SPEAKER_00: Um like my dad said, I've had a lot of opportunities to speak while at college in classes or class meetings, etc.
SPEAKER_00: But none I take more honor than my dad asking me to speak tonight in his pulpit.
SPEAKER_00: And so like my dad said, I will be leaving next Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: I will be heading back to Pensacola to uh work at Teen Extreme and I'll have hundreds of teenagers that I'll have direct influence on.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you could be in prayer for me, uh just to sustain me and um that God will use me this year.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you have your Bibles tonight, turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter chapter 4 is where we will be tonight.
SPEAKER_00: So what is happening in 1 Peter?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Peter is writing to the believers that are scattered throughout Asia Minor, and these believers are suffering persecution.
SPEAKER_00: They're being beaten, they're being mocked, and they're suffering immense persecution.
SPEAKER_00: It's believed that this is during the time of Nero's persecution of Christians, and so many of them are being burned, many of them are suffering, and they're having a really hard time while Peter is writing them this letter.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter writes to them talking mainly about the subject of suffering and how we handle that.
SPEAKER_00: And so tonight I want us to look in 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 12, how we can, like the believers in Asia Minor, rejoice while suffering.
SPEAKER_00: If you look in verse 12, Peter writes, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.
SPEAKER_00: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
SPEAKER_00: If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.
SPEAKER_00: On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
SPEAKER_00: Let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.
SPEAKER_00: Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf.
SPEAKER_00: If you look at verse 19, he writes, Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful creator.
SPEAKER_00: I heard of a pastor named Richard Wormbrand.
SPEAKER_00: He's not an extremely well-known name.
SPEAKER_00: When I had first read about him, I had never heard of him before.
SPEAKER_00: But Richard Wormbrand was a pastor who lived in Romania when the communists took over the country.
SPEAKER_00: And he was told that if he continued to preach the gospel, that he would be sent to prison and he'd be uh beaten.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of not preaching, instead of being silent, Richard Wormbrand continued to preach and tell others about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And one day on his way to church, the secret police got him and his family hadn't even known what happened to him for years.
SPEAKER_00: And he was sent to prison, like they said.
SPEAKER_00: And while in prison, Richard Wormbrand was beaten and mocked and placed in dark cells, isolated from everyone else, because he refused to stop talking about Jesus while in prison.
SPEAKER_00: And while he was in prison, he would continue to witness and tell other people about what Jesus meant to him.
SPEAKER_00: And when he would do that, the guards would hear him and they'd grab him and they'd beat him and they'd send him and isolate him so he couldn't talk to anyone.
SPEAKER_00: And while he was alone in those cells, isolated from everyone else, he began to sing hymns to himself because he said that he felt so overjoyed that he got to suffer for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And he'd be out of those dark cells and he'd be around the other prisoners, and he'd continue to talk about Jesus, knowing what would happen to him, and he would do it anyways.
SPEAKER_00: And he sang and talked about Jesus over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: And when he was released, he gave this statement that I want us to hear tonight.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote that I have found truly joyful Christians only in the Bible, only in the underground church, and only in prison.
SPEAKER_00: He then later wrote, It was a great joy to know that I was suffering for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this was a man who understood what Peter was writing about in 1 Peter chapter 4, that when you suffer, when you're persecuted, when you suffer for the name of Christ, not sad are ye, not depressed are ye, not woe is me, not what is God doing, not why is this happening to me when I'm trying to live for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what he says.
SPEAKER_00: Richard Wernbrand understood that Peter wrote in this book that when ye suffer for the name of Christ, happy are ye.
SPEAKER_00: Tonight I want us to see that suffering and trials are not strange for the believer, but are a reason to rejoice, because those who suffer for Christ are truly blessed.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 12, I want us to see the reality of suffering here.
SPEAKER_00: He writes, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.
SPEAKER_00: Fiery trial.
SPEAKER_00: Well, in Greek the word fiery trial is referring to the process of smelting, or more commonly known as the process of refining.
SPEAKER_00: You see, smelting is the process where they would heat metal so hot that the impurities would rise out of the metal.
SPEAKER_00: Or they would stick this metal or they would stick silver into a fire, and the fire was so hot that it made the metal to where it could be burned and it could be shaped in the dross, is the term of those impurities that would rise out of the metal and rise to the top.
SPEAKER_00: And they would do that so the metal would become pure.
SPEAKER_00: See, the fire was not meant to destroy the metal, but it was meant to purify the metal.
SPEAKER_00: The fire is not meant in our lives to destroy us, but the fire in our lives is meant to purify us.
SPEAKER_00: The fire is not meant to destroy us, it's meant to make us more like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: See, the fire is meant to test us.
SPEAKER_00: The fire is meant to purify us.
SPEAKER_00: The fire proves what we are truly made of.
SPEAKER_00: Because you see, when the metal was stuck in the fire, those things that weren't truly that precious metal, or with silver and gold, when they're pressed into the fire, what rises out of them is what is not that silver, or not that gold, or not that metal, the sin in our lives, the bad character traits, those things in our lives that are not reflecting of Christ, those are what begin to rise out of us in that refining process.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Peter is writing about in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Don't think it strange, don't think it a coincidence.
SPEAKER_00: That is an intentional act of God, you see, because God does not put us to burn us, he puts us in the fire to refine us.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bibles, I want us to turn to Malachi chapter 3 very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Malachi chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: And what's happening in Malachi?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Malachi was written to the nation of Israel after they were in Babylonian captivity and they were freed.
SPEAKER_00: And they rebuilt the temple at this time, and outwardly they were still religious, but inwardly their hearts had drifted far away from God.
SPEAKER_00: The priests were corrupt, the worship was polluted, and the people were living in compromise, unbelief, and spiritual apathy.
SPEAKER_00: See, on the outside, everything looked great.
SPEAKER_00: The temple was rebuilt, the priests were there.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone looked on the outside like it was great, but inwardly they were not there.
SPEAKER_00: They were not magnifying Christ in their inward life.
SPEAKER_00: And Malachi was writing, and if you look in Malachi chapter 3 and verse number 2, the Bible says, But who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth?
SPEAKER_00: For he is like a refiner's fire and like fooler's soap.
SPEAKER_00: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: See, in verse two, he says, A refiner's fire.
SPEAKER_00: God refines us.
SPEAKER_00: He loves us enough, God loves his children enough to get rid of that dross, to put us in the fire, to put us in those uncomfortable circumstances, so that those things in our lives, those sinful character traits, begin to rise out of us, the negative attitudes, the gossip, the lying, the lack of faith.
SPEAKER_00: God puts us in fires to pull those things out of us.
SPEAKER_00: You may in your life right now feel like you're in a fire.
SPEAKER_00: You may not understand what God's putting you through.
SPEAKER_00: You may feel like you're in a storm and you're lost and you don't see what's in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, you in those moments you may feel far from God.
SPEAKER_00: You may feel like God's not there, but God is very much so there.
SPEAKER_00: And in those processes, that is when God is testing you, and that is when God is purifying you to himself.
SPEAKER_00: Because when a blacksmith is refining his silver, he doesn't stop putting the silver in the fire until he sees his reflection in his work.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't pull us out of the fire until we're in that position to where we've been heated up enough so much that he can mold us into what he wants us to be, and he can use us for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: But but Malachi doesn't only talk about refining here in verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see the other thing he says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap.
SPEAKER_00: Fooler's soap, I had never heard of until I had read this passage and I started looking into it, and I thought it was extremely interesting the concept of fuller soap.
SPEAKER_00: So fuller soap was this soap that a fooler would use on garments to get stains out of garments.
SPEAKER_00: And so he used this soaping agent and he would put it in garments.
SPEAKER_00: And the word fooler there in Hebrew was referring to that the fooler would put the garment on the ground and he would begin to step on it with his feet.
SPEAKER_00: And he'd try to rub this this oil and this chemical agent that he would put into the garment so that it would get the stains out of the garment.
SPEAKER_00: And it was an extremely uncomfortable position for the garment.
SPEAKER_00: He would press it with his feet extremely hard to get to soak into this garment.
SPEAKER_00: He would put his knuckles into the garment, pressing it extremely firmly to try to rub it in.
SPEAKER_00: He would put it under his uh feet and move it back and forth, stretching this garment farther than it's ever been stretched before to try to get those impurities, stains out of the garment.
SPEAKER_00: He would use his knuckles and his feet to harshly wring out these garments so that the agent would get in it to pull the stains out.
SPEAKER_00: To work the soap into every fiber, the fabric was repeatedly beaten and kneaded in and stomped with the fooler's feet.
SPEAKER_00: This abrasive process stripped away all the impurities and all the stains out of this garment, leaving behind a pristine, bright white cloth that would be fit for the fooler's use.
SPEAKER_00: He would press this garment so far, he would stretch it so much to get these stains out of the garment so that it was fit for his use.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the picture that God gives us in Malachi 3.2, that sometimes God has to deal harshly with our pride.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he has to deal harshly with our sin and our bitterness and work through us so that the worldliness and it will clean us from all of those sinful character traits that are in us because surface cleaning isn't just enough.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just pour it on and rub it on top and call it good.
SPEAKER_00: He had to press it in and work through in and out of this garment so that it would be fit for his use.
SPEAKER_00: And the same is true of us today as believers.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God has to press us farther than we want to be pressed and stretch us farther than we feel like we can be stretched, just so he can get those sinful stains out of our lives, so that he can use us for his glory and honor.
SPEAKER_00: Because if the fooler never gets those stains out of the garment, if the fooler never gets those horrible things that were pressed into the garment, if he didn't stretch it enough so that he could clean it, the garments were never fit to be used for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And the same is true with God.
SPEAKER_00: If he doesn't press us, if he doesn't stretch us, if he doesn't put us through things that we don't feel like we can endure, then we're not fit for the master's use.
SPEAKER_00: You may be in a storm tonight feeling like you're being stretched.
SPEAKER_00: You may be in a storm tonight feeling like God is just pressing you and you can't see far ahead.
SPEAKER_00: You don't feel like you can see around you.
SPEAKER_00: And I had a circumstance similar to that.
SPEAKER_00: I lived in California for a few years, and it was in the desert.
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't the beaches of Malibu or or or uh those beautiful spots in Southern California.
SPEAKER_00: It was in Lancaster in the desert.
SPEAKER_00: I remember when I first was driving there with my dad, and it's just straight sand there, I saw a tumbleweed roll across the road.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I've never been that jaw-dropped in my life because I thought those were just in cartoons.
SPEAKER_00: I was a 16-year-old guy.
SPEAKER_00: I genuinely thought that those didn't exist in real life.
SPEAKER_00: Like this place doesn't, you just gotta see it to know what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: And I was driving one day after school with my sister Phoebe, and we were driving home, and there was a sandstorm, a literal sandstorm.
SPEAKER_00: I also didn't know those really existed.
SPEAKER_00: And I was driving, and it got so bad that I couldn't see in front of me.
SPEAKER_00: And the cars in front of us, they were they were going crazy.
SPEAKER_00: They were pulling off the side of the road, they were slamming on their brakes, they were going everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you could not see farther than three feet off your windshield.
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: Phoebe was screaming and panicking, obviously.
SPEAKER_00: And so I did the only logical thing to do.
SPEAKER_00: I called my dad, and I was like, Dad, I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: I can't see right now.
SPEAKER_00: I explained the situation.
SPEAKER_00: And and he said, Well, can you see far in front of you?
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, No, I can't.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Well, can you see?
SPEAKER_00: Can you look out to the side and see the dotted line on the road?
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I mean, I can I kind of can't.
SPEAKER_00: I can't see them in front of me, but I can see the ones next to me.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, then just follow the ones that are right next to you until you get out of it and until you can see home.
SPEAKER_00: And I did that and I got through the sandstorm fine until I could see my house.
SPEAKER_00: And the same is true in the storm.
SPEAKER_00: You see, God doesn't tell us, or God doesn't expect us to see way far out in advance.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't expect us to see home from here.
SPEAKER_00: But what does he say in Psalms?
SPEAKER_00: That his word is a lamp unto a feet and our light unto our path.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't show us the whole path, but he shows us the next right step.
SPEAKER_00: See, the will of God isn't knowing all the things that God wants us to do.
SPEAKER_00: It's not looking way out into the future and seeing, oh, I know this decision here and this decision.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what God calls us to do.
SPEAKER_00: God just calls us to do the next right thing.
SPEAKER_00: I just saw the next dotted line and it got me through safely.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't trying to see things that were out of my control.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't trying to press through what was in my control.
SPEAKER_00: All I did was follow the line next to me.
SPEAKER_00: And in your life today, if you feel like you're in a storm and you can't see what God wants you to do and then and it seems blurry and you don't see God in it in the future, don't be worried about the future, what you can't see, but just trust God and trust the next right step and follow Him closely through that.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it is not strange and it is not random and it is not unexpected that as Christians we go through hard times and we go through storms.
SPEAKER_00: Many Christians today believe that God is just like a genie in a bottle.
SPEAKER_00: And whenever we need something done for us, and whenever we need a circumstances, a circumstance taken off of us, we can just pray and God will remove that.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what we see in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: In modern times as Christians, we we associate going through hard times as, oh, this person's living in sin, or what did I do wrong to deserve this?
SPEAKER_00: But clearly that is not what we see in 1 Peter.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, if we go back in the Bible, we see the men that sometimes did the most for God were the men that went through the hardest times.
SPEAKER_00: I think of Job, who lost everything.
SPEAKER_00: He lost his children, he lost his money, he lost his wives, he was sick, but Job lived for God.
SPEAKER_00: I think of Joseph, who was sold by his brothers into slavery for having a dream, and God used him in that way.
SPEAKER_00: I think of David, who was who was anointed as king over Israel, but was chased by Saul in the wilderness for years.
SPEAKER_00: I think of Shadterak, Meshach, and Abednego, who were placed in the fire for not bowing and praying to the king.
SPEAKER_00: I think of Jeremiah, who was mocked and beaten.
SPEAKER_00: I think of John the Baptist, who said he wasn't worthy to buckle Jesus' shoe, but then was beheaded for his faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I think of Paul, who was beaten, imprisoned, and shipwrecked.
SPEAKER_00: I think of Stephen, who was the first martyr for Christ, and Paul saw him and what happened to Paul.
SPEAKER_00: I think of Peter, who wrote this very book that said to rejoice when we go through suffering, who denied Jesus when it mattered, but then in the future God gave him a second chance and God redeemed him.
SPEAKER_00: And he asked Peter if he loved him, and he said to go feed his sheep.
SPEAKER_00: And I think of it was not recorded in the Bible, but it's recorded in history books that Peter also was crucified for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And not only was crucified for Jesus, but it's recorded that he watched his wife be crucified and hang on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: And he scroll and he told his wife, he said, Remember what Jesus did for you.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter was crucified upside down.
SPEAKER_00: I think of these men who did great things for God, but suffered so much.
SPEAKER_00: And in our in our modern minds, we we can't fathom how Peter could write when you go through these things.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be upset, don't blame God, but rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Not only do I see the reality of suffering here in this passage, but I see the response to suffering.
SPEAKER_00: If you look at verse 13, here Peter writes, but rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't pity us, he doesn't say, poor Christian.
SPEAKER_00: He says, in response to suffering, but rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Peter suffered more for Jesus than any of any of us in this room could possibly ever imagine or possibly ever experience.
SPEAKER_00: Yet he wrote the words in this passage, When ye suffer for Christ, happy are ye.
SPEAKER_00: What does Peter have while writing this book to these believers who are being persecuted in Asia Minor that we don't have today?
SPEAKER_00: Well Peter says here in verse 13 that though and when we suffer, it should not bring resentment, bitterness, or hatred to God, but actually it should bring joy.
SPEAKER_00: James 1, 2 says, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptation.
SPEAKER_00: I think of John 15, in the passage where Jesus talks about him being the true vine, and he's talking to his disciples about love and how they should love one another.
SPEAKER_00: But then towards the end of that chapter in chapter in John 15, Jesus writes about how in the world they're gonna suffer persecution, and in the world they're gonna be mocked.
SPEAKER_00: And he and he's talking to his disciples here.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You're gonna suffer rejection, you're gonna suffer mockery, you're gonna suffer isolation, you're gonna suffer persecution, you're gonna suffer betrayal, you're gonna be misunderstood, you're gonna lose relationships with people, and you would be and they would be treated unfairly for their faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Yet he writes in John 15, verse 11, he says, These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
SPEAKER_00: All of these passages that we have read tonight are directly linking that suffering for Jesus Christ brings true joy.
SPEAKER_00: In our very book, 1 Peter, I want you to look back one chapter to 1 Peter 3.
SPEAKER_00: And if you read verse 12 with me, it states, For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
SPEAKER_00: And who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good?
SPEAKER_00: But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye.
SPEAKER_00: And be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 14, he says, When you suffer for righteousness, when you suffer for Jesus, that word, the word happy there is the word for blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are you.
SPEAKER_00: When you suffer for Jesus, when you suffer for doing what's right, blessed are you.
SPEAKER_00: You're in favor with God.
SPEAKER_00: As Jesus writes in the Beatitudes, it brings spiritual favor, reward, and closeness with God.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Peter's saying here in 1 Peter 3 14.
SPEAKER_00: When you suffer for righteousness' sake, you're truly blessed.
SPEAKER_00: If you keep reading in chapter 3, verse 15 says, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Peter is addressing the believers who are scattered throughout Asia Minor that are being so awfully persecuted for their faith.
SPEAKER_00: And he tells them to sanctify the Lord God in their hearts and be ready always to give an answer.
SPEAKER_00: You see what Peter is saying here is you don't need to shove it in the face of those people that you live right.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to shove it in their face that though God does these hard things to you, that you're gonna live right with an attitude.
SPEAKER_00: He says, No.
SPEAKER_00: When you live right and when you suffer for righteousness' sake and you maintain a good attitude and you're happy about it and you're joyful about it, then those people are gonna ask you.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna say, Well, what does this person have that I don't have?
SPEAKER_00: How does this Christian go through this and he just keeps getting back up?
SPEAKER_00: How come he's been knocked over time and time again, doing what's right, yet he still remains to get back up again?
SPEAKER_00: You see, the lost people, the people that aren't living right, they're gonna notice that.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter says, be ready always to give an answer with meekness and fear.
SPEAKER_00: And what do you what do you respond with meekness and fear with?
SPEAKER_00: With the hope that is in you.
SPEAKER_00: You see, as Christians, though we suffer for Jesus Christ, though we may be put through hard times, we have a hope.
SPEAKER_00: We we don't live for the hearing now, we live for the hope and the glory that is in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If you keep reading one more verse in chapter three, he said, Having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Peter urges these believers to maintain good and honorable conduct, that when you live a life of integrity, you silence critics and put to shame those who slander you.
SPEAKER_00: If you face backlash, a pure conscience keeps you from becoming bitter, and it ensures that any accusations brought against you are proven false by your good deeds in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 28,2 says, The wicked flee when no man pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
SPEAKER_00: You see, when you live with integrity, when you're right before God, you don't have to flee when no man pursues.
SPEAKER_00: You don't even have to flee when man does pursue, because the righteous are as bold as a lion.
SPEAKER_00: As we see in Acts, Peter is so bold proclaiming the name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And the people marveled at how learned he was, the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: Yet he had this boldness to preach and boldness to talk, even though he had denied God to that same very crowd.
SPEAKER_00: How did Peter have that boldness?
SPEAKER_00: Because he lived with integrity.
SPEAKER_00: And when you live with integrity, you can be bold proclaiming the name of Jesus, bold that when you suffer, when people mock you, when people start false accusations about you, you don't have to fret, you don't have to hold back, because God said Says in his word that if you have a good conscience, and those that speak evil of you will be put down, because your integrity speaks for itself.
SPEAKER_00: Verses fifteen and sixteen of chapter three tie right back into what Peter is saying in chapter four, in verses fifteen and sixteen here.
SPEAKER_00: He says, But let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.
SPEAKER_00: Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf.
SPEAKER_00: You will not be ashamed if you suffer as a Christian, because if you have integrity, God will be glorified in your suffering.
SPEAKER_00: If we look back one verse in a verse 14, it there's an expression there that says, For the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering for the name of Christ is truly a blessing because it shows who we're truly following.
SPEAKER_00: And when we suffer for Christ, we are identified with the one who suffered more for us than any of us could give back in return.
SPEAKER_00: When you suffer for Christ, you are identified with the one who hung on that cross, who was stretched open, who was spit on, who was beaten, who went through all of these awful things out of his love for us.
SPEAKER_00: And when you suffer for doing what's right, when you suffer for righteousness' sake, you are identified with him.
SPEAKER_00: Paul wrote in Philippians 1 29, for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it's not just enough for us to believe in our Christian walk, but we're also going to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Paul is trying to get across to the church of Philippi, that it's not only that we're believing on Christ that shows our faith, and that is what God calls us to, but it's also to suffer for him.
SPEAKER_00: And as Christians, it's not just enough that we believe, but we must put shoe leather to our faith, and we must be willing to go wherever God calls us to go and do whatever God calls us to do for him.
SPEAKER_00: So I see the response to suffering here in these verses, but lastly tonight, I want you to see the refuge in suffering.
SPEAKER_00: If you look in verse 19 of 1 Peter chapter 4, he says, Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful creator.
SPEAKER_00: Peter closes this passage with two reminders.
SPEAKER_00: You may suffer as a Christian for doing what is right.
SPEAKER_00: You may be mocked, like Richard Warmbrand, as we heard tonight, you may be beaten, you may be placed in places of isolation and feel like you're all alone.
SPEAKER_00: But as Peter shows us in 1 Peter chapter 4, God is still sovereign, and God is still faithful in Job's life, in David's life, in Jeremiah's life, in these men who suffered in Shatterak, Meshach, and Abednego's life.
SPEAKER_00: God is still faithful, and God was still sovereign.
SPEAKER_00: And that is what Peter is trying to get to us tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Your suffering is not random, and your pain is not outside of the hands of God.
SPEAKER_00: That is why Peter says to commit the keeping of your souls to him.
SPEAKER_00: That idea of committing is giving of something valuable.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter is saying here, what is valuable to you, your soul, you can commit that to God.
SPEAKER_00: How can we trust that that God is faithful for us to commit this to him?
SPEAKER_00: Because, like it says in the end of that verse, as unto a faithful creator.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just enough for God to create us and let us be.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: God created us and desires a relationship for us, and he stays faithful to what he created.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just send us here on our own and tell us to figure it out.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just call us to him.
SPEAKER_00: We aren't just Christians who follow blindly.
SPEAKER_00: No, but God is a faithful creator.
SPEAKER_00: Psalms 46, 1 says, God is our refuge in strength, a very present help in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: See, Psalm 46 connects to the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem during the Assyrian siege.
SPEAKER_00: Yet the psalmist is able to write, God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in our times of trouble.
SPEAKER_00: No matter the trouble you're going through tonight, no matter the circumstances you're in, no matter how hot the fire feels, no matter how dark the storm is, God is a very present help in our time of trouble.
SPEAKER_00: I think of Psalm 91, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Him will I trust.
SPEAKER_00: These verses all point to the same truth Peter gives us in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 19, that when believers suffer, God is not distant, but he is our refuge.
SPEAKER_00: He is the strong tower, the present help, and the faithful creator who keeps and comforts his people in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Because God is our faithful creator, we can trust him in committing our lives to him.
SPEAKER_00: And that no matter what we suffer, no matter the circumstances that we're in, no matter how far we may feel from God, we can trust that we can commit to him our souls, because he is a faithful creator.
SPEAKER_00: We should not be surprised when we suffer for the cause of Christ, but rather we should rejoice because we are identified with the one who suffered for us.
SPEAKER_00: I think of Cory Tunboom.
SPEAKER_00: She was a Christian who was alive during the time of the Nazi concentration camps, and she was her and her family were hiding Jews from captivity, and they were found out, and her father was sent to prison, and there he died.
SPEAKER_00: And Coryton Boom and her sister Betsy were then sent to a concentration camp.
SPEAKER_00: They were sent to Robinsbrook concentration camp.
SPEAKER_00: And there the camp was terrible.
SPEAKER_00: It was with overcrowded barracks.
SPEAKER_00: There was starvation, sickness, beating, it was cold.
SPEAKER_00: And in this specific situation, there were fleas everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: She became so discouraged and she complained so much to her sister Betsy about these fleas that were everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: And her sister gave her a response that she did not expect.
SPEAKER_00: When she was complaining about it, her sister said, Well, let's remember 1 Thessalonians 5.18, and everything give thanks.
SPEAKER_00: Her sister said, How about you thank God for these fleas?
SPEAKER_00: And Court of Moon thought that was a ridiculous idea.
SPEAKER_00: She said, Why would I thank God for this stuff that he put in my life?
SPEAKER_00: But but she did it anyways.
SPEAKER_00: And they began to pray and they thanked God for the fleas.
SPEAKER_00: Later they discovered that the guards stayed away from that barrack because there were so many fleas.
SPEAKER_00: And since the guard avoided this barrack, they could read the Bible openly.
SPEAKER_00: They could pray freely.
SPEAKER_00: They began to talk to the other women in this barrack about Jesus because of this horrible situation that she was in.
SPEAKER_00: Because she was sent to this concentration camp for not doing anything wrong and sent to be persecuted.
SPEAKER_00: She thanked God for the horrible situation that she was in, and God began to bless through those fleas.
SPEAKER_00: God used the very thing that Corey Tinboom hated for her good.
SPEAKER_00: Corey later stated this, that she learned that during this situation, joy is not based on her circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: The situations and the circumstances that God put her in, that did not dictate her joy, but what did dictate her joy was her outlook on her faithful creator and the one who was with her no matter what.
SPEAKER_00: She learned that she could pray freely.
SPEAKER_00: She learned that God is present even in suffering, that no matter what she suffered, God was there and God cared.
SPEAKER_00: She said that God can use pain for his purpose.
SPEAKER_00: After the war, she traveled speaking, talking about the forgiveness and the faithfulness of God.
SPEAKER_00: She said that there is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still.
SPEAKER_00: She also said this quote that I want us to end with here tonight.
SPEAKER_00: She said, when a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off.
SPEAKER_00: You sit still and you trust the engineer.
SPEAKER_00: See, in life, when we go through situations that seem so dark that we that we can't see what's ahead of us, when we go through situations that we just don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: Or we're faced with situations where we see, well, I don't know how God could bring any any good from that.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we we say that God is love, but this situation doesn't seem very loving.
SPEAKER_00: We say that God is just, but this situation doesn't seem very just.
SPEAKER_00: I've tried long enough.
SPEAKER_00: You're not a faithful God now.
SPEAKER_00: She said, sit back and trust the engineer.
SPEAKER_00: Or in our circumstance, we can sit back and we can trust the faithful Creator that though we suffer, that though he cause grief, he will have mercy according to the multitude of his mercies.
SPEAKER_00: And so remember the refiner and the fuller soap.
SPEAKER_00: God allows us to go through trials not to hurt us, not to jamage us, not even to scar us, but rather he allows us to suffer to bring us closer to himself, to be identified with him, and that like Jesus said in John 15, that our joy might be full.
SPEAKER_00: See, in suffering, it doesn't have to be a reason for us to for us to doubt God or for us to complain, but when we're placed in the hard situations for doing what's right, we can follow what Peter said in verse 14 that if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye.
SPEAKER_00: So tonight I end with a question.
SPEAKER_00: When you go through circumstances, will you remember what Peter said here?
SPEAKER_00: That happy are ye when you suffer for righteousness' sake.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Dearly Father God, I thank you for uh for this this church and what you do through it, God.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight, God, and I pray that that this passage would help and that we would listen in our in our hearts and minds to the things that you wrote here in 1 Peter, God, that a man who suffered so much, a man who was persecuted and beaten and mocked for living for you, God, yeah, he said to remain joyful and to remain to remain faithful.
SPEAKER_00: And God, I pray that that as we go into the week, God, and and here in Englewood and in 2026, God, that that your passage is that is still true and that when we suffer, we can sit back and we can trust the faithful creator, that he has the whole world in his hands, God.
SPEAKER_00: And so I pray that you would please just just help us to remember that that whoever here tonight is going through a dark storm or is going through a fire, God, I pray that you please help them not to not to think about quitting on you or not to doubt your goodness, God, but that they would sit back and they would trust the faithful creator.
SPEAKER_00: I pray this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's have our heads about our eyes.