1 Peter chapter 4, and I want
to read for you this morning verses 12, 13, and 14. Beloved, think it not strange,
don't think it something alien or foreign, concerning the fiery
trial which is to try you. as though some strange thing
happened to you, but rejoice inasmuch to the degree as you
are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory shall be
revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy." Just those
two verses is my text this morning. The suffering saints. The suffering
saints. Peter is writing to the saints.
If you remember reading this epistle in chapter 1, he is writing
to God's elect. To the Lord's chosen people.
Those that He had chosen in His Son before they even had a being. And he reminds them where they
were living. In several countries. Several
large countries. these saints were living in.
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia. Large countries. But they hadn't went there voluntarily. Most of them had been driven
there. Most of them from Israel. They had been driven there to
these countries. He said you're scattered throughout. They had been scattered. One
way or another, by persecutions mainly. Some, no doubt, taken
captive in the Old Testament. In the early church, they had
great persecutions. You remember different times.
Even Saul of Tarsus made havoc of the church. And they were
driven everywhere, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. Preaching
His Word. That was probably some of these
people years. I don't know for sure when these people were scattered,
but Peter reminds them that they're scattered strangers. He makes
these three statements to them. You're suffering, you're scattered,
and you're strangers. Now, they weren't strangers to
God, were they? They were God's elect. God knew
them before they ever had a being. Before I found you in the womb,
I knew you." This had to be some comfort to these suffering saints
just to be reminded that though the world counted on them as
strangers, God knew them. God knew them before they had
a being and wrote their names down in the Lamb Book of Life.
The Son of God knew them. He said, I know my sheep. And
I laid down my life for my sheep. You are no stranger to me, He
said. And I tell you, the Holy Spirit knew them too, didn't
He? When He called them, He knew right where they were. I called
you by your name. He calls His sheep by their name. And He regenerated them. He put
His graces in their hearts. He knew them. I tell you, they
were strangers to this world. And so are you, if the Lord has
saved you. If you're one of His elect and
He's called you, this world don't understand you. You've been saved
from the course of it. You've been saved from its end,
its awful, awful end. The world counts you a stranger,
a pilgrim just passing through. That's what that word, pilgrims
and strangers, means. It just means you're a bystander.
Here they were in all these countries, and they were just bystanders.
They were looking at what was going on. They had a heavenly
city. That's where their conversation
was. But Peter says, you're strangers in these foreign countries. And
you know it's tough enough to suffer at home, isn't it? But I'm telling you, it's tougher
still to suffer in a strange country. Strangers. Scattered. And every chapter
in the first book of Peter, he deals with these suffering saints. and make mentions of the different
kinds of suffering that they are enduring. In chapter 1 and
verse 6, listen to this. Let me read these two. If now
for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold,
many and different kinds of temptation. Suffering the heaviness of being
tempted. In chapter 2 and verse 9, he
said this is thanksworthy. If a man for conscience towards
God, in dear grief, suffering wrongfully." Suffering because
you are keeping your conscience clear before God. In chapter 3 verse 14, he says,
If you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are you. If you are suffering for Christ's
sake, you are happy. And listen, Be not afraid of
their terror. of their terror. You mean, here
is a child of God, and he's honest and he's sincere? He adores the
God who made him. He worshiped the Savior who redeemed
him. He loves his neighbor. And somebody
is treating him in such a way to intimidate him, terrorize
him. But don't be afraid of their
terror. And look here in chapter 5. Look what he says in chapter
5 of these suffering saints. And look what he says here in
verse 5. Likewise, you younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the
proud, and He gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves,
therefore, unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due season, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for
you. Be sober, be vigilant, because
your adversary the devil is like a roaring lion, walking about
seeking whom he may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith,
knowing that the same afflictions or accomplish their experience
in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all
grace, who has called you unto His eternal glory by Jesus Christ,
after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish
and strengthen and settle you. And then in our text in chapter
4 verse 12, think it not strange concerning the fiery I used to haul metal and went
to a smelting plant. Have you ever been to a smelting
plant where they take all of this scrap metal and they dump
it into these huge tubs and then they put the fire into it? And
it begins to melt the metal down. And by that process, they remove
the draw and make huge chunks of metal. That's what this word
fire, fiery means. It's a smelting pot. And here's the way the prophet
said it. The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,
but the Lord trieth the hearts. A melting pot. Have you ever
been there? Some of you have been there,
haven't you? Boy, things are going along pretty good. You're
free in your mind, in your thoughts. You're free in your body. And
then a trial comes, and then on the top of that another trial
comes, and after a while it gets the heat. You feel the heat put
to your heart, and it's as though you're melting. Fiery trials. Some of you know that I went
down to see Mary and Donnie Bell. You know their situation. Mary
is dying of cancer, and some of you asked me about it. Well,
I'm telling you, it's one of the saddest ordeals I've experienced. I went by the church. I left
Missouri and went by Crossville, and I went by the church, and
Donnie had just finished preaching. They were all outside, so I went
on. I was going to wait on him, but when I got to his house,
walked up to the back porch, and I looked in, and there sat
Mary. She is as bald-headed as I am,
with a few hairs. And I knocked on the door and
she struggled and got up and let me in. And she had swollen. You could hardly recognize her.
Her face was so swollen and her body swollen. And I tucked her
and I hugged her and I kissed her forehead. And she sat back
down and water was running out of her leg. Like a spigot running
out of her leg. And Brother Donnie come to the
door. And you could tell he was wore
out. He preached that morning. He preached that night. And he
come home and he was wore out. There I was sitting almost like
Job's friends looking at Mary. Hardly recognized her. And Brother
Donnie come in and I could tell he was just wore out. And he
says, lightning just struck her house. Lightning just struck her house.
It's destroyed some of our appliances and we have no water. The lightning
struck our well. Menhem was there in the rain
and me holding him alight while that man whose dear wife was
dying of cancer was down in a hole trying to get water. Fiery, fiery
trials. They've been put in a smelting
pot. The heed has been put to them,
and it seems like something strange is happening to them. Something
foreign, something alien is what this word means. Boy, no wonder
Mr. Stover wrote this song. Oh, whither
could we flee for aid when tempted, desolate, dismayed? Or how the
host of held defeat had suffering saints no mercy seat. They're strange to us, aren't
they? They're strange trials. We don't know why they come.
We can't figure them out. Why is this happening? Where
did this trial come from? God knows. He's the author of
it, isn't He? And I tell you too, Satan knows
something about them. And he's there to take advantage
of us in our afflictions. We're not, the Apostle Paul said,
we're not ignorant of his devices. Strange things. There was a young man by the
name of Joseph. We remember him well. He was at home one day with his
mom and his dad, hearing their voices, laughing, talking with
them, rejoicing with them. His dad sent him out to visit
his brethren. The next thing you know, he found
himself in a pit. And then he found himself down
in Egypt among a bunch of strange people. And then he found himself
in prison with his feet in the stocks. And don't you think that
man thought within himself, how did I get here? What is happening
to me? How did I get in such trials
that have melted me, melted my heart down? It's strange. One day Job, a man that God called
perfect and upright in his sight, he was surrounded with all his
children and all of his wealth and good health. And then suddenly
he was sitting on an ash heap full of sores and had lost everything,
even his children. And don't you think he thought
to himself, this is strange. How can I explain this? And then
there was Jonah. Blessed heart, blessed heart,
he was studying his Bible. He was spending his time in the
studies. He was preaching the gospel.
And then all of a sudden, out on the sea of the Mediterranean,
he found himself in a storm. And then he was thrown overboard,
and then he was swallowed by fish, and he went all the way
down to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, filling the pressure with
weeds wrapped around his head in utter darkness. And don't
you think he thought, how strange. How can I explain this? And there was dear Peter, the
Lord's apostle. He was so full of confidence
one minute. So bold. He said, Lord, though
everybody forsake you, I won't. And he wasn't going to. He drug
out his sword and slew one of the men that came after Christ
and cut off his ear. I'm going to die with you, he
said. That's how much I love you. And boy, the next minute,
what had happened to him? He had denied the Lord, and he
found himself in a dark alley with his face against the wall,
weeping. And I imagine the dear man thought
to himself, how strange, how in the world did this happen
to me, and how did it happen to me so quickly? Strange, isn't
it? You've experienced it. Sometimes
it comes so quickly. Other times it comes gradually.
But finally, the heat is so hot that it's melting you. And you
wonder in yourself, what is this all about? And there's nothing
you can do about it. You didn't bring the trial. Whatever
means was used, you don't say how deep it will go or how long
it will last. That's in the hands of a sovereign
Lord. And you wind up just waiting,
don't you? Believing and waiting. Peter gives them something here
in this fiery trial that encourages them here in verse 12. This had
to be so encouraging to them to remember this. These fiery
trials, he said, which is to try you as opposed to destroying
you. God doesn't send trials to pursue
His poor worms to death. He sends the trials to prove
them. Now, everybody in this world
suffers. Ever since the fall of man, everybody
has suffered. Lost people suffer too. Who knows
all the reasons why they suffer? And I am telling you, their suffering
just hasn't started yet. I pity a poor lost person who
died without a saving interest in Jesus Christ. I pity him now. I really pity him at death. And
I pity him when he stands before God in judgment. And I'll pity
him for all eternity. That man is to be pitied. He
suffers. I don't know why all the reason
they suffer. But Peter tells us here why believers
suffer. It's to try them. It's to try
them. And Peter mentions two graces.
I'm going to spend my time in just a few minutes on these two
graces. Look back in chapter 1 and verse
6 and verse 7. Here's the two graces. Chapter 1, look at this. Look in verse 6 and verse 7. Speaking of our inheritance that
is laid up, reserved for us in heaven, and then chapter 1 and
verse 6, he said, Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for
a season, if need be, you are in distress, you are in heaviness
through manifold temptations, many temptations, many kinds,
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
our Lord Jesus Christ." Why are saints tried? It is to try their
faith. And boy, he will prove what kind
of faith we have got. The Lord knows it, doesn't He? Satan doesn't. I earnestly think
sometimes, though he is called wise, that he is utterly ignorant
of what the Lord is doing in his people. And he goes about
to destroy their faith with the intentions of doing that, not
knowing that he cannot. So the Lord, to prove it to him
as well as to us and the world around us, He gives us faith
and then He tries it sore. And boy, Peter knew something
about the trial of your faith. Remember when the Lord Jesus
told him, Satan has desired to sift you. I don't know if you remember.
Some of you older people might remember when. My mother used
to have a sifter. It was a meal or flour sifter.
And a little screen on the bottom of it. And she would put meal
in there because back then sometimes you would get meal or flour and
it had debris in it. Sometimes even little rocks.
And she'd put that in that sifter and she'd start cranking and
it would sift that wheat or that flour or meal down through that
sifter. Sift it. And the Lord Jesus said,
Peter, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you. He wants to take you apart. He
wants to destroy you. He wants to grind you up. And
boy, I imagine Satan thought he had Peter. The Lord said,
I prayed for you. I'm not praying that you will
not do what you're going to do. Deny me. I'm not praying that
you won't be tested by Satan, but here's how I prayed for you.
That your faith fail not. When you're tested, and you're
going to be, and could you imagine the conversation between Peter
and Satan? Here was Peter and his conscience
was afflicted. He was loaded with guilt. What
have I done? I've denied my Savior. I've cursed
Him. I've said, I don't know the man.
And oh, Satan says, I've got Him now. He'll never rise from
the guilt that's loaded his conscience down. And he says to Peter, he
whispers to his conscience, who is the Son of God now? You denied
Him. Now look at the guilt. Now look
at the weight upon your conscience. Who is He now? And you know what
Peter said? You know what he must have said?
He is still who He was before I denied Him. Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Do you know that is the faith? That when it was tried by Satan
itself, came through shining as the gold that it is? You say, Bruce, everybody professes
to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Most people
do, don't they? But very few people know that
by revelation. And that's the difference, isn't
it? Here is the faith that Peter had. And it was revealed to him
by the Father in heaven that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And when Satan came and said he will never get out of this
mess, he will never rise from this guilty conscience, Peter
said, Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. I remember
one time in a dark trial that I was in. I could not get out
of bed. I was in the bed and could not get out of bed. And
there was such darkness surrounding my mind and my thoughts, I could
not help. It was just like all the demons
in hell had gathered around my mind and was pressing upon my
mind. And I remember, I don't know
if I said it, I don't know if it came to me or what it was,
but I remember this, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And boy, with
that they fled. With that they fled. Peter's
faith was tried, even by hell itself. And the gates of hell
did not prevail against this man's faith. And the Lord was glorified in
it. Do you remember Jonah that I just made mention of? His faith
was tried. He tells us that the waters can
pass me about even to my soul. I don't know how deep the Mediterranean
Sea is. I don't know which location that
fish was in. But he said, I went down to the
bottoms of the mountains. I don't know if we can go down
there. I don't know if we have a machine that will take us that
low. But that's where he went in that fish's belly. And his
bars were about me forever. And he said it was dark there.
I couldn't see anything. Boy, when a man believes, When
a man can still believe when he's at the bottom, when he's
at the depths, and everything around him is dark, if you can
still believe there, your faith is probably of the Lord. And
what did Jonah say when he says, I'm cast out of His sight? He
said, Yet will I look again towards Thy holy temple. And if that's
not speaking of Jesus Christ, I don't know what it means. He
is the temple, isn't He? He is God's temple, God's tabernacle. Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up again. And when you and I feel like
we've reached the depths where we can't see anything around
us or in us but darkness and sin, and we have a sense of God's
judgment upon us, Yet the heart says, yet will
I look again to Jesus. Out of your desperation, out
of your sorrow, out of your guilt, I will look again to Jesus Christ,
my Redeemer. And when the heart says and believes
that there is more merit in Him to save me, then there is sin
in me to damn me." That's when your faith is tried. That's when
God tries it. And that's when it will be proof
enough that it's God who's given it. It's not of notion. It's not of your own making.
It's not something you were born with. It's something that He's
given you and something the Holy Spirit upholds within you. And
the gates of hell. or all the sin, or all our apprehensions
of the judgment of God cannot overcome it. The Apostle Paul
in his last epistle was writing to Timothy. He was in prison. He said, I'm now ready to be
offered. As far as we know, it was his very last epistle. And
he says this, he makes these two statements, all they which
be in Asia are turned away from me. Everybody forsook it. And then he says this, at my
first answer, no man stood with me. Now, you talk about a trial
of your faith. But when everybody's left you,
when God has removed all human support from you, there's no
companions to pat you on the back and say, Brother, I know
where you're at. I'm there for you. I'm with you.
Everybody's forsaken you. Everybody's left you. But here's
what Paul said, I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded
that He's able to keep that which I've committed to Him against
that day. That's the trial of faith. And
some of you children here, some of you young people here, if
the Lord saves your soul, There'll be days that you'll
go to school, and there'll be times when you'll have to stand
by yourself. I'm telling you, it won't be
easy. If the Lord gives you His faith, He'll try that, and sometimes
He'll remove all your friends as helps. And you'll be tried
sore because you'll have to endure the trial by yourself. You men
going off to work, you ladies at home, whatever you go, wherever
you do, there's times when nobody will be there to help you. All
help is removed. And then your faith will be tried.
Satan will come and whisper to you, you might as well to compromise. If you do what you want to do,
if you believe what you know you should believe, then you're
going to be embarrassed because you're going to have to stand
alone. You can't do it, you might as well to give in. But like
the Apostle Paul, when you say this, for me and my house, we'll
serve the Lord. Because we know who we have believed. And that will bring you through
the trial. You can stand with Christ and nobody else, just
you and Him, when He upholds you. Peter saw that crowd leaving. Leaving the Lord, leaving his
message. And I imagine there were some
of his friends in that crowd, don't you? You know he knew some
of those folks. They said, we can't take this
message. We just won't endure it, it's too hard. It's too hard. I personally believe
the Armenian message is too hard myself. But they said this Calvinistic
message is too hard. This business about we can't
come unless he draws us. And Peter saw some of his friends,
maybe some of his relatives, and they're looking back at Peter
shaking their head. And you coming with us? What
are you going to do hanging out with him? He's going to get you
in all kinds of trouble. You better come go with the crowd.
And the Lord Jesus looked at Peter and said, you want to follow
that guy? He's motioned for you. Come on. That's your uncle. That's
your aunt. You going with them? Remember
what he said? There's one thing that keeps
me from going. I believe that you are the Christ. You're the
son of the living God. His faith was tried. I'll tell
you one more faith, one more place our faith is going to be
tried to. I heard about Bob Coffey when he was married to Henry
Mayhem's daughter, Becky, and she was dying, dying of cancer. And Bob said they'd gone everywhere
to get help. They'd tried every doctor that
they thought could help them. And finally they told her, there's
nothing we can do. You've got probably six months.
And Bob said they went home and sat down and she told him, Bob,
I don't even want to try another doctor. If we run into a doctor
that finally gave me some medication or treatments that would heal
me, I don't want to give him the glory for it anyway. And
Bob said she lay dying. You can imagine this. You talk
about trials, buddy. You're a woman that he had spent
much of his life with. Had his children by. Now she
is swiveled up with cancer. And Bob said she laid there so
weak. And she looked up and she whispered
this to him. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. But there's faith. their faith. When there is nothing left, and
you are going out naked into the world that is to come. And
whatever means God used, it may be old age, it may be diseased,
or whatever we call an accident. But when the Lord brings you
there, and you don't blame anybody, and you don't blame yourself,
you say, this is of the Lord, and though He slay me, I am going
to trust Him still. You can know then that your faith
is of the Lord. And that's one of the reasons
it must be tried to find out if it's genuine. When you put
that metal in those big pots and put the heat to it, it separates
the dross from the good metal. And when you put the heat to
faith, it separates other stuff. And I'm telling you, if it's
not of God, If this is not the faith that God has given you,
that Jesus Christ is the author of, and this Bible is not the
foundation of, you know what'll happen when it gets in the fire?
It'll melt. It'll melt. And nothing will
be left of it. That seed that was sown on stony
ground, remember that? It was sown on a rock. The Lord
Jesus interpreted that for us, and He said that's the Word of
God that's sown in a heart that hath no earth to it, and it has
no root. It can't go down and get into
the dirt. It has no root. But it says it receives the Word
and rejoices for a while. And then it falls away. What
made it fall away? In time of testing. In time of
testing. And you know one of the things
that concerns me? What kind of faith do I have?
Will there be a trial somewhere that will destroy my faith? Not
if it's of God. Not if it's of God. That's utterly
impossible. Those who have this faith, they
die in the faith. And that faith ends in sin. But listen. You're going to find
out what kind of faith you have. You're going to find out if it's
real. You're going to find out if it's saving. And that's what
these trials are about. That's what it's about. One more, and I'll just read
this to you. Look in chapter 2 in verse 20. Here's another grace, not only
the grace of faith, but look in verse 20 of chapter 2. For
what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults you
take it patiently, but if when you do well and suffer for it,
you take it patiently? This is acceptable with God. Here's another grace. First of
all is the grace of faith. It's tried. Here's another grace.
It's patience. The Lord is trying the patience
of His saints. And what is it that increases
patience? Tribulation. It's testing. Endurance, what this word patience
means. Patiently enduring. And most
often it's connected with that other grace of faith. Faith and
patience. You have need of patience. After
you've done the will of God, you may inherit the promises.
And what we do? We walk by faith. We endure these
trials. And then we patiently wait. I love what literal translation
of verse 20 says this, What glory is it if you patiently endure
while sinning and being baptized? But if you are suffering while
doing good and patiently endure it, this is the grace of God. Patience is the grace of God.
On the day of judgment when the Lord speaks to His people and
tells them what they have done for Him in this world, I bet
you he won't call one of his elect souls up and say, I remember
when you built that big cathedral. I remember when you got involved
in that big missionary, worldwide missionary program. You know
what he may say? You know what he may say to some
mother who had a house full of children? You know what he may
say? I remember when you were so patient.
when things seemed to be in such an uproar. I remember how you
patiently guided your home when it took all the patience you
could muster. Patient. And it's a grace. How precious did that grace appear. The hour I first believed. And
I bet you anything, when we come to die, it will be a more precious
one. Patience. Grace shows itself
in patience. I was sitting with Brother Donnie.
Many of us were trying to talk. And I bet you he got up twenty
times in one hour because I could hear Mary saying, Donnie, Donnie. He'd jump up and he'd almost
run to Mary. He'd come back and sit down.
I bet it wasn't two minutes. Donnie, Donnie. And I noticed
probably after about an hour, he started getting up real slow.
He was just wore out. But you know something? He never
did say anything negative to her. He never did say, what do
you want? You're killing me! Every time
he got up and went to bed. Patience. Patience. Oh, what
a grace that is. And it's tried. Your patience
will be tried. I'm almost finished. Two reasons
here. He says, Rejoice. Now look at
this. After saying all I've said about this, and he says, Rejoice.
Rejoice. Be glad. Be happy. But he gives
them two reasons for rejoicing. Notice this. Because these are
the sufferings of Christ. In verse 13. inasmuch as you
are partakers of Christ's sufferings." Now, Christ suffered alone, by
Himself, to atone for His people. But here He is suffering again.
Because of our union with Him, He says, those are My sufferings.
Are you tried? Then He's tried. It's His suffering. Don't that comfort you? It's
for His sake, isn't it? It's not so much about us. It's
for His sake. It's glory. That helps me. That
helps me to wait. That helps me to be patient and
suffer reproach for His name. It's Him. And then in the last
part of that verse, sufferings will only add to the glory of
that day. Look what He said. Joy! Boy, when the trial was
over, when the trial was over, I don't know what Curtis you
went through when you graduated boot camp or whatever they called
it. I went, we went out to El Paso and I had a niece graduate
and she just got out of basic training. Eight weeks and man,
it was tough. We seen pictures and everything.
All of them was marching out there and it was hot. They were
sweating. And when they finally released them, They finally released
them. And man, you talk about high
fives, thumbs up, shouting, laughing. We made it! We made it! What will it be when the Lord
Jesus is revealed from heaven and He is shouting Himself? He
is singing. He is rejoicing. What will His
people be doing? We made it! They'll be pumping,
I don't mean this with irreverence, but they'll be pumping their
fists. They'll be giving high fives. The glory is revealed. The trial is over. We made it. We're safe and we're saved at
last. Exceeding joy. And Peter tells us one last thing.
How do we address our brothers and sisters? Who are in these
great afflictions, these trials? Brother Bob Coffey said people
come up to him when Becky was sick. And after Becky died, and
they'd say, Bob, I know what you've gone through. Because
they'd lost a wife. But he said, really, they didn't
know what I was going through. Everybody goes through sufferings
different. Bob said the best thing anybody ever said to him
They came up and put their arm on his shoulder and said, Bob,
I love you. I love you. Ain't that what Peter
says, beloved? Ain't that strange? Beloved? My dearly beloved? Brother Donnie called me when
I got back home. And you folks had sent him a thousand dollars.
And he said, I just want you to know I needed it. I needed
it. We needed it. But it was more
than that, is more than that, is let me know that you're thinking
about me and Mary. Then he started weeping. I was
trying to hide from my neighbors. I was weeping like two little
babies weeping. And I thought of what Bob Coffey
said. And I said, my dear brother, I love you. I love you, my dear
brother. That's all I could think to say.
But isn't that enough? You've gone through some trials.
God's put the fire through you and to you. It feels like He's
melding you down. Well, know this. You've got some
children of God who love you. They love you. Let's pray.