A Daily Walk

[Guest (Male)] Next on A Daily Walk: How to endure fiery trials through the help of the Holy Spirit.

John Randall: Maybe today you are in the midst of the worst trial you could ever imagine, and the year is just getting started. You need to know something: if you are born again today, you are not alone. The Spirit of God rests upon you, and therefore you can endure because He will provide the strength that you need to get through it, at times even feeling like He's carrying you through it.

[Guest (Male)] When going through a trial, do you think like so many do: "Why in the world is this happening to me?" It's a common reaction. We may think it's strange or that we've done something wrong for this to happen. Well, 1 Peter 4 reminds us that God allows Christians to suffer even when they're living a godly life. Today on A Daily Walk, we're gaining a biblical perspective of fiery trials. Here is Pastor John Randall.

John Randall: The Christian life is a life that is filled with joy and peace. We rejoice in knowing that our sins are forgiven because of the finished work of Jesus Christ in His death and His resurrection that has secured our salvation. We are at peace in knowing that when this life comes to an end here on earth, we enter into a life that is eternal in the glories of heaven.

But the Bible also reminds us that the Christian life is one that is filled with challenges, hardship, tragedy, and trials. It's a theme that Peter continued to reiterate to his readers throughout this epistle. And the truth about trials and suffering for the Gospel was something that Peter, along with the other apostles, had learned from Jesus.

It was in John's Gospel, the 16th chapter and the 33rd verse. It says, "These things I've spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." When Paul wrote to Timothy, he reminded him in his second epistle, in the third chapter in the 12th verse, he said, "Yes, all who desire to live godly will suffer persecution."

If you want to live godly in Christ Jesus, this is something that you will experience. The persecution, the hostility toward the early Christians was only increasing rapidly. And in order to prepare these believers, Peter provided them with some very important principles. And the first, if you're taking notes, is that they were to expect trials because they're part of the Christian life.

Expect it. Peter says in verse 12, "Beloved, don't think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing had happened to you." You'll notice that Peter opens this section of the letter by referring to his readers as "beloved." That's a term of endearment. He wanted them to know that they were loved.

And if there was something they needed to be assured of that they could easily call into question during a season of suffering, it was the love of God. When trials come, and they do, there is the temptation to doubt or question God's love. There is an unhealthy thought that creeps in that starts to question God's care.

Do you remember when the disciples were out on the Sea of Galilee encountering a storm and Jesus was with them? And they said to Him in the midst of the storm, "Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?" Ah, they doubted His concern. Peter reminds the believers first and foremost that they are loved, but then he reminds them not to be surprised by the fiery trial. Don't think it strange.

Most of us, when we face a trial, we think, "Why would God allow this to happen? Why would God allow this to happen to me? Or where was God when this happened? Or what did I do to deserve this?" We can be easily taken by surprise. Peter said, "Don't think it strange." The word that he uses there means a sudden feeling of unexpected wonder or astonishment as to the result of the strangeness and the novelty of something, to be shocked.

Here Peter issues a command that implies the believers were at this time actually surprised by the fiery trials that had come upon them. And this command that Peter is saying quite literally is to stop thinking it strange or abnormal. Stop being shocked. It's something that we should expect. It is inevitable.

Peter uses this term "fiery trial." The image of fire is often applied to testing and persecution. Even in our modern conversation, when we are describing someone who is going through a difficult season, what do we often say? "Boy, he's really going through the fire right now. Boy, their family is really going through the fire right now. Their marriage is really going through the fire right now."

The trials that God allows can be used and are used as a refining process in our lives. Job, chapter 23, verse 10, Job said this concerning his own trials, and they were many: "But He knows the way that I take, and when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." I'm being refined right now.

The psalmist declared in Psalm 66, in verse 10: "For You, O God, have tested us; You've refined us as silver is refined." The writer of Proverbs says in chapter 17 and verse 3: "The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts." What happens in the refining process? The heat is turned up, isn't it?

You remember this was something that Peter had mentioned even at the very beginning of his letter. I mean, he started the letter off with this theme in 1 Peter, chapter 1. In verse 6, he said, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have suffered or been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to the praise and honor, glory, and at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

We often think it's strange, we think it's surprising that the Lord allows a trial to come into our life, and yet God is refining us. A trial is something that God will use in my life and in your life for His purpose and ultimately for His glory. In both the Old and New Testament of the Bible, there are often the word translated "test" means to prove by trial.

Therefore, when God allows His children to be put to the test, His purpose is to prove in one sense that our faith is real. Not to God, because He already knows everything, but more so to us. Do you remember when Jesus told the parable of the sower there in Matthew chapter 13? He talked about the different types of seed, one of which fell on stony places, and this is what He said:

"He who received the seed, that is the Word of God, on stony places, this is he who hears the word, immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, he immediately stumbles." He turns away. Don't think it's strange when trials come. Don't think it's just some random thing.

There's nothing random with God. He is absolutely, and this I find great comfort, that He is in control of my life. God never says, "Oops! Sorry about that, John, I didn't see that. Oops!" God doesn't say that. He knows what He's doing.

Charles Spurgeon said this: "God has one Son without sin, but He never had a son without a trial." So Peter writes plainly to the early church. Persecution should not surprise them. Fiery trials were inevitable. And if you're in a trial this morning, maybe you're surprised. Don't be. God is using this in your life, using it in my life, to make us more like Jesus.

The second thing that you can know about fiery trials is this, here's another principle: we are to embrace the trial, choosing to rejoice in it. It says in verse 13, Peter says, "But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you also may be glad with exceeding joy." Kind of an interesting response to trials.

Is that your natural response? "Oh, yay, a trial! Honey, look, God's given us a trial! Oh, it's so exciting what God's going to do!" We should rejoice. It's not the natural response. When Peter walked with Jesus during His earthly ministry, Peter heard Jesus teach on this very subject.

It was there on the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus was speaking those Beatitudes. There in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 10, when Jesus said something that probably shocked everyone: "Blessed, oh how happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice," Jesus said, "be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Imagine hearing that for the first time. Maybe you are hearing that for the first time. And I can see by the look on your face that is not the response I would have. Rejoice! This is so great! Later on, Peter, along with the apostles, had the opportunity to apply what they had been taught by Jesus.

The Bible tells us in Acts chapter 5 and verse 40, "And when they, that is Peter and the other apostles, had been called, they were beaten. And they commanded them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and they let them go." What was their response? Verse 41: "So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name."

They heard Jesus teach it, they then applied it to their lives, they found rejoicing in the midst of it, and now Peter's saying to the church, "This should be your response. Embrace it. Just embrace it and choose to rejoice in the midst of it." When the apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Philippians from a prison cell, you know what the theme was? Rejoice. Joy.

And he said to them in Philippians chapter 1, verse 29, "For to you," as if it was an opportunity, "for to you it's been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, oh praise Him, but also to suffer for His sake." It's been granted to you. There's a privilege you get to step into, to be identified with Jesus in this way.

When James wrote his epistle, he said much the same thing. You remember James chapter 1 and verse 2: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." Church, we can rejoice in the midst of trials because as Peter mentioned, that when—not if—they happen, God's glory will be revealed in the midst of it.

And we can therefore be glad with exceeding joy. Somehow God is going to get glory out of this. It's necessary to understand that God is not going to replace suffering with glory. Rather, He will transform suffering into glory. The greatest example of this would be in our own Savior and Lord, Jesus.

He went to the cross, and it was there at the cross that He was to be ultimately glorified. How could He be glorified in such suffering? Jesus would say in John chapter 12 and verse 23, right before the cross, He would answer and say, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified." How was He going to be glorified? In the cross. I'm going to be glorified.

When it comes to the experience of hardship, fiery trials as a Christian, you can expect them because they're part of the Christian life. If you didn't know that, it might surprise you, but don't be surprised. Secondly, we are to embrace them and choose to rejoice in the Lord in the midst of them.

But the third thing that I'd like to point out is that we are to endure the trial, knowing that we are not alone. Endure it. In verse 14, it says, "If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified."

When Peter mentions, "If you experience the reproach for the name of Christ," it meant strong verbal abuse in the form of persecution. The Jewish culture at that time considered verbal abuse to be extremely vicious. In fact, the Jewish rabbis even considered reviling someone to be as evil as idolatry, fornication, and bloodshed.

They felt that through the defamation of one's character, a person would lose his or her place within the community. The insulting word itself was believed to have power of its own. Peter said, "When this happens to you as a follower of Jesus, in those moments you can expect a blessing."

How could you expect a blessing? He said because—notice this, don't miss it—the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you in those moments. The reference here is to that of the Shekinah glory of God. You say, "What is that?" That was the glory of God that was revealed when the tabernacle was built there in Exodus chapter 40.

That tent in the wilderness, that mobile church that they would carry around as the Lord moved them throughout the desert places. And then also we see the glory of God at the temple. There at the temple in 1 Kings chapter 8, when it was dedicated to the Lord, the glory of God came in, and when it rested in the temple area and over the ark, the presence of God was so thick, it says that the priests were not even able to go in and minister because of God's presence and God's glory that rested upon that place.

We see this repeatedly throughout the Old Testament, this glory of God. It was Peter's conviction that something of that glow of glory rests upon the person who is experiencing these kinds of fiery trials. Friend, listen, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19, it says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?"

When you go through the fiery trial, why do you say, "I can embrace it? How come I can endure it?" Because I know somebody's with me. I am not alone. The Spirit of the living God is in me, upon me, beside me, leading me, guiding me, reminding me I'm not alone. He rests upon me in the midst of that.

And so maybe today you are in the midst of the worst trial you could ever imagine, and the year is just getting started. You need to know something: if you are born again today, you are not alone. The Spirit of God rests upon you, and therefore you can endure because He will provide the strength that you need to get through it, at times even feel like He's carrying you through it.

I think a tremendous example of this Spirit resting upon a person who is being reviled and persecuted in the New Testament was that of the first martyr of the church. His name was Stephen. The Bible tells us when Stephen was confronted there in Acts chapter 6, verse 15, the Bible says this concerning him: "All who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel."

I mean, just his countenance. There was something—here they are, so angry at this man, but when they looked at him, his countenance was like something was different. The Spirit of God is resting upon Stephen. And then you go into chapter 7, and you read Stephen had one message. He did one sermon, and that was the end of his career, but it was a powerful message to be sure.

He preached this sermon and it just was so convicting. And the Sanhedrin was just, every second was just—they started picking up rocks while he's teaching. People start picking up rocks. Imagine—that's a scary thought actually, with all these people here—but people start picking up rocks, and here they come.

And Stephen's still preaching. He's still preaching. He said, "You uncircumcised of heart and mind, you do always resist the Holy Spirit, just like your fathers do." They're like, "All right, that's it! That's it!" And then they're about to pelt him with rocks, and they did.

But here's what it says: "When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart," Acts chapter 7. "They gnashed at him with their teeth, but he, being full of what? The Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing." Jesus was seated on His throne, now He's standing, welcoming the first martyr into glory.

"I see Him standing at the right hand of God. And look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Oh, Stephen being persecuted and suffering in a tremendous fiery trial, the Spirit of God rested upon him. He was not alone. He endured, and he was ushered into the presence of the Lord.

My point is this, friend: when we go through the fiery trial, we are not alone. The Lord will never leave us. He will never forsake us. Think back to the book of Daniel in chapter 3. Do you remember the three Hebrew young men that said—Nebuchadnezzar said, "If you don't bow to this statue, you're going to be burned in the fire, literally. We have a furnace prepared for you."

And they said, "King, we're not going to bow." And he was so furious that the Bible says he heated it seven times hotter than it already was. And took those men, bound them, and then when the guards went to throw them in, the guards were incinerated. They were burned alive. They threw them in, and then Nebuchadnezzar just—"I'm going to watch these guys fry."

And he just stood there and he said, "Hey, real quick, how many people—how many guys did we—one, two, there was three, right? We threw three in there?" "Yeah, three." He said, "I see four in the fire." And he said, "The fourth one is like the Son of God." And then Nebuchadnezzar had to ask them to come out.

"Come out of the fire!" He had to call them out. And they came out of the fire, and the Bible tells us that the only thing that was burned were the ropes that held them. And it says their clothes didn't even smell like smoke. Why is that? Because there was someone with them in the fire.

And friend, you and I need to know today, we need to be reminded that the Lord is with us if you're in the midst of your own fire. Isaiah 43 says it this way, so powerful. It says, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

You can endure, I can endure, because I know the Spirit of God rests upon me, rests upon you. Jesus said, "I'll send you another Helper, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. He will come alongside you. He'll strengthen you. He'll remind you of everything I've told you."

Whenever you're facing a fiery trial, expect it. Don't be surprised by it; it's part of the Christian life. Embrace it. Choose to rejoice in the Lord because He's going to receive glory. Endure it, knowing that you're not alone. But fourth, examine the trials. Examine the trials to be certain of the reason.

It says in verse 15, "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a busybody." Isn't that interesting that he has busybody in there? "Murderer, thief, busybody." Make sure to write that down. Busybody in other people's matters. "Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian," you might want to underscore that, "as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter."

When it comes to trials, there are the ones that the Lord allows for our good, and others that we can create by our bad decisions. The disciples went into the storm on the Sea of Galilee because Jesus told them to get in the boat and to go to the other side. That was in obedience to His command, a storm perhaps of refining.

And yet, Jonah went into a storm because he tried to run away from God. He did the exact opposite of what God said to do and encountered the chastening of the Lord. Peter says, "Hey, when you're going through a trial, make sure that you're not suffering for the wrong thing and then claiming, 'Oh, I'm being persecuted!'"

Actually, that's not persecution. "I can't believe it. I was late to work because I was in prayer. My boss wrote me up. Persecution!" No, you were late. You were late. Just those kinds of things. And that's a terrible example, but you understand. These are just, "Oh, I'm being persecuted." No, you're doing what you're not supposed to do. So examine it.

[Guest (Male)] Pastor John Randall is leading us through the Bible right now on A Daily Walk. And I'd imagine some of you would like to hear this message again. Maybe you joined us late. Go online to adailywalk.org and have a listen when it's most convenient. Or listen wherever you get your podcasts and at oneplace.com.

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Well, our time together sure goes by quickly, doesn't it? We'll pick up where we left off in our through the Bible study next time. This has been A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall, where you'll never have to walk alone. This program is made possible through your generosity and brought to you by Calvary South OC.