children are a joy. Please turn with me in your Bibles of 1st Peter. After this message we'll have just one more and then we'll finish the book of 1st Peter and then we'll move on to 2nd Peter. But for this morning we'll be looking at verses 8 to 11 of 1 Peter 5. And just for context, I'm going to read just the second half of verse 5 down to verse 11. And then we'll see what the Lord has to teach us this morning. 1 Peter 5, he writes in verse 5, And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, but resist him. firm in the faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished among your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, strengthen, confirm, and ground you. To him be might forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to these words, these words which you decreed to be written by your slave, the Apostle Peter, concerning stark realities and serious and significant truths about this fallen world, and about the fight of faith, which every believer will have to endure and battle, about our enemy, your enemy, the enemy of your people, the enemy of all creation, in a sense, the enemy that will be crushed by the foot of your son when he returns. But that time is not yet. And so, Lord, we pray for illumination. We pray for guidance. We, in a sense, also pray for a sober spirit. That we would see these words afresh or anew. That we would consider them. And not only that, but consider the implications and the applications for our own lives and our own time and place. I pray that you would be with me and that you would work through me and speak through me for the benefit of your people and for your glory. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. I think it was about 15 years ago or so maybe a little bit earlier or a little bit afterwards, that there was a lot of talk in the US military about resiliency. in the conflicts in the Middle East that the U.S. military was involved in. And it may be because of the generation of service members or the culture or society. There's several reasons why, but there was a lot of talk about resiliency and the fact that it seemed to many people in leadership that the service members, and particularly the younger ones, weren't as resilient as they ought to be. And so because of that, there was several positions that were created and trainings that were created around the topic of resiliency. Resiliency in war, but just a general resiliency in life and the things that contribute to resiliency. And it's easy to see the importance of resiliency for a soldier, for a service member, for someone that's going to go through combat and hardship, and the various things that combat can bring. And there are different circumstances for each service member and each time and place. But nonetheless, we know, even as Paul said to Timothy, suffer hardship as a good soldier in Christ Jesus. Even Paul himself, who wasn't a soldier, could see by way of observation the hardship that soldiers endure. And he used that as a metaphor for not only the Christian life, but Christian ministry. That there's hardship, and with hardship comes a necessity for perseverance, for endurance, for resiliency. To have resiliency and endurance in ministry, but also the Christian life. And this is somewhat of the topic that Peter brings up, and he wants to instill in these believers as he leaves them with some final exhortations. concerning the Christian life. Throughout the whole letter, he's been writing along the lines of the topic of suffering and suffering for righteousness, suffering for the faith, where suffering comes from. It comes because we live in a sin-cursed world and things don't function or operate the way they should. It comes because we're persecuted at times, and so people sin against us, It comes because of our own sin and our own foolishness. It comes because of God's discipline. But however it comes, our response should be to strive to be faithful and to suffer in the same manner as Christ did. To follow His example of sufferings and to do so faithfully. And that requires resiliency, it requires an understanding of suffering, it requires an understanding of the Christian life, but it also requires an understanding of our enemy and this fallen world. And so before Peter ends his letter, he leaves his readers with three final exhortations concerning the Christian life, and especially concerning spiritual warfare and the spiritual battle that they will fight, the spiritual battlefield that they live on, and how to survive, how to thrive, how to persevere. And so he leaves his readers with three final exhortations concerning the Christian life, or rather, three reminders of living faithfully in a fallen world and why this world is fallen, primarily because we have an enemy who deceived the first human beings, Adam and Eve, and because of this, that the world is fallen and cursed. But Peter wants to help these believers to persevere, to endure, to have spiritual resiliency, to thrive, to survive. And so he gives them some exhortations, some reminders. And the first reminder he gives them is to remember that you're in a war. Remember that you're in a war. There is some comparisons and some symbolism to earthly warfare that the spiritual war has, but it's not exactly the same. It's not exactly the same. It's somewhat different than a natural earthly war, but it is a war nonetheless. And believers don't often like to think about that, or maybe a fringe group of believers like to think too much about it, but we need to have a balanced view. And remember that you're in a war. As Peter writes, verse eight, he says, be of sober spirit, be watchful, your adversary. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. You have an adversary. And because you have an adversary, it means you're at war. You're at war, and so you need to remember that at all times. And in remembering that, there's a couple things that that implies. First is to maintain a wartime attitude. To maintain a wartime attitude. Not to be hyper-vigilant. but to be vigilant in a balanced way, to be of sober spirit, to be watchful. These two imperative commands is basically, be like this, or this should be the attitude that you have concerning your life in a sin-cursed world, that you maintain a wartime attitude by being of sober spirit, being watchful, by maintaining a sober spirit concerning the world you live in and the Christian life. John Kitchen, as many commentators do, he comments on this word, sober. He says the word used literally could describe being free from intoxicants. And that's usually how it's described even in our common day and age. We think of sober and we think of that's the opposite of being intoxicated. That's the opposite of being drunk. That is a literal use of it and most oftentimes we use it in that fashion. But John Kitchen writes that all of its New Testament usages are figurative. It's figurative. It's meaning to have a sober attitude. Not a flippant attitude. Not a complacent attitude. Not an apathetic attitude. Not a foolish attitude. but a somewhat serious attitude, a sober attitude. I've brought this out in the past when we've gone over certain texts which bring out this word primarily in the terms of spiritual warfare or a serious aspect of the Christian life, that there is to be an attitude of sobriety or a sober spirit. Peter says this, it might even be in the next page over, in verse 7 of chapter 4, he says, "...the end of all things is at hand, therefore be of sound thinking and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." In light of the end of all things, the end of all creation, and even as he says at hand, Implying that it's soon, but we don't know when or how soon. But in light of the end of all things, we are to have sound thinking. We are to be sober in spirit. And then he even gives a purpose of prayer. That we would be in constant prayer with God. Because he is bringing an end to all things in its current form and state. And so we should be sober concerning that. Peter uses it first in the first chapter in this letter, the beginning of this letter, concerning our conduct as believers. in light of our great salvation, in light of the fact that this gospel, this salvation, these are things into which angels long to look. There's great depth and significance to the gospel and to redemption. And so he writes, therefore, having girded your minds for action, verse 13 of chapter 1, being sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And he uses this term, girding your minds for action, tying up the loose ends of your thinking, and having a sober attitude concerning your life, concerning redemption, concerning the revelation of Jesus Christ, and that therefore we are to be holy, we are to live holy lives. because of our redemption from sin, because of this sin-cursed world, because God is going to bring an end to all things. He's going to bring every act into judgment. There's even in Peter's second letter, there's a sense of the present heavens and earth being reserved for fire. And then the new heavens and the new earth will come. These are weighty things. Sometimes we enter into the Christian life primarily because of the threat of judgment and the fear of hell, which is a good motivation. It's a good motivation for us to come to Christ and be saved. In fact, Jesus speaks more about hell and judgment than anyone else in the Bible. In fact, if it wasn't for Jesus, we would know very little about hell. There's only a couple references to it. Isaiah hints at it in a couple places, or God speaking through Isaiah. But Jesus gives us probably the most information concerning hell and judgment. He uses it as a means to say, you need to repent. You need to turn from your sin. Turn to me. come to me, turn to me, all the ends of the earth, and be saved. Flee from this wicked and perverse generation." And the thought of judgment, of hell, of destruction, and even of our enemy ought to sober us up. I think even this context of spiritual war, you know, I've said before, and I've seen it, and maybe some of you have seen it too, either on, you know, War movies or TV shows and soldiers or service members, they're not that much different from anyone else. They like to have fun and joke around, but when it comes to entering into battle or on the eve of battle, you see a different attitude. You see a sense of sobriety, a sober spirit, but you also see a watchfulness. These two commands, these two imperatives, these two verbs, be sober, be watchful, is something that every soldier, every service member should know. that you should have a sound mind, you should think seriously about the battle, about the warfare, but also be watchful. Be watchful about your adversary, about the threats, about the dangers of war, and prepare yourself for those threats and for those assaults. When I entered into the Marine Corps and we were drilled in our heads and boot camp several general orders and so much information. And some of it I've forgotten, but one I haven't really forgotten, and that is general order number two to walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing. And whenever I'm on was to be on duty. That was to be my attitude. To have a serious, sober mindset. To be watchful for dangers, for attacks, for assaults, for accidents, for anything bad that could happen. This is an attitude that Peter is pressing these believers to have because there is an enemy. There is a strong enemy. It's interesting that Paul uses similar verbs in conjunction to his letter to the Thessalonians, his first letter to the Thessalonians, and even contrasting this sense of light and darkness. He says in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 6, he says, For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. Once again, using it figuratively and metaphorically, that we were once held captive to the domain of darkness, to the prince of darkness, but God, Jesus Christ, has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness to His kingdom, the kingdom of light. Therefore, we are no longer of the darkness, we are of the light, so let us walk in the light. Don't be sleepy. but be sober, be awake, be watchful. And then even Paul here briefly mentions the armor of God, which he would go into detail in his letter to Ephesians, that we are to metaphorically and figuratively put on this breastplate of faith and love, to walk in faith and love, and to protect our heads, our thinking, with the hope of salvation. The first aspect of remembering that you're in a war or the implication is to maintain a wartime attitude with sobriety and watchfulness, but also to understand your enemy. You've probably heard it said in the context of war or battle, whether that's through books or movies, that you need to know your enemy. And the Bible tells us about our enemy. It doesn't tell us everything. But it tells us what we need to know, that He is active, that He prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He's not bound as some might say because of their view of the end times. He's not bound yet. He will be bound. At some point when Jesus returns, he will be bound and then after that millennial reign of King Jesus, he will be cast into the lake of fire. But currently he is active and he prowls around. Once again, another metaphor of a roaring lion. And you can push this metaphor a little bit too far, but there is this sense of this is a significant threat. This is an active threat. This is a dangerous threat. It's also a sense that he seeks to intimidate. to strike fear into the hearts of the people of God, and he does do that. But we need to understand our enemy, to understand his activities. Throughout the Bible, we don't have a lot, but from Genesis 3, even on the way to the end of Revelation, we understand that his main tactic is to deceive. He is a father of lies, which means that he's the best liar there ever was. And oftentimes, you know, if a lie is good, it's believed as the truth. You receive it as the truth. And he is the best liar that there ever was. And he seeks to deceive. He seeks to distract us. from what's most important. He also seeks to distort the Word of God. You can see these are all D's. He deceives, he distracts, he distorts the Word of God. He also defames the image bearers. He works in defamation, not just the character and the reputation, but even the physical aspect. He is behind the whole transgender movement. You think. Even before, you think of the whole homosexual movement and even their flag. Why did they pick that flag? Could have had any flag. You look at all the flags in nations and states and organizations. Any design. Why did they pick the rainbow? It's as a symbol of God's covenant. Through Noah to the world, basically saying, I will not flood the world again, his promise. That's a good promise. When we see it in the sky, a good promise of God's character and his faithfulness and his mercy and his kindness, but also his justice. And notice how, you know, in Genesis says he puts his bow in the sky. It's a bow. It's a weapon of war. But where is the rainbow bow pointed if you were to, you know, string an arrow on it? It's pointed upwards at God himself. The next time he comes to judge you, there is a sense that he himself takes the judgment for people. It's no mistake that the Rainbow flag was chosen. The devil's behind that. It's demonic. That whole movement is demonic. Every time they wave their flags, or even if a so-called church puts that up in front of them, that's a synagogue of Satan. It's no longer a church. It's a synagogue of Satan. He has taken over that church. In fact, even before they put that flag up, had for a long time ceased to be a church. He works in so many ways, and not to focus on that particular issue, but he seeks to defame image bearers and distort the Word of God to dominate. He is behind every, just about every earthly ruler. There are a handful of times throughout world history in which we see a ruler who, their strong evidence is that they are a believer, or sometimes they're a professing believer. But we know clearly from the Word of God that the devil is behind the nations of the world. He wants to dominate, and there is a sense where he does have dominion over this world, but he also wants to destroy. We need to understand this and that our enemy is powerful. He's more powerful than us. fall into foolish traps. C.S. Lewis has famously said this, and I'm paraphrasing, that the two errors we make concerning our enemy, the devil, is we either overemphasize him or we underemphasize him. We either think too much about him and attribute too much to him, or we forget about him and we don't attribute enough. We lack balance. We lack sober and sound thinking concerning Him. And we forget that He roams about. And even, you know, some in charismatic tradition, they may think that they can bind Him or they can do things against Him. The Bible tells us to simply resist Him, to be strong in the Lord, to stand firm, That's our tactic, but to understand his tactics. Even Paul writes this in a couple places. He probably writes next to Jesus, he writes quite a bit. I would say maybe even a little bit more specificity. In 2 Corinthians 11, it's interesting, he writes to the Corinthian church in the beginning of that chapter. He says concerning their misguided worship and their errors and everything that they're falling prey to, he says, As a serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be corrupted from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." He's basically saying, I fear that you will be led astray into false gospels, following false teachers, false forms of worship, And many churches and believers are deceived by his craftiness to get them to take their eyes off of Christ and off of the gospel and to dwell upon and to overemphasize lesser things and to slowly and gradually move them away from devotion to Christ to other things. He deceives, and he's good at it. There's no one better at deception than him. He deceives, and he dominates. He also blinds. Part of his deception, once again, earlier in 2 Corinthians, Paul speaks about his gospel ministry, and he says, if our gospel is veiled, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3, if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. in whose case the God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." He blinds the minds of the unbelieving, because even as Paul writes in Ephesians 2, that we, apart from Christ, before we came to Christ, or if you're still apart from Christ, if you have not yet come to Christ, Paul writes that you are dead, or you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." All people are born in this state. Born in the state of sin, born as sons of disobedience, born under wrath, following the devil, unbeknownst to them, And they don't see it like that, obviously, because they're blinded. But they're following either a false religion, or a false ideology, or their own selfish prideful lusts, which the devil has a part in keeping them captive to that, blinding their eyes. We see this sometimes, you know, if you do evangelism enough, you'll see this. You try to share a gospel with somebody and they seem to be tracking along with you, but then they don't get it. There's a blindness. There's a spiritual blindness. Jesus himself, he speaks of this in his parable of the sowers in Matthew 13, or parable of the soils more accurately. But he says this, Matthew 13, verse 19, when anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart." The believer, the evangelist, is trying to sow the seed of the gospel, and either they outright reject it, or I see this sometimes when people seem to be tracking. There's been a couple times in my life where people have seemed to be tracking. and then they just don't get it, or something happens, there's a distraction. I remember one time, just, I don't have a lot of experience in this, but I remember one time earlier on in my Christian life, and me and some friends were going to this public touristy type place in Southern California, and we would go there regularly and try to evangelize, and I just remember a weird, homeless guy wandering about, and then later on in the day, me and my friend were speaking to this young couple, and I'm getting to the point, I'm about to make a point, and they're tracking, and then all of a sudden, this guy comes out of left field, comes nowhere, and he asked me for a cigarette. And I was like, no, I don't smoke, I'm sorry, and I'm hoping that will turn him away, and he says, okay. It's time to resort. I'll never forget this. He's like, time to resort to drastic measures. Like seriously. And he's like, I'm going to go turn myself into a light bulb. And then he leaves. And then right after he leaves, they leave. So where did that guy come from? And from an earthly sense you say, okay, it's just a crazy guy. But why did he come right at that point when I was going to make a point and they were tracking with the gospel? The evil one came and snatched away what was so in their heart. Understand his purposes. He's completely against God. He seeks to deceive. He seeks to distort. He seeks to defame, to destroy, to dominate. He hates God, and he hates God's people. He hates God's word, and he even uses God's words, we saw with Jesus. And then he'll use your own lusts and desires against you to tempt you into sin. As one preacher said, if Satan knows your price, he'll write you a check. He's been around since the beginning of creation, and just, you know, I mean, if you thought about it on a human level, if you observed other human beings, if you lived thousands of years and just by way of observation observed other human beings, you would notice things, patterns, behaviors. But he's even more powerful. He's not omnipotent. He's not omnipresent. He's not everywhere at once. He's only in one place at a time. But he has minions, he has swept away with him a third of the angelic host. We see that in Revelation. We don't know how many angels and demons there are, but we know that a third of them have fallen with Satan, and they work together against God. But on an encouraging note, we know that since the Bible says he took a third, that there's twice as many angels as there are demons. But I mean, even that, that's encouraging, but what's really encouraging is that God is God, and the devil is God's devil, as I believe Martin Luther famously said, and many others in different ways. But I'd like for you to turn with me for a moment to Matthew 4. And just by way of reminder, Jesus as always, you know, is our example. He is our example. We also see in a sense that it was the Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. For a couple reasons, I won't go into that here, but just to be reminded of how Satan worked against the Son of God, or tried to tempt Him, and how the Son of God, our master and commander, defeated Him. We read that after He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, then He became hungry. And it's an understatement. And the tempter came and said to Him, if You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. Notice when He came. when he was most susceptible, when he was weakest from an earthly standpoint. But Jesus answered and said, Then the devil took him into the holy city, and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, He will command His angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Quoting from Psalm 91, Jesus said to him, Again, it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And this is his final point, what he really wants. And he said to him, all these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me. Jesus said to him, go Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. And the devil left him. Behold, angels came and began to minister to him. And if you don't know, it's in the cross references that Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy, from the Law. He's using Scripture. He's using the sword of the Spirit, which Paul tells us to use. And Jesus shows us the example. It reminds us that we need to know the Word of God, and we need to know our enemy. And we know our enemy by knowing the Word of God and how to use the Word of God, how to apply the Word of God. And especially at those very moments of temptation. That's why scripture memorization is so important. Because we don't know when the temptation is going to come. We don't know when the assault is going to come. And we are easily deceived. We're fallen. Redeemed, for many of us, but still in a sense struggling with our sinful flesh. And still have proclivities and bents towards sin or old idols. And so we need to remember that you're in a war, we're in a war. But second, remember your role in the war. Your role, your position, your duty, your function in the war. is not in a sense to be so much on the offensive as a natural earthly soldier, but verse 9, resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished among your brethren who are in the world. We remember our role is to stand firm, to resist, to be steadfast in the faith, rather, to be steadfast, to stand firm, or to be, as Paul said to the Corinthians, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. focusing on the Lord, standing firm in the faith, positively seeking to do the Lord's will, to know Him, to trust in Him, or even as Paul would go into elaborate detail concerning the spiritual war in Ephesians 6, and you can turn with me there for a moment by way of reminder, What does he say as he ends that letter to the Ephesians? Ephesians 6 and verse 10, he says, That's our focus. To be steadfast in the Lord, to be strong in the might of His strength, requiring prayer and scripture meditation and scripture application. Putting on the full armor of God, knowing that He has supplied us with everything we need for life and godliness, so that we may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Understanding our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against Him and all His demonic horde. And so we take up that full armor of God, not a literal armor, by obeying God, by being strong in the Lord, by practicing those spiritual disciplines. We can stand firm in the truth. We can put on a breastplate of righteousness by living a righteous life. We can live in peace, or this sense of verse 15 of Ephesians 6, of standing firm by understanding our security, the security of our salvation, that God himself has made peace with men. Jesus Christ, therefore, Paul says in Romans 5, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. And we shod our feet with that peace so that we cannot be moved, because salvation is of the Lord. And if it's of the Lord, then we can't lose it. And so that gives us a sense of peace, a peace of mind, a stability, so we can be steadfast in the faith, that we can resist the devil because we remember who God is and what God has done in our life. Peter calls us to resist him. firm in the faith, to be steadfast in faith, our role is to be steadfast in the faith, to be faithful, and even to be willing to sacrifice for the faith, or to suffer for the faith. It continues in verse 9 of chapter 5, but resist him firm in the faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished among your brethren who are in the world. There's a sense that we aren't alone, that this suffering for the faith, it's routine. It comes with the territory. And it might not be the same exact suffering, but even as Paul told Timothy, All those who seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And that persecution may take different forms. It may just be a slight ribbing or a mocking or a scoffing or a roll of the eyes. It might be the threat of losing your job. It might be the loss of relationships. It might be theft. It might be hostility. It might even come in the form of a physical assault. It can take several different forms. according to our context, but also according to our faithfulness. Are we faithful to proclaim the gospel and to live holy lives? Do the people around us know that we're believers? And if they know that there were believers, there's a sense that suffering will come. It might not come in our own personal circumstance and experience as it does in other believers' experiences and circumstances, especially those who are in more hostile contexts. But there will be suffering. And Peter reminds them of this, that they're not alone. They're not alone, which is also a temptation that either comes out of your own heart or from the devil himself. you're being partitioned out or you're being sectioned out as the only one who's going through this. Or even, you know, you think of Elijah and his deep depression and discouragement. He alone is left, and they've destroyed all of your prophets, and I alone am left in 1 Kings 19. And God tells him, I have left 7,000 people who have not bowed the knee to bow. You're not alone. You're not alone in this, Elijah. And we're not alone. Whatever sufferings or persecution may come, but there's similar experiences all throughout the world in the church. And so we are to remember our role in the world war to be steadfast in the faith, to be willing to sacrifice for the faith, to suffer faithfully, to progressively live a life of self-discipline and self-denial. You know, especially in our context, there's times in a Christian life where you are living faithfully and you don't seem to be suffering that much. You don't seem to be being persecuted, and that's particularly because God has blessed us so much, or He's blessed you so much in your particular context. But that doesn't mean that you can coast. It doesn't mean that you don't discipline yourself, or you don't deny yourself for the sake of godliness, or for the sake of serving others, or for the sake of proclaiming the gospel. We are to sacrifice for the faith, and a lot of times that means a self-sacrifice of time, talents, and treasure, of denying ourself, of disciplining ourself, of exercising self-control. A final reminder that Peter gives to these believers concerning their context, concerning their enemy, concerning the spiritual war. It says, remember that you're in a war, remember your role in the war, but finally, and probably the most important aspect of the spiritual war, is to remember your God in the war. Remember your God in the war, verse 10 and 11. to Him be might forever and ever. Amen. He's basically saying, remember your God and the fact that He's in complete control, He is sovereign, He has providential plans and purposes for each believer and each person, and He controls the nations, He controls all times and seasons, and if you suffer, It's only for a little while. For a little while in comparison to eternity. For a little while in comparison to your eternal life with Him in heaven. He controls all times and seasons, and He even uses the devil. He even uses suffering and persecution to sanctify His people. We've seen that in previous portions of 1 Peter, even just last week and in the previous verses. that he will oftentimes discipline us, or even as, you know, I remember what Samuel Rutherford, the Puritan Samuel Rutherford famously said that the devil is but a whetstone to sharpen us or to teach us how to use our weapons. God will use him. He'll use persecution to strengthen us. John MacArthur said that Christians are to live with the understanding that God's purposes realized in the future require some pain in the present. While the believer is being personally attacked by the enemy, he is being personally perfected by the Lord. That God, He knows, He's using this. He's even using the devil. You think of the whole book of Job. Have you considered my servant Job? Job wasn't privy to that information of chapter 1 and 2 through his time of suffering, but after it was over and God brought him through, He could say, I've heard you with the ears, but now my eyes see you. And in a sense, he sees his purposes. And he even had to be rebuked by God himself. Who are you, Job? You know all these intricate details about my creation and the function of creation and all the animals and ecosystems and the way things work out. I have a plan, don't worry. I have a plan. And if I've brought you to myself, and if I've saved you, and if you are mine, then no one can take you from me. No one can snatch you out of my hand, as Jesus said. If you're God's and you belong to Him, and He has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, as Peter says in verse 10 of chapter 5, if He's called you to His eternal glory in Christ, that's a done deal through Christ. in any suffering that comes in this world, it's just for a little while. But we focus on the God of all grace that He will, if we do go through suffering, He will restore, or some translations would say perfect or complete, strengthen, confirm, and ground you. He has purposes through our suffering. He controls all times and seasons, including the seasons of salvation or sanctification or suffering. or satanic assault, but He cares for His people. And He's using all things for our good and for His glory. Romans 8, 28. He cares. He cares and He has a plan. And He knows. And He will restore, He will strengthen, He will confirm, He will ground you or establish you. In the faith. He's doing it for your good and for His glory. As one author said, God's grace promised What God's grace promised, God's power will perform. What God's grace has promised, God's power will perform. We think of God's grace primarily in terms of salvation, that we are saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves, lest any man should boast, or not of works, lest any man should boast, Ephesians 2.8. That salvation is of grace, but grace abounds. Grace abounds throughout the rest of our Christian life and into eternity. And that grace comes in times of suffering, in times of sanctification. It comes in times of assault. We have just enough grace to get us through. Grace for today and hope for tomorrow, as the hymn writer says. But we have today's grace for today and tomorrow's grace will come tomorrow. And then the next day after we'll have mercies and grace anew to get us through that day and the following day until the day in which we see Christ face to face. As Christ himself said, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. But our hope is always on God and the God of all grace, whatever trial or challenges or suffering this world may bring. John Kitchen, he writes, God is the reservoir of all grace. There is no grace outside of him. All grace resides in and arises from God's own nature. It is his good pleasure to extend this grace to his people. But if you don't know this grace, it's probably because you're not one of his people. Or maybe you don't understand grace because you don't understand what you deserve. Maybe you just think you deserve everyone to be nice to you and give you stuff. But there's a sense where we don't truly understand grace unless we understand the law. And that the law says that, you know, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, the greatest commandment, and love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus and Paul both sum up the law in those two great commandments that we all fail to obey. And that's why we need grace. Because we fail to meet God's righteous requirements, His righteous standard. And so we need an alien righteousness to be imputed to us through Christ. We need to have our sins forgiven for transgressing every single one of God's laws. And to pay the penalty for those transgressions. We need grace to be saved. We need grace to be sanctified. We need grace to be secured. We need grace to be built up, to be restored, to be perfected, to be made whole. We need grace all day long and every day until eternity. We are debtors to grace. Or as a hymn writer says, oh to grace how great a debtor. Daily I am constrained to be. let thy goodness as a fetter bound thy wandering heart to thee." Because our heart does wander, and we are distracted, and that's exactly what Satan wants to distract us and cause our heart to wander into all sorts of different directions and to deceive us and to tear us away from the simple, pure devotion to Christ. But we survive. We thrive by fixing our eyes on Christ and remembering His grace to save, His grace to sanctify, and that there is a never-ending reservoir of grace in God, and we look forward to that. We long for that because God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed, 2 Corinthians 9, 8. We need grace. And if you don't understand your need for grace, it's probably because you've never experienced it. And the call to you is to understand your state outside of the grace of God, to repent and to believe that you may experience this grace and proclaim this grace. Heavenly Father, We are fickle at times. We are frail. We are even easy targets for our enemy. And apart from you, we would still be bound in our sin, still be under your just condemnation, still following the ruler of this the heir, your enemy, our enemy, the enemy of all creation, the evil one. But we thank you that you have given us grace, many of us here, and have saved us by grace, through faith, and that your grace is never ending. and that there's always a supply of grace. We can always approach your throne of grace to find mercy and help in time of need. So Lord, as we continue in our Christian lives, we ask that you would help us to walk by faith, that you would help us to live faithfully, that you would help us to fix our eyes on you and on things above and not on things on this earth, to be faithful, and to remember that whatever this world or the enemy may throw at us, that you are good, and your promises endure, and your steadfast love endures forever, and you are faithful, and you will be faithful. Lord, help us to be faithful, and remind us of your faithfulness to us. It's in Christ's name we pray.