Don't Let Go Of Your Lifeline! - [1 Peter 1:13]

It's wonderful to be here to worship with you and to fellowship with you. It's been a great weekend already.

It's going to be a great day today, I'm sure. I'm so glad, and I don't know if this was

Steve's plan or anybody's plan, the Lord's plan obviously it was, but that we're meditating even in the songs and this morning in Sunday school and in the sermon this morning on the grace of God.

God's grace is wonderful. By the grace of God, I am what I am.

It's by the grace of God that any of us are what we are, that we have any bit of good in us.

Is that true? We need to praise Him for that. It's wonderful to praise Him for that. Grace, grace,

God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within.

Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater than all my sin.

What do you say to that? Praise the Lord! Because I am nothing.

I'm a sinner. I'm a wretch. I hated God. I was running from Him. That's true of every single one of you.

And if you know Jesus Christ, that's not true of you anymore. Why? Because God by His grace has done a work in your life.

And now you love Him. And now you long for Him. And now you long for Heaven. Because of what

He has done in you by His grace. All we can say to that is, thank you, Lord. Praise the

Lord for your grace. I was thinking also as we were worshipping 1 Peter 2.

And we're going to be looking in 1 Peter 1, so you can open your Bible there. But in 1 Peter 2,

Peter tells us the whole reason why we exist. Verse 9, but you are a chosen race, you are a royal priesthood.

You know these verses, right? You are a holy nation, a people for God's own possession.

Why? So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

For you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

That's why we exist. That's why God saved us. To the praise of the glory of His grace. We see in Ephesians chapter 1, right?

To the praise of the glory of His grace. That's why we're here today.

That's why we exist. That's why we're created and born again. So, you know, praise the

Lord for His grace. We want to learn how to do that better. To shine forth the glory of His grace and His mercy as it's been worked out in our lives.

And that's what we're going to be looking at this morning in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13.

Now, there's a lot of things in my mind, on my heart that I would like to say about the

Lord and His work in Puna, in our family's life. But I'm not going to say all those things now.

That's for tonight, all right? So I don't know how many of you normally come to Sunday night service.

I'm not going to have a show of hands or anything. But I would ask you please to come tonight because I want to, what we're going to do, is give praise and glory to God for His work in people's lives and in the ministry in India, which you are a part of.

If you're a part of this church, you are a part of that and you're giving and you're praying. So I want to share with you, and we'll give glory to God for His work tonight, pictures and everything.

So that's going to be a great time. So please come for that. And I can share with you a lot of the things that are on my heart now.

I will just say this one thing before we get into First Peter passage, and that is thank you.

On behalf of Andrea and myself, just in case you're not here tonight, I want to say thank you so much for your prayers.

Thank you for your love, for your giving, for your support of us after the wreck, just all the time, but particularly after the wreck for the different surgeries.

Thank you for your fellowship in the gospel. We're co -workers together and we're co -workers with God in His work there in India.

So praise the Lord for what He's doing. Thank you and come tonight and I'll share a little bit about that, what

He's doing. But let's turn now to First Peter chapter one and verse 13.

During the Sunday school hour, just a little while ago, we looked at Acts chapter 20, we looked at the life of Paul.

We looked at his addiction to the grace of God that had worked out in his life. And it also was the driving force for his ministry, for the course that he ran, for the ministry that he wanted to finish and complete to show forth the glory of the grace of God.

The grace of God consumed his life. And we saw his example, which was a challenge to us.

To be addicted to the grace of God. But what we're looking at now from Peter and his letter in First Peter chapter one verse 13 is not just the what of the grace, the example of a man's life, but now we look at the how of grace.

How do you live out that kind of life? How do you gain that addiction? What does it look like in your life?

And Peter's burden as he writes this letter to the believers who are scattered, who are about to be persecuted, he's equipping them, he's strengthening them.

He's saying, this is how you can live out a life of grace, a life of boldness, a life of courage, a life of hope in the

Lord. And so it's a wonderfully practical passage for us today that we're looking at.

First Peter chapter one verse 13. Let's read it, just one verse. So we should get out of here before maybe one o 'clock.

Let's read the verse. Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit.

Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

You know, life has a way. Life, we can say, has a way of throwing trials at you when you least expect them.

We know it's not life. We know it's the Lord, right? Who writes all of our days in his book before there is yet one of them.

The Lord who is in control of all things. So maybe we should say it this way. The Lord brings trials and difficulties, suffering, hardship of various levels and different degrees into our lives when we don't expect them.

It would be nice to schedule our struggles, wouldn't it? You know, Lord, I have some good time next month.

I'll pencil you in for that trial, right? Boy, it would be nice to pick and choose the timing.

Two and a half years ago in the wreck, we wouldn't have planned that. There would have been a lot better time to get in a massive car wreck and to have a pause, maybe at the beginning of furlough instead of at the end.

We have our ideas, we have our plans, we have our desires, our ambitions.

We think we know what's best, but the Lord doesn't do it that way.

No, he's much too wise and good and loving to do it according to our plan. He knows what is best.

He knows what we need. He knows when to bring the trials and how to bring them so that we will be drawn to him, so that he will be glorified the most.

You know, in the book of 1 Peter, Peter is writing to these precious saints and he knows that trials are coming.

He doesn't know exactly when, he doesn't know exactly how. He knows some of the kinds of struggles that they're facing in their jobs, in their families, women who are married to unbelieving men, and how that's a struggle for them and the oppression and the difficulty that that is.

How in the workplace, their bosses who are unbelievers are giving them a hard time and they have to submit to that.

Friends, people who've been born again, right? You know the book of 1 Peter. And they've been born again and now their friends are looking at them and say, what, goody two -shoes, who do you think you are?

You think you're better than me? Come on, let's go back to the ways and there's temptations and there's struggles and there's shame.

Peter knows that those things are going on and he knows it's going to get worse. And so as he writes this letter of 1

Peter, he says, you've got to get your focus right. You've got to strengthen your heart right now in the midst of your struggles, in the midst of the hardships, in light of the fact that more of those are coming, you need to prepare your heart and you need to prepare your mind for strength.

You need to equip yourself to stand in those times of persecution, the hard times.

You know the best time to prepare, we were talking about this with the men on Saturday morning, the best time to prepare is when?

During the crisis or before the crisis? Before the crisis, right?

If you hope to be able to stand and glorify God and be bold, you know,

I'll get to that when the crisis hits. That's not the time to prepare, brothers. God gives grace, and sisters,

God gives grace. He gives grace when we need it. But how much better to be equipped, to be ready, to be hanging on to the

Lord. And the title of this sermon is Don't Let Go of Your Lifeline. To be hanging on to grace, to be hanging on to hope, to be hanging on to the greatness and the goodness and the power of God before the crisis hits.

Before the car wreck happens. Before you lose your job. Before the difficult times come.

And that's what Peter's burden is here in this book. He says, let me give you a lifeline. Let me show you what to hang on to.

And he exhorts them, don't let go of that. Don't ever let go of that. Strengthen your grip on the hope that is yours in the

Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what I want us to be encouraged and challenged by. It's what Peter wanted us to be encouraged and challenged by as he wrote this is the glories, the greatness that we have because we are in Christ.

And make that your foundation. Make that your bedrock as you live every single day of your life.

So think about your life this morning as we get into this text, as we look at four ingredients, four aspects, four qualities that we must nurture in our lives from this verse, that will allow us in the good times, even especially in the bad times, to hang on to the lifeline of our hope that is found in Christ.

Now, it's a neat way the structure goes. So before we get to those four qualities, I wanna just point out where Peter has gone from the beginning.

In the beginning of chapter one, he begins just laying out, painting a beautiful mural, portrait of the glories of who we are in Christ, our salvation.

And he expounds verse after verse after verse talking about how wonderful our salvation is.

And not just our past salvation, but our salvation that is in the past, but will extend into the future when

Christ comes back. Our future salvation. We don't usually think of salvation that way, do we? No, usually we don't.

We usually think of salvation as something that happened, you know, 13 years ago, 12 years ago, five years ago, last year, something like that.

But Peter says, no, that's not your lifeline. Your lifeline is that and the promise of your inheritance, the promise of your eternal life, the promise that your

Lord and Savior is coming back for you. Hang on to that. That is what is gonna give you hope.

And how do you do that? And so in the first chapter, he lays out, up to verse 12, he lays out the glories of salvation.

That's the what. And then he comes to verse 13 and he says the how.

How do you hang on to that? What do you have to do to make sure that you never let go of that hope?

Now, we're gonna look at all those glorious aspects of our salvation a little bit later, so we don't look at that right now. But let's just look at this verse first, verse 13.

Therefore, therefore, based on everything I've just said and written about the glories of your salvation, because of who you are in Christ, the privileges, the blessings that you have promised, because of all of that, for that reason, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

That's what you must do. That's how you hang on. Now, let me just intro the four by saying this.

There is only one command, one full -on command in this verse. The way it's translated in the

NAS and other modern translations, don't give it exactly like Paul said it. There is one command.

Don't worry about that. It's okay, we'll see it all. But there's one command in this verse, and it's important to note this.

This is the central idea that Peter has for us, and it is this. It's hope completely, or in the

NAS, it says fix your hope completely. The command is to hope, hope, fix your hope, grab it.

Put it in concrete, pour the concrete, let it set, let it never let go.

Grab on and hold on for your life. That is the command that Peter has for us in this verse.

And what kind of hope is this? We think of hope, and you've probably heard this before, but we think of hope as kind of an emotion sometimes.

I hope that the Blazers win the NBA championship. Of course, that's foolishness because they were already out, right?

Now, I don't know what I hope in that regard, but I hope that I get the job.

I hope that, that's not what Peter's saying, right? No, what Peter is saying here when he says hope, fix your hope, he says longingly expect, look forward to, eagerly anticipate, be absolutely certain of what

God has said and hang on to it, look forward to it. Let that fill your heart and mind and life with joy and comfort and encouragement, fix your hope.

That's what Peter is saying. And notice it's a command, right? How do you command emotions?

You can, but normally we think of emotions as kind of a, well, you know, it just kind of happens.

Well, what Peter is saying here is very much a command. It's not a suggestion, it's not I wish that you would hope.

No, he says, do it, hope, fix your hope. And so that's the command that Peter is giving us.

It's proactive, you have to do it, you have to think about it, you have to plan for it, you have to guide and nurture your heart towards it.

You need to make a commitment and we'll see some of that as we go through it. In any time of trial, in any time of difficulty, whatever might come, whatever may happen, hang on to the glories, the glorious inheritance which you have, fix your hope.

Now, how do we do that? Well, Peter gives us, we can discern four aspects of that hoping, to obey this command, to find our rest, to find our joy in life and in Christ.

And let's look at the first one. The first thing we can say, and please write this down. Number one, fix your hope by being disciplined in your thinking.

Be disciplined in your thinking. Now, as we go through these, you're gonna say, well, yeah, we've heard this before.

This is obvious, this is normal, this is a famous passage. But you know the need to obey these commands?

The need to refresh these in our minds is daily. In fact, more than once a day. If you're anything like me, and I think you are, our minds are slippery things, right?

Especially after you get in a big wreck when you hit your head, right? No, I'm joking. I make that as an excuse all the time now, by the way.

My wife doesn't buy it. But, you know, I was hitting the head really hard, no. No, what

I'm saying seriously is, our minds are slippery things. Our hearts are very wandering oftentimes, right?

The Bible continually teaches, the Lord teaches us continually in his word about mind control.

The Bible's all about mind control, right? The pathway to walking with the

Lord in faithfulness and godliness is the reforming of our minds. And that's what

Peter's dealing with in this passage, about the reforming of our minds. And the first thing we can see here, he says, if you want to hold on to hope, if you want your life to be set on the bedrock foundation of hope and your inheritance in the future, be disciplined in your thinking.

Literally, and some of your versions may say, having girded up the loins of your mind.

The NES says, prepare your minds for action. What Peter's saying here is a very active word.

He's saying it's a commitment. You have to make a commitment. It's not something you do casually. It's not something you sit on the couch and lean back and say,

I'm gonna hope. No. He says, tense your muscles, prepare yourself, get ready for action.

Be disciplined, be careful, be focused in the area of your thinking.

It's a commitment to discipline in your thinking. This concept of girding up the loins of your mind, you know where that came from?

It came from the picture of Israel coming out of Egypt during the

Passover, right? Exodus chapter 12, verses eight through 12.

The Lord said to the Israelites through Moses, you need to be ready for action.

I'm going to produce a wonderful miracle and the Lord had been doing all the plagues already, but I'm gonna produce a miracle and send the angel of death and kill every firstborn that hasn't been sacrificed, covered by the blood of sacrifice.

And all the Jews covered the doorposts with the blood of the lamb, which is a beautiful picture of Christ and his blood that covers us.

But he said, you prepare yourself and you get ready and you put your clothes on and you put your shoes on, you pack your bags and you gird up the loins and pull up your garment and tuck it in your belt.

Why? So you're ready to go, right? So your muscles are tensed, right?

Like a runner in a race. You're ready to go. If a runner is standing there and hey, the gun's gonna go off pretty soon and yeah,

I'll be ready at that time, right? Bang, everybody goes. Oh, oh, right?

Is he gonna win the race? No. That's what Peter is saying here. He's using this picture of the

Exodus and he says, be ready. Think about it. Follow the Lord. Get your mind in the game.

Be disciplined in your thinking. Be proactive about your thought life.

You know, so often we just kind of allow things to come, to go here, there.

That is not readiness for the race. That is not readiness. That is not how we can lay hold of hope, the hope of Christ's return.

We need to think about it. We need to think about what goes in because what you are, what you eat.

You know that? That's true both physically and spiritually. You and I are what we eat.

What you allow in is going to govern and control your thinking, your emotions. And that's one of the most important ways that we can obey this command.

What are you allowing into your mind? What are you putting into your mind? Do you think about it? Do you control it?

How do I control that? Well, eliminate things that are drawing you away from the

Lord, that are leading you to sin. Don't allow those things in.

Don't expose yourself to things that are going to distract you, that are gonna draw you away, that are gonna lead you in towards sin.

Then what do I do? Fill your mind. Make a habit of filling your mind with the scriptures, with the word of God, with the truth.

Not just on Sunday, but for yourself each day of the week, reading, memorizing, listening to music, which fills your mind with truth from the word of God.

We must control what we think about. Just turn to Colossians chapter three. Again, mind control is critical in this regard.

Colossians chapter three, verse two. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth.

Notice the activity there. Set your mind. Set it. Set it on things above, not on the things of this world.

Get your perspective right. That's how you prepare your mind for action.

Turn over just to the left of Philippians chapter four, verses eight and nine, well -known verses.

Finally, brother, whatever is true, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things. And what will happen?

And the God of peace will be with you. Mind control.

What are you feeding your mind? Have you thought about it? Do you have a plan? Do you have a strategy?

This is the first aspect, the first quality that we must nurture in our lives if we want to lay hold of the hope of Christ, of our inheritance in Christ, that will be the strength of our lives.

Be disciplined in your thinking. Now, that's the first aspect.

That's the commitment. Now, the second thing we can see in verse 13 here, 1 Peter 1, is more of an active daily moment by moment working out of this commitment.

First of all, make the commitment to guard your mind, to focus your mind. Secondly, what does the verse say?

Prepare your minds for action. Secondly, keep sober in spirit.

Keep sober in spirit. That's a good translation. Why? Because keep it.

Keep on being sober. Keep being sober. That's really the idea that Peter has here. Keep being sober in your spirit.

We can say it this way. Be alert spiritually. Be alert, be ready, be on guard spiritually.

Again, in your heart, in your mind. Have a watchful attitude. This is the practice of fixing your hope.

This is what you need to think about each day. What we're talking about here is mental and spiritual self -control.

That's what Peter is saying. Now, he says keep sober, right? Now, obviously this word is used to refer to people who drink alcohol.

You drink too much alcohol, you lose control. You're not in control anymore. The alcohol is affecting your mind in such a way that you can't make right decisions.

You can't think straight. You can't walk straight, maybe. Your judgments will be all wrong.

And Peter is using that illustration. It's a common illustration for spiritual things. He says keep sober in your spirit.

Be watchful, be alert. Don't allow the things of this world or the crisis or the trial or whatever's going on to distract you, cause your mind to wander and to think things that are wrong.

It's level -headedness. It's careful thinking. It's wisdom in the issues of life.

You know, this, again, this illustration Peter likes to use. Just turn over to chapter four, verse seven, and this will help us understand the concept.

First Peter chapter four, verse seven, he uses this very same word. And he says this, the end of all things is near.

Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

The end is coming. The end is near. You know, that's not a guy walking with a sign, right? No, this is under the inspiration of God.

Peter is saying the Lord is coming. His coming could be at any time. It's the end times.

Times are getting difficult. They're getting hard. Even Paul had mentioned that. And he said, so in these difficult times, in these last days, which we're still living in today, keep sober in spirit for the purpose of what?

Look at it. Be of sound judgment. Have a level head.

Be of sober spirit for the purpose of prayer, right?

This is such an important command for us as well, right? The first thing when a crisis hits, we panic.

That's generally what happens. Ah, ah, ah, what about this? What about that? And we're trying to fix everything and just our mind goes here and there and boom, emotions are coming and going.

And Peter says, stop. Take a deep breath.

Hold your breath. Count to 10. Pray. Go to the Lord. Speak to him.

This is how you lay hold of hope. Grab hold of your heart. Grab hold of your soul and say, stop.

Lord, you are in control. This is what I know is true. You are all powerful and all knowing.

I will trust in you. That's what Peter's saying. Look at chapter five, verse eight.

He uses this word again. In another situation where we need to have a level head spiritually, be of sober spirit, same word.

Be on the alert. Similar idea. Why? Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

You need to have a level head. You need to think straight. Why? Because Satan is coming to get you.

He would like to destroy you. Is Satan real? Yes, absolutely.

Say, well, you know, we're not the cast demons out and there's a demon behind the, you know, the piano. I was gonna say the pulpit, but I don't wanna say that.

No. Right? But the devil is opposed to the works of God.

And he wants to oppose and he wants to harm and he wants to destroy. And he wants to rip away the glory of God from this world.

And so Peter says, pay attention. Be alert. Keep your heart in check.

Think. Think carefully about the truth. Be alert so that when the hard times come, you won't be here and there and all over the map, but that you can stop and think the truth and glorify

God in your responses. Have you ever seen a drunk person? You shouldn't talk about this from the pulpit, right?

Have you ever seen a drunk person? Yeah. How do they act? They lack coordination.

They can't make right decisions, poor judgment, distances maybe they can't even judge.

They can't even perhaps perceive what is real and respond appropriately to it. Slow to speak, slow to respond, foolish, stupid.

And you know, we can be that way spiritually. Peter is saying, don't be a spiritual drunkard. That's not gonna lay hold of hope.

That's not gonna be your foundation in the hard times. Be alert brothers and sisters spiritually.

Get in the habit. Develop in your heart. Ask God for the grace to grab hold of your heart, to respond in wisdom and love and kindness and humility and goodness.

Say, Lord, make me a sober person in my heart.

That's the practice of laying hold of hope. Each day we need to wake up and say,

Lord, make me sober for your glory. So first of all, be disciplined in your mind.

Secondly, be sober in your spirit. The third aspect of laying hold of hope we see is be singularly focused.

Be singularly focused. There's only one word to preach on for this. And you can see it there as we go back to verse 13.

Keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The one word, what is it? Completely, completely. And I believe brothers and sisters, this could require an entire sermon, but we'll make it one point.

It deserves it. Fix your hope completely.

The word means perfectly, completely all the way where it's gone through a process and it is the only thing.

It is the whole thing. It's complete, it's perfect, it's one.

Why does Peter say that? He could have said the whole, he could have written the whole verse and it would have made perfect sense without that word.

Right? Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit. Fix your hope on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Amen, praise the Lord. Let's pray. Right? But he didn't say that.

He said, fix your hope completely. Why? Because he knows, probably his own heart, and he knows our hearts and the hearts of those he was writing to originally that there are so many competitors for your hope.

So many foundations you and I could choose. So many things we can run to, to find hope in, to find trust in.

There is such a thing as professed hope, merely professed hope. Just like faith, right?

A person can say, I believe in Jesus. There's lots of those in the world, right? We had some neighbors in Pune, and this was a while back, but we had some neighbors and they were

Hindus, but Andrea was over at their house one day and speaking with them and I think she brought some cookies to them and just talking and having chai and building a relationship.

And they said, oh, you're from America. You're Christians, right? Because everybody in America is a Christian, you know.

At least that's what some people believe. And so, oh, that's wonderful. They're trying to build a relationship with her and with us.

And they said, well, you know, we're Christians too. We worship Jesus. And Andrea was like, great, that's wonderful.

And they said, and we worship Krishna and we worship Ganesh. We worship three gods.

These are the gods we worship. Ganesh, Krishna, and Jesus. Thinking that, oh, you know, we can build a relationship.

We have something in common with you. What are the others on the other two fingers?

Fix your hope completely. And we, you know, okay, we don't have idols.

A little elephant head man, right? We think, oh, that's silly, right? But Peter is saying, you know, there are other options.

There are other places you run to. He's saying that, those are sand.

Run to the foundation. Fix your hope completely.

Think about it, brothers and sisters. What are the other foundations that you might be tempted to run to?

There are many other things, probably as many as there are people. There are various options.

Financial security, the first thought, a big wreck. Oh, what about, do

I have insurance? Oh, okay, whew, I have insurance, right? The stock market, you know,

I'm well invested, right? Is that your foundation?

Is that what gives you hope, helps you sleep at night? Physical health, physical security, bars on the windows.

That's another story. I think last time I might have told about that. Ask me later if you want that one.

Gated societies, what are the competitors for your hope? Peter encourages us, challenges us.

There is only one foundation. Hang on to him. Fix your hope completely.

Be singularly focused. Is that your life this morning? Be disciplined in your mind.

Make that commitment. Be sober in your spirit daily.

Secondly, say, Lord, make me a sober person for your glory. They may think the truth.

Thirdly, have a singular focus on the glorious grace of Christ, particularly in the future as he's coming back.

That perspective makes all the difference. Makes all the difference. What happens today, what happens tomorrow, what happens with my job, makes all the difference.

It's all going away. And then finally, it's one thing to be singularly focused.

That's a great thing. Be singularly focused. But if you're singularly focused on the wrong thing, that's not good.

And that's what Peter ends this verse with. Look at it. Be, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Fix your hope completely on this one thing.

And what is it? The grace to be brought to you.

The consummation, the final fulfillment of the salvation plan in which

Christ chose you before the foundation of the world, which he worked out as he called you and you believed in him, which he promised you an inheritance in the future in which he will bring to completion when he returns and will take you to himself.

And you will be with him for that is very much better. He says, fix your hope completely on that grace, on who you are in Christ and what that means for your future, for eternity.

How long is your life? How long is my life? Maybe 70 years, 75, 80, 90 if you're really healthy, right?

34 if you get in a big car wreck, maybe, right? But what is that life compared to everything else?

To God, to the creation of the world? Who are you? Who am I? About that much, right?

So get it in perspective, Peter is saying here. Fix your hope completely on the wonderful gift of grace which is freely given to you, which you haven't deserved, but he has given to you a sinner and will be fulfilled and completed when

Christ comes back or you go to be with him. Fix your eyes, be focused on grace.

You know, it's interesting when we were preaching through this book in PTI chapel, every time we preach in chapel, we break down into groups, discipleship groups and we discuss the passage that was taught.

And as we were going through Peter, 1 Peter chapter one, we had an interesting discussion. I just wanna tell you about that I think illustrates and helps us understand this issue of focusing your minds on grace.

Because in chapter one, Peter talks about in verse seven, just look at it for a minute.

So that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Again, we're talking about when Jesus comes back and praise and glory and honor, that refers not glory to Christ, but glory for the believer in his inheritance.

And if you read it all in the context, Peter is saying that you will receive glory. You, the children of God with Christ will receive praise and glory and honor.

And hang on to that. This is part of the glorious grace of our future salvation. And we got into a discussion.

Some of the students asked the question, well, how can praise and glory and honor for me be a godly motivation for living rightly now?

I mean, isn't that kind of earned salvation? Isn't that the idea? And so we have this discussion about, well, how can that be a godly motivation for obedience now?

That's a kind of a good question. And we discussed it and we thought about it. And you know, the thing that came to us that we realized as we were studying the text of scripture, and I think as the

Lord was helping us to understand, is that we were misunderstanding this concept of grace.

Did you earn your past salvation when you believed in Christ and you were convicted of your sins and you came to him as Lord and Savior?

Was that because of you? And did Christ give you salvation because of what you did?

No, that's heresy, right? We don't believe that. What about your present salvation, your sanctification, your moving, your growth in salvation, working out your salvation now?

Is that by your efforts and your work? No, that's the grace of God.

Galatians teaches us that, right? It is God who is at work in you both to will and to do.

That's from Philippians. No, even our present salvation, our progress in salvation is by grace.

What about our future salvation? Is that by my efforts and my striving and my effort and I'm gonna receive glory and honor and praise when

Christ comes back because I've been a godly person and I've... No, see, we were misunderstanding.

Somehow, our previous salvation, our present salvation, we think, oh, that's grace. Our future salvation, it's all about me.

No, that's what's wrong. Even the glory and honor and praise and the blessing and the presence with Christ and our eternal salvation and life with Christ is all of grace, all of it.

Every single part of it. God has prepared good works beforehand that we might walk in them.

And He gives the grace and He gives the ability and He gives the gifts so that we would do it. Even our future salvation is grace.

So what Peter is saying is focus on grace. From beginning, from middle to the very end, it's all of God's work in your life.

You contribute how much to your salvation? Past, present, and future. What can you do?

How much? Zero. Big, fat zero. Absolutely nothing.

You simply, by faith, receive the gift because He has drawn you and convicted you and given you the faith to believe.

It is all of grace. And Peter says, remember that. Fix your hope on that fact that it's all of God and not of you.

Past, present, and particularly here in verse 13, he says, future. Christ is coming back again to get you, to take you, to bless you, to glorify you.

Why? So that He will be glorified in you. And if that's the perspective of your life, then what about the trials?

What about the sufferings? What about the hardships that have come or may come? What about those? Who cares?

If God so chooses to glorify Himself through my life, through these sufferings, when

He wants to, how He wants to, praise the Lord.

That's what Peter is saying. Fix your hope. You want to not let go of the lifeline? Discipline your mind.

Grab ahold of your heart. Completely, singularly, simply, grab hold of this one truth that Christ has loved you and He has blessed you and He will bless you when

He comes back. Praise His name. Your life is all about Him and His grace and His glory, not about you.

Hang on to that. Hang on to that. What is that grace?

Just briefly as we close, I want to look at it. Look back at chapter one earlier in the chapter and let's just praise the

Lord as we finish by looking at the wonderful grace, past, present, and future, which

He has prepared for us so we can understand it, so we can lay ahold of it. And we're just gonna briefly go through.

Look at verse three. Blessed, praise the Lord, Peter says, blessed be the God and Father of our

Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

He caused you to be born again. Look at verse four.

To obtain an inheritance, which is what? Imperishable, undefiled, will never fade away, reserved in heaven for you, guaranteed eternal life.

Can't go away, can't be diminished, can't be harmed, can't be stolen. You can't even get rid of it.

It is absolutely certain. Look at verse five.

Who are we? Who are protected by the power of God? Protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

You see what Peter's saying here? Focus your mind on the grace to be revealed to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Have you thought about it? Do you think about it? Does it become the core?

Is that your lifeline? Think about it now. So when the hard times come, you're still thinking about it even more.

Finally, just look at verses seven to nine. I mean, it's all wonderful. I'm not preaching this part, but let's just enjoy it.

Verse seven, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

Brothers and sisters, God doesn't want us to cope with life. No, we are not called to a life of dealing with it.

No, God by His Spirit through the book of 1 Peter is saying you can thrive spiritually in the very face of struggles, in the very moment of trial.

You can look up to your heavenly Father, to your Lord Jesus Christ and say, praise You, Jesus, because You have blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

You are coming again and I will be with you soon, maybe sooner than later, if it's bad enough, right?

Let your mind be gripped and your heart be gripped by the grace that is yours.

Are you gripped? Nurture these in your heart and you will be.

You know, there's two things I can guarantee you about life. All right, two things. You will have trials.

You will perhaps have many trials, right? And you won't know, you won't be able to choose when they will come, right?

But the second thing is wonderful, that you will never lose your hope. You will never be discouraged.

You will never be beaten down beyond repair as long as you hang on to the lifeline of the grace of Christ in your life.

Do you believe that? Believe it, because it's what God wants you to do. It's what God is promising us in his word.

Lay hold of that hope. Let's pray. Lord, we want to do that.

I think, I know my heart cries out for it. I think the hearts of these brothers and sisters are crying out for it.

Lord, we want to be steadfast. We want to stand firm. So we pray that your spirit would impress these truths into our hearts,

Lord, they're so practical. They're so basic. And yet,

Lord, so difficult. And so we ask for you to strengthen each one here to find their greatest joy, their greatest hope in your glorious salvation of us.

Lord Jesus, we look forward to your return. It could be soon, it could be any time.

Again, when we don't expect it, probably. And so Lord, we pray that you would in the meantime equip us to be shining lights to proclaim your excellencies.

Lord, that's why you call us. We want to fulfill that purpose to proclaim your greatness and your mercy in us.

Lord, teach us it's not about us, it's about you. We want, we commit ourselves now to work that out in our lives starting today.