Well, good morning. Wonderful to be with you this morning. Would you turn your Bibles with me to 1 Peter? Book of 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. And we'll read together from verse 3. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father, thank You for our time together this morning. Would You please be with us now as we look at these words and seek to be transformed by them? Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts as Your people be pleasing in Your sight this morning. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. What I'd like you to consider this morning of the strongest chain that you can imagine. Hardened steel, perhaps? Thick, immovable links, a chain that seems unbreakable. But as we all know, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When we consider our salvation, this is often how we think, isn't it? We may believe that God's promises are strong. We may even believe that that heaven is real. We may even believe that Jesus is King. But what about the weak link? What about you? What about us? What happens if your faith was to fail? What happens if you were able to begin the race but but weren't able to finish it? What if suffering, and temptation, doubts, and trials were to somehow cause the chain to snap? Peter writes to Christians who are experiencing all of these kinds of things. And what He does is He focuses in on the Christian's security. And that's what I want us to consider together this morning. The Christian's security. But before we can understand just how secure our faith really is, we must nail down first what it actually means to be a Christian in the first place. That's how Peter starts and so that's how we will begin as well. Would you look with me again at verse 3? Verse 3. He actually starts with a—he bursts out in a shout of praise. He says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Why? "According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." This is what it means to be a Christian. Did you catch the three aspects that Peter uses to describe that reality? Do you see it? First, he says Christians, Christians are those who have been born again. Born again. Not of a physical birth, like Nicodemus thought, as Jesus sat across the room from him and and said you must be born again. Not a physical birth, but but a spiritual birth. Born into a new family that is God's family. Born into a family where you can now call God your Father. Born again into a spiritual family. That's the first. And the second is this, because because of this new birth, Christians now experience in the present, as they live, they experience a living hope. A living hope. What is hope? What is hope? Well, hope is hope is waiting. Hope is looking forward to something that we don't yet possess. Do you see that? That's what hope is. So this living hope is looking forward in in eager expectation for something that is coming in the future. And number three, this hope is is characterized by and is brought about through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So the question becomes, what is this Christian hope? What is this Christian looking forward to? Would you look at the start of verse 4? Start of verse 4. To an inheritance. To an inheritance. Do you see what he's doing here? Do you see how this is all pulling together? Let me ask you this, who inherits inheritances? Children do. Children do. Peter is saying a Christian is someone who has been born again spiritually into God's family. And as a child, they now live in hopeful expectation, a living hope, that looks forward to an inheritance. What is the inheritance? What is what is the inheritance? Well, as as God as our Father, when your Father owns everything, what might the inheritance be? Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Paul says in Romans, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children," he concludes, "then heirs," heirs of what? Heirs of the inheritance. We've just spent the last two weeks in our Tuesday night Bible studies, it's been wonderful, studying and looking at the glorious topic of heaven. This is exactly what Peter is talking about here. An inheritance of eternal life. Life forever with God. An inheritance of transformed bodies, to be like Christ's glorious body. An inheritance renewed of a renewed and restored creation. An inheritance free from corruption and pain and sin and death. An inheritance of a new, eternal, physical existence under the rule and reign and Lordship of Jesus Christ. An inheritance where there will be no more temple because God will finally dwell with His people. And perhaps most glorious of all, we will see Him face to face. We will see Him as He is and spend all of eternity reveling in His beauty. This is what Peter says is what it means to be a Christian. To be born again to a living hope, awaiting this glorious inheritance. Now, for those who are waiting expectantly for such an inheritance as this, as valuable and lofty and glorious, you can begin to see why the question of security becomes so important, can't you? So that's what I want us to press into this morning. Just how safe is this inheritance? How secure is our future? How how strong and and and secure is it really, and is there a weak link in the chain? Peter answers, Peter's answer to these questions comes in two parts as he addresses what we might call the dangers facing our inheritance. And so we'll look at each one in part. The first is this: what if the inheritance itself is destroyed or lost before we receive it? Perhaps you can picture this, a child stands to inherit his father's fortune. A property portfolio perhaps, worth billions. But can you imagine the child's dismay when the tsunami comes and destroys all of the beachfront homes that belong to his father, and the inheritance is destroyed in an instant before he lays hold of it? We may spend our lives pressing on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, but but what if the inheritance is destroyed, or lost before we get there? What if Satan somehow is able to slip into new creation and corrupts it once again and sows sin and unleashes corruption like in the Garden of Eden? Or what if we do receive it even, but but its glory fades, and like the things of this world, it becomes dull and common? Peter says, no. No, your inheritance, dear Christian—look with me at verse 4—is imperishable. It's imperishable. That is to say, it's indestructible. It cannot and will not be destroyed. In fact, more than that, he says it's undefiled, which is to say it's it will never be ruined or marred by moral corruption or sin. Sin and death and Satan will have no power in the new creation. And thirdly, he says there, it's unfading. He said, see, unlike the things of this world, which satisfy only but a time, and after a while become dull and unimpressive, what awaits you, Christian, is everlasting glory, an ever-increasing measure of beauty and majesty and joy beyond your your faculty, beyond what your faculties can imagine. And all of this, he says, is secure. Do you see that there? Why? Because God Himself is keeping it for you. Kept in heaven for you. Church, there is nothing more safe, nothing more secure, nothing more guaranteed than this inheritance. It is utterly secure. Now, I take it and I grant that you may not have woken up this morning worried about your inheritance becoming corrupted or breaking down. And that's fair enough. But the second danger Peter addresses, I think is perhaps more pressing for us this morning. You see, what if the inheritance is safe, but you don't make it there? What if your faith fails and you somehow forfeit the promises that God has made? See, it's all well and good for the inheritance to be safe and kept and to be secure, but church, what about your faith? So the question becomes, how secure is your faith? You may be a Christian here today, but what's to say that you will not wake up and be an atheist tomorrow? You may have been walking with the Lord for 60 years, but but what confidence do you have that you will walk into glory and not lose your faith before the end? In this letter, Peter will, later in his letter, Peter will will describe Satan as a roaring lion, prowling around seeking someone to devour. And church, what is he hungry for? What is he looking to devour? It's your faith. It's your faith. He's not primarily concerned with your health or your status or your circumstances. It's your faith that he is after. And he's willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Sometimes we see him strip away everything like he does in Job and leaves you sick and suffering, afflicted and hurting, pressed in on every side so that you might curse God and lose your faith. Other times, he takes perhaps a different tact, and seeking to give you and seeks to give you everything you could ever want. See wealth and success and happiness and ease, everything you could possibly want just so that your eyes might become fixed on your comforts rather than Christ. “Look and see all of the wealth and land and riches and property, they can all be yours if you but what? Bow down and worship me.” He's hungry for your faith. The night before His death, Jesus warned Peter of this exact reality. Peter, Jesus turns to Peter and He says, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat." Listen to Jesus' words here. "But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." Do you see that? Peter, full of confidence and zeal in the moment, replies, as we know, "Lord, I am ready to go with you, both to prison and to death." And yet, before the sun rises, we know the story. As Jesus is put on trial and Peter is there watching, his faith is tested and tried, he is shaken and allowed to go immense pressure to the point where he denies his Lord three times. And as we heard in our Bible reading this morning, Peter, having lost heart after the crucifixion of his Lord, turns to his other disciples, to the other disciples and says, "I'm going fishing. I'm going back to the life that I had before following this crucified Messiah." But lo and behold, what do we see? Jesus does not let him go. But meets him on the shore that morning, and it's Jesus who actually draws out Peter's threefold repentance. "Simon, do you love me?" "Feed my sheep." "Yes, I love You, Lord." "Simon, do you love me?" "Yes, I love You, Lord." "Simon, do you love me?" And draws out Peter's threefold repentance. And despite his feebleness, despite his his stumbling and his failure, Peter is restored and is in turn turns and encourages his brothers. And what does he do? He actually becomes one of the leading apostles who takes the gospel to the nations and sees it explode amongst the ancient world. Why did Peter not fall away completely? Why did Peter not lose his faith entirely? What is it that kept Peter's faith from being completely and utterly destroyed? Church, it is this, Jesus said, "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." It's this same Peter, if you didn't realize, that wrote these words that we're reading and looking at this morning. Would you look with me at verse 5? These incredible words of deep comfort of a man who has lived this experience. Verse 5, he says, in the flow of of what he's just said, "who," that is you, "by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Church, do you see what he's saying? It's not only your inheritance that is being kept and guarded and is secure, but you are being kept for your inheritance. God is not only securing the destination, but He's also securing you as the pilgrim on your way to the destination. You are being guarded, Peter says, by God's very own power. God is actively working to guard your faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. It's His work from start to finish. From start to finish. Verse 3, it's it's according to His great mercy that He has caused us to be born again. And we can be sure of this, can't we, church, that He who began a good work in you will what? Will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself says in John chapter 10, He says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." And listen to this, verse 28, "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My Father's hand." Verse 21, verse 29, "My Father who is has given them to Me and is greater than all, no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand." Do you see that, church? It's exactly what Paul says at one of the most climactic points in the book of Romans, Romans chapter 8 verse 34, he says, "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—and more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God." And listen to this, "who indeed is interceding for us." His conclusion? "Who shall separate us then from the love of God in Christ?" "Who shall shall tribulation, shall distress, or persecution, or famine, or sword, or nakedness, or danger? For I am sure of this," he says in verse 38, "For I am sure that neither death nor life, neither angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation," what? "Shall be can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Church, our our faith is kept because Jesus is interceding for us. He is sustaining us, and He will not let you go. He is our High Priest, Hebrews tells us, who is able to save to the uttermost, why? Because He always lives to intercede for us. He is holding you. He is interceding, He is praying and advocating on our behalf so that your faith might not fail. So church, your inheritance is secure. Your inheritance is secure. And your faith is secure because Jesus is advocating for you and He will not let you go. Now, I want us to notice that this doesn't mean what what this doesn't mean is that we're passive. This doesn't mean that we're passive. This isn't Jesus, You have saved me, You're You're securing me, and so, Jesus, take the wheel and I'll sit in the back seat of my life. No. The Christian life is one of active lived obedience, we know this. Yes, we press on to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Yes, we we daily put to death the sins of the deeds of the flesh that we once walked in. Yes, we present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, pleasing as spiritual worship to our God. Of course, we're called to be warriors. We're called to equip ourselves and to put on the full armor of God and to stand and to fight in Christ's army against the evil one. To fight the good fight of faith. It's not passive. This is an active lived experience. But hear this, Christian. All of your might and your strength and your fortitude is worthless if not for Jesus praying for you and God's power keeping you. Do you see that? Don't be like Peter who looked at his own strength and said, "I am ready to go with You, Lord, both to both to prison and to death." Beautiful words, but but he's missing something, isn't he? It's God's power that keeps us from falling away. It's God's power that guards your faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. And so paradoxically, we are only ever as strong as we are willing to admit that we're actually weak. It's in weakness. It's in humble dependence upon the Lord that we find our strength and our assurance. I love what Spurgeon is coined to having wrote. He says, "If ever it should come to pass that sheep of Christ might fall away, my fickle, feeble soul would fall a thousand times a day." The Christian life is one of utter dependence upon upon God's power to save and to sustain. If you were to boast in anything this morning, Christian, let it be this, that He is mighty to save and He is mighty to keep you until that final day. Now, what about what does this look like in in practice? What does this look like in the real world? What does it look like in the ups and downs and the storms of life? See, Peter knows it's easy enough to speak of security when all is going well. But what about in the hospital room? What about at the graveside? What about when your prayers go unanswered for years? When obedience is costly? When following Christ feels more like loss than it does gain? If God is guarding my faith, why am I still experiencing suffering now? If my inheritance is secure, if my faith is being guarded by God's very own power, why is it that the Christian life is so full of pain and anxiety and grief? Would you look with me at verse 6? Verse 6. He says, "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials." Peter is saying the Christian life is lived in a tension. Do you see the tension? He says, "If in this you rejoice," rejoice in what? "In the inheritance that is secure, in your faith that is being guarded. You you rejoice in this," while at the same time, for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. The Christian life is one of of real, tangible joy and hopeful expectation of what is to come. It is sure. But at the same time, it is simultaneously the lived experience of the Christian to experience grief and sorrow and anguish. Do you see that? And notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, “Take that grief and put it aside, it's not real.” He doesn't dismiss grief. He doesn't dismiss your sorrow. He doesn't say, “You have an inheritance, so just don't worry about the grief.” No, he no, he acknowledges this dual nature of the Christian experience. And he says it is it is an experience of rejoicing and also of deep grief and trials. Peter provides two stabilizing truths for us to consider as we wrestle with this tension. First, he says these trials are of various of various kinds, are for a little while. Do you see it there? These trials are of various kinds and they are for a little while. Now, let me ask you this, when you're in the furnace of suffering, Christian, does it feel like a little while? No. No. When you're in the furnace of trials and temptations, it feels consuming. It feels like there is no end. It feels heavy and weighty. Yet, look what Peter is doing here. Look at what he's doing. He's holding up your inheritance that he's just said is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. And he holds up God's power, which is guarding your faith. And he says, Christian, take your present trial and your grief, and hold it up, don't discard it, but hold it up and see it in light of the inheritance that is secure. And he says, when you do that, you will begin to notice something remarkable. What you'll begin to see is that your suffering becomes a little while. It's exactly what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7. He's just finished speaking about all of these sufferings and trials. And he says, "For this," in verse 17, he says, "For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Verse 18, "As we look to the things, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are what? Eternal." Do you see what he's doing? Even a lifetime of suffering becomes a light, momentary affliction, a little while, in the comparison of your eternal inheritance. And please don't miss this this morning, this isn't denying and dismissing of grief. This isn't Peter denying and ignoring the pain that we as Christians experience in this life. This is Peter, this is what Peter is calling a living hope. It's a hope that changes our perspectives when we are willing to fix our eyes on our internal, on our eternal inheritance. During my second year of college, we were involved on a regional mission trip. Wonderful time. But the first Sunday that we got there, there there was a Pakistani pastor and his family that had also just arrived from Pakistan that morning, and they came and they joined us. We later found out that the church had been supporting this minister for the past two years as he had been imprisoned for the past two years for preaching the gospel in Pakistan. And he told us of two years of beatings, of no blanket during winter, of six months of solitary confinement, of constant harassment to deny his faith with promises that he would be let off with no charges if he would but publicly denounce his faith and give up the names of the other ministers. Do you know what he read to us that morning? "For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Christian, have you have you experienced this kind of comfort before? A comfort that that comes as you reframe your present suffering in light of your fixed, secure, eternal inheritance? Perhaps you're facing something that is testing your faith even this morning. Can I encourage you, don't pretend like it doesn't exist. Don't push it to the side, Peter doesn't do that. But instead, fix your gaze toward the security of your eternal inheritance. Hold up your trial and see it in light of the sure reward that is awaiting you. Be reminded of this that you have a High Priest who even now lives and intercedes for you that your faith may not fail. He will hold you fast. He will. This is the first stabilizing truth. Our suffering is for a little while, as Peter calls it. But the second is this, would you look there again, he says, "If necessary." "If necessary, you have been grieved by various trials." God has deemed our present trials and sufferings as necessary. Necessary for what? Verse 7. "So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." See, trials are necessary, Peter says, because they are the means God is using to purify your faith. Just as gold is refined by fire. What happens when gold passes through fire? The dross is burnt away. The impurities are exposed and they're burnt away. The gold that is left is pure and beautiful, and it shines more brightly than ever. And Peter is saying, Christians, so it is with your faith. God, in His infinite wisdom and His infinite providence, allows His people to experience various trials for a time so that our faith may be refined and purified through fire. This is God's purpose in suffering. To melt away the dross of our of our self-reliance. To expose and to and to melt away our self-idolatry. It doesn't destroy genuine faith, it doesn't. But trials of this life only ever purify and make it more glorious and more precious and reveal true faith. And this means that the trials that we experience and that shake and that test our faith in our day-to-day experience are not random. It's not meaningless. They're not signs that God has left you. Do you see that? No, they are the the means by which God is using to prepare us for our inheritance. God is both guarding and refining our faith so that it will result in praise and glory and honor on that final day. So, church, your suffering is not wasted. It's not. Every affliction that you endure will not be wasted. Every temptation, every grief, every time of sorrow crying with a friend, every trial endured is producing in you a refined faith that will receive praise and glory and honor on that final day. It's glorious. So, Christians, stand firm. Stand firm and rejoice in so far as you have the privilege of sharing in Christ's sufferings. He does not call us to anything that He Himself has not stepped in and already experienced. And anchor your faith in this, anchor your confidence in this that God who has caused you to be born again to a living hope will secure you and is securing you. Anchor your confidence in this that your inheritance is kept and is secure. And anchor your confidence in this that you are being kept for your inheritance. Amen. He will not let you go. Why don't I pray? Let me pray. Heavenly Father, thank You that there is no weak link in the chain. Father, thank You for the confident assurance that we as Your people enjoy because of Christ's intercessions for us. Would You please help us to rest in this secure in the security and to stand firm in the midst of various trials, that our faith might be purified and shine more brightly than ever on that final day, and it would be to the praise and glory of Your grace. Amen. Well, church, why don't we stand and sing together of our great God's power to save us and to keep us. Would you stand and sing to