We're going to be in 1 Peter
chapter 4 and our text is going to be in verses 12-19. has very much in view the suffering
that the church is going through and he's seeking to strengthen
the brethren who are being persecuted for their hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so these words in this book
and what we're going to look at today, they're very suitable
for the Church of God because anyone who is so bold as to stand
with Christ and by standing with Christ you just have to speak
well of what Christ has done for you as a sinner, because
this world is offended by those who would give glory to God for
their salvation. It's one thing if you talk about
what you've done for God, the flesh, the man rarely gets upset
about that, but it's an offense to him when you talk about what
God has done for you, because man automatically thinks, well
then, if God, if salvation is by grace, and by grace alone,
then you're saying all the salvation is of God, and there's nothing
I can do to save myself. But God has to do something for
me. And that's exactly right. God has to do something for the
sinner, because the sinner can't do anything for themselves. It's
got to be a work of God. So anyone that's so bold as to
glorify the name of Christ in that way, to declare what He's
done in salvation, they're going to be persecuted by this world.
So in this morning's message, we'll consider these encouraging
words that Peter is giving to the church, being reminded that
our God is faithful, that he didn't leave us to ourselves.
We'll see a world that hates the Christ and hates the God
who sent that Christ into the world to save his people, and
yet we see his faithfulness in providing salvation for his people. He didn't leave them to their
own works, he didn't leave them to themselves, but he provided
salvation for his people as a faithful creator. And that's our title,
The Faithful Creator's Provision. And we'll have three divisions.
We'll see the Fiery Trial, then Partakers of Suffering, and then
our Faithful Creator. All right, so in our first verse,
1 Peter 4, verse 12, It begins, Beloved, think it
not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as
though some strange thing happened unto you. So the trials of a
believer is what's concerning to Peter, and that seems to be
what's prompted him to write this letter to the believers,
because that theme runs from the very beginning of the book
all the way to the end. He's always talking about these
trials, but with the trials, he ties them repeatedly to the
faithfulness of God in providing for us, so that we understand
we're not left alone to endure these things, but these come
by the hand of God, who is a faithful creator and provider for his
people. Look in the beginning of the
letter, it says in 1 Peter 1, verses 5 through 7, here he begins
with God's faithfulness to us, saying in verse 5, who are kept. by the power of God, through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time,
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 a gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 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." So,
the Word of God assures us of suffering. He's declaring to
us, you're going to suffer for the name of Christ. If you profess
Christ, you're going to suffer for the name of Christ, so don't
be alarmed when it comes. Don't be alarmed and surprised
because you're suffering because it's given to you to suffer these
things. So therefore, knowing that, settle
it in your hearts already that it's going to come, it's going
to happen. Don't be provoked in the flesh because that's what
the flesh does. It gets provoked and wants to retaliate and respond
in kind. But don't settle it in your hearts,
knowing that God has given this to his people to suffer these
things. Christ said in John 16, 33, These
things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Henry
Mahan once noted that God has one son without sin, but none
without suffering. all of God's sons, all his daughters,
all his children shall suffer in this life. So don't be alarmed
when it comes. Paul wrote to the Philippians
in 129 saying, for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.
So just real quick, there's four things that we gain from this
that What we see in trials, the fiery trial, one thing that it
does is it tries our faith. It shows us the preciousness
of the gift that's been given to us by God. The faith that
we have is very precious because not all have faith. As Paul wrote,
he said, not all men have faith. So it's a precious gift of God
if you believe Christ and stand with Him. Second, we see how
it tries our love for Christ, so that when we are converted. When we see His power in sustaining
us in the face of the trial, we give Him the praise and the
glory and the thanks for it because we see the weakness of our flesh
and yet He sustains us through the trial. And then we see the
hope of eternal life being tried because these trials that the
Lord sends our way, they're weaning us from the love of this world
because it shows us what the world really is about, how much
they hate the true and living God. And so it weans us from
this world as we go through these things to see that God is showing
me that what he's done in me is very different from what this
world has going on in them. And then it tries our profession
of religion. That is, why do we profess Christ? Why do we
hope and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do we trust Him according
to the Spirit and according to truth, or do we just follow Him
because He's filled our bellies with the loaves and fishes? Is
it because He's our Savior and our Lord and our God, or because
we feel like He's doing something for us so we follow Him because
of how He's prospered us in this life? 2, 23 through 25 it says,
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast
day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which
he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he
knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man,
for he knew what was in man. So that's in the heart of man
is this seeking after God for what they think they can get
out of it, not a true love for what he's done for us in providing
his son to bear our sin and to put them away in his own person.
So it shouldn't surprise us when we're tried and when we go through
afflictions and suffering in this life. It should only surprise
us when there is no trial and no affliction and no suffering
for the sake of Christ because Paul told Timothy, all that will
live godly in this life shall suffer. All that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So in the trial,
watch and pray. You're going to go through trials.
Watch and pray, because it's going to come that the trial
of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise
and glory and honor of God. at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
All right, now second, partakers of suffering. Back in our text,
look at verse 13. 1 Peter 4, verse 13. He says,
but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings,
that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also
with exceeding joy. So contrary to the flesh's natural
reaction, right? When you're doing good, if you're
speaking to someone and you're trying to help them, and they
get angry with you, and they get short with you, and they
push back and resist what you're saying, and you're trying to
come there in a nice, kind spirit, and you're doing something well,
the natural reaction of the flesh is to say, all right, well, fine,
and if you don't want my help, fine, and you get nasty back
with them and you respond in kind. That's the flesh's natural
reaction to these things. But Peter says, rejoice. Rejoice in these things. Be glad
that you're being persecuted and being afflicted in this way. Be glad and rejoice. And Paul When he went through
trials and afflictions, this is what he wrote, if you look
over in 2 Corinthians 12, you see how Paul is rejoicing because
it's revealing to him that God is working in him, that God is
doing these things, that God is providing for him and strengthening
him, and so he rejoiced in that. In 2 Corinthians 12, verses 9
and 10, he said, and he's talking about how God When he was praying
for an affliction to be delivered from an affliction, the Lord
said to him, My grace, verse 9, is sufficient for thee, for
my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore,
will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. So just in faithful service to
his Lord, in preaching the gospel, in declaring how it is that God
saves sinners apart from their works, that God doesn't look
to us for any work or any righteousness that we do for ourselves, but
has provided that salvation fully and freely in his Son, Jesus
Christ. For doing that, he suffered.
He suffered greatly. He went through much necessities
and trials and afflictions, and yet he rejoiced that he went
through those things because he saw that though he was weak
in the flesh, Christ was glorified in him. Christ was working in
him. The power of God was resting upon him. So he rejoiced. Turn over to Acts 5. We have
another example of the apostles who were only doing well, that
were only doing good, going about doing good, and they rejoiced
because they were persecuted for their hope in Christ. Look
at Acts chapter 5 verse 17. It says that, alright, so they're
there in the temple and they're healing. people of their infirmities
and their sicknesses. They're doing good, but they're
doing it in the name of Christ. And it says in 517, then the
high priest rose up and all they that were with him, which is
the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with indignation.
Again, just like they hated Christ because Christ went and did good
and spoke the truth, so they were angry with the apostles
because they went about, in the name of Christ, doing good. They
were angry with them for what they were doing. And it says
in verse 18, they laid their hands on the apostles and put
them in the common prison. So that night, though, they were
led out of the jail cell by the angel of the Lord. And the angel
of the Lord commanded them to go back to the temple to stand
and to speak to the people in the words of this life, the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So they were told to disobey
the officers and to go and do, to preach the gospel. So they
do that and of course the next day they wake up and they realize
the apostles aren't there in the jail cell and so they realize
they're back in the temple preaching the gospel. In verse 27, when
they had brought them back, they set them before the council,
and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straightly
command you that you should not teach in his name? And behold,
you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to
bring this man's blood upon us. Which, of course, would be just,
because they're the ones that provoked the crowd to turn Christ over
to the Gentiles to be crucified. Then Peter and the other apostles,
just listen to the boldness, rather than cower and say, well,
you know what, maybe we should just save our skin, let's just
be quiet, listen to what they have to say, and then get out
of here and save ourselves from the persecution. No, they spoke
boldly. This was an opportunity where
they just spoke well of Christ. They declared what the Lord did.
Verse 29, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said,
we ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted
with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses
of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost." Right? He was
attending the works that they were doing so that the people
were being healed because of what they did. "'Whom God hath
given to them that obey him, And when they heard that, they
were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. But they
were persuaded by a Pharisee named Gamaliel. And in verse
40, and to him they agreed. And when they had called the
apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not
speak in the name of Jesus. And they let them go, and they
departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. We don't
have any indication that any of the Pharisees or Sadducees
were saved under the gospel of what Peter was preaching, and
yet they rejoiced, simply because they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for the name of Christ. So it isn't a matter of whether
you think people are going to hear what you're saying, or be
persuaded by what you believe, or be persuaded to trust in Christ. That had nothing to do with it.
They simply stood with Christ in that hour. and they glorify
Him by declaring, He's the Lord. We're to listen to Him. And they,
without fear, they proclaimed the gospel of Christ to those
people right there, who then beat them and threw them out
and charged them not to speak in the name of Christ again.
But it didn't stop them. They rejoiced in it. And it says
in Galilee in the temple and in every house, they ceased not
to teach and preach Jesus Christ. So we don't None of us knows
how we would be in that hour. When you think about having to
stand before someone and profess your love for Christ and just
profess that He is Lord of your life and that you love Him and
declare what He's done for you, none of us knows how we would
be in that hour. But this is shared to you. This
is brought forward so that you might understand that when it
comes, when the persecution comes, it's not because God isn't with
you. It's not because he hasn't sent
the trial. So we're not to try and get out
of it ourselves by by pretending like we don't know Christ and
pretending that we don't care or pretending that we're listening
to what they're saying, that's not going to profit them. The
only thing that will profit them is the declare of the truth because
you don't know how God might take that word and cut them to
the heart and give them repentance to be turned from it. That doesn't
mean that you have to beat them over the head with all the truth
that the Lord has shown you, but you stand faithfully declaring
that Christ is your Lord and that God has provided salvation
in one, in his son Jesus Christ. And all those who look to him
are sure that they have eternal life because that's why God sent
him into the world, to save his people from their sins, to put
away their sins forever by the death of himself. Just settle
in your hearts and know that it's going to come and just trust
Him through it because He may use it for good to deliver those
people. And He may count you worthy to
suffer shame for His name. So, speaking boldly for the name
of Christ will inspire wrath and hatred from this world, but
rejoice if it persecutes and rejects you. Christ said in John
15, verses 18 through 20, if the world hate you, ye know that
it hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the
world will love his own. But because you are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hates you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they
have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have
kept my saying, they will keep yours also. So that's one way,
that's one reason why we go through persecutions. We rejoice in them. That's one aspect of the persecutions. It's to reveal to us that God
is resting upon us. Now another reason why we go
through persecutions is to see that we're partakers of the sufferings
of Christ. And if partakers of the sufferings,
then we are partakers of the consolations. If you're not suffering
with Christ, then you're not a partaker of the consolations
of Christ. So he brings these persecutions
that we might know the consolations that God gives his children who
suffer for the name of Christ. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1
verses 3 through 7, saying, Blessed be God, even the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all
comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation. that we
may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings
of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by
Christ. And whether we be afflicted,
it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual
in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. So just
as your teachers and pastors suffer and go through these things,
they then declare what God has done for them, and then as you
go through them, you're comforted because you see, wow, this is
exactly what the Lord has revealed in his word. He said that this
is what would happen, and here it is happening. And you see
the Spirit of Christ resting upon you and comforting you with
that fact, with those truths in his word. He says, and whether
we be comforted, it's for your consolation and salvation. And
our hope of you is steadfast, verse 7, knowing that as you
are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. All right, and then we see how
the glory of God is revealed to us in the trials and the sufferings
that we endure. And we'll be exceeding glad and
rejoice in that day when Christ is revealed from heaven to receive
his own, that those that he's redeemed and purchased with his
own blood, he's returning again to bring them to himself. And we'll be glad. And those
people that shamed us and that hated Christ and refused the
words of God concerning his salvation that he provided, they'll be
ashamed. And they'll be ashamed because
they'll see that this is indeed the Christ that God had provided.
So we have this promise. If we suffer, we shall also reign
with him. And our Lord said in Matthew
10, 32 and 33, whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
Him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before
my Father which is in heaven. And the Apostle goes on to say
in our text, in verse 14, If ye be reproached for the name
of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God
resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken
of, but on your part he is glorified. So God's revealing to us that
this world hates him. Though they speak well, they
may talk about a God or about a higher power or things of that
sort. They sound very religious and
the world is very religious, but they love a false God. They love the God of this world
and not the true and living God. of the heavens, the true God
of heaven and earth. So he's revealing that they don't
know him, but at the same time, he's revealing to us that his
grace and his spirit rests upon us, because he's enabling us
to stand with him and to proclaim his glory. In John 15, 21, he
reminds us, all these things will they do unto you for my
name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. There really
is such a clear and distinguishing mark that we see in persecution,
because the Spirit marks out His people, and they're going
to be revealed that they are His people. He knows, he elected
a people from before the foundation of the world and it pleases him
to save them and to reveal to them the salvation that is provided
for them in his son Jesus Christ. And one of the distinguishing
marks is the persecution that they go through because they
testify that the Spirit of God is resting upon them and bringing
them through this. Whereas the world, you can see
the distinguishing mark that they don't love the Lord because
they won't stand with him. They don't confess him and they
don't profess that he is their all and that he's their glory.
So we're told that we'll be reproached and that we're reproached because
they speak evil of Christ. They don't think highly of him.
They don't think he's necessary or that important. And so you
who stand with Christ, they don't think highly of you and they
don't speak well of you or think that you're very important. because
you're not one of them. You're not of the world, you're
with him. But our willingness to stand
with him testifies that the spirit and glory of God rests upon him. It's a mark of the Lord. So by
us speaking well of Christ, And therefore, being evil spoken
of, we're glorifying him in demonstration that his faith is being worked
in us. He's given us his faith. He's
given us hope in Christ, a good and sure hope fixed in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Savior also said, blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. There's those that, in this life,
they care little about what people say about them or think about
them. There's certain personalities that just don't really care what
anyone has to say about them. And Peter's not saying, look,
go and do whatever you want. It doesn't matter what people
say about you. You don't worry about it. You're the Lord's.
He actually warns and he says, don't do those things that will
earn you the hatred of the world. Don't do those things that will
earn you a reputation for being one who's just a wicked person
and doesn't do that which is good or what's perceived as good
and right in the eyes of this world. But, in doing, that doesn't
mean that we're going to do what this world says is good and right,
because this world is very corrupt and twisted, and what they say
is right and acceptable. But Peter says in verse 15, in
1 Peter 4, 15, he says, But let none of you suffer as a murderer,
or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's
matters. But, verse 16, if any man suffer
as a Christian, Let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify
God on this behalf." So while the brethren are out doing good
and speaking well of Christ and out being kind to one another
and doing the good that they can do in the earth while they're
here, while they're doing those things, the world will speak
evil of you because of your hope in Christ. He says, if any man
suffer as a Christian, well, what is a Christian but one who
believes and confesses that God himself has provided all of our
salvation, that we've contributed nothing to our salvation, that
God doesn't look at our works of righteousness that we do and
say, okay, you're a good person and you're an evil person because
you don't do good things. We don't look to our works for
our hope and our peace and our comfort. We rest in Christ, that
God has provided salvation. He's provided righteousness for
his people in his son, Jesus Christ, and that I am a sinner. We confess our sins, not that
we detail every wicked thing that we've done today, But rather
we confess, I'm a sinner, I'm nothing. As Paul said, in my
flesh dwells no good thing. Or he said, in me dwells no good
thing, that is in my flesh. So that God doesn't look upon
me because I'm good or I did something to earn his favor or
to earn his merit. I didn't merit anything in my
works, but God freely, of His own choice, of His grace, of
His mercy, provided salvation in His Son Jesus Christ for me. While I was yet His enemy, While
I yet cursed his name, and while I did that which pleased my own
flesh, and didn't live unto him, God himself provided salvation
fully and freely, so that the works are finished in Christ.
And now in his mercy and grace, according to his power, being
dead in my trespasses and sins, he brought me under the gospel,
and gave me a new heart by his Spirit, enabling me by the ear
of faith to hear what was being said, to understand what was
being said, and to fall down before Him who is holy and righteous
and altogether to be praised. And He broke my hard heart and
brought me low so that my hope was no longer in my works and
what I did, but in Christ, who did all the works of salvation,
that provided full, free salvation, so that we see that Christ went
to the cross, bearing the sins of his people in his own body,
bearing the wrath of God to pay the debt of their sin, to put
it away forever, and God therefore forgives his people fully in
Christ. And now he brings that word of
salvation and causes us to hear that word of salvation, and causes
us to confess and fall down before Him, and to hear what He's done
for us in His Son. He's done it all. So, we'll be
glad in that final day when He appears, but they shall be ashamed. He says in Isaiah 66 verse 5,
Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word, your
brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake,"
saying, let the Lord be glorified, right? They were thinking themselves
to do God's service in persecuting you. He said, but God shall appear
to your joy and they shall be ashamed. So God provides this
salvation for his people and those who the Spirit of God rests
upon they'll stand with him, and they'll remain faithful to
him and to his gospel all the way up until that day, and he
will reveal that he's with them, that those are his people, and
all those that persecute his people, they'll be the ones that
are ashamed. All right, now, let's just look
quickly at our faithful creator, verse 17. It says, For the time has come that judgment
must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us,
what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? So the Lord's people are the
house of God, which house is made of Christ. Christ is the
one who makes the house. He's the one who purchase who
redeemed them by the shedding of his own blood. He's the one
who sends the spirit that regenerates dead sinners, giving them life
in the Lord Jesus Christ, giving them an ear to hear his word
and to believe his word. He's the one who does that, who
adds daily such as should be saved to his kingdom, to his
temple as living stones that are brought in by the power and
the grace of God for them. So he's the one doing all that
work. In doing that, God poured out
his judgment upon him. So Peter's not talking about
that judgment. That judgment was poured out
upon Christ. But he's speaking about the trial
of affliction that the Lord is pleased to bring his children,
to bring them through. for their good and their growth
and in providing for them in Christ. So if we're proved in
this manner, Peter's saying, if we're proved in this manner
through this type of judgment, if you will, through this trial
of affliction, he says, if we go through this, what shall the
end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? If we're going
through a fire trial, what is the fire trial going to be of
them? And he says in verse 18, If the
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the
sinner appear? So he's saying if we couldn't
save ourselves, if there was nothing that we were able to
do to provide a righteousness for ourselves, and God had to
send his own Son into this world to take upon him the likeness
of our sinful flesh and to fulfill all righteousness on our behalf.
If Christ had to do that, the Son of God had to come here in
this world that hates him and despises him, all to fulfill
the righteousness for His people and suffer and die on the cross
bearing the shame and all the sins of His people before God,
His Father, who is holy and righteous, who He had fellowship with from
before the foundation of the world. If that had to be done
just to save us and deliver us from our sins, what's going to
happen to those people that despise the salvation of God, that will
not hear the salvation that he's provided and will stand before
him in their own works in that day. If Christ went through the
fiery trial in saving us and delivering us from our sins and
we go through a fiery trial just to prove the faith that he's
given to us, what's going to happen to all those outside of
Christ? That's what he's saying there. He that spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us. What's going to become
of those guilty sinners? And then Paul says in Romans
2, 4 through 11, and we'll close with this one. Paul says, or
despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and
longsuffering, knowing not that the goodness of God leadeth thee
to repentance. But after thy hardness, an impenitent
heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath
and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And that's what
comes upon every Every person that is outside of Christ, that's
the judgment that's coming upon them because he's left them to
themselves. He hasn't revealed to them, he
hasn't shown them what Christ has done because Christ didn't
die for them. He didn't put away their sins. Everyone that's left to the to
the power and the strength and the wisdom of their own flesh
That's how they always hear the gospel. They reject it. They
refuse it. They don't want to hear it They don't bow before
the salvation that God's provided because they're left to themselves
and he says verse 6 Romans 2 6 who will render to every man according
to his deeds verse 7 to them who by patient continuance in
well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality and eternal
life. He's saying, those of you who
have been given hope and faith and light in Christ Jesus, who
walk according to His Spirit, because if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of His, So if anyone is walking
by the Spirit of Christ, looking to Christ for their righteousness
and hope, they'll have eternal life. That's what God will provide
according to His deeds, because Christ worked our righteousness
for us. But, verse 8, unto them that are contentious and do not
obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath. They're
going to face God in their own works, which are nothing but
filthy rags." All their righteousnesses are filthy rags. And it says
this in Proverbs 11, 31, Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed
in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner. So consider,
brethren, the preciousness of our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the preciousness of the salvation that God has provided in His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice and trust Him. Don't
be amazed when the trials come upon you. It's a mark of the
Spirit that the glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you. It's fixing your hope in Christ. And I'm sorry, there's another
verse. Peter says in verse 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. So that when
you look out and you see how much this world hates God, hates
the Christ that he's provided, hates the salvation that he's
provided, and the way he sees sinners, despises the fact that
he reveals himself to his people and leads them to themselves.
They despise him. And you look at that and you
say, that's me. If it wasn't for the grace of
God, that's exactly where I would be. I would refuse to hear his
word. I wouldn't be trusting in Christ.
I wouldn't rest in Christ. And you see that, because that's
what God's revealing through it, is that that's why they all
hear the same gospel. But being left to themselves,
there's no life in them. There's no love for God. If God
doesn't do a work in their heart, they are left to themselves.
And that's where we would all be. So we have nothing to boast
in for our works or what we've done. We have only to boast in
His grace and His mercy and the glory that is provided in Christ.
So trust Him in the trial because He's a faithful creator. He provided
salvation for you. He didn't leave you to figure
it out. He provided the salvation in
His Son and that's what Peter is saying there. He's a faithful
creator. Trust in Him. He's provided everything
for you for your hope and your life and your salvation in Christ.
I pray the Lord will bless that word to your heart and help us
to stand in the day of trial and affliction to stand with
Christ. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you for the salvation that you provided in your son
Jesus Christ. Lord, prepare our hearts and
help us to hear your gospel. Lord, we see how we are naturally
just by looking at this world. We see what sinners do when they
don't have the Spirit of Christ, when there is no light and life
in them. Lord, we truly are sinners who have fallen in Adam. But
Lord, we thank you that as a faithful creator, you provided salvation,
full and free. and your son Jesus Christ and
you promise all those who look to him and trust him receive
remission of sins because that's the salvation you provided. Lord,
we pray that you bless this word to our hearts now and Lord that
you bless us in the next hour to hear your word. We pray this
in Jesus' name, our Lord and Savior. Amen.