Okay, so let's turn our attention this morning to 1 Peter chapter 4. The book of 1 Peter talking about suffering, trials, difficulties, It doesn't take long, as you're looking through 1 Peter, to recognize this theme. Peter's writing to those who are affected, those exiles that were affected by the dispersion because of persecution, because of trials and difficulty that was coming upon the church. So it's interesting to me, in verse 12 of 1 Peter chapter 4, he says, That's what I hope this message can do for us all, is ready our minds in such a way as though we wouldn't be surprised when fiery trials come upon us. that it wouldn't catch us off guard. Isn't that where some of the most challenging arguments happen in relationships? Your actions, they caught me off guard. It surprised me when you said that. I was expecting you to respond to me that way, and then I responded this way, and now we have this issue. Isn't it true that when your heart leaps in your chest, when someone comes around a corner and startles you, that that in some way affects you more than if you knew they were around that corner? Of course it does. Well, the Holy Spirit would not have us be surprised when these trials come upon us. You see, that's when trials affect us more, when we're caught off guard, when we're surprised, when we're not ready, when we're not watching. And he says, Don't be surprised at these fiery trials as if something strange were happening to you. So it immediately applies to all of us. Each and every one of us. It's not strange. It's not strange that you're going through this difficulty. It's not strange that you're about to face this test. It's not odd. It's not out of sort or out of character for the way God deals with his children. And so these realities apply to each of us in a real personal way because it's in the midst of trials where we would say friendships are kindled, relationships are built stronger because you went through that with someone, right? And so it is with God, we grow closer to him as he is ever near us in the midst of our trials. But this verse 12 isn't what I want to focus our attention on this morning necessarily. I want to get right down to verse 18. Let's read the context. Verse 13 says, Rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings. Now that echoes of James chapter 1, doesn't it? Counting it of all joy. that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, What will become of the ungodly and the sinner? And that's where I want to focus our attention at this morning. Scarcely saved. There's a lot of confusion around that statement. That idea is thrown around out of context and with misapplied theology to the idea of what it means to be scarcely saved. So I want us to consider that word. Scarcely. You think of something that's scarce. in a drought, in a time of little rain, in a time where the ground is parched. It's scarce to see water standing, and it's scarce to have food growing. In the time of a famine, it would be called scarce. Our food supplies would be dwindling. And so it would be a time of much difficulty, of much trouble. Do you remember the widow? In the time back in first and second Kings, Scarce, little food. And God was able to supply there. But here we see this idea of scarceness, meaning that it is troublesome, that it is hard, that it is difficult, that it's not a time of plenty and great abundance, but rather a time of scarcity. This is the truth that Peter's laying forward in light of the fact that trials are not a strange thing, and that trials are going to come, and you shouldn't be surprised by them. He says that the righteous are scarcely saved or saved through much difficulty. That is the experience of the Christian. Any other message about what it is to be saved, any other communication of the gospel that suggests that it's easy, that life just, you can coast on through, that there's not effort to be put forward, any other message that says that is not the gospel of the scripture. The gospel of the scripture lays forward that it is hard, that it is difficult, that it will be challenging to you, Christian. Wait, wait, wait, this seems to contradict some of the other things I've heard about salvation, right? This seems to go against it. It's easy, just believe. It seems to go against it, but in no way does it. It's so easily reconcilable. When you look at that Christ, the path he went, was harder than what we'll ever face. The path that Christ went, absorbing the wrath of God, we'll see, in light of that, in comparison to that grandeur of what Christ took on our behalf. It's grand because He took it on our behalf and we don't have to experience it. In light of what Christ endured. Oh yeah, it's easy. You don't have to merit God's favor. You don't have to do anything to achieve your own righteousness. It's a free gift of grace. This is easy. This is blessed. In light of the great, difficult work that Christ undertook, taking the punishment for our sins, the very wrath of God. But you see, there's a way in which it's very difficult also. Because when you enter in at that narrow way, when you enter in into the person of Christ, abiding in him, trusting in him, he says these words, in light of all the suffering he would face and did face, he says, come and follow me. You see, we step into that same path, although we don't have to accomplish what Christ accomplished, and praise the Lord that we don't because we never could. We don't have to face that. We still enter in following after his example. Think about what it takes for raw material. Just go to this picture with me. Think about this. Raw material enters into this manufacturing process. Maybe it's a lump of of iron or a piece of wood, and it goes into this manufacturing process in which it's refined, shaped, cut, heated up, all types of difficulty. And I was touring one of these facilities and going through here, and I was just watching this, and I thought, what a picture of the Christian's life. There's nothing that is happening to that material that is changing what that substance is. And you see, our substance is the substance of Christ. It's his righteousness, that substance that achieves or accomplishes entrance into heaven. But there is a lot happening that if that substance had feelings, if that substance felt what it was going through, I mean, the cutting and the chopping and the pressing and the tossing I mean, now, beloved, think of your own Christian walk. You're being pressed, and tossed, and cut, and refined, and shaped, and chastised. Or at least, if you're in this true way, you are. If you're seeking after the Lord, this is what you're experiencing. This is the gospel message, that you will enter in after Christ, believing upon him, trusting upon him and his finished work, his person, and his sacrifice as effective for your salvation. And when you enter into that, you follow after this Lord and this savior. You bow your knee to him. You trust in him. And then the difficulties come. Don't think it's strange. Don't think it's odd. Don't be surprised. Be ready. Have your mind set. Like, this is going to happen to me. I'm going to face opposition at work. I'm going to struggle with my financial decisions that I have to make because I'm trying to do something that glorifies God. I'm going to be mocked by those around me, even my family members, maybe even around a Thanksgiving table or a Christmas dinner. I'm going to be challenged on my points of view. And I have to not only respond with truth, but also with love. And sometimes that's harder than the truth. You see, this I believe is what Christ meant when he was saying in Matthew 7, 13, or actually verse 14, that narrows the gate and the way is hard that leads to life and few there be that find it. And in Acts 14, we could look there. Look at what's said here. Paul was mindful of this. Acts 14, verse 22. We can start back in 21. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples. They returned to Lystra and Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Notice what Paul's saying there. He's saying, here's the gospel, continue in the gospel, and it's going to be hard. That's the encouragement Paul gave. Paul didn't say, you're good now, just relax. Go back to whatever you were doing and just carry on. No. No, nothing like that. Think of these difficulties. You just think about your own walk. The difficulties that we face, just start with ourselves. We'll start with that. The difficulties you face because of your own lack of knowledge, your own lack of wisdom, your own lack of insight, your own lack of obedience. Just think of those difficulties. And now, now we can relate to why Peter says, if the righteous is scarcely saved. Peter, I would imagine is speaking from experience here based on the testimony of God's word. Wasn't it said of Peter that he would be sifted like wheat I got to see this activity of how wheat was ground by a millstone. I saw this large wheel with water and it was turning these large stones in this building. And how that wheat is sifted out, this threshing. I heard conversations and discussion about these threshing floors and separating the wheat from the chaff. Again, just imagine if that wheat could feel. We feel. We experience this, Christian. This is the Christian walk. This should be greatly encouraging to us, even in the midst of our own failures. This was in the midst of Peter's own denials and his own disobedience. Even in the midst of that, it was Christ praying for him. Christ carrying him. Christ helping him. Without a doubt, much difficulty because of our own lack. because of our own ignorance, because of our own infirmities. Think of the difficulties caused by closest family and friends. We just have to be honest. In our homes, we're not this religious kind of world that just puts smiles on everything. We don't have any troubles. We don't have any difficulties that are constantly pounding us right in our home. You see, it's a constant challenge because the marriage relationship is That of two sinners seeking to glorify God. The children's relationship to the parents is that of disobedient children, just as we are disobedient, trying to submit and obey their parents. The difficulties. Constant teaching. One of the most trying difficulties is that little phrase that pops up in our mind. Haven't I told you this before? How many times have I told you this? You feel that difficulty, that strain? I told you this, I taught you this, I showed you this. And then we look at our own lives and go back to the first difficulty. And we say, oh, I'm not even doing it. But difficulty. And so we press on in love, forgiving one another, bearing one another's burdens in the family, in the church. Church is difficult. If you're coming to church and you're not experiencing the difficulty in it, meaning the effort required. You see, I'm not saying that it is that which causes you to despair or despond. It's a great joy to be in the church. It's a great joy to have God's word applied to the family. What I'm saying is it's a lot like going out and doing manual labor. It requires attention. You see, even something as simple as swinging a hammer requires the knowledge of where you're going to put that hammer and where you're not going to put your thumb. And that is the reality when we're doing work. When we are setting in to strive, to work, we're not working to gain favor with God, but we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling. We are walking in that grace, that knowledge of the truth, and trying to apply what we heard today in our homes. And that means we come back from an excellent study, and we try to apply it, and we fall flat on our faces. We come back from this awesome discussion with this brother, and we love all this truth, and we try to share it with someone else, and we find opposition. This is the experience. This must be the experience for the Christian. If this is your experience, it's a great joy to you. Rejoice, because this is what Peter describes as the true walk of the Christian, when you face these difficulties. And then there's these difficulties of, of course, all things are providence, but particular providence that seems especially outside of our control. Aren't those trials hard? Those things we face, those things we face, I can't do anything about it. That feeling of hopelessness, that feeling of, now what? Things that get thrown in your path, in your journey, in your way, that you must face. There's no stopping. You can kick and you can scream, you can despair, but ultimately you're going to pass through that challenge. It's a difficulty, but we know that it's all of the Lord's hand. That He's taking us through this narrow way. That is, the phrase is said, stuck between a rock and a hard place. And so it's a narrow way. What do we mean when we make that statement? We mean that this is a hard decision. I don't know which way to go. I don't know what to do. It's difficult. So, Why else are the righteous scarcely saved? I mean, the way is so difficult, that's true. The difficulties caused by our own lack, the difficulties caused within relationships, the difficulties caused outside of our control. But I want us to understand that the reason I see at the root of why we are barely or scarcely, but bare as in bareness, or if a fruit tree has just a few fruits on it. We say it is bare. There's not a lot on it. So how are we scarcely or barely saved in that sense? Because of what we're being saved from. Because of what we are being saved from, it is a difficult salvation. Think about this. How would we apply this in the real world? If you go to the doctor. and you have a cold or the flu. Well, the cure administered is one of simple matters, right? Maybe a throat lozenge or an inhaler or some type of small medicine you can take orally. But maybe you have something a little more serious going on. And so they take you in the back and they need to give you a shot. And that needle comes out. Here's that needle. OK, that's a little more difficult because I don't care for needles. And so now I need to do this. But to get better, I need to go through this difficulty of this cure, this prescription administered to me. Now, what if it's something even more serious, some cancer, some serious heart issue? And now we're talking full surgeries, full treatments. It takes regular visits. And so, what I'm showing with that picture is that depending on the severity of the malady, the cure that needs to be administered is going to be more difficult to endure. So, what ails us spiritually, Christians? Oh, the sin that's upon us? You see, not just the sin, but the wages of sin are death. Not just death, but that is temporal in this body, but an eternal death. You know, Christ told the disciples there on Gethsemane, as he was enduring his great trial, he says, watch and pray that you might not enter into temptation, right? And the statement he made is that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. That is our problem as Christians. And we're not depending on our flesh. We're not depending on our works. We're not depending on ourselves to justify ourselves before God, but Then we go to follow after God, and we enter into temptations. We enter into trials. We enter into difficulties. And those saving graces provided by God are often so hard to be found by sinners like us. It's almost like they're clearly marked. Here they are, marquee sign and everything. Here is your grace. Here's your answer. Here's your way. to avoid a difficulty or to find comfort in the midst of a difficulty. And we seem to go the other way. You see, our malady is like a cancer that needs to be cut out. Our ailment is like a terrible defect that will lead to certain death. Not just like one, it is one. And so, The application of the cure in God's divine wisdom is to put you through much trial, to put me through much difficulty, to weigh upon me, to stress me and strain me, to see, just as we would test certain materials to make sure they can bear the load in an industrial sense, we would test them and try them to ensure that they'll bear the load when it really matters, that they do. And if we're going to glorify God, in our walks here on earth. In order to do that, we must be tried, tested, refined, and purified, shaped and straightened, and saved from this flesh. Saved from this wretchedness. And there are parts about us that we don't even, we haven't begun to wrap our minds around how sinful we are. There are experiences you're gonna go through that you're going to walk into them thinking that the very thing God shows you as sin is your strength and your answer to the problem. You're going to think that your strength, that your certainty, that your sure-footedness is going to get you through this trial. And you're going to find that's the reason that you're wavering so much. And that's the reason you can't see straight. You're going to walk into a situation thinking, well, because I'm loving and because I overlook things and I let things go by passively, you're going to find that to be the cause of your snare and the cause of your difficulty. You see, you're going to find that those things that you view the most as your personal strength, the Lord is going to rip them away and say, stop trusting in your own efforts. Stop trusting in your own strength. Stop. Stop trusting in what you view as good about yourself. Oh, Lord, give grace to see that. You see. We. are the problem. I don't think that can be said enough from the pulpit. I don't think it is said enough. We are the problem. And I say that because I need my ears to hear it too. Whatever situation you think you walked away from saying, I handled that perfectly, go and look at it again, reconsider. Reconsider it before God's word. Think of God and how he sees our every action, hears our every thought, knows the intents of our heart. This scrutiny that the Lord looks upon, isn't he qualified to prune us and to shape us? God sees it all, he knows it all. And what he's doing is stripping us bare naked of anything that we would clothe ourselves with. See, this glorifies God. He wouldn't have us sewing together fig leaves. He wouldn't have us putting together our own rags. He would have us clothed in splendor. 1 Corinthians 3 gives us another picture of what I'm describing. 1 Corinthians 3, verses 11 through 15. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think that might be 2 Corinthians 3, if we're talking about being saved through the fire. Brothers, do you know where that might be at? Being saved through the fires at 1 Corinthians? Yeah, 3? Yeah, OK, good. I want to be willing to second-guess myself. We'll let God's Word be true. We'll find it here. So here it is. This is what I'm describing. This is what I'm trying to bring to our attention from God's Word, is that each one's worth, in verse 13, will become manifest. For the day, this day of judgment, will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." So what I'm describing there is that eternally, yes, there's security, and we'll get to that. But I want to press in on this reality that it is through much difficulty that we're saved. Because we need to have this mindset. Think of what it takes to repent and to believe as we ought to. Yes, we've repented of our sin. We've turned and we believed upon God and this has saved us. But what about just doing that daily? You see, when we look at Matthew 7, there's an entering in at the gate and then there's a following of the way. And so that entering in is that initial entrance, but the following is just like that entrance. It's narrow. It's hard. It's difficult. What about to just fight the good fight? To not be beating the air, as Paul says. I mean, to subject our appetites, for some reason, seems to be one of the most grueling tasks. To just take what we want and to not pursue it. From a very young age, have been just going after our desires. It is the way the flesh works. To resist the world, its efforts to entice us, its desires to cause us to compromise the truth, this is difficult. To remain vigilant, to stay sober. I was talking with some of the Young men, I was saying, just put your hand out. Just hold it out and see how easy it is to just keep it there, just to remain. Remain vigilant. Just hold it there. My hand's already shaking. Some may be able to hold it longer by means of their own strength. But overall, eventually, that strength's going to fail. Your own strength is going to quit. Just to live humbly. It is the humble that receive grace in time of need just to live humbly. So why all these difficulties? Why all this trouble? Why these issues that I'm describing? When we look at this and we see that the righteous is scarcely saved, the righteous, the one who is set in Christ, the one who is sure in the Lord, they must go through all these difficulties. Why, is the question. That's what our mind should go to. Why should the Christian have to endure these trials? I'll tell you, just as the reason all boils down in all things, it's all for the glory of God. See, there's something amazing when Christ was telling the disciples of how difficult it is for the rich to enter. Well, the disciples' response, do you remember it? Do you remember what they said? Well then, how then? How then are they going to be saved? How can anyone be saved? This was their response. Well, with man, it's impossible. But with God, all things are possible. See, these difficulties, the fact is that when you enter into glory, you will enter for no reason except God's covenant with you. Because of His love for you, because of His arms carrying you in, this is the only reason any of us will be entering into glory. Well, you see, if this was a way of ease, a bed of ease, if this was a path of rose petals, Well then, what is it that God saved us? It was still glorious, but all the more, how much more glorious is it that he would save us even though we knew for sure if it wasn't for God, I would have fallen away there. If it wasn't for God's love and mercy, he should have rejected me there. He should have, you can flip that off, brother, if you can't do it. I'll project. Can you hear me still? I thought so. May the Lord keep my voice. As we look at this just a little longer, I know the difficulties are hard, brethren. I know it's hard to meditate on these things, to just ponder on what it is, but that's the kind of mindset I want us to be in as Christians. I want the young Christians to know what they're about to face. I want us as Christians to be ready and aware, and that means we're not gonna be surprised by this when it happens. Because we're going to be talking about this among one another, that these are trials, that these are difficulties. Now, this doesn't mean that we don't empathize and sympathize. We have a sympathizing Savior. These difficulties and the fact that they're not strange and the fact that they're expected does not mean that we don't comfort one another. But in fact, that's exactly what we're doing with these statements. It's a comfort to know that it's not a strange thing, that you're not alone. in facing these difficulties. You're not the only one who feels this way and experiences this. Now, you may sit in the room at times, I know I have, and thought, oh, I think I'm the only one that feels that way, or I'm the only one that goes to that trial. And I talk with a brother about it, and it's like, oh, you experienced that difficulty too? You have that temptation? You faced that trial? You've had that doubt? You've reconsidered? Just think of how difficult it is. See, it is hard to maintain. It is hard to maintain a sensitive conscience to what God would have you to do. It's hard. And I would have us count the cost in this walk. I would have us in our gospel message to others, call them to count the cost. I've been guilty of this. I lay forward all the beautiful things. I lay forward all the wonderful things of grace, of mercy. Oh, it's a joy. Oh, the blessings, the plenty, the great abundance. And I have not balanced it as well as I ought to in the past. And I've had people just so discouraged because they enter into a difficult trial. They enter into a valley. of the shadow. They come under assault from Satan and his fiery darts. They weren't prepared. The true gospel prepares us for all that we're going to face. There's much grace in it. But I would not, in the midst of all these trials, forget the power of God in saving us. You see, that's the point of it. In saying that we're scarcely saved, we show God's power. and that he's able to, you see, it's nothing amazing if someone drives a car in a circle, but it's so amazing when they take this huge ramp and they fly in the air and then they land on the other side of the ramp crossing this gaping pit with flames. That's amazing. That's awesome. Well, that's God's power. That's his ability. That's his amazing awesomeness that we're showing here. that he's able to take and he can land it right where it needs to land. He's able to take your Christian walk and put you right where he needs to put you to do amazing things in the way he's shaping you as a Christian. It's amazing to see his power, this kind of power. Think of the power it takes to set men free from sin, the bondage of sin. Look at the picture in Egypt and the many trials that had to come upon the Egyptians, the plagues. But then look at the Jews as they wandered through the desert and the many trials to prune, to shape. I mean the power that was on display there. What kind of power it takes. What kind of difficulty. You see the raw power I'm talking about is this intense heat of a burning fire that purifies. So then, let's look at the rest of this verse. If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? What will become of the ungodly? Those, Jerry Bridges says, that are ungodly are those that are living one's everyday life with little to no thought of God, God's will, or God's glory. See, too often that describes us. What a grace to see this scripture, that the righteous are scarcely saved, to begin to tremble and to look to God. That's the grace. That's the grace provided here. To see the ungodly and the sinner, those who are failing to recognize their dependence on Him or their responsibility toward God. And it is, unfortunately, a mindset that's too prevalent in modern day Christendom. Why do we need to hear this? I know, talking with many of you, why do we need to hear this? Well, you say, I believe it's a hard way. I believe in walking in a godly way, in holiness, in persevering. I believe in that. So why do I need to hear this again and again? Because we are prone to forget. In another place, in 1 Peter, he says that he would stir up our minds, our pure minds, by way of remembrance. He would cause us to remember. And so, how will the mere professor, or the ungodly one who comes and claims Christianity, and yet, has no reality of it in their heart? How will they fare? How will it go with them? Not well. You see, because the people of God must be purified and shaped. The people of God. Well then, that's the question here. What will become of the ungodly and the sinner? This is why Why we plead, why we don't just offer some good, pleasant life, your best life now in Christ. This is why. Because if we are barely saved in the midst of all our trials and troubles, well then what of our lost family members? What of our lost friends, our lost coworkers, the lost world all around us? What of them, are we mindful of them? Are we applying this verse to them? Are we saying, oh no, it doesn't really mean that. What else can it mean? Except the ungodly, those who do not follow the Lord. The ungodly are very much those who are not in a difficult path of salvation. They're on the broad way. They're on the wide way. They're on the way that is easy. Oh, it's easy because they're not wrestling against sin. Oh, it's easy because they're not communicating truth and facing opposition. Oh, it's easy because they're not risking it all, laying it all on the line. How many of our decisions and how many times in Christianity is counsel given that the decision that is best is the decision that is easiest? The decision that is most honoring to God is the decision that gives me the smoothest path. How many times do we fall into that, though? How many times do we think, oh, the Lord is in it because it's easy? Well, what a mistake. When you're in the midst of your trials, take joy. I believe this verse is directly saying, when you're in the midst of difficulty, wrestling, struggling, trying to find truth, grasp truth, attain to this thing that you've not yet obtained, When you're in the midst of that, you say, God is in this. God is in this. He's the one that made this hard. He's the one that gave me this cup to drink. But how will it be for those trusting in a position in the church, trusting in a denomination, trusting in mere orthodoxy or a creed, trusting in their outward shows of hypocrisy, trusting in their traditions, presuming upon His kindness, depending on outward expressions. Well, verse 17 says, it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome? For those who do not obey the gospel of God. But here's the hope, that God sent his son to die for the ungodly. This is great that the word is here used ungodly. I think of Jude and he uses it liberally in Jude verses 16 and 17, where it says, In fact, we can go back to verse 14. It was also about these that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with 10,000 of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These ungodly are grumblers, malcontents, following their own simple desires. They are loudmouth boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. I hope we can apply that word of God to our own souls. Oh, that's me when I grumbled. That's me when I was not content in what the Lord had given. That was me when I was going after my own desire. Say, it was not a simple desire because it wasn't some terrible lust or some drug or some evil thing. Well, it's a sinful desire if it's not of faith. It's a sinful desire if it's not of the Lord. It's a sinful desire if it's your desire in the flesh, not your desire in your regenerated heart to please and honor and glorify God and serve His kingdom and His people. Loudmouth boasters. Loudmouth boasters can be some of the most quiet people. In their heart, they store up pride. They show favoritism to gain advantage. Now quickly do we fall into flattering one another, where we ought to be sincere with one another. And yes, it hurts. It hurts to do it. But that's the point. It's difficult. That's the point. It's hard to be saved. If we are to be saved together, it takes that mutual commitment to the hard path. It's hard to call one another to, hey, come talk with me. I need to discuss this with you. I was offended, or I see this in some things. These are the things I'm seeing. What do you see there? Having that discussion, being willing to open the word of God and say, do you see this here? How do you interpret this? What do you get from this? And so I'll close with this. I know this is difficult, and I know it's hard, but these are the kind of things that too many are shying away from speaking about. These are the things too many are not willing to just lay before the people of God and say, this is your experience. And in fact, for those who are truly pressing in, this is a great comfort because they find that is exactly what I'm experiencing. I go from the the slope to spawn up to the gate where arrows are flying at me and I gotta battle this demon and I'm in this dark place I can't see my hand there's lions and then there's and then I fail I fall asleep and then there's this temptation here to follow after this and all of Vanity Fair and there's all these difficulties When I say the Christian, the righteous, the one secure in the Lord is scarcely saved. And that echoes with your experience. There's great hope in that. And there's great hope in that the Lord is the one who's bringing us through all of that. That this is Christ who died for the ungodly while we were yet sinners. And we're reconciled to this God through that grace because he went the hardest way and took that wrath. that grace might reign, and that we can then enter into this joyous trial, into this wondrous walk, this excellent and more excellent way, this way of truth, this way of righteousness. And yes, we'll be opposed, but God has a purpose in it all. He designed it this way. The scripture is wrought with examples, so full of examples of how Joseph would endure this and that, but it was all of God's hand intended for good. Of how Job would experience great trials and difficulties, but he would be found, how was this said, that he would be brought forth as pure gold. I think that's Job 23.10. That's us. That's us. And Peter, the one speaking these words. For Christ also at once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. He suffered. And would you expect that we would not suffer too? No, the trials of today, I'll just lay these few last thoughts here. The trials of today, are intended to make heaven that much sweeter. Momentary light affliction. Those words don't seem to go together, but that is the description that Paul used of this world and how beautiful momentary light affliction is when you take it and you put it up against the idea of eternal destruction. Two other words that don't seem to go together. Eternal destruction, that is what will become of the ungodly and the sinner, is eternal destruction. And when I destroy something in my fireplace, I had some wood, I threw the wood in there, it was nothing but ash, it was destroyed, it is no longer wood. It is destroyed. How do you eternally destroy something? Only an eternal God can eternally pour his wrath upon the ungodly and the sinners. But then this affliction, this narrow way that we're in here, momentary light affliction. See, what you hear of the clippers and the shears pruning you is for the sake of truthfulness. I can't remember who I heard say that. But the pictures are abundant when you think of the whip that has to be cracked. in order to drive us in the way of righteousness by the hand of our blessed Savior. The rod correcting us, He scourges us, but it's momentary and it's light. These days that we're in, compared to what it's gonna be like, for all eternity, all of eternity will be glorious, and this will be momentary and light, this will fade away. And so even the sin itself that burdens us, even the fear of death, Everything, everything that we experience, it'll be absorbed, just sucked right up into this endless eternity where we'll be praising God for his glory and reveling in the beauty of Christ who's able to save us, yes, through much difficulty, but with much certainty. What a glory. Beloved, if you're going through difficulties, whatever, Difficulties are coming during the holiday seasons. I know that's difficult for a lot of people. Whatever difficulties are facing this church, we're a young church, we're a small church, whatever difficulties come our way. And whatever experience you're facing, the Lord is glorious. The Lord is gracious. The Lord is a great help and a sure rock. It could be spoken of for hours. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that we can turn and we can face the ugliness in this life, that your scripture doesn't color coat, doesn't sweeten in the sense of just covering some bitter taste with some sweet idea, doesn't withhold, your word doesn't withhold so much truth, It doesn't withhold it from our eyes to show us what it is we really face when we enter in, what this Christian walk really is. There are no rose-colored glasses here, but just dark reality. It's a great comfort to know that you are with us and you'll never leave us nor forsake us, that you've sent your Spirit, the Helper, to show us truth and to Reveal to us your life within us. Will you will you shape us and will you cause us to die more and more to ourself Lord? Cause us to die more and more to ourselves what dangerous prayer but Lord we would ask it because we know it's the only way Thank you for your grace and for your death on the cross it's in Jesus name we pray I don't want to.