We'll begin the message. We'll go to God in prayer again. I just want to remind everybody after service we'll have our fellowship luncheon. I'm so thankful for these times where we get to spend together and fellowship together. I'm thankful. Glad to see our brother and sister made it. I'm thankful that the Lord blessed your trip. And I hope the Lord will bless us all with his spirit through the preaching of the gospel this morning. I don't know about you, but I sure need it. This world is nothing but a barren wasteland.

And the refreshment for the soul of the saint is always Christ. He is the fountain of never-ceasing grace. I know I'll say it again, I'm saving the message, I'm glad that the grace of God's not like a pond, or a lake, or even an ocean, because those have limits. But I'm glad it's a fountain, that it constantly flows from an eternal source. And God, through Christ, is truly, as we're gonna see today, a God of all grace. God of all grace. I know I need a God of all grace. And so we pray that God would shed his grace on us and his spirit that the gospel might, that he might teach us.

I don't know about you, but I've not learned everything. I've not found an end to this gospel. I've not found a bottom to it. I've not plumbed the depths of it. And I know this, God will give us grace and he'll teach us. I know he will. He's gracious. I'm not going to learn based on merit. He's not going to come based on our merits. He's going to come because of the merits of his son.

So this morning I will ask God for his grace upon us to give us strength Pray for God's people. Many of our people are traveling and pray for them. Pray that God bring them to us and those that are sick, those who are suffering. Those who suffer in the body and the mind.

I don't know about you, but the mind. To me, it's always been a trap. Can't escape yourself, can you? Can't just take a break from yourself. Philpott said that, that the worst enemy is self. Because self never leaves. Satan's not omnipresent, is he? He shut the world out at times, but one thing you can't leave is self. And he's the worst enemy.

God keep us and protect us even from self. Let's go to him in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven, we bow ourselves before you again in our hearts and minds. Lay ourselves at your feet seeking mercy this morning that we might worship you again. that you might again be gracious to us, that you might again give us the strength and the power and the will and the desire to worship thee in spirit and truth, and that the gospel might be proclaimed by the power of your spirit, the demonstration of your spirit, that everyone that hears it should believe on Christ. That you, by the power and grace of your spirit, that you would cause every soul to look on Him with adoration and joy and praise, seeing He was made a curse for us, seeing He redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse, that He has set us free from the guilt of sin, the power of sin, and one day we hope the presence of sin. Thank you, Father, for Your Word. your ever-abiding, eternal, immutable word of promise. It cannot fail, because it's in Christ.

Those that we mentioned that are traveling, be gracious to them. Bring them again to us. We miss them. We long to see them. Those who are not able to be with us, for whatever reason, be merciful. Be gracious. and draw them again to yourself. Father, I do ask for those churches that are worshiping today that you would give them what we're asking for. Father, those without pastors, that you would send pastors, men of your own heart, preach the word.

We pray these things in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. All right, take the Bible, turn with me again to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. My text is going to be found in verse 10. I've entitled this message, The God of All Grace to Suffering Saints. The God of All Grace to suffering saints. The Apostle writes, But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Now the Apostle Peter who wrote this letter was a man who understood the affliction of sin.

You remember he was in his, in the very beginning, bold. He was the spokesman for everyone. When the Lord Jesus Christ told him that he would deny him, you remember Peter's boldness. He said, though everyone deny you, I will die with you. Now he meant that with all of his soul, with all of his strength, with all the will and determination he had, he wanted to die with the Lord Jesus. He even pulled out his sword in the midst of those soldiers and cut off the high priest servant's ear. But you remember what our Lord said.

He said, no, you'll deny me three times. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Peter understood what it was like to fail, to sin. He failed both in faith and fidelity to his Lord, His sin and Judas were identical. There was no difference. He betrayed the Lord not once. Judas did it one time. He did it three times denying Him. What was the difference? The difference was that the Lord Jesus Christ prayed, interceded for Peter and not Judas. But you remember what happened after? When Peter, he went out and he was convicted, he wept bitterly.

And when our Lord died, he went back fishing. He left all hope of being saved, all hope of ever being received by the Lord. He denied Him three times. And our Lord came to him, and remember, He smote his heart. And He said, Lovest thou Me more than these? He said that three times. And he being grieved.

And so as the Apostle Peter writing this letter, he understood the pain of sin. And throughout this letter, the Apostle here tells us that we should abstain from sin. But here in this last portion, The Apostle knows that it's not going to be by the power of our will or the determination of our flesh that's going to keep us from sin. It is here he lays it all on the God of all grace. He says, Satan is walking about as a roaring lion, seeking him who may devour. You should abstain from sin. You should run from it. He knew by experience. But yet he did not say, he did not leave it to man. He said, but.

Here's where your strength is. Here's where your endurance to resist Satan and to flee from sin is. But the God of all grace. The God of all grace who called you unto eternal glory by Christ Jesus. Listen, after you suffered a while, He's going to do something. He's going to strengthen you. He's going to settle you. He's going to establish you in the faith.

Why? That all the glory may belong to Him. Now, I want to divide this passage as it stands. I want to see, first of all, the God of all grace. Let us fix our eyes this morning off of the things of this world. We've got so many things going on, so many things in our mind and heart But the scriptures are always telling you, take your eyes off of everything here and fix them on Christ. Fix them on the God of all grace. That's the first point, the God of all grace. Secondly, the calling of the God of all grace. And thirdly, the suffering of those that are called. And then I want to explain the purpose of suffering. The purpose of suffering. But first of all, the God of all grace.

As I told you, Peter set forth the doctrine of grace at the very beginning of this passage. He says that we are the elect. The elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth. Obedience, which is faith. And he said, we should not use this as a cloak of maliciousness. We should not use grace as a means by which we can sin. Isn't this always the temptation of the flesh, isn't it? We want our flesh desires to do something. And what does it say? Well, you know, God will just forgive you. That's that's licentiousness. That's that's horrible.

We should not fall into that. So Peter warns us concerning this. Yet again, he relies here in this text that the power of this is not in the flesh. How many times do you try to keep yourself from sin only to fall into the very thing you're trying to keep yourself from? Why? Because we are relying on ourselves. Peter does not permit this. He says, but. Yes, you're pursued by Satan. Yes, you are tempted by sin. Abstain from it. Resist him.

How? The God of all grace. This is how. This is the source of all our strength. The God of all grace. And so what is the cause of our salvation? You that are saved this morning, what is the root cause of your salvation? Is it not the God of all grace? Aren't you saved because God is the God of all grace? You that are called, you that have been delivered, separated, from the rest of Adam's spiritually dead race called by grace. God has removed a veil from our eyes. He has exposed our sins. And then He revealed Christ to us. He opened the gospel to us. He sent a preacher to us. He sent a messenger with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 5.

We preach not ourselves. There's no power in the preacher. There's no power in the manner of my preaching. It doesn't matter. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake. And this is the manner of grace which the word came to us for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness as shine in our hearts. to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The revelation that salvation is by Jesus Christ alone.

You believe on him alone. Do you trust him alone? How is this, that you trust him, you believe him, you rest in him, while many are resting in their own works? while many of Adam's race remains dead, and you are quickened by the power of God. How is that?

That is by the God of all grace. Go to Ephesians. I like this passage because it's very concise and it flows so well to show us that the grace of God is not just in the moment, it was from eternity. and the grace of God flows from eternity to us. First of all, he is the God of electing grace, isn't he? Look at that in verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Notice it's already done. He hath blessed us. You walk around and you say, well, I don't feel blessed. Well, that don't matter. He hath blessed us. How has he blessed us?

By putting us in Christ. Look what he says. According, this is how we are blessed with all spiritual blessing. According, as he hath chosen us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, for what purpose? That we should be holy. and without blame before him. Here's the cause in love. Having predestined us unto the adoption of children, here's the means by Jesus Christ.

To himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. You see, he is the God of electing grace. This grace that you have, the grace that you possess, the grace that God has given you has its source in eternity. God chose us, put us in Christ, and purposed our salvation.

I don't know, how often do you purpose things? Do you purpose anything? And how often do they come to pass? Man, we're just so excited. If something we determined to do comes about, we're just so happy. Why? Because most other stuff don't. You listen, when God purposes to do something, it is though it is done.

He purposed that you should be holy. That's not how you were born, was it? Not how you came into the world. Yet before you came into the world, He purposed that you should be holy. And the means By Jesus Christ. Not by Jesus Christ plus your efforts. Not by Jesus Christ plus your work. Not by Jesus Christ plus your obedience. No, by Jesus Christ.

Why? That he might bring you to himself. And that you should glory in what? His grace. He's the God of all grace. That's where grace begins. The electing grace. Not only electing grace, but redeeming grace. Look at this. Verse 7. In whom, Christ, we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of what? His grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, and as a representative man of all that God had chosen, he himself, by himself, obtained righteousness, and by his one offering, he has forever removed our sins, and by his grace, given us forgiveness.

Now, when was this done? Was this done after you believed or before? It was purposed before. But listen, we believed only because we were redeemed. Only because we were bought. Only because we were chosen. We have, I like that, we have the forgiveness of sins. I don't feel like that all the time. Again, since when is the grace of God based on how I feel? Just not, is it? Grace is not based on anything in me, otherwise it wouldn't be grace, would it? Grace is totally independent of me.

It's an unmerited favor of God. By the unmerited favor of God, we were chosen. And by the unmerited favor of God, our Lord Jesus Christ bore our sin in his own body. Home and free. Made sin for us who knew no sin, that we who knew only sin. might be made the righteousness of God in him.

This is redeeming grace, isn't it? But notice this grace that we heard and believed. And then this grace is, we're going to talk about this in the second point more, but this grace is extended to us in our calling, isn't it? Look what he says in verse 19. Let's read verse 18. He said, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope, the confidence of his calling, and what is the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saint, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe. Now, look and see how you believed according to the working of His mighty power. See, salvation and even our calling is by what?

Grace. It's astounding. None of us were seeking God. Not one of us. We were in church. We were in religion. We sought a God of our own making, of our own imagination. We perceived as to how we should be accepted of God, but really we weren't seeking God. Why? Because no man can seek God. There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after God. But do you not see the grace of God that he found you? Wasn't looking. I had no desire for the things of God until he found me. And he found me according to the exceeding greatness of his power.

See, salvation is not a mere decision of will, is it? It's not a mere acceptance of anything. Faith comes by the exceeding greatness of His power. Don't think lightly of faith in Christ. It's not natural. It's absolutely by the exceeding greatness of God that you believe. But one thing about this, He is the God of electing grace. He's the God of redeeming grace. He's the God of calling grace. But listen to this. He is also the God of continual grace.

Believers, do you not still feel your need of grace? Are not we in constant and numerous aggravations of our sins? Oh my soul, my sin, my sin. I don't know about you, I just can't get it out of my eyes. I can't get it out of my sight. My sin aggravates me. It causes me much grief. It causes me much pain. How often have we denied our Lord like Peter in unbelief and sin and grief?

So what then do we constantly need? I constantly need His grace. His grace. His abundant, perpetual, never-ceasing grace. I need the God of all grace to continually forgive me. Don't you? I need His perpetual forgiveness. His constant cleansing. It's nice to look back and see what great things he has done. But you understand what he's done, it just didn't stop there. It's continual. It's perpetual.

That's why the Apostle John, he said, he is faithful and just to forgive us when we confess our sins. Why? Because we still have it. If we confess our sins, what? He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. I like what he says, and he cleanseth us from all our unrighteousness. The word ETH there, cleanseth, means present perfect tense. It's he has cleansed me, he is right now cleansing me, and he shall forever cleanse me from all my sins. Why? Because his grace is continual. I'll tell you this, every believer understands his need of the God of all grace. Had God not chosen me, I surely would never have chosen Him. Had He not redeemed me, I could not have redeemed myself. Had He not called me, I could have never found Him. And listen, if He does not keep me, I could never keep myself.

Isn't it wonderful then that He prints this for us? But regardless of anything else, regardless of your enemy, regardless of your failures, regardless of your weaknesses, but here's your hope, the God of all grace. The God of all grace. Suppose that a man were to lay up a treasure for his child, a rich man, wealthy man. Think of the wealthiest man you can. He lays up everything he's got for his son. And then he gives it to an honest man, and that honest man gives out to his son what the man has laid up. Now listen. It is possible, regardless of the wealth, it is possible for that son to use it all.

Because it's limited. The wealth of the world is limited. But you see what the Lord Jesus Christ stored up for us is limitless. It has no end. It has no end. Why? Because God, who is the God of all grace, does not change. If He has been gracious to you, He is right now being gracious to you, and He shall forever be gracious to you. He said, I change not, therefore, because my grace does not change. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed. And this is why the scripture says that God's grace, God's mercy, God's forgiveness, like I said, it's not like a pond.

Ponds grow stagnant. They dry up. Lakes. They're limited. See, even the sea is limited. But you know what's not limited? A fountain. A fountain is something that keeps flowing. We lived in Texas for a long time, and they had this artesian well out there in Humboldt, Texas. People there today think that well's still throwing out water. Why? It's a constant flow, and it's fresh, right? A fountain is something constantly fresh. This is what the scripture says in Psalm 36 verse 9, for unto thee is the fountain of life. See what God's grace does? He gives us a fountain of life, never ceasing life.

Remember there at the tomb of Lazarus, there's that man the Lord loved and he was dead. And Martha came and said, Lord, if you'd been here, you had not died. He said, what are you talking about? He's not dead. He said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Why? Because I'm the God of all grace. I'm the God of all life. Even though a man dies, he's not dead. If he's in Christ, he's not dead.

Zechariah verse 13 verse 1 says, In that day there shall be a fountain open for the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for what? Sin and uncleanness. Oh, I love this. A fountain for sin and uncleanness. You know what? That's good news for somebody who has sin and uncleanness. If you're a righteous fellow, this thing ain't got nothing for you. But if you're a sinner, this fountain's for you. It's for sin and uncleanness. And it just keeps cleansing. He's washing over us. Why?

Because He's the God of all grace. He's the God of all grace. Therefore you chosen saints, you redeemed saints, you quickened saints, give thanks. Should we not be the most thankful people? Is there any reason that we should not be thankful? If we have the God of all grace, how should we complain?

I'm speaking to myself, I'm not talking to you. So I'm just preaching to myself. I like this hymn. Fountain of never-ceasing grace, thy saints' exhaustless theme, the object of immortal praise, essentially supreme. We bless thee for the glorious fruits thine incarnation gives, the righteousness which grace imputes and faith alone receives. A fountain of never-ceasing grace. Secondly, the effectual calling of grace. Go back to your text. but the God of all grace.

Here's our source of strength. Here's our source of life, our source of forgiveness, our source of pardon, our source of mercy. Our source is this, the God of all grace. What's the evidence of this God of all grace is given to us who hath called us, who hath called us?

This is always the first work of experience, but it's not really the first work, is it? The first work of grace, as I told you, is in eternity when He chose you. That's the first work of grace. Then the work of the fulfillment of that covenant was by the coming and dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. When He came into the world, He fulfilled that covenant. He satisfied God's law, God's justice for us. And that was all done before. But it wasn't until he called us that we experienced the grace that he had laid up for us. I like to think of Joseph, how he labored, sent of God beforehand to lay up for his brothers, his family, for Jacob.

They didn't know anything about it. They thought he was dead. They had no clue. To him, To them, he was dead. And yet God had sent him to lay up, store up all of that grain to give them life. What a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? To us, he was dead.

To us, he was nothing. We didn't know what he was doing, and yet he stored up all that grace. And we didn't know it until he made us starving, until he brought the famine to us. We felt the famine of our souls, and we came to Christ, We found our sin. Just like the old brothers did when he revealed himself to them.

They laid down and said, oh, we're dead men now. Isn't that how you felt when he called you? Oh, I'm a dead man. What'd you find? You didn't find a death. You found life. He said, I've been storing this up for you. This is the calling of God's effectual grace. Go to 2 Timothy, look at this. This shows what I just said. 2 Timothy, look at verse 1, chapter 1. Look at verse 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. But be thou partakers of the affliction of the gospel. Listen, according to the power of God, who hath, what?

What's first? Saved us. And then second, what? Caused us. Which was first? Saved us first. Man, he saved me before I knew I was saved. He purposed to do it. It wasn't accidental he came into the world. He came to die for his people. He came to save his people. And he saved me. And then he called me.

Notice what kind of calling. With a holy calling. A perfect calling. An effectual calling. There's a general call that goes out to all men. Because I don't know who the elect are. I tell everyone to believe. But I know this, the effectual calling is the work of the spirit. And when he calls a man, he can't do anything but believe. There's nothing. You that believe, can you do anything else? Do you want to do anything else? We spend most of our time I always want more, because I know I don't have enough. This is the effectual calling. The effectual calling is, do you believe on the Son of God? And I've told you this a thousand times, I'm sure, but it still rings true.

The lady that came into our congregation many years ago, she was listening to a message. And I think she listened to Brother Don's message, and she listened to hundreds of them. And she just knew this. Before she began listening to that message, she did not believe. But as she listened, she said, I could not help but believe.

You know what that is? That's the calling of the Spirit. Faith is not a small thing, friends. Don't think it's a small thing that you believe. It is a miraculous thing that you believe. And its evidence is this, that you continue to believe. I know many times our faith is strong. Sometimes, most of the time, our faith is weak. But it never ceases. You know why? because it's according to the power of the God of all grace.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said of the spirit, he said, the wind bloweth where it listeth. You can hear the sound thereof, but you can't tell where it's coming and where it's going. Isn't that true? You think he's going somewhere and he does not go there. And he goes way over here. What happened? Where did that come from? You see, we have no control over this, do we? We have no power over the spirit to go where he pleases. And I'll tell you this, you have no power over the spirit to where he refuses to go. If he refuses to come to a man, he won't go. Why? Because it's grace, isn't it? It's grace.

And this is the hope of everyone that's called Go to John chapter seven, look at this hope that you have if you're called. John chapter six. Look at verse 37. Here's the hope of every preacher because we fail so much and we're so weak. This is my hope every time I preach. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Man, that's just a true statement. You know who's going to come to Him? All that the Father gave Him. Not one more or one less. I don't know who they are, but they will come to Him.

And listen, His love for them is so great, He won't even cast them out. They deserve to be cast out. If you want to look at merit, we all deserve to be cast out. What did He say? I won't cast them out. Why? For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him, the God of all grace, the will of the God of all grace that sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me. And of all He hath given me, I should lose nothing. You that have been called by grace, you have been saved by grace. This is our hope that the God of all grace will keep us.

Once a man is called, you know, the first thing we see is our desperate need of him. We see our sin, don't we? We see it. It's not just sin no longer is not cursing and not doing this and not doing that. Sin is much more than that. Sin is not just actions that we can stop. Sin is what we are. That's what a man is called. He is consumed with his sin. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head is nothing but wounds, putrefying sores. We find our religion was dead, our faith was vain, our God was an idol.

And what do we do at that moment when God calls us? We turn from that. We repent. When God calls a man, exposes him, the first thing he does is he turns from that. But what does he turn to? Religion would have you turn to morality. They say, repent. and turn from sin to morality. Others would have you turn from one system of theology to another. Well, I turned from Arminianism, and now I believe the doctrines of grace. We don't repent to the doctrines of grace. We don't turn to the doctrines of grace. We repent from sin, which is what?

Everything we are. And we turn to a person. We turn to Christ. We turn to Christ because he is the only source of salvation. We turn to Christ by faith. Yes, we turn from sin. Yes, we turn from our false religion. Yes, we turn from our idols. But what do we turn to? Rather, who do we turn to? We turn to Christ. That's what calling of God's grace does. It turns us to Christ. And so our confession is the same as Paul's. What's your hope this morning? If you've been called by the God of all grace, what is your hope?

Paul said, this man. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 12, he said, but this man, Paul turned from those priests, didn't he? He turned from those animal sacrifices to what? This man. But this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down. What does he testify? One who is called of God testifies that Christ has done it all. He sat down. It's finished. It's done. Sat down, henceforth expecting his enemies to be made his footstool.

For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now if you want to know who are sanctified, you have to go back up to the previous verse. Those that were sanctified by the will of the Father and through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So those that were sanctified in the election of grace, those who were sanctified by the redeeming blood of Christ, are sanctified by the Spirit's calling.

And what is our hope this morning? What are you leaning on? What is your soul leaning on this morning? Everyone who is called is called to faith, to repentance in faith. Repentance from self-salvation. I have no hope in anything I've ever done to contribute to this salvation, none whatsoever. And every time the flesh, the flesh tries to creep it in. And what do we do? We are constantly turning from that, aren't we?

Repentance is not a one-time act. Again, repentance is not repentance from one sin or the other. That's what religion tells you. You need to repent of that sin. No, all of them. Turn from all of it. Turn from yourself. And this is a constant turning, isn't it? Do you not have to constantly turn from yourself? Do you have to constantly turn to Him?

I do. This is a perpetual thing, and those who are called are constantly leaning, constantly trusting in Christ. Now look at this, go back to your text. Those who are called, look at this, it's unto something. You are called unto His eternal glory. You are called unto his eternal glory. This is the purpose of your election, the purpose of your redemption, and the purpose of your calling.

Eternal life. Eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should what? Not perish. Not perish. Our Lord said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

That sounds like a challenge, doesn't it? You go to Isaiah, and you could read God's challenge to the false gods. And he said, which of you has any strength at all? You have hands, you have mouths, you have ears, but you can't hear, you can't see, you can't touch, you can't walk unless somebody takes you.

No, I'm the God that carries. Isn't this wonderful that He carries you? You don't carry your God. You don't move your God. Your God carries you. That's good, because I need to be carried. I have to be carried. To what? To eternal glory. This, my friends, is our destination. The destination of everyone called unto his eternal glory. Now, how? Man, this is always the troubling thing. How? How am I going to make it? The God of all grace who chose you and redeemed you and called you, the God of all grace will keep you based on this one thing. Look at your text. By what? by Christ Jesus. The sole reason that God is going to save me is by Christ Jesus. There's no other reason God would ever save me. There's no other way that God could ever save me. By Christ Jesus. By Christ Jesus. I gotta move on now. Let's see the third thing, the suffering. Look at this, what he says in your text. After that you've suffered a while.

Just as the streams of grace and redemption and forgiveness and pardon and love and adoption flow from the throne of God's grace. You listen to this very carefully. Suffering also is a gift of God. Now to me, maybe you've reached the heights of the apostle Paul where he says, therefore I will glory in my tribulation. Maybe you've reached that.

But I'll tell you what, my suffering don't feel like a gift. But according to the scripture, it is a gift. It is as much a gift as our salvation. Look at Philippians chapter 1. See if it isn't so. Philippians chapter 1 and look at verse 29. For unto you it is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe.

Now that's glorious, isn't it? It is given on the behalf of Christ that we should believe. But notice this. But also to what? Suffer. for his name's sake. In Acts chapter 14 it says that we threw much tribulation, much into the kingdom of God. I don't know if, I'm not a used car salesman, I'm not trying to sell you something.

If you believe on Christ, you'll suffer. The world, they have it, all wrong and backwards. They think you believe on Christ, everything's going to be nice. Everything's going to be, you're going to get money, you'll get wealth, you'll get health, you'll get prosperity. That's a lie. That is a lie from the enemy that walks around seeking whom he may devour. God gives us suffering. Look at what Peter said. Peter said suffering had a purpose. Look at first Peter chapter one. He says in verse 5, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time.

That's good news. Wherein we greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations, purpose, that the trial of your faith be much more precious than gold. What's precious? Faith. The trial reveals what? Faith. That's precious. Without that, it's impossible to please God. If you don't have faith, you've never been called. But if you have faith, it must be tried. It must be tested. It's much more precious than gold that perishes.

Though it be tried with fire, it might be found under the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. If your faith ever endures, who gets the glory? The God of all grace. The God of all grace. But listen, your faith must be tried. It will be tried.

Why? That we might learn obedience. You that believe, do you not want to obey him? Do you not want to serve him? How are you going to learn that? When you pray that, when you pray, Lord, give me faith. What do you ask me? Give me patience. What do you ask me? They're asking for suffering.

Because this is the means by which we grow. In faith, in love, and every grace. Why? Because suffering kicks the crutches out from underneath us. When we're put in prosperity, we start leaning on our own judgments. We start leaning on our own wisdom. We start leaning on our own understanding. And then all of a sudden, God comes and he takes all that away. What then do you lean on? My favorite passage goes, Honesty of the Apostles.

He said, will you go away also? I said, where are we going to go? When suffering comes, where else are you going to go? I have no place else to go. And I don't want to go anyplace else. Suffering lays us out and lays us low that we might sit at the feet of Christ and hear of him. And notice these things that suffering, the purpose of suffering. Go back to your text. We'll get these real fast. Purpose of suffering. Look at this.

Make you perfect. That's not like the religion is to tell you to make your flesh perfect. Suffering does not make your flesh less sinful. Matter of fact, when you start to suffer, what's the first thing that comes out? It's not perfection. It's sin. Complaints, murmuring. That's the first thing that comes out. So it's not that word. What the word here means, it's maturing. Again, if we desire to grow in grace, how are we gonna grow? Let the Lord make you mature.

Establish. Found. upon the rock of Jesus Christ. Suffering makes us established, founded. The apostle says that we should be rooted in the grace of God. Rooted down. That's what suffering does. It roots us down into Christ so we've got nothing else to cling to, nothing else to establish our souls except Him. All the things we trusted in are burned away through suffering.

And we have nothing else but Him establishes us. Listen, it strengthens us. Isn't that what Paul found about his thorn in the flesh? Jesus said, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in what? Your weakness. We're strengthened. When we have no strength, what are we? We're strengthened. Why? Because we're not trusting in ours, we're trusting in His.

And the last thing is settle you. Settle you. In suffering, do you not need to be settled? Peace. Isn't this what you long for? Peace. Peace in your heart, peace in your mind. Suffering always leads to this. Peace. Why? Because my peace is not founded on anything but Christ. He made my peace. Paul said, therefore, having been justified, we are at peace with God. You have peace. And what is suffering? Suffering brings us to that. It settles us.

My hope is that we would keep ourselves in the love of God, that we would abstain ourselves from the things of the flesh, that we would be aware of our enemies and always look to Christ. But what's my hope of that? The God of all grace. The God who chose me by grace, the God who redeemed me by grace, the God who called me by grace, the God who keeps me by grace. And though He has purposed my suffering, it's always for my good. is that He may cause me to grow. He may cause me to establish me. He may settle me. He may strengthen me.

Why? You read that next verse there, that all the glory and power and dominion belong to who? To God. Who gets the glory for my salvation in every part? Listen, the God of all grace. The God of all grace. I'm so thankful that salvation is by grace and not by works. All of it. And it doesn't depend on how I feel about it. It doesn't depend on my circumstances. Matter of fact, all the circumstances are working toward it. God gives us a heart to be thankful. And should we not be gracious? If we receive such grace, is it not that we should be the most kind and gracious people? We should be the most forgiving, the most loving. Thankful for the God of all grace.

I hope Lord blesses to you. We'll stand and be dismissed in prayer. I don't know who's going to get the chicken. Somebody's got to get the chicken. Let's go to him in prayer. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven, oh, our God in all the world, we are so thankful for your grace. We would have no hope of your grace. We would have no hope of redemption, of calling, except by your grace. And we could never keep ourselves without your grace. May we spend our days, Father, praising you for the glory of your grace that is in Christ our Savior, constantly looking in. I pray you forgive us our sins and lead us as we go and fellowship with one another. Father, I do pray you'd set our hearts and minds upon Christ. In his name we pray.