1 Peter chapter 4. We'll read verses 12 through
16. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial that is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you. but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit
of glory and of God resteth upon you, on their part He is evil
spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of
you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer,
or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet, if any man suffer
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let
him glorify God on this behalf. The word begins here, beloved. He's writing to believers. That's what a believer is. That's
what you who believe are. You're beloved. Be loved of God
in Christ before, before the world began. By His sovereign
electing grace. Be loved of Christ who came and
suffered to redeem us, beloved of the Holy Spirit of God, when
as yet we didn't love Him who entered in and gave us life and
made us to know the love of God that's free, that's by His grace,
that's unmerited, that is an unchanging, unchangeable, everlasting
love. And that time, the Scripture
says, when He does that, it's called thy time of love when
He enters in and makes His everlasting covenant with us. He says, Beloved,
Now watch this. Think it not strange, an odd
thing, a foreign thing, or peculiar thing, concerning the fiery trial
which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto
you, but rejoice. It's one thing for the believer
to know the teaching, to know the doctrine, that every believer
shall face the fiery trial. To know that it is the will of
God, it's not by accident. He's done it. It's one thing
to know the teaching that it's not a strange thing. It's not foreign to God's child. It's by God's own appointment.
It's one thing to know this. To know that this fiery trial
is to try us. But to rejoice in it. Rejoice in it. I was reading with the children,
Emma and Will, I was reading Robert Hawker's morning and evening
portions. And I don't know if you read
it this morning, but if you have it, and you can go back and read
it, or just read it, and just read it and reread it. I read
this to them this morning, and I said, I think I'm going to
preach on that tonight. And they said, well, Daddy, you
said that you read it last night, and you said you was going to
preach on what you read last night. But here's what he said today,
and it just goes along with what I've been studying here in this
passage. But he said, he spoke from, he
wrote from Psalm 107, 7. He led them forth by the right
way that they might go to a city of habitation. He led them forth
by the right way. He said, I trust that God's given
us the grace to know the doctrine that whatever God does, He does
by His appointment. It's the trial He's set. It's
the trial He's brought. And He said, but oh for the grace
to rejoice in it because it is the right way. The Lord is leading forth by
a right way to bring to a city of habitation whose builder and
maker is God. Well, I want to give you three
reasons here that the Spirit of God gives us to rejoice in
the fiery trial. Here's the first one, verse 13.
He says, but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's
sufferings. That's the first one. Here's
the second thing. Verse 13. Rejoice that when His
glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy
when He returns, when He comes, and His glory is revealed. And
here's the third reason. Verse 14. The second part of
verse 14 there. He says, For the Spirit of glory,
the Spirit of God, resteth upon you. That's reason to rejoice. Reason
to rejoice. Let's look at these three. First
of all, he says, rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's
suffering. Now, notice here, it doesn't
say trials. We face a lot of trials. We face,
as James said, various trials, different kinds of trial, different
things that try us. But he says here, the fiery trial. The fiery trial that is to try
you. What is it that he's talking
about? What's the fiery trial that is to try the believer? Look at verse 14. If you be reproached
for the name of Christ. Many suffer for evil. Suffering
is the result of fall. It's the result of sin. And that's
all that is common to man is suffering. And most all the things
we suffer is because we're against one another and against God.
And everything we think and do is against God and against one
another. But he says here in verse 15,
let none of you Beloved, brethren, suffer as a murderer or as a
thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters.
Yet, this is just completely opposite to that. This is yet
if any man suffer as a Christian. To suffer for those things, not
to suffer. as belonging to Christ and for this name of Christ.
But if any man suffer as a Christian for the name of Christ, let him
not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf because of
this. Now, why was it Christ suffered? It says you're partakers of Christ's
suffering. Why was it Christ suffered? I want you to see something about
Christ. Turn to Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3. We're familiar with this scripture,
and I quote this to you quite a bit, where he says, I am the
Lord, I change not. It means he's immutable, he doesn't
change. His grace is the same from beginning
to end. Because he chooses to save by
grace, because he loves by grace, because it's all everlasting,
it never changes. And he says, therefore you sons
of Jacob, you that are truly chosen of God in Christ are not
consumed. But why is it that we're not
consumed? Why is the believer not consumed?
Christ is the fire. He is the fire. He's the refining
fire. Christ himself is. He's the refiner. Look at Malachi 3 verse 1. Behold
I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before
me. John the Baptist came. And then it says, and the Lord
whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger
of the covenant. That's who he is. whom ye delight
in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of
his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth?
For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. Now watch
this, and he shall sit as a refiner, and purifier of silver. You know what a refiner is? You
know what this purifier is? When gold comes out of the ground,
it doesn't look like gold. It doesn't look like the ring
that you see in the jewelry store. It's black, and it looks like
a rock, just an ordinary old black, dirty rock. And the gold
is put into a fire, a refining fire. And everything that's not
gold is consumed by the fire. And the only thing that remains
is that which is gold, because it won't be burned up by fire.
Well, the Lord says here, He is the refiner. He's the refiner. He's the purifier. That means
He's the fire. He's the fire. And watch what
he says here. He says, and he shall purify
the sons of Levi. Verse 3. He's going to purify
the sons. The sons of Levi were priests.
His children are priests unto him because he purifies them. He makes them priests unto God. And he's going to purge them
as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering
in righteousness. that they can offer up to something
that to God, Jehovah, the Lord, that God will receive an offering
in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old
and as in the former years, and I will come near to you. Now
this is Him talking. I will come near to you to judgment. I'm going to come near like a
fire. as a refiner's fire, as the refiner
and the purifier. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who this work's given to by God and he's the one speaking
here and he says, and I'll be a swift witness against the sorcerers
and against the adulterers and against false swearers and against
those that oppress the hireling in his wages. the widow, and
the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right,
and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts." I'm going to come
forth like a fire in judgment. And he says, for I am the Lord,
I change not. Now look here, there's a semicolon
there. Therefore, because of everything
he just said, ye sons of Jacob, are not consumed. Why are His
people not consumed? True, because He changes not,
but because He is that fire whereby we live and whereby we understand
and whereby we know God and whereby the dross of this flesh and the
dross and the worthlessness of what we are is We're saved from
it. We're saved from it so that we
behold Him. Everything that is not of Him
is burned up by Him. There's one who is the fire,
by His Word, by His Gospel, by Him who is the refiner, by Him
who is the purifier. And therefore, because this is
God in human flesh, this is the Lord God who's come to do it,
the sons of Jacob. Worthless sons of Jacob, given
Him, are not consumed. Have you ever heard somebody
say, look at Malachi 4 with me. Have you ever heard somebody
say this? This is just something that,
maybe it's just an expression where I grew up, but, that just
burns me up. Have you ever heard anybody say
that? That just burns me up. Well, that's what happens when
the gospel is preached. That's what happens. Look at
what the Lord said He would do when He came forth. Malachi 4.1,
for behold the day cometh. This is talking about the day
He came forth. It's talking about the day Christ came. Just what
He's talking about. I'm going to send my messenger
forth first and then I'm coming. The refiner. The fire. I'm coming. Behold the day cometh that shall
burn as an oven. It's like a furnace. And all
the proud. Who's all the proud? That's all
we are by nature, the proud. And all the proud, yea, and all
that do wickedly shall be stubble. What happens when stubble goes
into a fire? It just burns up doesn't it?
It just crackles and burns up. The proud and the do wickedly
shall be a stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up,
saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root
nor branch." There won't be anything within a man that's going to
be left. If that's all there is, that's
all dross. Everything I am and everything
you are is all dross. It's all briars and stubble. He burns everything this flesh
is. He burns it up. He burns it up. But look what He says, But unto
you that fear My name shall the Son of Righteousness, the S-U-N. How hot is the Son? If we just
went just a little bit towards it, it would just burn up everything.
The Son of Righteousness, He will arise with healing in His
wings. And ye shall go forth and grow
up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked,
for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the
day that I shall do this. That I shall do this, saith the
Lord of hosts. Here's the point. Listen. Christ
the Word. Christ the Name. Christ Himself. The same One who burns up all
that is flesh in His people and in those who are not His people.
He that burns up everything that is just dross, everything that
is just fire. The same One who does this is
the same One who is the purifier in His people, in us, that makes
us pure. He's the one that has come forth,
and He's done this all by His grace. He said, I'm going to
do this. The Lord of hosts. When you read
capital L-O-R-D, it's talking about God. It's talking about
Jehovah. And when you read small L-O-R-D, it's talking about Christ
who came forth, who is the Lord. Jehovah Christ come forth. And He does this. Now when He
came forth, what did He do? We're talking here, He says,
if you bear reproach for the name of Christ, for His gospel,
for the truth, rejoice for that. Because you're partakers of Christ's
sufferings. He suffered reproach. It means insult. It means reviling. It means throwing it back in
His teeth. Throwing it back in your Face. In your face. That's what it
means. To be thrown back in your face.
To be reproached. Well, when Christ came forth,
he burned up. He completely, totally burned
up the false teaching of man, the false imagination that man
has that man can do something by his will. He burned that up. And he burned up men who were
trusting in that. He said, they said, this is the
son of Joseph and Mary. We know his father and his mother.
They said, how does he say to us that he came down from heaven?
And the Lord said this, murmur not amongst yourselves. Don't
take counsel amongst yourselves and set yourselves against me.
Murmur not against yourselves, he said. He said, no man can
come to me except the Father which has sent me. Draw him.
And when he said that, he burned up that whole fleshly doctrine,
that whole fleshly idea that a man can come to God by our
will, by our wisdom. He burned that, he just burned
that. That whole doctrine just disintegrated. That false doctrine
just disintegrated. By these words of Christ, no
man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw
him, and I will raise him up in the last day." And you know
what happened when they heard that? There was many that was
walking after him. But when they heard that, they
said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear these things he's
talking about? And they went back and they didn't walk anymore
with him. You know what happened? They
were burned up. It just, it just, all those that
were following after Him, some kept following right after Him.
Some, Peter and his disciples said, Lord, to whom shall we
go? You have the words of eternal life. You have the fire. You,
this is, this is our light. But this same fire purged and
made some want no more with it. That's what he's doing in every
believer, in the fire of trial, when you're reproached for the
name of Christ. He brings us to behold, I can't
by my will and my wisdom do anything for anybody. And all my strength
is to just declare the gospel of Christ, to declare what Christ
said, no man can. come to me." No man can come
to Him except the Father which has sent Him to draw Him. And
God says, by that fire, I'm going to purge away that dross in my
people, and I'm going to draw Him to me. That's what God does. So when we're reproached by somebody,
when it's cast back in your teeth, I don't believe that! And this trial sometimes is hard.
This trial is... David said, Though it be not
so with my own house, the Lord said that man's enemies would
be there of his own household. That's a trial. That's a trial. But he burns it up through this
word, through this gospel, that false notion, that false idea
that we can come some other way. He burned up the false doctrine
that man can come to God by the righteous deeds of his own hand. Look over at John chapter 9. We'll come back to John, so you
hold your place here in John. John chapter 9. John chapter 9 verse 4. He said, I must work the works
of him that sit me while is day. The night cometh when no man
can work. He's the only one that can do
the works that God sent Him to do. He's the only one that can
do this. Look at John 15, 22. John 15, 22. And they heard Him. They knew exactly what He was
saying when He came. And He's still today, through
this same Word, He's still today burning up that flesh that His
people are causing them not to trust in themselves anymore.
But at the same time, this is offensive and this is what makes
men to cast it back in the teeth of a believer. But He said this,
chapter 15, verse 22, If I had not come and spoken unto them,
they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for
their sin. They've got no excuse. They've got no justification
for trying to come to God any other way. That's fire. That's fire. That's going to
cause the flesh to try to reject. It's going to cause the flesh
to raise up in opposition. But the flesh can't I mean, think
about this. You think about just fire burning.
Just fire burning. You could wear back with your
fist and punch it all you want to, can't you? Do you do anything? You can't do a thing in the world
to fire. Could you imagine, could you imagine these firefighters
going to a burning building and them all running up there with
their hands and their bodies and trying to make that fire
extinguish by the work of their hand, it would just consume. Well, this work, this fire, that's
what it does. It consumes and it makes us without
excuse. Christ said, if I had not come,
the purifier, the refiner, there wouldn't be any sin. They see
it now. They know it now, He says. And
this causes... You see, a man doesn't get upset
and reproach a believer in this world because If God's not getting all the
glory, but if God's getting all the glory, no man can do these
works by his deeds, then men get upset by that. I want to
be able to do this. I want to be able to do this,
a man says in his flesh. But when Christ comes, there's
no more excuse now. There's no more justification.
It burns up everything. Look at verse 24. If I had not
done among them the works which none other man did, they had
not had sin. But now have they both seen and
hated both me and my Father. because He's the only one that
could work these works, the only one that could come forth and
satisfy the law, the only one that could come forth and fulfill
it, the only one that could come forth and do the deeds that God
requires of His people and go to the cross and bear the fury,
the fire of God's wrath and extinguish that fire of wrath toward God's
people. He's the only one that could
work these works. And he said, I've done this.
And I'm the one that's done it. He burned up the false doctrine
of man cleansing himself by being washed by washing himself. Look
at Matthew 15 to Matthew 15 to the Pharisees. asked this question. They came and they said, verse
2, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? Why do you transgress our tradition? Why do you not do what we have
always done? They asked Christ this. Christ
this, or his disciples this. And he says, they wash not their
hands when they eat bread. All these washings passed down,
and men take the things of the truth of God about how that Christ
is the only purifier. He's the only washer, that we're
washed by the regeneration, by the Spirit of God. And pass them
down and say, now you got to wash yourself. And he said this,
Verse 9, In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men. And He called the multitude,
and He said unto them, Hear and understand, not that which goeth
into the mouth defileth a man, but that which comes out of the
mouth, that's what defiles a man. And His disciples said unto Him,
Don't you know that the Pharisees are offended by that? after they heard this saying? Don't you know they were offended? Do you think it changed the fire? Do you think it changed Christ
in Him? He said, every plant that my
heavenly Father hath not planted, it'll be rooted up. It's going
to be like stubble. It'll just be burned up." And
he said, leave them alone. They're blind leaders of the
blind. They both fall in the ditch. He burned up that doctrine. He burned up the doctrine we
could come to Him by our will and our wisdom. He burned up
the false doctrine that by our deeds we can make ourselves righteous. He burned up that false doctrine
that we can somehow wash ourselves We have to be washed in the blood
of the Lamb. We have to be purged by the washing
of regeneration. We have to be created anew by
Him. Now, this is the application that Peter is teaching us here,
brethren, back in our text. He said, Beloved, think it not
strange if you be reproached for the name of Christ, but rejoice because you are partaker
of His suffering. You know what? Not only that
we partake of, he was reproached and he was reviled. And he was, religious, self-righteous man,
along with the Gentiles, along with all the kings and the rulers,
everybody came to him. I want you to look at there at
John 15. The Lord said this, He said, Remember the word that
I said unto you. The servant is not greater than
his Lord. If they've persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. If they've kept my saying, they
will keep yours also. But all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake. because they know not him that
sent me. If I had not come and spoken
unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for
their sin. He that hateth me hateth my father also. If I had
not done among them the works which no other man did, they
had not had sin, but now they have both seen and hated both
me and my father. But this cometh to pass, that
the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, they
hated me without a cause. Now, hold your place there and
don't, don't, we're gonna come right back here. But this is
what Peter's saying. Don't be hated for a cause. Try to be as harmless and as
not a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a busybody in
other men's matters. Yet, if you suffer for the name
of Christ, if you bear reproach because you preach salvation,
you stand for Christ. I asked a couple of the brethren
that were baptized on Sunday. I asked them, did you wake up
on Monday morning? And everything just is, got no
sin now. Got no worries now about anything
else. It's just all a bed of roses
now. You know, as soon as the Lord
was baptized, he was carried away in the spirit to the wilderness
to be tempted, tried. Do you know how he resisted?
He committed everything to the Father. He kept saying, this
is the Word of the Lord. This is the Word of the Lord.
This is the Word of the Lord. He just kept saying that, this
is the Word of the Lord. And that's how the fire, He's
that fire, He's that Word. And there was no cause of any
rejection in Him. He didn't do anything whatsoever. and the self-righteous and the
self-willed and the flesh, what I am and what you are, what we
have to be saved from. Flesh kept trying to take counsel
together and kept trying to say, we've got to try to entangle
him in his words, we've got to try to say something that we
can And they just kept chasing rabbits. And they kept trying
to go this way and that way and talk about all these different
words from the Old Testament Scriptures. And he kept just
burning it all up by saying, I am the way. I'm the truth. I'm the life. No man can come
to the Father but by me. And that burned it all up. He
is that fire. And it's by His suffering. And
when it all couldn't be, when they couldn't be, they perceived
that He was speaking of them, Scripture said. And they couldn't
do anything, couldn't find any way to go before the people and
to justly stand up and say, well, here's what the Word says. And
this is what He's done contrary to the Word. And they could find
none of that in Him. Man, flesh, sought a way to destroy
Him. To break the bands of God Almighty
and His Christ, His anointed, asunder. To cast off all of God's
rule, all of God's word, all of God's holy commandment. To
cast off this gospel that God sent. And when they did it, they
nailed Him to a tree. and every bit of it fulfilled
the work and purpose of God from eternity. And that suffering
we partook of, every believer partook of that suffering. And
because we partook of it and he drank that fury dry, there's
no more wrath in God toward his people. It's gone. This judgment
we're talking about here, it's not judgment to his people. It's mercy to His people. It's
judgment to those who remain in His flesh. And it burns it
all up. And so our Lord teaches us, you're
going to be reproached for my namesake, He said. But He says,
rejoice because of it. Because you're partakers of my
suffering. And don't think it's strange.
Number one, Christ partook of this suffering. But two, he says,
let me read this to you. Happy are you when men shall
hate you, when they shall separate you from their company and shall
reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's
sake. Rejoice in that day and leap
for joy, for behold, your reward's great in heaven. For in like
manner did their fathers unto the prophets." There's never
been a believer on the face of this planet that wasn't rejected
by this world. It's not some strange thing.
It's not something that's new to me or new to you. He says,
leap for joy. and leap for joy. You've been
partakers of Him, redeemed by Him, purged by Him, because you're
partakers of His suffering. And now, you're partakers with
all the saints of glory. That's a reason to rejoice, isn't
it? We'll hurry through these second two things, but I want
you to see this. I want to take this last thing,
secondly. Verse 14 in our text. Are you
still in John 15? We're coming right back there.
1 Peter 4.14, if you be reproached for the name of Christ, you won't be unless this is the
reason. If you are, if you are, this
is going to be the sole reason. He says, be happy because the
Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you. But for the Spirit of God, but
for the Holy Spirit of glory resting upon us, you know what
we'd do? We'd serve men rather than God. We'd say it's not worth the fight.
We'd say it's not worth this anymore. And we'd wilt and we'd
burn up. and we would join in with the
world. But the only reason we don't
is because of the Holy Spirit resting upon us, born of His
Spirit, and His Spirit resting on us, protecting us. Back there
in John 15, 26, He said, When the Comforter is
come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit
of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me." And you know what the result's going to be? And ye
also shall bear witness, because you've been with me from
the beginning. from the beginning that was before
the beginning. And this is by the Holy Spirit
resting upon His people. Do you remember? I want to give
this to you, Isaiah 4-4. Do you remember this? That all
came about. Christ came and He purged His
people. And He went back to the Father
and He poured out the Spirit upon His people. And this judgment,
you know where it started? It started right there. in Jerusalem. It started right there in Mount
Zion. It started right there. And you know where it's always
this discernment, this quenching of all the stubble? You know
where it happens? It happens in His Mount Zion.
It happens in His church. It happens in His house. That's
where it happens. Look at verse Isaiah 4-4, When
the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of
Zion. And that's what He did, laying down His life. And shall
have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the
spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. The Lord will create upon every
dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud
and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For
upon all the glory shall be a defense. So he said, that's what John
said. He said, I'm going to baptize
you with water unto repentance. because you're confessing that
God has put away your sins by Christ's assurity. And I'm baptizing
you with water. But he said, this one that's
coming, he's mightier than I am. His shoes, I'm not worthy to
even unlatch them. And he said, he's going to baptize
his people with the Holy Spirit and fire. And this glory, Peter
says, if you bear reproach, endure it. If you stand, when this whole
world turns against you, when your own household turns against
you, when your own mothers in law and fathers in law and husbands
and wives and children, all flesh and blood turn against you and
are at variance against you. And you don't wilt under it and
you don't fall under it. This is the sole reason and the
sole one we have the glory in. And this is the reason to be
so happy. The spirit of glory, the spirit of God rests upon
you. That's the only reason. That's
the only reason. And here's the last thing. And
I want to go back then and take that second thing I gave you
back in 1 Peter 4, 13, and this is where we'll end. And if this
is so, if we would bear reproach for the name of Christ, because
the spirit of glory of God rests upon us, he says, rejoice that
when his glory shall be revealed, when he comes back, you may be glad also with exceeding
joy. exceeding joy. Peter says, hope to the end,
hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ, when the light comes back, when
the fire comes back in glory. We turn it over to Romans 8.16.
We'll close with this. Romans 8.16. I don't have any power in me
to. This fiery trial, you know what
it reveals to us? It's proving and it proves to
us that we don't have strength for these things. The glory is
of God. It is of him. You remember I
read to you there and Daniel. Those three that were cast into
that fire. Their clothes weren't burned up. Their hair wasn't
singed. They weren't consumed. And those
mighty men that threw them in there, they were. But those three
weren't because of that fourth one that was in the midst of
the fire. That's Christ. That's Christ, the angel of the
Lord. And He's the only reason. Therefore,
because He's come, because He's the purifier, the refiner, He's
the fire, these sons of Jacob are not consumed. And I hope
to the end, look at this Romans 8.16, because these sufferings
that we suffer now, they're not His sufferings. I mean, as far
as what he endured and suffered. We hadn't suffered what he suffered.
But this is what's true. This is what is so. Romans 8,
16. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if we're
children, then we're heirs. We're heirs of God. We're joint
heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
him. If we hope to the end, bear reproach
for His name to the end, it's going to be because the Spirit
of glory rests upon us, the Holy Spirit of God. And if we suffer
to the end with Him, we're going to be glorified together with
Him. For I reckon, can you reckon
this? I reckon this, that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy. to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. Can you hope to the end for that
glory? There's going to be some, oh. So Peter says, rejoice. Not only just bear these trials,
but know that they're appointed of God and rejoice in them. partakers of Christ's suffering.
The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you, and when His
glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding
joy. Exceeding joy. Amen.