1 Peter chapter 5, verse 12 reads, By Silvanus, 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 for a minute. 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 who are in Christ. And so the apostle Peter ends his letter with a theological greeting, and he sends greetings from those who are with him. He is writing from Rome and he greets, sends greetings from Silvanus. This is thought to be Silas, who was the traveling companion of the apostle Paul. And When he says by Silvanus, this probably means that either that Silvanus was received the dictation of Peter or that he delivered the letter. He mentions those chosen in Babylon. That's the persecuted church in Rome where Peter is situated right now. And he mentions Mark, who is the author of the Gospel of Mark. And they're all with him. What I'd like to do in this passage, though, is to reinforce what we study in the book of First Peter. As I studied this passage this week, I saw four theological phrases in this farewell that I think is going to be helpful as a guide to kind of shine light on what we studied before. So those phrases are the true grace of God, the exhortation to stand firm, the kiss of love and the peace upon those who are in Jesus Christ. So I just want to reinforce what we studied in 1 Peter by using those four phrases. First, the true grace of God. So the true grace of God. Grace is not a gas. It's not ambiguous. Grace has a definite content and form, and in Scripture, in the New Testament, the true grace of God is all that's been accomplished for us in Jesus Christ. Grace is God's saving and sanctifying power that He's given us in Jesus Christ. I want you to turn with me, if you would, to 1 Peter 1, verse 3 and 5. So what has God done through Jesus Christ? Some people say he's given us just a moral example. He's a good man who showed us how to live morally in the earth. I tell you with confidence and with the invitation to open the New Testament, that that is not the message of scripture. That does not do justice to what Jesus himself taught about himself, nor what the apostles taught about Jesus. Rather, through Jesus Christ, God has forgiven the sins of those who trust in him for salvation, thus freeing them from an eternity in hell and translating them into the kingdom of light where there is life eternal. And so the Apostle Peter writes in verse 3 of chapter 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. So the grace of God, the true grace of God given to us in Jesus Christ, His death and His resurrection, is access to eternity with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's access to eternity, but it's also access to eternity so that we can be with the Lord, like we sang today. Christ, our hope in life and death, and then we will rise to meet the Lord. 1 Peter 2, 9-10, Peter describes the church. But you are a chosen race, a holy priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into this marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are a people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. I remember one time I was at the bank, I may have told you this before, but I would have this habit of talking about religious topics to my customers, and my manager didn't appreciate this, and he would say, Eric, stop talking about religion to our customers. This was very funny to me, but one time I was talking with with someone who believed that God's grace was given to everyone. And he said, well, we're all God's children, right? We're all God's children. I said, no, not really. We're not all God's children. It's those who have faith in Christ. If Christ is not your brother, then God is not your father. Once you were not a people, but now you are a people. So the way to become part of God's family is to receive Jesus Christ and thus be reconciled to God. This is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. So the true grace of God is that Christ has given us access to eternity. and reconcile us to God. That's the true grace of God, and we must appropriate that through faith in Him. But you'll notice that Peter explains this to people who are already Christians. Now why would he write to them about the true grace of God when they were already Christians? I mean they already knew about the grace of God. So why write to them about it again? Look what Peter says. I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. He wrote to them not just about grace, not defining his his letter was not just definitional. He was pastoral. He was exhorting and declaring to them. Exhorting means to urge or to encourage and declare means to testify. And Peter certainly gives firsthand testimony of someone who is discipled by Jesus Christ. But Peter's burden in this letter is not just simply to tell people what the grace of God is, tell Christians what the grace of God is. It's to exhort them in that grace. He wants to press them to believe. He wants to press them to persevere in the midst of persecution. He wants to challenge them to continue on that Christ-blazed path from suffering to glory, which every Christian must take to some degree or another. You know what he wants to do? He wants to fan into flame. The faith. That people have in God's grace through Christ. You ever try to start a fire before anyone go camping and try to start a fire and you have these embers, maybe you have sticks and leaves together and you start the fire and you have embers, but if you give it air, if you blow on those embers, it will fan into flame those embers. So what I see Peter doing throughout this letter, and in fact, the whole New Testament, I see the apostles fanning into flame the embers of what we understand so that we can live that faith more fully, more devotedly, more faithfully. So he's fanning into flames. And so that shows me as Christians, we don't just need to understand the grace of God, but we need the grace of God to be pressed into us time and time again. This is why what you're doing right now is important. This is why preaching Throughout the Old and New Testament, this is why Paul says, preach the word. This is why preaching is important for God's people, because we grow weak and tired in the faith. We grow tired in the Lord, and then we get weary. Our minds become theologically fuzzy and foggy, and we start to lose our convictions on things. and become round instead of sharp doctrinally. And we don't really believe anything after a while. But week after week here in this church, week after week, someone is standing in front of you and exhorting you in the true grace of God through a passage. And that is a blessed, blessed thing to be a part of. And so just like food, food every day, you eat food every day. It is so important to have somebody press theologically truth into your hearts and minds every day. And praise God that you're doing that for yourself and for your children in children's ministry. Paul says, preach the word to Timothy, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with complete patience and teaching. You know, preaching should not be like wet noodles on your head. Preaching should be like stoking the fire of your soul, rebuking you, exhorting you. Now, I know I have probably preached some wet noodle sermons, and I thank you for your patience, but I don't want to do that. I want to exhort you. I want to rebuke you. with complete patience and teaching, like the Apostle Paul said. So, I'm not trying to give you wet noodles ever. I'm trying to press in to your hearts. I'm trying to punch you with the grace of God, knock you down with the grace of God, so you get your wits about you again. Fan into flames the truth about eternity and death and resurrection Don't be so this worldly minded. There is an eternity ahead of us. So that's what preaching does. It presses into your mind the true grace of God in eternal things so that we can lift our eyes from the mundanity of life and realize this. I think Stefan, maybe this, I think Stefan told me this last week. He was on the beach and he took a grain of sand, right? And Stefan said he took that grain of sand and he thought about that grain of sand in comparison to the whole beach. And he said, that is like my life compared to eternity. But then he said, but even expand that to all the beaches in the world, all the world, the whole world, the universe itself. Eternity is a very long time. It is a very weedy issue that we can't we can't just It would be so silly to set our minds on things that are below and not on things that are above where Christ is. So preaching is good because it reminds you of eternal things. Also to the focus of our preaching in this church. You know, sugar is bad for you. Have I given you that speech before? Sugar is not good for you. Right, Jessica? Jessica knows all about that. I even I've even eaten I believe it was it was it sugarless brownies Is that right? Oh gluten-free. Okay something healthy But that Jessica made but Um sugar tastes good Right, but you know what's better for you whole grain food Whole wheat stuff is good for you. And so in this church I don't want to linger on cultural issues that are tasty. It's very tasty to talk about the politics and get into all the little debates that evangelicals like to get in and who did this and who said that and this guy has this problem. And I mean, I think we just need to grow up as evangelicals and eat the whole grain of God's grace and what's in Scripture. I mean, Peter was interested in the true grace of God and he wrote about it. Peter, Paul said, I endeavor to know nothing among you except for Christ and him crucified. Paul told Timothy, no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits. Now, this does not mean that I would ever avoid the horror of abortion, which is a horror and an abomination, or I would avoid the sexual perversion of the the LGBT community that is a sexual perversion, nor would I ignore the lack of wisdom that's evident in the leadership of this country. But our aim, however, is not to comment on every newsworthy event or issue. Rather, it's wholly living and wholly dying. So we just like Preaching is good for you because it reminds you of the true grace of God. In this church, I would like to be committed, and I have tried to be committed, to non-sugary preaching, but to whole-grain preaching that might not be as tasty on the way down, but it's good food for the soul. And it helps you think about things that matter. It helps you think about ultimate things and things that are required of you. Helps you think to fear God and keep his commandments. That's the duty of man. Amen. So remember the true grace of God in Jesus Christ. Is open the door to eternity. He died the death you should have died, lived the life you should have lived, rose from the dead. He is your king and Lord, and you owe him much more than your morality. You owe him your entire life, heart, soul, mind and strength. Next, stand firm. Remember, there is a great need for you to stand firm in God's grace. I have written to you briefly, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. To stand firm means to hold your ground. It means to maintain your position and be steadfast. Now, Peter's audience here, which is multiple churches throughout Asia Minor, are enduring social persecution. And so this meant loss of family ties. This perhaps could have meant loss of employment. This meant enduring heavy mocking and maligning from the culture. And what this had the effect of in their own hearts is the temptation to step out of the grace of God. Nothing can rip you from God's grace, but the danger is stepping out of God's grace. And Peter is exhorting us to remain steadfast in Christ, to cling to him, and to be firm in God's grace. And I think this reminds me of what we saw in chapter one, verse five, if you turn with me. Our faith is tested in this life. J.I. Packer wrote a book called Hot Tub Religion, in which he describes most Christians understanding of Christianity. Well, if I became a Christian, it's kind of like sinking into a hot tub and just enjoying kind of the warmth and the good, the good feels of the of the water. And he used that as a foil because that's absolutely not what Christianity is. And nowhere in Scripture do we see that implied in the New Testament. Do we see that implied at all? Rather, we see that our faith is going to be tested by fire. Verse five, we are by God's power being guarded through faith for his salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. Praise God. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary. You have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, may be found to result in praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That is one of my favorite sentences in scripture. So God, uses fire to refine and to reveal faith. And fire burns is very difficult to endure fire. But reframe what the fire is doing to your soul. Have it have a theological reframing of what the fire is doing to you. God said he would never leave you nor forsake you. So we can believe that promise and then understand that the fire that you are currently enduring, though it be very, very hot, is refining you and revealing what is in your heart so that you can be more watchful and cooperate with God to be refined. You know, he says that our faith that's tested may result to be found in praise and then in honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. If praise does not come out of me when my faith is tested by fire, it shows that there are impurities. If bitterness and anger and a lack of faith comes out of me, it shows that there's impurities that are coming out, that are being burned away. Didn't Jesus say to the people who are surrounding him when he preached the Sermon on the Mount, regarding their anxiety, he said, oh you of little faith. It's a matter of little faith that we have anxiety, the anticipation of terror. That's a matter of a lack of faith. And so I would exhort you. Remember, I want to punch you with the truth. I want to exhort you to reframe that fire. I'm thinking about one or two of you right now. Maybe you know who you are. To take that fire that you're going through right now and reframe it. as not just a difficulty, but as a revealing and refining by God's good and gracious hand. And you are well taken care of and safe in his arms. God does test people. He tested Israel in the wilderness, and we read in Deuteronomy 8 to that you shall remember the whole way the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commands or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna. which you did not know, nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. God will set you in a wilderness to humble you and give you an opportunity to depend on him so that you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Please take this truth from scripture and drink it down even now as we pray, and even pray right now that the Lord would apply this to your spirit. What kind of fire has Peter mentioned throughout the book? Well, he's mentioned the fire of the flesh. He mentions in chapter 1 verse 11 that the passions of the flesh wage war against your soul. And the passions of the flesh, if they triumph over a person, will eventually destroy a person and weaken and erode your faith. They weaken your will. There's will and desire. Maybe I've told you this before too. The desire, I might desire to eat an ice cream if I'm on a diet, but I don't will to. So my will is different than my desire. If I give in to my desire, my will will become weaker. But if I intentionally bring my will into cooperation with the Holy Spirit, my I will be greater sanctified and strengthened in God's grace." And so understand the will versus the desire dynamic. James 1, 14 through 15 says, each person is tempted and lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire Once it has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. So desire and temptation will eventually give birth to sin. And I think we've all experienced that in life. And then eventually, if you become weakened utterly by desire, which has given birth to sin, it will bring forth death in your soul. So beware of that kind of fire. Also beware of the fire of social pressure. In chapter four, verse four, Peter's told us with respect to this. Before that, he mentioned a list of debaucheries. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them. in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you. Their people are surprised and even incensed that we would not support a woman's quote-unquote right to choose. And they malign you and call you evil and narrow-minded. Well, That's a fire of social pressure. And what does the Apostle Peter say? Does he say, well, come back at them? Although, you know, I'm tempted to do that sometimes because the arguments are found so wanting, so wanting. You know what our culture does today? It's argument not by logic, but by outrage. The one who is more outraged wins the argument. And logic and tight argumentation is kind of gone to the wayside. And it's it astounds me that the world has been more persuaded by outrage at this point than by logic. That is that is an amazing thing, and even even C.S. Lewis in this was 70 years ago in the screw tape letters. has the chief demon give advice to the younger demon. He says, don't, this is not an age of argument anymore. Don't exist on the plane of logic and argumentation because then you're in the enemy's territory, by which he meant God's territory. He said, play on the emotions and the passions. And that is precisely what has been done today. The argument, logic, seeing God's creation and reality is unpersuasive to the ruined soul, and that's a sad and tragic thing. All right, but I told you we don't want to linger on politics, right? So remember the true grace of God. Remember the need to stand firm. Also remember that God has given us the church to help rekindle our embers of faith at certain times and to help us stand firm. So if we need to remember the true grace of God and to stand firm in it, he has given us you all, doing it together to help you stand firm in the faith and to help rekindle the faith that maybe exist only as embers in your heart right now. So he says, greet one another with the kiss of love. Now, you see this in the New Testament kissing, they kissed. I think we see this in Italian culture is still they kiss on both sides of the cheek and this. But Peter says, don't just greet one another with a kiss. He says, greet one another with a kiss of love. The kiss of love, means that we don't hold each other at arm's distance, but that we forge a warm, close bond with one another. It's not like in a Catholic church where you stand up, and you say, peace be with you. That's not what I want to do at greeting time. I want to have a spiritual a spiritual connection, a warm spiritual connection with people. And I want to forge that with you. Greet one another with the kiss of love. In first Peter three, eight. Peter said, finally, all of you have unity of mind. Sympathy. Brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind, that is a good motto for a church. Brotherly love. Not just a loose and cold association with one another. We see one another on Sundays, but a brotherly love. We're praying for each other throughout the week. We're opening up our homes. We're worshiping together. We care for one another. That's a brotherly love. Sympathy. Sometimes I'm bad at sympathizing if I don't understand why people just can't get their act together. Just don't do that. But I need to work on sympathy, a tender heart, having compassion for one another, and a humble mind, knowing that I could be wrong, and so could you. Use the greeting time in this church to forge a spiritual kiss of love in this church and help one another grow in the grace and stand firm in the faith. Lastly, last thing, this is number four, right? The last thing, oh yes, the peace of Christ. He says, greet one another with the kiss of love, peace to all who are in Christ. Remember that Christ, as we sang so beautifully today, and thank you, Todd and Stephen, for leading us in that, is that Christ is our hope in life and death. And peace to all who are in Christ indeed. Peace means to have a sense that all is well because of Christ. We saying what is our hope in life and death? Christ alone. Christ alone. What is our only confidence that our souls to him belong? That is our confidence. And so there is peace. Brothers and sisters, we have no need to worry. about the future, but we can anticipate joy and peace when Christ is ours forevermore. And we enter the great banquet hall of God's glory. Peace be to all who are in Christ. So Christ is our confidence. He is our peace. We have been born again through a living hope, through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. I was having a conversation earlier this week and every time you think about the resurrection, that's the thing I cling to. That's the thing we cling to. If Jesus Christ rose from the dead and you trust him, everything will be well with you. Everything will be well with you if he rose from the dead. So my question to you today is, do you have this sense that everything will be well with you? Through a true faith in Jesus Christ. Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, do you know? That you are a sinner in need of God's grace. Do you know that he died for your sins? Do you know that he rose from the dead as your king and your Lord? Oh, sure, you could reject all of that. You can reject everything I'm saying, and you could not take that leap of faith. Or you could cast yourself fully on his mercy and his grace and commit yourself fully to him. And maybe in that you'll find confidence and the knowledge and the peace you're looking for. This is how God works. Your heart will be restless until you find rest in Him. So that is how Peter ends his letter. And he has exhorted us throughout the letter to persevere through suffering with Christlikeness and in hope in Jesus Christ. So remember the true grace of God. Remember to stand firm in God's grace. Remember one another. We are here and I am here for you to help you persevere in the faith. And remember, this is all about Jesus Christ. We are not doing abstract religious stuff. We trust a person. Jesus said he made promises about eternity and he said he's coming back. Let's cling to him. Let's close in a word of prayer.