Saved in, not from fiery trials.

Q: What does the Bible say about faith in trials?

The Bible emphasizes the importance of faith during trials, as seen in the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. In Daniel 3, we see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego exemplifying true faith by refusing to bow to a false god, even in the face of certain death. They proclaim their belief in God's power to deliver them, yet they also demonstrate submission to His will by stating, 'But if not...' This illustrates a profound faith that trusts God for deliverance while accepting His will and sovereignty in their suffering. Faith in trials is not merely about avoiding pain; it's about enduring with God’s presence and trusting His ultimate goodness, even when outcomes are uncertain.

Q: How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

God's sovereignty is affirmed throughout Scripture, showcasing His control over all events and destinies, including salvation. The sovereignty of God is a foundational doctrine within Reformed theology, asserting that God is actively involved in every aspect of creation and human history. It is biblically supported in various passages such as Daniel 4:34-35, where Nebuchadnezzar declares, 'None can stay His hand.' This recognition of God's ultimate authority encapsulates the belief that He directs all things for His glory and the good of His people. Additionally, the doctrine of election reflects God's sovereignty in salvation, emphasizing that it is God who chooses individuals for salvation from before the foundation of the world, which iterates the depth of His control over the course of history and personal lives.

Q: Why is enduring persecution important for Christians?

Enduring persecution is important for Christians as it tests their faith and affirms their reliance on God. Endurance through persecution is vital in the Christian faith as it serves not only as a test of one's faith but as an opportunity for spiritual growth. In the case of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, their refusal to compromise their beliefs amidst the threat of death showcased their unwavering commitment to God. Jesus warned that His followers would be hated and persecuted for His name’s sake (Mark 13:13), implying that suffering for the gospel is part of the Christian experience. This endurance produces perseverance, character, and ultimately hope (Romans 5:3-5). Moreover, through such trials, Christians can experience the comforting presence of God, knowing that He is with them during their suffering, just as He was with the three men in the furnace.

Seeking the Lord's help for a little while this evening and your very prayerful attention, turn with me to the book of Daniel chapter 3 and this evening we will take for our text verses 23, 24 and 25. Daniel chapter 3 and verses 23 to 25. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell down, bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste, and spake and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the King, True, O King, He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. This morning we sought to look a little at these dear godly men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that refused to compromise, even when death was certain, humanly speaking, as they were being threatened. to be cast into the den of lions if they did not bow down with everybody else at the sound of the orchestra.

And they said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. They acknowledged the king, they acknowledged that they were guilty of ignoring his decree, and they boldly proclaimed that they would not bow down to this false god.

They were blessed with living faith, faith in the power of God, They were favoured to submit to the heavenly mind and will of a thrice holy God. They were amongst those included in that gallery of faith. In Hebrews chapter 11, now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And so in amongst that great catalogue of faith is mentioned of those that quenched the violence of fire.

Well, we concluded this morning on our meditation as we thought a little of the sufferings of Christ. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And we quoted that of the hymn number 349. All thy chosen, costly wounds and blood and smart. Well Jesus he is the captain of our salvation and he suffered, he suffered in the hottest furnace can never ever be described with the vocabulary that we have on this earth as he suffered, as he suffered in that furnace to redeem his people as their substitute, to redeem them from spending an eternity in the heat of hell.

Well, these three men, they faced certain death. They had refused the king's commands. They were foreigners, they'd been promoted over the heads of the Babylonians. And in verse 8 we read, At that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. And in verse 12, O there are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee, they serve not thy gods. nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

And we noticed, didn't we, this morning, as we thought of that, of the jealousy that there was of those who went and told tales Just like schoolchildren falling out. Sad when that happens, isn't it? And it can happen even amongst the people of God. Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous. But who is able to stand before envy? Envy, it's deep-rooted, isn't it? It's resentful. It's determined to kill.

It's determined to kill and the king he takes it all in and his temper got the better of him and particularly his temper got the better of him when he found out that it was true and these dear godly men despite the cost the cost of their life that they would not they would not compromise Oh, they knew the law of God, didn't they?

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them. And so they were enabled to refuse, to refuse, to compromise. Well, Jesus, he warned, didn't he? As St Mark records it in the 13th chapter, and at the 9th verse, he says, But take heed yourselves, for they shall deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten. and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them, and the gospel must first be published among all nations. But when they shall lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate. But whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye. For it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, And the father, the son, and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And so these dear godly men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they're saved out of a certain death, out of that fiery furnace.

The Lord honour them as they sought to obey him and to disobey the evil king's decree. were times of adversity or oftentimes of opportunity, aren't they? Especially when God's people are being persecuted for their faith and how precious it is to experience it. And we know little of outward persecution. We bless God in comparison to our persecuted brethren and sisters in other lands.

But how remarkable it is, isn't it? Have you experienced it, perhaps, when you had to make a stand, when you were not able to compromise, and you didn't know how you would handle it, but you experienced it, didn't you? That the words, that they came into your mouth. as you sought to honour God and to make a stand. And you made it.

And this is it, isn't it, how that it speaks of Daniel in, I think it's in the chapter six, when he was being threatened with the den of lions. And the king observed that there was an excellent spirit in him. And there had been that excellent spirit right the way through from the time that they were taken to be schooled in the school of the Chaldeans, in the palace, and to be given the best of everything. And they refused to compromise. But they did it politely. They did it politely and there in the fear of the Lord. And that which seemed impossible, that they wouldn't be allowed not to partake of the king's meat, they were allowed.

And that's a good thing, isn't it? For us to remember. For us to remember that as people of God, that the world watches us, don't they? And they see our behavior. And as we perhaps look back, those of us that are older, across our lives, And we see those things, those difficulties, those things that came into our lives. And we might excuse ourselves by saying, well, it was embarrassment. But we came across, didn't we?

As we might say, hog-headed. And we made the matter worse. but all to wait, to wait for the Lord, to wait for Him to give those words, those words of peace, those words to answer in the fear of the Lord. Well, as the Lord, he said, didn't he, to Moses, he came down, his people had been so, oh, they'd been in such bondage for those many, many years, hundreds of years. And now the time comes when he comes down to Moses, he appears to Moses, the burning bush.

And he says, I have surely seen the affliction of my people. I've heard their cry. I know their sorrows and I am come down to deliver them. And so these dear men, didn't they? These dear men, they proved, didn't they? They proved that them that honor me, I will honor.

And so we have this in our text, that in verse 24, Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered, and said unto the king, True, O king! He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Oh friends, if they had compromised, they would have never ever been favoured with the presence of Christ, would they?

As he came and he comes to you and I, doesn't he? At times he comes right where we are in the difficulties and the trials of life. that he's pleased to send into our pathway, those things that perhaps we fought against, but then we've been blessed with sweet, humble submission and he's favoured us in it all with his sacred presence. Oh, as he came down from heaven, as the hymn writer puts it, he comes, he comes, the Saviour full of grace. He's rejected, he's despised, he's plunged in deep distress. And he says, as he said to these three men, no doubt, and he says to you and I in the trials of life, I am with thee, I am with thee, Israel passing through the fire.

Well now, Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar. It's solemn, isn't it? As we consider that Nebuchadnezzar, he saw, didn't he? He saw Christ. He saw him in that furnace. He saw him, and as we noticed this morning, that he testified. He testified to say that there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. But he was still dead in trespasses and in sins. He hadn't been brought to living faith in a precious Jesus.

And so as I've been concerned this afternoon as to how that we should, what we should focus on this evening, and the thought was very much on my mind that we should take for other words of our text, the last verse of chapter 4, verse 37, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. And so my desire is, is that as we seek to trace out a little of the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, so we might trace out a little of how Nebuchadnezzar, I believe, he did come to faith. He did come to faith, and what a deep water that was, what a fiery furnace that was that the man had to walk in.

He was the greatest man on the earth. He conquered, he subdued, nations upon nations upon nations. And yet he was brought down, and we shall see indeed, we've read it, didn't we? He was brought down to be nothing but an animal. as he spent seven years, as he spent seven years there with the animals and behaving, his heart was turned into an animal.

Well, and so, as we think before we come more onto him of these three godly men and the way that it is that the Lord deals with his people. that as we think of Jesus, as we think of Him, that He came down, He came down and in human form, in human form a body was prepared for Him. His body that was bruised, His body that there was great There was much blood that flowed from his body as that fountain was open for sin and for uncleanness.

He was in agony, absolute agony. Sometimes we speak of pain, don't we, as being in agony. You'll remember that I said before, many years ago, when dear Andy Woodhams that we were speaking on the phone together and he was on his way home from work. How are you Andy? Oh I'm in agony. No I shouldn't say that. I shouldn't say that.

Only our Jesus experienced agony. Well, we could never ever, the vocabulary isn't it on this earth, we could never ever speak anywhere near of the agony, the agony of our precious Jesus, the agony of his body as he's crucified, but much, much more the agony of his soul as he makes an atonement that he is the Lamb slain from the fact before the foundation of the world, that he in the crucible, that he as he bears at the wrath of God his Father in the sinner's room, place, and stead.

Well, you and I, we know nothing, do we, of how the future will unfold. The future is wisely hid from us, but we seek, don't we, to be much in prayer. to be much in prayer as we see things waxing worse and worse and worse, not only in our own country, but throughout the world. And there are those various leaders of the nations of the earth that are, as it were, flexing their muscles and making various threats. But oh that you and I, oh that you and I, if we are brought into, if we are brought into days of persecution, that we, that it might be ours and indeed in our own individual pathways and as you that have to do with the world and the things of it and the difficulties in the way that you might be blessed and favoured with this testimony as Paul wrote to Timothy in his first epistle and in the twelfth verse and he said to Timothy for the witch cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I am not ashamed For I know. Oh, is that your longing desire tonight?

To know my Jesus crucified? For I know whom I have believed. and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Oh, that's the hymn, isn't it? I know not why God's wondrous grace to me has been made known, nor why, unworthy as I am, he claim me for his own, but I know whom I have believed. Oh, and as blessed with living faith to believe on this dear man, the man Christ Jesus, who endured, endured the wrath of God, that furnace, that as he made an atonement for sin, But he sets his face, doesn't he, like a flint, set his face like a flint towards Jerusalem when he made that last visit to Jerusalem. nor to be favoured by living faith, to truly see, as a dear hymn-writer, saw the cross, when I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss. and triumph, triumph in my Saviour's cross. Well, dear friends, we may find ourselves, if we come into conflict with other nations, we may well find the outcome is that we find ourselves on the wrong side of the law.

But all to be favoured as Shadrach and Meshach were, that they were unaffected. They were unaffected by the fire. Even those mighty men that threw them into the furnace, they, from the heat of the furnace, they were slain. And yet these three men, they're thrown into the furnace and all that is burned is the bends with which they're tied. They were unaffected by the fire.

And as I think we quoted this morning, when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle against thee. Friend, they, oh, take this as comfort, that deep water, that deep fire, that fiery furnace that you may be in tonight. And you've been pleading and pleading, no doubt, to be saved from it, to be saved from it. But friends, they, these three men, they were not saved from the fiery furnace, but they were saved in it.

They would say you had to go in it. I think I've said to you before, one of my first bosses when working, he was a keen golfer and he would say when there was a problem with the staff, you can't go round the bunkers, you've got to go through them. It has to be dealt with. and friends, and the pathway which He has appointed for each of His dear people. It's to go through it.

We won't be saved from going through it, but oh, blessed be God, be rejoiced tonight that you'll be saved in it. You'll be saved in it. These dear men, they had to go into this fiery furnace and how desperately, desperately hot it was. And yet they were saved in it. They were saved in it.

Oh, the peace of God, to be blessed, to be blessed with this mighty deliverance and to know that peace which passeth all understanding, even when we are in the heat of the battle and we fear and we wonder where the scene will end. Oh, but friends, he's not beyond.

We're not beyond the reach of our precious Jesus. We're not beyond the reach of Him who laid His life down, a ransom for poor sinners like you and like me. And oh, that was the greatest, that was the greatest burden we'll ever have, wasn't it? The burden of our sins. And so a poor sinner, as a poor sinner is plucked from the burning, saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Oh, no wonder John Newton penned that beautiful hymn, Amazing Grace.

How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. And so he says to you and I, In these deep pathways, in these fiery pathways, he says, thy whole dependence on me fix. And so these three godly men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they stepped out of the furnace. They stepped out of the furnace unsinged.

And so, dear friends, it is, isn't it? A poor sinner, he'll enter glory untainted by sin. Precious Jesus. guilty vile. Yes, were it not for the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, were it not for this precious substitute, were it not for that His love, His sovereign love, the sovereignty of God, that which was decreed in eternity past, as all that would enter heaven all for whom the second Adam, the last Adam, would come to restore that which was lost in our first father Adam, even before he was made, before anything was made, that that covenant was agreed, that sinners would fall as Adam fell, all would fall. that covenant they shall be mine in that day when I make up my jewels and for each one named in heaven named in the Lamb's Book of Life that as the first Adam fell, so precious Jesus, the captain of our salvation, that he rose triumphant from the grave, he rose the first fruits of the dead. And so it is with all of his dear people, they shall not be left at the time of death to go into an eternity in hell forever and ever and ever. Such a heat, never ever ever ending. But all because of grace, nothing to do with our merits, nothing at all.

Oh, as sinful as Nebuchadnezzar, and yet as we'll seek to trace out just a little of him, that he, he's chosen, he was chosen. He was left to go very much in the way of sin, left to go. Oh, so much pride with him. He was full of pride. And there was never ever, as we've said, there was never ever a battle, and he fought many, that he never lost a battle. Well, and so be thou faithful unto death. and I will give thee a crown of life.

But let's just trace out a little of King Nebuchadnezzar. We noticed, didn't we, in the 29th verse that he said, of the third chapter, Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Well, there wasn't much godliness, was there, about the way that he would deal with those that were against this God.

But quite apart from that, as we go, as we read into chapter 4, that he was still dead in trespasses, in sin, he was still full of pride. Still full of pride. And the Lord, he dealt with him, didn't he? Oh, be this a warning to us all. Nebuchadnezzar, he was favoured. He was favoured to see Christ in that fiery furnace. But what effect did it have on him?

It wasn't lasting, was it? And how solemnly true that is of us, isn't it? That we can be greatly favoured, greatly blessed, but then it fades into the background. And how solemn it is that when the Lord is working in the heart of a sinner, of a sinner and he continually rejects and rejects and rejects and the Lord in his mercy he'll leave for a while as he did with Nebuchadnezzar that we shall we shall say oh with him with him one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day But oh, Nebuchadnezzar, how does the Lord deal with him?

Well, he dreams another dream, doesn't he? He'd had the dream in the second chapter, and now he dreams another dream, and he's greatly, greatly, greatly disturbed. You know, we read in the fourth verse of chapter four, I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

Therefore made I a decree, to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. And then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and I told the dream before them, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof, but at last comes Daniel." At last comes Daniel, faithful Daniel, and Nebuchadnezzar has dreamed of a tree, and all that transpired with that tree. And Daniel, he says to him, well this is the interpretation of it, in verse 20, the tree that thou sawest which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven and the sight thereof to all the earth, whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation, it is thou. Oh, as Nathan came to David, thou art the man. And Daniel, Daniel, He declares faithfully the interpretation of this dream. It is thou, this tree, which is to be cut down. It is thou, Nebuchadnezzar.

This is how, isn't it? This is how the Lord deals with a sinner. Oh, as a sinner, he will not let a poor sinner go, will he? Once his love is set upon a sinner, his love is so constant that it will be through much tribulation. Oh, we have to prove, don't we, sometimes, as it was with Paul, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Oh, but blessed be God. God is long-suffering, isn't he? It was a year, it was 12 months before this was brought to pass. He gave Nebuchadnezzar time, time to consider, time to search his ways, time to come in godly sorrow and repentance, a humble, contrite heart. But he wouldn't. He wouldn't.

We read in the 29th verse, At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built? For the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty. And oh, and the Lord spoke. Oh, his long-suffering, his long-suffering he is. But there came that time, after a year, when he's again lifted up with pride, that the shaft hit, that the shaft hit. And the word came, the kingdom is departed from thee.

And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times, and I understand that to be seven years, shall pass over thee. And so for seven years, he's gonna be with the animals. He's gonna be behaving like an animal. He's gonna be eating what the animals eat. And it says that he ate grass with the oxen, his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.

Oh, as James says in his letter and in chapter 1, He says in verse 22, But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass, for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

Friend, you'll know. You'll know if you're being disobedient this evening. You'll know that you've heard the voice of God and you'll know whether you're seeking to bring in anything that you possibly can and not to follow, not to follow his commands.

And so this which is brought upon Nebuchadnezzar is in the mercy of God. And I know there are some that feel that this is no evidence of Nebuchadnezzar being saved, that he wasn't brought to faith. Well, be that as it may, I believe that I I take comfort from this, that the vilest sinner out of hell, who lives to fill his need, is welcome to the throne of grace, the Saviour's blood to plead. And I do believe that this dear man, at the end of those seven years, here he is, this mighty king, and he's been reduced to nothing more than an animal, and he looks like an animal.

But oh, it's had the desired effect, hasn't it? Oh, in His mercy, in His mercy, the Lord has brought him into this great, great trial. And at verse 34, he testifies, doesn't he? He testifies. This is his testimony that he's a child of God. He's no longer lifted up with pride. Oh, he's been favoured, hasn't he?

Those scales have been taken from his eyes that all he can see is his self, self, self, I, I, I, me, me, me. Now it's to praise the living God. the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven. That's it. Look unto the hills and be ye saved." end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever. whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. Oh, it's the psalmist, isn't he, that he says in Psalm 123 that that I sought to quote just then.

Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait Upon the Lord our God, until that He have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease. and with the contempt of the proud.

Well, now Nebuchadnezzar is no longer amongst those, the pride, those contemptible proud ones. That no, that he, he says, all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none, none can stay his hand, or this mighty, mighty king, Nebuchadnezzar, He who had conquered so many that he'd fought every battle and won. But he can say of this God, none, none can stay his hand. and say unto him, What doest thou? He praised the Lord. He acknowledged his sovereignty.

Oh, the sovereignty of God is something, isn't it, that's despised, that disputed. Oh, election, there are many that despise such a glorious doctrine. Oh, but precious it is, isn't it, that the doctrine of election She doesn't shut a poor sinner out, it shuts him in, as it shut a dear nebuchadnezzar in.

Well, as Jesus said, didn't he, that in St. Matthew chapter 23 and at the 12th verse, he says, and whosoever, shall exhort himself well prior to that in the eleventh verse, but he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exhort himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Well, and so for each one that a sinner is called by grace, each one is, we all in this house of God that have a testimony of God's calling, we all have a different testimony, don't we? We've all been led in that way that is peculiar to us. But we can all testify, can't we, That I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. And so, as we pass on through the journey, it's often said, isn't it, the old must die, and the young may. And we trust that our young friends, that you'll live for a good time if it is the Lord's will, and you'll be used of the Lord's. But you know, as we go on in the way, may we be faithful, each one of us, whether young or old, may we be faithful unto death. And if we do have to suffer persecution, as many of our brethren and sisters are in the world, that as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to the image of gold, Oh, as we come into it, don't we? Well, everyone's doing it. This won't hurt.

It was, wasn't it, with dear Daniel, as he was to pray, as he was to cease praying to his God. And it was, I think it was for 30 days. And it could have been, couldn't it? Well, Daniel, it's only for 30 days. You can easily do that. that God will forgive you for that and we come into the same situation don't we all the way through but oh but it's not every believer has been spared death in the furnace but friends as we noticed They have been spared from compromising their witness for Christ and taking the easy way out. Well, and so, as we bring our thoughts to a close, dear Peter, as we said this morning, he knew much, didn't he, of the fiery furnace, not the literal fiery furnace, but, oh, what he went through, he who was so confident, wasn't he?

He was cut down as he went out and he wept bitterly as he denied his Lord at those three times. And he says, humble yourselves therefore. Oh, this that you're in, dear friend. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exhort you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

Amen. from hymns for worship number 177. And may I hope that when no more these pulses beat with life below, I shall the God of life adore and all the bliss of being know. Hymns for worship 177, tune 297. Death, where'er thou go'st, Faithful'st his fate with life below. I shall the God of life adore, And all the bliss of being owe.

Will Jesus e'er my surety place Before his Father's glorious throne? Maine has an air of sovereign grace, Maine has its own adopted sound. They wailed my raided tennis court, and in my heart the witness field. I shall be with and like my Lord, the sin of worlds in lay with hell.

I shall be with him when he comes triumphant down the earth in skies and when his voice breaks up the For his children thine shall rise. The mute children I shall stand When quick and dead is thrown to round Blessed with a place at his right hand and with immortal glory crown'd.

O dear Lord, we do seek that each one of us may be found with immortal glory crowned. May it be desire in that quaint language of the hymn writer, O may I live to reach the place where he unveils his lovely face. And so do go on to be with us each, O Lord, in the various pathways which thou hast called each one to walk. And Lord, we ask that thou wilt indeed be very, very gracious.

And Lord, and may each one know that not a single shaft can hit. till the God of love sees fit, and is not in anger, but from His dear covenant love, for the good of our never-dying souls. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the fellowship and the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with us all, now and for evermore. Amen.

Saved in, not from fiery trials.

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about faith in trials?

How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

Why is enduring persecution important for Christians?

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Saved in, not from fiery trials.

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about faith in trials?

How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

Why is enduring persecution important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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