Scripture Reference: 1 Peter 5:10
Visit the series page: Exiles: A study in 1 Peter
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Sermon Series: Spiritual Exiles
Message: Hope in Sovereign Grace
Airdate: 11/13/2026
Program: 2400
Hope in Sovereign Grace: Part B
The calling of God is God’s summons to our hearts to believe. The call of God. Lots of it in Scripture. Romans talks about it a lot. And the point of the call of God is that salvation begins with God. It is not me rationalizing, having feelings warm towards God, that all of a sudden is the initiating moment of salvation. That God is the one who starts it. He is the one that does the calling. He called us from eternity past to believe. So salvation is a God thing. It’s a God thing. And the grace of God ensures that it can only be a God thing, and that we cannot take any credit for our salvation whatsoever.
But I want you to see here the calling that he’s talking about. He doesn’t say that God called you to initially believe, which He did, but that’s not what Peter says. He doesn’t say God has called you to suffer, which He has. What does he say? He has called you to His eternal glory in Christ. That is not the calling that summoned me to believe. That is a calling to the end of salvation, the future grace of God.
Think of a race. Lots of people can show up for, like, a half marathon or something, right? They can have the number, they can have the shorts, they can have brand new running shoes. But how do you know who the runners are? Starting line or the finish line? You go to the finish line. You know who the runners are by who finishes the race. And the calling of God is, yes, we are called to believe, that initiating work of God in our life. But what Peter is saying is not that we’re called to show up at the starting line. He says God is guaranteeing that we’re going to make it to the finish line. We’re going to make it to the finish line. It is the future grace of God.
When do you need a guarantee that you’re going to finish the race? Like if you interview people at the beginning of a 10K or something like that, say, “Hey, do you think that you’re going to finish the race?” All of them think they’re going to finish the race. But it’s like halfway somewhere when they’re like, “This is longer than I thought it was.” You know, the person that only ever ran a mile but decides to run the half marathon. When do they need encouragement that they are going to make it to the finish line? It is in the middle of the race. It is when I am struggling that a word comes to me and says, “Hey, by the way, the God that called you to the starting line is guaranteeing you’re going to make it to the finish line.” All of a sudden you’re like, “Hey, I thought I was going to die, but apparently I’m not. I am going to make it to the finish line.”
“God, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ.” Philippians 1:6, “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.” Here’s what Jesus said. “Let not your hearts be troubled.” There’s a good word. “Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.”
So God’s effectual call begins our experience of salvation, places the grace of God upon us when we believe. But the call of God is also to that future state, that every genuine believer who begins that race by faith at the beginning is going to make it to the end. Now, again, it’s not because the runner can be like, “I’ve worked out, I’ve done so many amazing things, I’ve got great stamina and endurance. Look at me, I’m making it to the end.” Because in the Christian life, we all come to the end of ourselves, don’t we? God brings things into our life, and we realize, “I can’t save myself. I don’t know that I can go on another day in this.” It’s a God thing, friends. If I trust in my performance, if I believe in me, I will in the end discover that I am not sufficient. But it is when I am suffering and in trials that the grace of God comes to me and sustains me and ultimately completes my salvation.
Now there’s another marvelous truth in this little phrase here. Notice we are called to His eternal glory in Christ. What is that finish line like? Or on the other side of the finish line. Called to His eternal glory in Christ. Now this is the second time in this chapter Peter has talked about this. Look at verse 1 of chapter 5. He says this, “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.” A partaker in the glory. So what is it exactly that we are called to? What are we being guaranteed towards or to? Peter says here that it is glory. But it’s not just glory. It is that we partake in the glory.
Now imagine if God had said here, “I will sustain you so that someday, like Moses, you will be able to see my glory.” That’d be awesome, wouldn’t it? If God said, “Hey, I guarantee that someday you’re gonna get to see my glory,” we’d be like, “Oh man,” we’d run, we’d think that’s so encouraging. “Fantastic, I get to see His glory.” Or what if God would say, “I’ll sustain you, and you get to be near my glory,” like Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration, you get to be near it. We’d be like, “That sounds fantastic. You mean I get to be near Your glory? I get to be in proximity to Your glory?” What a motivation that would be for us.
But notice what Peter is saying, that we are called and given the privilege of actually partaking in the glory of God. And not just for a moment, like Moses, as God passed by and showed him His glory, or like Peter, James, and John, who had that moment on the mountain where they saw the glory of Jesus as it was unveiled. It is not a momentary proximity to the glory of God. It is not a momentary seeing of the glory of God. We are called to partake in the glory of God forever, okay? Forever. So listen to Romans 8. “And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.”
What is that like? What does it mean to be glorified with Jesus, or to partake in the glory, as he says in 5:1? I’m going to illustrate it this way. Many of you know our Crown Point campus is a host venue for the Northwest Indiana Symphony, so they do, like, three or five performances here every year, and we’re happy to do it. It’s a nice relationship. So several years ago, they called me, and they asked if I would be willing to narrate with the symphony Peter and the Wolf. Now, I said yes without really even knowing what Peter and the Wolf was, okay? I was just like, “Wow, symphony wants me to narrate something. I’m in. I’m so in with that.” But come to find out, Peter and the Wolf is, I think it’s a Russian kind of children’s symphony where there’s, like, narration, and there’s animals, and different instruments play to sound like the particular animal, and there’s a story. And so I’m like, “Hey, that sounds really, really great.”
So what an experience that was. And the thing that I remember about that, in fact, it was right here in our auditorium. So the only way I got the gig is I happened to be the pastor of the church that hosts the thing. It wasn’t my radio voice. It wasn’t anything else. It was just, “Let’s have him do it.” So it was right here. And what I remember about this mostly is that if you’ve ever been to a symphony here, the way they kind of arrange it, they kind of bump out the stage a little bit on the sides. And so this is like the violin section on the stage, like this area here. And this is like the cello and sort of the big string things are here. And they got the brass and percussion and all that’s all... they jam them all in here. It’s amazing how many people that get on the stage for those things.
So I come to the concert, and we had a rehearsal as well, and I discover that to be the narrator at that concert, I think I sat on a stool about right here. First violin was right there. All the violins were all around me. All the wind instruments and all that were right here. It was amazing. They should sell seats up around here. They really should. Because I’m here to tell you, now you go to the symphony concert, they’re very, very good, beautiful music. It’s great to hear a symphony. It’s great to be in proximity to the symphony. You know how much these tickets are at the symphony? These empty seats we have right here in the front. Do you know how much people pay to sit right here at the symphony? I think they’re like $65. These being available for free here on Sunday. Why do people pay more to be closer? Because it’s awesome to be near the music, but it’s nothing like being in the midst of it. And I can tell you that from experience.
And what Peter is saying here is that as great as it would be for us to be like Moses and to see the glory of God, or to be like Peter, James, and John, and to be in near or proximity to the glory of God, what lies ahead for us is a partaking in the glory of God where we are in the midst of it. We are part of it. We’re not seeing it from afar. We’re not, you know... we’re there. We’re like, we’re in it. It surrounds us. It doesn’t mean that we’re God any more than I was first chair violin by sitting where I did. In fact, it was a privilege to sit where I sat. They called me. “Would you like to sit on the stage at the symphony and to do the narration?” “Well, yes, I think I would.” And what flowed from that came by the kindness of the symphony. And someday we’re on the stage. We are in that glory in a way that we don’t even begin to understand now. And Peter puts that before the people suffering and going through trials and says, “God is guaranteeing you are on the stage.” That glory will be yours. And let that encourage you as you struggle with your trial.
But we still haven’t really answered the question of how does God... how does God keep us in His grace? How does God keep the redeemed redeemed? How does He keep the saved saved? Especially when God’s people are struggling with something. How does He do it? And again, back to verse 10. Here’s how He does it. “God will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” Four action verbs there. Restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish.
Now, friend, when do we need each of these things in our life? Is it when life’s awesome and I’m awesome? Do I need restoration when my spiritual life is just... I’m on the mountaintop and this is great? No. In fact, notice how each of these correlate perfectly with what a Christian who is struggling needs in that moment. When do I need to be restored? When I’ve fallen. When do I need to be confirmed? When doubts are crowding into my heart. When do I need to be strengthened? I need to be strengthened when I am weak. When do I need to be established? I need to be established when I feel my faith and my hope slipping away. And do you see how God perfectly brings to His people exactly what they need when trials and sufferings are doing all of those things in our hearts? Here comes the grace of God to that Christian in the midst of the trial in order to gird them up, to encourage them, to keep them in the race. That’s how God keeps us saved. And He promises that He will do it. Always. Always.
So anyone here fall this week? Anyone here fall? God will restore you. Anybody here in doubt this week? Wondering if God’s gonna come through? Wondering if this whole thing is true? God can and will confirm your faith. Anybody weak here? God will strengthen you. Anybody have hope slipping away? God will reestablish your faith again and again and again.
Now I can maybe imagine somebody sitting here looking at that going, “That just sounds like spiritual gobbledygook. Anybody can say anything. Why should we think that that’s true?” Who is the person that’s writing this? Peter. What do we know about Peter’s story? He’s like the all-time biggest... arguably the greatest failure in the history of the church is what Peter did to Jesus, denying Him three times and running away in His time of greatest need. This is Peter. Peter, the one who ran away and wept bitterly. This is Peter, who failed Jesus when He needed him the most.
In fact, we know that that happened on Thursday night, right? The Passion Week of Jesus, Thursday night. Peter denied Jesus three times. He doesn’t show up in the story again until Sunday in the upper room. Imagine with me the thoughts that Peter would have had between Thursday night and Sunday. Imagine his shame and despair, thinking things like this. “Oh, Jesus will never forgive me. Jesus will never want me around Him again. Jesus will never use me ever again. Jesus has given up on me.” That was the dark night of Peter’s soul.
And if you know the story, what happens? Jesus shows up in the upper room and then later fixes a little breakfast by the Sea of Galilee for the disciples. John tells the story of how Jesus says to Peter, “Peter, do you love me?” Peter says, “Yes, I love You.” And Jesus says, “Feed my sheep.” He does it three times, right? Three times. Now, is that just an imaginary number, just circumstantially, happened to be three times that Jesus did that? How many times did Peter deny Jesus? Three times. Three failures, three restorations.
And Peter writes out of that experience now as the great apostle Peter, the rock, looking back on that moment of failure and trial and suffering in his life, and he intends to encourage us today. “Listen, the grace that I’m talking about, people, is grace that Jesus Himself gave to me. This is the way that He rolls. This is the kind of Savior that He is.” So I don’t know, friend, how maybe far you fell this week. We got a lot of people here in the service. I’ll bet we got some pretty big fails here. You came to church, you’re sort of embarrassed to be here, wondering, “I don’t know that God will ever forgive me for this.” If you repent, He will, and He’ll use you again. That’s the grace of God.
The last thing that he says here, again, it’s so short, it’s so small, it’s like so easily to sort of skip over. But look at verse 11. “To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Dominion means power. Dominion means authority. “To Him be the dominion” sounds like Peter’s almost praying, hoping that maybe all the power will go to Him. But in reality, “be” can be translated “is.” “To Him is the dominion.” Or as one translation says, “Dominion belongs.” And what Peter is assuring us here is that there is no uncertainty regarding whether or not the God that he is talking about can accomplish what he is saying here. Why? Because He is the sovereign ruler of the world. The God that we’re talking about here is the God who has infinite power and infinite resources. He has everything that the church needs. He has everything that people that are suffering, like in France or in Indianapolis, needs. God has what we need. And if He meets the need there, it doesn’t mean He’s lacking power to meet the need over here. Why? Because He is infinitely powerful and glorious.
So there is no uncertainty about this. This is not up for chance. We’re not hoping He wins. Yes, there is a lion that is prowling around. Yes, there is a lion that wants to devour us. Yes, he is the enemy of God, but he is not God. Our anxiety is real. Our fears and struggles and wonderings are real. They seem overwhelming, don’t they, at times? And we think, “Man, I’m always going to feel this way, and I can’t overcome this, and God can’t help me. This is so powerful in my life.” Yes, it is powerful, but those feelings are not God.
The forces that are set against us are powerful. You think about all the things that are going on in this world, and all the treachery and all of the evil and all of the hate and all of the murder, and you think about our culture, Western culture, and Hollywood and politics and all these things, they are so powerful, but you combine all of their power and all of their evil and all of that, and they’re not equal to God. So that we can say the world and society is powerful, and the president is powerful, and the Congress is powerful, and ISIS is powerful, but you take all of their power, it’s not God. There is only one God, and He is the Most High God, and all power is His.
So that for the exiled Christian, suffering all kinds of things that we do, the hope that we have is not in my performance or my obedience to these exhortations. Our hope is “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.” And we rest in then the power of God, and trust and confidence in His ability to do what He’s promised that He will do in my life and in the world and in the future. And that’s what Scripture calls us to over and over again. And this is what Christian songs call us to. Listen to the lyrics of this.
“This is my Father’s world. This is my Father’s world. Oh, let me ne’er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my Father’s world. Why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King. Let the heavens ring. God reigns. Let the earth be glad.”
“A mighty fortress is our God. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him. That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever.”
And God’s people said, amen.
