Let's open our Bibles again to
1 Peter chapter 5. Earlier this evening, I was telling
Bob and Carla, I don't do real well getting outlines ahead.
If I prepare an outline ahead, by the time I get to it, it seems
like the fire's gone out, or I don't know. But for a couple
of weeks, I read ahead. I knew I was coming here. I read
this portion of Scripture, and I immediately saw an outline.
It's such a blessing to me, I've been excited to preach it and
it's been a real blessing to me this week as I've looked at
it. I hope it will, you too. The title of the message is Grace,
the defense against the adversary. Now, verse 7, Peter writes, casting
all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Now, we left
off there last week, we looked at humility. The evidence of
true humility is you don't have any confidence in yourself. So
you cast all your care upon Christ. You cast all your worldly cares
upon him because you know, I'm not able to take care of myself.
And you especially cast all your care, all your hope of salvation
upon him, because if you're going to be saved, he's got to do it.
Casting all your care upon him. And I'll show you more of that
here in just a minute. But look on in verse 8. Peter
writes, be sober. Be vigilant, because your adversary,
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he
may devour." Now, believers have a very serious adversary, the
devil, Satan. Satan is a frightening adversary. Peter describes him as a roaring
lion. The wickedness and the power
of Satan make even his roars scarce half to death, much less
if he can get his mitts on us. He's a frightening adversary.
He's a crafty adversary. He hunts like a lion, hiding
in the tall grass, waiting to jump out and get the unsuspecting.
He's a vicious adversary. His desire is to devour, to destroy
God's elect. And he is a determined adversary,
always on the prowl, walking about, seeking his prey. Given
this adversary, Peter said, be sober. That word sober means
moderate. Be moderate in your use of the
things of this world. Be moderate in your love for
the things of this world. Because those are the very things,
the things of the world, the pleasures of the world, those
are the things that Satan uses as bait to get his prey. Isn't
that what he used against our Lord when he tempted the Lord
Jesus? He used the things of this world, fame and power and
riches and so forth. Those are what he uses to tempt
God's people. Now, enjoy the blessings of this
life God gives you. God gives you these blessings.
You enjoy them. But don't make getting them your main desire.
Because sure as you do, they'll become a trap to you. These are
the things Satan uses. Be moderate. And be vigilant. Always be on the lookout. Don't
ever let your guard down. Be watchful. Be watchful over
your doctrine. Be watchful over your conduct.
Be watchful over your attitude. Look back at Matthew 26. How
do I do that? Be watchful over my doctrine,
over my conduct, over my attitude. Matthew 26, verse 41. This is what our Lord tells Peter.
Watch and pray. Watch and pray that you enter
not into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. Watch and pray. Because the flesh
is so weak. The Spirit's willing, but the
flesh is weak. Because we have such a powerful adversary. Be
watchful with prayer. Watch and pray. And don't ever
get careless. Don't ever get careless about
Christ the Savior. This is a danger. Those of us
who've had the gospel our whole life, it's a danger. It'll be there Sunday. It'll
be there Wednesday. It'll be there next year. Hope
so. Hope so. Be watchful. Don't get careless about Christ
the Savior. Don't get careless about the
gospel. The moment we become careless about the gospel, we'll
compromise and start that downward trend. Don't be careless about
preaching, about preaching or listening to preaching. Don't
be careless about it. Don't be careless about the worship service.
It'll lead to disaster every time. Every time it'll lead to
disaster. Now, Satan is the believer's
adversary. Now, this doesn't just mean Satan is an enemy.
who's opposing us. This word adversary means an
accuser in a court of law. Someone who's suing you over
a point of law in court. Our adversary is a litigator. Well, he fits right in here,
doesn't he? Everybody in this country is
a litigator anymore. And if you're not one, they've
got a commercial on TV trying to make you one. Be a litigator.
Sue somebody. Our adversary is a litigator.
who is accusing God's people on a legal basis, a legal basis. And there's a very specific way
we're to handle this legal accusation. Look at verse 9. Whom resist,
steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are
accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Now, we're
never to defend ourselves by putting up our dupes and getting
ready to slug it out with Satan. We will lose that battle every
single time. You and I are no match for Satan. Robert Hawker said this, he said,
I'm thankful Satan's invisible because the sight of him would
scare us to death. So if the sight of him would
scare us to death, imagine trying to duke it out with him. We can
handle him. We can't handle the sight of
him. We certainly can't handle a fight with him. So the way
we resist this legal adversary is faith. Resist in the faith. You resist by looking to Christ
to satisfy every demand of the law. Remember, this is a legal
accusation our adversaries bring. Well, you resist in the faith,
looking to Christ to fulfill all that law. We resist Satan
by faith in the blood of Christ to pay for our sins. That faith
will win the battle every time. We resist Satan with faith in
Christ my righteousness. That faith will win the battle
every time. Christ my righteousness. And here's comfort for you. We
have a great enemy. Now we're not pretending we don't.
We have a great enemy. I don't want anything to do with
him. I don't know really a whole lot about him. But I know he's
a great enemy. But here's our comfort. We have
an even greater friend. We have a great accuser. But
we have an even greater Savior. And we also find comfort in this.
that we're not alone in these battles. You always like to know
you're not in it alone, don't you? We're not in this alone. Satan is attacking all the brethren
in the world. Not all the brethren. All the
brethren in the world. And all the brethren have one
defense. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this attack, these trials
and troubles, They're going to end on this earth. Peter says they're accomplished
in your brethren that are in the world. They're accomplished
in this world. Believers will not deal with these troubles
and these accusations and these attacks in glory because they'll
be accomplished in this world. They're just temporary. If you
look back at Luke chapter 22, our brother Peter knows exactly
what he's talking about here. He dealt with this adversary. In Luke 22, look at verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you
as wheat. But I prayed for thee, that thy
faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. Peter was sifted, wasn't he?
But his faith didn't fail. Peter failed, but his faith did
not fail because Christ himself prayed for Peter, that his faith
wouldn't fail. The object of our faith is the
very one who's interceding for us on the right hand of the throne
before the Father. Now, some years after this, the
Lord prayed for Peter. He went through this sifting
of Satan. Now he's strengthened. He's converted. And he's able to strengthen his
brother in the faith by writing this epistle to us. Now, he tells
us our plea is faith. This is our defense. Is that
shield of faith going to be good enough for all God's elect? Yes,
it will. Look back at verse 10 in our
text. It will. But the God of all grace, who
has called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
that you have suffered a while, make you perfect. establish,
strengthen, settle you. Now Satan, the accuser of the
brethren, brings legal charges against God's people. And our
defense is faith. And our plea is grace. Grace is only for the guilty. Grace is only for those people
who don't have any other hope. Grace is only for those people
who are dead in sins. And God's grace brings deliverance
from every charge of the broken law. Every one of them. You know
well the idea of the law first mentioned. The first time a word
is used in scripture, that's what it means all the way through.
Grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. The first time grace is used
in scripture. Noah lived in a world that was under the condemnation
of God because of sin. God was going to destroy the
world with water because of sin. I saw a special on TV the other
day. I stopped and watched these things.
I don't know why I do. It always makes me mad. Trying their best
to disprove the flood. You children, listen to me. You're
going to hear this now. People tell you the flood never
happened. Yes, it did. Now, it did. God
flooded the entire planet. Of course, we don't know how
He did it. Just because we can't figure it out doesn't mean He
didn't do it. God did it. God can do things we can't understand.
God destroyed the world with a flood because of sin. And Noah
was as guilty as everybody else living in his day. Noah could
have been destroyed right along with everybody else and nobody
could have said anything against him. God would have been just
because of sin in Noah too. But Noah found grace. in the eyes of the Lord. Noah
was guilty, but he found grace in the eyes of the Lord and he
was delivered from death in the ark. That picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Noah was delivered from death
because of sin by God's grace. And that's what God's grace does
every time. Every other time it's mentioned.
That ark for the wrath Noah deserved. And Noah lived because of grace. So our plea His grace. Every charge is true. I'm not
saying it's not true. It's true. But I'm trusting in
God's grace and I'm making my plea to the God of all grace.
Now, Satan brings charges. The first charge he brings is
there's no good in you that would cause God to accept you. There's
no good in you, nothing in you that will ever cause you to go
to God. And even if you did, there's nothing in you that caused
God to love you. Absolutely true. But my plea
is God's electing grace. My only hope is that I was chosen
in Christ and loved in Christ before the world began. Electing
grace. My plea is what our Lord told
the disciples. You haven't chosen me, but I've chosen you. And if he's chosen me, I'm covered
in grace. My plea is grace. Then Satan
charges, you're not a child of God. You're a son of Adam. You're
a child of wrath, even as others. By nature, that's true. I am.
But I'm trusting in God's adopting grace. Look back at Titus chapter
3. I'm trusting in God's adopting
grace. It is chapter 3, verse 7. That being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
That the only people that are heirs are children. I'm son of
Adam. You are too. How can we be made
heirs? Adopting grace. Made sons and
daughters. Adopting grace. That's my plea.
Well, then Satan charges, well, you're dead in trespasses and
sins. Absolutely true. By nature, there's
no denying that. But my plea is God's regenerating
grace. If you're still there in Titus
3, look up verse 5. Not by works of righteousness,
which we've done. I'm dead in trespasses and sins.
I don't have any works of righteousness. But according to his mercy, he
saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. But she shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. I'm dead in trespasses and sins,
but my plea is God's regenerating grace. Then Satan charges, you're
too far away from God. Going the wrong way. And sadly,
that's true, isn't it? That's the way we are by nature.
And sometimes, even after the Lord saves us, it sure seems
that way, doesn't it? It seems like I'm a long way
from God. Oh, I'm a long way. That's true. But I'm trusting my plea is in
the grace of God that brings salvation where I am. If you're
still there in Titus, look back to chapter 2. I'm trusting in
God's grace that brings salvation to me, no matter how far away
I am. Titus 2, verse 11, for the grace of God that bringeth
salvation. hath appeared to all men." And
by God's grace, the Lord Jesus Christ has appeared to me. He's revealed Himself to me and
He's revealed Himself in me. I am far away from God by nature.
That's absolutely true. But I trust that God will save
me by His grace. That He'll call me by the same
grace that He called the Apostle Paul. He'll call me to where
He is. Then Satan charges. Well, you're
too guilty, you're too full of sin for God to save you. Well,
it's true, I'm guilty. It's true, I'm full of sin, but
I'm not too full of sin for God to save me. My plea is God's
pardoning grace, that God will pardon my sin for Christ, my
substitute's sake. Then Satan charges, you've got
a debt. You can't pay it. You don't have
anything that you can pay that debt with. You've got nothing
to pay. Absolutely right. I've got nothing to pay. But
I'm trusting in God's free grace, being justified freely by his
grace, which is in Christ Jesus. Then Satan charges, oh, you're
too full of doubts, too full of fears. Fear you'll die. You fear you'll depart. You doubt
that you can live. You doubt God will work all this
out. Now, you read that, but you really
doubt God's going to work all this out for your good and for
His glory. You doubt that. You know this. If you can lose your salvation,
you will. You're too full of doubts. Boy,
that's true. I wish it wasn't true, but it's
true. But my plea is God's abundant grace. Look back at Romans chapter
5. I'm sorry, I skipped one. Yeah,
Romans 5. My plea is God's sovereign grace. Romans 5, verse 17. For by one
man's offense, death reigned by one. Much more. They which receive abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus
Christ." That is God's sovereign grace will reign. No matter what
it is I fear, His grace will reign over it. Look at verse
21. That is, sin hath reigned unto
death. Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. God will sovereignly overrule
everything that will cause me to lose my salvation. I can fear
all those things, but God's grace, his sovereign grace will overrule
all those things. Then Satan charges, well, your
sins are too many. Oh, yes, God saves sinners, but
your sins are too many, too many to be forgiven. Your sins are
more than the hairs of your head. Absolutely true. Undeniable. But my plea is God's abundant
grace. Romans 5 verse 20. Moreover,
the law entered that the offense might abound, but were sin abounded. Grace did much more abound. Oh, I'm pleading God's abundant
grace. I'm a great sinner. I need abundant
grace. And that's my plea to the God
of all grace. Abundant grace. Then Satan says,
well, you're going through this time of suffering. Yes, all those
things doctrinally are true, but you're going through this
time of suffering. God must not love you. If he's letting you
suffer like this, God must not love you. None of these other
promises can apply to you. No, no, that's not true. I'm trusting even in this time
of suffering in God's sufficient grace. Yes, it's suffering. It's real. But on my plea is
God's sufficient grace. My Savior said, my grace is sufficient
for thee. That's why I'm going to plead.
That's why I'm going to trust him. By God's grace, this time
of suffering doesn't mean God doesn't love me. It'll mature
my faith. When Peter says here, make you
perfect, he means make you mature, make your faith mature, grow
up. By God's grace, this time of suffering, will establish
me into faith. Now, if it's not real faith,
it'll blow me away and I'll be gone and you'll never see me
again. But if my faith is real, this trial will strengthen my
faith so that I shall not be moved. Once David said, I shall
not be greatly moved. Then he went on a little bit
and he said, I shall not be moved. He was strengthened, wasn't he?
Established, strengthened. By God's grace, this time of
suffering, yes, it's heavy. Yes, it's difficult, but it'll
strengthen my faith. That's the way faith is going
to be strengthened. But it's not going to be strengthened
by growing greater and greater and greater itself. You know
how faith grows greater? By becoming more dependent. This
trial, this suffering is going to cause me to become more and
more and more dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
is the definition of strong faith. By God's grace, this time of
suffering is going to cause me to settle
down. Just not running around like Chicken Little is going
to cause me to settle down. When Peter says it makes you
perfect, it makes you mature, established, strengthened, and
when he says settle you, he means the same thing that we tell our
children. Every parent has told their children, settle down.
Just settle down. That's what Peter is saying here.
This thing in the end is going to enable me to be calm, settle
down and wait on the Lord. Just wait on him. And I can be
calm knowing this. I can go to the throne of grace. The throne of grace, not just
any throne, the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. Now, only God in his grace can
accomplish that in his people. And it takes grace. Aren't you
glad our God's the God of all grace? He'll do it. He'll do
this for every one of his people. And Peter knew this from experience,
didn't he? Poor old Peter. This guy's unstable
as water. Well, he suffered a while, didn't
he? Now established. He's established. He's settled
down. And now he's writing to us. through
our unstable water, to teach us to settle down. Well, last,
Satan says, you don't know if this thing is going to last or
not. Is it going to last? No, I do know. I know this salvation
will last. I know it will. Because God who
has called us, Peter says to what? His eternal glory. It's going to last. It's eternal. Look back. It's a second Timothy
chapter one. God's eternal purpose is grace. It's going to last. Second, Timothy one verse nine. Speaking here of God, who has
saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to
our own words, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."
Now, since God's eternal purpose is grace, salvation by grace,
then salvation is all grace. Is that right? Salvation is all
grace. Well, since salvation is all
grace, my works, I don't care how bad that I think they are,
They'll never cause me to lose my salvation. Because salvation's
not by my works. It's by grace. It's by Christ
Jesus. And my works, no matter how good
I think they are, will never add to my salvation. Because
salvation is by grace. By Christ Jesus. Not by anything
I've done. Salvation is by grace. By Christ Jesus. Because of Him,
because of what He accomplished for His people. Salvation is
by grace. Then my sins present no problem,
do they? Not if Christ died for me. Not
if He shed His blood for me. My sins present no problem. He's
put my sins away. Salvation is by grace. There's
nothing I can do to stop it. It's God's eternal purpose. I
can't do something and cause me to lose it. So my adversary,
can never bother me, can never cause me harm as long as I look
to Christ in faith and plead His grace. Look at Revelation
chapter 12. Our adversary can cause us no
harm because salvation is by grace. Revelation 12 verse 10. And I heard a loud voice. saying
in heaven, Now has come salvation and strength in the kingdom of
our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our
brethren." That adversary who brings these legal accusations,
the accuser of our brethren, is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night, and they overcame him. How? By
the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives unto death. So, since salvation
is all grace, grace is our only legal defense, cast yourself
on the grace of the court. Look back at verse 7 in our text.
Casting all your care upon him. Now this doesn't mean what we
normally think of when we talk about throwing ourselves on the
mercy of the court. When we normally, when we say
that, what we mean is, I'm guilty, but show me leniency. When I
say cast yourself, on the grace of the court. I mean, make grace
your plea in the court of God's law. And when you plead grace,
you're pleading justice. You're pleading justice. We say
yes. Every railing accusation my accuser
brings against me is true. Every one of them. But my plea
is that the Lord Jesus Christ died for me. Yes, I've committed
all that sin, but my plea is that Christ my substitute paid
that sin debt with his blood on Calvary's tree. So my plea
is justice. I'm pleading my sins have already
been paid for through the suffering and the death of my substitute.
That's my plea. I have no other plea other than
Christ who died for me. That's my plea. Now if I'm under
grace, the law cannot charge me. because Christ already died
to pay the debt. Now, you want some more comfort?
The judge hearing the case is none other than our Savior, who
died for you. And He cares about you. Who careth
for you, Peter says. God cares about the salvation
of your soul. God cares. His children suffer. They're in pain and they have
worries. The Savior cares. He cares for you. He cares about
your growth in grace. He cares about your faith growing
and being established and strengthened. There's comfort in this truth.
He cares for you. Well, Satan is defeated. Every
accusation is defeated by grace, isn't it? And after that, after
every accusation of our adversary has been shot down, he may have
one more question. Why? I thought I had you. You're
guilty. You're vile. You're wretched.
I thought I had you. Why would God do something like
that for somebody like you? Why such grace to a sinful wretch
like you are? Here's the answer, verse 11,
so that Christ would be glorified. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. So be it. I'll amen that. to him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. It's by grace. And the very reason
Peter wrote this epistle is so that believers would be established
in God's grace. Look at verse 12. By Silvanus,
a faithful brother unto you, I suppose, I've written briefly,
exhorting, this is preaching, exhorting and testifying that
this is the true grace of God wherein you stand. Peter wrote
this epistle to confirm this is the only grace that saves.
God's free grace in Christ Jesus. And this is the grace wherein
you stand. You can only stand in the presence
of the Almighty in Christ by grace. And I don't care how long
you believe, you never outgrow your need for grace. We always will stand by grace. So we preach. in the most strong
and most clear terms possible, grace. This is the grace when
you stand. Verse 13, the church that is
at Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you. So does
Marcus, my son. Greet ye one another with a kiss
of charity. Peace be with you all there in
Christ Jesus. You know, people saved by grace,
people whose plea is grace, they're loving people. Kind people. Greet
one another with love and affection. I like to hug everybody. I'm
a hugger. I just, I like that. Peter says,
greet one another with a kiss of charity. This is, I thought
of this. I have a good friend. Every time I've ever seen him
see his pastor for whatever, you know, for the first time
in that particular day, he puts a big old kiss right on his cheek.
Every time. I don't know, you know, whatever.
It just seems kind of odd, but it's not, is it? Greet one another,
a kiss of charity. You know, Joyce gives me a kiss. I love it. You know, you know.
Be warm with one another. Loving people. We've got this
same love. I love you all. I mean, God's
given us a love one for another. I'm thankful. Don't we have the
same love for our brethren in other places? The church is not
this. It's God's people across the
whole planet, across all time. This is God's church. They're
all part of the same family, the same faith and the same plea. Grace. Oh, make your plea. Grace. Make your trust. God's
grace. Sinners. Are you a sinner? Sinners
can trust grace. God's electing grace. God's adopting
grace. His regenerating grace gave life
to the dead. Grace that brings salvation. Wherever that lost sheep is,
grace will bring salvation to them. Pardoning grace. Free grace. Sovereign grace. Abundant grace. Sufficient grace. Eternal grace. Thank God for
His grace. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for your grace, rich, abundant, free, sovereign grace for the
guilty. How thankful we are that in your
mercy, in your grace, you've made it so that sinful men and
women like we are can come before the bar of God's justice, before
the God of all and plead your grace. Father, we're thankful. Oh, make
us a grateful and thankful people. Human words cannot express how
wonderful grace is for the guilty. We thank you. And Father, we
pray that if it could be your will You enable us to show forth
your grace, to preach your grace, that people who know us out in
the community will not see a self-righteous, hypocritical person who is difficult
to be around, but a person whose heart is affected by grace. Soften us with your grace. Keep us by your grace, we pray. In the precious name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, we give thanks. All right, Michael.