“It’s Okay: God’s Got You”
(1 Peter 5:10-11)
Series: Strength Through Adversity
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
- Take your Bibles and join me in 1 Peter, chapter 5 (page 817; YouVersion).
We left off last time with verses 8 and 9 where Peter warns of the ubiquitous presence of the enemy. He says Christians must be sober and vigilant because the adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And you will remember Peter says how to withstand the attacks of the enemy. He says in verse 9, “Resist him, steadfast in the faith,” and then adds an encouraging reminder that no one Christian is unique to suffering when he says, “knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world…”
And then it is helpful to go right to verse 10, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”
So you see, Peter wishes to encourage Christians who are battling the enemy back in verses 8 and 9 and who–because of such spiritual warfare are now suffering–he says now in verses 10 and following, “You will suffer a while, but know this: It’s okay, because the God of all grace is going to take care of you. He’s going to establish you and strengthen you. The point is: God’s got you covered. He’s got you.”
So in one sense, verses 10 and 11 summarize the intent of Peter’s entire letter. Think of that this morning as we study these two verses and as you listen to the Word of God right now. Listen to these two verses as a summary of the intent of Peter’s entire letter.
- Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
- Pray.
Introduction:
I suppose one of the most helpful images to illustrate our heavenly Father’s care for His children is the familiar image of a loving earthly father’s caring for his children. How often we see an earthly father walking along the way, holding his son or daughter’s hand as the two of them go along together.
The father’s hand is reaching down and the child’s hand reaching up. The father looks down frequently and the child looks up frequently. And they walk along that way, the child’s hand safe and secure in the hand of its father. And sometimes we’ll even watch this pair as they approach a puddle or a rock in the path and the father will pull up on the hand of that child, and in his might the father will raise up the child and swing the child up and over the rock and the child smiles as it swings securely over the trouble–safely in the grip of its father–and down again on the other side of the rock.
Isn’t that a fitting picture of the Christian’s walk with God? The heavenly Father looking down upon us, our looking up to Him. He extends His hand down to us, we reach up to grab hold of His hand, secure in the hand of our Father. That truth is illustrated in much Christian hymnody, like the refrain of the popular Gospel song:
Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.
I’m held within the loving grip of my heavenly Father. He’s got me and He won’t let go.
The message this morning is for Christians. It’s entitled, “It’s Okay: God’s Got You.”
In Peter’s letter we have learned that it is not uncommon for Christians to suffer. But when we suffer, we must remember that God holds our hand and He will not let it go. He will take care of us, strengthen us, and get us safely to the end of our journey of faith. So when you suffer, you can rest safe in His hand.
So let’s talk about that this morning. When the Christian suffers, he or she can rest in God. In what way can the Christian rest? First, when suffering, you can, number one:
I. Rest in His Security (10a)
God has called the Christian to a saving relationship that lasts forever. Once we enter into that relationship by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, we remain secure in that relationship forever. Okay? Let me say that again.
God has called the Christian to a saving relationship that lasts forever. Once we enter into that relationship by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, we remain secure in that relationship forever. God’s got us. He’s got hold of our hand and He’ll never let go.
We can rest in His security. That truth is presented in the first part of verse 10. Look at it with me. Peter writes in verse 10:
10 But may the God of all grace (and I really think this is a statement rather than a prayer. In other words, it’s better to translate it like the majority of translations where it reads simply, “The God of all grace.” What has this “God of all grace” done? Reading on…), who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus…
Stop right there for just a moment. It’s easy to just read right over that without allowing the truth of the Christian’s security to sink deeply into our hearts and minds. We’ve said before that Peter isn’t just providing “filler material,” like the filler material we put down in our written essays on exam day, just filling-in information to make the essay longer. These words are important here.
I want to invite you to meditate on this truth for just a moment. Peter says in the first part of verse 10, “the God of all grace” is the One who has “called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus.”
Think about that phrase for a moment. “The God of all grace has called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus.”
Here’s the point in verse 10: Since God has called you to His eternal glory, you can rest assured He is going to get you there. Christian: the God of all grace has called you, not to a temporary glory that lasts only a short while in this world, He’s not called you to a temporary glory that you may enjoy briefly until you sin again and make Him angry and He kicks you out of that relationship.
No, the God of all grace has called you to an eternal glory, a glory that culminates in eternity, in the events after this temporary world, a glory in the future and final state of glorification, a glory that lasts forever.
And again the point is: since God has called you to His eternal glory, you can rest assured He’s going to get you there. He will get you from Point A–the beginning of the Christian’s relationship with God, justification–to Point Z–the future and final state of that relationship known as glorification.
It’s the same truth Paul teaches in Romans 8:30, where we writes of Christians: “whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” In other words, if God has called you to His eternal glory, you can rest knowing He will get you there. You may suffer a little in-between Points A and Z, but He will get you there. You are secure in your relationship with Him.
How is that possible? Well, who is this God? Peter describes Him in the first part of verse 10 as, “The God of all grace.” The God of how much grace? All grace. And how are Christians saved? By grace, through faith, in Christ.
He is the God of all grace. He is both possessor and giver of all grace.
This is the basis of Christian security. Christian, you stand upon God’s promise to get you to glory–to keep you saved–not on the basis of your qualifying for it. You don’t qualify for it. Neither do I. In fact, we are disqualified because we are sinners. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All have sinned and disqualify for God’s eternal glory.
So God gives us what we don’t deserve. Even though we disqualify, God as the possessor and giver of all grace, puts us into a saving relationship with HIm. The God of all grace calls us to His eternal glory–how?–look at the next phrase in verse 10–by Christ Jesus.”
God calls a person to His eternal glory not on the basis of who the person is or what he or she has done, but God calls a person to His eternal glory “by Christ Jesus,” on the basis of who Christ is and what Christ has done.
That’s how we can bank on God’s promise of eternal security. Because the God of all grace has called us to His eternal glory not by our name or our deeds or our good works or our merit, but by Christ Jesus.”
God will see that every Christian makes it to “eternal glory.” It’s never in question. He is the God of all grace who has called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. Final salvation–eternal glory–is secure because it has been secured “by Christ Jesus.”
Rest in His security.
Now why does Peter write this here? Why make that statement here? Is it simply because it sounds like a good conclusion and, after all, Peter is wrapping up his letter?
Well, remember that Peter he has been writing a great deal about suffering and has even done so in the previous verse, verse 9, where he talks about Christians’ sharing “the same sufferings experienced by their brothers all over the world.”
So Peter is saying, “Even though you suffer in this world, remember where you are going: you are going to a far better place!” And remember Who’s going to see that you get there. The God of all grace is going to get you there, “after you have suffered awhile.”
So note that Christian: you won’t get to final salvation with suffering awhile. The Christian cannot get from Point A–justification–to Point Z–glorification without some suffering in-between. Suffering is a common Christian experience shared by all believers, some more than others, often depending simply on where we live in the world. But suffering is common.
So Peter writes to encourage Christians.
See, when you suffer you may question whether you are even a child of God. You may even question God’s character. Remember from last time? The word “devil” means “false accuser.” The devil makes false accusations about God and about you. So when you suffer you may question what God is doing or why He is allowing the suffering. You may even wonder if you’ll ever make it through your suffering. “Will I ever get to a point where I no longer suffer?”
Peter answers, “The God of all grace” is the One who has “called you to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus.” It WILL happen, but it will happen, “after you have suffered a while.”
So it’s okay: God’s got you. Rest in His security Number two:
II. Rest in His Stability (10b)
The point here is that while you may suffer between Points A and Z, God will not only secure you, God will also strengthen you. The God of security is also the God of stability. He will make the Christian strong during seasons of suffering.
Verse 10 again, “the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while,–will do what?–He will do four things, last part of verse 10, He will:
10 …perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
All four of these verbs have to do with God’s caring for the Christian during times of suffering. So rather than our trying to identify various nuances of each verb, let’s remember Peter’s main point is that the God of all grace will stabilize the Christian during times of suffering.
That’s the idea. When you suffer, God keeps you standing. When you suffer, God supports you, strengthens you, and places you on firm footing. God strengthens and fortifies Christians so that they will persevere in their faith.
Remember: He is the God of all grace. He is both possessor and giver of all grace and–listen!–His grace is sufficient to meet any trial, to strengthen in any circumstance.
James 4:6, “He gives more grace.”
God gives us grace sufficient to meet whatever our trial. When I am praying at the bedside of a sick brother or sister in Christ, often I will pray, “God give him more grace to endure this time of sickness and suffering.”
God gives us grace sufficient to meet whatever our trial. And if we need more grace than usual in order to preserve through some difficulty this week, God will give it.
So if God has been giving you say, 8 ounces of grace, a daily cup of grace to get through your average day, and suddenly you are immersed in a major trial of challenge and suffering, God will give you more grace to meet the need. God will “Supersize” the grace! He’ll increase your daily grace from 8 ounces to a “Big Gulp” size of 32 ounces of grace. He knows what you need. Rest in His stability.
Paul said in Philippians 4:19, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” God will get you the grace necessary to persevere during difficult days. He gives more grace.
In fact, Peter has said before that it is through our trials that God makes the Christian stronger. Trials strengthen the Christian’s faith.
Peter’s teaching here echoes what he wrote earlier in 1Peter 1:6: “In this (salvation) you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,”–for what purpose?–verse 7, 1Peter 1:7, “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, through it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Peter compares the testing of our faith to the testing of gold. Peter says that gold “perishes, thought it is tested by fire.” We picture the refining process of precious metals like gold. The gold is heated and the impurities rise to the top and then are skimmed off or removed so that what remains is pure, precious, gold. What was already valuable becomes even more valuable.
And Peter says that the Christian’s faith–unlike gold that perishes–will never perish. The Christian’s faith is tested by fire and strengthened and the testing of the Christian’s faith makes the Christian’s faith even more valuable. So when the Christian suffers and goes through difficulties and trials his or her faith grows and becomes stronger and more precious and more valuable.
Think of it: isn’t when you suffer greatly that you become a stronger Christian? Isn’t that so? Doesn’t the time of suffering actually make you stronger and more in love with God and of more use to Him?
The English musical composer Sir Edward Elgar once listened to a young girl sing a solo from one of his own compositions. This young lady had an extraordinary voice of exceptional purity and clarity and range. When she sang, it was nearly flawless, an almost perfect technique. When she had finished singing, Sir Edward turned and said to the person next to him, “She will be really great when something happens to break her heart.” (William Barclay).
It’s when we go through trials and difficulties that the God of all grace as both possessor and giver of grace, strengthens us to make us of even greater use to our Master.
The classical writer J.M. Barrie once told of how his mother lost her favorite son, her firstborn(?) son had died. And Barrie said, “That is where my mother got her soft eyes, and that is why other mothers ran to her when they had lost a child.”
God often allows us to experience sorrow and suffering so that we may be of greater use to Him. So it’s okay: God’s got you. Rest in His security and rest in His stability. Thirdly:
III. Rest in His Sovereignty (11)
Peter concludes this section with a doxology, a praise to the sovereign God. He writes in verse 11:
11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Peter seems to call for a renewed trust and faith in our sovereign God who rules from on high and always does what is right.
Trust God’s sovereignty. Trust His infinitely perfect ways. He rules and reigns in righteousness.
He rules and reigns over our adversary, the devil. He rules and reigns over our cares and anxieties.
The God of all grace is sovereign over the devil. God is sovereign over your cares. He is sovereign over all things.
He is in control. He knows what He’s doing. He has called you to His eternal glory and you can rest knowing He will get you there. You may suffer a little in-between Points A and Z, but He will get you there.
So when you suffer, remember, as Paul said in Romans 8:18, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time (Point A) are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Point Z).”
Or 2 Corinthians 4:17-18:
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment (Point A), is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (Point Z),
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen (here at Point A), but at the things which are not seen (Point Z). For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
And the God of all grace (has) called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus.
Remember this week, Christian, you’re going to be okay: God’s got you. So:
Rest in His security.
Reset in His stability.
Rest in His sovereignty.
- Stand for prayer.
Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.
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