We're called to a time of fellowship this morning. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. Job wrote this in a time of great despair. Years ago, A classmate of mine read this passage to many of us in the hallway there at school the night before he went in for cancer surgery to have his eye removed. And he was resting in the calm assurance knowing that even if he had an eye removed that God would be working As we look at this whole passage here in Job, we see that's what Job is saying. We need to place our calm assurance in the Word of God, not in our circumstances around us. That's the way we fellowship with God. That's what sustains us in misery, trial, and this world is the Word of God. That's why it's important this morning To hear the preaching of the Word of God, it is what sustains us. As the Word of God is preached this morning, listen to it. Let it sustain you. Let me invite you to turn your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 4. And as well, take out the notes in the bulletin and let's fellowship together around God's word. 1 Peter 4, 12 through 19 is the text that we're currently on or that we're going to begin this morning. We'll spend a couple weeks on it. We're transitioning into a brand new section of Peter. And by the tenor of what we're gonna read, it may not sound like it, but we are, and you'll see why in a little bit. But 1 Peter 4, 12 through 19 is the text that we're gonna be, again, fellowshipping with our Lord this morning. This is God's word. And therefore, let me ask you to stand together with me out of reverence and respect for our God, our King, at the reading of his word. Hear now the word of our God. Beloved, Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you. But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice with exaltation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, then you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer or thief or evildoer or a troublesome meddler, but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in the name, let him glorify God. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Therefore, that those also who suffer according to the will of God and trust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right. That's father reading together. Father, thank you for the privilege that you have given us right now to be here and to be in the Holy Assembly, to be in a place that Lord you have set apart and made holy and sanctified by virtue of your call and by virtue of your presence here this moment. God, we pray, enable us as your people to behold your Word, to understand it. And Father, as we behold it and understand it, then, O Lord, to apply it. That, Lord, it would truly nourish us. It just wouldn't be words or a metaphor, but, Lord, genuine truth that we would eat your Word today. and be refreshed, be filled with joy, that our eyes would be strengthened and enlightened as we think of Jonathan eating the honey. God, may that be us as we eat your word, which is more desirable, sweeter than honey, and the honeycomb. God, we entrust this time to you now. Blessed in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. You all know by now from 1 Peter, Peter was written during the Neronian persecution. I've referenced that quite a bit because you can't get away from it. The entire epistle is about facets of persecution. And to give you, to remind you of some of the background, July 18th, 64 AD, a fire broke out in the Commerce Section District of Rome. And that fire began consuming the wooden structures that much of Rome was built with. It raged for six days and seven nights. And in the end consumed 70% of the buildings of Rome. You've got a graphic there, a map of the Roman city. That doesn't look like 70% in the red, but we're talking about the structures. You see the rest of the off color. There's not a lot of buildings left. It consumes 70% of Rome and Not just the people in Rome, the city itself, but much of the empire when they heard about this. And then the rumor that Nero started the fire. And if he didn't start it, he certainly didn't do a thing to put the fire out. So he sat there and let the fire consume and rage the city for who knows what purpose. Well, when that came to Nero, and I've referenced before that scholars today think that he probably wasn't in Rome at this time, nevertheless, that was what the rumor was. And when he got wind of that rumor, he therefore had to quickly, as you do in politics, get the focus off of himself, so he chose a scapegoat. And that scapegoat was this growing, burgeoning people who were flocking to Rome and thriving there, Christians. He blamed them for it. And that began 64 AD, July 18th, probably now the end of July, began the Neronian persecution, which would eventually burn throughout the entire kingdom of Rome and killing thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Christians. Tacitus, the Roman historian, recorded the following. Therefore, to scotch the rumor that he was behind the fire, Nero substituted as culprits and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty a class of men loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate, and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judea, the home of the disease, but in the capital itself, where all things horrible and shameful in the world collect and find a vogue. First, then the confessed members of the sect were arrested. Next on their disclosures, vast numbers were convicted, not so much on the count of arson as for hatred of the human race. The reason why they were convicted of hatred is because they no longer attended the public festivals. And the public festivals throughout Rome involved the worship of false gods. So when you became a Christian, you couldn't go to a festival, not because being there was sin, but because at that festival, everyone was expected to bow down. So they stopped going, and so they were viewed as people who hated the collective. They hated Rome. They hated man. And derision accompanied their end. They were covered with wild beast skins and torn to death by dogs. or they were fastened on crosses, and when daylight failed, were burned to serve as lamps by night. Nero had offered his gardens for the spectacle and gave an exhibition in his circus, mixing with the crowd in the habit or the clothes of a charioteer or mounted on his car. That's a description of the persecution that began in 64 and would encompass the Roman Empire until Nero's death in 66. Now, in our study of Peter, we know that God's people receiving this epistle were subject to at least the start of this. We don't know how far it had come to Asia Minor. We don't know the severity. We don't know when exactly Peter wrote this. We know he wrote it before 66, because he was killed in this persecution. So it was written either from 64 to 66, sometime in there, but we don't know when. We know that it had already begun. Chapter 1, verse 6 tells us, and this you greatly rejoice, even though now for little, if necessary, you have been tested, right? You are currently going through trial. But if you read 2.11, as we have studied through 2.11 through 4.11, the language there is somewhat moderate. So many scholars believe that this has to be before, that this section was written while it was going on, it had reached the shores of Asia Minor, God's people were being arrested and threatened, put in jail, maybe some starting to be killed, but it's early. It's early on in this. But then you come to our text this morning and all speculation is over because notice with me verse 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal. He's talking about a specific event, not a fiery ordeal, but the. And then he says, among you. In other words, they're in a house that's on fire, and it just didn't catch. The entire house is burning down around them. That's the idea that Peter's saying here. It's because of this language, in fact, he goes on, which comes upon you for your testing. Present tense, you currently are in the flames. It's because of this, some scholars have suggested that Peter finish 1 Peter 4 at verse 11, And then a year later, started writing verse 12 and following. Now many scholars respond to that and say, no, that's nonsense because 1 verse 6, he indicates that the persecution had begun. But there is a clear distinction between 4.12 and following and everything before. We know that 4.12 is a brand new section. Would you notice with me 2 verse 11? Notice how he begins a brand new section. Chapter four, verse 12, beloved. Would you notice in verse 11 of chapter four, he ends with a benediction, and that's a common literary device in the New Testament to tell us that a section has come to a close. Think of Ephesians 3, 20 through 21, the doctrinal section of Ephesians, Paul ends with, now to him, who's able to do exceedingly abundantly, right? It's a doxology, so that Peter ends with a doxology in verse 11, and then starts with Beloved, tells us that 12 to the end of this book, 5 verse 14, is a complete different section. And the tenor of this section, and this is what you must see, is it's written in a bunker, with the bombs going off all around, and the floor being rattled, the entire earth shaking under them. Eventually, that who would write this in this bunker himself would be killed. In fact, the advice and the exhortations he gives in 1 Peter 2 through chapter 4 would have led to more death, more death, not less, more death because of his advice, because of God's exhortation. And so we're at a section where though 2.11 through 4.11 was talking about, okay, how do you live godly lives, maintain godly living in a hostile world? already there. Now we're at a point now where we're in the flames of affliction. And it's brutal. It's hot. It's heated. And so if you realize that and you read the rest of chapter 5, You go, wow, interesting way. Why would he exhort it here? Because we know why. Fascinating. We'll get to it. But this morning, I want you to see this is written in the valley of suffering. It's no longer a theory. It's no longer an idea. And what would you say? An ideal. It is reality. Persecution in a major way has come upon God's people. So this is God's word of encouragement to people in the crucible. in the flames of affliction, in the valley of suffering. And we learn seven truths, principles, from this passage about what we should do. Now, brothers and sisters, I remind you of Rutherford's words, in fair weather mend the sails. Very few of us here are being persecuted. At times we have been, and maybe some of you are now. But brothers and sisters, this passage is written for you and I to prepare. Mend the sails in fair weather, because a storm's coming. And hens, let us be mindful of this passage. Take it to heart. Appropriate it. And change the way you and I think about God and His Kingdom. First principle that we learn, and that is suffering is not incompatible with a loving God. Would you notice the very first word? Beloved. Do not be surprised. Christ in Matthew 5 said, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until all is accomplished. That verse is one of the verses we use to develop our doctrine of the verbal and plenary inspiration of scripture. Plenary means the entire Bible is inspired. Verbal means to the smallest word. This text tells us that every word is chosen by God, inspired by God. And thus, when we read this word, beloved, and note it begins a section just like it began in 2.11, we might think it's simply there for literary value. It is not there because it's meant. It's simply a verbal pause, a vocal pause. It's simply there to fill space, to let us know we're on to a separate section. And brothers and sisters, you can't think that this word is there because God wants it there. The first thing Peter says to people in the midst of the fire is, you are loved of God. In fact, brothers and sisters, don't miss it. That is one of the needs, one of the greatest needs of assurance we have as God's people in the fire is to know God loves us. This is not because he's let us go. This is not because God doesn't care. This is not because he's a passive, laid-back God. This is because he loves us. The word for beloved is not just love. We could translate this, loved ones. And it's used 61 times as a title for God's people, most of which are in reference to God. So for example, Romans 1, Paul wrote in verse 7, to all who are beloved of God in Rome, Did you know that the moniker that rests upon your life right now in the divine heavenly places is loved of God. We call ourselves Christians, we call ourselves name it. God calls us beloved. This is my beloved. It's a word used also in the Bible in reference to marriage. Remember Song of Solomon. This is my beloved and this is my queen. She is beautiful. She's this, she's that. She is, this is my beloved and my beloved is mine. Brothers and sisters, it's a term of deepest intimacy and endearment. God looks upon you with love in his heart. He looks upon you as his bride. Romans 11, 28, speaking of the Jewish people who at that time were still in covenant with God. It's before 70 AD, Paul wrote, from the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved. 1 John 3, John referenced his brethren. Beloved, you're the beloved of God. Now we're children of God. Why? Because you're the beloved. You're his bride. You are the most important individual, the most important object of creation in all of the universe. You, you Christian, you sister, you brother, you child, we all are. We are the beloved And so it is here, Peter begins this important section on suffering with this incredible exhortation, in the crucible, brothers and sisters, you must realize you are the beloved, the loved of God. In other words, the trials and difficulties were not an indication of disfavor on the part of God like we tend to view it. They were not because somehow God had said, I'm sick of you, Christian, It's because of God's love. Now, we rightly ask the question, how is my current experience of trial and difficulty consistent with a loving God? Okay, I see it, and maybe by faith I can embrace it, rather weakly I would guess, because I don't understand it. How can us being the object of God's love be consistent with a life of difficulty and hardship? How is it that Paul could say, of all people, we are the scum of the earth, and yet he knew himself to be loved by God? How is that possible? How do we jive those two sets of data? And to answer this, let me begin by giving you, stepping way back, going to the background. Genesis 1.27. There's a lot we could say here in terms of verses. I'm not going to say it. I'm going to reference 1.27 to make a couple points. Listen to what God's Word said. God created man at creation in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created him. Brothers and sisters, in the context of Genesis 1, that is a massive shift. Because everything has been, God created them after their kind, after their kind, after their kind, after their kind, after their kind. And in the middle of that, you get God created them, and we expect to read after their kind when it comes to man, but we don't read that. We read God created them in his own image. And all of a sudden now, we are stopped. A massive break hits us, and we wake up from our boredom of reading after the kind, after the kind, after the kind, and go, wait, what does this mean? And what we learn from Genesis 1, when God created us, he gave us a unique endowment. We've been made according to his image. He gave us, therefore, a unique relationship. He entered into covenant with man, Genesis 2, 15 through 17, such that he would walk with man in the garden in the cool of the day, Genesis 3, 9. He gave us a unique calling to co-reign, not as servants, as vassals, but to co-reign as co-regents with God. He created us not to be His servants, But that's what we are, as Paul says, that's our glorious calling. He created us to co-reign with Christ, not just over this world, but the new heavens and the new earth. And so all this is to say, mankind was made to have a relationship with God. A relationship where they walked with Him and grew in Him. And which means, get this, at this time, and from this point on, this is an important statement. the best thing that God could ever give man would be what? A greater apprehension of his character. It's the best thing. You know, you were made to apprehend who God is, how great he is, to understand his glory, his goodness, his grace. That's why Christ says, what's eternal life? It's knowing Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ. That's a relational term. Adam knew his wife and she conceived. Eternal life is a love relationship with God, present tense, which means we'll spend eternity growing in our relationship and our understanding and appreciation of who God is. That's how God made us. Yet, as unfallen beings, we can never begin to appreciate and so understand who God is because we hadn't fallen. Do you realize that? As unfallen beings, the only thing we could apprehend about God is that he is awesome, holy, transcendent, big, powerful. I mean, think of it. The angels who have not sinned stand in the presence of God, Isaiah 6, and what do they call, what do they say? Good, good, good, or loving, loving. No, no, they say holy, holy, which means transcendent, above and beyond us. Beyond our ability to comprehend is our God. Come beyond that ability, beyond that ability, three times. In fact, for them to understand, well let me just say this, as unfallen beings, all we could understand is that fast of God. You can't understand God's kind attributes. I've labeled them kind attributes. His kindness, His mercy, His grace, His compassion, His nearness. His care, his tender care. Non-fallen beings cannot apprehend those or comprehend those. They can't. Why? Why can't they understand God's love? Because by definition, what is the love of God? Here's the definition. You've heard me say it now a billion times, sorry, 10 times at least. A little bit shorter than a billion, okay? Love, divine love, is a determined act of the will which always results in determined acts of self-giving for the utterly unworthy. It's that last part. It's why you can't apprehend God's love being being perfect if you've never fallen you can never understand God's love because God's love is seen in the context of people who are unworthy of it and In the garden that they were worthy of God's love. They were not sinful So the only way you can come to understand the love of God is through the fall which is why God ordained it listen to Romans 5 verse 8 You've read this many times. Did you ever read it with this understanding, with this context in mind? God demonstrates his own love towards us. by telling us he's loving, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It's against that backdrop that you come to understand, apprehend, and appreciate the love of God. And that is why the unfallen angels in Ephesians 3 verse 10 are said to watch the church, to watch us in our interactions with God, to come to an understanding of God. They learn about God by watching us. So the only way that we, in the garden, perfect beings, could ever apprehend God's kind attributes is if we ourselves were unworthy of those attributes. And hence, the fall. Now, this is the most important statement I'm going to make in this context of answering the question, why the disparity? How is it that God can love us and yet still we go through trial? How is that? Third point. Here, the most important facet of this, God's redemptive program did not come to a completion the moment you became a Christian. Right? God's redemptive program did not come to completion upon the first coming of Christ, the redemption of man, or the real-time transformation of a sinner into a saint. It will not come into completion until when, Christian? When will God's redemptive program come to its apex? The second coming of Jesus Christ. Right? 2 Peter 1 or 3. Listen to what Peter says. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burnt up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?" Now this is it, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, the elements will melt with intense heat, but according to his promise, We are looking for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. What is a Christian? A Christian is someone who's looking for a new heavens and a new earth. A Christian is characterized by hope. Hope in what? A confident expectation that Jesus is returning. We're in at that moment. God's fullness. Of his plan for redemption will be conferred upon us and we will enter into the fullness of salvation Until that time we are in process You follow that? Romans 8 29 Paul wrote for whom he foreknew he predestined to become conformed to the image of his son God predestined us before time began to be conformed to the image of his son and that that conformity will not take place until glory 1 John 3, 2, Beloved now, we are children of God. It does not appear as yet what we shall be. We know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is. So understand, we were created to have a relationship with God. The greatest thing that could ever happen to you in your life this moment is not that you win the lottery, not that you get the job you've always wanted, not that you get that spouse or that child, name it. The greatest thing that could ever happen to you this moment is for you to come to a greater understanding, apprehension of God. I want you to think of a polar bear. You go to the zoo, Denver Zoo, in the heat of summer. You ever been there in the heat of summer? You see the polar bears out there? And there's water, and they're in that water. I don't know about you, but as a kid, even as a kid, my earliest memory of the zoo were gorillas and the polar bears. And one of the things I thought about the polar bear in the hot summer was, oh, those poor polar bears. They're designed to be in freezing temperatures. In fact, that's when they're most happy. They must be really sad right now, and so they always throw, you've seen them, large blocks of ice in their swimming pool, and they're on top of it playing with that ice, because why? They are most happy in inclement weather. Christian, you are most happy when you're growing and you walk with God. And that will not come to completion. It won't even end there. We'll be growing in our walk with God in eternity. But our redemption on this side of the grave will not come to its fullness and completion until we're in God's presence in the new heavens and the new earth. If that is true, now here's the answer. That's all the background. First question, how is it that trial and difficulty is consistent with a loving God, beloved, You're in a fiery ordeal, and that word for fiery ordeal is used in Revelation for being burnt alive. You're being burnt alive with trial, but you are the loved of God. How can that be, Peter? Answer that for me, and this is the answer. is that is the case, and this is the key question. How does love respond to an incomplete being? On your notes, or on the top of the back side, how does love respond to an incomplete being? And the answer is, it, based on everything you've seen, it, by definition, completes it, that you fill in, completes. How does love respond to an incomplete being? It completes it. If you love something and we are not completed, we are in process. If you love something, what are you gonna do as a parent? You got this child and the child does not know how to tie his shoes. What are you gonna do? The child doesn't know how to read. What are you gonna do? The child doesn't know how to do. The child doesn't know how to tie his tie. What are you going to do? Tie his tie every single time he comes up. Hey, Dad, I'm 45 years old going to a big pay raise here at Neotalk. Would you tie my tie again? What are you going to teach him? What do you do? Because love completes what's incomplete. C.S. Lewis put it in these words. It is for people whom we care nothing about that we demand holiness on any terms. With friends, lovers, children, we are exacting and would rather see them suffer much than be happy and contemptible in estranged modes. Let me ask you something, which would you rather do as a parent right now? To have Johnny, we do have a Johnny in our congregation, to have Rupert, no one's here on Rupert, to have Rupert struggle through his arithmetic tables in tears? or give him no discipline whatsoever and have him grow up and be a notorious axe murderer? Which do you prefer? Every parent who loves will choose, as he wrote right here, that they suffer much than be happy in contemptible and in strange modes. He has, and God, has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us in that way. In the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense. He's right on. That's what Peter's saying. Beloved, You're the loved of God. And we're gonna come in the coming weeks, you're gonna see what this love is going to do to God's people. It's incredible, this passage is rich. But we see this truth in scripture. Hebrews 12, you can turn there if you want back just a little bit. Hebrews 12, six, quoting Proverbs three, whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. That's an axiom, that's a fact. Who the Lord loves, he disciplines. And He scourges every son whom He receives. It's for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as sons. Remember that. When you think of your relationship with God, what is your default relationship with God right now in Christ? What is it? A child to a daddy. When you think of Christ or God or the Holy Spirit, the first thing you should think of is as you're His child. You're His son or daughter. That's dad. And then right after that, awesome, glorious, all the other things about him. Let's not bifurcate him. But yes, he is the most, he's God, he's father. And as father, the text goes on. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Parenting, think of what we just talked about. But if you are without discipline of which all have become partakers, all have become partakers in Christ, then you are illegitimate children and not sons if you're without it. Furthermore, we had early fathers to discipline us. They taught us the arithmetic tables. They taught us how to tie our knots. They did that, and at times it wasn't easy, but they did that, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirits and live? And what that means in thrive, guys, subject yourself to God and thrive in your walk. Stop kicking against the goats. That's what Peter's saying here. Beloved, you are the loved of God. Don't think that you're not. You are the loved of God. For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. Do you understand, Christian? A loving God disciplines. So let me ask the question, and you have to answer now. How is love compatible with trial? The answer is trial is a manifestation of that love. Incredible. In our sinfulness and selfishness, we want an easy life. And we look at trial and say, God, why? Don't you love me? It's like the child saying, why do I have to go to school? Don't you love me? If you love me, you give me candy and let me do whatever I wanted. And from their perspective, they probably mean it. They know they mean it. But you and I both know that's the foolishness of a child. And you know what we are? We are children of God right now, and we're in our infancy stage. When we've been there 10,000 years bright shining as the sun, we will not be in our infancy stage. But right now, we've not been there 10,000 years. We're in a sinful environment, simultaneously righteous and sinful, and we're struggling in our maturation. And so we look at God with our lips hanging out, God, how can you be so mean to me and hurt me the way you've hurt me? And the loving God comes in 1 Peter 4.12 to people in the midst of the trial and says, begins with an assurance, you are the loved of God. Notice the words of C.S. Lewis, I'm sorry I'm quoting him, he just had some great quotes this week. I find a good many people have been bothered by our Lord's words, be ye perfect. Some people seem to think this means, as Christians, unless you are perfect in your life, I will not help you. And many of us take it that way. And as we cannot be perfect then, if he meant that, our position is hopeless. We become disillusioned. But I do not think he did mean that. I think he meant the only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less, Christian, but God says, I will give you nothing less. What a great line. Let me explain. When I was a child, I often had a toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother, she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me go to sleep, because my mom's a wonderful person. But I did not go to my mom. Well, why wouldn't you do that? At least not until the pain became really bad. Well, why? The reason I did not go was this. I did not doubt that she would give me the aspirin, but I knew she would also do something else. I knew that she would take me to the dentist the next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more. And that's your relationship with God. What do you want, Christian? What do you want from God? Well, I know what you want in your heart of hearts. I want to know you more, God. I want to serve you. I want to love you. I want to be found walking with you, no matter where I am or what's going on in my life. And the only way God brings that about in your life is through discipline, which is called trial, the fiery furnace. So Peter begins, beloved, You're not orphans. You haven't been put up for adoption. You're children of the living God. You are the ones who are suffering. Incredible, brothers and sisters. John MacArthur, in his commentary, put this, speaking of beloved in the context of suffering. He wrote, such love provides a sweet pillow for believers' weary souls to rest on in the midst of trials and persecution. Isn't that great? God's love is the pillow, soft landing. Yes, I'm being thrown out of a plane, but I'm gonna land on a pillow called God's love. Or to use the words in Exodus, I'm born upon eagle's wings. You know what that is. cliffs of the Dead Sea, eagles roosted, and the way they taught their eaglets to fly, remember? They threw them out of the nest. They kicked them out, and they don't know how to fly, and they just go spinning down, and then the eagle mother comes down, swoops down, the baby lands on its wings, comes back up into the nest, just to repeat it again. Is that you today? Do you feel, or maybe in the past, maybe in the future, you'll feel like God's just thrown you out of the nest. You're free-falling, you know, really fast, and the earth's getting really big. Well, if the eagle doesn't come down and swoop you up, there's a pillow down there called God's love, and you're gonna land in it, and he's gonna say, you wanna do it again? You're gonna say, man, that was incredible. Yes, just don't toss me out so fast, you know? Well, God doesn't give you that guarantee, okay? But brothers and sisters, understand, point. Suffering is not incompatible with a loving God. Now, real quickly, next point, 12D. We ought not to be surprised by suffering. This will go fast. Notice 12B. Beloved, do not be surprised if I ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. 1 John 3, 13, we're told that we should not wonder if the world hates you. This is stronger, because they're in the midst of the fire. Peter says, don't think it's strange. Are you nuts? This is normal for Christians. Why is it normal in this world? One of the reasons is because of God's providence, because of his love. But another reason, the main reason that Peter's referencing in here is, is because when you became a Christian, you became hostile to the world, or better yet, the world became hostile to you. Right? Galatians 1, grace to you and peace from God our Father, Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age. God came to deliver us out of this world. So now we're no longer of the world. We're not a part of it. Right? We're to be in it, but we're not part of it. We're not part of the world's system. And because of that, What should we expect now that we're not part of Satan's fallen kingdom? John 15, I'm 18. If the world hates you, you know, that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecute me, they will persecute you." Right before Paul was killed in the Neronian persecution, not right before, but he wrote, Philippians 1, to you it's been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in him, but to suffer for his sake. Why? Because we live in a world that's hostile. And right before he was to be executed, 2 Timothy 3.12, in the Neronian persecution, Paul wrote, and indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, you're going to be persecuted. So brothers and sisters, we don't belong. Life in this state will involve persecution because the world hates you. They hate Christ. And as such, we must never be surprised at the fire ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing happened to you. But unfortunately, we are. We always are. We're shocked when co-workers don't like us. We're shocked when the world turns against us because of our faith. We're shocked when we don't fit with this world, and we get overwhelmed, and we get overburdened, and we wonder, ah! Right? Brothers and sisters, Peter's saying it. We ought not to be surprised by suffering. You live 1 Peter 1, verse 1, as an alien scattered in this world. Don't be surprised by it. It's natural. Peter David wrote, unlike the Jews who had for generations been a foreign and culturally distinct minority in the diaspora and suffered in all such minorities suffer, and since persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes had had a developed theology of suffering and trial and martyrdom. They understood it. They got it in the Old Testament. These Gentiles, converts, had no experience of being cultural minorities. Before their conversion, they were perfectly at home in their city. And instead of rebelling against God, they accepted the gospel message. Two glorious things. But now they are experiencing cultural isolation and personal hostility, not what they might have expected as the blessings of the Lord. Well, might they have wondered if something had not gone wrong. Thus, our author reassures them, persecution is not something strange or foreign to their existence as Christians. What is happening is right in line with Christ's prediction. In fact, there's a play on words here. The word for surprised is the word in the Greek, zénizo, strange things, zenos, the root is zen, and the word means strange or abnormal. Peter says, in effect, this is up on, don't be estranged as if suffering were strange. Don't be estranged from God. as if suffering were strange, because you think it's strange, because he signaled you out. Don't be estranged because you think suffering is strange. Think of it, in Christ, we have been delivered out of this age such that we are now aliens and strangers, and thus the world is going to persecute us if we seek to serve God. And so, brothers and sisters and servants of Christ, we don't fit into the world. In fact, the more we grow in Christ, the more alien we will feel when it comes to the world's amusements, its concerns, its values, and what it calls a crisis. Let me say that again. The more you grow and you walk, the longer you walk with Jesus, you will find yourself feeling alien when it comes to the world's amusements, concerns, values, and what it calls a crisis. I'm going to wrap up with just a couple words. Take our nation's recent response to COVID. Black Lives Matter, white guilt, gender identity. the LGBTQ agenda. Now guys, I am not seeking to initiate a conversation. Any godly, every godly pulpit is not called to teach on such things. They're called to teach the word. And woe to those preachers who will spend the pulpit talking, commenting, and addressing those passing things of this age. All I'm saying is this, how many of you have felt like you live in bizarre land with regards to our world's response to COVID, Black Lives Matter, white guilt, gender identity, LGBT. At times you go, am I living in the real world? Pinch me. Did I just read what I just read? Yeah. Is it what I just saw? Yes. You're like, this is bizarre. You'd expect that, brothers and sisters. Those are the big ones, of course. But that's going to come down in millimeter elements in your workplace. Why do you want me to do it this way? That doesn't make any sense. That's the case, brothers and sisters, Peter's saying, don't be shocked. In Christ, we truly have become contramundum. And so if you are persecuted for loving, serving, and knowing Christ, if, with Lot, Your soul is oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men, such that you feel that your soul is tormented day after day with their lawless deeds." I've heard some of you share, I just, I read all this stuff and it just burdens me. I'm always burdened. Brothers, that sounds like a lot. If the non-Christian is surprised that you do not run with them in the same excess of dissipation and they malign you, 1 Peter 4.4, then don't be surprised. Our citizenship is not of this world. We don't belong here. That's Peter's second point. So if you're going through trial and you're going, I don't understand why they're so angry at me. I've just sought to serve God. Now, if it's because you're doing sin, that's a different story. Peter addresses in verse, what is it? 15. But if it's because you're serving God and you go, why would they hate me because of that? I don't understand. Because this world is alien. It's because you're an alien. This world is hostile to Christ and you. So that's the two first points we're going to look at. Suffering is not incompatible with the loving God. And secondly, we ought not to be surprised by suffering. We'll come back to this in the next couple of weeks. But for now, let us go to the Lord, thanking Him that He is Abba Father, that we are and the greatest blessing gift he could ever give us after Christ is growing in Christ. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the privilege you've given us this morning, this day of coming and worshiping you in the community of saints and who are likewise struggling and groping, Lord, to know you, to love you, to serve you, in a very difficult land. Father, thank you for the privilege of adoring you, our God, this day and for fellowshipping and being able to read your word and now go to your table and fellowship with you even more. God, we pray, feed us and may the food that we've been fed with this morning stick. God, may it make us fat spiritually. undisciplined, but Lord, may it grow us. May it harden our muscles. May we take on weight because we feasted upon your word and it's a delight and a joy to our souls. Father, grow us, your people, to come to a greater apprehension and understanding of you, our Savior, this day because of your word, because of your work, because of this table. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.