Thank you, Robin. Thank you,
John. 1 Peter 1 now. Don't you love to read God's
Word? Don't you love to read it? Don't
you love to hear it read and preached? Such a blessing. None of the Word is more a blessing
than any other, but the epistles are just... They're written to
the churches. And we're so blessed to have
them The Word of God, what the Spirit saith to the churches. This letter is through Simon
Peter. He wrote it, but it's God's Word
through Simon Peter. The church loved Simon greatly. I love him. I've never met him.
I feel like I've known him many years now, don't you? Look forward
to seeing him, don't you? He looks forward to seeing us.
The church loved him, and this epistle was from him. He only
wrote two. He preached a long time, didn't
he? And they knew him a long time. He wrote two letters. How
valuable were these two letters to the church? Nobody had Bibles.
And when somebody brought this letter to the churches that Peter
had written, How did they receive that? They loved the Word. They loved the truth. If only
we could hear it like that. Like it's so rare and valuable.
Like we might not ever hear it again. We don't have a copy of
it. Boy, you'd cherish it, wouldn't you? This is to the church, as
said. The title is taken from verse
7, the trial of your faith. The trial of your faith. I want to know, I need to know
that I have saving faith, don't you? The trial of your faith. And I want all of us, Paul wrote,
examine yourselves. to see whether you be of the
faith. And we're going to see, the Word
of God tells us, the trial of your faith. This is to believers. 2 Peter 1, you know that you
don't have to turn, I'll read it for you, but it says, To them
that have obtained like precious faith. By grace are you saved, through
faith. And that's not of yourself. It's
the gift of God. To those who have obtained this
precious gift, this rare and valuable gift is called faith. And if you have it, you're so
blessed. You're so blessed. We have obtained like precious
faith. He says precious. Peter uses
that term several times, doesn't he? To you who believe he is
precious. It talks about we're not redeemed
with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of the
Lamb of Christ. And it says faith is precious. And faith will be tried. Notice
it said the trial. There's not one, there are many
trials. But your whole life, once you've
been given this faith, your whole life of faith, that just live
by faith. We walk by faith from the day
you're born again and you live by faith. Your whole life will
be a trial of this faith. Understand? We're going to look
at many trials, how true faith is known, several trials, but
your whole life is a trial of this faith. and how you know,
and we're going to see ways, but if we die in the faith, like
those in Hebrews 11, all those people mentioned, these all died
in the faith. Oh, that's, I want to, don't
you? I believe he's given me this faith. But if I, if he has,
I'll die. I'll die believing. I'll die
for it. A trial is a test, that's what
it means. Scriptures use the word temptation
sometimes. The Lord did tempt Abraham, not
meaning he enticed to sin, but it's a test. And temptations
are a test. But a trial is a test. It proves if something's real. If faith is real. If it's God-given,
saving faith, it will last. It's real. It's real. Verse 9
says the end of your faith is salvation. The salvation of your
soul. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. But it says that he that hath
the Son hath life. Eternal life. Your soul has been
saved. Not will be. Has been. But then in the end, we want
to be in heaven with Him. Faith, salvation, is to be found
in Christ. You know that. You know what
that means. If I asked you to tell us what
that means, you could give them. Pretty good, couldn't you? You'd
be, freeze up, but I think you know what that means. I know
you've heard it so many times. It's like being found in a ship. found in an ark. And if you want
a good illustration, I can't think of a better one. Who was
saved? Those in the ark or those out
of the ark? Those in the ark. And that's what it means to be
saved, to be found in Christ in that day. How did they get in that ark? God put them in there. And he
shut them in. He shut them in. They couldn't
have kept by what? Power. So, faith is like being
in the ship, Ark, Christ, and fellowship. It's even called
a fellowship. Fellows in the same ship, in
Christ. A ship. You remember me giving
you the definition between a boat and a ship? A boat, you can, you know, you
can put it on a little pond or a little lake. It's not too deep. You can swim to the shore. If
it sinks, you can swim to the shore. You're not too worried
about it. A boat, canoe, kayak, you don't put those out 200 miles
to sea, do you? in ten-foot waves. That's a ship. A ship is an ocean-going vessel. It has to withstand. And Psalm
107 says, those that go down to the sea in ships. These do
business in deep waters. And these are the trials that
God sends to know whether or not you're really in Christ or
not. And did Noah and his family make
it? Why? Was it anything they did? No. It was the ship. It was the ark. So now, now can you tell what
it means to be in Christ? Four ways faith is tried here. By the world. By the word. Fiery trials. And the last one
is patience, or that is, enduring. Look at it. Peter, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, is strangers. Scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Mithini, and the whole world.
Strangers, he calls them. In chapter 2, Look at verse 9. Chapter 2, verse 9. He says,
You are a chosen generation. That's the election in it. A
royal priesthood. That means the sons of God. He
made us kings and priests. That's Revelation 1. And holy
nation. Separated. Sanctified. A peculiar
purchased people. That you should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness in His marvelous
light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the
people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have
obtained mercy. Strangers, once born again, born
of God, strangers to the world. In it, and the Scripture says
this so many times, in the world, but not of it. In the world not
of, look at chapter 4. Didn't say that peculiar people? Look at chapter 4, verse 3. You have it? The time passed,
1 Peter 1, or 1 Peter 4, verse 3. The time past of our life
may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentile, when
we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, revelings,
banqueting, abominable idolatry. Sounds like Ephesians 2, doesn't
it? And you, at the quickening, who are dead and trespassed sin,
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit of the children of
disobedience, the children of wrath, even as others. But, God,
look at this. And now they think it strange
that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking
evil of you. And this whole first epistle
talks about God's people suffering in this world as believers. And he said that in verse 16. Look at it. Any man who suffers
a Christian, let him not be ashamed. Let him glorify God on his behalf. Strangers in this world. Hebrews
11. You turn over there and let me
read you a few verses from the Psalms, okay? You turn to Hebrews
11. You've read this so many times,
but is this you? Listen to David. Listen to David,
what he says. Psalm 39, verse 12. Listen. He says, Hear my prayer,
O Lord, give ear unto my cry. Hold not thy peace at my tears.
I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner. as all my fathers
were. See that? He said, I'm a stranger
here. Listen to this. In Psalm 69, David says this
over and over again. Psalm 69, verse 8. He says, I
am become a stranger to my brethren, an alien unto my mother's children. Strangers to the world. They don't understand the believer,
stranger to your family? Is it not so? I don't know if your families
have family reunions, but if you go there, there's a difference
in that. There's a difference. You're
in that family, but you're really not of it. Your real family's
back home in the churchhouse. Isn't that right? They're strangers.
It's just so. And Hebrews 11 speaks of all
these saints. Verse 9, by faith Abraham sojourned
in the land of promises in a strange country. Our Lord came down, the Son of
God. Scripture says holy, harmless, separate from sinners. Undefiled,
separate from sinners. He was in a strange place. Alright,
when this new creature is created in you, now He dwells in a strange
place, like a lot inside of Him. He's there, but He doesn't belong
there. He's there, but He's not there to stay. You want to hear
a good message? John Chapman preached from Psalm
127. This is not home. Let's just
have a look. This is not home. Great message. But look at Hebrews 11, verse
13. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them far off,
were persuaded of them. Are you persuaded of these promises? Are you persuaded of these things? Who persuaded you? If God persuaded
you, nobody can dissuade you. God taught you this. You've been
taught forever. And embrace them. Do you embrace,
hug up to the promises? And confess, verse 13, are you
with me? Confess they were strangers and pilgrims on earth. And those
that say such things, declare plainly, they seek another country.
This is not home. The children of Israel were passing
through the wilderness. Now, not all of them. Many of
them. Many of them. The trial for 40
years, they failed miserably. Why? Their heart wasn't in them. They weren't changed people like
Lot's wife. Their heart was still back in
Egypt and they wanted to go back. And some of them did. They were
overcome in the wilderness. I hope that's not us. And Peter
one time, Paul said it in Hebrews 6, he said, I'm persuaded better
things of you, my brethren. Read on. It says in verse 15,
truly if they'd been mindful of that country, thinking about
it all the time, that is, Egypt, they kept thinking about Egypt,
verse 15, where they came out, they would have had opportunity
to return, but now they desire a better country, a heavenly.
God's not ashamed to be called their God? Well, they're not
ashamed to be called His people. So, the world is a trial. Our whole lives are tried by
this world, the things of this world. Our Lord said, what will
a man give in exchange for his soul? Most people don't give
about anything. They're not God's people. They
won't give anything or anyone. And Hebrews 11 is a whole list
of people just like you and me who God gave this precious gift
of faith that said, no, we're not going to, they love not their
lives unto death. I hope that's us. Hebrews, well,
but we're strangers to the, to the world and our family and
the workplace. What about the workplace? You
go to work when the Lord first taught you the gospel. Before
he taught you the gospel, you got along just fine, didn't you?
Well, you'd go to work, office party, or whatever you do, wherever
you go, and it just fit in just fine. But then when the Lord
revealed Himself to you, now you don't belong there. Isn't
that right? Religion. Oh boy. You're really
a stranger. And everybody in every church
in Franklin County can get together, but you're not going to be there.
They think we're a strange bunch of people. We have a strange
God. Acts 17, Paul came to Mars Hill
and they said, Are you the one that believes in that strange
God? People think, you know, we believe
in God that is God. Not you let, listen, I'm not,
I'm going to try not to holler. But the zeal of God's house eats
me up, His glory does people. I think, I think sometimes you
like me hollering because you'd like to holler. Don't you? But I'm telling you now, listen,
any religion, no matter how it looks or how it sounds, if it talks about a God who can't
do something, who can't save you unless you let Him, who wants... The word want is not in the Bible. God wants. It means there's something
He doesn't have and He desires to have it. Earth is the Lord's
and the fullness there. The world and they that dwell
therein. He over and over again said, if I were hungry, I wouldn't
ask you. All the gold and the silver and the mines, all people,
all souls from out, everything is the Lord. He does as He pleases
with whom He pleases. The God of the Bible is God. He won't be God if you let Him
be God. He is God. And people think that's strange.
Because they've heard these false preachers so much now that they
think, well, one of these days I'll just let go and let God.
I'll let Him save me. There's no fear there. The fear
of the Lord is beginning to win. What Lord? The One who has you
in His hands. That can do with you whatever
He pleases, irregardless of what you think. That God will work
and nobody can let Him or prevent Him or thwart Him. Not Satan,
not anybody. He's God. He made the devil.
John just read Job 1. I need to get back to 1 Peter.
Well, he just read that. The devil said, I can't touch
anybody or anything, God, until You, the One, touches me. Now
to the world, they think that's a strange God. No, that's just
the God of the Bible and He's strange because men don't preach
Him. So we have a strange God. Is that what people think about
you? Strange doctrine. Strange doctrine. One time, the
church at 13th Street, I used to put Bible verses back long
before these And I hate these neon signs. I hate it. We're
not a bank. I think it cheapens the Word
of God. Flash. Man, I hate it. Anyway, we used
to put letters up by hand on the bulletin board. It took a
long time. And we put Scripture verses. Nothing but Scripture verses.
Where do you see Scripture verses on church sites? Anywhere? You do not. I cringe when I read
this. But anyway, somebody one time
was talking to one of the members of 13th Street, and they said,
where do you go to church? And the member said, 13th Street.
And they said, oh, that's that place with those strange sayings
out front. Honestly. Because the Bible is so strange.
And there's so many strange Not versions, perversions. Someone
asked, how do you know this Bible is God's Word? When God reveals
it to you. No more questions. You recognize
His hand. I'm going to write an article
about a handwritten letter. And when God reveals His Word
to you, He wrote it by hand, and you'll know His hand when
you see it. And apocrypha and all that stuff, you'll know that's
not His hand. That's not his word. You know
that. Amen. A church where it's those strange
sayings. Oh, you know that strange church,
the O church. That's what they said one time
to another member of my father's church, my father's pastor. He
said, where do you go to church? They said 13th Street. O. O. So dad started, we won't call
it the O church. O. You believe what nobody else
believes. No. We believe what all the saints
believe. You know, this faith is called
the faith of God's elect. It's called the faith delivered
to the saints. The common faith. Those who have
obtained like precious faith. It's the faith of God's elect.
They shall all be taught of God. Everyone, same thing. Same God,
same truth. Now, this is my next point. A
trial by the Word. A trial by the Word. Look at, real quickly, John 17. Then we're going to just go through
1 Peter. John 17. John 17. Don't you love John
17? Everybody in this room should
know what John 17 is. It's the greatest prayer. ever
prayed. It's the high priestly prayer
of our Lord Jesus Christ right before He went to the crowd.
He's praying not for the world, but for those God gave Him. Isn't
that what He said? Now it looks like if He came
to save everybody in the world, He'd be praying for them, wouldn't
He? He wasn't. He didn't. He came to save His
people. And how you know He is, He reveals
His Word to them. Look at John 17 verse 8. I have given unto them the words
which thou gavest me, and they have received them. You see that? They have received them. What
does John 1, if I ask some in here, they could quote John 1,
12 and 13. As many as received Him. And people say, see, no, not
accept, receive. There's the world of difference
between receive and accept. Right? Receive, if I poured this
water into a glass, an empty glass, it received it. It didn't
accept it. If I try to make you drink it,
you might not accept it. Okay? You and I were dead, empty
vessels when God came to us, and we received grace. Right? We were receivers. So, why did I say that? Oh, John 1, 12. As many as received
Him, to them gave you the right or the power, the privilege to
become the sons of God, which were born. Not of blood. Not family or anything. Not of
the will of the flesh. Not of the will of man. Did you read
that? Did you hear that? It's not will.
It's not man's will, is it? Then why does everybody say that?
Because they don't know God's Word. They don't believe God's
Word. Anybody that says man has a free
will doesn't know God, doesn't know themselves, doesn't know
the truth. They're lost. It's not just doctrine. This
is what he reveals to all his people. These men pray every
time they come in a state, not my will, not our will, but thy
will be done. And it will be. It is been. Look at verse 14. He says, I've given them thy
word and the world hath hated them. All God's people do is go out
and all his preachers do is tell what God's word said. Don't we?
Don't we? And what happened when the Lord
first taught you the truth, and you went home to your family,
and you start telling, what happened? Oh, that's nice. No. Crown came over there, didn't
it? What are you talking about? I
don't believe that. Well, here it is. I don't believe
that. And people will literally say, it may be in the Bible,
but I don't believe that. That's the fact. That's what
Christ said. I've given Him Thy Word, and
the world hates Him. Christ is the Word. Christ was and is the Word. The Word became flesh, and they
hated Him. Why? I think I'm going to preach
Sunday on Tulip is Truth. Anybody want to hear that? Tulip
is Truth. Well, Christ is the Word, and
they hate him because man hates the truth. Christ said that. Here is condemnation, that men
love darkness rather than light, that light has come into the
world, right, and men love darkness rather than light. Don't tell
me the truth. So they heap themselves teachers,
having itching ears, prophesy a smooth thing. And they do. And they believe a lie. Look
at verse 17. Our Lord says, sanctify them
through thy truth. Set them apart. Cause them to
be my people through the truth. Thy word is truth. Didn't he say? We're born again,
begotten by the word of truth. That's what it said. So this
trial by the word. Now go back to 1 Peter. 1 Peter
1, and it's a trial by the Word. Look at verse 2. Do you have
it? I've got to holler this a little
bit. Elect. Peter can't write seven words
without saying elect. And if the average person in
an average church would hear that, you know, I'm going to
preach election. Yes. Who believes election? They elect. They don't just believe it. And
it's not an it. It's something God has done in
mercy and grace, a choice God made. That all the elect think,
he shouldn't have made me that joy. You know, the people of
the world always think, well, yeah, I'm a pretty good fellow,
he ought to choose me. No, that's not what God's people
say. Elect, what's your first thought
when you hear that word? Huh? What's the first thing that
comes to your mind? Huh? Joy. I saw it on your face, smiling. I'm telling you, if I stood in
the Methodist church and said, elect, that wouldn't be the reaction. It's a trial by the word. You
hear me? Therefore, seeing we have such
hope, Paul said, we use great plainness of speech. Elect! What's that mean? You know exactly
what that means. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heaven and places, in Christ Jesus, according, what's
the first thing he said? According as he hath chosen us
in Christ. When? Before the foundation of
the world. Why? According to the good pleasure
of his will. That's the language of God's
people. That's the language of scripture. That's the language
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said when he comes he'll gather,
send his angels to gather his elect from the four corners of
the earth. Elect. Trial by the word. Elect. It's called the faith
of God's elect. Oh my. Look at the next thing. Elect according to the four knowledge.
of God the Father, foreknowledge. Where do you ever remember seeing
that? Romans 8, 29 through 30. For whom he did foreknow, he
did predestinate. Predestination. When you hear that word, how
does that make you feel? The world hates this. What makes
the world absolutely stark raving mad makes God's people exceedingly
glad. Now who made the difference? Foreknowledge. And this is what
the silly, stupid religious world says. Well, God looked down through
the telescope of time to see who would believe on Him. Oh,
He's going to. Well, good. He's going to believe
on me. I'm sure glad about that. That's
stupid. For something to be certainly
foreknown, it has to certainly come to pass, doesn't it? And
for something to certainly come to pass, it has to be foreordained. Foreknowledge means forethought. It means foreordination. It means
known, loved beforehand. And God said in Jeremiah 29,
He said this, I know my thoughts toward you, thoughts of peace.
He said, I'm going to bring you to an expected end. He said,
as I've thought it, I'll bring it to pass. Four thoughts, four
knowledge. He said, you're going to gather
some goats, sheep on the right hand, goats on the left, and
many will say unto him, Lord, Lord, he said, I never knew you. I never knew you. Oh, he knows
all about them. But he never foreknew them, foreloved
them, didn't choose them. Say that's not fair. The fact
of the matter is, people, that every human being chooses sin,
chooses the world, chooses self, not God. Every one of us choose,
we make a choice. Adam and Eve chose sin, didn't
they? Chose themselves. Chose to believe
a lie rather than truth, didn't they? That's where it all started.
In Adam, we all died. So not one human being will ever
choose God. It's not in our nature. But God, so God, had to choose. He had to choose. And He's so
good. He's so merciful. He's chosen
a number of stars in the sky, the sands of the seashore. What's
unfair about that? Look at the next word. I got to hurry. Some of you are
panicking. Sanctification of spirit. We don't sanctify ourselves,
people. We don't set ourselves apart. We don't make ourselves
humble. We don't make ourselves pleasing to God. No, no, no,
no, no. The Holy Spirit of God does that. Christ was sanctified
through the offering of the body of Christ once for all. Isn't
that what it said? That all blessed be God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to His chosenness in
Christ through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Unto obedience, look at this,
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, His obedience.
You know we're saved by His obedience. You do know that, don't you?
You know there's very few people who know that. Very few people. We know. Oh, it's not by works of righteousness
we have done. It's by works of righteousness
Christ did. It's not our obedience. Yeah,
we are saved to make us obedient children, but that's not what
saves us. That's the result of it. What
saves us is the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling
of the blood of Christ. God's Son cleanses us from all
sin. And this is why it says, Grace
unto you, and peace. We all know we don't make our
peace with God. We don't win peace. This is a
trial by the Word. How do you have peace with God?
That's exact... Karen went, Christ! All God's people know this. One
way. Blood. It's trial by His Word. Oh, blessed be. Let's go on.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sounds
just like Paul does. Same Gospel. Same Word. The Lord
gave them both the same truth. According to His abundant mercy. Salvation is by mercy. Sovereign
mercy. What kind of mercy? What is mercy?
If I ask you what mercy is, could you tell me what mercy is? Is
mercy something you accept or something that mercy... No, it's
sovereign. For it to be mercy, it has to
be sovereign. Right? If you offend me, you don't let me show you mercy. That's up to me, isn't it? How much more, God? God said,
I will be merciful. on whom I will be merciful."
It's always sovereign. By definition, it's sovereign.
Do you know that? Sovereign, and you're glad because
we weren't asking for it when he showed it to us. We do now,
we ask. He's begotten us, born again,
to a lively, living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead to an inheritance. See, our hope is in a living
person, isn't it? Man, people are going to get
together in a week or so and this superstition and all this
stuff going, they're going to hunt eggs and chase rabbits and
put a little Jesus in the middle of it. And it's an abomination
to God Almighty. It's an absolute abomination
to God. And you know it. Why aren't you in the middle
of that? Why won't you have anything? Why is that abominable to you? Because God's taught you. You
tried. And it's your faith. Right now,
so far tonight, it's been found under praise, honor, and glory.
Whose? Not man's. That's how you know
who gets the glory. Who does the saving, who gets
the glory. Oh my, this inheritance, verse
4, incorruptible, undefiled, it fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you. Reserved. You like that word?
Reserved, preserved, kept by the power of God. Don't you love
that? Reservation and preservation.
Brother Bruce, don't you love that word? Perseverance. Perseverance and preservation. That's it. We've got a reservation.
Who made it? Christ did. He said, I'm going
to prepare a place for you. Who did? He did. We didn't have anything to do
with it. He did. Reserved in heaven for
you. A reservation that you're going
to keep. Yes, you are. Why? Because you're kept. Because your names were written
in a book, Lamb's Book of Life, before the world began. You like
that? If it's written in that book, you know what? That book
was sealed. And it's not going to be opened
until it's all over. Aren't you glad? I'm not going to talk about false
preachers anymore tonight. Verse 5 says, you're ready to
be revealed in the last time. Don't you love Romans? It talks
about the manifestation of the sons of God. We're in greatly
right now. Verse 6, you rejoice. Do you? Do you rejoice? I know you do.
I'm watching you. I'm watching your face as I preach
the truth to you. And everybody doesn't love the
truth. First Thessalonians talks about
those who didn't receive the love of the truth. And the God's
people do. They love it. They don't only
believe the truth. They love it. Because with the heart man
believes. They love it. The truth. Kept by the Father. Greatly rejoice. Listen to Philippians 3, 3. And
you could quote this. I know you could. We're the true
concision because we worship God in the Spirit. We don't have
all the things that modern religion thinks they have to have to worship
God. That's not how God's worshipped.
God's not worshipped with men's hands. He's not worshipped with
fleshly props, no sir. They worship God in the Spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now, we preach Christ, don't
we? Every time? Yes, sir, we really
do. And when I do, I look out there
and I see smiles, I see and hear amens. By the way, I'm hard of
hearing. I love hearing amens, so if you'll
just say it a little louder, men and women, okay? Thank you,
John. Anybody second the motion? Okay. Let the amen sound from
His people again. Man, I wish I was sitting out
there with you so I could say it. I'd love to say it. I'd love to hear it. But you
greatly rejoice. What things can you keep hearing
over and over and over and over for 40 years and not get tired
of it? Only the Gospel. It's just a
trial by the Word. The Word preached. The truth
of the Word. Verse 7 says that the trial of
your faith, though it is precious, more precious than gold, it perishes.
Though it be tried with fire, faith will be tried by fire.
Heavy, manifold, many trials. Continual, different trials of
faith. Fiery trials. Fiery. Have you ever been burned? Somebody
in here burned horribly as a child, our sister Nancy, went through
terrible pain for a long time. Unimaginable. Fire is very painful. If you've
been burned a little bit, it's just, there's nothing more painful. Every nerve ending is just, you
know what I'm talking about? And we go through some trials
that are so painful, Fiery, fire is a consuming thing. If you
ever had grief, so consuming. I'm not going to make it. We
all have. This is going to consume me.
The loss of a child, a loved one, a husband, a wife, a daughter,
a brother. Sorrow and grief. Painful. Fiery trial. But you weren't
consumed, were you? You didn't get mad at God and
quit. Some people do. They claim to
believe. They get mad at God and quit.
Then they didn't have this faith. This fire is going to burn up
false faith. But it won't burn up gold. It purifies the sons of Levi. Oh, did Hananiah, Moshe and Azariah,
did they have family? Did they have loved ones? Did
they have a home? Did they have possessions? They
said, we're going to throw you in the fiery furnace. All you've
got to do is renounce this God and all and join up with all
of us. If you don't, you're going to lose all your family, all
your possessions. You're going to lose your life.
We're going to throw you in the fire. They said, go ahead. Go
ahead. Didn't they? Job. But those three Hebrews were
not consumed. Why? Somebody was in there with them. The one that gave them this faith,
oh, was in the fiery furnace with them. And they came out.
You know what? He stayed in. Listen to this. When you pass through the waters,
I will be with them. Think, I'm going to drown. I'm
going down like Silent Peter. Help me. I'll be with you. Through the rivers, they'll not
overflow you. Trouble after trouble after trouble keeps coming, like
Job. When you walk through the fire, you won't be burned. And
the flame won't kindle upon you. And when it's all over, you won't
even have a smell of smoke. You won't even remember those
things. You know that? A smell is a memory of what happened,
of the burn, of the... But when in heaven, it will mean
a smell of smoke. Not going to have any memories
of sin or grief and pain. God said, I'm going to wipe all
tears away. No more pain, no more sorrow,
no more tears, no more death. Joy, I'm speaking. Does that
sound good to you? Well, the trial begins now. It
begins now. Fiery trial. Fiery darts of the
wicked one. Fiery temptations. And then the
last thing is trial by patience. Trial by page. It says it's going
to be found. I didn't mean to close my Bible yet. It says it's
going to be found under praise, honor, and glory at the appearing
of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom have you not seen? You love,
do you? In whom, though now you see him not, you believe and
you rejoice with joy unspeakable, full of glory. You're going to
receive the end of your faith, the salvation of your soul. Who
is? Those that wait on the Lord. Those that wait on the Lord.
What are we doing here? Why do we come here? Well, because
it's a good time to know we're coming to wait on the Lord. He
told his disciples, you go into Galilee. You meet together. He said, I'm going to meet you
there. Didn't he? I'm going to be there.
Go there and meet there. They didn't know when. So they
went and they met. In the upper room. And this same Jesus shall so
come in like manner as we've seen Him go. And God's people
are meeting together. Won't that be something? Are
you waiting on Him? I can't wait. Okay, stand with
me.