Please take your Bibles and turn to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 5. I'm not prepared to say it's the last time that we're going to turn to 1 Peter, but it'll be the last time for a while, most likely. We have two verses to finish. And in God's sovereignty, we were not able to do that at the end of the year, that last Sunday in December with my father, being in the hospital with COVID, and then coming back, we had a speaker already lined up for the first Sunday in January, and then I got COVID, and then last week with the weather. So in God's providence, we are finishing 1 Peter chapter 5 here, a little different than what we originally planned, but we're thankful to be able to trust God as he directs our steps. And there are two final verses that I would like to really focus in on here. And one of them is actually the kind of the theme verse of the book. It really is something we can't just, some said, are you going to just move on? And I'm like, no, we have to finish this. It was like the purpose of why the book was written, the purpose statement. And so we want to finish this up and then Lord willing, we'll start a series on the book of Acts next Sunday. And so as we take time over the next year, maybe two, to go through the book of Acts. I'm not putting any end cap on it right now, but we believe as a pastoral team that that's where we should focus our time and efforts in the word and our worship services here in 2022. So I'm excited about that study. But as you look at first Peter chapter five, it says there, Through Sylvanus, our faithful brother, for so I regard him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ. So I want to kind of just touch on some of the little specific details here that Peter gives at the end of this book and then we'll finish up with the purpose statement. But he says here through Sylvanus, a faithful brother. I have written to you briefly and so just want to let you know who this is. You may have heard the name Silas and we have probably the two are the same person. We have Silas being the Greek form and then Silvanus, the Latin form. He's mentioned with Paul and Timothy as a co-worker here and then also in Corinthians, Second Corinthians as well, a couple other places. But apparently he was with Peter and is going to use, Peter's gonna use Sylvanus to deliver this letter. Some would even say that perhaps he was used to transcribe this letter. And we don't know that specifically, but that's a possibility. And Peter refers to him as a faithful brother. He's a coworker with him in the gospel. As well, Mark is mentioned And it's probably John Mark that we know from the scripture as well. And Peter says that he is a spiritual son. And so the three of them together are here. And it's mentioned that the word Babylon, and that may be confusing to folks. Verse 13, it says, she who is in Babylon chosen together with you Sends your greetings. And so I just want to kind of give you a couple options This could be the place that was known as Babylon, which would be modern-day Iraq But most likely this is referring to Rome as we look at the Old Testament Babylon was a term that was kind of used as those who would be against God and his people and so Peter here is probably referring to Rome as the the place. Babylon is again used here in the New Testament as that term that it's kind of the center point where folks are against the cause of Christ and do not want to follow the ways of God and so we're talking about a church here with Peter and Mark and Silvanus that they are here in Rome, but they are writing this letter to, as we found out in the very beginning, to Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey, and to the people who are scattered in that area. And so, just so you understand, this is probably the church in Rome that is sending, that's the female, she's referring to the church in Rome, she sends her greetings to those who are in Asia Minor at this time. So we have kind of the connection of who Peter is with and where he is serving at the time. But then he says this at the end, he says, greet one another with a kiss of love. Some of your translations may have a holy kiss. And I realized that in different cultures, this is done different ways. In fact, some of our folks even today who have come from other countries, you would understand this from a different cultural perspective. I would say we probably here in the South could use the modern day hug. A lot of traditional Baptist churches and other types of churches have used The greeting time, the handshake time, and that wasn't just an idea that they were like, oh, what should we do for our service? Let's just fill up and put some greeting in there. That's not what that was from. It actually comes from text like this, where we are told to greet one another, and we don't necessarily do the holy kiss thing, which in some cultures would be a kiss on each side of the cheek, but hopefully there is, as much as possible in the day in which we live, there is some connection that is happening. Maybe a hug is appropriate, maybe a handshake, and I understand people are trying to be careful during these days. But what we can't miss is that the church should be connecting. There should be a way for us on a regular basis to greet one another and find out what is going on in each other's lives. There should be a connection because we are connected in Christ. And can I just encourage you this year As you have opportunity to really maybe go out of your comfort zone and meet people. We have a number of folks who are new to our church and we want them to feel connected. And so it's important that we as God's people obey the scriptures and really are diligent along these lines. We had our deacon training yesterday. And we had a wonderful time yesterday morning with the leadership team here at the church, and we played a little game. We call it the member game. And so we took some of your pictures, and we had 25 members on the screen, and then the deacons had to kind of write out how many people's names they actually knew. from that group and I wonder if we did that same game on a morning in a worship we won't do it obviously but if we did take that kind of detail and put people's pictures up would you know very many people here at Calvary in the church and in parts of scripture that make it very clear greet one another And there should be some affection that is given to one another in the body of Christ because we are connected in Jesus Christ. And so the encouragement is along these lines. And then he says, peace be with you all who are in Christ. And again, Christ is the final word. He is the connection point. So this morning, as we then kind of move into this idea of the purpose statement of the book, you'll see there, I read it already, but he says, I have written to you for this reason. And he writes, he says briefly, I guess if you're reading it as one letter, it could feel brief. The whole thing is probably about three and a half type pages. And there's a ton of content. In fact, we've spent a whole year focusing on that content, but he says I'm writing to you and the purpose for which he is writing is to do a couple things exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. And really this describes what my job, some of the other pastors here, what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to exhort. That's what Peter's doing through his truth here. He's exhorting and then testifying of the true grace of God. He's reminding them throughout this entire book that is always about God's grace. from start to finish, it is God's grace. And he's exhorting because there are times in this letter where he has said, you know, there are things that you're doing and you're not doing and you should do. And then there's things that you're doing that you should not be doing. And that's part of the Christian life, understanding God's will for our lives and let the truth exhort us to change to be more like Christ. And then as well testifying, remembering, holding fast to the grace of God, remembering what God has done through his son, Jesus Christ. So briefly exhorting and encouraging that this is the true grace of God and we are to stand firm in it. So as we go through this this morning, I'd like us just to kind of focus on the different ways in the Christian life that it's all about grace. And as we have the opportunity to celebrate the Lord's table this morning, it felt like it was appropriate to start with God's grace and salvation, the beginning point of our Christian lives. And Peter throughout this book has mentioned a number of things about the grace of God as it relates to our salvation experience. And I wanna just highlight a couple of those things. If you go back to chapter one, please, in verse 10, because Peter talks specifically, he says, as to this salvation, the salvation that we have in Christ. Chapter one in verse 10. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and his glory to follow. And it was revealed to them. And so we have Peter reminds the story of grace that came in Jesus Christ It was a long time in the making. The prophets, those of old, they desired to see these things and understand. They knew that there had been a promise given in the garden that there would be one that would come and he would conquer and he would have victory over sin. And the years of waiting continued on and on and on, generation after generation of God's people waiting for the salvation that was coming in the Messiah to appear. And Peter says, it has happened. As to this salvation, that those from the old and from the past have wanted and desired, Jesus came. And he came and he suffered and he did that so that we can experience grace in salvation. As to this grace. My friend this morning, I want you just to remember if you have experienced the grace of God and perhaps you're here and you have not experienced God's grace and salvation. And for you, I want to make sure it's clear and we explain it. We come into this world broken, messy, and the scripture calls that sinful. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's not one person who's come, and apart from Jesus Christ, that has not experienced the sin curse that came when God's children disobeyed in the garden. And so because of their disobedience, we all experience the effects of sin in our lives from day one. And God in his love and mercy provided grace that was found in Jesus Christ. And what is that? Jesus came and he paid the penalty for our sins. He accomplished what we could not. There's no amount of good works or merit that we could ever do or compile in our lives that would allow us to be right before a holy God. There's no amount. People try in other religions, they try to portray an approach to God or some sort of deity where you just kind of, here's your ladder and you start climbing and just do your best to get as high as you can. That is not the grace of God that we know from the scriptures. God's grace is defined as our Messiah came to us. We don't have to work to him. And if we will turn from our sinful condition in repentance and look to Jesus as the finished work, the person who could provide the atonement through his death and then his resurrection, we will be saved. And we can all experience that the free gift of God is available to all of us. And if you have experienced the grace of God as the prophets, prophesied and waited and desired to see and understand we are on this side of Jesus cross. And so we can understand it fully that Jesus death and resurrection paid it all for our sins. And God's grace is truly amazing that when we could not fulfill the law, Jesus Christ fulfilled the law at every point, making his death possible for us to have complete atonement for our sins. It doesn't make us perfect people, and we all know that. But it makes us whole in Jesus Christ. We have a position in Him. Back to 1 Peter chapter 5. We'll be doing a short survey. See, this isn't going too bad, all right? He can hang with me. I do want to continue to highlight what Peter has highlighted this letter about the grace of God, so he makes it very clear about God's grace and salvation. But I also want to talk about the sanctifying process and His grace along those lines. And then I want to talk about grace and suffering, which is very applicable to where we are in this season of time. And then how His grace sustains us all the way to the end. But Peter's instruction for all of us is that we are to stand firm. We are to stand firm. When we started this study, I mentioned it a few times, the pastoral team wanted to use 1 Peter. And our prayer was that God would take 1 Peter and help us build the right kind of foundation for the future. In the modern day and world in which we live, There were indications not long ago of things that potentially would have come down the pike and thankfully now we thought they were going to be quicker than what they are. I still think for the believer there's a lot that we will experience in our lifetime if we stand firm in the truth. But because of God's common grace and his sovereign plan thankfully there's been some some moments of reprieve and we're in a season for the most part in our country and in this particular area of the country where there's not a lot of resistance currently to the truth of God. Now I realize everyone experiences in their own pockets of their world places where if you stand for truth you will experience hardship and persecution. But from a corporate perspective I really thought at the beginning of this study that we would experience things already that would be places where we'd have to stand for truth and maybe experience some hardship along those lines. But I do still believe that God wants to prepare us for the day in which that would happen. And so, 1 Peter is really teaching us that we must as God's people stand firm in the midst of all hardship. Whether that's suffering because of persecution or suffering because of trials or just the hardship of living the Christian life as God has defined it and as he desires in our sanctification in the struggle that we still have with the remaining sin in our lives. And so we are to stand firm. We must not give any ground. We must stand with conviction on God's side, on the side of truth, which is revealed in the Word of God. We must be faithful. And many times that means that we are going to kind of be like that fish swimming upstream. When the current of this world is rushing down and weighing upon us, Peter says we are to stand firm. And how do we do that? What's the practical working? Outworking of that idea standing firm. Well, he has said in several places in this book He has said that we are to do what is right Remember in chapter 2 in chapter 3 when when he talked about times when people will come after you and insult you He says make sure that it's not because of your own sin or because of your own fault He says in doing what is right expect those things to happen. So how do we stand firm? I would say first and foremost, we do what is right. God has outlined the moral aspect of his will in the scriptures. We have it right for us. We can open it at any time in any form and read it and know exactly what God wants for our lives. And we are supposed to do what is right in 2022. No matter how we feel, no matter how hard it is, we must do what is right. Talks about even in the household and In chapter 3, in regards to using Sarah as an example for wives who find themselves in a hard situation, that they are supposed to do what is right. Standing firm means that we stand on truth and we strive to live. Chapter 4 in verse 2 says, not according to the lusts of men, but according to the will of God. So how do we stand firm? We do what is right. And that flows out in our behavior. Chapter 1, verse 15, verse 17, chapter 2, chapter 3, and chapter 3 and verse 16. We have multiple exhortations that we are to strive to be holy. Our behavior will reflect the way that we are standing. So yes, even though it's not popular, it's not cool, it's hard and difficult, we strive for holiness in 2022. And that is something that is definitely swimming upstream. But God's moral guidelines, they stand. And we must be committed to it. As citizens of heaven, Whether we find ourselves as husbands or wives or as he referred to as workers or servants in this book, citizens, sojourners, we must strive to live a holy life. And that's where God's grace comes in. The word sanctification means to be made holy or to be set apart, set apart for different purposes. And Peter here, let's go to chapter 1 and verse 13 through 16, he made it very clear that God's grace is available in this process of sanctification. Verse 13, therefore prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be yourselves also holy in all of your behavior. Because it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. We are to fix our minds Prepare for action, keep sober in spirit, and fix our minds on the hope that will come when Jesus in His grace appears again. That is our goal. I don't know if you set any New Year's resolutions and hopefully they're not all broken or hopefully they're still on your radar at some point. But if you don't have any, let me encourage you. First Peter, chapter 1, 13-16, those outline pretty good New Year's resolutions. In fact, they're good goals at every point of our Christian life. Prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, and fix your mind on the grace that is coming. It's God's grace that sanctifies, it's God's grace that will sustain us all the way until He comes. And so I realize that because we're all made up of the same stuff, we all struggle. We still have the remnants of the old man, and so we sin. We fall short. And we must look to God's grace in 2022 and stand firm. You may be weary in your sin struggle, And the evil one has tailor-made so that everyone has their sin propensities. You have these areas in your life where you really struggle, and the evil one knows it, and he will do everything he can to put the temptation in areas where you can fall in your life. And God's will for you is to stand firm. Rely on God's grace and keep sober. Prepare your mind for action fix your heart on the grace that is Available through Christ today and the grace that is coming when he appears So God's grace is everything in our salvation and it's everything in our sanctification We must rely on it We must stand firm in the true grace of God Now, the next thing I'd like us to think about God's grace in is in serving. And we have in chapter 4 and verse 10 very clear words, chapter 4 verse 10, that every single one of us in God's family has a spiritual gift. Verse 10 says, as each one has received a spiritual gift, a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of what? the manifold grace of God. So as we take the gifts that God has given us by His Spirit, and we use them, we do that with the strength that comes from God's grace. We are stewarding this wonderful grace. And this year, as we look at the Book of Acts, it's my prayer that Calvary Baptist Church grows in this area. We've been talking as a pastoral team. We had our kind of our training and days this week of preparation. And then we had the deacon team and and just kind of in layers presenting the burden of my heart this year. That God's church would rally in 2022. We have had a couple years where because of circumstances and I'm fully willing to submit and I've had to submit to the sovereignty of God because of the circumstances and those days are probably going to continue. But God's purposes in his church have not changed. And it's been very hard, even in my own life. And I confess that to the pastoral team, and I confess it to the deacons, and I'll confess it to you. The last couple of years, it's been a temptation for me to basically retract a little bit, and kind of hibernate, and not be as aggressive in serving the Lord. And my life verse for this year is Ezekiel 34, 11, where it says that God pursues his sheep, and we should pursue others. And I want Calvary Baptist Church to be stirred from understanding from the book of Acts what God did to empower his church in those days. He is still empowering us today to serve him and to serve him faithfully. So where we have become lazy, we must confess it. We must turn and we must continue to serve our wonderful Savior by his grace. We must be good stewards of the grace of God. It doesn't matter how tired we are. It doesn't matter how hurt we are. It doesn't matter how heavy the burdens of this life are. We must serve our glorious Savior because we want to be good stewards of His grace. And it's by His grace that we have the strength to do so. And so would you start praying with me along these lines that God would stir your heart to serve Him? Because every single believer has been given a gift. And we must steward that well. And you may have been in a season of time where you have pulled back yourself and you haven't been maybe as faithful to the Lord in serving Him. And now is the time to turn and seek the Lord and His grace and serve Him faithfully. With all the hardship and sometimes the circumstantial restrictions, we can still serve our Jesus. And it's only by His grace that we do this. His grace is everything in our salvation. It's everything in our sanctification. It's everything in our service. And as Peter has shepherded us and helped us, it's everything in our suffering. And throughout this book, he's made it very clear, do not be surprised at the various trials of life. These trials come as a result of the broken world which came upon when we walked away from our God. And when sin entered, this world was cursed. And we feel the effects of it every single day through disease, through other hardships, But God's grace is there. And Hebrews tells us, see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God. Why? Because if you do, a heart of bitterness, a root of bitterness can be established. And when a root of bitterness is established in the heart, It does damage to our own soul and to those who are around us. And in your suffering, you may have let bitterness seep into your heart. You may have asked, God, why me? This is not fair. You may have allowed the temptation to compare your life and your circumstance with the person who's close to you or next to you or the family next to you. God's grace is there in that moment of suffering and we can either choose to rely on God's grace and walk with him faithfully through the trial or we can fall short of it and say, God, I'm going to be mad. I want to hang on to this anger. I like this bitterness in my heart. And what that does, it only causes damage to our own lives and damage to other people. So in our suffering, we must rely solely on the grace of God that is available there in that moment. So my question to you, in all the heaviness and everything that we are experiencing, we've all experienced loss of some sort this year. Even the song that was just sung, one of the guys that helped write that song, he passed away of COVID just a couple weeks ago. We have all experienced loss. We have people who are here today or watching online that their very close relatives are in the hospital this very moment with COVID. We get suffering. We get loss. It's as raw and real today as it ever has been in my life. But for a believer, what is available in these moments is the grace of God. And God's grace helps us to be able to look at that trial and not get angry at God, but trust Him. and believe that His promises are still true. And He will be there with us all the way to the end. The last thing is God's grace in sustaining us. And it tells us in chapter 5, in verse 10, after you have suffered for a little while. The God of all grace. I hope you can understand it this morning. All of this is rooted in God and His character. Because after we have suffered, the God of all grace will do this amazing thing. He called you into His eternal glory in Christ. He will perfect, He will confirm, He will strengthen, and He will establish you. All the way to the end, this gracious God is showering us with His grace, not only that saved us, and is changing us and gives us the opportunity to give back to Him and our service to Him. But in our hardship and in our weakness, He is there granting us grace and strength to keep going. And He's accomplishing purposes in our lives that will take us to the final place where we are like our Jesus. And it's only His grace. He's the God of all grace. And so our appropriate response to this true grace, as Peter says, he says, this is the true grace of God. The grace that has saved you. The grace that is sanctifying you. The grace that is there in your suffering and in your serving and the sustaining. This is the grace Stand in it. Don't falter. Stand firm. Are you in? After all this, a year of God taking His truth and helping us understand it and then helping us to know how to apply it, are you still in? We really have no other choice. We want to quit. We want to like retreat and cower. And Peter says, I'm exhorting and I am testifying that this is where it's at. The true grace of God. And so get up and stand. as hard as it is, rely on His grace and get up and stand. Every week I try to give some sort of an invitation. It's not like some of us grew up where it's a come forward, but there's always a call to respond to the Word of God. But this morning, I want to invite us to do kind of literally what this text says, to help us remember what it means for everyday life. And so I'm asking you with your heads, go ahead and bow your heads. And I want you to think about this. where I am in my life in 2022, I want to rely on God's grace to stand firm. In my suffering, I want to stand firm. In my sanctification, I want to stand firm. In my serving, I want to stand. I want to stand firm in God's grace. I want to give you just a couple minutes to think about that and make a commitment to the Lord. And then if you're serious, and this is a safe place, so we're not worried about peer pressure. We don't care what other people think or who's watching. But if you're serious, I want you to stand and say, I commit to this. I want to stand firm. Would you take a couple minutes of evaluation, and if that's your heart, follow it up with a commitment, a visible commitment to our God that we want to do this. Holy God in heaven, you see all, you know all, and you are here with us now. And in your great ability, you know the heart of every single person standing today. You know every aspect of their sin struggle. You know every aspect of their suffering that you have allowed into their lives. You know every aspect of their giftedness that you want to see them serve you. And so God, would you take this visible commitment that we have offered to you this morning at the close of this letter, where you have told us to stand firm. God, would you help us to rely on your grace to do it? Give us follow through by your spirit. You are the God of all grace, and we firmly say today that apart from you, we can do nothing. You started the work, you sustain the work, and you will complete the work. So God, this is our commitment to you. Glorify yourself through Calvary Baptist Church in this season of time, we pray. In your holy and precious name I pray, amen.