But he gave it up. And he proclaimed with a loud
voice for all the world to hear, although not all will hear it,
but they will. It is finished. Then he laid
in the grave three days and three nights, and in resurrection power,
he came forth from that grave. What did Christ tell us in John
10, 17, and 18? Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received from my father. In him doing so, all those in
him were given life. Yes, we are born dead, but when
he arose, we arose with him. Some things you cannot explain.
We just have to believe it. But because he liveth, I live. He proves it to me in time. He
comes to me in life-giving power and sets me apart. He has the
right to do so. Him doing this to me so that
I might come and obey him, an enemy of God enabled by the holy
God to kiss the sun. Some kiss the son cheek to cheek,
as Walker has pointed out before, but those who have been given
life kiss the son's feet. I know I talk about bowing down
to him a lot, but folks, I look forward to that day when I can
literally bow down at his feet, knowing it is all because of
his grace and peace, which he has given me in abundance, but
it is just enough in its abundance. What are we told in Isaiah, Isaiah
41, 10? Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. Some people know a God of vengeance,
though they think of him as their buddy. Others know a God who
is a protector, a keeper, a God who will take vengeance for them
in his time. What can we say about this? Let's
read it. God tells us what to say and
what to think. Turn with me to Romans 8. Turn
with me to Romans 8. This is very familiar, but this
is good. This is the God that keeps us. Romans 8, and I'm going to read
verses 31 through 39. And here it is talking about
all things working together, as I mentioned before. And that's
because God keeps it all. Scripture says all things consist
by Christ. So all things work together for
good because he is the keeper of all things. So then we have
in verse 31 of Romans 8, what shall we then say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? Here is the reason,
and this is something we can count on, verse 32. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? There may be some who
do attempt to lay charges to God's people, but we have an
intercessor. And it's not that we are not
blameable in and of ourselves, but in Christ we are not. We
are righteous in him. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Not a one will be able to condemn us. But let's go on,
35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, none of these things will
separate us from His love. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God does truly keep me. It is
such a comforting thought. that God, the sovereign God of
heaven and of earth, watches over me and keeps me. I have
nothing to fear, though I do. I am enough in my unbelief to
condemn myself, but he has been pleased to keep me unto obedience
of the gospel of Christ. I pray he leads me, else I will
go astray. I want to follow his path of
righteousness, That path where we are revealed true salvation. Salvation which God wrought and
he did this in his only son. That salvation that will reveal
my life and the only source of my life. Jesus Christ the Lord,
my keeper and my friend. Is he yours? Amen. Dear Lord, thank you for allowing
us to be here. Be with those, dear Lord, who
have ailments, dear Lord, maybe just struggling in their mind,
dear Lord. Comfort them with the thought
that you keep, you lead us, dear Lord, and it must be you, or
else we will go astray, dear Lord. Forgive us of our sins.
All these things we ask in Christ's name, amen.