A Shepherd and a Lion

Let's pray together. Amen Lord. Amen. Oh teach us now Not just the idea that if we suffer with you, we will reign with you, but teach us the mindset the emotional disposition the readiness of soul To do that To suffer readily in love in service in hope Come help me to help me to put now a little more Bible Underneath this hope I pray Keep me faithful to your word Make these women expectant and hungry Give them a discerning spirit to avoid anything that is amiss and A readiness to embrace whatever is true. Pray this in Jesus name Amen So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder And as a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a participant a partaker In the glory that is to be revealed Shepherd the flock of God that is among you Not with Compulsion but eagerly not for shameful gain but willingly not domineering with those in your charge But being examples to the flock and when the chief shepherd appears You will receive the unfading crown of glory Likewise You who are younger be subject to the elders clothe yourselves All of you with humility for God Opposes the proud But gives grace to the humble humbled yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God That at the right time he might Exalt you Cast all your anxieties on him But because he cares for you be sober Watchful the devil prowls around like a roaring lion Seeking someone to devour resist him firm in your faith Knowing that the same experience of suffering is required of your brotherhood throughout the whole world And after you have suffered a little while the God of all grace Who called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus will himself restore confirm? Establish and strengthen you to him be the dominion forever and ever Amen By sylvanus the faithful brothers. I regard him I have written to you briefly Exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God Stand firm in it She who is in Babylon was likewise chosen Sends you greetings so does mark my son Greet one another with the kiss of love Peace to all of you Who are in Christ Woven through the entire letter of first Peter is the repeated call including chapter 5 the repeated call for a condition of heart and a way of life That only makes sense if you are rock-solid Sure of a reward beyond this life Peter calls us again and again to think and feel and act In a way that cannot be explained In this world, but can only be explained by an unshakable all-satisfying hope beyond this world and of course I Don't mean a hope for material wealth Or pain-free health or reunion with loved ones or perfect leisure or futility free productivity in the age to come Get all those thrown in Those are not Central they are not primary That's not the main thing Jesus died for The ultimate reward that you have to be confident about if you're going to live the life of first Peter is the reward of being with God and Enjoying him in his glory forever That's the main thing Jesus died for for you I Think first Peter 3 18 is one of the most important verses in the Bible I wrote a whole book about it called God is the gospel. It goes like this Christ suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous That he might bring us to God that's why he died That he might bring you to God not for punishment in the presence of God, but for pleasure in the presence of God Psalm 1611 in your presence his fullness of joy at your right hand our pleasures forevermore He died for those pleasures He died so that you would be brought without wrath and without condemnation into the presence of God with everlasting happiness in the glory of God forever if you don't want that as the main treasure and supreme satisfaction of your life, you don't want heaven and You don't what you don't want what Christ died for But if you do want that if that is your desire and that is your confidence Not only will you be able to understand first Peter You will be able to live first Peter and that's the only way you will be able to live first Peter Have you ever been bothered like me? I wonder by 315 first Peter 315. It's been mentioned many times Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you When was the last time anybody did that? Why hope? Why would anybody? formulate the question like this I See in your life That you must have a hope That I don't get Why would they ever ask them? It's because the life of the Christian can only be explained by hope It can only be explained by hope beyond the grave our lives that we're called to live By Peter don't make sense They are Unintelligible in the categories of the world in this closed system called the universe This life that you're called to live in first Peter makes no sense without something beyond called hope That's why Peter says We should want them to ask that question Peter is calling us to live in such a way that our lives cannot be explained in the categories of this world For example Chapter 1 verse 6 We are told to rejoice in suffering Now what in the world could make sense of that? Goes like this So that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though tested by fire May be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Christ That's why it makes sense without the revelation of Christ and the glory that you will have at that moment The suffering you're called upon to rejoice in is insane Paul said we're of all people most to be pitied not admired Or another example chapter 3 verse 5 We're called to do good Wives especially here do good and do not fear anything. That is frightening. Are you kidding me? How in the world can you tell these women? Not to fear anything that is frightening Answer verse 5. This is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves that's your only hope to be a fearless wife a fearless mother a fearless woman in this particular world Fearless because these are the women who don't hope in this world They hope in God Example number 3 first Peter 3 9 He commands us not to repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling but on the contrary to bless Bless the people who are mistreating you what makes sense of that tell Donald Trump about that What makes sense of that? Here's what makes sense of it because you were called to this that you may obtain a blessing Without that this makes no sense The blessing beyond is incomparable example number 4 chapter 4 verse 13 We're called to the counterintuitive behavior of rejoice In so far as you share Christ's sufferings They were horrible Peter come on Get real How in the world? Can anyone? rejoice in sharing the sufferings of Christ answer That you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is Revealed. That's the only thing that makes sense out of this crazy life So I say it again woven through this entire letter is Peter's repeated call think a certain way feel a certain way act a certain way that cannot be explained Cannot be explained without hope beyond the grave At the coming of the Lord Jesus in particular now, what is that way of thinking? What is that way of feeling that way of acting? Here's my sentence to sum up first Peter's call a joyful humble willingness to suffer wrong and serve Rather than return evil for evil. Say it again a joyful humble willingness to suffer wrong and serve Rather than return evil for evil He really does call us to that few examples chapter 2 verse 20 What credit is it if when you sin you are beaten for it you endure but if when you do good and Suffer for it you endure that's a gracious thing with God crazy Unintelligible to the world chapter 3 verse 14, even if you should suffer for righteousness sake you are blessed chapter 3 verse 17 It is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will chapter 4 verse 1 Christ suffered arm yourself with the same mind Chapter 4 verse 19. Let those who suffer according to God's Will and trust their souls to a faithful creator. This is a strange way of life first century 21st century and every other century. This is a strange way of life a joyful humble willingness to suffer wrong and Serve rather than return evil for evil another name for it is called Love so when we come now to chapter 5 We should not be surprised that the two threads Weaving this chapter together are a mindset to serve and suffer and an otherworldly hope sustaining it over and over and over Again, so let's do a quick survey of chapter 5 then we'll come back and look at a few details In verse 1 Peter presents himself not as an apostle which he did in chapter 1 verse 1 But as a fellow elder this is the Front-ranking apostle at least among Jewish people along with Paul among Gentile people. This is this is Mega authority in the early church and he is coming down Getting his arms around the elders of the churches and saying I'm one of you He's modeling What he's gonna call for in verses 2 and 3 and he's doing so because he says I was a witness of the sufferings of Christ Painfully so was he a witness and I'm a partaker in the glory. That's coming. You hear that? Hot I saw it. I'm testifying to it and I'm going into glory where he went overall rule and authority and power And so for now I'm real content to come down with you men you elders and and get my arms around you and say I want to I'm one of you. I'm exhorting not as a big shot right now I'm I'm exhorting as a fellow elder and so he tells them verse 2 not under compulsion I don't want to twist your honor. I do not want that kind of obedience in the church I don't want that kind of leadership in the church Don't be a person who acts out of necessity and compulsion but rather Willingly Verse 2 second half of the verse not for shameful gain. Oh God delivers from women and men who work in the church for money who are driven by shameful gain but rather eagerly verse 3 not Domineering over those in your charge But being examples to the flock That's beautiful What in the world makes sense of that kind of leadership? in a world Then and now we're coercion and money and power are the essence of leadership It's where you get it done You coerce people you pay people you entice people with power and rank that's the way you get it done And how are you gonna get it? How are you gonna? Lead as an example in a completely opposite way answer verse 4 when the chief shepherd appears You will receive the unfading crown of glory You don't need it now Lay it down Get out on the floor and play in the nursery Get your man to work in the nursery Be a good model pastor Work at the kids working evangelism working clean the church do the stuff Be an example, you're gonna get glory more than you can imagine someday So don't lord it over people now don't work for money now Don't be under compulsion now That kind of sacrificial joyful humble Leadership makes no sense in this world Unless there's an unfading crown of glory on the way true biblical Eldership only makes sense in the light of eternity If it is explainable, and I know I'm talking to men mainly right now, but But but a lot of you are married to them and you are all 99% of you anyway parts of churches where you have enormous influence and Enormous responsibility that your leaders lead like this Informs your prayers informs how you call the next pastor. It informs how you encourage me didn't it informs a hundred things that you do if the elders leadership Can be explained in natural terms. It's defective Let's turn to verses 5 to 7 the same mindset that Peter was just calling the elders to He now calls everybody to especially the younger and you see it in the word likewise Is that a remarkable word there at the beginning of verse 5 because he's just been speaking to leaders Likewise that is just as the elders are called to be humble and serve as examples so you Who are younger? Be subject to the elders clothe yourselves. And now he says all of you It's all of us in the church clothe yourselves all of you with humility toward one another Clothe yourselves all of you Why the image of clothing is used? He said something about why women and how they were to dress Don't know if that has anything to do with this but the best I can guess is that that he's saying if there's going to be Dressing up if there's going to be Wearing something that makes you stand out Let it be humility you want a uniform in this church, let's have a uniform. Okay, let's all wear the same thing on Sunday Let's call it humility Something like that maybe Instead of thinking man or woman I'm gonna I'm gonna dress and walk and be I don't stand out How in the world Does does that kind of lowliness and humility and servanthood get explained? In a world where you can't get nominated politically that way You can't get a job that way self promotion self assertion self exaltation That's the fabric I'm gonna wear when I do an interview or go on television or have a debate or Going for a job interview I am pushing me this doesn't make sense Except For the last part of verse 5 and verse 6 God Opposes the proud and the last thing in the universe you want is for the God of all creation to be against you You want to be against you be proud? But he gives grace to the humble what grace don't we have grace It's a meaning of the Christian right we have grace we live in grace we stand in grace What do you mean? He gives grace to the humble. Well, there's more grace There is a future grace and he defines it in verse 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may Exalt you it's coming This is why such a strange humble selfie facing countercultural attitude Makes sense it makes sense because just over the horizon all the lowly nobodies all the lowly nobodies who suffer in obedience of Humble contentment in Jesus are gonna shine like the Sun in the kingdom of their father You feel like a lowly nobody in your ministry, maybe John Piper he'd stand up there for a 7,000 people. Everybody knows his name. That must be cool shine like the Sun all the The day is coming when there's going to be a great reversal the first are going to be last the last are going to be first and Stars of the universe are going to shine with the names of the nobodies of the kingdom That is very clear in the Bible Matthew 13 43 you will shine like the Sun in the kingdom of your Father there are hundreds of thousands. Think of it. There are hundreds of thousands of faithful Christians around the world men and women In very difficult circumstances right now Only a handful of people know they exist They are joyfully and enduring Joyfully enduring hardships in following Christ and it's only a matter of time and Chapter 5 says a very little time short time After you've suffered a little while meaning a lifetime little two-second vapors breath of life There is coming a reversal and all the followers of Jesus will be exalted higher than any human exaltation could possibly imagine We don't need it now This is the this is the evil of the prosperity gospel. It's a matter of timing They think they need it now They think they have to have the material possessions now the exaltation now everything has to go well now It doesn't it's not designed to be that way so To the elders they don't need coercion to serve gladly. They don't need money to minister willingly They don't need power To gain a sense of significance not if they're following Peter We have set our hope not on the exaltation of the world But on the exaltation and the glory of God and us in him in the next World and there's no comparison Donald Trump has a jet plated with gold. It will be a most silly little plastic toy Compared to what you fly in in the age to come It's just he he and and the millions like him are Insane they don't get it. They they they they think that this world is Reality its ultimate reality. It's not ultimate reality. It's a speck It lasts this long and eternity is forever and in eternity He will exalt you it says in verse 6 Let's jump now to verses 8 to 10 Peter tells us to deal with the roaring lion the devil Who wants to devour us, so let's read that 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 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 Jesus will himself restore confirm strengthen and establish you Strike you as odd that the devil is not a snake here Slithering to sneak up behind you get your heel like that. Just quick get you off. He's roaring raw I'm here Like okay, if you're here, I'm running. I'm gonna go away Is that smart our lions stupid They are stupid. At least the devil is I don't know about lions, but the devil is stupid He wouldn't have crucified Jesus if he knew what he was doing It was suicide Why is he roaring? Why is the why is the devil? Roaring I'll tell you why he's rolling his aim here is not to sneak up on you. It's to terrify you The devil's aim in this paragraph is to strike terror into the hearts of women and men He roars when he's hungry and angry That's true He's hungry and you're meal and he's angry And he wants to terrify you make you afraid fill you with anxieties Keep you off balance and nervous Just the opposite of the daughters of Sarah in chapter 3 verse 5 and 6 Where they are to do good and not fear anything that is frightening including that pussycat Kind of woman I want you to be But many of you are are fearful women Anxious women nervous women about a zillion things in your life, and I I hope that you go home Gloriously Confident in your heart. I hope that the Lord just listing burdens all over this room Just burdens of anxiety about a thousand things in your life Cuz Satan's design is to roar roar from Orlando Roar from Syria Roaring with horrible things in the world to make people terrified and fearful We know that the roar is the roar of suffering Verse 9 second half of the verse Knowing That the same kinds of suffering that's a reference back to the lion and his roaring Resist the devil and he will flee free from you James Resist the devil confident in your faith knowing something namely that the same kinds of Suffering so the roar is a suffering The sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world so this roaring biting clawing Lion is Causing people to suffer. That's what the the teeth are. That's what the claws are That's what the roar is It's it's suffering suffering in in which you stand or suffering that's just about to come to you to fill you with fear That's the Lions roar and verse 9 says resist him Resist him firm in your faith. Now. Does that mean that if you are successful? Successful the claws never cut if you are successful the the teeth never sink No, it doesn't mean that it means When the claws cut and the teeth sink in you don't stop believing You don't stop being humble. You don't stop returning good for evil You don't stop rejoicing You don't stop loving that success When the lion is roaring and clawing and and biting with his manifold means of suffering so success of resistance is Not Hating and not doubting God but loving and blessing Even if it costs you your life To which we respond. Are you kidding me? Really? when the adversaries that we face are the agents of the devil We're supposed to go on returning good for evil Keep on blessing those who curse Keep on doing good for them What's gonna make sense out of that We're gonna get the strength to do that answer verse 10 After you have suffered a little while the God of all grace Who called you to his Eternal glory in Christ. I wrote a note to myself this morning. I was having my devotions. I said Lord Everywhere That there's glory in a word in the Bible help me to feel the glory Everywhere there's Value in a word in the scripture help me to value the value and these words Who has called you to his eternal glory? Eternal glory not eternal shame not eternal hiddenness Eternal glory in Christ will himself restore confirm strengthen and establish you So resist the lion by unwavering joy humility and love Keep on doing good to those who hate you how by believing verse 10 Feeling verse 10 Experiencing the miracle of knowing verse 10 is the most real thing in your life The sufferings are all temporary very very temporary even if they're 80 years long Very temporary and eternal glory What word would you replace with eternal? I? Don't know another one that's longer keep on hoping in this eternal glory the promise of total restoration total confirmation total strength everlasting unshakable glory a Future beyond the sufferings of this world. That is the key. So let me go back and and summarize it to the elders Don't lord it over your people don't use them for money Don't begrudge their needs serve them eagerly willingly joyfully humbly how? Verse 4 with rock-solid hope that when the chief shepherd of ears you will be crowned with glory Number 2 verses 5 to 7 all of you clothe yourselves with humility towards one another humble yourselves go low under God Go low with each other be servants How in the rock-solid hope verse 6 end of the verse at the proper time you're going to be exalted Beyond anything you can imagine number 3 verses 8 to 10 resist the roaring lion who's clawing at you resist him with unwavering joy and Uninterrupted good deeds towards those who are hurting you how in the world? Because of verse 10 after you suffered a little while the God of all grace Who called you to eternal glory will make it all up Everything good you ever lost. He will restore Forever, so I say it again, which I said at the beginning Woven through the entire letter of first Peter and now we've seen including in chapter 5 is a call for a kind of life And a kind of heart that only makes sense in view of rock-solid hope in a reward beyond the grave And The rock the the life is a joyful humble willingness to suffer wrong and serve rather than return evil for evil and the hope here is a Crown of glory and the presence of the all-satisfying God having restored everything to us all wrongs against you Will be set right If they don't get set right here I don't think God has dropped the ball all patients under mockery will be vindicated All shame in this world will be replaced with honor all pain Will be removed all losses Will be restored all Brokenness will be mended all Humiliation will be exchanged for garments of glory all slander Will be revealed to be false You feel like you're living under people in the church Spreading lies about you and you have no way to vindicate yourself That will be fixed And they will be brought down Or in Christ cleansed all Slander will be revealed to be false before the whole world all anonymity in the quiet Faithfulness will be replaced with global fame among millions of redeemed people Just a matter of time and the time is short. I have two questions in 20 minutes If you thought it was over two questions that are burning for me having said what I just said number one How can it be loving How can it not be selfish to be motivated To bless my enemy by the desire for my own glory in heaven my own vindication my own pleasure at God's right hand a lot of famous ethical teachers in the world Argue that if you do anything morally for reward You've just ruined the morality of the deed and I've just spent what? 40 minutes Therefore trying to persuade you to sin Namely, I'm I'm telling you that on God's authority You should be motivated to lay down your lies for others in the hope and confidence That's gonna bring you to glory and without that. Hope you can't live that way. That's what I'm arguing so I'm totally against that viewpoint and my question is What why is It not selfish and why is it not unloving? For me to serve you For my benefit. That's question number one. Here's question number two Is the devil Really in charge of suffering, okay, let's take those one at a time number one. Is it loving? Why is it not selfish to be motivated the way first Peter I'm arguing Motivates us over and over again namely to count on our own In due time he will exalt you I Think Peter threw that out for nothing. I have five reasons why it's not Selfish and unloving and they get increasingly decisive so that all I need is number five but but I Think it's good to have all five. So here we go. I mean this this is a kind of a apology from my life You don't need to know why I said that But some of you will know Why is it not selfish for us to be motivated that way number one in the age to come We will not exalt ourselves We will leave it totally in the hands of God Whether he will be pleased to give us that reward of Exaltation and glory or not. That's number one. We don't exalt ourselves. It is not a matter of self exaltation number two when the reward comes Beyond the grave at the coming of Christ in particular. It will all be of grace No merit no earning First Peter 5 verse 5 God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble namely You will be exalted in due time. It will be grace when you're exalted You won't be able to brag number three the exaltation and the glory that we want We want and he didn't tell the elders when the chief shepherd appears You will receive a crown of glory for them to say I don't want one I Think he would have smacked him up the side of the head if they had said I don't want God's Reward of a crown. I just think that would have room You know, it'll be plain why in just a minute, but number three is The exaltation and the glory that we want is not exaltation over Anyone in the kingdom. We're not doing James and John here mark 10, right? Can I sit at your right hand and can we sit at your left hand and those other ten? Well, they can sit anywhere they want But we want right and left And Jesus did not like that. So this is different When I think about you in the kingdom, I would be very happy to be lower Very happy if he just said well done you were faithful in a few sermons Well done But to you the faithfulness that you performed with nobody knowing the hundreds of faithful acts When you Rise and get a reward like that Everything in my sanctified soul is gonna love you for it Celebrate that so this is not about Exaltation over anybody number four. Okay, the last two four and five. These are really important The others were important, but these are really important number four There is nothing morally inferior or defective about wanting reward Provided the reward is more of Christ as the supreme joy of our souls it's not golf Look at my friend David down here because he expects me to say this. It's not Everlasting productive activity. It's not having the ideal vacation forever Like I said, those things are kind of thrown in golf is thrown in or whatever you like to do. That's not sinful but what makes this desire this longing this aching this confidence is rock-solid hope a Proper and right and beautiful motive is I want more of Jesus There's more to know of him more to enjoy of him through this path of life than that path of life that's number four and the reason is Because God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him When when you when you ache and long to live in a way that maximizes your joy in God God gets more glory Because the more satisfied you are in God the more glorious he looks in your life Now here's the last one and this is the most important this is the one that you can sit down at Panera Bread with and and tell that friend of yours who's really stumbling over all the Seeming selfishness of the New Testament in these kind of motives. This one will work. This one will make sense to her. I Think it is loving To sacrifice for others it is loving to sacrifice in the hope of reward if our aim in the sacrifice is To win others to come with us into the reward and I get that from first Peter 2 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable So that when they speak against you as evildoers They may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation Now these good deeds are being done to people who are hurting you It's all over first Peter right People are maligning you some masters are beating the servants and others are slandering you and And you're doing good to them Why in the hope and the prayer that God would open the eyes of their heart to see that your Satisfaction in God is so deep so unshakable that you have the resources to keep giving and giving even when they're Hurting you in the hope that they will see and believe and join you in that satisfaction That's the goal So it's it's never I mean you you can explain this to somebody you can say to them look, I Am here at this table loving you in the hope that my reward will be greater in heaven And I will know more of Jesus love more of Jesus experience more of Jesus And that's not selfish and manipulative because you know why I'm here my joy gets bigger if you join me Really want you to join me. I really want you to go with me. There's not enough evangelism like that ladies There's not enough. We've got we don't plead enough We don't look right into her eyes and say I want you to go I want you with me to say right into a Muslim's eyes I want you with me to say of a person who's got another sexual orientation. I want you to be with me in heaven That's why I'm here because a shared joy is a double joy My joy will be bigger if your joy in God is part of my joy in God That's not manipulative that's not unloving that's not selfish That's love it's the only kind of love that can be if in fact God is all satisfying and Promises to be increasingly satisfying as we serve him in the way first Peter calls us So that's my answer to question number one, no, it is not unloving no it is not selfish it is in fact exactly what Love does It seeks to know and enjoy more of God Through the path of suffering in the hopes that others will see our satisfaction and join us in it and thus increase ours and theirs Final question is the devil in charge of suffering Is the lion in charge? He's roaring. He's clawing. He's Biting. What about God? What what's he doing when the devil roars? It's true chapter 5 verse 9 Resist the devil firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering So you see the connection there the devil is causing this suffering Resist the devil firm in your faith knowing that's the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world so it's happening all over the world and It's happening because Satan hates Christians That he means to roar and frighten them and devour them if he can So it's plain to me that Satan has a mighty big hand in the horrors of this world Jesus Said that much in Revelation 210 He's speaking to the church in Smyrna through John and he says this Do not fear what you are about to suffer Behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison pause the devil is About to cast some of you into prison He can do that He does that in order that you may be tested Hmm hmm Whose test and You will have tribulation ten days Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life So Satan can throw you in prison and keep you there till you die and It's a test to see if you will be faithful and receive the crown God's test Peter would add verse 10 chapter 5 as You go to jail. He's whispering in your ear after you have suffered a little while The God called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus will restore confirm Strengthen establish that we haven't lingered over those four words We just got back from Italy visited the Colosseum Christians were torn to shreds there Not maybe these four words are trying to address every kind of death you ever die And you ever watch people die? It's never pretty and if they're very old it can be so sad There's just a skeleton left It's just so inglorious Sown in dishonor Raised in on and I think Peter's just trying to help help Christians if somebody says yeah But what if what if we ask what if it's the Lions what it's real lions? and we're not gonna do to us and there won't be anything left to bury and they just the horrors of facing some kinds of Suffering would make those four words Restore Confirm Strengthen establish be so helpful in that Moment and so Peter is saying to those who may have to go to jail and die believe now that's not the whole story because I'm just So far I'm just talking about the devil being in charge of suffering and God giving us one two Wonderful promises to bring us through and a lot of people just leave it there. They just leave it there Well, that's not where the Bible leads it Satan is not the ultimate authority in this world. He's not the ultimate authority over suffering. We know it from Job, right? Satan had to go to God to get permission to afflict Job That's paradigm shaping. He had to go to God to get permission to afflict Job and and First thing God says is okay. Go ahead He lets us fall into these awful claws Go ahead. Just just don't touch him. And so his kids are killed all ten of them and Satan comes back because Job says the Lord gave the Lord is taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh my Do we know what we're singing? Blessed be I Look around when people are singing that's how you kidding me Do you know what you're saying? Matt Redmond knows do you know it's true? First time I ever heard that song Was right after a little baby was still born in Turkey to a missionary family of ours Cried in that song my hands out like this Gives and takes away Gives and takes away. My heart will choose to say Blessed be your that's what Job did and so Satan goes back to God and says Let me have his skin And God says he can have his skin just not his life and he afflicts him with the most horrible boils Worms got in the boils. He scraped them with a pot broken. You ever had kind of sort of look like The worms out of the boils His wife no offense ladies was not a lot of help So you want to you want to be a helpful wife at this point don't don't say curse God and die He but I think Job was patient with her. I'm gonna give him the best He said you you talked like like one of the foolish women Like And they're good You're not you're not one of them. I'm not I'm not giving you up you talk, but you're talking like one Shall we receive good at the hands of the Lord and not receive evil and The inspired writer says thus he did not sin with his lips So we know from Job that Satan doesn't have the last word and he doesn't have the upper hand He has to get permission and we know that Peter Agrees with him because of chapter 4 verse 19. Therefore. Let those who suffer according to God's will Entrust their souls or chapter 3 verse 17 It is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will or chapter 1 verse 6 and 7 It is in this. Hope you rejoice though now for a little while you have if Necessary you have been grieved Necessary for what so that your faith would be refined and turn out like gold Praise and glory and honor at the coming. So yes, Satan is a roaring lion and Satan causes Suffering but he doesn't have ultimate authority in this world And I think his roaring is the louder because he knows he cannot act on his own without Accomplishing God's purposes. I mean have you ever thought? Putting together chapter 5 in chapter 1 roaring lying and suffering being caused in chapter 1 If necessary, you must suffer various trials so that the genuineness of your faith more precious than gold Which so perishable is tested by fire might redound them to praise and glory and honor You have put those together and see how angry that must make Satan All he can do is sanctify Christians That's all he can do if You resist him firm in your faith If you turn on God and say I've had enough of you if you treat your children like this I'm out of here if you do that It won't result in sanctification and you will join Satan in the lake of fire and you will have given him his day And you don't want to do that So we need to close. I'm 35 seconds over. I'm not sending you home with a formula For when to accept being slandered and when you confront it I'm not sending you home with a formula for when to turn the other cheek Not sending you home with a formula for when to endure mistreatment as a believer and when to rebuke and admonish or when to spank your child and When to be more lenient or when to confront your husband about a shortcoming or when to forbear or When to endure discrimination at work against yourself or plead for justice or Move to a dangerous place for Christ Or move away because of the danger. I don't have a formula what I send you home with is Peter's call to Think and feel and act in a way That only makes sense if you have a great reward in heaven that satisfies your soul. I Send you home with a passion to be so controlled by the Holy Spirit That you will live in a way that somebody finally will ask a reason for the hope That is in you because they can't explain your joyful humble Willingness to suffer wrong and serve and love rather than return evil for evil. You're gonna have a crown of glory You're gonna be exalted at the right time and after you've suffered a little while The God who called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus will himself restore Confirm Establish and strengthen You and he will do it and you know, he will do it because verse 7 says something we passed over Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you and verse 11 To him belongs dominion total care and complete dominion That's what you go home with total care and complete dominion Calling you to live a life that cannot be explained without confidence in eternal glory So father I long for that. I want that I know I do not live up to that way of life or hold fast to that hope as consistently as I should and I suspect that none of these women do Either and therefore we need the true grace of God We need to stand in it Grant your help. Oh that they might go home filled with joy Inexpressible filled with glory in hope in Jesus name. I pray