Good morning. If you're able, open up your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 1. If you're able, please stand up. We're going to read verses 3 to 12, though we're only going to focus on verses 6 to 9. This is one long sentence in the Greek, and so it will help us to remind ourselves of how Peter is arguing throughout this passage to encourage this flock that is experiencing various trials. 1 Peter 1, chapter 1, verse 3. Here are the word of God. 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 an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept or reserved in heaven for you, who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, in which you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, You have been grieved by various trials in order that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him. though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and glorified, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Well, let's pray and we'll dig into this morning's message, which I hope will be a great encouragement to us all. Father, we do thank you for the Word of God, which announces to us good news in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh Father, just as much as we needed the Holy Spirit sent from heaven to open up our eyes and grant us faith to believe the gospel for our justification, we need that same spirit poured out this morning to grant us faith for our sanctification. We need faith to endure through trials. And so, Father, we pray, would you give us that good gift that Christ has purchased for his bride? Holy Spirit, would you take the living word of God and produce within us an ever-increasing living hope? Because we remember that the gospel includes not only Christ's death for us, but also his resurrection for us. And as we saw in the book of Revelation, His return for us. Father, as we just finished singing, would you help us to turn our eyes upon Jesus? The things of earth will certainly grow dim as the Spirit fixes our hope upon Him and His glorious return. Father, would you save your elect this morning As Nathan prayed, I pray the same. Oh, that there would be a bountiful harvest. Lord, in the midst of a world full of chaos, would you be calling out your sheep? Would they realize once and for all that to put their hope in anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ is foolishness? That the worldly hopes that we once trusted in are exposed for the counterfeits that they are. Would you show us, afresh from your word, that Christ alone is our hope? And would you help us, Lord, not just to say that, but to be firmly grounded in it, we ask, Father. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Please be seated. So, a propositional truth that I want you to take away, not the points that I'm going to alliterate for you, but simply this, if you fall asleep, I want you to remember this. For the Christian, our joy in the present is proportional to our hope for the future. Insofar that you have hope in the future, you will experience joy in the present, irrespective of the trials that you are going through. I read a lot of sermons and commentaries on this, and unfortunately, a lot of them focused on trials. But the main verb in this subsection is actually rejoice. Actually, there's an inclusio in this section. It begins with rejoicing, it ends with rejoicing, it has suffering in the middle, and has faith in the middle. And that's just how we put the Bible together. That suffering is real. Trials are reality for the Christian. But they are to be viewed through the lens of faith. And faith produces hope and hope produces joy. That's the logical sequence of scripture. Faith and hope are inseparable. And so if you're struggling with hope, you need to strengthen your faith. And faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the message of Christ. And I want to show you a little bit this morning and more next week that the good news of the gospel is not merely putting your hope in past events. We have hope in Christ and what he did on the cross and in his resurrection, in the historical reality of his substitutionary death and victorious resurrection. Yes, we put our faith in that, but if you read Romans 5 and Romans 8, we put our hope in Christ's return, and that's good news. And as we believe the gospel and it produces hope, you know what the fruit of hope is? Joy inexpressible that is glorified. It's not a joy that the world has. This is a unique hope that God gives his people. It's a glorified joy. It's the joy that we long for in the new heavens and the new earth that breaks into this world today by faith in the gospel. And we have to fight for that. Therefore, as believers, we must live in the present by looking to the future. The present may be murky with trials and pain, but the future is all glorious. That's what Peter's already established in verses three through five. You have a living hope. You have an eternal inheritance. You have a secure salvation. You need to remember that. In the shifting sands and in the shaking and rocking and reeling of this world, we have a firm foundation. It's Christ. And he's coming back for his bride and he will reward his bride with that glorious inheritance. As we will see further in Peter's first letter and even in the first chapter, good news is not just past, good news includes the future. And I want to encourage you this week to look to the future. Study out what has God promised to his people. What does your future hold? That will dictate how you live in the present. Not because I said so, but because Peter keeps reminding us of this. And this is what you have to take by faith. You might say, you don't understand, Pastor, what I'm going through. And I probably don't. There are various trials that God apportions as he wills. And you need to understand that God knows what you're going through. And that God's word will not return void. And when he promises you joy as a result of hope, as a result of faith, that God will grant that to you. So, we must remember the future. It's easy to remember the past. but you must remember the future. It's an old movie, and I thought about being that clever pastor with the clever title, Back to the Future, but I won't. Entitle the sermon that, but you must remember the future. You must remember what Christ has in store for you if you belong to him. To remember the future is a fight for sight. It rhymes, but it's biblical. If you focus on your present pains, if you make earthly things your hope, you will be sapped of true joy. We know this to be true. I know it to be true. As I get embroiled in all that's happening in the present and I forget the future, Ryan's joy is sapped and his witness is diminished. And I would say the same thing is probably true for you if you focused on the present instead of the future. I'm not saying deny the present. Please don't hear me say that. Trials are a part, they're a promise actually, of the Christian experience. No one escapes them. God only had one son without sin, but he has no sons without suffering. So, focus on the present. He will be sapped of true joy. But if by faith we focus on our eternal inheritance, if we focus on Jesus, our living hope and returning Savior, our lives will inevitably... Remember, this is a promise. You have to take us by faith. If we're focused on Christ, our lives will inevitably be characterized by unconquerable joy, that no person or thing or government or world can take from us. This is how the martyrs went to the cross singing. They weren't looking to die. They were just believing that to live is Christ and to die is gain. They were thinking of 2 Corinthians 5, that as painful as this death might be, as momentary as this affliction might appear, they were going to put off that old man, which the Christian longs to do, actually. There's an irony to this. Part of me just wants to get rid of the old Ryan, and yet the fleshly part of me wants him to remain. And yet, death is just a graduation service. We put off that old Adam in finality and put on fully and completely the new Adam, Christ. I would encourage you to read that in 2 Corinthians 4 and 5. And so, my question now and hopefully at the end of this message is, what is the locus of your focus? Locus is just a rhyming word of focus, but it's a concentration. What are you concentrating your sight on? What is the locus of your focus? I hope it is verses three through five, because it will produce joy. Let's see this then. Verse six. In this you rejoice. This is the content of rejoicing. In this, what is the in this? It's verses three through five in all of it. It's the living hope. It's the protected inheritance, and it's the secure salvation. And I said last time that it's the same reality in all of its fullness, just sort of viewed from different angles. Christ is coming back for you, and you will see him in all of his resplendent glory. And you will rule with him, and you will reign with him. Whether John is literal with streets of gold or not, I'm looking forward not only to seeing Jesus, but to seeing Jesus in all of that purity, which is what I think gold points forward to. It's awesome if it's literal gold, but gold always pointed to purity and perfection and holiness. So let us focus on that. And the content of our joy, the content of your joy, Christian, is your secure inheritance. It's guarded, protected. We saw last time, it's reserved and God doesn't have any cancellations. You don't show up to heaven and he's like, let's see, where's your name? Oh, unfortunately it seems that there was an error in the system and yeah, not only will God not cancel your reservation, he will not even let his elect cancel their reservation. He's holding you in the grip of his hand. He who began a good work, You will finish the good work. And after you've suffered a little while, the God of all grace will perfect you. So, the content. Our secure inheritance. In this you rejoice. Let me tell you what this word rejoice means. I got this from my fattest lexicon, so it must be correct, right? This Greek word is the feeling and expressing of extreme joy. Did you get it? It's not just feeling extreme joy, it's the expressing of it. What a great word. And we taste of it now by faith. But Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight. And so what happens is by faith we experience the end in the present. The future, which is promised to God's people. You often will hear it. It was like a taste of heaven this morning. That's this Greek word. When people are singing their guts out, often in the midst of pain, through the tears, that's what this Greek word means. And I'm not even gonna pronounce it for you, as tempted as I am. It means to be glad. It means to rejoice exceedingly. It means to be very happy. Interesting. In this you rejoice. He doesn't say in your trials you rejoice. Please don't hear that. Yay! Whipping! That's not what Peter's saying. He's not saying be some kind of stoic masochist. We accept the fact that they hurt, but we have that perspective, or I thought of this morning, a heavenly hermeneutic by which we interpret our trials. We interpret them through the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his gospel promises. There's a future aspect to this present tense. One author went a little too far in saying it's entirely future. I disagree with that. But what you anticipate in the future, you experience now, but I hope that you will long for more. We don't have it fully, unceasingly, but there are those times when the Holy Spirit grants you this exceeding joy in heaven. And what you experience now, long for increasingly because this will be yours. without any kind of break. Are you longing for that? Some of us have forgotten that. Sometimes the pain screams so loudly we forget that we will be singing around the throne. That's what I love about Revelation. It's full of suffering, but it's also full of rejoicing around the throne of God. The martyrs who lost their heads, what are they doing? They're not, well, they're bemoaning how long until you return, but they're also characterized by unquenchable joy and ceaseless praise. That's the content of our joy. It's not a pull up your boots and grit your teeth and try. It's as you focus and focus and focus and focus and remind yourself and remember the future. Joy will happen. You're like, well, I'm not experiencing it. Then I would say, keep focusing on it. It's like those crazy pictures or whatever they are. I can't do it. I go cross-eyed. But if you stare at it long enough, it comes into focus. Sometimes so many of us are like me with that picture in the spiritual realm. They look for like 30 seconds like, I don't see it. Keep staring. Ask for the Holy Spirit to focus, to help you to see heaven through the eyes of faith. The plural, you, reminds us that there's reality of rejoicing even in trials as meant for all Christians. Some of us almost say, well, it's easy for those who aren't suffering the way I am. But Peter's writing to all the elect exiles who are scattered, and some are going through fiery ordeals, and it's like Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego kind of fiery, right? Heated up seven times. And some of us, maybe not so much. But this rejoicing isn't for some Christians, or for the super spiritual ones. It's for all Christians. And so all Christians must fix their eyes on Christ and his return and the inheritance that is reserved for us. Doesn't matter what you're going through. Joy can be yours. A heavenly joy. Earthly joy will not be yours in trials. I promise you that. But God offers you a heavenly joy that no man can steal. It's like the peace Christ offers no one can steal. This is where faith in God's word must speak louder than the sight of our situation. You see with your ears. You walk by faith and not by sight. And so that's why you need to fight for sight. You need to fight for your devotional times. You need to fight to be around other Christians who are just full of the glory of God, who are just so sold out for Christ that this world is becoming dim to them. Get around joyful Christians like that. God's word must speak to you louder this morning than whatever you're going through. Joy is not easy. It's promised, but it's not easy. So please don't hear me that, you know, you just sort of flip a switch or just pray a quick prayer. You're gonna have to fight for it. But God will grant it. Joy is the fruit of hope, and hope is the fruit of faith. I've said it before, but that's really helped me to think through this. Some people are fighting for joy, but really it needs to be a fight for sight, or it needs to be a fight for faith. And then faith produces hope. This is Romans 5. And hope bubbles over into joy. I dare you, try that. Don't seek joy, seek Christ by faith. Look to what is promised to you, and believe that by faith, and hope will well over, and joy will be irresistible. So fight to hear the gospel. Fight to be around Christians who are gospel-centered. In the words of Paul to Timothy, fight the good fight of faith, or the faith, but you could include fight the good fight of faith. It's a good fight. Many of us are embroiled in bad fights. There's a good fight for the Christian. in this day and age, and it's for the fight of faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Look at 1 Peter 2. Therefore, he says, put all these things off by doing what? Verse 2, like newborn infants. So if faith produces hope and hope produces joy, and faith comes from hearing, look at what Peter says in the next chapter. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into what? Into salvation. That's what the word promises to us. The salvation. Well, look at the very end of verse five. Where do you grow up into salvation? The word of God. And the word of God says that by God's power, we're being guarded through faith for what? For salvation. Salvation now, but that salvation that comes. So can I encourage you to get into the word That's one thing I love about Diane, is just how excited she is for the word and how much she wants the women of this church. But I want the men of this church to be in the word too. I want you to hunger for that word. Why? Because that word tells us not only what Christ has done, but what Christ is going to do. And you grow up into that. The word doesn't get rid of the trials, it just strengthens us through them, resolve that we're gonna make it. So, I think we can press on to our next point, but Peter would say, I think, if you wanna grow in joy, hunger, thirst, long for the pure spiritual milk of the word. Not the impure fleeting hopes of this world. Trust me, the world's offering you all kinds of good news, but it's not pure like the word. It will not help you grow up into the salvation, which will be revealed in which we rejoice in. What are we rejoicing? In the salvation which is going to be revealed the last day. How do we grow up into that salvation? By the word of God, which produces faith, which produces hope, which produces joy. Second, so the first is the content of joy. The content of joy is our secure inheritance, our protected inheritance. Second, the context of our joy. grievous trials. As much as you want me to pass over this, I cannot. Peter decides to use a participle to link it to joy. You can't separate it. You're rejoicing, not in the absence of trials, but in the present. Some of us think, once this is gone, then I'll be happy. Once this trial is done, then I'll rejoice. Peter just won't let that happen. I do that too, which is why it's good to go back to the text and to hear from it. The context of your joy in this age is in the midst of trials, in the midst of grief. In the future, there will be no more trials or tears or griefs. There'll be no more indwelling sin in here and no more outdwelling sin out there. But until then, unfortunately, our rejoicing, says Spurgeon, is often through tears. But, as Spurgeon said, I think, here's a little bonus for you. If you don't know a good quote, who it's by, just attribute it to Spurgeon and nobody will question you. But I do think Spurgeon said this, that tears make clearer the picture. Sometimes it's through tears that we more clearly see Christ. Humanly speaking, it's through tears, you know, you can't see anything, it's like swimming underwater. But in God's economy, it's often through tears that you see Christ more clearly. Just as there's a paradoxical tension between elect and exiles, so too in suffering and joy. It doesn't make sense. And so if you ask me to make sense of it, I can't. Just like I can't make sense of how God elects people to be exiles. He selects them to be rejected. God chooses us for trials. I literally wrote this down on my computer during the announcements. Go to chapter two, verse 21. This is the context. Who is the, if I could give you a quick question while you're turning there, who is the most joyful person to ever have walked the earth? It's Jesus. It's Jesus. But Jesus went through grief and trial and he was a man of sorrows and he was acquainted with grief. So how can he be acquainted with grief and yet a man full of joy? Because he had his eyes fixed on the Father. So, if you think you can get around trials, you cannot. But God will mingle your trials with joy that you would never experience to the same degree without them. Some of you young kids haven't experienced this, but anyone who's been alive for more than 20 years knows this to be true. If you're a Christian, probably some of your greatest and most memorable events in life have been through trials. Your greatest feats of faith have been through trials. What, you know, those growth spurts? You know, I think sometimes the Copperts kids, they'd have growing pains. The pain's not fun, but they're growing. Like, soon they're gonna be towering over Pastor Ryan like cedars of Lebanon. And those growing pains aren't fun, but they're growing. And that's just the way God has designed it. So, Peter says, for to this you have been called. Not only have you been called to an eternal inheritance, you've also been called to this. Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example. Rod often prays on Wednesdays for our sanctification, which is namely being made into the image of Christ. Christ suffered. Christ's ministry was perfected, says the author of Hebrews, by suffering. The same is true for us. Tatelos, used over and over by Peter, the end, will not come until we have suffered, so that we might be like our older brother. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. This is the context. Well, let me say four ways that Peter describes Christian trials. Please understand, the world goes through them, but for the Christian, there are four unique things that Peter promises. First, when compared to eternity, they are brief in duration. See that in the text? In this you rejoice, though now, though now, for a little while. The now is this age, and there's an age of ages coming. So in this age, it's a little while. Some of you might be saying, I might have this all my life? Maybe. But again, you have to compare it to the heavenly hermeneutic. You need to have an eternal perspective. Some of us may suffer with a chronic illness for the rest of our lives. I don't know. I do know this though, that God is a good and all-wise physician, and he not only knows what to prescribe, but how long, right? You get your little prescription, take this much, for how long? Maybe a week, maybe two weeks, maybe for the rest of your life. But, when compared to eternity, they're brief in duration. An illustration from a pastor I got, he had this long rope, long rope, let's just say it spanned from that wall to that wall. And he says, that's eternity. And then he took a little piece of green tape and he just put off like one little ring on it. And he put his thumb on it and he said, you see that? It's an inch, inch breadth of that tape. That's this life in light of eternity. Christian, you might be struggling. And I'm not trying to minimize that. I'm not even trying in a sense to identify, because I probably can't. but understand that this is brief in light of eternity. I was reading Spurgeon, and he said, oh, for those who have all of the joy in this life and then in eternity of hell. We need to have that heavenly perspective, Psalm 73. Remember Esau? Oh boy, was he a bitter guy. That psalm could have been written by Pastor Ryan. How come the wicked get all this, and they're fat and healthy, and they're getting all this? And then that brutish beast came to his senses when? When he remembered God's election. He went to God's temple. That temple was not just for anyone to go. That temple was for God's people. He came to his senses in the presence of God, in the promise of God. I need to remember that. that whatever suffering God apportions to me in this life pales with the grace he has poured out on me that is eternal. After you have suffered a little while, chapter five, the God of all grace will restore you and comfort you and strengthen and establish you. Who's giving you the trial? Not the God of all malice, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who foreloved you before the ages began, who set you apart and regenerated you by the power of the Holy Spirit for Christ and his redemptive work. First, they are brief. If you're writing notes, I've memorized these as a pastor, they're helpful, but do use these prayerfully. Be very careful of just dropping these verses on people. when they're suffering. There's a great book, actually, by Nancy Guthrie. I forget, it's this crazy long Puritan-esque title, and it's like, what suffering people wished you knew and would say. So be very, I'm gonna give you these verses, but be very careful when someone's going through a trial. Maybe pray this for them. That's probably wiser. Romans 8.18. For I reckon, for I consider, that these present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with this glory that is to be revealed to us. Again, so there's Paul. He's suffering in the present, but he's looking to the future. What is going to be revealed to us? Glory. So maybe just pray that instead of quote it to them. Lord, would you help such and such to, by faith, gaze upon the glory that will be revealed to them? Like, we'll be in the presence of Christ. That's glory. Another one that I've prayed, actually, I'm not gonna say for who, but years ago I memorized this. Actually, turn there. It's 2 Corinthians. It's helpful. It kind of referenced chapter 5, but it's good to turn there because you'll see the context. This is probably my favorite letter Paul wrote because I can identify with it as a pastor. Okay, so chapter 3 ends. beholding the glory of God in the person of Christ. And we get that in the word. But look how chapter four ends, where Paul's talking about jars of clay. Not only are our bodies breaking down, but they're prone to trials. Look how he ends this. He ends chapter three by gazing upon the invisible Christ through the eyes of faith in the gospel. And he does the same thing actually in chapter four. So we do not lose heart. Isn't that great? Verse 14 is all about Christ being raised and we'll be raised with him. Therefore we do not lose heart. Why? Because Paul is fixing his attention on the future, right? This is faith in the future. And so he does not lose hope, you might say. Why? Because faith produces hope. Though our outer self, literally our outer man, going back to Adam versus new Adam contrast, Though our outer man is wasting away, our inner man is being renewed day by day. For this, what does this say? Light, momentary affliction is preparing us for, or preparing for us, it's both, an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. It's a hyperbole in the Greek, kata, hyperbole. You can't compare it. Nobody knows what scales are, because everything's digital, but, you know, you put one... All of your trials in the language of Isaiah 40, they're like dust on the scales compared to the glory, and that Hebrew word kavod, and the Greek word dox, have this idea of weightiness. You can't compare it. You might not feel it, but that's where faith kicks in. You have to trust God and His Word. He says this. Not pastor says it. who doesn't probably know what you're going through, but God does, and he still says this, for this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory, beyond all comparison, participle, as we are looking not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, vapor, mist, but the things that are unseen are what? Eternal. Our trouble on that rope is like this, and the rest of eternity is like a rope that goes around the world indefinitely. Well, let's keep going. First, our trials in comparison to eternity are brief. Second, they are necessary. Again, don't preach that, I have to. Because the text says, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary. And you can translate that Greek, since necessary. And I probably would hold to that. Yes, they're brief. Yes, they're light. But oh, they are necessary. As painful as our trials must be, we must remember they're providential. Often, us reformers champion the sovereignty of God over all things, and we quote, Abraham Kuyper, there are no rogue molecules. Christ declares over all things, mine. Do you believe he says that in your trials too? We can't be selective about God's sovereignty. He's Lord of all. Of course you need to see his smiling face in those providences, but remember that God called you not only to believe in Jesus, Philippians 129, but also to suffer for his sake. And the Greek doesn't allow you to separate it. So they're necessary. Since they're necessary, Peter says to them, don't be surprised. We'll get there in chapter four, eventually. Do not be surprised at these fiery trials, as though something strange were happening to you. God's not like, whoa, wait! You know, it's like when we leave the kids home for like a couple hours. We left you in charge for a couple hours and now the house is burning down. God's not like that. He knows exactly what's happening and He knows exactly what He's doing. Since trials are necessary, since they are an important part of the Christian life, do not think that God has singled you out because He's angry at you. We can think that. No, this is your allotment. And I pray that you will understand with David in Psalm 16, that even in the pain, even though you're going through suffering, indeed, the lions have fallen for me in pleasant places. I have a beautiful inheritance. They're necessary not only says Peter, they're necessary says James. Count it pure, count it passa, all joy, my brothers and sisters. Not if, when. When you fall into peripipto, when you fall into various trials. Not if, but when. Paul, preaching Knox 14, says it is through many tribulations that we enter into the kingdom of heaven. And that's not saying you're saved by trials, but he's talking about the future kingdom of heaven when it comes in its fullness. Just like Peter, it's the revelation of Christ, the revelation of end time salvation. That's when the kingdom is experienced. But until then, it's trials. Just like we read in Revelation 12. The last trumpet's gonna sound and God will judge the world, but until then, the church is going through birth pangs as Satan seeks to destroy her. God will preserve us, but he'll preserve us through suffering. and they're necessary. I think that's enough. You can find that all throughout scripture. Third, they're varied. You see that? You have been grieved by various trials. Turn to chapter four, verse 10. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Exact same Greek word there. And so, in the language of, say, Ephesians 4 or 1 Corinthians 12, that God knows what he's doing. Christ is the head of the church, and it says in Ephesians he gives gifts for the body, and he knows what he's doing. And so, a little here, a little there. Charles will get this, Nathan will get this, Ryan will get that, Johnny will get that, Tina will get that, Renee will get this, Noni will get that. He knows what he's doing. The head of the church knows what he's doing, and so he doesn't give the same thing to everyone. Parents know this. We don't give the same responsibilities or even severity of discipline to our children the same, because we know where they're at. We know what will crush them. We know how this will help them uniquely. God's not blindfolded. If you're in Christ, He's loved you with an everlasting love. He knows you intimately, and He knows exactly what you need, and so He gives, according to His all-perfect wisdom, the very thing you need. And you might say, like me, I don't think I need this. But God knows Ryan better than Ryan. And if God gives it, it's because God knows it is for my best. Never separate the trial from the God of all love and all wisdom. So, positively used in chapter four, here's a varied grace. Not everyone preaches. Some are, the rest are given the gift of service. And that service looks like many different things. And so God doles it out, a variegation of service. Well, the same Greek word, a variegation of trials. But I do like the language here. As each has received a gift. That's how God forms churches. That's why local churches are important. It's the danger of being isolated. because you're not around people who are suffering differently than you. Use it to serve one another as God has allotted it. Just as a wise human doctor does not prescribe the exact same treatment for all of his patients, neither does an all-wise heavenly physician prescribe the exact same trials for his children. You just have to trust him. Again, Spurgeon, apparently. When you cannot see his hand in the storm, look to his heart in the storm. Romans 8, 32, it's probably my favorite verse. How will he not also with Christ graciously give you all things? Go and read Romans 8. It's all about suffering. But he will preserve you, and he may give you a gift. It could be a physical ailment, it could be emotional, it could be depression, Could be an erring child. Could be just a grating co-worker. It could be personal sin. A lot of my trials come from my own folly. But do understand that the Lord knows what he's doing. And I do want to say this, be very careful of comparing your trials with others. Because then what you're doing is you're criticizing God's wisdom. I do that. How come they're not going through this? How come they get the easy road? One, you don't know what they're going through. Two, God does. And he knows exactly the right tool to use and for how long. Sometimes you just need a big crack if you're trying to break a rock. But sometimes for refining, you need to just tap on it for a long time. And God knows best. Trials are varied. Don't see them. as some kind of punishment. Could be disciplinary, might not be, but it is ultimately to strengthen your faith. God causes all things to work together for good, for those who love God and are those who are called according to his purpose. A hymn I would encourage suffering saints to memorize I have, William Cooper. spelled C-O-W, if you're Googling it, William Cooper, struggled with immense depression, like severe depression. Severe, severe depression. And he was a friend of John Newton, and Newton often had to just sort of continually put before Cooper the gospel. But my favorite hymn by Cooper, and perhaps one of my all-time favorite hymns is, God Moves in a Mysterious Way. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but what? Trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. Fourth, suffering proves that our faith is real. You see that in verse seven. So that, purpose clause, in order that, why is God sending trials your way? It's to refine your faith. How do you inherit end time salvation? I'm not talking about justification, but salvation in the New Testament is past, present, and future. And you receive past, as it were, salvation, justification by faith. You believe and all of your sins are forgiven. You're declared righteous. Even though you are not made righteous, you are declared righteous. That's a past salvation, justification. We're going to see later in Peter that sanctification is present tense. How do we become more and more holy? God sets us apart in justification, but in life, how do I become holy? It's by faith. The same thing is true for future justification, or vindication, or glorification. Again, Romans 8 language. You will be glorified. You will receive glory through faith. Which is why Paul says in Romans 1, 16-17, faith is the A to Z. It begins and ends with faith. That's how the NIV and NLT translate it. Excellent translation. Your salvation begins and ends with faith. And if your salvation ends with faith, God will be ruthless to refine it. Right? Do you see that? You need faith for that salvation that is going to be revealed. You need it. Well, let me just read it. Who by God's power are being guarded? Yes, sovereignty of God through faith. And this is the irony. Your brain's gonna have to do some bending. The very trials you think will undo your faith, God sends to strengthen your faith. That's just how God works. and His ways are higher than ours. I often think God's trying to totally unravel me. Yes, from me. So if the salvation ready to be revealed is received through faith, God will strengthen your faith, doing anything necessary, and trials are necessary. These trials have come, says Peter, so that your faith, which is greater then gold may be proved genuine. Why? Why do you need faith? Because your faith, Peter says here, will result in, okay, the very end of verse seven, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I'll quickly move on, because I see the time is getting away from me. There's an exchange. Lord haste the day when the faith will be sight. These three abide, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. And so in the future, we're not going to need faith. And what you're going to do, as it were in the language of Peter, is exchange that faith for three things. You'll give God faith, so to speak, and look what he will give you. Praise, glory, and honor. And Christ is revealed. Yes, of course, we will give him these things. We will give God praise and glory and honor. But Peter is saying here that God will give this to us. That should blow your mind. Let's not get all false humble. Let's just let the word dictate. When it says that Jesus is going to serve his people, no, no, not me. You're like Peter. No, don't wash my feet. Jesus is gonna wash your feet. And it says in Luke that he's going to gird himself and serve his people. And Peter says here, when Christ is revealed, when he comes back and sets up his heavenly and eternal kingdom on earth, it will result in praise and glory and honor. And trials help us to remember that. You know what happens often in trials, especially persecution? It's the very opposite. You don't receive praise. You receive slander and reviling. You don't receive glory. You receive shame. You don't receive honor. You're mocked. And so by faith, we look through, right? All the mocking, all the things that are happening to us, all the pain, and we say, one day, true glory, true praise, true honor will be bestowed upon me. Jesus says that. As I overcame, and the Father gave this to me in Revelation, so also for you. And God reminds us of these things that are ours often through trials. Let me say something quickly before we move on. This is a great assurance for the believer. Trials. I know some people will struggle with lack of assurance for the rest of their life. And often it's not the clever words of a pastor But all I would say is, through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. Tis grace has brought me safe thus far. Tis grace will lead you home. Some people struggle. Am I saved? And I would just say, yeah, look to the future, but also remember the past. Like, when this rocked your world, you didn't forsake Christ. You actually said he is precious, and actually, you clung to him far more deeply through the trials. Yes, through the pain and the doubts, I get it. But often I find the people who struggle with assurance, they need to say, wait a minute. Only by God's keeping power do I trust in him. Because the natural inclination of the unbeliever is to hate God. Not to bless God through the trials, not to cling to God through the trials, but to forsake him. If you're still clinging to Christ, that's supernatural. God is proving your faith. Not because he needs to know. Oh, did you know, son, that his faith is strong? He knows it. He's holding you fast. This proving of your faith is for your benefit and for your assurance. Some people have gone through all kinds of catastrophes. I'm reading George Mueller's book. Man, that guy went through a lot. And yet God held him fast. Both of his wives died on him. Not, he wasn't a polygamist. His first wife and then his second wife after his first wife died. His daughter died before him. And yet God held him fast, and he would say, only by God's grace can I still be lisping praise and barely clinging. So I want to encourage you. Trials come to test the elect, but God will preserve the elect through those trials. The son of affliction will not wreck your root. I ask the Lord that I might grow faith and love in every grace. Might more of his salvation know, more earnestly seek his face. Read the next verses. That God's answer to his prayer stunned Newton. And he says, these painful trials I employ from self and pride to set thee free. Break thy schemes of earthly joy that thou mayst seek thine all in me. Thank you, Joe. So, review of point two. The context of our joy is trials, but they are brief, necessary, varied, and purposed. Remember that. The cause, we'll quickly get through this. What is the root? I just say cause because I like to alliterate for note takers. I'm not a note taker, so please bear with me. I listen to a lot of sermons, and I said to Christina, I'm like, that was an awesome sermon, but I don't remember any of the points. So that's why I'm not a big point guy. But for you who are note takers, the cause of joy, or I would say the foundation or root of joy, faith. And since I preached on this, I don't think I need to reiterate it. What sustains you to rejoice in Christ in the midst of trials? Your faith. This is why God says it is more precious than gold. Gold, right? Money lovers, they refine the gold so they can get more money back. Right? It's precious to them. And Peter says, oh, you may have lost all of your gold. You've lost all of your inheritance. But understand, God has given you faith and he gives you trials to refine that faith. And oh, how precious that faith is to God. And I pray that it will become increasingly precious to you. Faith is how we see things. I've quoted it, and I'll quote again. We walk not by sight, but by faith. What is the source of your joy? Christ. And how do you appropriate Christ? By faith. The same way you appropriate Christ's justification, you appropriate Christ's joy through faith. Again, it's hard, but you must say, Lord, I believe. You say that you will give me joy in this if I trust and look to Christ and keep my eyes fixed on my heavenly inheritance. You promised this, and so I will gaze. James 1.2, feel it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various trials. No, no, he says count it, count it. Hey, Galmai, be a good accountant. Joy. Joy. Okay, count it. That's faith. Faith in all joy, my brothers and sisters. Regard it. Consider it. Reckon it. Romans 18, I quoted. Paul says, I feel that the sufferings of this present time. No! He would say, I'm beyond. I can't even express it in 2 Corinthians 1. We're in despair beyond words. And yet Paul says, I consider. I reckon. I logizima. He uses logic. that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing. This is faith language. I reckon that Christ died for me. I don't feel that he died for me, I believe it. And you need to do the same thing, we have to walk by faith. Suffering will sanctify the saints, and we are sanctified by faith. I'm hoping that suffering will drive you to a greater faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what Peter's saying here. Your faith is valuable because it helps you in the trials. Verse eight. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him. And what is the fruit of belief? You rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. You don't see him. visibly or physically. Peter did. His audience didn't. John 20. Remember Thomas? I will not believe until I see. Seeing is believing, just like the atheists say. No, no, no, no, no. Believing produces seeing. And so Peter says your faith is valuable because as you look to Christ and you believe the promise, love begins to well up and joy is expressed. Faith works itself out in Love, Galatians 5, which is why you must keep fighting for faith. What will produce your joy? Your precious faith. So guard your faith. Guard it. Hold to it cleanly. Fight for it. Be in the word of God. Strengthen it. Purify it. Do whatever you can. No faith, no joy. No joy, no witness. Well, let's move on. I have talked way too much. Lastly, the consummation of joy. See? Alliteration. that you may believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining, right, you obtain things by faith, the outcome, the end, the telos of your faith, the salvation of your souls. And all Peter is saying here is, look forward to the day when there will be this inexpressible joy. It's above words, the Greek is. Hupa laleo. Explain it, I can't. It's what the Spirit produces in me when I see Christ now, but then fully. And it's a glorified joy. Think about that. Perfect joy. Unmingled, untainted. Like that pure gold we all want. One day you will worship the triune God with glorified joy. and by faith that breaks into the here and the now. It's not perfect yet, but it will be experienced at the consummation. Again, read Revelation. Trials and yet unspeakable joy. On that day, we will trade in all of our sorrows, all of our tears, for this joy, which will be ours unending. So, Peter says, don't rejoice in the suffering, rejoice in what the suffering points you towards. Rejoice that you have a living hope, that you have a secure inheritance, that you have a final salvation. And pray that God would strengthen your faith, purify your faith, that it might be precious, because one day you will exchange that faith for praise, glory and honor when Christ is revealed. Conclusion. In the midst of the various and grievous trials you are experiencing, is your life characterized by the Spirit's fruit of joy? Please don't think I'm trying to make you guilty. This is just a time for introspection. And if your life isn't characterized by this kind of joy that Peter portrays for us, The question is not just to beat yourself up and say, no, I guess this is my lot, but then you start asking questions like this. Well, if I don't have this joy, why? And do a little, right, just like when my credit card statement comes. Why are we so poor? Ah, let's look at my past purchases. Or I mean, Christina's not here this morning. Look at Christina's past purchases. No, I'm joking. What an answer to prayer. You have no idea how trembling I was to preach in this pulpit this morning. And it's good to laugh with you. But what are some of the things that we've been focusing on? Ryan included. And Ryan's miserable. Right? Why is it so hot in the house? Because he left the windows open on a hot day, Ryan. Why do I have no joy? Because I have been fixated on all the wrong things. Been focusing on the pain and the trials. which are allotted, but I've not looked through them through the heavenly hermeneutic of the future. So what are some ways you can cultivate faith? Can I encourage you to just start with reading the word of God? I'm not saying you're not, but read more of it. If you're taking vitamins, great, but maybe you need more. Be around those kinds of people who are full of joy. Yeah, it'll irritate you at the beginning, You will, but it's infectious. What kinds of things are stealing your attention and affection for Christ? Cut them off. Talking with a dear brother yesterday, they're not on social media, and I'm just like, now that's a thought. Maybe, that's not a command, I'm just asking you to think through these things. What things are sapping and robbing you? of joy-producing hope. If you're not thinking about eternity of eternities, you're not going to have hope. Lastly, do you see that your faith is more valuable than anything this world could ever offer you? There's a lot of things that we guard. Do you guard your faith? I know God does, but do you guard your faith? Are you jealous for her? Do you keep your faith away from harmful things? We do so with our physical bodies. Why would we not do so with a faith that is more precious than even gold? So, I'll leave you with a couple questions. What things from this text can you resolve to daily remind yourself of? Would you preach to yourself the gospel of heaven? The gospel has future truths to it. Can you preach to yourself the love of God? And even if it's discipline, it comes from a father who loves? What else can you do to remind yourself of this living hope? I'll leave that there, and I'll close with Colossians 1 and show you the link here. Cliff often prays this verse. Paul is thanking God for these believers. and their faith and their love are seen by all, look at verse five, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Where do you hear about this hope? It says here, of this hope you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you. I'll leave it there. but believers in Christ through faith. God gives his people an inconquerable joy, even in the midst of sorrow. If you would like that, then I would call you to repent of your sins and come to Christ and tell others about this hope. It's yours for the taking. Receive. Receive this. This is the promise of the gospel. Christ will take your sins He'll take your fears, and He'll take your cares, and He'll give you salvation, and He'll give you hope, and He'll give you joy in this broken, dark, hurtful world. Be encouraged, saints. I was, I hope you are. Let's pray. Father, even as we partake of the Lord's table, we're remembering the future. It was not to just mindlessly eat and drink. But as a body, remember, yes, the body of Christ was broken and His blood was shed for us, but we do this as often as we gather until you return. And help us to remember that. And there will be a feast like all feasts, above all feasts, full of joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. Father, help us. to by faith turn our eyes upon Jesus even this week we ask in his name.