Faithful To The End

[0:00] Hear the word of the Lord. Resist him.

[0:33] Firm in your faith. Knowing that the same kinds of sufferings. Are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while.

[0:45] The God of all grace. Who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ. Will himself restore. Confirm. Strengthen.

[0:56] And establish you. To him be dominion. Forever and ever. Amen. Right now there is a woman named Kelsey Finler.

[1:07] Who has captivated the attention of really probably millions of people. Particularly in the United States. Maybe around the world. Anybody seen Kelsey Finler's videos this week?

[1:19] Kelsey Finler is attempting to be the first American woman. To travel alone. From California to Hawaii. In a rowboat.

[1:29] She's a solo rower. In a rowboat. She left about 11 days ago. From the coast of California. And she's attempting to be the first American woman to do it.

[1:40] Alone. All the way to Hawaii. She's almost two weeks into a feat. That if she accomplishes it. Will take probably three months.

[1:51] To finish. And each day. I'm not sure. Maybe she has satellite access in some way. I know there's lots of people who are tracking her. But each day. She takes a moment to record about a 60 second video.

[2:05] A brief update on her condition. And on her progress. And she posted online. There's ocean rowing experts. Who are tracking her progress. Who are keeping up with what's going on.

[2:16] And they're posting. And they're commenting on what she's doing. Earlier this week. A fairly significant weather system moved over Kelsey's location.

[2:27] For about a day and a half. There were significantly high winds. 14 foot waves. For a day and a half.

[2:37] Through the middle of the night. Her updates around that time were fascinating. I would encourage you to go and watch them. As she was told by those who are helping her support team. This weather system is coming in.

[2:49] She's preparing herself. She's preparing her ocean rower for this particular event. She's recording videos as she's going through the event. And it's fascinating. The most interesting video that she posted though.

[3:02] Wasn't during the storm. For me it was the one that she posted the day after. On day 8. After the weather had cleared. The sea had begun to calm.

[3:16] A westerly wind came in. Moving from west to east. And it began to drive her in the completely wrong direction. Here for 8 days.

[3:28] She has rowed. And rowed. And rowed. Trying to go west to Hawaii. She prepares herself. She gets even almost excited.

[3:38] About the reality of this big storm that's coming in. She's well prepared for that. She's eager. And then the storm goes away. And she's made it through. And then suddenly a completely different obstacle comes in.

[3:49] Just a wind. And all of that ground that she gained during that storm is suddenly lost. As the wind pushes her in the wrong direction. She needs to go.

[4:00] And as you can imagine this was emotionally difficult for her. Through tears she recorded a video. She spoke of how demoralizing it was to have weathered the storm.

[4:12] Only to encounter yet another unforeseen obstacle. That causes you to lose precious miles that you worked so hard to gain. And on that video at various points she said this.

[4:26] I'm summarizing. She said this. I knew it was going to be hard. And this is just one of the hard things. Tomorrow is going to be better.

[4:38] I'm still rowing. I'm still rowing. The fact of the matter is. Every day on this journey that she's taking.

[4:49] Is going to be hard. There won't be a single day that's easy. The difficulties will change. Sometimes it's a big weather system. That comes in and threatens to capsize your boat.

[5:02] Other times it's a strong wind that comes in. And it begins to push you in the wrong direction. There's going to be other difficulties that come along the way. Every day will be difficult. Every day will come with its own kind of dangers, toils, and snares.

[5:16] But as long as Kelsey keeps rowing. Eventually she'll reach her destination. And that elusive and ultimate better tomorrow will actually come.

[5:30] Now it's watching her videos and following her progress this week that her experience reminds me a little bit of what Peter is doing in this letter. And what he has been saying to the suffering Christians in Asia Minor here in 1 Peter.

[5:46] Life in this fallen world is hard for everyone. Right? But the Christian experience in this life is one that Peter calls a kind of exile.

[6:00] It's not that our lives are necessarily more difficult. But we face a kind of suffering and a difficulty that is unique to our faith. It comes with suffering specifically for the name of Christ.

[6:15] And though the obstacles that we face in relationship to our faith may vary from day to day. Each day brings its own kind of trouble.

[6:26] Its own kind of danger, toil, and snare. And through those hardships, the temptation will be specifically to give up.

[6:40] To fall away. To stop rowing. And that temptation can, on some days, seem almost impossible to resist.

[6:54] And it's not always in the big storms that we have to weather. Sometimes it's after having come through a huge storm and then just to only be met immediately by another, even if lesser, obstacle.

[7:08] Where the temptation becomes increasingly strong to just say, I think I'm done with this. Maybe this isn't worth it. Maybe this isn't worth it.

[7:18] So in this final section of 1 Peter, God calls us through Peter's writing to persevere. To be faithful to the very end.

[7:32] Loved ones, I want you to make it to the very end. I want you to make it to the very end. I want you to make it to the very end because Jesus himself said that only those who endure to the end will be saved.

[7:52] Those who fall away will not receive the eternal inheritance that God has promised to his own. Which means that we must prepare ourselves by God's grace to stand firm in the faith of the gospel of Jesus each and every day as we press on towards heaven.

[8:17] And Peter helps us to see how to do that here in these verses. And he gives us two exhortations first. He instructs us on two ways that we need to actively persevere in the faith.

[8:30] And then the third thing that he does is actually quite different. And it's all kind of rooted in this third thing. Where instead of telling us something to do, he gives us an assurance, a comfort of God's preserving grace.

[8:42] And that's what I want you to see. As we're seeking to be faithful to the end, I want you to see from Peter's language here what it looks like to persevere in faith, a real act of perseverance on our part that's rooted in the comfort and the rest of God's preserving grace.

[9:02] That in his grace, he will see us through to the very end. First thing Peter says in verses 6 and 7, humble yourselves before God.

[9:14] Humble yourself before God. If you're going to be faithful to the end, if you're going to make it to the end and be saved, you're going to have to humble yourself before God. We'll look at it in verse 6.

[9:25] Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time, he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

[9:38] Now this first exhortation, it's reaching back, it's finding its ground in verse 5, verse 5, where quoting Proverbs 3, Peter says that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

[9:52] Do you see it there in verse 5? God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. What's Peter saying then? Because God sets his face against the prideful and meets the humble heart with an outpouring of divine favor, Peter now urges us to actively humble ourselves before God.

[10:17] And in the context of this passage, humility is persevering in faith that God will indeed fulfill his promises to us in Christ.

[10:29] Humbling ourselves before God here is to patiently await the future glory that he has promised his children by enduring the sufferings of this life, trusting that he will indeed deliver his people.

[10:50] That's the significance, actually, in the language that Peter's using here. He doesn't just say, humble yourself before God. Notice what he says. Humble yourselves, therefore, before what? The mighty hand of God.

[11:03] Now, Peter just isn't using random language. This isn't literary flourishing that he's doing with this phrase. This is a description of God and of God's power that's prevalent in the Old Testament Scriptures.

[11:16] It's always used particularly in relation to God delivering his people, delivering them from trouble, delivering them from sin. Think on that.

[11:30] This God who has called you, whom you believe and follow, is a God of salvation. He is a God of deliverance.

[11:42] And Peter says, in the midst of your suffering, in the midst of your hardship, humble yourselves before God. Humble yourselves before the God who indeed delivers, who is your salvation.

[11:58] To humble ourselves then is to trust that our eternal salvation comes from God alone. And whoever thus humbles themselves before him, Peter says, will at the right time be exalted.

[12:19] Exalted with Christ Christ. And at Christ's return. What is that telling us? It's telling us that anything less than persevering faith is pride that God opposes.

[12:37] Not only that he will oppose here in this life, but that he will oppose in the judgment at Christ's return. Those who humble themselves before the mighty hand of God will be exalted by God at the proper time.

[12:53] Those who do not humble themselves before the mighty hand of God will not be exalted, but will be condemned and judged. So trust that he alone is your salvation.

[13:09] And that at the appointed time, at Christ's return, he will exalt you. And you will share in Christ's glory. Now in verse 7, Peter says that this humility manifests itself in a particular way.

[13:25] It manifests itself when believers hand their worries over to God. Look what he says. This is not a separate imperative. This is how you humble yourself by casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

[13:44] Casting all your anxieties on him is one way that you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. It follows then, logically, in what Peter is saying, that worry or anxiety is a form of pride that God will oppose.

[14:06] at the heart of all of your anxieties is pride. It's not always pride alone.

[14:20] Don't misunderstand me. There are all kinds of things that contribute to our emotional distress. distress. But the one thing that is always there, no matter what else may be contributing to your distress, is a kind of pride.

[14:39] It's at work in every anxious heart. Pride always makes little of God. Worry and anxiety, giving in to worry and anxiety, is a diminishment Diminishment of God and his faithfulness and his power and his goodness.

[14:59] The mighty hand of God is diminished when we live in worry and anxiety. Steve Schreiner said this, or Tom Schreiner, excuse me, when believers are filled with anxiety, they are convinced that they must solve all the problems in their lives on their own.

[15:18] The only God they trust in is themselves. When believers throw their worries upon God, they express their trust in his mighty hand, acknowledging that he is Lord and sovereign over all of life.

[15:36] Now, I want you to notice what Peter's saying and what he's not saying. Notice it isn't the mere experience or feeling of worry that matters. It's what we do with those anxieties that matters here.

[15:51] So, I don't want you to walk away thinking if you get nervous about something today or if you have a sense of anxiety about a particular thing in your life that that means that you've sinned and your heart is lifted up in pride against God.

[16:03] No, he's not saying the experience of it or the feeling of it. It's what we're doing with that anxiety that can become problematic. Pride manifests itself by taking matters into our own hands.

[16:17] We buy into the illusion of control that really the one who is sovereign over my life and actually can control the events of my life is me.

[16:29] And so, we put our trust and our hope ultimately in ourselves. That's the problem here. That doubts God's faithfulness. Humble faith, on the other hand, takes all of those concerns, those moments of worry and anxiety and cast them on the Lord.

[16:48] Cast them on the mighty hand of God. This means trusting your soul to Him and to His sovereign care.

[17:02] In the immediate context of this passage, suffering as a Christian, casting all our anxieties on Him means persevering in faith and obedience despite the constant threats and ridicule from those who are hostile to God and His ways.

[17:24] Do you see that here? Humble yourselves before the God of your salvation at the right time, at His appointed time, at Christ's return, in other words.

[17:37] He will exalt you. You will share in Christ's glory. The way you will do this is that when you're overcome with anxiety because of the suffering you're facing, instead of trying to control it yourself or taking matters into your own hand or just living in despondency, you, by God's grace and through persevering faith, cast those worries and anxieties on the Lord, trusting your soul to Him, trusting in His goodness and His faithfulness in your life, entrusting all things to His sovereign care.

[18:13] Now, Peter could have rooted this exhortation in so many attributes of God, couldn't he? He could have said, cast all your cares upon Him because He has all power and can defeat all your enemies.

[18:27] That would have been great. It's not what he says. What is it that he says? Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you.

[18:40] This exhortation is rooted in the attribute of God's providential care. What a wonderful comfort that is. It's wonderful to know that God is all powerful and that He can defeat all of our enemies and He can conquer all of our hardships.

[18:54] It's amazingly comforting to know that He's not a distant God but He's a personal God who not only has that power but actually has the care to perform it and the concern and the love and the compassion to do it.

[19:11] Do you know that God cares for you? He really does. He loves you. If you are His, you will always be His.

[19:28] He has set His love on you from before the foundations of the world. He has called you. He knows what you're going through. Indeed, He is sovereign over what you're going through and He will see you through it.

[19:41] He will not abandon you and He invites you to cast all of those concerns and worries and anxieties on Him primarily because He cares about you. He loves you.

[19:53] How do I know that? How do we know that He really does care? because He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things, Paul wrote in Romans 8.

[20:17] God's care for you was proven at the cross. His eternal love and care was proven as Jesus, the righteous one, died in your place and took your sin and suffered God's wrath for your sake.

[20:40] That's the pinnacle of love and care and if He's so willing to do that, how could we not entrust Him with our lesser hardships and difficulties?

[20:53] Therefore, you can cast your anxieties on Him trusting that He is good and that He will fulfill His promise. Second, Peter says, not only are we to humble ourselves before God, second, we are to stand firm in the faith against the devil, stand firm in the faith against the devil, verses 8 and 9.

[21:21] He moves on and He says, be sober-minded, be watchful because your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

[21:37] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brothers throughout the world. This is now the third time that Peter has called us to spiritual sobriety in this letter.

[21:54] Remember, it takes sober-mindedness to set your hope fully on the grace that will be completed at Christ's return. We saw that in chapter 1, verse 13. We also saw in chapter 4 and verse 7 that faithful communion with God and prayer requires a kind of spiritual sobriety, a sober-mindedness as well.

[22:17] Here, the call to spiritual sobriety and alertness, be sober, be watchful, is for the purpose of recognizing and resisting Satan's schemes against you.

[22:33] Peter says the devil is a real adversary. He compares him to a lion who is prowling about seeking that he might destroy us.

[22:44] And he says we need to be alert to this reality. We need to think clearly about this. We need to keep our heads about this and recognize that of all the hardships you're facing, of all the enemies that you may have in this life, there is a great spiritual power behind them.

[23:06] Your sufferings for Christ are not about that person who is ridiculing you. That's not the extent of the power that is at work against you. No, it's far greater than that.

[23:18] It is a power that is far more significant than you probably imagine. And he is seeking to destroy you. He wants to destroy you.

[23:31] And you need to be alert to that reality lest you're devoured. Now, we need to keep all of this in context to really understand why Peter is saying this here.

[23:44] Why is he suddenly jumping to this idea about Satan as a roaring lion? Let's put it together. Remember, the primary suffering facing believers in this letter was not the threat of death.

[23:59] Even though that was a possibility, it always is a possibility. That's not really the primary means of suffering here. The primary means of suffering in the letter is public ridicule. It is social ostracization specifically because of your faith in Christ, because you're a Christian and you have decided to faithfully live as a Christian before the watching world.

[24:24] Relatively few Christians will ever be called on to give their lives for the faith in death, in martyrdom. Every Christian, every faithful believer without exception will face the ire of unbelievers in their lives.

[24:44] The Bible makes this abundantly clear. The world is not on your side. Your unbelieving family is not on your side. Your friends that you love and that you enjoy friendship with and that you enjoy fellowship with, when it comes to your faith, faith, they do not love you.

[25:03] They cannot love you. Your expectation should be that they will be hostile toward your faith and the life that it produces.

[25:15] Jesus. They say, how do we know that? Well, Paul really straightforwardly told us that in 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 3 says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

[25:32] Not put to death, but you will face the ridicule of the world, of people that you love, because of your faithfulness to Jesus.

[25:47] And Paul goes on to say that evil people and imposters, they're going to go on from bad to worse. They're going to keep deceiving and being deceived. Our expectation, then, should be that our suffering in this life for Christ will be real and it will be experienced by us all.

[26:03] That's the context in which Peter is writing. That's what he's dealing with here. This immersion into a world that is hostile toward what we believe is extraordinarily difficult, which is why compromise is such a pervasive problem in the church.

[26:25] It's not because people come to Christ automatically thinking that they're just going to do Christianity their own way. It doesn't work like that. When someone first comes to Christ, they come genuinely, at least ostensibly, prepared to be a genuine follower.

[26:46] But Jesus said there is a category of person that comes to him and then the sun gets real hot the cares of this life, the trouble of this world comes our way and they fall away and they fade away.

[27:01] Why? Because compromise is often born suffering, hardship. No one wants to be an outcast.

[27:14] Peter wants us to know that this is Satan's tactic, that this is happening intentionally to you, that we must remain alert to it lest we fall away from the faith.

[27:30] The hostility from the world is Satan's roar, this roaring lion. What is the roar here? A lion roars to intimidate. What is the intimidation tactic that Satan is using?

[27:43] Is it not persecution? Is it not hatefulness and hostility from those who do not believe what we believe or maybe even think that it's dangerous?

[27:55] And if he can succeed in intimidating us to fall away, then we will have been devoured. To be devoured is to stop rowing.

[28:08] To say, enough, this isn't what I thought it was. Maybe this isn't actually real. As a result, Peter, his warning reminds us that while our enemies may have many faces, there is a real spiritual power behind them all.

[28:26] And the spiritually complacent and asleep are susceptible to the devouring lion. I don't want you to be susceptible to the devouring lion.

[28:38] I want you to be alert. I want you to recognize what's actually happening in this spiritual war that's going on around you, lest you fall away.

[28:51] What does Paul say to the Ephesians? We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers over the present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

[29:09] There is a significant power that is seeking your destruction and you must remain alert to him. Spiritual sleepiness, lacking those spiritual disciplines, not staying faithful to the word, not spending time in prayer, not being faithful to your church, not doing all the things that Christ calls us to do as his people.

[29:31] Spiritual sleepiness, complacency, that puts you at great risk. It makes you vulnerable to Satan's schemes. What then does it mean to be faithful to the end?

[29:44] Well here, Peter says clearly you have this enemy, resist him. Resist him. How do we resist him? Firm in the faith. This devouring, This temptation, this isn't about luring you to do something you shouldn't do.

[29:59] This is about luring you away from Jesus. This is about luring you away from the gospel. This is about calling you to abandon the faith that you have professed.

[30:12] That's what this devouring is. That's what the warning is about. What does it mean then to resist? It means to stand firm in Christ, to stand firm in the faith no matter what it is that you're facing.

[30:25] And you need to recognize that the stakes are high. They're higher than you might imagine. giving in to Satan's schemes by compromising the gospel and you will go to hell.

[30:43] That's the stakes. That's from Jesus who said only those who conquer, only those who endure to the end will be saved.

[30:56] Friends, you can't afford to take that risk. You can't afford to take the risk of complacency and of vulnerability. Peter says, be sober-minded, be alert, resist him firm in the faith.

[31:14] And then he gives us this final statement in verse 9. He corrects an error that's often at work in those facing the hostility of the world. The error is believing that what you're facing is unusual and that you're alone in it.

[31:31] And is that not what Peter has been describing this whole letter? If anything, he's been saying, you should expect this to happen, this hardship. And you need to be prepared for it and you need to trust God in it.

[31:46] That's basically the point of the letter, isn't it? Peter is seeking to comfort the weary soul here. He's reminding us that this is what we should expect. And then he says, you are not alone.

[32:00] What you're facing is what your brothers all over the world are facing. It's the same experience. Just think about how we prayed today. We've got it easy, don't we?

[32:14] What about Kevin and Denise, whose lives are at significant risk just to be where they are doing what they're doing? they may come home this summer and that elder might lose his life as a result.

[32:33] That's a high risk, isn't it? What about Val and Angela? For years now, in the middle of war, they have church services while bombing sirens are going around them in Odessa and Ukraine.

[32:50] Val right now is trying to minister the gospel. On the front lines of war. They're going through a lot, aren't they? When we face hardships, that doesn't mean, I'm not trying to diminish the hardship that we would face for Christ.

[33:06] That's not at all what I'm trying to do. In fact, I think Peter's trying to stay away from that thing as well. He's basically saying, don't think that what you're going through isn't real persecution. But whenever you're having that hard time with that family member, you're having that hard time with that friend or colleague or whatever it is, or the world or this community is coming against us.

[33:25] You know what can bring a comfort? Is to say, you know what, I can think about Val and Angela. I can think about Kevin and Denise and their church. I can think about Christians all over the world. You know what I'm going through?

[33:35] That's not unique. We're in this together. together. And the Lord is faithful. Is that not a comfort to your soul? You see what Peter's doing in this comforting?

[33:48] Our sufferings are first and foremost a share in Christ's sufferings. We know that if we suffer with him, we will also share in his glory in eternity. But we also share in the sufferings of other believers.

[34:01] We enter into it. Therefore, we can take heart. We're not actually alone. We suffer together and we stand firm in the faith together. So Peter says, you're going to be faithful to the end.

[34:16] If you're going to make it to the end and you must make it to the end, you're going to have to humble yourself before the mighty hand of God. And he says, you're going to have to resist the devil firm in the faith. And then he does something different in the last part of the paragraph.

[34:32] Look at verses 10 and 11. After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish.

[34:51] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. He does something different here. In 6 to 9, he's exhorting us to persevere in faith so that we will receive that eschatological reward at Christ's return.

[35:08] He doesn't do that here. This isn't an exhortation. This is an assurance. We can be faithful to the end because God will be faithful to the end.

[35:26] That's his point. What's he doing here at the end? He's saying, rest in the preserving grace of God. That seems paradoxical to everything that he's just said, doesn't it?

[35:40] But it's not. We're going to think on it. He said, listen, you got to go to the end. Only those who make it to the end will be saved. You're going to make it there by humbling yourself before God, standing firm in the faith despite the trials that you go through.

[35:52] And by the way, you can rest that God will be faithful to the end for you. It's amazing. The little while here, he says, after you've suffered a little while, that's not a temporary season in your life.

[36:07] That's all of your life. The little while here, that's all of life. At the end of this life, he says, after you've suffered in this life for Christ, then God is going to exalt you.

[36:23] Peter calls it a little while because the suffering is limited. It's minuscule in comparison to the glory that awaits us, that God called us to in Christ Jesus.

[36:36] Again, Romans 8, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. That's what Peter's saying when he says a little while.

[36:46] He doesn't mean for a couple of months you're going to suffer. He means, no, this life is going to be a life of suffering for you, but it's going to seem like a little while compared to what is to come. And then he says, after this, after this life, God himself will restore and confirm and strengthen and establish you.

[37:04] Now, that's not four different things that God is doing. That's one thing. What's he saying? This is what God's going to accomplish in your life after this time of suffering.

[37:15] He will bring your salvation to completion at the return of Christ. That's what he's saying. This is the eternal reward that will be made complete at Christ's return.

[37:26] It's that imperishable inheritance that is ours in Christ Jesus. But I want you to notice what it's grounded in. This assurance of eternal salvation is not grounded in your persevering faith.

[37:47] Do you see that? In other words, we don't get to the end and God say, you know what? Great job. Because you did this, let me reward you with heaven.

[37:59] That's not how it works. That's not what he roots it in. It's not resting ultimately on you. What is he rooted in? He roots it in God's preserving grace.

[38:11] After you've suffered a little while, the God of all grace, the God who possesses all grace and gives all grace, he will then bring your salvation to completion.

[38:25] He's the God of all grace. He gives that grace to everyone he calls in Christ to eternal glory. And he is able to do it because he has all dominion forever and ever.

[38:41] He is able. He is willing. He has called you. He will do it. Again, Romans 8. Those whom he predestined, he called.

[38:53] Those whom he calls, he justifies. Those whom he justifies, he will glorify. And then Paul says, what should we say to that? If God is for us, who can be against us?

[39:08] The ground of our assurance is not ultimately in what we do. It is in the sovereign grace of God. And we must rest in him knowing that he will complete the work that he has begun in us.

[39:24] He has secured eternal salvation for his people and he has secured his people for eternal salvation. That's what we saw all the way back in chapter 1.

[39:37] Soli Deo Gloria. Glory to God alone. Must we persevere? Yes. Does it ultimately rest on us? No.

[39:48] It's all of God's grace. This is his work. It's his work. And you can rest in him. Because here's the thing.

[39:59] Day by day, as you're going through struggles and hardships, whatever it is, temptations to sin, whatever it is, there's going to be a lot of days where you're going to think, you know, if this is up to me, I'm not going to make it. If it's up to me, I'm not going to make it.

[40:12] And let me tell you, if it was ultimately up to you, you wouldn't make it. But it's not ultimately up to you. Your life is in his hands.

[40:24] He calls us to persevere in faith. But it's his preserving grace that makes that possible. And you can rest in that. I want you to be faithful to the end because only those who persevere to the end will be saved.

[40:43] Perseverance is not passive. It doesn't happen to us, right? We must actively humble ourselves before God.

[40:53] We must actively resist the devil and all his schemes. We must actively seek to be faithful to Christ and to his gospel. We must do that just like we must believe to be saved.

[41:09] And yet, it is only through God's preserving grace that our persevering action is energized and achieved.

[41:20] These commands and these warnings through the scriptures, and there are many of them, this is written to who Peter understands to be true believers.

[41:32] And then he writes as a significant warning, doesn't he? These warnings, these commands in the scriptures, they are the means by which God preserves our souls.

[41:43] and all those whom he effectively calls will obey them. They will keep the faith. As John said, those who don't keep the faith, they left because they didn't belong to us to begin with, not truly.

[42:01] God's preserving grace is then demonstrated through our active faith. Therefore, it's not a paradox.

[42:12] both things are running parallel to one another. You can rest in God's grace and using that as the motivation to pursue all the means of a persevering faith.

[42:30] In other words, we trust and obey. And that's how we thrive in exile. That's how we thrive in exile.