Turn to 1 Peter chapter 4. Patience under trials. Patience under trials. Peter
continues to instruct the scattered strangers on this matter of suffering. Every chapter in this epistle
has to do with suffering. Peter deals with trials. And you have to remember, it
does well to remember anyway, that the people to whom Peter
is writing to are going through unimaginable suffering over the
gospel. As Wayne read, all the suffering
here is over the gospel. Suffering reproach because of
their attachment, of their union, of their witness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I was reading this past week
where Nero would take Christians Christ followers. They called
them Nazarenes. That was one of the names they
called them besides Christians. They called them Nazarenes. They
followed that Nazarene. And he would take them and at
his parties, he would tie many of them to stakes and put pitch
on them and burn them. Set them on fire to light the
court while they had parties. That's what our forefathers went
through. That's who Peter's writing to.
These are the ones he's writing to. Unimaginable suffering. My sufferings over the gospel
compared up to this point to their sufferings is like having
a broken fingernail or something. It's about what my sufferings
are like compared to their sufferings. It says in Hebrews that some
were what? Sawn asunder. They lived in caves
and dens and rocks out in the deserts by the sufferings of
the early church. And this is who Peter's writing
to. And if you'll remember this morning's message, the Lord talked
about these trials and things that were going to come up on
Jerusalem. And all these things were going to be thrown down,
the temple and all this. These people lived in that time. They
were living in that time and that persecution and all that
suffering that went on. So keep that in mind when you
look at this. He says, Beloved, he's pouring
out his heart to them. He feels their suffering. He
feels their pain. He feels it. Think it not strange
as to say, what's going on? Why is this? happening to us? Why am I suffering so? And these are babes in Christ.
This is the early church. These are babes and young men. They're just young in the Lord.
And so Peter writes to them and says, don't think it's strange.
Look at Job. All of God's children have suffered
firing And that word means burning, like a fire, like a fire. They've all suffered a fiery
trial. And he says, don't be perplexed.
Don't be perplexed when some fiery trial, which is to try
you, comes upon you as though some strange thing just out of
the blue happened to you. No, things don't just happen
to you out of the blue. They're ordained of God. Ordained
of God. Now this is not the way we treat
our children. We don't raise our children.
We protect them as much as we can. But now God protects His
children, but He sends them fiery trials. He's going to wean us
from this world. As we grow older, and I know
this from some experience now. I'm not old, but I'm growing
older. And I know that I think more now than I ever did of being
with the Lord. And I pray more now than I ever
did. Lord, come and put an end to
this. Come quickly. Put an end to all this. You know,
I see this. You watch television. You look
over the world. You just see the suffering that
goes on over the world. And just, Lord, put an end to
this. But he says, think it not strange to you who believe the
gospel. You know, you hear the gospel. You hear what? You hear good news. You hear
of reconciliation. You hear of forgiveness. You
hear of mercy. And you fall down at the Lord's
feet and you ask for mercy and you taste and you find that the
Lord is gracious. And then one day you wake up,
the next day you wake up, and you find a battle going on within
and without. Well, the first time you finally
entered into a real warfare. And this is what they're in.
You know, all John Bunyan had to do to get out of prison, he
had a, did he have a blind daughter? I believe he had a blind daughter
and his wife. And he was in prison, I think,
in something like 12 years. All he had to do was recant.
All he had to do to come out of that cold dungeon and go home
and take care of his family. And you know his wife and his
daughter were suffering because he was their income. He was the
breadwinner, so to speak. And all he had to do was recant
and he could go home. But he sat in that cold prison
for years because he would not, would not back down on the gospel.
He would not deny Christ. He wouldn't do it. And so Peter
here says, don't be perplexed when some fiery, burning trial
comes upon you. God designed it. Your Father
designed it. And He sent it. See, here's the
comforting part about this. First of all, everything our
God does, our Father does, He does in wisdom. And He does it
for our good. And he controls the outcome.
I can't control. I can discipline my kids. I can
chase them. He chases every son whom he receives. And I've chasen my boys, but
I couldn't control the outcome. He does. He can control it. So he designs it, and he sends
it, and he sends it on purpose for a purpose. He's preparing
us for glory. He is preparing us for that place
that has been prepared for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. He
went to prepare a place for us there in John 14, and now He's
preparing us for that place. That's what's going on. He's
preparing us for that place. And these fiery, these burning
trials, these trials that hurt, hurt. I mean, they leave a lasting
impression. A lifelong impression. God designed
it. He sent it. He purposed it. And
it's for a purpose. All spiritual refining goes on
here. There's no refining going on
in glory. There's no heartaches there.
There's no suffering there. Not one beloved one that we know
who has gone on to be with the Lord is weeping right now. Whose
heart's broken. That's just for us. That's just
for a while. And then that'll be over. But
that's part of preparing us for that place. So it all goes on
here on this earth. And the proving of faith happens
here. Therefore, don't think it strange when God sends a fiery
trial. And He will. He's faithful. He's faithful to do so. David
said, He's appointed to all my afflictions. He's appointed them
all. So don't think it's a strange
thing. All the proving of faith is going
to happen here, and it's going to happen at times
in a difficult way. And note here, it's sent to try
you, he said. God sent it. What you're going
through, he's writing to these young believers, this young church,
scattered. They've had to quit their jobs,
leave their homes and leave their families and go into strange
places. And he said he sent these to
you, he sent them to try you, to prove your faith. I read to
you this morning, it says that some will, well, let me go back
over here and read it. Let me go back over here and
see if I can find this place in Matthew 24. Here's what it proves. In Matthew
24, I have to find it here. And then shall many be, in verse
10, and then shall many be offended. They're offended because of trouble.
They are offended because of hardship. They're offended. And then here's what's going
to happen. They shall betray one another. They're going to start
turning in one another to the Roman army. They'll start saying,
you know, they're over in that house. They're hiding out over
there. They'll start betraying one another and they shall hate
one another. You see, trials prove, as I said
this morning, those who are sheep and those who are goats. That's
what happens when the Lord sends these fiery trials. And then
there's no such faith as unproved faith. There is no such faith
as unproved faith. It can't be. It can't be. There
is no other way for us to bring forth much fruit without much
pruning. Do you feel so sorry for the
apple tree or the pear tree that you will not prune it? Do you
feel so sympathetic Oh, I can't go out there and cut that tree.
No, you go out there and you cut the tree. You prune the tree
because you know when springtime comes, it's going to bear much
fruit. And that's why he sends these
fiery trials. It's a pruning that we might
bear much fruit. That's why he sends them. And
then he sends these fiery burning trials because there's no other
way to remove the dross of sin except through these fiery trials. There is no other way to remove
the dross, the impurities from gold except you put it in the
furnace and heat it up. And there is no other way to
remove the impurities or to reveal them to our own hearts and remove
them, so to speak, except through these fiery trials that He's
going to send. Think it strange. Think it strange
if you do not have them. Because you'd be the only one,
didn't you, if you're a child of God. He chastens every son. He scourges every son whom He
receives. Is there any of us that are so
good that we don't need to be chastened? He could be chasing
me all day long. It'd be just to be chasing me
all day long, every day, 24-7. But here's how we handle these
fiery trials. Here's how we handle them. But
rejoice. Well, it sounds like strange language, doesn't it?
The Bible is strange language to natural man. But to the believer,
Peter can say, to these believers. Rejoice! But Peter, you don't
know what I'm going through. Yes, I do. You remember back
in Acts when the disciples were beaten for preaching in His name? They were told not to do that,
and they did it, and they were beaten. And they went back rejoicing
that they were counted worthy to suffer for His namesake. They
went back rejoicing. And Peter says, Rejoice! In as
much as you are partakers, rejoice in this fact that you are partakers
of Christ's sufferings. If you are a partaker of His
suffering, you will be a partaker of His glory. We all want that. Everybody wants
that. Everybody wants to go to heaven, don't they? Everybody
wants to go to heaven. But we don't want to suffer. Not naturally. I mean, it's just
not something we want to do. But he says here, rejoice if
you are a partaker of the sufferings of Christ. This means that you
are in union with Christ. That you are a part of the body
of Christ. See, our Lord suffered for us
in the flesh. He suffered for sin. He put that
away. But now his body, the church, while in this life is going to
still suffer. Not like he suffered for sin
and put it away. Not like he suffered under the
justice of God, but we still suffer being in this world. And
he says, Peter says here, rejoice. I've lost my home. I've lost my home over the gospel.
I've lost my family over the gospel. I've lost my life over
the gospel. Rejoice! Can you do that? Oh, I tell you what, Christ will
have to be very real to you if you can do that. Very real. Rejoice in that you are a part
of His body. You are a partaker of Christ.
The sufferings that Peter is writing here about has to do
with our witness of Christ, our union to Christ, And He says
rejoice when you suffer for that. Being a faithful witness in this
world, in this life, will bring trouble. Being a faithful witness in an
ungodly world will bring tribulation. He that will live godly in this
present world shall suffer persecution. To live godly is just to live
for Christ. That's what it is. It's to carry
on His witness. That's just what we're doing
here. It's not to deny Him when given the opportunity to speak
for Him. Rejoice! These trials have come
our way by the will of God, and we partake of these trials because
we are part of the body of Christ, and our attitude is to be this,
one of rejoicing. How opposite, how opposite is
the spiritual realm to the natural realm? How opposite? Rejoice. Look over in 2 Timothy chapter
2. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, In verse
12, if we suffer, well, let me go to verse 11, it is a faithful
saying, if we be dead with him, if we have died in Christ, we
shall also live with him. Now, we want that, don't we?
We want that. But here, you know, verse 11
or verse 12 is what we have to understand. Here's what we need
to understand, if we suffer, And we shall do that if we are
attached to Him. We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him,
He'll also deny us. But we cannot be a part of the
body of Christ and not suffer. Not suffer these fiery trials.
Not be despised and rejected of men like He was, as He was. And if you be reproached for
the name of Christ, Happy are ye. Happy. Not cast down. Not crying, woe
is me. Peter says, you are to be envied. You believers are to be envied. You have been counted worthy
to suffer for Christ's sake. You are bearing reproach for
the name of Christ. Be happy. That's a privilege. That's a great honor. That's
a badge of honor. Paul said he would not glory
in anything but what? His sufferings. His sufferings
for Christ's sake. That's what he gloried in. He
gloried in the cross. He gloried in his infirmities.
He said, I glory in my infirmities. Those are the things he gloried
in. He didn't glory in his gifts that God gave him as an apostle.
He didn't glory in all his abilities that he had. He gloried in his
impurities. When I am weak, then am I strong. Oh, I tell you, if you really want
to be strong in Christ, you'll have to become weak in yourselves.
You really will. And you'll become totally dependent
on Him to carry you through. If you be reproached for the
name of Christ, happy are you. For the Spirit, that's the Holy
Spirit of God. This is the Spirit, the eternal
Spirit of glory. That eternal Spirit of glory,
the Holy Spirit and of God rests, abides upon you. He abides upon you. You're not
alone. On their part, He's evil spoken
of because of you. But on your part, He glorified. He glorified. When you are reproached
for the name of Christ, don't be cast down in your soul. Be
happy. Truly be happy that you've been counted worthy to be among
that number of those who have suffered for Christ's sake. And
then secondly, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is upon you. He
abides upon you. That same Spirit that abode upon
Him as He walked through this life on this earth, that same
Spirit abides upon you. That same Spirit of power, that
same Spirit of grace, it abides upon you. They'll blaspheme the
name of Christ because of you. Of course, they have to make
things up. They always have to make things up and twist things.
But on your part, be glorified. He's glorified in our conduct.
He's glorified in the faith that He gives us as we walk through
this life. He's glorified in our sufferings, just as He was
glorified in His sufferings for us. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a
thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody. Notice how they
put this busybody right in there with murder and thieves. They
put it right in there. Here's what he's saying. Peter's
writing to them about suffering. Suffering for Christ's sake.
What an honor. It's an honor to be counted worthy. But not
all suffering is to be rejoiced in. If you suffer as a murderer,
don't rejoice in that. If you suffer as a thief or an
evildoer, don't rejoice in that. If you're a busybody reaching
into other men's matters, other people's business and trying
to manipulate and control what's going on there. One writer said
this is talking about reaching into other churches, pastors
reaching into another church and trying to reach into their
affairs. He says that's a busybody. It's
like me reaching into one of these other churches and kind
of stirring things up. He said, don't do that. And he
puts those busybodies in the same thing as murder, thief,
and evildoers. He said, now, don't rejoice in
that. Not all suffering is to be rejoiced
in. Only that which is for Christ's sake. Only that which comes to
you because of your union to the Lord Jesus Christ. For being
a Christian. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian,
don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed. Paul said to
Timothy, Timothy, don't be ashamed of me. Don't be ashamed of the
gospel or of me, his prisoner. Don't be ashamed. What is a Christian? Now today
that word, that name is so misused, but you know what? It's still
a good name. And it's still a biblical name, even though it's misused. You know, they use, Paul said
they'll come preaching another Jesus. Are we going to quit using
his name? Here's a Christian, simply put, a Christian is a
Christ follower. I should say the Christ follower.
He's one who follows the Lord. He is a disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And if any man suffers for following
Christ, Bunyan, why are you in prison? He's in prison. Not for being
a busybody. Not for being a thief. But for
following Christ. Following His Lord. So if any
man suffers for following after Christ, don't be ashamed. You
know, if I suffer for Something I've done, some crime or something
I've done, that's something I need to be ashamed of. But if they
came in here right now and locked me up for the gospel I preach,
that's nothing to be ashamed of. And he's saying this, you've
been ran out of your homes. Paul went and hailed, he said,
men and women to prison. Don't be ashamed of that. Don't
be ashamed. Rejoice that you were counted
worthy. to suffer for His name's sake. Thank God, and then listen. Thank God, and he's serious about
this. Thank God for the ability and
the privilege to suffer for Christ's sake. Thank Him for the ability
and the privilege of being able to suffer for His name's sake.
For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God
And if it began at us, what shall the end be of them that obey
not the gospel? If God sends trials, afflictions, the chastening rod, if He sends
that on us, on His children whom He loves, if He will Now listen,
if he will take a child of his and strip him of his home, strip
him of his children, strip him of his job, if he'll do that
to one of his children, if that chasing hand of God does that
out of love to his child, what's it going to be when he unleashes
his justice on those who despise his son? If God will do that
to his children, if judgment, and he's talking here about chastening,
trials and afflictions, if he'll do that with his children, what
will he do to the ungodly? What will he do to the ungodly? That's why he's asking. You know, back, if you look in
the Old Testament, over in Isaiah 10 and Jeremiah
25. Let's go to Ezekiel 9. Let me
just show you one Scripture here. Generally, this happens. When
God's going to bring judgment on a place, generally, He starts
at His house. He sends a chastening rod on
His house and then He deals with those outside of the house. In
Ezekiel 9. Ezekiel chapter 9. Let me see
the verses I want to read. In verse 5, And to the others
he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and
smite, let not your eyes spare, neither have you pity. And he
had told them before to go through and mark and put a mark on the
forehead. of his people, because he's going
to go through and slay, slay utterly old and young, both maids
and little children and women, but come not near any man upon
whom is the mark. And listen, now listen, and I
want you to begin at my sanctuary. I want you to begin at my sanctuary,
at my house. I'm going to send trials and
affliction to my house. And then I'll deal with those
outside the house. That's generally what happened. What awful poor
man shall he be worthy of who despises the Son of God and does despite to the Spirit
of grace? But if judgment, if affliction
and trials begin with us for whom Christ died, now we're not
under the judgment of God ever. We're not under punishment, it's
the chastening hand of God. What's going to be the end of
those who do not believe? And if the righteous scarcely,
and really this needs to be translated like this, and if the righteous
with difficulty, this is a better translation, if the righteous
with difficulty be saved, Where shall the ungodly and the sinner
be? Salvation is not easy. It was not an easy work. It's not an easy believism, is
it? Strive to enter in, he said. That doesn't sound like something
easy. Labor to rest. Does that sound easy? Not at
all. This does not mean that we are
barely saved by the skin of our teeth. It doesn't mean that at
all. We are secure in Christ. We cannot
fail. We cannot fall. He shall not
lose a sheep. We are secure as secure can be
in Him. But here's what it means with
difficulty. If the righteous are saved with
difficulty, there is a justice. There is a law of justice that
has to be satisfied. Can you do it? There was only one man that could
do that. And look what it did to him. Look what justice did
to him in saving sinners like you and me. Difficulty. He was
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. That's difficulty. Righteousness had to be established
by a man in this life. And that was not done without
difficulty. He was opposed on every hand. Tried and tempted
on every step. He was in the wilderness for
40 days and 40 nights. Hunger after 40 days and 40 nights. And Satan came and tempted him.
Difficulty. Our salvation came with difficulty.
We have a sinful nature that has to be dealt with. And it
stays with us until we die. Faith. Isaiah said, Who hath
believed our report? Well, just believe. Well, just
believe, then do it. No man can believe unless God
gives him life. Unless God gives life, unless
God gives spiritual life from the dead, a man can't believe.
Dead men don't believe. Man has to be regenerated to
believe. Faith and repentance do not produce regeneration.
Regeneration produces faith and repentance. And that's what has
to happen with difficulty. Straightens the gate and narrows
the way. Few there be that find it. We've got to be raised from spiritual
death. If the righteous with difficulty,
these difficulties, be saved, then where are the ungodly going
to appear who believe not on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Where are they going to appear? Wherefore, here's our attitude,
and I'll close. Here's our attitude and resolve
under these trials. Wherefore, let them that suffer
according to the will of God. And that's how we have to view
our suffering, according to the will of God. It's not why me. And I know sometimes I feel like
that. I know I felt like that. Why
am I going through this? I'm suffering this according
to the will of God, and let's just see what comes out of it. Here's what you do. Here's your
attitude. Commit. Commit. Paul said that he's able to keep
that which I have committed unto him against that day. Commit
it all to him. If someone walked in that
door, they was going to take me and my wife and they was going
to separate us and put us in prison and we're going to die. I'd have to keep, I'd have to
commit the keeping of my soul. I'd have to commit to Him the
ability not to recant, not to back down. I'd have to trust
Him. to keep me from leaving. Commit. You can't do it. Peter's saying to these young
believers who've been scattered right out of the town, he's saying
you can't do this. Commit your soul. Commit the
keeping of your soul to Him. Commit the keeping of your soul
to Him in well-doing that you'll do well. Lord, you look at this. I'm sure when they looked at
this, they were frightened. They were scared. You know they
were scared. And He said, you commit the keeping of your soul
unto Him in well-doing. Lord, enable me to bear a good
witness for your name's sake. And have a way to do it. In well-doing,
as unto a faithful Creator. He's the one who made you. You
didn't make yourself, you didn't make yourself the first time
and you didn't make yourself the second time. You commit yourself
unto him as unto a faithful creator. For he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He will
not leave the work of his hands. So you commit it to him and you
commit it, you rest in him and you be patient under these trials. His will will be done. And in
a little while, all will be well. Where is that church now? Where is that church now? They are before the throne of
God's grace rejoicing. That young church, that early
church that went through all that persecution with Nero, They
were burned at the stake. That church is with our Lord
rejoicing. Can we do less? Okay, Mike.