Let's turn back to 1 Peter chapter
5 and verse 10. Now, I've titled this message, God
Shall. God Shall. It begins verse 10
with this word, but. But. Peter began this epistle
and he told us that his people are the elect of God. These believers
scattered throughout were the elect of God. According to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, through the work of the Spirit separating us unto our
God, to obedience through the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ, And he says then, throughout the epistle, he tells us various
things, exhorts us to do. Exhorts us to be of one mind.
Exhorts us to be united together. Speaking to believers, be united
together. He exhorts us to be feed upon Christ, the sincere
milk of the Word. He exhorts us to be established
upon this rock, the sure foundation, the precious foundation that
God has established. He exhorts us to be subject unto
the powers that God has placed in this world, knowing God's
put them there. There's an order in God's world that he's put,
he's placed, he's made the offices he has to glorify his power and
his dominion. And he tells us to conduct ourselves
in that way. And he's commanded us to be loving
towards one another, hospitable towards one another, to be fixed
with our hearts in one direction upon Christ. in order that in
all the midst of these trials and sufferings in this world,
we're not turned about, we're not tossed, and we're not moved
and shaken. He tells us to humble ourselves
under the mighty hand of God, casting all our care upon Him,
for He careth for you. And then He comes to this word
in verse 10, but, but, And He tells us here, the God of all
grace, the God with whom all grace originated, the God who
is the fountain of all grace, but the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto His eternal glory. If you believe, just as
He said in the very beginning of the epistle, if we believe,
it's because God called us. And there are no mavericks in
His church. There are no mavericks that came
some other way. that came some way that is not
revealed in this word like every other believer came. Every believer
that's ever come has come because He's called us. He did the calling. It's by His grace. And notice
He says here, it's done. He hath called us. And the gifts
of calling are with God or without repentance. He doesn't turn back.
He doesn't uncall somebody He's called. He's called us into His
eternal glory. It's unchanging, unchangeable
grace. He said, but the God of all grace,
who hath called us into His eternal glory by Jesus Christ. Who's
Christ? He's God's elect. He's God's
chosen one. And all His people whom He's
called are chosen in Christ. They're the same as Christ in
Christ, the elect of God. He's God's perfect servant. He
came and fulfilled the righteousness of God, established the law,
made it honorable. He did it on behalf of His people.
And in Christ, His people are righteous. perfect before God. Who is Christ? He's the beloved
Son of God. In Him, His people are the beloved
Son of God. Every child here is a beloved
child of God, whom He's called unto His glory. But the God of
all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Jesus
Christ. Where is He? Where's Christ now?
He's risen. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father. Paul said in Romans 6, likewise reckon ye yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, risen with Him.
Where He is, that's where we are. He says that's where we
are. The point of this whole epistle, where Peter began, was
to assure the believer that our salvation is accomplished. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's done by the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says here, after all these
things he's commanded, he says, but the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after
that you've suffered a little while, or suffered a little,
make you perfect. Now the word here is the God
of all grace shall make you perfect. He said these things He's commanded.
He didn't leave it just open-ended and say, now do these things.
He ends it right where it began. He said the same God who called
us, who brought us into this fellowship, He's going to do
the things that Peter says I've exhorted you to do. He's going
to work these things in you. The God of all grace shall make
you perfect. The God of all grace shall establish. The God of all grace shall strengthen. The God of all grace shall settle
you. And He's going to get all the
praise, that's what to Him be glory means, praise and dominion. It's His dominion, it's His power
and wisdom to do these things. And He'll get them forever and
ever. Now, God's got some children in this world that are His elect,
that are yet dead in trespasses and in sins. He's got some children
in this world that are His redeemed. He's reconciled them unto Himself
in Christ Jesus. They just don't know it yet.
And He's going to come to them. They must hear this gospel. They
must be born again of His Spirit. And they must be made willing,
brought to be reconciled unto God to see that the warfare is
over. God has done the work. Now, God
is teaching you who He's called. Me, who He's called. He's teaching
us. He says, after that, ye. That means you individually,
but it also means ye plural. It means us as this one body. He's teaching His body. He's
teaching us individually and He's teaching us together. Just like a father teaches a
newborn baby. He's teaching us, right here,
together, as a newborn baby. as His one body. He's teaching
us how to walk, how to talk. He's teaching us how to eat.
He's teaching us these things. He exhorts us to do all these
things. And then He tells us, but He's
the one who's teaching you all these things. And He's doing
this, He's making us of one mind, so that we strive together and
not against each other. He's making us, turning us from
ourselves and fixing us on one object, on Him. As He's teaching
us these things, He's teaching ye together through these sufferings,
He's strengthening us. That is, He's making Himself
to be the food. He's making Himself to be our
strength, our power and our wisdom. He's showing us that. He's making
us to be settled so that we can't be moved. Settled in this foundation
upon this rock. That's what he's doing. He has
a foreordained, he prepared beforehand good works that his children
shall walk in. that his church shall walk in. He prepared beforehand the works
that they shall walk in, that we shall walk in. And he's training
us, teaching us, strengthening us, settling us in how to walk
in those good works that he's already ordained that we should
walk in. And he does this through daily sufferings. Now when it
says after that you've suffered a while, it doesn't mean that
the suffering is all of a sudden going to come to an end and then
these things are going to be. Since I've been here, somebody's
been suffering ever since I've been here. Most of us all at
once and together and individually and with each other. And it's
going to be that way. It's going to keep being that
way. You must through much tribulation. enter into the kingdom of God.
It's not that after, he's just gonna bring the suffering to
an end now, and then that's gonna be it, and we're gonna start
walking. He's teaching us to walk through
the suffering. Teaching, that's, he's using, doing, using, he
sent these trials and this suffering to teach us how to walk, and
how to eat, and how to be joined together. And he's doing it through
family sufferings, each of us individually. But he's doing
it especially in this family, his church, his family, the church
of God. His body the church and in the
process of doing this the amazing thing about it is as he's teaching
us through his word through his sufferings and Uniting us together
in this way He's gonna call out some of his sheep in the process
and teach them what he's teaching each of us And the Word of God
is amazing. And the means He's ordained is
amazing. It's all-encompassing. It's all
folded in together. It is wisdom upon wisdom, wisdom
within wisdom. It's just amazing how He's doing
all of this through the Gospel, through the Word, by the Word.
It's just amazing to me. He's told us all these things
to do, but He ends here and He tells us, but the God who called
you, the God who commands you, He's going to work these things
in you. Wherever you find God say, work out the salvation,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, you're going
to find Him say, it's God that worketh in you. It's God that
worketh in you. God is doing the work in you.
And now it's going to take suffering. That's how He does these things.
But God is teaching His children to believe Him. And He's teaching
us to conduct ourselves in a way that manifests that we really
do believe that what He's teaching us through His Word is truth,
and it's not just some theory. It's real. It is vital. It is
true. And He's doing these things to
teach us. And He says so again. Let me read it again now. Verse
10, But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, After that ye, not only individually,
but ye plural together, members together of the Lord's one body,
after ye have suffered a while, God himself, this God of all
grace, shall make you, individually, yes, but together
as his body, together as his church. And I'm just talking
about this, this, this, you sitting right here in this room right
now, make up his body. and those who may not be here
tonight with us physically, but this body, his members, he's
gonna teach us and he's gonna make you perfect. He's gonna
make us, he's gonna establish us, he's gonna strengthen us,
he's gonna settle us. Now these four words here, we
were apt to look over words like this and think, I know what these
words mean. These words now, they don't have
a conjunction. They're vitally connected because
he works all these things. And he works these things himself. Now each one of these words here
gonna make up our divisions tonight. Gonna look at these four words,
perfect or perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. I want
you to see these four words. I spent a great deal of time
studying these words. I don't mean just looking up,
going to a concordance and looking up the word perfect. I mean looking
up the Greek word, looking up the original word, and then finding
where that original word is translated. And it's not always translated
perfect. The word that's translated established is not always translated
established. This word strengthened is only
used this one place. The original. But the meaning
is taught throughout the word. And this word settle. Looking
up the originals of these words, see what they mean. Now this
word, the God of all grace shall himself perfect you. Make you
perfect. Actually the word make and the
word perfect are the same word. Make and perfect, they're the
same word. Translated from the exact same
original. And the root means, it means
to fit, it means to join together, it means to make one. Peter had
said here back in 1 Peter 3 verse 8, he said, Finally, be ye all
of one mind. Be ye all of one mind. Be ye all of one mind. And he tells us in our text,
after you suffer a little while, the God of all grace shall make
you all of one mind. He's going to make you of one
mind. Let me show you where the word's used in other places.
Turn to Hebrews 11, Hebrews 11, and look at verse 3. This is the same word, Translated, using another word,
through faith we understand that the worlds were framed. That's the word, framed. It's
translated framed here. They were joined together. They
were made one. How? By the Word of God. That's
how the worlds were framed together. So that things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear. Now that's how God's
going to make us one. He's going to make us one by
the Word. He's going to make us one Not with things that you
can see, but He's gonna make us one with things you can't
see. It's by faith that He makes us
one. By faith that He makes us one.
Let me show you another place. Matthew 4. Matthew 4. The word perfect there, it's
not, there's a word used in other places, perfection, like we think
of the word perfection, where you just, nothing, nothing lacking,
you're complete. We are complete in Christ. Believers
complete in Christ. There's nothing to be added.
We're perfect in Christ Jesus, but the word here in our text
means joined together, made of one mind, making that which is
two separate things, one thing. Let me show you this, Matthew
4, verse 21. Same word again. Let me get there
myself. Matthew 4, 21. He says here, Going on from thence, he saw
other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his
brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, Mending, see that
word mending? It's the same word that's translated
perfect in our text. They were mending their nets.
You know what they were doing? They were adjusting and they
were fixing and they were putting together their nets, restoring
their nets. as they should be. Now let me
show you where the words used and the meaning is the same as
what is here in our text. Look at 1 Corinthians 1 and look
at verse 10. You know the trouble in the Corinthian
church was they all had the right doctrine. And folks can be separated from
those who have false doctrines with true doctrine and rally
around true doctrine. But you know what's going to
truly make brethren one? The Living Word. The Word in
our heart is going to make us one. The God of all grace is
going to make us one. Now let me show you this. This
is what Paul is teaching the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 1.
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be
no divisions among you, but that you be..." Now see these three
words perfectly joined together? That's one word in the original
that's translated perfectly joined together. And it's the same word
that says the God of all grace, after you suffer a while, make
you perfect. And this is what it means. He'll
perfectly join you together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. Let me give you an illustration.
We like to watch reality shows on television and all. You ever
seen on Survivor, you know how they'll blindfold them and they'll
tie them all together with a rope or something like that, so they're
all joined together. Or they'll put them together
and there's some big obstacle they gotta go through. And they're
all joined together. They're all tied together with
one thread, with one rope. If one's trying to go one direction
and one's trying to go the other direction, and they're all trying
to go faster than the slowest one, or slower than the faster
one, they just stumble and fumble and fall all over each other. And we stand and watch it and
just laugh and laugh and laugh. Look how funny that is. Look
how silly that is. But, when they're of one mind,
and in step, and in judgment, They start moving together, and
they start going together and moving together. Now let's hear
this good news, and let's be instructed by this. Peter tells
us here in our text, 1 Peter 5.10, he's told us that through
the epistle, be of one mind. Do nothing, as Paul said, don't
do anything through strife or vainglory, but be of one mind,
of one judgment. And he tells us here, the God
of all grace, who called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that, you've suffered a
while. try for a while to go our own direction. Maybe we try
for a while to handle each other, to make the other go in our direction.
Maybe after a while that we fumbled and stumbled over each other
like children in a game, the same God, by the same grace by
which He called us, by the same Christ who He called us by, who
is the head of the body, make you perfect of one mind, of one
judgment, and then brethren of strife together as one body. of one mind and one judgment. The God of all grace shall do."
He said, do this. But here's our assurance. Here's
where we can rest and be at peace. The God of all grace shall work
this in you. Let me show you Hebrews 13.20
before we go further. I'll show you two more scriptures.
Hebrews 13.20. Here's how Paul, he ended his
epistles the same way. Hebrews 13.20. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect. That's the
same word. In every good work to do His
will. Make you of one mind and one
judgment. In every good work to do His
will. How are we going to do His will?
He's going to make us of one mind to do it. Working in you
that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ
to whom be glory forever and ever amen He's gonna do that
now. How do I apply that? How do I
how do I apply that when I'm dealing with my brethren one
another I have this piece of knowing God's gonna work this
he's gonna he's gonna make he's made his people of one mind with
Christ Peter said that we have the mind of Christ and The man
that's not called of God, that hasn't been born of His Spirit,
he doesn't have the mind of Christ. He won't have the mind of Christ.
These things are spiritually discerned. But he said, but we
have the mind of Christ. He's made us of one mind with
Him, to rest in Him. How is He going to make us, brethren,
of one mind? making Christ everything to us,
making us see that He's working this work in the hearts of each
of His brethren. So, how do we apply that with
one another? Galatians 6. Let me show you
what Paul said there. Galatians 6, verse 1. Brethren, If a man be
overtaken in a fault, or as the marginal reference says, although
a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore. You see that word restore? It's
the same word. Restore. Make him of one mind. Restore. Restore such a one in
the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."
Now, how do I do that? How do I restore somebody? How
do I mend together? How do I frame together somebody
in the spirit of meekness? Well, it's to do what Peter's
doing right here. It's to do exactly what Peter's doing throughout
this epistle. He's reminding us. So we remind each other of what
God has done, what he is doing, and what he shall do. That God
is the God of all grace. That He's called us unto His
eternal glory. That He's done this by Jesus
Christ justly, righteously, perfectly. And that God's going to work
in us both the will and the do of His good pleasure. And He's
going to make us of one mind. It's to remind each other of
that very truth of the God of all grace is doing this. The
spirit of meekness is, as we remind each other of that, it's
to wait on Him to do it. Wait on Him to do it. That's
restoring each other in the spirit of meekness, rather than forcing
somebody else. The thing about brethren, this
is one thing about brethren. God's brethren don't handle each
other. They don't handle each other. Well, how do you handle
this situation? I take my hand off of it. put
your hand through the work," he said. When you're making the
altar, he said, you put your hand through the work and you've
polluted it. How do we handle one another? We don't. We do
not handle one another. We restore one another. We seek to be of one mind with
another. This is a good rule to remember.
If somebody is of the mind, And whatever regard it is, whatever
Paul says, in every good work, in every good work, if somebody
is of the mind, if they're of this one mind, I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me. If they're of that mind,
we can be sure This is a sure rule. If I'm going
to turn them from that mind and make them doubt that by saying,
no, no, we can't, we can't. That's not being of one mind
with him. He says, by the grace of God, is how we're going to be made
of one mind. If we turn each other from that
one mindedness, that's not being of one mind. Now, so we have
one mind. God, we know this. This is where
we can rest, though. And if somebody says no, then
all I have to do is this. Remind them the God of all grace. Where did grace come from? It
came from God. What do we do to earn that? Nothing. Where did it come from? It came from God. It came from
Him of His will. And He's called us. Where? He
called us. What do we do? He did it. Called us unto His eternal glory.
He did it by Jesus Christ. And He says, God shall make us
of one mind. So we can rest in that. We can
rest there knowing He'll do that. And not be like the folks playing
a game. being mavericks and going this
direction, that direction, too fast or too slow, be of one mind. Here's the second thing. The
God of all grace shall Himself establish you. The word here
is He will make you resolutely fixed
in one direction. Establish. Now the word establish
here, let me turn you to Luke 22. Before you turn there, look back
up there at verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant, because
your adversary the devil has a roaring lion walking about
seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith. The word steadfast there is the
root word which we get this word, establish. Resist him have, being
fixed resolutely in faith. Look in one direction, look into
the object of our faith, look into Christ. Now Luke 22, let
me turn you back there, Luke 22. Before the Lord went to the
cross, you remember how that Peter and the brethren, they
were striving But they weren't striving together, they were
striving against each other. They weren't of one mind, they
weren't of one judgment, they were striving against each other.
And they were boasting that they each were steadfast in the faith. They were boasting that they
were established in one direction, looking at Christ. They were
boasting of that. Each one of them were. And their hearts,
in doing that, their hearts were fixed in one direction, all right,
but it was fixed toward themselves. They were each, had their hearts
turned toward themselves. And they each, in making this
boast of their faith, turned their fellow brother to themselves. It was pride, it was the pride
of faith, boasting. And they turned the other to
themselves. Their word suddenly became this, I have faith in
my faith. That was their word. That was
what they were essentially saying. I have faith in my faith. Satan
loves for a believer to have faith in our faith. Loves that. Absolutely loves that. Would
like nothing better than for you and me to have faith in our
faith. Because if you do that, you'll
look to yourself. That's the direction we'll look.
If we do that, we'll defend ourselves. We'll defend our faith. If we
do that, we'll think we're self-sufficient. If we do that, we think we don't
need to hear God's word proclaimed. We'll think that we don't need
our brethren. We'll think we can stand alone.
Just as much as the devil loves to jump, loves for somebody to
look to men in the regard that you think you're going to be
saved by some man like a pope or a priest. The devil just as
much likes for you to take perpiscuity of scriptures as far as you can
take it and just stand out there on your own and think, I don't
need the word of God and I don't need brethren. It looks like nothing better
than that. Peter went so far as this in Luke 22, 33. Peter
said, Lord, I'm ready. Right now, I'm ready to go with
thee both into prison and to death. I'm ready. And look back
at verse 31. The Lord said, Simon, Simon. Simon, Simon. Behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not. I've prayed for you in order
that your faith will not fail. And he says this, when thou art
converted, when your turn, you know the word Peter is a word
that is like a rock, but it means a piece of a rock. It means a
little rock. And he's saying, Peter, when
your turn from Peter the rock to Christ the rock, when you're
converted, Strengthen. You see that word strengthen
there? It's the same word establish in our text. It means when you're
turned from Peter the rock and you're pointed to Christ, you're
resolutely fixed on Christ. Established in me, the Lord's
saying. He said then point your brethren
in the same direction. point them in the same direction.
That wasn't what Peter was doing. That wasn't what the rest of
the brethren were doing at the time they were saying, we won't
forsake you. Lord, we won't. I'm ready right now to go into
prison with you and into death with you. I'm ready to do that. that was turning, that was looking
to self, being fixed on self and pointing others to self.
And after Peter suffered a little while, the Lord turned him and
fixed him in the direction upon Christ. And you know what the
fruit was? You know what the fruit of that was? The fruit
of that grace was? You know how Peter obeyed the
Lord and strengthened his brethren? He did what he's doing in this
epistle. He told them what He knew by experience. He told them
exactly what He knew by experience. And by doing that, He pointed
them to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's telling them, God will turn
you by His grace. He told them plainly, turn away
from yourself and be of one mind, strive together, and look to
the Lord. But look at this, verse 8 and
9. 1 Peter 5, 8 and 9. Or let's start in verse 6. He says, Humble yourselves therefore
into the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Be
sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring
lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast
in the faith. resist being pointed in one direction,
but resist by looking straight to Christ, fleeing straight to
Christ, and know that this same affliction are accomplished in
your brethren that are in the world. They're going through
these same things. Peter knew that, didn't he? His
brethren were going through it while he went through it too.
But he doesn't end there, does he? Peter knew by experience
not to end right there. If he'd have ended right there,
if he'd have just ended that word and said, now you resist
steadfast in the faith, and he would have just talked and talked
and talked about our faith, about our faith, about our faith, he'd
have done nothing more than what he did when he said, Lord, I'm
ready to stand with you right now. But he knew, he knew, no
sooner than you start trusting, having faith in your faith, and
Satan is sifting you like wheat. And the only way we're going
to be saved from that is that Christ Jesus, the object of our
faith, that one who is the Savior, that he intercedes for us and
won't allow us to be consumed by him. And so Peter doesn't
end there. He says, but, but, the God of all grace, who hath
called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you
suffered a while, he'll make you of one mind, and he will
turn you resolutely in one direction. He'll do that. That's what the
word establish means. He'll do that. Now, here's the,
how do we apply that? Running a little long, but let
me show you. I'm gonna be shorter on these last two, but let me
show you this. How will that be applied? We see what Peter
said. He's teaching us here that God
of all grace will do this, but listen to Paul. Paul in 1 Thessalonians
3.11. Listen to what Paul says here. 1 Thessalonians 3.11. Now God Himself and our Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. And the Lord
make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and
toward all men even as we toward you. To the end. He may establish your hearts. You see that? He may turn your
hearts and fix them resolutely in one direction, unblameable
in holiness before God. This is what true holiness is. It's to be fixed solely on Christ
in the heart. To have our hearts turned towards
Him, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
with all saints. So here's the first thing. God
himself, the God of all grace himself shall perfect. He'll
make you of one mind, of one judgment. He'll put you together,
one mind and one judgment. God himself shall establish,
turn you steadfastly toward him alone. And here's the third thing,
God himself shall strengthen you. Nowhere else in the scriptures
is this word in the original is this word. It's right here
only. We can't find it anywhere else
in the scriptures, but it's taught throughout the scriptures. It
won't do enough if we've been joined together at a dinner table. We sit down at a dinner table
together. It won't do us any good if we're
just turn in one direction and see that that big platter of
meat right there on that table is good for us, that we're fixed
on it, that we're established right there toward it. We got
to also eat it and it's got to become one in us and actually
be our life and actually be our strength. And that's what he's
saying here. He's not only going to put you
together. He's not only going to fix you
looking at him. He is your life. He will be your strength. He
will be your wisdom. He will be your power. You see,
he's the bread. Christ is the bread. He is our
life. It's not that this is a theory. It's not that this is in theory. He is our life. He is the life
of the believer. He's the strength of our faith,
the life that is our faith. He's the life, the strength that
is our hope. He's the life, the strength that
is our righteousness. He's the life that causes us
to withstand temptations. He is the strength, the life
that causes us to oppose the very corruptions that's in our
flesh. He's the life, He's the strength that causes us to bear
His cross, to bear reproaches for His name's sake. He's the
life and the strength to perform the work God's put into our hands
to perform. As His church, to sound forth
the gospel in the midst of a perverse, dry, thirsty, waste howling wilderness. He's the life to do that. He's
the strength to do that. Our strength is not in our wisdom. Our wisdom is not in our wisdom.
He is the wisdom. He may take away the sound mind. But if He does, if the God of
all grace hath called us unto His Son, if He's called us to
Himself by Jesus Christ, He'll still, Christ will still be our
wisdom, even though we don't have a mind to even know who
we are, much less lean to our understanding day to day. If
the strength is not in our power, our strength's not in our power,
it's not in our strength, Christ might put us flat on our backs,
where we don't have any strength at all, and make us to know He's
still our strength, He's our strength, He's our life. One
of these days, this body is gonna actually have no life in it anymore,
and yet, we'll be with God. Because He's our life. We have
eternal life by Him. Christ is all. Our strength's not our money.
Christ might break the bank completely. Our bank completely to make us
see the riches is Christ. Our riches are Christ. The God
of all grace Himself. Our strength is not in any one
man. And our strength's not in a host
of men. God may take them all away, whittle
them down to nothing to make us see our strength is in the
Lord of Hosts. Our power is the Lord of Hosts.
We can't look to any one person, not me, you, anybody. Christ is our wisdom, our power,
our strength. our substance, our sustenance.
And we don't behold that any better than when we're just absolutely
weak. Absolutely weak. This is what
Paul prayed, that He would grant you, according to the riches
of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the
inner man. In the inner man. The life that
He is be made one with us in the inner man. And Peter says,
in the God of all grace, He'll do this. He'll do this. Isn't
He doing it more and more? Isn't He doing it for you personally? He's making me behold more and
more Christ is really my life. More and more. More and more. And this is the last thing. The
last word. He's going to make you of one
mind. He's going to give you the mind of Christ. The mind
with one another. With your brethren. He's going
to establish you. He's going to fix you solely pointed in
one direction, looking to Christ. And Christ is going to be that
strength. He's going to be that life. And this is the last thing. Settle you. I read, you know,
some of the commentary said, well, all these words mean the
same thing. If they did, there'd just be one word there. They
don't mean the same thing. They're all from different words,
and they're all so joined together they can't be separated. But
they all have separate meanings, and they all mean something.
When he does this, when he's done this in us, he makes us
so that we can't be moved. rooted, grounded, anchored within
the holiest of holies in the very presence of God in Christ
Jesus. Rooted, grounded on Christ the
solid rock. Not tossed, running from one
place to another. You know, folks run from one
place to another for all kinds of reasons. For all kinds of
reasons. You know, Somebody said something
about my kids, or it offended me, or somebody said something
about this other thing about me, or somebody wouldn't let
me do what I want to do. Whatever. All these different
kinds of reasons, till we end up at the end saying, well, I'm
just done with church. Well, right now, today, be done
with church. be done with church in the sense
of just doing church, be done with church, and be joined to
Christ. Be members of his body. Be members
of his family. Find out what it is to suffer
together, to suffer family trials together. What kind of husband
would it be after a while he just got tired of suffering all
the stuff and he just ran off and said, I'm done with my wife.
What kind of father would it be just after a while he just
said, I'm done with my child. I'm tired of playing father. What kind of believer would it
be that just said, I'm done with church? Get in a family and we
get in a family together and we learn what it is to be husbands
and wives, what it is to be children through this suffering. And we
learn what it is to be under the hand of God, our father,
led of Christ, our elder brother, the son of God, made righteous
in Him, perfected in Him, trusting in Him, to find out what it is
to be together through this suffering, knit together, established in
one direction, where Christ is our life, so that we're fixed,
so that we can't be moved anymore. not by doctrine, not by all these
waves of different kinds of doctrine, not by waves of trial, not by
waves of suffering, but we be fixed in Christ and be settled
in Christ and no more tossed here and there and running here
and there and be settled. It's a very glorious, wonderful
privilege God has given us to start in his body right here all together
as the body is brand new. Brand new. It's a wonderful thing.
It's a great privilege to one day grow old and say, the Lord
put me in that body and he showed me what it was to really have
brethren. He showed me what it was to really have family. Not a church family, but really
a family. People say church family as opposed
to all my other types of family, but to know that this is my family,
my real family, my real family, the family of God be fixed. Let's end with this, Ephesians
3.16. This is what we learn through
this suffering. This is what the God of all grace
will do. Peter's not praying as much. Some think he's praying, but
he may be. But I think what Peter was saying
is the word of assurance. But the God of all grace shall
do this. But here's what Paul prayed.
He said, Ephesians 3.16, that He would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith. that ye, being rooted and grounded,
there it is, settled, settled, no more moved, rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge. that you might be filled with
all the fullness of God. Now unto Him, you see Paul saying
the same thing, Peter, now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the
power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory Where? In the church. That's what Peter
is telling us. By Christ Jesus throughout all
ages, world without end. How did Paul learn to end his
writing that way? How did Peter learn to end his
writing that way? Do you know what Christ did when
he got finished with that serpent on the mount? Do you know what
he said? He said, now the man that heeds my words I liken him
to a man who built his house on a rock. On a rock. And the rains came, and the floods
came, and the winds came, and it couldn't be moved. You know
why? Settled. Settled. Go home. Go home and look and
tell me. Just go home and look at your
houses where you live. And you look at it and tell me
if you can see where the foundation ends and the house begins. It's just all house, built on
a foundation, but you can't, it's just all together, the house
isn't it? It's not that there's a foundation
and then there's a bunch of stuff built on it. He makes us just
one in that foundation, just one house settled in that rock. I'm confident of this. We say
do these things, but I'm confident of this. The God of all grace
who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that, we've suffered a
little. John, make us of one mind with
Christ, together with each other. He will, what was the next word? Establish. That means point us
in one direction. After you convert it, strengthen.
Same word. Point your brethren, Peter, where
you've been pointed. Strengthen. He'll be the meat. He'll be the life. He'll be the
strength. And he'll make us settled. Amen.