Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Let me tell you the reality. Are you listening? Authentic followers of Jesus Christ experience suffering. How do you respond when your faith is tested?
Peter, in a passage we're going to read, is saying that suffering and trials test the genuineness of our faith. Oh. Welcome to The Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. In a world that tries to avoid all discomfort, Peter reminds us of a remarkable truth. Followers of Christ can experience joy even in the midst of suffering.
because our trials have purpose. Today, we continue our series in 1 Peter. We'll discover how our relationship with Christ sustains us. Here's Pastor Jean Monroe with his message on the testing of our faith. How are you responding to the sufferings and trials of life?
Sometimes such suffering comes slowly into our lives, while at other times it comes without warning. We've learned from 1 Peter that we who are following Jesus Christ are not immune from suffering. Peter writes, You have been grieved by various trials.
So we mustn't be surprised when pain and tears and difficulties blow into our life. But these sufferings and trials are only temporary. Peter has reminded his readers that they're exiles living in an alien world. But soon the followers of Jesus will be forever with the Lord.
Now, let's look further. At the purposes of the sufferings which we all experience, and how is it that we can have joy in the midst of our trials? Let's open our Bibles to First Peter chapter one. And we're going to read from verses six through nine. Peter writes, In this you rejoice.
Though now For a little while. If necessary, you've been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith. More precious than gold, it perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, and glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith.
The salvation of your souls. The testing of your faith. I want us first of all to understand, and this is implied in this passage, that followers of Christ are not immune from suffering and trials. The question which Peter is presenting is How are we to respond.
Well, first of all, he explains in verse 6 that we are to understand that our sufferings and our trials are only temporary. Notice what he says in verse 6. In this you rejoice, though now. For a little while. If necessary, you've been grieved by various trials.
So first of all Sufferings and traumas are only temporary. Secondly, sufferings and trials are for a perfect purpose. Look at verse 7.
So that Follow the argument.
So that The tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter writes in this wonderful way of our trials and their sufferings in terms of the refiner's fire. Even precious gold. has impurities and dross. And in subjecting the gold to the intense heat of the fire, the refiner's purpose is not obviously to destroy the gold.
No, it's to remove the dross which rises to the surface. And in this way, the gold is made more precious. The Lord says in Isaiah 48, verse 10, I've tried you. of affliction. The furnace of affliction is a very difficult place to be.
And you're in it. God is not disproving us, He's approving us. And says Peter in verse seven here, Your faith is more precious to God than gold that perishes. Your sufferings and your trials are like a refiner's fire, which remove the impurities in your life. Charles Spurgeon says, suffering is meant not only to burn out the dross.
But to burn in the promises. We're going through suffering. The dross, the impurities in our life are being burned out. But Burning into our very soul are the promises of God. You see, without the refiner's fire.
Without the father's pruning. Remember, Jesus in John fifteen talks about the pruning. Without us going into the refiner's fire, Without the fathers pruning us, you know what we tend to be? We tend to be rather proud. We tend to be unsympathetic and self-centered and hard.
Many of you can testify that when we experience sufferings and trials. or pride or Selfishness or superficiality. A hypocrisy. Your shallowness are exposed, aren't they? See, the fire doesn't destroy the genuine article.
The fire is designed to bring out the best. The God doesn't punish his children. Ah, but from time to time. He does purify us.
So he says here, the genuineness of your faith. We have As our theme at Calvary, Being at making authentic followers of Jesus Christ, being at making genuine followers of Christ, not perfect. But the genuineness, the authenticity of her faith is tested through these trials. Paul says the same thing. In Romans chapter five, listen to what he says here, Romans five.
He says, not only that, But we rejoice in our sufferings. Mm. Who wants to rejoice in your sufferings? You rejoice in the great Thrills and and Blessings of life. But to rejoice in their sufferings yes paul says knowing that suffering produces endurance.
And endurance produces character. and character produces Hope. See the development of character in your life The development of endurance. The development of that living hope in your life is much more important than getting immediate relief from your suffering. If you have ever played a sport, you know that.
Who wants to keep practicing over and over again? Or if you've ever played an instrument. Perhaps the coach or the teacher is saying to you, no, that's not quite right. Do that again. And so In the sport or in the music or at work.
If you've got a good coach, a good boss, a good teacher, they're getting you to do that over and over and over again. And it's hard, it's difficult. You want to go home, you want to stop it. But what does it do? It produces endurance.
It produces character. It gives you hope. That John, you can do better than this. that I'm working in your life to make you More and more like my son. The Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, suffering takes away the self-made props. of our life and brings us face to face with God. Have you found That you're drawn closer to God more in times of adversity. than in times of prosperity.
So we rejoice then in these trials. Not because we enjoy the pain and the suffering. Far from it. But because of the purifying results. Notice what he says at the end.
of verse Seven, here's the result of the test. You're going to get through it. Know what the result's going to be? Praise and glory and honor. and the revelation of Jesus Christ.
What's Peter saying in these verses? He's saying, rejoice in your great salvation. and rejoice in your magnificent Savior. Verse 6, in this you rejoice. Verse 8.
Though you have not seen him, none of us have seen Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him You love the home. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him. Isn't that true? I've never seen Jesus Christ, but I love him.
I've never seen him, but I believe in him. My trust is in him. You believe in him and rejoice with joy. Incredible, isn't it? The first century exiled believers who are scattered Throw it.
the Roman provinces. You rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. We are to be a people of joy. We are to rejoice. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 4: In all of our affliction, I am overflowing with Joe.
James says, James 1, verses 2 and 3, Count it all, John, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. Paul James, Peter are all saying the same things. To rejoice in your suffering. You see, not only are we people of hope, we thought of that last week, we've been singing about that, we're people of hope, we're also people of joy. Our God is a God of great joy.
The gospel came to us with great joy. Remember, the angel said, Good news, the gospel is good news of great joy. And we had great joy, didn't we, this morning, and still have when we hear the testimonies of our brothers and sisters being baptized to understand that God is living and God is still at work in the lives of young people, saving them. And heaven rejoices when one sinner repents, and so do we. That God is a God of joy.
And in the midst of the most incredibly difficult circumstances, God's people here in the first century rejoice with joy. Notice he says in verse 6: In this you rejoice. What's he referring to?
Well, clearly, the living hope. Clearly, the future inheritance of the preceding verses that we thought of last week, this eternal inheritance is guaranteed by God Himself, has got our name on it, it is reserved in heaven for me, is kept by the power of God. That there is nothing in the whole universe that can take away that eternal inheritance which has been promised to me through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And all of that, Peter says, in accordance with God's great mercy. Yes, it's supernaturally experienced by us.
At their new birth. When we understand that this Christ who came into the world, died for my sins, was buried and rose again, and as I hear him say, John, come to me. And I'll give you rest. And I came, and you came, and we found rest. And also what?
Great joy. Great joy. And even in the midst then, as we live our Christian life, With God's help and in authentic ways we live our Christian life, we experience suffering and difficulties. But we still rejoice with joy. We have the assurance of our salvation of our souls.
Verse 9: Obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. And that eternal reality in the future shapes. How I respond to difficulties and frustrations and disappointments. In the Present. Because for the Christian the focus of our hope.
And the reason for our joy is our Lord Jesus Christ. You understand, I trust, that joy is not event-oriented. Think of all of the ideas, think of all of the strategies people have to devise to be happy. You ask people their goal in life is to be happy. What do you want for your children?
I want them to be happy. The things of this world and the pleasures of life may bring great exhilaration. They may bring great thrills. They may bring this feeling of happiness. Yes, they can be a blast, but they don't last.
And many times, As we look around us. But they don't even last in this life. And certainly they're not going to last for eternity.
So I ask you, what's the basis of your joy? What's the basis of your joy? I I read this week. That a journalist had filmed on his iPhone somebody called Taylor Swift, not somebody I follow. And she was at an NFL game.
Some of you know this and follow this kind of absurd stuff. I just say, well, so do you. I happen to see it. But anyhow, some journalists filmed. Taylor Swift, who apparently is some kind of celebrity, leaving an NF game with Travis Kelsey of the Kansas City Chiefs.
And basically when I saw this, he'd only got a four second clip Of this young woman, Taylor Swift. I've never heard her, apparently, she's a singer, I've never heard her sing. She seemed a very orderly-looking woman to me, but. Really? Didn't she?
I mean, if she was here, would you look at her twice? Not really.
Now when we've such beautiful wives, Tim, right? But with this athlete, this guy called Travis Kelsey. And the guy got four seconds. of this clip. He put it on social media.
And as of Tuesday, I'm reading about joy. And I'm also seeing this kind of trashy stuff. And it said, as of Tuesday, It was viewed more than Fifteen million times on the journalist's social media. And the journalist said, Her being there, her being Taylor Swift, felt just like a Super Bowl. That's the energy that was in the building.
Thinking, really? A woman watching a game? She was the talk of the game. And I thought, you know. This sums up our superficial society, doesn't it?
With no disrespect to Taylor Swift or Travis Kelsey, who I don't know. I mean, they don't know who I am. No disrespect to them. But great excitement. Thrills.
That here is a young woman And an athlete. walking out of a game. And I thought, is that the basis of people's joy? Does that really get them pumped up? I mean Their joy is based on seeing a celebrity The fleeting happiness of some event.
I thought different for the Christian. Very different for the Christian. was joy for us. Joy is the overflow of Christ's love in us, regardless of our external circumstances. And I want us to understand something which is very difficult for us.
that tears and suffering And the stress And persecution do not prevent joy. The Christian's joy is not pushed out. It's not flattened. when difficult circumstances come into our life. Because we are following one.
Our Lord Jesus. Who, in his earthly ministry, is described as the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And isn't that wonderful to follow? This Lord Jesus Christ, who knows about suffering. Peter is going to say that in chapter 2 that Christ suffered for us, that no one ever suffered like our Lord Jesus Christ.
He despised the shame. for the joy that was set before him. and that he understands our suffering. And as I follow him, And the closer I follow him, And the more I look to him, and the more I listen to his voice, the greater my joy. No, when you turn from Christ, and you look to the world and you look to yourself, you know what happens?
There is discouragement and a lack of joy. Here is Peter. He's walking on water. Looking at the Lord in the middle of the storm, he's walking on water. But then he looks down and his eyes come off Christ that he begins to sink.
Isn't that it? But these first century Christians Loved Christ so much. that they rejoiced with joy. inexpressible and filled with glory. When viewed in the context of their suffering, their joy is Inexplicable.
It is inexpressible. It defies understanding, but it flows. from a deep Growing relationship with Jesus Christ, whom they love. It's also, says Peter, filled with glory in that it glorifies God. And it anticipates that marvelous eternal never-ending glory of their final Salvation.
To be Christ-centered. and life. is to have a life of joy. Psalm 16, verse 11 says, In your presence, There is fullness of joy. And you and I, who are following Jesus Christ.
Have they incredible Situation in life: that what's ever going around us, on around us and in us. We are following Jesus Christ. And the closer I am to Christ, And the more my affections on him, I listened to his voice. The deeper and the stronger the joy. When I get away from Jesus, when I look at myself, when I feel sorry for myself.
When I think, why did this happen to me? When I look at other people and I look at the circumstances and I listen to my enemy, when I listen to my sinful desires, then that joy gets less and less. Anyone suffering today? Anyone emotionally distressed? If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, God is not punishing you, He's purifying you.
He's not working against you, he's working out his loving and sovereign purposes in your life. What's going to sustain us when the trials and the suffering come? A relationship with Jesus Christ. Who is the source of our joy, who is the sustainer of our joy, who is the very center of our joy. George Swinnick says: a holy person is like a silver bell.
The harder he is smitten, the better he sounds. You've met some Christians like that, haven't you? They shine with the beauty of Christ. They know suffering, they know pain. Be no misunderstanding.
Life has been difficult for them. But they shine with the beauty of Christ, and the harder they are smitten, as it were, the better they sound. What am I asking you to do? You're a follower of Jesus Christ. I want you to trust Him.
I want you to trust the Lord, who in incredible ways turns emptiness. into folders. Sadness to joy, the bitter to the sweet, the barn to the fruitfulness, death to life. Habakkuk, the Old Testament. Prophet got it right at the end of his prophecy in Habakkuk chapter 3.
He says, Though the fig tree should not blossom, Nor fruit beyond the vines. The produce of the olive. fail and the fields yield no fruit. the flock be cut off from the fold. and there'd be no herd in the stalls.
What's he saying to an agricultural people? all of your crops. Have failed. Your animals are not producing. Your livelihood is devastated.
Yet, he says, yet. What are you going to do, Haber Kook? Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my Salvation. That's the testing of our faith.
When life seems to fall apart, when life is not going the way that you want. When your circumstances around you are devastating, will you say yes? I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Why?
Because I know Christ. And it is well with my soul. This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe and the end of his message titled The Testing of Our Faith. But don't go anywhere just yet because John has a few closing remarks coming up in just a moment. Today's teaching reminds us that our trials aren't meaningless.
They're actually refining our faith and deepening our relationship with Christ. And to help you continue to develop this big picture eternal perspective. We're offering John's enlightening booklet for the time is near. This practical resource breaks down the book of Revelation into five key lessons that will transform your perspective on current events and eternal realities. Request your free copy today at theverdict.org.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? I know you have experienced suffering and disappointment.
Some of that we may bring on ourselves, but some of it may be totally out of our control. How are you responding? God has His purposes. and often we have little understanding of them. Perhaps years later we can look back and see how God was working in our life.
Do you like the quote by Spurgeon? Suffering is meant not only to burn out the dross, but to burn in the promises. Today, claim the promises of God. Rejoice in your so great salvation. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict.
I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
