But let us turn again to that
portion of Scripture we just read here at the end of the fourth
chapter in Peter's first general epistle. And I want, just for
a while tonight, to draw your attention to the words that we
have in the last verse. 1 Peter 4, 19. Wherefore, let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls
to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. Wherefore, let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls
to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. Here then we read of God as that
One who is the faithful, Creator. And it's there that the child
of God finds safety. It's there that there is that
keeping of their souls. Now, in this verse he is clearly
drawing a conclusion. He's making a deduction and we
see that from the opening Words, wherefore? There's a reference
to the things that he's been saying previously in the chapter. And among other things, of course,
he has spoken of the trials of the believer. We began our reading
there at verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some
strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice in as much as ye
are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be
revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." There is
nothing strange, he says, then, with regards to that fiery trial
which is sent to try them. We can think of the words of
another apostle when Paul writes there at the end of Philippians
chapter 1 he reminds them unto you it is given in the behalf
of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for
his sake where there is true faith there will be something
of sufferings for the sake of the Lord Jesus partakers as we
have it here in verse 13 partakers of Christ's sufferings and in the opening chapter of course
he has much to say with regards to the trying of faith And again,
there is a rejoicing in these things, as he says at verse 6
in that first chapter, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now
for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of
Jesus Christ. And so, we have these various
statements in the epistles concerning where there is that real, genuine
faith, that faith that is saving, that faith that is justifying,
it will go hand in hand with the trying of faith. And therefore when we come to
such a statement as we have here in verse 18, if the righteous
scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? And the Puritan, Richard Sibbes,
commenting on that verse said it's a word not of doubt but
of difficulty. Or there's no doubt with regards
to those who are once saved, truly saved, they will never
lose that salvation. There is such a doctrine as that
of the perseverance of the saints. And so when we have the word
scarcely, scarcely saved, it doesn't mean there's some doubt
with regards to whether or not they will enjoy all the blessings
of that salvation forever, but it indicates something of the
difficulties, of the way of salvation, how God's people have to enter
the kingdom through much tribulation, how there will be no troubles,
how there will be the trying of their faith. And again in
verse 17 he uses that word judgment in relation to the people of
God, to the house of God, the time has come that judgment must
begin at the house of God. What is this judgment? What is something of God's dealings? With God's dealings with His
people are never haphazard. God doesn't sport with His people. He has not made them as playthings.
No, in all the Lord's dealings He is that God who is just. There is that that is always
right about the ways of God and the way in which he treats his
people. And how Abraham confesses that. Shall not the judge of
all the earth do right? God always does what is right.
And how we are to recognize that in the way in which the Lord
deals with us. Oh, He knows our frame, doesn't
He? He's our Creator God, He knows us. And as He knows us,
so in His dealings with us, He never permits that we should
be tried or tempted above what we're able, but with the temptation
He will make a way of escape that we might be able to bear
it. Isaiah It tells us how God stayeth
his Rothwind in the day of his Eastwind. His dealings are always
measured in that way. He's never unduly severe with
his people. What do we read here in the text
that I announced, his 14th verse? They suffer, it says, according
to the will of God. And God's will is a good will.
It's a gracious will. He has good ends in view in the
dealings that he has. And how Jeremiah reminds the
Jews of his day, and they were going, of course, into exile. But he speaks with God's mouthpiece
and says, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts
of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Or there will be that blessed
end. Better is the end of a thing
than the beginning thereof, says the preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes. And so, when we take account
of the context here, as he has been speaking of the fiery trial
that has been sent to the people of God, it's no strange thing.
It's the common lot of all those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, in these experiences, in the crucible of all their trials
and difficulties, what do God's people have to learn? They have
to learn their complete and utter dependence upon Him. That's how
He teaches us what faith is. It's a life of dependence. It's
a life of trust. Wherefore let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls
to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful creator." The faithful
creator. That is the believer's safety. And two points really with regards
to this safety. They're safe. They're safe as
those who are God's creatures, but they're also safe because
of the character of God. And that's the division I want
to follow. as we come to consider this particular
text tonight. First of all, they're safe because
they're God's creatures. He speaks of committing the keeping
of their souls to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator. Referring just now to that judgment
that begins at the house of God, I indicated that God is a just
God. He's a just judge. But as God
is a just judge, we have to remember that He is also a faithful Creator. He's a faithful Creator. And
that's the expression that we have here at the end of the text.
Remember, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear Him. He knoweth our pride, and he
remembereth that we are dust. And how the Lord God watches
over all of His creatures and makes every provision for them
continually. The psalmist there in the 145th
Psalm reminds us of that blessed truth. Psalm 145 and verse 15,
The eyes of all wait upon the and Thou givest them their meat
in due season, Thou openest Thy hand and satisfyest the desire
of every living thing. Or the God who is the Creator
is also that One who is the God of providence. And so He orders
all the steps of His people. Day by day, moment by moment,
there is a blessed truth in that God though he's no more a creator
because he's not creating that work was completed in six days
but he's not inactive, he's at work fulfilling all his purposes
as we sang just now in our opening praise at 14th hymn in the book
and it is good for us to contemplate God as the creator God and when
we begin to meditating that blessed truth that there is a God who
is the creator of all things, do we not see the folly of the
evolutionists? What is evolution built on? It's
built upon mere chance happenings. And so it is really a most cruel
theory. It's a cruel theory that things
have just happened with no design, no purpose. Again, let me quote
from Richard Sibbes, the Puritan. He makes his statement, if a
man consider in what order God created him, it will make him
trust God. There's profit, you see, to think
about God as the creator and the way in which God has created.
There is a certain order, isn't there? There's a definite pattern.
in the works of God. The sequence of events that we
have, God could have made everything, as we've said many a time, in
one moment. He could have simply brought
everything into being by one word. But no, God chooses to
create over a period of days, the six days of creation. And
when we think in particular of living things on the third day,
We read of those living things, things that grow, vegetation,
herbs, fruit trees. All of these are created on that
third day. And it's not till the fifth day
that we read about God creates sea life and the birds, creates
the fish and whales, the fowl of the air he does all that on
the on the fifth day there's a certain progression and then
when we come of course to the sixth day it's on that day that
God creates the animals and creates man and there's a a progression
in all of these things. It's not that we see higher forms
of life evolving from lower forms of life. That's not what we see,
but we see a God who, in an ordered way, is preparing a world in
which He is going to set that creature whom He has made in
His image and after His likeness. It's all building up, really,
to what God does on the sixth day. All the folly, then, of
those who teach that theory of evolution. And there are even,
of course, professed Christians. And some who call themselves
evangelical Bible believers, they say they are. But they believe
in the theistic evolutions, if God made use of evolution in
order to creation. And it's a sin, really, that
these people are guilty of, because God's Word is so plain. God created
in the manner in which we read there in the opening chapter
of Genesis. And we are to be those who would
submit to the authority of God's Word, and recognize God as that
One who has made all things. And there is that proper and
due order. He is faithful. He is faithful
to His creatures, and particularly to that creature that He makes
on the sixth day. And of course, we see that there's a different
way in which God creates the man in comparison with the rest
of his creation. He creates normally by his feet. He simply speaks. He spoke, and
it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made, all the host of them by the breath of his
mouth. It's quite clear in scripture.
But how different it is when it comes to man. And so we have
the general account of creation in chapter 1. We come into chapter
2 of Genesis and there we have a detailed account concerning
the manner in which God created the man and then the woman. How
does he create the man? where he formed man of the dust
of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and man became a living soul. Even when we go back into the
first chapter, we see that the creation of man involves all
the persons. There's a council between the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Let us make man in our
image after our likeness. let them have dominion so man is created in a special
manner by the Lord God and then subsequently the woman is also
made the Lord God causes a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and takes
a rib out of his side and creates the woman Eve and brings her
to him and the two become one flesh, all in the great purpose
of God. Adam was first formed, then Eve,
says the Apostle, there in 1 Timothy chapter 2. And in the context
there, of course, he is setting forth the importance of the proper
order in the Church with regards to male leadership in the church. There's no disputing what Paul
is saying there at the end of that second chapter. The women
are to keep silent in the church, not to usurp authority over the
man. That's in the church. And of
course, we live in a day when few churches would recognize
that. But that's God's order. And it's
God's order from the very beginning, from creation. How profitable it is then to
consider this God, the faithful creator God, how He takes an
interest in the creatures that He has made. And then of course
we read of how He sets this pair, Adam and Eve, He sets them in
the Garden of Eden. The word Eden literally means
luxury, delight. It's the paradise. It's the paradise
of God. And there they are, and they're
put to the test. And alas, our first parents failed that
test, they sinned, they transgressed the solemn truth of the four,
and the consequence of the four. Though this only have I found,
God made man upright. But they have sought out many
inventions, again the words of the preacher there in Ecclesiastes. Man has created his own misery. God set him in a paradise, and
what does man do? He creates his own misery. And men still do that. In many
ways, think of events these last days, the events in Parliament,
who has created these things? The Prime Minister himself, really.
by his lies and so forth. Man has created then his own
misery. God is not the author of sin.
He sets the man there in paradise and man embraces the devil's
lie and in doing that of course he rejects the truth of God.
Men love lies. That's why they love the lie
of evolution, because it discounts the idea of a creator that they
are accountable to. All sin, all thou hideous monster
sin, what a curse hast thou brought in! All creation grows through
the pregnant cause of misery. The words of Romans, Romans 8,
22, we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. But here is our comfort. There
is a God who is the faithful Creator. And He's the one that
we're to look to and to commit our souls into His hands. The
keeping of their souls, committed to Him in well-doing as unto
a faithful Creator. And what is What is the believer? Well, he's
a new creature, isn't he? There's a new creation. If any
man being in Christ, he's a new creature. All things are passed
away. Behold, all things are become
new. And remember how Paul gives those
exhortations in his epistles to believers. Put on the new
man, he says. which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. Well, that's the believer's calling
now. He's a new man. He's to put on the new man. Again,
when Paul writes to the Colossians, he says, of them they have put
on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him. Who were renewed in knowledge.
He was in ignorance. His mind was in gross darkness
because of sin, but now he's been brought to the knowledge
of God. Life eternal to know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Put on a new man, renewed
in knowledge, after the image of Him that created him. For
what has God wrought then with the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ? There's a new creation. And that's what every believer
is. He's a new creature. And I think
of the words of Isaac Watts. I know the hymn isn't in Gadsby's,
but those lines concerning what men have in Christ. In him, the
sons of Adam boast more blessings than their father lost. or that new creation. It's more
glorious than the old creation. And this is the one, the faithful
God who has made such provision for His people. Near them there
is safety. Wherefore let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls
to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator. But in the
second place, They are safe also because of the very character
of God, because of who God is. He is faithful. Isn't this one
of God's attributes? Think of God, think of the different
attributes of God. He's holy, He's righteous, He's
just, He's good, He's gracious, He's merciful, He's love, and
He's also faithful. I am the Lord, he says, I change
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. He is the unchanging God, the
great I am that I am. And who are the sons of Jacob? Who are the sons of Jacob? Well
that's the true Israel of God, the spiritual Israel of God.
It's the church, it's believers. And they can never be consumed.
They're safe. They're safe because of who God
is. Again, Psalm 119 and verse 68. I love the words. Thou art
good and thou doest good. That's what David says of God
in that verse. Thou art good and thou doest
good. He's a good God. He's a good
God. If we believe not, yet he abideth
faithful, He cannot deny himself. If he was unfaithful it would
be a denial of himself, it would be the end of God, that's impossible.
And though often times we don't believe, we're full of unbelief,
we're full of doubts, yet he abides as faithful. He cannot
deny himself, it is very character, he's not a man. that he should
lie, nor the Son of Man that he should repent? Hath he said
it? Shall he not do it? Hath he spoken
it? Shall he not make it good? Oh, the Word of God! We sang
of it, didn't we, just now in that lovely hymn of Watts, number
14. It's a great hymn. And I love
the tune, Bishop Thorpe. Rejoicing in all that God is
in his faithfulness. But the words of Scripture, 2
Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 3, the Lord is faithful. The
Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil. Oh, that's what we need. We need
to be kept. We need to be kept. And we cannot
keep ourselves. We're kept by the power of this
God, through faith. unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. And what does God keep and preserve
His people for? Well, He is keeping them really
for heaven. They commit the keeping of their
souls to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator. He's keeping them, He's preserving
them, and He's preserving them ultimately that they might go
to that blessed place, the New Eden as it were. Back in verse 13, the end of
that verse, Rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's
sufferings, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be
glad also with exceeding joy. or when His glory is revealed.
This is the inheritance that the Lord has laid up for His
people. Again, remember what He says at the beginning in the
first chapter, verse 4, that being preserved to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you who are kept. by the power of God, through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. All believers then have something
to look forward to. And believers, whilst they're
in this world, they can look upward. The things that are seen,
they're the temporal things. It's those unseen things that
are the eternal things. The things of this world are
just passing away, but they're looking for that city that has
foundations, whose builder, whose maker is God. They're strangers,
they're pilgrims here upon the earth. And how are they to conduct
themselves in? Is that being kept? preserved,
prepared for heaven. Well, it's the keeping of their
souls, it says, in well-doing. In well-doing. Well, that's how they are to
conduct themselves in this world. The language that we have there
in the second verse of Romans 12. are not conformed to this
world but renewed, transformed by the renewing of their minds,
proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
God. They delight in the Word of God,
they delight in the precepts of the Gospel. They want to conform
more and more to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
how they conduct themselves. They walk, therefore, in that
way of holiness. Now the very ones that the Prophet
speaks of, there in Isaiah 35. Isaiah 35 and verse 8, we read
of an highway, and highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall
be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it, but it shall be for those the wayfaring men, though fools,
shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there." Oh, that's that narrow way, the
narrow way that leads to life. they are then those who are kept
of God but they are kept in this life of faith in this well doing
they are those then who are the holy people as we see in chapter 1 verse
15 as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all
manner of conversation because it is written be ye holy for
I am holy all God's character really is their character isn't
it the restoration of that image man was first made created in
God's image created in God's likeness but as I said in Christ
there are new creatures and there is therefore that renewal of
the image of God they put on the new man which is renewed
in knowledge, after the image of Him that created it. That's what they are, they are
those who desire only to be more and more like God and that God
who has revealed Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They call upon Him, they cry
to Him, or they seek Him, they commune with Him, they walk with
Him. Isn't this than the calling of
those who are spoken of here in our text tonight. Wherefore,
let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the
keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing, as unto the faithful
Creator. Oh, the Lord be pleased to bless
His word to us. Amen.