Praising God Amidst my Problems, Part 2b

Peter begins by telling us we need to bless God for his wonderful provision. And number two, because of his trustful possession.

His trustful possession. Look what it says in verse number four. To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you. We have an inheritance. That is our possession and it is a certifiable guaranteed possession. And Peter four ways explains to us how trustful it is. That is you can bank on this. This is a guarantee. He says, number one, nothing can destroy it.

We have an inheritance. He says that is imperishable. Imperishable. Unable to decay. Incorruptible. Now let's think about this. In secular Greek, the word used here was used to describe a land unravaged by an invading army. A land that was unravaged by an invading army. Our inheritance cannot be ravaged. It cannot be destroyed. Remember Israel? They had an earthly inheritance. They had what the Bible called the promised land. God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You've been with us on Sunday morning.

You know what's going on. And they're about to go get out of bondage here. And they're about to go into the promised land. And it's a land God says is a land flowing with milk and honey.

It is fabulous. It is the promised land. It is the land of Canaan. And yet that land would be ravaged by its enemies. Heaven though, our inheritance can't be. It can't be. Because the Bible says, lay it for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth or rust can't even begin to appear.

Everything in heaven is incorruptible, imperishable. It lasts forever. And our inheritance is a possession that we can trust our God for because it is imperishable. Nothing can destroy it. Number two, nothing can defile it.

It is undefiled. It speaks of something unpolluted, unstained by sin, unstained by evil, unable to decay. Boy, that's important. And number three, nothing can diminish it.

It says it's imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away. That means it cannot be diminished. It doesn't become old. It can't be worn out. It's just that your inheritance has a supernatural beauty that time does not impair. That's why Peter says that the shepherds who lead in God's way in 1 crown of glory. You see, we live in a world where things begin to fade. You know, you ever been in the sun in the summertime, you get a tan, and then all of a sudden the tan begins to fade away after a while, right?

Or maybe you buy something new. You got a new outfit, maybe it's black or navy or red, and you wash it a couple of times, and all of a sudden the red now is pink. The navy now is light blue. The black now is gray. It begins to fade away. It begins to lose its color. And I don't know about you, but that irritates me. I think that if you're going to make something, you got to make a product that lasts a long time, not just one washing. So I get really irritated with companies that can't do that. I get irritated with companies that can't provide a guarantee on my car so my paint won't fade away.

You know, I think they ought to do a better job at that, but they can't. Or they won't. I think it's more they won't than they can't. But the bottom line is, is that my inheritance in heaven never wears out, never gets old, never fades away, never decays. Think about that. That's amazing. And then he says this. He says, it is reserved in heaven for you. Not only can it not be destroyed, and not only can nothing defile it or nothing diminish it, but nothing can displace it. It's reserved or guarded in heaven.

Wow. God's going to guard my inheritance. The kingdom of heaven is timeless. The kingdom of heaven is sinless. The kingdom of heaven is perfect. There's nothing there that will bring any kind of harm to that which God gives to you. If you have an inheritance given to you by God, it is undefiled. It's undiminished. It never fades away. It can never be displaced. The Bible says in Revelation 21, verse number 27, these words about heaven, that nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Nothing unclean ever gets into heaven. In fact, it says in Revelation 22, verse number 14, blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying. You see, there's nothing inside the city of God. There's nothing inside of heaven that is wrong or that is sinful or that will cause there to become a problem.

That's all on the outside because God's realm is a perfect realm. And Peter says, listen, you live in a world where things fade away, where things are destroyed, where your homes are ravaged, where the clothes you wear are wearing out, where your bodies are getting older and older with each passing day. And while you might be wiser, you don't look nearly as good as you did 10 years ago, but you have an inheritance. You have an inheritance that's absolutely perfect. It's a possession that God has given to you that you can trust him for that you never lose.

Number three, God's powerful protection. Not only is your possession protected, but you yourself are protected. You praise him for his powerful protection. It says in verse number five, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Now, think with me for a moment at the magnitude of that protection. The Bible says in Psalm 62, 11, that power belongs to God.

Okay? So, power is unique to God alone. Not only is power unique to God, but God's power is unlimited. Psalm 147 verse number five says, great is the Lord and abundant in strength. Now, think about that for a moment. You know, we go through each day and, you know, we get tired. We get worn out. We exercise or expend some energy. By the end of that game or by the end of that work day or by the end of that project, we are physically worn out and we don't have enough energy to do the next project. We have to rest.

We have to be refueled. God's not that way. He never gets tired. He never sleeps. His energy is endless. His power is unlimited. His power is unique to himself. That's why he's the all-powerful God of the universe. I love what Psalm 37 says. Psalm 37 verse number 28. It says this, for the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his godly ones. They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. God preserves the godly ones. How can he do that? Because of his power. That's how.

Psalm 97 verse number 10 reads this way. Hate evil, you who love the Lord, who preserves the souls of his godly ones. He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown like the seed of the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart. Be glad in the Lord you righteous ones and give thanks to his holy name. God preserves the souls of his godly ones, his righteous ones, his holy ones. Why? Because only God can do that. Psalm 121 verse number 4 reads as follows. It says, Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all evil. He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever. Peter says we are kept. We are protected by the power of God. That is, it's a military term. Means that we are constantly guarded over by God. Now you think about that. You think about that. If I am being constantly guarded by God, I don't fear anybody or anything, right?

Well, why should I fear? I'm protected by the all-powerful God of the universe. And he is going to preserve my soul. He's going to watch over my soul. He's going to take care of his own. We have the most sufficient security system known to man. God. That's why it baffles me. I don't understand people who live in fear. I don't understand it. I don't get it. I don't. This is beyond me. How? Why? If God is all-powerful and you are kept by the power of God and God is going to preserve your soul and God is going to make sure that you are exactly where he wants you to be when he wants you to be there, what have you to fear?

What is there to fear? That's the way our God is. We should be able to rest in that. Take a deep breath and thank you, God. Bless your name for your powerful protection of my life. We'll never, we'll never be lost. We'll never be forgotten in the process of suffering, no matter how chronic the pain. See, well, if God is that great I am who exists outside the realm of time as we know it, past, present, and future, and exists in the past, present, and future all at the same time, then why is it God would allow them to be in that situation, those Israelites, for 400 years of bondage?

If God exists outside the realm of time and exists in the past, present, and future all at the same time, then why is that if God is my protector, he then will now allow me to be in this situation that is so damaging to me physically? You see, we ask questions that focus in on us. We don't ask questions that focus in on God. You see, it's really, in our minds, about us. And God wants you to see it's not about you. It is about him. You see, he wants the nation of Israel to cry out to him. Yes, in Genesis 15, he said 400 years, so he's faithful to his word.

But in the process, it says several times in cry. They didn't cry out to them when the babies were being drowned in the Nile River, but he would be patient enough to wait for them to cry. And when they cried, it was at the right time. When they cried out to God at the right time, and God says to Moses, I've heard their cry, I've seen their oppression, I've seen their affliction, and I'm coming down to deliver them.

He was waiting for them to cry out to him, to solely lean upon him. But all the while, God is protecting his own. He is preserving his own, because that's how God works, because he is the all-powerful God of the universe. He said in the Gospels, all that the Father gives me, I have not lost one of them. He won't. We're his. We're his children. I have to tell you, I've lost some of my children. I have. My wife is always cautioning me when I go to the mall, or I go to the beach, or I go out with the kids someplace in the park.

Now, honey, you are watching them, aren't you? Yes, dear, I'm watching them. And every once in a while, you know, they kind of, you know, get away. And I'm thinking, okay, where'd they go? You know? Because I'm not like Lori when it comes to watching the children. She sometimes becomes a nervous wreck. And so I try to tell her, it's okay, honey, if I'm not watching them. God is watching them. He sees it all. It's like going to the long theological dissertation. God exists outside the realm of time.

He exists in the past, the present, the future, and all the things. And, you know, it goes in one ear and out the other with my wife. She says, you watch them, though, too. But, you know, God is powerful enough to protect us. You say, yeah, but what about that girl that was kidnapped just a couple of days ago and was killed? What about her? Wasn't God protecting her? Whatever happened to her life and to her family? You see, God does things that we will never truly understand this side of eternity.

But I want you to know something. Look what Peter says. He says this, from the magnitude of our protection to the means of our protection. This is good. I must have faith in God's almighty, protective power. I must believe in God's power. Remember, faith is believing that God is protecting us, and that God is protecting us through faith. What God has already said. Faith is trusting obedience, trusting in what God has already said, and obeying what He has said. That is faith. So, through faith, faith is that which is like a valve that opens the door and the steam rushes in.

That's what faith is like. Why must you open your window to let fresh air in? Why must you take medicine if you are sick? Why must you pull the trigger if your revolver is to go off? You see, faith is that which opens the door of God's powerful, protective presence in my life. Not that He's not protecting me, but for me to clearly see and understand what has happened with my God. I must believe in what God has already said about who He is, and what He does, and how He works, so that I can trust Him even more.

And Peter says, listen, our God keeps us because He is an all-powerful God. But you must believe that He is that way. Do you? If you live a life of fear, you're not believing that, are you? Be honest. You're not. Whenever we begin to live in fear as to what's going to happen next, or if I'm ever going to get out from under this problem that I have, if things are never going to get better in my family, it's just, oh, it's just getting worse, and worse, and worse. Nothing's ever going to change, no matter how much I pray.

That's not faith. That's a lack of faith. That says, God, you just can't do it. You don't want to do it, God. But that's not faith in God, the all-powerful protector of the universe. And God says, this possession you have, this inheritance you have is preserved, is reserved.

You can trust me for it. But notice, you must praise me for my protection of your life. Praise me for how I'll preserve your soul. Remember Daniel in Daniel chapter 6? I love Daniel. I love a man who loves the Word so much, it doesn't make any difference what anybody else ever says to him. That's my kind of man. That's Daniel. He doesn't care what anybody says. King says, look, you don't fall down and worship me. The lion's den is yours. That's okay. A little bit different. What has he to fear? Well, he might die in the lion's den.

He might be ripped to shreds. Daniel says, so? That's what God wants. Well, that's what God wants, right? So sure enough, he's thrown into the lion's den. I think it should be called Daniel's den instead of the lion's den. And King Darius comes the next day, Daniel, Daniel, was your God able to deliver you? Daniel says, oh yeah, you bet. You bet. See, he feared nothing. Didn't fear the jaws of the lion. Didn't fear the king's edict. He didn't fear those who would speak about him behind his back and lie about him.

He feared nothing. Why? Because he had God. That's why. That's what God wants us. That's where we need to be, see? And that's how God wants to work in and through our lives from the magnitude of our protection to the means of our protection to at last the manifestation of our protection. And the Bible says in first Peter, chapter one, verse number five, through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time.

You know, our salvation is not yet complete because we're not saved from the presence of sin. Oh, we're saved from the power of sin. We're saved from sin's penalty, but we are not saved from the presence of sin. But one day we will be, right? One day we'll see him. We'll be like him for we'll see him as he is. First John chapter three, verse number two, Romans chapter 13 and verse number 11 says, now is your salvation nearer than when you first believed?

Paul says the end of your salvation, that is the completion of your salvation. That is the day in which you are glorified in heaven with the king of kings is not yet here, but it's nearer than it was yesterday. And it's getting nearer every day. And let me tell you something, when you are going through great difficulty and you are suffering and you are having such hardship, be assured of one thing.

Your glorification is one day closer than it was yesterday. And you'll soon be home to be with the Lord. And you know, that's why I think that all of us should be at the point where we say, I can't wait to go home to be with the Lord. I can't wait to leave this earthly life. I can't wait to leave this earthly body. Why? Because Paul said, I have not seen nor ear heard the things that God has prepared for those who love him. You haven't seen it. You haven't heard it. You'll never comprehend it until you get there.

And when you get there, you'll spend the rest of eternity trying to figure out how great this inheritance really is. That was all yours because God protected you all the way through. That's our God. Peter says, you need to bless God. Praise Him for His wonderful, wonderful provision. Praise Him for His trustful possession and praise Him for His powerful protection. And next time, Peter is going to say, you know what? You need to praise Him because there's going to be a careful preparation and because there is a joyous participation with the one you don't even see, but you believe Him.

And boy, next week, it's going to be really good. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the word of the Lord. I read these words and I'm reminded, Lord, that for the most part, we don't think toward the things of God. Paul said, set your affections on things above, not on things below. But yet we are constantly setting our affections below. And then we wonder why pain is so prevalent in our lives and why our perspective is so boggled up and why we just can't get out of this quagmire of guilt and pain and suffering and difficulty.

And yet, you in a very quiet and personal way say, bless me, praise me. Look what I've done for you. Look where you could be. You could be lost in your sin, bound for a Christless eternity. You could have no hope whatsoever. Lord, help us to gain the perspective that Peter has given to us this evening. In Jesus' name. Amen.