If you'll turn with me back where David read the last chapter of Peter, in 1 Peter, you'll see tonight we come to a close of the first letter. And hopefully it's been a blessing to you. I think it's very beneficial when you study the word together like we have been and in one letter or one book this way, because I think it helps us Like we know now, if we didn't know before, as we go through afflictions and the Lord calls us to have joy in them and to suffer with Him, we know now when we go to 1 Peter, if we want to read about that, the exhortations and the encouragements that Peter gives. And all throughout the book, it's like that, as he tells us what we have in Christ, what Christ went through on behalf of his people. And it's just been a blessed letter. So as we come to the end tonight, And remember, it reads like a letter. He's going to come to the end of it. He's closing it tonight. And he goes back to addressing, as he just finished the portion on suffering and the joy that the people of God take when they understand that they've suffered for Christ's sake. And that is a mark of being in Christ. It's evidence that Christ is in you, that he has called you to suffer, and that he has called you and nourished you through the suffering, and guided you through the suffering, and brought you through it. And it brings joy to our souls to know that we partook in sufferings as he did, because that's what he says in his word. You will too, as I went first, you will come right after. So he begins tonight, in the portion of scripture tonight, focusing back on to the elders. The elders are the, I want to say aged men, because most of the time they are, but it's not an age thing. It's aged in the truth. It's those who are mature in the truth that have experienced Christ in their life. So that's who he addresses this to. He says, the elders which are among you, I exhort them. I have something to say to them in closing. And as he says that, he says, but I'm also an elder. So I'm coming to you from a place of experience. This is what the Lord has taught me. And he says, and a witness, I'm not only an elder, I'm not only an aged one in the truth who the Lord has raised up to speak the truth, but I have experienced and witnessed the sufferings of Christ. That's what the Lord told his apostles when they went out and to preach the truth. He said, be a witness unto me, unto them what you've heard of me. So the message that Peter's saying tonight is, I am an eyewitness of his sufferings. I'm an eyewitness, and that's what made Peter an apostle, is because he was there when the Lord went through what he did. He saw the Lord die. He saw the Lord come out of the tomb. He saw the Lord appear to him as risen. He saw the Lord ascend into heaven. And that's what he's saying here in verse one, because he says, I'm a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and I'm also I'm also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed." Well, he partook in a lot of things. He partook in Christ's ministry as Christ walked on this earth. He partook in Christ's healings, in his casting out devils, in his miracles, in all the things that he performed. He partook in his, watched him die, watched him rise again, watched him ascend. He partook in the glory that was brought unto Christ in all that he did. And this is what I want you to understand, is as he's addressing this to the elders, the elders who preach Christ enter into the same mindset. You say, wait a minute, you're not an apostle. You're right, I'm not. I didn't eyewitness it by being there, but I witnessed it by faith. So all the elders that he's addressed this to and those who will speak the truth or have spoken the truth, he said, you too are witnesses of the glory that shall be revealed. That's what he's addressing it to. The elders who are among you, I exhort you, I exhort you, I've witnessed Christ, I've partaken in his life, I know what it's like, do you? Do you know what it's like to be filled with Christ, to have the faith, to see that Christ has risen, that he has ascended, that he's reigning on behalf of you? If you do, preach that gospel. That's what he's saying. And then in verse two, he goes right into what our calling is. Feed the flock of God. Feed them. Well, he says, feed the flock of God, which is among you. Well, there's nobody better equipped to tell us to feed the flock of God except Peter, right? Isn't that what the Lord said to him? Isn't that what he said to him three times when Peter was warming himself by the fire and the Lord had prepared that meal for them after they'd been fishing and he called Peter up? Turn with me over to John 21. You'll see this at the end of there, John 21. In verse 15, he says, So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? As he pointed to the boats and he pointed to the nets and his vocation that he stopped and he went back to, do you love me more than these? Now notice this, he says, do you love me more than these? And he says, yes, Lord, you know that I love thee. Now look what he enjoins Peter to do, feed my lambs. Feed my lambs. What is it that Peter is, the rest of your life, Peter, this is what I've called you to do. This is what you're going to do. Feed my lambs. And then he said to him a second time, he said, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He said unto him, yes, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, feed my sheep. Then the third time, he said the same thing. Peter was grieved because he said unto him a third time, love us, I'll make. But look at the emphasis that Christ is putting on preaching the word, feeding the sheep, feeding them with Christ. What is Christ? He is the word. That's what the Lord has called all of his elders to do. to preach Christ. And that's what he says to him again. You know, Lord, that I love you. You know all things. And he said to him again, feed my sheep. Now look what Paul says over here at the end of Acts, Acts chapter 20. He says something equally important that was taught to him as the Lord rose him up to speak the truth. We just talked about that recently, about how he's knocked off his horse, gonna go back, go over here, and you're gonna be told later what you're gonna do. And when Ananias came to him, said, you're gonna go and you're gonna preach Christ. And here's what he says in Acts 20, look at verse, well, we'll start in 27. He says, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. All that I know that the Lord has revealed to me, but what has he revealed to me? It's always according to his word. It's always feeding the flock with the word. We're not to get up here and tell you what's going on in the headlines and we're not to get up here and interject our thoughts and how we look at what's going on in the world or any problems we're having in the church. We speak the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. Now look at 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the church of God. And you say, well, how important is that? Well, he tells you, which he purchased with his own blood. Christ died for this bride. He died for this church. And so what did he do? He said, I've ordained the foolishness of preaching to feed my church, to save my church, that they hear the word of me. That's how they'll come to me. They must hear the gospel preached. So we don't, I can't underscore this enough when he says, when Peter says this, feed the flock of God, which is among you. And notice that, it's who's among you. Because elders or the ones that the Lord raises up to preach in whatever area it is, have a local assembly that they're preaching to. As the Lord has believers in a place, he will raise up a preacher among them and he will feed the flock that is among you. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't go somewhere else to preach where the other believers are or if you're invited or whatever, but what the scriptures testify to is that the Lord has a people and then he equips those people wherever they are, he sends them a gospel minister to preach the gospel to them. So he says, preach to them that are among you. And then he says some very important instructions, taking the oversight thereof, looking after their needs, looking after what they have need of, looking into their lives, caring for them, watch, but willingly, not by constraint, Not because you have to. Not because you went to seminary and you went there because you wanted a job that you could have the week off and only preach one or two times a week. Many people do that. They look at it as a vocation. It's a calling. That's what Peter's saying. You've been called by Christ to feed the flock with the word. And he says, and willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, not for money, not for pay, not for power and not for praise, but to do it because the Lord has shown you that's the truth. And not only is that the truth, this world is void of truth. And the only way that truth is gonna be propagated in this world is it's gonna come from his preachers. Then it's going to go to his people. Then his people are going to spread it and talk about Christ and them, the hope of glory. That's how the truth gets around. But how will they hear without a preacher? That's what he's saying. So, not by force, not by coercion, but willingly and lovingly. Let me read you a couple things out of just two verses out of Hebrews 13. Verse seven says this, Paul wrote this, remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God. Remember them, remember them in prayer, remember them in your thoughts, remember them in their needs, whose faith follow. Follow the faith. If it's the faith of the Son of God that you see and that what's being preached, follow that, cleave to that. Only the Lord can give you that faith, but you're on the right track, so to speak. That's why he says, follow, considering the end of their conversation. 17 says, obey them that have the rule, the guide over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls. And that's why I'm up here proclaiming the gospel. I care for your souls. I don't know how many times that conversation has come up in my life with people, loved ones or people in the church that I preach to. I say this all the time. I do care for your bodies. I do. I do care that their bodies are breaking down. I do care that you have afflictions. But my chief concern for you is your soul. And why is that? Because it says here, because they must give account, they must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. That you will have joy in preaching the word and speaking to the people of God. And thank God, I do. It's the joy of Him. It's the joy of the Lord. And it's not grievous for me to get up here and preach Christ. And it certainly isn't grievous to preach him Wednesday, Sundays, Wednesday, Sundays. It's a treasure that's unexhaustible. There's so much in him that we can declare as the Lord reveals himself. And so he tells Peter, you know, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords or ruling over like a dictator or with a hard hand. He's talking about being, you know, but being examples to the flock. Now think about that a minute. You know, I've known, for example, I've known preachers in my life that will not give to the church that they are pastoring because they believe that it's their responsibility to care for them. You hear what I'm saying? That's not being an example to the flock. You give because the Lord has blessed you and you want to give to what the Lord has begun here. You want to give. Your heart is, he loves a cheerful giver. Lord, I wish I could give all that I have, you know, but I want that to be an example to you out of a loving and kindness and charity. I hope you see that. And if you don't, I hope you will see it. that you are treated that way and that it's not with an iron hand and it's not with a rule over you. And that's what he's telling us here in the word and that's what he's exhorting the elders, be examples to the flock. Don't have any expectation that they do something that you haven't been revealed to do. You know, and as I say, I give you that example of giving in a monetary way to support what the Lord has started here in the ministry, to pay the things, to provide what we have need of. Yeah, that's out of love. Love. So certainly that's where he's headed here. And then he says, when the chief shepherd, now notice that because the scriptures do, do talk about the preachers of the word being shepherds, but they're under shepherds. That's why the word chief is there. When the chief shepherd comes, when the chief shepherd shall appear. Now he's called the chief shepherd, the great shepherd, the good shepherd. But as we're kept in him, and as we're kept faithful by him to preach, he says, when he appears, you shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away. We're not preaching for that crown of glory, that glory is what he prayed for in John 17. It's the same glory you're gonna receive. Lord, I pray that the glory that you have with me before the foundation of the world, you give to them, the people who are in Christ. There's not a degree of a greater reward for me because I'm preaching. No, I'm a sinner just like you. But my reward is Christ. Your reward is Christ. So when the chief shepherd shall appear, they will hear those words, well done. So 2 Timothy 4.8 says this, henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, this is what Paul wrote as he was nearing the end of his life, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day. And now listen, if it only ended there, you'd say, well, look at that. Paul's a preacher, he's got that crown. He's got that crown of, that same thing, the glory of Christ, the crown of righteousness, it's the righteousness of Christ. But you know how that verse ends? Listen to this. And not to me only, Paul says, but unto all them that love his appearing, all of them who love Christ. But why do they love him? Because he loved them first, because they have a union, because the Lord has revealed himself to them and they can't live without him. and they have this crown of righteousness that's laid up for them. They've got this glory that fades not away that's laid up for them. That's what the people of God have. We have the glory that's been revealed and will be revealed in Christ Jesus in eternity. So a lot there And then after addressing the elders, now he's gonna address the younger, which yes, it is age-based, but also more importantly, in the faith, so to speak. Maybe it's a young one who just heard the truth and they're growing and the grace and all, maybe they don't know much about the Lord. But you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. The aged believer, the one who has walked with the Lord a longer time. Submit yourselves to the one who has experienced Christ more. Why? Look at it. Submit yourself. You know, there's nothing better for me to run it when I go to preach at Apopka or St. Pete or here. When I hear the believers who've been believers and the Lord has worked in their life, and he has carried them along this pilgrimage. And they tell me about how Christ has been there with them in their life, and there's nothing better for me. I mean, I just sit there. That is food for the soul. The word of God is food for the soul. What the Lord has done in his faithfulness for his church is food for the soul. And when we hear those things and what's missing there? Pride. You want to hear it. You want to hear what the Lord's done for them. You're not envious of it. You're not sitting there. No, you're praising the Lord for what he's done. And that's what he says here. He says, submit yourselves unto the Lord. But then look what he says. He says, yea, all of you, whether young or old, be subject one to another. whether you're elders, you're not elders, and be clothed with humility. Remember, we had that whole couple weeks or maybe that we talked about authority, where he talked about the civil authority, the authority, and always Christ being the authority. But he told us, you know, the child of God doesn't have an authority problem because he knows the Lord governs all things and he's put these things in his life, wherever they are. Whether it's law enforcement, whether it's the governor, whatever they are, whatever laws are made, it's made under the umbrella of God. So we don't scoff at them and we don't argue with them. We submit ourselves. That's what he's talking about here. Like I said, this is the closing of the letter. So he's coming, he's hinting on some of the things that he's already talked about. And he says, you know, be subject one to another, be clothed with humility. What is humility? It's a lowliness of mind, esteeming others better than yourself. It's the mind of Christ who thought it not robbery, who was equal with God, who came down here to lay down his life for his friends. It's the mind of Christ who humbled himself all the way, even to the death of the cross, and he uttered not a word. That's humility. It's Christ who took a cross and walked down the street as people mocked him and as people spit upon him. And it's Christ who hung there on a tree, a cursed tree with hardly any clothing on and his visage was just all marred for his church. That's humility. Peter reminds us again, humility as Christ was humble as Christ's mind was of meekness. And you see, if we have a humble and our mind is of humility, it will not be puffed up with pride. It will not look at others with envy. It will not be busybody. It will not be in other people's affairs. It will submit to the life that the Lord has given you and being content in that life. That's a humble mind. That's what he says, be clothed with humility because here, this is the reason, dear ones. God resists the proud. He has nothing to do with the proud. These seven things I hate. What was the first one? A proud look. God hates pride. The lifting up of your heart, the lifting up of do you know who I am? God resists the proud. He resists them. He says, you are not of me. This is not of me. He resists the proud and he gives grace to the humble. And you say, well, of course he does, because that's how they're humble. That's right. They're humbled by his grace. They see everything that Christ has done for them, and they see that there's nothing they brought to the table. That's what Peter's building to. He's building to verse 10, where he says, the God of all grace. It's all of grace. And that's what he tells us here. God resists the proud, but grace is given to the humble. Grace is of the one who has the humble mind or the humility. Turn with me over to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. read you a passage that Paul said here. Contrasting a few things tonight, what Paul said, what Peter said, they got the same witness. It's the witness of the Spirit. But look at chapter 4, verse 3. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called." Whatever the Lord's called you to do, Paul says, I beseech you, I beg you, I plead with you. This is the mind you should have with lowliness and meekness. Whatever the Lord's called you, whatever job you have, whatever place you are in your home, if you're the wife, submit to the husband. If you're an employee, submit to the employer. If you're the husband, submit to the wife, submit to one another. Always submission is what he's telling us. With lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. Endeavoring, trying as hard as you can. wishing to, wanting to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. That's where peace is. And now listen, I want you to examine your own life here for a second. The people you have peace with, how do you have peace with them? Do you have peace when you're raised up and they're raised up? No. The children of God have peace with one another when they both have the mind of Christ. Or at least one does, right? Because if one is humble and one is long-suffering, he can put up with the other one because the Lord has given him the grace to do so. Then he says in six, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. Notice what Peter said there. He didn't just say, humble yourselves under the hand of God, because it's the hand of God that humbles you. Of course it is. But it's the mighty hand of God. Think of that word. He's almighty, right? That power that it takes to subdue us, that power, he's got the power to subdue the flesh. He's got the power to humble us. That's what he said. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. The mighty hand of God will humble you. He will humble you, and it will be by his almighty power. There's nothing too hard for the Lord. And sometimes we get in that prideful spirit, and sometimes we get in that rebellious spirit, and the Lord knows just what to send us to humble us. And that's His mighty hand that's doing it. Sometimes we get so, I mean, I've said it, I hate to admit it, I've said it many times in my life too, I know you have, I know I'm this way. I know I'm, and you just know it, you know you're obstinate, you know it. But what, does the Lord leave you there? No, no, he comes and he humbles you. And he does it by his mighty hand. I love that, I love the way that's worded there. It's his mighty hand. You're not gonna stay the hand of the Lord. This is the almighty Lord who has omnipotent power. And he will humble his people, because they will have a humble and meek spirit. And so he says, humble yourselves, therefore, that he may exalt you. And it's that same hand, the same hand of power that lifts you up out of the dunghill, that lifts you up out of the woe is me, that lifts you out of it and exalts you in him in due time. Same almighty hand. It's the same hand. He must increase and we must decrease. That's what John the Baptist said. So humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." And then, as I said, this is, tonight's just full of encouragement, started with exhortation, and now it's encouragement. The letter is ending. It was sent to the elect that were scattered, and he wanted them to be encouraged this way. And then he says, listen, casting some of your cares, Well, I've got problems at work. I'll cast those on him, but you know, I'll go home and I'll deal with the ones at home. No. Casting all your care upon him. All your cares, all your worries, all your anxieties, all your fears, all your ailments, all your afflictions that he's been talking about. Cast them upon him. The government of his people is upon his shoulders. That almighty hand has almighty shoulders too. He bears us up in him. He is where we take all of, casting all of our care, and this is what's done by faith. Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Turn me over to Hebrews 13. This will be the last one. We're just gonna go back a couple pages. Look at Hebrews 13. Look at verses five and six. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For he has said, I will never leave you, never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say with confidence, with assurance, that's what he said, cast all your cares upon him. Why? Because he never leaves you. Because he's your contentment. Because he's everything you need. Because everything you could possibly want and desire is in him. If he's proved that to you. if he's become the Lord of your life. So we may boldly say that the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. And understand that is not my helper like he did his part and I did my part. That is he is my, he helps me to this place because I'm not getting there. I'm not going there. I'm not willing to go there, but I will be willing in the day of his power. That's what that means. So that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. That's what he said. Cast all your care upon him for he cares for you. And encouragement. Well, here comes another exhortation or a warning. Be sober. What does sober mean? It means be serious. Be serious about what he's about to say, because it is of absolute importance. Be sober and be vigilant, always watchful, watchful over your conduct and your attitude. Why? Because your adversary, the devil. Now, I will admit that I am not one who likes to preach much about the devil. I do not like to give him place. I do not like to speak of him just because I'd much rather preach Christ. However, you must be warned. You must be. And I'm not going to say a whole lot tonight because this is our subject on Sunday, but I'm going to tell you something. The warning here, your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion. He's a roaring lion. When he was cast down to this earth, he became the prince of the power of the air. I would not want anyone in here to think that your strength is greater than this being, because it's not. His is, Christ is, but yours isn't. Be watchful. That's what he said. Be sober. Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, he walketh about. He walks to and fro on this earth. That's what we saw in Job. He walketh to and fro, seeking whom he may what? Devour. Devour. I'm sure that you've seen videos or you've seen a live lion. You've seen them devour meat. You've seen them devour the prey. That's what the analogy here is. He's looking to devour your soul by whatever he could introduce to you to get you away from Christ. And Peter says, listen, be sober and serious about it. Be serious about arming yourself with the armor of God. Be serious about taking the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. Be serious about the helmet of salvation, knowing that Christ died for you. Be serious about the feet shod with the gospel of peace. Be serious about the gospel. Be watchful in prayer, praying to Lord. Remember what the wicked one said, You've hedged him in. That's what he said to God about Job. You've hedged him in. I pray often for the Lord to hedge me in. Keep me, Lord. Keep me from the wicked one. I'm no match for him. In Christ I am, but by myself I can't do it. Resist. Okay, hold on. Be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Be sober to that. Remember in Luke 22, he told Peter, he said, you know, Satan would sift you as wheat. He would come into your life and he would just sift. And we saw that in Peter's life. We've seen that in many of the saints' life. We saw that at the end of Solomon's life, the one who wrote such beautiful things and saw all is vanity. All is vanity. Everything compared to Christ is vanity. And how did his life end? In idolatry. Who introduced that to him? The wicked one. Why don't you consider this, oh wise man? Consider these women and their idols. Same for Samson. Look at the strength that Samson had, who could slay the thousands and not, but he succumbed to what? The fleshly desires. The things that Satan loves to stir up the dust in our eyes of the fleshly things to make us go out, the lust of our heart and our fallen nature is there to get in, confederacy with. Be watchful, sober. And then he tells us in nine, whom you resist steadfast in the faith. That's how, that's how you resist him, in the faith, the faith of the Son of God, the faith to lay hold of the armor, the faith to wield the sword. Just as Jesus said to him, thus it is written, How do you know what's written if you're not in the Word? How do you know what the Lord's promises are? How do you know how to fight the wicked one? Be sober about it. Resisting steadfast in the faith, knowing this, and don't ever forget this. You've heard me say this, I don't know how many times. Knowing this, that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. Your brethren go through, they're fighting the wicked one too. They've got a fallen nature too. They've got sicknesses too. They've got ailments too. All these things that cause us to have issues with our brethren. Maybe we don't like the way they're treating us. Dear ones, be careful of this wicked one. It's the same way with our relationship, the pastor congregation relationship. Be very careful. The wicked one's going to sow discord. Well, I don't like the way he said that. I don't like the way this was inferred. And then all of a sudden your mind's getting up and all of a sudden you're thinking, maybe I shouldn't be there anymore. This is the way, this is the way the wicked one comes in. This is the way that Peter says, listen, you guys be sober to his attacks. He's a devouring lion. And we know that other scripture says that he can transform himself into an angel of light. What an adversary. You think this lion is something, I mean, listen, if a lion ran in here right now, we'd all know to run from the lion. But if a cute little kitten came in, we wouldn't run from it. Be careful. Resist steadfast knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. And think about that too. Think of your brethren there in Apopka tonight meeting, and St. Pete that's meeting, and Tennessee that's meeting, and Indiana that's meeting, and on and on. We know where our brothers and sisters are. And they're suffering. They're suffering, they're afflicted in the body, they're afflicted in the soul. As the Lord leads you, pray for them. We have the throne of grace beseeching the Lord. Lord, put a hedge about them. If you hear that they're suffering in a way, that's the time for the wicked one to come, isn't it? When we're down, when our body's afflicted, he's coming, you know, he's sending those people to say, curse God and die. We need him. We need his love. We need that love to cast out all those fears and we need that love to, we need to see that he cares for us. And then he says in 10, but the God of all grace, the God of all grace, that means any graces that could ever come to you, whether it's faith or peace or love or long suffering or patience or faith, whatever they are, he's the God of all of them. He's the source of them. But I want you to understand that the fact that he says he's the God of all grace means there's no room for boasting. You can't boast. Remember, he's already addressed this to some aged people and some less. Maybe we're sitting there tonight going, well, I think I'm one of those aged people. Where is boasting then in Christ? There isn't any. He's the God of all grace. If you are aged and you are one that's experienced Christ, it's because of him. It's because he's grown you in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. Grace and knowledge. What do we have that wasn't given to us? He's the God of all grace. The titles we have on this earth, The possessions we have, they're all His. Everything's His. He's the God of all grace. The God of all grace who has called us unto His eternal glory. He mentions that eternal glory again by Christ Jesus. That's what we have in Him that we will experience one day in its fullness, but we experience it by faith now. We experience the glory that we have in Christ, that we're triumphant over the wicked one, that we're triumphant over the grave. Death doesn't have a hold on me. And he has called us, he has a calling. He's called us away from this world and unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After you've suffered a while, and we know he has said that many times throughout this epistle, we will suffer. and after you suffer a while, he's going to make you perfect. Well, that means he's going to take you out of here and you're going to be perfected in him. We're called to suffer here. But look what it says, these last three S's. Look, he'll make you perfect. He'll establish, strengthen, and settle you. Establish you on the rock that is Christ. strengthen you by the rock that is Christ and settle you on that foundation that's Christ. Now, you might look at that and you say, well, that's kind of saying the same thing over and over again, isn't it? No, it's not. To be established in his word is to be firm on the foundation and be built upon Christ. To be strengthened is to be given his power and his grace to live to move and to have our being, but to settle, can you be strengthened? Can you be established without being settled? Yes. If I asked all of you in the room tonight, do you know whom you have believed? You would say yes, but that doesn't mean you're settled. You might be very troubled tonight. You're strengthened. I mean, you're established. You're established. I know the truth, but I'm just not settled. I'm not settled, I'm worried, I'm anxious. So these are three different things to establish us, to strengthen us and to settle us. That's what the God of all grace does. That's what grace does for the child of God. And I don't think there's any better way to end it. The letter, as he ends the letter, he comes in and he says, but the God of all grace, he's called us to, he points them again, not to this world, to what we have in Christ. He's called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that, you've suffered a while. He'll make you perfect. He'll establish you, strengthen you and sell you. And then in 11, he says to him, be all glory, all glory. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. To him be glory. And then, like it is in many letters, sometimes there's little notes. So he says Silas there in 12, that's who that is. Silas went with Peter many times. You'll find that in Acts. They went out preaching together. By Silas, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, Silas is the one who brought this letter to them. You know, so Silas was the messenger the Lord used to deliver the letter to them, and Silas did, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein you stand. The churches at Babylon elected together with you, saluted you, as does, that's Mark, that's John Mark, my son, who also traveled with Peter and Paul in the ministry. At least that's who we believe it is. And then he closes the letter with what? greet ye one another with a kiss of charity." Dear ones, greet each other with love. That's why he said, listen, you're all elect. Remember how this letter started? Strangers scattered throughout Pontius, Galatias, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. The elect scattered all, greet each other with love. I'm writing a letter to you. It's the truth that's in Christ Jesus. And then he sums it all up. Greet each other with love. Peace be with you all that are what? In Christ Jesus. So he wrote the letter to the elect and he finished the letter addressing it to the elect. Those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen. Lord willing, next week we will move into the second letter that Peter wrote. Dear Heavenly Father, add thy grace, Lord, to thy word tonight. exhort us, Lord, where exhortation is needed, and encourage us, Lord, where encouragement is needed. We need both. We need to be sober, Lord. We need thy mind. We need the mind of you to know where the enemy is, to be alert to all of these things, Lord, that we get careless. Our eyes drift away from thee. We ask tonight, Lord, that you would bring us back. Bring us back to Thee, that our eyes be single, that we see Thee in all things, and Lord, that we hear Thy voice. May You be pleased to lead us to the rock that's higher than we are. and give us a holy desire for You, Lord, a desire for You above all other things. May You fill us with Thy Spirit and fill us with Thy love to love one another with and to love Thee supremely. For this I ask in Jesus' name. Amen.