1 Peter 1-3-9

Well, it is a great honor and a privilege to be here with you. I am always glad to open God's Word, always glad to proclaim it and share it with anyone who will listen. And so it's even better when you can share it with brothers and sisters who love God's Word. So would you join me in turning to 1 Peter chapter 1? 1 Peter chapter 1, we're going to be looking, I'm going to read verses 3 through 9, but we're going to look specifically at verses 3 through 6. In the 18th and 19th century, William Carey, he was a shoemaker in England. You may have heard of him before. He was a shoemaker in England. He came to the conviction that Christians needed to reclaim their commitment to the Great Commission. They needed to reclaim the commitment to take the gospel throughout the world. And so he urged Baptists, because he was a Baptist and I am as well, so he urged Baptists to do big things.

for God and to take the gospel all around the world to places that had never been before or people who had not been reached. And initially he faced opposition within the church. Some had thought, well, the Great Commission's already over. Others thought, what are you thinking to do? There's plenty to do right here. Finally, he was able to get enough support to establish a mission society. And then he moved his family, his wife, his children to India. along with another believer named Thomas. However, Carey grossly underestimated what it was going to cost to live in India. He grossly underestimated what it would cost him, not only financially, but personally. In his early years there, they were very miserable. First, Thomas deserted him. And then Carey was forced to move his family repeatedly as he sought employment.

Illness wracked the family and loneliness and regret set in. He said, I'm in a strange land. There's no Christian friend, a large family and nothing to supply their wants. And when Cary himself contracted malaria and then his five-year-old Peter died of dysentery, it became too much for his wife, Dorothy. Her mental health deteriorated rapidly. She suffered delusions one time attacking William Cary with a knife. And then she died. Carey worked for seven years in India, church planting without one convert. He wrote, this is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me. He was persecuted. He was beaten by Hindus, driven out of the towns. He was often facing life-threatening injuries from these persecutions. And even as India was the valley of shadow of death to him, what he wrote next after that was this.

I rejoice, I rejoice that I am here notwithstanding and God is here. See, when Carey wrote of his struggles, he always ended with praise to God. And God used him. God used William Carey to spark a revival. It's been called by historians the great century of missions. And after seven years, he finally got that one convert. And then he was able to translate the Bible into many. of the Indian dialects. In fact, they still use his translations to this day. He was able to put to end the practice. He was able to end the practice of widows being burned alive when their husbands died. And he also worked to help end infanticide in India. So thinking through all that, there are some questions that arise in my mind. What can sustain a man like William Carey to persevere through trials?

What can cause him to write praises to God even as he suffers the loss of so many earthly things? And what can sustain you? What can sustain us as we look around, we see our darkened culture? What can sustain us as we reach out in faith and obedience and we speak and we live at odds with our culture? You know, when you share the gospel with your neighbor and they slander you, how will you respond? When you're forced between... deciding about your job or about standing up on the Bible, what will see you through? When you go down to the abortion mill, there's three of them in Indianapolis, and you go down there and you plead for the life of the pre-born, and then the local press writes an article where they call you haters, the pro-aborts call you terrorists, and they spit on you. What's going to sustain you through that? And when all of life's trials and struggles come, what can sustain you through that?

Well, we're going to look at that today in 1 Peter. So let's read 1 Peter 1, 3 through 6. This is the Word of God. It's eternally true and applicable for all of life. You're welcome to stand. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not now see him, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

You may be seated. The Apostle Peter, he was the first disciple, right, to make a confession that Jesus was the Messiah. And he's the one that writes this epistle under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And he's writing to those, if you look back up at verses 1 and 2, he's writing to those who have been dispersed, who are part of an exile, they're part of a dispersion across Asia Minor and the Roman Empire. Most likely, these are Jews. They're Gentile converts to Judaism who then become believers in Jesus Christ. They've either been converted because of the missionary journeys of the apostles, or they were converted within the city of Jerusalem themselves and then dispersed. But they were facing harassment from their own hometowns. Many of them were forced to flee Israel because of persecution at the Pharisees.

The Jews had enacted upon them. You remember in Acts chapter 8, the stoning of Stephen? What did it say happened after the stoning of Stephen? It said they were dispersed. They scattered. Again, in Acts chapter 12, King Herod kills James, has him beheaded. And again, it says they scattered. The Apostle Peter, he's writing this letter to believers who are facing trials, facing reviling. and facing slandering and other persecutions. And later on in chapter 3, he says, it's better for you to suffer for doing right than for doing evil. It's better for us to suffer for doing right than to suffer for doing evil. And so his purpose here is writing to strengthen believers who have been persecuted. And so I have to ask you this question before I can even begin, before anything I'm going to share with you will be helpful to you.

Do you live in such a way? Do you talk in such a way that there is a possibility that you may suffer? Do you live in such a way? I see that hand. Yes. And if there is, I want to encourage you and strengthen you today. Peter writes in order to strengthen them. This is the same apostle. Remember, he buckled under the pressure, didn't he? He buckled under the pressure of persecution, and he denied the Lord. But now by the grace of God, he's writing to encourage others to persevere. And he's not just writing as one who's buckled or failed, but one who ultimately will persevere. He will lose his life. In fact, a few years, short years after writing this letter, the Apostle Peter, the Apostle Paul were put to death by Rome when they joined in with the persecution. So what will Peter say to them? And what does he say to us that we can learn from it?

And after announcing who he is and who he's writing to, Peter just jumps right into instruction, doesn't he? No. No, he doesn't. You can talk back. I like to talk back a little bit. No, he doesn't jump into instruction. What does he do? He bursts out into praise. In some translation, it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and they put a big old exclamation point right there. Now, our Greek scholars know that there's no exclamation point in the Greek. but the language used is that of exclamation. It's of bursting out in praise. The apostle Paul does this as well in his letters. In fact, in the book of Ephesians, he uses that same phrase, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So they break out in praise. Why do the apostles break out in the praise here? Well, there's several reasons. One, they realized they were created. They were created for praise.

Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5.18 that we should give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God and in Christ Jesus for you. The Westminster Catechism says we were created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Worship of the Lord is what we are created for. And when Peter thinks of the glorious truths he's about to give, he can't help but be moved to praise and thanksgiving. These truths, they... Bubble up in him and cry out, even under persecution, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And by bursting forth in praise, by modeling that in front of them, he's inviting the believers there to join him. They're facing trials and troubles, and they're to join him in spiritual joy. And John Calvin said, that joy, it swallows up all the feelings, the opposite feelings of the flesh. There's no time to mope.

when you're worshiping and praising the Lord. I mean, isn't seeing someone worship the Lord catchy? You know, when I just read to you the story of William Carey and you're thinking of all of his life, and then you hear about him worshiping, even in the midst of trials, that moves me to praise. Or when I come home from a tough day, tough day at work or with ministry, it wasn't even tough. I came home this past weekend from the pastor's conference, and my girls were in the bed napping. But they heard me come in, and they come running down the steps, and then they spent the next hour or two hours with me just singing songs of praise to God. They just wanted to spend time and praise God and sing with their daddy. And that moves me to praise God. Doesn't that melt your heart when your children sing songs of praise? Or when we're gathered here together and we're singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs together? And I want to encourage you. I know I'm speaking to the choir here, but I want to encourage you, please.

Do not neglect the gathering of the believers. Do not neglect worship. You've been commanded by the Lord to worship together, to instruct each other in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. John Piper says that the reason that evangelism even exists is because worship doesn't. Evangelism is temporary, but worship is eternal. The worship of God is what you're created to do. Don't neglect the gathering of worship. And don't neglect worshiping with your family. Fathers, I know you hear this all the time, but I may say it again. Fathers, sing with your children. Young people sitting on the back row, sing. Sing with joy, not like... Sing. Men, sing. Our Heavenly Father sings over us. Sing.

Sing boldly. Music is, do you know in the Old Testament when they went to war, who led them into battle? The musicians, the worshipers. Worship, music, your voice, singing, that's war. That's battle. And our world knows that. And they eat it up from the culture. You know, they produce what they want to produce and send it through music. Same love and all the things that are wickedness. They put that in our homes with their music. We have the weapon with us. Use it. Use your voice to praise God. And that's what Peter does. He models it. He models it for us. And he begins his letter by worship. And he goes to God before he goes anywhere else. It's not just worldly praise. It's not just good feelings drummed up like things are crappy right now, but I got to drum this all up inside of me. No, he's worshiping in spirit and in truth.

His worship comes because he's moved by the truths he's about to share. And these truths give him reason to worship, and they will sustain him through slander, through persecution and trials, and they will sustain you. We must hold these truths he's about to share, treasure them, love them, hold them within. And so what truth is it? What's the main truth here? It's this, God's sovereignty. God is sovereign. God's sovereign over salvation, and God's sovereign over trials. And it moves Peter to worship. There's three reasons in these verses that I want us to look at for why he's moved by God's sovereignty. The first one is we can rejoice because of God's sovereignty because God is merciful. We're born with a sinful nature. And even by our covenantal connection with Adam, we're born guilty before the Lord. Ephesians 2 says we're by nature children of wrath. Apart from Christ, we are dead in our sins.

And unable and unwilling to save ourselves. All have sinned. Fall short of the glory of God. There is nothing in you. There's nothing in me. Nothing in David as handsome as he is. There's nothing within him that is worthy of praise. Worthy of glory. We deserve God's wrath. And yet, what's God is? God's great in mercy. He grants you and I mercy. And it's these doctrines that move Peter to praise. I used to serve at a Southern Baptist church that was in the country. And I taught these truths to the students. And I know you're shocked. Well, they were. I had a deacon there confront me. And we went back and forth. And then the C word came out, the Calvinist word came out. And we talked back and forth. And finally, you know what? He agreed with me. Yeah.

This is what the Bible teaches. But I don't want you teaching it to the children. I don't want you teaching it to the youth. You know why? Because he was afraid that these truths would cause them not to have assurance or to be troubled. Now, I'm not trying to pick on that man. He was a good man. But you know what? That's not what the Apostle Peter says at all. Instead, he's moved the praise, and he's bringing these up in trials because he wants you to be sustained. These doctrines, these glorious truths, they sustain our confidence in the Lord rather than take it away. They give you assurance rather than remove it. They should move us to praise. And you see here Peter praising God for his sovereignty and salvation. He says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter lifts up praise to two of the three persons in the Trinity and he even infers the third one in the next verse.

Each person of the Godhead working together for our salvation. And it's all because he's great in mercy. God is rich in mercy. Now, what is mercy? All right, thank you. Good. One definition I came across of was compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm. And as you said, I would add undeserved. So I would put the definition of mercy as undeserved compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm. Or another way to put it is not giving someone what they deserve. Peter says that God is great or abundant in mercy. You know, Peter experienced that firsthand. He denied Christ and yet Jesus came to him after the resurrection showing him mercy. And it was undeserved.

God's not obligated to give you mercy. Mercy by its very definition cannot be obligatory. We are dead in our sins. God owes us nothing. But he is great in mercy. He's rich in a mercy. And God does the electing and the choosing. You know, verse 1 and 2 of 1 Peter says he's writing to the elect exiles. In chapter 2, verse 9, he says they are a chosen race. So if you're a believer today, it's because of God's unconditional election upon you. God's unconditional mercy upon you. But I want you to know this truth too. God is rich in mercy. His arm of salvation is not too short to save any. There are elect of God from all nations and all peoples, all tribes, all languages. This is the truth that spurred men on like William Carey to continue under persecution. He knew that God was rich in mercy. That God had elected to save people from all nations.

Jesus, in the book of John, says that all the Father gives to him will come to him, and all that come to him he will never cast out. Peter praises the great mercy of God because God is great in mercy. And then he begins the act. Look at verses 3 through 6 there, and look at the action words. Who does the acting, and who receives? It's God who causes us to be born again. God, by his power, keeps. God guards. God gives the inheritance. And we receive. Peter rejoices in God's sovereignty and salvation because God is merciful to those who do not deserve it. And that should move us to rejoice when we consider our helpless estates. When we're reminded that we deserve the wrath and judgment of God, we should fall to our knees in adoration and thankfulness, knowing that every suffering that comes our way, we deserve. Secondly here, you see that God's sovereignty and salvation, that he praises that because God causes new birth.

God causes new birth. We read it says, according to his great mercy, he calls us to be born again. God's the causal agent. King James Version says he has born us again. He's given birth to us again. If you remember earlier, I said that Peter mentions the first two, the father and the son, and he implies the Holy Spirit. Well, here's where it is. Because it's the Holy Spirit that grants us new birth. In the Gospel of John chapter 3, Jesus is visited by Nicodemus and Jesus says to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, he's perplexed, right? When he hears that question, then he asks, how can one be born again who has been old? Can he really go back into his mother's womb? And then Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Jesus teaches that the new birth is necessary, but that the new birth comes from the Holy Spirit, and it's by the prerogative of God. God is the one who does the saving. We cannot please God in our flesh. You know, in the children's catechism, we teach our children, one of the questions asked is, what do we inherit from Adam? Does anybody know that answer, kids? What do we inherit from Adam? Yes. All right, yes, that's true. In our catechism, it says we inherit, I have it here, a sinful nature. So you're right. And then the next question is, can anyone go to heaven with a sinful nature? Do you know the answer to that? Can you go to heaven with a sinful nature? No. Our hearts must be made fit for heaven. Your hearts must be made fit for heaven. You need your heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh. And that's why Peter burst out.

Because you know that's impossible for a man to do, right? To replace your own heart. It's impossible, but it's not impossible for God. What was impossible for man is to please God. Jesus Christ did. He did. He pleased God. He was obedient to the cross. And therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. God accomplishes what he says is necessary. And then listen to these two glorious truths about this new birth. First, we're born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those who are dead in their sins, justly condemned, headed for the wrath and just judgment of God are made alive. And they have a living hope. They have a hope, a lively hope. Charles Spurgeon, I have to quote him, says of this, Our first birth brought us into sin and sorrow, but our second birth brings us into purity and joy. We are born to die. Now we are born never to die. Begotten again unto a life that shall remain in us forevermore. A life which shall even penetrate these mortal bodies and make them immortal. And it does it by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This hope that we have in the midst of trials is the hope of eternal life.

Even though we may face calamity, even though we may face trials and troubles, we have a hope of life. We have a hope that is alive. It's not just wishful thinking. You know, Karl Marx said that Christianity is the opiate of the masses and he could not be further from the truth. The hope we have is not just some placebo that you hold on to when the world gets dark. No, it's an alive hope. It's a hope that comes from the one who was once dead. And he's now alive, Jesus Christ. It also comes to the one who was once dead in their sins and now is alive in Jesus Christ. It's the hope of eternity. It's the hope of God's kingdom spreading and filling this entire earth. It's the hope that your sacrifice that you make, sacrifice in your life is not made in vain. The suffering you go through is not in vain. But God promised that our lives lived out, spilled out for him will not be wasted.

It's a living hope because it's got a guarantee. It's backed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He was buried in the grave, but it could not hold him. And now he's alive and he's reigning. And because of that, we are born again to a living hope. And secondly there, we're born again to an inheritance that's imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and kept in heaven for us. And I can camp out here all day long and talk about this inheritance. About the glorious truths revealed here. Notice the first thing about it. It's an inheritance. Who gives an inheritance? Parents give an inheritance, but who receives it? The child, that's right. The child of the one giving the inheritance. And notice what the Gospel of John says. But all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. We are born of God. And he gave you the right to become children of God. He gave me the right to become his child. That should move you to praise. And if it doesn't, you need to go to God and confess to him that you need him. God, in his great mercy, he not only doesn't give us what we deserve, he doesn't just not give us hell and punishment, but he gives us what we don't deserve.

And that's the right to become the children of God. We who were once his enemies were made into his children. There was this news story a while back that I read about a man who had been a police officer. And he had a quota to fill of arrests. And so instead of finding bad guys, he found black men. And he pulled a black man over in his car and planted evidence. Sent the black man to prison for a crime he did not commit to fulfill his quota. This black man, his name was McGee, and he spent several years in jail because of this false arrest. Well, guess what happened to the police officer? It finally caught up with him. People finally realized. And where did he end up? In the prison. Now, McGee gets out of prison because now it's revealed that he was falsely imprisoned.

And he starts working at a restaurant that's owned by a Christian. This Christian owns a restaurant to help people from prison kind of get back up on their feet and get a job because it's usually very difficult. So McGee's serving at that place and becomes a Christian himself. Well, then our police officer finishes his time, and he gets out of prison. And guess where he ends up at? The restaurant. Can you imagine that first day when they see each other? Can you imagine? The anger that must have been willing to flow through his veins as he saw that man. You made me waste years of my time in prison. Can you imagine the shame the other man must have felt? How do I even go here? The article I read says the officer, his name was Collins, he finally spoke up, got confidence. He says, honestly, I have no explanation. All I can say is that I'm sorry. And McGee gave him a hug and said, that's all I needed to hear.

Collins was moved to tears. He said, I started weeping because he doesn't owe me that. I don't deserve that. And here's where it gets even better. Not only is he forgiven, not only do they get along, they're friends. McGee even considers Collins, who's the police officer, the man who sent him to jail to be the godfather of his child. He's part of the family. I get goosebumps thinking about it because it's just a picture of what God has done for us. We owed God far more than any police officer ever owes another person. We owed God a debt where we sinned against an infinite God who created us and sustains us. My lips once mocked Him, once claimed I hated Him. God, who's great in His mercy, causes us to be born again and He makes us His children. He allows the person who once said, I hate you, God, to use those same lips to proclaim His glorious gospel to you.

Now, God takes his enemies and he makes them his friends. He takes those who hate him and makes them his children. And then as his children, not only that, he gives them an inheritance. It's one thing to forgive somebody. It's another to give them everything. And this inheritance he gives, it's imperishable. It's incorruptible, immortal, everlasting. Once you possess it, it cannot be taken away. It cannot be destroyed. No man, no circumstance, no trial. Nothing can remove this inheritance. What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Shall suffering? Shall persecution? Famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers, nor heights, nor depths, nor anything else. I think he covered it all. Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. What an inheritance. It cannot be taken away. It's undefiled. It's got no connection with sin. And it cannot be corrupted. And guess what? It's not just hype. It's true hope, not hype. In the 90s, I'm going to tell you a little.

cheesy story here. But in the 90s, there was this group called DC Talk. Anybody ever heard of them? Yeah, okay. You put your thumb up like, yeah, man. All right. For me, that was like the thing growing up. For you younger kids, you might know Toby Mack. You might have heard of him. He was part of them. And I got him Kevin Max, who's part of the Newsboys. Michael Tate's part of the Newsboys. Kevin Max, he's off doing his own thing. And they were this hit thing, man. I remember going to see them when I was in sixth grade. They rapped. They played guitar. They rocked out. And they kind of got big. And then in the year 2000, they put out this CD called Intermission. And on the CD, they had a couple new songs. But then the rest were all like solo songs that they were all doing. And they were telling the world, we're taking a hiatus. We're taking a break. It's Intermission. We're taking a break. And that was their last CD, and that was 17 years ago.

This past summer, they have a Facebook page. I know, you're like, 17 years? I feel old. Yeah, me too. Join the club. All right. So this past summer, on their Facebook page, they put this picture, and it said 2017. Oh, man. You got it. You got it, right? And then they put another post that said, huge announcement coming on this date. Huge announcement. And I remember reading people thinking, Oh, man, what's this announcement about? And so on the promised day of the announcement, they posted this video, and the video pops up. And on this first day it says, the intermission is over. And you're like, yes! It's going to be a new album. It's going to be a new tour. I'm going to get to go see them. And it shows clips from them playing the concert and the music. And at the end it says, hey, join a three-day DC Talk-themed cruise.

There was no album, no tour, just a crummy commercial. Well, your inheritance is not like that. It's not hype. It's true hope. It's founded on the resurrection of Christ. It's eternal. And in this inheritance, you receive the promises of God. That includes no more sin, no more death. You will reign and rule with him for eternity. And here's the best part. God himself will be our inheritance. He's our God and we are his people. The creator of the universe that you hated, and some of you still hate, gives himself to people like us. And that's why Peter praises. So there's one more thing about this that I want you to see. The third point about why he's able to rejoice in trials, and that's because God preserves us. God preserves us. He said this inheritance is kept in heaven.

The translation, the ESV translation that I don't use often says he's kept our inheritance in heaven. And what it means is to guard it, to guard it. It means God's actively preserving our inheritance. You know, we often say the word keep, like I keep something somewhere. And what we mean is it's just sitting there, right? So we keep our towels in the closet at the house. And if you come into our house and you walk into our house, you can go to the closet and get it. and we don't have somebody actively guarding those towels. But when we say that they keep the gold in Fort Knox, we don't mean that they're just sitting there. We mean that they're actively under guard. It has a high-tech security system. It monitors even the heat temperature for the intruders. And as secure or not secure as Fort Knox may be, our inheritance is secure because it's actively kept. It's guarded.

by our Heavenly Father who gives it to us. And that's why Jesus says to lay up your treasure where? In heaven, where neither moth, rust, nor thieves can get to it. It's guarded. It's not just enough that our inheritance is guarded. John Calvin asked this question. What does it avail us that our salvation is laid up in heaven when we are tossed here and there in this world? What can it avail us that our salvation is secured in a quiet harbor? when we are driven to and fro amidst thousands shipwrecks. But it's not just our inheritance kept by God. It's also those who receive the inheritance kept by God. He writes, by God's power are being guarded by faith. God keeps us by faith. What a mercy it is by the power of God. See, heaven's kept for us. We are kept for heaven. Heaven is prepared for us, and you are prepared for heaven.

Those who have been elect by God, who have been called by God, who have been born again by God, will be preserved by God. And therefore, they will persevere to the end. They will make it through the fire of trials. See, there's an inheritance and there's an inheritor. And you can rejoice knowing that God's keeping both. He's keeping the inheritance perfect for you. And he's keeping you in faith so that you will not make a shipwreck of your faith and lose the inheritance. Therefore, we can rejoice in trials. Read the next verses on your own, 6 through 9. Study them on your own. But you'll see that this praise continues to push. As God caused them to be born again to a living hope, and because they have an inheritance kept by God, and because they are being guarded by God, they rejoice in trials. Because they know God sends those trials, not for their harm, but to refine their faith, to purify their faith, as gold is refined.

And their faith will not perish, but instead it will accomplish its goal, the salvation of their soul. And so they rejoice, and we can too. We can rejoice knowing that God is sovereign. We can rejoice that he's sovereign over salvation. We can rejoice because he's full of great mercy. We can rejoice that he is sovereign, so sovereign that he's caused us to be born again into a living hope, to an inheritance that's imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and kept by God. We can rejoice knowing that he's got the power to guard us and guard our inheritance. And we rejoice because he's sovereign over our trials. Brothers and sisters, there is no attribute more comforting to God's people than his sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances and the most severe trials, you can have faith. When you're persecuted for sharing your faith, know that God wills that. And he uses that for his good and for your good.

For His glory. God's sovereignty controls them. And because of that, there is nothing in which you must more earnestly contend for than God's sovereignty over all things. Trust the kingship of Jesus Christ. Contend for it. Contend for it, pastors, within your church. In the dark culture we live in, I want to ask this final question. Are you trusting in Christ? Is your faith in Him? Do you have reason to rejoice or is all this foreign to you? Has he caused you to be born again? Are you rejoicing in a living hope? I want you to know that God is great in mercy and if you cry out and plead with him, know that God, Christ said all that comes to him, he will never cast out. Look to Christ Jesus with faith. Confess him as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you shall be saved. You too will have reason to rejoice.

I want to end with this quote by William Carey. He not only saw God's sovereignty and salvation over individuals, but he saw it as God's plan throughout the earth. He had great confidence that the kingdom of God was going to go forth and proclaim over all the nations, that the church would be victorious, that the gates of hell would not prevail. Daniel 7.14 says that Jesus was given a kingdom and a dominion that all people's nations and languages will serve him. His kingdom will never be destroyed nor pass away. No matter how dark this world looks like, no matter of all the persecution and suffering you face, know this, your victory in Christ Jesus is secure. This world will turn to Christ or it will suffer the wrath of God. But you will be victorious. And this is what William Carey said as he ended his...

He says, Yet my faith, fixed on the sure word, would rise above all obstructions and overcome every trial. God's cause will triumph. And so let us praise God and let us say together, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me pray. Father God, I thank you to be able to share your word, God, and be able to proclaim your gospel. God, you're sovereign over salvation. You're sovereign over our trials. You're merciful. You're great in mercy and you cause us to be born again. God, I pray that you would not just let those be truths in our mind that we just think about, but they would be deep within us that move us to rejoice, that move us to suffer, if you will it, who move us to live in such a way, God, that we would suffer if necessary to be able to proclaim your gospel. And I thank you, God, that you've promised us.

and inheritance, and you've promised that you would be victorious, and I thank you. Pray for these men. Pray for David and David as they lead this church. I ask you, God, to give them boldness, give them courage, give them love for your people, give them conviction, and give them perseverance, God. I pray that you would give these people love for their pastors, love for their elders, love for their deacons, and love for each other. Genuine love, God, that we would speak the truth. without flattery to each other. God, I ask you now to just be with us the rest of the day. Send us out of here, proclaiming your gospel everywhere we go, proclaiming your good word, proclaiming your law and your commands everywhere we go, God, and knowing that you're with us. Thank you, God. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.