Share in Christ’s Sufferings | 1 Peter 4:12-19 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 03/22/2026

This morning, we're going to be diving

back into our letter of first Peter or

God's letter of first Peter to us. It's

a letter written to elect exiles that

are spread around the Mediterranean

world and through the ages to us. Last

week, we looked at God Cares um freedom

from anxiety. God cares, freedom from

anxiety. We took that one out of out of

our normal progression. We jumped over

into chapter five. I'm not sure why all

God had us do that, but he did

apparently. And this morning, we're

going back to our normal progression of

First Peter chapter 4, and we're going

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

to be looking at sharing in Christ's

sufferings. Sharing in Christ's

sufferings. And I want you to look at

that um title there for a little bit.

It's on the top of your page. Um share

in Christ's sufferings. Um,

you know, through the ages,

especially in the last hundred years,

there has been a tendency

to candy coat things.

And I almost went and got a few

um uh pictures of candy apples. Have you

ever had a candy apple before?

Um, and used to when I was a kid, it was

just candy apples were usually what

color? What was the color of the candy?

Red, right? Red. Usually you'd go to the

fair and you'd see it and you'd pull on

your dad and say, "Can I have one of

those?" You know, and he would say, "No,

it'll rot your teeth." And you'd say,

"Can I have one of them?" And eventually

he, you know, maybe would give in. And

then they got more creative and there's

all kinds of coating all over, all kinds

of colors, all kinds of candy on it. And

um did you ever bite into one of those

three or four days later and it was a

little rotten? Yeah.

Well, I've thought about the fact that

there are movements, trends, there are

churches that candycoat Christianity.

And while the true gospel is never

rotten, the true gospel is healthy and

good and right. And the true gospel in

it own on its own stands for what it is.

There's many times when people feel like

they need to dress it up or they need to

dumb it down.

And if you're going to teach through

books of the Bible, you're going to come

across, you know, the next passage. And

the next passage has to be dealt with.

And the next passage is what forces you

to look at the true reality of what all

God's word says. In fact, Jesus said,

"Go and make disciples." And he said his

last instructions were baptizing them in

the name of the father, the son, and the

holy spirit. And then he says, "Teaching

them by candy coating all of the things

that I told you." Is that what he says?

>> Make it really attractive. you know,

make it palatable to the sinful heart.

That's not what Jesus said. Jesus said,

teaching them everything I have

commanded you. And so this morning, this

is one of those passages where if we

were trying to candy coat Christianity,

we would not teach this one.

We would not preach these verses

because they're confusing in a way. In a

way, you're like, "Wait a minute. You're

encouraging me to come follow Jesus and

telling me that that's going to be

really hard. And not only is it going to

be sometimes really hard, but I'm

supposed to rejoice in it?

What's wrong with you people?

Who rejoices in suffering?"

Well, this is how the gospel flips human

life upside down. This is how a sinful

world is broken and doesn't understand

the true values of God. And when we come

to passages like this, we can begin to

see the true Christianity

without any blemish.

And we get to look at a deeper view of

what God calls us to. And so it's my

hope this morning that you are

encouraged by this. In fact, this

message this morning may expose

in your heart perhaps something that is

missing

in your relationship with the Lord. It

might expose something that you have

been avoiding.

It might expose something that you have

been afraid of. It might it may expose

something that has been a deficiency in

your life. And when you see it, you can

come and you can embrace it and

experience a richer relationship with

Jesus. I hope and pray that that is the

effect of this. I hope and pray that God

does this in your heart. Notice with me

1 Peter 4:es 12- 19. Are you ready to be

stretched a little bit? Are you ready?

>> Okay, that was very weak. Are you ready

to be stretched a little bit?

>> All right, let's read it. Here we go.

Verse 12. Behold,

do not be surprised at the fiery trial

when it comes upon you to test you. Did

you feel that?

That little stretching? What do you

mean? Don't be surprised at the fiery

trial. F. Can you circle those two

words? fiery trial. That's pretty vivid

language.

I mean, the refiner's fire is what we

start to see here.

Do not be surprised at the fiery trial

when it comes upon you. What does it

say? To test you as though something

strange were happening to you.

But rejoice in so far as you share

Christ's sufferings. That's a strange

statement.

That you may also rejoice and be glad

when his glory is revealed. So this is

talking about it's rejoicing in his

sufferings now, but it's also rejoicing

in his sufferings because it's going to

lead to experiencing

him and experiencing the rejoy when his

glory is revealed. If you see, the first

time he came riding on a donkey, a a

beast of burden. The first time he came

rejected by men. When he comes again, he

will come on a great white horse. He

will come from the heavens. He will come

with a trumpet blast of royalty. He will

come as the reigning king, not the

suffering servant.

And so that's what it says here in verse

13. But rejoice in so far as you share

Christ's sufferings, that you may also

rejoice and be glad. What does it say?

Read it. When his glory is revealed.

Verse 14. If you are insulted for the

name of Christ, you are blessed because

the spirit of glory and of God rests on

you. Verse 15. But let none of you

suffer as a murderer or a thief or as an

evildoer or as a meddler.

Verse 16. Yet if anyone suffers as a

Christian, let him not be ashamed, 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? Verse

18, he quotes from Proverbs 11.

If the righteous is scarcely saved, what

will become of the ungodly and the

sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer

according to God's will entrust their

souls to a what? faithful

>> a faithful creator while doing good.

Okay. Number one, do not be dis do not

be surprised by suffering. It is part of

God's design. It is part of God's design

in a fallen world. It's just his plan.

This is amazing. He's saying don't don't

be surprised. Now, notice this. This is

this is written to Christians.

It says beloved. These are brothers and

sisters. These are the people that he

loves in his in his they have received

the gospel. Now, a lot of what we'll see

and we'll see this as we go on in this

passage. There's a lot of different

reasons to suffer here. We see this is

written two people listen to this very

important who have realized that their

only hope of salvation is the fact that

Jesus was the Messiah and he died as a

sacrifice for our sins. He was God in

the flesh came walked among us in the

man of Jesus Christ and then he was

crucified on a cross similar to the size

and the look of that one a little bit.

He was crucified on a cross all the way

unto death, mocked, scorned, rejected by

everyone. Everyone flees from around

him. And then he's laid in a tomb and he

is raised again by the power of God as

if to say sacrifice accepted. He was the

perfect lamb of God. These are people

who believed in that. They were not

confused thinking my good works are

going to save me. going to Sheridan

Hills is going to save me. Being a good

guy, being a good daughter, being a good

mother, being a good father is not going

to save me. It's all found in Jesus

Christ. So, it's it's about grace, not

good works. Now, the good works come

after we are saved in this, but it's

we're not going to be saved through good

works. This these are the people who

received this message. Beloved

Christians, true Christians trusting in

Jesus, don't be surprised at the fiery

trial. See, here's part of the problem.

Number one here, many are surprised by

suffering.

There's a lot of Christians that when

suffering comes, they're shocked.

when suffering comes and this is really

for the most part let's clarify the most

of the the suffering that is talked

about in this passage is the p is the

suffering of persecution this isn't just

suffering with cancer this isn't just

suffering with a car wreck this isn't

just suffering with financial troubles

or a difficulty in a relation this is

this is typically talking about those

who are being persecuted because they

are a Christian. We have people in this

room, mentioned it last Sunday. We have

people in this room that this week have

been this last week have been persecuted

for their faith. Their children have

laughed at them. Their children have

rejected them or their parents have

given them a hard time. They've gotten

eye rolls at work. Um there's people in

this church that have lost their jobs

because of their Christian faith. Um so

it's not totally maybe you haven't. Um,

but there's even in America where we

have a freedom of religion, there's

still other ways to be persecuted. Now,

this is not we we wouldn't want to

equate that persecution really with the

persecution, listen to this, of Iranian

Christians.

Some of the people that have been

recently murdered in Iran are are

believers and they were um maybe

resisting this regime that is there,

maybe not. But we have reports that some

of them were targeted out as getting rid

of some Christians.

Um, in fact, one of the young men who

was executed this week had a cross

tattooed on his neck. Now, in a Muslim

country, you just don't do that.

So, whether he was a Christian or not, I

don't know. But I do know that that

report was made.

We're talking about real persecution

here. We're talking about persecution

for the name of Christ. We're talking

about a cost from identifying with

Christ. And here one of the first things

that we can notice this is in this is

that we are called not to be surprised

by this. And notice the next part here

suffering is not strange for the

Christian life. And what is the opposite

of strange? something that's strange

would be normal or common. And so we

could say that suffering actually for

the name of Christ would be common.

Notice this. This fits the whole letter.

He's talking about exiles. You're not

citizens of this world. You're citizens

of heaven that are still making it

through this world. In in chapter 1 6,

we are grieved by various trials. So

sometimes it is the cancer or the car

wreck, but sometimes it is also the

persecution for faith in Jesus or

identification with Christ. Notice this

that God is not absent.

He is not absent in the suffering. He is

confirming. He's building. He's refining

your faith. That's what his work in this

is doing. He is wise enough and he's

good enough that he knows how to refine

you and your faith in him. How to grow

your faith in him. Now, what's also

interesting here is Jesus had a lot to

say about the fill it in about the

reality that his followers would suffer.

He had a lot to say about that. And I

just want us to see just three passages

though as you see down here at the very

bottom that there's many other passages

um in fact even more than I've listed

here about this. But look at Matthew

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16 and be ready to kind of help

me with this a little bit. Look at

Matthew chapter 16 in verse 24 and 25.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Jesus says this. If anyone would come

after me, let him what?

>> Deny.

>> Deny himself. Wow.

not promote himself,

not take care of himself, but let him

deny himself. And then what does it say

after that? And take up his cross and

follow me. That's like saying, go get

your electric chair and bring it with

you.

This is the place of ultimate rejection

of self.

Jesus is calling his disciples to follow

him

in the willingness to to forego our own

experience for the honor of Christ. Look

at Luke 14 and verse 27. And this is

this is a longer verse here than this,

but you can go back and look at 27-33.

Jesus would eventually say this. Whoever

does not bear his own cross and come

after me, what does he say after that?

>> Cannot be my disciple.

Wow.

Look at John 15. John 15 is one of my

favorite chapters of the Bible

in for a lot of reasons. But look at

John 15. He says, "If the world hates

you, know that it has hated me before it

hated you.

If you were of the world, the world

would love you as its own. But because

you are not of the world, but I chose

you out of the world, therefore the

world hates you."

Remember the word that I said to you, "A

servant is not greater than his master."

Read it out loud. If they persecuted me,

they will also persecute you. If they've

kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Now, both of those are helpful to us.

That we we should not look I mean, and

so Jesus Jesus is laying the groundwork

here before Peter would ever write these

words. decades before Jesus uh before

Peter would write 1 Peter chapter 4, he

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

is remembering back to everything that

Jesus said. And Jesus was saying they're

going to come after you and they're

going to come after you on account of me

and you can rejoice and you can be glad

about that because as you share in my

sufferings and my rejection, you will

share in my glory. This is an amazing

identification that God calls us to. And

so we should not be surprised. We just

shouldn't be surprised when difficulties

come. Okay? So notice this. The human

assumption versus the biblical reality.

Okay? I like I like comparisons. I like

charts. They help me a little bit.

Notice this. The human assumption is

this. If you're suffering, then God is

against you because he's all powerful.

He can do what he want. He The mountains

are his, the valleys are his. The stars

are his handiwork, too. My God is so

big, so strong, and so able. There's

nothing my God cannot do. Then why am I

suffering?

Well, um, God must be against me. Well,

no. We're going to see something

different about that here in just a

minute. You see, if you have ease, if

life is really good, then you have God's

favor.

But if you have hardship, then you have

God's punishment. That's the way humans

think. That's our economy of scale.

That's very often how we um seek to

helicopter parent our own children.

How about this? Biblical reality sets a

different tone. Biblical reality shows

us that suffering for righteousness in a

fallen world means that God is actually

with you.

God is with you, not against you. Amen.

>> Faithful suffering often means deeper

favor with God.

>> Deeper favor. So when when you suffer

for the name of Christ, you can

understand that God is God is saying,

"Man, you are with me and I I have great

things for you as you share in my

sufferings." How about this? Here's the

alternative. This is what God is

actually doing. It's refinement. We can

even say it's sunship. This means uh

that you're related to him.

This is this is yours. You're your you

are his refinement, sunship and

participation

in Christ.

And so some of you are sitting here

thinking, "Ooh, I don't know why I came

to this church. If this is what they

teach, if I can get out of here before

the suffering begins, that would be

great.

But let's just let's just see what God's

word says. Now, we go on to verses 13

and 14. And by the way, that's what

expository preaching does. If you're new

to this, you see the point that is of

this number two, but it comes from

verses 13 and 14. And so, we want to see

where it comes from. But look at number

two. Rejoice in suffering.

It means you share in Christ.

This is this is what we see right out of

the verse. Look what it says in verse

13. But rejoice in so far as you share

Christ's sufferings that you may also

rejoice and be glad when his glory is

revealed. If you are insulted for the

name of Christ, underline it. You are

what?

>> Blessed. because the spirit of God,

excuse me, the spirit of glory and of

God rests upon you. So what we see

clearly in these passages that suffering

means participation,

not punishment. So we're participating

with Christ in what he has done. And the

present reality is this is that the

spirit rests on you. That's what we see

in verse 14. Look what it says in verse

14. If you are insulted for the name of

Christ, you are blessed because what?

The spirit of glory and of God rests on

you. Now, that is exactly the opposite

thinking that Satan would love for you

to think when your friends reject you

because of Christ or when you are mocked

because of Christ

or when you you are you are concerned

about the fact that something might go a

little sideways if you don't go do what

everybody else is doing or you don't if

you don't give your approval of

something. And so you're you're

graciously lovingly not trying to be

obnoxious, but you're just you're

graciously withholding that from maybe

um a family member or a friend that uh

knows that you disagree and then they

turn with venom and they attack you

for that. And and you would be tempted

to think this isn't going well. God must

not be in this.

But what these passages are showing us

that this may be the very thing that God

is going to use to reveal his glory to

them.

So the present re reality is is that

Christ the spirit rests on you. The

future promise is that there's greater

joy at Christ's return.

That as we said Jesus comes in the form

of a baby. He comes in uh utter humility

born into a cow stall. He grows up as a

man rejected by everyone just except for

a few disciples that are around him.

Everyone is constantly harassing him,

disagreeing with him. He comes to his

own nation, his own people. They reject

him. And then what we see is they reject

him even unto Holy Week. And and when we

come up on the crucifixion, Jesus enters

Jerusalem

with the crowds all around him. And he

enters Jerusalem on a young donkey,

a beast of burden that is weak.

Jesus enters in not as a reigning king,

but as a humble servant.

And he knows that in just a few days

time they're going to crucify me.

And so he's going to experience them

saying hosana. Hosana to the son of

David. They think that he's going to be

an earthly deliverer. They think that

he's going to deliver them from Rome and

all of their economic problems. But

instead, he knows, "No, I'm not going

for the Roman Empire. I'm going for your

sinful heart.

That's what I'm going to deliver you

from. And you don't even want that.

>> But that's the true meaning of what

we're about to celebrate at Passion

Week.

This beautiful picture of God's deeper

joy that is going to eventually come

back as the reigning king. The scripture

says that he will come again as a

reigning king. Notice this. Suffering is

actually a gift of grace. Suffering is

actually a gift of grace. Some of you

say, "Well, I can I can I avoid that

gift. Please, please don't give me that

gift."

No. Listen, you believe me, you want it.

If you if you know the Lord, if you love

the Lord, this is not something for you

to be to be avoiding.

This is something for you to see the

reality of it and embrace it. Look at

Philippians 1:29. For it has been

Philippians 1:29

granted. You see, that's like a

privilege.

When you ask for a grant, you're asking

for something good, right? For it has

been granted to you that for the sake of

Christ, you should not only believe in

him. Okay, we like that. I believe in

Jesus. I like that. And then the

sentence ends with but also what?

>> Suffer for his sake. This is for his

name, for his reputation, for his glory.

And so there's a lot of times when we

just want all the benefits and none of

the costs.

How about this next one? Not only is it

a gift of grace, but it's also suffering

is actually a path to glory.

And in Romans 8:17, we see that we are

Romans 8:17

hes of God and fellowairs with Christ,

provided

we suffer with him in order that we may

also be what?

>> glorified with him. So here's a

different book of the Bible, a different

author, and he's saying the same thing.

By the way, the Bible fits together like

lock and key,

and you you can trust all of scripture.

It fits together perfectly. But notice

it's the same thing. Provided we suffer

with him in order that we may also be

what? Glorified with him.

>> Look at the last bullet point there.

Suffering in persecution is actually

blessing,

not rejection by God. And we see this in

the sermon on the mount. This is Matthew

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. Jesus is preaching in the

sermon on the mount. And look what he

says. Blessed are you when others, what

does it say there?

>> revile you and persecute you and utter

all kinds of evil against you falsely on

my account. Verse 12, underline it.

Rejoice and be glad for your reward in

heaven. For your reward is great in

heaven. For so they persecuted the

prophets who were before you. Now, that

last phrase, for so they persecuted the

prophets before you, he's saying it's

always been this way. In a fallen world

for thousands of years, before I ever

came as the Messiah, all of those that I

sent that God is speaking, all of those

that I sent to preach to you, to declare

to you the ways of God, you rejected.

You you you either ignored them, you

stoned them. Only a few of the prophets

were ever listened to. But God was

constantly and patiently bringing to

them a warning. Bringing to them a

warning to turn from your wicked ways

and turn to God. Look to God. And of

course, our human hearts don't want to

do that. And God's found way after way

after way through prophet after prophet

after prophet. And every single time we

see ultimately a rejection of their

message until Jesus, the final prophet

would come and fulfill the Lord's plan

for our redemption. So this is not about

a rejection. This is about blessing.

This is entering into. So when you are

when you are persecuted as a Christian,

you can say, "Wow, I'm kind of in league

with Elijah.

I'm in league with Jeremiah.

I am in league with the others who have

also been rejected. I'm in league with

the disciples.

I am in league with Peter who was

crucified, who wrote this at the end of

his life." Notice this. Number three,

make sure your suffering is for

righteousness,

not sin. Now, I want to remind you that

First Peter, all through First Peter,

though it's a a great letter of

encouragement, listen to this. It's also

a reminder. Hey, if you really are a

Christian,

act like it. If you're really a

Christian, live like it. You can't just

run through the traffic of South Florida

flipping everybody off.

You can't just go sleep with whoever you

want to sleep with. You can't just go

click on whatever you want to click on

and just vent your beastly lust wherever

you want to. You can't just say

whatever's on your mind. You're to be a

person who is reigning in the flesh

through the power of Jesus Christ,

through the power of the Holy Spirit.

You're living differently than a fallen

and broken world because you've been

saved to live differently. Peter is

reminding the people who are reading his

letter, act like a a Christian.

Don't talk like everybody else. Don't

don't look like everybody else. Don't

think like everybody else in

ungodliness.

So now part of what he's saying here is

if you're going to suffer, make sure

it's not because of stupid sin.

Make sure it's because of Christ because

that's what'll be rewarded.

Look at this in verse 15. Look what it

says. But let none of you suffer as a

murderer or a thief. And then these last

two are interesting. Or as an evildoer.

Doesn't that kind of wrap up everybody

else as an evildoer?

This is a crook. This is a gossip. Um

when we look at meddler,

somebody who meddled yet, you know, have

you ever

we talk about this in starting point, we

talk about the fact that our church is

committed to unity.

Our church is committed to Yes. Because

we go back to a very interesting passage

that says, "Consider how to stir one

another up

to love and good deeds." Now, that

phrase stir one another up is usually

stirring one another up to what?

Anger and hostility. And we talk about

this very often um in starting point.

Um, some of you have people that you

work with. Some of you have family

members who like to stir stuff.

Some of you have somebody in your family

that doesn't mind stirring something

and they bring about conflict with

others

and they show up stirring and you're

like, "Oh, I know what that comment

meant."

I will tell you this. I have a brother

and a sister. We love my mom and dad.

All three of us are kind of engaged and

taking care of mom and dad at one degree

or another right now. Kelly is in town.

And and even this week, something

happened that I went, "Ooh, that that

didn't quite go right." Okay, whatever.

And I thought the c the thought went

across my mind. I could say that. Oh,

but you know, the next thought was that

would cause Kelly to think ill of Mark.

I probably shouldn't say that. And then

my evil heart, you know what it said?

But I could.

How wicked is that?

How wicked would it be if I recognized

that I could say something that would

cause my sister to think uh just that

that there would be a little a

little

dingum. I could I could ding him.

I want us to see that that's evil.

That's evil. So, a medddler is somebody

that

provokes

dissension, provokes. And that could be

with a co-orker. That could be with a

neighbor. I mean, you could be standing

there and go, "Yeah, CAN YOU BELIEVE

THAT GUY? ARE YOU GOING TO LET HIM DO

THAT TO YOU? I mean, look what he did to

your fence. I mean, look at, you know,

and and you could stir somebody up.

So, what we see in this passage,

he's saying, if you're going to suffer,

don't let it be, okay, murderer is

obvious. You're not supposed to do that.

Thief, okay, that's obvious. You

shouldn't steal. But an evildoer, that

could be anything. That could be

anything sexual. That could be anything

uh business-wise. That could be an

evildoer is somebody who's just doing

that which is wrong. Or even down to

this medddler thing. This this person

who's not a peacemaker.

What kind of person are you? Maybe

you're the medddler.

Are you the medddler?

He's saying if you're going to suffer,

make sure it's not because of those

things. Look at verse 16. Yet if anyone

suffers as a Christian, let him not be

ashamed, but let him glorify God in that

name. So what we recognize here is not

all suffering is equal. There's a

distinction. There's suffering because

of sin

and there is suffering for Christ. Now,

if we're suffering because of sin, quite

honestly, it's deserved and it is

shameful.

But if we're suffering for Christ, it is

honorable.

It's the opposite of shameful. It's

honorable that you're honoring the Lord.

So our response, what these verses are

saying to us is is that our response

should it's not about reason for shame,

but instead it's reason to glorify God.

that he is doing a work through your

standing with him.

Look at 1 Peter 3:17. We studied this a

1 Peter 3:17

few weeks ago, um, several weeks ago,

actually a couple of months ago, and

because we've been working through First

Peter and back in chapter 3:1 17, read

it out loud together with me. For it is

better to suffer for doing good than for

doing evil. He's already said it once,

so now he's saying it again in this

context. He's reminding them,

don't live ungodly lives in Hollywood,

in Broward, in Dade. He's saying, don't

live ungodly lives. As Christians, live

godly lives. Look at Acts 5:40. And this

Acts 5:40

is really interesting, and you can see

it on the screen in front of you. Right

below the fi chapter 5:40 I put when

Peter and the apostles were hauled

before the council. This is very early

in the explosion of the church and the

growth of the church. The council the

Jewish council galial and the others

called them in called Peter in and the

apostles in and they said you you are

doing the wrong thing. You're stirring

up the people. We've told you not to

preach in his name. They they had a

whole council there and then they send

them out so they can counsel and

deliberate among themselves. And after

they deliberate among themselves as the

council, then they bring the apostles

back in. So look at this is where it

picks up in verse 40. And when they had

called in the apostles, what does it

say?

>> They beat them

and charged them not to speak in the

name of Jesus. and let them go. Verse

41. Then they left the presence of the

council. Read it out loud. Rejoicing

that they were counted worthy to suffer

dishonor for the name. Isn't that cool?

They They're beaten and released and

they go away with a very different

attitude that many. You see, they didn't

go away shocked GOING, "CAN YOU BELIEVE

THEY DID THAT TO US? WHERE IS JESUS?

WHERE I mean I mean Jesus said, "Call

upon me when you need me." Where was he?

The rods were heart painful.

And and here they go. Oh, no, no, no. We

get it. We totally get it. These people

right now are rejecting the Lord Jesus.

We have had an opportunity to proclaim

the Lord Jesus. Their flesh hates him.

Their flesh hates this message. But one

day, one day some of them may believe.

And here's here's the very interesting

thing. What we see in the scripture and

especially listen to this. Christian

history tells us that many many people

on that council wound up becoming

followers of Jesus.

And part of what preached the gospel to

them was that there was Peter and these

other apostles that endured persecution,

endured hardship, and they would have

come away going, why would they go

through all of this?

Why why would they stand in this? This

guy is gone. Jesus is in their mind

dead.

Why would they continue to follow him?

and they they continue steadfastly

following him, saying, "You can do

whatever you want to me, but I'm still

going to preach in the name of Jesus."

Well, that begs the question, why? And

as they do, God uses that. Look what it

says in verse 42. And every day,

underline it, in the temple. So, they

kept going back to the temple when the

council told them not to. And every day

in the temple and from house to house,

look what it says. They did not cease

teaching and pro and preaching that the

Christ is Jesus. The Christ means the

Messiah, the anointed one is Jesus. They

they just kept right on saying, "Hey,

the Messiah that we've been waiting for,

it's Jesus." Not just that it was Jesus,

it is Jesus cuz he's not dead.

This is beautiful. This is getting us

ready for Passion Week. This is getting

getting us ready for Easter. Look at 1

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Peter chapter 2 and verse 20. If when

you do good and suffer for it you

endure, this is a gracious thing in the

sight of God.

God sees it when you stand with him. You

see, fill it in. God is pleased with

righteous suffering. That's what it is.

He's pleased with righteous suffering.

Okay, last page number four. Let's see

something else from verses 17 and verses

18. Look at number four. Understand

suffering as God's refining judgment of

his people. So why does he do it? Why

does he allow it? It's because God is

refining.

It's he's refining. He's not saving us

from judgment. He's saving us through

judgment. We talked about that. Noah and

the ark. the the the the ark went

through the flood, but God I is refining

us through the hardship. He's refining

us through the hardship. Look at verse

17. For it is time for judgment to begin

at the household of God. And if it

brings with us, what will be the outcome

for those who do not obey the gospel?

Verse 18, he says, "And if the righteous

is scarcely saved," and this is quoted

from Proverbs chap 11, "What will become

of the ungodly and the sinner?" So Peter

is is hearkening back to the Old

Testament and he's saying God is at

work. You see, judgment here means

purifying, not condemning.

Judgment is purifying. You want the

righteous judgments of God. He's at

work. You want the righteous judgments

of God so long as the blood of Christ is

in the equation. Um because God is at

work. Notice this. God refineses his own

first. Judgment begins in the household

of God. God's people are called to be

holy.

We see that in Ezekiel 9, Malachi 3. You

ought to go look that up this afternoon.

Right out there to the side. Homework.

You ought to go look those up and study

those. There's other places in Amos as

well on that. But here's the argument.

If believers are refined through

suffering, how much more serious for the

unbelieving?

So if they don't have the blood of

Christ covering them, they are going to

experience the judgment of God with no

grace and no help.

Now verse 18 is interesting. Look what

it says. If the righteous is scarcely

saved,

what will become of the ungodly and the

sinner? You say, "Does that mean we're

saved by the skin of our teeth?" The

righteous, those who have been declared

righteous in Christ. Does that mean that

we're just barely saved? Not at all.

Look at verse 18 in the in your notes

here. Scarcely saved or the Greek word

of that m is this. It means with great

difficulty. If we are saved with great

difficulty, this means a very high price

and not only a high price but a deep

process

with great difficulty. A high price was

paid through a deep process. And the

idea is this. The righteous are saved

through the great work of the Godhead or

the Trinity. And this is if you're new

to studying the Bible at all, notice how

this works. There's God the Father, God

the Son, and God the Spirit. This is the

Trinity. One God in three persons. It's

not three gods. It's one God in three

persons. Don't try to figure it out.

You'll blow a fuse. Just accept it.

Okay? One God in three persons. But God

the Father orchestrates the plan, sends

the Son, and calls out his chosen one.

That's God's role in this. God the Son

becomes a man in perfect obedience. He

suffers. He lays down his perfect life

dying in our place. And then notice

this, God the Spirit. He convicts and

empowers us to what?

>> To believe and seals us in God's

salvation. So, Father, Son, and Spirit

are all at work in saving us. And that's

part of what verse 18 is talking about.

If the righteous are saved with much

difficulty, what will become of the

ungodly and the sinner? The picture is

this is that they are utterly lost

without salvation. And that is a very

very precarious place to be in a great

place of judgment without grace.

Hebrews 12:es 6-7 says this, "For the

Lord disciplines those he loves."

So when he's disciplin disciplining us,

when he's saving us through the troubles

in and chastising us, he is loving us.

Malachi 2 or Malachi 3:es 2 and 3, who

can stand when he appears? For he will

be like a what does it say there? a

refiner's fire. What is the refiner's

fire? It's the person who is working

with gold or silver or other precious

metals. And what does he do? The

refiner's fire heats up. Heats up

greatly. They would use bellows to

provide lots of oxygen. And the fire

would get hotter and hotter and hotter

until the gold would melt. And not only

would the gold melt, but when the gold

would melt, the gold has a higher

specific gravity. If you remember back

to your chemistry and physical science

days, and the gold sinks to the bottom

and the lighter alloys or the lighter me

metals and impurities rise to the top.

And so that only happens under great and

sustained heat. And when there's great

and sustained heat, the true gold

settles down to the bottom. The

impurities rise to the top and the

refiner pours those impurities off so

that what is left is a more pure gold.

Now, that is what God is doing even in

our suffering. That is what God is

doing. He is he's working out of us

the things that we are likely to hold on

to instead of him. He's working out of

us the affections of our heart that are

not of him.

The refiner's fire is not a thing to

dread and to hate but to embrace because

there is a great glory that comes from

that.

Finally, notice verse 19. Number five,

notice this. What do we do with all of

this? This is where we end today. We you

entrust yourself to God and keep doing

good. That's what Peter says to do.

Entrust yourself to God in the suffering

and keep doing good. Look at verse 19.

I'd like to ask everyone to read verse

19 out loud with me. Let's read it

together. Therefore, let those who

suffer according to God's will entrust

their souls to a faithful creator while

doing good. Do you see that? We are to

entrust yourself to God and keep doing

good. That's where the verse ends. While

doing good. You see, one of the things

that we can see this in this verse is

suffering is according to the will of

God.

Now, there's some people who their

theology is so weak and their

understanding of God's grand purposes is

so benign and weak that they cannot

imagine that God would want any of his

children to suffer.

And you'd say, "Well, I I just I don't

know if I could love God if I knew that

God would see me suffer and not do

anything about it." My friends, listen.

No. God loves you enough to allow you

sometimes to suffer.

>> He loves you enough to do that. And I

realize that that may be an a crisis of

faith for you for a little while. I just

pray that you'll come on through that

crisis and see all the rest of scripture

that says and shows that he is good and

his intentions toward you are good. And

this is part of what faith is. You're

learning to trust him.

You're learning to trust him with the

pain. You're learning to trust him with

the thing you don't want. You're

learning to trust him with the injury

that he is at work and you you you come

to him in faith. This is without faith

it's impossible to please him but with

faith all things are possible. This is

amazing. God calls you to trust him. See

two responses that we are called to

trust God because he is a faithful

creator and keep obeying. The idea is

this. While doing good, you keep doing

the right thing. And all of this ties

back to first Peter chapter 2. We

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

already studied that a few months ago.

He continu Jesus here. It's speaking of

Jesus. He continued entrusting himself

to him. That's the father who judges

justly.

So Jesus himself did this. He entrusted

himself to God in 1 Peter chapter 3

1 Peter 3:17

verse 17. And the whole picture is in

suffering for doing good.

So I know some of you are thinking, I

can't wait to get out of here. I don't

want to be a Christian like that. These

people talk about suffering. These

people talk about embracing it. These

people talk about not avoid. Now I'm not

saying you go out there and be odd for

God. So people who will mistreat you.

Don't be your own martyr.

If we're going to be someone's martyr,

let's be Christ's martyr.

And that means be loving. Be caring. Be

clear. No doubt about it. Don't don't go

out there and try to generate some type

of persecution so you can feel better

about your own faith. That that's not

the picture here. When you are honestly

living for Christ in righteousness

and suffering comes, you you just accept

that as God is at work and you pray for

those. This is why Jesus would say,

"Pray for those who persecute you." Now,

I want you to think about the apostles

in that council. That council of all

those Jewish leaders were sitting there

condemning them. Said, "Do not do not

preach in Jesus' name." And then they

beat them to say we really mean it and

next time we may kill you like we did

Jesus. And then they sent him out and

they went out rejoicing in his name. Now

Jesus told those same apostles, "Pray

for those who persecute you." I want you

to imagine with me that they probably

did that. They probably went back to the

homes and to the places where they were

with the believers that they were with

and they prayed for those who persecuted

them. And then what do we see a few

months later over the next couple of

years? We see a bunch of those council

members become Christians.

This is amazing. God is at work.

God is saving through the suffering.

Look at Psalm 31 and verse 5.

In fact, Jesus

while on the cross,

his last words in Luke 23 and verse 46,

look what it says. Into your hands I

commit my spirit.

That's what Jesus quoted

from the word of God when he was giving

up his life for us.

Into your hands I commit my spirit. Can

you say that to God?

Lord, into your hands I commit my

spirit. You say, "Well, I'm not dying

yet." No. It's a good thing to do that

now while you're alive and to continue

to do that. into your hands, Lord, I

commit my life. And maybe if you do that

a lot now, while you're alive, when

you're on your deathbed over there on

Memorial or over there on 39th Street or

wherever it is that when you're there,

then you can say with joy, "Into your

hands, Lord, I commit my spirit."

>> You see, when we live in faith, we can

die in faith. And what we can do in that

is experience the great glory that is to

come. And so this is a beautiful picture

of what God is doing in this passage. So

this is a great passage that reminds us

of not a candy-coated Christianity but a

very real glory that God himself has

sanctioned for us. Look at the

reflections and the meditation and the

application of this.

Number one, when you think about the

idea of suffering for Christ, what are

your thoughts and what are your

emotions? That would be a good thing for

you to think about this week.

There is a line there

that's left for you to think about these

things.

I want to encourage you to go home as a

husband and as a wife or to go home as

an individual or go home as a family and

talk about this and to think about this.

When you think about the idea of

suffering for Christ, what are your

thoughts

and how do you feel?

Number two, in light of this passage,

how should you pray about your

willingness to identify with Christ

even in his sufferings?

How should you pray about that? I want

to encourage you to go think about that.

Ask the Lord, Lord, how should I pray

about this?

And number three,

what can you begin, circle it, doing

now? What can you begin doing now to

grow in your maturity of faith

and honoring Christ?

I believe that God wants us to put this

sermon into action. Amen.

>> Let's stand together for prayer.

Look at the title in front of you. Share

in Christ's sufferings.

Let's pray.

Father, I thank you

that you know exactly what we need to

hear. Last Sunday, you knew that we

needed to hear about anxiety.

Maybe anxiety before we hear about

suffering.

Because so often we allow suffering to

produce anxiety.

Lord, I pray that we would be the kind

of people that

love your word, dive into your word,

listen to your word, and then live your

word.

So Lord, help us with this. I pray I

pray God that for those who have never

yet come to faith in Jesus Christ. Lord,

I pray that maybe this morning,

seemingly most unlikely,

that a sermon on suffering would be the

one where they came to understand

that Jesus died for their sins.

He suffered on their behalf so that they

might become

the righteousness of God. Lord, I pray

for those who need to follow you in

belief in repentance. I pray for those

who need to follow you in baptism.

Lord, some have said, "I've never been

baptized scripturally.

I I have not identified with Christ

and I haven't even been persecuted."

Or maybe I haven't identified with

baptism because I'm afraid of being

persecuted

by my family, by my friends. Lord, I

pray that today there would be a joy and

say, "Now I see. I have nothing to

fear."

Lord, I pray for whatever the decisions

are that we need to make in our lives

that we would do that to follow hard

after you even when the way is long

and when the suffering is deep. Lord, I

thank you that you went to the cross for

us. May we go to life for you in Jesus

name I pray. Amen.