Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / How God Guards You

Transcript

How God Guards You · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: First Peter one to five holds a very special place
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: in your life, Pasture John, It's a precious text about
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: God's keeping power over his children, of those who, by
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: ready to be revealed in the last time. So precious.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: This is the promise that you wanted as a banner
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: over the life of your mom, and so had a
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: phrase from this text in the King James version etched
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: into her grave, kept by the power of God. Ruth
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Piper was kept by the power of God in this
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: life until her tragic passing in an automobile accident at
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: the age of fifty six. You were twenty eight at
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the time of the accident, almost fifty years ago. Now,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: in fact, it will be fifty years ago just in
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: a couple months. Actually, on December sixteenth. You told us
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: all about that life altering phone call that you got
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: back in Apj's fifteen seventy seven and nineteen thirty six.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: No need to go back into that story here. I
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: mentioned one Peter one five because that text also adorns
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: our Bible reading today. As we start this new week, Melissa,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: a podcast listener, wants to know more about what the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: verse means. Hello, pastor John, She writes, what does Peter
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: mean that we are guarded by God's power through faith?
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: How exactly does God guard us by his power but
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: through faith? Is he guarding us through our own faith?
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I don't understand how this works. Is his guarding of
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: me thereby ultimately dependent on me and my faith? This
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: is a text that should give me great comfort, and
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: yet it doesn't. Not yet.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Well, here's the passage Versus four and five from First
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Peter one. So let's get it in front of us
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: so that we know what we're talking about. We have
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: heaven for you, who, by God's power are being guarded
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: the last time. And one of the wonderful things about
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: this promise is that there is a double guarding or
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: a double keeping. First, God is keeping or guarding an
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: inheritance in heaven for us. Verse four, we have an
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept or guarded in
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: heaven by God for us. So when we get there,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: the inheritance will be fabulous and not ruined or disappointing
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: in any way. That's the one keeping here. The other one,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: the other keeping, is that God is guarding us for it.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: He not only keeps it the inheritance for us in heaven,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: but he keeps us for it. He guarantees that it
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: will be there and that we will get there. That's
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the double amazing thing in this verse. Why it's one
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: of the favorites of many people, including me. By God's power,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: you are being guarded or capped through faith for a
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: other words, you're going to make it now. The key
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: question for how we get strength from this, how do
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: we apply it actually to our lives and draw down
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: joy from this promise? The key question is whether kept
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: by God through faith means we sustain our own faith
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: and then God responds by guarding or keeping us, or
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: whether God sustains our faith and in that way he
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: keeps us and guards us in the first meaning, we
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: are the decisive cause of our ongoing faith and in
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: the second meaning God is the decisive cause of our
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: ongoing faith. Now which is it? And the answer to
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: that question decides how we will answer this question, How
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: can I be sure I will wake up a believer
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: tomorrow morning. In one case, the answer would be God
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: will see to it that I believe tomorrow morning. He
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: will sustain my faith. He's promised to sustain it, keep it,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: guard it, you'll keep me believing. In the other case,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: the answer would be, well, I can only hope that
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: my independent, self determined will is not overcome tonight by
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: flesh or devil or world, since the decisive sustaining power
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: must come from me. I see at least five reasons
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: for thinking that Peter intended to strengthen and encourage us
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: by teaching that God sustains our faith and that's how
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: he guards us for final salvation ready to be revealed
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: in the Last Time. Number one, I don't think the
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: other interpretation that we are the decisive sustainers of our
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: own faith makes any sense in this verse. I think
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: it's got a built in contradiction. Suppose you, we humans,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: provide the decisive cause of sustaining your faith day by day.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: That's what you provide. My question is what's left for
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: God to do to guard you for your heavenly inheritance,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: your final salvation. You might answer, well, in response to
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: my faith, he defeats the destructive effects of Satan and
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: the destructive effects of suffering and the pleasures of this world.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: That's what he does in response to my self sustained faith.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: But think about it. There's only one way that Satan
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: and suffering and worldly pleasures can prevent you from attaining heaven,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: namely by destroying your faith, which you've already accomplished. So
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: God does not need to provide that you've provided that.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Satan's accusations don't keep you out of heaven. Pain, the
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: pain of suffering, that doesn't keep you out of heaven.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: The allurements of the world don't keep you out of heaven.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: The only way satan, suffering worldly pleasures can keep you
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: out of heaven is by causing you to turn away
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: from Christ and stop believing in Him as your supreme treasure.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: And that's what you yourself have already achieved by sustaining your
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: own faith. So if you say God prevents the satanic
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: destruction of your faith after or as a result of
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: your faith, which you yourself have triumphantly and decisively sustained,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: that's a contradiction. God doesn't guard you from doing what
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: you've already done. That's a contradiction. What you are really
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: saying is that you yourself protected yourself from the faith destroying
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: effects of satan offering worldly pleasure. That is, you have
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: guarded yourself for the inheritance through faith, and God is
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: simply not needed to get you there by guarding or
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: sustaining your faith. So I conclude being guarded through faith
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: by God's power means God's power sustains our faith, and
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: that's why satan and suffering and pleasure do not succeed
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: in destroying our faith. God's power sustains our faith. He
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: keeps us for the final salvation by keeping our faith.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: That's argument number one. The other view doesn't make sense.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: It's got to build in contradiction number two. In verse
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: twenty one of this same chapter, verse peter one, it
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: says Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: but was made manifest in the last times for the
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: sake of you, who, through him are believers in God.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Now I think through him you are believers in God.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Means He is the cause and the sustaining power of
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: your faith. Third argument, verse three says, according to his
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: great mercy, he caused us to be born again to
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: a living hope. Now we know that faith is the
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: assurance of things hoped for. Faith is inseparable from hope.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Flip sides, hope is faith in the future tense, you
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: might say. So the way we became Christians was owing
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: to no merit in ourselves. We didn't do anything. We
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: were dead. We had to be born again. God, in
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: his great mercy, caused us to be born again. That
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: has caused us to have spiritual life, and that life
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: manifests itself in hope and faith. That's the way it
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: remains all our lives. I'm arguing our faith was brought
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: into being by mercy, undeserved mercy, totally lopsided godward mercy,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: and it is sustained by mercy argument number four. This
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: interpretation fits with the promise of the New Covenant in
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: which Christians now live. This is who we are. We
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: are blood bought New Covenant people. And here's how Jeremiah
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: describes the New Covenant, which is the experience of believers
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: today Jeremiah thirty two forty. The Lord said, I will
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: put the fear of Me in their hearts, that they
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: may not turn from me. That's the promise of God
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: sustained faith. That's the heart of the New Covenant. The
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: heart of it. God puts his fear, puts faith in
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: us so that we don't make shipwreck of our faith.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: That's the promise and difference between the New and Old Covenant. Finally,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: number five in Luke twenty two thirty one, there is
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: a beautiful picture of how this faith sustaining work of
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: God happens, happened, then happens now because of Christ's intercession
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: for us in heaven. Jesus says to Peter the night
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: before his crucifixion, Simon, Simon, behold, demanded to have you
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: that he might sift you like wheat. Does that mean
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: it means he's gonna squish you through the strainer and
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: sift out all your faith and leave you there, and
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: your faith will be stuck in the wires. That's what
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: he's trying to do tonight, verse thirty two. But I
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: In other words, I have asked your Father in Heaven
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: to sustain your faith. That's what I do. And when
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: you have turned again, not if you have turned again,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: When you have turned again, he knows it's gonna happen.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: He asked God for it. When you've repented, then strengthen
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: your brothers. So that's a picture of how Christ intercedes
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: for us today. He's interceding for us, and that's what
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: he's doing. He's asking our Father to sustain our faith,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: just like he did for Peter. So for those five reasons,
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: at least there are more, I think we can rejoice. Indeed,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: I think we should leap for joy that not only
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: is God keeping a treasure for us in heaven secure,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: he is also keeping us secure for heaven by his
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: power through faith. This is through sustaining our.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Faith, incredible source of security and joy. Thank you, Pastor John,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: and thanks for joining us today. If you have a
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: question to ask Pastor John, find a link to email
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: us and find our complete episode archive all at askpastor
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: John dot com. Every episode with audio and full transcripts
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: available for you at that website. Well, how much money
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: does an American need to have on hand in order
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to retire? Some say about one point five million dollars
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: should do it. Others say one hundred thousand dollars is
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: more than enough. Huge disparity, So how much money do
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: we need to retire Thursday we'll ask Pastor John. We'll
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: see you then