Salvation Joy in Suffering

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This morning, we have a very special opportunity.
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My friend and brother in Christ, Andy Smith, has come to preach to us.
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And many of you are familiar with Andy.
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The last two years of our annual Bible conference, he has been one of the guest speakers here.
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He is a powerful preacher.
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He is a student of John MacArthur School in California, the Master's College, where he is now in the doctoral program.
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He is also the pastor of a church plant in St.
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Augustine.
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And he has come this morning with his wife, Corrie, and their children.
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And we're thankful to have him here to bring the message to us.
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So without spending too much more time, I just want to say thank you, brother, for coming.
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And we look forward to hearing what the Lord will speak through you.
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Thank you very much for that, brother Keith.
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And it certainly is a joy to be back at Sovereign Grace Family Church, otherwise known as the Church of Beards.
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I always feel like I fit in here because you're Reformed, and you have beards, and I have a beard.
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And throughout my ministry, I've been picked on by those who say that ministers should not have beards, that you need to be clean cut.
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And I've never found a scripture verse to support the fact that a man must have a beard.
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But I would say that your culture here and having beards is a very masculine culture.
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And Brother Mike, I appreciate your prayer.
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That was certainly a very masculine prayer.
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But let me just say, you would not hear in most churches today in the United States of America.
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But I believe that when you have godly men in a church who stand strong on the Word of God, that that is a church the Lord will bless.
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And so I am grateful to be here with you this morning.
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I am really good friends with Keith and count our friendship such a blessing.
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And as we were up here, I asked him what time we were eating, and he simply told me, whenever you get done preaching.
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And I said, no, that wasn't my question.
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My question is, what time am I supposed to end? So he gave me an ending time, and I'm going to shoot for that ending time.
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But one of the things that I appreciate about Keith so much is his sense of humor.
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And that reminds me of a story that was once told of Oliver Wendell Holmes, who served as a Supreme Court Justice for some 30 years.
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Very successful man.
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And he was asked one time by somebody why he was so successful, and what caused him to be a politician, to be a justice.
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And his comment was that his first desire was to go in the ministry, but that all the pastors he knew looked and acted like funeral directors, and so he was discouraged from going into the ministry.
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I'm here to tell you this morning that Brother Keith is not like a funeral director.
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He has great joy in his heart.
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He has great love in his heart for this church.
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He has a wonderful sense of humor.
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And that's what I appreciate about him so much.
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Well, if you have your Bibles with you this morning, I want you to take them and be turning, as the bulletin indicates, to 1 Peter chapter 1.
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1 Peter chapter 1.
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And the focus of our study this morning will be in verses 6 through 9, although I'll set things in their context for us, in the larger context of 1 Peter chapter 1.
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And as I begin, let me read to you a quote from a 3rd century man who was anticipating death, who penned these last words to a friend before he died.
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He said this, and I quote, It's a bad world, an incredibly bad world, but I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret.
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They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life.
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They are despised and persecuted, but they care not.
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They are masters of their souls, for they have overcome the world.
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These people are the Christians, and now I count myself as one of them.
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End quote.
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I've been asked this morning to speak on the subject of joy.
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And joy, obviously, is one of the great themes of Christmas.
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We sang this morning, joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her King.
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At Christmas time we read in Luke chapter 10 that the angel said to the shepherds on the night that our Lord was born that this was good news of great joy.
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And we know that one of the great themes throughout Scripture is that of joy, joy in the Christian life, joy regardless of circumstances, joy that is rooted in Christ.
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But maybe you're here this morning, and someone or something has stolen away your degree of joy.
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Maybe you have found greater joy in other times in your life.
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Maybe you're here this morning, and you're a non-Christian, and you've never truly experienced joy.
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Maybe you're here, and you find yourself in the throes of one of the greatest trials you have ever experienced in your life.
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The question is, in your heart, will you ever recover? Will you ever find that sense of joy in Christ that you once had? What hope do you have that your joy in Christ, your joy as a Christian will return? And maybe if you're honest, you'll say that you've lost all hope of recovering that joy.
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I want to encourage you this morning through the words of the Apostle Peter, who writes under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that you can have joy no matter what it is that you are facing in life.
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In fact, that is why Peter wrote this letter.
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He wrote this letter, and the theme of this letter is hope in the midst of suffering.
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Hope and joy in the midst of suffering.
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Peter is writing to Christians who are persecuted.
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They are under immense persecution, immense suffering, and what Peter does as he opens this letter is he sets before them the hope of salvation that has been reserved for them by a sovereign God, a redemption that has been accomplished by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that He sent into the world to die for sinners.
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Notice how he begins in verse 1.
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Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens or exiles scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, watch this, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying of the work of the Spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.
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May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure, Peter says, and watch this, verse 3.
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
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If you notice that word at the beginning of verse 3, the word blessed, you could literally translate it as praise.
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The Greek word is actually where we get our English word eulogy.
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And if you've ever been to a funeral and someone gives a eulogy, what they are doing is they are praising or they are honoring the deceased.
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And in this passage what Peter is simply saying is that no matter who you are as a Christian, no matter what it is that you are facing in life, you have every reason in the world to bless God, to praise God for this glorious salvation that He has provided sovereignly in the past as He chose you according to His foreknowledge as verse 2 says.
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And then in the present, verse 3, He calls you to be born again.
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That's a sovereign work of God.
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And then in the future, He has made certain to you that your inheritance is imperishable, undefiled and will not fade away.
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Peter wants these Christians to understand that in the midst of their suffering, they are spiritual exiles.
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That's why he uses that language in verses 1 and 2.
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He calls them aliens or exiles.
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Now I understand diaspora is the Greek word used here and that is a technical word that was typically used to describe Jews who were displaced or dispersed out into the world.
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But Peter is not merely writing to Jews who have converted to Christianity who have been scattered abroad.
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He's also writing to Gentiles.
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He's writing to the church, both Jewish and Gentile converts.
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And so that word exile is probably best to interpret as figurative, to speak to the fact that all Christians, listen to me, all Christians are pilgrims on this earth.
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We are all exiles.
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We are all aliens.
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We are just passing through an eternity past.
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God never meant for us to stay here.
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And in eternity future, He does not mean for us to stay here.
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He is going to come back.
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He is going to return.
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He is going to take us back to glory with Him.
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We are His adopted sons.
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That's why He says here in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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He is our Father through faith in His Son, the Word Incarnate.
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And we have become His adopted sons.
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And nothing can ever reverse that, beloved.
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In fact, there is a very popular trend back to parents adopting children.
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This is something that has become quite popular among Christians today.
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And this is something we need to rejoice greatly about.
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And maybe you've known or you've read about a parent who adopted a child who was not their biologically.
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I dare you to walk up to that parent and to tell them that child is not theirs.
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We are the children of God.
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We are the sons of God.
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The adopted sons and daughters of God.
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And this cannot be reversed.
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And so Peter is writing to these Christians who are suffering and he is saying, listen, no matter what it is that you are facing, you have reason to have joy in Christ.
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And let me just clarify this.
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Peter writes not from an ivory tower.
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Peter himself is suffering.
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He's writing from Rome in about the year 63 in the first century.
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And in the year 64, Emperor Nero blamed Christians for that great fire that occurred in Rome.
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And he killed many Christians for it.
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And the very next year, Peter writes 2 Peter, the letter we know as 2 Peter.
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And shortly after that, Peter is martyred for his faith.
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It is very likely that as Peter writes this letter, he himself is seeing signs of persecution.
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He himself is suffering greatly for the cause of Christ.
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He's not writing from an ivory tower.
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He's writing from the trenches.
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He understands what it means to be a Christian and to be afflicted and to be persecuted and to suffer and to go through trials.
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This is what Jesus said would occur.
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Jesus never promised that life would be all about happiness.
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No matter what American Christianity may tell you this morning.
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It's not what the Bible tells us.
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And I want you to know that both joy and suffering are not mutually exclusive concepts in the Bible.
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Joy and suffering go together.
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For instance, in Acts 13.52, in spite of massive persecution, threats, and rejection, the disciples, the Bible says, were continually being filled with joy.
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What is that all about? I'll tell you what that's about.
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Their joy was not contingent upon their earthly circumstances, but upon their heavenly inheritance that was imperishable, undefiled, and would never fade away.
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And they lived in light of that.
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And I understand this morning that not all of us are suffering in the sense of being persecuted.
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Although, wait, because those days may come very rapidly in our own country.
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But the concept of suffering applies to everyone, does it not? Suffering is inescapable.
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And Peter's point here is, though suffering is inescapable, joy is always possible for the Christian because Christ has come into the world and sacrificed His life for sinners so that we could have an eternal, heavenly inheritance.
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There's much reason to have joy in Christ, joy in this life.
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So after Peter kind of opens the letter up by telling them what Christ has done for them in His sovereignty, and after urging them that they need to praise God or to bless God in the midst of their suffering on the basis of the fact of what He has promised them, he then goes and he launches into a section in verses 6 through 9 in which he tells them three important realities that God is accomplishing for them in the midst of their suffering.
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Now listen to me on this.
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These are eternal principles for you this morning.
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These were not words that Peter was merely writing to these Christians.
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These are words for you.
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These are words for me.
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That regardless of what our suffering is today, we have cause, we have reason to rejoice even in the midst of pain, even in the midst of trial and tribulation.
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Because God is accomplishing in us three important realities.
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Simply put, our joy is based on our eternally changeless, heavenly Savior, not the ever changing earthly circumstances of life.
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So I want to give to you these three important realities, and I just want to encourage you this morning as we look together at the Word of God, that God uses suffering, number one, to prompt rather than diminish our hope in heaven.
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Number two, to prove rather than destroy our faith as believers.
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And number three, to produce rather than disturb our love and worship for Christ.
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Let's look at these this morning, and I want you to notice number one from verse six.
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God uses suffering in your life, friend, to prompt rather than diminish your hope in heaven.
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To prompt rather than diminish your hope in heaven.
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Notice verse six.
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Peter says, in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.
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He opens up and he says, in this you greatly rejoice.
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And notice, that is not a command, that's a statement of fact.
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Because what he's trying to tell them is that joy is possible, even if they might not think so in the moment, because they're suffering so greatly.
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In this, in what? In the reality that he spelled out in verses three through five.
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Our glorious salvation.
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The sovereignty in God choosing us before the foundation of the world.
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His sovereignty in birthing us anew into his kingdom, causing us to be born again.
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His sovereignty in coming through on his promises that he will return, and that we will be taken to heaven, and that we will receive an inheritance.
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In this reality, you greatly rejoice, Peter is saying.
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The word greatly rejoice is a Greek word.
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Ugly, uh-oh, is the Greek word.
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It is not the normal Greek word for joy.
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That word is kyrein.
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This is a much stronger Greek word, and it literally means to be exceedingly glad, or exuberantly jubilant.
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Peter is saying, this is not just a minimal joy, you have the ability, you have the opportunity, you have the power to have jubilant joy, exceedingly glad joy in Christ.
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Because of this salvation that's been finalized for you.
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Wayne Grudem calls it salvation joy, because the Greek word used here is the same Greek word that was used by Luke to describe Mary's joy in God in bearing the Christ child.
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When she said, my soul exalts in the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
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This is salvation joy, joy rooted in Christ.
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It's the same joy that the Philippian jailer had in Acts 16.34 when it says, he rejoiced greatly having believed in God with his whole household.
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Peter says, in this you greatly rejoice.
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And that's in the present tense, it's an ongoing reality.
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You can rejoice no matter what you face.
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And not only this, but notice he says, in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.
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Peter is saying it doesn't matter what your trials are.
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You can rejoice.
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He tells us here that our suffering is short lived.
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Isn't that good news? He says here, in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while.
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For a little while.
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The Bible says that life is but a vapor.
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And if life is but a vapor, then the seasons of trials in your life are just that, they're seasons.
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They're there for a while.
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Not long in comparison to eternity, amen? Our suffering is called in Scripture, momentary and light affliction, when compared to our eternal weight of glory.
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Paul says in Romans 8.18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
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Peter is not saying here that our suffering or trials is a piece of cake, or that we just need to suck it up and bear through it, but what he is saying and what he is affirming is that it is momentary and light compared to eternity.
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Not only is suffering short lived, but it's also sovereignly orchestrated.
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Notice he says, in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been distressed.
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If necessary.
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Do you realize that trials are necessary? From God's vantage point? We have the opposite perspective, don't we? When a trial comes, we think, I don't have time for this.
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What's the point in this? And yet the Bible says they're necessary.
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Listen, God is using them in His sovereignty.
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He has a purpose.
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I think of Job's words in Job 5, Job says, man is born for trouble.
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And what Job means by that is that because we live in a sin-cursed world, trials are a necessary by-product of that.
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It's out of our control.
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But just because it's out of our control doesn't mean it's out of God's control, amen? Because God ordains all things.
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In fact, the apostles told the church in Acts 14, 22 that it's through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
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And Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 3, 3, not to be disturbed by our afflictions, for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.
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This is what God has ordained.
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Peter says later in chapter 4 and verse 19, therefore those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator and doing what is right.
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God and His will has determined and destined that there are certain trials you and I will face and we need to entrust ourselves to His sovereignty.
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But now Peter also tells us not only that suffering is short-lived and it's sovereignly orchestrated but it's also surely pain-filled.
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Peter's not going to minimize this.
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Notice he says, in this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary.
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And now he says that you have been distressed by various trials.
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This is a reality.
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This isn't mind over matter.
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You have been distressed.
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He's honest about the pain.
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The word distressed is lupeo and it conveys deep emotional and even physical pain.
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You see, acknowledging God's sovereignty in trials does not entirely remove the pain.
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Peter is expressing that.
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But then he goes on to say that these trials are selectively distributed.
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Notice the end of verse 6.
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He says you've been distressed by various trials.
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Poikalos is the Greek word there for various and you know literally what it means.
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It means many colored to imply the fact that trials have many different shades.
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Some trials are darker than others.
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But all of us go through trials.
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James says consider it all joy when, not if, but when you encounter various.
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Poikalos, many colored trials and not all of us will experience the same trials for the same reason.
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God has His purposes for trials.
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One of the reasons God sends trials is to humble us.
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This was certainly the case with Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
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Paul speaks about this out of body experience where he was caught up to the third heaven.
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And he says that because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, to keep me from exalting myself there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself.
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Paul says God had to humble me because my pride otherwise would have lifted me up and so God sent this trial, this messenger of Satan to torment me or to buffet me.
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But then Paul says my grace is sufficient for you, God says, for power is perfected in weakness.
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And isn't that true that sometimes God will send trials in our life to humble us? But what do we need to do? Well, we need to follow Peter's words in chapter 5 where he says, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.
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Understand His sovereign purposes for what He is doing and humble yourself underneath them.
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God also uses trials to show the value of Christ's sufferings.
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I don't know if you've thought about this before.
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But Paul says this in 2 Thessalonians 1, he says, therefore we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches, for you persevere in your faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions for which you endure.
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This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God.
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What makes you worthy of the kingdom of God? It's one answer, Christ and Christ alone.
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And you're standing in Christ alone.
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Your justification in Christ makes you worthy of His kingdom.
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But as you progress in your sanctification and are being conformed to the image of Christ, you're also being conformed to His sufferings to make you worthy of His kingdom.
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Listen, beloved, we are all unworthy and undeserving of God's kingdom were it not for Christ.
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And by His grace, He is making us worthy of His kingdom, looking forward to the day in which we will be perfected and we will be able to stand before Him in His presence without sin.
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God sends trials so that we know the value of Christ's sufferings to make us worthy of the kingdom.
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Paul said in Romans chapter 8 that we're children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may be glorified with Him.
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This is the path of Christianity, to suffer under God's sovereignty.
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Another reason God sends trials is to give encouragement to others.
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I'm still a firm believer in prayer meetings.
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Because Paul says in Romans 12 and verse 15 that we are to rejoice with those that what? Rejoice.
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And we are to weep with those that what? Weep.
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And when you're in a prayer meeting and when someone makes a request, you immediately understand what they're going through, even if you've not been in that exact location, and you are able to rejoice when they rejoice over a praise, you're able to weep when they weep over a praise, and have you ever considered the thought that maybe the reason God is putting you through the trial you are in today is to give you an opportunity to serve your brothers and sisters in Christ? And to encourage them.
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Why else does God use suffering? God uses suffering to chasten His sons.
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This is actually good news.
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Hebrews 5, My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you're reproved by Him.
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For those whom the Lord loves, He what? Disciplines.
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Chastens.
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And He scourges every son whom He receives.
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It is for discipline that you endure.
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God deals with you as with sons.
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For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
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One of the greatest pointers to the authenticity of your faith is the discipline of your Father in Heaven.
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The scourging of God through trials and through suffering.
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God has His purpose for trials.
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And He uses this scourging because He loves you to discipline you, to conform you to Christ.
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And, of course, God uses trials also to toughen our spiritual resolve and our character and our commitment to Christ.
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I spoke about James earlier.
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James says, Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
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And then he says, Let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
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We're all a work.
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We're a project by God in which He is conforming and honing and shaping us and toughening us up, preparing us for the next trial, preparing us for the next season of suffering.
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Now that's tough stuff.
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But I want you to know that in the midst of all the various trials, the many colored trials that Peter speaks about, I want you to know that there is various grace to give you strength to get through those trials.
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In fact, the same word that's translated here in verse 6, various, that I told you literally means many colored, is used in chapter 4 and verse 10 by Peter and it's translated manifold.
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Speaking about the manifold grace of God or the various grace of God.
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And I think this is a beautiful picture that teaches us that the diversity of trials, the many colored trials that we find ourselves in, the many different shades and colors of trials is able, listen to this, to be matched by the varied shades and colors of God's grace.
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That there is not a trial in our lives that does not present itself with the potential to become a beautiful painting that matches the dark shades of trials with the bright shades of God's grace.
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And those of you that have gone into a trial and come outside of that trial have been known to be more beautiful, to be more like Christ.
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And all of this is a cause for great rejoicing.
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This is Peter's point.
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In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while if necessary you've been distressed by various trials.
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Why? Because though your circumstances change, your Christ and your salvation does not change.
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And furthermore, John 16, 33, in the world you have tribulation, but take courage, Jesus says, for I have what? Overcome the world.
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And this is what Christmas is about, is it not? Jesus has come into the world as a man to overcome the world, to overcome sin, and to overcome suffering and sorrow.
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But that's not all.
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Peter provides a second reason that Christians can experience joy in the midst of suffering.
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God uses our suffering, number one, to prompt rather than diminish our hope in heaven.
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But notice in verse 7, Peter tells us that God uses our suffering to prove rather than destroy our faith as believers.
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Notice this, verse 7.
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God uses suffering to prove rather than destroy our faith as believers.
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Notice he gives the purpose, verse 7.
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Here's why you have many trials and you can rejoice in them.
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So that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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And what Peter is telling us here is that rather than ruining the faith of genuine Christians, trials actually reveal true faith.
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The Bible speaks about the evidences of a true believer.
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1 John gives some evidences of a true child of God.
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Here Peter gives an evidence of being a true child of God.
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And that is that our trials are proving ground for the authenticity of our faith.
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The genuineness of our faith.
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And Peter makes this point by showing first of all the realness of true faith and then the reward of true faith.
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Notice first of all the realness of true faith.
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He says that trials are found at the beginning of verse 7 for the proof of our faith.
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The proof of our faith.
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He's comparing it here to metals that are tried.
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He says our faith is more precious than gold which is perishable.
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That even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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Peter is comparing the testing of trials in our lives to the fire that was used to test the quality of metals.
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And this process in ancient times revealed the value of a metal's purity after all the impurities were smelted away by the fire.
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And Peter here in the New Testament uses that as an analogy to how trials work in our life by God.
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It's like fire that God is putting upon us to refine us and to take out the dross.
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By the way, the Old Testament spoke in this language too.
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Proverbs 17.3 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold.
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But the Lord tests the hearts.
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You think gold is important? God says your heart is far more important than me.
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I care far more about your heart.
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I care far more about my sons and daughters in Christ than I do about gold.
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For we are redeemed not with perishable things, Peter says, like silver and gold, but with what? The precious blood of Jesus Christ.
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And gold may be perishable, but God's people are not perishable.
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And the point Peter is making is that the true faith of God's true people does not perish.
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It stands through the testing of the fire of God's trials that He allows us to face.
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And just as fire separates real gold from worthless dross, so too God uses suffering to separate true faith from mere professions of faith.
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And we sing about this.
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One of the greatest times ever written in the late 1700s, how firm a foundation.
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Do you remember stanza four? When through fiery trials my pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply, the flame shall not hurt thee, my only design, thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
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This is God in all of our hearts, in all of our lives.
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You think of Abraham in the Old Testament.
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He was tested when God told Abraham to take his son Isaac and to offer him as a sacrifice to slay his son, the heir of the promises of God that from Abraham he would make a great nation and that this great nation would bless all the families of the earth because a seed was coming from this nation, an Israelite, the true Israelite, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And Abraham was put to the test.
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And he passed the test.
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We read in the Bible that the angel told him not to withhold his son, his only son.
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And God says, for now I know that you fear me.
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Abraham knew that day the joy of the Lord.
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He passed the test.
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He was confirmed in his own heart.
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He had confirmed in his own heart, rather, that he had true faith in God.
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And what a day of rejoicing that was.
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I always picture Abraham embracing Isaac at the joy of the passing of this trial and Isaac living.
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Think of Job.
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We read in Job chapter 1 that Job receives the worst news possible.
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The Sabaeans came and took his family away.
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Fire took away his possessions.
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In one moment of one day, Job's entire life was turned upside down.
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And then, astonishingly, we read this, Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground, and worshipped.
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He said, naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I'll return there.
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The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.
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But what? Blessed be the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord! Praised be the name of the Lord! And through all of this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God.
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Why? Because Job understood that his joy in God was not based on his circumstances.
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It was based upon his relationship with God.
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This is the realness of joy.
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The realness of true faith, rather.
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Now, notice with me the reward of true faith.
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He says there at the end of verse 7, that at the end of all this, we may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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I'm running out of time, so I can't develop this in the detail that I would like, but I think it's best to interpret this as understanding something that you're going to have a difficulty accepting this morning, and that is the fact that at the end of time, when the Lord returns and we stand before the Lord, we are actually going to be found to be praised by Him.
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Glory is going to be heaped upon us.
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Honor is going to be heaped upon us.
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This is the reward of the Christian.
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Now, this is not God worshiping us.
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That's not what this is at all.
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But we will hear, well done thou good and faithful servant.
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Paul says in Romans 2.29 that our praise will not be from men, but from God.
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He also says in 1 Corinthians 4.5 that we are to wait until the Lord comes who will bring both the light and the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts, and then each man's praise will come to him from God.
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There will be some praising.
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There will be some honor that will be bestowed upon us as a reward for our faith still being intact when we come out the other side of trials and the Lord returns.
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It's an amazing thought.
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We're undeserving of our salvation.
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We're undeserving of heaven.
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We're certainly undeserving of the reward that we receive once we get through a trial because it was God's grace that got us through that trial.
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And yet God is such a loving God.
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He is such a kind God that He heaps upon us praise, honor, and glory.
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And I love the word glory there.
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It's the Greek word doxa.
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It's where we get our English word doxology which refers to worship.
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That's really what it refers to.
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Worship.
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This is going to be a worshipful time to our God.
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And Peter says we'll receive an unfading crown of glory in 1 Peter 5.4.
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And we read in Revelation 4 that we will stand before the throne saying, worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power.
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We'll cast that glory.
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We'll cast that crown back at the feet of Jesus Christ in an act of praise.
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I love what John Stott says.
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He says, and I quote, when Jesus Christ is revealed, the gold of our faith will shine to His praise.
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Listen, beloved, God is using every trial in your life for His sovereign purposes.
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And there is a reward at the end for your endurance through it.
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It is a testing.
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God is testing the authenticity of your faith.
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Isaiah said in Isaiah 48.10, Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver.
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I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
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Furnace of affliction.
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God in His grace tests the authenticity of our faith for our own good so that we have greater assurance of our salvation.
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Let me give you this final reason you can have joy in the midst of your suffering.
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Peter tells us that we can have joy in the midst of suffering, number one, because suffering prompts rather than diminishes our hope in heaven.
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Number two, it proves rather than destroys our faith as believers.
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Let me leave you with this final one before the Lord's Supper.
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It proves rather than destroys or disturbs our love and worship of Christ.
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It produces rather than disturbs our love for Christ.
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Notice this in verses 8 and 9.
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This is really the best part of the passage.
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It's unfortunate that I've ran out of time, but Peter says, And though you have not seen Him, you love Him.
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And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
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Let me just say this.
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The more trials He ordains for us to endure, the more they work to endear us to Himself.
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That's what Peter's saying.
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That though you're going through these trials, and though you have not seen Him, you love Him.
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Isn't that true about you? You haven't seen God, not with your physical eyes, but you love Him.
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Guess who did see God with his physical eyes? Peter.
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He saw Christ, touched Christ, walked with Christ.
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And I think he says this in a stroke of humility.
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Peter saw Christ.
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Here he says, You haven't seen Him and you love Him.
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Guess what? Peter did see Christ, and what did he do? He denied Him three times.
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After which, Christ questioned His love for him three times.
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Peter didn't have perfect love for Christ.
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We won't have perfect love for Christ.
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But can you say this morning that no matter what God does to you, no matter how He slays you, no matter what form of suffering you go through, that you still love Him even though you don't see Him? You see His sovereign fingerprints all over your life? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believe.
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You love Him because you know He's at work in your life.
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Franklin Shepard wrote that great hymn, This is My Father's World.
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It expresses this.
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This is my Father's world.
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Should my heart be ever sad? The Lord is King.
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Let the heavens ring.
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God reigns.
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Let the earth be glad.
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This is my Father's world.
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Now closer to heaven bound.
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For dear to God is the earth.
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Christ trod no place but His holy ground.
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This is my Father's world.
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I walk a desert lone in a bush ablaze to my wandering gaze.
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God makes His glory known.
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This is my Father's world.
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A wanderer I may roam, but whatever my lot, it matters not.
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My heart is still at home.
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This is the testimony of the Christian.
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That though we have not seen Him, we love Him.
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Because we see Him at work in our lives.
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And though we don't see Him now, we believe in Him.
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And watch this.
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Peter says, You greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.
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I absolutely love this.
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Because the Greek word glory is doxa.
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It's where we get the word doxology as I mentioned earlier.
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And it literally means to render highest praise.
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We render highest praise to God in an inexpressible fashion.
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And the word inexpressible literally means higher than speech.
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In other words, Peter is saying, there are not words that we can put to the music of our heart even in the midst of great suffering regarding the joy that we have in Christ.
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That suffering does not drive us away from Christ, but suffering draws us nearer to Christ.
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This is what Scripture teaches.
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And this is why this passage is so important.
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Because it is a testing ground, as I said, for the authenticity of our faith.
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And notice how Peter ends at verse 9.
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He says, and obtaining is the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
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Peter is saying that we've received our salvation by God's grace.
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He caused us to be born again.
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That's why we can have joy.
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We've obtained this.
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We've received it by God's sovereign grace.
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He'll never withhold a good gift from us.
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This is an inward, inexpressible, heavenly joy that cannot be removed by earthly suffering because God, through Christ, has placed that joy there because of the redemption that we've experienced.
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That's why the psalmist could say in Psalm 47, You God, You have put gladness in my heart.
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You've put it there.
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That's why Job could worship God after he lost everything.
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That's why David could worship God after he lost his child as a chastisement by God because of his sin.
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He worshipped God, washed his face, worshipped God because his joy was wrapped up in God and in the salvation and in the hope of seeing that child again someday because David knew that he was in exile.
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He knew he was just a pilgrim.
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And his love and his worship for God was engendered through that suffering.
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So I tell you today that suffering produces rather than disturbs our love for Christ.
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Listen, to be sure, God is sovereign over suffering.
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He's sovereign over whatever it is that you're facing today.
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He has overcome it in Christ.
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We have broken His law which has caused us to live in a broken world, but in and through Christ and through His saving Gospel, both our lives and the world is being made whole again so that because of Him, joy is not just a possibility for the Christian, but it is an absolute certainty that to one degree or another, the Christian can have joy.
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And so, to the Christian, I ask you this morning, when was the last time you blessed or praised God for the suffering that you're experiencing in your life? Have you ever blessed God for the suffering that you've experienced? And will you purpose today to view your trials differently, to prayerfully consider the larger work God is after as He refines you in the fire of trials? Maybe you're here this morning and you're not a believer.
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You've never experienced true joy, and you look at this world, you watch the news, you look at your own life, you look at the lives of your loved ones, and you say to yourself, what in the world is wrong with this world? Let me tell you what's wrong with this world.
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You and me and every man, save the Lord Jesus Christ who has walked this earth, has broken the holy law of God.
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And the joy of Christmas is that the God-man has come into this sin-cursed world and did something no one could ever do, and that is perfectly obey God's law.
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And He comes to make new creatures, and He comes to make a new heavens and a new earth, and to restore the brokenness that sin has caused in this world.
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And today, if you will get on your knees and repent of your sins, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, you will be granted wholeness.
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You will be granted eternal joy.
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This is not the silly, sappy, Joel Osteen happiness.
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This is eternal joy that is rooted in an eternal Savior who died on the cross for sinners like you and sinners like me.
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And those who trust in Him can be forgiven.
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He will give that everlasting joy to you.
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And because of that changeless salvation and our ever unchanging God, our joy can never be overturned.
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No matter what suffering, no matter what trials, no matter what pain, no matter what afflictions may arise in our lives.
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So let us praise God this Christmas for the gift of joy, which is really another way of saying thank you God for the gift of Your precious Son who imparts to us eternal joy that we don't deserve, but He grants to us by grace.
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Our Father, we thank You for Your Word.
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We thank You for the joy that we have spoken about, joy inexpressible and full of glory, joy that is eternal, joy that is only found in Christ.
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Father, we thank You for this joy.
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And Father, our prayer today is that we might renew our joy, that by Your grace we might consider the sovereign purposes of suffering, trials, afflictions, pain.
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Lord, we thank You that Your Word doesn't tell us just to suck it up and bear through it.
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But Father, Your Word does provide for us a sense of comfort in knowing You're sovereign over our suffering and knowing that joy is not just a possibility, but it's a certainty.
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So Lord, I pray for these who are here that they might find joy in Christ.
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And especially for those who have never experienced the saving joy in Christ.
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Lord, I pray that Your Spirit might be pleased to point their gaze to the God-man, the Word incarnate, that today they might give their lives to Him, trusting in His provision.
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Lord, as a sacrifice for their sins, we pray and ask all of these things in His precious and dear name.
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Amen.
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Well, thank you, brother.
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Thank you for a wonderful message.
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And it prepares our hearts for Christmas.
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It also prepares our hearts for communion.
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And I would only correct you in one thing, brother.
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I did not give you a hard time on time.
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I always say, go as long as you need.
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And I'm praised, God, for you bringing that message.
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And I'm just thankful, thankful for it.
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We're going to now have our time for communion.
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So as the song is played and the men gather together to come and serve us, let us prepare our hearts for that time.