Closing Words (Part C)

There are those people that are just full of grace. If you've ever met someone, they're just, man, they can't say anything bad about that person. They always make you feel welcome.

They never overstay their welcome. Grace to hate or not to hate. Well, grace is to not hate those who offend us. The natural man just said, well, what do you expect me to do? It was only natural.

That's right. You spoke it, brother. It was natural.

It was not spiritual. Grace gets us home to heaven. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of First Peter. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.

Today, Pastor Rick will continue through his message called Closing Words in First Peter, Chapter 5. Don't sneeze when you're hiding. And I don't want to give my position away. And for the first 20 minutes, it was brutal. Bugs were just capitalizing on it. Then everything went calm. Just like, this is kind of nice.

Too bad I don't have some beans. Anyway, I stayed awake and I watched. To this day, you can tell I'm very proud of myself here. Humility, we can get back to that later. Well, that was in the other verse. It's not in this verse.

It was an accomplishment, that kind of pride. I didn't go back and say, did you guys scratch? Bunch of losers. No, I didn't do that. And what I say to you, I say to all, watch. Because your adversary, the devil. Peter would recall, the devil, once speaking through him, and Jesus calling him out in front of everyone. How humiliating. What could you imagine Andrew, his brother, going, Peter, he said you're the devil. I heard him.

I was there. Don't try to deny it. Get behind me, Satan. You're not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. What?

How much is in that? Peter knew that Satan also asked for him. There was more. Luke 23, Jesus said, Simon, Simon. And you know, when he repeats your name, as with any parent, there's something serious coming.

Simon, Simon, indeed. Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. And of course, what would you say at that point? I know what I would say. And what did you say when he asked for me?

Because I have a vested interest in this. So the Lord goes on, but I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. And so he knew something about the works of the devil when he says, because the adversary, your devil. He also saw the devil gobble up Judas Iscariot. He saw that. And he heard Jesus say, watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, so watch. He says, he walks around like a roaring lion. He's on the prowl. Lions roar.

Once you've heard it once, you always know it. Seeking whom he may devour. But get this, he can't devour everyone. Not because he doesn't have appetite enough, not because there's not enough room, but because God has strengthened his saints. It's what he was telling Peter, I've prayed for you.

You're going to be victorious. You're going to return to your brethren, and then you've got work to do. And he's doing it. He is strengthening his brethren. Satan the predator, devouring others to feed his hatred, but he can't devour everyone. Well, who can he not devour, as I said?

Those who have set a watch. Verse 9, resist him, because you can't kill him. That would have been nice, but you can't. Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. The writer to Hebrews says, remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also.

Don't lose sight of this, the brotherhood, the suffering that we endure. So resist him. Any other suggestions for fighting the devil?

That's the only one I know that works. You will still take some hits, but without the resistance, you will be gobbled up. The God resists the proud, we are to resist the devil, resist the devil, but flee youthful lusts. You can't really resist that too well.

You've got to run from it, as Joseph gave us an example. Steadfast. That's a firm commitment.

I'm not going to negotiate. I'm going to stand the best I can. Satan has one target that he continually aims for, you and I, and that is our faith to break it down. If he cannot kill it, which he will try to do, if he can just ruin it.

And he does a good job if you're not watching. He says, in the faith, true faith, never contrary to truth. Tonight, we'll be discussing the pattern and the presence of God. The pattern and the presence.

The presence was the tabernacle, but it had to be according to the pattern that God gave Moses. You just can't make up. Well, you know what? I don't like the whole goat skin thing on the thing.

What I was thinking was this nice silk. You just can't do that. And many try. And so they end up with either the pattern, but no presence, or the presence and no pattern. They either have, they have a mess, is what I'm saying. They feel like they have God with them, but it's not according to God, so he's not with them.

Or they, it's just a mess. I'm trying to preach this evening sermon before we get there. Hey, then I have the night off. In fact, I'll weave them in together. All right. Knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world, the persecution that was expanding throughout the Roman Empire. I do believe Peter is physically in ancient, the ancient area of Babylon. We'll cover some of that. Some don't believe it, and they're wrong, of course, whenever they disagree with me.

You know that. Satan attempts to destroy the church through terror, and he will attempt to destroy you on an individual level. He can't get to the church here to try to get to you, to destroy you through terror. Second Thessalonians 2, for the mystery of lawlessness, don't try to figure it out after a point, is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. That he who restrains this mystery of lawlessness is the Holy Spirit, and when the rapture comes, the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn, not absent, and the church will no longer, the true church will no longer be.

The apostate church, which is being developed now, which is more than ever globally, the apostate church will remain, and thus the woman rides the beast. 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. Grace for living, grace for dying, grace to deal with the penalty of sin, grace to deal with the power of sin. What is grace?

Well, theologians have struggled to define it with words. Close, the closest I think we can come is it is undeserved kindness from God. But grace again is one of those things that has to be worked out. It's worked out when we show it to someone else by withholding retaliation and by releasing gifts, blessings to others. Grace is a big deal. One of the best illustrations is if a policeman pulls you over and he says, you were speeding, but I'm not going to give you a ticket, that's mercy. He is withholding a justified punishment. But then he says, as a matter of fact, I've got two tickets to the ball game I'd like to give you.

Box seats, right in the back of a home plate. That's grace. And that is also something that I like to receive. And I'm amazed that sometimes I can pull it off. Badmouth the Holy Spirit says he's never shown grace through me. He has. He gets the glory. But I know something about grace and I think it is so unnatural to us in the character of Christ that it has to be like any other great attribute of Christ.

It has to be practiced to be developed. There are those people that are just full of grace. Have you ever met someone and just, man, you can't say anything bad about that person. They always make you feel welcome.

They never overstay their welcome. Grace to hate or not to hate. Well, grace is to not hate those who offend us. The natural man just said, well, what do you expect me to do? It was only natural.

That's right. You spoke it, brother. It was natural.

It was not spiritual. Grace gets us home to heaven. He says, who called us by his eternal glory in Christ Jesus? Peter keeps reminding them in the face of persecution about the glory of Christ Jesus.

It is serious. It's a serious step back to lose sight of the revealed character of Christ as it is given to us in the scripture. That's how cults are born. That's how heresies and apostasies begin to take place in lives. When they lose sight of the character of God full of grace and truth and we beheld his glory, John said. He says, Peter does in verse 10, after you have suffered for a while. Well, there's nothing he could do to stop it.

So rather than curl up in a corner, he was going to do what he could to brace them for it. And he reminds them that this will pass later after this persecution, maybe 40 years or so, there will be another strong persecution come their way, the church. Jesus wrote to a church. He wrote to the messengers of the church. Now, when you go to a service, you say that was a good message because of the messenger. Well, the messengers of the seven churches in Revelations are not the spiritual angels. They are the pastors who deliver the message. And so, he singles them out. Whatever the flock is doing wrong, he addresses the pastor.

He says to the angel of the church at Ephesus, to the angel of the church at Smyrna. Well, to Smyrna who was not going to receive rebuke, Smyrna in Philadelphia, he said this, do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. I'm telling you, I don't like suffering. I don't like humidity. I don't like mosquito bites. I do not like suffering.

I don't know how I made it this far. And so, I read these words and I just say, Lord, you know I don't like suffering. But I don't know if you need to hear that goes back to things that you don't need to hear that I'll be driving home thinking about. You spent 20 minutes on Revelation 2, 10 talking about your suffering.

Anyway, in an attempt to identify with you, of course. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested. And you will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. What kind of faith did Jesus think that church had where he could stand up through his messenger and tell them they were about to have a train wreck and be slaughtered?

And that's what he does. We know of no protest from the church at Smyrna. They continued being Christians as to this day as it has been with Christians persecuted through the ages. They continued to be Christians. So Peter says, may God perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. That is a benediction he is putting on them.

The outcome of persecution, should you survive it physically, may you be established mentally, spiritually. Verse 11, he says, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. There's an outburst there. He doesn't sort of err to him be the glory, you know, et cetera, et cetera.

No, this is action packed. Because this Jesus, Peter, see you and I, we read about Jesus. We haven't seen his face. Peter saw him before he was glorified and after he was glorified. And so when he says, to him be glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

So what do I have in my repertoire of Christian moves that can match that doxology? Because you've seen him too. Maybe not with your eyeballs, but you've seen him. If you're born again, you've seen the risen Lord. You know him. No one could take that from you. You want to trash it, that's on you. But if you are born again, you have seen him.

Very unlikely you're going anywhere. And you can say, when you are preaching the gospel, you have the same surge of emotions that says, to him be the glory and the dominion. He is my ruler. I am not ashamed to call Christ my master.

He is everything to me. In verse 12, he now ends, he has ended his letter, and now he puts this postscript, by Silvanus our faithful brother, as I consider him. And Silvanus, who's writing this down, says, thanks brother.

No problem. He says, I have written to you briefly, because he knows Paul's letters are longer, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. Now Silvanus is the longer form of Silas. It's the same Silas from the book of Acts that was called a prophet in the church. In other words, he spoke the word of God.

Not always predictive prophecy goes with that in the New Testament. This Silas was the one that was beaten at Philippi with Paul, and with the wounds on their back, and they made their way to Thessalonica, and they established a church there, and they did a very good job. This is the same Silas who traveled with Paul often, and is mentioned in his letter, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians.

There he is. And here he is now, years later, with Peter. Thessalonians being one of the earlier Christian writings that we have.

So there's been a decade or so since Silvanus was with Paul, and took those beatings, and he's still serving, of course. Now Peter's first letter is written in a classical Greek. Whoever wrote the letter, not authored it, Peter authored it, but who wrote it down, the Emanuensis, he knew his Greek.

Peter did not have that level of Greek, and second Peter is not as well done. So this is why it is in the classical Greek, unlike the second letter, because Silvanus is the one writing it, and apparently, not only did he write the letter, but he delivered the letter to the churches in the areas of Pontus where he was dispatched. And so he says, by Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly. And this faithful brother, man, how could you get a higher endorsement than from the apostle Peter, and of course Paul.

He says, I have written to you briefly, there's always more to say, because there's always more to do. Exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God which you stand, that's the objective. What are we trying to do here? Stand in the grace of God in the face of whatever is hurled at us, encouragement for those sufferings. What happens if we don't stand in grace? Well, I haven't read this since James, but an old Puritan, John Owen, he wrote this hundreds of years ago.

Well, not that many hundreds, but a few hundreds. It is in many places a lost labor to seek for Christianity among Christians. What a scathing commentary on dead churches and dead Christianity. He says, you've got to work hard to find Christianity in places where they say they're Christians. And so when Peter says, I'm exhorting you, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. Well, John Owen was talking about those who weren't standing in this. Thank you, Lord, that many have and do and are standing in this grace. But that is a good, a good warning to us all. I don't want to be in that number.

When the saints go marching in, I want to go marching in. I do not want to be left out and I do not want to be left out here of the Christian life while claiming Christ. In verse 13 he says, but she who is in Babylon elect together with you, greets you and so does Mark my son. Now this word Babylon, which the Bible students have really gone back and forth with, some believe it was a code word for Rome.

I don't see why. What was he covering up? I don't want anybody to know I'm in Rome. Nero had spies everywhere. They could find out where the Christians were and they just had throw a dragnet out and round up and see who they get. I don't think that was it at all. Symbolic of the Christians in exile throughout the Roman Empire.

That's a fair suggestion, but it's rather redundant, I think. As Paul said, I think my judgment is right. The ancient city in Mesopotamia known as Babylon, which at this time in history was really just a small town. I think that's where Peter was. It was a still Jewish community there. Peter was sent to the Jews to preach Christ. Not that Paul did not want to. You know when Paul said I must get to Jerusalem for the Passover. Why? I thought you were Christian now.

Because the opportunity to preach the actual Passover of Christ Jesus to his people. That's just a side note. So I mentioned that Peter seems removed from the persecution in his writing. There's not a lot of, you know, we're going through it kind of a feel to it.

And well this would explain it that well I am outside. I'm in the farther part of the Roman Empire which it has not yet trickled down to. He will come back to Rome and then he will be persecuted. So Mesopotamia, of course there were Christians or Jews from this area of the world in Acts chapter 2 when the church was born.

And that's how the gospel would have made its way there in its earliest stages if we had to search for. He says the elect together with you, the elect in context in the end times, the elect are the Jews. But during the times of the apostles their audience called elect was the church. Jesus said that such tribulation as the world is not known that if possible even the elect would not survive.

But the elect being the Jews, but they will because of divine interference. They greet you, so does my son Mark. At some point, probably earlier, Mark had already penned his gospel. Peter is likely the contributor.

Now you younger Christians, I don't know if you understand when I throw in these little tidbits about Mark wrote the gospel, he probably got it from Peter because there are little things inside the story that would give the detail as the signature of Peter. You may say, boring, but this is your foundation. You take this away and then how can you believe anything else? There are those that have tried to attack the Bible and there's those kind of little things that repel their attacks. So don't sell them short. The only words that I speak up here that can be dismissed I'm brokenhearted to say are my jokes. But the tidbits from scripture, they are valuable.

They are, they have been thought through so heavily that they've shut the door on protesters who don't know what they're talking about. You can go online and you can find out, you know, when was Peter martyred? And you will get all sorts of wrong information that does not agree with the timelines given to us clearly from the scripture. You can find those that say Peter was the first pope and you do the math, you set the timelines from their declarations and what the Bible has to say and you refute them soundly.

So there's big news. Mark, the one that ran away from service because it was too hard at the time and then both Paul and Peter bring him back and he had a cousin named Barnabas who wouldn't let him go. Would to God when you've failed you'll have people in your life like that. He'll end up going back also. Paul will write to Timothy and say bring Mark with you but that won't happen yet. That's second Timothy. Now verse 14, we're almost done. Greet one another with a kiss of love, peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen. Well the practice of greeting others with a kiss was universal at that time but people like me rose up against it.

Put an end to that. How about a nod, thumbs up or a handshake if you must. But it's still common in some cultures but largely died out in the western world and I am very happy about that. So no matter though how the customs and cultures change in the form of greeting, love remains the same and that's the idea.

He's saying show the love and in that culture. Now there are going to be wise guys at the end of the service that's going to pucker up. No there won't be. We can go on but we won't.

Unless you've got nothing to do. Peace to you all in Christ Jesus, that's to the born again and when he says amen again, this is truth with firmness. He's saying this isn't something I met up. He said at the beginning we have not followed cunningly devised fables. We made known to you majesty in the coming of Jesus Christ. Truth with firmness is so we close the first letter of Peter and we will start the next one and it's going to get ugly.

Not for us because we're on the right side. We're so glad you tuned in today to study the book of First Peter on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia and we're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information about this program or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website crossreferenceradio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music or your favorite podcast app. We hope you'll tune in again next time to join us as we continue our study through the scriptures right here on Cross Reference Radio.