this evening and I have sat many times where you sit and so I'm going to do my very best not to repeat everything I said this morning and then tack on something at the end but I do want to rehearse a little bit if for nothing more than to just help me to get back in the flow of the study of these verses here and we're looking at verse 6 through verse 9 and thank you ladies for the song tonight While you were singing that, the verse just kept running through my mind that your Father knoweth what you have need of. And to put that on the back of the message this morning, God knows what we have need of. And he puts trials in our life accordingly to meet those needs. Now we'd rather think of that verse as, you know, food, raiment, whatever you want to put in there, just God's blessings in general. But The things we looked at this morning and the things are what I want to go back through very quickly this evening. Trials in our lives show that we have a need. They are connected. And so that is the burden of our thoughts in these verses here. Beginning with verse 6, 1 Peter 1. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, If need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love, and whom though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. And so we said this morning that these verses we are personally taking the subject of this little section here to be that of faith. And we know that there's going to be the trial of our faith according to verse 7, but also the end of our faith. according to verse 9. And we saw this morning that this trial of our faith, mentioned in verse 7, is going to play out in the form of manifold temptations, according to verse 6. Year in heaviness through manifold temptations. That is how the trial plays out in our life. And we noted this morning that trials are divinely permitted, but they have a beneficial purpose or effect designed in them by God Himself. And we started looking at a couple of things this morning about the trial of our faith. in this test and we saw first of all in verse 6 that we can be thankful that this trial of our faith is only for a season. It's for a little while. It is brief. I'm glad the sun may rise on our troubles but one day the sun's finally going to set on our troubles and they will be over. And so it is for a season. But we also emphasize this morning, spent the majority of our time on the thought that trials in our life, they're not just for a season, but they have a service. And I know I'm like you. I find it very difficult in my own life to rejoice in seasons of trial. And part of the difficulty with that is, of course, I mean, majority of it's just our own belief and our own pity parties and self-centeredness and self-interest and all of that. But another part of the problem is, is that you and I, most of the time, don't have the understanding of why the trial is in our life. And if we had the answer to that, it might be a little bit easier to rejoice in while we're going through it, right? But we don't always have the answer. But we do know in Scripture that trials carry a definite and a particular service, and they perform a definite and specific purpose in our lives, and they are divinely permitted. That is contrary to the theology by and large of this day and time in which we're living. If you're in trial, it's kind of like Job's friends. If you're in trial, you're in sin, right? That's the way they looked at it. But trial does not always mean that somebody's out of the will of God or not doing or being obedient in an area of their life. It's possible, right? Every time we come before the Lord's table and we read 1 Corinthians 11, we find there, for this cause, many are sick among you. What is that? They were being chastened because there was disobedience. And so, and some were asleep. Right? I mean, they had crossed the ultimate line of God's long-suffering and God just took them out of here. And so there are then purposes in suffering that are seen in the Word of God and they do carry a service. We notice that little phrase in verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season. Notice that next little phrase, if need be. Now you and I read that and we say, well, if need be, but we need to read it, it need be. And that's just the way it is. And when you look at purposes of trials given to us in Scripture, it becomes clear of why then they are necessary. So they serve a purpose. And I just want to very quickly point out these again to you tonight, and I'm trying to do my best, so be merciful. Everybody has trouble. We noticed that this morning. But trouble does not serve the same purpose for everybody. And we as the children of God need to understand that our faith is going to be put on trial and it is for a different purpose than the lost or the unregenerated out here who suffer maybe like troubles. But it does not serve the same purpose in their life as it would ours. And so some things that we see how trials serve a purpose in the believer's life is that it possibly may be needed to make one contrite, to humble a person. Again, God resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace to the humble. And sometimes trials in our life are needed and meant to take a little bit of the wind out of ourselves and show us again what we really are before God. And so sometimes they serve the purpose of humbling us, making us contrite. Sometimes they serve the purpose of pushing us or moving us. I shouldn't say push like it's against our will, but it moves us to both cling to Him and also to call upon Him. And so trials have a way of doing that. And we need never think that in our troubles and in our trials, God has forsaken us. Right? And He has never intended, again, the breaking of fellowship, but only the strengthening of that fellowship. And I'm going to say this again tonight, as I said this morning, when it's all green pasture, sheep wander, But thank God for every time an enemy of the sheep came into our life in the form of trouble and trial, that it moved us to draw near to our Shepherd. Amen? Keeps us close and clinging to Him. It keeps us dependent. I have a real bad problem with getting independent of God. Huh? We all do. Because we're bull-headed sheep. Amen? That's what sheep do. Eyes off of the shepherd on the grass. And then we just follow the grass and keep going and keep going. Pretty soon we don't know where the shepherd is. And so trials serve the purpose of bringing us back to the shepherd. And we saw this morning trials have a way of making us content and removing from us discontentment. We're too prone to get our affections on earthly things and so God sometimes has to try us a little bit to get them redirected toward things above. We noted that this morning. Trials also enable us to comfort other people. We read that in 2 Corinthians 1. There are ways that you can help people that I cannot. Want to know why? Because you've been through some trials and troubles I've not experienced, but you have. And now you can take those experiences and comfort others who are currently going through similar or like trials or troubles. And so God teaches us a lesson that we might be able to use it for the benefit of comforting others. And this is an obvious one. God uses trials oftentimes in chastening, I believe. Amen? It's not always in chastening, is it? What had Job done? Job didn't do a thing. He was walking in integrity. In uprightness of heart. Minding his own business. Obeying God. Doing what he was supposed to do. And yet had one of the biggest trials recorded in scripture and probably even in history, right? So it was not chastening. But God does use, on the flip side, sometimes in our life, chastening. Or trials. for chastening. And we connected with that also correction or consecration because the design of chastening is to correct the behavior, right? I didn't whoop my children just for the joy of whooping them. It was designed to correct the behavior that was not right. And that was the intended mercy of it, right? And so there's the thought then, God uses chastening and trial to correct behavior, to bring us as a warning out of a behavior that does not please Him, and to walk in a new behavior that does please Him. We also see that trials oftentimes, we see this in Scripture, build character. We notice that in Romans 5. And we also mentioned 2 Thessalonians 1 and 2 Peter 1. And so, those are ways that God uses trials in our life. And I went through those because they show that trials have an intended purpose. That is the key here. They have an intended purpose. And it may be heaven. before you and I ever even know the intended purpose of a lot of trials in our life. But know this, when it's over, we're going to look back and God will unfold for us how He kept us by His power, through faith, and a large part of how He did that was through trials and troubles. Not mountaintop experiences. Not when we were shouting and rejoicing and running the aisles and hanging from the chandeliers. Not all those occasions. But the times where God led us through deep trial that pushed us again, I shouldn't use that word, but moved us and constrained us to draw nigh to Him and stay nigh to Him so that we did not become independent of Him and do our own thing. Amen. We're going to see that on the other side. But we can know right now, though we don't know the purpose, that there is a purpose. And then we can also know that there's going to be a subsequent result. And the pinnacle of that result is we're going to be like Him. Conform to His image. Amen. Until Christ be formed in us. Amen. And so trials have a season. And trials have a service. They have a purpose in our life. But then, here's the new stuff so you can be encouraged now. This may not be too encouraging, but trials, the trial of our faith very often includes sorrow. He said in verse 6, Ye are in heaviness. Heaviness. That word means grief, pain, distress. Now, if you're like me, I'm wondering, well, God, couldn't you figure out a better way to do this? But that's bad theology. Right? Because how God does something is the best way it can be done. But trials, understand, and testings and temptations, whatever word we want to use to describe this particular season or this season of life that Peter is teaching about here, it's going to include some sorrow. Sorrow, if you think about it, It really, it can take many different kind of forms, can't it? I mean, there is a sorrow of loss. That is a grief, a distress, a heaviness upon a person's heart and life, losing particularly a loved one. Isn't that right? So there's that. You know, just simple disappointments in life also carry sorrow, grief, heaviness, a distress, as it were. Hope deferred, what does it do? Makes the heart sick. Right? So sorrow can take on different forms, degrees, types, I guess, however you want to say it. But understand and know this, Most trials carry with it in some form or fashion sorrow. And so we might as well buckle up our shoes and just live in the knowledge of that. But notice here also about these temptations, these trials and the trial of our faith. It's not just for a season and has a service and it includes many times sorrow, but trials are speckled. Now I got that word because if you're reading through your Bible, using the thing that Brother Jim printed off for us, you've read recently old Jacob going down to Laban's house I'm striking a deal with him. Say, here's what we'll do, Laban. Any of the cattle that come out speckled, I'll take those. And anything that's, you know, one colored, that'll be yours. You know, God had favor on Jacob and all them animals that were coming out. I mean, every one of them seemed like speckled, speckled, speckled, speckled. The word here, manifold, In the Greek literally means multi-colored. So speckled is a good word. You ever feel like your life is speckled with trouble and tribulation? I mean coming out as fast as Jacob's cattle were. Isn't that right? Speckled, manifold. Now think about it. It is necessary that trials are different. Why? Because needs are different. I've come to the conclusion in this study that the needs in our lives are going to be met with corresponding trials until God brings about His intended purpose in conforming us to Jesus Christ. If I could sum it up, that'd be the best way I think I could sum it up. See, needs in my life right now may be different than needs in your life. I'm not talking about food, housing, that kind of stuff. I'm talking about needs to renew our minds, to transform our lives, to take us on down the road, as it were, in sanctification and being vessels of honor and loving Him and clinging to Him and being dependent upon Him and serving Him. That's what I'm talking about. And needs in my life in those areas may be different than needs in yours. And you know what that means? The trials in my life are very well going to be different than the trials in yours. But we can all rejoice that they have the same intended purpose. And that's to make us like Jesus Christ. It's also encouraging to know this, over in 1 Peter 4, this same epistle in verse 10, Peter here in chapter 1 talks about manifold temptations. Well, over there in chapter 4 in verse 10, he talks about the manifold grace of God. Manifold temptations are met with manifold grace. How did Brother Tom Hayes write it? There's grace for every mile. Grace for every trial. Amen. As speckled as our troubles are, thank God, God's grace is just as speckled and meets the need in every area of our life. Manifold. There's no form of trouble that God's grace has found insufficient. We may encounter people who are going through trials that we just have no idea how to identify with them. And probably the best thing we could do is just close our mouths and not try to give a little pep talk because we just don't know how to identify. But just because I don't know how to identify with somebody in that situation, and I can't put the words in place to comfort them and to help them, that does not mean that God's grace is not insufficient, is not sufficient to meet the need, right? And so they are for a season, they have a service, They often bring sorrow. They're very speckled. But then also they have a great significance. Because God said, the trial of your faith being much more precious. than of gold that perisheth. Much more precious. You see, here's the thing. This is a lot of times what's wrong with me and a lot of times what's wrong with you is that we put value in all the wrong places. but value in all the wrong places. Because God says we ought to count our trials much more precious than that which has probably been the most coveted, sought after thing in The hearts and lives of men throughout the centuries, what's it being? Gold, gold, gold, gold. God said, I got something that's better than your gold. It's the trial of your faith. And it's going to be tried with fire. But here's the thing. According to verse 7, the end of verse 7, that it might be found, what, unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. I have read this verse wrong all these years. Yeah, I get it. There's a trial of faith. I get it. We're supposed to count it much more precious than gold. And when this thing is over, we'll give praise and honor and glory to God. That's not what it means. This is not us commending God. Hear me now. This is God commending us. Do you see that? Though it be tried with fire, the trial of our faith, that it might be found unto, let's say it this way if you will, a good commendation from Jesus Christ Himself. You say that's not scriptural. Yes it is. Have you not read the parables of Jesus Christ? Have you not read the parable where He gave three men talents, and He went away and came back, and the one man took his talent and turned it into additional talents? The next man took his talent and turned it in to additional talents, and the other guy hid it and buried it. He didn't want to lose it, get it stolen. He just clung on to it. You know what Jesus said to the first two? Well done, thou good and faithful servant. And so it is scriptural. And what you and I ought to be shooting for is in the trials of this life. accepting them in the good grace of God and doing what we can in spite of the trouble and the sorrow and the hurt and whatever else may come with it, staying the course, staying faithful, trusting, honoring, obeying, so that one day At the revelation, the appearing of Jesus Christ, He will say unto us, I put your faith on trial, and it has been proven authentic and real and genuine. That's Him praising and honoring and glorying the fact that our faith was shown to be worthy unto the end. I don't know about you, but I've got a lot of doubts on that one, personally, in a lot of areas. But that's what we ought to be aiming for and shooting for, is to hear him say what? Well done. Well done. Now, I was thinking, I've heard that parable preached on, and I don't think I've ever heard it preached different than, you know, the talents are like the gospel. God gives us the gospel, and so we take the gospel, and we share it and give it, and others believe, and so we're adding to, and I'm not saying that's a wrong application of the parable. But I would ask the question too, and I was just thinking this afternoon, could not application be also that that talent represented faith? God gave us faith. And when we take the faith that God has given us and we live accordingly and we do what we can As Peter said, to add to faith knowledge and so on and so on. Is that not taking the talent God gave us and adding additional talents? God did not give us faith to then not exercise it in our life. And that's how a lot of people look at salvation. Just punch my ticket. That's all I'm concerned about. Punch my ticket so I know I'm going to heaven. And they don't add to their faith, knowledge. They have no desire to learn more about God, to learn of God, to know God, to draw closer. Do you see what I'm saying? Does that make sense? Now if that's not a good application, I apologize. I'm not trying to pervert Scripture. But it seems in my mind in some ways to fit. Add to your faith. And then at the appearing of Jesus Christ, He will say, well done. Huh? And the pillar of this whole thing is Him. And we haven't seen Him but we love Him. And we haven't seen Him, but we believe. And we haven't seen Him, but we can go ahead and rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Because the day is coming, we will receive the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls. It will be consummated at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Amen. I just see in my heart it to be a shame that my faith not be found under praise and honor and glory. And we're not out for an attaboy just for everybody else to see and for everybody else to behold, right? As much as we want to please Him in any area, we should want to please Him in handling the trials of our faith scripturally in such a way that it honors Him so that one day He can honor it. Amen. Let's all stand.