We want to thank you for listening to this week's sermon from Harvest Bible Chapel, Kansas City. We pray that you will be encouraged and challenged by God's Word today. If you would like more information about Harvest, please visit our website at www.harvestkansascity.org. My name is Ben Arant, and I am the Director of Worship here at Harvest for the last four years, and it's just been a true blessing and honor and privilege for me to be in that role. So kind of going forward today, if you see me doing weird things with my hands, it's because I don't have my security blanket. So just a FYI there. But before we get going here this morning, I would love to just take a brief moment for an illustration and invite up two special guests. If you guys will humor me for a minute, I've always wanted to do this. Okay. All right. You ready? Okay. What's your name? Emily. What's your name? Roman. Uh-huh. How old are you, Emily? Three. How old are you, Roman? Four and a half. Oh, four and a half. All right, all right. Okay, I've got some questions for you. What are some of your favorite foods? Mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. Oh, yeah. Okay. So I got a question. Here, watch out. Come over here, Roman. If Daddy was going to take you on a date somewhere to get mac and cheese, where would you want to go? Panera. Yeah, where would you want to go? Panera. Oh yeah, okay. So let's say we went to mac and cheese. We went to Panera and you guys both got big, huge bowls of mac and cheese. Do you think you would eat all of it or just a little? All of it. All of it. Oh yeah, okay. So let's say you were eating all your mac and cheese, and there was one noodle left on the bottom of the bowl. Do you think you would just throw your bowl away, or do you think you'd go after that last noodle and beast it? Beast it. Oh yeah. Would you beast it, Rome? Oh yeah. All right, good job. Go down, come on. Pregnant wife carrying two kids. Woo! Three kids. Good point. All right, so besides the kind of obvious street cred I get for inviting my two kids up here for the illustration for Cuteness Factor, there's a reason I wanted to start out by giving you that illustration, and that's this. We've gone through 1 Peter, the book of 1 Peter, over the last number of weeks. And in my mind, as I thought about that, I realized that, you know what? It's been a feast for us and it's kind of like a big bowl of panera mac and cheese that we've been able to feast on over the last number of weeks. And today, this is that last noodle. Right? And so let's get after that last noodle here today. Let's resolve together to not throw our bowls of mac and cheese away before getting that last noodle and go after it together. You guys ready? All right, let me pray. God, we're thankful and grateful that we get to be here this morning, that we get to dig into your word, that we've experienced worship so grateful for the things that you've allowed us to do already here this morning. We pray that this would be a profitable time for us to open our hearts, open our minds as we open your word and for us to grow in light of what we hear this morning. And I do also pray selfishly for myself. I know that there's a temptation in this position to seek the approval of man and I just pray that you would help me rest in the fact that I'm approved in you and you've helped me prepare this message and this is for you and through you and to you this morning. In Jesus' name, Amen. All right, so here we are. We've reached the end of 1 Peter. And over the past 10 weeks, it's been a pretty awesome opportunity for us to dig in. And I'm the one who's supposed to close this thing out. I'm like, what? You know, it's really, it's an amazing privilege and opportunity and responsibility that I get to, as an imperfect person, communicate the perfect truths of God's word. And you know, a group of us over the past number of weeks on Wednesday mornings, we got together and we discussed these passages. We dug into the text and we learned how to better rightly divide God's word together. And I can tell you firsthand that the men that sat around that table and the men who have come before me and preached are extremely godly men whom I really look up to. And so to that end, I thought, you know, as I went back through the last 10 weeks and I started listening to some of the sermons, I thought, well, how about I do this? How about I just get the best nugget from every sermon, put it all together in one, and preach that? I was like, how can I go wrong with that, right? No, okay, I won't do that this morning. But the reality is there have been some truly powerful messages that have been preached. And I would encourage you, if you've missed any of those messages, to go back on our website. Listen, be fed and encouraged by these messages. So now here we are, the end of 1 Peter. And I want us to really get a sense of Peter's direction this morning. And so I want us to open our Bibles to 1 Peter, chapter five, starting in verse six. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and ushers will come down and grab you one, or give you one, I should say. And so we're just going to read through the first five verses together in the text here this morning, and then we'll press on. You guys ready? All right. Starting in verse 6, 1 Peter chapter 5 says this. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. You know, Nick did a pretty awesome job last week just delivering the truth of God's word to us in the first five verses, and one of the things he touched on was clothing yourself in humility. And really, this idea is really gonna help springboard us into our text here this morning, and specifically, at the end of verse five, there's a famous phrase that I'm sure a lot of you know that says, God opposes the? And gives grace to the? Right. And really, I believe that this phrase is not only key to understanding our passage here this morning, but I believe that it's key to understanding really the fullness of 1 Peter as a book. And really, you can see, starting in verse 6, that there's really a new idea by the word therefore, but it's really still linked to the verses that came before it, and specifically verse 5. So what I want us to do as we head forward is I want us to put verse 5 in our back pocket as we head on, and we'll definitely reference it and come back to it because it's directly, like I said, it's directly linked. You know, as I looked at all the main ideas of each sermon over the past 10 weeks, and I listened back to many of the messages preached over the past 10 weeks, I began to see sort of an underlying theme emerge from the text and from Peter's letter. And yes, our theme over the past number of weeks has been stand firm, and yes, Peter has been writing this letter to encourage and strengthen the believers in their tribes. but like an arrow shot through the letter, humility really accompanies and parallels a lot of Peter's main ideas. Then he finally gets to the end and it really becomes the main part of the verses that follow. And so that's really where I want to start. That's my big idea in the text. This is kind of the overall idea of where we're going to go. And let me just tell you this real quick, and then we'll move forward. My big idea here, and the big idea of the text is this. Humility is the arrow that guides us to the place where we can stand firm in the true grace of God. Let me say that again. Humility is the arrow that guides us to the place where we can stand firm in the true grace of God. So let's follow that arrow this morning as we dig into the text and into God's word on a deeper level, starting with point number one, which is humble yourself, knowing your place. Starting in verse six, it says, Okay, let's stop right there. You can almost see the same language beautifully spoken in James 4.10, where it says, Well, what does he mean by humble yourself? Well, what this really means is to willingly, key word, submit and acknowledge our place by placing ourselves under. You know, how often in our lives do we submit to something or someone but with bad motives or a begrudging spirit? But no, Peter says here to willingly submit, to humble yourself and acknowledge our place by placing ourselves under. Well, under what? He goes on to say the mighty hand of God. Now, as I studied this, this phrase really intrigued me, and I kept coming back to it. And I think it really has huge implications, not only for the life of the believer, but also for the life of the unbeliever. Now, follow me on this. Here's the reality. we truly believe in a sovereign God, like we have so obviously seen in 1 Peter alone, as well as books we've studied in the past, like Jonah and Genesis, then we need to concede and understand that we, all in this room, are under God's mighty hand. But what does being under his mighty hand or his hand look like? And honestly, you don't see the phrase God's mighty hand or his mighty hand used like this anywhere else in the New Testament. But to get some biblical insight into God's character, I want us to take us briefly back to the Old Testament and look how it's used there. Now, you don't have to turn there, but we're going to head back just quickly to Exodus, and I'll read you a couple verses. Exodus 3.20 says this. But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. After that, he will let you go. And then Exodus 6, verse 6 says this. You know, there is an obvious, stark contrast from how the Egyptians were under God's mighty hand and how the Israelites were under God's mighty hand. And to really explain this, I'm going to take us briefly to one of the commentaries that I read about this section. And it says this, upon men in a way of chastisement presses sore, and in a way of punishment presses down, crushing to pieces. But in a humble manner, it is safe and profitable. Let that sink in for just a moment. So the question is, what does being under God's mighty hand look like for you and for me? Because here's the thing about God's mighty hand. You can only be under it in one of two ways. And you know how I mentioned that verse five was important to our text? Here is the hard reality this morning. that we can only be under God's hand in opposition or humility. Verse five, God gives grace to the humble, but he opposes the proud. And if you have not accepted God's gift for salvation, if you have not admitted that you're a sinner, if you've not believed in your heart that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave for your sins and confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, then you are categorically in opposition to God. And if not in this life, in the next, he will crush you. But, One of the most important parts in all of scripture. Take heart because there is grace. In fact, we will clearly see that played out in verse 10 where it says that we have a God of all grace who is calling you to himself. Will you put your trust in him this morning? And then there's an incredible encouragement for the believer. When you are under God's mighty hand in a trial in humility, it is, as Jeff said a number of weeks ago, God's best for you. It is a safe and profitable place. Do you believe that? Now does it always feel good? No. But it is safe and it is profitable. Are you under God's hand in opposition this morning? Or are you under his hand in humility? Because here's the deal. In humility, there is massive benefit. Not only for salvation, but it continues to the practical everyday life. And he and Peter continues in verse seven, and he says, Isn't that a massive comfort? I think Peter probably had in mind Psalm 55, 22 when he wrote this. And that says, cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. We have a God who tells us to come before him in humility and cast our cares for he cares. Just let that sink in for a moment. We do not worship some distant cosmic ruler of the universe. We worship a God who is well acquainted with our worries and still calls us to lay them at his feet. And listen, here's the flip side. The flip side is pride. John Piper explains it this way. Of course, I had to get my token John Piper quote in the sermon. But I really want you to pay attention to what he says here. Now, why is casting our anxieties on the Lord the opposite of pride? Because pride does not like to admit it has any anxieties. or that we can't take care of them ourselves. And if pride has to admit that its fears are unmanageable, it still does not like to admit that the remedy might be trusting in someone else who is wiser and stronger. In other words, pride is a form of unbelief that does not like to trust in God for his future grace. Faith, on the other hand, admits the need for help. Pride won't. Faith banks on God to give help. Pride won't. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won't. So believer, are you casting your anxieties on the Lord? And if you cannot say yes to that question, then maybe pride is hindering you from fully submitting to Christ and your life. We need to know our place. You know, as I was thinking about this text, I was reminded of a story. A few months ago, I decided to have the crazy idea of putting a city league basketball team together. And so I asked a couple people from the church, and there was a few of them in the congregation for service. I don't know if there's any second. So I put this team together and we didn't have enough players so we started reaching out to some other people. And we got this team together and we all just showed up on the first night to play. And I get there and I'm like, I don't know you, I don't know you, I don't know you. I realized a couple things very quickly. I realized A, that it's gonna be really difficult for us because we've never played with one another. And B, that I was not the best person on the team. So what I had to do in that moment is I had to make a decision. I had to either humble myself and know my place and kind of submit to where I was supposed to be with the team so that we could succeed and win games and be our best unit together or I could have developed a LeBron complex. There's one problem with that, I'm not LeBron. So I decided to do the latter, and I tried to figure out the best way to humble myself, submit myself to the team, and try to figure out how do we work this thing out and find my place on the team. And in case you're wondering, we did make it to the championship game, and we lost to some very large human beings. So, but don't miss the whole point here, right? Pride or humility? Do you know your place here this morning? Because Peter obviously knows full well that pride is the enemy of all believers, but he also knows that we have another enemy, which leads me to my next point, point number two, humble yourself, knowing your enemy. Peter knows that in our attempt to humble ourselves that there is an adversary that feeds off of pride and prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, like it says in verse 8. So what does he do? He gives us a couple imperative instructions right off the bat. He says, be sober-minded and watchful. You know, he's pretty serious about this sober-minded business. He mentions it two other times in 1 Peter alone. And really, this word has the connotations of being the opposite of intoxicated. Being of sound mind, sound judgment, and vigilant. You know, I was reminded this past week of a story of a famous general named Stonewall Jackson. How many of you have heard that dude? Well, this guy was one of the most bold and successful generals of the South. By 1862, he was recognized as one of the most effective commanders of the Confederate Army. He was leading his forces to some of the most brilliant victories, and his campaign was just far and above many, many others. And so this guy was thought to be untouchable, right? I mean, he's this just powerful general of the South and one day he was pursuing the Union soldiers and it was getting dark and it was hazy and the soldiers were getting tired and started to get disoriented and then all of a sudden, boom, they shot his own, his own soldiers shot Stonewall Jackson. They thought he was the enemy, right? So the reason I say that is because we can oftentimes neglect to be sober-minded. We can be disoriented, we can be lazy and tired and distracted, and we can give the enemy a foothold. If we're not being sober-minded and watchful, we can really open the door to dangers in our lives. In our particular instance in verse eight, Peter knows that anxieties can flood our souls and make room for the enemy to get a foothold in our life. So he says, again, be sober-minded or vigilant by practicing self-restraint with the aim of godliness. Can you honestly look at your life and say that you are practicing self-restraint, being sober-minded and watchful, really so as to pursue godliness and holiness? Because here's the deal, Peter knew that it was a weakness that they had, which is why he's saying it. And God knows it's a weakness that we have. Anxiety's in some form or another plague every human in this fallen world, and we need to be reminded of what Ephesians 6.12 says. It says this, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Because here's the reality, what does God say to Satan in Job 1, verse 7? He said, from where have you come? Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it. Listen, we have an adversary. He is real and he does prowl. Peter knows this. So he goes even a step further and gives us another imperative right in the beginning of verse nine. He says, resist him. or stand and oppose him, firm in the faith, or persevering in the faith. Sounds a little bit like our theme for the entire book, doesn't it? And remember what I just said a minute ago from Ephesians 6-12 about not wrestling with flesh and blood? Well, the context of that verse is the section of putting on the whole armor of God, and the previous two verses, 10 and 11, say this, finally, Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Now some of you may have heard this story already, but a group of our students from HSM went down this past summer on a mission trip down to the DR. And while they were down there, they decided to go to a zoo on one of the days. And I will just say this. I wasn't there, but I've heard, and I've seen some pictures, that this zoo was not your typical American-type zoo, in that the enclosures were maybe less enclosed than you would probably expect. And there was a particular enclosure that was catching a lot of people's attention, and it was the tiger enclosure, right? And normally maybe they'd be behind glass or whatever else it would be, but no, this was just some chain-linked fence. And it just so happened that the tiger's water bowl was sort of right in the front of this exhibit, enclosure, whatever you want to call it. And so it was a perfect place for people to kind of view and see this tiger. So people were kind of gathered around watching this tiger. And this tiger, he's down on all fours, and he's drinking from his water bowl. And there are people close around. And all of a sudden, one of the kids breaks away from one of the leaders and runs towards the tiger and boom, the tiger jumps up and he roars. Kids were falling off fences, blood pressure was spiked and there was fear in everyone's face, right? So just think about that for a minute. What if the chain link fence wasn't there? What would happen to that kid? What would happen to a lot of the people there? And really, so it is with us. When we get too close to things we shouldn't, when we entertain thoughts and desires that we shouldn't, when we give the enemy a foothold, he can and will devour us. We need to humble ourselves knowing our enemy. You know, really, these first two points have drilled down pretty hard and have been pretty intense points. And I think Peter knows this, so he makes a turn here to some comfort and encouragement. So that's where we're gonna head with point number three this morning, and that's this. Humble yourself knowing you're not alone. Listen, there have been a handful of times in 1 Peter, up until this point, where Peter points out that as we are suffering, we are sharing in Christ's suffering. Let me show you just a couple verses. 1 Peter 3.18, 1 Peter 4.1. Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. Now get this one, 1 Peter 4, 13. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. We can obviously see that the general framework and purpose of this letter is to encourage the brothers and sisters to endure. And Peter has beautifully done that already in the letter by showing us that we are sharing in Christ's sufferings. But he drills down even further as if sharing in Christ's sufferings wasn't enough and says these words, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And really, there are three things I want to just point out briefly from this verse. And the first is this, the phrase, the same kinds of suffering. You know, I really think that Peter knows our tendency as believers for comparison. And specifically in trials, he knows that there's a temptation to spiral into depression when we look at our situation and it seems worse than everyone else's around you. So Peter takes the First Corinthians 10.13 approach, that no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man, and encourages his brothers and sisters by saying that they are sharing in the same kinds of suffering. So when you feel isolated in your trials, remember to humble yourself, knowing you're not alone. And the second is, are being experienced. You know, he's not referring to this previous generation of sufferers in this moment, he's reminding his audience that this is an ongoing battle that even now, all around the world, you are sharing in the trials, you are sharing together in the trials and the suffering, and that they can receive, and in the moment, Encouragement when they are enduring trials of various kinds when they are standing firm when they are resisting the roaring lion They know that there is a common bond in the brotherhood of believers So when you feel defeated in the moment Remember again humble yourself Knowing you're not alone And third is this word brotherhood. This particular word for brotherhood is only used two other times. Well, actually two times total in the New Testament. And they're both actually in 1 Peter. One in chapter 2 and then our verse here. And I bring this up because there is really a special emphasis on this word. we have a special and unique brotherhood, a family, a deep, unbreakable union in Christ. Isn't that encouraging? You know, as Romans 12, five says, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. And you know, I was thinking, just as an aside, How many quarrels, how many conflicts, how many divisions would be forgotten if we remembered to humble ourselves knowing that we are not alone, that we are part of a beautiful, Christ-enabled, God-ordained brotherhood of believers? You know, a few months back, my wife and I, we had a miscarriage, and it was our first time we had gone through something like that, and it was a struggle to try to figure out, especially for my wife, how to emotionally cope with the feelings of that, of what happened. And I watched as she tried to process through and struggle through the feelings and the emotions, and I saw that there was a massive temptation in her life to spiral into a depression. But in the process of her trying to figure out how to handle these emotions, she decided to write a blog about it. She wrote out her thoughts, and then she ended up posting that blog, and I was just blown away by the response when she posted that blog. I mean, almost 1,000 people viewed it. and then people were just coming alongside her, encouraging her left and right, and they were also coming to her and saying, I've experienced the same thing, and I've experienced the same struggles, and I'm right there with you. And the reality is, and what I saw from that experience, and so many other experiences, that we are not alone. And my question this morning is, are you taking advantage of the beautiful gift of the church in your trial? You know, a little bit earlier, Jeff mentioned that we're having a ministry fair after service today, and I got to thinking that this is just a great opportunity, if you're not connected and plugged into a ministry, to really, to seek that out, to seek out people, to seek out ministries, to come alongside one another, to lock arms together, so that in the good times and the tough times, we walk together, hand in hand, which is what God intended and ordained for us to do as believers. So don't miss out on that opportunity after the service today. And after all, Hebrews 10.25, which I'm sure you guys know, says this. So this is all the more reason to not neglect meeting together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another, all the more as you see the day drawing near. So, be encouraged this morning, be encouraged as you link arms in the trials with your brothers and sisters, because we know, just as that verse said, that the day is drawing near. Do you believe that? And really, this mindset and this verse really leads us really well into the next point, point number four, which is this. Humble yourself knowing your future. Starting in verse 10, Peter says this. After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. You know, there is so much packed in this one verse, and maybe if I was MacArthur, I would do a whole sermon on it, but not going to do that here this morning. And so we're just going to press on here. But what we don't want to miss is this first phrase of the verse. What does Peter mean by, after you have suffered a little while? You know, because I know when I read that text, I think of people in my life who are either suffering from a lifelong illness, or maybe the ones who have been told, oh, you just need to have enough faith so that God will end your suffering. After all, it does say in Scripture, suffering for a little while, so I can take that promise to the bank, right? You know, as I was kind of processing this, I felt like we needed to stop here just for a moment and quickly mention that there's sort of this healing movement in our culture that's actually kind of more far-reaching than I think some of us realize. And it really is continuing to grow. And one of its essential doctrines is that God wants to heal every individual in this life. As long as they have enough faith, and if you pray in faith, you will categorically be healed. You know, not only is this an incorrect interpretation of Scripture, but you know what it also does? It really opens the floodgates for many other errors to follow. And so I know we could go into that on a lot more detail, but here's what I want to just say this morning. We need to be discerning as believers and not let our emotions dictate our theology, amen? And honestly, in 1 Peter alone, we can see that God is actually in the business of bringing you into trials, whether sickness or persecution, because he's preparing us, or you, for an eternal weight of glory. And Paul calls it, as many of you know, a momentary light affliction. Why? Well, we as believers are looking to the things that are unseen, not seen. and the perspective of eternity gives us those eyes. Listen, the world views trials as things that are seen. Think about the tragedy of losing a loved one this morning. How can they truly process the depths of the trial when they can only focus on the things that are seen? We as believers need to view trials in the lens of things that are not seen, as I said. And when we do that, we won't minimize the impact of the current trial, but we will maximize the reality of God's faithfulness to be with us and guide us through the trial as he makes us more like Christ in the process. You know, James MacDonald in one of his messages on trials talks about how most of us can bear the weight of a difficult trial and just get through it. But sometimes the hardest part of the trial is not knowing the duration. Are you in a trial this morning that seemingly has no end in sight? Are you willing to cast your cares on the Lord and trust Him no matter how severe or long that the trial is? Because we continue and we see that the end of this verse provides us with the sustaining comfort that we need. It says, the God of all grace will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. It is God's grace that makes salvation available to every sinful person, Titus 2.11. It is His grace that applies salvation to the hearts and lives of those who believe. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. It is His grace which will someday usher us into glory. Romans 5, 2. It is all His unmerited favor. He is the God of all grace. Do you know Him this morning? Do you know him this morning? Peter tells the believers that in light of all the suffering you have, are, and probably will experience that there is a promise from God that he, in his might, will do these things. Number one, he will restore or perfect us. While there are glimpses of restoration along the way in our lives, we have a hope and a promise that God will ultimately restore all of what is broken in us and will bring to completion the good work He began in us. Do you believe that? Number two, He will confirm us. Literally, to set fast, to fix firmly, to render immovable. Sounds a little bit like, again, like our theme for 1 Peter, doesn't it? This is a reminder that God is the one who enables us to stand firm and will be the one who enables us to cross the finish line. He confirms us. Third, he strengthens. He gives us the strength to bear all things. Whatever trial, whatever journey, we need to remember what the Lord Almighty says in Zechariah 4, verse six. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit. Are you trusting in God to strengthen you this morning? And finally, establish you. This is the picture of when the house is built on sand, it washes away. But the house on the rock is established. I love that Dan shared that during worship, and it connected so beautifully to what we're talking about here today. It stands firm. He establishes us. This reminds me of the verse, one of my favorite verses in all Scripture, Psalm 62, verse 6, that He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be shaken. And really, if you look at these four words intentionally at them, you can see the progression of these promises is really God's promise of sanctification played out in our lives, and His process of bringing us to Him to be with Him in glory forever. He restores, He confirms, He strengthens, and He establishes. You know, some of you might know that semi-recently I've taken up an interest in running a little bit. Some of you are like, I don't know why that's the case. Maybe run to the fridge to get a sandwich. Here's the thing, I've been increasingly more interested in the fact that people can just accomplish crazy feats physically in terms of running. And there's all these different crazy kind of races you can sign up for and join and compete in. And one of those races that is just mind-blowing to me, which I'm going to share with you here, is called The Badwater 135. It just sounds ominous when you say it. How many of you have heard of that race before? The Badwater 135? Well, I'm just going to read to you what the website says about the race so you can get an idea of what we're dealing with here. All right, you ready? Covering 135 miles nonstop from Death Valley to Mount Whitney, California, the Badwater 135 is the most demanding and extreme running race offered anywhere on the planet. The starting line is at the Badwater Basin in Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in North America below sea level. The race finishes at Whitney Portal, which is 8,300 feet above sea level, which is the trailhead to the Mount Whitney Summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States. The Badwater 135 covers Not one mountain range, but three mountain ranges for a total of 14,600 feet of cumulative ascent and 6,100 feet of cumulative descent. I was like, why would anyone ever want to do that? And the reality is these people who run these races, they train, they train and they have blood, sweat, and tears put into the process of the training to get them to the place where they are ready for this race, right? And then they get into this race and it's more blood, sweat, and tears, all their will, their physical, emotional strength to compete and to finish, just to finish this race. And you know, as I thought about all of those things, I realized that we oftentimes can try to do spiritually what these people do physically. We can't and we will never finish the spiritual Badwater 135 in our lives. We will never finish that race without the sanctifying work of the Spirit who will complete the good work He has began in us. Now this isn't some like let go and let God kind of thing. No, this is the reality that spiritually speaking, God is the one who confirms us, who restores us, who strengthens us, and who establishes us. So be encouraged this morning that God is intentionally moving you in that direction for his glory and your good. And own, Zechariah 4, verse six, like we said before, not by might, not by power, but by his Spirit. And you'll notice that I skipped over the part in verse 10 where it says, He has called you to His eternal glory. This is the destination. To be with Christ in eternal glory with Him. Peter is over and over again reminding these believers in this book of the life to come, and I think we would do well to continually remind ourselves that this is not our home. We are sojourners on a mission while here, being perfected toward an end, or rather a beginning, of eternity with our Savior. So will you, this morning, humble yourself, knowing your future. All right, last point. Peter's salutation and conclusion to the letter. And here's that so that moment. And so what we're gonna say is, so that we stand firm in the true grace of God. Starting in verse 12. You know, Peter really gives three examples in the text of people who are standing firm and who have had to stand firm in the past. First, we have this guy named Silvanus, or more commonly known as Silas. You are probably more familiar with this guy being associated with Paul and not Peter. Nevertheless, here he is under Peter's leadership. And here's the main thing I want us to know about Silas. Now, I was originally going to just preach these three verses, and so I'm starting to get a lot of information on this Silas guy, so we can't obviously dive into all that today, but here's the main thing I want you to kind of get out of this part in the text. Really, that he was the ultimate subordinate, if you think about it. He submitted himself not only under Paul's teaching, but Peter's teaching, in humility, and was content not to be in the limelight. He was a faithful brother, like it says in verse 12, amidst trials and persecution, knowing that at the proper time that God would exalt him and lift him up. We can learn a lot about Silas. And then second, we have this, she is who is from Babylon. And I saw that first and I was like, what in the world? Why did they have me preach this section? Like, I have no idea who this she is, you know, who she from Babylon is, right? So I was like, how much time do I spend on this? You know, I wrestled with all these questions like, who is this person? And what I finally came to with the conclusion was that this is actually a symbolic name for a church in Rome. in case anyone apprehended the letter and they didn't want the names and location of the church uncovered because of the persecution of Christians. So I would have never known that otherwise. So that's a plug for studying your Bible. So this is an obvious example of a church who is right in the fight over persevering through trials and needing to stand firm in light of them. And lastly, we see John Mark. This dude, as some of you know, was the reason and ax for the split of Paul and Barnabas. But we can also see that restoration took place. And here we see him beside Peter. This is a beautiful picture of the process of sanctification we talked about earlier, in that God restores. He was in the business of restoring relationships, and you can see that here. And now they are standing firm together. They are not alone, and they are mutually encouraging their brothers and sisters in their trials. So this morning I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes. I'm just gonna reflect on some of these things here this morning as we close out this book. Here's the reality. We are called to stand firm in the true grace of God with all humility. enabled by God, sustained by God, and perfected by God. And guess what? I absolutely love the last phrase of this book. It says, peace all of you who are in Christ. Listen, in all the trials, in all the struggles, in all the persecution, if you are in Christ, peace is possible. Not some worldly sense of peace, but His peace is possible. Do you believe that? Let's go before the Lord in prayer this morning. God, I just, I just pray this morning that you would be working and moving in our lives, showing us where there's pride, showing us where we need to humble ourselves, reminding us that we're not alone. Help us to see that there actually is an enemy. He does prowl, but we can rest in who you are and we can resist him. And then God, let us not lose sight of the reality of a future home and destination with you. Help us to remember that you're the one who brings us through that finish line. Help it not to be this morning, God, in our own abilities, in our own confidence, but God, that it would be about you and that our confidence would rest in Jesus Christ alone. In his name, amen.