Faith Under Fire

Welcome to this edition of PowerPoint with Jack Graham. A child of God, are loved. Nothing will separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ. So before we even talk about suffering, before we deal with the issues of pain and persecution, stop there and realize, just think about it a moment, you are loved by God.

You are beloved. So beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange was happening to you. But rejoice, insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. And if you are insulted in the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an as a murderer or as a meddler.

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? And then verse 9 wraps it up.

According to God's will, entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. What happens when we suffer? Are we destroyed? Are we so beaten down that we become angry, resentful, defeated, depressed? Or can we learn some lessons in the fiery ordeals of life?

The fiery test, the fiery trials of life, that will strengthen our faith. There are some who even deny that God exists because they argue something like this. If because of suffering and evil in the world, if God is good, how could He allow something like this to exist? Or else God is not all powerful and has stepped away from the suffering of humanity. How could you believe in a God, some would say, that would allow such human suffering and tragedy and sufferable tragedy and incomprehensible tragedy?

What is your explanation? Well, the explanation for the believer is that there is another conclusion, that God is both powerful and God is loving and God has a purpose in our pain. And if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, He is working purposefully.

He is working personally. He is working constructively in our lives through the crosses that we bear, through the experiences that we all share together. When we suffer, there is purpose in pain and in suffering. And that's what we're going to see in this passage. When we're under fire, what should we do?

Number one, face the facts. That's what he is saying in verse 12. Don't be surprised at the fiery trial that comes upon you as though some strange thing is happening to you. Accepting the reality of tough times, of trials is key to our understanding what God is doing. He says don't be surprised by suffering.

Expect trials to come. Jesus warned us of this. He said in John chapter 16, in this world you will have tribulation.

But then He added, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. We are facing spiritual battles. We are under attack by Satan himself. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness. And so if we're not getting physical persecution, we certainly are under fire in the sense that all of us are facing a very real enemy who Peter tells us in the fifth chapter is like a roaring lion roaming about seeking whom he may devour.

And Christians, all of us, will spend time in the furnace. The fiery ordeals. When he uses fiery trials here, he's speaking of severe trials.

This isn't your basic backache or headache. These are severe fiery ordeals. That's the furnace of affliction. It's good to know as Warren Wiersbe tells us in his writings that when we're in the furnace, God always has His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat. I like that because it reminds us that God knows how long we're going to be in there and how much we can take.

We're going to be in the furnace. And when we are in the fire, it is extremely important to face the facts, the reality, because you see so many of us think, why is this happening to me? Or we say things in the middle of some trial or at the outset of some trial like, I can't believe this is happening to me. I can't believe that I'm hurting like this or I'm suffering like this. Face the facts that we live in a fallen world, a broken world. This very planet is in pain, according to Romans 8, that we live under the curse and the contamination of sin and therefore because we live in this fallen world and broken world, we are subject to suffering, pain, persecution. It's all a part of life and therefore should be anticipated. As a matter of fact, if you're a follower of Jesus, a Christ follower, you are a target for the enemy. You are a target for evil doers. Accept that as reality. But listen to the Word of God, Isaiah 43 and verse 2. It's a solid word.