Our scripture reading this morning is from the book of Job. Please find Job chapter 30. We'll be reading verses one through 19. Job crying out to God in his desperation. Job chapter 30, beginning at verse one, this is God's word. But now those younger than I mock me, whose fathers I disdain to put with the dogs of my flock. Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me? Vigor had perished from them. For want and famine they are gaunt, who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation, who pluck mallow by the bushes, and whose food is the root of the broom shrub. They're driven from the community, and they shout against them as against a thief, so that they dwell in dreadful valleys, in holes of the earth, of the rocks, among the bushes they cry out, and under the nettles they're gathered together. Fools, even those without a name, they were scourged from the land, And now I have become their taunt. I have even become a byword to them. They abhor me and stand aloof from me and they do not refrain from spitting at my face. Because he has loosed his bowstring and afflicted me, they have cast off the bridle before me. On the right hand, their brood arises. They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways of destruction. They break up my path. They profit from my destruction. No one restrains them. As through a wide breach they come, amid the tempest they roll on, terrors are turned against me. They pursue my honor as the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud. And now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have seized me. That night it pierces my bones within me, and my gnawing pains take no rest. By a great force my garment is distorted. It binds me about as the collar of my coat. He has cast me into the mire and I have become like dust and ashes. This is the word of our God that stands forever. So what does what we just read have to do with Peter and his admonitions that he will have for us here this morning? For most of us, if not all of us, The one thing that's a greater loss to us than our life is our loss of reputation. Job, you'll recall, was nominated by God as a godly man. Here is Satan coming before the angels, if you will, coming before God, the throne of heaven. And God asked him, what's he, what he been doing? He says, I've been walking around, You remember, Satan can't do much of anything good. And so when even asked what he's doing, he has still nothing good to say. Hasn't built anything, hasn't done any good, hasn't encouraged anyone. All he can do is walk around the hood. And God nominates Job and says, have you considered my servant Job? There's none like him in all the earth. And one of the reasons why we know Job was a good man was because of Job chapters 29 and 31. Job recounts his days when he sat at the gates, and it looks like, according to the passage we just read, he may still be in the gates. He hasn't yet lost his life. He may have lost something that is more important to him, and that's his reputation. His reputation is completely shattered. How important is your reputation to you? You know, without your reputation, it's very hard for you to be taken seriously. It's very difficult for you to do business. Oh yeah, we sign contracts and so forth, but still, still we look at someone, can I trust this person or not? We don't trust the words on the page so much. We trust the person that we're looking at across the table that we're shaking hands with. And as we saw from here, Job has completely lost his reputation. Men, did you catch verse two there? Whose fathers, verse one, but now they mock me, at me, men younger than I, whose fathers I disdain to put with the dogs of my flock. Whoa. I think Job needs a little how to win friends and influence people here. Maybe a little bit of kind of modern, I'm okay, you're okay. My friends, we need to read the Bible. We really do. It's gonna deliver us from our nonsense. Job is saying, these men are worthless. A friend of mine, Pastor Matt Truella, has told me how he's gotten in trouble with people because he said, there are certain people who are worthless. And then when challenged on that, he said, well, the Bible actually says, these are worthless men. Worthless. They have no worth whatsoever. And here is Job saying the same thing. But now these worthless men, men that he wouldn't even put up with, the dogs of his flock, are mocking him, spitting at him. His reputation is completely gone. What are we to do with this? What are we to do with Job? Well, turn with me, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter four. 1 Peter 4. What I'm going to present to you today is my understanding that the persecution that Peter is talking about, in this passage especially, is talking about the loss of reputation for Christians, for believers. I believe that's what he's talking about here in 1 Peter chapter four. Let's read the passage and then we'll have some points to make from it. Beloved, 1 Peter chapter four and verse 12. 1 Peter four, 12. Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, he is blasphemed, but on your part, he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in doing good as to a faithful creator. Our central idea this morning is that suffering is the will of God and has great benefits for believers and great curses for the unbelievers. Peter doesn't pull punches here. It's not as if bearing reproach is kind of neutral for the unbelievers. That's kind of how we think, isn't it? Bearing reproach, attacks on our reputation, and the reason why I say, I'll say this at the beginning, verse 14 I think is critical here to tell us what kind of fiery trial Peter is talking about here. Verse 14, if you're reproached for the name of Christ, this is what I think he's talking about. As we said last week, you have to reproach the Christians before you persecute them outright. You have to put them as pariahs, as bad people, as people that if we could just get rid of them, the world would be a happier and better place. And this was happening during the time of Peter, which is why Nero could later on burn Rome and blame it on the Christians and have people believe it. Now you recall when we preached an election day sermon here a few weeks ago that we said that the character of the electorate, the character of the populace is actually more important than the character of the candidates. That often enough, the character of the candidates is a reflection of the character of the people, often enough. And you'll recall, Herod. The man of great power, great influence, if you will, and great wickedness, and there were a few Herods. I'm talking about the Herods not at the time when Christ was born, but the Herods later at the time of the apostles. You remember that Herod had put James, or had executed James, and you remember what it says next? And he saw that it pleased the Jews, so now he arrests Peter. You see what's happening there? The guy had all this power, but he's still looking to see what's going on out there with the people, what makes them happy. He says, I'll make them happy. In fact, I'll kill two birds with one stone. I'll annoy the apostles, these troublesome Christians, and I'll please the Jews at the same time. Ever the politician, ever putting themselves in a win-win position, right? Remember that about politicians. They present themselves as someone who wants to do the right thing, but the way they act is forever putting themselves in a win-win situation, and that usually means lose-lose for us. Putting that aside here for a moment, our central idea being that there is benefit in suffering, but it's not neutral for the ones who reproach. It's not neutral for the ones who persecute. It is not neutral for them. It's bad, it's really bad for them. And Peter is making sure that we know that here this morning. The fiery trial here appears to be the attack on one's character and the loss of reputation. We will see this in the life of Job at the end of our sermon today as we've addressed this. From the website Cauldron Pool referenced in christendom.press, Matthew Littlefield writes the following. There are prominent teachers and Christian outlets publishing articles and other pieces telling Christians to be worried about being misunderstood and persecuted for these or for those misunderstandings. How many of you have ever been told something like that? Perhaps you're standing in front of an abortion clinic. Perhaps you're witnessing to someone and you're actually getting out the Bible, the eternal word of God, which is settled in heaven, that book. And you're explaining things as clear as you know. And it seems like the clearer you are, the more some Christian, I say well-meaning Christian in quotes, tells you something like this. Oh no, don't be so clear about what you're saying about abortion or don't be so, you don't have to be so strident when you get out the Bible. They misunderstand. Has that ever happened to you? It's happened to me plenty of times. People don't understand. That's why they're upset. Here's a newsflash. They don't get upset because they don't understand. They get upset because they do understand. Littlefield goes on to say, they're even telling pastors to hide sermons, keep some truth for the members, and present a different face to the community. One set of truth for the congregation, another set for those out there. They're worried that the people today will be enraged by Christian teachings they might take the wrong way. Littlefield goes on to say, but I think it is much more likely that Christians will be hated for what they are clearly understood to be saying, as was the cause for Jesus Himself. Question for you. Was Jesus crucified because he was misunderstood? Kind of blathering, clueless rabbi bumping his head on the rafters wherever he went? Or was he murdered, tortured to death because they did understand exactly what he was saying? And we have even at least one parable to that effect, where those that heard his parable, it says they knew he was speaking against them. Our modern society, Littlefield says, has a hatred for the truth that undermines the power of the modern cultural elites. No different from Christ, my friends. He undermined their power. Our message undermines their power as well. Especially regarding sexuality, gender, and faux science, fake science. It will be knowingly breaking those rules and being understood that will get modern preachers, teachers, and Christians in trouble. Wickedness hates the light. Liars hate the truth. Light and truth are what most offend evil. It's good to want to explain yourself as well as you can. This is reasonable and rational. But if you proclaim truth in a society that hates the truth and is trained to hate it more each day, then that is what will provoke people to persecute you. Remember we talked about this last week a little bit, right? This idea that I guess personally I have such a problem with, I hope it's not too much of a problem, but this idea that if you live a righteous and godly life, that those around you will want what you have. I just don't see it too much in Scripture here. So my encouragement, Littlefield says, is simple. Continue to proclaim the truth publicly and prepare to be treated as Jesus was. He told us to expect it after all. By all means explain yourself well, but don't shy back from claiming offensive truths because people might misunderstand. By the grace of God, if you do, in the process you might even convince a few pagans or God-haters, as Peter and Paul did. Remember, in the case of Paul there on Mars Hill, they threw him out. He could have been quite the lecturer on Mars Hill, don't forget that. Paul could have been a star on Mars Hill. Think about it. We don't even know the names of the other people on Mars Hill there in Acts 17. We don't know who they were. We know who Paul is, but I'm convinced that if Paul would have wanted to been a star among those elites on Mars Hill, we today would not know who he was either. And you recall that there were a couple of believers. They threw him off and they called him a babbler, but there were at least two converts that he got from Mars Hill. by telling the truth. Three points this morning. Number one, suffering reproach is a matter of fact for believers. Number two, suffering reproach is a matter of blessing and cursing. It's a matter of both of those. suffering reproach. And thirdly, suffering reproach is a matter of faith. Those three items. Number one, suffering reproach is a matter of fact, verse 12. Here it is again, beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you. And that word strange is the same word as used back in verse four. You remember in regard to these, verse four, they think it's strange that you do not roam with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. So that's our second point there that I believe that this is what the trial is. The speaking evil, the reproaching of the people of God. I don't think in Peter's case has gotten to the point of death yet, what he's talking about. It will. but I don't think that's what he's talking about in terms of fiery trial right here. They're speaking evil of believers. They are reproaching them. They are destroying their reputation. You know, when your reputation's destroyed, my friends, it's really, really hard to live at all. It's difficult to do. Don't misunderstand here. To destroy one's reputation is to destroy that person. Generally speaking, once again, you destroy the reputation before you destroy the person. Westminster Confession of Faith is very clear on some of these points. You start with a reputation, you end with their life. That's what's happening today in our culture, is it not? Destroy the reputation of Christians, And the goal is to destroy the Christians. We see it happening here. Our first point then, suffering, reproach as a matter of fact. Number one about the point, first of all, it is a real trial, which is trying them. A real trial. It's not something where we just kind of like ho-hum, say well you know, this happens to people and I'm kind of sorry about it but I just keep smiling. Sometimes it's kind of hard to keep smiling in the middle of this. This is a real trial. It's a fiery trial, Peter says. And I don't know about you, but I've had my fingers burnt from time to time, and it's not something to smile about. This is a serious trial, and this is a fact. This is a matter of fact, this trial. But second point there, it's a real trial, and secondly, it is not some strange thing. Now let me talk about that for just a minute. Do we think? Did Peter's hearers think that if they obeyed God and did what he wanted them to do, did the good works that Peter talked about before, that these people would love them? Maybe they did think that. But Peter's trying to tell them it's not strange, it's not unusual that doing good works offends wicked people. Once again, I have to address this, my friends. How many times have we heard, don't get out there and be public with your faith, don't speak up out there in public, don't do that. Instead, be like Jesus. Now there's a man who wasn't very public, right? This is almost unbelievable that people will say these kinds of things. I've had people say to me, you need to be, you're gonna make enemies, you need to be loving like Jesus. Oh, good, now Jesus, now there's a man without enemies. I have had that said that to me. My guess is any of you who have ever been out in the street proclaiming publicly the grace, the authority of Christ, have had things like this said to you, usually by people who call themselves Christians. We're in bad shape here. Why are we in such bad shape? Because we aren't even familiar with simple passages like what we see right here in front of us, the book of 1 Peter. Don't forget that of all the other writers in the New Testament writers, with the possible exception of John, or the probable exception of John, I would have to say, Peter, of all the New Testament writers, spent the most time with Christ. He knew Christ. It's a matter of fact, suffering reproach. Number two, suffering reproach is a matter of blessing and cursing. This is verses 13 through 18. Blessing to you, blessing to the people of God. Verse 13, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. Now, Peter here is saying, this confuses up a little bit because sometimes you feel like, hey, I'm in the middle of a trial here and it's really hard to be glad, especially when you're being reproached and being destroyed, your reputation's being destroyed. And Peter is saying here, and I can't get into all that theology right here, but Peter's actually saying, the time will come when you'll be glad. Glad, really glad. You'll be glad with joy. Actually, no. You'll be glad with exceeding joy. Peter is saying that the time will definitely come for you that you will say, I am glad that I went through that. In fact, I am exceedingly joyful about it, Peter is saying. Secondly, Blessing and the Spirit of God rests on you, verse 14. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. In fact, I wanna bring your attention to something. The word glory and glorified is used here multiple times, verse 14. Blessed are you for the Spirit of glory. And the end of verse 14, he is glorified. The end of verse 14 there. Also, verse 16, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. So the word glory here is used, and the word is glory, means to promote, shall we say to make famous, to make known, to be able to see the proper aspects of. In other words, Peter's saying that when we suffer, For righteousness sake, God is glorified. And you yourself will partake in that glorification. I don't know about you, but I don't really consider myself a glorious person. I frankly don't know anyone who considers me a glorious person. I don't know anyone. Peter is saying that we participate though in the glory of God when we suffer with Him. Blessing, the Spirit of God rests on you. And finally, in this sense, blessing to you, another point about the blessing, it's not shameful, but glorious to God. And turn with me, if you would, to a passage that I remember reading through John here a while ago, and this just really kind of like, really? Look at John 13, 31, if you will. We'll get back to Peter here, but let's go over to John chapter 13 and verse 31. Jesus here is facing the trial of His life here on earth. He's about to be betrayed. In fact, He's already sent Judas on His way. in chapter 13 and verse 28 of John, but no one at the table knew for what reason he said this to him. And verse 27, Satan enters into Judas and Christ says, what you do, do quickly. The other disciples don't understand. Having received, verse 30, the piece of bread, he then went out immediately and it was night, so Judas is off to do his dastardly deed. Look at this next verse. I mean, things are set in motion now. There's no question what's gonna happen next. This is the moment when Judas takes off to do his deed, it's over. Nothing's gonna change what's happening next. What is the very next thing that Jesus says? So when he had gone out, Jesus said, now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. What in the world, my friends, are we talking about here? He is about to die this horrific, shameful death on behalf of his people that believe in him. Without this shameful, painful death, his people cannot know salvation, are doomed and lost forever. And the first thing Jesus said as these dominoes, shall we say, are set into effect is now, Now the Son of Man is glorified. Man, my friends, there's so much we could say about this and I, I don't have time. But so often when the cross is denied in our modern churches, when we all set Jesus up as some sort of glorified Buddha, this happens in our churches, my friends, it does. He's just kind of a better guy than the rest of us, and we really need to imitate Him so we can be a good person too. They are forgetting that those miracles that He did, that's not what gives Him glory. What gave Him glory, my friends, was His death and resurrection, doing the will of His Father. That's what gives Him glory. Now the Son of Man is glorified. Turn over to chapter 17, John emphasizes it again. Verses one through three. Right after Jesus is finished here, right after He's praying, Judas comes with his gang of thugs. Look at chapter 17, verses one through three, Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your son and that your son may also glorify you. As you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. You see all the good things, my friends, that are happening because of what Christ is about to go through. He is imparting eternal life, and it's coming through Him, and there's no other source, and there's no amount of being good or doing good or keeping the law that's going to save you, my friends. This is life eternal, the knowledge of Christ. He's about to confer eternal life on his people through his death and resurrection, and that is a glorious thing. Throughout 1 Peter, we've been told that we need to imitate Christ in this. In order to imitate Christ, we need to know what he did for us, and the good things that have happened because of the suffering that he endured. But, as we said, It's not neutral for the wicked. Do you know that when you're reproached, understand this, when you are reproached and you're spoken evil of by wicked people, that they are bringing a curse on themselves. This is not neutral here. Let's look at it. Go back with me, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter four. This is serious business here. 14, verse 14 of chapter four. First of all, they are blaspheming the Spirit of God. If you are reproached, verse 14, for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Okay, that's you. Let's look at them for a second. On their part, He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. Now, we have questions, do we not? What is the unpardonable sin? Everybody's thought of that at some point from the book of Matthew. And Jesus said that those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven them. And I can't look into all this theology here, but we have a specific statement here in Peter that those who reproach believers have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. Am I making this up? Did I just come up with a new doctrine? Let's look at the verse again. Look at this. On their part, he is blasphemed. Who is blasphemed? Just before that, the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, He is blasphemed. Who's blasphemed? The Spirit of God is blasphemed. This is serious business, my friends. Those people who are out there reproaching believers for doing the right thing, for loving their neighbor, for doing really intolerant things like, I don't know, teaching their own children. Other intolerant things like opening businesses to serve their neighbors and their employees. All these horrible things that believers are doing, they're being reproached for these kinds of things. Did you see in New Zealand this week? A mother and father, did you see this? They wanted to have, their child needs an operation. And the child needs a blood transfusion, a one-year-old child. And these parents have done an intolerable thing. This is unacceptable what I'm about to say. No one should be able to do this. They have asked for blood transfusion from an unvaccinated source. What a horrible thing, throw them in jail. Well, not gonna be thrown in jail, but the state of New Zealand is moving to take custody of their baby. There are evil people out there. And they want to punish these parents just because they want to save the life of their child. Wicked people will attack the reputations. And their reputation is being attacked. You know what's being said publicly about them? They're neglecting their child. It's a lie. They're actually preserving the life of their child, but this is the kind of reproach, this is the kind of attacks on reputation that is being done right now on people who just want to do the right thing. Understand that Peter is saying here that those people who lie and attack the reputation of the righteous people are actually blaspheming the Holy Spirit here. Number two, they're getting judgment. Verse 17, the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now Peter, once again, quotes the Old Testament, quotes Proverbs, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? That's rough stuff. Where will the ungodliness sinner appear? Let's answer that question. Where? In hell. Oh, that difficult topic. It is a difficult, unpleasant topic, isn't it? But if it's a real thing, and it does burn, then the time to figure that out is now. Peter is saying something very clear to his people. Please understand he's saying, yes, there is great benefit for you, and it might not be for right now, but the one day will come when you will be glad, and the day will come when they will be in hell. Remember that, says Peter, when you are being reproached for the name of Christ. Finally then, You've lost everything. The judgment in verse 17 and the loss in verse 18. Where will the ungodly and sinner appear? You've lost everything. So suffering reproach is a matter of fact. Suffering reproach is also a matter of blessing and cursing. Blessing for the righteous, cursing for the wicked. Once again, Peter is making a distinction between the righteous and the wicked. That's another thing we seem to have lost in our modern churchianity nonsense. Oh, we're all the same. Why do we have a communion service if everybody's all the same? If the righteous who believe in Christ are just the same as the wicked who hate his guts? This is a problem we have in our modern church, is it not? Oh, you know, we're all sinners. Oh, that's true. Some are saved sinners and some are lost, says Peter. Some are gonna share in the glory of Christ and some are gonna share in the curses of this passage. Because of Christ, my friends, we're not all the same. Yes, we started out the same, but we sure aren't finishing the same because of Christ. To say that we're all the same and to say that the righteous and the wicked are the same is to minimize and dilute the work of Christ. What good's the work of Christ if it hasn't accomplished anything? That's a wicked, blasphemous thing that's being said in all manner of Christian circles today. And the purpose is to stop us from proclaiming the truth, that there is a heaven and there is a hell. That's what they wanna stop there, my friends. Ah, all the same. Wave of the hand. Peter's not having it. Finally, then, suffering reproaches a matter of faith. Verse 19, three points very quickly. First of all, three points. Number one, it is the will of God. Number two, commit their souls to Him in doing good. Please don't forget that little phrase there, that little prepositional phrase, in doing good. You know, that's what the wicked wanna stop you from doing. They wanna stop you from doing good. You know why? Because they really do wanna make you like them. They're not doing good. They wanna stop you from doing it. Interestingly enough, in the days of the early church, Alvin Schmidt makes this point in his book, How Christianity Changed the World. But even under the times of intense persecution, believers were doing good, especially for each other. They were constantly doing good. And we see this throughout the book of 1 Peter, as we've said before. Peter does emphasize doing good works for one another. Not only that, it appears to me historically, and my friend and fellow elder here, John Bingaman, can talk to you more about this, but it certainly appears to me that when the Dutch were tremendously persecuted by Rome, that what was happening during that time was these Dutch believers, under tremendous persecution, were becoming businessmen. And we're learning how through their own businesses to care for each other. And it certainly looks as if the very beginning of the technological revolution, if you will, began, it appears to have begun right around that time. In other words, the idea that you're being reproached or persecuted is no excuse for not doing good. And Peter here slips that in, doesn't he? Commit their souls to Him in doing good. We must continue to do good, even while we're being reproached. And thirdly then, it's the will of God, they must continue to do good. Notice this, as to a faithful creator. Oftentimes, when we're undergoing difficulty, our faith is emphasized, and it should be. Peter's not emphasizing that here. He's emphasizing the faith of God. The faith of God is what he's talking about here. This, Peter says, this is someone worth committing your soul to. You know why you can commit your soul to him? Because he is a faithful God. So, it's the will of God, suffering approach, a matter of faith, they must continue to do good. But that matter of faith is actually faithfulness. The faithful here is the faithfulness of God. Here's the thing, couple points as we wrap up here this morning in closing before we have communion. I have an application from Job and an application from David also. But before we do that, let me ask you a question. Do you want to see the wicked judged That's like a trick question nowadays, isn't it? I don't know. I think it'd be better if they just keep on being wicked and so forth. Wow. Do you know that, according to Peter here, that when you do the right thing, say the right thing, and you are reproached for it, that this brings judgment on the wicked? But while we back off from that, while we try to dodge, while we try to be political, and let's face it, I don't like saying it, but your politicians and your mainstream pastors are pretty much interchangeable. I hate saying that, but we know how that works. When you're a politician, you try to frame things in such a way as to make your people believe in you but your enemies, don't give them anything to hold against you. Just try to stay within that circle, you know what I mean? Try to sound like you're a man of conviction. At the same time, don't try to offend anyone. Is that not a description of what goes on in churches? Plenty of times. I say this, yeah, this is a real great point, but I don't want to offend certain people. I talked to a woman this week. She was speaking with someone from a very large church, and she was talking about loving our unborn neighbors, and they are our unborn neighbors. That's who they are. And she said to this pastor, large church. I'd like to share some of my material with you about loving our unborn neighbors." And the pastor said, love to but, you see I have conservative people and I have liberal people here in my congregation and I just don't want to offend anybody. You know that's going to be a virtue in our modern churches, not offending anybody. But what about offending Christ? What about that? Is it possible for me as a pastor to offend Christ? Or do I get kind of a free pass because I'm a pastor or something? God told his prophets, don't mess with my word. Don't change my word so that you can be accepted by the people who are hearing it. Don't do that. You have no right to do that. What gives me the right to compromise the word of Christ ever? My friends, we'll never see judgment on the wicked if we continue to compromise the word of God. We will, ourselves, will give up the glory of Christ And the wicked will not be properly judged, according to what we read here. Because they reproach, and God says they are bringing judgment on themselves when they reproach the people of God. My friends, I hope you're encouraged by this this morning. I hope you are. You and I are to speak what's true, what's right according to the Word of God. We are to do this. And we will be reproached, especially in these days. It wasn't always this way. There was a time when the Word of God was respected somewhat in this country. There was a time when that was happening. Not so much anymore. I wanna wrap up this morning. Let's first of all go back to Job chapter 30. I will admit to being a mega-fan of Job. We all have our favorites in the Scriptures. Job is one of mine. He talks about his personal pain. In verse 17, my bones, this is Job 30 verse 17, my bones are pierced in me at the night. My gnawing pains take no rest. Interestingly enough though, in chapters 29 and chapter 31, we have Job, his great defense of himself. This is at the end of this three friends. You remember what happened to Job? He has his three friends come and they argue with him. And they're trying to tell Job, Job, there's no way this would be happening to you unless you had done something. Job, all you gotta do is stop pretending that you're this really good guy. You look like a good guy. You really did, but you must have been doing something really bad, otherwise this wouldn't happen. Must have been really, really bad because your affliction is really, really bad. And in chapters 29, 30, and 31, Job defends himself to the point that his three friends don't answer him anymore. Instead, someone else jumps in the conversation, a younger man. In chapter 29, he talks about his life before all this affliction happened. In chapter 31, he does the same thing. But in chapter 30, he talks about what he's lost. And I find it intriguing that he spends most of his time not talking about his personal pain and his personal loss, but he spends most of the time talking about the loss of his reputation. I find that very, very interesting. You see, I don't think we take our own reputation that seriously as long as we have it. We might take it a lot more seriously if and when we lose it though. Don't take this thing lightly, what the unbelievers want to do to you and me. They want to attack and destroy our reputation. That's what they want to do. So how do we apply this here with Job? Well, Job got a different answer by the time he was done. But I wanna look at David, 1 Samuel 30. 1 Samuel chapter 30, go back a little bit. This was, I think, the most challenging thing that happened to David up to this point. David, you'll recall, has been anointed king. That's pretty cool. He's from the right tribe, the tribe of Judah. Should be able to just march right into the palace to the sound of blaring trumpets, purple robes. But all he's got, and ever since he's been anointed king, is problems. Problems. Now it happened. When David, this is verse one of chapter 30. When David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire and had taken captive the women and those who were there from small to great. They did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. So David and his men came to the city and there it was burned with fire and their wives, their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives, Ahinoam and Dejezrelitis, and Abigail the widow of Nabal, the Carmelite, had been taken captive. Now look at this next verse. Now David was greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. What a moment. What a damaging thing to David. Now, there was a man with a reputation to protect, perhaps. I mean, he might have had some problems, but one thing David knew, he knew how to fight. David knew warfare. What a loss. David the warrior. David the soldier. David the giant killer had just lost everything. And what does he do? He encourages himself on the Lord. We don't know what he thought. As I was studying this week, I thought, you know what? He's the one who wrote, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He restores my soul. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. I don't know if that's what he thought or not, but David did what Peter is telling us to do. David committed his soul to that faithful creator. David understood that there is a God who knows all and who will always mete out justice. And these poor people here, they were just done crying, had no more strength. Apparently they had a little strength left though, strong enough to pick up a stone and throw it at David. Wasn't gonna do him any good. But I want you to see the good that happens here in the middle of this tremendous persecution of David, this tremendous difficulty. He encourages himself in the Lord and he gets the whole thing back. As you read this passage, he gets his men together and they take back everything that was stolen from them. My friends, we must. We must, in the midst of attacks on our personal reputations, we must commit our souls to that faithful creator. If we don't do that, we'll never have the thought, the joy that we need in order to address whatever situation we're facing. Shall we pray? We're grateful, Lord, for your Son, the Lord Jesus. Our great example of the God-man who did wonderful things on this earth, but the most wonderful thing that He did was He suffered that shameful death on our behalf, on the behalf of His people, because there was just no other way to save them. Oh Lord, we say often from this pulpit, we don't know what's ahead of us, we don't know. There's a lot to be concerned about, but help us, O Lord, to have the mindset to be able to face those who attack our reputation and want to destroy us, and do good, not stop doing good, and commit ourselves to that faithful Creator. That God who has been faithful enough to us to send His Son. and will continue to be faithful. May we not forget it. We ask these things in the name of Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.