Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to the first epistle of General Peter, chapter 1 and verse 5. This evening we are continuing in the series through Peter. This is the second one.

the epistles of Peter, and it is a people kept through faith. Our text reads, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. We have noted that Peter was given the commissions to strengthen his brethren and also to feed the lambs and feed the sheep.

The text that is before us this evening is of great strength and encouragement to the people of God, because it is through the power of God that they are what they are. They have been called by God's grace. They have been brought into the way, brought to be a believer. And really the essential message that is in this verse and how strengthening it is, and this is why Peter brings it forth, that that same power that called them will keep them and will keep them all of the way and bring them safely home to glory. This is very strengthening. to know that.

We know that it is taught in other passages, Paul to the Philippians, he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. But here Peter seeks to strengthen the brethren in this way by giving them to know how they are kept, how God keeps them, the power and the means, and what unto.

" Predominantly then, and really the main keeping and the message here, is a spiritual keeping. It is keeping in the way, in the faith, delivering from every error. We might say, does not God keep in other ways? Doesn't he keep his people from harm and evil? Well, we would say this, that over those that even are not his people, God has appointed a time for us each upon this earth. And until that time comes, God is keeping us from being taken before that time, and all the mercies that his creatures enjoy, they come from his hand.

We must not think that for some reason there is some kind of a protector over those that are not God's people, but God's people, they ascribe it to God. The Lord is good to all, his tender mercies are over all his works. The great difference is that God's people ask for his keeping and care, and they watch and notice when in providence the Lord does care over them, maybe preserves them from harm, or if they have harm, from greater harm, keeps them from illness or disease, or when they have that, then gives healing and restoration.

And yet so few acknowledge the Lord. The great passage in the Word illustrating this is the ten lepers that were healed. Only one returned to give thanks unto God and it was said then, where are the nine? And this is replicated again and again throughout society. We think of even in our mealtimes, giving thanks for our food, Is it that God only supplies food to his people and that others, well, they get it by their own endeavours or supplied in some other way? Or is it not he opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing. The Word declares that it is He that gives us power to get wealth, to power to receive these things.

We think of in the time of Haggai when the temple was being neglected, then God touched all their wealth, he touched their in-gathering, he touched what they had sown, so it didn't bring forth as much as they expected, and in that way they were brought to notice the Lord, and the prophets highlighting that the Lord through this means was bringing their attention to him in a neglected house of God. But the thing is, the Lord does watch over his people. We've only got to think of Joseph and how that when his brothers threw him in the pit, instead of him being slain, he was sold. Instead of being slain for the accusation of Potiphar's wife, he was put into prison. And those ways that the Lord, though it was a path of great tribulation, and difficulty, the Lord preserved and kept him.

We think of the case in Daniel's case. The lions did not tear him. The fire did not destroy the Hebrew children. We think of the care that was given in that case. We think also of David fleeing from Saul. How many times Saul came so close to taking him In a physical way, David was preserved and kept. The Lord kept from harm and kept from evil. We need the providential keeping of God and the Lord is good to all in that way.

Chance, fortune, those things don't exist. We are all under the providence of God. He is the one in whom we live and move and have our being. And it is by his decree that we continue and his decree that our lives are taken away, or maimed, or injured, or sick, or whatever it is. We're not guaranteed in this sinful world that we shall go through this world with no tribulation. In fact, we are told the other way, that in the world you shall have tribulation, but in me shall have peace.

We think of the time of Queen Esther and Esther's people with the decree that they all should be slain on one day. and how the Lord turned that about, preserved and kept them, and they weren't destroyed as what Haman wanted to do. The Word of God is full of instances of the Lord interceding for his people by timing, by overcoming the enemy, like in Jehoshaphat's time, he shall not need to fight in this battle, the children of Israel, delivered through the Red Sea, brought safely through the Egyptians perishing. We have great incidences of this.

But our Lord said of a difference between a body and a soul. He said, fear not them which kill the body and after there is nothing more they can do. And that our soul is much worth much more than our bodies. This is why the godly martyrs in the times of the Roman Catholic persecutions, that they chose rather that they should be burned to death at the stake than to deny the Lord or take part in the blasphemous mass. And so they valued their souls. They saw that even if their bodies were burned, Yet they would attain the salvation that is spoken of in our text.

And we should have that same value for our souls. We should view those things that fight against our soul, that would bring us into spiritual bondage or lead us completely away, as much greater enemies than man, or a physical enemy, or those that would harm our bodies. And so our Lord was very emphatic upon that. Fear not them which kill the body, and after that there's nothing more they can do. But fear him that after he hath killed, hath power to cast both body and soul into hell. So our Lord warned in that way.

But our text this evening is pointing to that spiritual keeping. And the manner and means of that keeping is not by armies sent forth. It is by the power of God through faith. I believe the whole context is pointing to a spiritual keeping. And we wonder, Does Peter have partly in mind Judas Iscariot? Remember he was one of the apostles, remember that he partook of the ministry, but he in the end not only denied but betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. The root of the matter was not in him. and to think also of how the Lord prayed for that spiritual keeping for Peter. I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And so Peter is speaking here of it being a matter of faith that is the keeping of God. And so these are things that you might say are guiding Peter in his emphasis as what he's bringing before the people.

We think also of how Peter dealt with the incident of when Philip was instrumental in the supposed conversion of Simon the sorcerer. But then when Simon saw that they, by that laying on of hands, communicated the Holy Ghost, He offered them money, saying, give me this power that I also may be able to convey the Holy Ghost. But Peter says that thou hast no part or lot in this matter. Thy heart is not right before God. And so solemnly reproved him. That was a spiritual departing. It was error in a spiritual way. There are errors that are fatal errors, heresies the Word of God calls them, that to be in an error in that point is to completely fall away, to have missed the mark, not be one of God's people.

So I want to then look at this Word from three perspectives. Firstly, I want to look at who are kept. Our text begins, who are kept? Who is it that is kept? And of course, it is the people that is described in verses two to four, those that we looked at last week. But secondly, how they are kept. Our text tells us that they are kept by the power of God through faith. And then we have in our third point to what they are kept. And it is unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last times.

But firstly, who are camps? This verse is joined to that which is previous. We've split it in the middle so that we could more clearly speak on the two subjects, the keeping here and that which went before of the hope of God's people. And so those that are set before us are those that are elect, elect according to the full knowledge of God the Father, and it is through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. It is those that have been begotten to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, a people that have been quickened and made alive. They have partaken of the new birth. Their election has been known by calling already they have known the power of God.

We think of how it is set forth when Paul writes to the Ephesians and he says of them that it was the exceeding greatness of God's power, this is Ephesians chapter one verse 19, toward us, to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. The same power has raised Christ. That's why in verse three, we read, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The Lord says, because I live, you shall live also. We should never underestimate the power needed to bring a soul out of nature's darkness and into God's marvellous light. We should always know and recognise that it is the power of God. God instigates salvation. This is not a supposed choice, a free will choice of man. We choose him because he first chose us. We love him. because he first loved us. But without that divine almighty power, we are powerless. We cannot bring ourselves to life. We cannot accept salvation. We cannot do anything. It is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure. And if we are to have comfort going on through our lives, then That comfort can only come through realising that at the beginning we have already had that power.

If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious and everyone that has been quickened into life have tasted that. They have those instances recorded in their lives where the Lord has shone his light in their hearts and where he has given them life where it was not before, where they have had the power put forth to make them what they are, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so Peter, he builds, he builds on his teaching and instruction and encouragement, notifying who these people are first, noticing who they are, and describing them out and then as a word to them concerning their keeping.

Are we of those described then in these verses prior to our text? One of the ways that we will know is where we feel our need of keeping, our need of keeping. You might feel your weakness, your lack of knowledge of the scriptures, your vulnerability to influence from the world, or from friends, or from those round about. You might feel the worth of your soul and think, however, shall I endure to the end? You might think of those like Judas, or Saul, or Demetrius, the silversmith, or others that have seemed right for a while, and then they have shown their true colours, and they have fallen away.

God's people, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, cannot cannot fall away eternally. If there is, and if there are those that seem to have completely lost their faith, it was that they were never in the way in the beginning.

We think of what Paul says when writing to the Romans, and remember Romans speaks very much, he speaks of this chain of the Lord's foreknowledge, And in Romans 8 and verse 28 through to 30, whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? And this is the same message, the same link through this passage. All the time it's what the Lord has done. And this is the comfort and strength of the people of God. When we discern that the Lord has done things for us in our life, when you come to the end of this chapter, Then Paul says this in verses 38 and 39, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our Lord in John chapter 10, he says of his sheep, that no man is able to pluck them out of mine hand. He's going to keep them. They're his sheep. He said, my father is greater than I and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. The people that are kept are God's people. They are those that the Father gave to the Son to redeem. They are those that have an interest in the prayer of our Lord that we read earlier on in John 17.

Now some might say, well all the Lord is praying for is just His 12 disciples, the apostles. That's all he's referring to, that he's chosen, elect, and the rest, well, they just believe through their word of their own free will. No, right through this chapter, he is very clear. He says, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. But then he speaks of that which is being given them. Verse 24, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am.

He is not just speaking of those 12 apostles. He's speaking of all that he says in John 10, thine they were and thou gavest them me. In John 10. that my sheep, they hear my voice, they follow me, the father giving to the son his people to redeem. And so he prays that they might be kept and as an ongoing keeping and that at last they be with him and be with him in glory.

Another thing that tells us what is really being prayed here is the constant reference to the world. I pray for them, I pray not for the world. It's not distinguishing between the apostles and other believers, it's distinguishing between God's people, including the apostles and those that believe through their word right to the end of time and the world. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

And another distinction that is in this chapter, in this beautiful prayer, is how the word of God features in their keeping, which of course is what we are coming to in Peter chapter one and verse five.

Let us be sure on this, that God has a people. He has used his power to call them and to show that they are his people. And when they are quickened and they now know the value of their souls, and they now know the dangers also, that he assures them, and assures them through this text, that that same power will be put forth to keep them. It will be the Lord keeping his people.

So may we be sure on that, who are kept, the people described here before, and the fact that they are kept, and are kept by that same power. But I want to look now more specifically at how they are kept.

You are kept by the power of God through faith. This is how they are kept. How is it then that this works out? Going back to Ephesians, we read in Ephesians 2, By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

The faith that is spoken of here is that which the Lord Jesus Christ is the author of. He is the author and finisher of our faith. Through the Word of God, and we're thankful for a faithful translation in the authorised version, it speaks in several places, Galatians included, the faith of Jesus Christ. Other versions, like ESV, translated faith in Jesus Christ.

Well, whereas we do have faith in Jesus Christ, yet the message of the scripture is that this faith that is used to keep the people of God, this is of Jesus Christ. It comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a gift of His. It's not something we have by nature. It's not something that we can exercise ourselves without it being first given.

And so it is. that we are kept by the power of God, we look at that mighty power that is behind it, that is using it, that is working through this channel and through this way, and that is how the people of God are kept.

You might say, say if we have another illustration, if we go back to what we said of the children of Israel going through the Red Sea, If the Lord hadn't caused the wind to blow and caused the sea to go back, and that was by an almighty power, then they would have been hedged in with the Egyptians behind them. The Lord used that so that they could escape and also the Egyptians destroyed. Another effect of his power was to take the cloudy pillar, fire by night, cloud by day, and put it between the Egyptians and children of Israel. So they did not come near to each other all the night. And we see how the power of God then is being used.

We are used to this, aren't we? of in this building we have power, we have electricity. But how is that power being used? It's being used because we have lights, because we have heating. And that power then is manifest. We can see that power, which without the lights, without the heating, we wouldn't see and know it. And so with the power of God, without the Red Sea being divided, Without that barrier between, we wouldn't see the power of God.

The power is evidence, and it is effectual in doing what the Lord designs it to do. We think of other illustrations. We mentioned Jehoshaphat, and there the Lord caused his enemies to all fight one against another. He had power to change the minds or the will of the enemy. make it that they should, instead of unite against Judah, they fought with one another. And so again we see that God is not limited as to how he uses his power.

With Daniel he sent forth his angel and stopped the mouths of the lions. In other times we see the power of God put forth in Sodom and Gomorrah with the sulfur and brimstone from fire from heaven destroying. We see the power in the flood, in Noah's flood. The power is manifested in different ways. And so in our text, the way the power of God is manifested is through faith.

Now what is faith? Well, if we were to turn back to Hebrews then we get a description of faith. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

So we see the world, we see creation, we see all that God has done, and the gift of faith to us makes us see in that God. We see that the Word of God, and we read in the Word of God, this was formed by the Word of God, God spoke and it was done, it was formed, and we believe that, we receive that. There's countless millions in this world, they see the same creation, but they cannot believe that God has made these things. They will not be in their own minds accountable to this God.

We read going on in verse six, but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Who is him? That gives one to believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. God does it, and he does it through faith being given, or a trust, a belief, a reality. But what is it based upon? In one sense, it's based upon the creation that is actually seen. But the greatest thing is the word of God.

We read that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And then we read that the word did not profit them, in that it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it. When the Lord quickens a soul, he gives everything at once. the same as a baby being formed in the womb. Everything is done at once or in the order, right order, otherwise that baby couldn't survive. So in one sense you would say, well if faith comes by hearing, how can we have faith coming by hearing if the word is not going to profit us because we don't have faith? You're saying, I need faith so the Word profits me, and I need the Word so that I can get faith. How does it make sense? That we believe it because the Word of God states that that is so.

But when the Lord quickens a soul, immediately He gives him faith, really one that does not have spiritual life, does not have spiritual ears, the word of God is not understood, is not sought for, is not loved, is not esteemed. This is why the Lord, when he prayed in John 17, he says that I've given them thy word and the world hath hated them. That is the difference. It's the word of God that testifies to the truth of God and God's people receive it as so.

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word, to the law and to the testimony. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It's profitable for instruction in righteousness that the man of God might be through thee furnished unto good works. The word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. This is how God keeps his people. He keeps them in the right way. When thou turnest to the right hand, when thou turnest to the left hand, thou shalt hear word behind thee saying, this is the way, walk ye in it. It is the word of God that keeps us from error.

One time several years ago, it keeps us from walking in the wrong way, tempted when writing out a timesheet. It just came. The temptation came in a moment. Well, you haven't worked enough hours. Your employer won't know. You just write more hours, and then you make it up next month. And immediately, the word of God came. Forcibly to my mind, a poor man is better than a liar. And the temptation was gone in a moment.

When our Lord was tempted by Satan three times, the Lord always rebuffed Satan with the word of God. And that is what faith does. It says, I would rather believe the word of God than another man or Satan or someone that comes with a worldview. or with arguments or plausible reasons why we should do this or why we should do that, we come straight back to the Word of God. What is the truth as seen by the Lord? The absolute truth of God. No scriptures of any private interpretation.

You know, if we sent a letter to someone, We wouldn't want that person to think, well, oh, what will I make this to read? How will I read this? We'd want them to think, what did we want them to read it as? What is the message that we were sending to them? And we should think this, what is the message that God is sending to us through his word? What is the teaching?

Now, we know that The church is warned about error, constantly being warned about error. The revelation is a real warning about being deceived. But we think of other passages, we think of the epistles of John, and especially concerning our Lord Jesus Christ in his second epistle. He says, look to yourselves in verse, well, verse seven, He says, for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, this is a deceiver and an antichrist. And as he's setting forth these warnings, faith it lays hold on this, it listens, and it takes it seriously.

So when he says, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If any come, if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, Neither bid him Godspeed, for he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds. You see how careful he is to warn against departing from the faith in the truths concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. He is truly God, truly man, truly partake of the seed of Abraham, flesh and spirit, that he truly is who he says that he is. This is the true God and eternal life.

Then we have the epistle to Jude, the epistle, general epistle of Jude. And he says and exhorts then in verse three, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Why? For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Warnings, very clear. And where the power of God comes in, he's given the inspired word of God and then he gives faith, faith to receive that word, act on it, take the warning, be encouraged, be strengthened from it. and to pray that the Lord would keep us. You think of the close of that epistle, beautiful doxology as it were. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our saviour, be glory and majesty Dominion and power both now and ever. Amen. And so here is put the keeping and the power and the praise and the glory is all on the Lord for his keeping and to keep us from falling. What an encouragement. What a strengthening verse and a way that Peter brings this. A people that are kept by the power of God through faith. through faith.

This is why we gather regularly to hear the Word of God read and preached. We need it. Faith needs it. There's so many today, they do not read the Word of God. They do not read the Bibles. They have a smattering knowledge of it. but hardly ever open their Bibles, they don't search the Scriptures. You think of the Bereans when Paul preached, they searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so, and therefore many of them believed.

But the connection here, if you and I desire to be kept and we pray that the Lord would keep us, then may we be much in the Scriptures, may we know the mind of the Spirit, May we hearken to the warnings that are therein, and may we notice God's timings and providences, that when we are tempted, that he brings us a warning from the pulpit or warning from the word, and the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance the word just in time, so that we resist the devil, we resist our own fallen nature, we resist the drawing of other men that would draw us aside.

Remember it was Satan's first temptation of our first parents to question the Word of God. May we have a high view of the Word of God and faith that we'll believe God's Word rather than one that comes like Satan, hath God said. Really it's very sad with all the different versions, especially in the English language that we have now, because that language can oft be used. Hath God said, is it this version, is it that version? What is it? Are we thankful we can look back in God's providence to when we were given the version that we have? And there's seen God's providence in it in a very remarkable way and has served our English speaking nations for hundreds of years. May we have a word that is a faithful translation of the original tongues, the Hebrew Masoretic text and the Greek received texts.

How God keeps, how they are kept, by the power of God through faith, unto salvation. I want to look then quickly at our last point, to what they are kept. What is the end in view? No, it's bringing us right through time. It's bringing us to when the Lord returns, when the kingdom is given him and he says, behold I and the children whom thou hast given me.

He intimates this even with a little picture of those 12 that he has. of the apostles, he has kept them. But the son of perdition, that scripture might be fulfilled, except him. But God's people, those that were chosen in him from the foundation of the world, they shall be with him when time shall be no more.

In the previous verse, which we spoke of last week, an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. This is what the people of God are kept to. There is a place for them to go to. They cannot miscarry. If one should be lost, what of the blood that was shed for them? What of the glory due to God that is redeemed them? and quickened them but has failed to keep them.

But here it is with this in view, a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. The Apostle Paul says that we see through a glass darkly. He quotes that in Isaiah, that it hath not entered into the heart of man what God hath prepared for them that love him. But what is so very evident, and in these verses, there is an inheritance. There is that which is worth us being kept in a spiritual way.

There is that which the martyrs well knew was worth even losing their bodies for and their lives for because they valued this inheritance. They valued this salvation. Salvation, a deliverance from hell and a deliverance to heaven, a complete salvation, a complete deliverance. And this is what faith is aiming for.

Let me put this in another way as well, as a way of encouragement. If we discern that the Lord has kept us, maybe time and time again, and we realize that we were starting to go down a slippery slope of error, and by this or that, and the Lord brought us back, and he shone light upon the word, and corrected us, maybe chastened us, but brought us then to see the truth and to keep us to the truth.

Each time the Lord does that is really a seal, a further seal, that what the Lord is doing is keeping us for this end unto salvation. Another assurance that heaven is our home, another assurance that we shall endure to the end. Every Ebenezer raised up, hitherto have the Lord helped me. They confirm his good pleasure to help us right through, to bring us safely home.

Many times through the word of God, this is set before the people of God, that they have an aim in view. Paul says that running the race set before us, looking unto Jesus. The Thessalonians, when they were first called, they were called to wait for his son from heaven. All the time that we are not just called for this life. Paul says, if in this life only we have hope in Christ with all men most miserable. But we are looking for that which is to come. And when we're thinking of the keeping by faith here, that beautiful summary in chapter 11 of Hebrews, those that all died in faith, from verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Has faith had that effect with us? Have we seen these promises, the promises of Christ, the promises of keeping, the promises that abound in the salvation of our Lord? Do we embrace them? And do we confess that we're strangers and pilgrims on this earth?

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. They desire now a better country that isn't heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for we have prepared for them a city.

May we then be encouraged and strengthened by this text this evening. Through Peter strengthening the brethren, the brethren described, and the brethren that are kept by the power of God through faith, and those that have an end in view, a salvation that shall be revealed, and we shall see him as he is, and we shall know even as we are known.

May the Lord bless us through the word here and encourage us in the way. Amen.