Suffering is Sanctifying, Part 3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. None of us looks forward to experiencing hardship in our lives.

It's human nature to avoid pain and look for pleasure instead. Yet Christians who have faced adversity often speak of it as a time of deep growth in their lives, a time where they learn truths that they believe they would have missed in the ease of life. In this message from 1 Peter 4, 17 through 19, Rich shares four ways that God's people can face hardship well, reminding us that suffering is sanctifying in the hands of our Redeemer. You're listening to part three of a message first preached on February 19th, 2023. That is the destruction, that is death, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

And when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who believe because our testimony to you is believed, to this end we also pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you and him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a powerful text, isn't it? That text will not make you popular. That text does not make the gospel popular. The gospel is never intended to be popular. It's truth.

And truth is truth whether it's popular or not. But this is the gospel. This is what we're rescued from when we surrender ourselves in faith to Jesus Christ.

And this is why those who choose not to obey the gospel we will be considered as something that's rubbing against them and they don't like being rubbed against. But the writer of Hebrews says our God is a what? Consuming fire Hebrews 12 verse 29. Our God is a consuming fire. Where is grace in that? Because God is the righteous judge of all the earth.

And that includes you and me. And when we consider the judgment, the necessary holy judgment of God, it should terrify us except for one thing. We are in Christ. By the grace of God, he has given us the Lord Jesus Christ who took the necessary blow of God's holy wrath in our place so that when we surrender ourselves to him in faith, we get what?

His righteousness because he took our sin. That's grace. That's amazing grace. That's the gospel. Here this morning listening to my voice, have you surrendered to that in faith? That alone is your hope.

There is no other hope. And without that, you will stand before the righteous judge of all the earth. So grace is a blessing.

And when we talk about the judgment of God, it is ultimately a comfort to us because the Bible makes very clear that we who are in Christ are not under condemnation. Fire consumes, we must recognize. It purifies and it consumes. It purifies us.

And we should let it have its work. Having said that then, he closes this section with verse 19. And this verse, verse 19, I'm sorry, 1 Peter 4 19 encapsulates the whole letter of 1 Peter. This is why he wrote the letter. He was writing to a suffering people.

And he says this, verse 19, therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. So I find in there four steps. I'm not sure why they're steps.

We could call them keys, but you know, it sounds good, right? Four steps to suffering well. Four keys to suffering as people who are free.

Four truths, four realities. You can take it however you want it. Verse 19, and number one is this, expect it. You want to suffer well?

Expect it. You're on the wrong foot when suffering comes and you're like, what is this? You're getting off on the wrong foot. Because ultimately what you're going to do is you're getting off on the wrong foot. Because ultimately what you're saying is, I don't deserve this. This should not be a part of my life. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ after all.

Or I'm a good person. You see where our natural paganness can creep in to our Christianity? Expect it. You want to suffer well? Expect it.

Don't be surprised by it. You are a part of the broken created order. Choose not to live by the bubbly dream that I will not or should not suffer. Or the heresy that suffering is relative to faith or the lack thereof. That is heresy. Plenty of churches today that teach that. It is not the gospel. Susan David gave a TED Talk a few years back. It's very interesting.

I love it. Not necessarily a Christian talk, all right? But she said this in her TED Talk, when we push aside normal emotions to embrace the false positivity. And we Christians can do that, can't we? Embracing a false positivity.

This is what we do. When we push aside normal emotions to embrace false positivity. she said this in her TED talk, when we push aside normal emotions to embrace false positivity, and we Christians can do that, can't we? Embracing a false positivity. We lose our capacity to develop skills to deal with the world as it is.

Not as we wish it to be. I've had hundreds of people tell me what they don't want to feel. They say things like, I don't want to try to because I don't want to feel disappointed. You ever said that? Am I stepping on any toes this morning?

It's okay, I've got my steel toes on this morning too. Or I just want this feeling to go away. And many people, I've heard people say, Christians say, you know, I just don't want to love somebody again because I don't want to be hurt. Aren't you glad Jesus didn't say that? Here's what Susan Davis, she's a psychiatrist, here's what she says to them. I say to them, you have dead people's goals. This is good, isn't it?

Why? Only dead people never get stressed, never get broken hearts, and never experience the disappointment that comes with failure. Only dead people.

Do you have dead people's goals this morning? And yet we are called to live as people who are free. Tough emotions are part of our contract with life. You don't get to have a meaningful career or raise a family or leave the world a better place without stress and discomfort. Here it is, you ready for this? Discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life.

Now that almost sounds inspired, doesn't it? That sounds very much like something Jesus would say. Discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life. Why is that?

Because we live in a fallen created order, and if a diamond is going to be polished, it must experience friction. So, number one, how to suffer well? Number one, expect it. Number two, value the eternal over the temporal. Value the eternal over the temporal. The temporal is this time in space, right here, right now, on the line of eternity, your life is a tiny, tiny speck. That is the temporal. The eternal is represented by the line.

Value the line over the speck, over the dot. Value the eternal over the temporal. What does he say here? Therefore, let those who suffer what? According to God's will. You mean suffering is in God's will? Did you know the Bible said that? Let those who suffer according to God's will, and for many their suffering was because they were followers of Jesus Christ. Let those who suffer according to God's will, what is he saying here? In all circumstances, at all times, relish the opportunity to identify with Christ, even if it comes at a cost. And that's becoming more and more true for us today, isn't it? To identify with Christ is coming at a cost, and we need to resign ourselves to that reality.

We're not used to that, but here it is. In all forms of suffering, see God's forming grace and providential hand. Relish or value the eternal over the temporal.

Here is a good quote by one author. Suffering can bend and break us, but it can also break us open to become the persons God intended us to be. It depends on what we do with the pain. If we offer it back to God, he will use it to do great things in and through us, because suffering is fertile.

It can grow new life. A couple of times this week, been in numerous different homes, people who have suffered or are suffering, and I listen to them talk, and the message is the same. God is using this to form me. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, 7 Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. 7 Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.