Lars Larson Live Stream

First Baptist Church Leominster iconFirst Baptist Church Leominster

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And thus says the
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Word of God. Our Father, we thank you for this record we have of the
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Lord Jesus and the great work that you did through him. And these works, of course, these miracles demonstrated, prove that he is your
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Son and that you gave him the authority and power to accomplish your work in the world.
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And we thank you, our God, that he established your kingdom through his life and through his suffering and death, his resurrection, and that he even now reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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And we are citizens of that heavenly kingdom. And yet we realize, our
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God, in another sense, the kingdom is yet to come. And we'll inherit that kingdom prepared from even before the foundation of the world for those that believe on Jesus.
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Help us to do so more fully, more fervently, more faithfully.
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Bless your word to us now, Lord, as we listen to it taught and proclaimed to us. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
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And Jason, if you'll come, please. Jason and Laura, the family, have been with us since May, of course, and he's serving among us, laboring hard three days a week for the
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Princeton Light Company. It is the desire of the elders, of course, as we've made known to put them forward as an elder in January.
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That's coming up on us. And Lord willing to confer on him also the responsibility of associate pastor.
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And so, again, several months ago, I asked if he would cover for us today. And so, Jason, thank you for that.
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God bless you. He asked me to preach several months ago, and I've forgotten.
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He reminded me last week. Let's go to the
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Lord in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, it is so wonderful to be here with your people in your house.
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We thank you, Lord, for who you are. You are a great and awesome God. You are the creator.
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You have revealed yourself to us through your son. You've given us your Holy Spirit.
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You've given us your authoritative and sufficient word. And we pray now, Lord, as we open your word, that you would teach us what it has to say.
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Give us a glimpse of who you are and how we need to change our lives in order to best reflect you to a lost and a dying world.
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Lord, we pray for your wisdom. We pray for your endurance, that we would be free from distraction.
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And help us, Lord, to worship you as we open the word of God. Thank you, in Jesus' name, amen.
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Do you ever lack joy in your life? Are you ever despondent or stressed out by the circumstances in which you find yourself?
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Maybe you're lacking joy because of personal circumstances. Maybe you're frequently sick, or you have a life -altering disease.
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Maybe you don't like the way you look or the way you act. Maybe you get picked on at school, or you find yourself without any true friends.
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Maybe you feel alone and unloved in the world. Maybe you're lacking joy because of your marital circumstances.
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You don't like your spouse, and your spouse doesn't like you. Maybe your marriage is constant clashes of conflict.
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Maybe you feel all alone in your marriage. Maybe you're in debt.
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You're not living within your means. Maybe you're not content with your occupation. Maybe you're struggling with your church, or your work, or with your neighbors.
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Maybe you just lack joy because of the wicked state of the world around you.
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Beloved, if you find that your responsibilities and the pressures of your daily life are getting to you, if they are getting you down, if they are weighing you down, if you find yourself buried beneath feelings of frustration, dissatisfaction, despair, wanting to flee, know that you're not alone.
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King David described many times as a man after God's own heart often had these types of feelings.
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In Psalm 55, David cries out, My heart is in anguish within me.
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The terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.
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And I say, oh, that I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and be at rest.
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Yes, I would wander far away. I would lodge in the wilderness. I would hurry to find shelter from the raging wind and tempest.
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Amidst his life circumstances, in difficulty and in trials, King David desired to fly away like a bird, far away from the people and the problems that were plaguing him.
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The prophet Elijah also shared these same feelings of despair. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of the
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Old Testament. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah challenges all of the prophets of the land, 450 prophets of Baal, and 400 prophets of Asherah, and the
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Lord God defeated them all. Elijah contested, defeated, and slaughtered a total of 850 false prophets in one day.
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And upon hearing of this great victory, Queen Jezebel sent a letter to Elijah saying,
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So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.
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After challenging 850 false prophets, one man versus 850, and being victorious,
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Elijah receives a threatening letter from a wicked queen, and what does he do? He tucks his tail and he runs away and he mourns his own life.
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1 Kings 19 .3, Then he was afraid, and he rose and ran for his life, and he asked that he might die, saying,
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It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my father's.
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Amidst his life circumstances, in difficulty and in trials, even after an incredible spiritual victory,
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Elijah lacked joy and despaired of life itself. It is enough now,
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O Lord, take away my life. I think that most believers at some point in their lives have lacked joy.
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As the weight and the worries of life and the weight and the worries of this world bear down upon us, we often succumb to our circumstances.
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This problem is greater than you may realize. In the church today, it is unfortunately commonplace for Christians to lack joy and to live in a continued state of misery and despair.
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So what should you do if you find yourself lacking joy? What should you do if you find yourself struggling with feelings of misery or feelings of despair?
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How do you get your joy back? How do you restore your joy after it has been absent?
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And how do you maintain an ongoing spirit of joy in your life?
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Well, the answers to every one of these questions is found in our passage this morning.
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Please turn with me to the book of 1 Peter. Our text this morning is 1
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Peter 1, 6 -9. Let's look at the text together.
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1 Peter 1, 6 -9. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while.
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If necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
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According to Peter, joy does not come from the outside.
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It comes from the inside. True joy is not in any way linked to our external or our temporary circumstances.
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Rather, it is linked to our internal and our eternal destiny.
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In other words, a Christian's joy comes from confidence in three things.
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1. Joy comes from your protected inheritance. 6. Joy comes from your tested, genuine faith.
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7. Joy comes from your relationship with the
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Lord God. Verses 8 and 9. Let's take a look at each one of these.
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1. A Christian's joy comes from confidence in their protected inheritance.
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1 Peter 1 .6. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.
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Now notice the first four words of verse 6. In this you rejoice.
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Christians are to rejoice in this. Well, to what does the in this refer?
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The in this is referring back to the previous passage, verses 3 through 5, which says this.
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy,
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He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
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The in this is referring to our rebirth. We have been born again by the great mercy of God, the
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Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The in this refers to our living hope, the resurrection and ascended
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Lord Jesus Christ. The in this refers to our imperishable, undefiled and unfading inheritance, which is protected and guarded by God's power through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
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The in this refers to all of these miraculous blessings. We are to rejoice in this.
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To rejoice means to be exceedingly happy. It means to exult.
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It means to be exuberant. It means to be abundantly glad. And all throughout the scriptures, this word is used to describe great spiritual joy.
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Not the temporal joy of the world, not the temporal joy that we find in our circumstances, but the supernatural joy that comes from a right relationship with the
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Lord God and the reality of his abundant blessings. Beloved, in light of your spiritual blessings, be exuberant.
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Be exceedingly glad. Be abundantly happy. Exult in this.
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I think the question that every Christian needs to honestly answer, where am
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I looking for my joy? Am I looking for joy in my circumstances? Am I looking for joy in my health or my family or my occupation, in my achievements, in my relationships, in my hobbies?
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Because all of these things are subject to change. All of these things are temporal and fleeting.
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As you walk through this world, through difficulty, through suffering and the trials of life, rather than looking for joy in this world, rather than looking for joy in the things of this world, you need to be looking not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen.
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Rather than an earthly and temporal perspective on life, you must possess a heavenly and eternal perspective.
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Well, easier said than done, right? It can be hard to rise above your immediate circumstances.
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It can be hard to transcend the difficulties that you are facing today. It is hard to get past what we see and focus on what we do not see.
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Especially when this life is filled with such great frustration and injustice.
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But look again at our passage in 1 Peter 1 .6. Here in these four verses,
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Peter gives us a very helpful and concise theology of suffering. Everything you need to know about troubles and difficulty and perseverance is found in this passage.
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And the first thing you need to know about suffering. Principle number one. Suffering is temporary.
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Suffering does not last. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while.
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Difficulty and suffering only last a little while. Even if you suffer your entire life against the backdrop of eternity, your earthly aches and pains are but a moment in time.
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A flash of light that quickly disappears in the darkness. Listen to how
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Paul describes it. 2 Corinthians 4 .17. For this momentary light affliction is producing in us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
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As we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
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For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
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Beloved, our lives on earth are very, very short. Our lives on earth are fleeting.
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And according to James, our lives are but a mist that appears for just a little time.
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And then vanishes away in the blink of an eye. No matter the intensity or the difficulty or the greatness of anguish, your suffering will not last forever.
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In His mercy and goodness, the Lord God limits the duration of our suffering, though now for a little while.
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Principle number two. Suffering is a certainty and suffering will be multicolored.
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You will be grieved by various trials. All Christians should expect suffering.
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We should expect trials, we should expect tribulation, and we should expect a variety of these things.
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It may be physical pain. It may be emotional pain. Sadness.
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Anxiety. Betrayal. Panic. Hopelessness.
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Sorrow. Sickness. Disappointments. Despair. Natural disasters.
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Unfaithfulness. Freak accidents. There's just no getting around it. You will experience some type of suffering in this life.
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In this world, John 16, 33, you will have tribulation.
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You will be grieved by various trials. But why?
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Why does God allow us to go through such difficulty? Why does a good
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God allow us to go through such difficulty? Why does our loving Heavenly Father allow
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His children to suffer so greatly? Principle number three.
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Suffering serves a purpose. Suffering is necessary.
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1 Peter 1, 6, In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary.
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This is the reason why God our Father allows suffering in our lives. It is necessary.
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Suffering is according to His plan. Suffering is according to His will. It serves a definite and a particular purpose in our lives.
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For the believer, there is always a reason behind your suffering.
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Well, what is the reason? What purpose does suffering serve?
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Let me give you four helpful reasons or four helpful purposes. Number one.
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God often allows suffering for the purpose of correction. Suppose someone suffers with liver disease because of years of abusive drinking.
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Suppose someone suffers from unemployment or poverty because they were fired for their jobs for being late and performing poorly.
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Suppose someone suffers with incarceration, being separated from their family and their friends because they transgressed the law.
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God often uses our suffering, our affliction, our hardships as a means of correcting us.
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God uses it to train us in His ways. Every one of us has one time or another gone astray.
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Corrective suffering is meant to get us back on the path of righteousness. It is a course correction.
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Commonly, if you hear someone speak of God's discipline or God's chastening or His chastisement, these terms are often associated with God's judgment,
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His anger, His wrath. But in reality, these words are actually associated with training, as in a parent who is training their child.
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Hebrews 12, 5. And have you forgotten this exhortation that addresses you as sons?
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My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him.
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For the Lord disciplines the ones He loves, and chastises every son whom
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He receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons.
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For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If a child has disobeyed their parents, they need to be corrected.
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And do parents correct their children because they like to inflict pain? No, parents correct their children because children need to understand that they are not free to do anything that they want.
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Children are under the authority of the parents, and when they step outside of that authority, there are consequences.
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Beloved, in your life, there may be a certain amount of discipline or a certain amount of suffering that has been brought upon you for the purpose of training you to greater maturity.
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A great example of corrective suffering is how the Lord God dealt with King David in the case of Bathsheba.
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King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of another man, Uriah the
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Hittite. And Bathsheba became pregnant with King David's child. And King David quickly tried to cover up his sin, but his cover -up failed.
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So he had Uriah the Hittite killed. King David committed murder to conceal his sin.
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Now, he had clearly strayed from the path of righteousness. And what did
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God do to correct his course? How did the Lord God get him back on track?
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Corrective discipline. In the book of 2 Samuel, we learn that the Lord God sends the prophet
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Nathan to confront King David, and his punishment was severe. The sword never departed from his house.
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Evil was raised up from his own family. His wives were defiled in broad daylight.
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And the child born to Bathsheba and King David died. Now, these are some very harsh consequences.
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I'm sure they must have brought a tremendous amount of pain and suffering in King David in his life. But what were the fruits of this corrective suffering?
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King David repented of his sin. Listen to Psalm 51. He cries out to God, Have mercy on me,
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O God. According to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
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For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only,
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I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
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Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
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Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
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The corrective suffering that King David faced, the sword not departing from his house, the evil from his own household that was against him, the death of the child, these were all for corrective reasons.
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These consequences were meant to drive King David back into the arms of his heavenly Father, back into the path of righteousness, which is precisely what happened.
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In Psalm 119, King David made a very insightful proclamation regarding suffering.
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In verse 67, he says, Before I was afflicted, I went astray.
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But now I keep your word. Verse 71,
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It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
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Beloved, the first thing that you need to do when trials and difficulty come upon you, self -examination.
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Take a good hard look at your life, at your actions, at your attitudes. Amidst your suffering, you might have to say,
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I have brought this upon myself, and my Father is correcting me in love.
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He's not smiting me in wrath, but he is disciplining me for my good and for his glory.
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One of God's purposes in suffering is our correction. Number two, another purpose in suffering, sometimes
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God allows suffering for the purpose of education. God often brings suffering into our lives to educate us.
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In our suffering and affliction, the Lord God may be trying to teach us something about himself, or something about ourselves, something about our sins, something about our salvation.
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A good example of educational suffering is Job. In the first chapter of Job, we learn that Job was a very righteous man.
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He was a very successful man. He was a man of great wealth. He was a man of great character.
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And there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan was also among them.
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And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears
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God and turns away from evil? Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear
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God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side?
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You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
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But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.
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So the Lord responded to Satan, All that he has is in your hands. So the next thing you know, the
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Sabaeans attack and take all of his oxen and all of his donkeys. The fire of God falls from heaven and consumes all of his sheep.
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The Chaldeans come, and they take away all of his camels. Then all of his servants are killed.
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And last of all, a great wind comes from the wilderness and collapses the house where his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking, killing every one of them.
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Life can drastically change in an instant, can't it? It did with Job.
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In one sitting, Job lost everything. But amidst all of these horrors, do you remember
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Job's response? Verse 21, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall
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I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the
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Lord. In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrong.
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Now, given the severity of his personal loss, this is a tremendously impressive response.
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Job had just lost all of his wealth, all of his servants, all of his children, and yet he continued to worship, praise, and glorify
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God. Well, again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the
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Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant
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Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?
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He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.
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Do you remember Satan's response? Skin for skin. All that a man has, he will give for his life.
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But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.
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The Lord said to Satan, Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.
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So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he struck Job down with loathsome sores, from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
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And Job took a piece of broken pottery, with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.
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And at this point, not much else could go wrong in Job's life. His wife counsels him,
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Curse God and die. His three friends tell him that he must have done something wrong.
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He must have some unconfessed sin in his life. Something must be out of place in Job's life to elicit such pain and suffering from the
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Lord God. I think it's really interesting that God never informed
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Job of what was happening in heaven. He never informs Job of the conversation that he was having with Satan.
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There was never a time when God said, By the way, Job, let me tell you what's going to be happening to you. I'm going to afflict you with great pain because I've got this conversation going on with Satan.
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Job never knew any of this. Not even a word. Now, the rest of the book is
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Job trying to figure out all this stuff. He openly questions the Lord God as to why this was happening.
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Job wanted answers. His wife wasn't giving him answers. His friends weren't giving him any answers.
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And in the end, the Lord God gave Job an answer. Job 38, verse 2.
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Who is this that darkens counsel by my words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man.
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I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when
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I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements?
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Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? Or what were its bases sunk?
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Or who laid its cornerstone? And then for the next 86 verses, the
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Lord God rains down upon Job question after question, revealing this monstrous gap between a finite man and an infinite
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God. These were questions that could only be answered by the one true
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God, by the Creator of all things. These questions scolded and humbled and silenced
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Job. These questions confronted Job with his smallness in light of God's infinite greatness.
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Job came face to face with the Lord God's matchless and magnificent brilliance.
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And he was put in his place. It was through his loss, his pain, and his suffering that Job finally came to a true understanding of who
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God is. You see, it is God Himself who is the answer to suffering.
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God didn't actually answer Job's question, did He? What did
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God do? He reminded Job of who He was, of His awesome power, of His awesome magnificence.
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The character of God is the answer to suffering. It's in the trials, it's in the pain, it's in the sorrow, it's in the suffering that we discern more clearly who the
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Lord God is. Listen to how Job answers back to the Lord God.
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Job 42, Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
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Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what
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I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear, and I will speak.
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I will question you, and you make it known to me. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you.
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Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. Now did you catch what
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Job said? I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you.
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Job suffered immensely, but the fruit of his suffering was priceless.
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Job experienced the Lord God firsthand, and he was forever changed.
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C .S. Lewis remarked that God whispers to us in our pleasures. He speaks to us in our conscience, but he shouts to us in our pains.
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It is his megaphone to rouse a death and dying world. Suffering and difficulty will educate you.
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You may never experience the true provision and sufficiency of God without it. It's one thing to say, yes,
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I believe that God is sufficient, but it is entirely another to experience that sufficiency firsthand.
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God's purpose in suffering is often for our education. A third purpose in suffering.
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Sometimes God allows suffering for the purpose of prevention. In other words, sometimes
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God allows us to suffer for preventative reasons. Well, what do you mean by that?
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Sometimes our suffering is because we would sin, or we would harm ourselves, or we would dishonor
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God if he didn't cause certain things to happen in our lives to restrain us.
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A good example of preventative suffering is the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 12,
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Paul is talking about his visions and the revelation that he had received from the Lord God, and he talks about being caught up into the third heaven.
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He talks about being caught up into paradise, and he heard things that cannot be told, inexpressible things that no man may utter.
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2 Corinthians 12, 7. So, to keep me from becoming conceited, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
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After receiving these great revelations, the Lord God gave Paul a thorn in his flesh, a preventative thorn in his flesh.
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The word that Paul uses for thorn is stake, and it literally refers to a spear.
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Paul was saying that God pierced a spear through his flesh. God gave Paul immense pain, and the reason to prevent him from becoming conceited.
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The Lord God afflicted the apostle Paul with severe pain to keep him from the sin of pride.
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Maybe the suffering that you are now facing is keeping you from a certain sin or from harm, or maybe it's preventing you from something much, much worse.
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Another purpose in suffering is for our prevention. Fourthly, a fourth purpose in suffering.
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Sometimes God allows suffering for the purpose of His own glory.
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His own glory. John 9, verses 1 through 7. And He passed by,
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He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that He was born blind?
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Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
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We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.
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As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Having said these things,
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He spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then He anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said,
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Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent. So He went and washed and came back seeing.
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What was the reason for this man being born blind? The sole reason for this man's suffering was so that at that very moment, the
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Lord Jesus Christ could heal him of his affliction and thus bring glory to God.
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Now just think about that for a moment. Before the foundation of the world was even laid, the
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Lord God determined that this particular man would be born blind for one reason.
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And that one reason is so that the glory of God could be seen through His healing.
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That was the reason why he was born blind. Now again, let me note something. This blind man didn't have any knowledge of God's predetermined plan.
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He sat as a beggar day after day, night after night, unable to look upon his loved ones, unable to see the beauty of creation, unable to see the sun, and he had absolutely no hope of ever regaining his sight until the
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Lord Jesus Christ revealed God's purpose to him. It may very well be that the suffering that you are currently experiencing is for the sole purpose of healing.
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Beloved, God is always working in our lives. And God allows suffering for His glory.
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He allows it for our prevention, for our education, for our correction. There is always a reason why we suffer.
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There is always a purpose, which is why we entrust ourselves and our suffering into the hands of our
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Heavenly Father. For the Christians, suffering always serves a definite purpose, and thus we are always to be joyful.
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Not because the suffering is fun, but because the source of our joy is the
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Lord God Himself, who caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
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And you also are protected by God's power. You are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, and it is in this that you rejoice.
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A Christian's joy comes from confidence in our protected inheritance.
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Number two. A Christian's joy comes from confidence in their tested, genuine faith.
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1 Peter 1, 6 and 7. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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A tested and genuine faith is another reason we are to rejoice amidst suffering.
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Suffering tests our faith, and it reveals whether or not it is genuine or if it is counterfeit.
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The author of Hebrews defines faith as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
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In other words, faith is where the promises of God and the work of God are made real to His redeemed.
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Faith is living your belief. It is living by what you are convinced is true. Faith is a living hope that is so real that it gives you absolute assurance today.
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Simply put, faith is taking the Lord God at His word and living in the reality of that truth daily.
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The Reformers often spoke of faith in three ways. Faith is recognition or knowledge of the truth of the gospel.
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There are certain facts that need to be known in order to understand the message of the gospel.
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Knowledge. Faith is also an acknowledgment of these truths.
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It is intellectual agreement that the gospel is the only remedy to the spiritual condition of man.
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And faith is a personal commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. It involves the transfer of trust from you to the
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Lord Jesus Christ, who by His life and death provides the only acceptable and sufficient sacrifice for sin.
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Now any one of these three aspects of faith taken by themselves is utterly insufficient to meet the biblical definition of saving faith.
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But all three components put together results in true saving faith.
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In other words, saving faith consists of knowledge, agreement, and a volitional act of both the mind and the will.
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To possess true saving faith is to confidently and continually confess total dependence upon the
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Lord Jesus Christ. It is to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone to meet all of God's righteous requirements.
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True saving faith is to approach God Almighty solely on the merits of His Son, the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the absolute surrender of your life into the hands of God.
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It is to live with complete confidence and complete reliance upon God and His providential care.
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A .W. Tozer wrote that true faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the one who cannot lie.
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It is enough that God has said it. Beloved, why do you think our faith needs to be tested?
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Does God really not know if our faith is genuine? Does God really not know what is in our hearts?
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No, He absolutely knows what's in our hearts. So then who benefits from the testing of our faith?
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Is it God or is it man? We are the ones who benefit from the testing.
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The Greek word tested means to prove or to try, to examine, to analyze, to scrutinize.
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This term was often used to describe the process of analyzing metals to determine their purity or worth.
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The process of assaying metal is relatively straightforward. Gold ore, the rocks that actually contain the gold, are heated in a giant furnace until it all liquefies.
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And then the dross or the waste material is skimmed off the top and discarded.
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And what is left behind is the pure gold. Just as fire is used to purify and refine metal, so is suffering used to purify and refine the children of God.
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The fire of pain and suffering burns up the dross. It burns up the waste and it leaves behind only what is pure and valuable.
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Through our trials, through our suffering, through our difficulty and our pain, like gold, our faith is heated in a giant furnace and it burns away our selfishness.
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It burns away our pride. It burns away our self -reliance. It burns away our lusts, our greed, our unbelief, our bitterness, our anger.
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And what is left behind is the tested genuineness of faith. It leaves behind the true character of ourselves.
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Jonathan Edwards remarked, Eminent virtue always shows brightest in the fire.
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Pure gold shows its purity chiefly in the furnace. In trials and suffering, in the fires of affliction, genuine faith will grow stronger and not weaker.
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The hymn, How Firm a Foundation, puts it well. The flame will not hurt thee, I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
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Again, look at 1 Peter 1 .7. So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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A tested and proven faith that has been refined by the fires of suffering is more precious than gold.
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Even though it passes the test of fire, gold is perishable and gold is temporary.
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Proven faith is far, far more valuable. So beloved, welcome trials in your life.
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Welcome the testing of faith. Welcome pain and suffering because God's purpose is to refine you.
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God's purpose is to purify you. And Thomas Brooks remarked that stars shine brightest in the darkest night.
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Torches are the better for beating. Grapes could not come to proof until they come to the press.
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Spices smell sweetest when pounded. Young trees root the faster for shaking. Vines are the better for bleeding.
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Gold looks the brighter for scoring. And juniper smells sweeter in the fire.
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So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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Lastly, a Christian's joy comes from confidence in their relationship with their
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Father God. The last reason why we are to rejoice and overflow with joy, even in the midst of trials, comes from our relationship with our
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Father God. A Christian's joy is derived from our protected inheritance, from our tested genuine faith, and our relationship with the
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Lord God. 1 Peter 8 -9 Though you have not seen
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Him, you love Him. Though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
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Why should we rejoice amidst trials and tribulation? Why should we greatly rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory?
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Love, trust, and anticipation. Because even though you have not seen
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Him, you love Him. And even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
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Beloved, a Christian's joy is derived from their knowledge of God. Not just an academic knowledge of God, but by an intimate knowledge of God.
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And this knowledge should fill us with inexpressible joy, which is full of glory.
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Knowing the Lord Jesus Christ is to know eternal life. And eternal life is the outcome of your faith.
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Eternal life is the salvation of your soul. Joy is a gift that the
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Lord God gives to those of His children who put their complete trust and faith in Him.
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And if your joy is linked to your Father God, who is guarding not only your inheritance, but also yourself, then your joy will be safe and secure.
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It is safely guarded and protected and it can never be squelched or diminished.
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Beloved, is this your perspective on life? Do you have an eternal perspective?
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Or do you dwell on the temporal? Do you dwell on the things above? Or do you dwell on the things below?
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Colossians 3 says, if you've been raised up with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
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Set your mind on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
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And when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
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Beloved, you have been born again to a living hope. The Lord God has promised you salvation from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and one day soon the presence of sin.
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The Lord God has promised you no condemnation. The Lord God has promised you salvation from an eternity of suffering and misery.
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If you are a true believer, then your salvation is entirely secure. It is reserved.
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It is kept in heaven for you. And there is nothing on this earth that can alter those facts.
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In this you rejoice. This is the source of our joy.
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Beloved, as you look to the Lord Jesus Christ, as you look to your inheritance, as you look to your tested, genuine faith, as you look upon your relationship to the
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Lord God and the outcome of their faith, the salvation of your souls, you will recover your joy.
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In light of our glorious God, there is absolutely no reason for believers ever to lose their joy, even in the midst of great suffering and persecution, because there is nothing that compares to our great
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God or our great salvation. John 15, 11,
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These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
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Beloved, my prayer for you is that the joy of the Lord may be in you and that your joy may be full.
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So remember your protected inheritance. Remember your tested, genuine faith.
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And remember your relationship with the Lord God. And in these, rejoice.
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If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, if you don't have a relationship with the
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Lord Jesus Christ, if you have not surrendered your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, then your suffering serves no purpose.
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And your suffering in this life will pale in comparison to the suffering that you will experience in the next.
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So if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, don't leave here today without talking to someone.
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Pastor Lars, or David, or Bob, or myself. Don't leave anything that is eternal unsettled.
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Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this marvelous passage of Scripture.
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Even Peter cries out, Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, because you have done such great and miraculous things for us.
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Lord, we thank you for the work of Christ. We thank you for his resurrection, his ascension.
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We thank you that he is now ruling and has a name above every name. We thank you for our protected inheritance that is guarded.
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We thank you for testing our faith. We thank you for the relationship that we have with you through Christ.
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And Lord, we confess that suffering is difficult. Pain is difficult. Physical pain, emotional pain.
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And Lord, sometimes we get so wrapped up in those things, we take our eyes off of the things that we should be focusing on.
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So Lord, as the author of Hebrews said, help us to set our eyes on the author and the finisher of our faith.
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Help us to focus on Christ. Consider Christ. Consider all that he has done on our behalf.
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Because Lord, he lived a life like ours, yet without sin. So Lord, strengthen us and encourage us as we reflect upon these truths.
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Help us to meditate upon these truths every day. Lord, help us never lose sight of who we are in Christ Jesus.
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We pray that we would grow in our understanding of all of your mighty works. Thank you,
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Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.