Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the passage we read, 1 Peter
chapter 1, and reading just three words in verse 6. If need be. The whole verse reads, wherein
ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season If need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations. 1 Peter 1 verse 6. If need be. The apostle is writing to the
Lord's people scattered In this epistle it is to specific places,
but we would remember that this is part of the inspired Word
of God. And so as our Lord, when He prayed
for His disciples, the twelve, He said, Neither do I pray for
these alone, but they also who shall believe on Me through their
word. So with this epistle and all
the Word of God, it is to the people of God, scattered throughout
all of the world. The reason is to strengthen the
brethren. It may be you and I this evening,
we need strengthening, we need encouraging, we need help, we
need the Lord's Word for us in the place where we are in our
soul's experience or in our path of providence. We need the Word
to come where we are. We would remember in connection
to our text that God is in control in all things that happen in
the world, all things that happen with his people, he is in control. Who is he that saith, and that
cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not. Now times
are in his hand, not in Satan's hand, not in man's hand, not
even in our hand. The Apostle Paul, he says, I
am what I am by the grace of God. We have also to remember
that all that the Lord does for his people is necessary, it's
not unnecessary, it's not something that is not part of God's plan
of salvation and purpose for his people. He doesn't have some
things that are working together for good and other things that
are not. Paul tells us very clearly, we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are the called according to His purpose. So, those things
that you might be, I might be looking at in my life, the things
that we pass through, the trials, the difficulties, the sorrows,
the heaviness, those things we might say, well what purpose,
what reason is that? We may know not, we've sung of
it, haven't we? But there is a purpose, there
is a reason. Our Lord in inspired word to
Jeremiah, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, we read there in chapter
3, and there are many verses that are very profitable. Of course, we would remember
Jeremiah is walking through the time that he sees the temple
destroyed, he sees the captives taken away, He sees the Lord's
people not listening to the Lord, not bowing, not repenting, not
turning, and the Lord's judgment's coming. And he says in verse
31, for the Lord will not cast off forever, but though he cause
grief, yet will he have compassion. according to the multitude of
his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly,
nor grieve the children of men, to crush under his feet all the
prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the right of a man before
the face of the Most High, to subvert a man in his cause, the
Lord approveth not. And then there follows the verse
we quoted before, who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass
when the Lord commandeth it not. But many things the Lord's dear
people go through, they do cause grief and sorrow, but we're assured
that the Lord does not delight in that. There is a purpose,
a need for it, a child that has to go to the doctor, that has
to have an injection, they don't like the injection. But it is
for their good. It has pain associated with it. They must go through it. A child
or even an adult that has something wrong with their teeth must go
to the dentist. They don't like it. They don't
like the needle for the anesthetic. They don't like the drill. They
don't like anything about it. But it's necessary. We can see
the need. of having that treatment done. And so in our lives we're used
to having the concept that some things are needful to go through,
though they are painful. And so we have here with the
word of our text, if need be. Peter has been writing and telling
them of the blessings that they have, they are elect, They have
been sanctified by the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. They have been begotten again
to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And he points them to what that
end is, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you, is a most blessed, sacred
prospect for the people of God, that they should have in heaven
a desired haven, a resting place, a home above. And he says in our text, wherein
ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season If need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations. So I want to look
at the Word before us in three ways. Firstly, the need be for
our Lord. I want to begin with our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ. and the need be for what He went
through. And then secondly, the need be
of calling and the new birth for us. And then thirdly, the
need be of proving that faith that was given at the new birth,
that it is a real faith, it is given by God, and so it is tested
and proved. if need be, our heaviness remanifold
temptations. But let us begin with our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, the path that He must walk. When our first parents fell,
they transgressed the holy, sacred law of God, And God had already
set the penalty for that in the day that thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die. And when our first parents sinned,
then God brought that judgment upon them. They died literally. Adam was to be over 900 when
he died, but eventually he and those that followed, and those
right to this day, we must needs die. We cannot escape that sentence
that God has appointed. Only those at the Lord's return
and Enoch and Elijah were those that will not die but rather
be translated. So we must go through death,
all of us, cease to have our existence here and lose our breath
and be laid in the grave. But we also died spiritually. incapable of knowing the things
of God. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. They are dead in sins and in
trespasses. But the Lord had a people that
were given him by the Father, and by the Father to redeem,
chosen in him from the foundation of the world. When his people
fell with all mankind, then He was to redeem them. He is the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He knew what it
entailed when those people were given to Him to redeem. For without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. And so our Lord Jesus Christ
then must also come under that sentence of death. If He is to
be the substitute for His people, if He is to pay the debt that
they owe that they could not pay, if He is to stand in their
place, then He also must suffer death voluntarily, willingly,
without needing to Himself because of His sinnership. So He must
need to come. and he must needs then be like
unto his brethren born of a woman and made under the law that he
might redeem them that are under the law. He would say in relation
to this need be that there's no way that God could have used
his almighty power that he used to create this earth. He could
not use that power to quicken a soul into life, to save a soul
from death, without His Beloved Son being made like unto His
brethren, and suffering in their place, suffering in body and
in soul, and redeeming body and soul, enduring the wrath of God,
due to the sins of His people, laid upon Him. He had laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him and given him a name that is above every name. So we should
remember that his life, his death, his sufferings, the contradiction
of sinners against himself, All of these things were suffered
and endured because of the sins of His people. Greater love had
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Now we do not choose our trials. The Lord doesn't say to us, you
choose what is needful for you. You choose what trials. You must,
we're told, you must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom. The Lord doesn't give us the
choice. If he did, wonder what we would
choose. When we think of those that we
know, those that have afflictions, those that have trials in the
family, those that have trials in the church, whose place would
we take? Remember years ago, reading a
poem and it was called the Changed Cross and it pictured a person
that had a crown but that crown they didn't want to wear it. It was a trial, it was a tribulation
to them. So then they were led to look
at a whole lot of other crowns that they thought would be a
lot easier. So they tried first one on and
then another. But though one of them was far
too heavy, they couldn't bear that. Another looked so pretty,
it had thorns all mixed up with the flowers in it. And all of
them had something that they did not want to bear. And then
they saw another one. And they fitted that on. That
fitted just right. But they recognized that. crown
as their own, the one the Lord had seen fit to lay upon them. We might sometimes think, well,
we could bear someone else's trial, and yet we don't know
that full path or trial. One said to Francis Covell, the
once pastor at West Street, Croydon, greatly used of God. How is it
that you're greatly used? I mean a minister of the gospel
and you've got no trials and no troubles and he just went
and opened the door next to his study and there was his son that
was so afflicted, hidden from the world, a secret trial and
a burden that many could not see. Every heart knoweth its
own bitterness but with the Lord Jesus Christ Every trial, every
burden, his death, his sufferings, that laid upon him, he willingly
and freely took it all. He knew exactly what it would
cost him. And yet he still, in love, did
it for his dear people. Love inscribed on all that he
did. There was a needs before it.
If the Lord is to redeem His people and bring them to heaven,
He must go through that which He did go through and endure.
And it's good for us when we think of our trials and our tribulations
and things we go through, to think of our Lord, His path. says the hymn writer was much
rougher and darker than mine and shall my Lord suffer and
shall I repine? May be a help to us, help to
you and me to consider Him and think of Him and those things
that we go through that the Lord would make them work for good
so that it does make us think of Him. Some people are blessed
with good health all through their lives and those people
usually are not able to sympathize or put themselves in the place
of those that are weak or those that do not have good health.
They just cannot picture what it is to be in that position.
But those that have been in that position They have been weak,
they have been afflicted, they have been weary, and they can
really sympathise with those that are like that and have to
walk that same path. One of the reasons why our Lord
walked through all of what He did was so that He could be a
sympathising High Priest over the house of God, that He might
know how to succour them that are tempted, And them that are
tried, that he might be one that understands every disorder, every
trial, every part. You say, how could he understand
my weariness? He is wearied on the well of
Samaria, wasn't he? He was asleep in the boat when
the waves were tossing it about. He must have been very much asleep. You think, how could one sleep
through that? He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we
are but dust. So then this first point, the
need be for our Lord. But secondly, the need be of
calling and the new birth for us. Really it's the beginning of
every part of spiritual life that we have. No trial of faith
if there is no faith. And so our Lord is so insistent
in John 3. He must be born again, born of
the Spirit. There must be a beginning. where
he passes by his people and bids them live when they're in their
blood. When he masters, we said, needs
go through Samaria for the Samaritan woman and for those in Samaria. He must go over the sea to the
Mad Gadarene. He will find out his sheep, he
will call them, and that call is irresistible. and it is through
the Word of God. My sheep, they hear my voice,
they follow me. The first act of the Lord is
to give life, is to give that eternal life. I am come that
they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly.
I give unto them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of mine hand. That great gift
is what the Lord gives sovereignly His dear people, and He gives
it primarily through the ministry of the Word, though not always,
as in my case and in others' case, various things have been
used where the Lord has made that soul first alive. I think
Newton, it was in the the hardened captain of a slave trader, and
the Lord quickened him into spiritual life in the midst of that storm.
And that is the first thing, the Lord gives life. And in giving life, he gives
faith. May we never fall into the trap,
We actually have faith somehow of ourselves, and by exercising
that faith, we bring about the new birth ourselves. No, life
comes from the Lord first, and at the same time, faith comes. And life and faith, they come
through the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And it is so imperceptible that
our Lord says it is like the wind. Thou hearest the sound
thereof, thou canst not tell from whence it cometh or whither
it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit. You know,
sometimes when I cry to the Lord for a text and to show me what
to preach from, if I put all my thought and attention on the
Word, then I might go from one word to another word and I can't
settle on anything. And then I might go off for a
walk, and I cry to the Lord, Lord, show me thy word, show
me thy way. And then after a while, I suddenly
realize I'm actually meditating upon a text of scripture. And
I think, when did I first start meditating on that? When did
that drop in? Was it two blocks back? Was it
one? I don't know. It's just there.
Just imperceptibly it is there. And those are sacred times. And to have that in meditation
as well. That the Spirit, the Lord says,
shall bring to your remembrance all things whatsoever I have
said unto you. And in the quickening of life,
in the giving of faith, it is that imperceptible, gentle and
quiet, it's just like the dew that drops It's just like the
manna that was just found in the morning. But it is life. And that soul then first begins
to hear, and to feel, and to see, and to have a concern and
exercise and prayers. Paul has said, Behold, he prayeth. All of God's children have a
beginning. Some of them cannot tell when
it was. But they know that over a period
of several years there has been a change, an imperceptible gradual
change from being unconcerned to now concerned. When did it
begin? They're not quite sure. How it
began? They're not quite sure. What
sermon was blessed? They can't tell you. What text
was used? They can't tell that either.
But they know there is a difference. And they listen now and seek
now. in a way that they didn't before. The Lord's work is a
sure work. We think of how it is likened
to the seed that's put into the ground, and it grows so gradually,
yet so sure and certain. It's the Lord that sows that
seed. He uses his servants, and he
uses his servants to water it as well. But in relation to our
text, The important thing is that in that new birth, there
is given faith. There is given faith. This is what is so connected
with the if, need, be. For every child of God, there
are other things the Lord brings into their lives. He brings teaching. He brings chastening. He corrects
them for sin, willful sin, and it is done in love. But what
we have here, the needs be here. Though chastening, there is a
need for that. The new birth, there is a need
for that. And our subject this evening is the need be for the
trial of faith, the testing of faith, the proving of faith,
that it really is from God. It is not imagined. It is not
just from duty. It is not the work of man. It is God's work. And that is so vital. So I want
to then look at the need be of proving that faith is true faith. You might say then, well, what is faith? In Hebrews 11, we're told in
the opening verse, now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. The evidence or the examples
of it are given right through that Hebrews 11. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. So what is God
telling us there? The account of creation is written
in the Word of God. And faith, it reads it, it believes
it, it understands it, and it is a reality to them. Verse 6 of Hebrews 11, But without
faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. How vital that we have a faith
that is of God's giving, that he is actually the author of
it. Peter is the one writing this
epistle. And we would remember the trial
of faith that Peter had. It was when the Lord said to
him that Satan had desired to have him. He says in Luke chapter
22, verse 31, the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you. The word that is used is you,
not thee. That is really Satan desires
to have all of God's children. It is you in plural that he may
sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee. Peter
is the one that is going through this trial at this present time. And the Lord assures him that
he is praying and making intercession for him at this particular time
of trial and of Satan's Siv, Satan tempting him, that thy
faith fail not. The Lord didn't pray that Peter
would not deny him. He wouldn't be ashamed of him,
no. He prayed that his faith fail
not. And this is why Peter is so strong
and to strengthen the brethren in this point. Because our Lord
says, and when thou art converted or when thou art restored, strengthen
thy brethren. And so that is exactly what he
is doing here. Strengthening the brethren, going
through the same trials of faith that he also is walking through. And there are, if you go to the
Fourth chapter, first epistle of Peter, verse 12. Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to
try you as though some strange thing happened unto you, but
rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings,
that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also
with exceeding joy. And so he is joining again their
sufferings with Christ's sufferings and strengthening them in that
path of affliction and trial and testing. You think of the words that are
used here around our text, things that mean the same thing or described
the path we were going through. Heaviness. Heaviness. Manifold, or various temptations,
or various trials. Then in verse 7, trial of your
faith. And then later on in that verse,
tried with fire. And all these things put together
to describe this needs be, this great trial, this great time
of testing. So what is it then that is being
tried? What is it that is being tested? It is whether that faith is a
real faith. whether it really is given by
God. Does that faith really hold fast
to the Word of God? Thou saidst, I will surely do
thee good. Faith will always esteem the
words of God to be right and pure, the infallible Word of
God. The natural faith When trials
and troubles come, we'll start to question the Word of God,
and perhaps disannul it. But where faith is given, and
maybe, always remember this, with Peter, you might say that
in the trial, it looked like his faith had failed. But he
came through the trial where he had failed, he had denied
his Lord three times, But afterwards, he was still in the faith. He was still a Christian. He
was still a follower of the Lord. He was still a believer of the
Lord. He still loved the Lord. It's like if we had a little
tree, a sapling, and it was growing up straight. And then along came
the wind, and it bowed right down low. That wasn't its natural
place. You take the wind away, and back
it comes again to where it was before. is a solemn thing. When there are those temptations
that come, worldly temptations, worldly prospects, sometimes
it may be with the prospect of riches, or whether it be in using
the Lord's Day and keeping the Lord's Day or not, that really
finds out where one's heart really is. and there may be times that
there is a bowing to it, a falling, but then there's a restoring. It's like with David, it wasn't
in that way a trial, it was a fall, it was something that he was
chastened for his adultery, but he was restored. That which the
Lord had given him, the eternal life, the blessing of life, the
Lord would not take away. And so when the faith is trying,
Do we still believe in Jesus? Do we still believe and hold
fast to his word? Do we still hold his promises
and think of those promises or as in Hebrews 11, embrace them,
see them afar off and we plead them? And do we still trust that
he has a plan and has a purpose that he is working out? Or is
it that our whole trust, our faith, our belief all ends up
in complete ruins and we end up not walking in the ways of
God again at all? It's the most solemn condition
to be in and there are those that have made profession in
the Church of God that then have gone back from that profession. Our Lord speaks in the parable
of the sower of three types of hearers of the ground that the
seed is cast in. And some it was taken straight
away, some it was when persecution for the Word and trials came
that they then began to be offended at the Word, and others they
were choked with the things of this world. And those are the
sorts of the trials that came that resulted in no fruitfulness
at all. And it's vital in these trials
that it then is a personal matter. It is a personal faith in our
Lord. In John 6, later on in that chapter,
we're speaking of the necessity of eating his flesh, drinking
his blood. You have no life in you. They
said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? Many went back,
they walked no more with him. You might say the trial of faith
there was the word of God itself. The Lord says, I have given them
thy word and the world hath hated them. There are those that will
receive a Bible and they'll read it for a while until they get
to a passage that then offends them and they throw the Bible
away. I heard one person say, well,
he said, I just read a little bit, and then I read that Adam
lived 900 years. He said, ridiculous, oh, not
bothering with that. And that's where he stopped,
because he couldn't receive that word. And sometimes we don't
realize, perhaps, how much we may receive the word, believe
the word, hold fast to the word, And others have seen and read
the same things and they stumble at it. Apostle Paul speaks of
those that, or Peter actually, says concerning the Apostle Paul
in his writings, some things which are hard to be understood.
It's they that are unlearned and unstable, rest or twist as
they do the other scriptures to their own destruction. Many
things are used to test our faith as a belief. Jude, he speaks
of that we are to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered
unto the saints. And it is that faith, that belief,
sometimes you might hear those in a professing church and they
deny the resurrection of the Lord. or they might deny the
existence of hell. And they are departing from the
faith, those that deny the sacred humanity of our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ. And they are going back from
the faith, going away from the teaching of the Word of God,
away from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. So that is what is being
tried and tested whether we will really hold on to our belief. You see, this is one thing with
Job. Satan said, he only follows the
Lord because thou hast put a hedge about him, has preserved all
that he has. You touch all that he has and
he'll curse thee to thy face. And Satan knew many people would
have failed that test. Many people with a profession
of religion, when everything goes smooth, then they will believe. But if anything goes wrong, then
they're offended and they say, this is God, if this is the faith,
I'm not having anything to do with that. And away they'll go. But God gave Satan permission
to take from Joe, even his family, then his health, but Joe, He
didn't do what Satan thought. His faith stood firm. He didn't
just follow the Lord for loaves and fishes. Job is a real example
of the trial of faith, when one thing after another, and he still
holds fast his integrity. His wife even said to him, still
holdest thou thy integrity, curse God and die. Job reproved her
as one of the foolish women. After the first wave of trials
and the great adversity that come upon him, he says, Shall
we not receive good at the hand of the Lord? Shall we not receive
evil? The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Many of us fear, lest there be
trials coming and we wouldn't stand. As of the account of the
two martyrs locked up and to come and to be tested or even
brought to the stake the next day. And one of them was so confident
he would stand, he wouldn't deny his faith at all. The other one
spent the night in prayer and tears and begging of the Lord
for strength to stand. He so feared his weakness and
that he wouldn't stand the fire and wouldn't stand the trial
that he was to go through. But when it came to it, it was
the one that had prayed and felt his own weakness that stood,
and the other one gave up all and bowed to the persecutors. We cannot trust ourselves. We
have not strength ourselves. But we do need that faith that
God has given, that he will maintain and keep alive. And it is then
especially to the people of God that may be fearful and trembling,
whether they truly are the Lord's people or not, that in answer
to their cries and their fears, He sends these trials, not because
He doubts what He has done for them, but to show them what He's
done for them. And He brings them into those
trials, and He brings them out, and they come out, and they're
still in the narrow way. may still seek the Lord. Bless
the Lord if he's answered your poor cries and tears for a token
for good and assurance. If the Lord has seen it to be
a need be, that he's brought a trial, a test, that which may
have shaken you at first, really troubled you, and yet the Lord
has strengthened you still to continue and to be found in his
way. So what does the Lord use? Well,
we've spoken about Job. He loses many things. The dear Christians here were
to go through persecution. It was about the time when Nero
was starting to persecute the Church of God. Then there are
those sicknesses and infirmities that come upon us or those of
our loved ones. You think of the centurion, that
the Lord commended that he had not found so great faith, no,
not in Israel. And what had that centurion been
going through? His servant that he loved was
sick. The woman, a Syro-Phoenician
woman, the Lord said, great is thy faith. And what had that
woman gone through? Her daughter was sick. She came
to the Lord first. He didn't answer her at all.
Then the disciples were trying to drive her away because she
was troubling them. And then the Lord said he was
not sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And then
he said it was not me to take the children's bread and to give
it to dogs. She had so many things to discourage
her. And you might say, well, that's
my part. I've had so many things to discourage
me. But the Lord gave her that faith,
tested that faith. And at last he said, woman, Be
it unto thee, even as thou wish, great for thy faith has saved
thee." Now the petition, Lord help me. Short prayer, factual
prayer, and then the trial of that faith that God had given. Dear Job, what was his trial?
Not just the outward things that were happening, but even his
friends that came to comfort him, miserable comforters, i.e.
all We can have trials, you can go to the brethren, you can go
to the church, you can go to your friends, and you receive
even more wounds from them. And it's a further trial of faith. Even his wife, dear Jobe, knew
what it was to have one thing after another. Then we can have
spiritual temptations, be tempted that we've committed the unpardonable
sin, or tempted that we've walked in some way that can Never be
recovered from that we have so tried the Lord and so provoked
Him and resisted His Word that He'll never ever come again.
He'll never soften us again and He'll never bless us again. And
they can be very, very severe trials to us. The Lord uses these
things and as He uses them and He sees there's a need of them
a need for us to see our faith and realise what He has given
us and realise if this had been our own work, then it would have
perished. We would not have continued.
But I'll just mention this, with the trial of faith, there often
is secondary benefits as well. We spoke of our Lord's suffering,
it is through what we go through often that we are able to have
fellowship with Him in His sufferings. To think of His sufferings when
we are suffering too. And the same with His people
as well, as we mentioned before. The secondary benefits, like
Peter is now writing in this way as a benefit from what he
himself has gone through. Also with Peter, When he went
through it, it humbled him. He had said, though all men forsake
thee, yet will not I. And the Lord had to show him,
Peter, you will deny me, three times. Yes, he did. The Lord
knew Peter better than he knew himself. But the Lord not only
brought him through that trial, showed him his faith, but as
a secondary benefit, he humbled him as well. The Lord does these
things for our prophet. We learn patience, learn endurance,
learn to walk a path that is part of God's plan. You think
of Joseph. He needed to go through all of
those trials to be found in a place where he was raised next to Pharaoh. There's a need to be for that.
And many of the people of God, Esther, Queen Esther, Moses,
Abraham, Jacob, all of these had those things that they came
into. Jacob wrestling, I will not let
thee go except thou bless me. Why are you in such earnestness,
Jacob? Well, there's Esau, he's coming
with 400 men, and I fear him, and for the mother and the children.
And out of this comes thou wrestled with God and with man and hast
prevailed. His name has changed to Israel. It is looking back that we see
more clearly, like Joseph was able to say to his brothers,
God sent me hither. Ye meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. And he sees these things that
he's gone through as part of God's plan, part of what he told
to Abraham, that his seed would be a stranger in a strange land
for 400 years. Very often, our trials and the
things we walk through are part of God's plan. In Providence,
he's working it out, moving us from one place to another place,
putting a thorn in the nest here, making us leave that employment
to go to another employment or that home to go to another home.
And it's all a stepping stone as to what he'll actually do
for us. Remember years ago, and the first
employment I had after my apprenticeship as a trainee draftsman was there
for four years, built up to an engineer. And then things happened
and I moved employments just across the road, literally. But
it was that firm that I was with for 12 years and it was instrumental
in bringing me from, or facilitating coming from Australia to here
and able still to work for them here for a while and to be able
to get a home here. And I think of the chain of events
that shepherded to bring to the right place that 12 years later
on it would actually work for good. They are hard when we go
through these paths, but when we think of the Lord as our captain,
holding the helm, guiding the ship, those things that are trials
to us, there's a need to be for them. A need to be for the trial
of faith, that's the most vital thing. but more important than
anything else, that our faith is given by God, it's the faith
of God's elect, and that we shall obtain the desired haven at last
with that faith. But the secondary benefit the
Lord uses to teach, instruct, and to bring us in providence
where he'd have us to be and the way that we should go. If
need be, it comes to mind I preached years ago at Burgess Hill before
it closed. And John Woodhams, Maric to Marjorie,
both of them leave in glory now. But I preached from the word
that David said when he was speaking to his brother in the time of
Goliath. Is there not a cause? Now I can't
remember actually preaching from that at Burgess Hill, but after
that time, every time I met that couple, they always reminded
me of that text. They said, we get things that
go wrong, we sit, we're at the breakfast table, we look at each
other, and we say, is there not a cause? And it's a lovely thing,
where the Lord gives one there's a help right through
their lives. In that instance, it's often
been a help to me to remember not how I preached, not even
how I preached or when, but this dear couple that heard the word,
and they often reminded me of it, and it was such a help to
them, they were often a help to me too. So they're similar
to this one. Is there not a cause, and if
need be, Is there not a needs be? There is, but the Lord will
not put on us more than we can bear or what is really necessary. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.