1 Peter chapter 5, verses 12 to 14. By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise elect, sends you greetings, and so does Mark my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. Thanks be to God for His Word. Please remain standing as we pray. Father, as we conclude our exposition through the book, the letter, the epistle of 1 Peter, Lord I ask that by the time we finish that we would have this peace, this assurance in Christ. Father, we're so grateful that as you have comforted your people throughout the ages, as you have strengthened them, as you have walked with them, Father, we ask that you would do so for us. Lord, as we sense ourselves perhaps for the first time to be walking in the same path as these persecuted Christians, with the looming threat of imperial persecution. Would you guard our hearts and our minds in Christ? And Father, I pray this morning as well, if there be any in our midst who are still dead in their sins, who are not in Christ, I pray that as your word, as your gospel is proclaimed, that the Spirit would cause that seed to take root, that the new birth would be effected, granting the fruit of repentance and faith, and the life lived to the glory of God. Father, I just ask that you would help me now to make this clear. I pray that there would be application, Lord, and most importantly, ask for transformation. Renew our minds. We pray that you would strengthen our hearts and that you would also empower our wills to stand in the grace of God that he has so freely granted us in his son. Lord, we love you and we thank you. Please bless us this morning, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. Well, in our previous section, I entitled the sermon, Battle Instructions for the Church. Well, this would be entitled this morning, Final Instructions for the Church. And last week, we saw the church pictured as an army standing against the devil. Well, this morning, Peter closes with the church pictured as a family standing in God's grace, that we're a household and God is with us. And so this morning's message is simply entitled, Final Instructions for the Church. And I hope you see a lot of the family language. Peter has described the church as God's house. as God's temple. And we need to be reminded that the commands that are given require us to be in church, to be part of a church. That we don't stand as individuals, we stand together. That we don't greet the mirror with a kiss of love, but we rather greet one another with such expressions of intimacy, of family acceptance. And so, how are we to live then? as God's family? How are we to live as Christ's church? Well, I have three applications, and I'll get to them in time, but to navigate ourselves through this text, I have three points. And the points are not the application, but they're just gonna help us stick to the text. We never want to derive application without the text. So the first is simply the courier sent. The second point is the commands given. And the final point is the comfort promised. Hopefully that will help us. And I think as we work through this, you're going to see the emphasis of things like grace and love and peace. But understand that these are in the context of God's family, of God's house. And we've seen already from chapter two on that in the Old Testament, the temple was the abode of God where he dwelt. Well, in the New Testament, it's very clear that Christ has become that temple, and He's now poured out His Spirit on the church. The church is that temple. The church is God's temple. The church is God's house. We are that temple. And how do we live together as the family? How do we live together as God's church? Well, first, let's look at the courier. Verse 12, by Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you. Now, this might seem unimportant. Who cares about Silvanus? Get to the commands, pastor. And the reason I wanna slow down is we need to sort of picture with our eyes what the church was like back then. that here's Peter, who is now settled in Rome or in Babylon, but he cares about these scattered exiles in Asia. And if you were to read the book of Acts, there was a man who was quite familiar with Asia Minor, the apostle Paul. But Paul did not travel by himself. Paul always took with himself faithful brothers and sisters. And we see here now the organization of God's working as the gospel spreads. And it's not just a few apostles here and there. We're going to see that men like Silvanus, who many of us really know nothing about are integral and essential to the mission of God. And that churches in Asia Minor knew about this faithful one. That there weren't little individual islands, but actually there was intra-church community and intra-church fellowship. And so, we see this man named Sylvanus. Turn in your Bibles just to Acts 15. I'm not going to spend a lot of time, but this is quite helpful to be reminded of how this man is introduced to us in the Scriptures. And there's always been controversies within the Church, and we're dealing here in Acts 15 with what is called the Jerusalem Council. As the Gospel now moves from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth, and Gentiles are being brought into the house, into the family, into the Church, How are they to live? And so they gather in Jerusalem, the apostles and the elders, right? You see that as the book of Acts progresses that elders begin to take on a very prominent role. And so we have a gathering of the leadership and they're figuring out how should we command and command these Gentiles? What does it look like for them now to belong to the people of God? And so they write a letter, which I'm not going to read, but they need to send this letter. And this letter is so important, they don't just give it to anyone, but they actually send this letter through the apostle Paul, but not Paul alone, Paul and Barnabas, but not Paul and Barnabas alone. Look in verse 22, I'll just read it quickly. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church. Again, this isn't the apostles acting independent of the church. One thing we want to really, really champion here at Grace Community is the centrality of the church. Paul did not act independently. He didn't go on his merry way doing whatever he merry well wanted to do. He was actually sent from a local church in Antioch, and he was accountable to them, and he returned there. And so we have here not just the apostles, cooking things up and sending them out, but actually the apostles with the elders of the church in Jerusalem. And not just the apostles and the elders, but actually the whole church agreeing and concurring and sending this letter. The reason I'm doing this, I want to introduce us into the culture and what it felt and looked like to be a Christian in the first century. And it was to be involved in a church and to be working together with other churches for the expanse and spread of the gospel. And yes, we're thankful to God for men like Paul and Barnabas and Peter and the apostles. I really appreciated Silas, or Silvanus, that's the Latinized word, but this is Silas. I really began to appreciate him and to remember that God needs all the parts working together, like Charles preached from 1 Peter 4. However God has equipped you, you are essential. That Silvanus is part of this body. That Peter is not the sum and substance. As one man said, Christ is the head and everything else is body. And so it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. And they sent Judas called Barsabbas and, what does this say? Silas, leading men among the brothers. And so Silas is probably an elder. And so they're sending not just anyone, but we're gonna see the faithful one. They're sending not only Paul and Barnabas and Judas, but also Silas. These men were leaders among the brothers with the following letter. They go on to say, here is what you need to do. Verse 30, so when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. Do you see, then, the family dynamic? They are delivering the letter in verses 22 and 23. When it says the following letter in verse 23, I wrote it down, it says, literally, that they were sent, having written through the hand of them. And the reason why I'm saying that is that's exactly how Peter uses it. Silas didn't write 1 Peter. He delivered it. Just like Silas didn't write this letter sent from the church in Jerusalem, he delivered it. And yes, it helps me with my alliteration, he's the courier and not the writer of 1 Peter, but we just see how all these parts work together. And so one church sends it through the hand of Silas and the others, and they deliver it. Look it, they went down to another church in Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, Right? That we don't work as elders independent of even the congregation, and churches work together with the leaders. Are you getting what I'm trying to emphasize? That this is family business. Our final instructions are not just for Ryan on Monday, or for Susie on Tuesday, or for Nathan on Wednesday, but for us as a body. And it just seems to me so clear that if we are to stand firm, it is only possible in the grace of God together as a congregation. So they delivered the letter, and when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. Verse 32, and Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. And so this is what would happen, is that Peter likely wrote this letter, maybe through Silas, but Silas delivered it, and then he would read it on the Lord's Day in its entirety. And like he did in the Old Testament, he would give meaning, he would explain it to them for their encouragement. The exact same words we see here in 1 Peter 5, 12. Peter, through Silas, to encourage and to confirm. When Peter's thinking, who can I send this through? Someone faithful, someone who knows the word of God. Someone who also is part of a church, someone who is incorporated into a body, who knows what family life is like. So here's the courier. This is the one through whom this letter of encouragement is sent. Were you to continue on reading the book of Acts, you would see that Paul was everywhere with Silas. You remember that there was a little bit of a disagreement at the end of Acts 15 between Paul and Barnabas over Mark, who interestingly enough is mentioned here in this letter. There's so much richness, you probably thought, what is he going to say in these verses? And I thought that too. And by the end of this, I'm like, what do I leave out? There's so much in these verses. But even the one who precipitated the division between Paul and Barnabas, the God who causes all things to work together for good, actually, brought Silas into the picture now. So that Mark could grow up, and Mark could learn under Peter, and Silas could learn under Paul, and here we have actually this great unification for the gospel. You would say that the family ties have been reunited, even between Peter and Paul and Barnabas and Silas, and they're working together for the church. All I just wanted to do is just show us a little more clearly that this isn't sort of stodgy headiness, this is family life. And so we have Silas. He is the one who is sent. Notice, in verse 12, how he is described. You see it? By Silvanus, a brother. What kind of brother? A faithful brother. Isn't that great? I put in my notes, not an intelligent brother, though he may have been intelligent. Not a gifted brother, though he may have been gifted. But the adjective Paul uses here is faithful. That's what God is looking for, faithful men and faithful women. And Peter's not looking for the most erudite, intelligent, you know, ear-tickling speaker. He wants someone who will faithfully convey the truth of this letter and not add to it, not take away from it. Someone who is faithful. Like even Epaphroditus in Philippians, who's willing to give up his own life to get this letter to the Philippians because they need encouragement. Peter sees that these brothers are struggling and suffering. And he sends someone who is faithful. Who is God going to use when persecution arises? It's going to be faithful brothers and sisters. So you should be praying, God. Would this be, on my epitaph, Ryan Case? Well, not Ryan Case, but faithful. Not popular, not how big the church was, not how fancy his sermons were, not if he alliterated. Ryan Case, faithful. That's awesome. We don't know much about Sylvanus. We know this. He's a faithful brother. Mark is not faithful at the time. But Mark is important by the time we get to the end of the letter. That's why Paul wasn't too sure about Mark. He had vacillated. He'd grown fearful. But not Silas. Silas was willing to take it on the chin. Silas was willing to serve. Now Mark will grow up into that role. And Mark will be faithful by the end. But in Acts 15, the reason why Silas is chosen, the reason why he is chosen here is because he is Faithful. Faithful as I regard him. Well, notice then the language. He doesn't say Silas the faithful soldier, Silas the faithful preacher, Silas the faithful workman. And of course those are all true. Silas the prophet, the faithful prophet. This is something that we just so quickly overlook. And so actually I was showing Charles, I color coded My diagram, I diagram the text, and I have all green. Al-Dawfu, Ha-Huyas-Mu. These are just Greek words for family. He's a brother. Would you greet one another this morning as brothers and sisters? Yes, we're fellow soldiers, but we're in the same family. We're brothers and sisters. bought by Christ and belong to the same God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is faithful. He is a faithful brother. He's not an associate, a helper, or an employee. He's a brother. And when you come to Grace Community, I hope that's how you are viewed here. Not like, what can we get out of you? brothers and sisters, and there's something sweet that God grants the family. Let's move on then. From the courier who is sent, Silas, to the commands that are given. Peter's full of commands. And even in this closing, concluding section, he has two more commands. Stand firm and show love. Okay, we saw commands last week for battle instructions, but as he summarizes final instructions for the church, they're simply this, stand firm in God's grace, show love to one another. Notice that Peter says he's written briefly, and if some of you think I go on more than I should, and I'm overly repetitive, Peter says that his letter is brief, he's like the preacher of Hebrews. This is a short exhortation, I could have said much more. But Peter is written briefly, why? Because Peter loves the body of Christ. He uses two participles, encouraging and testifying, or as the ESV says here, exhorting and declaring. Before we look at the commands given by the apostle, I want us to look at his heart, right? Go back to the beginning of chapter five. Peter's using the same word to comfort or exhort. I am exhorting the elders among you as a fellow elder. Peter's a pastor and he loves the flock. He didn't write to rebuke them. He didn't write to show off how smart he was. He wrote to encourage them. Parakaleos. It's that word that means to come alongside. And it can mean to encourage, to exhort, to beg sometimes. So we've seen already sort of the character of Silas, but again we're reminded of the character of Peter. These are the elders who lead the churches. And they love. And all that they do is to encourage. and to solemnly testify. This is what a loving father looks like, or a tender shepherd. These don't see Peter as some kind of high-handed, rule-giving tyrant. He loves the flock, he loves the family. The father, yes, is the head of the house, but here is, as it were, a steward representing. And he commands the congregation to stand and to show, but the reason why he commands them is because he wants to encourage them. He wants to shepherd them. He wants to remind them. I have written to you shortly, he says, one, to encourage, and two, to declare, but that word's a little bit weak. It's only used one time here in the New Testament, and you're familiar with the word martyr, so martyr, It means to testify or to give witness, but it's intensified. Peter here is solemnly testifying. He's reminding them that though they're suffering, I want to solemnly testify that what I'm about to tell you is the true grace of God. And I want to encourage you, not with words of eloquence, but with a reminder of grace. So he writes, shortly, briefly, exhorting, solemnly testifying to one thing. And I wrote here, just huge in my notes, grace sums up the letter. Or you could even say, grace sums up the family. Grace sums up the Christian life. What is he encouraging us with? 10 ways to live happier, five ways to be rich, nine ways to be a better husband, I've written to you saying one thing. And you're like, but chapter five's full of all kinds of things. It can be summarized under one heading, God's grace to you in Christ. I would encourage you, just go and start in chapter one and work all the way through chapter five and read it through the lens of grace. Whether he's giving truths from the gospel or commands from the gospel, it's grace. that Peter loves this congregation and he wants to show them grace. He commands them to stand in it, but he says, this is the grace of God. Go back, Silas or Silvanus, read it again. And as you're working through, pray to God, help me to stand in this, in this truth. Help me to stand against the devil. How do you stand against? You must first stand in. We stand together in God's grace against the devil, doing all that Peter has reminded us of. He doesn't say stand in law. He doesn't say stand in commands. He says stand in grace, which is not lawless or commandless, but he says to stand in grace, in the true grace of God, meaning what? There are plenty of false graces that are going around. This is what God inspired Peter to show us in this letter. You want to know what grace looks like? Go and read 1 Peter 5. Go and read 1 Peter 1-5. This is the true grace of God. Command into which you stand firm. Or you could say, remain firm. Or as the Holman Bible says, take your stand in it. Into which you stand. Here is God's grace in Christ, and it's yours in Christ. Stand into it. Stand in it. Grace sums up the letter. Notice, That when he says stand, it's plural. You should write that, because what you are tempted to do, living in North America in the 21st century, is to think that just means to Joe, or to Kloss, right? Or to Anthony. But when he says stand, there's something we lose from Greek to English, that that's a plural. Remember Silvanus? He's not having a little private devotion. Hey Mark, I got a letter for you. Let's go and read it after and then we'll give it and then me and Marvin will read it. No, Silvanus is standing up, having been sent from a church to another church that has congregated, that is church that has gathered. And with the authority now of God, he's able to say, stand in the grace that Peter has shown us. Stand together. We need each other. We cannot stand alone. We cannot do battle alone. We cannot do family alone. Armies need people. Families need people. And these commands just make no sense to the individualism that characterizes our culture. As persecution comes, we are going to fully and finally realize, perhaps for the first time, that we actually do need one another. And all those pithy cliches, all I need is Jesus. You know what Jesus says? All you need is me, and here's my body. All of these things, all I need is my Bible. I was watching Doug Wilson this week, and he said there's a big difference between so-la-scriptura and so-lo-scriptura. Right? He says, the solo scripture says, all I need is my Bible. To which Wilson said, well, when you read your Bible, it says you need one another. Okay, and so the Bible, and what Peter's writing here is, stand firm. Stand firm how? Stand firm in grace. God's unmerited favor. His undeserved gift to undeserving, ill-deserving, and hell-deserving sinners. You can't stand firm in grace if you've forgotten it, which is why Peter gave them this letter. Remember God's grace. You can't stand in it if you've forgotten it, which is why you always arm yourselves in your minds with the gospel. What Christ has done, who Christ is, and Christ's return. Past and present and future. Stand firm. Not just in grace, but in the grace of? God, every word that is breathed out is so important. Stand firm in the grace of the God you could even translate it. Which God? The God of verse two of chapter one. The one who before loved you. The one who set you apart by his spirit. The God who shed his blood for you. That God. The God who caused you to be born again to a living hope. The God who brought you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. The God you read in these five chapters of Peter. Not a God of your own imagination. But we're encouraged to stand in this grace of this God, together as his people. That's the first command. Stand firm in God's grace. The second command is show love to one another. That's in verses 13 and 14. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen or literally together elect, sends you greetings and so does Mark my son. Now notice again the family language. Who is the she? Older commentators thought Peter's talking about his wife. I think Peter's referring to a wife, but not his natural wife. Who is the she? It's the church. Every translation says that, but even the Greek, there's something called an antecedent that it refers back to. There's what you call the article, and it refers back to the brotherhood. This is the church who is greeting you. She who is in Babylon. Well, in Ephesians 5 and in Revelation 19, the church is pictured as a bride. And that's what Peter's saying. Your church, and you're scattered in Asia. Well, we're also here, as we're scattered in Babylon. And our church greets your church. You're elect and suffering, we're elect and suffering, and there's a sweet connection here. We're not at the command yet, but we're just highlighting again this family feel. Not only is a wife sending greetings to these suffering churches in Asia Minor, but also Mark, my son. Peter's not the father of Mark, is he? Absolutely not. He's not anymore the father of Mark then, Paul is the father of Timothy. See, this is the beauty of taking natural language and seeing the supernatural interpretation the New Testament puts on it. How did Timothy become Paul's son? Through the gospel. How did Mark become? Well, Peter's saying, he's my son. And he became his son, obviously, through the gospel. and he's now entered into faithful service. And so here are these saints between churches greeting. It means to welcome. Welcome's a richer word. You can, as it were, greet someone and stick out your hand, but welcome has this idea of you are welcome with us, you are invited. We want you to stay. It's not like, wow, greetings, I got lunch, see ya. There's a difference between greeting someone and welcoming them. I can greet you at my door and say, okay, it was nice to meet you. Slam. Or I can welcome you into my fellowship, into my house. She who is in Babylon, she is spiritualized to be the church, Mark is spiritualized to be, as it were, a disciple, and even Babylon has been spiritualized. Babylon pictures Rome. That's where Peter's writing from. He's not writing from literal Babylon, he's writing from spiritual Babylon. You can see that in the book of Revelation as well. And so what's happening here is that Peter is, again, doing another inclusio. He does it everywhere, but go back to chapter one. I'll get to the second command soon. We've already seen to stand firm in love and to show love to one another, but here's the context in which they are to love one another. They are exiles who have been scattered, and now they're gathered as God's elect people together. This is why we welcome one another, because the world has rejected them. The world rejects Christians, we welcome them. We show hospitality to them. So Peter, an apostle of Christ, to those who are elect exiles, and every commentator I read, said that that matches up what Peter says here in chapter five. We've got the doctrine of election and the doctrine of exile. Where, in the Old Testament, were the Jews exiles? In Babylon. But they're elect. And Peter's just saying, hey, I'm with you, and Mark's with you, and Silvanus, we're also exiles, and yet, we're elect. And we're like almost this subcategory, this subfamily. You've got all the Roman Empire, which opposes the church. And how sweet it is to be reminded that though the world rejects us, not everyone does. All that matters is that God welcomes me. But you're welcomed to God in the flesh, as it were, through the church. This is part of our assurance, actually. When the brothers welcome me, it reminds me that God has welcomed me. And so she who is in Babylon, who is likewise elect or likewise chosen, right? Peter's saying, you're not the only exiles. We are too, whether you're in Asia or in Rome. But we're fellow elect, and therefore we greet one another. We show love to one another. The courier? Silas. The commands? Stand firm in grace. Secondly, show love to one another. Where do you get that from? Well, I get that from verse 14. Greet one another with a kiss of? Love. I listened to an Alistair Begg sermon. He said, oh, finally the teenagers are listening. Right, so he's saying that she who's in Babylon, right, the church in Babylon, the church at Rome where Peter likely is a pastor, I think, he's a fellow elder, and then you read Romans 15, Peter's laid the foundation for the gospel in Rome. He's the pastor, I think, not the pope, the pastor. And this church has sent Silvanus, and he reads the letter, and they're saying to these scattered exiles who wonder if God really loves them, this is God's grace to you, this letter. How do you know God loves you? He's given you His word, which points to His Son, and you're welcomed by God. How do we know? Because we've extended the right hand of fellowship, fellow churches welcoming one another. But we don't just receive welcome, we also give it, and this is the second command. Show love to one another. Now I'm not saying going around planting smooches on everyone's cheek is what it looks like in the 21st century, but you do need to show it. In the ancient world, especially among Jews, and that's important. Because what Peter's saying is that those who are in Christ are Israel. Right? Go and read chapter 2. Right? Quoting Exodus 19. You are that chosen priesthood. You are that royal nation. You are that family. You are that peculiar people. And as in the Old Testament, they exiled Jews who were rejected by all of God's enemies. They had signs of affection. So Peter's saying in the New Covenant, there are signs of affection. Don't just throw out the kiss of love because it's antiquated. Okay, the principle is eternal, it's lasting. Now the expression might change from age to age and culture to culture, right? In India, it might look different, but the heart better be the same. I hope when you come here, you sense that and you express it as well. This is family. I didn't finish my quote. In the ancient world, especially among Jews, The kiss of love was a common sign of affection for and devotion to family members. You didn't just go around kissing anybody. This is, you are welcome here. You are wanted here. You are loved here. You are family here. So we stand in grace. But understand, grace always manifests itself outwardly in love. God's grace comes down, our faith responds up, and then love flows out. That's a great picture of the Christian family. God is pouring grace, and as we stand in it, grace produces faith. And as Galatians 5 says, faith produces love. What does a gospel-centered family look like? Standing, yes, in God's grace, but also showing love to one another. That's actually a major theme. I'm going to quickly remind you of a couple verses. Look at chapter 1, verse 22. I could have just quoted them, but I want you to turn there. Okay, so we're believers in God who raised Christ from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and your hope are in God. And faith produces love. Look at verse 22. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for what? You want to love your brothers and sisters more? Obey the truth. Having purified your souls by your obedience to truth for a sincere brotherly love. There's that word again, philidelphos. The word for kiss here is philomaty. But it's philos, still the same thing. Okay? A sincere brotherly love, keep loving one another earnestly from a pure heart. Peter's already mentioned that. But he mentions it again in chapter two. As he's talking about household rules. Honor everyone, verse 17. Love the brotherhood. Fear God, honor the emperor. But he's summing up. What does family life look like? Sincere love for your brothers. Oh, but he's not done. Perhaps you remember when Charles preached. Oh, actually no, it's in chapter three first. Verse eight. Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, remember the USB. And then what's the B? Brotherly love. A tender heart and a humble mind. But notice in this summary, finally, love. Chapter 1, finally love. Chapter 2, finally love. Chapter 3, finally love. Chapter 4, finally love. The end of all things is at hand. Therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, what? Keep loving one another earnestly. Ectenos. Reaching love. Not distancing love. Reaching. Fellowshiping love. Since love covers a multitude of sins. We need to go back to chapter one, which I forgot to quote. Since you have been born again. Right? We stand in grace. How do you know you're standing in grace? Expressions of love to the brotherhood. That's how you know if you read 1 John. How do you know someone's born again? Be warm, be filled. No, you know someone's born again because they love other Christians. How do you know they love other Christians? In word? No, no, no, in word indeed. Kisses of love. What does that look like? I think it's more than a handshake to be quite honest. I would go so far to say it's maybe the side hug. Right? Whatever it looks like, there should be something that conveys, I love you in Christ. We should not be afraid for men to say that to men. Enough of this. This is family. I love my natural brothers, even though we punch each other in the face. But more than that, I love my brothers and sisters in Christ from a pure heart. Don't think that love is always filthy. Don't let the world pollute that beautiful word. We have a Philadelphia here. We should be the family of brotherly love. And so that's the second command. First, stand in God's grace, stand firm in God's grace. The second command is keep showing one another love. It's in the present tense and it's plural. Greeting, keep greeting. Who? Alleluia. That's that word, one another. It's all throughout. I'm not greeting myself. I'm greeting one another in the kiss of love. Brotherly love for Christians in the household and family of God is a major theme of 1 Peter. And this will move to our application, I get it. So we've looked at the courier, Silvanus. We've looked at the two commands. We need to stand firm in God's grace, and we need to show love to one another. Thirdly, let's close with the comfort given, or the comfort promised, perhaps. Courier sent, commands given, comfort promises. Don't too quickly gloss over this. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. We've lost the art of benedictions. We're intentional in our order of worship here to always include these benedictions. A couple verses came to mind. I think came to mind, perhaps, to Peter. And they're both in the Gospel of John. You can turn there, you can just listen to me read them. The first one's John 14, 27. And if you were to read the Gospel of John, chapters 13 through 17, is Jesus offering His fearful disciples comfort, because they finally realized that He's going to be taken from them. Right? He's going to be nailed to a cross, and now they're beginning to freak out, because persecution promised is on the very precipice of becoming a reality for them. If you read John 13 through 17, you can feel, their fear is palpable. You can almost feel it when you're reading it. Some of us maybe feel it now. Is persecution coming? I'm so thankful for the Savior's words. Look at it in 14, 27. By the Spirit, of course, this happens in verse 26, but look at it in verse 27. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, nor let them be afraid. You heard that I was saying I'm going away, and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I'm going to the Father. They're freaking out, and Jesus gives them peace. But not just any peace. He gives them His peace. Look in chapter 16. Verse 33, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. We need to remember that. Like what happens if brothers and sisters start getting thrown in jail? Or what happens if they start getting martyred? Now that might not happen, but it was for sure a possibility to Peter's audience. They sensed the storm clouds brewing around them. It would only be a couple years after this that Nero was going to have Christian candles. Oh, you mean he made candles out of wax with saints on them? No, he actually burnt them to light up his courtyard. And so here is the comfort. There's no verb. Meaning that this is just something that we have. It's not something that we will have, it's something that we do have. Now we don't fully get it now. We will fully experience Him then. But this is still something for us now. Here's comfort. You have peace with God. You might not have peace with the world. Jesus says that, in the world you will have what? Not peace. You will have tribulation. eflipsis, affliction, persecution, uncomfortable things that might cause you to wonder if God cares about you. But take heart. Here's the lowly shepherd Jesus. I've overcome the world. I think that's what Peter's saying. You have peace if you are in Christ. Again, you need to slow down. He doesn't just say, peace to you and peace to you. No, peace to you all. but not in a universal sense. Let me say this, if you're not a Christian this morning, you don't have peace with God. That's just what the Bible says. Enemies of God do not have Christ's peace, rather His wrath abides on them. We need to remember. were elect and were exiles, and it's only these elect exiles who have Christ's peace. He doesn't offer his peace to those who are of the world, who are living comfortably, rejecting Christ. No, those who are living faithfully, who belong to Christ. He says, in this house, there's grace, and there's love, but you need to understand there's also peace. Peace that transcends a human understanding, that when you're suffering, you can still have peace. It's this idea of wholeness. I hope that if you're suffering, you would be able to say, I'm in Christ, I have peace. I lost my job. No, no, I got fired from my job. Or I can't do this, or I can't do that. But you have Christ. And you have peace. There is a river, as it were, that flows through the very family room of God's house. And it offers peace. It's the rivers of Shalohah. The rivers that give us peace to all who are in Christ. To which you may wonder, what in the world does that mean? Or, how do I get into Christ? Is it a city I need to drive to? We turn to Romans chapter 5, and then we'll conclude this with some application. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, well everyone has faith, faith in the gospel that Paul has outlined in Romans 1 through 4. He has come to preach this good news to Jew and to Gentile, which is the power unto salvation to everyone who believes. You believe in the gospel of Christ, you are justified. You are declared righteous before the all-holy, sin-searching eye of Almighty God. You are declared holy. But it brings with it so much more than a declaration. Because remember, there is an enemy. He's anti-DK. He is constantly slandering you. And he's constantly saying, like in Zechariah 3, you're not worthy, or you're not a Christian. Uh-uh-uh. The gospel says, if we have believed in Christ, if we've called upon the name of the Lord, if we've repented of our sins and run to Christ for refuge, if we believe this good news, this gospel, it says we have been justified by faith, and we have what? Peace with who? With God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. And you stand in the house of grace. That's what verse two's saying, that's my paraphrase. You're justified and God gives you grace and peace. Precisely what these persecuted Christians needed. Sam Storm says this. Peter's omission of the word grace, may be his way of highlighting the spiritual serenity believers have in Christ. Okay, most letters begin, grace to you and peace, and then they end, grace and peace. Why does Peter not end with this benediction, grace and peace? Well, he already says we stand in God's grace, and in that grace, we have peace. That's the link. He's not forgetting about grace. He's just highlighting the peace that grace in Christ gives. Okay? He omits the word grace here, in this one verse, to highlight the beauty of peace that believers have in Christ, even in the face of constant persecution and societal ostracism. Well, let me conclude this. We've already gone through my three points, but that's not the application. That just helped us stay on track. Those were our guardrails to get us to the destination, the conclusion. The first thing I ask you, are you in Christ? If you're not in Christ, you have no peace. In the Old Testament, Isaiah says it twice. God is angry with the wicked, and they have no peace. Not in this life, and not in the age to come. It's one of the catechism questions our kids can recite. God is righteously angry, righteously angry with our sins. And he will punish them, both in this life and in the life to come. If you are outside of Christ, there is no peace. There is no peace, saith the Lord of hosts for the wicked. So I scare you this morning and say, come to Christ. He's offered you his grace. It's yours for the taking. Receive that grace. Be justified. Experience peace. If you have not peace, run to the Savior in faith. If you're not in Christ, then none of these three points of application are for you. You cannot do any of this if you're not in Christ. But if you have run to Christ for refuge, if you are now in the household of faith, Three things for you believers. First, in God's house, stand together, strong in God's grace. Stand strong, that's what Peter says, stand in it. Stand in his grace. Second, live together in God's love. And this is simple, but we need to hear it again. Stand together. in God's grace, live together in God's love, and finally, rest together in God's peace. Grace, love, peace, all for those who are in Christ. Peter is not writing to entertain these saints, but to edify them, and they need to be reminded that in Christ we have God's love, and His peace because of His grace. And what we have now in Christ, we are to now extend to our family and then to the world. You see how that works. What God has in the house, we're flavored by, and then we can now love one another, show peace to one another, extend grace to one another. And as we do so, maybe to close in the words of 1 Peter 2, It says, as you come to Him, you are like stones that are being added to God's building, His temple, His house. It says, as you come to Him, how do people come to Christ? As the church lives as she ought, in grace and love and peace. As she preaches the gospel in word and deed, stones, the elect stones, they're brought in, and Christ's house, it grows, and the gates of hell do not prevail against it. belittling this too much. Stand in God's grace, live in God's love, rest in God's peace. These are the, as it were, the various little blade plug-ins in God's house that we should be breathing in and influenced by. If you're not in Christ, I command you, turn from your sins, believe the gospel, come to the Savior. You will have peace and love and grace. like you would never understand. Lastly, the Lord's Table. Talk lots about family life. Families eat together. It's maybe not as glorious as we would think, at least not at the Case household. As I have, anyways. The Lord's Table, I want you to see, is not just between you and Jesus. It's a family meal. And the elders, we welcome believers to partake in this local church. And this family feast is meant to sustain us, just like Nathan actually providentially read from Matthew 14. God supernaturally sustains His people. He does so with this family feast. And as we take it together, I hope you understand that this is a welcome from God and from us. Let's pray and then we'll partake. Father, we want to thank you for your grace and love and peace in Christ. Lord, we know this letter has ultimately been about him. We're so thankful that he is the chief cornerstone. Not Grace Community, not the elders, not Sylvanus, not even Peter. Father, we're so thankful for this letter which just drove us to Christ. And I'm so thankful, Lord, though imperfectly, my heart has begun to long more for eternity, that you have strengthened at least my hope. And Lord, I ask as we continue to look to Christ by faith, that love would extend and that your elect would be saved. Oh, Jesus, come quickly. But until you do, Lord, would you give us the grace to stand together in that grace, live together in Christ's love, and rest together in His peace. Please, Holy Spirit, would you give us these fruits even this morning as we partake at the table? We ask in Jesus' name, amen.