Thank thee for your goodness
and mercy and grace to us. We thank you for the beauty of
the snow which has fallen and we pray you give travel mercies
to all who travel and to get here to church and to get home.
And we pray that you'd be glorified and magnified in the preaching
of your word today. And may we leave here again rejoicing
in the mighty salvation that we who are your blood bought
saints have in thee. We love you and praise you in
Jesus name. Amen. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter.
1 Peter 1. The name of the message is rejoicing
through tribulation. Rejoicing through tribulation.
1 Peter 1. We'll read verses 1-9. And our
text will be verses 6-9. But let's read it in context
right now. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for
a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though
it be tried with fire, might be found under the praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having
not seen ye love, and whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Last
week we looked at verses three to five, where we considered
that we are saved according to the abundant mercy of our great
God and King. And it's in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, which is begotten in verse three, unto a lively
hope, which is a living hope. Our hope is alive. It's Christ
and Christ alone. He's a lively hope. And it's
in and through Him. And we consider that our inheritance,
oh what a blessed verse that was, that our inheritance is
reserved in heaven for us, and it's incorruptible and undefiled.
It's incorruptible and it'll never fade away. It'll never
fade away. Because it's in Christ, and it's
Christ who keeps us. God incarnate in the flesh, our
great Redeemer. Then we consider in verse 5 and
found great comfort that we are kept. not by our own power or
strength, but by the power of God, by the power of God and
God alone, who has saved us, and he will keep us, and he will
one day present us faultless, faultless before his throne,
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. So now let us consider verses
six to nine, and as they tie into that which has been brought
forth by Peter already, God's people rejoice in the precious
truths of God. They rejoice that they are the
elect of God. They rejoice that they've been
regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. They rejoice that they
are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. and that all
their sins are forgiven in Christ, and they rejoice in the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, because without the resurrection, we
would not know if God was satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ.
But God is satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ. And part
of the gospel, to preach the gospel, is also to preach the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, because He was raised
for our justification. God's satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ. and God's people rejoice and
we rejoice in the inheritance which is reserved in heaven for
us that fades not away and we rejoice that we're kept by the
power of God so these saints would rejoice through all this
but I want us to to stop and think about brother or Sister
Nancy and I were talking about this yesterday, the suffering
that these saints were going through. You know, we get persecuted
here and there by words and things by people or by our family members.
These people, these people in the text here, their faith was
being tried by them being hauled out of their houses and thrown
in prison and being killed for what they believed. So let us
keep that in mind too. Now we go through trials, and
we do, we go through tribulations, we go through trials in our minds,
we go through physical trials, we go through health trials,
but let us look at the context of what these people were going
through, what these dear saints were going through. And so, what
comfort it would bring them when Peter is writing this letter
to them. What comfort they would glean, I'm kept by the power
of God, even though someone takes my life, I'm kept by God, I'm
kept by Him. So they would glean great, great
comfort from this. Great comfort. that they are
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last time. So let us look at the times that
they're in and see that they're rejoicing. They're rejoicing.
And we see that there's times of happiness in times of sorrow.
There's times of happiness in times of heaviness. As the Scriptures
proclaim, look at verse 6. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. They're rejoicing. in the sufferings
that they're going through, because their hope is in Christ, in Christ
alone. Fear not He who can destroy your
body, but fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in Him. They
fear God. They're in awe of God. They're
in awe of their Savior. And these precious saints are
rejoicing in these precious truths that Peter has bought forth.
See, what Peter's done, he's laid the groundwork and the foundation
of their hope, and it's in Christ. He's done that in the previous
verses. And what hope that would bring them as they had this letter
read to them. And they're going through these
situations. And they receive this letter and what comfort
it would bring them through these times of sufferings as they listen
and hear. And then they hear that this
suffering, it says, now for a season. It's only for a season. Whatever
we go through in life, Whatever trial comes our way, it's only
for a season. God takes us through them all
the time. All the time. And note here,
Peter is bringing forth the present state of the believer in this
verse. We've seen this, haven't we? He goes past, present, future,
past, future. In this verse, he's bringing
the present. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season,
if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations.
So he's bringing the present situation before them. Remember,
he's built all that foundation of their hope before he's brought
this up. Brother Mahan brings forth a
wonderful comment on this verse. He says, the word Temptation
refers not to temptation to sin, but refers to trials, which God
in His wisdom decrees and permits for our good. These trials come
in different ways. The trial of difficult service,
the trial of reproach from unbelievers, the trial of riches or poverty,
the trial of sickness or sorrow, the trial of success or failure,
the trial of disappointment, the trial of maybe dying for
your faith. They all come. They all come. And he says, sometimes trials
of faith are unpleasant to the flesh, but not always. God may
permit a man to prosper in order to try his faith. He may not
just put a man through poverty to try his faith, but he may
also have a man prosper to try his faith. Because when we're
rich, sometimes we think, well, I don't, you know, I'm good.
See, that can be a trial all its own. I remember hearing Spurgeon
heard of one of the members had inherited a great amount of wealth
from an uncle. And he gathered the saints together
and he said, we need to pray for this dear brother. He's going
to go through a trial like he's never faced ever before. So trials
come in all different situations, in all different Different sizes
in that sense in all different situations. Now the word heaviness
here in this verse is defined in the Greek as to make sorrowful.
So they're rejoicing and yet they're sorrowful. We've all experienced that, haven't
we? We've all experienced that in different situations. It says
to make sorrowful, to afflict with sadness, cause grief, to
throw into sorrow, to grieve, offend, to make one uneasy. And if we were not in heaviness
during our troubles, we should not be like our covenant head,
who was despised and rejected by man, a man of sorrows and
appointed with grief. Our Lord went through that, didn't
He? He did. And this heaviness is
of essential use to a Christian. Now think of this. When we're
going through a trial in something, we don't think, well, this is
a good use for me. But it is of good use for us. And do you know why? Because
we can speak to others whose hearts are broken when they're
going through the same situation. That often happens, too. That
often happens. And it draws us closer to our
great God and King. I remember talking to Sister
Marge, and she said, you know, what I'm going through is drawing
me closer to the Lord than I've ever been before. Oh, now she's seeing our Redeemer,
isn't she? Oh, my. The word manifold in this is
defined as various in character. Various in character. It says,
wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need
be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptation. Manifold
there in the Greek is various in character. Just as Brother
Mahan brought it. All different trials. All different
situations. Various in character. So Peter
brings these truths before our brethren, comforting them with
these precious truths that he's spoken of before, that they might
rejoice while enduring this heaviness and these sorrows that they're
experiencing. Because their hope is not on
the situation, their hope is on Christ. Their hope is looking
to Him. And let us remember too, God's
ordained our trials and tribulations. He's ordained them. Trials of
our faith. Look at the next verse. At the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perishes, though it be tried with fire, it might be found
unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
So we see Peter in this verse bringing forth that these present
trials have an end in sight. And he's pointing them now to
the future again. And at the latter part of this verse, having
them keep their eyes upon Christ and not upon their circumstances.
that they are currently going through, that the trial of your
faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though
it be tried with fire, might be found in the praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." So, Preet is bringing
forth that God has a reason and purpose
for every trial that the believer will go through. He does. He does. Every temptation, every
affliction that He brings into our lives, that the trial of
your faith, the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than the gold that perishes though it be tried with fire. And our
faith is much more precious than all the gold in this world. And
all the gold in this world. More precious than gold. Gold
will perish someday. But gold must be tested by fire,
it must be purified by fire. And when gold comes through the
fire, it's purged of all its dross and shines all the brighter.
So faith that comes through trials and tribulations and temptations
is purged of pride, hypocrisy, and self-righteousness and self-reliance. We're being weaned, so to say,
from self. Himself. The trust in our great
God and King. And what happens when our faith
is tried? We rest and trust more and more
in Christ Jesus our Lord. It becomes purified more and
more. My goodness. Faith is tried in order to strengthen
it and increase it. Now let us remember that too.
Faith is tried in order to strengthen it and increase it. The more my faith is used, the
stronger it becomes. And let us always remember that
trials do not produce faith. They reveal faith. They reveal
faith. Just as our works reveal faith.
They don't justify us. They reveal faith. They reveal
faith. Faith, one commentator said,
has tried to reveal the value of it to the believer in Christ.
Isn't that wonderful? If in this, turn with you, if
you would, to 1 Corinthians 15, 19. 1 Corinthians 15, 19. Look
at this little verse here. And let us remember the object
of the believer's hope is not any creature or any other man. or angel, or gold, or silver,
or not even our own righteousness, because it's like filthy rags
in the eyes of the Lord. The object of the believer's
hope is Christ, and Christ alone. Look at 1 Corinthians 15, verse
19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men most miserable. So who is the object of our hope? It's Christ. And the hope that
we have, and if our hope's only in this life, then we're most
miserable, but our hope is not only in, it's eternal. Our hope
is eternal, and our hope is Christ. He's the object of our hope. It's eternal. When a person is
born again by the Holy Spirit of God and given faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ appears infinitely lovely to
him. Is it not so with you? Think
of how you used to think of Christ. We didn't even think of him before
we were saved. And think of how you think of
him now. Is he not loving? Is he not the object of your
hope? Oh. As the believer contemplates
who he is, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth, the believer says in his heart, he is the cheapest
among 10,000. He is the cheapest among 10,000
and He is altogether lovely to me. To me. This is my beloved
and this is my friend. And the believer's heart fills
with love when they reflect upon what He has done and what He
has suffered in their place. What He has given for them. What
has He given for you who believe? His life. His life. And what has He promised? That
one day you'll be with Him in glory. And the believer says
in their heart, I love Him. Oh, I love Him. What a Savior. I love Him only because He first
loved me. Oh, what a Savior. I love Him
who loved not His life to death for my salvation. I love Him
who has washed me from my sins in His own blood. who will one
day present me before his throne faultless, and he'll do it with
exceeding joy. Oh, my heart loves him. Is it
so with you? I pray it will be. I pray God
would make it so if it's not. And this helps us greatly when
we go through trials and times of heaviness of our soul, that
Christ alone is our surety, our Savior, our Redeemer, and that
His blood has purchased our pardon. It's not a matter of if, it's
a matter of He's done it. He's done it, and we rejoice.
His righteousness clothes us. He's all our justification. His
sacrifice was for His people, and if I'm one of His people,
I rejoice. That's for me. That's for me. And all the forgiveness of our
sins are found in Him. He's all our justification before
God. He's all our salvation. And He is eternal life for the
believer. So our hope's not just here. Our hope's in eternity
too, isn't it? In Christ. We're going to be looking at
the one we hope in. We're in glory. Oh my. My, oh
my. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Our trials enable us to comfort
others. who are tried with the same situations.
Now, we don't think about that when we're going through the
situation. We don't ever think that. But it's true. Look at
2 Corinthians 1, verses 3 and 4. Blessed be God, even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies. Oh, look,
there's one of his titles, and the God of all comfort. He's
the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Look at this,
who comfort us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort
them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God. So we can come alongside our
brother who's going through the same situation or sister and
say, I know what you're going through. I know what you're going
through. I know what you're struggling
with. Bear you one another's burdens.
My oh my. And faith which survives trial
will be honored and praised at the appearing of Christ. It will
bring glory to Christ. It brings glory always to Him.
Always to Him. Look at verse 7. That the trial
of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes,
though it be tried with fire, might be found in the praise
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So it always
brings glory to Christ. And why? Because He's the one
who keeps us through all the trials. He's the one who keeps
us, no matter what we're going through, no matter what the various
situations, as the Greek brings out, no matter what they are,
He gets all the glory and all the honor and all the praise.
So Peter brings forth before the believers, before those who
he's writing to, that the Lord will and is coming back at the
appearing of Jesus Christ. So now he's bringing future again
before them. Behold, John says, the beloved
disciple, behold, he cometh with the clouds and every eye shall
see him. He's coming. He's coming. We don't know when,
but he's coming. He's coming. Ye men of Galilee, why stand
ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven, so shall come in like manner as ye have
seen him go into heaven. He's coming. He's coming. Turn if you were the first Thessalonians
chapter four. Oh, what comfort we can glean
from this precious truth. The second coming of Christ.
What precious, precious comfort we can glean from this to know,
to know that our Lord is coming back. He's coming back. We don't
like I say, no man knows the hour of the day. No man. Someone
tells you they know the hour of day, the lion beloved. They
don't know. No one knows. No? But look at what it says
here in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 16 to 18. For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ
shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord. And now
why are we supposed to remember these things? Well, wherefore
comfort one another with these words. Oh, our King's coming.
We see everything going on, we know He's coming back. It's in
His timing. Now He may come back for us at
our death before He comes back in His second coming, but He's
coming. He's coming. Then look at verses 8 and 9 in
1 Peter chapter 1. It says this, whom heaven has
not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Here
we have two sweet verses before us. And the saints who Peter
wrote to had never seen the Lord as far as we know face to face.
As far as we know. They'd never seen Him face to
face. They'd never seen Him in the flesh, but the one who's
writing to them is one of those who've seen Him in the flesh.
One of those who's seen Him in the flesh. And just like the
saints of old to who this letter was written, we who believe today
have never seen Christ face to face with our natural eyes, but
we believe upon Him, don't we? We believe upon Him. We believe
not with a historical or temporary faith, but we're actually looking
to Him by faith. We're actually looking to Him
by faith. Looking to our Lord and Savior with confidence. With
confidence. With unspeakable joy. And with
full expectation. And beloved, we're never going
to stop looking to Him. Even when we're in glory, we'll be
looking at it. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. We
trust and rest in God's promises to us, just as Abraham did, being
confident that what he has promised he's able to perform. Over in
Romans chapter 4, I read this, verses 20 and 21, it says, He
staggered not the promises of God through unbelief. Abraham
didn't stagger at the promises of God through unbelief. but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able to perform. That's what
we believe. He saved us, he said he's gonna
take us to glory, and we believe. He will do that. He will do that. We don't stagger at his promises,
no. No, we're fully persuaded that what he's promised, he's
able to perform. Note in verse nine, it says, receive in the
end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, in 1 Peter 1.9.
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Here is the saint's final deliverance from the trials and tribulations
of this world. Now he's bringing a future again.
But he's saying, you're going through all this heaviness and
these manifold temptations and trials. But this is the end of
your faith. Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls. Oh my, verses 6 and 7, called
manifold temptations in the trial of your faith, what they're currently
going through, and then here he brings them that which awaits
us. The total deliverance of the believer, as compared to
a temporary deliverance each time in trial that comes our
way. It's a temporary deliverance, isn't it? Remember what Scott
Richardson said? The believer's either in trouble
or going into trouble, in trouble, or coming out of trouble. And
it's just this constant, isn't it? We all know that. We've all
experienced that in our life. But this deliverance spoken of
in verse 9, there's no more trials. There's no receiving the end
of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. The outcome of
faith is the complete salvation of our souls from sin and from
the law and from hell and from eternal death, the eternal glory
in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because our faith is
in Christ, the one who keeps us, the one who saved us, the
one who's redeemed us, the one who will glow our fire. It's
all in him. It's all in him. Nowhere else. That's the only place the gospel
preacher will point you is to Christ and Christ's law. Turn,
if you would, to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Look
at this wonderful. We're going to read this portion
here. Verses 1 to 14. Now these are some folks who
went through some trials and tribulations too. Hebrews chapter 11. In this salvation, beloved, We're
holders of eternal life right now. We're saved right now. We're saved right now. Look at
Hebrews chapter 11. Look at this wonderful portion. Now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. If you see something, you're
not hoping for it. Right? But we don't see this. We don't
see Christ, but we hope in Him. We hope in Him, don't we? Oh
my beloved. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Our hope
is to be in glory with our Savior, isn't it? Forever. Because our
hope's in Him. For by it the elders obtained
a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which
are seen are not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. He offered
a lamb without blemish. Cain offered the works of his
hands, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch
was translated that he should not see death and was not found
because God had translated him. For before his translation he
had this testimony, that he pleased God, and he only pleased God
in Christ. But without faith it is impossible to please him.
For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith,
Noah being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. By the
witch he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness,
which is by faith. And remember, what's the only
difference between Noah and all those who perished? Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. What's the difference between
us and all who perish? We found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's the only difference. And
our hope is the same hope Noah had. It's in Christ. It's in
Christ. Oh my, by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out
into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance,
obeyed, and he went out, and not knowing whither he went,
by faith he sojourned in the land of promises in a strange
country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs
with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith
also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered
of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful
who had promised." Now, I want to just back up one thing. It
says, by faith he sojourned in the land of promises in a strange
country, dwelling in tabernacles. Oh, look at 1 Peter, it says,
where strangers scattered throughout Pontius Galatia. Oh, beloved. We're strangers in this world,
we're strangers. And we look for a city who has
foundations, who's builder and maker is God, verse 10. Through
faith, also Sarah after herself received strength to conceive
seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because
she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore spring there
even one of him, one and him as good as dead, so many as stars
of the sky and the multitude and as the sand. which is by
the seashore innumerable. These all died in faith, not
having received the promise, but having seen them afar off,
they were looking to Christ, beloved. They were looking to
the end of their salvation, Christ in glory, in glory, looking to
Him. And were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were what? Strangers
and pilgrims on this earth. That's what we are. Strangers
and pilgrims. But we are, beloved. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And we do seek a better
country, don't we? Glory. For our great God and
kings. For our great God and kings.
Oh my. And verse 9 says, receiving the
end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. So let us close
further reflecting upon the beautiful and instructive contrast of these
verses which bring before us the state of Christians in the
present. They're in heaviness, they're going through manifold
temptations and trials, and in the state of the Christians'
future in heaven, in glory, beholding the King of kings and the Lord
of lords. And the points of contrast are,
now and here, Christ the The great object of faith, while
there is suffering and affliction, He is not bodily present with
us, and He is only known imperfectly by us. And our fellowship with
Him is through the word and prayer. Now contrast that to when we
are in glory. And we will behold Him face to
face. Now we see through a glass darkly,
but then, oh my, oh my. He will be before us and we will
be in His presence. And what fellowship that will
be. And now contrast this here in the present that Christianity
is exposed to manifold trials, but in glory we see the glorious
results of those trials. And we see the object of our
faith face to face. Face to face. Now think of what
great joy that would have brought these believers who were going
through some pretty horrific times of trial. We have it easy.
We really do. But I'm not going to lessen anything
that we go through, though, because sometimes we go through some
pretty tough trials, too. We do. We do. We all do. And we don't always share them
with one another. And it can be desperately hard.
But God never leaves us. Just like these saints of old
were comforted by these scriptures. Oh, may they comfort us. Now,
while we're here upon this earth, The Christians, now let us remember
this too, while we're here on this earth, we're in the season
of heaviness. We are. And those seasons come
and go, just like the seasons come and go on this earth. We
might have a good season going great and then boom, we might
hit something just, right? But let us keep our eye upon
the end and the object of our faith, which is Christ and Christ
alone. And you see what great comfort
this can bring these saints and what great comfort it can bring
us. And we can greatly rejoice while we're going through sorrows. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank Thee again for this time. Oh Lord Jesus, what a Savior
you are, what a Redeemer. We pray that you'd be glorified
in the rest of the meetings today, that our hearts would be filled
with joy and that we'd be strengthened for the seasons of heaviness
which come our way through the preaching of your word. We love
you and praise you in Jesus' name, amen.