Good morning. So good to be with you guys. Hey, this week is super exciting and I've been, I've

been praying a ton for VBS. So our church 's vacation Bible school is June 3rd through 7th this

week.Thursday night will be an incredible time with the community where we have a community

picnic at 5: 30 starting out on the church lawn. So please, my request is please be in prayer that

kids would hear the gospel, that if they've heard the gospel before, it would really stick and

transform them . That it would change their life and that kids who know Jesus would grow in

Jesus. So please, please, please commit to praying for VBS. I want to say a special thank you

to Sarah Vandenbos, our kids director, who has worked tirelessly to put this together for all who

are volunteering and serving at VBS. Thank you guys so, so much. This is an incredible

ministry. It's exciting to hear about what God 's doing among the nations, but it's, it's also

exciting to, to think that, this is a mission field as well right here That our kids, our students, our

community, this is a mission field. And so I'm very excited that we get to turn our gaze outward,

not just to our kids, but to kids within the community and families that we will minister to at VBS.

So thank you guys for serving and praying.

Also, next Sunday, we'll start a new series called God 's Household. So First Peter comes to an

end this week. This Sunday, God 's Household will be about 7 weeks. Right now we're going to

finish laying the foundation, hopefully of the doctrine of the church . What is the church, who's

part of the church? What has the church always taught and believed throughout the centuries?

Why does the church exist? What does the church do? How does it organize? Who leads the

church? So after those seven weeks, then Lord willing, we will jump into Romans for what I said

last week was 39 years.

Hopefully it'll be a little shorter than that, but so, so God 's household for seven weeks, then

Romans. And I just wanted to lay out sort of what I've been meditating on theologically as

regarding our our theological vision for the church . And growth as a church. There are four

areas that my mind has been focused on that I've been praying through and thinking through

that I think every church needs to keep going deeper and deeper. In number one is the doctrine

of God, who he is, what He is like #2 the doctrine of salvation, the full scope of our redemption

#3 the doctrine of the church, which is what that series, God 's household is about. And #4 the

doctrine of the church 's mission, which is what VBS is about . And so I think that it's very easy

for a church to be focused inwardly and only inwardly.

My prayer and my hope is that our church would grow strong foundations inwardly

and then turn outwardly that we would have a strong mythology. That is my prayer. So if you

could be praying about that with me as well.

All right, after all those words, let's take a moment and let's pray again. Father, we humble

ourselves under your mighty hand. We are in your presence God, you were ever present. So

near, nearer to us than our very selves. Thank you for your holy word, that is precious. Just take

a moment, church, and ask the Lord to open your heart to His word this morning to shine the

light. Just take a moment and ask Him We pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen

There was a Bishop named Polycarp in the 2nd century. Polycarp was the Bishop of Smyrna.

He was a personal disciple of the Apostle John. And according to church history and church

tradition, he was actually installed as the Bishop of Smyrna by John himself. So he was

basically like the senior pastor of this church. He was martyred in Christian history around the

middle of the 2nd century. And it's quite a long story. It's pretty dramatic, but this is part of the

story as he's being taken into an arena where he's being judged and basically he's being

pressured to deny Jesus Christ. And this is what it says in the account. As Polycarp was being

taken into the arena, a voice came to him from heaven. “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the

man.” No one saw who had spoken, but our brothers who were there heard the voice. When the

crowd heard that Polycarp had been captured, there was an uproar. The proconsole asked him

whether he was Polycarp, and on hearing that he was, he tried to persuade him to apostatize,

saying Have respect for your old age. Polycarp, swear by the fortune of Caesar. Repent and say

down with the atheists which were Christians of the day. They called Christians atheists. Down

with the atheists, reproach Christ and I will set you free. Polycarp says that 86 years have I

served Christ and he has done me no wrong. How can I blasphemy my king and my savior?

The proconsul said I have wild animals here. I will throw you to them if you do not repent .

Polycarp said. Call them. It is unthinkable for me to repent from what is good to turn to what is

evil. I will be glad, though, to be changed from evil to righteousness. If he despises animals, I

will have you burned, says the proconsul. You threaten me with fire, says Polycarp, which burns

for an hour and then is extinguished. But you know nothing of the fire, of the coming judgment

and eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly. Why are you waiting? Bring on whatever you

want He was killed by fire and other things You and I and our Christian pilgrimage will face many

fires. Fiery trials is what Peter calls them, and we need strong encouragement. We need to be

encouraged by the word of God and by the people of God to stand firm, to be able to say like

Polycarp, bring on whatever you want. We need the encouragement of the Scriptures. Peter

tells us in this letter that we will suffer. We will suffer for the name of Christ, just as Christ

suffered for us, for our sin. He says we will suffer for a little while and after a little while. God will

exalt us. God will bring us safely into his Kingdom.The hardship will one day end. God will bring

in eternal justice, eternal joy, eternal rest, eternal refreshment. He will put this to an end. And

what Peter does for us is he reminds us that we have a living hope, a living hope through the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We have a faithful God, a faithful God who saved us

through the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. A faithful God who is guarding us by

his power for salvation, ready to be revealed when Jesus returns We have a faithful.God who

will keep us, a faithful God who will guard us, a faithful God who will be faithful to us, and so in

light of who God is, in light of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, in light of our eternal inheritance

In light of the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives and at work in the Church, we must

stand firm by faith. We must stand firm through the fiery trials of the Christian life. We must not

turn back.We must not give in. We must not despair. We must not retaliate and repay evil for

evil.

For God is coming in the person of Jesus Christ, and He will make all things new. He will keep

us. He will guard us. He will be faithful to his promises. You will not be lost. And so Peter, the

book of First Peter is so helpful because it prepares us to suffer and it strengthens us to suffer,

and it encourages us to suffer by following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ bore

our sin. Peter says in his body on the tree that we could die to sin and live to righteousness.

Jesus Christ died to bring us to God. Peter says that he has covered us by his precious blood,

that he has suffered at the hands of sinners. And Peter says so our path will look the same as

Jesus. As the Master is treated, so will his servants be. As the Son of God was treated, so will

God 's sons and daughters be treated.

And the call is to stand firm in faith, to stand firm in grace, to stand firm in hope. Since the

Christian life is full of fiery trial What does it look like for us to stand firm? What does it look like

for us to stand firm? How do I stand firm in the truth of God, in the gospel of God, and in the

grace of God? That's what Peter does this morning. He basically gives us his final instructions of

how to stand firm in the grace of God. So let's look at first Peter 5, the last passage of the book,

verse 6.

‘

First Peter 5:1-11, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the

proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be

sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking

someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings

are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a

little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself

restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. “

First Peter 6:12-14. “By Sylvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you,

exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it She who is at Babylon,

who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son Greet one another with

the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

There are going to be 5 main movements as we move through the text. 5 main ways in which

we remain firm or stand firm as Peter says, in the grace of God. Five ways to stand firm in the

grace of God. And the 1st way is found in verses six to seven. And Peter says this humble

yourselves under God.Humble yourselves under God. Look at verse six again. Humble

yourselves. therefore, under the mighty hand of God. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the

mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you.” Glance back at verse five. It

says that God opposes the proud and He gives grace to the humble. And then in verse six, he

says, therefore, since God opposes us to our face in our pride, and since God gives grace to

those who are humble, we should all humble ourselves as a church under His mighty hand. God

is gracious to those who bring themselves low in submission and trust to God. He is gracious to

you. He is gracious to me. He is gracious to FCBC when we collectively and individually humble

ourselves under His mighty hand. I said last week that God does not respect people like we do.

He's not a respecter of persons. He shows no partiality to you or to me. He doesn't respect

position or power or wealth or your reputation or your experience. He respects and honors

humility. Humility. I came from a church that was 125 years old . I came from a church where

people had been there their entire lives but God Does not respect the people that have been

there their entire lives more than the people who came here just this Sunday. God looks upon

the heart, He looks upon the heart. We are equal. We have a faith of equal standing, Peter says

We have received a faith of equal standing. And so if we persist in pride without repentance,

God opposes us to our face. Yes, he loves us. Yes, there's no condemnation in Jesus Christ.

But God still hates pride. He hates it when his children walk in pride because it dishonors him

and it hurts his body. It hurts the body of Christ, the church. And so we should humble ourselves

under the mighty hand of God. For God opposes the proud. That gives grace to the humble.

And I want to ask a question because I'm a preacher and preachers ask questions, very pointed

questions That I need to be asked, That we need to be asked. Is there a pattern of pride in your

life today? Is there a pattern of pride in your life today that you're ignoring? I'm not assuming

that there is, but I'm asking, is there a pattern of pride in your life? A pride in your attitude? A

pride in how you think about others and how you might be hypercritical and how you might look

down on other people, or how you might make assumptions and judge without the facts? Is

there a prideful pattern in your thought life? Is there a prideful pattern in your boasting? Is there

a prideful pattern in your life towards your spouse or your kids or your church Or your boss, Or

your coworkers? Is there pride in your life? And if so, humble yourself today under the mighty

hand of your father.

Repent of your pride, I Chad, need to repent of any pride that I know of in my life, I need to

lower myself. Confessing my pride and forsaking my pride, and walk humbly under the mighty

hand of God The root of all true humility, though It's not simply to say be humble, Chad, be

humble, Susie, be humble, Jim. The true root of all humility is to recognize your utter sinful

helplessness before a holy God and to throw yourself with desperation on the person and work

of Jesus Christ. All true humility is found through trust and submission to Jesus Christ as Lord,

God and Savior. While we were weak, spiritually helpless, spiritually powerless, Roman says

Christ died for the ungodly. That's us. The true root of all humility is saying I am broken, sinful,

helpless, and that Christ died for me, the ungodly one. He died for me, and my life is found

solely in Him. And so without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can never be truly humble.

Without receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, you can never be truly humble. So humble yourself,

church Let's humble ourselves.

I love this image of the mighty hand of God. It implies at least two things. Number one, the

image implies that the safest place for you to be is under the power and control and protection

and care of God. That you're under his control, you're under his care, you're under his wisdom,

you're under his protection. That you're under him in the sense that he cares for you, provides

for you, saves you, and reigns over you with grace and truth. But the second thing it implies is

that all of the trials we will face are ordained by God. That all the trials you face are part of God's

sovereign plan. That all of the sufferings you go through are part of His kind Providence to you.

That what you're going through is not an accident, what you're going through is not haphazard.

That God has decreed the sufferings of our life for our good, for our growth, for our development

into the likeness of Jesus Christ, for the purifying of our faith. Peter even says that you're going

through fiery trials If necessary for a little while so that your faith can be proved and tested and

purified like fine gold. Peter says it's necessary for us to go through trials. In chapter 3:17 he

says it's better to suffer for doing good. If that's God 's will, then for doing evil. Why is it better to

suffer for good? Why is it God 's will that we suffer?

Well, simply because comfort and ease have never strengthened anyone 's faith. Comfort and

ease do not purify our lives. Comfort and ease do not form us to the image of Christ. Comfort

and ease do not make us utterly dependent on a good and gracious God. We modern people

are comfort seekers, aren't we? I'm a comfort seeker, I am. We are comfort seekers. We seek

ease and comfort at great financial and relational costs. We do. Comforts can be good gifts.God

has given us all good things to enjoy. But comforts usually don't strengthen and purify the faith

of the people of God. Think about your physical body. Does comfort and ease strengthen your

body? When I injured my lower back before playing baseball and lifting weights, I had to do

nothing for seven years. My body grew weak and frail and fragile.

Comfort and ease in the Christian life does not strengthen your faith. It does not purify your

faith. It does not prove and test your faith. It does not make you dependent, because suffering

and fiery trials of the Christian life bring you to your knees in prayer. And anything that brings

you to your knees in prayer church is good for your soul. It's good for your relationship with God.

It's good for your growth in grace. It's good for your knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus

Christ. It's a gift from God because the greatest gift God could give you is a stronger faith and

a likeness to Jesus Christ.

I've had friends tell me they've had to take their kids to the urgent-care many times with the

emergency room and something is urgently wrong with their child. And I remember one friend

telling me they rushed their kid in and the doctors had about three doctors gathered around and

they knew something bad was going on and they knew what they had to do to help fix it. What

they were about to do was going to hurt . And the kid was freaking out. And my friend takes his

beloved son in his hands. And he pins him down on the table and the doctors are pinning this

child down. His son is looking at him like, what are you doing to me? Why are you letting them

do this to me? And his father was with tears, just reassuring his son and holding his son with his

mighty hand, because he knew under the mighty hand of his father was where healing came,

was where rescue came. And so in the same way, we should humble ourselves under the

mighty hand of a good and loving Father who knows what he's doing, who knows your soul, who

knows your life, and who cares about you more than you could ever care for another human

being. He cares for you so much. If I could say one thing this morning, Jesus Christ crucified is

the one final proof you need to know that the Father cares for you. And if you look at the cross,

you should never doubt that God cares for you. How do we know He cares for us? Because He

crucified His Son for us, and He raised Him from the dead, and He brought us to His Son. He

unites us to His Son. He raises us to life with His Son. He gives us the inheritance of His Son,

Jesus Christ.

God cares for you, so humble yourselves under His mighty, caring hand. He says do this in

verse six so that the proper time he may exalt you He may exalt you. There is exaltation coming.

God exalts the humble right Jesus Christ humbled himself to the point of death. He humbled

himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. And three days later God exalted him.

40 days after that He exalted Jesus to the right hand of the Father. Humble yourself that at the

proper time He will exalt you. Church exaltation is coming one day . If you lower yourself. There

is an eternity of exaltation in heaven, in the Kingdom with Jesus Christ. That is our future is

glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, he goes on and he says, casting all your

anxieties on him, verse seven because he cares for you. Verse seven is amazing because

verse 7 teaches us how to humble ourselves. You're saying, OK, how do I humble myself? What

does that even look like? It's not like God's hand is literally hanging over me and I can sort of get

underneath his hand. How does a Christian humble himself or herself under the mighty hand of

God? Verse seven tells us by casting your anxieties on God in prayer. Casting your anxieties on

God in prayer.

One of the chief symptoms of pride in our lives is prayerlessness. It's prayerlessness. The most

humble person is not the person who has no anxiety. We all have anxiety. All of us. The humble

person is not the person who fears the least. The humble person is the person who takes all of

their fears and all of their anxieties to God in prayer the most. The most prayerful person in the

church is the most humble person in the church. The most prayerful church is the most humble

church because humility is not never fearing anything. Humility is casting your cares and your

anxieties and your fears on God. The prideful are prayerless and the humble are prayerful. And

he tells us in verse seven why we should do this. He said we should do this because he cares

for us, simply because he cares for us.

I love what John Calvin says about faith. He says faith is a firm in certain knowledge of God 's

benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both

revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Faith is a firm and

certain knowledge of God 's goodness toward you. It's a firm and certain knowledge, a belief, a

strong conviction that God is good towards you in Jesus Christ. And so the more that we

understand God cares for us, the more we believe that God loves us, the more that we

apprehend that God is for us in Jesus Christ, the more we will pray. You and I will be reluctant to

pray when we doubt His goodness to us. We will not pray, we will not cast our fears and

anxieties on God when we believe God doesn't want us to. If we believe God doesn't want us, if

we believe God is against us, if we believe God is annoyed by us, we will never cast our cares

on him. But we must remember that God is a good Father who gave us his Son, who's for us in

Jesus Christ. You need to remember that this morning, brothers and sisters, you need to

remember that. I need to remember that. Like if you just read Jesus, read about Jesus 's

fellowship with God. If you read about his teachings about God, read the Sermon on the Mount.

You know what? I think that is at the center of the Sermon on the Mount. I think what's at the

center of the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus' vision of a good and gracious King, a good and

gracious Father. He says over and over, he knows what you need before you ask him. He gives

good gifts to those who ask him. He gives good gifts to his children. He makes the sunrise on

the evil and the good. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. Jesus' vision is of a good and

gracious and sufficient God. And so Peter presents us with a God who cares for us, a God who

loves us, a God who sent his Son for us, who is for us. And so the humble church or the humble

believer is the one who's constantly casting their fears and anxieties on God in prayer. That's

how you humble yourself. That's how we humble ourselves And so the first way is by humbling

yourselves under.

God, we see this in the story of Hezekiah. Hezekiah in Second Kings 19. I was going to read it. I

don't have time. It's an amazing story. Second Kings 19. Please go read that when you have a

chance. Assyria is attacking Hezekiah and the people of Israel, Sennacherib. They're taunting,

they're taunting the people, they're taunting God. They're slandering the God of Israel. And

Hezekiah, what does he do? He lays himself before God and says, deliver us, save us . See

what's going on? Do something. We need you. I'm terrified. Help us

Second Kings 19:32-35, “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall

not come into this city, or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or cast a

besieged mount against it by the way he came. By the same way he shall return. He shall not

come into the city, for I will defend the city to save it for my own sake, says the Lord, for the

sake of my servant David. That night the Angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000

soldiers in the camp of the Assyrians.”

Humble yourselves in prayer. Secondly, verse 8 & 9, “Be sober minded and watchful.Your

adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him,

firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your

brotherhood throughout the world.” Be alert, be clear headed. Be watchful like you're in war, like

you're in war. The mindset of the Christian is a wartime mindset. We are not in peacetime, we're

in wartime. Peacetime comes when Jesus makes war on his enemies. We're in wartime. Be

watchful, be alert, be aware. And he says why the adversary, your adversary, not just the

adversary, your adversary, our adversary, the devil 's against us today. His demons are against

us today, right now.

We wake up in soft beds with running water and antibiotics and comfortable cars and

comfortable houses. Do you think that that helps us think with a wartime mindset? Those are

good gifts. But we need to wake up, we need to be alert, because our adversary prowls around

like a roaring lion, seeking to devour and eat us. You know, one thing I really meditated on this

week with this verse is that he prowls like a roaring lion. We often think that when he's prowling,

that he's stealthy, that he's sneaky, that he's quiet, that he's trying to sneak up on you. Now,

Peter says. He's roaring at you. He's bold, he's willful. He actively and visibly opposes you. He's

a roaring lion. He wants you to know he's coming, and he wants you to tremble. He's a roaring

lion who wants to devour you. What does that mean? It means he wants you to fall away from

Christ. He wants you to turn away from Christ. He wants you to disbelieve God. He wants you to

doubt His goodness. He wants you to doubt His promises Satan wants to roar at you and terrify

you and intimidate you and resist you and thwart you in every possible way so that you forget

the goodness and the faithfulness of God. So that you fear, so that you get disoriented, so that

you get confused.

Remember when Peter went out on the water, he walked to Jesus. Lord, let me come to you. If

that's you, let me come to you. He was doing great as he kept his eyes fixed on Christ. As soon

as he looks at the waves, as soon as he sees the water and the danger and the threat, he sinks

Satan 's a roaring line that wants you to sink. He wants you to look at the storm. He wants you

to look at what terrifies you. He wants you to focus on what makes you anxious. He wants to lie

to you. He wants to accuse you, He wants to make you doubt the goodness of God and the

word of God and the promises of God. He whispers to you, Where is God now? Why has he

abandoned? You See, God doesn't really love you. If he did, he'd stop this. He says he's good,

but he's not really. He says he hears prayer, but he doesn't really. He doesn't care about you.

He's holding out on you, God 's letting all these things happen to you because he doesn't really

care, even if he says he does. You've been praying, you've been waiting, but he hasn't come

through. Where is your God now? Ultimately, the devil wants to accuse and slander and

discredit God in your eyes. He wants to make you believe that God is untrustworthy, that God is

bad, and that God is deceptive.

There's a great quote from one of Joel Beaky 's books. He says this in the garden with Adam

and Eve. Satan was saying God is one whose motives make him unreliable. He slandered

Satan, slandered God as restrictive, envious. And an unloving liar. How does he hunt you? He

wants to make you believe that about God. He wants to make you believe that God is not good,

that he can't be trusted, that he's holding out on you, and that he will not keep his promise. But

we know a God in the Scriptures who keeps his word. We know a God who is faithful. We know

a God who is kind and benevolent and good.

This is why Calvin says that faith is believing confidently, believing God 's benevolence towards

you in Jesus Christ. We have to confidently believe He loves us in Christ Jesus. That is the

essence of faith. And so he's a roaring lion who wants to devour you. And I just reflected, man.

He roars at me all week long. But there is a lion whose roar is so mighty, that he makes devils

and angels tremble. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the King

of kings. He is the Lord of Lords. There is a lion who roars so powerfully and so mightily that no

one will be able to stand before him, who with the flip of a finger, with the word of his mouth, he

will slay the devil and destroy him. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King and lion

and tribe of Judah.

In Narnia, there's this great scene where Aslan is a lion, the lion, the great lion. Oh, said Susan.

“I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and make no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver.” ”If there's anyone who can

appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just

silly. Then he isn't safe,” said Lucy. ‘Safe,” said Mr. Beaver. “Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver

tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe, but he's good. He's the king, I

tell you.”

As the devil hunts us, as he roars, as he intimidates us, as he lies to us, as he slanders us, as

he tries to deceive us and lead us astray, remember that if you walk with the line of the tribe of

Judah, nothing can truly harm you because he's with you. He goes on in verse nine, he says

resist him. Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being

experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. Resist him in your faith.

This is amazing. This is absolutely amazing language. The Bible teaches us. That we have the

spiritual power from God to resist the devil. James says that as we resist the devil in faith, the

devil will actually flee from us. He will flee from us because in Jesus Christ and by the power of

the Spirit and the Word of God, we have the power to resist the devil and his wiles, to resist the

devil and his flaming arrows. Ephesians 6 says to lift up the shield of faith that extinguishes the

flaming darts of the evil one. You lift up what? The shield of faith . Faith in God, faith in His

promises, faith in His goodness, faith in His Son, holding fast to His Word. We are to resist Him

actively. I'm afraid that many days and many weeks we just lay down and let the devil run all

over us.

Have you ever seen videos of predators hunting on all these animal shows? And you see, you

see a predator chasing after its prey and, and there's a point where the predator catches up to

the prey, maybe grabs a leg or grabs an arm or jumps on its back. And what does the prey often

do? The prey often just lays down. It just takes, takes it. There are so many moments where we

just say, man, he's been hunting me so long, I'm so tired, and we're so tempted to just lay down

and just give in.

And Peter says, no, resist him, firm in your faith. Resist him, James says, and he will flee from

you. This is wartime. We have the power of God to resist the trust in a good God, to believe His

Word, to believe His promises. In what aspect of your life today do you need to start resisting

and stop laying down? Are you laying down like prey under a predator? Where do you need to

resist Casting your anxieties on God Putting your faith in God, trusting in His beloved promises

in the Holy Scriptures He says resist by faith, and he also says resist by realizing that other

Christians are suffering as well.

By knowing, he says, that other Christians are suffering throughout the world and Philippians 1.

Paul 's in prison, and he says some of the brothers have become more confident to speak the

word without fear through my imprisonment. There's something about seeing other Christians

suffer faithfully that emboldens you to suffer faithfully. There's something about seeing other

Christians resist temptation and resist the devil by faith that emboldens you to resist him as well.

There was a time in college where I had what I'd call my dark night of the soul. I had just so

much spiritual temptation and doubt, and it was a horrible time. I was so depressed. I was like at

the bottom of the barrel, clinically depressed at this point in my life. God put a few people in my

life, some friends who just speak the truth. But for a while I Thought I was the only one who had

ever been through this. But then I went online and as I talked with friends and I talked with other

Christians, I found out that many, many Saints, some of the greatest Saints even throughout

history, had gone through their very own dark night of the soul. And I can't tell you what a

comfort that was to me. To know that I wasn't alone, to know that God had been faithful to

countless believers throughout history, to know that others had suffered and that God had

remained faithful strengthens our soul.

Every parent can relate to this. Like you think you're the only parent that struggles to get your

kids to eat. You think you're the only parent that struggles to keep them in their beds at night.

You think you're the only parent who's ever gone through all of this. And then you talk to other

parents and everyone is suffering. Everyone is, everyone is so tired and it's a great comfort to

know that.

That's what Peter 's saying. And then he closes and for time. I'll have to close here, but he

closes in verse 10 through 14. And he says after you've suffered a little while. The God of all

grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ. Will watch this word himself . Restore,

confirm, strengthen and establish you to Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. He says

our suffering is for a little while. He says that He's the God of all grace. He's the God of all grace

for you. He says He has called you personally to eternal glory. He's called us personally to

eternal glory in Christ, to His eternal glory. That our reward, that our hope, that our future is to

see and share in the glory of God in Jesus Christ, That through the death of Christ, through the

resurrection of Christ Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, through the coming, the second

coming of Jesus Christ, what will we have in the future? We will have nothing short of the

eternal glory of God to bask in and enjoy and praise forever and ever. The great reward of our

lives, the great reward of salvation, is not simply this transaction. The great reward of salvation

is to be with God the Trinity, in all of His Majesty and all of His glory, forever and ever.

These sufferings are short. These sufferings are temporary. These sufferings are worth it

because a God of all grace who has called us to glory in Christ, he will restore us. He will

confirm us, He will strengthen us. He will establish us, and He will have the dominion forever

and ever and ever. He will restore you. He may not restore you in this life. You might die for

Christ. You might die of disease. You might face the worst kinds of possible suffering in this life.

But there's coming a day when your father. The God of grace will restore you and bring you to

glory. God never promises to deliver us from worldly peril. But He does promise to restore us

one day with Him and eternal glory.

I love what 2nd Corinthians 4:16-18. “So we do not lose heart even though we want to, right?

We do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day

by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond

all comparison . As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.

For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.’

This God of all grace has called you, He has justified you, He has forgiven you, He has given

you his Spirit, He has given you His Son. He has given you His word, His very word. We were

praying as a prayer with the prayer team this morning and we just said, God, we hold you to

your word because you always keep your word. God 's word to you is that the day is coming

where all the tears on your face will be wiped away. The day is coming when you will not grieve.

The day is coming when you will not get sick. The day is coming when you will not die. The day

is coming when you will never sin again. No one will oppose you, no one will condemn you, no

one will slander you. It will be complete, utter majesty and glory and grace and love. And he's

called you to that. He's called me to that He who did not spare his own son, but gave

him up for us all, how will he not with him graciously give us all these things.

So we will suffer. We might die. Polycarp was martyred to a horrible death. But Polycarp knew

that God was a God of grace who cared for him. That no matter how he feels, or how much he

suffers or how low he goes, God will be faithful to His Word. He will restore us, confirm us,

strengthen us and establish us. To him be the dominion and the glory forever. And the church

said. And then let's pray. Father, in prayer right now we humble ourselves under your mighty

hand. So that at the proper time you may exalt us, and that proper time, Lord, might be eternity,

future. It might just be when Jesus comes and we're raised from the dead, that that might be

exactly what you're saying, that at the proper time, when Jesus comes, you will exalt us.

Thank you for your faithfulness. We hold you to this promise because you're faithful.

We believe you will accomplish it, Lord, we confess our pride and our prayerlessness at times.

We confess when we doubt your goodness to us. Your care for us. And so, Lord, we ask, like

Paul did in Ephesians 3, that this morning you would strengthen us by your Holy Spirit and our

inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. And that being rooted and

grounded in love, we may have strength with all the Saints to comprehend the breadth and

length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we

may be filled to all the fullness of God.

Help us to actually believe your goodness, to believe. Your kindness, and to believe your eternal

care for us. Help us to believe that you're the God of all grace who will restore, confirm, and

strengthen and establish you, Lord, by this grace, we can stand firm. By your Grace alone Help

us Lord, we trust you, we love you, we exalt you in Jesus name, Amen