Fiery Trials

Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to the first epistle of Peter, chapter 4, and we read for our text verses 12 through to 16. We continue in our series through the epistles of Peter on these Thursday evenings. This is number 19, Fiery Trials.

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 ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf.

1 Peter 4, verses 12 to 16. No doubt in Peter writing in this way, One reason is to prepare the brethren for what was coming at Jerusalem. We read in Matthew 24 of intermingled together, the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and also the end of the world. There are some parts of what our Lord says that can only be interpreted one way, and some the other way. But what is very clear, and Peter is very aware of this, that there is coming these fiery trials, these trials that shall seem very strange. And so he seeks to prepare them for it. But we would not confine it just to the Jews and just to AD 70. if we think of how Paul writes to the Corinthians in his first epistle in chapter 3.

He says regarding every man's work in verse 13, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet as by fire. Peter already had spoken in this epistle in the first chapter of the trial of faith, and likened that also as with fire in 1 Peter 1 and verse 7. or if you read from verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So they're not isolated references, nor just to be expected to be pointing to the Jews and to 70 AD, but to all the people of God.

As our Lord said in Matthew 24, he shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. Peter, he begins this series of verses with the word Beloved and a reminder that his writing to a people that walking in a path that to them is strange may be really tempted whether they really are the people of God. And yet he begins it with beloved, a reminder that though they are walking this path, the Lord loves them, they're his beloved, they're his church, they're his bride, his people. It's always a very precious thing when the word of God speaks well of a people that in their own thoughts and in their own feelings feel to be sinners, feel to be out of the way, feel to be like Ruth though I'm not like one of thine handmaidens and yet the Lord through his word calls them beloved. One special thing that the Lord is doing with his beloved is preparing them and we see this theme that runs right through the leading up to Christ's crucifixion and his sufferings, is the Lord preparing his people. I have told you beforehand that when it come to pass ye may believe that I am he. And this again is a passage that is preparing the Church of God. And we would think then of along those lines, when we live in a day when, for the most part, there's not those outward persecutions and fiery trials. But the way of preparing for that is to do what Daniel did.

Daniel had already a consistent life, a regular prayer pattern, morning, noon, evening, And when persecution came, all he did was to continue what he always did. He didn't have to think, what shall I do? How shall I respond to this persecution, to this threat, to stop me praying? All he did was to continue. It'd be a sad thing if prayer was banned in the country and we had to think, well, it's banned now. Maybe I should start to have a pattern of prayer and praying because otherwise it doesn't affect me.

But if we already have a pattern, a regular worship, then Daniel's pattern is just continue doing what you have done. And of course, he suffered for it. The Lord wonderfully delivered him, but he knew what to do. to continue in the way that he'd always gone. So may we bless the Lord where, for any trials or anything that's coming upon us, he's pleased to prepare us, to tell us beforehand, to show us what to expect. On to divide the verses that are before us into four main points. Firstly, fiery trials and thinking rightly about them. Fiery trials and thinking rightly about them.

There's Prince of Bleas in verse 12. And then secondly, a cause of rejoicing. Verse 13. And then thirdly, God's verdict concerning his people and those that reproach them for his sake. And this is verse 14, which we have on one part, Christ is evil spoken of, but on the other, your part, He is glorified and the Lord divides it and shows clearly how he views the two parties here. And then lastly, in the fourth place, a searching question. Are we really suffering as a Christian? Verses 15 and 16.

But firstly, the fiery trials and thinking rightly about them. We mentioned Daniel. Daniel's friends, of course, literally had a fiery trial. They were cast into the burning fiery furnace. We think of the martyrs. Theirs was a fiery trial. They were burned alive at the stake.

But what is referred to here is not just confined to that type of suffering. The fiery part describes how horrible, how terrifying it is, and how that it burns up things. This is something that God is using, using to remove that which is not of his, that which is of the flesh, that which is rebelling.

It is like what the children of Israel had through the wilderness, that they had to remember that they were suffered to hunger, they were tempted, they were tried, they went through that wilderness, and the Lord did it to humble them, to prove them, to know what was in their hearts. And the various things that they went through, and some were fiery serpents that came upon them. We think of the path that is described by Paul in the long list of those that walk by faith in Hebrews 11. In Hebrews 11 from verse 33, we read, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to fight the armies of the aliens, Women received their dead, raised to life again.

And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.

What a description of God's people. And what a fulfilling of that path of trial for those that are the Lord's people. but they should be called to walk through these pathways. The natural reasoning of man will say, well, if God is sovereign, if God is all-powerful, cannot he deliver out of these? Well, the three Hebrew children, they weren't careful to answer Nebuchadnezzar they said God was able to deliver them out of his hand, but if not, they would not bow down to his image, but they were sure that God would deliver them, whether it was through death or deliver them from the power of the fire, which the Lord did. But God is a sovereign, and what may then seem strange to us, and without these preparation, scriptures. We look at it and many of the world do. And they say, well, where is your God? Why isn't he helping you? Why isn't he appearing for your help? Why is he allowing you to suffer in this way and to walk in this path? It does seem strange to man and will seem strange to God's children until they see God's plan and what God does through these things.

You've only got to think of some of those in scripture that's walked through these fiery pathways. We think of Joseph, Joseph who had dreams that gave him a real expectation of a position of authority a position that God would raise him up over even his brethren. But then he is cast into the pit, he is sold, for a time there's a threat over his very life, he's a slave, and then he's falsely accused and imprisoned. And we're told in Psalm 105, until his time came, the word of the Lord tried him.

Without that scripture, we might think, well, doesn't it say the Lord was with Joseph in each place he came? Yes, it was. But even though the Lord was with him, that word was trying him. Was it the word of the Lord? Why isn't it coming to pass? When is it coming to pass?

Afterwards, he can look back. He meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And it's easy for us to overlook what it was when we know the end from the beginning, what it would be to walk through it. Until we also walk through something where we don't know the end from the beginning. And then to understand something of that trial. We think of Job. Job's friends. They thought it strange. They falsely accused him. They thought surely there must be something terrible in his life.

Why the Lord should bring this upon him? But Job the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. But he suffered the loss of his children, of his herds, of his wealth, of his health. all of those things, and then of his friends, and to be falsely accused. It was a fiery trial to come to a place where he would say, oh, that I knew where I might find him. And I might come even to his seat. He even lost sight of his God, looking on the right hand, looking on the left, looking where God works, but cannot see the Lord.

We have these pictures of the Lord dealing with his people in time past that were godly people. Joseph was a godly man. Joe, we have right at the beginning of that account, was an upright man and one that feared God, one that hated evil, and yet this was permitted and brought to be in his path. We think of Asaph in Psalm 73, struggling with the idea that God's people, they were suffering.

There was bands even in their death. They were in trouble, but the wicked, they were not in trouble like other men were. There were no bands in their death. And their strength was firm. And it stumbled him. He said, my steps were well and I slipped. when I considered the prosperity of the wicked. Until he went into the sanctuary, then understood I their end, that God has set them in slippery places."

But you can see Asaph, he'd say with Peter, yes, these are strange trials. These are things that are hard to reconcile and to understand. And we can understand why Peter then says, Beloved, think it not strange, concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. If he gather up all those that had gone before, and he prepare those that come after, and prepare them so they don't think these are strange.

These are things that God's people have walked through and will walk through and will be part of their tribulation. And there's the added part really. In all providences, there's the added, the spiritual aspect, the exercises of soul, our sins brought to remembrance, You think of how it was with the widow of Zarephath.

When her son died, art thou come to bring my sin to remembrance, she says to Elijah. And then when Elijah is given by God to raise her son, she then says that now I know that the word of God in thee is in truth, you say widow. Has not your cruise of oil not failed, and your meal? That is continued, and you've taken no knowledge of that whatsoever. But as soon as this trial comes, and your son dies, suddenly you are concerned. And when that miracle of healing is wrought, now you believe the Lord's servant. And now it's work for good.

And you see how Miracle on its own didn't seem to touch her, but then a fiery trial came, and the miracle in delivering her out of that, and that touched her. It's not that we should always expect that we must have these fiery trials for there to be any good come. The Lord can do things in a lot gentler ways. But in this way, we have an expectation when fiery trials come, they are needed. and the Lord will use them for our good.

The very idea of a fiery trial, a refining, is like getting a lump of gold, maybe as it comes out of the ground. You may have seen, like in Sovereign Hill in Australia, the lumps of gold or models of it as it's come out of the ground. and it needs to be put into the fire and it will burn up all of the soil and all of the clay and all of the impurities mixed with it and leave at last just the pure gold. And only the fire will do that. It's the same with silver. Only the fire that will refine it.

When I worked at the hospital in the maintenance department. And we used to weld up the stainless steel trolleys that were broken that came in from the kitchens. And they'd be gleaming steel, stainless steel trolleys. And we'd apply the blowtorch to it to be able to get it to heat and to weld it up. And out of that metal came black goo.

All of the oils from that kitchen over many years had sunk into that metal, and you would think it wouldn't think it was porous at all, and you wouldn't know it was there until you put the flame on it, until it heated, and then it all came out of the metal, and we had to get rid of that before we could start welding it up.

And the Lord does the same with fiery trials. He brings the light of day, which before that trial We couldn't see it at all, had no idea it was there at all. We might think that we're very good people, we're very placid people, until the Lord brings something and it brings up all the anger. We might think we've got no lust until the Lord brings us into a situation and that all comes up and we're faced with it. We might be like Peter, who thought that though all men would forsake the Lord, yet he would not.

But the Lord says, no, Satan hath desired to have thee, to sift you as wheat. But I prayed for thee, thy faith fell not. And he had to go into Satan's sieve. And so we have fiery trials, and we're to think rightly upon them, that God's people have them. God brings them, appoints them, and he appoints them for good and he saves his people and delivers them in spite of those trials and he still calls them beloved he is not bringing it because he hates them or there's wrath in it these are trials that we may have you may have in your life and in mine you look upon it so i can't understand it it is strange Why is the Lord appointed this? How difficult to understand.

And through Peter the Lord anticipates this. Think it not strange. That'd be a good thing. If in the future we come across things like this, and at first we think, oh how strange this is, how difficult. And then this text comes to mind. Think it not strange. Those preparation things are very, very helpful to lean upon. The Spirit brings it back when we just need it.

I always remember coming back from my dear mother's funeral, getting back to mainland Australia from Tasmania. And that evening, the Lord blessed my soul. favoured me in my soul. In the morning I had a phone call, my father had a heart attack and he was taken into hospital and I absolutely sunk in my feelings and then I remembered the blessing of the night before and it was like just resting on it, leaning on it, underneath of the everlasting arms. And it's those times when the Lord knows already what is going to happen, and he's prepared.

And when it does happen, the Spirit brings it back to remembrance, and you rest on that. And I believe this with Peter's instruction here, it is for us to remember such times when we come into fiery trials, And the first thought is, this is a strange thing.

Cannot fathom it. Cannot understand it. Remember this verse. Remember this text. On to look then, secondly, at a cause of rejoicing. If ye be reproached. Oh sorry, in verse 13. But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. In the midst of these trials, these trials that seem strange, the exhortation is to rejoice. And it joins with Christ's sufferings. What Christ went through. When we think of his sufferings through life, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?

He was spoken against. They blasphemed him. They called him the Prince of Devils. His own disciples didn't understand him. He had one of them to betray him. His own brethren, after the flesh, they did not believe on him either. They provoked him to do things, to go up to the temple, that he should show himself and up to Jerusalem. Those were trials before he ever came to the cross, before he came to Gethsemane to feel the weight of his people's sin.

To be brought to the judgment, to be whipped, to be mocked, to be derided, to be arraigned, to be crucified and slain and mocked even while in that agony. It's a good thing, isn't it? When the Lord brings us into things that makes us think of Christ, that makes us think of his sufferings that were on this earth, breathing the air we breathe, surrounded by sinners as we are, and yet himself being sinless, making that trial even greater, and yet is set before us here as a thing to rejoice in, to have some union, some fellowship, some partaking of Christ's sufferings.

And joined with this, is that when his glory shall be revealed, he may be glad also with exceeding joy. Our Lord said, if they have persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they have received my word, then they will receive your word. He that receiveth you receiveth me, he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. And there's a joining together of the people of God with the Lord Jesus Christ, and especially in this context of sufferings. The disciples, when the Lord was crucified, they thought it a strange thing.

We trusted it should have been he that should have redeemed Israel. Beside all this, it is the third day since these things were done. Quite often in scripture, we get an exhortation to rejoice in something that naturally we would never rejoice in. Something that we wouldn't find good for our flesh, but which is good for the soul and a comfort for the soul.

And Peter, he gives the reason. for the rejoicing, not minimizing the sufferings, but who it's bringing us close with and to have fellowship with, and with a prospect of when the glory of Christ shall be revealed. Here below, his book, Glory, was veiled, but we read in Matthew 24, when the Lord comes again, and with power and great glory. And we're to remember that. Now is the time of tribulation, but there is also coming a time of exceeding joy when the glory of God is revealed and the people of God are vindicated and is truly seen whose they are and who they were serving. May we have then a right thinking of our trials and have a specific cause of rejoicing even in those trials and in those things that seem strange to us.

Our third point, God's verdict concerning his people, those that reproach them for his sake. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. This is a verse that is very precious to me, having been blessed to me in the workplace.

This was when I was probably 23, 24, and working as a design draftsman, and we had found out that the apprentices, the fitting and turning apprentices, that they could not read an engineering drawing. They could read it enough just to finish machining a pump casing. But when I gave a drawing to one young man and said to him, there's a sheet of steel, there's an oxy-acetylene set, here's the drawing, you make this out of that. And he just looked blank, he couldn't read the drawing.

And so I offered to teach them after work. And so for many weeks, I used to teach them each week, say back after work. And they were not much younger than me, they're 18, 19. But they used to mock my religion. They used to write numbers on a piece of paper, say that's God's phone number, say things just to try and stir me up. And I found it a great trial.

And the amount of times I went home and thought, if they do that next week, I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm not getting paid for it on Saturday. I don't have to do it. I've offered to do it. But I just cannot stand it anymore. Or next week, they're as good as gold. No problem. And so I did it next week.

And there was one particular time that I was standing in front of the whiteboard, and they were really speaking against the Lord, blaspheming. And I felt as I was their teacher, that I was guilty of that. I was responsible for what they were saying and what they were doing.

And the Lord spoke these words as clear as if someone had just been standing next to me and spoken them. On their part, he is evil spoken of. but on your part he is glorified. They were most precious words to me in the midst of it, in the midst of those young men. And it makes you always remember this verse, it's always very special, because it was the Lord knowing the situation. And he decided and he said how he viewed it. So he viewed it that their part he was evil spoken of. but on my part, your part, is glorified. And that's very precious when that is so. I was being reproached for the name of Christ.

And the word here says, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. If there's ever a time so thankful for a word from scripture brought by the holy spirit my remembrance and so applicable and really then it applies to all in a like situation in an employment situation where your faith is known or whether it be in the home situation or relatives or whatever it is where your faith is known and people deliberately say things and deliberately lay baits and mock and speak against the Lord because they know it will grieve you, this is the Lord's answer, this is what the Lord says concerning what you are going through.

If we confess our Lord before men, we can be sure that they also will speak against the Lord. Our Lord says in John 17, I've given them thy word and the world hath hated them. So in this point, we have God's verdict concerning his people and those that reproach them for his sake.

Many times in scripture, the Lord has taken the part of his people. He's lifted them up, he's exonerated them. Especially we think of Daniel spoken against by all of the princes. We think of the Jews, how they were spoken against in Queen Esther's day and Mordecai.

And the Lord vindicated the causes of his people and showed where, even though they were suffering, even though, even for his name, yet the way that they went was glorifying to the Lord. Man has a different assessment of a situation than God does. God doesn't see as man sees. And he sees his people, he sees where their heart is. And he knows what conflicts they have.

And very often, it goes on and on. It's especially in a work or a home situation. It's not a trial of one day or two days, but a continual trial. And added to the outward way, Satan comes in as well. And he tempts and he accuses. And he puts a false view of things. May we be helped if we then come into these situations and not be afraid of the face of man. Jeremiah was told to not be afraid of the face of man, all of their words.

I want to look lastly at these two verses that bring a searching question. Are we really suffering as a Christian? In verse 15, but let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf.

You say words very clear and plain. A murderer, if he suffers for being a murderer, He can't claim that that is because he's a Christian, or is a thief, or is an evildoer. Maybe you might say it's a busybody, but it does come very, very close. Because our Lord said, he that hateth his brother without a cause, that he hath committed murder already in his heart. And we can steal someone's words. We can steal someone's reputation. We can do evil in those ways.

And even as a busybody. It was said of Ezra, when the Jews had married strange wives, And they had to deal with the matter and separate them. They said, this matter belongeth unto thee. Arise and do it and we will be with thee. And again, it does come very close.

It's a difficult one sometimes. Especially when you think perhaps of parents or grandparents and how much How much is one thing someone else's matters? As grandparents thinking about children and they're running their houses, not to go down in there and usurp our son's authority and to order their life or interfere in that way. We might think we're doing it good because we're a grandparent, we're doing it for their good and helping them. And there may be a good thought that actually we are doing it for Christ's sake, and yet it really be a busybody in another man's matters.

We have a case that is going on in Ireland, has been going on for several years, where a teacher was given the sack because he would not call those of transgender the term that they wanted him to call them, a they, and so they sacked him. But instead of submitting to what the ruling was, using the legal forms of redress. He kept on coming onto the school property, coming into the classrooms, intimidating the staff and the students, and having to be removed. And the case has gone on and on. He's spent 700 days now in jail. But when you look at it, how the whole family is behaving, it's no wonder that the Christian Institute and all of the churches have just drawn right back from them.

Because there's complete contempt for the law of the land, and though we wouldn't excuse a lot of those that they are opposing at all, it's going from a position of being persecuted to then being yourself an evildoer by your actions and what you're doing.

It comes very very close and no doubt dividing many of the Lord's people over the issue. But over the years we've had this and even in our churches where we might have something that we fully agree with what a person is standing with, standing for. but we can't agree with how they're standing for it, what their spirit is, the actions that they use to actually do it. And so this is why I believe Peter brings this at the end, because it does come very close. And we're not to think, well, Because we are Christians or because we're doing something in the name of Christ, then different laws apply to us than to apply to other people. In one way of discerning whether it is so is to perhaps completely leave out the name of Christ or what we're actually standing for in a religious way, and you think, the world stand for this kind of behavior just in a normal way? Or if someone was behaving of another religion towards me in that way, would we say, well, they're excused because they're doing it because of their religion? It's a very difficult one, but I believe Peter here puts it as a real searching thing. to search what are we actually being persecuted for? Are we bringing things on our own head justly? That others could clearly see, well, this is not a Christian behavior. You might be standing for right things, but there's a justness in what people are bringing against you.

Of course, then he balances it, verse 16. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf, that he suffers as a Christian. A Christian is a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's good to remember that, isn't it? At Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. And if our behavior we can say, I am following the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's my pattern. Here's the one that goes before me. And that we have this, that others persecute and speak against us for that reason. Let him glorify God on this behalf.

Well, we pray that we might not have those fiery trials that some of the Lord's people have had to go through. But every one of God's people will not escape the cross. They will not escape tribulation. The Lord says, in me you shall have peace, in the world you shall have tribulation. And it is the Lord that chooses and appoints what our tribulation should be. And in the context here, it's these fiery trials. And they will work for good and for the honor and glory of God. May the Lord bless the word and help us to be discerning and to have the grace and help to go through those things God has appointed for us. Amen.

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