Well, a little bit of extremes here. Last Lord's Day I was in Fresno, and for the first time, I had to scrape the ash off my Bible between Scripture readings as it was coming down on us. Today, I find myself praying a prayer that a friend and mentor of my father prayed one night in their home as the furnace had gone out in the dead of winter in Ohio. and bless this meal quick before it freezes. So as we come to God's Word, I pray that your attention is fresh and crisp like the air, and that your souls are warmed as the sun shines upon you. We are in 1 Peter 5, verses 10 and 11. Let us turn our attention now God's Word again as I read these two verses. Hear God's Word, my friends. But after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called us to His eternal glory through Christ Jesus will restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Amen. About the time I was in middle school, my dad developed this really strange and at the time very annoying habit. Any who know my driving habits know that I always like to know more than one way to get from point A to point B. If I have to go out to Mount Airy or Westminster, there's really no guarantee of which way I'll go. Because I know about seven or eight ways from where I live in West Laurel out there. I love to take different ways. But my dad had always been a creature of habit. And he'd always taken the same way no matter wherever we were going. But then all of a sudden one day, he started taking different ways. to get to where we're going or just start going on what seemed like random excursions in the middle of being out and about doing things. And so we would ask and would say, Dad, where are we going? And he responded this way. For a while. So my brother and I are in the back seat debating, probably much like the scribes and Pharisees. For a while, is this guy crazy? That's not what we asked. We didn't ask, how long are we going this way? We asked, why? Where are we going? We had this very strange habit of just answering, for a while. We realized, Dad doesn't want to tell us why we're going this way. He's distracting us from the point. Sometimes we turn to our Heavenly Father on the path of life. And we ask, Father, why are we going this way? Why am I suffering? Where are we going with this? Why is this the path that we have to be on? And friends, not being evasive and not avoiding the point, but our Heavenly Father answers for a while. The scriptural context It clearly says that this is not an evasion on the part of our God. But it is a promise worth holding on to in the days to come. And there are four points for you today, and all of them are calling you to remember. And that is because while we suffer, we easily forget. We forget reality. We forget purpose. We forget joy. We forget truth. And today I want to call you to remember the promise that God has given you in the midst of uncertainty, in the midst of pain, in the midst of suffering, as He answers your question with that two-word oddity for a while. For a while. First, I want to call you to remember the context of this promise. The two verses just previous to this that we handled nearly a month ago now. Be sober and watchful because your adversary the devil walks around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him firmly in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. but after you have suffered a little while. Friends, we are formulaic people. We like to know that if I just ABC, then God will XYZ. And we want to know that every time we do it, He responds exactly the same in our circumstances, and in the blessing, and all of that. And there is a temptation in our hearts and minds to say, okay, be sober and watchful. If I resist the devil firmly in the faith, if I understand that others around the world are suffering, then I won't suffer. Or I won't suffer as much if I just ABC, then God will XYZ. And then I can get out of this situation, PDQ. But friends, I want you to be careful. In your application of Scripture. Because you can perfectly obey. Versus eight and nine. and still not avoid verse 10. How can I say that? I can say that because of my Savior, my perfect Savior, Jesus, who suffered. He suffered in this life, much like we do in harassments and with enemies, but He didn't deserve any of that suffering. And he suffered for me. So that I might experience his glory. And that's number two, I want you to remember the contrast in this promise, it's a. contrast that we find throughout Scripture. But after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called us to His eternal glory through Christ Jesus. There is the contrast. Suffering versus glory. Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 reminds us, he says, our light affliction, which lasts for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. This is the same Paul who experienced prison after prison, beating after beating, shipwreck, hunger, snake bites, the whole nine yards. This is the Paul saying this affliction is light and momentary. That's when I come to that classic applicational question of Scripture. What's your problem, Joel? What are you afraid of? And Paul reminds us that the suffering in no way outweighs the glory. That on that last great day, God will not just bring the negatives of this life up to zero and the game starts over. No, he takes all the suffering and negativity and hurts and harassments of this life, and he turns them upside down into glories and blessings for us through all of eternity. The crosses become crowns. The suffering is translated into glory. And believe me, brothers and sisters, when I say that you will suffer. It's in the language here, but after you have suffered a little, that's a sentence you don't like to read. Because there's great promise, but it means that there is great travail to be passed through on the way to the promise. You will suffer, and I know this, and how can I say that? Again, because of our Savior, Jesus. We can say this because of the Apostle Paul. We can say this because of King David. We can say this because of Father Abraham. He's reminded recently again of the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that he would obtain the land. Remember, the first plot of land that he owned in the promised land was the cemetery plot of his dear beloved wife. How is that for a fulfillment of a promise? There is suffering in this life. All of the apostles, all of the faithful martyrs. And yet in all of the suffering of God's people, in all ages of the church. Ultimately, that suffering is turned on its head and it is converted to glory. The glory. Of Jesus Christ, that eternal glory. And what is it that does that? It is the grace of God. It is the grace of God that creates this contrast through Scripture. The suffering that is changed into glory. God's sovereign grace. Friends, everyone in this life suffers. But this promise is only true for God's people who are saved by His sovereign grace. That the suffering of this life turns into great glory. See, even for the most wealthy, the most comfortable, the most extravagant life on this earth, even that glory, without the grace of God, converts someday into suffering. And the suffering of eternal torment. There are some who suffer in this life, suffer excruciatingly, and God's grace is still not present in their life on that day, and so the suffering in this life turns into more suffering in the life to come. But only for God's people does this promise stand true, only for God's people. Does the suffering translate into glory as we step into his presence? Thirdly, remember the compounding content of this promise, the God of all grace will what he will restore, he will support, he will strengthen, he will establish you. That first word restore or perhaps in your translation it says perfect. That's the the mending as the disciples were doing on the shores of Galilee as they had these tools and these tools would get damaged in the practice of their trade. And so they would set mending their nets, making them usable again, making them fruitful again, making them whole again. The writer of Hebrews says, Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. This is the work of the God of all grace, restoring us supporting us, strengthening us, establishing us, laying this foundation. Ephesians 3, 17-18, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. Colossians 1.23, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled and are not removed from the hope of the gospel which you have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. In times when I write or teach, there are times when I'm working, expounding something, and then things take a twist, and it doesn't quite go where I think it's going to. And this seems to happen with Matthew Poole in his commentary on this section, because he starts by expounding each of these four words, and then it just kind of becomes a jumble, and then he says this, these four words may be different expressions whereby the apostle sets forth the same thing. God's confirming and establishing those saints unto their final perseverance. And His using so much variety of expressions may imply that it is a matter of very great difficulty to hold on our Christian course without failing or coming short of the goal. And therefore, we need singular assistance from God to enable us to it. See friends, starting back in verses 8 and 9, in those verses that call us to resist the devil and to stand firm against him, it provides yet another opportunity for our sense of self-righteousness to creep into the fray. That sense of, I can do this. I've got this. I will prove to God my love for Him by resisting the devil. And in thinking that, we have succumbed to the temptation of the devil already. Matthew Poole is right. It is difficult to hold on the Christian course. It takes the work of the God of all grace to keep us on target. To lay the foundation for us. To establish us on that foundation. To strengthen us. To support us. To uphold us. And to perfect us. To mature us in the faith. It takes His grace. and only of His grace. I've called you today to remember the context of this promise, the contrast of this promise, the compounding content of this promise, and fourthly, the climax of this promise. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Remember, in the Great Commission, Jesus says to his disciples, the now becoming apostles, all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me. And that is the authority which Christ sends us out into the world to work for him and consequently to suffer for the work that we do for him. We suffer for that same gospel, it happens in that same context of the dominion of Jesus Christ. and of the ultimate glory of Jesus Christ. This promise ends where it begins. This promise that after we suffer, that God who has called us to His eternal glory through Christ Jesus will restore us, support us, strengthen us, and establish us It ends where it begins, with the glory and dominion of Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, Jesus does not send us on this task. He does not send us into our suffering lives with hopefulness that all will turn out okay in the end for us. He doesn't just say, have fun storming the castle. Think it'll work? They don't stand a chance. No, that's not our Lord. He holds dominion over all times and all places. Remember, there was a day and age where the world was under this imagination of territorial deities. that if the United States had its own God, that once you got to the Canadian border, then that was a different God that was over that territory. And Christ is reminding us, I have all authority in heaven on earth. Wherever I send you, you are under my banner. And that banner is effective in this place. You have my message, you have my flag, and you go there in my name. And as we go, as we serve him, as we labor for him and as we suffer in his name. We have this promise that those suffering is part of our earthly experience. Growth, then glory is guaranteed for all of God's children. That is the hope. That Peter laid before these dear saints. Who are suffering. This is the hope that Jesus lays before us today. But we suffer. But we suffer for a while. And God's promise will never fail. His promise to restore support strengthen and establish you, the promise to persevere you on into the glorious presence. Of the risen Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ. Stand with me as we pray. Father, we trust you and we believe this promise. And that can be difficult to say because in it we are saying we believe we will suffer, but the suffering of a little while is not worthy to be compared with the glory of Jesus Christ. That is what we long for. That is what we hope for. That is what we desire in the life to come. And thank you for this promise today, that after we have suffered, we will be restored. supported, strengthened, and established. And that all glory and dominion belongs to Jesus forever and ever. And church, let us pray together. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.