Hope Beyond Our Trials: "When Through Fiery Trials . . .", Part 1

To assume that followers of Jesus Christ will somehow get a pass on suffering is nothing more than fanciful. Throughout Scripture, we're duly warned that pain and disappointment is an unavoidable part of our journey.

Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll presents another message in the Hope Again series. Suffering under trials is the major theme of Peter's first letter to Christians. They happen to be Christians scattered abroad who faced desperate circumstances. And those circumstances were undeserved, they were unfair, and usually they were unexpected, unpredictable. Occasionally trials are slight and brief and quickly forgotten. At other times, however, those trials linger and they lean hard upon us, leaving us exhausted and sometimes spirited.

Occasionally they even put us out of commission, let's face it. These more difficult trials are the kind Peter refers to when he writes about the fiery ordeal. That's a phrase that appears in the fourth chapter of his first letter. As a matter of fact, in 1 Peter 4, 12 to 19, Peter focuses on this intense form of suffering. How we should react to fiery trials. What to remember during those fiery trials and on whom to rely when those fiery trials continue. Turn with me in your Bibles, please, to 1 Peter chapter 4.

I'll be reading verses 12 to 19. When you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer or a thief or evildoer or a troublesome meddler, but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed but is to glorify God in this name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Therefore those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right. And now the message from Chuck titled Hope Beyond Our Trials. 1 Peter, 1 Peter, maybe you have forgotten that it's in the book and so we'll want to crack our Bibles open to this wonderful letter and give the Lord a few minutes of time here to present to us a number of things that we need to remember and some of the things we need to apply. You may have forgotten since we were together last that the main theme of this great five chapter letter is suffering.

Peter's opening remarks, if you will take a look, are addressed to those who are aliens scattered throughout one, two, three, four, five enormous areas that are mentioned here in the first verse of the letter. So much of what they were going through was undeserved. The emperor of the nation or of the empire was a madman named Nero and he cared nothing for the things of God.

The Romans had many gods, all of them little g, and the God of heaven meant nothing to him and to take the life of someone in his way was of no consequence to him and along with being insane he was a murderer and had murdered his way to the throne and came from a line of murderers and passed on those traits to the next emperor and on to another. Dreadful time. It's bad enough to suffer but to suffer unfairly and to suffer without deserving it. I heard a great story the other day. It's a true story.

I wasn't there when it happened but I heard that it did happen. A fellow traveled abroad and several people warned him to watch out for pickpockets when he got to a particular busy city and when he went down to the subway, be very careful that no one would take his wallet because the subways would be crowded and the trains are quick and people will get on and they'll grab something and get on the train, the doors will shut and they'll be gone and he was very careful. One evening he was dressed rather casually, had a sport coat on and he came to the crush of people down in the subway and sure enough, just about the time that the door opened and some people were pouring on, a fellow bumped up against him and he thought that was strange and he reached into his pocket and he didn't find his wallet. And he grabbed this fellow and the door began to close and he grabbed his coat and he began to pull his coat and the guy was hanging inside the train and yet he was losing his coat, it was getting pulled off and finally he got the coat all the way out and the door closed and the fellow was still inside looking bewildered and it took off.

The guy showed him and he looked in the fellow's coat and he didn't find his wallet and when he got home he found his wallet on the bureau there at the hotel. The fellow in the train did not deserve that, he must have wondered as he was squirting on to the next city, what in the world was that all about and here he's lost his coat and he didn't deserve that. You may have had some things happen like that in your life, not nearly as funny later on and maybe even some things that were just downright wrong done against you. Those become not simply trials but what Peter calls fiery ordeals. Let me give you some rather practical thoughts on trials in general.

Could I do that? And rather than using Peter, let's choose the letter just before Peter. Easy to find and written to the same kind of people who were James 1 verse 1 dispersed abroad. Here's another group of people away from home, not by their own choice, but forced to live in another area just out of the fear of their life and James writes them and right away, right out of the chute, he talks to them about trials. And he says, consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect and complete.

Those are twin words for maturity that you may grow up lacking nothing. The first just general principle regarding trials would be it is common for Christians to encounter trials. Don't ever let anybody tell you and don't you dare tell anybody else who is considering becoming a Christian that your trials are over. Just trust Christ and they fly away like birds toward the heavens. No way. See how he puts it? When you encounter.

Not if, but when. It is common for Christians to encounter trials. If you're having trials, you're right on stream. If you have just gotten through one, take heart. There's another one around the corner. If you have just finished a heavy one, God may send a lighter one, but you will not ever live a year of your life, perhaps not even a month of your life without some kind of trial.

It's very common. I'm going through some in my life. Cynthia's going through some in her life. Our staff members and mates are going through some in their lives. Our board members and their mates are going through trials in their life.

They're no different from anybody else. And you, up and down the pews of our churches, we could share trials and never lack for information. That's one thing that pulls us together.

We've got that income. Second thing I notice is that trials come in various categories. See how he puts it? When you encounter various trials. I made a list of a few. There are physical afflictions. There are emotional troubles. There are relational trials and tests getting along with other people. There are trials at home, trials at work, trials in the church, trials among fellow members of the body, trials from the unsaved, trials of a financial nature, trials of a natural catastrophe, trials in accidents, trials that are slight, trials that are brutal and life-changing, trials that are very private that you can share with no one, and trials that are publicly known by most of the people in the circle of your friends, and even some that you don't even know. Trials are sometime upon us because of someone else's sin, and the waves that his rock creates when it hits the smooth lake of your life begins to flow over and to get you wet.

And you didn't even ask for it. Perhaps you are a mate of a husband who has broken the law, and he has been caught, captured, and maybe has been incarcerated, having been proven guilty. And you're suffering the loneliness of your mate's crime. You have not broken the law, but the trial has happened to you because your mate did.

And we could continue with those kind of illustrations. Frankly, there are some trials you absolutely cannot trace the reason. I have had trials hit me, and I've gone through them and finished with them, and it was like a bad tornado that blew through a community, and you didn't know it was coming, you didn't know where it would hit, you didn't know when it would be over, and you wondered all the way, why did it hit me, and why now?

Those are tough ones to handle. Trials come in various categories. Third, verse 3 tells us, trials put our faith to the test, knowing that the testing of your faith, no matter the source, no matter the intensity, there's something about suffering that draws us back to the basics. Invariably, especially during the intense trials, I go back to my theological roots, I go back to what I really believe, I go back to the basics of prayer and dependence, getting quiet and waiting on God.

Invariably, my life simplifies when it's under trial. Trials put my faith and put our faith to the test. And fourth, without trials, there could not be maturity. See how he concludes verse 3, verse 4, Let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete. It means mature, that you may become a finished product. Please observe, let endurance have its result.

Isn't that good? In other words, let it happen. Most often, because of the discomfort or the pain or whatever it brings to us, and because it is hard to endure, we cut it short. Or before long, we're resenting it to such an extreme, we run, we escape, we deny.

It's the idea of letting it come to completion. Remember the words of Andre Crouch, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God. Through it all, through it all, I've learned to depend upon his word. If I'd never had a problem, I'd never know that he could solve them. I'd never know what faith in God could do. If I never had a problem, I would never know he could solve them. And there are a few joys like the joy of watching God solve a problem.

It's wonderful. Now, with those comments as a basis, my words will be very brief. Turn to 1 Peter 4 and verses 12 through 19 form the little section, the paragraph we're going to be thinking about for the next few minutes as we draw biblical strength for the fiery ordeals.

Now, I wish I could tell you ahead of time what your test is going to be. Some of you already know because it hasn't ended, you're still in the midst of it. Others of you are kind of enjoying a brief reprieve and nothing really tough is happening. I don't want to be a prophet of doom.

You may go weeks without there being a real tough time, but you won't go months. Before too long, you'll have the rug jerked out from under you and you'll be back trusting in God to get you through a tough time. So, let's look at these verses and let's learn some things from the old man, the old fisherman who had walked with Christ and had failed him and also had pleased him. He had been a learner.

He had been a failure. He had been an effective man of God. Now at the ending of his life, he writes out of wisdom for all of us to learn. Notice how he starts verse 12 of chapter 4, Beloved. So this is truth for the Beloved.

Whatever I have to say to you tonight has really very little, if anything, to say to the lost person. This is Christian truth. So if you know the Savior, you're walking with the Lord, you're right on stream. This is information just for you. It's got your name on it.

Think of your name as in place of Beloved. Now how to react when trials happen. He tells us two things in verses 12 and 13.

Let me see if you can find them. Verse 12 and then I'll read verse 13. 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. 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 exultation.

Now, you pick it out. It doesn't take a Bible scholar to find the two commands in verses 12 and 13. The first one is right there in verse 12, follows the word Beloved. That's right, don't be surprised. So if you want to put it down exactly like the apostle wrote it, but do not be surprised. Now it's interesting, that's usually the opposite reaction. Something happens and what? We say, I just can't believe that happened to me.

And he says right away, verse 12, don't be surprised. Rather than, I can't believe this happening, think of life as a school room and I have never seen a school room where there were not some tests. I have never seen one earn a degree out of college and say later, you know the wonderful thing about this college, we never had an exam.

I mean that would be a college to go to, wouldn't it? No tests. Now all the way through the school room, all the way through your educational process, your knowledge is graded on the basis of examinations. Webster defines a test as a critical examination, observation or evaluation. A critical examination, observation or evaluation.

Now, let me give you a thought. The wonderful thing about tests when God sends them into our school room is that we get to grade our own paper. You see, God doesn't test us so he can learn how well we're doing. He tests us so we can discover how well we're doing. And you can kind of grade or put the benchmark on your level of maturity. The testing of your faith is revealing to you a level of maturity.

You can sort of grade your own paper. I have a good friend, Dr. Robert Lightner. Many of you may not know Dr. Lightner. He's on the faculty at Dallas Seminary, but many years ago he went through an awful plane crash. He was preaching at various points and he was in a single-engine plane and the plane took off and they had trouble in it and for some reason, some of it inexplicable to this day, the plane flipped, never really had a good takeoff and flipped and it hit and his body was broken. In fact, when his wife came to his side, the hospital, she said, I looked at this mass of flesh and I didn't even know who he was. He came through it wonderfully. God healed him. He is today a living testimony of the grace of God through that fiery ordeal. He said to me a number of months after the whole thing was over, I learned things I didn't know I needed to learn. Don't think it's strange when a test comes because even though you don't know you need to learn those things, God knows and he says now's the time. See, he's fitting you to have the kind of character his son has.

That requires trials. So the first reaction is don't be surprised but the second reaction is even more amazing. Verse 13, did you see the command? Keep on rejoicing. You have got to be kidding.

I hear some of you thinking right now. What are you kidding me? We're talking trials, right? Right.

We're talking fiery ordeals, right? Right. And you're telling me to keep on rejoicing?

Wrong. God is telling you to keep on rejoicing. I'm just reading what he wrote. To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing. James put it another way.

We just read it. Consider it all joy. Why?

How? He tells us that too right here in the verse. First of all, you can rejoice because you enter into a closer partnership with Christ when you suffer. To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing. You will never appreciate the crucifixion like you would after a test. You will never appreciate being treated unfairly like you would after a test where that has happened and then you see Christ in the scene. Paul says that I may know him, Philippians 3, 10. And the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings that I may know the fellowship of his sufferings. You and I would not know such fellowship were we not put to the test. You're listening to Chuck Swindoll and Insight for Living. Our topic today, Hope Beyond Our Trials.

To learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. We've saved the final minutes of today's program to hear some closing comments from Chuck. But first, if you're dealing with a major trial right now, you're not alone. God knows what you're going through even when life seems unfair. We know this is true because we often hear from people who tell us their stories. I'm thinking of this comment we received from a listener in Indiana who said, For more than 25 years I ran from God until one night I called my mother and asked if there was any way for me to still be forgiven. We prayed together that night and I was refreshed. And then I bought my first XM radio because I travel a lot for my work and I found Insight for Living.

Chuck, since then we've ridden together for many miles. It brings comfort to have a word that I feel like God has for me each and every time I listen. Well, God's word is powerful and when you partner with Insight for Living, you're playing a significant role in touching lives like this one. In fact, your donation, no matter the size, allows us to beam Chuck's teaching into the far reaches of the world. We're often surprised by the demand for clear Bible teaching coming from all points on the globe.

Here's Chuck. Thank you, Bill. I was astounded to see an encouraging report from one of our staff members here at Insight for Living Ministries.

I learned, for instance, that last year our website had over 13 million page views and those visitors represented 194 countries. That's just incredible. Here's another. Our radio program, Insight for Living, was aired 12,737 times each week.

And here's one more. Did you know that Insight for Living Ministries ministers in nine different languages under the direction of 12 seminary-trained field pastors? All of these efforts fall beneath the banner of Vision 195, which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ in all 195 countries of the world.

Well, those are just a few snapshots from our photo album we put together last year. But we're coming up on a deadline. On June the 30th, Insight for Living will conclude another ministry year. And as such, I'm compelled to invite you to join us in another all-out effort to provide the daily program and all its ministries well into the future. Through every channel, Insight for Living serves as a safe harbor for people to escape their struggles and receive God's hope. Isn't that a great thought? And we do that by opening the Bible and telling the truth. Remember what Peter told his struggling friends?

He wrote, Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you in Christ Jesus. Here's my appeal to you. Will you respond to our need today?

The last 12 months have surprised us with a few rough patches along the way, financially speaking. So please take down our contact information and get in touch with us right away, okay? Your generous donation today will demonstrate that you understand the significance of the hope we have in Christ and the deep need to keep that message front and center to the world around us. Thanks so much.

Bill? If you have access to the Insight for Living website, just follow the instructions for giving a donation online when you visit insight.org. Or if you'd like to speak to someone on the phone, call us. If you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888. Again, if you're listening in the U.S., call 800-772-8888. Or you can give online at insight.org. I'm Bill Meyer, urging you to join us again when Chuck Swindoll offers Hope Beyond Our Trials, next time on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, Hope Beyond Our Trials, went through fiery trials. It was copyrighted in 1989, 1990, 1996, 2006, 2009, and 2011. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2011 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.