and complete dependence upon
the Lord for all needed help this evening. I wish to direct
your prayerful attention once again to the First General Epistle
of Peter Chapter 5 and by way of text This evening, we'll consider
verses 10 and 11. The first general epistle of
Peter, chapter 5, verses 10 and 11. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory, by Christ Jesus, after
that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you, to Him be glory and dominion, for ever
and ever. Amen. but the God of all grace,
who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that ye have suffered a
while, make you perfect. Establish, strengthen, settle
you to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. some of you here may like me
be inclined to read sermons and to read sermons that are particularly
old. One of the advantages to that
is that we can become very familiar with descriptive terms which
have now fallen out of general use in everyday language which
are descriptive of the Lord and his work in both theological
and experiential terms. And some of you, no doubt, will
be very familiar with that phrase. It's not used very much today
Prevenient grace. Prevenient grace. Prevenient
speaks of that which goes before. That which goes before. And thus,
we have, as a overarching theme here, the predestinating mercy
unto glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I very deliberately read
from that first chapter, because even within it, we can see the
purpose of the Lord. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. Notice the Trinitarian work here.
through sanctification of the Spirit unto the obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Christ. The application there, that threefold,
that Trinitarian salvation which overarches our deliberations,
our considerations, I should really say, this evening. What we have here, within these
two verses, are 10 distinct points that strike us. Firstly, we see
the God of all grace. Secondly, we see He who hath
called us. Thirdly, we see eternal glory. Fourthly, we see this is by Christ
Jesus. Fifthly, we see this is after
we have suffered a little while. Sixthly, to make you perfect. Seventhly, to establish. Eighthly, to strengthen. Ninthly, to settle. And tenthly and finally, we see
glory and dominion. That final verse really is one
point in and of itself. But the God of all grace. Now, we must consider this carefully
because this has specific and distinctive theological points
here and aspects to it. The God of all grace. Now, what
is grace? Now I know some people use this
term God's riches at Christ's expense but it's actually far
more than that. It's far more than that because
it's all encompassing everything in the Gospel. I don't really
think that that gives true weight to it. Grace is the unmerited
favour towards a party that has offended Him. You and I can display kindness,
but very rarely will we display grace. We might display kindness
towards somebody that we like, and of whom we're on good terms
with, but very seldom do we display an act of kindness towards those
who have deliberately offended us. That would be grace. And thus we see the holy character
of God, but more than that we see the gospel of God by Jesus Christ, but the God
of all grace. Now the specific theological
point I must make here is that grace is always distinctive. It always is something that marks
out. It's always something that separates
the Lord's people from the world at large. What I'm saying to
you here is it's always particular in that it is an operation of
the Holy Ghost upon the heart. So what I'm saying to you is
there is no such thing as what men call common grace. Now it's true to say that the
sun shines upon the righteous and the unrighteous. He's long-suffering to the wicked. He's long-suffering to the reprobate. But that's different to grace.
Because what is it that the Lord does? He allows the world to
go on in sin. He allows the world to go on
in unbelief. But in his own people, he works
the work of salvation. and implants grace in the heart
his purpose is always unto his people and thus here we see the
God of all grace now the thing for us is very seldom
do we act like it who hath called us into eternal
glory we know but the God of all grace how often do we appreciate
the truth that everything he does is for us, for his people
how apt we are to complain how apt we are to rebel how apt we
are to rise up against those things which the flesh finds
hard or unacceptable But you see, unmerited favour toward us means
that all things are done for us. Unmerited favour by an offended
at God. Christ forgives sin, but the
Lord is offended at sin, cannot wink at sin. And thus we see
grace. what a mercy what a glory but
secondly we see it's toward him who hath called us him who hath
called us thank you effectual calling effectual calling I immediately saw this and was
struck by it. I thought this must be effectual
calling. And I was pleased to see when
I checked my presupposition that Dr. Gill agreed with me that
this is precisely what this means. Dear soul, we have here something
that is both doctrinal and experiential in its application. you see we see the Lord's purpose
of grace who hath called us you see here we see there's something
that intervenes within our lives that's the difference that we're
outlining here what a mark this is upon our
souls if we see ourselves here that the Lord himself has brought
us into concern about our own souls. And more than that, he's brought
us into concern that we may know our title clear
to mention in the skies. It's not enough to say that we
believe in the doctrines of free grace, but we must possess the
grace of the doctrine and thus we see an effectual work notice
it's effectual because it's the Lord's work you and I in a natural sense
may attempt something perhaps in our secular
work tomorrow we may have a task to do and we may be very diligent in it but being
fallible people something goes wrong it's not effective, it's
not effectual but you see when the Lord does something it's
always effectual the definitive language we read here who hath
called us and thus this is something that happens to us the Lord does
not let us go but he's called us unto what? and
here's the third point eternal glory you see the Lord in bringing
about his purposes this is the end of the matter eternal glory
eternity now we can't really in our preaching
give real weight to this word it's a subject in and of itself
Eternity. I was always struck by one of
my friends who is an elder in the Free Presbyterian Church
in Scotland, who knew the late Mr. Maclean very well, who was
the minister at Glasgow. And he said he had this thing,
one of the things you would always remember about him was when he
preached the impression when he said the word he said it had
an effect, it had an aura about it he would stress the word ETERNITY
ETERNITY and thus this is what the Lord
prepares his people for ETERNITY no beginning No end. As the hymn writer describes
it as one eternal now. We have an eternal soul. Eternity. Seldom a central theme today. Probably much neglected. But this is the weight that is
upon us dear soul even tonight the weight upon me in preaching
in that I'm preaching to you eternity bound souls I have an
eternal soul and thus we must see here the
real weight and the real seriousness of this matter but the purpose
is to eternal glory now I had a relative at Leeds Chapel
who used to say it never left me If these things were not laid
down for us, they would seem too good to be true. And really, what we see here,
glory! What a word! It's pregnant with
meaning. It's magnified. It has a power
about it. righteousness present, sin absent eternal glory what a mercy what a statement
in and of themselves but you see here these things are not
a vacuum are they? we read here fourthly eternal
glory by Christ Jesus. You know there is no other name
given under heaven by which we must be saved than this. Safety from damnation is only
by Him. And notice The singular illumination
of this statement. Eternal glory by Christ Jesus. It doesn't say by Christ Jesus
and by something else as well. And it doesn't substitute the Lord Jesus for anything else. It says eternal glory by Christ
Jesus. Now this is important because Again, we have to take the Lord,
as we mentioned this morning, at his word. He doesn't say eternal glory
by experience. He doesn't say eternal glory
by doctrinal truth. He doesn't say eternal glory
by orthodoxy. chapel attendance or any other
means. But he says eternal glory by Christ Jesus. What a mercy. What a mercy. Because here this breaks all
human barriers, does it not? You see the Lord knows exactly
where his people are. And in due time, He brings them
here. What I'm saying to you is this. Eternal glory, the Lord Jesus
Christ must be known and He must be known in the soul. But you
see, this is the difference. He is our experience. If our salvation is real, it
will always bring us here. You know many people have experiences
and they're spurious experiences. All kinds of aberrations. My
teenage years was rather naive and I met many people who could
tell you a great deal about things that had happened to them. but dear soul we may have been
taken in by such things but I trust now and I trust today and I trust
tonight we are satisfied with nothing less than the Lord Jesus
himself you see this is the hallmark
of real experience this is the hallmark of real experiential
religion and indeed every doctrine that we preach will bring us back here every
truth that we make known should bring us back here time and time again eternal glory
by Christ Jesus you see when the Holy Ghost works
within the soul it is effectual it is effectual but notice this
and we move on to our fifth point this evening Peter says after ye that ye have
suffered a while after that ye have suffered a while now you
might ask the question here quite legitimately, is this all
Christians? Yes. The answer to that is this
is all Christians. Notice the statement again that
is made. Suffered a while. Suffering. You see this suffering may take
many forms. The Apostle isn't prescriptive into the type of suffering. He
simply says suffering and you know there are many different
types of suffering. We must be reminded that the
Lord Jesus said, in the world ye shall have tribulation but
be of good cheer. for I have overcome the world
but you see there is a definitive element to this suffering some suffer in body I'm favored in generally to have
good health but you know the Lord can at any moment take that
away and thus suffering of the body. Some of you have suffered in
the body and we trust that those things have a sanctifying effect.
They're part of that call unto eternal glory. We have to remember
that when the Lord is dealing with a person he doesn't just
deal with them in and of when they're born again. We read that
they must be born again. We read of it even this evening
being born again not of corruptible spirit but incorruptible but
you see the Lord goes on working in a person as we see in a moment there's
some suffering but some suffer in mind and have not those things been
used to a sanctifying effect? Some suffer in their environmental factors. And what I mean by that is we
see war, don't we? We see pestilence. We see trying
circumstances of life. Again reading the old autobiographies
of the old ministers. We read of Mr. Gadsby going to
bed and his children going to bed hungry on occasions. we can't really imagine that
in that sense today but there is a sanctifying effect to it
all the Lord used these things and how often have the Lord's
people spoken of how they've been brought through the first
and the second world wars and others they did suffer there's no question
they suffered but notice this they suffered
a while a while much like this morning when we used and
highlighted that term and that word been exalted in due time
here we read of someone suffering a while. Again the Apostle is
deliberately vague. Because for some it may be a very, very
short amount of time. Days, weeks, months at the most. Others may suffer for years. But in the light of eternity
which is what really the Apostle is speaking of it's only ever
really a while now it might not seem like that
to us when we're going through it but we're reminded of the Apostle
when he says of our light affliction which is but for a moment here the Lord's people simply
suffer for a while we must hasten on our sixth point
make you perfect now as soon as you read that you may jump up and say quite
rightly surely that's not a perfect man or a perfect woman in and
of himself? Of course it's not. But many times within the scripture
that word perfect simply means mature. It was so with Job when
the Lord said Job was a perfect man, upright and exude evil. It was meaning he was mature. Now, if we live long enough As Job
did, he will make his people to be mature in the faith. Are we not ever learning in Christ's
school? It's a book on my shelf at the
moment. I'm determined to get to it.
by one of the Puritans, learning in Christ's school. And thus, we must learn. We don't learn
as schoolboys learn their tasks, but we learn lessons. Sometimes
we learn wisely. As Solomon said, he that handleth
a matter wisely shall find much good. but sometimes we learn the hard
way by painful experience but in
the end the Lord will mature us now the seventh point the Apostle
almost goes back here he says to establish which is where partly
we get our modern English word to establish. The word actually
means to make firm. It has that meaning of planting
something, putting it there. I'm not much of a gardener, but
occasionally when a the friends at another chapel may occasionally
give us a plant or something like that. And we, you take it out of the
pot and you implant it, you put it there. You establish it in
the garden. And that's the point, it's there. And it's there with a permanent
intent. You see, when the Lord does something,
it's permanent. That's the difference. And when
the Lord makes a Christian, he's permanent. He establishes them. He places them in Zion. Now, the Lord's people, of course,
are a people from eternity, but when he calls a person by his
grace and he puts them in Zion he places them, he establishes
them he establishes them and this
is something that will not go away now he follows on from this, he says
to strengthen to strengthen Once a person is established,
they need to be strengthened. Again, if we use the illustration
of the plant, the plant must be watered, must be kept in the
right environment, must be nurtured. The ground, the soil must be
digged thoroughly, that it may bring forth fruit. and thus the
Lord plants his people and puts them in Zion. He puts them under
a gospel ministry in order that they may be strengthened. So as the plant requires food,
the Lord's people will require that spiritual food wherein we
have that need to be strengthened. Dear soul, if we We may be very
genuine believers, but if we absent ourselves from the house
of God, or if we place ourselves under a ministry that is not
sound and deficient, we'll soon wilt, we'll become weak, and we won't be those who are
able to face the heat and the burden of the day. We have that need to be strengthened. But the Lord will strengthen.
He will strengthen. You see, we finally see in that
10th verse and our 9th point. Settle you. To settle you. Now this has the meaning of being
unmovable. Unmovable. Now I've known men, suspect you
have as well, they were absolutely unmovable
in the truth. Totally reliable. Not perfect,
but not perfect. They certainly had faults and
failings. but they were absolutely unmovable when it came to the
truth. And thus, that's how the Lord
brings his people and that's his desire for his people. What
we have that biblical illustration of that man who built his house
upon the sand. And What happens? The wind, the flood comes. And it's swept away. It's swept
away. But you see, the man that builds
his house upon the rock. And who is the rock? The rock
can only be Christ himself. It can only be Christ himself.
When the wind comes The adverse conditions, the rock is unmovable. Unmovable. In a very real sense
we see that, do we not? My grandparents retired to Robin
Hood's Bay on the North East Coast. Absolutely freezing cold
in the winter. And you'd venture up there. And
there were always, they built the sea wall actually. that was
quite impressive in many ways, to stop the ground eroding, but
there were always certain large, quite distinctly pointed rocks. When the tide came in, you wouldn't
see them with the physical eye, but you knew they were always
there. Because the tide came out again, and they were exactly
where they were. Unmovable, you see. And thus,
this is what the Lord does with His people. You see, if we're made perfect,
if we're matured, we mature in Christ. If we're established,
we're put there, we're put there by Christ. If we're strengthened,
we're strengthened in the gospel ministry of Christ. And if we're
settled, if we're unmovable. It surely has to be because of
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost in the soul. But tenthly we see this, we see
glory and dominion to Him be glory and dominion forever and
ever. notice here the Apostle ends
on a theme of praise he ends on a theme of praise and thus we see here a note of triumph
we see a note of victory To him be glory and dominion. The Lord will have his way and
will bless his name for it. Glory and dominion. The Lord's name will be magnified. Remember
at school we used to sing, I hadn't a clue really what it meant at
the time. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, every tongue
confess Him, King of glory now. Tis the Father's pleasure, we
should call Him Lord, who from the beginning was the mighty
Word. I even remember it. Christ Himself is the Word. and
thus we see here glory and dominion. Dominion even in the present
tense. You see the Lord is filling the
world with His glory not in any revivalistic sense in that way
but the Lord is working here, He's working there. His people
are a minority in everyday generation but He's working. is working. And thus dominion. Dominion. Notice it says forever and ever. We are living in that sense in
the last days. Forever and ever. From the end
of time and to eternity. The Lord is bringing his people
to himself. We don't know how long this world
will continue. but it's glory and dominion unto
him. He's building a spiritual kingdom. Notice the Apostle finishes
with those words, Amen. So be it. And on, and on, and
on. And that's exactly what the Lord
is doing. He raises himself a witness in
every day and generation for His dominion, for His glory.
May you and I see in the person of Christ, even now, but the
God of all grace who hath called us unto His eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect,
establish, strengthen, settle you to Him, be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen.