Well my text this morning is
verse 10 of 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 10. But the God of all
grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. The distinguishing mark of the
true God, the true God of the scriptures, The true God of the
universe, the distinguishing mark of the true God as opposed
to all false idols is grace. You look at the other gods of
the world, there is none that is gracious. You think about
it, our God is a consuming fire. Our God is holy and cannot look
upon sin. Our God detests sin, our God
confined the fallen angels for one sin to an eternity of hell. Our God cannot tolerate sin,
and yet he is gracious to sinners like you and me. He is a God
of grace. He trumpets it throughout the
scriptures. He is a God of grace. A God of grace. What is his great
glory? It is his grace. Moses said,
show me your glory. This is what he said. I will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Sovereign grace. A display of
unmerited favor. Do you know you don't earn anything
with God? You earn nothing that makes him
look upon you as any better than anybody else. It is all of grace. It is only because of his grace.
It's the riches, grace, God's riches at Christ's expense. The
riches of God in salvation bestowed because Christ paid the price.
He paid, he bore the cost, he bore the expense of it. and it's
sovereign. It's of God's own will. Oh, people don't like that, do
they? The human heart rises up against that because the human
heart so much likes to think that we are sovereign over our
affairs, but God is sovereign in the affairs of salvation and
of eternity. We sing of grace, we've sung
this morning of amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. We're going to sing at the end
about the gospel trumpet sounding, and if free grace why not for
me? The God of all grace, that's
the title of this message. Verse 10, the God of all grace.
And you know, whilst God is called the God of grace throughout the
New Testament and indeed the whole scripture, I believe this
is the only verse where it says he's the God of all grace. The
God of all grace. Why is this so important to you
and me this morning? The answer is because of our
need as sinners before God. We need his unmerited favor upon
us because we have no other hope. If he doesn't show favour to
us by his grace, we are lost. And it's not unfair we're facing
just condemnation. But, if we are favoured, unmerited,
if we are favoured by God, if we are shown His grace in the
Gospel, do you know what the end of it is? Do you know what
the goal of it is? Do you know what the purpose
of God is in showing grace to sinners? Do you know what the
end of it is? The end of that sovereign act of God is eternal
glory. That His people should be with
Him. What did Christ pray in John 17? I pray that they may
be with me, where I am. in heaven, his people with him
in heaven, in eternal glory, in a state of bliss, whatever
bliss you might ever have experienced in this life, it pales into insignificance
and will be forgotten as negligible in comparison to the glory that
is there in eternity for the people of God. Life may be full
of promise now, There may be so many things that you feel
the need to do. The prospect of death is not
a happy prospect as we live this life, but you ask a believer
that's getting older, and it is funny, I'm not trying to bring
on any kind of morbid sentiment to this, but it is true, it is
absolutely true, with every year that passes, the more and more
happy you become at the prospect of leaving this life. It's absolutely
true. Ask an old believer who has a
good hope, we go and see Evelyn from time to time, you'll remember
Evelyn, we go and see Evelyn and you know what she says all
the time, oh I'm just longing to go to glory, I'm just longing
to go to heaven, to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better. But before believers attain glory,
there is a journey here. There is what Peter calls suffering
for a while, after you have suffered for a while, and for a final
purpose. It's for a purpose, to do things
with us while we suffer here. That suffering has a purpose
on our road to eternal glory. That's what our text tells us,
and it's what I want to look at with you this morning. Firstly,
grace. Grace. It's a little word, but
it's got such rich meaning. I've already said, God's riches
at Christ's expense. Do you understand that? Well,
you can hear what I say and you understand the words, but do
you understand it? You cannot plumb the depths of it. And there
are no doubt much more capable preachers than I am who can explain
it to you better than I can. And you can read books about
it and you can get filled with head knowledge about what the
grace of God is more and more. And you might even be able to
answer questions about it. But do you know something? If
you can do all of that, you know nothing about grace until you've
experienced it. Until you can say what it is
to feel the grace of God in your inner being. To feel the salvation
of God in Christ applied to your sinful soul. To know what it
is! to be a guilty, justly condemned sinner before God and feel, what
do I need? How should a man be just with
God? To feel that grace of God come in saving power, in the
blood of Christ, and apply that grace and that saving, cleansing
blood to our souls and to experience it, to know it, so that we lie
down in peace and sleep as Psalm 4 says. Why? Because God keeps
me, he's kept me. Knowing that we can relax and
rest because I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. Knowing that cleansing
in Christ's shed blood applied by grace to our souls, that's
what it is to experience grace. And only when you've experienced
it, you can talk about it, you can write books about it, but
you know nothing of it unless you've experienced it in your
inner man. Knowing, as it were, the God
who is a consuming fire and the just judge, knowing his everlasting
arms put around us. Everlasting arms to take us to
eternal glory, guiding us directing us, chastising us even, because
what loving father does not chastise his child? Comforting us, keeping
us. When our fleshly nature drifts
from God, when it's enticed by the world around, and oh the
world is so, so alluring and enticing. When we drift into
false thinking, when we rebel against gospel precepts, when
we're impatient, when we're unthankful, we all need grace. And we need
all grace to draw us back to God and his truth. The God of
all grace to draw us back to his truth. And it is all grace. All grace. And why do I make
a thing of this? It's the only verse, as I said,
in the New Testament where it says, all grace. He's the God
of grace, but God of all grace. It's an infinite supply. Is that
not what Peter means here? He, think of Peter. Oh, what
a wonderful apostle, as the Catholics say, the first Pope. No, he wasn't.
No, he wasn't. Peter said to the Lord Jesus
Christ, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. I'll never
leave you nor desert you, and hours later, less than that,
he was cursing and denying that he knew the Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know that I love
you. But he was so full of shame as to what he was that Jesus
says to him, Peter, feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed them, feed
them. He knew the need for all grace,
this infinite supply this infinite supply that can reach right down
to the deepest depths of sin and rebellion against God. It's
never exhausted whilst we live in the flesh. Grace. I've barely
scratched the surface. Think on it. The key thing is
you only know it when you've experienced it in salvation,
in that cleansing blood, in that sin-atoning blood that Christ
has shed for the sins of his people. It's grace which has
called us to glory. The God of all grace has called
us to eternal glory by Christ Jesus. That's how he has called
us, by Christ Jesus. He's called us to glory. It's
because he's gracious that he's called us to glory. If you believe,
you believe only because God has been gracious to you. Sovereignly,
he has chosen to reveal this truth to you. He's gracious to
sinners, the God of all grace. He's determined to land every
last one of His elect, the multitude that no man can number, that
He gave to Christ before the foundation of the world. He has
determined that though they would be sinners in the flesh as children
of Adam, He has determined to land them safe in glory at the
end of time. And He has called them out by
His Spirit in time. At a particular point in time,
he calls out each and every one. You who were dead in trespasses
and sins, he's quickened and made alive so that you hear the
gospel. And hearing it, he gives you
a heart which is willing to believe it. He makes his people willing
in the day of his power. He called his people in eternity,
before time, when he betrothed them to Christ, and gave them
the name of Christ, as in the marriage betrothal, in the union
of his people with Christ. But he must call each and every
one of these same people, sinners like everyone else, he must call
them at a point in time. Do you remember? He called Samuel. Do you remember Samuel? The young
boy Samuel that Hannah had prayed for and she had a child and she
was so delighted and she promised to give him to the Lord for the
service of the Lord. And he went up to the temple
and served God in the temple and he was just a young boy.
And there he is, and he's with the old priest Eli. And he says,
right Samuel, go down and sleep in your place by the ark of God.
And he went and slept. And as he's going off to sleep,
he hears the voice, Samuel, Samuel. Oh, Eli, you called me, didn't
you? No, I didn't call you my son. Go back and sleep. Samuel,
Samuel. Oh, but you did call me. No,
I didn't call you. Go back to sleep. Third time,
Samuel, Samuel. Then he goes and Eli perceives
that it is the Lord, it is the Lord. Say, here I am Lord, your
servant is listening. He calls Samuel and he calls
each and every one. Has he called you? I know he
hasn't called you with an audible voice, no. But has he called
you by the gospel of his grace? As you've heard the gospel preached,
And you think, unlike everyone else around who has no thought
or time for the living God, you've heard the call of God in the
gospel of his grace, as his son has been lifted up in the preaching
of the gospel. Have you heard his trumpet call? to the sound of the gospel. You
know like the military, I don't know whether they still do it
now, but they used to sound the bugle in barracks to tell everybody
to get up. It was the Reveille, was that
what it was called? I think it was, the Reveille. And the trumpet
would sound and that meant get out of bed. Boy, were you in
trouble if you didn't get out of bed and go and get on parade
when you heard that trumpet. Has he called you to come out
of this world? Listen to what Galatians 1 verse
4 says, speaking of Christ. He gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of our God and our Father. That he might deliver
us, he's called us out of this world. Have you heard his call
to separate from the thinking of this unbelieving world around
us. I don't know if you can say the same, but I find the more
and more I listen to the public media, the more and more my spirit
recoils against the doctrine of Antichrist that is in everything
that they put forward. Absolutely everything that they
put forward is paraded as good in these days. It's completely
against the gospel of God's grace. Has he called you to come out
of that thinking into the light of his knowledge? Come out from
among them, says 2 Corinthians 6, 17. Come out from among them
and be separate, says the Lord. Not a holier-than-thou separation,
but a separation of thinking and of attitude and of practices. Not only called out of the world
with its antichrist philosophy, but called out of false religion?
Has he called you, anybody listening, has he called you out of false
religion? To discern that it's false and
why it's false, however good it might sound on the surface
and superficially, You discover it's false. The truth of the
gospel of grace is not in it. You discover that it's actually
idolatry. You discover, as John did in
Revelation 17, when he looked at what he thought was the church,
the woman arrayed in gorgeous adornments, and he discovered
that she was a whore named Babylon. Have you discovered that? Has
he called you out of it? Come out of her, my people, said
God. Revelation 18 verse 4. Has he called you to the power
of God, which is the gospel? Because the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation, said Paul. Has he called you to the power
of God, out of the mere form and shadows of mechanical religion,
called you to true life in the gospel of his grace? Not just
to correct doctrine, you can tick all the boxes doctrinally,
or at least think you can, but completely miss it. As Jesus
said to the Ephesians in Revelation chapter 2 and the first few verses,
he said, I've got all these things that are good about you, you
don't tolerate error, you're very strong on doctrine, but
you've left your first love. You've left that true love and
life of the gospel of grace. We read at the start of 1 Peter,
he's called, God has called his people out of darkness into his
marvellous light. It's a calling to repentance
from the things of the world and sin. Do you know when Jesus
started his ministry, when he was 30 years old or thereabouts,
it's recorded in Mark chapter 1 verse 15, what were the very
first words that Mark recorded as being the words of Jesus?
Repent, and believe the gospel for the kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent! It's a call to repent. Have you
heard the call to repent? Have you heard the call of God
to feel sin as God views it? You know, we just do not get
our heads around the vileness of sin in the judgment and reckoning
of God. We really don't, we don't come
close. Do you know the only way I can
think of to perhaps be able to think rightly about it is to
think about the death of Christ. If sin was not that bad, why
did it take the death and suffering and separation of the beloved
Son of God, the physical manifestation of God to the people in this
world, why did it take that to pay the price, to expiate, to
pay the price of that sin? The reason is because it is an
infinite offense against the living God. Were you to go to
hell for eternity, that would never pay the price for your
sin in the reckoning of God. Do I understand it? No, I don't.
I'm weak and feeble in the flesh. But God's Word teaches us these
things. Oh, has he called you to feel
sin? Something like God views it.
To feel its burden. as in Pilgrim's Progress, to
long for its removal. This is the narrow way that leads
to life. It's a call to confess that sin
to God. We don't confess to a priest,
confess it to God, you know like the prodigal son in the parable.
He asked his father for his inheritance and his father gave him the inheritance
and he went away into a distant country and in riotous living
He spent everything his father had given him. He wasted it all.
And then economic hardship came, and a famine came, and all the
money was spent. And the friends were just fair
weather friends. They deserted him when things
got bad. And he ended up feeding pigs, and he was so hungry. Have
you ever seen what pigs eat? You boys, have you ever seen
what pigs eat? I guarantee you, you would not want to eat it.
It does not look very nice, but pigs are quite happy to eat it.
This boy, this prodigal son, he was so hungry, he ate the
peelings and the husks that the pigs were eating. And he came
to himself, and he said, I will return to my father. I'll go
back to my father's house, and I will plead what for? My rights? No. I will plead for mercy. Father, forgive me. I've been
terrible. I'm not worthy to be called your
son. But please, if you can be merciful to me, make me one of
your hired servants, just so that I've got food in my stomach
and an environment which is more comfortable in which to live."
He was sorry for his sins. a confession to God. Has he called
you to confess before God what we're like? And not only that,
not to confess it only, but to forsake it. He calls his people
to forsake it. Do we ever become perfect? No,
but he calls us to forsake the sins of this world. He that covereth
his sins, Proverbs 28, 13, he that covereth, tries to hide
his sins, shall not prosper. But whoso confesseth and forsaketh
them shall have mercy. It's a call to trust Christ,
to look to him for salvation, to discern his body and blood
making satisfaction. That's the qualification for
the bread and wine, which we'll share at the end of this service.
That's what it is. It's to look to him, to discern
his body and blood. It's a call to mourn. for what
your sin did to Christ, that it might be cleansed away. To
mourn for it. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that mourn.
You will be comforted. If you mourn for your sin, God
will comfort you. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled with
the righteousness of God. It's a call to all of these things. A call to live as becomes the
gospel. Paul says to Titus, adorn the
doctrine of our God and Saviour in all things. Make it attractive. Make it attractive. It's a call
to glory. That's what it is. This is a
call, this call of salvation is a call to eternal glory. First Thessalonians 2 verse 12,
Paul says to the Thessalonians, walk worthy of God who has called
you unto his kingdom and glory. it is the father's good pleasure
said Jesus to his disciples it's the father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from before the beginning of
time. God's eternal purpose has always been, as Hebrews 2 verse
10 says, to bring many sons, and that doesn't mean male, it
means his children, male and female, to bring many sons to
glory. But there's a journey of suffering
for a while. You know I've told you many times
we love when we get the opportunity to climb mountains in the north
of England and the reason why we love them so much is that
they're not very high but they are very challenging and you
certainly know you've climbed one and as you climb there are
no trees to get in the way generally speaking, there's very few trees
so you always have a good view if it's a clear day you don't
have a good view when the mist's down of course but if it's a
clear day you have a good view and Last May, Steve and Peter
and I climbed Glencathra in the Lake District. And when we got
to the top, I can remember now with a thrill, the absolutely
fantastic views from the top. Looking down, best part of 3,000
feet on the valleys and the lakes and the other mountains around,
absolutely gorgeous. It's just sublime. It's a glorious
experience, if I can put it that way. But do you know how we got
there? There wasn't the Starship Enterprise with its beam-me-up
Scotty machine. We didn't just suddenly go from
the valley below to the mountaintop to appreciate the view. I know
you can get in a helicopter if you can hire one and do that,
but no, we had to walk up the path. And it was a steep path.
And not only was it steep, in one place, it was about the most
dangerous footpath in that part of the world. It was very, very
precarious. It was a struggle. It was hard
work. It was not without fear. It was
not without danger. It was not without the sense
that one wrong foot and you could fall to your death. But the result
at the top was glory, a glorious view. And so it is here in this
verse, after that ye have suffered for a while. Glory is the goal
after you have suffered for a while. The New Testament frequently
describes the Christian life as a time of suffering. Philippians
1 29 unto you believer it is given in the behalf of Christ
not only to believe on him oh yes yes believe on him but also
to suffer for his sake Romans 8 17 we're joined heirs with
Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be
glorified together 2nd Timothy 2 verse 12 if we suffer we shall
also reign with him But what does it mean in practice to suffer? I mean, does it mean that we
adopt the false religious tactics of putting on a horsehair shirt
or depriving ourselves of pleasures or of climbing up the steps of
the cathedral on our bare knees until they bleed? Is that what
it means to suffer for him? Of course not. But I'll tell
you what it is. It's to walk in the steps of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know how the scriptures
described him, the Old Testament scriptures in Isaiah? A man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. This is the man, this is God
who became man to save his people from their sins, a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. He was made for a little while
lower than the angels. He who is God was made for a
little while lower than the angels. Why? For the suffering of death. that he might satisfy offended
justice. He, perfect God, perfect God,
he was. He was confined for a little
while to the flesh. And believers, with the new man
from God inside, in your soul, are confined to sinful flesh
until our bodies die. That is what we live in, these
bodies of sin. Each one's experience is different. We all have different temperaments.
There are different things that cause us doubts in our faith.
There are different things that make us fearful. There are different
things that give us depression. There are different things that
come from Satan as temptations. In the passage, you'll remember,
look back a couple of verses, be sober, be vigilant, because
the devil's like a roaring lion, walking about seeking whom he
may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith.
temptations from him. He sends fiery darts in the direction
of the people of God. He's trying to sweep us back
as we saw in Revelation. He tries to sweep the people
of God back into conformance with the attitudes and the spirit
of the world. And there are periods when we
don't feel God's presence like we know it should be. And there
are times of chastening for our And there are times when our
health is taken from us and it's a real challenge. There are times
when the things of providence that are so much taken for granted
in this world today are difficult for many people. There's persecution
from the world for different believers. in different places
it takes so many different forms in this country we tend not to
suffer any physical violence for the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ but in some parts of the world they do, true believers
do in some parts of the world true believers suffer death and
imprisonment and deprivation of all sorts of things for their
faith but certainly if we bear testimony that we do not conform
to the spirit of Antichrist in this world, you'll find it subtly,
increasingly, you'll be isolated from those around you. I used
to find it at work, thinking that we were all getting on really
well together, and you'd discover that they'd, without letting
me know, gone and arranged something, and they'd all gone off to some
event, and I'm sort of, all right, okay, they don't want me at that
event. And you know why? Because I don't think like they
do. And that's what it's like. Yes, we try our best to live
at peace with all men, but be in no doubt, be in no doubt,
if there's anything about you that testifies to the Lord Jesus
Christ, you'll be isolated. There's also the constant battle
of the inward corruption of our flesh, isn't there? You know,
when you think, oh, I've really had a good day today, I've really
been in tune with the things of God, I've been praying about
things, and then something happens, and boom, the temper goes off,
and that's it, blown to pieces, because that's the weakness of
the flesh. This is the believer's experience in the flesh. It's
a suffering. We'll know it for what it is,
When we get to glory, there'll be none of it. So that's what
it is. There's none of that experience in glory. All that's gone away.
Crying, tears, death, pain, sorrow, all of those things. But it's
for a limited time. For a little while. After you
have suffered a while. It's just for a while. and it's
for a God-ordained purpose, that even in this life, while we live
this life, whatever life God gives us to live, the consequences
of the suffering are for God to work in his people, to make
us, look at it, perfect, to establish you, to strengthen you, to settle
you. What does it mean that he wants
to make us perfect by suffering? Does he mean that if we suffer
enough in this life, we shall become perfect. We shall be those
who have no sin in the body. Not at all. This isn't what's
claimed as progressive sanctification. He's not talking about perfecting
the flesh in that sense, but what he is talking about is becoming
mature in the faith. Growing into maturity. Let me
read you some scriptures. Hebrews 5.14. Speaking of believers
who, with experience of the faith, grow in faith. Them that are
of full age, even those by reason of use, have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil. Experience, experience. of walking
the path of the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3.15, let us therefore,
as many as be perfect, he's not saying we're perfect in the flesh,
he's saying mature, grown up, be thus minded, spiritually mature. Ephesians 4.14, be no more children,
toss to and fro. Now, there's nothing wrong children
with being children, there isn't at all. What he's talking about
is those who should be mature in the faith behaving as if they
are children in the faith. You love being children, I'm
sure, but you want to grow up, don't you? You want to grow into
mature men, you boys, don't you? You want to grow up and be big
and strong and wise. be no more children, tossed to
and fro, and carried, listen, listen, those that are immature
are carried about by every wind of doctrine. So some preacher
so-called comes along and tells you this, that and the other,
and if you're not mature in the faith, you'll believe him. You'll
go, oh that sounds very good, doesn't it? No it doesn't, if
you're mature, if you're mature in the faith, no, You'll detect
when there's a false shepherd, you'll detect when there's a
hireling trying to take you away from the good shepherd. 1 Corinthians
14 20. In understanding, be no more
children but be men, matured by the sufferings of life. It
even says of Christ. Do you know it even says this
of Christ? I feel like I'm treading on eggshells so as not to say
anything irreverent but you know Hebrews 2.10 says that when Christ
came to bring many sons to glory he was made perfect through sufferings. Wasn't he perfect already? Well
of course he was in his sinless purity but he hadn't experienced
in the flesh in the likeness of sinful flesh he hadn't until
he came he hadn't experienced what it was to go through temptation,
to go through weariness and tiredness in the flesh. He was made perfect
through sufferings, of course, he hadn't experienced until he
went to that cross. The nails and the sweat and the
pain and the grief and the agony of separation from his father.
He was made perfect through sufferings. He was made mature, if I can
put it that way, in his human nature and his physical ministry,
and so his people are called to walk in his steps. Secondly,
established delivered from doubts and wavering about the truth.
You're established. You're established. You know
when you get a new job and things are unfamiliar, you feel for
quite a while, sometimes I used to find it would take six months
till I got to the point where I felt that I was established.
I wasn't wavering, I wasn't doubting, I knew exactly what the job entailed
and what needed to be done. I knew exactly, there was no,
I really don't understand what this is about, I knew what it
was about, I was established in it and so it is. These sufferings
for a while, this experience of Christian living on the road
to eternal glory establishes his people, delivers from doubts
and wavering about the truth and strengthened Strengthened.
Elsewhere it talks in scripture about being strengthened in the
inner man. Invigorated, filled with life,
with gospel truth and the indwelling spirit. Having learned that Christ's
strength in me is made perfect in my weakness. Did you hear
that? did God teach Paul? He gave him
a thorn in the flesh and Paul prayed three times he says for
that thorn to be removed and you know I've told you I think
it was to do with his eyes because we read again and again he says
to the Galatians if you you you love me and if it could have
been possible you would have given me your very eyes well
I but anyway I'm not being dogmatic about it but he had a thorn in
the flesh and he prayed three times for it to be taken away
and God said no This is so that you learn that in your weakness
in the flesh, my strength, the strength of God, the strength
of Christ, is made perfect in your experience, strengthened
with the strength of God. You know, Israel of old, Judah
and Israel, was so inclined, when anything came along to disturb
them, to frighten them, to upset them, they had such an inclination
to run off and form alliances with Egypt and with Assyria.
And you know, that's a picture of believers running off and
forming alliances with the things of the world and saying, oh well
I'll go there and do this and that will help me. No, they're
alliances with Egypt and Assyria. But when we're strengthened with
the grace of God inside, no more inclined to do that. And finally,
settled. Settled. These experiences of
suffering, on the way to the goal of eternal glory, from the
God of all grace, settled implies built on a good foundation. You
know, Jesus said, the wise man built his house, where? Upon
the sand? No, upon the rock. The sand shifts. He built his house upon the rock,
and that rock is Christ. the faith of Jesus Christ, the
doing, the dying, the person, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the rock of foundation upon which the church is built, upon
which his people are built. And we're not moved at all, we're
settled, not moved, the storms can come, the storms of life,
the storms of doubt, the storms of unbelief. We'd be not double-minded
and unstable, as James says. So it's talking about suffering
in this flesh, in this life, for a while, as God determines,
for the purpose of maturing us, of establishing us, of strengthening
us, of settling us in this faith of Jesus Christ. Because there's
a goal. There's an end in view. Something
to which the people of God must aspire. That's what we do. We
have a good hope of glory. The goal is glory. And so, look
at verse 11. To Him, to God, this God of all
grace, be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The God of all grace. Just to
apply it, one final question. That's all. One final question.
How is it with you? These things that we've considered,
how is it with you? Amen.