The God of All Grace (1 Peter 4:12-5:11)
This sermon delves into Peter's timeless encouragement for believers navigating trials and adversity. It offers a profound look at how God's vast grace sustains us, calling for humility and trust in His unwavering care.
This sermon from 1 Peter calls believers not to be surprised by suffering, but to know the vastness of God’s grace. It emphasizes humility, casting anxieties on God, and resisting the devil, trusting that God will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish them.
Overview
Drawing from 1 Peter 4-5, the sermon opens by reminding listeners that Peter wrote to believers scattered and facing immense persecution. He wanted them to truly "know God," asserting that this theological foundation, rather than vagueness, provides a firm rampart against life's prevailing winds and challenges. The preacher connects this to Spurgeon's encouragement to plunge into God's immensity to find comfort and vigor.
The message emphasizes that faith in Jesus does not remove believers from painful experiences. Peter exhorts elders and younger believers to clothe themselves with humility, reminding them that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." This call to humility, the preacher suggests, came at a personal cost to Peter, who often stumbled, demonstrating that humility is an attitude of mind generated by the Holy Spirit, recognizing God's grace as central to identity.
From this foundation of humility, believers are encouraged to cast all their anxieties on God because He cares for them personally. The sermon also highlights the need to be sober-minded and watchful against the adversary, the devil, resisting him firm in faith. The preacher notes the "solidarity of your experience," acknowledging that suffering is a common reality for Christians worldwide.
The sermon culminates in the promise that "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 you." These verbs describe God's active, personal intervention to mend, make strong, stabilize, and provide a firm foundation, assuring believers that God will not abandon the work He has begun.
Key points
- Peter's letter to scattered believers emphasizes the vital importance of knowing God and His grace as a foundation for navigating suffering.
- Believers should not be surprised by fiery trials, as suffering is an expected part of the Christian journey.
- All believers, especially elders, are called to clothe themselves with humility, for "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
- Humility is the key to casting all anxieties on God, understanding that He cares for each individual personally.
- Believers must be sober-minded and watchful, resisting the devil, who prowls like a roaring lion, firm in their faith.
- The "God of all grace" promises to personally restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish believers after they have suffered for a little while.
- These promises are not mere wishes but expressions of God's active intervention to complete the work He has begun in their lives.
In Alistair Begg's words
“He who thinks often of God will have a larger mind than the man who simply plaudes the narrow globe.”
“Humility is an attitude of mind generated by the work of the spirit of God, allowing us to recognize that God's grace is the key to understanding who and what we are and understanding who and what we're not.”
“The God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
Outline
- I. The Foundation: Knowing God (1 Peter 4:12-19)
- A. Don't Be Surprised by Fiery Trials (1 Peter 4:12-13)
- B. The Foundational Importance of Knowing God
- 1. Against vagueness and cluelessness
- 2. Lost in God's immensity (Spurgeon quote)
- C. God is Not the Author of Unfinished Business (Philippians 1:6)
- D. The Reality of Alien Status and Trials (1 Peter 2:11, 1:6)
- II. The Call to Humility (1 Peter 5:1-7)
- A. Exhortation to Elders and Younger (1 Peter 5:1-5a)
- B. God Opposes the Proud, Gives Grace to the Humble (1 Peter 5:5b)
- C. The Cost of Peter's Own Humility
- D. Humility as an Attitude of Mind Generated by the Spirit
- III. Casting All Your Anxieties on Him (1 Peter 5:7)
- A. Humility as Key to Casting Anxiety
- B. Because He Cares for You (Philips paraphrase: "you are his personal concern")
- IV. Adversity and Resistance (1 Peter 5:8-9)
- A. Be Sober-Minded and Watchful
- B. Your Adversary, the Devil, Prowls
- C. Resist Him, Firm in Faith
- V. The God of All Grace Will Act (1 Peter 5:10-11)
- A. The Solidarity of Christian Experience
- B. God's Promise: "After you have suffered a little while"
- C. Four Key Actions of God (Future Verbs):
- 1. Restore (mend, put things in order, refurbish)
- 2. Confirm (make strong, support so as not to topple)
- 3. Strengthen (stabilize against collapsing, inward renewal)
- 4. Establish (laying foundations, steadfast)
- D. God's Own Active, Personal Intervention
Scripture references
- 1 Peter 4:12-5:11
- Philippians 1:6
- 1 Peter 2:11
- 1 Peter 1:6
- Romans 8
- 1 Corinthians 1:26
- Job
- Hebrews 12
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Insights
Suffering does not mean God has abandoned His work in us.
Knowing God deeply provides a defense against life's uncertainties.
Humility allows the space for God's grace to fill us.
Questions & answers
What is the sermon's core message about suffering?
The sermon teaches that believers should not be surprised by fiery trials, as suffering is a normal part of the Christian life. It encourages them to rejoice in sharing Christ's sufferings, trusting God through it.
Why is 'knowing God' so important according to this sermon?
Knowing God and His grace is presented as fundamentally important because a vague understanding of Him provides no defense or 'rampart' against the challenging and difficult experiences of life.
How does humility relate to casting anxieties on God?
The sermon explains that humility is key to casting anxieties because anxiety often stems from a desire to control. Recognizing God's sovereignty and our true identity in His grace allows us to release control to Him.
What does the sermon say about the devil's activity?
The sermon warns that the devil is the adversary who 'prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.' Believers are exhorted to be sober-minded and watchful, resisting him firm in faith.
What does God promise to do for believers after suffering?
After a period of suffering, God promises to personally 'restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish' believers. This means He will mend what is broken, make them strong, stabilize them, and provide a firm foundation.
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