Responding to Trials

I want to ask for you to grab a seat. And Feel free to turn in your Bibles to First Peter. I do trust that there is someone that can work the overhead for me, the Whatever the PowerPoint presentation for me. Again, if you have a Bible, please turn in it to First Peter chapter one.

We're gonna be taking a look at a section of that chapter here in a few moments. but before we do, I'm gonna ask you to join with me in prayer. Let's pray. Lord, we just come before you this morning.

And Lord, we are asking that you might by your grace speak to our hearts. Lord, I ask that you would use me as a cracked vessel of your unworthy servants, use me as an instrument of your grace through whom you speak to your people. I pray, Father, that the hearts of your people will be ready to hear what it is that you might have to say to them directly or what it is that you might say to them so that they may share something of what has been said with another. Lord, we, we ask that you would cause your presence to be felt amongst us this morning, that we would have a very clear sense that you are God, and that Lord, you are among us.

Lord, we come to you, not in our own righteousness, but in the righteousness of Jesus on the basis of his shed blood, extremely grateful to you that he came not for the healthy, but for the sick. He came not for the righteous, but for the unrighteous. And so therefore, Lord, we can safely say that he came for us. And we give thanks and we give praise to you for these things.

Now speak. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So you are turning in your Bibles to First Peter chapter one, and as you're turning there, I just want to remind us of the larger picture of First Peter.

Remember that the larger picture, the broader context is that of trials, and Peter's readers are Going through significant trials, some of them are on the receiving end of government persecutions. Some of them slaves are having to contend with unjust masters or employees, if you will, having to deal with bosses who are ill treating them. we have instances of, wives who are married to men who are being disobedient to the word and so the, these are women who are in need of some counsel from Peter.

likewise, we have husbands who are dealing with wives.

who are living out of the overflow of their weakness and, and their depravity and their sin is beginning to expose itself and Peter is in the larger conscious, he'll speak to husbands regarding their wives and how to live with their wives in an understanding way. We also understand from First Peter at the end of the book that there is Satan who is roaming about like a roaring lion seeking to devour and so we can safely say that there are demonic attacks that are taking place against these readers.

And so they're going through a number of different types of trials. The trials are all kinds.

The list is endless, really, and Peter's concern, his burden for his readers is that they do not cave in to the pressure. He does not want them to cave in to the pressure. He understands that because of these trials of life, there would be the temptation to cave in and he does not want for them to cave in. They are being sinned against in significant ways, and Peter wants them to persevere in their trials.

He wants them in the midst of their trials to exalt and to glorify God. He wants for his readers to know how to respond to their trials. He wants his readers to know how to walk, how to walk in the midst of their trials. And so by way of extension, Peter wants you.

And he wants I to know how to walk in the midst of our trials. I do not know what burdens you carry this morning, but I think that I can safely say that for at least a handful, if not many of you, you come here this morning carrying burdens. You come here this morning having been sinned against in significant ways. You come here this morning having lost a job or not knowing how you're going to make the ends meet.

You come here this morning and, and you've been on the receiving end of attack. Perhaps even demonic or satanic attack. You come here this morning with questions of health in your mind. I do not know what it is that you may be going through this morning, but I do know that God through Peter this morning wants to minister his word to your heart.

Let's go ahead and take a look at this passage. 1 Peter, beginning in chapter 1 and verse 13. It reads as follows. Therefore, Gird your minds for action.

Keep sober in spirit. Fix your hope completely. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lust.

which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all of your behavior. Be holy, be holy, because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am, or because I am holy. And if you address as Father, the one who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear. Conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but you were redeemed with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless.

You were redeemed with the blood. Of Christ. And so our message this morning is entitled Responding to Trials. Responding to Trials, 3 things we are to do when trials come our way.

Three things that Peter wants for us to do in the midst of the trials that we are suffering. Number one, we are to walk in hope. We are to walk in hope. Now, again, looking at the passage, he begins by saying, therefore, girding your minds for action, keeping sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The main subject in this passage is you, the reader, it's you, and the main verb is fix your hope completely. The other verbs, if you will, girding your mind for action, keeping sober in spirit, these are actually participles and they are in subordination to the main verb, the heart and the soul of what Peter is getting across here is this, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Fix your hope. Now let us define hope briefly.

Hope defines it as an assurance. It is an absolute confidence that God will pull through with his future plans. God will be true to his promises. God will not renege on the things that He has said that He will do.

That is what hope involves. It involves an assurance that God is going to be faithful to what he has said that he will do. I want you to understand that in this passage, the command is strategically located. Again, the main command, the The imperative is fix your hope completely on the grace, and it is located very strategically.

These are people who are on the receiving end of trials. These are people who are being sinned against. And, Peter, did I say Paul, Peter, Peter could very easily have started by saying be holy. He could very easily have started off with saying fear God.

But he understands that the people who are going through difficulties that the first thing that they need is they need to be instilled with biblical hope. They need to be encouraged, and so his primary exhortation coming right out of the gate is fix your hope completely on the grace to be given to you. I want you to understand that there is a lot that the Bible has to say regarding the doctrine of biblical hope. There are many passages, even countless passages that we can go to that help to give shape and inform our understanding of hope.

Hope is something that we are to have if we are to be stable in our faith and if we are to Withstand the difficulties that God allows to come into our lives. Let me just rattle off a few of the benefits of hope. Hope serves as an anchor to our souls. Hebrews 6:19-20, it says, this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast, and one which enters within the veil.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13, we, we learned that hope helps us from being overwhelmed by sorrow. In 2 Corinthians 3:12, we learned that hope helps us to have boldness. In Proverbs 10:28, we learn that hope helps us to be glad. Romans 5:16 teaches us that hope stabilizes us in the midst of trials.

It has a stabilizing effect on us in the midst of trials. Hope results in our ability to be patient. Galatians 5:5. Hope results in obedience at all costs.

Those who are hopeful are able to obey God, no matter the Circumstance, no matter the situation, Hebrews 11:24-26, hope results in our not being overwhelmed when circumstances are difficult. 2 Corinthians 4:8-18. Hope results in a confidence and expectation that we will see the Lord when he appears. First John 3:2, let me read that.

He says, we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him just as he is. What a hope. What an encouragement. Hope results in perseverance.

First Thessalonians 1:3. Hope results in praise of God. Acts 2:26. Hope results in joy.

Romans 12:12, rejoicing in hope. Hope results in evangelistic opportunity. And we see this in the epistle that we are looking at this morning, First Peter chapter 3, verse 5, he says, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, you who are going through trials, you who are suffering for righteousness' sake. You who are on the receiving end of being sinned against in severe ways, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asked you to give an account for the hope that is in you.

What's up with the hope? What's up with the hope that you have? How can you, in the midst of your trials with these burdens on your back, how can you look at these trials and look at the future and smile, I don't get it. Give an account, help me to understand.

Being ready to make a defense to everyone who asked you to give an account for the hope that is in you. Hope results in strength to continue on. Lamentations 3:18 and Isaiah 57:10. Hope results in a confidence in God's nearness, His goodness, His sovereignty, justice and wisdom, and we see This permeated throughout the Psalms, but in particular, you might want to read through Psalm 73 when you get a chance.

And so as you can tell already, just as we, as we survey New Testament passages in connection to this biblical doctrine of hope, we discovered that there is much to be said about hope. There are tremendous benefits to hope. And I would encourage you this morning to heed the command of Peter, when he exhorts you to fix your hope completely. In our passage this morning, we learned the following about hope and so let's hone in on the passage this morning.

We learned the following about hope. number 1, hope is rooted in the gospel. Hope is rooted in the gospel, Hope is rooted in the fact that we are saved by the gospel. In 1 Peter 1:13, he begins his train of thought by saying, therefore, Therefore, fix your hope completely.

Well, what does therefore take us back to? And if you take a look at the first few verses of First Peter, we read that Peter describes his readers, and by way of extension, he describes us who have repented of our sins, and who have believed in Jesus, he describes us as being chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, chosen according To the love of God for us, a love that he had for us before the foundation of the world. We read that we are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus.

This speaks of the fact that our sins have been atoned for, that we are washed clean and that our sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west, and so we are sprinkled by the blood of Jesus.

We are clean in Christ. Peter tells his readers, As he's describing God, he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled, and it will not fade away. It is reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through Faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, he says, in this, in this salvation that is yours, in the hope of your salvation, he says, you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.

He goes on a little bit later to say, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining You are right now, as I write to you, you are obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

You are obtaining salvation. This is the present sense of our salvation. You are being sanctified. You have been justified.

You are obtaining salvation, you are being sanctified, and the day will come yet in the future and, and Peter gets into this in which we will You will receive grace, and that's the grace that we are to fix our hope on, fix your hope completely on the grace, the future grace that will be presented to you at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. He goes on to say in regard to this salvation, the prophets who prophesized of the grace that would come to you made careful search and careful inquiry.

The prophets of old were very interested in the salvation that was going to be brought to God's people through the blood of the Lamb. They were extremely interested in it, and they were doing all that they could to try to wrap their minds around it.

And here we have in retrospect the cross, and we know more fully what it is that they were striving so hard to look into. And so I want to submit to you that as we think about hope from this passage, it is rooted in the gospel of our salvation. When the trials of life come your way, I want to remind you of your salvation. God through Peter wants you to remember we will remember the work that He has done.

We will remember how he has saved us through His blood. Secondly, hope is accompanied by mental preparedness. And so, Peter, he's he's connecting us to the gospel and then he's forwarding us to the place in which he's going to say gird your minds for action. Gird out the loins of your mind, or prepare your mind for action.

And there's a definite connection, I think in Peter's mind between the gospel and, and this council to prepare your minds for action. You can prepare your minds for action in the midst of being sinned against when the gospel, and, and as you make gospel connections to how to live out life. You're going to be better able in that process to have a mind that is prepared for action. We need to anticipate that things are going to happen.

We need to anticipate that Satan will fire his flaming missiles at us. We need to anticipate that because of our faith in Christ we might be sinned against. We need to anticipate these things because life in a fallen world means that sin is going. Happen and we will be sinned against.

And when that happens, we need to be mentally prepared for that. Let's not just wait until we're sinned against and then try to figure out what to do. But let's prepare our minds for action. There's a clear connection between what we think and the things that we do, and Peter wants for us to be prepared for actions by readying our minds.

There's much that can be said about this idea of preparing our minds. It necessitates gospel meditation, but it also necessitates meditating on God's words. Later on, Peter says that we are to eagerly desire the pure spiritual milk of the word, that by it we may grow in respect to our salvation. So preparing our minds necessitates being in.

The word meditating on the word, letting our minds marinate in the meat of the Word of God. Our thoughts are to be tied down and tucked into the word of God, and we must be transformed then through the renewing of our minds. Ephesians 4:23 says that we are to be made new in the attitude of our minds. And so as Peter's readers are going through various trials, he is instructing them while they're being sinned against in significant ways.

He's instructing them to be ready to ready their minds, to gird up the loins of their minds, and to anticipate the opportunities that God gives them. In their situation to do good deeds, to do good works. Well, thirdly, hope is accompanied by sobriety. He says keep sober in spirit, right?

Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit. And again, I want you to understand, girding your mind and keeping sober, these are participles. They are in subordination to the main thrust of what he's saying, the main verb fix your hope completely. But here we have that hope is accompanied by sobriety.

OK, this is connected to the idea of abstaining from wine, not to be drunk. The thought here is that as God's people, In the midst of the things that we must face, we are to be mentally alert. We are to be sober. We cannot allow ourselves to be lulled into a state in which we lose our inhibitions.

We cannot be carried away to a place where we end up doing things that are regrettable, things that we wish we could take back. And Peter is saying to his readers that you have got to be sober and clear-headed. Your ability to fix your hope hinges upon a clear-headed sobriety of spirit. Well, let's move forward then to, to that which we are to direct our hope towards.

Number 4, hope is directed towards the future. Hope is directed towards the future. He says, fix your hope completely. Completely on what Peter?

Give me something concrete and tangible that I can sink my teeth into Peter. I'm very discouraged. I'm hurt. I've been on the receiving end of abuse.

I've been picked on Peter, what, what, what am I supposed to fix my hope on? He says, fix your hope completely in all of its entirety upon the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Get a Picture of the future. Look into the future and know that you have every reason in the world to smile.

The future is good, and I know things are tough in the meantime. In the meantime, you have to walk in a manner worthy of his calling. You have to walk in the steps of Jesus. You have to deal with life in the sinful and fallen world, but look into the future and understand that the day is coming in which grace is going to be showered upon you.

He tells us that our hope is to be a complete hope, hope completely on the grace. There is no room for partial hope. He tells us to hope, put your hope completely on the grace that will be given to you. We will receive grace.

Now, this does speak of unmerited favor. It entails the future sense of our salvation. It no doubt entails our glorification. The day is coming, saints of God.

In which you will be glorified. You will be glorified, you will have a new body. The brokenness that you feel will be done away with. The sins that you struggle with will be no more.

In fact, you will no longer ever be able to sin again. There will be no more sickness, there will be no more weakness, no more tears. Part of your part of the grace that is coming to you may also entail spiritual reward. The Lord is a generous Lord, and he is willing to meter out rewards to those who have lived for His glory.

And so fix your hope completely on the grace. Think in terms of the reward that he may measure out to you on that day in which you are ushered into his presence. There is reward waiting for you. Is this not enough reason in the meantime to heed what he is about to say, to heed the call to be holy and to fear the Lord, when we understand the grace that is coming to us.

The day is coming. in which we will be reunited with fellow saints who have gone on before us. There are those whom we have loved and whom we have cared about, who have died in the Lord, and we will see them again, face to face someday. What a blessing, what a grace from God.

All things will be made new. The glory of the Lord will fill the entire earth. No. More curse on the face of planet Earth.

There will be a new heavens and a new earth. There will be joy inexpressible and full of glory. That day is coming, and he says, in the midst of your trials, fix your hope completely, completely on the grace that is gonna be brought to you at the appearing of the Lord. We will see the Lord face to face someday.

This is what he says in the word. We will see the Lord face to face someday. We will behold the beauty of the Lord. Fix your hope completely on that future reality.

And I know that there are those who this morning struggling in one way or the other. I know that there are those who are dealing with their own brokenness. There are those who have burdens on their back who are hurting, and I want to encourage you this morning, fix your hope completely on the grace that will be given to you at his appearing. This is Peter's burden for his readers, and this is his burden for us some 2000 years later.

And so, as we face the trials of life, we must walk in hope. Such a hope is critical if we are to advance to the next step. Number 2, and we'll be moving through these more quickly. I wanted to focus our attention on this idea of hope, but as we move on to 2, Assuming that we are heeding the command to walk in hope, we are to walk in holiness.

Let holiness. Pervade your life. We are to walk in holiness. He says in 1 Peter 1:14, as obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance.

No, no. You are children of the Most High God. You belong to Him, and as children of obedience, do not be conformed to the former lust, the evil desires that were yours before. Do not allow yourself to be sucked in to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life.

Do not allow yourself to go there. These are things that wage war against your souls, Peter says a little bit later. These were yours in your ignorance. But by way of contrast, like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves, be holy.

Be holy. This is a command. This is something we're called to do. But interestingly enough, it is a command that is given in the passive voice.

There is this sense in which we don't necessarily pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps and make ourselves holy, but this is something that is happening to us. We are being made holy. OK, I don't want to overemphasize that too much because I do think that contained herein is the exhortation. It is an imperative.

We are called to be holy, but just note it's in the passive. It's something that is happening to us. We are to allow ourselves to be worked upon by God, even through the form of the grace of trials to be holy. Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all, not in part, not impartial, but in all your behavior because it is written.

You shall be holy. And again, this quote from the Old Testament, this is not a command as much as it is a description. This is in the indicative, meaning this is something that will be, you shall in the future, you shall be holy. And the way to understand what follows is this, because I am holy.

We get the idea that the God who has called us unto Himself will see to it that He will make us to be holy. There is no other way. After all, as children of the Most High God, we are going to reflect Him. He is holy and because of that we're going to be holy.

There is that sense, and I think Peter is wishing to encourage his readers with this idea. With this idea. And so there is here in this, this instruction to, to, to walk in holiness. Just a few points I've already alluded to them, but just to fill in the blanks.

the idea of holiness is to be set apart from sin unto God. One, the command to holiness is issued on the other side of Peter ministering hope. Just keep that in mind for whatever it's worth. Number 2, holiness is rooted in relationship.

He says, as obedient children, as children. As obedient children. He's underscoring here who they are. You are children of the Most High God and so their holiness, according to Peter in this passage is being rooted in their relationship.

It is being rooted in their position. You are children, and, and, and so, and so behave as children, be holy like your Father in heaven who is holy. Number 3, holiness involves a rejection of sinful desires, and we see it when he says, don't be conformed to the former lusts, which were yours in your ignorance. And, and, and lust can be understood as, as any desire that is, that is evil, any craving that is a craving that is stronger than your craving for God, nothing should take the place of God.

You should be single-hearted. devoted to God above all things and so, don't be conformed to any of the former lusts, lusts which served to take you away from the worship of God. These were your lusts that you had in your ignorance, but now by way of contrast, You are to be holy. Number 4, holiness serves as a description of God in this passage.

He says, like the Holy One who called you, like the Holy One, later on, he says, God speaking of himself says, I am holy, and so holiness really here is a description of God. I want to take a brief minute here to submit to you. That in order for us to more fully wrap our minds around this idea of the holiness of God, in my mind, I believe it's very helpful to take time to gaze upon the Christ on the cross. You want to understand holiness.

Spend time at the foot of the cross, and there at the foot of the cross, understand how high and how holy God is, that it required nothing less than the death of His Son to pay the price for the sins that we have committed against Him. You see holiness in the sense of God's wrath being poured out on display at the cross, but You also see holiness on display through the example of Jesus, and Peter is going to direct our attention later in this epistle to the example of Jesus on the cross, and therein is holiness on display, Jesus on the cross, being sinned against in unimaginable ways, in total brokenness, in total hurt, physical, emotional, pain and suffering, and there he is at the cross, loving his enemy.

That is holiness. When you can love your enemy, when you can love the person who has hurt you tremendously, that is a grace from God and that is a step in the direction of holiness.

That is something that can be extremely difficult to come by. But the Bible instructs us that we are to love our enemies if we are to be holy. The Bible instructs us that we are to, and Peter says, to walk in the steps of Jesus, who suffered agonizing and excruciating pain on the cross, if we are to be holy. And so I submit to you that the grandest demonstration of holiness, this side of heaven is at the cross.

That's where you see holiness being unpacked like never before in the history of humanity. And so number 5, holiness is to permeate every aspect of our behavior. Be holy yourselves also in all of your behavior. We are to be holy, 6, because God is holy.

He says, you shall be holy. Because I am holy. And then we're going to move on to the 3rd exhortation. Number 3, we are to walk in fear.

We are to walk in fear. Listen to what he says, and we'll just cover this briefly. He says, and if you address as Father, the one who impartially judges according to each man's work, he impartially judges according to each man's work. Conduct yourselves in fear.

There is a sense of shaking in the boots. All things will be laid bare. Praise God that Jesus took the wrap. Praise God that our sins were cast upon Him.

And he was punished for us in our place so that we would not have to be punished. But just the very idea that God does not forget. Some people think God forgets, but he doesn't forget. He just chooses in His grace not to hold our sins against us.

It's not like he forgets, oh, I forget when you did that particular sin. Oh, I forgot when that person sinned against you and you responded in kind by sin. It's not like he forgets, but because Jesus absorbed the blow for us, God chooses not to hold it against us. What a great God, to know that we are sinful and yet to regard us as his friends and to love us.

He says, and if you address as Father, the one who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon the earth. Your time upon the earth is limited, it'll come to an end. You won't be here forever. The trials and the suffering will eventually, come to an end.

He says, he says, conduct yourselves in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold. A futile way of life inherited from your forefathers but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. Two things that I want to say in connection to this command to fear, to conduct ourselves in fear. We are to conduct ourselves in fear.

Number 1, because God is an impartial judge and we've read that. And then number 2, because our salvation came at a high cost. Again, I don't know what you're going through this morning. God knows.

He's got all of the details worked out. He's wise in all of his dealings. He's exercising his sovereignty. He has not fallen from his throne.

And God this morning is wanting for you to walk in hope. And he knows that if you are able to somehow hope in Him and then to begin to walk in hope that the other exhortations will come easier. They'll be easier to come by walk in holiness, walk in holiness and walk in the fear of the Lord. Another word for fear is honor, honor the Lord.

And so we have considered this morning a biblical response to trials, hope, holiness, and honor. I want to give you just a minute to remind you on your information slip. If you have any prayer requests that you want to bring to the attention of the staff, we pray over those things every Tuesday and even beyond. we want to ask you to, to open your hearts to us and to let us know of the burdens that are yours or the things that you want us to pray for and take that information slip inside your bulletin and fill it out, and let us know what you want us to pray for.

Let us know if, if, if there were any way. In which maybe you were encouraged or instructed through the music or or even through the message or through the passage as you have looked at it and just let us know, encourage us with whatever encouragement that has come to you this morning and so go ahead and, and take a minute to do that and, and as the ushers come forward. We're going to ask them to come forward so that we can take up the collection as well. I'm gonna go ahead and, and, close in prayer while you're doing that.

You can pray with me. You can fill out your slip and just ready yourself to give unto the Lord as the ushers and the music team come forward. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, I just pray for these, your precious people, and I lift them up to you, and I pray, Father, that you would instill in them hope, help them to look to you with confidence and with assurance, with encouragement, help them, Lord, even in the midst of the difficulties of life, to be able to find inside of their souls welling up joy, God, joy in the midst of Trials, joy inexpressible, full of glory, God, encourage them, will help us as a people of God to be very well versed in building one another up, encouraging one another, ministering hope to one another, and seeing on the other side of such a ministry, seeing lives being transformed from broken.

This into wholeness, Lord, that is our mission. That is what we are all about here at Cornerstone, and this is what we want to see that by your grace countless people can say, I have been transformed. I have journeyed from brokenness to wholeness, and I exult in the glory of Almighty God. And as we close in song, Lord, help us to sing to you, sing to you, out of the overflow of hearts that worship You.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.