1 Peter: Living a Life of Hope

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Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of First Peter. I'm doing an overview series for the last two years now. Preaching an overview of an entire book in one sermon. As I thought about doing this series throughout the years, it just occurred to me that no matter how long I'm here preaching, it would take many lifetimes to exposit every single verse. So, I thought it was about time to give us an overview of the entire Redemptive Story of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. So, I've preached through every book so far up to First Peter, which you can find online. And this particular book, I have also preached verse by verse through in the past. The title of this message is, “Living a Life of Hope.” Living a life of hope.

Life, I would say, is a matter of focus, it's a matter of focus. Which of these two categories describes you the best, half-full, or half-empty? Roadblocks, or opportunities? A hill to climb, or an adventure? Laying bricks, or building a church? Tiring jog, or a path to health. A stressful test, if you're in school, or an opportunity for mental growth. A painful trial, or an opportunity to see God glorified. You see, in all these scenarios, it's a matter of perspective. Of worldly perspective, or biblical perspective. A self-centered life, or a God-centered life of opportunity. And the fact is that most of these categories, we’re not just one or the other. Sometimes we can go back and forth. And sometimes we're a conglomerate, it's like, we're a half-full in the morning. And by the evening, we're a half-empty kind of person, for some reason.

Well, if you're a mix of these different types of categories, which most people are, you'll really enjoy First Peter as we go through it this morning. Because it helps us to turn ourselves from a world-centered fear to a God-centered hope. To turn us from a world-centered fear, life of anxiety and worry and concern, and that it's all just going to fall apart. That might be in the morning, and by the afternoon, you're fine. But the idea is to live life with a God-centered perspective and a God-centered hope. And I hope to show you where that is found in First Peter, specifically.

Let me tell you a little bit about the book to set the context quickly. The author is the Apostle Peter. It was written around AD 68, just before the destruction of Jerusalem. Possibly [was written] right after, though there's no mention of that event. One thing you might not know is that Peter was married. You can see that from 1 Corinthians 9:5, and his wife likely accompanied him in marriage. So, when Peter is sticking his foot in his mouth, his wife is right there with him most of the time. The other thing you might not know is that his mother-in-law was probably there many times as well. We see when she got sick in Mark 1:30, the Lord himself had to heal her. So, his wife and mother-in-law were around many times.

Peter was an apostle, the leader of the apostles. Jesus discipled many people, but he had 12 whom he called apostles, those were his main focus in life. [Peter] performed great miracles, and Acts 1-12, summarize his ministry work on Earth. And like all the apostles, his main mission was to preach the gospel. You can see that from Mark 3:14, he was someone who was sent forth to preach, to heal, and to have power to cast out demons. That is the authority Jesus gave the apostles. So, when he is talking in this book about living a life of hope in the midst of suffering, I want you to keep that in mind. Because he didn't see the solution as just going around to get rid of all the obstacles. Though Peter could heal people. And at times, so amazing was the power of God gave him to heal, that his shadow simply fell on people and they were healed. He didn't consider that his main priority.

His audience was what we call the Dispersion. And you'll see where they came from. Those are the elect who are scattered through persecution in Jerusalem, all throughout what we would consider now modern-day Turkey, about 1000 miles away or more. His audience was facing severe, daily, regular persecution. And instead of just telling them everything would be okay, he refocused their attention to the great truths of God's word, compelling them to live life for Jesus Christ, without fear of the world. This morning, what I want to do is summarize First Peter in a way that shows you three keys to living a life of hope. I want to show you the three keys to living a life of hope.

And the first key is found in the first paragraph, it's to fully understand your salvation. Key number one is to fully understand your salvation. And really covers the first two chapters. Look there in 1 Peter 1:1-5, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Now, who among us has ever opened a letter like that? Peter is wasting no time. Dear friends, I know that you are fearful at times like they are. I know that you are in trouble and even in physical pain at times, like they are. But he wastes no time in getting their attention and saying, “we need to focus on what we have from Jesus Christ.” You may say, “Dave, I already understand my salvation.” Well, considering this opening, my response would be, “then you must be one of the few people on Earth who are never fearful of anything. You never have anxiety. And you never have worry.” And if that's you, well have some more coffee and doughnuts and pray for the rest of us. But for those of you that, at times, can seem overwhelmed. For those of you, at times, that know that, “I need to go through this trial, but I'm not exactly sure what it's going to look like.” And you might just be a little bit scared or afraid. Or for those of you who have been so calloused by life, you're indifferent to all of these things. I would say that there are different levels of understanding of our salvation. And Peter is trying to get us to fully understand it. You see, because by fully understanding your salvation, it will change the way you think and the way you live, immediately. His goal is not to lay down some theological treatise, though I'll review in just a moment, just how much theology is here in chapter one.

But there are different levels of understanding. You may understand how a parachute works. I think I know how it works. I have never put one on though. You probably won't find me jumping out of an airplane. I have done the bungee jump thing before, but I can kind of think through that a little bit better, a little bit lower to the ground. And those who do jump out of airplanes, maybe you're in the military and you've done that many times. Or maybe you're just a thrill seeker and you've jumped out of a plane. You probably have a vested interest in understanding the engineering that goes into a parachute, more so than those on the ground with binoculars enjoying the show. Those who jump don't just know, it's a parachute it should work. They probably have an understanding of the secondary release that happens if the first one fails, how long they have to open it. What happens if it doesn't open? They carry a little short prayer with them. Just kidding. What happens if it doesn't open? Right? All of these things go into levels of understanding. And we must not think that we have ever arrived at a complete and perfect understanding of our salvation. But we still push towards a deeper understanding of the theology of salvation so that we can live rightly for Jesus Christ.

You probably don't know that more accidents, car accidents, happen in Virginia in one year, than the last 50 years of parachute accidents all over the United States, combined. Yet our fear is amplified about jumping out of airplanes. And yet all of you got here by what? A car, unless you walked, right? We need to be able to understand salvation enough to jump, so to speak. To live in the world, trusting in the foundation that God has given us, to understand that God is the cause of our salvation. As it clearly says here in this chapter. And not relegate that to some un-useful category of Reformed Theology. But to see it and wonder, why does he do that? Why does he say that? Why is that necessary? Well, because that is a foundation of living for hope throughout your life. What has he caused us to be born again for? What does it say there in verse three? Look at the Scriptures with me.

And he starts in verse three with this “Blessed.” He's exalting in praise for this truth. [1 Peter 1:3] “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again [to what?] to a living hope….” Is that how you live through life? Full of hope and exultation simply because of your salvation. Friends, that is what Peter is trying to help us to see. That there is more to this foundational living for Christ that truly brings hope in Jesus Christ, for who he is, and for what he's done. That means, according to verse four [1 Peter 1:4], that no matter what believers have this future inheritance to look forward to. It is imperishable. It is undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. It's out of the reach of all that is decaying in this world, including you and I. You cannot lose what you did nothing to attain.

And if you are one of those who question your faith all the time or constantly go back to, “Yes, I really hope that prayer mattered when I was a little kid, even though I lived like a pagan every day. I really hope that…” Or if you're just constantly struggling with your faith, verse five is for you. Look in verse five [1 Peter 1:5], “who by God's power are being guarded through faith….” Yes, it is your faith. Who is guarding your faith? God. Does that not encourage you? Does that not redirect you from all of your failures and shortcomings? You know, which the world loves to point out, and mean friends love to point out, and bad bosses like to point out. And all of these things that weigh us down and it starts gnawing at our faith. But we forget that we are being guarded by God's power through faith.

For what? For the “salvation [that is] ready to be revealed in the last time.” And what that means is, is that your salvation, guarded by God, has a future that is set and secure. That is encouraging. That is what causes us to live life for hope. To live with this great hope in our minds. God is the One who guards it, he's the One who gives it, and he's the One who sustains it. You say, “Okay, well, that's great, it's secure, it’s in Christ, it's given through what he's done, and he's going to see it through to the end. But then what are these continual tests in my life for? If I know it's secure, why do I have to keep being tested?” Well, your life of hope, is supposed to bring God glory. Look at verse seven [1 Peter 1:7], “so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Now you remember, from some of the other overviews that I've preached that, you know, around the time of AD 70, was a very dark time for Christians. And Nero was around and not only would he end up burning all of Rome, because he had this insatiable lust to build things for himself. And Rome at that time was built out of, you know, tightly packed houses all made out of wood, you light one on fire it just swept through like kindling. And then it gets blamed on the Christians. So when he says, there's a reason for this test you're going through, they were all listening. [1 Peter 1:7] “so that the tested genuineness of your faith [may result in something] … may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

And when we stand before him, our lives are going to bring him glory. And not only then but now. They were going through the testing now. And their lives were going to bring God glory every day, or they were going to crumble. And I ask you, don't you want to live for God's glory? And we have to develop this mental toughness that comes with a life that is full of testing, but know that the testing is to bring God glory. You say, “how do I know it's going to result in praise?” Because God guarantees it. Genuine faith glorifies God. Notice it's not just any faith here, it's genuine faith. It's not the faith on the ground, watching someone jump out of the airplane and saying, “Aw, that parachute will probably work.” The faith is tested in the air. You're not going to go to a skydiving instructor who's never jumped. Right? I mean, that would be foolish. Hopefully you haven't done that. And if you did, I guess you made it. Right, we're not going to do that. We need to be tested. And when you're tested, when you're armor is tested and you survive, you're like, “Wow, that worked!”

It's like the first time you learn to swim and you jump in and you're like, “Oh, the instruction worked.” Now you like your swim instructor whereas before you thought they were merciless on you. But when you learn to swim, now that's not a trial, it's enjoyable. This is why people put pools near their house or go to the beach and swim. Right? It's not terrifying anymore. It becomes this thing you enjoy. Trials don't have to terrify you. Because you know God is sovereign over all things and has a purpose for everything that's going on in your life.

Peter also helps us apply this. It's not just abstract theology. He gives us very specific ways to apply these things. And the first way he wants us to apply fully understanding our salvation, is found in verse 13. Right, you see the word “therefore” it says [1 Peter 1:13], “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” We're not to merely go through life with just knowledge. Knowledge, like a library that never gets read. He wants us to be sober-minded. That means self-controlled thinking. If you're not sober, you don't have self-controlled thinking. In fact, you don't have self-control at all. So sober-minded means thinking rightly. We actively set our hope on God's grace. We actively, we train our minds, we prepare our minds for action. We don't just coast through life, we see this as a challenge and we take it on. That's just one truth from chapter one.

Let me just list the other truths that you can mine out of chapter one because I want you to know First Peter is something you can feed on for a lifetime, but you can digest it quickly here. It discusses the cause of our salvation, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our eternal inheritance, God's guarding power, rejoicing, trials, genuine faith, the Second Coming, the predicted sufferings of Christ and their meaning, preparing our minds, the hope of Christ, holiness and holy living, the Father's judgment, what the blood of Christ accomplished. Predestination, God's work in Christ's resurrection, obedience to truth, love, brotherly love, being born again, immortality, and preaching of the good news. And that's just the first chapter. Do you fully understand the power of the theology that is found in God's Word? It will drive you to a life of hope.

1 Peter 2:2 is a verse that we all know, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” And, you know, if you're past those days, where you have a little squeaky one at home, you forget. We just have these happy visions of, “Aw, that must just be like, Oh, the baby, they're just, they sleep from eight at night till eight in the morning, they just, they wake up, and they have three refreshing meals and….” No, no. That little baby, who can't form a sentence, communicates exactly what the baby wants. “I am hungry, and Mama, it's time.” Right? Long for the milk, like a newborn baby. They know that's what they need. And they don't know much but they know that, right? They know how to squeak, they know how to make noise. They know how to do a couple of other things. But they know how to get food and they know where it comes from. Right?

We need to long for the Word of God. We need to desire it, to have this intense desire towards God's Word. And we should not be indifferent about the most powerful truth that the world has ever known. That tells us that we might not be in the Word much. Or we might be in the Word much, but it might not be in us very much. See the difference? We must understand that our salvation helps us set our minds on God. It's not just a destination or a course correction. It is a way of thinking and a way of life. And the examples are all around us. So, the first application of understanding our salvation fully is that we have to set our minds on God's grace. Set our minds on God's grace.

The second thing is in verse 14, 1 Peter 1:14-16, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” So, what does this full understanding of salvation bring? It brings a desire for a holy life. And that's a quote from Leviticus 11:44 and other places in the Old Testament. A holy life means that I strive to be set apart for God. Is that the desire of your life? To be set apart for God, to be used by him for his glory. My mind is set apart, my words are set apart, my heart is set apart, my actions are set apart, everything about me is set apart for God's glory. And we strive towards the holiness with which we must have. Otherwise, we will not see the Lord.

In other words, we will not be in his presence to enjoy him forever. We will be cast out of his presence forever. Why do we strive for holiness? It's not out of some kind of just desire to follow rules. It's because we love Jesus Christ. Because we have a relationship with him. And he's called us to be holy as he is holy. So, our relationship compels us towards holy living. That's what salvation does in every true believer.

So, the first key to living a life of hope is to fully understand your salvation. And second, the second key, is to be submissive to God's will. And we see this really in chapters three and four, and somewhat at the end of chapter two, to be submissive to God's will. You think, “Oh, I don't mind obeying God, it's everybody else that I have a problem with [right?] obeying.” Yeah, I think the same way too. And so, Peter hits all those things. Because really these are commands from God. 1 Peter 2:13 talks about being submissive to the government. We learned that we are to be submissive to the government, so long as they do not contradict God's Word. Right? For worship, gathering, praising, singing, fellowship, the one another's, all of those things. We also learned that we don't get to set aside the government's commands and rules for us simply because we don't like it. Right? We don't get the free pass to grumble about all of these things simply because we don't like something the government has asked us to do. If it doesn't contradict God's Word, then we are told, we are commanded (if we're being submissive to God), to obey. Right?

We remember this every tax season when the taxes come due. Or if you are considered by the government, as I am, a self-employed and employed by your employer. There's dual categories there, you get to make estimated taxes every three months, right? And you get to pay those in. And we do this with joy, without grumbling, because we're serving God. Right? You guys are quiet on that one. But here again, and Dustin pointed this out this morning – as we're talking about discipleship – he's pointing us back to what Christ has accomplished for all of the reasons for living. You think? How does that apply? Jesus got a fish to give him his taxes. Well, what did he do before Pilate? Was he submissive to God's will before Pilate? Absolutely. He was silent. He had an angelic army that could have taken everyone out right then. “But not my will, but yours be done, Lord God.” And so being submissive to God's will, means that we are submissive to the government, the established government. Whether you like it, or I like it, or not. And we then get to shine as lights in this world. When things aren't going the way we like, we're joyful. It's really easy to be joyful when things are going our way. But when they're not going our way, it actually gives more glory to God, when we're joyful about submitting to the government, which God has established, which is easy to prove in Scripture.

The suffering is our example. 1 Peter 2:21 says, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” Right? Taxes, tortured on the cross, right? This is an example of the greater to the lesser. The greater suffering is what Jesus did, the lesser suffering is what we do. And we have it pretty easy compared to that. So, he rolls into this second key for living a life of hope, in talking about being submissive to God's will. And then he goes into chapters three and four, which have gone out of fun preaching for many decades now.

1 Peter 3:1, right, wives, this is your favorite passage. He calls wives to be submissive to their own husbands, not to every husband, but to their own husband. Right? That word submissive there in the Greek means submissive. There's no getting around it. And the example that’s given of Sarah calling Abraham, “Lord,” should quell any discussion about what that actually means. Are we still excited to obey God's Word? That was even less than the taxes. Right? And you think, “Well, you don't know my husband,” Well, God does. You leave your husband up to God. Right? You be submissive, respectful, a gentle and quiet spirit. God calls you to this life, wives. What does he say in verse five? Which in God's sight is what? Very precious. It's very precious. You say, “I'm willing to suffer under the government, just not at home.” Okay, give me one area where I am not to suffer. Gentle, quiet spirit. Right?

And don't worry, husbands aren't off the hook. Husbands, you're called to “live with your wives in an understanding way.” This means to show them honor. Honor. When you honor someone, you exalt them, you put them first, husbands. That's why the, you know, the older generations, they would open the door for their wives. Now that's like an insult to some ladies. But it's supposed to be this showing of honor, I will help you by just opening the car door. And I will be submissive in this way to my wife. Notice how the husband's treatment of his wife is tied to salvation. We remember that “they are heirs with you of the grace of life.” Again, it's tied back to what Christ has done. So, he's talking about submission. Submission to God, submission to government, submission for wives, submission for husbands. And then, if you're not in one of those categories, the husband or the wife, he has a word for you too. 1 Peter 3:8-9, “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”

This relates once again to the suffering that Jesus endured. He did not revile Pilate. He did not curse those who hung him on the cross. He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” We don't have to live life looking for revenge on people who have hurt us. That is maybe a common response, but it is not a godly response. When those hurtful situations come up, they become opportunities to give God glory, who will exalt us later. Will give us the glory of living for him later. Wasn't Christ our example in this? 1 Peter 3:17-18, ties this living back to Jesus Christ once again. “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” Christ's suffering was, in a sense, unjust. Right? I mean, that's the thing that gets us the most, is it not? “They think I did this, but I didn't. They think I said this, but I didn't say that. Or they think I meant this, but I didn't mean that. And now they're mad at me. And I don't know how to deal with this, because the thing they're mad at never even happened.” Right?

So, he suffered unjustly. And what was his response? “Father, forgive them.” “Father, forgive them.” Is that the mindset that you have? If not, you're probably weighed down with all of these relational burdens from people. That you need to not just let go of, you need to turn into opportunities to bless. The person who is most unkind to you is the one you should bless the most. Isn't that what Jesus did? The most unkind nailed him to the cross, “Father, forgive them.” Right? They knew they were nailing him to the cross, they just didn't know the significance of what they were doing. A Christian who submits to God's will and suffers for it, is merely following the example of our loving Savior. And that gives us hope. Because no longer do these situations that are troublesome, they don't weigh us down. We see them differently. And that is how mature Christians live. Like I said, it's not a normal response, but it's a godly one. Following Jesus, means loving others with this tender, humble heart, even when they hurt us. That is submissive, hopeful living.

So, the first key that we looked at in chapters one to two, to living a life of hope, is to fully understand your salvation. The second key to living a life of hope is to be submissive to God's will. Which includes submission to government, husbands and wives, and one another. The third key to living a life of hope, is to be willing to be shepherded. And notice here in 1 Peter 5:1-4, that this exhortation starts with the elders themselves. “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading Crown of Glory.”

I love how he just starts by talking to the church leaders in this. There needs to be a willingness to be shepherded from God. But the elders need to be willing to be shepherded from Scripture as well, from each other as well. Notice he says, “as a fellow elder,” I exhort you. You don't want a domineering pastor or group of elders. You also don't want a passive pastor and group of elders. We are to actively shepherd, to actively exercise oversight, as God would have us, not as we think best. But as God would have us. The parameters for this oversight, for this shepherding, is for your benefit and God's glory. We are under-shepherds. As you see in verse four, God is “the chief Shepherd.” Which means that all the pastors and elders have a shepherd as well.

Notice how Peter ties this command back to the sufferings of Christ. Right, you see that 1 Peter 5:1, “as a fellow elder and [as] a witness of the sufferings of Christ.” We don't forget who we are, and we don't forget what Christ has done. Ultimately pastors are to entrust themselves, their families, and their ministry, to a future reward from God himself: “you will receive the unfading crown of glory.” And I want to show you how he goes to real in the entire church in this chapter. Okay, so he starts by talking to the elders. And then he talks to, in verse five, the young men. And no, that doesn't mean under 20. That means if you're not an elder, okay, so that's who he's talking to here. It could mean, I guess, exegetically, it could mean that he's talking to those under 30. That would be the traditional category of young men in Scripture. But he's going to wrap in everyone else very quickly.

Look, as verse five goes on, [1 Peter 5:5] “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.” To be shepherded by someone else takes humility. There's no two ways about it. And we talked about that in the discipleship class this morning, how it just feels like, “Oh, how could I ever lead someone else in discipleship, I need to be lead myself.” Right, which we're all painfully aware of. That we do need to be shepherded ourselves. But we have humility towards one another. And so, in spite of that, we get into these relationships with intentional discipleship. They’re relationships that can be one on one and very focused, but they need to be intentional. So, you could even do things like just sending someone an email talking about Scripture with them, purposefully pouring into other people. We need to have the humility to receive instruction from each other, not just the elders. Right, and all the elbows went out, “Did you hear that, right, you hear that?” You and I need to be able to receive instruction from each other.

Some of the toughest questions I've ever had in ministry have come from little kids, little kids, they're just forming words. I remember one time when a young child, one of my own, said, “Daddy, can you tell me the difference between faith and belief?” And I was like, “Who is this child?” Right? Let me get back to you. And we're just dumbfounded at times by the profound interest of other people in certain subjects. You may have an interest in studying the end times, and you hope everybody else does too. And so, you go around talking about the end times with everybody you meet. Or you may have an interest in learning about the spiritual gifts. Why they're active? Why some think they're not? Is this a core issue of theology? Can we all get along if we have different beliefs on this? You know, what are the Scriptures on that? And you just want to talk about those things. Some of you, every category is like this for you. You’re just always talking about everything, turning everything over, right? And God puts us all together for our growth and our sanctification. And as we're humble towards one another, we can learn from one another.

Nothing brings more joy to the life of a church than a humble saint. A truly humble saint, who wants to know God and share him with everyone. It's the most joyful type of church on earth. And it's how God has designed his precious bride to operate. So, when we think about this section, 1 Peter 5:5-10, are actually speaking about the church as a whole. You notice he says in verse five, “all of you,” but what's harder to see in the English is that these commands: be sober-minded (the third time he said that in First Peter), to be humble – these are plural commands. It's like, “all of you all be humble. All of you all be sober-minded.” Look in 1 Peter 5:8-9, these are plural in the Greek, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary.” The word “your” there is plural, it means all of you. Still, you all have a common adversary, the devil, he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.” The “your faith” there is singular. So, you are an individual with individual faith, part of the collective Church, which has a collective mission in the world. And part of that mission, as we're humble towards each other, is to resist the works of the devil together, to resist the sin of the world together. And it's incredibly clear here in First Peter chapter five. “Resist him,” is plural, “firm in your faith,” that’s singular, “knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood,” that's plural again, “throughout the [whole] world.”

One of the ways Satan tries to get you to go through life by yourself, is to get you to think that your troubles are unique to you, and no one in all of mankind has ever walked in your shoes. Right? I have no idea what you're going through. The experiences that we have in suffering are common. They're common, no matter how unique your situation is, right? Nobody's you. We all understand that. But Scripture just said, “knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” Persecuted verbally, others persecuted verbally. Traumatic situations in your life, others have traumatic situations in their life. So many people in Scripture, have had incredibly hard things happen to them as an example to show us that those aren't excuses to turn away from Jesus Christ.

And you can find comfort, knowing that other brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world have gone through the same kinds of suffering, and they are moving forward to. They are still here, they're still alive, and while you're still here and alive, there is always room to trust in Christ. So, the idea here in 1 Peter 5:5-10, and specifically in 8 and 9, where Satan's roaming around looking for someone to devour. We always think of that as in a “me vs. him.” But if context is true, then that's an “us vs. him.” That's a stand of God's Holy Church – by whom he suffered and died to pay for your sins and to put us together in the body of Christ – that's the whole church against what he is doing. You are not alone. You are not by yourself in this world. You may have troubles that you think are very unique to you. You may have very difficult struggles. But none of those overcome the sustaining power of God through faith. None of them. We need to stand “firm in [our] faith,” verse nine.

Is that some kind of sadistic, “I know you can't do it, but I'm going to tell you to do it anyway”? No, it is something we can do. We resist him. And he is stronger, smarter, got the whole Bible memorized, right? Stronger, smarter, more powerful, could sift any of the apostles – if he had the Lord's permission. But we resist the devil, we resist what he is doing. Firm in our individual faith, but we resist together, not by yourself. And if you have tried to win this battle by yourself, then you know just how dark life can be. Peter is pulling all of these brothers together. Remember, they're part of the dispersion: Asia, Cappadocia, Bithynia, they're spread out. Your brothers throughout the whole world are enduring these things. Right? And he's saying collectively, “we move against these things together.” And it's not only to move against these things together, which we do as we're willing to be shepherded. But there's this great truth that God promises here at the end of First Peter. This amazing truth, that as you're fully understanding your salvation, as you're being submissive to God's will, as you're being willing to be shepherded. This wonderful, amazing truth is also true of all of us who are true believers in the church.

Look in 1 Peter 5:10, “And after you.” Can you guess if that's singular or plural? That's plural. It's, “after y'all.” Right? “After [y'all] have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” What can you not get through when God himself is going to restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you? Satan wants you to think you're by yourself, that you can't do it, that the trials are too great. You're just going to coast through life, you're not going to learn any more about your salvation or theology. But here Peter is saying, “God himself is going to, all of you, strengthen you, and restore you and establish you.” Everyone gets restored, everyone gets confirmed, everyone gets strengthened and established. Praise be to God who has caused us to be born again, to a living hope! Let's pray.

Dear Lord God, I pray that you would give us the strength to trust in you.

And, Lord, if there's someone here who hasn't put their faith and trust in you, I pray they would do that, Lord, even right now. That they would turn from their sin, and trying to do life on their own, and receive the grace of God. To receive your mercy, Lord, we pray that you would get ahold of their hearts. I know not why some continue to reject the greatest life and the most grace ever offered. But Lord, I pray that you would bring them to yourself, even right now.

And Lord God, for those who are believers, I just thank you that you have given us the Word for us to trust in, to long for. That you've given us the example of Christ, to pay for our sins, that we can live a life of great hope, of growing hope.

And let’s just take a moment right now. And ask God to help us to focus on him and live this life of hope that he calls us to.

Father, all praise be to your Name, all glory be to your Name, both now and forevermore. Amen.