Good morning. If you're able to, our scripture reading to introduce our series on the book of 1 Peter, actually we find ourselves in Mark and chapter 10. It may seem like a very peculiar passage to turn to, but I trust that there is a rhyme to my reason. Mark chapter 10. Verse 46 to the end of the chapter. This is God's word. Now they, and of course this is referring to Jesus and his band of disciples following him on the way to Jerusalem where he is preparing not only himself but them for his journey to the cross where he will die as the suffering servant, the son of man. who give his life as a ransom for many. That's verse 45. And then verse 46. And they came to Jericho. And as he, Jesus, was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And many were rebuking him, telling him to be silent. But he was crying out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. So Jesus stopped and said, call him. And they called the blind man saying to him, take heart, get up, he is calling you. And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, what do you want for me to do for you? And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, go your way. Your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. This is an interesting parable that Mark uses to close one of the most important teaching sections of his gospel account. I didn't read it, but this is what you would call an inclusio, that before Jesus is about to explain to his disciples what it means for him to be a Messiah, there's another healing of a blind man, and that's in Mark 8.22 and following. And what most commentators say Mark is doing here, and of course by Mark I mean Mark writing down likely what the Apostle Peter is telling him, And so here is Peter explaining to the early church that Jesus, as Messiah, is a suffering Messiah. And in the first healing account, we have a two-fold healing. There is a blind man, and he wants to be healed. And Jesus does heal him, but in two steps. In the first step, Jesus touches him, and the man afterwards is only able to vaguely see people who look like trees. And Jesus, as it were, has to touch him again that he might fully recover his sight. And right after this, Jesus has to explain three times to Peter and the disciples that as Messiah, he is going to suffer. That for him to be enthroned as king, for him to receive his kingdom, it is going to require his suffering. That he is going to be reviled, and slandered, and mocked, and ridiculed. And he is going to have to endure even physical suffering. And the Son of Man will then be handed over to the Gentiles to be crucified. And of course, on the third day, he'll be raised from the dead. But in Mark 8, Mark 9, and Mark 10, in increasing intensity, Jesus reminds Peter and the disciples that suffering is necessary for him as the suffering son. And that even the disciples themselves will have to learn that if they would seek to follow this Messiah, they too will suffer. That they too will drink of his cup. That they too will share in his baptism. And so the reason why I began our overview of 1 Peter with these parables is because so often we, like Peter, and we, like the disciples, need to learn about the necessity of suffering when it comes to our discipleship. That we, too, need to be reminded that if we are to follow Jesus to Jerusalem, we, too, are going to have to take up our cross, and we are going to have to deny ourselves. And that's what the letter of 1 Peter is all about. As Charles was leading us this morning, I quickly wrote in my notes that 1 Peter perhaps could be called a letter of hope to suffering exiles. And this is what we need. This is what we need in our day and age, that as suffering seems to be inevitable, as the government seems to increase its hostility, against Christianity, sometimes we're left wondering what in the world is God doing? And there's almost a sense of paralysis, of hopelessness. And yet Peter's letter, written to exiles, themselves undergoing fiery ordeals and grievous trials, it is filled with hope. And so the elders of Grace Community have intentionally decided that we want to share this hope that Peter writes about to us. As we're wondering, will persecution, will suffering be intensified for us or for our children? Will we be like those in the book of Revelation that Charles has read about? Will our prayers increasingly be characterized by relief from suffering, judgment upon the wicked? Will we ourselves endure this kind of suffering? If so, God in his kindness and in his wisdom has a gift for us. Many of the letters of the New Testament deal with suffering, but 1 Peter seems to deal with suffering almost more than any other letter in the New Testament. And so I hope as we work through this expositional series through it, it will become a letter of hope to you. Well, before we do an overview of it, let's pray and ask God quickly for his blessing. As we do an overview, we had intentionally decided just to rip through an exposition, but in God's kindness, we're going to just do a flyover and pick up on some of the themes that Peter is going to deal with over the next couple of months. But let's pray. Father, we are so thankful that you have not left us to ourself. that not only have you given us the Holy Spirit to come alongside us and to encourage us and to show us to Christ, but you've also given us His handwritten letter, even as Peter says in another letter, that the Spirit carried him and the prophets along, and that we have in the Word of God a more sure prophetic word, than if we were standing on the Mount of Transfiguration gazing upon Christ, that we have a sure word, we have true hope in the word of God in 1 Peter. And so Father, I pray that as Jesus opened up the eyes of blind Bartimaeus to see Jesus rightly and to follow him to Jerusalem, Father, would you increasingly open up our eyes that we too might see Christ as he really is in all of his suffering glory and all of his present glory as the seated and enthroned son of man. And we would count it all joy to suffer for righteousness sake, that we would follow Christ as we make our pilgrimage, our exodus from earth to heaven. Help us, Lord, to see that it is worth suffering for righteousness' sake. Would you show us this from the Word of God this morning? And as we study through 1 Peter, Father, the words of the psalmist are my prayer. Open up our eyes that we might behold wondrous things from your Word. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Peter, writing to a scattered group of exiles throughout what we would call modern-day Turkey, is writing as a shepherd. You pick this up actually in the very last chapter, where Peter actually describes himself, not as the apostle, but as a fellow elder, and as a witness of the sufferings of Christ. This is Peter, to whom Christ promised that when he himself had fallen and been restored, that he would himself strengthen the rest of the disciples. Well, Peter didn't just do that in the book of Acts. Peter is still continuing his ministry of strengthening, hurting disciples through this letter. And so he's exhorting the elders of the churches to whom he's writing. And he's doing so not from the lofty position of apostle, though he is one, He's doing so as he comes alongside these suffering leaders and these suffering Christians. And he comes alongside as a fellow elder and as a martyr, as a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Peter senses as a shepherd, as a pastor, that there seems to be some consternation. in the people of God. And that's because Peter senses in his own heart perhaps a looming crisis. Peter's writing most likely from Rome. Again in chapter five it says that he's greeting them from Babylon. And of course the Bible is full of all kinds of symbolic language. Almost every commentator I read believes that Peter's not literally writing from Babylon, but rather from Rome. And if you have to understand that, as you work through the Bible, that the world system, the city of man, has always carried with it various titles of whatever city seems to be the ruling power that is in opposition to God's people. Whether it's Egypt, or whether it's Edom, or whether it's Babylon, or in the book of Revelation, Rome. Peter is saying that he himself is writing from the epicenter of godlessness or the very epicenter of worldly opposition to the kingdom of God. He's writing from Babylon. He's writing from Rome. And he's writing to people who had been scattered, 1 Peter 1.1, those who had been dispersed in what we would call modern day Turkey. and that they were living as exiles, foreigners, that they were living as sojourners in a foreign land, as it were. Well, Peter, acting as a faithful pastor, wants to shepherd Christ's sheep. through the valley, the dark valley that it seems they're about to enter into. Now, of course, suffering has characterized Christ and his church since its inception. However, it seems that Peter senses the looming storm on the horizon. The pastors of Grace Community, though not prophets per se, wonder if there's also a looming storm on the horizon. That yes, there is a form of persecution that we are walking through, but we wonder if the storm clouds are intensifying and a deluge of persecution awaits Christ's people in this church. Well, whether or not that is true or not, Peter is still addressing this thorny issue of persecution. and he addresses it, he comforts them, he admonishes them, he teaches them. Through this letter, Peter wants to prepare the church for an intensification of suffering. Well, that's what we're hoping to accomplish through this expositional series as well. Most scholars date that Peter wrote this letter sometime around AD 62-63, about two years before a very famous fire would take place in Rome. See, a couple of years after Peter writes this letter, Nero, the wicked emperor, he caused Rome to burn, and he placed the blame squarely on the Christians, which unleashed almost an empire-wide persecution upon the Christians. And they began to systematically persecute the Christians. And so Peter's writing before that, but he almost senses that something is going to happen. Something is going to be unfurled, unleashed upon the church. And so he wants, as it were, this army to prepare themselves. Persecution was already wearing the believers down. And so Peter needs not only to strengthen them in their current sufferings, he also wants to prepare them for the fiery trials that await them in the future. At the time, Peter's audience seems to be suffering mostly with regards to social ostracization. As we read through, we're going to see that there's not a lot of, say, martyrdom. We're not sure that people were losing their lives, at least en masse. But we see throughout that these minority Christians, this small little cluster of believers, were being mocked, laughed at, that they were being regarded as a bunch of people who didn't fit society or the cultural norms. They were publicly slandered and shamed. They were treated like outcasts in a society and culture that esteemed fitting in among the elite as one of the most important aspirations in life. And I was studying sort of the culture to which Peter was writing into. And you see in Roman culture, if you really wanted to be regarded as someone special, you needed to push Roman culture and Roman politics. And if you did not, fit into that, if you do not follow in that wake, that you would be publicly shamed. And the reason I mention this is not just to use up time, but to remind us that there's nothing new under the sun, that I believe we ourselves live in that kind of cultural setting. That if you don't follow all that the government seems to be imposing and all of the narrative that they are preaching, if you're not saying that our hope is in government, you can be cancelled. You can be publicly shamed. Now they didn't have Facebook or Twitter. They didn't have social media. But if they did, I believe the Christians would sense probably a lot of the ostracization we feel for maybe not holding to the common view that is being propounded by government, by Hollywood, by media, by the news sources. And so if you feel that pressure that is coming from the government and from the culture. If you sense an increasing hostility that shames Christians, as those who are troublemakers or goody-two-shoes, do you understand that you find yourself in good company with the audience that Peter is writing to? That if you feel the pressure of maybe losing your job, for saying that a man is a man and a woman is a woman, or for saying that marriage is God's ordinance from creation between one man and one woman. If you actually have the audacity to say that killing children is wrong, do understand that there could be consequences at a societal and cultural level. And yet, As Peter says, this is no strange trial. Peter writes actually in the very last chapter to these suffering Christians. He says that your sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world, but this is something that is part and parcel with being a Christian. It's what Peter needed to learn in Mark 8, and it's what he's teaching us in these five chapters of his letter. And so if you feel the pressure of looming, impending judgment, impending persecution, I hope Peter will encourage you. Now, before we get into the overview, I do want to address two things. That when we're persecuted, when we're suffering for the sake of Christ's name, there are two wrong responses. And Peter actually addresses them. There are two responses to suffering that are wrong. And I sense that already in the last year, a lot of professing Christians have actually began to sort of gravitate towards one of these two wrong or erroneous poles. The first is assimilation. That is, you become like the culture through shameful compromise. Over and over we're going to see that Peter's saying, do not revert back to your old pagan idolatrous ways. Do not try to fit in just so that the people will not persecute you. Laugh at the dirty jokes. Don't stand up to the satanic worldview that is being espoused. Peter does not want believers to fold under the pressure that culture's exerting on them. Do you understand that the pressure you feel to conform to the popular culture is something that the original believers and the original audience to whom Peter is writing, they felt that pressure. And I am quite certain they were tempted immensely just to kind of lighten up on their convictions. One of the ways that they could regain acceptance into culture was to compromise their Christian convictions, to increasingly return to their pre-Christian way of life. And Peter says, do not do it. The he who called you is holy, therefore be holy in all of your conduct. For if you lose your holiness, if you lose your set-apartedness, you will do no good to the culture that is around you. You will not glorify God and you will not be a witness to the world. Well, the first danger, the first pull, the first ditch that is to be avoided is assimilation into the culture. Do not be like them. Second, the second error on the other side of the spectrum is to retreat from culture or to fight against it. to return insult for insult, slander for slander, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. And Peter says, do not do that, follow rather the example of Christ. He didn't retreat from culture, rather he confronted it. And so we have to make sure that as the culture begins to ramp up, it's a pressure on us that we not assimilate into that culture, but that we also not retreat away from it in cowardly compromise. What is the solution? Well, it is to confront the culture through godly living and gospel preaching. It's the hard thing to do, but believers transform culture by living transformed lives that follow in the steps of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Frank Thielman says this, Peter wants to take his readers off the defensive, right, not retreating or not compromising by assimilation, that's a defensive posture. Peter wants to take his readers off the defensive and encourage them to engage in active witness, both through their gospel conversations and their gospel conduct. Perhaps like no other time in our history, we are living in a cultural climate that closely resembles that of 1 Peter. And so, if we would be faithful followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would do well to, one, listen intently, two, learn from eagerly, and three, live out confidently the glorious gospel truths in this short epistle. So how do we do so? How are we to Be equipped, or in the language of Peter, how are we to prepare ourselves for a future that likely includes trials of suffering and persecution for Christ? Well, how does Peter prepare his readers for persecution? Well, the answer is found in two verses, and I'll quickly read them and pass on, but look in verse 13, right after, Peter works through all the gospel indicatives of who they are in Christ, what their new identity is as followers of Christ. He has therefore, he's reminded them that they're suffering as followers of Christ. And he says, in light of all of these glorious gospel truths, prepare your minds for action and be sober minded. Did you catch that? Prepare your minds for action. Literally in the Greek, gird up the loins of your mind. This is battle language. This is what you want to do if you want to wage war effectively. See, back then, they would wear robes, and you can't run or fight if you're tripping all over the place, if your feet are constantly caught up in it. And so Peter's trying to say, clarify your thinking, get rid of all the chaff, all the things that detract from a singular purpose of living for Christ, Get rid of those things. Strengthen your minds. Prepare them. This takes intentionality. Be sober-minded. Be clear-minded. Be singularly focused. This is how we prepare for persecution. We prepare our minds. He says the same thing, actually, in chapter four. Notice again, the word therefore. He hammers through the gospel. He's just talked about Christ again, who has shed his blood on the cross for his people to bring us to God, that he has conquered all of our spiritual foes in the heavenly places, that he is sovereign and cosmic king, subjected all things under his feet. He says, therefore, in light of this, just as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. For whoever suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. And so if we are to live lives that give honor to Christ in the midst of intensified persecution, we need to start with right thinking. We need to arm our minds we need to think God's thoughts after Him. In other words, before we can live rightly in suffering, we must first think rightly about suffering. And so that's what I want to do in this quick overview, as we sort of fly over the letter. We're going to dig in more specifically in months to come of these points, but as we fly over, this is sort of a quick overview of what we're getting ourselves into. It's sort of like when the waiter comes out and explains to you what the course and sequence of meals is going to look like. Well, that's what I plan to do now. It's like the pilot saying, here is what the next five hours of your flight are going to entail, while this is what the next four months of preaching on Sunday mornings will entail. Here are some essential truths about suffering to help arm ourselves, to think sober-mindedly. in this world. First, first truth that we're going to learn in Peter's epistle, the better we know who God is, the better prepared we are to suffer for him. You're not gonna suffer for Christ well if you don't understand who Christ is and what he has done. And so, Peter wants to show us the glory of who the triune God is. And as we are so filled with his majesty and as we see him truly as he is, we will gladly suffer for him. When we truly understand the beauty of Christ on the cross, we will pick it up and follow him. The first thing we need to understand is, who is God? Well, it's no surprise then at the very beginning of the letter, the first thing Peter reminds these suffering saints is, who is God? Well, he's the triune God. who saves his elect. We'll get into it more, but he's the father who forloves. He's the spirit who sanctifies. And he's the son who sprinkles his blood for redemption. That he is the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That he is the father of glory. And so we're going to really dig into the person of God. who he is as Father and Son and Holy Spirit as we work through this epistle. Peter wants these believers who feel like they're being unfairly singled out by their persecutors to realize that they have already been unfairly singled out by God's electing grace. We're going to see that the doctrine of election is actually a glorious pillow to lay our heads upon. and that the God who has allowed them to suffer is the same God who has set his effective love upon them in eternity past. He's going to show us that the all-sovereign God of our salvation is also the all-wise God of our sanctification. Notice in verse six, Peter says, in this you rejoice though now for a little while, if necessary you have been grieved by various trials see God knows what is necessary to bring about his intended purpose for his elect that he has set us apart for obedience and to increase our obedience and to increase our holiness our conformity into Christ the all sovereign God all wisely plans persecution, plans, sufferings. Do you understand that if you are a Christian and you are going through a trial, irrespective of how fiery it is or how grievous it might be, it is necessary. But the God who has ordained this trial for you has loved you with an everlasting love, that he set you apart and he regenerated you and he called you to Christ who died on the cross for your sins. The sovereign God, says Peter, faithfully orders all grief and all trials into the lives of his people for his glory. And they're good. Since it is only through God's word that we come to taste more of his goodness, Peter reminds us that God designs our trials to make us yearn and long for the pure spiritual milk of the word that remains forever. And that's how he ends the chapter. He says, the grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this is the good news that was preached to you. And what Peter is doing is saying that God, in his wisdom, through trials and through suffering, through persecution, drives us to learn who God is. And we learn who God is through his word, which is why chapter two begins with saying, like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation. if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. And so as we sort of feast on God's word, we're gonna learn who God is, and that will gird up our minds. It will help us prepare for battle, prepare for persecution. Well, the first thing then, that first Peter is going to show us, is that the better we know who God is, the better prepared we are to suffer for him. First Peter shows us that the better we understand who we are in Christ, the better we can suffer for Him. Not only does Peter show us who God is, he also shows us who we are in relationship to God by virtue of our union in Christ. And so, put on your seatbelts, I'm going to quickly rip through all of the glorious things Peter says are true about Christians. If you're in Christ this morning, and especially if you're in a trial, whether that be physical or emotional or psychological or spiritual, if you are suffering in any way, I pray that this little list will remind you that God loves you in Christ, and that you are to not determine His love for you through the lens of trials, but rather look through your trials through the lens of God's love. First of all, in Christ, these believers are elect. Verse one of chapter one. Second, they have been foreloved by the Father, set apart by the Spirit, and redeemed by the Son. Chapter 1, verse 2. They were monergistically born again. Now let me rephrase that. You were monergistically born again to a living hope. Chapter 1, verse 3. If you're in Christ, you are heirs of an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance reserved for you in heaven that no man can snatch. Chapter 1, verse 4. If you are in Christ, you are being guarded by God's omnipotent power for end-time salvation. Chapter 1, verse 5. In Christ, you are a recipient of the grace of Christ that all of the Old Testament prophesied. Angels longed and yearned to see what the prophets were writing. And you, in this end time, those suffering, are the envy of angels and of Old Testament saints. That's glorious. Chapter 1, verse 12. If you are in Christ, you are one of God's children. Chapter 1, verse 14. And now can call God your father. Chapter 1, verse 17. If you are in Christ, Peter says, you have been ransomed from your futile ways by the precious blood of Christ. Chapter 1, verse 18 and 19. If you are in Christ, you are now a living stone in God's holy temple. You are a holy priest able to offer up to God spiritual sacrifices that please Him. Chapter 2, verse 5. Listen to this. You might even want to just read it with me. That though they're being mocked, though they're being slandered, though they're being dishonored, 2, 7, Listen to what God says about you. Don't listen to what society says about you. Listen to what God says about you. It will help you to endure suffering. Speaking to the suffering saints, the persecuted church, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Moreover, Peter says in chapter two, that you have received Christ's healing forgiveness at the cost of his own wounds, 224. 225 says, you are sheep who belong to Christ, who has become the shepherd of your soul. Chapter three continues. Peter says that if you're in Christ, God's favor rests upon you. He not only hears your prayers, he answers them. Chapter three, verse 12. Through Christ's death for his people, if you belong to Christ, you have been brought to God. 318. Chapter four says that because we belong to Christ, we are blessed when we suffer for Him. Christ only sanctifies suffering for one set of people, those who belong to Him. Suffering is wasted, as it were, for those who don't belong to Christ. But if you are in Christ, there's a special blessing if you suffer. Oh, how that should change how you view things. Chapter four says that we have in Christ received God's grace to serve our brothers and sisters, something we could never do. That we're in this new family that God has caused us to be born again as his children, but he brings us into his family and he gives us grace to serve. Not only to witness to the world, but to serve our brothers and sisters, which of course are not mutually exclusive. Chapter 4 says that as we suffer as God's people in Christ, the spirit of God's glory rests upon us. The very spirit of glory that rested upon Moses, and upon which we see in Psalm 27, which we will read next week, David yearned for. It rests upon us, and especially in suffering for Christ. See how Peter is arming our minds? If you understand that suffering brings a peculiar blessing, and that God's glory rests upon us, especially in suffering, we will not run from it so quickly. God promises that after His people have suffered a little while, He, in His grace, will quote, restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. You have a living hope in Christ. And finally, It's almost quick to pass over, but the very last verse of 1 Peter says, peace to all of you who are in Christ. In Christ we have peace with God, even if the world is rocking and reeling and scoffing and scorning, we have peace with God in Christ. Well, let me just quickly quote Kostenberger. He says, to equip the believers to endure in difficult times, Peter reminds them not only of who they were, but also of whose they were. Then and only then will Christians be able to face their situation properly from this vantage point. Or as another commentator says, Peter repeatedly calls believers to live in accord with their new status. Well, we're going to learn throughout 1 Peter, what is our new status in Christ? To which I would ask, are you in Christ? It might have seemed that the last five, 10 minutes were somewhat tenuous or unnecessary, but all of these privileges, all of these Christ privileges, only belong to those who belong to him. And I would ask, do you belong to Christ? Are you in Christ? Have you repented of your sins? Have you followed him in faithful obedience as you've believed on the gospel, taken up your cross, and have set your face like a flint to the new Jerusalem? Well, thirdly, Peter reminds us that suffering for Christ provides evidence that one belongs to Christ. Many people suffer, and Peter notes that. He says, but don't suffer like a fool. Don't suffer like unbelievers. However, if you do suffer for Christ, it indicates that you belong to Christ. Chapter two, verse 21. For to this you have been called. Again, this is Peter arming you. because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. If you're suffering for God, then you're following in the steps of Christ, Christ himself. He bore the insults and the slanders of unbelievers. He bore them on himself. All the hatred of sinners towards God, Christ bore on himself. And Peter is saying that if we belong to Christ that we will then also share in those sufferings as we follow in his footsteps. This is why believers ought not to think something strange is happening to them when they suffer for Christ and in Christ. Peter is going to remind us that suffering is not the exception for God's people, but rather the norm. Therefore, Peter says in chapter four, verse 19, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. See, suffering drives us to Christ. It makes us desperate to be in his word, and it makes us run to him. Well, thankfully, we'll see that just as glory followed suffering for Jesus, so also glory will follow those who suffer for him in this life. These trials, though necessary, are short-lived, and they will be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Christ is revealed. Fourthly, suffering for Christ on earth makes us long more for Christ in heaven. We need to speed up, but we're going to understand here that God often shakes the tree of our comfort in this world through trials to drive us from the tree of this world to the tree of our eternal home, Christ. In times of ease, it's very easy with Israel of old to set our hopes on the things of this earth. But suffering reminds Christians that their only living and their only lasting hope is in the risen and reigning Lord Jesus Christ. We have been called to a living hope, and that hope is found in the living Christ. Trials drive us to Christ. They make us yearn for more of Christ. They make us yearn for more of heaven and less of this world. And as we live in light of our certain future, Peter says in chapter 1 verse 8, it transforms how we live. Listen. Though you have not seen him, right, we're longing for him. Trials make us yearn more for him who is in heaven. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Trials will make us love Christ more. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and Rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and glorified. We'll look at that more, but this is a glory, a heavenly joy. We taste of it now, but we yearn for it in its fullness, which will be ours in the presence of Christ. When we obtain the outcome of our faith, the salvation, of our soul. So suffering for Christ on earth also makes us long more for Christ in heaven. Fifth, we're almost done. Suffering for Christ is meant to make us holy like Christ. Almost the same as the last point. We yearn for more of Christ in heaven, but as we yearn for more of Christ in heaven, we come more like Christ on earth. As a metallurgist uses fire to burn away the unnecessary and useless dross to produce a valuable gold, so God intends Charles to make his people increasingly holy like his son. He is the sinless and spotless one, Hebrew says. Well, again, God is testing our faith and making it more genuine, that he's refining our faith and refining and reforming our character through his favorite chisel and hammer set trials. Quickly, I'm just going to read two verses in chapter four. Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourself with the same way of thinking. Why? For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Suffering makes us cease from sin. It causes us to live the rest of our time in the flesh no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. We don't understand it yet, but as we study, we will begin to increasingly see how God uses trials to make us put to death sin and to make us yearn to become holy, even as God who called us is holy. Trials do that. Suffering for Christ is meant to make us holy like Christ. Sixth, faithful suffering for Christ is evangelistic. Some of us want to reach the world for Christ. Instead of withdrawing from society, Peter says believers are to live out their lives under the close scrutiny of unbelievers. Chapter two, verse 12, chapter three, verse two. And so things like verbal abuse should not prompt a retreat from the world, but rather a renewed determination to do what is good, and in particular, develop an ethic of non-retaliation. Peter says repeatedly in this world that when you are persecuted, do not respond in kind, but respond with kindness. That though we are being persecuted for Christ, we are to endure this as an opportunity to witness for him. 212, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation, either in salvation or in damnation. Do you understand that for them to see our good deeds, we cannot run into little reclusive communities that avoid the world? No, we endure this. And we, in the gospel, respond as Christ would have us. Chapter 3, verse 14 through 17. Even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. So have no fear of them, nor be troubled. But in your hearts, set apart Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame, for it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will, then for doing evil. Chapter 4, 11, it says, nope, that's a wrong passage. Let's just press on. As believers faithfully follow in Christ's footsteps, Peter hopes that some of the persecutors and detractors will be won over and led to glorify God in their conversion. So faithful suffering for Christ is meant to be evangelistic. People are going to watch how we respond to their slanders and their insults. People are going to watch how we respond, how the government maybe begins to clamp down on Christians. People are watching, and we pray that they will see in us an otherworldly wisdom, that they will see the spirit of God and his glory resting upon us. Lastly, there's much more, but I think we'll close with the number of perfection and completion. Seventhly, Christians suffer together best as a family. A commentator says this, an important aspect of living set apart from the world is living together in the community of faith. I'm gonna say that again. Because often in persecution, what I've noticed as a pastor is that often we try to run away from the church. What Peter is reminding us is that rather we are to embrace the church because it is a means by which God strengthens us and equips us and gives us solidarity as common exiles in a world that rejects us. Barclay says, an important aspect of living set apart from the world is living together in the church. Though Peter's instructions for living together as God's people are punctuated throughout the entire letter, two images stand out. The church as God's temple and the church as God's family. Peter says in chapter four, verse seven, the end of all things is at hand. Right, this is pretty intense language. The end is upon us. Therefore, again, same idea, be self-controlled, be sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, how do we arm ourselves? Yes, with the word of God, but also within the church of God. Listen, above all, keep on loving one another earnestly. He's writing to Christians who gather together. Since love covers a multitude of sins, so hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace. No one knows the importance of community better than exiles living together in a foreign land. For those who refuse to compromise their mission, either by assimilation or withdrawal, they will most certainly need the family of God, the Church, if they are to endure their own gospel suffering faithfully. I want to encourage you. You are going to be tempted to run from the Church. I'm quite certain that if persecution intensifies upon Christ and his people, it's actually going to drive us to the church. And I want to encourage you to find that refuge, Lord's Day by Lord's Day, as we gather and have this, as it were, special meal that the Romans don't understand, that the culture does not participate in. Peter is going to show us that Christians suffer well and best as a family. We're going to realize from First Peter how essential it is to have a right to ecclesiology. The last year has been tragic for so many reasons to the church. I think the number one thing that COVID has revealed is that the church does not understand what the church is or who she is. I think the church has had a weak and unbiblical ecclesiology. Well, as we study through 1 Peter, we are going to seek to rectify that problem, to correct it, to hold the church up and say, this is God's glorious temple, and we live together as living stones, that we live together as a special covenant family. Well, let me conclude then, maybe by just reviewing the eight points, First, if we want to suffer well, we need to know who God is. Second, we need to understand who we are in Christ. Third, we need to understand that suffering is part and parcel of belonging to Christ. We need to realize that suffering is used by God to make us yearn for Christ in heaven. To realize that suffering is God's gift to make us holy like Christ. That suffering is to be evangelistic. And lastly, that suffering is best endured in the context of a church family. Well, Peter concludes his letter with words like this. I exhort you and declare to you that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. We're reminded in 1 Peter that we are in a spiritual war and that the only way we can not only stand firm throughout and in this war, is to prepare our minds for action. And we prepare our minds for action by yearning, and feeding, and obeying, and standing, and living in this abiding Word of God. My prayer simply is this, that as we work through 1 Peter, you will hunger for God and His Word, and that you will be better equipped and prepared that you will live sober-mindedly in this dark and corrupt generation, that we would shine as God's lights. Father, we want to thank you for 1 Peter. We pray that as we slow down the pace and dig in, as we learn at the feet of Peter the Apostle, that you would help us, Lord, to be sober-minded, that we would think rightly about the gospel of who you are and what you've done for us and who we are and how we are to live. Would you help us, Lord, to live rightly in this world? Though we don't know, perhaps persecution will not intensify, but perhaps it will. And if it does, Lord, would you sanctify to us our deepest distresses? May we see them, Lord, through the lens of the gospel. as a great gift from your son to your people to make us holy. Father, we love you. I pray that throughout first Peter, you will be saving your elect and they will be sensing your unchanging love for them, that they will appreciate more deeply the shed blood of Christ. And that through this, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, will be evident in our lives. Father, we love you and we thank you. I ask that you would gather us here next Lord's Day to begin studying 1 Peter with ready hearts and eager minds and ready feet. Father, we ask this in Christ's name and for his glory. Amen.