The Fiery Trial, Part 1 B

You share the sufferings of Christ in this way. Jesus Christ suffered because He spoke the truth. Suffering for doing what is right. Suffering for saying what is right. Suffering for preaching the right message. You share that kind of suffering. Suffering for righteousness sake. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Taunts, rough treatment, threats, and physical harm. Not long ago, no one would think that believers in the United States would face abuse like that simply because they've professed faith in Jesus Christ. But now, in a post-Christian world fed by anti-Christian media, you are definitely a target.

So how do you handle that? What does God's Word say you should do when you suffer a personal attack just because you're a Christian? Well, the response the Bible requires may surprise you, as John MacArthur explains today on Grace to You. The focus of his current study, the attitudes to have and the steps to take to experience faith through the fire.

That's the title of his series. And now with the lesson, here's John. Let's open our Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 12 through 19.

Now as we approach this text, Peter then is going to draw their attention to the recurring theme of this epistle, and that is the Christian's response to suffering. Peter tells them basically four things are necessary if you are to be triumphant in a fiery ordeal. Number one, expect it. Number two, rejoice in it. Number three, evaluate its cause.

And number four, commit yourself to God. Verse 12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you. The point here is to expect suffering. Expect it. Don't be surprised at it.

Don't think it's some strange thing. Expect it. The second thing that Peter wants to say to us is to rejoice in it. To rejoice in it.

Not only are we to expect it, but when it comes, we're to rejoice in it. Notice verse 13 and 14. But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exaltation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Now, just take that little phrase in verse 13, keep on rejoicing.

Present tense. Keep on rejoicing. This is the right attitude in the midst of persecution. This is the right attitude in the midst of affliction, rejection, anything the world brings against you for the sake of righteousness and for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ. Any of that which comes against you should be cause for rejoicing. Remember the words of our Lord.

Listen to this. Matthew 5, 10 through 12. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If you're being persecuted for righteousness, it's evidence that you belong to the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men cast insults at you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of me. Rejoice and be glad.

That is a strange one, isn't it? Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. And that's the way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You're in good company. So you rejoice in it. You keep on rejoicing in it. And you say, well, what's the motivation for that? Well, there's a future motivation and a present motivation. Look at the text. Look at the future motivation. Keep on rejoicing, verse 13.

Why? Because to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, so you will share his glory at his revelation. Did you get that? To the degree that you share his suffering, you will share his glory. And so if you keep on rejoicing now, you will really rejoice then.

Now let's just talk about that. That phrase that begins verse 13, but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, must be understood. What does it mean?

Well, it simply means, and listen, it's a very simple thought. You share the sufferings of Christ in this way. Jesus Christ suffered at the hands of men because he did what was right.

Is that not true? He didn't do what was wrong. He was without sin. Jesus Christ suffered because he did what was right. Jesus Christ suffered because he spoke the truth. It isn't that we share in the redemptive sufferings of Christ. It isn't that we share in the atoning sufferings of Christ.

That's not what Peter is saying. He is saying you are a partner in the same kind of suffering Jesus endured. Suffering for doing what is right. Suffering for saying what is right. Suffering for preaching the right message. You share that kind of suffering. Suffering for righteousness sake.

So don't be perplexed. Don't be discouraged and don't be disheartened because you are having a privilege. The privilege to share in the same kind of sufferings Jesus experienced.

What a privilege. And what he has in mind is the earthly suffering that Christ endured at the hands of persecuting sinners. The earthly suffering Christ endured at the hands of persecuting sinners. So when you as a Christian suffer, you are sharing those same kinds of sufferings. When you suffer at the hands of hostile, rejecting, mocking, unkind sinners. And you should rejoice.

What a privilege. Then he says, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exaltation. Now the revelation of his glory is what Luke 17 30 calls the day that the Son of Man is revealed. It's his second coming. By the way, a little theological footnote. Jesus is now glorified. Don't miss it. He is now glorified, but his glory is not yet revealed on earth.

Understood? He is glorified. John 17 when he said, restore to me the glory I had with you before the world began. That glory was given to him when he ascended and went back to the right hand of the Father. He is glorified, but his glory is not yet revealed.

It is not yet unveiled for man to see. At the revelation of his glory, when he comes in great glory, Matthew 24 verses 29 and 30, Matthew 25, I think it's verse 31, both talk about Christ returning in great glory. Well, in that day when he comes back at the revelation of his glory, he says, then you may rejoice with exaltation.

So what does that mean? Well, it's a stronger word than the first word. When it says keep on rejoicing, that's the word Cairo. It's the usual word for joy. But when it says rejoice with exaltation, what it means is to exalt and rejoice with a rapturous joy, to really rejoice.

Be the difference in English. If we said, keep on being happy. And if you keep on being happy someday, you'll be ecstatic.

That's the idea. And what does he say? If you're faithful to suffer and to take persecution for righteousness sake in this life, bearing as it were the marks of Christ, then someday when he appears, you will really rejoice. You will really rejoice with a rapturous joy, a joyous outburst, surpassing all other joys.

Peter's point is pretty clear. If you suffer for him here, rejoicing in the privilege of such fellowship in his sufferings, and remember that the degree to which you suffer here will be the degree to which you will receive glory at his revelation, you know then that you can rejoice now because you will greatly rejoice then. Your eternal reward will bring you eternal joy.

Now if we had time, we could go into a deeper study, but let me just give you the thought. Your eternal reward will directly reflect your suffering. Your eternal reward will directly reflect your suffering. Your suffering will reflect to some degree your faithfulness, your faithfulness. I mean if you're a secret Christian, you're not gonna suffer a lot. If you're a bold, aggressive, faithful, confrontive Christian, you're gonna suffer. But your eternal glory will reflect God's reward for that. Listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 6, 22. Blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you and cast insults at you and spurn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man. Listen to this. Be glad in that day, get this, and leap, the Greek says.

Be so happy you're jumping around. I'm being persecuted. I'm being persecuted. For behold, your reward is great in heaven. What a tremendous promise. So rejoice. Rejoice because of the future reality of eternal glory. But there's also a present reason for rejoicing. Look at verse 14. This is a present reason for rejoicing. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you're blessed.

Now wait a minute. What does he mean if you are reviled for the name of Christ? Well, to be reviled means basically to be insulted. It's a word used in the Septuagint again to speak of reproach or insult, which was heaped on God, heaped on God's people by the wicked of the world. And it's also used in the New Testament to speak of indignities and mistreatments against Christ, the things that he endured at the hands of sinners. So if you are mistreated, if you are reproached, if you are insulted, if indignities are done against you, if you're treated unfairly, unkindly, unlovingly, unjustly, well, rejoice. Rejoice if it's for the name of Christ.

Keep that in mind, will you? That ought to be underlined, if it's for the name of Christ. Now, what do we mean for the name of Christ? Well, it simply means for being a representative of all that he is. His name sums up all that he is.

But there's something more here. The name of Christ refers to the fact that Christians were always proclaiming his name, okay? It implies a public proclamation of Christ's name as the cause of hostility. It wasn't just that they bore the name of Christ in their hearts and minds. It was that they proclaimed the name of Christ. You could almost add to this verse, these words, if you are reviled for the proclamation of the name of Christ.

That's the idea. The name, even the term name as a term in and of itself became synonymous with Christianity. The pagans would say, well, they're always talking about that name, the name. They're always preaching the name. And if you had been preaching the name and identified with the name and were vocal about it, then you would be reviled and reproached and insulted.

In Acts 5 41, it says that the Christians went on their way from the presence of the council, Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for the name. They were suffering shame for the name. You didn't even have to say what name it was. Everybody knew what name it was.

It was almost as if they didn't want to say it. And then Peter, you remember, said to them, look, there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That's why we preach the name. When the Apostle Paul is on the Damascus road and confronted by God, the Lord said, he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles. He'll take my name and proclaim it to the Gentiles, and I'll show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. In Acts chapter 15 and verse 26, it says men risked their lives for the name.

They risked their lives for the name. So, says Peter, look, if you're insulted because you proclaim the name of Christ, you are blessed. You are blessed. What do you mean we're blessed?

What does that mean? Is that a feeling? No. No, it's not some giddy feeling.

You could translate it this way. You are benefited. You are benefited.

Why? Well, first of all, we already learned because you're gaining an eternal weight of glory and you have the privilege of identification with the suffering of Christ, but he gives another reason. Look at verse 14.

I love this. Because you're blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. He's not saying you're blessed, period. You're just saying, oh, this is such a blessing.

No. It's not a nondescript blessing. Here is the blessing. You are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. The blessing is not subjective happiness. It is objective presence.

Did you get that? It is not a subjective happiness. It is the objective presence and power of the Holy Spirit. You're blessed in the midst of suffering for righteousness sake because the Spirit of God comes upon you. My what a statement. The Spirit of God, first of all, is called the Spirit of glory. What does that mean?

Well, I can say it another way. The Spirit who has glory. The Spirit who is glorious. The Spirit who has glory as his essential attribute. You think they knew what that meant?

Sure. They knew what that meant. They knew all about the Shekinah glory of God, and they knew the only being who had glory was God. In the Old Testament, the glory of God was represented by the Shekinah light. The Shekinah glory that appeared in the garden, the Shekinah glory was that luminous glow that signified the presence of God, that glow that Moses saw on the mount, that glow that came to dwell in the tabernacle and moved into the sky to lead the children of Israel, that glow that came into the temple.

The Shekinah was the presence of God. And when Peter says you are suffering and you have the Spirit of glory, he means you have the presence of God. And he says it, the Spirit of glory, even of God rests upon you. You become like Moses whose face was shining with the glory of God. You become like the tabernacle which was so filled with the glory of God that no one could even go in there. You become like the temple when the glory of God still occupied the holy of holies, the presence of God.

This is a great statement. What it says is that when you suffer, God's presence rests on you. And God's presence comes in the form of his Spirit, the Spirit who is glory in his essential attribute, even the Spirit who is God.

My, what a tremendous, tremendous truth. The Spirit of glory, yea, the Spirit of God. As the Shekinah rested in the tabernacle and the temple long ago, so the Shekinah glory of God, the Holy Spirit in glorious splendor and power rests upon suffering Christians. Now what does the word rest mean? What is that talking about?

Well, simply to refresh by taking over for you. Rests in the sense of refreshing by taking over, by becoming the dominant power in the midst of your suffering. Perhaps the best illustration of this would be to have you turn to Acts chapter 6 for a moment and see the testimony of a wonderful servant of God by the name of Stephen. Verse 8 of chapter 6 says he was full of grace and power. He was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Obviously, he had the power of the Spirit of God. And when he was being persecuted at the end of chapter 6, they accused him of blasphemy. Verse 12, they dragged him away.

They falsely witnessed against him. And verse 15 it says, and fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the council saw his face like the face of an angel. I believe the Spirit of glory, yea, the Spirit of God rested upon him. What is the face of an angel? What does it mean?

I don't think it means like a light bulb. I think it means peace, serenity, tranquility, a gentle joy, absolutely unaffected by all the hostility. And then in chapter 7 verse 54, after he had spoken to them, they were so infuriated that they literally began to grind their teeth at him, verse 54. But he was full of the Holy Spirit, so he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

He was literally detached. He was beholding the glory of God. He was seeing Jesus Christ. His face was occupied only with that transcendent scene. And they were grinding their teeth in anger and fury. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

You know what happened? The Spirit of glory and grace came upon him. The Spirit of God came upon him and literally took over. Took over his mind, took control of his life so that he saw beyond the hostility to the glory of God. And they rushed on him, screaming and covering their ears so they wouldn't hear what he said. They drove him out of the city, began stoning him. The witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

It's my conviction that he was absolutely oblivious to what was going on around him. He saw heaven open. He saw the Lord Jesus. And he was asking the Lord to receive him, unconscious of the pummeling of the rocks that were crushing out his earthly life. And he cried loudly at the last, said, Lord, don't hold this sin against them.

And he fell asleep. In the midst of the severest persecution and suffering, God grants a special dispensation of the presence of his Holy Spirit. And he rests on the believer, which means he takes over. And the mind transcends. If you read Fox's Book of Martyrs, you'll ask yourself the question a hundred times, how can these Christians being martyred for their faith so totally transcend the physical pain?

How can they do that? How can they be singing hymns? How can they be praising God? How can they be forgiving their tormentors? One, because they see the richness of sharing the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. Two, because they know the character of their suffering will issue in an eternal weight of glory.

And three, because the Spirit of glory, yes, the Spirit of God has rested upon them to lift them beyond the physical dimension. If you face trials in your own strength, you're sure to falter. But leaning on God's grace, you can have faith through the fire. That's the title of John MacArthur's current study here on Grace to You. John, today you encouraged our listeners to rejoice when they're persecuted for Christ's sake.

It's a privilege. Jesus said, Blessed are you when you suffer. And so we know there are great blessings and benefits with suffering, but as we look on the horizon of the future right now, it seems like there are some harbingers that suggest persecution is coming for Christians. So should we pray for that to come, or should we pray for it to go away? I think we should pray for the purity of the church. I think we should pray for the sifting of the church. I think the church in America is full of non-believers.

We all know, look, does a day go by that we don't hear about another famous pastor who has to leave the ministry because of immorality? The absence of persecution in America has allowed the church to become bloated with false believers and false leaders. I think we need to pray that the Lord would purify his church, and it is obvious that the purifying of the church is going to require persecution.

It's going to require suffering. Because the thing that will basically chase false believers away is persecution, right? You're not going to pretend to be something if you have to pay a price, if you get persecuted.

I saw that in Eastern Europe, all those trips to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The church was pure because nobody wanted to go to Siberia for something they pretended to believe, so they would quickly deny Christianity if it saved them from prison. So persecution purifies the church. And I think it's safe, and I think any faithful pastor or any faithful believer would say, Lord, do whatever you need to do to purify your church. And Peter says that after you have suffered, the Lord make you perfect, right?

Casting all your care on him in the midst of all of that because he cares for you, but understanding that spiritual growth and perfection and maturity requires that kind of purging, and what is good for the church is good for the individual believer as well. Yes, and friend, with uncertain days ahead, with discrimination or worse that may come for you and your church, it's crucial that you know how to respond to suffering and to strengthen others when they're hurting. So let me suggest you pick up a copy of John's book, The Power of Suffering. It's yours free if you've never contacted us before.

Get in touch today. Call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. The Power of Suffering shows you how to know peace and how to grow spiritually even in your most difficult trials. You will find chapters on how to prepare for suffering, how to glorify God in the midst of trials, and what you can learn from suffering after its past. And again, we'll send you a free copy of this book if you have never contacted us before. Just call 800-55-GRACE or go to gty.org. And while you're at gty.org, you'll find thousands of Bible study tools available free of charge. That includes blog articles like our popular series on The Inspiration of Scripture, or episodes of Grace to You Television, and more than 3,500 of John's sermons, all free to download in MP3 or transcript format. That web address again, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to set aside some time this Sunday so that you can watch Grace to You Television. Check your local listings for the channel. And join us tomorrow when John continues his study, Faith Through the Fire, with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.