1 Peter 1. I'm going to read to you the first five verses. 1 Peter 1. through the fifth verse. Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ, grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that
fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, for you who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time." Basically, we're going to look at verses
3, 4, and 5. Verse 5 is what I wanted to get
to, but we'll walk through these first few verses because it's
all good. "...who are kept by the power
of God. We are told, or I've read, of
a godly man, a saintly man, when he was asked what he wanted on
his grave marker many, many years ago. And he replied with one
word. It's a big monument. One word. Kept. Kept. And there are those who I've
read Puritans and Reformers and etc., etc., the old writers,
there are those who say that it is indeed a wonder and a miracle
that God saves poor lost sinners, but they also ascribe the same
wonder and miracle to God as He keeps His sheep in that narrow
way. And some have even suggested
that it's more difficult to keep a sinner than save a sinner. I don't know about that, Alice.
I know it's all grace. But as far as we're concerned,
it seems like it is a monumental task. But I would most certainly
agree to begin the race is important. To finish it is just as necessary. So we can begin a race. And there's
a lot of people who begin something. They have good intentions. They
start something and they don't finish it. That's not so with
God. And this is what we see in these
three verses. So, I want to look at how it
is most certainly said that He does keep us. Well, let's look
at verse 3. Look at the wording. The wording
is just amazing. In verses 3-5, but we'll start
with verse 3. He says, Blessed be God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant
mercy hath begotten us again." According to His abundant mercy,
this is what it takes to save a sinner. Boy, girl, man, woman,
this is what it takes to save a sinner. Abundant mercy. Mercy, yes, but abundant. And that word means much, it
means large, or plenteous, plenteous mercy. And this, just stopping
right there, when I see that it took God abundant mercy, according
to His abundant mercy, begotten us again into a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it's all in and through Christ,
but that tells me two things, this abundant mercy that's been
bestowed upon us. One, how great and how sufficient
the work of Christ was. Abundant Mercy. And secondly,
how evil and bad and how much we needed saving. We had to have
Abundant Mercy. But also, look at what he says
as we continue on, according to his Abundant Mercy, He hath
begotten us again. Begotten us again. This is, we
were bore upon. This is birthed. The word is
procreate. Another form used here, regenerate. That's what we were. We were,
according to His abundant mercy, begot us. We were begotten. We were birthed. Birthed. By
the Gospel preached and believed upon. But by the mercy, abundant
mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Begotten. unto a lively hope."
People talk about we worship a dead Savior. We don't. We worship
a living Savior. He says, begotten us again, salvation,
we didn't birth ourselves, we didn't have anything to do with
how we came into this world, unto a lively hope. It's a lively
hope because our Savior and Redeemer is a living Savior and Redeemer.
And then he says that in the last section of this, by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This was all secured,
this abundant mercy given to us to give us a lively hope,
this was all secured eternally by the blessed raising of our
Sovereign Lord. He rose from the dead. If He
didn't raise from the dead, there's no salvation. So the resurrection
of Christ, as important as a doctrine, it's essential. In the Gospel,
we talk about substitution, we talk about justification, we
talk about glory, but none of it happens if Christ does not
raise from the dead. And as I said, this past April,
when everybody's celebrating Easter and doing this and that,
of course, a lot of the old writers and a lot of the commentaries
and most every daily devotional readers, they all were saying
something. They said something for about a week about the resurrection.
And I'm kind of like, and then the more I start thinking about
it, the more I got interested and the more excited I got. His
resurrection is paramount. in our salvation. Because I say,
if the stone is rolled away and He's still there, This is a farce. We might as
well go to Mohammedanism. We might as well go to Joseph
Smith. Nathan read a passage in Isaiah about the branch and
I said, I've had several Mormon friends. I said, they say that's
Joseph Smith. And I'm like, no it isn't. It's
Christ. But we might as well go worship
somebody else because this is a farce. But it is not. And we
know it's not in our heart because of the resurrection and this
abundant mercy that He He gave to us. And His hope is a living
hope. Well, look at verse 4. This blessing
of salvation, of grace, it is to an end. Turn to Jeremiah. Let me read verse 4. It's to
an end. Christ was raised from the dead.
Salvation is had. It's to an inheritance, incorruptible,
undefiled, phased out of the way, reserved in heaven for you.
Turn to Jeremiah chapter 29. Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse
11. This is God speaking. This grace,
this salvation, this mercy has an end. And God says in verse
11, Jeremiah 29, 11, For I know the thoughts that I think towards
you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to
give you an expected end. Every believer, not only do we
have a lively hope, but this hope has an end. And the end
of the prize, when we race for a prize, for a trophy, for something
tangible, this is an expected end. This blessing, blessed be
God, this blessing that He speaks about in verse 3, it has an end. And that end is inheritance. We possess, right now, through
the gracious act of a benevolent Savior, verse 4, we have an inheritance. Now that word is heirship, or
it simply means possession. We have a possession. Joined
heirs, the Scripture says we're joined heirs with Christ, because
of Christ, by Christ, with Christ. In Genesis 15, verse 1, He is
our exceeding great reward, or possession. That's what we have. That's our inheritance. Now look
at this inheritance. Look at this inheritance. Now,
if your parents die and they leave you something, and because
of your last name or your affiliation with them, you're going to get
something. We talked about this last week. You're going to get
something. And you may or you may not. It just depends. But
you may get that inheritance. You may not get that inheritance. because it's based upon the solid
rock foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ is guaranteed. He talks
about it in Hebrews. It's sure. It's steadfast. It's
everlasting. But look at these words to describe
this inheritance. Incorruptible. That means undecaying. It won't decay. I just looked
up the Greek and I'll tell you what these mean. It's also undefiled. That means pure. We get inheritance
from our folks, it's tainted. The government's going to get
some. The lawyer's going to get some. The other siblings are
going to get their... So by the time we get it, it's
tainted. This is pure. Pure. It's incorruptible. Undecayed. It's undefiled. It's pure. It
fades not away. That simply means in the Greek,
perpetual. Perpetual. I was talking to,
years ago, a gentleman that I went to school with, and he said once,
you know, he said he was a believer, and then by the time we graduated
from college, he's like, well, I don't believe this anymore.
And he says, you know, you believe in eternal. He goes, there's
nothing eternal. You die, that's it. And I just said, well, I
feel sorry for you. This inheritance that is the
children's, it's the children's, Our last name has been made the
same last name as our father's. It's undefiled, it fades not
away, it's perpetual, and more than that, it's reserved. I looked
this word up, had to do a little digging. It's a military word. It means guarded. Full military
protection. Full military protection. And
look at the last two words. You. And in the margin, it's
for us. Are you a believer? Do you understand
what we were before grace found us? Nothing? Worthless? Helpless? Hopeless? You trust
Christ for your only righteousness? Ever? Always? Only? This blessing,
this inheritance, is for you. is for you. Lastly, verse 5,
how do we know we're going to get there? How do we know? The
Scripture says those who are doer to the end, those are the
ones saved. And I know some of us here, and
I know myself, my own heart, sometimes we struggle with assurance,
sometimes we struggle with is this real? And I haven't really
thought about that. And then a couple of weeks ago,
I got inundated with doubt. And I'm like, it hasn't happened
in a long time. But I got to thinking, what if
this is just... And then the Lord just take every thought
captive to the obedience of Christ. Nope. This is real. This is real. Okay, so this is what we have. Verses 3 and 4 is what we have. We are to receive when we enter
into glory. Though truth be known, as Bruce said this morning in
Bible class, we fully possess these things right now. But in
and of ourselves, we ask ourselves, how shall we endure to finish
this oftentimes troublesome, tiresome, and weary journey. Weary journey. You know, we have
good health and then something happens and then, boom, now we're,
you know, now something happens and now we're not able to recover
like we used to. Or we break a bone and it doesn't
heal the way it's supposed to. Or all these different things.
Or whatever you say, this world is troublesome. And so it's a
struggle. And I will tell you this, if
this sojourn was left up to us, we would never complete the task.
We wouldn't do it. We don't have the fortitude.
But once again, I say what God, through the lovely Lord Jesus
Christ, and applied by the Holy Spirit, what He has started,
it says He will finish. If He has started that good work,
that good work of grace in the heart, He will complete it. Look at verse 5, the first one.
Who are kept? Who are kept? That's that one
word on that tombstone. Who are kept? Kept. That word means to protect. It's another military phrase.
It means to protect so much with a garrison or guarded with sentinels. We're kept. We're guarded. It's
kind of like if you think about Job, The Lord had a hedge about
him. And if something happens, well,
I'm hedged about. Well, yeah, he allowed things
to happen to Job. Took his family, first family,
his wife, custody, all of it. He had good friends, or I guess
you could call them good friends. We are kept. This is how we're
kept. Turn to Psalms 121. I saw other passages that show
how kept the believer is. Psalms 121. Psalms 121 and verse
5. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. He's our keeper. The first part of verse 5, the
Lord is our keeper. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 2. This is beautiful. 1 Samuel chapter 2. It almost
sounds a little bit like 1 Peter. We're in here. 1 Samuel chapter
2 verses 8 and particularly verse 9. God raises up the poor out
of the dust. He lifts the beggar from the
dunghill to set them among princes, to make them inherit the throne
of glory. For the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's, and He has set the world upon them. Verse 9,
He will keep the feet of His saints. He will keep the feet
of His saints. And the wicked shall be silent
in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail." No man
prevailed. John chapter 10, verse 27, 28, and 29. Verse 27 of John 10, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never, never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave
them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. Kept. Kept. Kept. Kept. What comfort! What joy
this brings to the believer. Because we know, as Jeremiah
10 says, the way of man is not in himself. We cannot keep ourselves. We can't keep ourselves. We're
often backwards, we're often frail, we're prone to wander,
prone to fall, prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave
the God I love, take my heart and seal it. That's what we need.
In this context, back in our text in 1 Peter, who are kept
by the power of God through faith. Christ is God's power. In the
context here, Christ is God's power. Therefore, we're kept. No man can pluck us out of his
hand, is what we just read. We're kept, never to be condemned,
because the Romans says it's Christ that died and Christ that
justified. Who condemns us? We're kept never
to be judged because our sins have been judged already in Christ.
We're kept never to slip, for we're on solid ground, we're
not on sinking sand, on Christ the solid rock we stand. We're
kept never to be forsaken, for the Scripture says that we are
the apple of His eye, Psalm 17 verse 8 and Zechariah 2 verse
8. We're the apple of His eye. We'll
never be forsaken. We're kept, never to be separated
from our spouse or our husband. For the scripture says, who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword? No, nothing. We are kept. Who are kept? Who are kept? By the power of
God. God's power. It's His essential
power. It's His omnipotent power. His
unchanging power. And I add, His unchallenged. Now people, they shake their
fist in God's face and spit on Him and say, well, I'm an atheist,
I don't believe anything. And they do. They just think
they don't. God's power is unchallenged.
And we're kept by this power. He says, nextly, through faith. Faith. Of which, Christ is the
author and finisher. You see the globe, the orb, the
sphere of the grace of God, everything in the Scriptures, it's just,
it's circlic. Christ, it always comes back
to Him. The old writer said it's like, they look like a spoke
and a wheel. Christ is the hub. Everything
points and goes to Him. Everything. You won't have a
wheel if you don't have a hub. But I like what Gary Shepard
said years ago, the gospel is harmony, it's just circle. It
keeps coming back on Christ, because of Christ, with Christ.
And the Holy Spirit reveals the things of Christ. And God loves
His Son and His delight is with the sons of men. So faith, this
faith is looking to and leaning upon and solely trusting In the
Lord Christ, it's even more than that. It's completely living
upon Him and His established righteousness on our behalf. Unto salvation. The word here
is safety. And why wouldn't it be? Because
we're kept and we're surrounded by a garrison and sentinels and
we're kept. We're kept. It's unto salvation,
the word safety. Are we not truly safe in the
shepherds, in his arms? And we sing under the blood of
Jesus, I am secure or safe in him. That's what we sing. And
lastly, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. And you don't have to turn
here, but Romans 13, 11 says, our salvation is nearer, nearer
than when we first believed. Brethren, the time is short.
Let us cling to our kinsman Redeemer. And one day, as it says in 1
John, we will, absolutely, See Him as He is. We'll behold His
face. And we won't need faith. We'll
see Him as He is. And together, we'll be together
with our Lord forever, adoring our best friend. Verse 3, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. to the expected end of an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, fades not away, is reserved in heaven
for you. Incidentally, you are kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. So my quick synopsis is, He started
it all, He'll finish it all. All to the praise of the glory
of His grace. Matt, would you close this?