259: Christian Russell - Exhortation: Four Ways to be Strengthened

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to good Chris Elfian talks. I’m Levi. And I’m Chris. And I’m Brian. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. We post a new episode at the start of each week. With a short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you’re about to listen to. And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk. This week’s talk is an expectation by brother Christian Russell that he gave on August 6th at Verdugo Hills. It was suggested by member Verdugo Hills Ecclesia here in California that is not Chris.

2. 1:00

   That would. I feel like it’s worth noting we don’t just give each other suggestions, but this was a hesitation that was sent from a different brother for Duke Hills and Chris said he wasn’t actually in attendance, he was at a different meeting. So Christian does a fantastic job in this very encouraging hesitation.

3. 1:17

   It’s kind of broad ranging, touching in Mark and then also in Peter talking about Peter and how you know how he was encouraged. But really it is I think over and over on the theme of reliance on the Lord and letting him remove our cares, knowing that our father will never let us fall. It’s a very, very encouraging station. I was really, really excited to share it. So here is Christian Russell, Four Ways to be Encouraged. Thank you, Brother David, and good morning, my dear loved ones in the Lord Jesus Christ.

4. 1:54

   To those who are here, and to those who are on Zoom, the purpose of an excitation is to strengthen and to encourage. So before I begin, I have a question for you to think about. What are four ways in which you can feel strengthened and encouraged? What are four ways that you can feel strengthened and encouraged?

5. 2:20

   There’s no right or wrong answer here. If you’re analytical, you might think about it one way. If you’re emotional, you might think about it in a completely different way. But are you yourself aware? Are you self aware, I suppose. Are you aware of what you yourself actually need to feel strengthened in your faith, to be encouraged in your faith journey?

6. 2:43

   But while you ponder that, in my work I get to analyze a lot of claim data. About leaves of absence and disabilities in the workplace. And then I can consult back with my clients about what’s going on and we try to find ways to help them. And if there’s one growing trend that’s out there that we’ve been observing actually for the past five years now, it’s that anxiety and depression are on the rise in the workplace, not that that comes as any kind of surprise to you. People speculate why though, and this is when it gets interesting.

7. 3:19

   Is it the pace of the modern workplace with 300 emails a day? That’s about what I get. Maybe. Is it the expectation for immediate service to each one of those 300 emails? Is it the expectation for immediate service or immediate response? Maybe that puts me on edge. Is it because customers are growing increasingly entitled? Oh yes, maybe definitely.

8. 3:45

   Is it an issue of generational resilience, which is one that comes up again? Maybe. But I see pretty equal data from both genders and all age groups. Now, I want to share with you that in, I suppose, Full disclosure, some of you know I’ve suffered from a generalized anxiety since I was a child. It is a horrible feeling.

9. 4:06

   It’s like nothing is stable, nothing is reliable. It can feel like you’re hanging over the edge of a Cliff, about to go over the edge. And it can quickly take over and consume you. And in my experience, one of the biggest causes of my anxiety has been insecurity, insecurity and. And as somebody who is more acutely aware of this, it does seem that a blatant strategy by advertisers today is to capitalize on my insecurities in order to promote all kinds of products and services to fill my head with doubts.

10. 4:44

    About my health or my finances or my safety? Nothing out there, it seems, is secure. But at the end of the day, there’s one aspect of our lives, of our spiritual security, I suppose, or 11 aspect of our lives. Our security, which is generally treated as an afterthought, is our spiritual security.

11. 5:08

    Wind the clock back to the 1st century to the people who this letter was written to. To the brothers and sisters to whom the gospel was preached and the Epistles were written, what do you think we would find? Because I think we would find similar insecurities as we find today. They had similar needs. They had jobs they wanted to keep because they needed to provide for their families.

12. 5:29

    Food they wanted to put on the table. Kitchens which needed fixing, bathrooms that probably needed remodeling, roofs that needed patching, Chariots that needed servicing. And yet our brothers and sisters in the 1st century had more to worry about, didn’t they? For they were surrounded by a very real threat of persecution and even death. Which is why they would have probably had so many questions for the apostles about why God would let them go through so much suffering, so much tribulation on their way to the way to God’s fulfillment of his promises towards them. And so the matter of an eternal security, a spiritual security, was more vitally important to them day by day than it is probably in our society.

13. 6:19

    And So what we find when we read the epistles, including Peter, what we find when we read them, is not letters of advice on how to secure a satisfying job, or how to earn lots of money, or how to secure your retirement, but the writers of the New Testament. Surrounded by haters and persecuted as they were, and after having personally experienced the Lord Jesus Christ, they felt compelled, compelled to address the believers spiritual security and their spiritual strength, their spiritual stability in the face of these very present challenges and so.

14. 6:59

    Their letters are filled with guidance about how to secure their salvation, how to find a lasting stability for their faith, and how to find a security which is eternal.

15. 7:14

    Peter in particular addresses this issue in his first epistle. So if you’ve got your Bible still open, turn to chapter one before, because before we get to the excitation which is found in in chapter 5. We need to understand the context of Peter’s epistle. And really what I’d like is for Peter to provide us with the excitation this morning about how God strengthens us, how God encourages us, and from where that source of strength comes, how God strengthens us, and where that source of strength comes.

16. 7:50

    So let’s look at the context of Peter’s epistle to see how these pieces come together. Otherwise it might be a little confusing. So turn to chapter one. And just look at the way Peter starts, because he starts by addressing this topic that was at top of mind, not just for himself, but for all of those who were enduring persecution for Christ, the insecurities that they were facing, the difficulties, the challenges, the trials.

17. 8:12

    He gets right to it. In verse six he says. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. But the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, others, and sisters. Peter isn’t sugarcoating it.

18. 8:40

    Peter isn’t sugarcoating it. He says suffering and the insecurities or the grieving as they would. That he uses the insecurities which accompany it, is part of the Christian’s life. But. He goes on. There is profit from walking that path of faith. Just look at the words he uses. Again, the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, to honor, to glory.

19. 9:13

    When we see words like genuine, precious praise, honor, and glory, they’re powerful words, aren’t they? And words, says Peter that come. Out of a place of testing.

20. 9:27

    But ultimately what Peter does in his epistle just to stand back is to try and take the focus of the believer away from those trials and the suffering and the difficulties and the challenges. To take your focus away from that and point you instead point us instead towards a glory which is coming. And this is a theme which we see throughout his epistle to take us and point our focus away from our trials and sufferings. Towards a glory which is coming, a glory which will be revealed. And we see that in verse six of chapter one, that though your faith is tested by fire and may be found to praise, to honor and glory when at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And this is, in a nutshell, the epistle of Peter, that while encouraging us to live courageously for Christ, he wants us to remember to reflect the character of Christ even in the face of our trials.

21. 10:23

    And so when we get to 1st Peter, chapter 4, which Brother James read verse 12, we have a better understanding of what he means when he says do not think. It’s strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice as partakers of the suffering of Christ. Now, if we do stand back from the epistle, we find an intense practicality of what Peter, what Peter is saying in regards to security and where to find it, in regards to adversity and how to deal with it, how to endure it and in regards to anxiety and how to deal with it.

22. 11:08

    And the only way Peter says. The only way to overcome the challenges, the trials, that the sufferings that we encounter is to focus our attention on the only means by which our eternal security can be found. But, says Peter, there’s a catch. To do any of this, you first must understand what it means to submit to submit.

23. 11:39

    And, and this might seem upside down to us in our thinking, To those of us who are perhaps think that the way to overcome anything or who have been raised to think that the way to overcome anything or live in a culture which teaches you to think that the way to overcome anything is to fight to submit, is what he says, we must first submit.

24. 12:03

    You see what Peter is saying? Is this how can we understand our own suffering unless we first understand how he suffered the Lord Jesus Christ and that when He suffered he submitted to His Father’s will? And so a key theme of Peter’s epistle is submission. We see it until we learn to submit. How can we never?

25. 12:27

    We can never truly understand what it means to suffer for Christ until we learn to submit. And so this is a challenging lesson from the beginning of his epistle to the end. Servants to masters, he says, Submit. Wives to husbands. Submit. Husbands to wives, Submit submission to one another, he says. So with all of that in mind, we come to Chapter 5 where the exitation is is contained.

26. 12:55

    And so it is in chapter 5 that Peter now reveals what our spiritual focus should be upon, what our spiritual gaze should be upon. What is the confidence of our of our hope? What is it? The center at the core of our eternal security? It’s right here in chapter 5 and how we get it now.

27. 13:14

    It’s a beautiful little chapter, so let’s read it again. First, Peter, Chapter 5, The Elders, Who are among you. I exhort I, who I’m a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. And also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed, Shepherd, the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, not as being Lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

28. 13:42

    And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, For He cares for you. Be sober.

29. 14:16

    Be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 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 to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

30. 14:49

    OK, So what I want to do is just first of all make 4 observations about Peter’s opening statement here. Most of them are in verse one, Peter’s opening statement, SO4 observations. And then I’m going to look at 4 verbs that Peter uses to exhort us, 4 verbs that he uses to exhort us. So the first observation is really quick. Peter isn’t giving an excitation which he himself is exempt from. Peter isn’t giving an excitation which he himself is exempt from. When Peter tells us that we should submit to one another, he includes himself, and he demonstrates that in verse one because he doesn’t say, you know you need to stop and you need to listen to me because I’m Peter.

31. 15:29

    He doesn’t say that. He doesn’t say you guys need to listen to my excitation because I’m Peter because I was the first to leap off the boat. I was the first to race into the empty tomb. He doesn’t say any of that. He says. The elders who are among you, I exhort I, who am a fellow elder. I am am a fellow elder, a Greek preposition which implies a union.

32. 15:55

    A union, something that the lexicon tells us means closer than just being physically among or nearby, but implies it says a proximity of companionship, even completeness. Let me say that again. Implies A proximity of companionship, even completeness. Brother Sisters, I I love that because it articulates the joy of true fellowship, doesn’t it? It is literally what we are experiencing right now, both here and on Zoom.

33. 16:28

    We are experiencing A proximity. Sure, we’re physically close to one another, but what we’re experiencing is more than just being next to or nearby. One another, there is a joy of companionship, a joy of fellowship, something we share in common. Second, I want you to notice that the only credential that Peter uses about himself is that he was witness to the suffering of Christ.

34. 16:58

    Not the victories, not the victories, but the suffering of. Of Christ the Christ had to suffer. And I think that this is more than just a continuation of the theme from chapter 4, which we had just looked at earlier when he says rejoice as partakers of the suffering of Christ. I think it’s more than that, because I think that this was also an acknowledgement by Peter of a lesson he had learned, a lesson he had learned the hard way.

35. 17:26

    Why do I say that? Well, do you remember when Jesus himself told the disciples that very same thing? That he had to suffer? What was Peter’s response to that? Do you remember? We’re told in Mark Eight that Peter rebuked Jesus, a word that implies that he almost physically took him aside, and he might have said no, no, no, Lord, don’t say that.

36. 17:51

    We won’t let that happen to you. Whatever he said, he rebuked Jesus. That’s what Mark’s account says. And then we’re told in Mark eight that Jesus rebuked Peter. And the comment is specific, It says in front of all the disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and he said, get behind me adversary, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. And the word rebuke is a strong word. Used here by in Mark, eight of Jesus, and it’s only the Gospel of Mark that uses it.

37. 18:32

    Which is interesting to me because Mark is considered to be Peter’s gospel. Peter’s observation, perhaps the first gospel that was written, Peter’s observation, Peter’s own perspective. It’s as if Peter doesn’t want Mark to put lipstick on what happened. He wants everyone to know what really happened, that he was wrong to take the Lord aside. And Jesus was right to rebuke him, because the lesson Peter had learned, brothers and sisters, was that the ministry of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus wasn’t about all the good bits, the lessons that he taught, the miracles he performed, the people he healed.

38. 19:09

    Although it was that too. What Peter is saying is that he had been witness to the price that Jesus paid, the cost that Jesus paid for our salvation. And that he was witness to his sufferings. But it’s the rebuke of Jesus which is also revealing. For it’s from this that I think Peter actually learns another lesson that he shares with us.

39. 19:38

    Because Jesus reveals a critical truth about suffering and his comment and his rebuke to Jesus. Consider what he says. Again, I’ll just read it to you. Get behind me, for you are mindful not of the things of God, but of the things of man. Like us, you see, Peter’s concerns were in the present, but Jesus’s response was that our concerns over present things are just temporal. They last but a moment on the divine timeline, and as such they’re just things of men.

40. 20:09

    But in comparison, says Jesus, the things of God now they last forever, so worry about them. And so in First Peter 5, Peter declares that it is. The sufferings of Christ. That is central to the gospel message that Jesus suffered for our sakes and Peter was witness to his sufferings.

41. 20:34

    The third thing to notice is, well, observation. The third thing to notice is what he says next Take a look at verse one of chapter 5. Again I who am first a fellow elder, second a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and now he is third, a partaker of the glory that will be revealed.

42. 20:55

    Again, I think that this was one of Peter’s goals, to turn the believer from those present circumstances and worries the things of men, and turn them instead to look at what is eternal, the things of God, as Peter says here to the glory of God, which is coming. It’s a beautiful picture to see that this is what Peter is trying to do.

43. 21:20

    He’s acknowledging that we face suffering, that we have anxiety, that we have difficulties in trials. But he’s saying turn your gaze from those things, which are the things of men. They last just a moment on the divine timeline and turn your focus instead to the things that are eternal. Let me just read to you.

44. 21:38

    I’m going to try this rather than you’re looking at it. I’m just going to read this to you from first Peter One. Let me What do you hear? Let’s be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith of salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while if need be, you have been grieved by various trials that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, who, having not seen you love, though now you do not see him yet believing you rejoice with joy and expressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

45. 22:49

    Do you hear it? We hear in these opening words of this letter, this epistle of Peter, Peter trying to turn from the very opening versus turn our attention away from the things that consumers turn our attention from our present circumstances to a glorious future that will be revealed, a future which is promised, a future which will come to pass.

46. 23:16

    And so at the end of his epistle. So if that’s the beginning at the end of his epistle, This is why Peter says I am a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. So this then is the context and the framework for his excitation or the excitation. Today, no matter what we face now, there is an eternal glory which is coming, The blessing of God’s eternal presence in the Kingdom. And that regardless of what we have now or possessed now there is an inheritance which will never fade away, never spoil, never perish.

47. 23:54

    A blessing which is guaranteed. A blessing which will never evaporate out of our hands. Unlike everything from the world, it will never evaporate out of your hands. A blessing which will never lose value. It is absolutely secure. Just notice quickly before I move on. If you would notice the tenses in that verse in verse one, because we might see something else. What does Peter say?

48. 24:22

    Again, I was a witness to the sufferings of Christ. I am a fellow elder with you in Christ, and I will be a partaker of the coming glory of Christ. It’s as if Peter counts his experience with Christ as the beginning, the middle, and the end of his discipleship. That Jesus is his past, Jesus is his present, and Jesus is his future.

49. 24:48

    Everything he claims to now be. Everything he claims to have been in the past. Everything he claims to have in the future is in Christ, and everything about himself is then pushed aside, brothers and sisters. If that isn’t submission to Christ, I don’t know what is. Everything he claims to now be, everything he claims to to to have had, and everything he claims that he will have is in Christ. Jesus is his past, his present and his future. Can we say that about ourselves?

50. 25:23

    Can I say that my life before I knew Christ was nothing, that my life only really truly began when I heard the gospel of Christ and understood that he suffered from my sins? Can I say that? Can I say that the only thing that counts now is true fellowship in Christ with him, with you, with the Lord, is the one thing I value most on life’s journey to see the glory of Christ in the Kingdom?

51. 25:52

    Because if I can’t say no to myself and yes to Christ and each aspect of my life, past, present, and future. If I’m more proud of my credentials than my past accomplishment and my past accomplishments, than in the accomplishments of Christ. If I am more proud of my current status or position or job or title, my income, my reputation, than my fellowship in Christ, if I am thinking more about my legacy or what I want for me or my family than what I can do for Christ, then perhaps I need to go away and reflect a little bit more deeply upon the sufferings of Christ.

52. 26:36

    Now, the 4th observation is not in verse one, and it’s perhaps more of a speculation. It’s about the inspiration for this epistle or some of the contents of what Peter says, the inspiration for Peter because there’s a phrase Peter used which kind of jumped out when I was looking at it. And it’s a phrase which links Peter back to one man in particular and one book in particular.

53. 26:59

    And I think it’s the background to that book which gives some parallel, some insight into what Peter may have been thinking about as he was writing his epistle. And the phrase is found in verse six of chapter five. He says, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Now there’s 15 places where the mighty hand of God appears. All of them are in the Old Testament. 12 of them describe one and the same thing, and nine of them are found in one book. So what is the book?

54. 27:34

    It’s Deuteronomy. And so if it’s Deuteronomy, then who is the person? It’s Moses. And So what are the circumstances of Deuteronomy that might be a parallel to what Peter is dealing with? Well, we discover that Deuteronomy is a testimony, if you like, of Moses before he dies, you, if you want to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 3, do so. Deuteronomy chapter 3.

55. 27:58

    We’re going to look at verse 23 and 25. But you know, Moses at this point, at the beginning of Deuteronomy, he already knows that he’s not going to enter them to the land, the promised Land, at the very beginning of Deuteronomy. He already knows this, so he’s reflecting, he’s looking back and and the reason why he’s not entering the Promised Land is because he’d been rebuked by the Lord for striking the rock, hadn’t he?

56. 28:22

    So Deuteronomy begins with Moses pleading to God, please let me cross the river Jordan into the Promised Land, verse 23 to 25 of chapter 3. Then I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, oh, Lord God, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. But what God is there in heaven or on earth, who can do anything like your works and your mighty deeds?

57. 28:45

    I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains in Lebanon. He’s pleading with God, Let me pass over the river.

58. 28:56

    And so here in Deuteronomy 3 is the first occurrence of this phrase, the mighty hand of God. And and after this, it appears eight more times in Deuteronomy by Moses, eight more references to the mighty hand of God. And they’re all about the same thing. And they’re all along the lines of this. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

59. 29:24

    In other words, the context of this phrase, this statement, the mighty hand of God. The context is that God is our deliverer. With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, he delivered us. God is our deliverer. Well, So what? Nice little Bible study. So what? What does that have to do with Peter?

60. 29:46

    Well, what better example or parallel could there be for Peter at the end of his journey than Moses at the end of his? Both were divinely appointed leaders of the children of God. Moses was shepherding the flock of the new nation out of Egypt, appointed by God himself, dealing with the challenges of persecution from without and challenges from within, yet all the time believing that the Lord would deliver His people with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

61. 30:15

    And and we have in the New Testament, we have Peter shepherding the flock of the new church, appointed by Jesus Christ himself to tend the sheep and feed His lambs, dealing with the challenges of persecution from without and challenges from within, yet all the time believing that the Lord would deliver His people. And So what we have here is Peter at the end of his journey, now writing to encourage all of us, all of the believers on their journey with this excitation, that there is this future glory that is coming when the Lord will deliver His people with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. And so the lesson from Peter, and perhaps from Moses 2 is this.

62. 30:58

    If you want God to deliver you, you must submit under God’s mighty hand. And submit means losing sight of everything about ourselves and focus instead upon him, upon the fulfillment of his plan, his purpose, just as the Lord Jesus did. Now this is all great. This is the theme of Peter’s excitation. But we still actually haven’t reached the core of it.

63. 31:37

    We haven’t reached the center of our Christian security. Because doing those things, what I mean by doing those things, submitting yourself, humbling yourself, these are all actually just actions on our part. They don’t of themselves. They can’t actually of themselves save us, can they? But Peter does tell us what can and what does save us, and when we see it, we realize He’s mentioned it in chapter one, chapter three, chapter 4, and now in chapter 5, Peter says in verse 5 for God gives grace to the humble.

64. 32:15

    In other words, despite all of the things that we can try to do for ourselves to make ourselves secure, buying it, working it, whatever it is to try to make ourselves secure, it is ultimately what we cannot do, that we so desperately need something. We need God to come in and provide for us His grace, for it is God’s grace which is at the very core and center of our spiritual security.

65. 32:43

    It is grace which flows from the very character, the very center of the character of our Heavenly Father. It emerges like if you will, it emerges out from who He is. Grace when out of His loving kindness, He grants to us what we do not deserve. When we deserve judgment, He grants us mercy. When we deserve condemnation, He grants us forgiveness. When we deserve death, he grants to us life. The center, the core of our eternal security is grace, the grace of God.

66. 33:21

    Peter himself has been touched by grace, hasn’t he? He’s seen it in the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s experienced it, He’s seen it, He’s felt it, He’s known it. And now he has an excitation for us about what the God of all grace can do in verse 10. The excitation. What the about what the God of all grace can do in the life of all believers, everywhere in the life of any believer, anywhere, actually, even if that believer is enduring trials and suffering, perhaps in spite of, or perhaps especially for the believer who is enduring trials and suffering.

67. 33:58

    So we come to verse 10 of chapter 5. 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 to him. Be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. In other words, Peter is saying, submit yourself under the mighty hand of God.

68. 34:25

    Move aside, get out the way, submit yourself under the mighty hand of God, and let the God of all grace step in, for he cares for you. So what is it? What are the four verbs that Peter says the God of all grace can do? Well, I hope that these four things will exhort and encourage you today, verse 10.

69. 34:49

    Again new King James. But may the God of all grace who called you all called us to his eternal glory. By Jesus Christ, after you have suffered a while, perfect establish, strengthen, and settle you. If you’re reading it in the NIV it will say God will himself restore you, make you strong, firm and steadfast.

70. 35:11

    So first then Peter says the God of all grace will perfect you. Or in the NIV restore and in the Greek this is 2 words combined together, cata, tizzo, cata which means to join and arteos which means fresh, in other words to join afresh, to rejoin, to join afresh, to refresh by by by implication to complete.

71. 35:33

    It’s a word that’s used about taking something that’s broken and making it whole. For example, in Mark Four, it’s used to describe the disciples who were mending the Nets. They were mending their Nets, they were taking the Nets, which were tangled and broken, and they were fixing them so that they could catch fish again. It’s a word that would be used if a doctor was to reset a broken bone with care just and just consider that definition for those of us who are in positions where we sometimes come across these situations.

72. 36:11

    In Galatians 6 verse one, the context is somebody who’s overtaken by sin. Listen to the words that he uses. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual and here’s the word restore, such an one in a spirit of gentleness. Restore, reset, repair with care, with gentleness, the bone that is broken, the one who is sinned.

73. 36:38

    And it’s also a word that’s used to describe a ship damaged by the rough seas and the wind being brought back to harbor, that it might be repaired. Brothers and sisters, which of us does not feel the need to be repaired or restored? That we might set sail on the rough seas of life again?

74. 36:58

    And I want you to notice as well, especially in the NIV, it says, Peter says that the God of all grace will himself do it. In other words, the person who comes to God, damaged and broken and in need of restoration and repair, will not be repaired by anyone other than by the tender care of the Creator himself.

75. 37:21

    And so the excitation that Peter has for us is that the God of all, grace, is in the business of putting you back together again. The 2nd verb Peter uses is the word establish. Again, two Greek words combined, one which means to stand and the other which means stable. To stand stable, the lexicon actually says it’s to set fast, to fasten, to fix, which they would usually do with like a nail or something or a prop. It’s the picture of nailing something in place so that it doesn’t fall over or props or supports to stop something from tipping over.

76. 37:58

    In other words, Peter is saying that God himself can establish us, set us, make us strong, the NIV, so that we don’t fall over. It’s not about you, It’s not about what other people can do. It’s not about all of those support services around you. God will be the one who can help you so you don’t fall over.

77. 38:19

    So if you’ve ever felt like your faith was toppling, then this word, this verb, should be of great encouragement to you. For you can have the confidence that your weakness is more than compensated for by his strength. And notice again here, Peter doesn’t say he’s the God of some grace. He says he’s the God of all grace.

78. 38:46

    In other words, all aspects of your life, all aspects of human need, are more than solved by the grace of God. There’s not one of us who has a burden which is too heavy for the Lord to carry. There’s not one of us who has a need which is too great for the Lord to be able to solve.

79. 39:02

    He can prevail in every situation. He can meet every need. There is no extent of suffering that can exhaust His supply. Yes, there’s God of all grace who has called you to be his, even though in the midst of suffering you may find yourself falling. He is the one who can make you strong.

80. 39:26

    And it’s a word that Peter was intimately familiar with, too, because Jesus actually uses it to Peter about a job you wanted Peter to do. He says Simon, Simon, I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to me is the word strengthen your brethren. That’s this word.

81. 39:44

    Strengthen your brethren. Prop them up. Perhaps some insight that what Jesus saw in Peter was this ability to come alongside and support. Prop somebody up so that they wouldn’t fall over. Prop them up from time to time and at the end of the day that though Peter wants all believers everywhere to know that while we may be able to do that for one another from time to time, coming in and propping one another up at the end of the day, it is ultimately the God of all, grace himself.

82. 40:17

    Who can truly do this in your life and in mine? The third verb is to strengthen. This word is different from the other one we just looked at, which was also to strengthen. Think about that other one as being strengthening from the outside. This one is an inner strength, the strength that prevents you from collapsing as a result of a weakness from with inside. And so maybe think here of your core muscles. In fact, the lexicon does you the use the words it says. The words imply bodily vigor.

83. 40:52

    Peter is saying not only are we stabilized externally by God, but God can also strengthen us inwardly too, to prevent us from collapsing. In other words, those of us who are feeling weak, or when we feel weak because we all feel weak from time to time for whatever reason, whether it’s trials or tribulation or health or age or poverty or circumstance, whatever reason, we are feeling weak internally.

84. 41:20

    The Lord God, the God of all, grace himself, can strengthen you. So the God of all grace is the God who will restore us. He is the God who will make us strong, and here he is the God who will make us firm, and lastly, he will make you steadfast. This is a verb that means to settle, to make stable, to lay a foundation for. So, brothers and sisters.

85. 41:50

    The emphasis here is upon laying a foundation is upon foundations. That God is the stabilizing foundation in your life. We’re all very familiar with the parable, aren’t we, of the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. And and if this isn’t a description of what anxiety feels like, I don’t know what is. But everything says Jesus came crashing down at a moment. Everything can come crashing down. How can we prevent that from happening? Says Jesus.

86. 42:21

    Jesus gives you the answer in Luke. Whoever comes to me, and here’s my sayings and does them, Jesus says, is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation upon the rock. And when the flood rose and the stream beat against that house and could not shake it, for it was and here’s the word, it was founded on the rock.

87. 42:46

    Is there anything else, brothers and sisters, which gives us a firm foundation on which to we on which we can stand? How about Ephesians 3. Let me read these verses to you. Don’t turn it up, Ephesians 3. Which we’re told it is the agape love of Christ which grounds us. That’s the word that you’ll use which settles us and establishes us.

88. 43:05

    I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That you being here, it is rooted and grounded in agape.

89. 43:25

    Love in agape may be able to comprehend with all the Saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height to know the agape of Christ, which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Yes, brothers and sisters, we find ourselves on a firm foundation when we know the agape love of Christ.

90. 43:48

    And so, as we come to the memorial table, as we come to the table to remember the sacrifice of our Savior, we are doing just that, having an encounter with the agape love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Aren’t we who died that we might find our eternal strength and security in Him? Just listen to Jesus’s own words here.

91. 44:06

    He says this about our eternal security. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father’s hand.

92. 44:30

    What a picture from the Lord Jesus of our eternal security. Nothing. No one will snatch us out of his hand. So as we come to the emblems, then brothers and sisters, may we set aside our own trials and suffering, which last for just a short time, and they pale in insignificance compared to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we submit under the mighty hand of God, and may we let the God of all grace himself, step in and go to work in our lives.

93. 45:09

    For God says, bring me your brokenness, bring me your emptiness, bring me your loneliness, and I can put you back together again. For He restores us brothers and sisters. He provides us with the support so that we won’t fall over. He gives us the inner strength so that we won’t collapse. And He provides us with a firm foundation on which we can stand so that we won’t be blown away.

94. 45:40

    It is no wonder that Peter culminates as a pistol with words of praise. At the very end of chapter five, he says in verse 11, to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. And that’s when we notice one more thing, that this is not just an excitation by Peter, this is also a prayer by Peter for all of those in Christ everywhere.

95. 46:08

    Amen. So be it. But if you look in the lexicon, it says trustworthy, surely. Amen. Indeed. What confidence, what strength, what security is this, brothers and sisters, that the Lord God, the God of all grace, cares for you and he cares for me so much so that he gave his only Son. And who himself can do these great things in my life and in yours? When we stop and think about what Peter is telling us, we’re really left in a state of profound wonder. That our God is a God of all grace, and that he and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, love us and care for us so completely, so securely.

96. 47:04

    Amen indeed. Thank you for listening to the good Christadelphian Talks Podcast. We hope this talk helped you in your walk. If you would like to hear more, please subscribe for new episodes and leave a review, an Apple podcast, or whichever service you are using to help more people find the show when they search for it. If you enjoyed this particular talk, please share it with someone who you think might enjoy it as well. For show notes on the talk you just listened to, visit our show page at Anchor dot FM GCT or check the Show Notes section of your podcast player.

97. 47:50

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98. 48:16

    Thank you for listening. God bless and talk to you next week.