Rejoice In Suffering

Good morning, elect exiles. We are still turning in, uh, first Peter, if you're new with us, thankful to have you. Uh, we have been walking through first Peter and, uh, Peter is telling the church how to live in this world, uh, in a different way because we now belong to God. Well, we are not in our final destination. As I've considered a handful of the texts, we're going to review really a lot of what we've already seen in 1 Peter. And that isn't an invitation to check out because you've already heard it, but this is such an important idea and an important problem we have. We need to keep coming back to it as Peter's going to take us again to suffering for Christ and participating in his suffering. Another way in which we're going to look at suffering, theology of suffering, at another angle. I was converted to Christ in November 1996. This is my freshman year of college, so you don't have to do the math. I'm 45, so I know everyone's trying to learn. It was a very radical change, by God's grace. Me and my friends were all practicing heathens. So when converted, I very much experienced, we looked at a couple weeks ago, where I stopped participating in the things we used to do together, and well, there was some insults, and there was some confusion. When I was converted, I quickly wanted them all to know the good news that I just learned, and really barely understood. A few were interested. This was the South, so there was some cordial ways in which they would listen. That's good for you. Some mocked and a few insulted. One of the conversations stands out specifically. He said, Christianity, that's just a crutch for the weak. And I was somewhat stumped at the time by that statement. Because for the first time in my life, I actually thought I was weak. And so I didn't have a response, because I am weak. I had no idea how weak I was. I knew I needed help. I knew Jesus was offering me something I did not have. I knew I was a fool, and Jesus was wise. I knew I felt guilt, and this was the only forgiveness I had really ever heard of. But the weakness he was speaking of is not the weakness that we learn of in Scripture. I believe what he was trying to say is Christianity is a myth, and only those who are insecure or have mental weakness need such myths, and while the strong, They have self-reliance. As we look at this recognition of weakness, there's an amazing Christian mystery. The Christian faith is for the weak, and we entrust ourselves to him who is mighty. And along the way, as we who are weak learn to entrust ourselves to him who is mighty, He instills a courage that's foreign, not our own, not from within us, but given to us. There's a way in which the recognition of weakness, foolishness, an inability to stand on one's own, and by leaning up on Christ, by building our lives upon him, the living stone, there's an amazing strength that's provided. So I find this to be one of those grand mysteries, a paradox of sorts. This morning, elect exiles who are following Christ, who are following him into suffering. There is a calling that we cannot do in our own strength, but praise be to God who gives us that strength. This morning, the simple message is rejoice when you participate in the suffering of Christ. Rejoice when you participate in the suffering of Christ. There's three points. What I want us to see is Peter is making a contrast concept. There are two ways to live. There's only one way to live as an elect exile. There's a way to live outside of God, not depending upon God, not obeying God. And then there's one way to live as an elect exile. So we're going to see Peter has a constant contrast throughout this passage. There's two responses to suffering. That's 12 and 13. There's two reasons for suffering, that's 14 to 16. And there's two reckonings, 17 to 19. First, the two responses, and here the contrast. 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 may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. There's two responses to suffering presented in this passage. One is surprise, and one is rejoice. Those are two very different reactions. We see a transition of Peter. Many believe that when Peter starts addressing his beloved again, that's a transition in his thinking. We're reintroducing a lot of the same ideas we've seen, but he's applying it a new way. It's important we have this theology of suffering over and over again through Peter as elect exiles. He's told us already church, you can no longer continue in the same sins of the world. You now are called up to Christ. It's important we see a prohibition, something we cannot do, and a command, something we must do. There's an affirmation and a denial. These are very important to consider when Scripture puts something like this together, such as you're saved by faith, not by works. That is very important when we see that kind of contrast here Don't be surprised, but rejoice. When trials come, when difficult trials come, when fiery trials come, do not be surprised, but rejoice. I've really wrestled with how these two responses would be kind of connected, because the response of being surprised would be somewhat frustrated. We usually think of surprise as somebody who's caught us off guard. Well, here, in order to rejoice, I think the way the contrast works is be ready to rejoice. If we're following Christ who suffered, if we're seeking to know him who suffered once for sin, if we're seeking to follow him and carry our cross as he commanded and we've counted the cost, I think the idea is you shouldn't be caught off guard when suffering happens. You've been warned. It's to be expected. And therefore, knowing it's expected, we're ready. We're making ourselves ready to rejoice. Be ready. Don't be surprised. This world hates God. By definition, the world, as especially John uses it, we can think of the earth, but the world, the system of rebellion led by Satan that consists of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, the world hates God. The system that despises God to the point that we think about the parable of the vineyard. They sent the servant back, and they abused him. They sent the servant back, and they mocked him and threw him out. And finally, the owner sends his son, and they murder him. That's how the world treats God. Suffering is not a strange thing. Notice there in verse 12. Don't be surprised as if it's strange that suffering happens because you're following Christ. It's to be expected. And notice there, it tests you. When fiery trials, when difficult trials, We could go elsewhere, various trials. But when fiery, difficult trials, they test you, they purify, they heat up so much that they take away the impurities. It's coming to be test season for many of our members and those attending. I'm going to remind you that tests are wonderful things. Tests are an opportunity for you to show how much you know and to learn where you need to grow. And I didn't mean to make that rhyme. It just kind of happened. There we go. Take that for what you want, teachers. Here, the test of God is to help us see how we've grown to depend upon him and how we can still depend on him more. A test is to purify us, to be less self-reliant, to recognize more weakness so that we can see how strong he is. Rejoice. Not just in suffering. There is a way in which we know from other texts, especially James, in any various trial we can rejoice and ask for wisdom for how to know God more in that suffering. But here it's suffering for the sake of Christ. Participate in gospel suffering. There is a very tight focus with this particular kind of suffering. As we think about this call to suffer with Christ, to share in his suffering, I wanna take us back to chapter three, verse 18. We looked at this a few weeks ago. Christ came and suffered once for sin. I wanna go back there because there's a clarity in which this is the gospel truth. Only Christ can suffer for other sins in this way. When we talk about sharing in Christ's suffering or participating in Christ's suffering, you're not doing it for other people's sin. You're sharing in his suffering as one who is a Christian, a little Christ. You're sharing in his suffering as someone who is walking in the ways of righteousness, demonstrating to the world the way God sent his son to demonstrate to the world his righteousness. The world hates God and his righteousness. We now are Christians, we're his body, seeking to be united with his head and therefore obey him as his mission continues by the power of his spirit. Jesus laid down his life for us. That shows the great love of God. He came to suffer in our place so that the wrath of God that we deserve for our sin and our hatred of God has been paid for it. We can be forgiven for that and renewed. If you're not a believer, that's the gospel truth. There is only one who has suffered that can actually save you from your sins. Christian, what we need to recognize is he who suffered for us doesn't now call us into the holly jolly joyful life that never has suffering. The joy is we actually get to participate and share in that suffering. Suffering has a whole new meaning. Just as the cross was once the symbol of shame and mockery, now it's the symbol of glory and salvation because of Christ. As elected exiles, we are an extension of Christ into this world and therefore we share in his sufferings. As he came to save us, the more we grasp that deliverance, the more we grasp what he has done for us, the more we rejoice in his suffering. So grab your bulletin, I wanna do something fun. Let's look at our first song. Joy to the World, third stanza. I want you to see there's a wonderful tracing of a theme I hope we can see. No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the grounds. He comes to make his blessings flow, for as the curse is found. The beauty there is Christ has come to reverse the curse, to bring blessing, to save us from the enslaved sin, enslaving sin that we've chosen. Now, look to the last stanza of the next song. Sinners, wrung with true repentance, doomed for guilt to endless pains, justice now revokes the sentence, mercy calls you, break the chains, or deliver. Pretty easy to see in verse, chapter number, page seven, O come, O come, Emmanuel. The first line, O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in the lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. What child is this? Second stanza. Why lies he in such low estate where ox and lamb are feeding? Good Christian fear for sinners here The silent word is pleading. Nails, spear shall pierce him through. The cross he bore for me, for you. Hail, hail the word made flesh, the babe, the son of Mary. Again, this is how he ended the curse and brought the blessing by his actual death for us on the cross. And then the third stanza of Emmanuel. Through the kisses of a friend's betrayal, he was lifted on a cruel cross. He was punished for a world's transgression. He was suffering to save the lost. He fights for breath. He fights for me. Loosing sinners from the claims of hell. And with a shout, our souls are free. Death defeated by Emmanuel. Christ suffered for us, once for all. freeing us from the power of sin, from death, from Satan, from this world. Now, as we live as elect exiles, seeking freedom from this world, suffering continues. And as much as we understand our freedom from what Christ has accomplished, we're going to walk joyfully in that suffering, knowing we are set free. Really, what we suffer is a small taste of the world's hatred of God's goodness, holiness and righteousness. Suffering is to be expected, and that's why we can rejoice. We can rejoice when we get to participate in the sufferings of Christ. There's a wonderful thing we're going to see in Advent as Christ is coming again. As we sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, we're reflecting about how Israel sang that song and how we are singing that song as the church for Christ's return. But suffering here is temporary. It is to be expected, but it's also temporary. It's not the way it's always going to be. We know this especially because it leads to eternal glory. Suffering is the way to glory. That has been over and over again repeated in Peter. I want to encourage you as a church that this kind of rejoicing is something we need to learn from one another. I can stand up here and I can teach it, I can explain it, and trust me, it's a lot easier to explain than to be faithful to and to endure. We're all called to this suffering, we're called to do this together. This is easier caught than taught. It's helpful when other believers get to see us suffer, which is very counterintuitive because we typically want to isolate when suffering. We typically want to remove ourselves and figure things out, whereas if we actually ask others for help, we'll receive God's blessing in that help, and we'll actually help them. If you think about who's writing this, how did Peter learn this? Peter learned this through suffering. He, first of all, saw the perfect model of suffering. As over and over again, he says, suffer as Christ is your example. He walked with Jesus, the perfect example of what it means to suffer for righteousness sake, to suffer unjustly. He saw Christ in the way he entrusted himself to the Father. He entrusted himself to the plan of salvation. Christ suffered, the supreme model. I also want us to see and remember, Peter failed. After Jesus warned him, you're going to betray me. When Christ is arrested, Peter's asked three different times, are you one of the disciples? And three times he fails because he's afraid of suffering. The disciple who could not understand how Jesus would ever suffer, he himself refused suffering. But Peter also knows what it means to be restored and he saw Jesus restore him. One of the most amazing little small statements at the end of Mark, Jesus says, go and tell my disciples and Peter, make sure Peter knows he's still welcome at the table. He denied me three times. That has its own kind of suffering for Peter. But being afraid of the suffering that he would have to endure from maybe that Roman centurion who asked him. Now Peter is restored and he has learned not only what suffering looks like from Jesus, he's learned what restoration looks like from Jesus. Elect exiles are called to follow Christ out of this world into his suffering, which is the way to his glory. The next section really keeps qualifying this idea of rejoicing in suffering, but there's a different turn. There's two reasons now. 14 to 16. Really we're looking at the right reason to suffer. We're looking at the right way to suffer, that's rejoice. The right reasons now, 14 to 16. But I want you to see mainly there's two different reasons. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, Let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 14 and 16 are the positive instruction, and 15 is don't suffer this way. If you're suffering as a murderer, a thief, you're suffering justly. But 14 and 16, kind of the bookends, being insulted for the name of Christ, suffering as a Christian, as a little Christ, as someone who's following Christ, glorify God. You're blessed. I do want us to see the logic of what he's saying. There's if-then statements in 14 and 16. 14 is so important. Notice there's not a command in 14. If you are insulted, for the name of Christ, you are blessed, period. It really echoes what Brian read earlier from Matthew 5. You are blessed in that moment. You are blessed by that moment. There's no call to action here. There's a reality that God is pressing in upon this world for his elect exiles while they're being insulted. You're simply blessed at that moment, period. And what follows in 16 is the action. If you're insulted, You're blessed, and therefore, I want to argue, you should not be ashamed. But glorify God. You see, that action of rejoicing and not being ashamed and glorifying God, that all comes from that first reality, you're blessed. Because of what Christ has done for you, and because the Holy Spirit rests upon you, you are blessed. That is a truth to simply embrace. I wanna begin in verse 15 with the wrong way to suffer. Over against suffering for the name of Christ, for the purpose of Christ, according to the will of Christ, we see four things that are out of the will of God. A murderer, a thief, an evildoer, a meddler. That list is just startling. Why is Peter telling the church not to murder and steal? That's a logical question. The latter two are a bit more generic that we could kind of understand more. It's evildoer or criminal, someone who's just doing the wrong thing. A meddler, that's somebody who is in other people's business in the wrong way for the wrong purposes. I kind of wonder, are these things that the church is being accused of? Is it possible these are accusations for the church from the world? If so, it would look something like this. Because the world hears the church eating a body and drinking the new covenant made by His blood, there was confusion. Some actually thought the church were cannibals because of the way they connected that meal to Christ and what He taught us about how it represents His body and His blood. And so maybe there was an accusation that they were murderers because of that kind of idea. That was one of the first apologists had to explain that. Theft, that might be because the church was constantly selling everything they had and giving it to others. And if you're in the world, you would think, why do all these people who used to have nothing now have full provision? There was a significant amount of changing of money happening in the church as people were giving all they had for the well-being of everyone else. And it would be confusing because no one did that. Criminals, maybe because they wouldn't bow down and worship idols. They didn't participate in Rome's pagan nationalism. Meddlers, because there's all kinds of new community. Men and women are now eating together at the same table. Different people in different classes are spending time together. There's a way in which they're just in each other's business and lives in a way that was unknown in that world. The other possibility is that these are just simply out of bounds for the Christian. If you suffer as a murderer, There's a right and just suffering. That's outside of the will of God. If you suffer for being a thief, that's outside of the will of God. If you're an example of bad behavior, the evildoer, that's outside of the will of God. But the one meddler, that one just really startles me. That's how it fits in the list. Especially if that third one is criminal. You got things that would be criminal activities and then meddler. being in someone else's business, what we call a busybody, someone who's nosy. It sounds like a villain from the D.C. world, like the cousin of Alfred E. Nygma. Our covenant says we will watch over each other in brotherly love. It's real easy for somebody who's a meddler to pretend they're doing that. But notice a meddler is somebody who's in somebody's business where they don't belong for the wrong reason. A meddler is somebody who's trying to self-entertain, not glorify God or give love. There's a way in which we need to be careful of meddling, being in business that just is, we don't belong in. Focus on the wrong purposes, the wrong problems, and often times for our own self-interest or entertainment. We need to remember Paul challenges This pastoral epistle, do not get distracted in civilian affairs. That's at least here. And that could be getting too distracted within our own church, or also just getting too distracted by what's going on out there. There's a wonderful reminder here that against meddling, there's the mission of the church, the call to make disciples, the call to exalt Christ. The instructions last week, I think, would be helpful as we think about what it would mean to avoid meddling. Well, we're supposed to practice self-control. That's one way of not being a meddler. You're also supposed to love one another and serve one another. If we're busy with self-control and loving one another and serving one another, that's the right way of being in each other's lives that will keep us from meddling. So those are outside of the boundaries of what a Christian should suffer for, and there's no way to suffer in those ways for Christ. Now let's look at the positive commands. If you're insulted, if you're harassed, if you're spoken to in a derogatory way, mistreated for the name of Christ because you're seeking to make much of his name, you're blessed. Notice the rationale. Because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Now, this text could be translated and interpreted two different ways. One, it could be glory and spirit of God or spirit of glory and of God. I actually think it's probably more likely glory and spirit of God. The glory that you're waiting upon, the glory of God that has come upon you and that you're longing to participate in fully, but I want to focus here just the spirit of God who is the spirit of glory. So I'm not too concerned about that. Jesus told his disciples, It's to your advantage that I go. Because another helper, the Holy Spirit, I will send him from the Father. He will teach you the same truth. He will apply all the things that I've done for you. He doesn't say it there, but we know later, the Holy Spirit is the one affirming to you that you're a child of God and allowing you to call God Father in the name of the Son. The Holy Spirit rests upon you here. I believe this is especially important as Jesus told the disciples specifically. When you're standing before the court, when you are on trial for my name, the Holy Spirit will tell you, will give you the words to say. The Holy Spirit will give you the courage you need. It's foreign. We go back and we think about Peter who denied Christ three times. One time to just a little girl who was asking. full of fear of this world. Christ restores him, and as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit would come upon you, and you would be filled with the power of the Spirit. We just see a few months later, according to Acts 4, Peter went in front of a court. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. And Peter says, let it be known that all we have done has been done in the name of Jesus Christ, whom you crucified, whom God raised up. There is salvation in no one else. Peter, who knew how to fail, who knew what it means to be restored, now has experienced the full fulfillment, the true fulfillment of what Christ promised. The Holy Spirit will rest upon you and you will have great strength, you'll have great courage, you'll have the words to say. That's bold, he's accusing them of killing God. And then proclaims that name. He has suffered for that name and he is now encouraging them, if you're insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Holy Spirit is upon you. I believe this is probably alluding back to that Isaiah 11 passage. That sevenfold spirit that is going to come upon the Messiah. and make him ready to be the suffering servant. We read about it in Isaiah 40 and Isaiah 52 and 53. Well, we're now servants of that suffering servant. We're now an extension of him. We're called Christians in Acts 11, 26 in a derogatory way. As Christ suffered, we'll say it capital S suffered, we're called to participate in his suffering. And here, it's a blessing to know Christ more in the suffering, to make known Christ more in the suffering by the very power of God, the Spirit of God, who rests upon us so that we can know Him and make Him known. But believe me, there's a truth to just believe here before we can talk about the action. If you are being insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed. You're blessed. We must learn how to be ready to rejoice in it because we know that if we're insulted for the name of Christ, we are in the blessing of Christ. It's important to believe that before you're in the suffering because whenever we're in suffering, we become even more tunnel vision. It's even harder to see past our nose. We have to have this belief already in our arsenal, already ready at hand Because those who might threaten you might have a lot of authority and a lot of power to do real harm. But we're blessed by him who has all authority in heaven and earth. Because of that blessing, we have an instruction. If anyone suffers as a Christian, again, same thing as in the name of Christ, because you're blessed, do not be ashamed. Shame causes us to hide away. Shame causes us to fear. Shame is what Peter was afraid of when he denied Christ three times. Shame keeps you from enjoying that blessing. Be secure in the blessing so that you would glorify God in the same name you're suffering for. Be encouraged. The Spirit of God instills courage to stand strong. as we think about what the suffering is. Verse 13, but rejoice as you share in Christ's sufferings. You're insulted for the name, you're suffering as a Christian. There's a right way to suffering. There's a lot of different ways to suffer that are good. A non-Christian can actually go through suffering for something that's virtuous and right. A non-Christian who's willing to go through suffering for his country in the middle of a battle or a war, that's a good, righteous suffering that by God's common grace is good. There's also suffering that we can commit to as a church, as Christians, that isn't necessarily for the name of Christ, but you would do it because you're a Christian. You'd be willing to suffer for family, to protect the innocent. That is different than suffering specifically for glorifying Christ. There's a way in which we're going to suffer in certain ways because we're Christians. But the specific idea here, I believe, is that proclamation being faithful to Christ. We need to have those categories. And there's not a lessening of suffering. There are all various trials. We all pray for wisdom in all of them. But here, as we seek to suffer for the name of Christ, and oftentimes, as a Christian, we're going to do things for the name of Christ, in the sense that he's a creator, that we wouldn't do otherwise. Here, there's things we just stop doing. There's certain things we just stop doing, Christian. We saw earlier we're not gonna participate in the drunkenness and the kind of reveling and debauchery of the world. But the world is also always wanting us to bow the knee to some form of false worship. We're designed to worship. We are always worshiping. Everyone around us is worshiping. Romans tells us very clearly, because we refuse to honor God and give him thanks, we're handed over to false worship and false worship and false worship, and it becomes more and more me, me, me, me, me. The heart that's supposed to be bent up towards God just becomes more and more bent towards me. We are called to resist bowing the knee to the worship of self. And our world has a unique, weird way of having us bow down to the worship of self. We have to realize in the post-sexual revolution of the 60s, we now have this weird, especially emphatic way in which we've confused gender and sex. And there's a call to participate in the worship of the self with these things. We have to refuse to participate in the gender and sexual confusion. We've got to protect words that matter as God declared them. We need to especially be careful as to how we do this because we're called to be militant, but there's got to be a special gracious pity on those who are suffering under the lies. We do need to recognize that the lies are spreading and the lies are powerful. I want us to have a certain pity on how those lies are so somehow easily embraced while resisting participating in them. We must resist bowing the knee to what our world is declaring false. And as we think about that, I want to challenge this, especially as it comes to the sexualization of our culture. You can't participate in it. You know what I mean? I don't mean you're not going to do a march somewhere. I'm talking about what you look at online. I don't know how you're protecting your own heart and mind with what you see and what you hear. Too many Christians want to make sure they're fighting something out there without fighting something in here. We're not ready for the fight out there unless we've actually truly submitted to God and entrusted Him and are seeking to do the real battle in here first. The church is called to be militant, and it's called to be militant in the sense that we're declaring the name above all names, the name that destroys death and the power of sin and someone's chains to an addiction to sin in this world. There is no way for the gates of hell to be defeated by the power of the gospel unless it's being proclaimed. That is the specific kind of suffering. When we're going up against the gates of hell by proclaiming the gospel that saves sinners, that's the very specific kind of suffering. It's what Christ has called us to. It's what Christ gives us courage to. Do not be ashamed. Glorify God in that name. Finally, two reckonings. Here is the last three verses. Notice Peter's bringing us back to an idea of time. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God. And it begins with us. What will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And 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 faithful creator while doing good. Now, this passage is a rationale for why we are called to be insulted and know that we're blessed and to not be ashamed, but to glorify God when we suffer. And it's moving to a judgment. The judgment has been a regular motivation for Peter. After calling us to be holy, he reminded us we are going to stand before him who judges everyone, and he's going to judge us as those who he has purchased with his holy blood as we seek to be holy. Here, judgment again is the forefront. He says, judgment, it's time for it to begin, and it must begin with the household of God. Well, that's us. Elect exiles, he's referring to us. Now wait a second, we gotta wrestle with this. But Christ died once for all for sin, how am I gonna be judged? We have to recognize there's different kinds of judgment throughout scripture. Praise God that we, if we have been bought by the blood of Christ, will not stand before God and have to give an answer for our sin and suffer the wrath of God. There's a judgment for how we live. There's a judgment for what we've done with the time that Christ has redeemed. The judgment here is referring to a final judgment, but the household of God, that's us. Everyone has to have some kind of end in mind. We all live for some kind of an end. If you're an atheist, you're just waiting for the last breath, where you just cease to exist. Buddhists, you're waiting for that spiritual non-existence. Christian, you're waiting for glory. And that judgment, like a task, could be a glorious day. We're waiting for the glory to be revealed. We're waiting for that glorious day where we'll be found faithful. This is referring to a final judgment, and it begins with the church. He calls us the household of God. And that probably refers to the temple. And it shows us why this is so important. We as stones have been built upon the living stone. We are being built into a holy temple as a holy priest. It should matter how we worship because of the name we worship. It truly matters and God must bring a judgment on the way we worship. There is a right way to worship and one of the most significant ways we worship is in our suffering. God sees us in our suffering. There's a comfort and responsibility. There's a significance here to the how we suffer, why he's commanded us to rejoice, why he's commanded us to not be ashamed, why he's commanded us to glorify God, because there's going to be a judgment on us, the temple, for how we endure suffering. Christian, let me just walk through some of the judgment passages. Jesus tells us very clearly, if we deny him, he will deny us. That's Mark 8. After predicting his own suffering, and the disciples still reject it, he warns them, if you deny me, I will deny you in the final day. As we wrestle with what we're preparing for, as we wrestle with what we ourselves are committed to in terms of Christ and the suffering, if we deny Christ, he's telling us there's a judgment of denying us. Second, there's another judgment for Christians in that there is a day of reckoning that those who he has bought with his own blood will give an account for how he used those precious hours that have been redeemed and made holy by that blood. Here, let's look at the end of verse 17, the outcome of those who don't obey the gospel of God. If you're here and you're wanting to know more about the gospel of Jesus Christ, we're so thankful you're here. We hope you'll stick around and ask somebody around you or me or whoever your heart desire around you to know the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that you must believe in the only name that can save you. He speaks here of disobeying the gospel of God. If you continue to reject believing God and worshiping everything but God, you're disobeying the gospel. The way to come out and repent of disobeying the gospel is believing in Jesus, who saves you from your disobedience, who saves you into his gospel so that you would then learn how to obey now that you understand and have believed the gospel. But here there's a judgment waiting for everyone who rejects Jesus as the only Savior because we've continued to reject God. The gospel is believed. We are saved by faith alone. We are saved in order to know Christ by faith and to make him known as we follow him in his suffering. The judgment is first for the church because Christ has purchased us. There's a judgment the church needs to be aware of and that we're not going to fall back in shame and deny Christ. There's a warning. There's also a declaration, there's a judgment for those who disobey God and there's been a regular declaration of comfort that those who are persecuting you, you don't take vengeance in your own hands, you trust God. Now verse 18, this is a tricky verse because Peter's quoting from the Septuagint. It appears to be from Proverbs. If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? The word scarcely, I believe, carries a notion, especially from the Hebrew, saved through difficulty. Again, the very fact that suffering is to be expected. Suffering is what's happening. The difficulty's happening. It's not that there's a scarcely, that it's gonna be so hard for you to do. That's impossible, because you're only saved by faith. No, the righteous are saved by faith, Well, scarcely could possibly be the small amount, but I believe it has more to do here with the context, the difficulty. The difficulty we now go through in salvation, what will become of those who are ungodly and the sinner? They have no hope. We're saved by God even in the difficulty now. They're not saved at all. The inapplication is wonderfully clear. Those who suffer according to God's will, which means obedience to the gospel, which means in the name of Christ, which means for the cause of Christ, which means without shame because you believe you're blessed, which means we know we have new life in Christ, which means we have set our mind to Christ as the one who is holy and purchased us with the holy blood, well, we suffer according to his will. If we're seeking to suffer according to God's will, we know God and we're seeking to make him known Oh, that word in verse 19, we entrust ourselves to the faithful creator while doing good. Believer, do you know God is trustworthy? That's really the pressing in point of verse 19. Because as you're pressed in with suffering, there's gonna be so many different ways in which you're gonna be tempted to deny Christ. Maybe slither away out of shame. Maybe it's gonna disappear and not take it, but there's ways in which we're seeking to be bold for Christ. We're inviting suffering. I think of the way Truth.Life has proclaimed the gospel right there at the pregnancy centers. That is truly at the gates of hell. That's welcoming suffering. That's declaring the gospel right there in the midst of evil by doing good. There's a way in which that only happens if we've entrusted ourselves. The key here, do we trust God? Do we trust God? And notice it's a faithful creator. Why not Savior? I wonder if it's because everybody who's gonna threaten you is created by God. They're under him. He has all authority as the creator. He has perfect sovereignty over this earth and he's faithful because he's made promises and he will fulfill them. Christians, elect exiles, how are we helping one another with this entrusting? Entrusting that, trusting God, by believing God that we're blessed? We're assured in our salvation, we've been delivered, we're truly elect and loved, and we're exiles, we don't belong here, and the suffering, well, the suffering is what we should not consider strange, because since we don't belong here, we're being treated as such. We need to learn how to grow in our trust of the great God who created us, who saved us, and is leading us into his new creation full of glory. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise you that you have not left us alone to simply love this world and ourselves in this world, but it calls to you and your love, to know you've loved us, to love you because you've loved us. Lord, for those who are in the midst of suffering right now, seeking to be faithful to know what it means to endure it for your name, we pray for them to have wisdom. We pray for godly brothers and sisters to come alongside of them and bless them with wisdom and care and comfort and courage. Lord, pray that they would be overwhelmed with assurance of your blessing because of the very testimony of your Spirit that rests upon them. Lord, pray for us as we're preparing for whatever suffering you have before us. Help us, Lord, to know how to look back to Christ who suffered for us. Help us, Lord, to know how to look forward to the glory that's promised And Lord, be ready to rejoice as we're faithful and obedient in a way that would bring suffering in our lives for the name of Christ. In his name we pray, amen.