The Light at the End of the Tunnel | 1 Peter 5:10-11 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 06/28/2026

I'd ask you if you would to take your

Bible and turn with me to First Peter 5.

We have some guys that are coming

forward now to uh give you a sermon

outline. Some of you are brand new to

us. We do use a sermon outline only

because we cover a lot of scripture and

uh we want you to get all that you can

out of the next few minutes as we are

together. Um First Peter is wrapping up.

We have been in first Peter for a little

while and uh we are coming now to the

end of this letter and uh as we come to

the end of this letter I I see what this

text is saying and um I am very very

excited about the message that first

Peter has for us this morning from 2,000

years ago for 2026.

Notice this with me. Notice the screen

in front of you. What does that look

like?

>> A long

dark

tunnel.

Very often we hear people say that I can

see light at the end of the tunnel. Now,

what does that usually infer?

You're not at the light yet. It's down

the way. And I've been through a lot of

trouble.

Some of you would say, "There's been

times in my life when there was no light

at the end of the tunnel. It was just

total darkness. I didn't know what was

going to happen. I didn't know where

this was going. I just knew that I was

trying to move forward."

Well, first Peter has been all about the

reality of suffering in the Christian

life. And not just not just you know

scratches and bumps here and there but

real suffering in fact persecution.

People suffering for their faith in God.

People having heard about this Jesus

just a few decades before

having lived in what was the far reaches

of the Roman Empire. And then as the

empire grew and as uh not only the Roman

Empire grew but even more importantly as

Christianity spread across the empire

more and more people heard about Jesus

and when there was a great movement of

that there became a great persecution

against that

and so people were actively being

persecuted. First Peter is a letter of

encouragement to the first century

church first century Jews and converted

Christian converted Gentiles. And so it

was a time of suffering for them. And

Peter was written to help them.

Peter was also saying, "Yeah, I know

you're suffering, but don't forget,

we're called to live a holy life. We

can't go back to the way we used to live

as pagans. We can't go back to the

values of the world. We can't go back to

all the morals of the world. God has

given us a different way to live. God

has shown us what he's about. And he's

about purity and goodness and wholeness.

He has purpose in our lives. He has

purpose. Listen, even in our sexuality,

we can't just do whatever we want. He

has purpose in making us male and

female, in giving us family, and giving

us husband and wife. He has purpose in

marriage. He has purpose in all of this

to show us a bigger picture. So, we

can't just do whatever we want with the

way we live. Peter is reminding them,

live a life that's set apart. That's a

holy life. a life that's not like the

world that's just trying to get all it

can can all it can get and poison the

rest. That that's not the way that we're

called to live. We're called to live a

life for Christ.

And indeed that's the other third great

emphasis of this letter letter has been

to really focus on Jesus.

Don't just try to be a Christian with a

bunch of dos and don'ts. Don't don't

just try to make it through suffering.

Don't just try to make it through

suffering and live a holy life. He's

saying remember that Jesus is the center

of all of it.

This this life that you've been given is

a person.

In fact, that's what we sang in that

first song or the second song that we

sang today was Jesus is my life.

And that's what Peter is saying to them.

Remember that.

So this morning we're wrapping up this

letter and we've noted that one of the

big reasons that many people that walk

away

from a relationship with God that walk

away from Christian truth that walk away

and depart from it. There's there's

several different reasons that are out

there that are popular. Um there's a few

that are prominent. One of the most

prominent reasons that people leave the

Christian faith is they fall in love

with the world again.

So they're going after all of the stuff

for the here and now. The senses right

now what I want my kingdom. Brandon

prayed about it. Building our kingdom as

opposed to God's kingdom. And so some

people come to love the things of the

world more. And so they leave the things

of God.

Other people,

one of the reasons that they will leave

Christian faith is because

they become very prideful. In fact, we

see leaders in the New Testament that

see the the gospel and see the church as

a way to gain. So, not only are they

loving the world, but they're loving the

attention being on them.

And so, they they want to influence

people. We talk about that a lot these

days, influencers on the YouTube thing,

the the whole issue of that the idea of

in well there were people in the New

Testament, we see the New Testament

churches being warned about those who

were obsessed with themselves

and that's the reason that they were

coming in to lead the churches and so

they would leave the gospel and then

people would leave following them and

their teaching as opposed to the

teaching of God.

It's funny that that's just as apparent

today as it is then as it was then. But

there's a third reason that's prominent

why people leave the Christian faith.

And it is when

the suffering of life hits,

when hardship hits, some people are not

founded in what the word says. They

don't have something to hold on to. And

the wave of trouble, the wave of

hardship, the wave of suffering comes

and knocks them off their spiritual

feet.

>> They're unprepared.

>> Well, Peter is writing a whole letter

about this issue and he's saying, "You

shouldn't be surprised by this."

So what he's seeking to develop in them

is a proper and godly, listen to this,

what we call a theology of suffering.

There are many people who have no

theology of suffering. They don't know

what to do with suffering.

And so but that but what we see in both

the Old Testament, in fact, there's many

of the psalms that deal with suffering.

And then you look at the book of Job.

The whole point of the book of Job is

dealing with the problem of pain, the

problem of suffering.

And there's some things that are

answered beautifully in it, but there's

some things that are not answered at all

in it, but yet that God calls us to a

higher perspective of his plan.

And so this morning as we come to this,

I I just want you to hear me say that

the the text that is here that we're

going to read and we're going to study

and we're going to see some other texts

in the Bible, this could save you

from losing your faith.

This message this morning could save you

someday with things that you have no

idea are in your future when they hit

and you know what to do. This morning I

want us to see the perspective of living

in light in the light at the end of the

tunnel at the end of the tunnel. And as

we look at this this morning, what

you're going to see is a few points with

several scriptures after each one of

them because this, and if you've never

really studied the Bible before, listen

to this. The greatest way to study the

Bible is to ask Google. Is that right?

>> The answer should be resoundingly what?

>> No. Because the Google Google's just

going to follow your algorithm and your

algorithm may or may not be on pointing

you to good things. If your algorithm is

on pointing you to very solid biblical

things, if you you know then great but

most of the time you cannot trust that.

It's far better to trust the Holy Spirit

and his word than to trust Google or

chat GPT or Grock or any of the others

that are coming along. And so we we need

to be very careful about that. What and

here's my point. The greatest commentary

on the Bible is the Bible.

When you begin to study scripture, when

you begin to read scripture, what you

can do as you study and as you read is

you can say, "Wow, I've seen this here,

but I remember that last week I saw it

over here." And you can begin to cross

reference. You can begin to read and to

see comprehensively how God deals with

our lives, how he calls us to follow

him. And God's word, commenting on God's

word is your safest way. In the Bible,

in the bookstore, we we have reference

Bibles. We have Bibles that that have

many references in them after a verse of

scripture. It has other verses listed.

And the whole point of those other

verses listed was is that they relate to

the verse that you just read. So it

helps you let the Bible lead you in

studying the Bible. So this morning,

this sermon is not so different than

that. We're going to see several

passages of scripture that back up what

we're saying. And by the way, every

sermon that you ever listen to should be

backed up with a lot of scripture.

You don't need the opinion and the ideas

and the emotional movement of a voice in

front of you. What you need is the word

of God. And so this morning as we come

to this now, sometimes the tunnel seems

long and far away. Other times we we say

this, "Oh, I I think I'm nearing the end

of the tunnel." And we could say that

about a problem in our life or we could

say that about the problem of a broken

world and a fallen world. Um, in fact,

we've even heard people sometimes give

um near-death experiences from an

operating room or from an accident or a

crisis where someone has uh apparently

very nearly died and there's certain

imagery that they have and there's

certain sometimes even experiences

almost like dreamlike experiences. Some

people would claim that this actually

happened to me and other people would

say, "Well, I'm not sure what all was

going on in my brain. I'm not sure what

all was going on in my psyche at that

moment, but for whatever it is, I had

these impressions or I had this

experience. We we know that in scripture

that there are some people that had

visions upon their death. Steven could

look up into heaven and see heaven as he

was being stoned to death. We do know

that there's some of those pictures and

sometimes it's described as a long

tunnel and a light at the end of the

tunnel. Now, I'm not giving a lot of

credence to those things. I think we

need to be very careful about

sensational experiential accounts. I I

am not a big proponent proponent of

those. I'm far better with hold on to

the scripture, hold on to the word of

God instead of a sensational experience.

But this morning, I want us to be

looking at what the scripture indicates

to us about the light at the end of the

tunnel of our suffering. And so, number

one, I want us to see this. Look at 1

Peter 5:es 10-11. I want you to see the

passage of scripture that's in front of

us. Look what it says there. It's very

short today. Notice this. And after you

have what?

>> 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. Let's read verse 11

together. To him be the dominion forever

and ever. Amen. Now, that is not the end

of the letter of first Peter. It's near

the end. There's still a couple of more

verses for next Sunday for us. But here,

this is and we're going to see why it

looks like the end of the letter. Why

does he end it with this this statement

of praise and um the word amen? But

we're we want to see why that's there at

the end. Notice this. Number one, what

we first see in verse 10 is that we need

to accept the reality of the tunnel. We

need to accept the reality of the tunnel

that we're in in this life. And that is

the reality of the tunnel of our

suffering. We live in a fallen world and

there is suffering.

Notice that the suffering, fill it in,

is expected.

I mean there there's the assumption that

it's there and we actually see a lot of

scripture about that. We only have a few

that we're going to look look at here.

But when we when we look at this issue,

the reason that Peter has to help them

with this is because there's some common

errors regarding suffering. Error number

one is pretending that suffering isn't

real. And you would say, "Well, you got

to be kidding me. That's that's

delusional." Exactly. It is it is

delusional. But but why do somebody

maybe feel that way? They they might

come to it saying, "Well, if I just had

enough faith, if I just had enough

faith, I wouldn't have to suffer. There

would be no suffering."

That's not true.

How about the second one here?

Prosperity teaching, false gospel

prosperity, what what is called

prosperity theology will teach the idea

that suffering can be avoided. You can

avoid this. you would say, well, there

is some suffering that can be avoided by

living um a godly life. There's certain

things that you won't deal with as

likely, but my friends, you can live a

very godly life and still suffer. We're

going to see scripture that up heads

that up. But there is a prominent

teaching that is prevalent, especially

here in South Florida.

Um that is what we call prosperity

gospel teaching that says to you that if

you do have enough faith your suffering

um can be either mitigated or eliminated

and that simply is not true.

What about this one? Delusional

positivity.

Back in the 80s 70s and 80s it became

very very popular to hear these very big

optimistic positivethinking

folks. And I have been around positive

thinking folks and I like to be around

positive thinking folks. I really do. I

like to be with opposite. How many of

you enjoy being around negative people?

Do you enjoy that? Do is there anybody

in your life that's super negative?

Anybody do does anybody have somebody

super negative in their life? I I think

we probably all do. Um I I'm not saying

that I that I am avoiding being around

positive thinking, but when we're

delusionally positive, um you know, it's

like the guy in the boat, water is

coming in and he goes, "Oh, it feels

good on my feet. It feels good on my

feet." And he's not recognizing that in

a few minutes we're going down.

How about this? Delusional denial.

Just just can't even rec. So they're not

necessarily positive and optimistic.

They're just denying it.

Well, that's not helpful.

Um, how about error number two? Thinking

that our suffering is ultimate,

that this is it. That this is this is

the end of it all. I mean, this is where

we are. There's there's no hope in this.

[snorts]

The ultimate power here is of hardship

and pain and evil, not something greater

than that.

You see, even some believers can be

defined by their suffering,

their cancer, which can be very hard,

their disease or their plight or their

broken relationships or their uh

disappointments in life. We can become

defined by those hardships

as opposed to defined by what we're

going to see in this text.

that he actually calls us to something

so much greater. But Jesus himself made

clear that suffering is a part of this

life. Notice this and notice when this

is I put a note here next to John 16:33

John 16:33

that says Jesus speaking to his

disciples and when the night before the

cross. So he's going to the cross and

look what he says to them. I have said

these things to you that in me you may

have peace. Underline it. In the world,

you will have what?

>> Tribulation.

There couldn't be more true words than

that. In a fallen world that God's

people are going to have tribulation.

There is going to be trials. There is

going to be great hardship. But look at

this. He goes on to say, "But take

heart.

>> Take heart.

>> I have overcome the world." And that

really is the message of our text. this

morning is that this Jesus

overcomes the end of the tunnel.

Look at Acts 14 19-22.

And after I wrote this, I thought how

strange this sounds in this day and

time. Paul gets stoned at Lististra. I

have to refer to this. This means stoned

with stones, not marijuana or something

along those lines. So Paul is stoned

with rocks

with rocks at Lististra. They didn't

like his message.

So look at verse 19. But Jews came from

Antioch and Iconium and having persuaded

the crowd. So these were Jews that were

against the new Christians. In fact,

Jewish people who had converted to

Christianity. So they were very upset.

This was just like the apostle, excuse

me, Saul when he was a persecutor of

Christians before he becomes the apostle

Paul. So the Jews came from Antioch and

Iconium and having persuaded the crowd.

So they're jinning up a problem, they

stoned Paul and dragged him out of the

city, supposing that he was dead.

Verse 20. But when the disciples

gathered around him, he rose up and

entered the city. So that sounds like

they knocked him out. He regained

consciousness. I'm I'm not necessarily

saying that this is not a miraculous

event, but it may have been a purely

natural event in this. We're not sure.

We don't really know. But after being

stoned, he was a tough old knot. And he

jumps up. He rose up and re-entered the

city. So he goes back into the city that

just stoned him.

And on the next day he went on with

Barnabas to Derby. Verse 21. And when

they had preached the gospel to that

city and had made many disciples, they

returned to Lististra and to Iconium and

to Antioch. And then look what it says

in verse 22. What were they doing? They

were strengthening the souls of the

disciples, encouraging them to continue

in the faith. In saying that, read it

out loud. Through many tribulations, we

must enter the kingdom of God. So Jesus

said, you're going to go through

tribulations in the world. Take heart.

I've overcome the world. Paul comes

along saying that it is through

tribulations that we come into the

kingdom of God. It's not that you're

paying for your own sins. It's not

anything like that. It's just that you

are following God by faith in a hostile

and broken world that inflicts pain for

a lot of different reasons. Look at 2

2 Timothy 3:12

Timothy 3:12. Indeed, all who are godly

in who live a godly life in Christ Jesus

will be what?

>> It's very clear. And it says all,

but Romans 8:18, for the for I consider

Romans 8:18

that the sufferings of this present time

are not worth comparing the glory that

is to be revealed in us. Now, put a big

circle around Romans 8:18. That whole

Romans 8:18

thing, put a big circle around that

because that is really a companion verse

to where we are this morning from First

Peter. Look what it says. Verse Romans

Romans 8:18

8:18. For I consider the sufferings of

this present time. So it's dealing with

suffering. It's dealing with time. And

then it's coming up with this issue of

comparison. They are not worth being

compared with the glory that is what

future

>> to be revealed

to us.

Now, in our church over the last few

years, um, one of the areas of theology

that we've talked about, one of the one

of the handles of theology that we've

talked about, and it's been a little

while since we've done this, so some of

you that are new, you've not really

heard this concept yet, but there's a

key theological concept that we call

it's called the already. And does

anybody remember what's next?

>> Very good. The already and the not yet.

in understanding what God is doing in

our lives in s for those who are in

Christ for those who have truly come to

faith in Jesus Christ and that have been

converted to Christ that there's

something don't flip the page yet I want

you to think about this

something has already happened a

glorious thing has already happened in

you being transferred what the Bible

says from the kingdom of darkness into

the kingdom of his beloved son and so

this this transfer has been made. You

are now changed in your condition before

God. He has declared you his child. He

has declared you righteous in him. Not

all of the aspects of your life feel

like a child of God. Not all the aspects

of your life look like a child of God.

But if you are truly in faith in Jesus

Christ, he has transferred you from the

kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of

his beloved son. you, he says, you are

now mine. That's already happened for

those who are in faith. But there's

aspects of that salvation that are not

yet.

There's promises that God has made even

to the world and to the whole um picture

of the church that he has said you are

now a kingdom, a priest to our God. But

there is a time when this kingdom is

going to enter a new phase and that

hasn't yet happened.

And so as we as Christians process this,

we need to be very mindful that there's

certain things that have already

happened that are glorious and there's

certain parts of our salvation that have

not yet happened. And understanding

suffering in this grand plan of God is

very key to that. And that's going to

come up again in a few minutes. Look at

number two. You can safely turn your

page. Look at number two. We need to see

that the tunnel has an end. And I

remember I remember somehow um when this

passage of scripture hit me many years

ago. I I remember reading it and I

remember in verse 10 reading it look at

the look at the box on the top of the

page. And after you have suffered a

little while I remember it occurred to

me oh there's an end to this that

there's going to be relief. That's what

the indication is here. There's going to

be relief.

And that's a that's a beautiful good

thing. And that's Peter's point.

We need to recognize that the tunnel has

an end after you have suffered a little

while. Now, that doesn't seem like a

little while. I mean, when when we think

about middle school, I don't know. When

I was in middle school, I thought middle

school is never going to end. I thought

I'm in middle school for the rest of my

life. I thought this is taking forever.

But, you know, my 40s went pretty fast

and my 50s are flying by.

You get older and everything speeds up.

You're like, "What happened to that

decade?

How do I look like this?"

You look at your friends and you go, "Do

I look like them?"

It really speeds up.

Notice that Peter doesn't just say it

ends, but what he's doing is he's

comparing it to fill it in eternity.

Look at verse 10. And after you have

suffered a little while, the God of all

grace who has called you to his what?

Eternal glory in Christ.

So, what he's saying is this is going to

end and it's actually a little while. I

know it seems like a long while, but

it's a little while. Not only is our

suffering temporary, but it is fill it

in. It's brief.

Really brief.

Not [snorts] because cancer is short,

grief is easy, or persecution is

painless, but because eternity, put it

in all caps, in fact, is forever.

>> And so when we compare

this little short life that speeds up as

you go and will be over before you

realize it,

eternity is forever.

It seems

too good to be true, but it is forever.

Our minds have a hard time with the word

forever.

Romans 8:18 once again, look at what it

Romans 8:18

says. For I consider the sufferings of

this present time are not worth

comparing with the glory that there it

is again is to be revealed to us. This

is eternity.

In fact, um notice the screen in front

of you. um the suffering. You you can

kind of put it out there to the side.

Paul is speaking of the of the

suffering. And I I would encourage you

to write this. The substance uh of

glory. Oh, you know what? I'm getting

ahead of myself just a little bit.

Sorry. Um let let me back up here a

little bit. Notice the next one here.

Paul is speaking of the substance of the

glory

and the duration of the glory. And

here's the point. The substance of the

glory is indeed Christ and the duration

of the glory is indeed eternity. Okay?

So he's saying look at both of those.

When this the end of the tunnel comes,

it's we are finally with Christ. We are

finally with him in his manifest

presence. And this life is going to give

way through death to the next life which

is eternal.

And that is the great point is that it

is not to be compared with this present

short time of struggle versus the

eternity that is to come. Look at 2

Corinthians 4 and verse 17-18. So we do

not lose heart though our outer self is

wasting away. Our inner self is being

renewed day by day. He's saying you kind

of don't see it. I know you feel like

there's all of these troubles in our

life and even your body is breaking down

and even just life is getting hard. You

know, there's sometimes when you kind of

think, well, it's all going to work out

like this and then it doesn't. There's

aspects of it that are a great

disappointment.

He goes on to say this verse 16, so do

not lose heart, though our outer self is

wasting away, our inner self is being

renewed day by day. Verse 17, look what

it says. for this light momentary

affliction. Now, the Apostle Paul calls

it momentary

is preparing for us. Here it is, an

eternal weight of glory beyond all

comparison. Verse 18, here it is. He's

telling us to look up as we look not to

the things that are seen, circle that,

but to the things that are unseen,

circle that. For the things that are

seen are transient. That means they're

going to come and go. But the things

that are unseen are eternal.

>> Amen.

>> Now notice the comparisons that he's

making here. The comparison is

affliction and sufferings temporary

seen. All of these afflictions is

compared to the weight of glory. You see

that in verse 17. The weight of glory.

And what is the weight of glory? It's

Christ and salvation.

He's saying there's no comparison.

And one is temporary

versus the other is what? Eternal.

And one is seen, but the other one is

unseen. And that's part of the reality

of what it means to not walk by sight,

but to walk by faith. And that's exactly

what we see here. Seeing does not

require faith. There's no faith in seen,

but unseen requires

faith. And that's what God has called us

to. And the Bible tells us that without

faith, we cannot see God.

So if you're just waiting for everything

to be very plain and very simple and

very put out there right in front of

you, um my friend, if you're trying to

skip faith, that's impossible.

You will never see God without faith. He

calls us to believe and to believe that

he is and to believe that he will do

what he said he will do. Look at Psalm

30 4 and 5 kind of gives this picture

that eventually the struggle is going to

come to an end. And it's interesting

this psalm is written by David and it's

at the dedication of the temple. So they

finally are dedicating the temple and

look at verse four. Sing praises to the

Lord, oh you his saints, and give thanks

to his holy name. For his anger is what?

>> But for a moment, and his favor is for

what?

>> A lifetime.

Weeping may tar for the night. Read it

out loud. But joy comes with the

morning. This is a picture of the

reality of our life in a fallen world.

that we go through the struggles and the

troubles of life, but God has a plan

that brings about his ultimate salvation

that we can look forward to. Now, we

skip all the way to the end of the

Bible. Revelation 21 is the next to the

last chapter of the Bible. And look what

it says. And this is at the final scene

in heaven. The Apostle John who is

writing down this vision that God gives

him on the island of Patmas. He's

writing it down and he hears the voice

from the throne. So he hears a loud

voice from the throne declaring

something.

And here's in part what it declares. And

he will wipe away every tear from their

eyes. And death shall be no more.

Neither shall shall there be mourning

nor crying nor pain anymore. And then

look what it look what it says. For the

former things have passed away.

We use the term to pass away,

but here's the real pass away. All the

former things that caused the crying and

the pain and the hardship and the

trouble. Now, before you turn your page

over, I want you to add something to the

bottom of that.

This is what I call the death of death.

This is when death is finished. This is

when death is over. This is when there

is no more death. That's what Revelation

21 is describing. Look what it says.

Death shall be no more.

And all the trouble that comes from

death, all the loss, all the pain, all

the hardship,

we're going back to what he originally

designed.

Now, flip the page and notice here.

Third thing that we need to see in this

in this little verse, verse 10. Look at

verse 10, top of the page. And 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. This is good news for

people who are suffering. This is good

news for Cheron Hills Baptist Church and

the people, the visitors even here this

morning. This is good news for you that

you can come to Christ and find that

there's a meaning and a hope and an end

to your suffering.

Notice this. See that God who sees you

through is good and gracious.

And that's what he says here in this

verse. Look up there at the top in verse

10. After you have suffered a little

while, the God of what? All grace. The

God of all grace. This is the one who

says that his throne

is a throne of grace.

It's not only a throne of holiness. It's

not only a throne of power. It's not

only a throne of judgment. It's not only

a throne of wrath. But listen to this.

It's also a throne of grace.

You see, a common response to suffering

is to question the goodness of God. When

people go through hardship, they they

say, "Where is God? Why did he do this?

He there must be something wrong with

God. either

he's not good or he's not all powerful.

He can't be both and allow this to

happen to me.

Peter heads this thinking off by

reminding us that our hope rests, look

at this, less on the understanding of

God's plan in the moment, in the moment

of our suffering. And it it rests more

on knowing God's heart.

You see, when you can't understand his

hand,

you need to trust his heart.

>> There's plenty of times that we're not

going to understand why he's doing what

he's doing.

We We may even resent it if we're not

careful. And I would call I would

encourage you to not resent it. I would

encourage you not to be angry or to

bitter with God. be bitter with God. You

know, there are some people say, "Well,

I was angry with God." I I have to be

conf I have to confess to you somehow by

God's grace, I've

I've not been challenged with that.

In fact, I'm fearful of being angry with

God.

He He is awesome in his power

and I fear him in respect and in awe and

I know that he has said that he is good

even when life is bad.

And here we see that when we can't trust

or understand his hand, we can know his

heart. In fact, one of the key passages,

and again, I'd ask you to put a huge

circle around this passage right here.

Deuteronomy 32:es

3-4.

This is one of my anchor verses in life.

This section of scripture, it's Moses

song. In fact, Moses sung this. Moses

who had lots of trouble.

Moses who had to run for his life

numerous times. Moses who had people

angry with him. Moses, listen to this,

who made mistakes and he he wasn't even

allowed to go see. He was told, "You're

not going to be able to go into see the

promised land because of some of the

things that you've done." I mean, Moses

had experienced trouble

even in serving the Lord. But look at

the song of Moses. Look at this is this

is just a portion of what he wrote in

praise to God. Look at what he says. For

I will proclaim the name of the Lord.

Ascribe greatness to our God, the rock,

whose work is perfect, and all his ways

are what?

>> Just, a God of faithfulness. And then

he's circling back on it. And without

injustice,

underline it. Good and upright is he.

Friends, there's been plenty of times

when I have been looking at life and

experiencing life or standing at the

bedside

of something bad, something that I don't

understand and I I look at the situation

and say, I don't understand the

situation, but what I do know is that my

God,

>> my God

>> is good.

>> I have to trust. This is what faith is.

We can also see Exodus 34. That's a

tremendous statement about the goodness

of God. Psalm 84, Lamentations 3 is a

God of grace. Romans 8. You see, fill it

in. God has mighty plans carried out by

mighty hands.

That's what he does. His plans are a lot

bigger than you see. And his hands are a

lot more powerful than you realize.

He's doing things that you don't

understand yet. In fact, God is so

sovereign, that means able to rule and

reign over all things. God is so

sovereign that he turns evil's darkest

night

into heaven's brightest

light. And that's exactly what he does

with the cross of Calvary. The Messiah,

the perfect creator of the universe,

joins us in bodily form and he goes all

the way to death on a cruel Roman cross.

This is evil's darkest night. That was

the the darkest day on the planet.

But then because of that event,

he brings salvation to his people and he

reveals who he really is in bodily form,

heaven's brightest light.

So this is God's ability to work through

our pain into our suffering. Number

four, see that God's great salvation

accomplish accomplishes his great

restoration. And this is straight out of

verse 10, our main verse. Look at this.

Straight out of verse 10. Who has called

you to his eternal glory in Christ. So

this is his salvation. And because of

his salvation, look at the next part.

Will himself

restore, confirm, strengthen, and

establish you. That means he's going to

restore you. That is his grand plan is

to restore that which was lost, restore

that which was broken.

And that's what he does in our lives.

That's what he does as we live. That's

what he does as we die.

God calls us to himself. That's what

this says. He has called you to his

eternal glory in Christ. This is simply

a fact. No one comes to God without the

voice of God calling them. Whether they

even realize that that's what was

happening or not. This is a God who

calls his people to himself and they

respond.

John 6:44,

John 6:44

John 10, 1 Corinthians 1, Romans 8, we

see that this is a God who calls his own

to himself. Jesus said, "My sheep hear

my voice and they know me and they

follow me.

They come to hear him and to see him."

And then look at the next part here. Not

only does he call us to himself, but not

notice the next one. God calls us to

himself through the eternal glory of

Christ our redeemer. He saves us through

Christ

and he is the redeemer. That means the

one who buys back. This is the one who

restores.

And that's what point four is. Notice

point four. Look at it again. See that

his great salvation accomplishes his

great restoration.

He restores. He confirms. He

strengthens. he establishes.

Now, this is also interesting. Verse

five or number five is a part of this

and it doesn't really come directly from

verse 10 or verse 11, but it it has to

go with these concepts. Look at this.

The eternal glory is the coming end of

the tunnel of suffering. And here's the

idea. If we look at that tunnel and we

see the light at the end of the tunnel

as it were and we see the picture of

what this is all aiming to and what this

is going to what we see here is

Philippians 1:6 says this. Paul's

Philippians 1:6

writing to the Philippians and he says I

am sure of this that he who began a good

work in you will bring it to completion

at the day of Jesus Christ. So this is

when we are finally standing before him

at the day of Jesus Christ. All the

sanctification is going to be done. All

of the restoration is going to be

accomplished. It's going to be finished.

And even in this process, he's doing it

now while we're in this life, but then

it's going to be finally finished. He's

going to complete his work in us. So

don't get discouraged in your Christian

life. God is bringing you along.

I would encourage you follow after him.

When you fail, get up in faith. Look to

him in repentance

and keep going

>> because he who began a good work in you

is going to finish it. So don't quit.

He's not going to quit. You don't quit.

You go on with him. That was a key

concept for me at one point in my life

as an early Christian. I had to

recognize that he is not giving up on

me.

Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. Look

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

what it says. For it was fitting that he

for whom and by whom all things exist.

This is Jesus the creator of the

universe. It was fitting that he in

bringing many sons to glory. So this is

that whole idea of glory. That's what

this is about. The eternal glory of

Christ in bringing many sons to glory.

And that's not just sons. It's sons and

daughters is the idea. It's people

bringing many to glory. should make,

look at this, should make the founder of

their salvation perfect. Underline it,

through what?

>> Suffering.

>> Now, not your suffering, but his

suffering.

>> So, he's not calling you to anything

that he himself has not already done for

you.

>> In fact, we are called to join him in

his suffering.

This is an amazing concept,

but it's all coming to an end.

So notice that last statement underneath

number five. Jesus restores us to the

glory of God originally intended through

his own suffering. Why does he do this?

The Bible tells us, "For God so loved

the world that he gave his only son."

Jesus came to us and died for us because

he loves us.

This is amazing.

The eternal glory is coming to an end.

And I want you to notice the emphasis on

this in verse 10. Look at the box up at

the top of the page. Verse 10. Look what

it says. After you have suffered a

little while, the God of all grace, who

has called you to his eternal glory in

Christ, so that's where we're headed,

the eternal glory in Christ, will

himself, look at this progression,

restore, confirm, strengthen, and

establish you.

>> Now, it's really interesting.

If you're studying this passage and you

look up all the great commentators, you

look up all the great theologians,

are these one thing or is this a

progress? And I would say it's split

about down the middle. Some say, "Well,

it's all one thing being stated. It's

really all four of them mean one thing."

And then some others say, "Well, wait a

minute. Wait a minute. Not necessarily.

He's he's at work and he's a god of

process

and he's playing out his will in us."

So, we can look at it is either the

emphasis or pro perhaps the progression.

Notice this. taken together. It is an

emphasis on God's complete salvation of

you. Praise the Lord. That he restores,

confirms, strengthens, and establishes.

But taken as a progress, as a process,

it is God's progressive work in your

salvation. Because God is he he saves

you at once. That's the already. But the

not yet is he is continuing to save you.

He we are being saved through Jesus

Christ.

being lifted up, bade more into

conformity with Christ. And he does

that. He He restores our relationship

with him and then he confirms it and

then he strengthens it and then he

establishes our new life. So first of

all, he converts us

and then he converts us some more.

>> Notice this. We see this process in both

here and now as a repeating cycle in

this life. You go through suffering.

He's at work. He's restoring,

confirming, strengthening, establishing.

And then next decade, you're going to go

through another one. And then 5 minutes

after that, you're going to go through

another one. And then he may give you a

little break. You're able to run across

a plane. And then here comes another

wall you got to climb. You're going to

go through another one.

He's in the process in this here in life

here and now life that he's doing it.

But we also see there's an and this

process is the future final culmination

of our salvation. That's what Peter is

looking at. He's looking at both of

them.

He's saying you're going to have seasons

of trouble and struggle and God is at

work, but one day it's all going to be

over and then it's going to be

beautiful.

So again, look here with me. It is

already occurring. That is our

sanctification. Sanctification means

being made more like Jesus. He's making

you holy. He's sanctifying you. And it's

also the finally

that will be completed. This is our

glorification.

This is when we finally are in heaven.

Listen to this. This is an amazing

thought. Marcy can't wait for it.

Andrew Coleman won't be able to sin

anymore.

And I I got to tell you, I do look

forward to a new body. I'm starting to

fall apart. That's true. But the thing

that I look forward to most is not

letting down the Lord or letting down

the people around me through my sinful

flesh. I look more forward to not being

able to sin than anything else

cuz I'm really good at it.

Look at this.

He's already done and begun the work of

sanctification in us, but then one day

it's going to be finished and we will be

glorified with the son. That box there

is something for you to study as

homework. In fact, all of this you can

go back over as homework. Um, but that's

a that's a really good box for you to

think about and look at. Look at the

bottom line. Bottom line of all of this

is what Peter wants believers to be

deeply encouraged. He's writing to

encourage us. Be deeply encouraged and

confident that as they suffer, they can

know that God is at work through it,

there will be what? An end to it and it

will all be worth it.

>> All of this is going to be worth it.

He says you I what eye is not seen, what

ear is not heard, nor what is entered

into the heart of man are the great

things that God has for those who love

him. God is saying it's all going to be

worth it. Look up at verse 10 at the top

of the box, top of the page. And 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. Verse 11, to him be the

dominion forever and ever. Amen. Why in

the world does he put that phrase there

at the end? You see, this truth is so

great that it results in a doxology of

praise. That's where this all winds up.

>> This is like saying, "Praise be to God

that this day, that this is going to be

over one day and we're going to be

finally home with Jesus."

And you can live life looking forward to

that. You can live life looking down the

tunnel and seeing the light at the end

of the tunnel knowing that that is

Christ. That is his salvation. That is

his complete glorification. And one day

we will be with him no longer to sin and

to suffer.

>> Amen.

>> That's the that's the purpose of this

passage. [applause] Amen.

I know y'all are always a little nervous

about whether you should clap or not. Um

because we tried to stay focused, but

but we got to get it. We got to get it.

And then when he breaks out in this, he

says, "To him be the dominion forever

and ever." Amen. Remember, he was

talking about eternity. And we see it

here forever and ever. And and we're

also talking about power, the dominion.

He has the power to deliver this

promise.

That's why he says to him be the

dominion.

Think about that. Peter cries out see

God's ultimate authority and power to

accomplish all this. That's like what is

what he's saying.

God can make this promise because he has

the authority to make this promise. He

rules and reigns over the universe and

he rules and reigns over our sin. He

rules and reigns. Listen to this. Just a

few verses ago, we were studying the

devil. He rules and reigns over the

devil.

>> He rules and reigns over death.

He rose Jesus from the dead so that you

and I can rise, too.

And so Peter cries out, "See God's

ultimate authority and power to

accomplish all of this." And so should

we. We should cry out, "Praise be to

God." Amen.

Amen. Would you stand with me for

prayer? Let's pray.

>> Father in heaven, I thank you Lord for

this little letter. I thank you Lord for

these little verses

that are so powerful to remind us Lord

that all of the suffering that we're

experiencing in this life

that Lord you are the light at the end

of the tunnel. Your promise, your power,

your glory. Lord, your restoration

[music] is everything.

And Lord, you're working for your glory

[music] and for our good in the process

of all of this. You're refining our

faith. You're showing us who you are

even in the troubles and the struggles

and the pain of life.

Lord, you're testing us.

You're growing us. You're [snorts]

stretching us.

And so, Lord, [music] I pray and I ask

that even this morning that we would

submit ourselves in faith to not only

maybe the struggles that we're going

through now, but the things that we

don't even know that are going to come.

Lord, I pray that you would do this in

us, and I pray that you would help us

with this.

In the wonderful name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen.