Well I want to continue looking
in 1 Peter and in the first chapter this morning and we're going
to focus on verses 6 to 9 and I've entitled the message Rejoicing
and Heaviness. Last week we looked at the heavenly
inheritance in verse 4 of chapter 1 because those who are kept
by the power of God through faith have a hope and they have a promise
made to them by God of eternal salvation, which is ready to
be revealed in the last time. It's a certainty. It's coming.
But for now, we live in this life. You see, as an illustration,
Noah was saved from the floodwaters by the ark. But the objective
was not that he remained forever in the ark, the objective was
that he stand on dry land. And so believers are saved, we're
saved, really saved now from wrath and judgment and condemnation.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
believing in him, knowing that you're counted in him, united
with him. There is no condemnation. But
we live through this life waiting for when we go to eternal glory. We're saved from condemnation,
from hell. But the final state, the final
state is heaven. And as Paul writes to the Romans
in Romans 13 and 11, now is our salvation nearer than when we
believe. By which he means, now is the
final, full, complete, experience of the salvation that is wrought.
It's then in heaven when we go to glory and every day that passes
in this life, count it like this believer, you're one day nearer,
you're one day nearer, that's another one down, you're one
day nearer, one day nearer, that state and we saw that those who
have this lively hope which is what it's called in verse three
a lively hope begotten to a lively hope have you got a lively hope
a lively hope of this eternal glory a lively hope you've got
it because Christ has risen from the dead and therefore that's
the guarantee that you will too but those that have this lively
hope are scattered strangers. That's how we're described. That's
how believers are described in verse 1. Believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ are described as scattered strangers. They're
also described as elect in verse 2. Elect. Elect. Peter, the apostle
writing this, God the Holy Spirit inspiring There is no shame,
there is no embarrassment at the concept of election. You
go round the so-called thriving churches of this town, up and
down it, and you listen out, I'm not telling you to, please
don't, they're not good places to go, but if you did, you would
not hear election spoken of. They do not believe in election,
they believe it's a vile doctrine, they believe it's a terrible
doctrine, they believe it's a grossly unfair, politically incorrect
doctrine. Not the word of God. Not the
apostles of Christ. Elect, he says. If you're a believer,
it's because you're elect. It's because God elected you.
As Paul says to the Romans in Romans 8, 29 and 30, where he
talks about all things working together for good to those who
love God, who are called according to his purpose, that God has
a sovereign purpose. And in that sovereign purpose,
he foreknew a specific people, meaning that he loved them. with
an everlasting love and he set his love and his grace upon them
to predestinate them is the next thing it says predestinate this
is this is the language of scripture a scripture isn't ashamed of
election purpose foreknowledge predestination and in that predestination
he calls that specific people that multitude that no man can
number he calls them in eternity with the name of his son He betroths
them to his Son, and he calls them by his Spirit in time. He
calls now to his people. He calls them out, children of
wrath, even as others. Children of wrath, just like
everybody else, yet he calls them with an irresistible call. You cannot put it off. You cannot
resist it. because he's justified his people
in the Lord Jesus Christ, because in Christ the books are balanced,
the books are satisfied, the justice of God is happy, there
is no condemnation, there is no punishment to bring, for Christ
has borne it and paid it all, the ransom has been paid, Deliver
him from going down to the pit, says the scripture. I have found
a ransom, says the Lord God. Who is the ransom? He himself,
in the person of his son, is the ransom for sins. And on the
basis of that he has justified his people. And so I stand. Do I fear judgment? No. We must
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, but I don't fear
it as a believer, for I know that when those books are opened,
the only thing that will be known is that my name is written in
the Lamb's book of life. That's the only book that will
matter to me. And therefore, we shall be. We're
as good as glorified already. For the scripture says, the people
of God, believers, are seated in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. But whilst in the flesh, whilst we live in flesh and bones
and blood in this world, we're scattered strangers. In what
respect? In what respect? Generally speaking,
the true people of God are dispersed in small numbers. Is that not
what the scripture tells us again and again? Oh, if only we were
in a big congregation of hundreds of people. Do you know, I think
that there are so few like that around the world these days.
There are hardly any true congregations. where you would count the numbers
in the congregation in the hundreds. Very, very few. This is the norm. This is the norm in this world.
It really is. You can almost use it as an acid
test. When the crowds are flocking,
crowds of this world, generally speaking, do not flock to hear
the gospel. They do not. We're scattered
strangers, dispersed in small numbers. And in what respect
strangers? Well, I'll tell you. estranged
from the world around, you say oh well we get on with neighbours
and such, yes of course we do, we try to, we try to live at
peace with all men but in terms of thinking philosophy of life,
values, the things that people count as right and wrong and
good and bad, do you not find increasingly that you're a stranger
if you're a believer? You're a stranger. People in
the office, people around you, neighbours, unbelieving relatives,
they have thoughts and values that are the values of the kingdom
of Satan. Remember Revelation, the Kingdom
of Satan, the Kingdom of Antichrist? Satan's objective is to try to
establish this idea of some eternal good without satisfaction of
the justice of God. And the Gospel tells us that
cannot be done. It is only in the blood of the Lamb, slain
from the foundation of the world, coming in time to die on Calvary,
It is only in that that divine justice is established and eternity
is assured. Only in that that the thinking
of the world around us is the thinking of the beast, Satan's
beast, and Satan's false prophet that does all of his lying wonders.
Everything that we see around us today, all of its thinking,
all of its values, all of its spirit, true believers are strangers
from that. But nevertheless, verse 2, where
in verse two it talks about unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ. We're obediently following the
creed of the gospel. and the precepts of the gospel.
Now, you say, yeah, well I have good days and bad days. That's
true, don't we all? Don't we all? We're always in
the flesh. Don't ever think that sanctification
is going to make your flesh get better and better until it's
fit for heaven. It isn't. Flesh is always flesh. Flesh
is always sinful. Flesh may be stubborn, but ultimately,
true believers obey. obey. What do they obey? They
obey the creed of the gospel. That's the doctrine of the gospel,
the teaching of the gospel. True believers don't go, oh,
I can't be doing with this election stuff. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
True believers believe what God has said. We obey the creed of
the gospel. And not only that, we obey the
precepts of the gospel. where God calls his people, as
he does later on in this first chapter of Peter's first epistle,
to be holy, to live a life which is different from the standards
and the thinking and the delights and the pleasures of this world
all around. No. We're obedient to the creed
and precepts of the gospel, and living under the sprinkled blood,
to the blood of sprinkling, of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What's that? It's living in the knowledge
and the constant awareness that we're under the blessings bought
for us by Christ shedding his blood, the accomplished redemption,
the satisfaction made to the law of God by the blood of Christ.
But though so eternally blessed and certain of inheriting it,
we're not yet in possession of it. You know, in this land we've
got the great big country estates of sort of 200 years ago. You know, read Jane Austen and
you see the kind of thing. We've got several of them very,
very close to us. And you can go and, at times
you can go and stand on a high point and look down on the estate. I think of Chatsworth House in
Derbyshire. at the seat of the Duke of Devonshire. And you can go up on the hills
and you can look down. Now I imagine that in times past
the heir of the estate, the one who was destined to inherit the
estate when his father died, would have gone up on that hill
and would have looked down and would have thought, all of that's
mine by inheritance. But do you know what? It's not
mine to do what I want with today. There's a time for that to come. And in that way, Believers in
this life were like the air viewing from a distance or from a height
the estate that will be ours. It isn't yet in our possession.
It's as good as the documents are legal and are written to
prove it, but it isn't yet ours to enjoy fully, for we're still
in this flesh. In God's perfect purposes, those
he has saved from wrath, must live a while with trials and
temptations in this life, in this flesh. Verse 6 says, though
now for a season, just for a season, read with me again verses 6 to
9, he's talking about salvation kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time
wherein, verse six, 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 perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen ye love, in whom, though
now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls. Do you see the, what I might
call the conundrum of faith there? On the one hand, as believers,
there is great rejoicing, great rejoicing. But for now, for a
season in this life, there is much heaviness. rejoicing and
heaviness, the conundrum of faith, the experience of true believers. Those who have true faith, the
true faith of God's elect, rejoice in their salvation. It says,
through faith unto salvation, wherein ye greatly rejoice. Yes,
they rejoice in the fact that they are saved from wrath to
come. They rejoice in the fact that
there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
But you know, What is it to rejoice in your salvation? It's this,
is to rejoice in Christ Jesus. For we, says Paul to the Philippians,
chapter three, verse three, we are the true people of God, the
true circumcision, we who worship God in the spirit, who rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Rejoicing in salvation is rejoicing
in Christ Jesus, because he is our salvation. There is no salvation
except for Jesus Christ. You cannot be saved outside of
Jesus Christ. He said himself, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. except through him. You cannot
come any other way. There is not one God on the top
of this great sort of mountain, and there are all sorts of different
ways up to God. There is the Muslim way, and
there's the Christian way, and there's the Buddhist way. No,
there isn't. One way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life, said Christ. No man comes to the Father except
by me. He is our salvation. And even though we don't physically
see him, look at verse 8, whom have we not seen? We haven't
seen him with our eyes, have we? You might have seen artists'
attempts to picture him, but they're all false, and I think
shouldn't have been done. You know, graven images is what
they are. They're a misrepresentation. God says, don't make to yourself
any graven images, don't do that. No, we've not seen him physically,
but even though we haven't seen him, if you believe him, if you
know he saved you from your sins, you love him. in whom, though
now ye see him not, yet believing." Ah, you do see him, you see.
You don't see him with physical eyes, with physical rays of light,
forming a physical image on your retina. No, you don't see him
like that, like I'm seeing you sat here this morning. No. But
you do see him by believing, by faith, the sight of the soul
that sees things that the natural man in his sinful flesh cannot
see, for they're spiritually discerned. The Holy Spirit gives
that light to believe, to have faith, to see, to look to Him,
to rejoice. You believe and you rejoice with
joy. Describe your joy to me, you
who believe. You can't, it's unspeakable and
full of glory. Describe, what is it about this
joy that you have in believing? You can't plumb the depths of
it. It is so profound. You rejoice. And it's not just the fact of
the existence of Christ that causes you to rejoice. It's not
just the fact of his existence, it's not just that he and he
alone is the manifestation of the invisible God to people like
us, to flesh and blood. It's not just that, as the scripture
says, in him, in Christ, dwells, listen to this, mull this over,
in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead, bodily, and all
of the mystery of it, that God was manifest in the flesh, as
Paul writes to Timothy, God was manifest in the flesh. It's not
just that, the thing that rejoices your heart is the accomplishment
of his coming into time. What did he do when he came into
time? He saved his people from their sins. He saved to the uttermost
those who come to God by him. He has accomplished, he has made
a salvation which is entirely, perfectly suited to our condition. Infinite God in flesh and blood,
infinite God, therefore able. No, what's going to pay the debt
for your sins and mine? And a world of people like us
from all parts of the world. That's what it means when it
talks about God so loved the world. A world of sinners like
us from different races. Only infinite God can do that. Only infinite God in flesh and
blood can be the substitute and the surety of his people. For
as Paul writes to the Hebrews Just as the children, that is
us, the believers, are partakers of flesh and blood, you know
we inhabit, it's like a tent, isn't it, that we wander around
in, this tabernacle, it's a tent that we live, this spirit that
is me lives in this bag of flesh and bones for a period of time,
just as I I'm in this bag of fleshing bones. So he had to,
likewise he had to partake of the same. Why? So that he through
death might conquer him, who controls death as it were, Satan,
who has the power of death as in Satan No, this is a full salvation
that precisely meets our every need for sin debt payment. And
it's free. Think of it. It's free. It requires
no payment whatsoever. I have loved them freely, says
God in Hosea, of his people. I have loved them freely, requiring
no payment in return. He says, right at the very end
of the Bible in Revelation 22, come, come, come to the waters,
come, buy, drink, partake of it freely. There's no charge. Freely. And it's certain. It's
an everlasting salvation. Again and again, God says through
the writers of scripture, in Isaiah, for example, Isaiah 45,
he's talking about the futility of idols. how pointless it is
to worship idols and people do you know I know superstitious
folk have little icons that they worship and chains around their
neck that they think bring them luck and all sorts of stuff like
that but you know you don't need to have any of that and still
be an idolater if you've got the wrong view of God an idol
is a false view of God it's a human fallen false view of God And
Isaiah talks about the futility of idols, but he says, but Israel
shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. It's certain. It's guaranteed.
It's forever. Oh, the blessings of this. Why
do we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory? The peace
that flows from it. How often in the epistles does
Paul and the other writers talk about peace from God. Peace. What a blessing peace is, to
know. I will, as Psalm 4 says, I will
lay me down and sleep in peace. God has done that for me. In
salvation, God has given me peace in my heart. The peace flowing
from the knowledge of my salvation, the comfort of it. And the result
of it, verse 9, receiving the end of your faith, the objective
of your faith, the goal of your faith, which is the salvation
of your souls. Yes, we're saved now if we believe. He who believes on me shall be
saved, yes, but this is the Final inheritance, you come down off
that hill looking at it and you walk into the house and it's
yours. And you possess it. In my father's house are many
mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.
And this is the inheritance of it. Receiving the end of your
faith, even the salvation of your souls. Oh, there's so much
honour and glory reserved in heaven. for the believing people
of God at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Psalm 21 verse 1, Psalm
of David. The King shall joy in thy strength,
O Lord, and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice. This is what the people of God
do, believers. They rejoice in salvation. Could any worldly inheritance
be more precious or more desirable? Oh, wouldn't it be good if I
got this, that or the other? Well, you might think so for
a while. But could any worldly inheritance be more precious
or more desirable? The martyrs prove that not even
life can be traded for it. If you have that, it's the pearl
of greatest price. You'll sell everything else,
including life in this flesh, to possess that. But, though
we rejoice in this salvation, there is heaviness. Wherein ye
greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations. Believers, elect
scattered strangers in this world, are quietly, inwardly rejoicing
that they are saved and rejoicing in the Saviour. As just the next
chapter, chapter 2 verse 7 says, unto you therefore which believe
He is precious. Christ is precious. but still
in the flesh in this world and subject to manifold temptations. Imagine a long piece of cloth,
you know where they sell cloth and you know people that are
skillful at handling it, it always fascinates me on the big long
slippery benches they get a big bolt of cloth out and how they
pull some off the roll and it's folded, well imagine a many folded
Manifold, that's what it means. Manifolded piece of cloth. And
if you've got a manifolded piece of cloth on a slippery table,
and you start to unfold it, you start to pull it out, The next
fold opens, something surprising's there. Something surprising has
been left. Oh, and then the next one. Oh,
something else surprising. This is the idea that there are
things hidden from us as we walk through this life. And as a result,
these things can be very trying things. They can be trials and
temptations. And they can cause heaviness,
heaviness of spirit, heaviness. You know what it is, you know
what it's like when there's lightness of spirit, everything's good,
but heaviness, burdened, weighed down, held back, progress held
back. But do you know, they're all
ordained for the child of God by a loving Heavenly Father who
does them for a purpose, who brings them for a purpose. This
is the way to look at them. There's a very good illustration,
you know, a sailing ship, A sailing ship needs ballast in the bottom
of it. A sailing ship must have ballast
in the bottom. If it's to sail, if it's to be
able to set its sails, if it's to be able to ride in rough seas,
if it's to be able to make use of the wind, then it must have
that which weighs it down. Heaviness. It must have that
which makes it harder to speed up. Heaviness. It must have that
which makes it harder to stop. Heaviness. It has this heaviness,
like ballast in the weight in the bottom of the ship, to keep
it stable in rough seas, to keep it manageable, to keep it handleable. and in the wisdom of God, he
gives us that ballast of trials and temptations as we go through
this life in the flesh. And we all have different ones,
they're necessary for this life, they're ordained and sent by
God to each of his elect people to test them. Verse 7 talks about
the trial of your faith. Trials, tried with fire is the
language used here. Just as Pilgrim, Bunyan's Pilgrim,
in Pilgrim's Progress, he journeyed to the Celestial City, to Heaven,
and was often tried, that's what the story's about, the trials
on the way, the narrow way, the hill difficulty, all of these
things, he was restrained, he was diverted, he was caused to
struggle. So God sends his people trials. But note, for a season, for a
season, if need be, if he considers it necessary for a season, Time
limited, trials of providence, the things that we have a need
for this life can be very trying. Circumstances, unseen events. that crop up, like in the folds
of that manifold piece of cloth. Trials of health. Job is the
classic example in scripture of this kind of trial. You don't
need to turn to it, but I'll read it to you. Job chapter 7,
verses 3 and 4. He says, So am I made to possess
months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. Months
of vanity, wearisome nights are appointed to me. I know some
of you know something of this. When I lie down, I say, when
shall I arise and the night be gone? And I am full of tossings
to and fro unto the dawning of the day. My flesh is clothed
with worms and clods of dust. My skin is broken and become
loathsome. You see how this is the experience. Remember, that was sent by God.
God said to Satan, have you considered my servant, Joe? Have you considered
him? Known for his uprightness, have
you considered him? No ill health can strike without
any notice at any time. Family trials can arise out of
completely unexpected situations. Problems of work and career and
earning a living and doing the right thing can arise. We are
subject to them as are all people, all people in general, all people
in general are. Job 5 verse 7, man is born unto
trouble as the sparks fly upward. Yes, but these are the experience
in the purpose of God for his people. The teaching of scripture
is very clear about chastisement of his people in this life. You
can read about it in Hebrews chapter 12, it's also in 1 Corinthians
as well. Clearly about the chastisement
and the trials that God sends his people but it's for their
good. It's to ballast down their progress
that it might be more stable and more productive in his own
purposes. And temptations are sent too.
What are temptations? Manifold temptations. Traps set
by Satan to ensnare God's people. Temptations in thought. Temptations
of covetousness. Temptations of carnal lusts.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, lead us not into temptation. in the wisdom of God, they're
needful for the pilgrim's progress to heaven. In Paul writing to
the Philippians says that where he wants to be, I want to know
him, Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and listen
to this, the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable
to his death. The fact that they cause the
believer heaviness you know, which they do, is of a type that
the world doesn't know in its troubles. It causes the believer
heaviness because it testifies to faith within. We know it's
from the Lord. And often, in proportion to faith,
are trials. Do you remember that Paul gave
his account of his experience, how He was transported up to
heaven, as it were, and he says that there were things I saw
that I mustn't speak about. It's not lawful to speak about
the things that I saw. And lest I be exalted above measure,
he said, lest I be exalted above measure, there was given to me
a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that he
might glory in God and not in the things that he'd seen. And
God, that's when God told him, he prayed three times that it
be taken away. And God said, my grace is sufficient
for you. My grace is sufficient for you.
No, this is not gonna be taken away. This is your experience
for this life. And also think of these trials
and temptations as they come in our experience. If we never
had them, would we ever be prompted to pray? Is there anything quite
like trials and temptations that come the believer's way to prompt
to prayer? We hear of brethren who are going
through particular difficulties and it prompts us to pray for
our brethren. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ
himself was described as a man of sorrows. Not a good laugh,
which is the thing that people like to be described as today,
oh he's a good laugh. No, he was described as a man
of sorrows. He has a feeling for our infirmities. How does he have a feeling for
our infirmities? Because he inhabited, he, God,
our God, inhabited human flesh. Oh yes, we all have a cross to
bear daily in this life, but here what Peter is talking about
is heavy burdens. for a season, if need be. Daily cross in this life just
being strangers. in this world, in this flesh,
but times come for a season, if need be, in the purposes of
God, that he sends heavy trials, but always for our ultimate benefit. And let's think a bit more about
this trial of your faith. You may ask, why does God send
heavy trials to his children? Verse seven, that the trial of
your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. The trial of
your faith. First of all, is there any faith? This is one thing. Is there any
faith? Do you have faith? Do you have
the faith of God's elect? For the true child of God though
not understanding the trials at the time, though being burdened
and in heaviness with them at the time, true faith cannot let
go. True faith says, as Job said,
though he slay me, yet will I praise him. I can't not praise him.
I've seen him, I know something of him. Though he slay me, yet
will I praise him. Faith cannot let go. Abraham
had various trials. and Abraham failed more than
once, do you remember the occasions when he lied about Sarah being
his sister and not his wife because he feared that he would be killed
so that they could have Sarah as their wife, Abimelech and
it was Pharaoh wasn't it, in Egypt he failed, he was tried
and he failed, but but when the ultimate trial came through for
him that of sacrificing his own son Isaac which is such a gospel
picture, that ultimate trial of Genesis 22, his faith shone
through as the genuine article. Is there faith? Trials prove
the depth and strength of faith. Notional belief, you can say,
yes, I believe all of these things, and that's easy to do, isn't
it? When things are easy, but subject that faith to a period
for a season, if need be, subjected to heaviness, to trials that
are hard to handle, that are a real challenge. You see, It
talks about fire. This is like the refiner's fire
in verse 7. Purifying the gold, burning out
the impurities, making it more and more pure. It's the intense
heat of the crucible that burns off the impurities from the metal. It's that real heaviness, that
real fierce burning of the flame. Fires burn up false faith. Trials, heavy trials, which are
likened to fires, they burn up false faith. But Christ prays
for his people. He prayed for Peter, the writer
of this epistle. He prayed for him that his faith
fail not. Satan's desired to have you,
he said, Luke 22. Satan's desired to have you,
but I have prayed for you. Believer, Christ prays, he intercedes,
he's a mediator. interceding before the throne
of the infinite God for his people. you see the lives that believers
live as Galatians 2.20 tells us are lived by the faith of
Jesus Christ who loved me and gave himself for me if true faith
could fail when tested then everything else must fail no it's a test
of true faith and what a possession faith is what it is to possess
faith to have the faith of God's elect to possess faith is to
possess Christ himself. This is it. It's trying. These
things try us. Do we really have Him? Do we
really have Christ? Because to have faith is to have
Him. And if you have Him, He is precious to you. 1 Peter 2
verse 7. I'll mention again the martyrs.
You've heard of the martyrs. And they're put in a position,
you know, by the inquisitors. and they're told renounce this
belief renounce this doctrine of salvation in Christ alone
renounce this doctrine or you will die you will be burned at
the stake this is this was what happened to the martyrs five
hundred years ago less than that even renounce this belief renounce
this doctrine or you will die and to those martyrs you read
Foxe's book of martyrs you read the history of the reformation
in England you read these things and you'll see that for those
martyrs This was no contest. Those two women, an older woman
and a younger woman, in the Solway Firth up near Carlisle, Scottish
Covenanters, believing the true gospel, and for their faith,
do you know what they did to them? They tied them to posts
out in the estuary. You know, it's very tidal up
there, 30 feet of tidal flow. And they tied them at low tide
in the estuary, and they told them, renounce what you say you believe
and will let you go. Could they? No. No. Couldn't. Couldn't. Because what they believed and
the salvation that they had was so precious. The Christ that
they had was so precious. And what was the cold water of
the Solway Firth coming in to drown them? an entrance into
the everlasting presence of the King of Glory. No, no contents.
What is a man advantaged, said Jesus, if he gain the whole world
and lose his soul? Isn't that powerful? What gain
is that? Gain the whole world and everything
in it, richest man on earth, but lose your soul. Oh, what
will a man give for his soul? What will he give? Well this
is for now. If need be for a season. These
heavy trials come for a season. And this time in the flesh is
but for a season because, verse 7, it will go on being tried
that it might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. And I'll be brief. When all the
trials of this life are over, either by the individual believer
dying and going to be with Christ, as he said to that thief on the
cross, this day shall you be with me in paradise, or when
Christ comes again to bring all things to an end, the result
will be only praise and honor and glory. for all that Christ
has accomplished, for all that He is, being conformed to His
image. In Romans 8, 29, that we might
be conformed. This predestination, this foreknowledge
is that we might be conformed to the image of His Son. When
we shall see Him, 1 John 3, verse 2, we shall be like Him, for
we shall see Him as He is. And therefore, being like Him,
we shall be with Him in heavenly glory. glory and honour and praise
at the appearing of Jesus Christ. But verse 8, For now, whom having
not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not yet believing,
ye rejoice, for a season, for now, while still in this flesh,
for now, not seeing physically but by faith, nevertheless, rejoicing. Despite the conundrum of faith,
the rejoicing and the heaviness of the trials and the temptations,
the ultimate objective is verse nine, that we receive, we're
guaranteed to receive the objective of your faith, which is the salvation
of your souls. That's it. Oh, what blessings,
how blessed, how Paul describes it, blessed with every spiritual
blessing in heavenly places in Christ. This is the path we must
tread as believers through this life, constantly strangers, daily
bearing crosses, occasionally enduring heavy trials, so that
Christ becomes ever more precious until we go to be with him.