What God Does in Suffering • 1 Peter 1:6-12
Notes
Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off all restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law.
You need revelation from God so that you understand what you are doing and why you are doing it.
Otherwise, you misunderstand what God is doing in your life. You would mistake the work of God for tyranny, for senseless pain and suffering. You would end up asking, “Does God really want me to suffer? This is so unfair.”
You could reject God’s revelation and say, “I’m going to decide for myself what makes me happy and pursue that.” You can cast off all restraint. But there is no life, and there is no love that way, it only leads to destruction. Happiness comes from going God’s way, doing what God says.
So you need the revelation from God why you do what you do, why you submit to suffering as from God’s hand. It purifies your faith more valuable than gold, you learn to receive the love of God, and it’s a privilege to suffer with Jesus.
We are not to live in fear. By revelation we live in confidence.
I’m reading in 1 Peter 1 from verse 6.
1. The first part Peter talked about our reasons to rejoice and to praise God. He says in this you greatly rejoice.
A. Being born again to a living hope because of the great mercy of God the Father, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It’s fabulous, and if you missed it, you poor person! Well, it’s online. You can catch up.
B. You were headed to eternal punishment, condemnation in hell forever, and now you are headed for eternity with God who loves you. If you didn’t rejoice and do an extreme victory dance you would be crazy. Our salvation is so good, that’s literally what he’s talking about.
C. Peter actually gives more reasons to rejoice, even though he’s talking about suffering.
2. I notice this morning that we’re not rejoicing. No victory dances. We’re just sitting here going, “Really? I don’t feel greatly rejoicing, because I am suffering.”
A. It’s hard to rejoice when you are distressed. I have personally found that suffering is exhausting. It is demoralising. It makes you want to quit. You can feel like, “Can I possibly be on the right course if things are this difficult? Where is God? What’s the purpose in all this difficulty? Am I broken? Is everyone doing better than me? Why me, God?”
B. Then there are false teachers who actually teach backwards. If you are not healthy and prospering you are not in the will of God. You don’t have enough faith. I like what Paul said about men like this. Their condemnation is just.
C. We need the truth from God about the suffering that we experience. Suffering that we experience because of the gospel, and all the suffering that we experience in the world. All our suffering in this life.
3. The revelation that Peter gives here is that suffering is used by God to refine and purify our faith in Jesus.
A. It is deliberately vague here. Various kinds of troubles many, many different shades and combinations.
1. It’s like Paul’s thorn in the flesh. We don’t know what it was.
2. That’s on purpose. If God defined exactly what suffering is, then we would be in trouble, because we might not fall into that category. We would say, well, I’m out of the will of God. I can’t expect God to help me, because this isn’t that kind of suffering.
3. There are various troubles because God’s grace is also manifold, chapter 4:10. It’s the same word. Many different kinds of troubles show that God’s grace is completely fitted for anything and all things that we face.
4. That includes your troubles, whatever you’re facing right now. It doesn’t matter how big, how small. It all counts.
B. The big point is that trouble refines our faith.
1. It says here trials, and we think, it’s a test and I will flunk it.
2. But this word means to test in the sense of refine metal. And that means that all the impurities will be taken away.
C. Our faith is mixed, and not pure.
1. You find gold in a rock. There is potential value there, but there’s also a lot of not-valuable stuff there. That prevents the gold from being valuable because it’s not pure gold. Gold plus dirt equals not valuable yet.
2. We trust in Jesus, of course. But we also depend on relationships, our family and friends. We depend on jobs and finances, money. We depend on our knowledge based on experience. We learned the hard way, and that’s valuable. We depend on all kinds of things, and we also depend on Jesus.
D. When God our Father refines our faith He separates that dependence on Him from our dependence on things that are not God. We find that this relationship is not dependable, that thing fails, money fails. We lose this, we lose that, this is taken away. The supports that used to work no longer work. They aren’t there anymore.
E. What do you do? You are afraid and you call out to God! You trust Him in an area where you used to trust something else. You learn that you have to trust in God in everything. You learn that it’s not your plans you have to get God to bless somehow, you have to seek God’s plans. All of your life is moving away from depending on anything other than God. Whatever You want, God, that’s what I want.
F. That is purity in your faith. You don’t have several gods in your life that you depend on, you have one God, and it’s Him or nothing. All that other stuff is good, but you don’t trust in it because you know it will fail you. But God does not fail, therefore you can’t trust in anything else. God and family, God and money, God and job. God and health. That’s all out. Just God.
G. This principle of refining faith runs through the whole Bible. You look for it in any man or woman of God and you can see how God removed family, removed jobs, removed food, removed freedom, health, peace, trust in any other thing. He deliberately allowed difficulties and suffering to happen in order to refine faith in Him.
4. Because pure faith is more valuable than gold.
A. No amount of money can redeem your soul from destruction. No money will survive your death. You can’t take it with you.
B. The whole universe and all it contains is only so valuable because it’s temporary. It’s all going to perish one day, even the gold and all the elements.
C. In that day, everyone will be judged by God. Are you right with God, or are you a sinner, a criminal? Is it rewards for you, or is it punishment? What will you give God for your soul? You’re broke. All that matters is if you are right with God.
D. ThereisnosubstituteforbeingrightwithGod.No amount of gold can redeem you before God because it isn’t valuable to Him. Nothing you do can redeem you because it’s all polluted with sin. Your sincerity is worthless because you’re not really sincere. You didn’t do the best you could. You know that you have come short of perfection because you are not perfect. And the wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God, who is the Life.
E. Our faith is more precious than gold which is perishable. Faith in Jesus gives us perfect righteousness with God. When you depend on what Jesus has done, then you are completely righteous with God. You will live.
F. You will affect others because of your faith in Jesus.
1. If you again look at the people of faith in the Bible, their purified faith in God resulted in blessing others. When Pharoah releases Joseph from prison to interpret his dreams, Joseph interprets and solves the problem of those dreams on the spot. The dreams mean there is famine coming, so you need to appoint a wise man so he will gather up a percentage of the harvest for the next seven years. Then you will have a supply to sustain life for seven years of famine. And Pharoah says, “Where else can we find a man in whom is the spirit of the gods?” Pharoah sees a man released from prison that morning, but when he speaks it is clear that this man is in contact with God.
2. All the purification of our faith and the removal of what is worthless leaves room for God to fill us with His Holy Spirit. We have more capacity for God. When we speak it is clear that we are connected to God.
3. This is the value of suffering, that our faith is purified and we get God.
F. In that day there will be praise, honour, and glory because of your faith.
1. You will glorify God for saving you.
2. He will glorify you, good and faithful servant.
3. Others will glorify God and you because of what you did for them as you served Jesus.
5. What will sustain you in trial, and the whole purpose of the trial, is for you to receive the love of God.
A. Peter says you love Jesus, but you’ve never seen Him. What do you mean, you love someone you can’t see?
1. You can’t see God, it’s true. There’s no scientific way to weigh God, measure Him, prove He is there.
2. But you can’t see love, and that’s real, too.
B. We love God because we received God’s love first.
1. Salvation is really allowing God to love you with everlasting love.
2. That love is not a thing, it can’t be bought or sold. His love is expressed by His Spirit. We receive the love of God through the Spirit of Jesus. He sends His Spirit into our hearts, pouring out His love in us.
3. That is what makes you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.
C. What you find through suffering and trials is that the love of God enables you to suffer and persevere through troubles.
1. You don’t have that thing you used to have, but you still receive the love of God, His presence, His lovingkindness is better than life. It is a wonderful thing to be filled up to overflowing with the Spirit of God communicating to you everlasting love.
2. His love sustains you, nourishes you. Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. If you are full of the love of God you can endure any suffering, continue though outwardly it looks bleak.
3. You even have the ability to care for others who are suffering, and give them the same comfort that you are receiving. Even in all his troubles Paul could comfort others with the same comfort he received from God. For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He upon whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10
D. To know the love of Christ that passes knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Paul wrote that in prison, chained to a Roman guard. Jesus isn’t a drug you take so you hallucinate in order to escape suffering. Jesus overcomes all suffering and death with His love. We get to know that love by experience in the midst of suffering.
6. Peter further reveals that it is a privilege to suffer with Christ.
A. The prophets that God spoke through wanted to know, who is this Person we speak about? He will suffer, and He will be glorified! What is going on?
B. Amazingly, God did not tell them! Remember that Daniel is given such revelation and yet he knew it wasn’t the whole picture. He says, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?” And the angel says, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end.” You see all the prophets asking for clarification, but God doesn’t tell them!
C. We get to know by experience what God spoke about through the prophets. We receive this privilege, to participate in the sufferings and the glory of the Messiah. Just as we share His sufferings, so we also share in His glory. The realisation is greater than the prophecy. We get a privilege that the prophets did not have.
D. We studied this on Friday night, Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.
1. Jesus’s afflictions were not for Himself, they were for us, for our benefit.
2. Our afflictions continue that work of building up the church, the body of Christ. Our faith is purified, so that Christ dwells richly in us. We love those around us and bring them to Christ. The Body is built up in love.
3. And then the day comes when Christ is revealed in glory, and we also are revealed with Him, sharing that glory of God.
E. These are things that the angels long to look into.
1. They are watching the example of God, the Most High, the Almighty, great in glory and power.
2. He is far above even the angels. They worship Him continually.
3. They are watching God leave His glory behind and in humility give His own life to redeem sinful, wicked men!
4. And then God has the angels serve those who receive salvation, Hebrews 1:14. These angels are greater than we are, and they are watching those people who receive the Spirit of the Son of God also lay down their lives and love God and one another. They are watching God perform miracles in people’s lives, redeeming them and transforming their lives from selfish and wicked to pure, self-sacrificial love. We get to experience the life of God, His humility and suffering, and His glory.
5. I don’t read anywhere that angels do that. We are given the privilege to know Jesus and experience the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death, that we may attain to the resurrection of the dead.
F. Our lives have a greater meaning than just ourselves. We are examples to angels of the goodness of God.
G. It is a privilege to suffer with Christ, to share in His sufferings, that we may share in His glory.
7. So what?
A. We need revelation from God or we are going to lose our way. The revelation is that our suffering is valuable and it works for us. It makes us like Christ. We get to know the love of God. We become a blessing to others. Without that knowledge of what’s going on we will get discouraged and quit following Jesus. We must live according to what God has revealed in the Bible.
B. We who depend on Jesus have already lost our lives for Jesus’ sake. We said, “Here I am, I want to lose my life for You.” That’s the first step in becoming a Christian. I was scared when I did that. Were you? You didn’t know what was going to happen to you.
C. We are not mature in our faith because we are still scared. We still cling to our life and the things we consider valuable to us, because they are still valuable to us. We are not perfect in our love for God.
D. But God loves us more than we understand. If God left us like this, we would still be afraid. Our faith would not be refined. We would never mature in our faith, we’d stay immature and childish. We would never bear fruit because we’d never do anything. We would not be effective for Jesus because we wouldn’t be any different than anyone else in this world. And there would be very little praise, glory, or honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. We would not know the love of God, perfect love that casts out all fear.
E. This knowledge of Christ is something prophets did not get to know. Angels long to know this amazing privilege: to share in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered and was glorified, and we will also share in that glory.
F. If you are really born of the Holy Spirit your heart is leaping more than when you came here this morning. You do love your God even though you have never seen Him, with joy inexpressible and full of glory.
G. If you think this is crazy, why would anyone want to suffer with Jesus, then you need to ask if you have given your life to Jesus. You need to be born again, you need to receive Jesus. If you lose your life for His sake, you will find it. If you keep your life, you will lose it.
H. Do not be afraid to lose everything for Jesus. Lose it all for Him, find everything with Him.
Let’s pray.