Alright, go with me if you would
back to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, this morning we looked
at the desperate need of faith. The desperate, desperate need
of faith. God-given faith. that truly does
believe on Christ. The faith that without it, it's
impossible to please Him. Faith that believes what verse
two right here says, that God has an elect people. Faith that believes that. Faith
that looks to, as it says in the middle of verse 2, the obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Totally looking
to the obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. Faith
that believes, as verse 3 says, that according to His abundant
mercy, He hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's not according to our works.
As it says so many times in the scripture, so many places, it's
according to His work alone. He saved us. and He redeemed
us. Verse 4 says, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. to every soul
who has received that faith, the faith of Christ. Tonight, we're going to see something
that's very true, it's very real, and it's very necessary. Very
true, very real. very necessary in regard to this
faith that God gives to His people, whoever has received this faith. Verse 7 says, the trial of your
faith. The trial of your faith. Now,
if any person thinks that a sinner believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
ends all of his problems and picks him up and sets him on
the straight and narrow path of easy street, then that person
needs to think again. Our Lord said, the world hated
me. And he said, if you experience
that same persecution for believing my word, don't be surprised. Don't be shocked if that takes
place. He said, in the world you shall have tribulation. If you look at 1 Peter 5, a couple
of pages over, 1 Peter 5, verse 10 says, but the God of all grace who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ, by Christ Jesus,
after that you have suffered a while. He'll make you perfect,
and He'll establish you, and He'll strengthen you, and He'll
settle you. In Romans 8, He said, we are
joint heirs with Christ. We love that, don't we? Love
hearing that. Joint heirs with Christ. Right after that, it says, if
so be that we suffer with Him. Joint heirs with Christ. if so
be that we suffer with him. Look with me at Philippians chapter
1. Philippians chapter 1 verse 29
says, For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer
for His sake. That is given to God's people. It's given, it's appointed to
them to suffer for His sake. It's for Christ's sake. Our suffering,
the suffering that comes with this faith of believing is for
his sake. All right, but turn with me over
to 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13 says, There hath
no temptation or trial. There hath no trial
taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tried or tempted above that you
are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape. that
you may be able to bear it. God is going to give the faith
and then God is going to try the faith. And his promise to
us is the trial is not going to be greater than the faith.
Never. The trial will not be greater
than the faith. That trial is never going to
overthrow the faith. It's not going to be so great
that it overthrows our faith in Christ. And we're going to
see in 1 Peter 1 that every trial of our faith is for a very good
reason, a very good reason. Go with me back over there, 1
Peter 1. Verse 6, it says, wherein you
greatly rejoice, wherein, he said, you greatly rejoice in
the things he just stated. We greatly rejoice in God's election,
greatly rejoice in his abundant mercy, greatly rejoice in the
sprinkling, the covering of his blood. We greatly rejoice in
it. Oh, we thank God for the blood, don't we? Greatly rejoice
in the grace and the peace that we have with God. Greatly rejoice
in the inheritance of Christ himself. Greatly rejoice in the
security that we have of being kept by the power of God. Greatly
rejoice in that final salvation. We keep looking to and thinking
about, we just sang two songs, you know, and thinking about,
man, what an amazing moment. greatly rejoice in that, that
final revelation in the last time. He said in verse six, wherein
you greatly rejoice though now for a season, if need be, you
are in heaviness through manifold temptations. He said, we greatly
rejoice in everything that we have in Christ. But he said,
for a season, meaning for the rest of our time spent on this
earth. And thankfully, it's not the entire time. It's from time
to time. But he said, if need be. And
if it be, it need be. He said, wherein you greatly
rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness
through manifold temptations. You're in sorrow, you're in grief,
you're in distress through all of these different trials. He said they cause grief and
they are going to endure for a season. They're going to endure
for a season. But they are going to come for
this reason. Verse 7 says, 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. He said the trial that God sends
to his believing child is more precious. It's of more value
than if God had given his child a bar of gold or all the gold. More precious. That's going to
make it all worthwhile. It's going to be all worthwhile.
We're going to say it was all worthwhile. All these light afflictions,
they were all worthwhile. Now, I want to prepare us, and
this is, I believe, the point of the message. I want to prepare
us for the reality of the trials that our Lord said would come. I used to hear that all the time
and think, well, maybe they'll pass me by. Maybe they kind of
apply to most everybody but me. Maybe I can skip through those. There is a reality coming. Our
Lord said that they would come. And I pray that this preparation
will be a great blessing. I really do. I pray this will
be a real blessing. Life is not going to go for us
the way that this flesh, the way that the world naturally
wants things to go. It is not going to go for us
the way the flesh naturally wants things to go. What the flesh
naturally believes is the blessing of God, which according to the
flesh is health, wealth, and happiness. When people have that, they believe
that God's favor is on them. We have God's blessing. We have
God's favor. And when they don't have that,
they believe God is against us. The comfort that comes to God's
people through his word is the exact opposite is true. The very opposite of that. He
has given us this entire canon of scripture. I thank God for
every single word in this book. Because he's given us the whole
scripture to prove that to us. God said, Abraham, I'm going
to give you a son. He came. Happy day. God said, Abraham, it's time. Kill your boy. It's time to kill
him. Don't you imagine? Can you imagine
the trial of that? That's what I want you to do.
Surely God can't be with me. Jacob, that was a God-blessed
man. God changed his name to Israel.
All of his people are called the children of Israel. He said,
I'm the God of Israel. That was a God-blessed man. You know how God blessed him?
He broke his thigh. And he made him walk the rest
of his days on this earth with a limp. Every step he took reminded
him, I'm a blessed man of God. Every step he took. The world didn't see it that
way. That's the way it was though. That is the way it was. Joseph,
God blessed him. God blessed him so much. He threw
him into a pit, sold him to a bunch of gypsies, threw him in an Egyptian
prison, took his whole family away from
him, took his whole life away from him. And we see for a fact that was
a blessed man. That's a God-blessed man. Joseph was a God-blessed man.
This is not even being facetious. He was a God-blessed man. Moses, do you know how God poured
out His blessings on Moses? He stripped him of the throne
of Egypt. He stripped him of all the money. He stripped him of all the worldly
power, all the worldly respect. He put him on the back side of
the desert herding sheep for 40 years. Took away all that
stuff that he had. Put him in the middle of nowhere
with nothing. God blessed man. Job, he did
the same thing for Job. The adversary said to God Almighty,
he said, Job fear you for not. You've given him everything.
God said, take it all away. Take it all away. David. The man after God's own
heart. God said specifically, he named
the name Abraham. He said, that's my friend. He
said, David is the man after my own heart. David spent his
life in fear, hiding in caves, running from men who were trying
to kill him. He spent his life trying to stay alive in his mind. men including his own son, Elijah. Could there be a man considered
to be a greater prophet in the Old Testament than Elijah? A
man who never even had to see death. God just sent a cherry
and a fire to him. Elijah experienced such a great
depression of aloneness. He entered a personal state of
such extreme depression and aloneness, he cried, God, please kill me.
Please kill me. Please. Please kill me. The apostles, the martyrs, beaten,
stoned, beheaded, burned at the stake. How'd their life end up?
Beheaded. On fire. All of these brethren were men
and women who were blessed of God. God blessed people. All of them, recipients of His
saving faith. All of them were looking to Christ.
Trusting Christ. This life is not going to go
like the flesh naturally thinks it ought to go. It's not going
to go that way. If we belong to our God, it is
going to be filled with trial after trial after trial. If we don't belong to our God,
it might ease up a little bit. But if we belong to our God,
it's going to be trial after trial after trial. Ask the generation
of believers before you. Just go one generation up. Ask
the generation before you, how did it go? Ask the believer sitting
next to you. We're already in it. How's it
going for you? How's everything working out
for you so far? Trial after trial after trial. I got a letter a
few years ago from a dear, dear, sweet, loving brother, Dale Simpson. And in that letter, he said that
he and his precious wife, Jackie, were enjoying their lull between
the trials. When I read that, I thought,
that's a believer that God has taught something to. Not complaining. He wasn't complaining. He said,
we just came out of one, about to head into another one. We're
just taking our break. Trials are going to come. Trials need to come. Let me show you what James said.
Go with me over to James chapter 1. James chapter 1 verse 2 says,
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different
trials. Knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect
work, that you may be mature. Perfect means mature and entire. wanting nothing, lacking nothing. James said, count it all joy
because tried faith is what proves to us that we really have been
given faith. We truly have received God's
faith. We cannot have any real assurance
that God has chosen to give us His saving faith, faith that
totally looks to Christ. blinders on. Christ, that's all
I have left, is Christ. We cannot have assurance in that
until it's tried. We can't know if we really do
trust Him until it's tried, until that faith is tried. Has He chosen
me to be a sinner who trusts Him? We're chosen to trust Him. We're selected to trust Him.
Has He chosen me to trust Him? I'll never know until I'm put
in a position where I have to trust Him. I'll never know. I'll
never know. Turn back a page to Hebrews 12.
I want to also consider this to be a text. This so perfectly
goes with what Peter's saying. Hebrews 12 verse 3 says, For
consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. What
contradiction of sinners is he talking about? Verse 2 says,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. He's saying if you want to consider
these trials that are going to come to be light afflictions,
all we have to do is consider his affliction. Just dwell on
his affliction for just a moment. We're going to endure these trials
for his sake. It's for Christ's sake. We are
going to endure these trials for His sake. But just consider
the trial He endured for our sake. Compared to the trial of the
suffering of the cross, everything else is nothing. It's nothing. Verse two says, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him, what that means is he counted that
trial all joy. Who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame. That means
he made our sin his own and he dealt with it. He put it away.
He despised the shame. And he is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be
wearied and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin. Our trials have not and they
will not take us to the grave. They won't, not like his trial
took him to the grave. Verse 5 says, And you have forgotten
the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My
son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou
art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" What he's saying is, count
it all joy. It means you're a son. It means
you're his son. Verse 18, but if you be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers. All of God's children
are partakers of his chastisement. But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected
us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the father of spirits and live For they verily
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for
our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now
no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous."
Trials are not enjoyable. They're not enjoyable. Nobody
wants trials. We should not beg God to try
us. As we come to see, we're going
to learn that trials are good. They're good. They're good. But
let's not beg God to try us. They are difficult. They will
try us. Lord, I'll take the low whenever
you're pleased to give it to me. But they're necessary. Because verse 11 goes on to say,
Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby. What does that mean? It means the more faith is tried,
the more faith is seen. That's what it means. The more
faith is tried, the more faith will be exposed. If you go back
to 1 Peter, 1 Peter 1 verse 7 says, that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, In the same way that gold has to be
tried with fire, we sing in that song, How Firm a Foundation,
thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. How do you get
the purity of the gold? How do you get just that raw
purity of the gold? You put it in the fire. How does
God prove the purity and the sincerity and the reality of
the faith he gets? He puts it in the fire. He puts
it in the fire. Every time He does, the faith
shines just a little bit more. With each trial, He removes just
a little bit more of the arm of our flesh. Each trial, He
removes a little bit more of the arm of our own flesh, and
He reveals to us that we are indeed leaning on the everlasting
arms. A little bit more each time.
We see it just a little bit more each time. We really are leaning
on the everlasting arms of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord gave
that parable of two men who built houses. One was built on the
sand, one was built on a rock. How could we know which one would
stand? They both had to be tried. The rain fell, the floods came,
the wind blew, the house that was built on the rock endured
the trials, stood firm. That's going to be the case for
every sinner, every single one of us who has been built on Christ. David said, in the time of trouble,
he shall hide me in the secret of his tabernacle. And then he's
going to set me on a rock. He's going to hide me through
the trial. The trial's coming. And He's
going to hide me. It's not going to overtake me.
It will not overthrow the faith. And then afterwards, He's going
to set me on a rock. Now, some are going to be tried by opposition
to the Word of God. It's going to have to be revealed
to some whether or not they are willing to take a stand for the
truth of God's word. Some are going to be tried materially
both ways through being given little, never not enough. No believer will be forsaken
or begging bread, but some are going to be tried through given
just barely enough. And some are going to be tried
by being given much. Spurgeon said, for every one
man that I know of who has fallen because of poverty, 50 have fallen because of riches. So sometimes we feel like, man,
I'm going through a great trial in poverty right now. At that
moment of weakness, our faith has never been stronger. Our
faith has never shined more. Our desperate need is just wide
open. At the moment, when I am in excess
upon excess upon excess, it would be really hard for me to even
find the grain of a mustard seed at that moment, because I'm leaning
on the arm of the flesh. And so some are going to be tried
both ways. And it's going to have to be
revealed to them. Will I trust the Lord if he only gives me
the bare minimum? And will I still trust the Lord
if he gives me great riches? Solomon said, give me neither
poverty nor riches. Lord, don't give me either one
of them. Lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal and
take the name of my God in vain. Don't give me so much that I
just quit thinking about you, quit coming to you, quit worshiping
you. And Lord, don't give me so little that I don't trust
you and I start stealing because I don't believe you're going
to provide for me. Some are going to be tried by the word. Some
are going to be tried materially. Some are going to be tried emotionally. Our Lord said in the parable
of the sower, for some, the cares of this life overtook them. The cares of this life, they
can easily overtake us. We can become so emotionally
distraught, just, I'm about to break, I'm about to crack, I
can't take it. That's going to be the trial
of some faith. Some are going to be tried physically,
bodily. Some are going to receive diseases,
cancers, pain. Some are going to be tried. Some
are going to be tried by time. Can I endure? How much longer?
Can I really make it to the end? He that endureth to the end shall
be saved. He that endureth to the end shall
be saved. Some are going to be tried by
divisions. Family divisions. Friend divisions. You know, there must be heresies
among us. So sad. Lord, please keep us
from it. Keep us from it. We don't want
divisions, do we? That's the last thing we want.
They do happen. When they happen, sometimes not
only do they divide a congregation, sometimes they divide a family
inside a congregation. Where are we going to stand?
What side are we going to stand on? Well, Ken sticks with Ken. Not so. The blood of Jesus Christ, faith
in Christ, sticks with Christ. No matter what. No matter what
side he's on, that's what side we need to be on. But some are
going to be tried through division. No matter what the trial is though,
no matter what the trial is, the end of verse 7 says, it is
going to be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. When He appears, that faith in
Him, that faith in His Word, that faith in His will, that
faith in His work, that faith in His blood that's left standing
there. At that moment, we're all going
to realize that that tried faith that God gave to us, we're going
to know at that moment, all the tried faith that God gave to
us Both the faith itself and the trial of it turned out to
be more precious. At that moment, we would not
take all the gold in the world. for the tried faith that God
gave us. The tried, tested, proven faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to see that it is
more valuable than anything. Greatest gift God could give
to His children. The most prized, valuable gift
He could ever give to His child is faith that has been tried. tried and true. At that moment,
the reality is going to hit us. If God gave us the faith, and
if God tried that faith, it means we are the most blessed people
on earth, carried up with Him. And we're going to praise Him,
and we're going to honor Him, and we're going to glorify Him
from the very moment He I didn't know how to word it.
I said, through the rest of eternity, but there's no end to it. To
the end of time. There's no end. At that moment,
it's going to become the reality of us. And we're going to, we're
going to say, thank you. Worthy is the lamb who was tried
for us. And thank God that he tried us. in bringing us to Himself. Let's
close with this verse of Scripture. Go over a couple of pages to
1 Peter 4 verses 12 and 13. 1 Peter 4 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
inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that
when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding
joy." Rejoice in it. It's all going to be so worth
it. It's going to be more worth it than gold. Rejoice. All right,
let's all stand together.