A Most Encouraging Promise, Part 2

Introduction: Peter's Pastoral Purpose in 1 Peter

0:06 Now let us turn together in our Bibles to 1 Peter, chapter 5, 1 Peter, chapter 5, and I shall begin reading what is the last paragraph of general exhortation beginning at verse 5b, 1 Peter 5, 5b through verse 11. 1 Peter 5, verse 11.

1:04 1 Peter 5, verse 11. 1 Peter 5, verse 11.

2:09 The power that no man can bring to us, that it may be said of us in this place today that the word came not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. Hear us, we plead, in Jesus' name. Amen. The book of 1 Peter, like all the other letters or epistles in the New Testament, is not a formal, logical, logically structured theological treatise.

2:48 It's full of theology, it's full of much that is marked by logical structure, but the letter itself is not a formal, logically structured theological treatise. Rather, it is the spirit-inspired record of the pastoral labor of the Apostle Peter seeking to instruct, to encourage, and strengthen the people of God in the churches, of Asia Minor, in the face of their present sufferings, and in the light of the fact that sufferings of a more intense nature were to face them in the future. In other words, we should view this letter as an expression of what the Lord said Peter would do after he was turned again. You remember in Luke chapter 22, prior to the trial and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus, the Lord says, Satan has desired all of you to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, especially for you, Peter, and when you are turned again, strengthen your brethren. This is Peter doing what the Lord commanded him to do. Or in terms of his recommissioning service recorded in John 21 by the Sea of Galilee after the Lord was raised from the dead.

4:10 And each time he asks Peter, do you love me? And Peter affirms that he does. Our Lord responds by saying, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, shepherd my sheep. And this letter is Peter doing what his Lord commissioned him to do.

4:31 And in the opening part of the letter, he pursues this purpose with a series of statements in which he sets forth some of the most amazing privileges of the people of God. God to be found anywhere in Scripture, and then he follows that litany of their privileges with specific gospel commands, delineating the responsibilities of such a privileged people, pointing them to their sufficiency for that obedience in Jesus Christ. Then in chapter 3 and verse 13, through to the end of chapter 4, he gets into the very heart of his pastoral burden, for the general theme of that entire middle section of the letter is the theme of suffering, and how a Christian is to respond in the midst of suffering for the sake of Christ, or suffering for what Peter calls righteousness' sake. And then in chapter 5, recognizing that these individual believers are gathered in the various churches scattered throughout those provinces. Described in chapter 1 in verse 1, Peter is concerned that the life of the churches, even in the midst of persecution, continue to manifest the presence and the grace of Christ.

5:54 And so he gives specific directives to the pastors of the church, and then a general directive to all of the members in chapter 5-1 through verse 5a. Then in 5b through verse 9, he gives his final concept. That is, the final exhortation to all of the people of God against the backdrop of all of the privileges that have been described, and all of the responsibilities growing out of those privileges, both of which are to be viewed in the context of suffering. Peter's final exhortation is an exhortation on the one hand to humility before God and one another, and to watchfulness in the light of this life. Then in 5b through verse 9, he gives his final concept. And so he gives his final concept. And so he gives his final concept.

6:41 This vicious, predatory being called the devil who walks about seeking whom he may devour.

The Capstone Promise: Author and Executor (Review)

6:50 Then in verse 10, Peter sets before us what I think we ought to view as a capstone promise given to the people of God against the backdrop of the whole content of the epistle. With all of its privileges, responsibilities, the peculiar pressures of suffering, the tendency of the human heart to be proud, the devil committed to devour us, what in the world do poor, weak, frail human beings do to stand in such a very unsavory and incompatible context? Well, Peter gives us this marvelous word of promise, and the God of all grace, who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ, after that you've suffered a little while, shall Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. And we began last Lord's Day to consider this most encouraging promise of verse 10. And as we did, I stated that this is one of those verses where the Spirit of God has given us such a dense concentration of significance, enormous, almost every single word that nothing less than meticulous exposition does justice to the mind of the Spirit of God.

8:16 And so last Lord's Day, we took up just the first heading of the exposition. We considered what the text sets before us in terms of the author and the executor of the promise. As Peter is about to give this promise, he does not immediately plunge in, to the very heart, or the specifics of the promise he could have written, and God Himself will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you, and He will do this as the God of all grace, who called you to His own glory, His eternal glory in Christ. But He doesn't do that.

8:56 He is careful to put all of the floodlights upon the one who is the author and the executor of the promise, before giving the specifics of the promise itself. And we noted in our study last week, that the author and the executor of this promise is God Himself and the God of all grace. And just before the four verbs, you have that pronoun, autos. I would love to find why the translators of the New King James Version left it out.

9:29 My wife said, honey, last week, when you were making that point, I'm looking at my Bible and I can't find it. There is this extra pronoun put in, in order to emphasize that it is God Himself. Whatever means He may employ, whatever His tools are to perfect, to establish, to strengthen and settle us, He wants the people of God to know that behind any means made effectual in those things that form the heart of the promise, it is God Himself who is doing it. Furthermore, it is God in His identity as the God of all grace.

10:12 The only place in the Bible where God is designated in this way, as the God of all grace. Genesis to Revelation sets Him forth as a God of grace. Many promises concerning what His grace will accomplish, but nowhere but here is He called the God of all grace. And you see the significance.

10:35 As we think of the content of the whole letter, here are these believers in a pagan society, pressured on every hand. Some of them being maligned, some of the servants being maltreated by their unjust bosses. A civil government that is ruled by those who are pagans and who have little sympathy for Christian standards. And then there is a devil going around like a voracious beast.

11:03 What in the world? What in the world are these poor believers to do? They are to fix their eyes upon the God of all grace. All kinds of grace, all dimensions of grace, need Him to be what they are called to be.

11:19 And then we noted in the text that the author and the executor of the promise is not only set before us as God Himself, God in His identity as the God of all grace, but God in His activity and purpose, in connection with our cause. We are calling, look again at the text, the God of all grace who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ or in Christ Jesus. Before they suck sweetness out of the specifics of the promise, He wants them to back up and say, look, the God who Himself will do these things, the God who Himself will do them as the God of all grace, is the God who has already called you out of the promise. He has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. And He has called you with a calling that has as its goal that you will share in His glory and that forever. He has called you to His own eternal glory and the sphere in which He has done it is union with Christ. He has united you to Christ, that bond being forged from the human side by faith, from the divine side by faith.

12:34 And He has made you the part of the divine spirit of His own art. Hey, you're free you are free. You are a part of His divine spirit. And this really is a fail to yours.

12:39 You are standing here, you are perfect, you are a part of His calling. The holy spirit iswickfig Michael is not made to be in Christ, but He is laid aside by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and He says it is in Christ that you have been called. And therefore the God of all grace who is going to commit Himself to do these four specific things as the God who has called you manifested the power and the energy of His saving mercy. And He opened your blind eyes.

12:57 When He unstopped your deaf ears. When He took out the heart of stone and gave you a heart of flesh. and not only summoned you to repentance and faith, but imparted the gift of repentance and did you to His Son and marked you for nothing less than sharing in His eternal glory. Now, does that make a difference as to how we view the stuff of the promise?

The Setting of the Promise: 'After You Have Suffered a Little While'

13:22 I pray God it will. How can we contemplate a God like that? And that has our hearts leap within us saying, Oh God, anything you question. And so having considered the author and the executor of the promise, now then, let's consider in the second place as we look at the text, the setting in which the promise is to be fulfilled, and thirdly, the substance of the promise or the specifics that are at the heart of the promise.

13:57 So we've considered the author and the executor of the promise. Now the vital question is, when will this promise be fulfilled? In what sphere of existence or experience do the people of God have a right to plead this promise? To hold God to His word, for that's what a faith-filled prayer is.

14:23 It is holding God to His word. But you better make sure God has given His word for a given thing to which you're holding Him in account. And the text reads this way in most of our translations. And the God of all grace, who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ, or Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, shall Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

14:54 A first impression from that reading of the old 1901, and from most of the translations that I have consulted, would give the impression that the promise is very clearly put in some sort of a promise. In some chronological order. The God who Himself, as the God who called you, and the God of all grace, is going to perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. He will do this after you have suffered a while.

15:23 So you have His calling, then you have a period of suffering, and then you have God doing these four things. Do you see that in the way it's in the text? I hope I'm not talking to myself. Do you see that?

15:34 So you get the impression there is this definite chronological order They've been called, there's a while, a period, a little time, or little in measure. The word in the Greek is indefinite, can be time or measure, but it's after suffering a little, or a little while, then there is the perfecting, the strengthening, the establishing, and the settling. Now, if that's a proper understanding of the text, then it can only be fulfilled within two possible spheres of reference. It could mean that Peter is saying, in this period of time in which the suffering is intense upon you believers there in those Roman provinces, in His providential ordering of the affairs of His people, God is going to relieve you of that concentrated, intense period of suffering, and when He brings you out into calmer waters, you will see the fruit of that suffering in that you will be perfected, strengthened, and settled, established, strengthened, and settled. And those who take that view point to the historical facts of the church in Jerusalem. In Acts 2.47 it says that the church was having favor with all the people.

16:54 But in Acts 8 it says on that day a great persecution was let loose against the church on the occasion of the stoning of Stephen, and it says Paul was breathing out threatenings and slaughters, believers were scattered, but by the time we come to chapter 9 after the conversion of Saul, it says the churches had rest, and were being edified, and were being multiplied. So some would say this is what Peter is alluding to. He has seen the patterns of God's dealings in His providence, and when He allows intense periods of persecution, He then brings periods of relative ease, and then the people of God can look back and say, Yes! God has used that to perfect me, to establish me, to strengthen, to settle me. And then they would bring in Romans 5, the first couple of verses, James chapter 1, the general teaching of Scripture that it's in the crucible of suffering and opposition that our graces are cultivated. And if one took that position, there would be no heresy, there would be no error, but I don't believe that's what Peter is saying. But if you take the position that the after is chronological, then you point to the age to come.

18:11 The God of all grace, who has called you unto His eternal glory, after you've suffered a while in this life until your death or the second coming, this God will fully and completely perfect you, establish you, strengthen and settle you in the glorified state. So some would say after the suffering means, since the Bible teaches, our whole pilgrimage will be marked by suffering, in this world you shall have tribulation, all that will look godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. This can only be pointing to the eternal glory, which will be comprised of being perfected, established, strengthened and settled. And then they would say, 2 Corinthians 4, 17 is the divine commentary. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory, while we look not on the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen. Well, I can't buy that either. I have a problem with both of those positions, and I've got to tell you why.

19:16 And as I was thinking of this part of the sermon, where you've got to think and I've got to work through with you, I said it's like eating Brazil nuts. I love Brazil nuts. And it's worth all the difficulty cracking the outer shell to get to the meat. Now we're cracking Brazil nut shells here, all right?

19:34 But there's wonderful meat inside. And it's unusually nice when you can get the meat out whole in one piece. I love the feeling of the crunch of a whole unbroken Brazil nut. I only get it about once every ten times.

19:47 There's stinkers to get out of the shell. Well, may God give us to know something of the savoring of the text, if you'll hang in there while we do some nut cracking, all right? Why do I reject both of those positions? Well, the second one that would say, well, these things are promised for the age to come.

20:03 The suffering for a little while is the entire experience of the Christian in the whole of his life, all of God's people in every age. And then what awaits him are these four marvelous realities that God himself will effect in us. He will perfect. He will establish.

20:21 He will strengthen. He will settle. Here's my big problem. When you take your Bible and look up these words in an English concordance, better yet, in the English and the Greek concordance, you will find that three of these four verbs, there's one that is one of Peter's exotic words, found only here in the New Testament, not even found in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Septuagint.

20:43 It's its only use in the Scriptures. But the other three, perfect, establish, it's this third one, strengthen, that is Peter's unique word, and the final one, settle you, those words are used many times in the New Testament as that which the writers of the Bible expect to be realized in believers in this life. So that if Peter were using them of the age to come, he is using terminology that is never used with respect to our glorified state. And furthermore, I don't need to be settled in the glorified state.

21:27 There's nothing to unsettle me. I won't need to be strengthened in the glorified state, for I will be like him, having seen him as he is. And these commodities that Peter holds out, in the heart of the promise, are not the stuff that is needed in the age to come, but they are needed in this age, in the context of a vicious devil, of an unsympathetic world, and our own lust that would betray us from within. And the first one that would say, well, it's a period of suffering, and Peter's saying it's only going to last for a little while, there is no indication that Peter was given some prophetic insight, we know from church history that things went from bad to worse, in that area of the world, in a couple of years. General persecution was to be let loose upon all of the church, throughout the Roman Empire. So then, how are we to understand it? What is the setting in which the promise is to be fulfilled?

Reinterpreting the Setting: Suffering as the Path to Glory

22:33 It's a wonderful promise. The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you've suffered a little while, himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. But when can I expect that to be fulfilled? How can I plead it before God?

22:51 Well, I believe a proper understanding of the passage is this. First of all, there's no word, quote, after in the original. Its presence in most translations is an attempt to give smoother English to the words, and to show some sensitivity to the tense of the verb, suffer. It's an aorist participle.

23:12 But a literal rendering would be this. Look at your Bibles. The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, or Christ Jesus, a little having suffered. That's a literal rendering.

23:27 A little having suffered, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. A little having suffered. And the word, holigon, a little can mean a little time, or little in degree. It's indefinite.

23:42 And I believe the Spirit of God is indefinite. But God calls Peter to choose it for its very indefiniteness. It's a little. It's a relatively short time, a relatively small degree, having suffered.

23:56 And this participle phrase is to be related not to when God shall himself perfect you, establish, strengthen, and settle you, but with reference to the ultimate end of our calling. Now look at the verse, as I would paraphrase it with that understanding. And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ Jesus. This God, who himself is committed to take you to glory.

24:29 Alright? Here's the picture. He's called us unto his eternal glory in Christ. A glory which will be yours after you have suffered a little.

24:42 God himself, here and now, will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. And this is not a novel approach that I'm taking. Modern commentators, such as Hebert, relatively modern. Lenski, older commentators, such as Lilly and others, say this is the only way to understand it.

25:04 The grammar could go either way, but the context and the whole thrust of the letter forces us to view it this way. It's as though Peter has an afterthought. The God of all grace. This God, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ.

25:21 Oh, by the way, a glory to which you're called through the path of suffering. But don't be too upset that his calling is through the path of suffering. For this God, who shall glorify you, shall here and now, in the midst of the suffering, perfect you. Am I connecting?

25:47 And we're doing justice to the language. We're doing justice to the overall thrust of it. And as I trust to persuade you, we're doing justice to the words the Holy Spirit chose that formed the very nub of the promise. So the contrast clearly set before us is eternal glory as the end of our calling, suffering for a little as the way to that end.

26:14 And that fits with the whole of the Bible. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more and eternal weight of glory. While we look not on the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen, including our sufferings, are temporal.

26:36 But the things that are not seen are eternal. Remember the apostle in exhorting the young churches, Acts 14.22. What was the note they sounded?

26:47 It was strengthening the souls of the disciples and exhorting them that through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God. God has called us with a calling that has as its terminus the sharing of His eternal glory. But He's sharing eternal glory through the path of suffering. And that fits the rest of the Bible that says we shall be glorified together with Him, we what? If we suffer with Him.

27:23 Or Philippians 1.29, it has been given to you, not only to believe on His name, but also to suffer for His sake. And so the timeframe for the fulfillment of this promise is not the age to come. It is here and now.

27:39 That's why it's Peter's capstone promise to these believers. It's as though Peter, having written the body of the epistle, sits back and, like a good preacher, gets inside the heads of his congregation. He thinks of those people. He reviews all that he said they have in Christ now and the best that awaits them in the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven.

28:06 He thinks of his promise, they are kept by the power of God. They've been redeemed by blood. They've been made living stones. He thinks back over his own epistle and all the privileges he set before them.

28:17 And he thinks of all the dangers he's laid out before them. The pressures of persecution, fleshly lust at war against their own soul, unrighteous masters, an ungodly government, unconverted husbands, unreasonable with their wives. He thinks of all of these things and says, how can I encourage them to believe that these standards are not unrealistic, unattainable, just nice notions to float by people when preachers are expounding my letter 2,000 years ago. And here, somehow, what can I say that will really strengthen the brethren?

28:55 What can I say that will feed the lambs and feed the sheep? How shall they be equipped to face the present and the future sufferings? How shall they be empowered and emboldened to confess Christ when it costs? How shall they be strengthened in the face of this malicious and cunning devil who's like a voracious beast of prey?

29:19 And Peter says, I must point them to the fact that the God who got them into this mess is not done with them. The God of all grace, this God who's called you unto his eternal glory in union with Christ, shall himself, during this period of a little suffering, he will perfect you, he will establish you, he will strengthen you. Now then, I hope, having persuaded you, and if not, you'll not come under church discipline, you are free to question my exegesis, and I shall defend it firmly until I'm persuaded from the word of God that it ought to be another, but we can remain friends if we differ. But now, you won't be able to enjoy the substance of the promise like the rest of us will. You see, if it's all out there, you can look at it from afar and rejoice, and that's a biblical teaching. Many promises are held out there for the age to come, wherefore comfort one another with these words.

The Substance of the Promise: 'Perfect'

30:25 What will happen when Jesus comes? But for those of us who feel the need of promises to lay hold of for the now, here's meat and drink to our souls. Let's look now at the substance of the promise, the specifics which constitute the very heart of the promise. Some of you have a Bible that only lists three of them, perfect, establish, strengthen.

30:49 Some of you have a Bible that has four, and I'm not going to go into the whole science of textual criticism. Suffice it to say this. It is much easier to explain why that word translated settle would be omitted than it is to explain why it would be included. Some manuscripts omit it, some include it.

31:12 When you wrestle with this and take all the principles you're supposed to use in ascertaining what was the original text, it is much easier to explain its omission than its inclusion. So I share the conviction shared by many responsible evangelical commentators that there was a fourth future verb used by Peter, alright? And the way we're to look at them is this. Some say, well, Peter's just piling up near synonyms.

31:39 They're not exactly synonyms, but he's piling up these words, and you're not to try to find any specific significance in each word, but take all four of them, and the impression is this. Though you're in the midst of suffering, the God of all grace who's already called you, who's marked you for eternal glory, yes, for a little while you're going to suffer, but that God will perfect, settle, strengthen, and establish, strengthen, and settle you. The overall picture is this. You're going to make it.

32:13 Neither your sin, nor the world, nor the devil is going to frustrate God's end in His calling. He's going to bring you to eternal glory. So just take all four like a machine gun of blessing, and just get hit with the whole spray of the gospel bullets, and go down prostrate in worship and love and praise and adoration. That's a crude analogy, but that's the first one that came to my head.

32:37 But I do have one that I have prepared, and that is, I don't believe that's true, that there is significance in each of these words. They are like a mosaic. You know what a mosaic is? Take bits of glass or tile of different colors, and you set them in mortar, and when you back off, if you get at a mosaic like this, you're just going to see broken glass, or broken pieces of tile.

33:01 But when you back off, you say, oh, wait a minute, all the red's there, and the yellow's here, and the green's here. It forms a picture. But the whole is comprised of all those individual parts. And you can't have the mosaic conveying an image if you take them out and place them in different places and say, well, the color and placement is irrelevant.

33:21 Well, it's my judgment, and thankfully, again, not shared by me as a minority opinion, but the majority of the commentators, that these four future verbs that tell us what God is committed to do in this little while of a suffering time, they form a beautiful mosaic. But each piece in the mosaic gives its own distinct contribution. One gives the red, one gives the yellow, one gives the blue, one gives the gray. And what are they?

33:53 Well, let's look at them. God himself shall perfect you. Now, the word perfect, if you were a physician living in the first century, and someone came into your office, or you met them at the emergency room, and they had a fracture, and you set the bone, what you would write up in your report that would go into their file is, I perfected their broken tibia. I perfected.

34:23 That's the word the physician would use when he would set a bone. It's the word you would use if you were a fisherman, and you had your nets up on the shore, and there was a tear in them, and you were mending them. That's exactly how it's used in Matthew 4.21.

34:38 Jesus sees the disciples by the seashore with their father mending, that's our verb, mending their nets. So the sense of the word is that you repair what is damaged, or you supply what is lacking. If you were in the maritime business, and you were refitting a ship for an ocean voyage, this is the verb you would use. You say, I perfected, I refitted and outfitted the ship for its next voyage.

35:10 So it has the two-fold connotation of repairing what is broken, and supplying what is lacking. It's used in Scripture to point for the fitting of something that's proper use. It's the verb used in Hebrews 11.3.

35:26 The worlds were, here's our verb, perfected. The worlds were framed by the word of God. God furnished this cosmos for its intended use. Hebrews 10.5, A body thou hast prepared for me, the Son of God, His last words when He leaves heaven, His Father, a body you have prepared, here's our verb, you have fitted, suited, to my purposes as the theanthropic Redeemer, as the God-man who will live under the law and die under its curse. That's the word that we found when we read Galatians 6 this morning. If a brother be overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual, here's our verb, restore such a one. Put his spiritual joint back in place.

36:18 Seek to supply what is lacking in his understanding of what he has done, point out his fault, and seek to see him brought to repentance and restoration. That's our verb. The same family of words in Ephesians 4.12.

36:33 Christ gives pastors and teachers, here's our word, same family, for the perfecting of the saints, for the mending of their broken bones, and for furnishing them unto works of service. You get a feel for the sense of the word? Now, I have said that these words are used not of the eternal state, but of the present state. And I want you to look at two passages in which the apostolic writers make this very, very clear.

37:03 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Here I want you to get it through the eye gate as well as the ear gate, and so I'm not just quoting, but I want you to see it. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Sorry, 2 Thessalonians, I'm sorry.

37:25 2 Thessalonians. I've made the jump, I'm sorry. Yes, it is. I have the right reference.

37:41 1 Thessalonians 3, 9 and 10. For what thanksgiving can we render unto God for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sake before our God? Now notice. Night and day praying exceedingly that the Lord may come and you may be perfected in that which is lacking.

38:00 No, that we may see your face, and here's our verb, may perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Paul is passionately desirous that God would open the way for him to see the Thessalonians again, that through his ministry he may be an instrument to see them perfected with respect to what is lacking in their faith. That there would be a furnishing of them with what is essential to a strong and vigorous life of faith. And then Hebrews 13, the concluding prayer.

38:38 Recorded in Hebrews 13, verse 20. The God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make you, here's our word, perfect. Make you complete, fully outfitted. Every bone set as it ought in proper working order, furnished with necessary graces in every good thing to do His will, working in us, which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

39:14 Amen. So you see, this word is not used of something God will do in the eternal state, though there He will set every bone and make up every lack. But when the writer sits at his desk and pens these words, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, God Himself shall perfect you. He is pointing to that present work of God by which God will take these saints in all the reality of their circumstances, with all of their vulnerability to the world, their own sin, and to this voracious devil seeking to devour them.

39:59 And God will set their bones and God will furnish them with the necessary courage and grace and wisdom and power to fulfill His will. Let me illustrate. Back in the days when there was something other than computerized warfare, with men sitting at their consoles and sending missiles hundreds of miles away, when there were trenches and foxholes and bayonets that drew blood and bullets that split arms and shattered thighs and ripped through people's chests. And in such a war, a soldier in battle in the midst of hand-to-hand combat, some of the things you've seen in the old newsreel clips, the house-to-house combat in parts of the European theater, or the jungle conflicts in some of the Pacific islands in the driving out of the Japanese from those islands. And here's a soldier who went into battle, he had his helmet, he had his rifle, he had a full supply of ammunition, he had his rations with him, but in the midst of battle the man has his arms shattered and a fracture of his upper arm. His helmet has been torn off by shrapnel, he's all out of ammunition, his rifle has ceased to function, and he crawls his way back to friendly lines, and he enters into the tent of a medic, and the medic says, we've got to fix you up, son.

41:28 And so he cleans his wound, sets his sutures up the wound, and after a proper period of R&R, he goes to what used to be called a field battle. They don't use that term anymore. The one who would furnish the soldier with all he needed for battle, he's outfitted with a new helmet, he's given a new rifle, he's given all the standard rations for field battle, and he's given a new rifle, and he goes forth, how? He goes forth perfected for the next battle.

42:05 How was he perfected? His broken arm was set, he was sutured, he was given a new helmet, given a new rifle, given adequate ammunition. That's the picture of what God is committed to do in this spiritual warfare. There are times when our helmet is blown off, and our arms get shattered, and there are times when we feel we've lost our rifle, and we've got no ammunition.

42:41 We feel we've had it. And we look at this and say, oh God of all grace, you have committed yourself to me suffering for a little while. You are committed. Lord, heal my broken bone, my wound, the ammunition, because God, I'm not quitting.

43:14 I'm not in glory. And I'm determined in the language of Ephesians 6 to stand having done all. God himself will perfect you. Very quickly now.

The Substance of the Promise: 'Establish'

43:34 God himself shall establish you. Shall establish you. The word means to fix firmly, to make steadfast. Luke 9.51, Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. That's our word. Jesus established his face. He set, he fixed firmly his face to go to Jerusalem.

44:01 Luke 16.26, when Abraham is speaking in hell, he says, besides all of this, there is a great gulf, here's our verb, fixed, established between us. None can pass from there to here, from here to there. A great gulf is fixed, established.

44:21 It's not a fluid thing. It's not a changing thing. A gulf today and half a gulf tomorrow and no gulf three days from now. It's fixed. It's established immovably.

44:31 And when Jesus said to Peter, when you are converted, strengthen your brethren, there's the very word, strengthen your brethren. I wonder if it was in Peter's mind when he wrote this. When you are turned again after your wretched denials, Peter, you'll show your love to me and my grace to you by strengthening your brethren no longer to be an occasion of stumbling by your oaths and maledictions that you do not know me. You will be turned again by my grace.

45:03 And when you are turned, give yourself to being an instrument to see them fixed firmly, made steadfast in the midst of the pressures and the difficulties of this life. It's the very thing Paul desired to do in his ministry to the Romans twice in the epistle to the Romans chapter 1 and verse 11. He tells us why he wants to go to Rome among other reasons. I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to the end you may be.

45:35 The word established. I thought the church was established at Rome. Yes, it was. We couldn't have sent a letter to the church at Rome.

45:45 But he said, I want to see you fixed even more firmly in every godly and holy resolve of the Christian life. And then he repeats it in chapter 16. This is why I say I can't apply this in its direct application to the age to come. There's too much pastoral emphasis upon present establishment.

46:03 Romans chapter 16. And verse 25. Now to him that is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery that has been kept silent but is now manifested to this God be glory. He said I want you Romans to know he is the God who can fix you who can settle you on a solid base of commitment to Christ and to his truth.

46:34 Now this is a very crucial issue. I am deeply concerned about this issue again with the Thessalonians. And he twice in very short compass 2, 16 and 17 and 3, 3 of 2 Thessalonians Now our Lord Jesus and God our Father who loved us comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. He wants to see their hearts fixed and established so that they may be full of good works and good words to the glory of God.

47:05 God chapter 3 and verse 3 but the Lord is faithful who shall establish you now look at the relevance and guard you from the evil one. He will fix you firmly and in that posture you will be kept from that voracious devil who goes about seeking whom he may devour. Let's go back to our soldier. He has come back from the front lines.

47:30 His bone has been set. He has been sutured. He has got his new helmet and rifle and his rations and his ammunition. But he lacks something before he goes back to the battle.

47:46 He is scared witless. He has heard the bullets whizzing. The shrapnel hit his helmet and tore it off. He looks down and he has got the red scars.

47:58 The arm will never quite be straight again. What does he need? He needs not only to be perfected he needs to be what? Fixed firmly with new resolve to go out again and face more bullets and more shrapnel and more wounds.

48:21 And so there is progression. Peter says the God of all grace the God who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ Jesus during this little while this little measure of suffering this God shall himself not only perfect you but he will establish you. He can fix you firmly and he can give you solutions to do his will no matter what the cost no matter the danger. But then he goes on and says God himself look at the third future verb he shall strengthen you.

The Substance of the Promise: 'Strengthen'

48:58 He shall strengthen you. And here Peter uses you have heard me say the word before what the linguists in the exegesis call a Hapax. Hapax is a Greek word for once and for all. This is a once for all word.

49:12 It is not found anywhere in the New Testament not found as I indicated earlier in the Greek translation of the Old Testament scriptures but from several secular usages within that basic time frame of the New Testament we understand that the word does indeed mean to strengthen to make strong to impart strength. Now think again of the context. What do these believers need? They need not only that God in grace and mercy should come set their bones and furnish them and outfit them with all that is needed for their pilgrimage that he would not only establish them with fixed resolution but that they would actually have strength infused for the spiritual conflict. Now we go back to our soldier and here I use my imagination. He has got his bones set and his wounds sutured he has got his bones and he has got his new helmet and he has got his new rifle and all his rations and his ammunition and he has been given courage to go back but he is still weak from the weeks of recuperation. His muscles have become flaccid he could not run more than a quarter of a mile without pooping out.

50:35 What does he need if he is going to go back into the battle right away? Well he needs for someone to ship over some new exotic multi mega vitamin with all kinds of amazing powers and if you put an IV in him and give him a pint of this he is as strong as an ox and you say to him now dough boy before you go back and face the bullets I want you to get on that cot and we are going to we have perfected you we have established you now we are going to strengthen you and I put the IV in and when he gets up off that bed I mean he feels like Samson. He is ready to go at it. The God of all grace will hold you to his eternal glory in Christ and after you have suffered a while shall himself strengthen you. Strengthen you. The God who says to you and to me be strong. Weakness is an evidence of blatant disobedience to God.

51:38 Be strong is an imperative that I stopped too soon didn't I? In the Lord and in the power of his. Paul is boasting all things. Why you wretched boaster don't you know that without him we can do nothing?

51:58 Paul said yes. Listen to the rest of my statement. I can do all things through him or in him who strengthens. Without me you can do nothing.

52:10 But if you abide in me you bring forth little hard nubby barely discernible fruits of your union with me nonsense. He said here it is my father glorified that you bear much fruit. Much fruit. Much fruit.

52:25 God himself shall strengthen you. My grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I glory in my infirmities that the what? That the power of Christ may literally intent itself about me.

52:48 Spread itself like a tent all around me. So that what is seen in life and labor is not the weak vessel but the exceeding greatness of the power that is not from the vessel but is from God himself. And then the fourth thing God's committed to do is this. God himself will settle you.

The Substance of the Promise: 'Settle'

53:09 I indicated that I do believe that was part of the original letter. Peter says that this God who himself will do this will do it as the God of grace as the God who called you. This God will settle you. Now what's that mean?

53:27 Well the noun form is the standard word in the New Testament for a foundation. Luke 14, 29 the well-known parable of the man who begins to build and can't finish. The Lord says less having laid the foundation. That's the noun form of the word.

53:43 It's used in Acts 16, 26 when the Lord shook the jail. It says the foundations of the jail were shaken. In its verb form it's used in the very familiar words of Matthew chapter 7 in the Sermon on the Mount. Most of us will recognize this the moment I quote verse 25.

54:01 And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was here's our verb it was founded it was foundationalized on the rock. Now that's the word. God himself will settle you. And I said the only way I can bring it over in English is to make up a word.

54:23 God himself will foundationalize you. Now here's a man his bones been set his wounds been sutured his helmet's back on his head he's got his rifle he's got his ammunition he's got his he's got his food he's got all of these things. He has fresh courage to face the battle. He's had his pint of super duper mega vitamins that made him feel like Samson.

54:50 But how long is that going to last? Will he be quickly toppled from that resolution and that posture? Peter says no. God himself will settle you.

55:02 He will deal with you as one planting you on an immovable foundation. And let all the powers of hell and all the powers of the world and all the subtle powers of the devil and of your own lust beat against you. And you'll be immovable founded upon Christ and his grace and his almighty power. Peter thinks of those believers facing this complex of pressures and he calls him the God of all grace.

55:37 He described him in chapter 1 in verse 5 as the one who by his power keeps his people who are guarded by the power of God unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. If they're going to be brought to their purchased inheritance the God of all grace who perfects them establishes them and strengthens them puts them on a solid and an immovable foundation. That's what Paul prayed for the Colossians or Paul describes of the Colossians in Colossians 1 in verse 23 he speaks of them being founded upon Jesus Christ. One commentator writes God will settle you.

56:22 The word settle is equivalent to make to rest securely as a building on its foundation. The idea is this the design of these attacks of Satan is to drive you from the foundation who is Jesus and the truth as it is in Jesus but God will render all these attempts ineffectual by his preparing you for them establishing you strengthening you under them and by enabling you to stand and withstand he will make them the means of fixing you more firmly on the foundation than ever and any child of God who's known any combination of pressures for any period of time in his heart of hearts says Lord it's true it's true the more the winds and the waves beat upon us and we wonder shall I topple and be swept out to sea and we're unable to stand we say Lord I must stand my own strength you have founded me upon your son and the more the waves batter and the more we're unable to stand the more confident we are that it's God himself is the God of all grace who is causing us to be foundation alive causing us to stand these four things then are the substance of this wonderful promise promised by the God of all grace the God who's called us to his eternal glory in Christ

57:51 this God is committed to his people to perfect them to establish them to strengthen them to settle them listen to this brief summary by one of the writers he shall perfect that no defect may remain in you he shall establish in you that you may be guilty of no backsliding he shall strengthen that you may overcome every adverse power and thus he shall settle you establish you more firmly than ever on the foundation those very means that were intended to remove you from it and to convert into an unsightly heap of ruins all the holy dispositions and all the glorious hopes which like a stately edifice polished after the similitude of a parent a palace rested on that foundation the devil will make his efforts to destroy it all God is committed to preserve it another writes the use of these four verbs is not redundant rhetoric but there's an orderly thought development the first he shall perfect you assures the readers that God would keep on perfecting his suffering children so that no defect would remain in them the remaining three verbs suggest different aspects of this work God will supply believers with the needed support so that they will not topple and fall he will impart the needed strength so they will not collapse and he'll set them on an immovable foundation so that they will not

Application: Understanding God's Character and Grasping His Promises

59:19 be swept away dear people of God what more can he say than to us he has sent to those of us who for refuge to Jesus have fled as I close let me challenge you we'll just have to leave that appropriate doxology let me just bring these two very brief pointed words of application first of all this passage illustrates one of the most vital principles of the Christian life and it's this our understanding of the revealed character and purposes of God is the foundation of our stability in the Christian life may I repeat that our understanding of the revealed character and purposes of God is foundational to our stability in the Christian life as Peter wants to give a capstone promise he doesn't plunge into the specifics of the promise he says this promise is conditioned by the God who gives it and I remind you of who he is what he's done and what he's purposed he is God of all grace what has he done he's called you what has he purposed to bring you to share in his eternal glory Peter knew that this was foundational to stability in the Christian life that's why

60:47 if you want to be stable you won't be stable grabbing your three minutes a day from some watered down modernized version of a few snippets of Amy Carmichael or of Oswald Chambers and I'm not speaking disparagingly of Amy Carmichael or Oswald Chambers I hope you read them but God will not conform to this frenetic and let you be stable if you have no time to stop and think of who God is what he's done and what he's purposed Peter is talking to slaves to women with unconverted husbands to common people not to aristocrats and PhDs and he says do you want to know what you must grasp if you're to be what you ought to be in the circumstances in which God has placed you then understand what is revealed of the character and purposes of God take those phrases and chew upon them you women with your hands in the sink and folding clothes and about the housework you can take the phrase he's God of all grace God of all grace he's the God who's called he's the God who's called me unto his eternal glory he is such a God feed your mind upon his revealed character and purposes

62:15 making that commute in the midst of all of the bustle and the rest learn the discipline of a thought here and a thought there that like the magnet of the soul is drawn to the iron of who God is and what he's revealed of himself the second great principle is this our prayerful receiving I'm sorry our prayerful believing grasp of the promises of God is essential to our maturation in the Christian life you see if someone makes out a check to you and you believe that the person is upright fiscally responsible doesn't make out checks that have nothing to back it in the bank you have confidence in the character of that person what do you need to do to transfer that piece of paper into some other paper legal tender that can buy stuff what do you need to do you need to do two things confident in the character and the fiscal integrity of the one who made out the check to you you must go to the bank and do two things endorse it and deposit it this is God's check made out to you do you question his integrity do you question his fiscal responsibility does he make out checks for which he got nothing in the bank to cover no he's the infinite God God of how much grace all and how do we endorse

63:45 and deposit the checks God gives us by believing prayer when we endorse them and say Lord you have revealed yourself be the God who himself will protect establish will strengthen and settle oh God I endorse it and I prove that I mean it by bringing it to the divine teller and saying God make it good in cash see that's brash no that's faith that's biblical faith that's not fanaticism that spins out of the loom of one's own notions what God will give but when we come with God's word and say God you don't make out bogus checks that bow God loves it when we do it how long has it been since you did it how long has it been since you endorsed and cashed a specific promise in the presence of the divine becker you answer not outwardly but you answer in your own soul I've cashed a half a dozen already this morning my strength is made perfect and weak without me you can do nothing wretched thing called your own humanity

65:12 with all of its limitations and say oh God be pleased come in the midst of your word and it's preaching and teaching do what we cannot do and God delights when we plead his promises God have mercy on us brethren all the efforts to understand this are simply well it was a good Lord's day and you and first Peter 510 never meet again may God help us that this will become one of our lifetime companions in the midst of the realization there is a devil out to devour us there is a world that is no friend of grace to help us unto God we have a thousand betrayers within in our remaining sin but there's a God who called us he called us to nothing less than sharing in his eternal glory and he says that we'll come to that glory by way of suffering but not suffering unattended by his grace but in the he himself so I keep going over to get everything else I hope you hang the message on that poor busted up soldier he'll set the bone and suture it and give you a helmet give you a new rifle and ammunition he'll give you the ivy and then he'll plant you immovable in the strength of Christ

Exhortation to Unbelievers and Concluding Prayer

66:40 if you're not a Christian I hope we've made you jealous to become one you pity us poor folks you think we don't have any fun or if we could just let you taste for one Lord's day the holy fun may I say that without being irreverent the holy joy of knowing God being right with God knowing that when it's all over it's just begun you have no such hope my dear unconverted friend it's yours if you will have Christ and Christ is yours in the gospel he offers himself to you freely unreservedly sincerely he says will you have me for who and what I am the savior to break your chains to cleanse you from the vileness of your sin to change all of your purposes and directives in life so you begin to live for the purpose for which you were made and indwelt by my spirit and guided by my word I'll fashion you and deal with you and eventually take you home to be with me my friend I plead with you go to Christ and join this happy band as we make our way to sharing in his eternal glory let's pray our father we're again amazed when we stand back

68:09 and survey all that you have committed yourself to be and to do for hell deserving rebels oh God our father have mercy upon us our faith is so weak our expectations are so low forgive the narrowness and the shriveled state of our hearts and expand our hearts that we may glorify you by a more aggressive faith by higher expectations of what your grace can work in us to your glory we pray that you'd seal your word to our hearts and dismiss us with the blessings of your grace upon us for Jesus