Jack Graham - Facing the Future with Courageous Joy
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The title of this message from 1 Peter chapter 1, and you can begin finding God’s Word, 1 Peter chapter 1, «Facing the Future with Courageous Joy». And Peter was preparing the congregations of the first century as well as all of us today to face the fire and to do it with courage faith. A living hope in hostile, hate-filled world. And I can tell you that because of Jesus, because of what He has done, we always hope on, even in the darkest of days, even in the toughest of times. God has prepared us and pushed us into the world to share the Gospel because we are saved out of the world in order that we might go back into the world to share the Gospel and that really is the only business I have in the world. I am saved out of the world, sent back into the world and that’s my business of sticking around in this world.
What a great salvation. No wonder the Bible says «How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation»? There’s no escape from judgment and hell apart from the saving power of Jesus Christ. How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? What a great salvation! We celebrate this salvation with Peter. We are praising Him and more and more, what a great and glorious Savior! This salvation, you didn’t earn it, you didn’t deserve it, you didn’t buy it, you can’t borrow it, you can’t merit it, you can’t try harder to get it. We are saved once and forever so we can’t deplete it and we can’t repeat it. It’s a once and for all, lifetime, eternal, forever salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ!
Now therefore, with this salvation comes great joy. So in verse 6 here’s what the Scripture says «In this…» In what? In this great salvation, because of this living hope by the resurrection. «In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary», if for some reason, «you have been grieved», and that’s a hard word right there, grieved. It’s one of the hardest, harshest words for trouble, pressure in all the Bible, «grieved by various trials». And why? «So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ». And what is the revelation of Jesus Christ? It’s when He comes again! If you are a Christian, you believe in the Second Coming of Jesus! He said, «I’m coming again. And when I come there’s going to be great, praise and glory and honor».
And I can’t wait to get to that in this message, cause I’m going to show you what that praise and glory and honor is all about. But before we get there, we have to deal with this subject of trials. But there’s something different because as Christians, here’s the truth. With salvation comes great joy in this human joy. Even though now for a little while you must go through some things, some hard times, some difficult times, some dark days. We all face trials. We all face tests. We all face tribulation. In fact, Jesus said, don’t be surprised at this. He said in this world, John 16:33, «In this world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer (take heart) for I have overcome the world».
Christianity is not immunity from problems or pressure or grief and sorrow. When you follow Jesus, there will be suffering, there will be a cross, there will be a test. There may be heartbreak and tears but we know even then we can rejoice. It was Paul from prison in Philippi who said, «Rejoice, (or to the Philippians) Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice». We can’t always rejoice in life, we can’t always rejoice in losses, we can’t always rejoice in loads that we carry but we can always rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say rejoice. And Peter tells us how. Psalm 16:11 says, «In your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore».
People want to be happy. Happiness is in the Lord. True happiness is found in the joy that Jesus gives. He said, «My joy I give to you». Peter says, this is in verse 8, «Joy that is unspeakable and full of glory». Sounds good to me, but it’s so good we can’t even express it. The joy of Jesus is so great we can’t even share the best of it. It is wonderful and it is full of glory. So with the joy why can we rejoice and triumph? How’s that possible? Is this just piosity? Is this self-righteousness? Is this virtue signaling? No. We can live expectantly and enthusiastically. We can celebrate life every day. We can embrace life every day as a gift from God. «This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it».
And Peter then tells us how even in the midst of dark days and sad days and bad days that we can do this. And that is to tell us that these trials are inevitable, they are at times necessary, it says if need be, if necessary, and they are temporary. They are for a season. So let’s start with the fact that trials are inevitable. My friend Chuck Swindol said this, it was beautiful. He said, «All people in all places and at all times have one thing in common; we know what it means to hurt. Whether Jews or Christians, Muslims or Hindu, atheists or idolators, our tears are all the same. Our tears are always salty; they’re the same tears. Cultures ebb and flow, nations rise and fall, and people groups come and go, but suffering transcends all cultures, invade every nation and translate this message of pain to each person who has ever lived».
Trials in life are inevitable. So, whether you are saved or lost, no matter what country, no matter what place, our tears are the same, Swindol says and it’s true and inevitable. So don’t get angry when it happens to you. Don’t be bitter, because God may choose to allow trials and we’ll talk about perhaps why those trials come in just a moment. But if necessary, if need be, it is inevitable. And these trials inevitably are individual because he speaks here about the various trials that come our way, different kinds of trials. In the King James the word is «the manifold trials that come our way». You can even hear the word many in there, but it really doesn’t mean many; it means, manifold, it actually a word which means multicolored. If you saw a piece of art that had, even that stain glass window back there with multi-colors or polka-dotted piece of material.
That’s the word picture here. There are so many wonderful word pictures in the Bible and this is one of them. The manifold, the many-colored trials. Here’s something really great about the manifold, these various trials at work. The same word is used over in 1 Peter 4, verse 10. He’s talking about spiritual gifts but he mentions the manifold grace of God, 4:10 of 1 Peter. The manifold, multicolored, the various grace of God. So here’s the point that I love make. God has a grace for every grief! For every color of trial there is a color of grace. And forever grace there is a greater glory that is yet to come. So trials are inevitable, trials are individual and trials then are instrumental. And we’re going to park here for a while because trials teach us things. The curricula of suffering and pain.
This is where we learn so much. And so trials are instrumental in teaching us. They are instructive, in other words. So in what ways? I just listed some of the ways. I’ll list them for you. God grows us through trial especially our character and our Christian faith and development. Nothing develops character more than adversity in our lives. Adversity will develop your character. It will also strengthen your faith. In James chapter 1:2 and 4: «Count it all joy». There’s that word again; there’s that joy word. G. K. Chesterton said, «Joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian life». I like that. He said, «Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds», there’s that again, «for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have it’s full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing».
So we are strengthened and we count it all joy when… it’s an accounting word, actually. We add it all up in life, you can count it all joy because God is doing His perfecting work in us. He shows us more of His love in times of trial. Deuteronomy 23, verse 5: «The Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you», why? Because the Lord your God loved you! And when you go through something in your life you realize as God holds you close and as you draw near to Him, He draws near to you, and nothing can separate us from the love of God is in Jesus Christ, and you know how much your are loved, even though you’re hurt, even though you’re a child and you’re crying at this point, He comforts you. And that’s the next thing that I want to mention, that He comforts us.
Second Corinthians chapter 1, verses 3 and 4, great verses! «Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (There’s that word again: blessed. It can mean happy or praise to God) the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort,» the God of all comfort. And how does He comfort? «Who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with which we ourselves are comforted by God». You see what we’re saying here? You see what God is saying? That we are comforted in our trials because God has a purpose in our pain and that purpose is to turn our pain into a pulpit, a proclamation to share the love of God. You can say to others, I’ve hurt as well, but Jesus healed my hurt. I’ve got the scars to prove it. You know what a scar is? A scar reminds us that God healed a wound! Too many people live in their wounds.
Now wounds are raw and ragged and hurting. You don’t want to live in your wounds! So many people are bitter. They just can’t get over the hurts of the past, the pain of the past, the wounds. But you need to let the wounds heal. Let God heal the wounds and turn them into scars because your scars are reminders to yourself and to others of the work of Jesus in your life preserving you, protecting you, yes, praise God! A.W. Tozer said something like this: «God will not use us or greatly bless us until He has greatly hurt us». And that’s what Paul is saying there, «That the God of comfort». The comfort that we have been comforted, we comfort others. Trials correct us; trials protect us.
How many times do we avert danger or problems because God may have shared, that was painful at the time. It hurt us, but God was protecting us in some way. Correcting us in some way. If I need to be disciplined because of sinfulness behavior in my life, God may choose to send a trial to get my attention and bring me back to Him. The psalmist David, he talked about this. He said, «I was wounded by the hand of God but now by His hand I am healed». Trails allow us to experience and express true joy in the midst of sorrow as I said. Trials make us more like Jesus. They do. Listen to Philippians 3 and verse 10: «That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him at His death». So it is in our sufferings that we are made more like our Lord. Trials remind us of our dependence upon God.
Second Corinthians 12:9-10, great verses! Don’t miss this! «But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities for when I am weak, then I am strong». The apostle was saying, «I learned to lean on the Lord. I’ve learned to depend upon God, not in my strength but in my weakness».
Let the weak say I am strong because our strength is in the Lord. When I am weak, we are then made strong. Why? Because we’re going along, we’re living our life, we think we’ve got it all together, and then a trial comes and we realize we can’t depend on ourselves and we don’t have the human resources to handle it, but we can turn to God and we can depend upon Him. He prepares us for eternity. He tries. Paul later said I desire, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ. He’d been through some things. He looked back from prison. He said, «To live is Christ; to die is gain». He said, «I’m ready to go». Because sometimes pain and pressure and suffering and heartache and grief, it just gets you ready to go.
And that was Paul. Most of us, heaven’s our home but we’re not homesick yet. But the longer you go the more homesick you get for heaven, the place where God will wipe away all tears from our eyes. Right now He keeps our tears in a bottle according to Scripture. He knows every tear, every teardrop. But then, He’s going to wipe every tear away. So trail, pain, suffering will cause you to long for heaven and the promise of life in His presence. And until then what is He doing? He sits as a refiner at the furnace, testing our faith, proving it, it’s genuineness. Not to Himself. He knows whether our faith is genuine or not. The idea of genuineness is proving to ourselves that our faith is real. To our family, that our faith is real; to our friends, to the world that our faith is real!
So when you’re in the fire, in the ancient days and to somewhat today when they are making something beautiful, a piece of gold, they will liquify the gold. Put it in a vat and liquify the metal. And when it was in the vat, the refiner would remove all the dross and the impurities from the gold. And knew he had done it all, he had done his job when he could see his face, see his reflection in the gold or in the silver. Well, did you know that that’s what our God is doing right now? He is testing the genuineness; he’s taking out the dross, the impurities, those things in our lives that are still there that ought not to be there. Now the key to all this is in verse 7; we’re wrapping it up. But he says in verse 7: «so that… so that…» So that what? «…Your faith will come forward forth as gold». Circle that, underline it.
My friend Tim Delina says God is orchestrating thousands of random events in our lives for our emerging future with Him. We just need to trust the process, we just need to trust the process. What He’s doing in our lives. Because for the Christian, everything happens for a reason. This is not random. God has a purpose for the trials. God’s fingerprints are on each day that you live, your past, your present and your future. He is writing your story, chapter by chapter by chapter. It has a glorious ending.
We know that we have a new perspective and we know that we have a new sense of what is coming because of what He has done, what He is doing in your life, and now everything will make sense ultimately. The things that don’t make sense today, the things that seem so unjust, the things that seem so unfair, the things that seem so tragic and senseless, when we get on the other side, we will know even as we are known. He is proving the genuineness, dokimos is the word. It means to test something in order to prove it. And God puts our faith to the test and allows these fiery trials in order to purify us and fortify us and solidify us in our faith.
Philip Yancy, he said this: «I have learned hat faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse». I like that. Because when we get to where we’re going, we’ll look back and we’ll say «Ah-ha! That’s why it happened. That’s what God was doing! I didn’t know it; it coulndn’t see it; I couldn’t imagine it, but now I know». One final thing. Here’s what’s going to happen in verse 7, we’re getting to it, «The gold that perishes is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ».
And you look at that and say, «Oh, I get it. When we get to heaven, when Christ comes, there will be praise and honor and glory to Him». Yes, indeed, forever and ever! But that’s not what this verse is talking about. Peter is saying to us the praised and the honor and the glory is going to us! Imagine a parade in heaven and you’re the star of the parade. It’s a salvation parade and the angels are applauding, and the Father is welcoming, and the Son is embracing us. We’re in His presence. The praise, the honor and the glory is because of what Christ has done! We are celebrating now forever through praise and honor and glory what God has done in our lives. The parade, the praise is for you, Christian!
When you hear the words «Well done, good and faithful servant». And all the way through He’s standing with us in the fire. You know the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Three Hebrew boys who refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s wicked idol. And then he decreed that everyone had to bow down. But these guys said, «We’re not bowing down to this idol. We worship the one true God. We’re not bowing down». He said, «Maybe you didn’t understand. We’re going to give you another chance because if you don’t bow down to the idol, we’re going to throw you in a fiery furnace and you’ll be burned to cinders». And the three Hebrew boys said, «King, we don’t even have to discuss this or debate. Our God is able to deliver us. But if not…»
We need Christians who are willing to say our God is able, «But if not», if I perish in this… «But if not» they said, «We’re still not going to bow down to your stinking idol». There’s an old Johnny Cash song that said, «They didn’t bow, they didn’t bend, they didn’t burn». And they went into the furnace. They heated it up much, much hotter than they could have imagined, and the king looked in there and said, «Didn’t we send three guys in there. But I see a fourth man that looks like the Son of God in that fiery furnace».
And you know who that was. There was another in the fire and His name is Jesus! Another in the fire with you. He will not always keep us out of the fire, but here’s what God does. He gets in the fire with us and that’s what He did. Another’s in the fire. And I like what Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe used to say, «When we’re in the fire, God always keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat». The eye on the clock to know how long and the hand on the thermostat to know how much we need. But all in all there’s not been one time that He’s not been with you in the fire. Not one time. So therefore, face the fire with courage joy.