1 Peter - 2022

So 1 Peter chapter 5 versus 6 to 14 Humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand. That he may lift you up in due time. Cost all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind.

Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him, be the power forever and ever amen. With the help of Silas whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly.

Encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. She, who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son mark, greet 1 another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. Thanks, Dean, for for reading that, and good morning.

Welcome. My name is Tom. I'm 1 of the pastors here, and it's great to to have you, and great to welcome you. I know there are some new new faces amongst us this morning, so you're very welcome. You join us right at the end of this series.

This is our last message. In in the letter of 1 Peter. And so, if this is your first time, then it might take you some time to go through the back catalog and to catch up, but I think that would be worthwhile. So, here we are. Do keep that reading, if you've got a hard copy bible in front of you, and let's bow our heads together and and pray.

Further, we've sung already about our our enemy and our adversary, the devil, who is roaming around seeking someone that he may devour. And Lord, the enemy that we have is is real, is dangerous, And yet, we thank you that Christ has crushed his power, has stepped on his head, has disarmed him, has taken away the sting of death and sin and that we who are in Christ this morning are victorious over him. And we pray that as we think about Peter's final words of encouragement and challenge to these Christians scattered throughout the world that you would give us ears to hear, not just what they meant then, but what they mean for us today. That you would humble our hearts where where pride stops us listening, that you would encourage us where we're feeling week and that you would help us to see again the glory to which we have been called in Christ. And we ask all of these things in his name.

Oh, men. For many Christians, Jeremiah 29 11 is 1 of their is 1 of their favorite verses. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, this is Jeremiah 29 11, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. In the days of Christian bookshops, you might remember them, You would find that verse, perhaps more than any other, on the front of diaries, and on candles, and on the front of on CDs and all kinds of things. You've seen that sort of stuff, haven't you?

It's 1 of the most famous, most well loved, most treasured verses by Christians And like all bible verses, the more that you understand it, the richer it becomes. So Jeremiah 29, is a promise to the people of God in Babylon, and they are in exile. So they have been scattered across the Pagan world, They are living in a pagan nation. They are in exile strangers under the judgment of God, but to them, this promise comes from the Lord When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I will be found by you declares the Lord and will bring you back from captivity. So what what this isn't is a fridge magnet promise that you will end up with the perfect family and the perfect career that you've always dreamed of. What this is, is a rich promise to those who are exiled through the world that once again they are gonna come back and they will live in a glorious new world under the rule of their Lord God forever. And so now, as we come to the end of 1 Peter, what we have is a new Jeremiah Speaking to the people of God, and where are they verse 13? Where does he say they are?

He says they are in Babylon. Not the same 1, because that 1 of the old testament would have been ruins at that stage. But he's talking to those who are in Babylon by which he probably means Rome, But more broader than that, those who live inside a world, which is in opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who live in the cities and the villages, which are opposed to Christ. He writes to those who are in Babylon, and what does this new Jeremiah this prophet Peter say, he says the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ After you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong and firm and steadfast.

So Peter ends this letter where he started. He is writing to God's elect exiles, who are scattered now and who are persecuted now and who will bear insult for the name of Christ now, but who have been chosen by God and have been called to an eternal glory in Christ, and it won't be long before they see him, and are with him forever. And with the last words of this letter, he says to those exiles who are scattered now, but going home, he says to them, stand firm. As you wait, And as you endure, stand firm. See, he repeats it twice in verse 9, resist the devil, standing firm in the faith, and then verse 12, this is the true grace of God, stand fast in it.

And as with all of 1 Peter, that message is not just for these original hearers, it is for us. If you are a Christian here this morning and have trusted in Christ as your Savior, you too live in Babylon. You live within a city and a world which does not share your kingdom priorities. That's where you live. But you have been called to eternal glory in Christ.

And while you wait, he says to you, in whatever temptations and trials you face while in Babylon, stand firm then, in the faith. And in the grace of God. 3 ways he puts that, 3 things that we need to know in order to stand firm. Firstly, We have a real enemy, so stand firm in the faith. That's the first thing.

We have a real enemy, so stand firm in the faith. And that's in verse 8. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, resist him standing firm in the faith. We stand firm in the faith.

And according to Peter, that faith is not just a vague idea or a sort of halfhearted belief somewhere there might be a God who is interested in us. This faith that he's talking about is the gracious gift of God that has united us to Jesus Christ. And in him, we already have the victory over satan. When the Lord Jesus Christ came, and when he died upon a cross, he took our sins, all of our sins upon himself, He died for your sins and mine, and in doing that, he also put the devil to open shame. He disarmed the devil.

The devil had those 2 great weapons against us, the sin that you have committed and the punishment that it deserves. And on the cross, Christ bore the sin and he took the punishment. And so he's taken away Satan's weapons, he's ripped his teeth out, he's disarmed him, he's put him to open shame. And the gospel promise for all of us is that if we will sincerely repent of our sin, and trust in this Christ who was crucified buried and risen for us that we will have the victory over satan. We will share in his triumph over the devil.

Nobody can resist him in their own strength. He's too strong. There are too many in his army, and this city of Babylon in a sense belongs to him. But in Christ, we win the day because he who is in us is greater than he who prowls around us. Stand firm, he says, in the faith.

But still, from that place of victory, we mustn't fall asleep. The devil is a defeated enemy, but he is not yet destroyed. And so Peter says, you be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. I was staying in a place last week, which which was which was a love which was a lovely place.

Except for the the cockroaches who were sharing the place with us. And there was a small handful of them, and it made me so thankful that largely in this country, we never see them. As they are pretty vile, aren't they? And so we had these cockroaches in the apartment. And whenever we would turn the light on in the morning or come in when it was dark, you would just see them scuttling out of the light under the skirting boards and back into the holes in the masonry and whatever they've been.

And I can tell you that going to bed at night, knowing that they were there was not straightforward. You know, when you're lying in bed reading and you come to the moment where you turn your side lamp off and it all goes dark. You know, you just know that those fellas are gonna be coming out in the dark. And it's it's hard to fall asleep with things like that around in your in your apartment. And, you know, if it's true of tiny little cockroaches, How much more would it be true if you knew that in the dark there was a lion padding around your apartment.

Okay? I don't think any of us would be able to fall asleep for any length of time. And yet, that is how Peter describes this enemy, this enemy, the devil like a roaring lion padding around the apartment of your life looking for someone to devour. The word devour is used in Hebrews 11 about the Egyptians who were swallowed by the Red Sea. You remember that story as they tried to chase the people of God and those 2 enormous columns of water just collapse in upon them and devour them, and it really means to just swallow up without a trace.

That's what Satan is looking to do. He doesn't just want to make you a little bit miserable. He wants to swallow you up. And devour you. And how is he gonna do it?

Well, there's lots of different ways, but in this letter, the particular danger is that when we suffer or are insulted for the name of Christ, he would want to capitalize on that opportunity and persuade us that following Jesus isn't worth it after all. He would seek to swallow us up in our suffering and to take us away from the lord. If there's 1 thing that we have been learning in these past few months, it's that suffering for the Christian is to be expected. We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom, but we live in Babylon at the moment, and that will mean friction. He said it so many times, hasn't he?

The world will speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ. Do you know something of that? The world speaking maliciously against your good behavior in Christ. He's talked about those who heap abuse on you when you simply don't wanna join in with the kind of reckless way in which the world lives. Now, with the eyes of faith, Peter has taught us to see that as an opportunity to refine our faith.

That when these trials come, we can see it as an act of God's grace in that he would seek to purify our faith and make us ready for heaven. We know already that he's told us that when those times come, instead of repaying evil for evil, by the grace of God, we can repay good for evil and even seek the conversion of those who speak maliciously against us. But Satan has a different idea for that suffering. He wants to seize the opportunity. And use it to discourage us from Christ.

It's interesting in 2 Corinthians 12 when Paul is talking about his his thorn in the flesh, which lots of people think was a type of physical suffering. He describes it in 2 ways. He says that it is both a gift of God and a messenger of satan. And so in some sense, this physical suffering is a gift because it will humble him, keep him from boasting, and keep him close to the Lord. But he also recognizes it could be a messenger of Satan, 1 who seeks to turn him away from Christ, and to take him away from that gospel life, it is both a gift of God and a messenger of Satan who would want to use it.

To cause us to become a post date, to walk away from the fight. We had a cluster meeting on on Wednesday, which is where every term or so, we get together with some of the other commission pastors who are local elders, and we get together and pray. And just share share stories. And there was 1 elder from King's Church Walton, who was telling us about a member of their youth group. Who in the sixth form common room, I think she was 17, had been speaking with a friend about the bible the bible's teaching on human sexuality and gender identity and some of these some of these hot topics.

And just a short while later, across the common room, those whom she had previously considered her friends were labeling her as a homophobe and a transphobe along with all other kinds of insulin. Those who happen to that point would be her friend, were now publicly slandering her for her bible convictions. Well, it's not worth being a Christian, is it? For that. It's not it's not worth it.

If you're gonna have to endure that sort of thing publicly, for just trying to give a gracious answer to a question that you have been asked. It's not worth it. So he whispers to us. The word enemy is sometimes translated adversary, which means a a legal opponent. It's 1 who tries to get into court with you when suffering comes and to accuse you.

This thing that you're going through for Christ, nobody else goes through that. God is punishing you in some way for your particular view and the way you said it. There is nobody else in this whole common room who thinks what you think today. Nobody it's not worth it. And so he accuses, and he whispers lies, and he act as our opponent.

But faith says in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are on the winning side. That in your faith you have overcome the world, and that even the weakest believer who shelters under the cross, is gonna send the devil running. And not only that, we can resist him and even return good for evil. You see, the very fact that he says resist him shows us that it is possible. Right?

He wouldn't give us that command if it were impossible. As we shelter under the cross, we can resist him. Standing firm in the faith. Be alert, he says, does that describe you, alert, sober minded, when it comes to your adversary, the devil? Does it describe the way you think about him?

An alertness, a soberness of mind As you think about life here in Babylon, do those little whispers that we must have all heard at 1 time or another? Do you realize that your enemy, the devil, would seek to use exactly that reasoning to take you away from the lord, resist him. Standing firm in the faith. And know this, he says, secondly, that you are not alone. Secondly, then we have a global family Think about their sufferings.

We have a global family think about their sufferings. Verse 8, again, resist him standing firm in the faith because you know that the kind of believers throughout the that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And that was a surprise for me this week in preparing this message. What what is gonna help us stand firm and to resist the devil? It's thinking about the sufferings of other people.

And that's why it's so good that Marie led us in prayer earlier, told us about this girl Deborah, who's who had lost her life for praising Jesus in a WhatsApp group, is why we must hear about that. It's 1 very good reason why we have persecuted church slots in our evening service, not so that we can just pray for them and educate ourselves about what people go through, but because it helps us stand firm in the faith. When we hear about that, It gives us strength in the battles that we face. In what way, when it reminds us that what happens to us is not unusual for verse 12. He's saying that your family with the same gospel are suffering too in different ways, but that all over the world, brothers and sisters exactly like you, are living in Babylon, and they have the same gospel and the same battle not against flesh and blood but against the powers of this dark world.

Peter is saying, think about the sufferings of your family all over the world. It's like being in the trenches, and miles off to your left and miles off to your right, you've got brothers and sisters who are just like you, who are dug in together. And they fly under the victory of Christ. That's their flag, but they are in a real battle, and there is loads like you all over the world. Who are going through the same things.

Satan would want us to think the opposite, that the sufferings that you have are just unique to you. That it's only people like you who would suffer in that way. He knows that the sheep are most most vulnerable when they're separated from the flock. If you can get you to think on your own, it's just me going through this, nobody else, He says no, all over the world. You are not alone.

There is some strengthening that is to be had when we remember that we are not alone in suffering for the name of Christ. And notice how he zooms in on that. So in verse 13, he talks of in verse 9 rather, he talks about people all over the world. And then in verse 13, He gets really personal and starts bringing names names in. With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I've written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God stand fast in it.

She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. So he's saying throughout the world, there is this family of believers suffering And then there's these ones that you even know. He takes it a bit more personal. As if he was saying to us, King's Church Chestington, you know, Hook evangelical Church, Saint Michael's Church in Fullwell, Christchurch in Serburton, King's Church, in Walton, Emmanuel, Tolworth, all of these people whom you know, chosen with you, together with you, in Babylon undergoing the same kinds of sufferings. They send their greetings, and they want you to know that they're facing the same things.

And they love the same lord, and that it's worth going with him in your own life. And then he zooms in even more. Verse 14, greet 1 another with a kiss of love. All over the world, These names you might know and the very people sat beside you, you are not alone. If the person who is sat next to you this morning is a Christian, I'm telling you they find it hard.

They do find it hard to be a Christian, and they will have all kinds of battles. Some you know about and some you might you might not. You see, Satan just wants us to think that the sinful thoughts that we have and the things that we do are just unique to us that nobody else does things like that or thinks things like that or battles in that way or faces those kinds of battles. He wants us to think that we are truly on our own. And this is why we have to share stories because If you hear, and if I hear that there is another student in a common room who is undergoing the same kinds of persecutions for the faith.

It has a strengthening effect. It has a strengthened effect on me. And this is what he's saying. If you want to stand firm, then learn about and think about and ask about the things that other believers go through, and you will find somehow that your own spiritual armor fits a lot better. Than it did before, resist him, standing firm in the faith, knowing that the family of believers all over the world are suffering in just the same way as you are.

That helps us stand firm. Thirdly and lastly, we have a gracious God stand fast in his grace. We have a gracious God, stand fast in his grace, and what a theme This has been in Peter's letter. Chapter 1 verse 10, concerning this salvation. The prophets who spoke of the grace that was to come to you.

1 verse 13, therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. And so you can see even in those 2 verses that like faith, grace, and the grace of God is not just a thing or a concept. The grace of God is a person It is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who came once to deal with our sins. That in his grace, he was not ready to give us what we deserved, but took our sins upon himself so that we might become the righteousness of God that free gift of salvation. That by grace, Jesus Christ is gonna come again 1 day, and he is gonna take you and me to the eternal glory that is in Christ, and that'll be our home forever.

And while we wait, it'll be by his grace that Jesus strengthens us. In the battles that we have. All of that is there in verse 10, if you have a look. And the God of all grace who called you into his eternal glory in Christ After you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong and firm and steadfast. That word restore is a is a really wonderful word.

It was used and what was used in the Bible of fishermen's nets. So in Mark chapter 1, it was used when fishermen would prepare or fix their nets. And so you've got this picture of somebody who really knows what they're doing. Taking up the net, knowing exactly where the problem is, and graciously fixing it. And it's a lovely pastural image, isn't it?

Because all of us who live in Babylon are going to have wear and tear in the nets of the life. We are gonna have frayed ropes and we are gonna have all kinds of holes in us. But 1 day, God himself is gonna take up each 1 and he's gonna fix it. And he's gonna sort the ropes out, and he's gonna patch up the holes, and he's gonna make us perfect forever. In glory, that work is gonna be complete.

But even now, that's what he's doing for us through the gospel. He's fixing us and he's mending the nets through the gospel. And you can tell Peter is excited about this because you see how he moves from gospel truth to praise in verse 11. It's often called a doxology when suddenly writers have written something so wonderful. That the next sentence is not gonna be a continuation of their point.

They just have to they just have to erupt in some kind of praise statement because of what they've just wrote. Well, verse 11, to him, And he's talking about Christ, to him, not to the enemies, not to Satan, not to Babylon, not to anyone else, to him, be the power for ever and ever our men. And perhaps the reason Peter moves to worship here is because he knows what it's like to have been preyed upon by Satan, to have fallen, and to have been restored. Remember what Jesus says to him, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.

And when you have turned back strengthen your brothers. But he replied, Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death. Jesus answered I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you would deny me 3 than I 3 times that you know me. Peter learned the hard way that Satan was no joke. Firm in his own strength.

He said, I will never deny you. But he failed to be alert, and he failed to keep a sober mind. And yet after his resurrection, 3 times the Lord comes to him to do verse 10 for him. To restore, to make strong, to establish. Peter loves the true grace of God.

Because he's known it so personally. And therefore, he says to us, in these final words verse 13, I have written to you briefly. Encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God, stand fast in it. This whole letter from beginning to end has been about the true grace of God. There are election in Christ before the foundation of the world is the true grace of God, stand faster in it.

The assurance that you have finished with sin in Jesus is the true grace of God, stand fast in it. The faith that has been given to you is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. The trials that you go through to refine you They are an expression of true grace to you. Stand fast in that grace.

The promise that he will provide all we need to stand firm is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. This family of believers all over the world, they are the true grace of God. Stand fast with them. The guarantee of a future inheritance for all who have been born again is the true grace of God.

Stand fast in it. This is the true grace of God, stand fast in it. And so as exiles in Babylon, who are going home to glory, we must stand firm. That's his final command to us. But how do we do it in the faith of the gospel and in the grace of God and knowing that we are not alone?

Let's pray together. Loveing God, we thank you so much for this amazing letter and for all that you have taught us through it. We thank you for reminding us that suffering for the Christian is not something unusual or uncommon, but that all over the world, the family of believers, are going through the same kinds of battles and temptations that we ourselves face. And we thank you that as we think upon them, we find it strengthening us in our own battle. We know Lord, and yet we often fail to live it out, that we cannot stand in our own strength.

Forget us, Lord, for thinking that we have what we need, and we have the resources that we need to stand for you in this world, how foolish we are, We thank you that it is only through faith in Christ Jesus that we can stand firm. We thank you for this letter and the true grace of God, which it has described to us, and we pray lord that you would help us to stand fast in your grace and the grace of the gospel, knowing that you have called us to eternal glory in Christ. We thank you, Lord, that all of us here are gonna need our nets mended in 1 way or another. We're gonna need our ropes sorted out. We're gonna need all the wear and tear patched up, and we thank you that as the perfect pastor fisherman, you are gonna take up those nets and restore, establish, and strengthen us forever.

And thank you for beginning that good work even now. And for all of these things, we do give you thanks in Jesus' name, amen.