If you would, please turn to
1 Peter chapter five. I'm just gonna read two verses. 1 Peter chapter five beginning
in verse 10. But the God of all grace who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after
that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion
forever and ever, amen. Now look, this is the only time
in the scripture you will find this title, the God of all grace. You will find 24 times in 23
verses, the phrase, literal phrase, and you know, perfectly every
word, the grace of God. but this is the only place where
God is called the God of all grace. I love the grace of God. Sure,
to some people it is scary grace, but I love the grace of God.
And I've had this title, these words in my head for some weeks
now, the God of all grace, the God of all grace. because he
is the God of all grace. Think about election, redemption,
justification, redemption, conversion, repentance, and faith. He is the God of all grace. And ye are saved by grace. and he is the God of all grace. I've had that in my head and
it just would keep coming up. Because here's the thing, I know
the God of all grace. And if you know Jesus Christ,
if you believe Jesus Christ, his son, you know the God of
all grace. I just love that title. But let's
look at this. That's the title given, the God
of all grace. What does Peter mean here by
that? Well, if you look at verse six, he tells you, humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of the God of all grace. Why? That he may exalt you in due
time. Verse seven says, casting all
your care upon him. Who's the him? The God of all
grace. Verse seven also says, why? Casting
all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Isn't that a glorious thing to
contemplate? The God of all grace, He cares
for each and every individual believer. He cares for us. And now listen, now the care
of the God of all grace is not like the care of the God of this
world. Or the God that's preached in
this world in churches. He cares for you. Guess what? All things are gonna work together
for good. to you who know the God of all
grace, to him that loveth God. Because here it is, who are you?
He cares for you, who are you? You're a believer in his dear,
precious son. That's who Peter wrote this epistle
to. He read it in the first chapter. The unbeliever doesn't know the
God of all grace. The believer does. The believer
does. Believers do, believers are the
ones the God of all grace sent his son to and for. You are, if you believe, you
are Christ's brother, sister. Jesus the Christ is your kinsman
redeemer. You are chosen by the Father
by an election of grace. Not of works, of grace. Why, who? By the God of all grace. And his election is of grace,
not of works. That's who you are. In verse
four, Peter put it this way. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
You are a sheep of the chief shepherd. And he is the God of all grace. But what's it say particularly? but the God of all grace who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ, by Christ
Jesus. Peter is writing to and about
those who have been called. Only the called know the God
of all grace. What's it mean to be the called
who are the called? He already tells us how they come,
by his son, by Christ Jesus. So what do we know about those
who come to Christ Jesus? Those who come by Christ Jesus. John put it this way, no man
can come unto me What? Unless the Father has sent me,
draws him. So those who are the called are
those who have been drawn by the God of all grace. No man can come except it be
given him. By who? The God of all grace,
the Father. You must be born from above of
the water and the spirit to see and to enter the kingdom of God.
But even back before that, John had already wrote in chapter
one of the gospel, that you are those that are born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of
God, the God of all grace. Those that are called are those
that have been born. Those that are called are those
that have been born of God. Born from above. And then it says this, and I
like this part, unto. He's not just calling you and
leaving you anywhere. You have been called unto, what? His, His eternal glory. So whose glory is it? It's His,
it's His. It is eternal and it's His glory. What does He say about it? He
says, my glory I will not give to another. Isaiah states that
twice. In Isaiah 42 and eight and Isaiah
48 and 11, God alone is glorious. Worthy of honor, worthy of praise,
and worthy of proper worship. It's his glory. It's his glory. And matter of fact, in Psalms
29 and three, in Acts seven verse two, The God of all grace is
also called the God of glory. Why? Because he's glorious. He's glorious. And his glory,
he's not gonna share. It's still his glory, but you
have been called unto it. Guess what? The God of all grace
has made you a member of his family. In his son, only in his
son, only in Christ, but we are members of his body, members
in particular, but we are members of the family of God. And he has called us unto his
eternal glory. Exodus 29 verse 43 says this
and I like this verse This is God speaking. I'm just gonna
read it and there I will meet with the children of Israel and
The tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory That pillar of fire by night
and the cloud by day was above that mercy seat in the wilderness. That was God's presence in that
tabernacle, and that tabernacle is Christ. That pillar of fire
and that cloud, that's Christ. And guess what? By his son, who is our tabernacle,
We are sanctified, set apart by his glory, by his glory, by
his honor, by his dignity, by his deity, by his righteousness. By the God of all grace, we are
sanctified by his glory. Believers are set apart, declared
to be holy in his son, his glorious son. and we are to properly worship
God, and you cannot, Walter pointed out last week, you cannot properly
worship God without Christ Jesus. It's not possible. And what's
Peter say here? But the God of all grace who
has called us unto his eternal glory, by Christ Jesus. The only way we can know the
God of all grace is by his son. He that has seen the Son has
seen the Father. And don't ever forget this. Jesus
Christ, I'll say it every week if I need to. He said, I and
my Father are one. You understand? Jesus Christ
is the God of all grace. Everything we have, everything
we are going to have, everything he's promised us is in Christ
Jesus, the Messiah. the anointed one, the one prophesied,
the one that came, and the one that's coming again. And right
now, the one that is making intercession. He ever liveth to make intercession. It says, by his son, Christ Jesus. John 1 and 14 tells us that the
disciples, believers, according to the apostle John, writing,
beheld the glory of the word of God, Jesus Christ. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. What does it say there? Full
of grace and truth. Jesus Christ is the God of all
grace. John 1 and 17 says this, for
the law was given by Moses, but, but, and that's one of those
glorious buts right there. But grace and truth came by,
came by Jesus Christ. And we believers have been called
unto his glory by his son. Hmm For it became him for whom
all for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons unto glory To make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings as Hebrews 2 and verse 10 God's glory is eternal we in
Christ Jesus, we will never cease, will never cease. The God of all grace who hath
called us under his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, and then he
says this, after that ye have suffered a while. Why does he add that? Because
you will, because you will. In this world, you shall have
tribulation. And those are the words according
to the God of all grace. In this world, you shall have
tribulation. Now it is, and I do like how Peter said this, after
you've suffered a while, our life in this world is a brief
moment compared to eternity. What is it? A vapor that blows
away. A flower in the field and the
petals fall off after a day. That's what our life is. Now
right now, this is all we know, this is all we got, and it seems
like every day things go up, but it's nothing compared to
the eternity of God, and it's nothing compared to what? His
eternal glory. We're just people. Paul wrote
in Corinthians, you know, not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are what? Called. We're just
people. We're just people. Now here's
the thing though. We are people, just people, whom
the world hates. Because they hated our Lord Jesus
Christ. He says don't be surprised. Don't be amazed, don't be alarmed
if the world hates you. Because it hated me long before
it ever knew of you. But after you suffered a while,
what the God of all grace make you perfect. Make you perfect. And I looked up the word, it's
complete. It's complete. It's not that we're perfect right
now in this world, or we ever will be in this world, but it
says, I looked it up, according to Strong, it means to make you,
and I like this, thoroughly complete. We are complete in Him. In Him. He's called us unto His
glory, and we're complete in Him. But it also means, there's
another secondary meaning, it means to fit. to mend, and I
like this, to repair. To repair. God will make you
repaired. God, the God of all grace, can
repair you. Now listen very closely. I am
not saying, and I never will say, he's not gonna repair the
old man. He gonna give you a new man.
He's not gonna, He's not gonna repair the old man, he's gonna
repair you. You're gonna be complete. You
are complete in him, one day, bless God, you're gonna be complete,
body and spirit. The fallen sinner, ungodly, unrighteous,
an enemy of God in his mind, is repaired and fitted for the
eternal glory of the God of all grace. Now if that's not something
to look forward to, I don't know what there is. One day, he's gonna take away
the old man. He's not gonna repair the old
man. You're still gonna have the new man, you're still gonna
be you. He makes you perfect. And let's
be very clear about it, that's what it says, that the God of
all grace make you perfect. You don't help. You don't help. You don't assist. He makes you
complete. It is all of grace because he
is the God of all grace. I saw a sign in Greenbrier County
while we were on vacation. I saw it on the way up and I
saw it on the way back and I remembered it the second time. It says this. Jesus will give
you a new life. when you trade in your old one. Now you understand, I'm in the
car business. Well, I'm in the service department,
I'm in the car business. You understand, we'll take a
trade in. We may not give you nothing for it, but we'll take
one. You understand, Jesus Christ doesn't need your trade in. Doesn't
want your trade in. He's not taking anything from
you, he's giving. He is giving you a new man. He's
giving you a new life. Born of the God of all grace. You don't make a trade, you don't
help, you don't assist, he's gonna make you complete. Because
he is the God of all grace. And he says he will establish
you. Literally this means to firmly and make you resolute
in a certain direction. David wrote this way. Thou wilt
show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. There's only one path of life.
There's only one way. the way, our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one certain direction. Jesus Christ is the way, the
truth, and the life. And the God of all grace will
establish you in his son. Where are you going when he establishes
you? He sets you in that certain direction.
Guess what? you're gonna go right through
the straight gate and right down the narrow way. Because he is
the way. The only way. Says he will strengthen
you. You who are without strength
will be strengthened by the God of all grace. Matter of fact,
even right now, you who are without strength are strengthened by
the God of all grace. He who is all power, gives us
frail, mortal sinners strength. And he will put in you both the
will and to do of his good pleasure. He's the God of all grace. And
the last thing he says, settle you. He's gonna settle you. You know what that means? He's gonna set you down. You are going to be place. When he calls you, you are going
to be placed on the solid rock. He's going to set you in place
and he's going to set you where he wants you. Just like he's
going to establish you going the right way, going the way
he wants you to. And he's going to settle you.
He's going to strengthen you. and he will set you on the rock
because Jesus Christ is our rock, our foundation. He is God's glorious
cornerstone. And if you don't have that foundation,
you don't have a thing. Understand all this is by Christ
Jesus. By the God of all grace, by Christ
Jesus. Then it says, to him be glory. I like that. Well, it is his
glory. It's his eternal glory. So to
him be glory, he deserves all glory. He's the God of glory. The God of all grace is the God
of glory. Praise and worship him. by Christ Jesus. But here's the last thing. To
him be glory and dominion. Dominion. See, a lot of people
will be okay with giving God glory. They don't wanna give
him dominion. But listen, it ain't up to you. It's not up to me. He's got dominion
whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not. That's the
bare facts. He's got dominion. You're just
supposed to acknowledge it. Bow to him. Bow to who? The God of all grace. He has
dominion. What's that mean? The God of
all grace is sovereign. He has all dominion. He rules
and he reigns and his word is supreme. It shall not return
unto him void. It will accomplish everything
he sent it forward for. Whether you see it or not, whether
I see it or not, he has dominion. He has dominion. He is sovereign. You know, we say it a lot that
we believe in sovereign grace. You know why? Because we believe
in the God of all grace. Matter of fact, you're gonna
say, I believe in the God of all sovereign grace. Because grace, his grace, is
sovereign. Man's grace, people talk about,
it ain't sovereign. They don't want this man to rule
over them. They don't want this man to reign
over them. That's what I want. You understand? It gives me comfort to know that
our Lord, the God of all grace, has dominion, what? Forever and
ever. If that doesn't comfort you,
you don't know him. Because he does all things well. He does
everything well. And everything he does is good. Whether I see it or not, whether
I know it or not, whether I believe it or not. It doesn't matter,
it's still good. And I'll tell you something,
it's good to know that. I trust the God of all grace. I trust Jesus Christ, who? The righteous. He does all things
well. All things. And to him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. He's the God of all grace. He's
the God of all glory. And it's all grace all the time.
Because that's what I need. I need the God of all grace. Because I have no hope without
the God of all grace. I have no life without the God
of all grace. But with, with, in the God of
all grace, I have everything. I have everything. Walter, I
have a future in the God of all grace. I have a future in Jesus
Christ because he is my future. Any grace you have comes from
the God of all grace. Any glory you see is his glory. The God of all grace, all of
the grace of God comes by and through His Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Understand? If you've seen the
Son, you've seen the Father. If you understand a little bit
about the Son, you understand about the God of all grace. But if you don't honor the Son,
you understand, if you don't bow to His glory and His dominion,
God of all grace ain't got nothing to do with you. Put you in another category. We sing a song and I like this
chorus. Glory, honor, and salvation. Christ the Lord has come to reign. I like that, I do. That's the
hark the jubilee is sounding, I looked it up. I like that,
glory, honor, and salvation, why? Because Christ the Lord
has come to reign. His dominion means good things
for those that are called by his son. His glory means good things for
them that are called by his son. I like that, I like that. Because
here's the thing, the salvation of the God of all grace is a
complete, complete salvation. He's gonna, what? Make you perfect,
establish, strengthen, and settle you. And you, and you, and you,
and everyone that has been called by his son. Ah, I'm gonna tell you something.
There ain't anything else to say after that. So what's the
last word here? Amen. Amen. The God of all grace. He deserves it all. He gives
it all. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time and this place. Thankful to you. your son, our Lord, who has come
to reign and who is reigning now. Thank you, Lord. Be with Walter as he comes to
preach your gospel. Let us give heed and give an
ear and understand your word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.