Dale Partridge - 1 Peter 1_3-9 - The Forge of Faith

00:00:00.000 Well, good morning, Kingsway, and what a blessing it is to be with you.

00:00:08.920 If you haven't already, go ahead and open your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 1.

00:00:16.800 We will again be visiting this great book of 1 Peter.

00:00:22.780 We're going to be diving in to this book because, as I said in our last sermon,

00:00:28.880 if you can remember almost a month ago.

00:00:32.280 We live in a world gone mad.

00:00:36.580 A world that has mocked the truth.

00:00:40.840 A world that punishes righteousness

00:00:43.880 and despises those who preach the name of Christ.

00:00:49.620 We live in a world gone mad.

00:00:53.560 And yet Peter doesn't write to his audience

00:00:57.320 about how to escape this mad world.

00:01:01.640 Instead, he writes to teach them how to endure it.

00:01:08.700 Last time, we said it plainly.

00:01:11.980 Christian hope is not a luxury.

00:01:16.040 It's a necessity.

00:01:19.340 Without it, courage collapses.

00:01:23.700 Without it, conviction falters.

00:01:28.260 Without it, even the strongest saint will grow weary in their doing good.

00:01:35.980 Today, Peter brings us back again to the bedrock of Christian hope. 0.88

00:01:44.500 Not wishful optimism, not fragile positivity,

00:01:50.120 not crossing your fingers and hoping that everything will get better,

00:01:53.480 but a living, breathing hope, rooted in the resurrection and anchored in Jesus Christ himself.

00:02:05.820 To show you what this kind of Christian hope looks like, I want to draw your minds to the second century.

00:02:14.120 Many of us know of a man named Polycarp, who was the bishop of Smyrna.

00:02:20.300 when rome demanded that he renounce the name of christ or be burned alive he stood before the

00:02:29.420 governor and claimed something that took great christian courage he said eighty and six years

00:02:39.260 i have served him and he has never done me wrong how then can i blaspheme my king who saved me

00:02:48.460 they tied him to a stake after he said this and lit a fire

00:02:56.840 witnesses who saw this event said that polycarp's face shined as though it was being refined in a

00:03:07.220 furnace the flames did not destroy polycarp they revealed him for who he was

00:03:16.340 that's the kind of faith that we're talking about this morning

00:03:22.840 it's the kind of faith that peter writes about in this great epistle a faith that cannot be

00:03:29.580 consumed because it was born not from this earth but from heaven

00:03:34.820 a faith that endures the trial because it rests in the living hope of christ

00:03:42.420 beloved the faith that god gives is not meant to hide from fire it's meant to shine in it

00:03:54.620 that's why peter begins this section not with fear but with praise

00:04:00.260 not with despair but with doxology he says to these saints and if you look at your bibles in

00:04:09.480 Verse 3, it says,

00:04:11.980 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

00:04:16.280 who, according to his great mercy,

00:04:19.600 has caused us to be born again to a living hope

00:04:24.120 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

00:04:30.100 Peter declares a great truth here.

00:04:33.740 Notice the force of his words as he's opening up this epistle.

00:04:39.480 God the Father himself is the one who causes us to be born again.

00:04:46.800 The King James Bible uses the word begotten.

00:04:51.100 God has begetten us or made us to be born again.

00:04:59.140 Our new life in Christ was God's initiative, not ours.

00:05:03.640 It was an act of sovereign mercy, not of your own free will.

00:05:13.500 But what does it actually mean for us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

00:05:21.220 To be born again is to receive spiritual rebirth.

00:05:26.140 It's a transformation of our very nature, brought about by the power of God through the Holy Spirit. 1.00

00:05:33.640 it's not like a it's not a physical second birth this is what the pharisees messed up in jesus's

00:05:42.460 time they couldn't quite understand what jesus was trying to say when he would speak of being

00:05:48.720 born again this is a supernatural work it's something that happens by god uniting his people

00:06:01.100 to the Lord Jesus Christ.

00:06:03.500 This is not a process that we trigger

00:06:05.800 or that we manage.

00:06:10.500 It's pure grace.

00:06:13.340 Just as an infant plays no part

00:06:15.660 in their first birth,

00:06:18.100 neither do we play any part

00:06:20.720 in our rebirth.

00:06:22.320 Jesus, as he was speaking to Nicodemus in John 3, 3 and 5, says that you must be born again.

00:06:39.900 Underlining that the new birth is an essential doorway to the kingdom of God.

00:06:48.500 No one gets into the kingdom who has not been born again.

00:06:52.320 this new birth is rooted in something it's something that changes the very course of time

00:07:02.380 and history peter roots this new birth in the resurrection of jesus christ

00:07:09.160 apart from jesus's victory over death we have no true hope there would be no life for us

00:07:18.280 or for anyone else.

00:07:20.660 Paul says in the New Testament

00:07:22.040 that we would be pitied among all peoples

00:07:24.620 if Christ had not been raised from the dead.

00:07:29.000 Our hope would be in vain

00:07:30.860 without the resurrection.

00:07:35.540 But as Peter says,

00:07:38.900 Christ rising from the dead

00:07:40.860 means that our rebirth is not only possible,

00:07:45.700 but it's certain.

00:07:49.260 Paul echoes this in Ephesians 2.5.

00:07:53.480 He says that God has made us alive together with Christ.

00:07:59.840 Has made us.

00:08:02.280 Past tense.

00:08:04.860 Through faith in the risen Jesus, believers are raised from spiritual death to life.

00:08:11.720 And given a hope that is enduring and alive.

00:08:16.320 Your hope should be as alive as Jesus is.

00:08:20.980 Because it's rooted in the resurrection.

00:08:26.500 Peter's point here is that being born again

00:08:31.180 redefines who we are at the most fundamental basic level.

00:08:38.700 The believer is now a child of God.

00:08:42.880 Not a child of Satan.

00:08:45.440 forgiven, not condemned, adopted, not fatherless,

00:08:55.440 an heir to God's eternal inheritance.

00:09:01.240 This new identity means that we're no longer defined by past sins

00:09:05.800 or former failures.

00:09:10.140 We become alive to God with a heart that beats for holiness

00:09:15.300 and not for sin.

00:09:18.160 That's why as Christians,

00:09:19.640 we must not identify ourselves with our sins

00:09:22.260 or our struggles. 0.99

00:09:23.900 There's no such thing as a gay Christian.

00:09:27.880 That's not a definition you get to use. 1.00

00:09:31.340 That's sin.

00:09:34.100 You're not an addict.

00:09:37.400 You're not forever in recovery.

00:09:41.260 You have been born again.

00:09:45.300 In the resurrection, there's nothing that goes before the term Christian.

00:09:52.640 You're just a Christian.

00:09:56.760 Do not define yourself by your sin.

00:10:00.980 Christ does not do this to you.

00:10:04.640 He calls you his own.

00:10:08.540 The Father has given you an identity with Jesus Christ that cannot be changed.

00:10:15.300 It would be sin for us to change that identity to our past life.

00:10:24.480 No.

00:10:26.860 Those who persist on defining themselves by their sin

00:10:29.980 will face the tragic consequences of that decision.

00:10:38.040 But for the one who is born again, everything is changed.

00:10:46.020 Biblical hope, Peter says, is not a fantasy.

00:10:51.840 It's a confident expectation rooted in the facts and promises of God.

00:11:00.640 Christian hope is a confident expectation grounded in the facts and promises of God.

00:11:10.460 John Calvin wrote, quote,

00:11:12.360 A living hope means the hope of life.

00:11:19.040 Because Jesus lives, our hope will not die.

00:11:23.460 Because he lives, we have sure and true promises.

00:11:28.680 Our salvation is as secure in his hands because it is imperishable.

00:11:36.240 It does not pass away.

00:11:38.540 Christ has secured it

00:11:42.200 the Father has caused it

00:11:45.060 the Spirit sustains it

00:11:48.280 this is our great hope

00:11:52.380 verse 4

00:11:55.400 Peter says

00:11:58.580 to an inheritance that is imperishable

00:12:02.620 undefiled and unfading

00:12:05.560 kept in heaven for you.

00:12:13.680 Earthly treasures have a certain tendency, don't they?

00:12:20.120 They have a tendency to rust and to dissolve and to fade.

00:12:26.500 But what Peter describes here about our treasure,

00:12:30.040 the treasure of being born again, of our salvation,

00:12:32.940 is that the believer's inheritance in eternal life does not fade.

00:12:40.120 It does not perish.

00:12:42.800 It does not fade away.

00:12:47.340 As I studied this passage, I realized how hard this is for us to grasp.

00:12:55.200 You know how difficult it is to grasp something that doesn't fade away?

00:12:58.940 we live in a world where everything fades our health fades our loved ones die

00:13:09.660 the cars we drive break some more than others our money loses its value over time

00:13:17.600 everything in our life is fading and dying and breaking it all has an expiration date

00:13:28.940 Yet, Peter speaks here of something otherworldly.

00:13:34.360 Something that you shouldn't look to the world to comprehend.

00:13:39.680 Peter speaks of our salvation here in a way that it cannot fade, it cannot die, it cannot deteriorate.

00:13:48.960 He uses the strongest possible terms.

00:13:52.380 he uses words like imperishable

00:13:57.160 which means undying

00:14:00.360 it cannot be destroyed

00:14:03.360 remember we're speaking about salvation

00:14:07.020 he uses the word undefiled

00:14:11.880 it means that it cannot be corrupted

00:14:15.100 it cannot be unpure

00:14:19.380 He uses the word unfading.

00:14:25.200 It means it never diminishes in beauty or in worth.

00:14:33.120 The idea that you can lose your salvation is abhorrent to the word of God.

00:14:41.680 the bible uses the strongest terms to affirm that the christian's assurance is secure

00:14:51.460 yet some claim that you can lose your salvation

00:14:56.420 what room is there for this in the bible

00:15:00.360 how can you possibly defend such a position

00:15:05.900 May those who teach such things be silenced with holy conviction.

00:15:13.260 The Bible leaves no room for the idea that you can lose your salvation.

00:15:17.820 You cannot lose your salvation any more than you could have worked to obtain your salvation.

00:15:25.280 We all know we can't work to obtain salvation.

00:15:29.500 And yet we think that you must work in order to keep your salvation.

00:15:35.900 No, this makes no sense in the scriptures.

00:15:45.700 It does not register with the clear and plain teaching of the text.

00:15:54.120 This salvation is kept in heaven for you.

00:15:59.120 It's personally secured and reserved in heaven for you.

00:16:06.900 John Calvin explains that if our inheritance were in our hands, we would lose it.

00:16:15.400 If it were on the earth, it would be vulnerable.

00:16:20.160 But God declares, your salvation is in my hands and kept for you.

00:16:30.560 Your salvation is not here.

00:16:33.740 It's in heaven.

00:16:35.900 secured by the Father for you.

00:16:41.180 This means that all of Peter's words here

00:16:44.720 about it being imperishable, undefiled, incorruptible,

00:16:49.360 are true.

00:16:50.920 If that's truly the location of your salvation,

00:16:53.660 then what can penetrate the holiness of God in heaven?

00:17:02.660 Do you struggle to believe in your salvation?

00:17:05.900 Do you struggle to have peace in this area?

00:17:13.380 Know that your salvation is secure because it does not rest on you.

00:17:21.160 It rests on the one who made the promises to you.

00:17:29.460 Verse 5.

00:17:32.580 Peter says,

00:17:33.660 who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith for salvation,

00:17:40.940 ready to be revealed in the last time.

00:17:46.880 Peter says that we are being guarded.

00:17:51.100 This isn't a passive observation.

00:17:53.860 It's an active, ongoing reality.

00:17:58.660 We're never left exposed to the dangers of the world,

00:18:02.240 nor forgotten in the vastness of creation.

00:18:06.600 Instead, we are continuously enveloped

00:18:10.400 in this divine shield of grace from the Lord.

00:18:15.360 A protection that doesn't stem from our own merits,

00:18:20.300 like the Catholic Church teaches,

00:18:23.280 but solely from the endless power and love of God.

00:18:27.720 it's crucial to understand the safeguarding

00:18:32.520 it's crucial because god didn't leave his promises

00:18:37.020 conditional

00:18:38.400 they're not subject to something

00:18:42.640 it's a fundamental aspect of our relationship with god

00:18:48.440 the holy spirit in the third person of the trinity

00:18:52.100 plays such a pivotal role in this divine guardianship

00:18:56.440 he is the unwavering presence of god within us the source of strength and perseverance for the

00:19:05.380 christian when the world presses in and when doubts arise or even when our faith faith wavers

00:19:14.200 it's the holy spirit who keeps us steady

00:19:17.600 He reminds us of the unchanging nature of God.

00:19:24.800 The very foundation of this unyielding protection is our identity as God's own possession.

00:19:34.740 According to the scriptures, we are not merely created beings,

00:19:40.560 but individuals for whom God has invested immeasurable effort to save us.

00:19:51.640 He is not indifferent to our spiritual well-being.

00:19:55.360 He's deeply invested in preserving what he has worked so hard to gain.

00:20:04.120 You think after all of this time and this effort of God,

00:20:08.820 The Father having this great plan to save you.

00:20:13.840 Knitting you together in your mother's womb.

00:20:17.320 Deciding with Christ that he would redeem and send his own son to save you. 0.95

00:20:22.580 That that Christ would go to the cross and die on your behalf.

00:20:26.620 Be raised from the dead for you.

00:20:29.440 And then send the Spirit to indwell in you and preserve you and keep you.

00:20:34.220 that somewhere along the way the wheels could fall off

00:20:37.540 and you could eventually lose it?

00:20:42.860 God has done all this just for you to fail?

00:20:48.660 No.

00:20:51.720 This is antithetical to the nature of God.

00:20:58.260 Jesus illustrates this truth for us in John 10 24-29

00:21:06.280 He says

00:21:08.260 My sheep hear my voice

00:21:11.700 and I know them and they follow me

00:21:14.420 and I give them eternal life

00:21:17.040 and they shall never perish

00:21:19.160 neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand

00:21:22.820 My Father who has given them to me

00:21:25.580 is greater than all

00:21:26.860 and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.

00:21:34.060 These words offer an unparalleled assurance of our eternal security.

00:21:40.860 Jesus explicitly states that his sheep who hear his voice

00:21:45.720 and know him and follow him are granted eternal life.

00:21:51.360 This is not fragile or fleeting existence,

00:21:54.360 but a life that shall never perish.

00:21:58.620 The imagery is being firmly held by the Father's hands,

00:22:04.080 by the Son's hands.

00:22:08.000 This is so powerful.

00:22:11.920 It then elevates the Christian's assurance

00:22:15.080 because you're resting in the omnipotence of the Father.

00:22:20.500 he declares my father who has given them to me is greater than

00:22:27.040 all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand

00:22:32.740 the combined strength of both the son and the father

00:22:38.740 forms an unbreakable fortress around the people of god

00:22:44.300 no horde of hell can penetrate this fortress

00:22:49.980 No scheme of man can penetrate this fortress.

00:22:58.380 This means that we as people of God must live without fear.

00:23:05.400 There's no one in heaven or on earth that can tear you from the Father's hand.

00:23:14.700 No one.

00:23:15.540 No one has a rightful claim on you except Christ and Christ alone.

00:23:25.680 The man who knows that he is held by this sovereign God does not flinch at loss, rejection, or danger.

00:23:37.140 He rests.

00:23:38.440 He faces the unknown with this calm resolve

00:23:43.880 Knowing that his life is guarded by the same hands that uphold the very universe

00:23:49.140 He does not panic when the world shakes or when enemies gather around him

00:23:56.300 His heart is steady

00:23:58.780 For his security is not in the circumstances of his life

00:24:04.300 But in the sovereign grip of Almighty God

00:24:07.680 christians we are called to live without fear

00:24:13.940 this is what peter starts to point to in verses six and seven he says in this you rejoice though

00:24:25.940 now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested

00:24:32.040 genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes

00:24:36.440 though it is tested by fire, may be found

00:24:40.080 to result in praise and glory and honor

00:24:44.300 at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

00:24:52.440 Peter acknowledges

00:24:53.960 that the trials of true believers

00:24:57.520 are not meaningless sufferings.

00:25:02.860 Instead, they are refining fire.

00:25:08.440 Just as gold is purified by flame,

00:25:12.040 our faith is proven genuine and made strong through difficulty and testing.

00:25:20.680 Martin Lloyd-Jones says, quote,

00:25:22.360 There is nothing which so certifies the genuineness of a man's faith

00:25:27.300 as his patience and patient endurance,

00:25:30.300 His keeping on steady in spite of everything. End quote.

00:25:38.760 Endurance, then, is the signature of authentic faith.

00:25:46.340 This is true even in our own time.

00:25:50.520 We have trials of our own that are coming to test our faith.

00:25:56.060 I was thinking back to recent events, if you don't know, in Ogden, Utah, at Refuge Church.

00:26:06.220 They've recently had protesters standing outside their church.

00:26:12.620 These protesters weren't just screaming at the pastors who were walking in.

00:26:16.500 They were yelling all sorts of obscenities and awful, grotesque things at their wives and their children.

00:26:29.480 Congregants who wanted to merely walk into church in order to worship.

00:26:38.260 Think about being in that situation.

00:26:40.500 trying to go to church while hordes of hell

00:26:45.500 are standing around the church

00:26:46.960 screaming at you and your wife and your children 1.00

00:26:50.200 about how horrible you are 0.99

00:26:52.240 about how Jesus would hate the things 0.97

00:26:57.140 that are coming from your church

00:26:58.540 this would be a test of nerve

00:27:04.400 like many of us have never experienced before

00:27:07.960 many of us throughout all of our lives

00:27:12.280 have been able to go to church

00:27:13.820 in relative ease and comfort

00:27:15.960 but what happens when you live in a time

00:27:20.580 where the world hates the church

00:27:22.600 and hates the message of the church

00:27:24.540 and then tests your resolve

00:27:28.060 if you think this isn't coming for us

00:27:35.180 Let me be the first to tell you, it is.

00:27:41.620 This week, I had the unfortunate experience of answering the church's phone number.

00:27:50.640 Next time, I'll just let it go to voicemail. 0.99

00:27:54.720 I answered the phone, and this woman immediately gets on 1.00

00:27:59.440 and starts berating me about our church's position against feminism, 0.99

00:28:06.720 about Pastor Dale's position against feminism,

00:28:10.540 how Christ would hate such a message and hates those who preach such a message. 0.74

00:28:17.160 And I calmly said, ma'am, you have a demon,

00:28:23.020 and you need to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

00:28:26.360 that was apparently the wrong thing to say 0.61

00:28:31.260 because she started screaming her head off at me 0.92

00:28:33.660 saying many things I will not repeat from this pulpit

00:28:37.020 the trial is coming for our church

00:28:43.240 it's coming

00:28:45.220 things that were once normal are no longer normal

00:28:50.300 the world has gone mad

00:28:53.760 absolutely mad

00:28:56.580 the church is called in this day

00:29:01.700 to have a resolve of Christian faith

00:29:04.060 like no other

00:29:04.720 and it gives

00:29:07.800 pretty severe warnings

00:29:10.280 to those who fall away

00:29:11.860 during this time

00:29:12.620 this time of testing

00:29:14.960 Romans 8

00:29:18.420 16-17 says

00:29:20.380 the spirit himself bears witness

00:29:22.540 with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and

00:29:28.820 joint heirs with Christ. Here's the important part. If, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also

00:29:40.400 be glorified together. Or how about another? 2 Timothy 2, 11 through 12. This is a faithful saying,

00:29:50.960 For if we died with him, we shall also live with him.

00:29:55.880 If we endure, we shall also reign with him.

00:30:01.300 If we deny him, he also will deny us.

00:30:11.560 This is scary stuff.

00:30:16.180 I can already hear someone saying,

00:30:18.300 Wait a second, didn't you just say that we can't lose our salvation?

00:30:24.480 And now you're saying we have to endure this trial in order to remain saved?

00:30:30.400 Is that not a contradiction?

00:30:35.460 The answer is simple.

00:30:39.060 And we must rightly understand the faith that God gives if we are to answer this question.

00:30:45.240 Charles Spurgeon once said quote faith in the very nature of it implies a degree of trial

00:30:55.640 God never gave us faith to play with

00:31:00.200 trial is the very element of faith faith is a salamander that lives in the fire I love his

00:31:09.940 analogies, by the way. A star which moves in a lofty sphere, a diamond that bores its way through

00:31:17.300 the rock. Faith without trial is like a diamond uncut, the brilliance of which has never been

00:31:25.320 seen. Untried faith is such little faith that some have thought it no faith at all.

00:31:32.540 What a fish would be without water, or a bird without air, that would be faith without trial.

00:31:43.960 End quote.

00:31:48.220 This means that the faith that God gives to the church is meant to be tested.

00:31:57.520 It's a tested faith.

00:32:00.700 He ordains both the faith that you have and the trial that will test your faith.

00:32:10.280 Therefore, the true believer, the true faithful believer, will endure their trial until the end.

00:32:22.640 Not because the faith is strong in you.

00:32:26.100 Not because you're resting on your own capacity to stand firm in those moments.

00:32:33.940 It's not for any of those reasons.

00:32:36.100 It's because you are resting on the finished work of Jesus Christ.

00:32:45.240 This is the reason why we do not fear.

00:32:49.420 This is the reason why we stand steadfast.

00:32:52.760 This is the reason why we have courage

00:32:54.860 and are ready for these trials that are to come.

00:33:01.040 The question isn't whether these things are coming for us or not.

00:33:04.560 It's what will you do when they do?

00:33:09.340 Will you shrink back in fear? 0.99

00:33:12.760 Will you make up some Christian nonsense permission structure for you to leave? 0.99

00:33:17.040 Oh, I can't subjugate my family to danger

00:33:22.120 because God has called me to protect my family.

00:33:28.180 I can't lose my job because I'm called to provide for my family, don't you know?

00:33:33.580 So I have to equivocate.

00:33:36.380 I have to be less faithful.

00:33:40.560 We can make up all kinds of excuses in our heads

00:33:43.500 for why we should not do the hard thing.

00:33:47.040 Of being courageous in our time of testing.

00:33:53.020 You can reason your way out of it however you like, but it is an excuse for fear.

00:34:04.820 They are cop-outs.

00:34:08.960 Not faithful.

00:34:09.920 No, we as the people of God are commanded to stand strong when trials come.

00:34:20.340 We're called to push in when the world tells us to stop. 0.59

00:34:27.180 We have to develop this Christian cultural immune system 0.90

00:34:31.640 that says that I would rather suffer for the name of Christ and his righteousness

00:34:36.780 over everything else

00:34:38.760 rather than to be accused of being a coward. 0.91

00:34:44.760 I would rather die in the battle

00:34:47.180 than be safe at home. 1.00

00:34:52.340 Wives, this will be particularly difficult for you 1.00

00:34:55.560 because you have that good and godly nature of nurture. 0.96

00:35:02.780 You want to protect.

00:35:05.460 You want to stay safe.

00:35:09.420 These are good things.

00:35:11.860 There's nothing wrong with that.

00:35:14.720 But you have to develop the mentality that you would rather see, as Brian Sauve said in a sermon,

00:35:21.860 your husband come back with his shield or on it.

00:35:25.260 you have to develop the mentality that says

00:35:32.880 I would rather have a courageous husband

00:35:35.260 who fought hard in this life

00:35:38.240 sacrificed well and ran his race for the Lord

00:35:42.800 rather than see him come home

00:35:46.680 and be safe

00:35:47.700 we must spur one another on

00:35:52.660 to courage

00:35:54.500 to faithfulness in these days.

00:36:00.120 We must be willing to pay hard prices. 0.98

00:36:05.620 We must look to the church of old

00:36:08.200 to learn from their example.

00:36:14.540 May we here at Kingsway Reformed Church

00:36:17.100 be known as a church that is willing to suffer well

00:36:21.900 for the sake of the gospel.

00:36:24.500 These are the times that will test you.

00:36:30.940 May the Lord find you faithful.

00:36:36.820 Last two verses and then we will close.

00:36:41.540 Peter now brings this section to a high point.

00:36:45.720 After walking us through the assurance and security of salvation

00:36:49.780 and taking us through fiery trials,

00:36:54.500 he lets our eyes beget the one for whom this testing is for,

00:37:02.820 the unseen Christ.

00:37:06.440 He says, though you have not seen him, you love him.

00:37:10.640 Though you do not see him now, you believe in him

00:37:13.040 and rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

00:37:17.400 brothers and sisters this is the outcome of enduring faith

00:37:25.060 this is what faith forged in fire looks like it loves it believes it rejoices with joy

00:37:37.300 inexpressible it does not wither when the world turns hostile

00:37:43.100 It does not grow cold when nights get long

00:37:48.300 It clings to Christ

00:37:51.500 And it sings in the furnace 1.00

00:37:54.240 You see, the Christian life isn't about escaping the flame

00:38:00.220 It's about finding Christ within it

00:38:07.300 Trials do not destroy the faith that God gives

00:38:10.360 They prove it to be true

00:38:12.900 and when the faith is proven joy comes rushing in like a flood

00:38:19.680 have you ever felt this when a trial or testing came your way

00:38:25.500 when you actually stood firm and had faith and did not sin what joy we have

00:38:35.560 What wonderful joy, knowing that Christ is at work in us,

00:38:42.160 sanctifying and purging this sinful flesh.

00:38:46.880 What joy is there when we stand firm through testing.

00:38:53.400 We have to have that deep and radiant joy that says,

00:38:57.020 though he slay me, yet I will trust him.

00:39:00.160 the one that we are being slain for,

00:39:07.800 are being tested for,

00:39:09.760 is he not worth every tear,

00:39:14.120 every trial,

00:39:16.540 every heartache,

00:39:18.520 every loss?

00:39:21.780 Is he not worth more than your very life?

00:39:24.540 Peter says what happens to those who have this enduring, proved, tested faith.

00:39:37.540 He says that they receive the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls.

00:39:47.280 The end goal, the finish of faith, is salvation.

00:39:51.060 the faith that god gives is not temporary it's not fragile it's not a seed that dies in the

00:39:58.200 heat of the sun it's the kind of faith that endures to the end because it was born from heaven itself

00:40:05.900 the same hand that began your faith will complete it he will complete it

00:40:15.200 The same God who called you will keep you.

00:40:20.480 The same Spirit who sealed you will sustain you.

00:40:27.120 Our hope is not in our ability to hold on.

00:40:32.160 Do not look when the trial comes to your own steadfastness,

00:40:38.040 to your own prayer life,

00:40:41.040 to your own Bible reading,

00:40:42.880 to your own good deeds.

00:40:46.220 When the trial comes,

00:40:48.020 do not look to yourself.

00:40:50.940 Look to Christ.

00:40:53.800 His good deeds,

00:40:55.820 His sufferings,

00:40:57.360 His victory,

00:40:59.440 His conquering over death,

00:41:01.660 and eventual conquering

00:41:02.780 of the entirety of the world.

00:41:07.200 In the time of testing,

00:41:08.940 it's not you that you need to look at,

00:41:10.660 it's Christ.

00:41:12.880 In Christ alone, we can stand still, knowing that our momentary afflictions are preparing us for an eternal weight of glory.

00:41:33.740 Kingsway Reformed Church, may we be the kind of people, a people who do not run from the fire,

00:41:42.880 but walk through it with praise and psalms on our lips.

00:41:48.640 A people who do not shrink back from the world when times get hard,

00:41:53.240 but shine brighter against its darkness.

00:41:57.620 A people whose joy is not tied to the circumstances of this world,

00:42:02.500 but anchored in the eternal nature of Jesus Christ.

00:42:07.480 Yes, trials will come your way.

00:42:10.840 They must come your way.

00:42:12.880 But the same God who allows the testing is the God who refines, who sustains, and who finishes the work he begins.

00:42:24.720 So stand firm.

00:42:27.780 Love the unseen Christ.

00:42:30.920 Rejoice in the fire, for the faith that God gives will endure the storm.

00:42:36.420 And on that final day, you will not fail to hear the words,

00:42:40.560 well done, good and faithful servant.

00:42:46.040 Amen?

00:42:48.180 Join me, if you would, in praying that God would do this mighty work

00:42:52.360 in us and in our church. Let's pray.

00:42:59.060 God in heaven,

00:43:04.020 Lord,

00:43:04.980 you have revealed mighty things to us from your word this morning.

00:43:10.560 you have spoken of this eternal salvation,

00:43:16.920 this undying grace that's been given to us.

00:43:25.180 And how this grace and this faith that we have

00:43:28.240 will be tested through fire and through trial.

00:43:34.320 God, I pray this morning that you would make

00:43:36.560 not only our church, but the churches locally

00:43:39.380 Locally and around this nation, faithful.

00:43:44.300 Give them spines.

00:43:47.420 Give them the courage to stand fast through the testing.

00:43:54.840 May they not be consumed when the trial comes,

00:43:58.880 but be purified in it and more zealous to see your kingdom come

00:44:05.000 and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

00:44:10.380 God, make your people faithful here.

00:44:14.840 Make them strong.

00:44:18.300 Prepare them for the battle.

00:44:21.780 So that when that day comes, you will find us faithful.

00:44:27.900 Lord, be near to this church.

00:44:30.580 And may these words bless your people.

00:44:34.000 In Jesus' name, amen.

00:44:39.380 Thank you.

Dale Partridge - October 31, 2025

1 Peter 1_3-9 - The Forge of Faith

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