Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. All of us. who follow Christ. Suffer. Remember the words of Jesus?
In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage. I have overcome. the world. Welcome to the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe, senior pastor at Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Some modern false teachers promote a version of Christianity that promises only blessings and prosperity. But Scripture teaches that following Jesus Christ includes suffering. Today, we begin examining Peter's powerful conclusion to his first letter. Here's Pastor John Monroe with today's message. suffering, grace, and glory.
Well, we're almost at the end of the series on First Peter.
Next time we conclude the series and I love the way Peter ends his letter. He's writing about suffering, grace and glory. These are three important words in the Christian life. And I thought it would be helpful to look back over 1 Peter under these three headings of suffering. Grace and glory.
I understand why followers of Jesus have turned to 1 Peter over the centuries. Because All of us experience suffering. And it's so easy to resent suffering. To compare ourselves with others whose lives seem to be much easier, and to respond with bitterness or even anger.
So let's start our review with this important topic of suffering. as we look at these final verses of 1 Peter. I want to summarize much of what Peter has written. Suffering. Grace and glory.
We see them all in this passage. Five, we're reading from verse 10. And And after you have suffered a little, there it is. And after you have suffered a little while, The God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ. Will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen. By Sylvanus, a faithful brother, as I regard him, I've written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this. Is the true grace of God. Stand firm.
In it. She who is at Babylon. who is likewise chosen. sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love.
Peace to to all of you. who are in Christ. Stand there, Peter. ends this marvelous letter which he describes as brief. A wonderful letter.
So first. Where there's suffering. Suffering is only for a little while, Peter is saying. We suffer But it's only for a little while, verse 10. And after you have suffered a little while, That means that we who follow Jesus Christ do suffer.
Look back in your Bible to chapter two, for example. Chapter 2. Verse 19. For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?
But if when you do good, You suffer for it. You endure. This is a gracious thing. In the sight of God. Chapter 3.
Verse 14. But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor Be troubled. Verse 17 of chapter 3: For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing Evil. Chapter 4.
Verse twelve. Beloved. Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you. as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice.
Insofar as you share Christ's sufferings. that you also may Rejoice and be glad. When his glory is revealed And here we have it again. in chapter five Verse nine and ten. We saw it last week.
1 Peter 5, verse 9. Resist him that is the devil, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering. are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, there it is. suffering as a Christian.
Not just suffering, but suffering as a Christian is one of the main themes in 1 Peter. We saw that right at the beginning. Of this letter. As he begins in First Peter 1, verse 1, he's writing, he says, To the Elect Exiles. He's writing to people.
Yes, they're chosen by God, they're the people of God, but they are exiled. in the dispersion, in the scattering of the people of God. to such places as Pontus and Galatus Galatia and so on. In chapter 2, verse 11, He refers to his readers as sojourners and exiles. Travelers.
Aliens, pilgrims. in this world. I want you to look on yourself as a pilgrim. We who follow the Lord Jesus are pilgrims. Remember John Bunyan?
He has Christian in the city of destruction. And as a pilgrim, he's traveling to celestial city. That's us. We're in this world and it's sometimes difficult. And we find, don't you sometimes find, that you don't quite fit in.
We're we're exiles. We're sojourners. And as we travel following Christ, Peter is reminding them: their tensions, their suffering, there's persecution, their difficulties, and frustration.
So, this is why we don't listen to the prosperity and the motivational preachers who present a popular. But a very false message of excitement, health, and wealth, success, and that you can fulfill your dreams, and Jesus is there, you dream your own dream, and Jesus will make it. Fulfilled. No. Authentic.
New Testament Christianity is a faith of realism. I'm glad that we live in a real world. We're not Pollyannas. We don't follow Christ thinking everything's going to be wonderful in our life. No.
We're people of realism. We face the suffering. We face the difficulties. We don't expect hype. and shallow emotionalism all of the time.
These first century Christians, and in fact every Christian. realizes that from time to time life Contast. Very bitter. And that grief and tears and difficulties and confusion and discouragements and suffering are part of living in this fallen world, Jim has reminded us. of those who have disabilities.
Think of that suffering. of their caregivers. We minister to them. Twenty-four hours. A day.
What does a prosperity preacher say about that? As Christians, we look at it, we look at it. Face on. And Peter is saying, don't be surprised. when suffering and difficult times Come.
He said in chapter 5, verse 9, that These same sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. This is common. It's not just you. Being dispersed, the Pontus and Galatians as he's writing, this is true. Of followers of Christ throughout the world.
So don't you be surprised when difficulties come. I think we're raising a generation not used to hardship. We live in a therapeutic world. where hardships and disappointments are sometimes called traumas.
Now, of course, there are people who do go through genuine traumas, but your goldfish dying and getting a beat and a test is not a trauma. And parents. Can I say to you? Train your children to deal with hardships. Don't be one of these helicopter parents protecting them excessively so when they're 18 years old, they're not able to cope with life.
Train them to be independent. to be strong. and to realize that there are hardships, there are difficult teachers. There are hardships.
Sometimes you don't make the team. No, you're not always the top student. Yes, life is difficult. Your car breaks down. I don't need to whiff about it.
Face reality that we, Peter is saying, be strong, stand firm in your faith, all of us. who follow Christ. Suffer. Remember the words of Jesus? In the world you will have tribulation.
Really, Jesus? I thought following you was just going to be wonderful all the time. In the world you'll have tribulation, but take courage. I have overcome. The world.
That's the Christian. We face the tribulation, we face the trial. We don't succumb. We stand firm. Because our Savior is victorious as we have been.
Singing. And we who follow Christ Live then in this strange world. We face hostility. Think of the outrage during the Olympics of these drag queens. and their blasphemous portrayal of the Lord's Supper.
Think of the hostility there, yes, in France. One's a country. Under the Catholic faith, who had respect for God and sacred things, no more. A joke. The shame is presented right in our Face, there's hostility.
If you speak up about it, you're regarded as a bigot, you're regarded as intolerant. We realize we're in a difficult world, we don't retreat. You say, well, what's the answer to all of this, John, to this difficulty? has been telling us Life is difficult for you. What advice do I have for you?
I've got wonderful advice. The advice that Peter is given. He's saying, look to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the perfect example not only of suffering but of innocent suffering. He said that Chapter 2.
Verse 21 For to this you have been called that suffering. Because Christ also suffered for you. Leaving you an example. that you might follow in his steps. Not only did our Lord suffer, he was put to death, though he did no wrong.
And those who suffered. Peter is telling us in a kind of a mystical way, in a way which is difficult for us to understand. As we suffer as Christians, we're being identified. with the sufferings of Christ. Hard day, hard week, hard months, our dear.
We don't minimize the difficulties. We don't play psychological tricks on ourselves, no. What do we do? We look up. to Christ.
You look down at your circumstances. They will depress you. They will overwhelm you. But we look up to Christ. As Robert Murray McShane says, for every look itself, Take ten looks at Christ.
Yes, you look at the circumstances, you understand the difficulties, but they don't weigh you down. You look at them with realism, that's true, but you look up. To Christ. Why would you look up to Christ?
Well, He's giving you an example, Peter is telling you, that you should follow in His steps. But not only is Christ given to us as an example to inspire us. His death. is a sacrifice. The gospel is Christ died for.
For our sins. Whose death Was substitutionary, Peter has said in that marvelous verse, chapter 3, verse 18. His death is substitutionary. He died. The righteous For the unrighteous.
We are unrighteous. We're sinful people. He dies for us. Marvelous that when my Savior died on the cross, he was dying for John Monroe, for my many. Since his death is sufficient, I don't need to do anything else.
Says Peter, He suffered once Yeah. That one sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, all of the sacrifices under the old covenant are gone. They're pointing to Christ. And all of them are now fulfilled perfectly and sufficiently in our Savior. He died once.
We had, I think it was last week. A wonderful duet. It is. What? Finished on the cross.
The work is done. Perfect, you can add to it all of your goodness, all of your good intentions. can add to the salvation, and there's no need to do so because his death not only is a substitute, it is sufficient for us and for all time. And it is also, as we learn, salvific, that is, it brings salvation. Peter, in that verse, I love this, he says.
that he died the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might Remember it? Bring us. To God. That's the gospel, isn't it? that our Saviour leaves heaven.
And he comes. To us, Emmanuel, God with us. The word becomes flesh and dwells among us. He is With us. And he dies for us.
He brings us to God. We are strangers to God. We are enemies of God. We turn our back on God. We go our own way like sheep going astray.
And our Savior comes to seek and to save the lost. And not only does he forgive our sins, he's going to, as we'll see in a minute, he's going to bring us. to God. Have you received our salvation? You received Christ.
The all-sufficient Christ. Your substitute. All sufficient. A perfect Saved her. And Peter is presenting this.
And now, with that background, he says here in 1 Peter 5, verse 10, and after you have suffered. How long? A little while. Your suffering, your distress, your trials, the persecution are only for a little while. He said that in chapter 1, verse 6.
Unless you rejoice, he says, though now for a little while, same expression. If necessary, you've been grieved by various trials, so that the Tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it's tested. By fire. Yeah. a little while.
Remember the old song, All My Trials, Lord?
So Be over. I find that immensely encouraging, don't you? They realize that the severest of sufferings. The fiercest of storms. The darkness of the night.
the fieriest of furnaces. The deepest of valleys. The most severe of sufferings and the bitterest of tears, they only last. For the Christian. for a little while.
That's magnificent, isn't it? That is It's only a little while compared with the vastness of God's eternal day. Difficult for us to get our minds around eternity, almost impossible, isn't it? But it is forever and ever and ever and ever. No beginning and no end.
No tomorrows as though we're living in a constant eternal day. Grandfather's favorite verses. With Proverbs 4, 18. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn. that shines brighter and brighter until the perfect day.
Just for a little while. The sun comes up. This morning you just see a little bit of light. And then it shines brighter and brighter until the perfect day. That's a Christian.
We're following Christ. And we suffer. But it's only for a little while. The second word is grace. We saw that In verse 10.
After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you. And what's Peter saying? He said in verse 9 regarding the devil, resist him firm in your faith, stand firm. in God's grace. Great.
Wonderful words of the gospel of the Christian faith. That the God of all grace Save those. Is he saying here? the God of all grace, who has called you. This call takes us back to the opening verses of 1 Peter.
Where Peter explains that believers are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. They are sanctified by the work of the Spirit. They are cleansed and forgiven by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is our salvation. is all of grace from beginning to end.
It's planned by God the Father. It is executed, as it were, by God the Son, and it is applied to us individually by the Holy Spirit that God calls us. As Jesus says, come. To me, have you heard the call of God in your life? Are you?
And two. Mm-hmm. And we We're sinful. We come. to the saviour and we find.
Rest. We find forgiveness of sins. We find Joy. This grace has its origin in God. and it flows from God.
We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. For by grace, says Paul, you are saved. Through faith, And that not of yourself is the gift of God. It's not of your own doing. It's entirely of God.
through the work of his son. who's accomplished our salvation, and now it is offered to you. Today, I offer Christ to you. I preach Christ to you so that you would know Him, so that you would embrace Him, that you would turn from your sin and come to Christ and know. That this magnificent Saviour.
Can save us from all of our sins. Yes, it was a costly price. Peter has reminded us. In chapter 1, you weren't saved with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Points us time and time again, doesn't it?
To the cross. And through that death and his resurrection, there is offered life, eternal life for you. and me, I ask you, have you received Salvation, this grace of God saves us. But Peter is emphasizing that this God of all grace will sustain you. Not only does this grace save us, it sustains us.
We need it every single day. Notice the text, verse 10. After you have suffered a little while, The God of all grace. Who has called you to eternal glory in Christ? What will he do?
Will himself Restore. Confirm. Strengthen and establish your As we go through the Christian life and the suffering, we see the suffering. Stumble. We take our own path.
Peter is saying, now, remember this: this God of all grace. He'll restore you. He'll confirm you. He'll strengthen you. He'll establish you.
These first century Christians are being battered and persecuted by the world. And Peter is assuring them that this God of all grace who saved them. We'll sustain them. God's grace saves us. God's grace sustains us.
He will say. Peter He will restore. Will himself Restore. Where does the man? The word is used for the setting of a bone.
It's used for the mending. of nets. God. is in the restoration business. In fact, God's speciality is restoration.
This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe and the beginning of a message titled. suffering, grace, and glory.
John will return momentarily, so please stay tuned. As we near the end of Peter's first letter, we're reminded that we're following Jesus Christ in light of eternity. And many believers to day have sincere questions about the end times and what the future holds. How should we view biblical prophecy? And what can we expect as we consider the return of Christ?
John has written a thoroughly Biblical resource called For the Time is Near. that addresses these important questions with clarity and biblical wisdom. This booklet doesn't engage in speculation, but provides solid Scriptural teaching about prophecy and Christ's return. Whether you're studying prophecy for the first time, Or wondering what all this means for life today, this resource will ground you in God's Word. Request your complimentary copy of For the Time is Near.
by visiting our website at theverdict.org. Your faithful support enables us to continue bringing these daily biblical messages. When you partner with the verdict through your financial contribution, you're investing in a ministry that's been faithfully teaching God's Word for years. Your generosity helps us maintain this radio program and reach new listeners who need to hear the gospel message. Consider making a donation today at theverdict.org.
We're proud to be a ministry of Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. If you're ever in the area, we'd love to welcome you to our Sunday services. Located at Highway 51 and Ray Road, we offer both in-person worship and live streaming every Sunday. For more details, just go to theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? I hope you haven't been caught up in the superficial and false prosperity teaching, which presents the Christian life as always upbeat. positive and exciting. Even for followers of Christ, life can be difficult. Consider the perfect example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered for us.
So don't be discouraged. As you experience heartaches and struggles, look to Christ who suffered for us, who died on the cross for our sins, who was buried and who rose from the dead. He's alive forevermore. 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.
