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Well, good evening, everyone. 
As I mentioned this morning, we're going to continue on this 
evening in our going through the book of 1 Peter, or the first 
chapter of 1 Peter, in a sense of part two to what we looked 
at this morning. So if you will turn in your Bibles 
to the book of 1 Peter, we'll read chapter 1. We'll just read 
the first 12, maybe the first 16 verses to set the context. So 1 Peter 1, verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, 
to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, 
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the 
Father and sanctification of the Spirit for obedience and 
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace 
be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten 
us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and 
that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept 
by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed 
in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, 
though now, for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved 
by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more 
precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, 
may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of 
Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, you love, though now you 
do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible 
and full of glory. receiving the end of your faith, 
the salvation of your souls. Of this salvation the prophets 
have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied of the grace that 
would come to you. Searching what, or what manner 
of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating 
when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and 
the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, 
not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things 
which now have been reported to you through those who have 
preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. 
things which angels desire to look into. Therefore, gird up 
the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon 
the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus 
Christ. As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to 
the former lusts, as in your ignorance, but as he who called 
you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because 
it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. Thus far we'll read. Let 
us pray. Our God and our Father in heaven, 
again we come to you, Lord, and again we ask for the power of 
your Holy Spirit to be among us now as we gather together 
here and as we look together into your Word, Lord, as much 
as we needed the Spirit this morning, we need the Spirit again 
this afternoon to aid in ministering the Word, to aid in hearing the 
Word. So, Lord, I pray that you would be pleased to bless us 
in that way now as we look to Look to your word and see how 
the glorious truths that we saw this morning, of the hope that 
we have for us as believers, and how that ought to affect 
our lives as we deal with the experience of life in this lower 
world. So, Lord, I pray that you would 
be pleased to bless us. I pray that this would be a means 
for edification, for the building up and strengthening of our most 
holy faith, and that it would be a means for those here who 
do not know you as Savior, that it would be a means that they 
would that they would see Christ and see Him as the only way of 
salvation, and by grace would put their faith in Him as Savior. 
So I pray now that you would be pleased to bless us, and we 
pray this in Christ's name. Amen. So as I mentioned, the 
passage that we come to now is a continuation of what we looked 
at this morning, a continuation of the of the hope that we have 
and how this now, the practical side of things, how does this 
affect our lives as believers? As we go through this life and 
things come at us, various circumstances, how should we respond to those 
as believers in light of this future glory that we have to 
come? So this, we saw this morning, we saw the hope of the future 
And and and then now we're looking at the joy in the present and 
and so so this morning we saw just as a very brief recap and 
for those who may not have been here that That that we have this 
hope of a future glory awaiting us and that the hope is not a 
wish It's not a desire that that I hope this happens, but but 
it's a reality. It's a it's a it's a living hope 
it's a hope of eternal life, it's a And it's a guaranteed 
hope. It's founded on the reality of the resurrection, the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ. And we saw how it was preserved, 
how the inheritance itself is preserved, and how us as heirs 
of that are preserved for this inheritance, for this future 
glory that we will get to experience. We saw that it is incorruptible, 
it is undefiled, and it does not fade away. So it's not subject 
to death, it's not subject to sin and any force of evil, or 
subject to the effects of time. So now as we come to this next 
section, we'll look at verses 6 through 9 in detail. And it breaks down into three 
main sections again. Verse 6, what I call the paradox 
of Christian experience. Verse 7, the purpose of our trials. And verses 8 and 9, the principle 
of maintaining joy in trials. That's sort of the application, 
the conclusion. The principle of maintaining 
joy in trials, verses 8 and 9. So the paradox of Christian experience. 
When we read that first line in verse 6 there, in this you 
greatly rejoice, so now for a little while you have been grieved by 
various trials. It's not hard to catch the irony 
there. It seems like it's sort of a 
paradox there of joy and grieving at the same time there. If you 
turn briefly to 2 Corinthians chapter 6, Paul does the same 
thing there. He gives a sort of a several, 
or a bit of a list there, just of paradoxes of the Christian 
life. Much of the Christian life is paradoxical. 2 Corinthians 
chapter 6 in verses 9 and 10. So as, well, maybe we can back up a 
bit here. Verse 4, but in all things we 
commend ourselves as ministers of God in much in tribulations, 
in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, 
in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings, by purity, by knowledge, 
by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere 
love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor 
of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor 
and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers 
and yet true." So now we see these paradoxes, as unknown and 
yet well-known, as dying and behold we live, as chastened 
and yet not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor 
yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all 
things." So it's these paradoxes, paradox of the Christian life, 
being able to greatly rejoice and grieving, being distressed 
at the same time. Now, how is that possible? It 
seems so unnatural. And that's exactly right, is 
that it is not the natural response. And that's the whole point of 
the message this afternoon, is that we aren't to respond naturally 
the way that natural man, unbelievers, would respond to trials and suffering. The unbeliever natural man would 
respond in anger, in resentment, in bitterness, fear, anything 
that's all opposite to joy, how the believers ought to respond. So why is the believer to respond 
differently then and why is it unnatural? It's because the believer 
is a new creature in Christ. this morning, that we have been 
begotten to a living hope, born again, regenerated. You are a 
new creature in Christ. And now, yes, we still have that 
old nature, the natural man, as Paul says, but we've also 
been given this new nature, the spiritual man. And in light of 
that, we've now become part of the kingdom of God. a child of 
God, part of the heavenly kingdom. And now because of that, our 
focus has changed. We no longer focus on the temporary 
world as the be-all, end-all, as the end of our life. But we understand now we are 
no longer citizens of this earth, but we are citizens of heaven, 
as Paul says to the Philippians. So that's what that's what Peter 
is referring to here when he says in this you greatly rejoice 
He's referring back to what we looked at this morning or even 
to the beginning of the chapter There is is is this this hope 
that we have this this this hope of eternal life this Where we 
know we have a future of glory awaiting us in an inheritance 
that we are that we will receive the glory that is to come And 
so now we understand that the reality that we are both part 
of this temporal realm, this where we find ourselves here 
now today in the temporal realm, and we are part of the eternal 
realm, the heavenly realm. And it's the understanding that 
there's more to us than just our life on this earth here now, 
but that we have a hope, an eternal hope laid up in heaven for us. 
And that gives us great cause for rejoicing. We'll look more 
in detail as we get towards the end of the sermon of that concept 
there. So it gives us a great cause 
for rejoicing, knowing that we have this in our future. He says, in this you greatly 
rejoice. And he's speaking here in the present tense. Now, he's 
not referring to the future. When we experience the reality 
of this glory to come, then we will be rejoicing. Now, to be 
sure, we will be rejoicing then. But he's speaking right now. 
Right now, in this, you greatly rejoice here. And even though you are grieved 
by various trials. So yes, we ought to be rejoicing 
even at the same time as we are grieving by various trials, and 
he says here, you've been grieved by these trials, and he's not 
asking them to, he's not saying that it's wrong, that they're 
grieving, that they shouldn't be grieving, that they should 
always be happy, and they can't be upset at the pain that they're 
going through. That's not what he's saying at 
all here. Kelvin says he's not asking them to divest themselves 
of their humanity. So it is, it's still, we can 
still be upset when we lose a loved one, when we have some sort of, 
you know, whatever our trial may become. We're not called 
to be emotionless robots, you know, but yet we, so we are still, 
it's still okay to have grief and disappointment, that's okay. 
But it's anger, it's resentment, it's bitterness, you know, despair, 
those are the things that are not okay. Those are the carnal 
responses, and those are things that come from that old nature, 
and that old nature that we are to be striving to put to death. 
So, the Bible gives us a wealth of text to comfort us in light 
of our circumstances. So, again, it's acknowledging 
that we struggle, that we experience hardship, and how do we And it 
gives us comfort there. Cast all your cares upon him 
for he cares for you. 1 Peter 5 verse 7. Cast your 
burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you. Psalm 55 verse 22. 
He will never leave you nor forsake you. We find that phrase many 
places in scripture. And notice here how he says that 
you're experiencing your grief by various trials. He uses this 
word various there, which literally means multi-colored or multi-faceted. So various trials. And I think it's important to 
know that our trials are not all the same. We experience different 
things. Different people experience different 
things. You know never never never think that if someone else 
is experiencing something Worse than you might be they're suffering 
worse than then than you are then that you're that your trial 
your pain is not Important to God that it doesn't you know 
that it that it doesn't matter to him the very UM You know or 
or the other way that our suffering is too much how you know, of 
course, there's nothing to too much for God's grace. It's interesting, in 1 Peter 
4 verse 10, a few chapters down the road here, he uses this exact 
same word to describe the grace of God, the multifaceted. He says according to the manifold 
grace of God. So our trials may be multifaceted, 
may be manifold, but so is God's grace. God's grace is also manifold. So there's no trial too big, 
no trial too small for God's grace. God cares about the littlest 
To the greatest difficulties and pain that we experience but 
notice what all these all these texts are doing here all these 
these The last few I read they're casting all our cares on him 
cast our burden on the Lord that they're all pointing us back 
To to God they're reminding us that we are they're pointing 
us back to that heavenly that heavenly reality that we are 
we are God's children now he is that he is our God, we are 
his people. And so it's putting our focus, 
it's again, it's putting our focus back to the right place. It's not saying, you know, you 
got this, dig in, you know, dig in a little deeper, just, you 
know, find it in you somewhere, you know, keep calm, carry on, 
that kind of a thing. It's saying that God cares for 
you. He's with you, even in this. And the world often responds 
when some catastrophe happens, something disastrous happens, 
the world responds with a, well, where was God today? You believe 
in a good God, where was God today when that happened? I remember 
when the Twin Towers collapsed, for example, that question, oh, 
where was God today? That's the response of the world. But the believer responds to 
trials that they experienced by saying, God is with me. God, 
my heavenly father is with me. And that is a cause for rejoicing. So no, so understand that it 
is okay to be grieved. It is okay to be disappointed, 
to experience pain and suffering. And that is okay. We are allowed 
to respond in that sense. But again, like I said, not with 
anger, not with resentment, but it's okay to be grieved about 
them. But then again, now bringing 
it back here, as we look at this, we see that we are these texts, 
again, that they point us to the heavenly reality, and that 
is the reason why we can, as believers, can simultaneously 
experience both joy and distress. It is not a contradiction. It's 
a paradox, like I said at the outset. It seems to be a contradiction, 
but when we look at it, it's not. It's because the joy is 
rooted in the realities of the heavenly realm, and the distress 
is a response to the realities and the situation that we face 
in the temporal realm. So it's two separate sources, 
if you could say. Matthew Poole He says, their 
grief and joy were about different objects. They might be in heaviness 
by reason of present afflictions and rejoice in hope of future 
glory. They might grieve as men and rejoice as saints. Sense 
of suffering might affect them, and yet the faith of better things 
coming relieved them. If their heaviness did in any 
degree abate their joy, yet it did not wholly hinder it. And 
though their joy did overcome their heaviness, yet it did not 
wholly exclude it. So we have to have our focus 
in the right place. And then the grief and the distress, 
it does not lead to bitterness, to anger, to despair, and even 
to overcoming our joy there. So it's focusing on the heavenly 
realm, the present reality of being God's child and the future 
glory that is to come. And we'll see that as we get 
to our last point in more detail. And that's what Peter does here, 
though, as we move along. That's what he does for his audience 
here. He says, though now for a little while you are grieved. Now, he's highlighting that it's 
temporary, that it's short-lived, maybe relatively speaking, but 
I don't believe it's in a, you know, this too shall pass sort 
of ways. You know, sometimes we say that 
to to somebody who's suffering or who's experiencing something. 
We say that to our kids. They're, you know, they're upset 
about something and they're, you know, they're grieved by 
some various trial. And they come and you say to 
them, well, you know, like maybe you just need to go to bed and 
by tomorrow it'll be all better. This will pass. You know, but 
I don't believe that's what Peter is doing here. This morning we 
read in our prayer meeting, we read about a Nigerian lady two 
years ago, I believe it was, lost her husband to these Fulani 
herdsmen, these Muslim militants. I think it was two years ago. 
He was a pastor. She lost him. This past week or so, she was 
burying her son, who she lost to these Fulani herdsmen again 
in another attack. And at that funeral, they attacked 
again during the funeral and killed three more people that 
were part of the friends and relations of this lady. How do 
you say to a lady like that, this too shall pass? We get the 
daily, actually, updates out of Myanmar. We see what's going 
on there. And our friend there who is comforting these believers 
in Myanmar, you know, you can't say this too shall pass because 
you just don't know that. But what Peter is doing here 
is reminding them that the trials that they're experiencing now, 
they're limited to this temporal realm. There will come a time 
when they will be over, whether it's the time of Death or the 
time of if Christ were to return before that But there is a time 
they are limited now and in their in their eternal in their forever 
home There will be no suffering and no pain So and then he says 
here he says here that if necessary If you know if for or if need 
be though now for a little while if need be if necessary I'm gonna 
lean quite heavily on some commentators there for this for this phrase 
now because in In the form that it's in, in the original, there's 
various ways of writing conditions in the Greek, and the structure 
is here that it implies the reality of the condition. So, John Calvin says that the condition 
needs to be taken as a cause. So, we could say, for a little 
while, if necessary, and it is necessary, you have been grieved, 
or better, for a little while, because it is necessary, you 
have been grieved. So we see that it is necessary, 
there's a reason why this is happening. The rest of that Kelvin 
quote there, he says, the condition is to be taken for a cause, For 
he purposed to show that God does not, without reason, thus 
try his people. For if God afflicted us without 
a cause, to bear it would be grievous. Hence Peter took an 
argument for consolation from the design of God. Not that the 
reason always appears to us, but that we ought to be fully 
persuaded that it ought to be so, because it is God's will." 
So the trials, the pain, the suffering that we undergo, it 
has a purpose. And that's our second point. here, the purpose 
of our trials. So he starts out in verse 7, 
and that, the genuineness of your faith. So the word that, 
that's our purpose clause. That's how we know he's going 
to tell us now what is the purpose of that. We might not know the 
exact reason in our own situation, the exact reason why these things 
are happening, as Kelvin says here. But yet we can be assured 
of the general purpose. Peter gives us the general purpose 
of of trials. Why do we experience trials? 
And that's in verse 7, that the genuineness of your faith, being 
much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested 
by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation 
of Jesus Christ. So the genuineness of your faith. So he's not talking about whether 
you have faith or not, whether you can stand up to this test, 
and if you fail, that you had no faith. He's speaking to believers. He understands that they have 
They have saving faith. But what he's focusing on here 
is the result in a sense. The faith is after having been 
tested, the genuineness there. We might say your faith having 
been tried or your tried, your tested faith there. And that's 
why he compares it to gold. He says that it's more precious 
than gold. Gold is purified by fire, not 
only to remove the impurities and to purify it, but it's also 
a test for the genuineness of faith. It's to determine that 
it is, in fact, a pure product. It's to produce something valuable, 
something precious. And our trials are like that. 
Our trials are that proof test of our faith. So first, they would be there 
to produce a stronger faith, to increase our faith, to grow 
it. Peter compares it to gold here. We can think of other metals 
as well that are tempered or made stronger through extreme 
heat, and you end up with a better product, with a stronger product. 
James 1 verse 2 to 4, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall 
into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith 
produces patience. But let patience have its perfect 
work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 
So you see that the idea of working towards perfection or completion 
there, that the trials are serving that purpose. But I think mainly 
Peter's point here is to prove It's genuineness. And he wants 
us to understand that that is what God is doing here when we 
undergo trials. And he argues from the lesser 
to the greater. We see Jesus doing the same thing 
when he taught about the goodness of God to his disciples in Matthew 
chapter 7. He says, what man among you, 
if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks 
for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being 
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more 
will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who 
ask Him? So he starts with arguing from 
the lesser of us as human fathers, knowing how to give good gifts 
to the greater. How much more will God do that? And Peter does 
the same thing here. So, you know, your faith, having 
been purified, having been tested, having been proved to be genuine 
by these various trials, is much more precious in God's sight 
than gold would be in our sight, gold which is purified, tested, 
and proved to be genuine by fire. Matthew Poole again here says, 
if men do so far esteem their gold that they will make the 
excellency and preciousness of it appear by trying it in the 
fire which purges away the dross and discovers the goodness of 
the metal, No wonder if God will have the faith of the saints 
more precious to him than gold is to men, tried by afflictions, 
that the excellency of it may more fully be discovered." Or 
as Matthew Henry says, the soundness and the goodness of our faith 
may be discovered. So if man is willing to take 
something as precious to him as gold and throw it in the fire 
in order to prove that it's genuine, and to test its genuineness, 
God more so will take something as precious in his sight as our 
faith and subject it to trials to prove its genuineness. And 
that's why Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 6 that we saw earlier, 
that though we are poor, yet we are rich, or yet we possess 
all things. So we might not have a lot of 
wealth in this lower world there, using Paul's example, And even 
if we did, it perishes, as Peter says here, right? That even the 
most precious metal, gold, it will break down and wear out 
over time because it's something that belongs to this temporary 
realm. But we have something of value 
in the spiritual realm, the richness of faith, something that is precious 
in God's sight, something that He is working to refine and to 
purify in us. And now when I say something 
of value in the spiritual realm, that is not in regards to our 
justification and to what makes us right with God. We do not 
bring our faith and Christ in order to be made right with God. We are justified by grace alone 
on account of the merits of Christ alone. Our faith does not merit 
anything. So when I say that it is a value, 
it's not a value towards our justification, towards our salvation. But Peter does call it, in 2 
Peter chapter 1, he calls it a precious faith, it's precious 
in God's sight. So we see that, we see Jesus 
doing the same thing, contrasting temporal riches with eternal 
riches in Matthew chapter 6. Do not lay up for yourselves 
treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves 
break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. 
And how do we do that? That is through faith. And that 
is where Peter takes us now, to the value of a tried and of 
a tested faith that proved to be genuine faith, that it may 
be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus 
Christ. So that's the idea here, is the 
result to be found to that. So having the result. So our 
tried faith, our tested faith, will result in these things. 
And that is at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You know, when 
we see Jesus in heaven, faith is no more because now we see 
him. So at the end of our faith, and 
this is the result. And our faith results in praise, 
Honor and glory. Paul uses that same wording in 
Romans 2 as well. Some translations will say praise, 
honor, and peace, but the same idea, that our faith results 
in that. Honor here, speaking of being 
highly esteemed, and then praise is the declaration of that esteem. So as believers, our faith, upon 
the revelation of Christ, we will receive honor. 1 Corinthians 
4, verse 5, each one's praise will come from God. John 12 verse 
26, if anyone serves me, him, my father, will honor. Isn't 
that amazing when you think about that? Because we know, we understand 
that God gives us faith. Faith is a gift of God. And then 
God sends us trials to purify, to prove the genuineness of that 
faith. And as a result, then we receive 
praise, honor, and glory. from Him. And is it because of 
what we've done? No, we understand that it's not 
because of what we have done, because this has all come from 
God, but it's because of our union with Christ, that we are 
in Christ through faith, and we receive these things. We understand 
Christ did it all, but we become heirs of that kingdom of glory 
with Him. So our tested faith, tried faith, 
proved to be genuine through these trials, results in praise, 
honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, I have 
to point out at this point here, we can't miss it, that this is 
so contrary to the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. They say 
that if you become a Christian, you're going to be so blessed 
in this temporal realm that you'll have all these blessings here 
and now in this life. Your best life will be now. But 
the Bible teaches the exact opposite of what they say. They say that 
you're going to suffer in this temporal realm so that your faith 
will be tried, so that it will be strengthened, and so that 
it will result in a future glory. And that doesn't mean that our 
lives on this earth are only going to be miserable, and if 
we hope to enter glory one day, not at all. But the wonderful 
plan that God has for our lives is eternal glory with Him in 
heaven. Our best life is not now. But to get to that glory, we 
need a faith that is tried, that is proved to be genuine through 
sufferings that will happen in this temporal realm. It's the 
polar opposite of what they're teaching. So, yes, God is a good 
God. God loves to lavish us with good 
things, the Bible tells us, in this temporal life. These prosperity 
preachers, they'll tell you that when you experience some sort 
of a trial, it's because you didn't have enough faith, and 
it's a problem with your faith. But the Bible says it's because 
you do have faith, and it's there to prove the genuineness of that 
faith. And we can know that God is working 
to purify and to prove that faith for himself. So it's a complete 
opposite message of the prosperity gospel. But this is a great cause 
for rejoicing when we understand this, when we understand what 
God is doing with these trials. They are not there without a 
purpose. They have a purpose. God is working 
to purify and prove the genuineness of our faith. And that's why 
James says we can count it all joy when we fall into various 
trials. But now we come to the principle then of maintaining 
joy in trials. How can we, how do we, be joyful 
as we experience the various trials that we will experience 
in this life. Practically, how do we not lose 
our joy in the midst of trials? And that's in verses 8 and 9, 
we find that there. We'll read verse 7 again. That 
the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than 
gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found 
to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 
whom, having not seen, you love, though now you do not see him, 
yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of 
glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your 
souls. So the focus of these verses 
here is Christ. It's the Lord Jesus. He says, 
you know, that we love him, even though we don't see him, that 
we believe in him, even though we don't see him. So it's the 
idea is faith. It's belief without seeing him. 
Believing what has been revealed to us and without without having 
seen these realities. And he speaks of love here as 
well. And love to Christ proceeds from our faith in Him. So when 
we believe in Him for who He is, how He has been revealed 
in the Scriptures, then our response is love towards Him. But the 
principle here is faith in Christ. That is the basic principle. And it's not just the the simple 
elements of a saving faith, of trusting in Christ as our Savior, 
believing in the, understanding His atonement, His obedience, 
those types of things for our salvation. But it's a growing 
faith. It's a faith that grows stronger. And how does faith 
grow stronger? That is, well, because faith 
is built upon Knowledge faith is not is not a blind faith No, 
we we can't see Christ now, but it's but it's not that we don't 
know anything about him So we we we there's much to know about 
him And the more that we learn about him the stronger our faith 
grows the second Peter 3 verse 18 Peter tells us we're commanded 
there to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ So we need a faith that is growing a faith that 
is learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And how 
do we do that? Well, of course, is where we 
find the revelation of God's Son, the Lord Jesus, is in the 
Word. But it's using the means that 
we say, the means of reading the Bible, reading God's Word, 
learning about Christ as we find him in the Bible, and through 
much prayer, in conjunction with reading the Bible, learning of 
Christ. But it's also church attendance 
is also the means, another one of the means that we speak about. 
Now, when pastors, you know, there's a reason why pastors 
say, come to church. You know, it's not just so that 
they can fill the house and have a big crowd to speak to. It shouldn't 
be anyways. I know from this pulpit, it's 
not when Pastor Butler says that, you know, come to church. It's 
for this reason. It's so that we, the Ephesians 
chapter 4 very clearly tells us that Christ ascended on high. He gave gifts to men and those 
gifts were pastors and part of some of those gifts were pastors 
and teachers for the church. Maybe just, I'll just turn there 
for a minute because that gives us the reason why we ought to 
come to church. It's for growing in this faith. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 10, 
oh sorry, verse 11. And he himself gave some to be 
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors 
and teachers for the equipping of the saints. for the work of 
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we 
all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of 
the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature 
of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children 
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine 
by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful 
plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things 
into him who is the head, Christ." Well, that's as far as we'll 
read there. So that is why we come to church, is to learn. 
God has gifted men to teach and to preach. and to expound the 
word and to show who Christ is so that we may learn by it, that 
we may grow by it. And as a means of our growing 
faith in Christ, that is how we can experience 
joy. Our joy is founded on the faith, 
on what we know about Christ, by what we have learned from 
him. So what do we know? What do we 
need to know then about Christ that that helps us to have joy 
that aids us and having joy in the midst of suffering if we 
turn to Hebrews chapter 12 for a minute Hebrews 12 Verse 1 Read 
verse 1 through 4 therefore we also since we are surrounded 
by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight 
and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance 
the race that is set before us and looking unto Jesus, the author 
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before 
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at 
the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who 
endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become 
weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted 
to bloodshed, striving against sin." So understanding that Christ 
suffered and Christ entered glory so that we, through suffering, 
will enter glory. That Christ has gone on before 
us and has made it possible. He died so that we might have 
life. And that is the crux of the matter. The hope, the glory 
that we have as believers is all possible because of what 
Christ has done. That Christ suffered suffered 
an eternity of the Father's wrath on that cross in order to secure 
eternal glory for us. So that is where it starts, is 
understanding the suffering of Christ. So the cross is that 
answer to our suffering, the ultimate answer. And then knowing 
that he rose again, that he's now in glory, and that's where 
he's headed. So that is where we are going. And that we now, 
through many tribulations, will enter the kingdom of God. That's 
what in Acts 14 verse 22, that's what we find Paul teaching there. 
Now, the interesting thing is there is that Paul was going 
around, and it says, and he went around to the churches in that 
area. And he says, and he strengthened 
the brethren by saying this, through many tribulations we 
can enter the kingdom of God. So that was how he was strengthening 
them, by telling them that. Because the focus is not on the 
tribulations there, but the focus must be on the fact that we will 
enter the kingdom of God. It's that living hope that Peter 
talked about in verse 3 that we saw this morning. So that 
is what our faith is looking forward to, is that in this you 
greatly rejoice, that we have a future glory, future hope, 
all secured for us by our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that 
is cause for great rejoicing. So knowing that Christ has done 
this for us, that we have this hope, this inheritance waiting 
for us. and that Christ has gone on before 
us, you know, to make it all possible that we enter glory. 
And now, then we also need to understand that our trials come 
from Him, that our trials are there for a specific purpose, 
and a purpose that God has. If you're still in Hebrews 12, 
we'll continue there in verse 5. And you have forgotten the 
exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son, do not despise 
the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked 
by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens 
and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, 
God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a 
father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, 
of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and 
not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected 
us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily 
be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live? For they 
indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but 
he for our prophet, that we may be partakers of his holiness. 
Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. 
Nevertheless, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness 
to those who have been trained by it. So there's a purpose in 
verse 10. He says here that our humanly 
fathers chastened us, but God, our heavenly father, chastened 
us for our prophet, that we may be partakers of his holiness. So understanding that, knowing 
that there is a purpose. These things happen to us for 
a reason. God is at work in these trials. And we also are to accept the 
trials as well. In verse five here, he says, 
my son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. So accepting them. 
Turn back to 1 Peter again, but go to chapter four for a minute. 
Chapter 4, verse 12, Beloved, do not think it strange concerning 
the fiery trial that is to try you, as though some strange thing 
happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake 
of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you 
may also be glad with exceeding joy. So accepting the trials, 
understanding they're there for a purpose, and then accepting 
them. That is very important to realize. Don't think it's strange. Don't 
despise it, as we saw there. And then also realizing that 
trials are part of this temporal realm, and limited to the temporal 
realm, as we saw this morning very clearly. Romans 8, verse 
18, Paul says, that the sufferings of this present time are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed 
in us. So Paul, again, are saying there 
that on a scale, if you will, the scale of suffering that we 
experience in this temporal realm doesn't even compare to the glory 
that we will experience in the spiritual realm, in our heavenly 
home. So Matthew Henry here says, the 
trial will soon be over, but the glory, honor, and praise 
will last to eternity. This should reconcile you to 
your present afflictions. They work for you a far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. They are there for 
a purpose. So when we have this focus, when 
we understand these things about our trials, and knowing that 
they are there, and having the right focus of the eternal realm 
where we are headed, and our trials are there to bring us 
there, to lead us to that glory there, then the result is what 
he says here, this joy unspeakable and full of glory. As John Gill 
says, it's a joy that's better experienced than expressed. You 
can't put it in words here. Like like Paul said to the Philippians 
of that peace of God that surpasses all understanding You know that 
there it's just you can't necessarily put it in words It's a it's a 
joy unspeakable and it's full of glory. It's full of glory 
because the source is glory It's it's it's it's founded upon the 
glory that awaits us in heaven so that's how we that is how 
we maintain joy in the presence of Trials in the presence of 
pain and suffering that we have a faith that is built upon knowledge 
knowledge of who God is and what he has done for us and where 
we are headed that is why theology matters it really truly does 
we because these things are To we understand that our faith 
is built up is grown and it helps us to get through trials and 
it helps us to have joy in spite of the trials, because joy is 
not necessarily a response to the trial. We saw how, yes, we 
can have, in James there, we can have joy in response to the 
trial, knowing that it is God working in us there. But primarily, joy is the response 
to our Savior and to what we know about what He has done for 
us and what He has laid up in store for us, that inheritance 
that we that we are headed for, that is, our joy comes from knowing 
that and through faith, trusting in that, that is indeed what 
we will experience. And we saw this morning how that 
is a guaranteed thing, so we can be assured of that. Then 
when we experience our next trial, then how do we respond? Choose 
joy. Is it that simple? We hear that 
often, you know, choose joy. You see the little fridge magnets. Is that really what we need to 
do, just simply choose joy? No, we don't. We need to choose 
to have the right focus. That's what we need to choose. 
And God will give the joy. There the it's the it's the the 
joy is the result of having a right focus in life and that right 
focus comes through conscious willful Obedience to do so to 
to to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus 
Christ It doesn't happen by sitting back on on the couch and just 
hoping that you know, we will feel joyful we need to be making 
we need to be consciously growing we need to be We need to be taking 
every thought captive to Christ. Every thought that we have about 
a trial that we're going through, we run it through that lens that 
is focused on Christ. And we view it in light of the 
glory that is to come, a glory that far exceeds the sufferings 
of this lower world. So you may have heard the little 
phrase, what you focus on expands. I think that phrase can be really 
misused in certain circumstances, but there is an element of truth 
to that, what you focus on expands. So we need to focus on Christ, 
focus on Him seated at the right hand of the Father in glory now, 
having prepared the way for us, and one day He will return and 
bring us there with Him. And the more that we focus on 
that, the more we learn about that and understand that, then 
the greater our joy will become. And that is why our joy as Christians 
ought to be constant. our response to the trials of 
this world, happiness and being grieved, it ebbs and flows as 
our various experiences. come to us and as time goes on 
and they pass. But our joy ought to be constant 
because our joy is rooted in the biblical reality of the spiritual 
realm. And the Bible gives us the past 
and the present and the future. We have it all. We have it all 
there. We don't have all the details 
necessarily and that full revelation will come at the end of the age, 
at the revelation of Jesus Christ. But we know that Jesus died, 
Jesus rose again. And that he ascended into glory 
that he now lives and that one day he's coming to take us to 
glory with him So we have we have everything and our joy is 
founded on that. So our joy ought to be ought 
to be constant so the more that we distinguish between our Temporal 
life and our eternal life then the more that we can and the 
more that we let go of trying to find fulfillment in this temporal 
world But whether we find our fulfillment, our complete satisfaction, 
our joy in Christ, then the greater our joy will become. And then 
we will receive the end of our faith, the goal in the sense, 
the telos of our faith, the salvation of your souls. and souls that 
are encompassing our whole human being as we are. So that is what 
we will receive at the end, is the salvation of our souls, this 
glory that is to come. And then at the revelation of 
Jesus Christ, then we'll hear those glorious words that Jesus 
said, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world. And if you are not 
a believer here this evening, again, I warn you, and I call 
you to come to trust in Christ, trust in this Savior, and you 
will be saved, and you will get to experience that glory. Believe 
on Him, and you will be saved. Let us close in prayer. O Lord, we again thank you for 
your word. We thank you for these glorious 
truths contained in their and the hope that we have of the 
future and the comfort that we can have now and the joy that 
we can experience in the midst of trials because we know where 
we are going and we know our Savior is there and has made 
it all possible for us. Our Savior, your Son, the Lord 
Jesus, seated at your right hand in glory right now. And Lord, 
we look forward to that day. Lord, we long for it. And I pray 
that you would help us to be diligent in the daily, the life 
here on this earth as we go through it now, that we would yet be 
diligent to lead a life that brings honor and glory to your 
name, that you would give us strength in the trials, Lord. 
It is so apparent. We know our life is full of trials. 
Our life is full of difficulties. And Lord, we pray for grace and 
for strength to get through these things. We know Peter has said 
we suffer from manifold trials, but you have a manifold grace 
that is available for each and every trial. So Lord, I pray 
that you would give us grace in the trials. I pray that you 
would be with each one here who is struggling with their various 
difficulties of life. Lord, we all struggle in certain 
ways. and some more, some less, and Lord, I pray that you would 
just gird up and strengthen the feeble, that this message that 
we have looked at now, that it would be a means to strengthen 
and to encourage and to lift up those who are weary and encouraged 
to continue to look to Christ. and to find in Him our all in 
all. And so, Lord, I pray that you 
would bless us now. Be with each one of us as we 
continue on in this week as we go about our business. Lord, 
I pray that we would be diligent to lead lives that bring honor 
and glory to your name. And Lord, we pray your blessing 
on us now, and we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen. Well, 
let's close with doxology again. I believe it's 568. In your hymnals, 
please stand and we'll sing together. Praise God, who all blessings 
flow. Praise Him, all creatures here 
below. But may the God of all grace, 
who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, After 
you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle 
you. To Him be the glory and the dominion 
forever and ever. Amen. We'll close with a time 
of meditation.