Acts 19, and I'm just going to
read, pick up where we left off last time, and I'm going to read
a verse, make a few comments, and then we'll look at a few
points at the end. Acts 19, verse 29. Now, you know
that this uproar was brought about because the gospel of Christ
was preached. And there were men here that
were upset. Demetrius, who was a silversmith,
and he gathered some men together, and they're in the midst of a
riot here. Verse 29 says, and the whole city was filled with
confusion. And having caught Gaius and Aristarchus,
men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one
accord into the theater." Now these were believers. They were,
as you see here, from the church in Macedonia, Paul's companions
in travel. The Greeks caught them and they
forced them violently, took them into the theater where all the
folks were gathered. And there they would face torture,
possible torture. Sometimes they had wild beasts. They would throw them to the
beasts and make sport of them. There was a possibility of facing
death. Then verse 30 says, And when
Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered
him not. And certain of the chief of Asia,
which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he
would not adventure himself into the theatre. Paul was the apostle
of Christ, and he was willing to go in to where these men were,
where these people were. But in God's providence, he was
held back by the brethren, by other of the chief men of Asia
who were friends. And this saved Paul's life, but
it also gave Paul an opportunity to see what God does in the midst
of trials without any assistance from man, without any assistance
from his ministers. Now, these two men, Gaius and
Aristarchus, are believers under the power and grace of God. And
they were ready. They were ready not only to believe
on Him, but they were ready to go in here, into this place and
suffer for Christ's sake. And this was an evident token
of their salvation. When Paul wrote to the Philippians,
he said, don't be terrified by your adversaries about anything. And he said, when your adversaries
are all in an uproar like they were here in Asia, he said that's
an evident token of perdition, of their damnation. But to the believer who is will
not renounce his faith in the midst of such a riot. This is an evident token of salvation
and that is of God. And the Lord proved here through
this without any assistance from Paul that grace is sufficient
to keep us. Grace is sufficient to keep his
people. And he preserved them and proved
through this trial that their faith was persevering faith.
And then verse 33, it says, and we read in other places of these
two men who went with Paul at other times and who Paul writes
about at other times, so we know that they continued in the faith.
These men didn't go into this theater and see this host of
people and say, well, we don't know who these people are. They
went in there and stood firm in the liberty and stood firm
in Christ. Then in verse 33 we have what
is somewhat of a contrast. Verse 33 says, and they drew
Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward.
These are the Jews, always distinguished from the brethren, from those
who trusted Christ. These are Jews who don't trust
Christ. They're not believers. They're
from the synagogue. They took Alexander out of the
multitude and they put him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the
hand and would have made his defense unto the people." Now,
there is contrast here, and here's what we know about Alexander. Now it says here, the Jews drew
Alexander out of the multitude. Now this word drew, it means
he was induced by persuasion. He was induced by persuasion. He had pressure from his Jewish
kinsmen, his own countrymen, to come with them and come out
of this multitude for a purpose. And it says here, then it says,
and Alexander beckoned with his hand. This was a motion to get
everybody's attention. He's trying to silence the uproar. So everybody would look at him
so he could speak. Now, if the Jews were putting
Alexander forward, because he's a believer and they want to cast
him in the front of these Greeks so the Greeks will take him into
this amphitheater and do whatever torture they will with him. Alexander
wouldn't have stepped out in front of the Jews and went to
waving for everybody to look at him. Alexander was stepping
out to say something. on behalf of the Jews, and so
he beckoned with his hand for everybody to listen to him. Now,
why would the Jews choose Alexander, and what would they use to persuade
him, to induce him to step forward and speak for them? Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4.
2 Timothy chapter 4, right before the book of Hebrews. Titus and
2 Timothy 4. Then we're going to go to 1 Timothy
after this, but go to 2 Timothy 4 and verse 14. Now there is another Alexander
spoken of here, or a Alexander spoken of here, and I think it's
the same Alexander. Here's why. Verse 14, Paul writes
to Timothy. He says, Alexander the coppersmith
did me much evil. The Lord reward him according
to his work. Of whom be thou ware also, beware
of this man, Paul told Timothy, for he hath greatly withstood
our words. Now, when Paul wrote this letter
to Timothy, Timothy is at Ephesus, and Timothy was mainly the minister
at Ephesus. Alexander the coppersmith was
at Ephesus. This riot is at Ephesus. Who started this riot and why
did it start? Hold your place here in 2 Timothy
4.14 and look back at Acts 19.24. A certain man named Demetrius,
a silversmith, he was a metal worker. He made silver shrines
for Diana, and he brought no small gain unto the craftsmen,
whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation."
So there's sort of a metal workers' guild here called together. And
he says, you know, by this craft we have our wealth. Alexander
was of like occupation with these men. And he was known by Demetrius,
and he was known by the men of this craft. You can see there
in Acts 19.34, it says, when they knew that he was a Jew,
they knew him. They knew Alexander. They had
some dealings with him, and they knew he was a Jew. But there's
another way that the Jews probably persuaded Alexander, and Alexander's
mentioning Paul's first letter to Timothy. Go back now to 1
Timothy chapter 1 and look at verse 18. 1 Timothy 1 verse 18. This charge I commit unto thee,
son Timothy. This is Paul writing to Timothy.
According to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou
by them mightest war a good warfare. It sounds like a war that they're
in, and it's riot at Ephesus. And he says, wage a good warfare,
holding faith. holding faith, believing God,
trusting God, committing all your care to God, and a good
conscience. Don't do anything deceitfully,
underhanded. A good conscience. With some
having put away, they put away this good conscience, and concerning
faith, they made it shipwrecked. They made a shipwreck of faith.
Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander. whom I have delivered unto Satan,
that they may learn not to blaspheme." Now, it appears in our text that
the Jews, thinking that Alexander might have some influence with
these men of like occupation, he's a coppersmith, he's a metalsmith
like these fellas are. So they think, let's put him
forward, let him do some talking for us here, because he is of
like occupation with these fellas, but If this Alexander is the
same one and he was a professing Christian. These men are also
putting some pressure, the Jews are putting pressure on Alexander
because they're saying, you're of like occupation with these
men. They'll listen to you. You got a common bond with them.
Go out there and talk on our behalf to let these people know
that the Jews didn't start this. Paul and those ones that profess
Christ started this. And if you don't step out there
and speak on our behalf for us, we're going to tell them you're
one of them. and you'll be thrown to the wolves. You'll be turned
over into the hand of this riot, this uproar. And so Alexander,
under this pressure, steps forward. And it says here, back in Acts
19, it says back in Acts 19, in verse 33, and he would have
made his defense unto the people. The Greek word here for defense
is he was about to apologize to the people. He was about to
give a defense for himself and these Jewish men. He was about
to step forward and say, we didn't cause this. We're not the ones
that are guilty of this. You want Paul, and you want those
other fellas. You don't want these Jewish men.
Paul said he put away a good conscience, and he made a shipwreck
of faith, and he blasphemed God. He may not have done it right
here, and obviously we'll see in a moment. He didn't get to
say anything right here. But sometime, either before this
or after this, Paul was convinced that this man was somebody to
beware of because of this problem. He said, Paul said, Alexander
the coppersmith did me much evil. Now let me give you three things
here from this. First of all is this, apart from
the grace of God in Christ Jesus, it's impossible to oppose the
devil or to maintain the truth, to stand for the truth. It's
impossible. Look at verse 34. But when they
knew that Alexander was a Jew, they knew that the Jews were
against idols too. They were against all idols too.
They professed, as far as the Greeks were concerned, they professed
the same God that Paul did. And they knew he was a Jew, all
with one voice, about the space of two hours, cried out, Great
is Diana of the Ephesians." Somebody wrote this, one of the
writers, I liked it, let me just read this to you. He said, the
poor Jews had rejected the Savior, and they were enemies to the
doctrine of Christ. And yet they expected to be able
to present amicable argument to convince the people of the
doctrine of the one true God. And he said, but they were enemies
to the grace of God. And they were despised by men,
and all they could do was to excite the multitude to continue
in this uproar, crying, greatest Diana, greatest Diana. That's
all that was accomplished by trying to scheme to get Alexander
to step forth to help them out. Nothing was accomplished by it.
Our Lord said, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that
abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit,
for without me you can do nothing. Demetrius tried to do something
without Christ, and he failed. Alexander tried to do something
without Christ, and he failed. The Jews tried to do something
without Christ, and they failed. The angry mob and the host of
hell tried to do something against Christ, hanging Him on the cross
at Calvary, and all they accomplished was God's will in glorifying
God and saving His people. But with God, all things are
possible. Look over at Psalm 57. Psalm 57. This says, Be merciful unto me, O
God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea,
in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these
calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God Most High,
unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send
from heaven and save me from the reproach of Him that would
swallow me up. God shall send forth His mercy
and His truth. My soul is among lions, and I
lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of
men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp
sword. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory
be above all the earth. They've prepared a net for my
steps. My soul is bowed down. They dig the pit before me into
the midst whereof they are falling themselves. But all things,"
he said, God most high, performs all things for me. Do you realize
that all grace is the believers in Christ manifest in Christ
Jesus our surety. All grace. How much grace is
that? It's as abundant as God is. All grace. All providence, everything
that happens, everything that comes to pass, comes to pass
exactly worked together by the hand of God on purpose for you
who believe Him. All things. God performeth all
things for me. All the work of the triune God,
of all the host of His heavenly angels, that He uses to protect
His people, to hedge His people about, all about us. Because of the precious value
of Christ's blood, everything is being worked to keep you trusting
Christ alone. God's glory would be severed
from God if you can be severed from Christ. That's assurance. That's a sure,
solid foundation. God's glory would be taken away,
separated from God if one believer for whom Christ died, who He
redeemed, can be separated from Christ. It will never happen. That will never happen. You think
about how hard that you worked before you knew Christ. How hard
we worked to try to find some peace, to try to just create
some peace in our heart. And then after we believe, we
go through seasons where nothing will comfort you. You can't find
any comfort. You can't do anything to comfort
yourself. You try to just be comforted. You can't be. But all God had
to do in that first hour was speak a word into your heart
and He gave you peace. That's all He has to do in every
trial is speak a word and He gives you peace. So apart from the grace of God,
it's impossible to oppose our enemies or to stand for the truth. But we'll cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for us. Now secondly,
trials are of God and they are necessary. Look over at 1 Peter
1. Here in verse 6, he says, wherein
ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, You're
in heaviness through manifold temptations. You know, this riot
at Ephesus, it was a profitable riot. It was profitable for Paul
and for these other brethren. Very profitable. It was needful.
It says, verse 7, that the trial of your faith, being much more
precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. The afflictions and the persecutions
that we endure, that's what's meant here by these manifold
temptations. They're trials that God sends.
There are trials sent by Him, and as I read to you in the Scripture
reading, don't think it's strange that you have a trial, that trials
come to you. God tried Abraham. Abraham, take
your son, your only son, and go up on the mount and offer
him a sacrifice. Don't make any sense to me. Don't
make any sense to me. God's promised me that through
Isaac, The seed's going to be born. Christ Jesus is coming
in whom all the nations of the earth's going to be blessed.
And now God's telling me to go up there and take Isaac and put
him on an altar and put a knife through that boy's heart? Nevertheless,
he said, do it. I'm going. I'm going. Going to
do it. Job's children came to worship
God, and Satan came with them. And God asked him, have you considered
Job? Have you thought about Job? And Satan said, you've hedged
him about, you've got him protected, so of course he won't deny you. The Lord said, alright, I'll
take the hedge off of him. You can have everything he's
got. Don't touch him. Satan took everything away by
God's permission and then afflicted his body. Job was tried heavily,
but it was needful for Job. Job came to know God more through
that trial than he would had if God had left him where he
was. And he got much more from that trial than he would have
ever had. Your faith is much more precious than gold. Much
more precious than gold. The gift of faith is more valuable
than the gift of gold. Gold, you know, it has no sustainable
value. It might be worth a lot one day
and not worth anything the next day. You may have it one day
and it slip right through your hands the next day. God who gave
it is able to take it away from you. physical, temporal goal. But faith is a gift from God. He don't take back his gift of
faith, he grows it. And it becomes more and more
and more precious. More and more and more valuable
to you. Because it's our union between
us and our God. The trial of your faith is more
precious than gold. The trial itself is more precious
than gold. A fire purges gold. A fire purges
gold and the dross leaves the gold. It makes gold shine brighter. And so the fiery trial purges
the dross of unbelief that's in us. Oh, it's in us. You know you don't miss something.
When you've got access to God, and God is communing with you
by faith, and He's giving you fresh glimpses of Him, and fresh
glimpses of Christ, you're rejoicing, and you don't realize how valuable
that is until He makes the heavens to be shut up to you. And you
can't hear Him. You can't get a word from Him. As much as you cry out to Him,
He don't answer you. And He makes you through this
trial to behold all the troth that's in you. You start trying
to find peace. You start trying to find comfort. You start trying to deliver yourself
out of this. And you find out real quick,
I can't do it. I can't bring peace to my heart.
I can't bring myself out of this depression. It's just a heavy
load that's got your burden down and you cannot free yourself
from it. You can't get out from under
it. And then he speaks that word
of grace into your heart again and restores that peace to you,
restores that comfort to you. And you realize this thing of
faith is precious. And this trial is precious. This
trial's been precious. It's made me to see how valuable
this gift of faith is, how valuable communion with God is. be in
His presence. Oh Lord, don't let me take it
for granted. Don't let me take Your mercies to me for granted. And it makes us to behold the
faithfulness of Christ in whom we trust. It makes our faith
shine brighter before God. He makes it glorious to Him. He sees a child rejoicing and
coming to Him like we ought to be all the time. I'm casting
all our care on trusting Him. And it makes Him and His faithfulness
shine brighter to us. It's a two-way street. It don't
add to God. It don't benefit God. But it
makes God look at the faith He's created and say, now there's
a faithful child. There's a faithful child. That's
what he said here. He says, Though it be tried with
fire, it might be found unto 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, believing,
faith is a substance of things not seen, and believing, ye rejoice
with joy unspeakable, full of glory. You see that? Christ comes
and your faith is found to be glorious, worthy of praise and
honor. And right now, through these
trials, you believe and you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory. See? In His glory. You see how
this thing works between us? This is the joy of faith. The joy of faith. And they're
difficult. They cut against the grain of
our flesh, but they make us submit to God. Don't they? They humble
us. They bring us down in our flesh. And they make us like children.
Make us to trust Him. They grow us in patience. You
know what patience is that God grows us in? Number one, it's
patience to wait on God. It's patience to wait on Him.
His patience, whether he's dealing with a brother or a sister or
he's dealing with you, his patience to wait on him, to see what he's
going to do. You know, our children, something
doesn't go right and they're bent out of shape over it. Well,
as He grows us in grace, as He grows us in grace, trials happen. Big trials come along. It causes
us this little trial to prepare us for the next bigger trial,
to prepare us for the next bigger trial. And in each case, as faith
grows, the trial gets bigger, but faith is more patient. The
trial gets bigger, but we're more patient. The trial gets
bigger, but we're more patient. And you know what the last trial
is? It's death. It's death. But He's preparing
us in all these trials for that one. For that one. To where we
can just close our eyes and say, Lord, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. We sang that. I wanted you to sing that song.
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace all
sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame, gonna be a flame,
gonna be fire, but it won't hurt you. I only design thy dross
to consume and thy gold to refine. So apart from God, we can do
nothing. Secondly, God gives us trials
to keep us ever aware of that very fact, to trust Him alone. And then thirdly, the Lord separates
the wheat from the chaff. The Lord separates wheat from
chaff. When John spoke of Him, he said,
He's coming. And he said he's going to baptize
with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And he said he's got a
fan in his hand. He'll throughly purge his floor.
He'll gather his wheat into the garner, but he'll burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire. I've told you about these threshing
instruments they use. Two or three different types
of instruments with different types of teeth on them that they
use on a threshing floor to thresh. And they're just threshing all
the time, the wheat. At first they start out using
a threshing instrument with wider teeth on it. And it's picking
up those stalks of wheat up into the wind, and it's breaking off
the bigger, drier chaff that's not really wheat. And all the
while, they're moving a fan. They're moving this fan, and
the wind that's coming through, it's taking that chaff that's
lighter, and it's blowing that chaff away. And then they take
a threshing instrument with little finer teeth on it and they thresh
with it and they blow with that fan and it's causing that smaller
chaff to blow away. They keep on threshing it until
now they got wheat. and the chaff separated from
the wheat. That's what John meant when he talked about this fan
in his hand. He'll throughly purge his floor. The church is his floor. The
church is his floor where he does the purging. Look over Malachi
3. Malachi 3. He's the great divider. He's the cleanser. He's the hewer.
He's the winower. And in Malachi, we read here, Malachi 3 verse 2, Who may abide
the day of His coming? Who shall stand when He appeareth?
For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller soap. He shall
sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify
the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they
may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. shall the offering
of Judah and Jerusalem, of God's elect people, they will be pleasant
unto the Lord as in the days of old, as in the former years.
And I'll come near to you to judgment, 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, that turn aside the
stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of
Hosts." That's the chaff. But He said, I'm going to purge
them. I'm going to purge them and I'm going to make them bring
forth fruit. He says, look, verse 6, For I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Because I'm
steady, because I'm consistent, because Christ the Word is the
divider. Because He's the winner word.
Because He's the one that separates the wheat from the chaff. He
said, you won't be consumed. You sons of Jacob, you sons that
I've everlastingly loved, I've kept this whole nation in store
because I've got an elect remnant. And I'm going to save them, He
said. I'm going to separate them out. I'm going to bring them
out from amongst the people. And I'm going to purge them.
I'm going to refine them. He said, My Word is like a fire.
It's like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. It's quick
and powerful, more so than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder
even to the thoughts and intents of the heart. You know what Christ
does through His Word? Christ through His Word does
what He did right. You know what happened at Ephesus?
You know why this riot came about? One reason, because the Word
was preached. The Word was preached. And what
was the result of it? The Lord separated the wheat
from the chaff. Didn't He? Didn't He do that?
What Word will do that? The Word that declares Christ
the Lord. When you hear the Word of God's
sovereign election, which is in Christ, This Word is going
to reveal the thoughts and intents of a man's heart. They really
are. It's going to reveal the thoughts
and intents of that heart God's made new by grace. It's going
to reveal the thoughts and intents of that heart that God hadn't
touched. Because when you hear this doctrine
of sovereign election, that God chose His Son, The Lord Jesus
Christ, that's who He chose first. And He put a people in Him. That
doctrine declares total need for mercy. Total need for grace. And wherever the absolute, total
need for God's grace is declared, the absolute, total inability,
sinfulness, wretchedness of man is declared. There would be no
need for grace if there was something in you or me to merit God's favor. There wouldn't be any need for
grace. But because we can't, then it has to be that God chooses
whom He will to save. And the man who's been made new
in spirit and in truth, this man will say, Lord, I'm thankful.
If you hadn't have chosen me, I would have perished. If you
hadn't have called me, I would have died. But the man whom God
has passed by, That man will be infuriated that God chose
people, multitudes, to save from hell. He'll be offended that
God chose. He would rather this whole thing
be based on chance, on a possibility, than it be sure and certain in
God, in Christ. The word of God's particular
redemption accomplished by Christ is a word that's going to separate
the wheat from the chaff. That when Christ went to the
cross, He laid down His life for a particular number of people,
giving Him from eternity, and He redeemed that people. He purged
that people of their sin. He refined them as a refiner's
fire. He purged them of all their spots
like fuller soap. took away all the stain that
was in us, and that He shall have those people. They shall
be brought to faith in Christ. Every single one of them shall
be brought to trust Him. That word will separate men because
that word declares it's all salvation is of the Lord by His mercy. And men don't like it. The flesh
doesn't like it. The idolater that wants to worship
self doesn't like it. The word of the new birth, the
new creation, that God creates a new nature. He doesn't reform
anything. He doesn't take what you've got
and work with it and make it a little better. He completely
creates a new creature, a new creation, after the image of
God, recreated better than anything that Adam ever had. Because now we can't fall because
Christ offered himself through the eternal spirit. It's eternal
redemption. It's eternal salvation. It's
eternal life. But the man who says, well, now
I got into the new birth by some things I did. That's offensive. And it separates. This doctrine
declares God's going to... He put a people in Christ. Christ
redeemed them. He regenerates them. He's going
to keep them. He's going to bring them to Himself. And through
all these trials that they encounter, like at Ephesus, He makes it
known. He strengthens this faith that
this thing is of God and not of us. Paul said, Some of them,
this separating of the wheat and chaff, some of them are separated
while we're here on this earth. Some of them will be separated.
The Jews were proven to be chaff in this trial. Alexander was
proven to be chaff in this trial. Demetrius was proven to be chaff. All this host of idolaters were
proven to be chaff. Well, one way, they revolted
against the way, against Christ the way that Paul preached. But
Paul and Gaius and Aristarchus and many of the brethren who
risked their necks to hide Paul, they were proven to be weak.
They were proven to be accepted of God, to be born of God, to
be ones that Christ would not allow to fall away. Paul said,
there must be heresies among you that they which are approved
may be made manifest among you. And that'll be a trial. What
a trial. What a day. our dearest relation,
it might be a father, it might be a wife or a husband, it might
be a sister or a brother, it might be our dearest friend,
our closest friend, that turns and says, I'm not going with
you. I don't believe that. I can't stand with you anymore
in that gospel anymore. It'll be a trial. But some are
left to grow right alongside the wheat until the end. Christ
separates the wheat from the tares. In that parable, they
said, you want us to go out there and separate the wheat from the
tares? He said, no, just let them grow together. Because when
you go out there and try to separate the wheat from the tares, you'll
most certainly pull up the wheat and leave the tares. He said,
leave them alone. Let them grow together. In the
end, the Lord will come forth. This is His threshing floor.
He'll come forth and He'll separate the wheat from the chaff. He'll
separate the wheat from the tares. And He'll bring the wheat in
and He'll burn up the chaff. He'll do that. He uses a lot
of enemies, a lot of His own enemies to provide for His brethren. Isn't that amazing? He uses enemies to provide for
his brethren. That's the God we serve that
can do that, to protect his people, provide for them, so they can
just come and hear God's gospel preached and be kept by the power
of his grace. Why is it important that we remember
to be patient? Why is it important that we are
grown to trust Christ through these trials, to commit our care
to his hand, rather than to depend only upon the gospel of His grace,
the message that declares Christ, rather than us trying to separate
the wheat from the chaff. Why is that important? Well,
this Alexander the coppersmith denied the Lord, and eventually
it was clear to Paul that he had. And it was clear to Paul
he had to go. He had to be separated from these
folk because he was causing problems to the brethren. A faithful minister
of the gospel is going to do that. He's guarding against the
wolves as much as he's feeding the sheep. And that's what Paul
did. But who separated him? Who did it? The Lord did it.
The Lord made it clear. The Lord made it abundantly clear.
The Lord's fan is in his hand, and it's important that we wait,
that we be patient, that we bear with one another, that we
wait on the Lord in all things. Because think about Peter, the
apostle Peter. He denied the Lord, didn't he?
He denied the Lord and he left and went back and he was done. He was going fishing and he was
done with religion. Done with it. But he was the Lord's and the
Lord prayed for him that his faith fell not and he didn't
fail. He didn't fail. He was converted.
Peter just came to know the Lord? No. He was converted from thinking
he could stand by his own strength. He was converted from thinking
he would never deny the Lord. He was converted from thinking
he had some sufficiency in himself. He was converted from thinking
that he would boldly stand for God in the face of every enemy.
He was converted from that to just cast all his care on Christ. And the Lord said now, When you're
converted, strengthen my brethren. Strengthen my brethren. What
strength? What strength? By teaching them
how to be bold, fierce in the face of their enemy? Yep. By
trusting God. By not rebelling, but trusting
God. We got one sword. We got one
weapon. We got the armor of righteousness
on the right hand and on the left. We got the helmet of faith. We got our feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel. We're gird about with the truth
of Christ. That's our weapon, the gospel,
the truth of God. And so we trust because first
of all, without Christ, we can do nothing. And we know this,
every trial that comes about is given by God. It's necessary. And He's going to grow His people
in grace by it. And we know this too. God alone
can separate the wheat from the chaff. We keep those three things
in mind. Those three things in mind. You stand fast in the faith.
You stand fast trusting God with those three things in mind. Without
Him we can do nothing. He gives the trial, he'll grow
us by it, and he'll separate the weight from the child. Just
trust him. All right.