Let's go again to 1 Peter chapter
4. 1 Peter chapter 4, beginning with
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 you are
partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be
revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. If you be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you, 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. For the time has come that judgment
must begin at the house of God. And if it first began at us,
what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore,
let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the
keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful
creator. In these verses that I've just
read, the Apostle Peter continues with the subject of Christ as
a Christian, rather the Christian's sufferings for Christ in this
world. It's interesting to me that Peter,
the Apostle Peter here, uses the name Christian. If you notice
in verse 16, yet if any man suffer as a Christian, Now the title
Christian is only found three times in the New Testament. This
is the third time. The first time is in Acts chapter
11 and verse 26. And there we read, and the disciples
were called Christians first in Antioch. Now we don't know
who started calling them Christians. I don't believe that it was a
title of contempt Because usually if it would have been a title
of contempt, they would have used the name of the Nazarene. That was the way they referred
to Christ when they would reproach him, the Nazarene. But no, I
believe that it was a title given to those who were followers of
Christ, who resembled Christ. Christians, they look like Christ. They act like Christ. They walk
like Christ did. That's the way I understand that. And it is used one other time
by King Agrippa. When Paul was, as a prisoner,
standing for this king, he witnessed to him of Christ and of how he
came to be a believer in Christ. Remember, he was a persecutor. The apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus,
he was a persecutor of those of this way, the way of Christ,
Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and
the life, those of this way. In other words, those Jews which
followed this way, Christ, Saul of Tarsus persecuted them. And
he was successful in his persecution of believers. And we know that
he was on the way to Damascus to arrest believers and have
them put in prison and brought back to Jerusalem and caused
to suffer for Christ when the Lord called him out of heaven,
appeared unto him. Now this is The term Christian,
we have kept that term. It's a good term, isn't it? Christian.
Those of us who believe in Christ tonight, we're Christians. We're
followers of Christ. Now I'm going to call our attention
to seven truths that we read of in these verses. The first,
We're just going to go down through these verses, verses 12 through
19. But the first truth is this is
the second time that Peter calls these Christians beloved. That's the way our text begins,
beloved. And this reminds me, at least,
of 1 John 5 and verse 1, which says, whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ. Whosoever, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ. Now, this was Peter's confession
in John chapter six, when many of those who had followed Christ
for a while, they turned and went away. They said, this is
a hard saying, his teaching concerning eating his flesh and drinking
his blood. They said, this is a hard saying.
And many of them who had followed him, They turned and went back,
and the Lord Jesus spoke to the 12 and said, will you also go
away? And remember, Peter gave his
confession, and it was, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. Now listen, and we believe and
are sure that thou art to Christ. We believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, John
writes in his letter, first letter, whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. That's what Peter confessed,
wasn't it? We believe, we believe and are
sure that thou art the Christ. Well, John later writes, whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is what? Born of God. born of God. Last Wednesday evening
here in the service, we looked at the work of God, the Holy
Spirit, and the experience of a child of God. When we first
come to know Christ, our experience of salvation, and it is the Holy
Spirit, God, the Holy Spirit, who comes to us and quickens
us, gives us a new life. We're born of the Spirit, of
the water and of the Spirit. And I close the message with
this comment, the best evidence that anyone can have that he,
she has been born again is repentance and faith. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now there's other evidences,
no doubt in the word of God, that a person is passed from
death unto life. One evidence is, to you who believe,
he is precious. To you who believe, Christ is
precious. If Christ is not precious to
a person, he's not a believer, she's not a believer. To you
that believe. Another evidence that comes to
my mind is this also, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk
of the word of God. When a person is born of the
spirit of God, not only he repents, she repents, turns from their
sins, repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
but Christ becomes precious to us and his word. becomes precious
to us as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word
of God. God's people love His Word. That's
the reason you're here tonight, isn't it? Because you love the
Word of God. You love to read the Word of
God. You love to hear the Word of
God preached. God's people love His Word. Not
like we should. I know that. We all recognize
that. But still, Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, now listen, and everyone
that loveth him that beget, who is it who does the begetting,
the Father, the Holy Spirit, everyone that loveth him that
beget, loveth him also that is begotten of him. So Peter begins
this passage, beloved, beloved. God's children not only love
God, and we love Him because He first loved us. He first loved
us. But we love God's people. A man say that he loves God and
hates his brother, he's a liar. John tells us that. How can you
say you love God whom you have not seen and hate your brother
that you see? And I could not help but think
also when I looked at this, Peter saying, Beloved, when he was
restored, after he had denied the Lord Jesus Christ three times,
now all the disciples fled. Peter wasn't alone in that. All
of the 11 disciples, Judas betrayed him in the garden, and then all
the disciples left him. They all fled, but Peter, On
record, the Lord denied that he even knew Christ. And then
when the Lord appeared to him in the Gospel of John, after
he had gone fishing, remember? The Lord appeared to them on
the shore of the Lake of Galilee, and the Lord asked Peter, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Lovest thou me? And of course,
Peter confessed, yes, Lord, I do love Thee. And on the third time
he was asked that, he said, Lord, Thou knowest all things. Thou
knowest that I love Thee. Beloved, Peter addresses God's
children here. Beloved Christians. Second, Christians
must not look upon afflictions as strange Notice that also in
verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. This has been the lot of God's
people in all ages. In the Old Testament, you cannot
read through the book of Psalms. We read that 34th Psalm just
a few minutes ago, and David confessed, many, many are the
afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out
of them all. Peter said, don't think it's
strange. Something strange has happened
to you that you are being afflicted. The servant, We think about this,
the servant, that is the believer, the Christian, is not above his
master. And our master, what did he meet
in this world? He met with afflictions. In fact,
he could say, and this is of course in the book of Lamentations,
it is said of Jerusalem, but we know it refers to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Is there any sorrow like unto
my sorrow? No one was ever afflicted like
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christians must not look
upon afflictions as strange because they don't come by chance. They
don't just spring up out of the dust. No. Afflictions come by God's appointment,
by God's appointing them, divine appointment. And afflictions,
we know that the scripture says all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. Well, all things would include
afflictions, right? Afflictions, all things. Afflictions
try the believer. You notice he uses that fiery
trowel. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trowel, the fiery trowel. Men put metals
into fire, to heat, right? And what does the heat do? It separates the dross from the
true. It dries the metal. If it's gold,
the gold, will be purified, and by that, it simply meant that
which is not gold will come to the top, right, and it'll be
skimmed off. And only the gold will be left. Afflictions try, Christians. The Christian's faith is tried
and becomes more precious than gold, than parishes. Your faith
is tried. in afflictions. Job knew something
about afflictions, didn't he? And you remember what he said
in one place, though he slay me, though he slay me, yet will
I trust in him. Afflictions try the believer's
faith. The Christian's love is tried.
And we find out that no affliction, no matter how severe, no affliction
can separate him from his love of Christ or from Christ's love
to him. Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No affliction
can do that. And the Christian's hope is tried.
His hope of eternal life. And what happens? It just grows
stronger in afflictions. Our hope, our hope of Being with
the Lord forever and ever, eternal life, enjoying God forever, afflictions
just increase that hope, enlarge that hope. The hope grows stronger. Our hope is the anchor of our
soul. And it proves, afflictions prove
that our hope is steadfast and sure. We sang that hymn this
morning. Will your anchor hold in the
storms of life? And the storms come, don't they?
Even that illustration our Lord used in the Sermon on the Mount
about the two men who built their houses. One man built his house
upon the rock, one man built his house upon the sand. One
was saved, one was lost, but the rains came down on both of
their houses. The winds blew on both of their
houses. The one who was saved, he was
not exempt from affliction, he was not exempt from the winds
and the waters, the rain coming down, but his anchor hailed. Why? Because it was founded upon
the rock, the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians must rejoice that
they are partakers of Christ's sufferings. Look at what it says
in verse 13. But rejoice. Don't think it's
strange. Don't think it's strange concerning
the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange
thing happened unto you, but rejoice. Rejoice. Inasmuch, Peter says, inasmuch
as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings. Now there's two phrases
in these verses that we are looking at tonight which could easily
be misunderstood. And this is one of them. When
we are said to be partakers of Christ's sufferings, we know
the scripture tells us that He tread the winepress of the wrath
of God alone. No one could be with him. No
one could help him. He alone had to suffer and pay
the debt of his people. No one could help him. We are
partakers. We reap the benefits of his sufferings,
his personal sufferings for us. So what does this mean here when
it says that we are made partakers of Christ's sufferings? Well,
this reminds us again of something I mentioned in the message this
morning about the union that exists between Christ and his
people. We partake of the sufferings
of his body, the church, Christ. The church suffers. This again
reminds us of the union that exists between Christ and Christians. You remember when the Lord revealed
himself unto Saul of Tarsus? The Lord's in heaven, Saul's
here upon the earth persecuting the people of God, and the voice
from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? Well, you're in heaven, Lord.
I'm persecuting these people down here on earth. Yes, and
as you persecute them, you persecute me. Why? Because of the union
that exists between the head and the body, between Christ
and his church. And it is the body here. We are made partakers of Christ's
sufferings, that is, the sufferings that God has allotted for his
church. And he said to rejoice that you're
partakers of Christ's sufferings. Turn with me to Acts chapter
five. And Paul, I believe it's in Philippians,
speaks about filling up, him, himself, filling up the sufferings
of Christ. He's talking about Christ, the
body of Christ, the church. But here in Acts chapter five,
we know that Peter and John, they were beaten. Look in verse
39. They were arrested, first of
all. In verse 39, we have the advice of Gamaliel. He told the
council, he said, listen, If this be of God, this message
of Christ, Christianity as we would call it this evening, if
this be of God, you cannot overthrow it. If this is a work of God,
do what you can. You're not going to overthrow
this work if it is of God. I think about them putting that
stone on the The sepulchre, where they laid the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and I believe it was Pilate, always kind of impresses
me. He said, make it as sure, make
it as sure as you're able. Well, they did their best, but
that angel rolled that stone away, and they fell down, those
gorse-like dead men. No, Gamalia tells these Pharisees
and Sadducees here, the Sanhedrin, listen. These men, Peter and
John, you've got them here, and they say this man was healed
in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, if this be of God, you're
not going to overthrow it. Lest, happily, you be found even
to fight against God. You're not going to win that
fight. It's like that verse in Jeremiah that says, let the potsherds
of the earth strive with the potsherds. In other words, let
men strive with men, but not with your maker, not with God. You're not going to overcome.
You're not going to win that battle. If this thing be of God, you're not going to overthrow
it, lest haply you be found even to fight against God. And to
him they agreed. Well, they figured that's good
advice. That's wisdom speaking, commasium. But notice what they did. And
when they had called the apostles and beaten them, beaten them,
they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus
and let them go. And they departed from the presence
of the council rejoicing, here it is, rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. When believers
suffer for Christ's sake, that's what the apostle Peter means,
rejoice in as much as you're partakers of Christ's sufferings. When Christ comes again in His
glory and the glory of the holy angels and the glory of the Father,
you may be glad also with exceeding joy. Now fourthly, Christians
are promised the presence of the Holy Spirit in verse 14. If you be reproached for the
name of Christ, happy are you. That's the same word that is
translated blessed in each one of the Beatitudes in Matthew
chapter five. Happy, blessed are you if you
be reproached for the name of Christ. Blessed are you for the
spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part, he's
evil spoken of, that is God the Holy Spirit is evil spoken of,
but on your part, he is glorified. When the Lord was Just on the
very eve of going to the cross, you remember we have these chapters,
John chapter 14, 15, and 16, in which he promises the coming
of the Holy Spirit. He said, I will not leave you
comfortless, but I will pray the Father and he shall give
you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Forever. And when a person is
born of the Spirit of God, The Holy Spirit comes to live in
us. Our bodies are the temples of
the Holy Spirit. He comes to live in us. He will
never leave us nor forsake us. But while this is true, the Apostle
Peter tells us that when a believer is reproached or suffering affliction
for the cause of Christ, the Spirit will rest. God resteth upon you, just like
the Holy Spirit rested, came to rest upon the Lord Jesus Christ,
came upon him in the form of a dove, but the Spirit of God
will rest upon you and you come in affliction to enjoy his presence
even more. How many testimonies have I read
over the years? How many testimonies have you
read? Samuel Rutherford, for instance, a Scottish preacher
who was put in prison and confessed that with Christ, his prison
cell became heaven. Now what made that cell heaven
to be? Heaven to him, the presence of
God, the Holy Spirit. He rested upon you. I thought about this, and I think
this is the reason many of you can testify to this. Some brothers,
sisters going through some trial, some affliction, and you feel
impressed of the Spirit of God to go and visit with them some
suffering saint. And you're going to encourage
them. That's your purpose of going. You're going to encourage
them. And you know what happens? You leave encouraged. You are the one who is encouraged. Why? Because that suffering saint,
the spirit of God, is resting upon them. Especially, now he's
always in us, but resting upon them, upon us in afflictions. And then fifthly, Christians
are not to suffer for evil deeds, and that's obvious, isn't it?
But what this reminds us of, verse 15, he said, but let none
of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer. This reminds us when he says
don't suffer as one of these characters that every child of
God still has that old nature. Every child of God still has
that old nature. Yes, that which is born of the
spirit is spirit, but that which is born of the flesh is still
flesh. And the spirit lusteth against the
flesh and the flesh against the spirit, Paul tells us in Galatians
chapter five. The teaching of sinless perfection. Have you ever heard that? Sinless
perfection. That is that it's possible for
a believer to progress in sanctification to such a degree that he has
no more sin. That's a lie straight out of
hell. No, that's not true. Would to God it were. But it's
not. I was reading a message by Charles
Spurgeon yesterday, I believe it was. He was telling about
a prayer meeting that was held in London and many, a large prayer
meeting, a large group. And one pastor stood up and he,
he said, brothers, I need to confess this sin. And he confessed
that sin. And it seems according to Spurgeon,
at least, that God just blessed that prayer meeting in such a
special way. A week later, they had another
prayer meeting, and a pastor stood up and confessed his sin. After he sat down, another preacher
stood up and said, I'm thankful that I have no sins to confess. that the Lord Jesus Christ put
away my sins completely. And Spurgeon said, it killed
the prayer meeting, the self-righteousness of that man. It is true that
all of our sins are put away when we come to Christ, that
they're all put away. But yet still, just like when
the Lord washed the disciples' feet, he said, you're clean every
whit. But still, their feet needed
to be washed. And as we walk through this world,
we are still in the body, and we still have
that dual nature of flesh and spirit, and we need to confess
daily the prayer that the Lord taught his disciples was, forgive
us our trespasses. as we forgive those that trespass
against us. It is true legally that all of
our sins have been dealt with and put away, never to be remembered
again. That's our state, but our fellowship,
our fellowship, I think we can understand it like a parent with
his children. His child does something, he
tells his child, don't do that. Now this is your dad's word,
this is what you're not to do. Sure enough, the child doesn't. Well, now he's still his son,
right? He didn't somehow lose his sonship,
but that fellowship needs to be restored. And the same thing
is true with us as children of God. No, when we're born into
the family of God, we'll always be his children. But even David,
the thing that David did, the scripture says, displeased the
Lord. Displeased the Lord. There was
a man after God's own heart. But his sin with Bathsheba and
her husband, all that involved, the thing which David did displeased
the Lord. And what do we find? We find
him in some of the Psalms. asking God to forgive him, to
restore unto him the Holy Spirit. So, Christians shouldn't suffer
as evildoers. Mortify the deeds of the body.
We still have that propensity, the flesh still lusteth against
the spirit, and it'll never be improved. When we come to lie
on our deathbed, it'll still be flesh. But we are to mortify the deeds
of the flesh. That means put them to death. Number six, Christians should
recognize that afflictions have a beginning and they have an
end. They have a beginning and they have an end. Whatever affliction
you may come into, it begins on this particular day, but there's
an end. There's an appointed time, and
it's not going to go over, and it's not going to be any sooner
that the affliction's going to be over. That's what we see here
in verse 17. For the time has come that judgment
must begin at the house of God, that is, the household of God,
the people of God. And if it first began at us,
what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? Judgment here is still dealing
with afflictions that believers experience in this world. Afflictions
are said to begin at the house of God, that is with Christians.
For they will only, only in this world know affliction. They began at the house of God,
but with the unbeliever, those who obey not the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the very opposite is true of them, of the wicked. They may rejoice today, but judgment
is coming tomorrow. It begins today with the people
of God in this world, but when the Lord comes again, Where,
what kind of a judgment is going to come upon those who do not
believe the gospel? And seventh, Christians are said
to be scarcely saved. That's the second thing that
I recognize in these verses that can be misconstrued and misunderstood
in verse 18. And if the righteous scarcely
be saved, where? shall the ungodly and the sinner
appear. Now, what does that mean if the
righteous scarcely be saved? It doesn't mean there's any uncertainty
about a believer's salvation. Let me read you John Gill's comment.
Christ has wrought out and finished a complete salvation for them.
And they are saved from all enemies and everything that might hurt
them, from sin, Satan, the law, the world, hell, and death. And
they are completely justified and have all their sins pardoned
and shall be perfectly saved. Nor as if their salvation was
doubtful, for though they are scarcely, yet certainly saved. For they are chosen to salvation,
and Christ has obtained it for them, and they have the application
of it already made to them by the blessed Spirit, and being
justified are made righteous persons. Nothing is more certain
than that they shall be glorified. It doesn't mean, the word scarcely
here, doesn't mean they'll just barely be saved. Be saved by
the skin of their teeth. That's not what it's saying at
all. The word actually means with difficulty. If the righteous
be saved with difficulty. And we could think of the difficulty
that was involved in man's salvation. I'm not going to go through that.
That'd be a message in itself, the difficulty that was involved. Many times it's pointed out that
when God created the world, he said, In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. He spoke the worlds into existence. But the work of the new creation,
salvation, is a greater work because of the resistance. There
was no resistance for God in creating the heavens and the
earth. But when he comes to save in the new creation, Because
of the depravity of our hearts, there is resistance. There is
resistance. The difficulties involved in
man's salvation are recognized as so great, and I think this
is the point, the difficulty in you being saved. So difficult that only God could
do it. So difficult in anyone's salvation. So difficult. Just to remind
us again that salvation is of the Lord. The last thing, Christians
must commit the keeping of their souls to the faithful creator. When called to suffer for Christ,
We must commit the whole matter, the whole matter to God. As it
says in verse 19, wherefore let them that suffer according to
the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him and well
doing as unto a faithful creator. Recognizing that he is sovereign. He's the sovereign ruler over
all. And I think of that verse. In
Philippians, where the apostle said, being confident of this
very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you shall
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Commit the keeping of
your soul unto Christ. All right, David, let's sing
a hymn.