And with that, let's turn to verse 12 through 19 and read our section for tonight. He says, "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, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a troublesome meddler, but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in his name.

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, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right." Let's take a moment to pray. Heavenly Father, we ask again, Lord, that You would continue to work in our hearts through Your Word and the Spirit of God.

God, washing away all that is worldly, any sin that harbors in our heart, and especially, Father God, a thought, a perspective, a worldview that is more manly than it is godly. I pray, Lord, that You would wash away those things and continue to renew our minds. This we pray in Christ's name.

Amen. Okay. As we take a look, you see repeatedly through the study of 1 Peter why I'm saying Apostle Peter has been challenging our worldview and perspective. Likewise, here, he is challenging your worldview, and in verse 12, he says, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeals among you which comes upon you for your testing as though something strange was happening to you." As though some strange thing was happening.

And so the command is clear, saying, "Hey, don't be surprised." But as he's saying that, my point is there is a worldview that he's challenging. There's almost a question of like, "Why in the world are you surprised?" It is not because of the expectations that we have. So the command clearly is, from your worldview, expect it and prepare for it.

Expect for hardship and suffering to come as a Christian, and be prepared for that. Now there's a passage, please turn your Bible to John chapter 15, where Jesus again, I've referred to this before, but I felt like we needed to look at the whole section. When Jesus was teaching the disciples, how we shouldn't be surprised by the animosity, the kind of pressures that we experience from the world around us.

As a matter of fact, he tells you, you should actually think of it as like, "That's reasonable. We'll take a look." Starting from verse 18 to verse 25, John chapter 15. He says, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as 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 servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours, but all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sins. Whoever hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.

But now they have seen and hated both me and my father. But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause." So as Jesus sees the hatred that they have for him, in his mind it makes sense. Why? Because they hate my father.

And when you see the hatred that you experience from the world because of your faith, that should make sense. Why? They hated my savior. They hated my God, the Father. They hated my Savior, the Christ. Of course that's going to translate to me as well. And so the command is just to expect it, but the command gets even more amplified because he says, "Expect even the worst." So that's the blank for you in number two.

Expect even the worst. I mean, part of me almost feels like, "Wow, that's a bold thing to say for Apostle Peter when he's in a generation where there are people being burned at the stake." There are people who are being wrapped up in animal skin, thrown among the wolves, the lions, and seen as sport, and there's all this stuff happening.

And he says, "Look at this ordeal, this fire of fearsome ordeal that's happening." And he says, "Even the worst case scenario that you can possibly think of, for us, completely unimaginable, right? For us living very privileged in a culture that has specific rights, where even if someone tries to prevent me from speaking, we can, you know, lash out and be like, 'I've got rights.'" Well, imagine in that time the kind of ordeal they were going through, and then Apostle Peter saying, "Even this, we should anticipate, even the worst of it all." And to me, I'm incredibly challenged by that.

Because again, when we think about why in our perspective a lot of this does not make sense, it's because to us, suffering is always supposed to be not normal. You know what I'm saying? Like whenever we experience suffering and setback, we think automatically, like, "This isn't normal. Like, this is not the way it should be." And that's when we start asking God, like, "Why, God?

Why didn't I get into this? Or why didn't I receive this job? Or why didn't this thing happen?" And all of a sudden, trying to interpret the setbacks of life becomes super difficult. Why? Because there is a fallen condition in us that just assumes any kind of hardship, any kind of suffering is not the normative, right?

As a matter of fact, for us, we try our best, put forth all our effort to avoid that kind of suffering. We find solutions and remedies for suffering as fast as we can. Our perspective does not have suffering included in it as, "This is the way by which we're going to be saved.

This is the way by which we're going to be glorified into the future." It's a worldly thinking to expect of God. You know, I remember counseling this individual who had an incredible amount of setback, and they confessed. They said, "I am bitter at God." You know? And in this kind of scenario, I had to ask the question, like, "How did He disappoint you?" And it was one of these scenarios where they had a strong relationship that they thought were going to end up in this, they were on their way to it, and it just shattered and broke apart.

There was deep hurt. There was a lot of fighting, a lot of conflict. And they said, "I don't know why God would do that to me." And I'm sitting there thinking, "Okay, your question is deeper than you think." Why? Because in your worldview, in your worldview, you placed in your worldview that God promised you you will have X, Y, and Z, including, let's say his name was John, John to be your husband.

Whatever it may be, whatever you were thinking in terms of God's promises to you, that was the promise you held onto. And then you decided, once that didn't happen, now I need to go to God to plead my case. What happened, God? See that's the kind of fallen condition I'm talking about when we have a world perspective that God is supposed to have a normative life for me in this fashion.

But Apostle Peter's challenge to us is, let's change our perspective. And let's anticipate, let's expect and not be surprised by even the worst case scenarios such as these. Because this is what Christ said was actually normative for me. When Christ said to his disciples, "Foxes have holes, birds have nests, the Son of Man doesn't even have a place to rest his head." What was he saying to his disciples?

It could be you might not even have a home, right? When Christ was sharing with his disciples that this is the expectation you have for discipleship, is that the kind of expectation we held onto for our lives? Okay? So that's a great challenge that it's just for us in terms of the command to change our perspective in that.

But what's more, the reason why we should anticipate and expect this is because we know God is testing you. The passage says, "Beloved, do not be surprised at this fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing." Now, I asked you guys for your homework, are there other passages that teach us that God tests us and puts us to the test?

Answer is yes. Well, what are some of the passages that you found? Are there other references in the Bible that teach us very clearly God tests you? Job, the whole book. Okay, good. Anything else? Gideon's men, okay. Other passages? There are a lot of passages in the New Testament even that will describe the testing that we go through, right?

That will describe this concept. And to tell it truthfully, this should be something, let's say, if you hit a concept in the Bible that kind of strikes you as like, "Hmm, that's interesting." And then you could ask a lot of questions about that, right? How does he test? Does he test?

And if he tests us, what kind of test is it? What's he even testing for? And how does the other passages of the Bible kind of fill in the details of that concept? Does God test us? Remember, even in the book of 1 Peter, when we started in chapter 1, the answer to that question is absolutely yes.

And he said that God tests us for the proof of our faith, and the proof of our faith, when it shows to be genuine because of the testing, is even more precious than gold, right? So clearly yes. Other passages, for example, James chapter 1, verse 2 through 4. James says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." There's actually lots of verses.

Deuteronomy chapter 8, Old Testament, Isaiah 48, verse 10. Let me read this one to you. "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction." So clearly, God tests us with trial, hardship, and affliction. So as we think about this, yeah, if this teaching comes to you as new and fresh, this is something for you to study.

Wow. So the next time you endure through some kind of difficulty, some kind of pressure from life, it's not to sit there and wonder like, "Oh my goodness, everybody else has it easy. Why me?" But now you have a way and means to interpret what's happening. But I want to use this opportunity to get at a certain point.

My point number three, I kind of phrased purposely, God is testing you. I was going to write, "Sometimes God tests you," like sometimes he puts you under affliction, but actually God's always testing you, right? Because it's not just in hardship that you're tested, actually. Your faith is being examined when you have affluence.

Sometimes God tests through delay. It's not affliction, but he just delays the answer. Sometimes there's deprivation. Yeah, he just takes away what you already had. So you just feel like, "Ugh, everything was going well. It just got ripped away from my hand." Sometimes it's the abundance, right? Everything's around you.

Everything's good, and there's a testing then too. The fact of the matter is, every single opportunity that we have on earth, we are being tested for our faith, what's contained in our mind, what's contained in our heart. And we have to realize that. And one thing I've always said is, "And therefore, every decision that you make that's big in life is actually a spiritual decision.

It's a faith decision of how you go about making those things." And I just want to make that admonition that for us, we are being tested. It's just that for us, sometimes, again, we're coming back to this idea of expectation. It just shocks us because we didn't think we'd be tested by pain, right?

It shocks us because we didn't think we'd be tested by affliction. But the scriptures teaches us there's all sorts of testing, right? Including those that really hurt, those that cause us a lot of grief and worry. And so, clearly, just to kind of summarize that point, God uses the different experiences in your life, including suffering, very purposefully and intentionally.

God uses all things in your life, scripture says. Even the things that seem mundane, even the things that seem out of place, even the things that in our perspectives seems abnormal. And look at this. Please turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12, verse 7 through 11. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 7 through 11.

This is that passage where God is talking about His discipline as a father of His children. And He says this. Again, chapter 12, verse 7 through 11. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we've had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplined us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

So I take this moment just to encourage. I presume there are many people in here who have suffered. I presume there are perhaps many people in this room who are already suffering. What makes suffering super difficult is, I repeat, when you feel like it's pointless. When you feel like there's no reason.

Then trying to make sense of it all becomes all the more frustrating. You realize that in the hands of God, it is being used in multiple ways. God is using it for training. God is using it for purging. God is using it for examination. God is using it to treat you as a son, as a child, as a daughter.

And so we remember that God does not work in kind of this haphazard, wishy-washy, whatever comes, whatever may be, so let it be kind of way. But rather he is absolutely in control. And so again, Apostle Peter's challenge to us is, keep this in your perspective. That you're not all of a sudden taking a back thinking, "What is this?" Right?

But the challenge is expect it. Expect it. Okay? Next, rather than then being frustrated by a lack of understanding, rather than being caught off guard and then asking, "Why in the world is God doing this?" He says, rather, verse 13, "But to the degree that you share in 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, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." Okay? So here I have another section, verse 13 through 14, as he makes a contrast, right? Contrast to being shocked and taken off guard. He says, rather, rejoice.

Rejoice. So the point learned from verse 12 through 14 here, okay, is simply that. Apostle Peter wants to change your perspective so that you can go from frustration from not understanding and not expecting, to rejoicing. To having an expectation where you're going to exalt with Christ when he comes.

So remember, we've talked about this before, to rejoice in our suffering and stuff, right? And think for a moment now, that question. How does that look if we're supposed to rejoice in suffering? How do we do that? And if it sounds in your head right now, like, that sounds so wrong, you know?

There are those people who are, I think they call them sadomasochists, where they just enjoy pain for the sake of pain. They just want to hurt themselves, you know? They're people like that. I saw this crazy video that now there are these people who've been watching all this crazy stuff, so they're actually paying men to torture them.

So to experience it. Like, they're paying people to get a van, grab them, take them to the woods, and beat them. It's just crazy and mind-boggling. And the police are wondering, like, what should we do about this? It's a big issue. Part of me is shocked that this world is doing that.

The other part of me is not, you know? But is it that kind of twistedness where you're just like, "Ah, yay, pain!" No, of course not. Absolutely not. But rather, there are reasons that Apostle Peter gives. Reasons for rejoicing. The first reason. You rejoice because, it's there in the passage, you're sharing in Christ's suffering.

You're not just randomly suffering. You're sharing in the sufferings of Christ. And so here and now, we are talking about not just every and any kind of suffering that life has to offer, but here and now we are talking about the kind of suffering these people that Apostle Peter's addressing who are suffering because of the name of Christ.

Suffering because they proclaim his gospel and because they claim his name. He is my Savior. He is my King. My allegiance is with Him. And for that reason, they're being tortured. Right? And Apostle Peter says, "You rejoice because you share with Him in that." You share with Him. I'll give you an example of this.

This past week, in the afternoon on Sunday, I forget what day it was, but I got a chance to drive down to San Diego. I got a chance to meet up with one of the Lighthouse pastors and we're all talking and I said, "Hey, I gotta tell you, man." I call it the week of the build, right?

We're talking about that week that we spent here that we're calling like, "Hey, it felt like war," and all that kind of stuff. So I was telling him, I was like, "It was crazy. We thought we were in. We cleaned the church and everything, like cleaned the floor and then it happened." And he's like, "What?" And I'm like, "The structural engineer came in." And then I didn't know how to tell the story.

So I was like, "And then after the structural engineer came in, we were like distraught and then we pulled in beams and there was like this 24-foot beam that we were all carrying." And he looked at me like, "Mm-hmm." I was like, "Oh, you don't believe me? You're carrying beams, man." And he's like, "Oh, sure." And I was like, "No, serious.

It took like four of us, like eight of us to carry the big ones and then I got cut right here but it's gone so I don't have anything to show for it anymore." And he was like, "Yeah, okay, okay." And I could tell he was getting bored by my story and it totally deflated me.

I was like, "Oh, my story is lame." And I'm trying to share with him and it was crazy because the guys, we stayed up till forever and he was like, "Okay, dang. It must have been crazy." I was like, "You don't get it, man. Forget you." So I stopped telling him the story.

And then I was telling my sister-in-law or whatever. I was like, "Dude," and then we had like 15 guys at the church and she looked at me and was like, "Why didn't you guys just hire contractors?" I was like, "I'm not going to answer your question." Well the reason why I share with that is because when you're trying to tell a crazy story to someone who hasn't shared the experience with you, isn't it so hard?

But then when we get together with the church people and we're like, "Dude, remember how crazy it was? Remember when Kevin got hit in the face with a hammer?" And I was like, "Oh, yeah! Chris was like throwing the hammer and then he got hit in the face." And we're just like, "Ha, ha, ha, ha." And everyone's laughing because we knew what happened with the hammer to his face, you know?

But you can just like, what? You can have a sense of automatic fellowship with that. There's a sense of automatic joy with that. But there's also a sharing of the glory, of the joy in participating with all the experiences. And that's how men feel when they go to battle and they come back.

That's how people feel when they have a crisis experience and all of a sudden they feel close. We rejoice because there is a fellowship. Sorry, Kevin, to bring up here. We rejoice because of the experience. The hatred that hit Christ is hitting us. We're in good company. We're in the company of Christ, right?

That's the joy in fellowship with experience and sympathy with what Christ has experienced. So we have that joy. But what's more, we rejoice because we're blessed. Apostle Peter, again, here is this great big perspective change, right? So he wants you to define the persecution you experience, including the confiscation of your property, the ripping apart of your family, getting chased out of your home, getting burned alive and people dying.

And the fear that you have that at every turn and every corner, you're going to be hunted. He says, I want you to count that as being blessed. Man, you must do an entire worldview shift in order to do that. But that's what he says. That's what Jesus said.

Remember in Matthew chapter five, he said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." So there's a sense in which in the Beatitudes when Jesus is saying, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," we're like, "Yes!" But does this also ring true?

Do we memorize this the same? That you're supposed to have a worldview that completely is shifted from how the natural man thinks so that you would now define the persecution that you're receiving as being truly blessed. That's really hard to do. We feel typically blessed when we have all our needs met.

We feel typically blessed when we have the next stage in life move smoothly and all the transitions are going well and all the expectations that we had are filled. But here he says, "No, you are blessed when you're persecuted, insulted, when all kinds of evil is done to you because of the name of Christ." Well, let's give some rationale to that.

Number one, you're counted blessed because of future grace. You're counted blessed because of future grace. This passage talks about how at the revelation of His glory, then you're going to rejoice with exaltation. So, we're looking forward to the glory that is wrapped in Christ and His coming. There's a passage in Romans chapter 8, I'm going to read this for us.

Verse 14 through 17 says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoptions as sons by whom we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" Listen to this, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit we are children of God and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him." He says you are children provided that you go through this necessary process as legitimate children.

What is this? That you suffer with Him and then you will be glorified with Him. Future grace, you're blessed. What's more, number two, you're blessed because you're being used. You're blessed because you're being used. I want you to take a moment to think about that a little bit. Blessed because I'm being used?

What do I mean by that? There is a joy of being used by the Lord. You know, every single individual who has a skill, who has a purpose, who has a talent, for example, a basketball player. You know any basketball players who loves being on the bench? Like true athletes who love doing nothing?

I just always wanted to be water boy. You don't ever meet anybody who thinks like that. How do they think? I want minutes. I want playing time. I want to be option number one. So even if they had to run the full length of the court 48 minutes the entire game and then some, it feels good even if they're exhausted.

Why? Because they were used. And it's to their what? To their glory. It's to their benefits. To their, it's even satisfying to them that I got used. Well the fact of the matter is for every Christian, every servant of God, to be used by the master feels good. I remember when I was a Christian, when I first became Christian and I was young in high school, I thanked my pastor because the very first Christian song I learned is a simple song that simply stated, "Use me dear Lord, use me.

To be a light in the darkest night, use me dear Lord." It had three chords because that's all I knew and that's the one song I sang for like a whole year. And I'm going to tell you honestly, I felt like that implanted in me like I'm happy when I can be used by the Lord.

Like I really am. That's why, you know, sometimes people wonder why did you want a van? I wanted a minivan because when I took the youth group out and I was like, you know, driving them around, it felt good. It just felt good to drive people around, you know, get people where they needed to go.

I love driving and all that kind of stuff, but I wanted to be used. Well the fact of the matter is that's the kind of example that the scripture says too. There's a passage in Acts chapter 5 verse 31 when the disciples are persecuted. Apostle Peter and the disciples are told by the Sanhedrin and the leaders, "Don't you dare preach the name of Christ." They beat them.

And this is what it says, "When I called them, they beat them, charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer this honor for the name. And every day in the temple and from the house to house they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus." If we really thought of ourselves like true athletes in the game, like true servants in the house, it would be our reward and blessing to be used by the master.

It's when our perspective thinks, "I'm the master of the house though." It's when our perspective is, "But I'm the coach." It's when our perspective is skewed and twisted and perverse when we all of a sudden don't see the work as rewarding anymore. That's what I'm talking about. And if you remember in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, please turn your Bibles there.

This is a longer passage, but I just wanted to read it in whole because it had lots of the same themes that we're studying here in 1 Peter. So 2 Corinthians chapter 5, starting from verse 5. Apostle Paul here in 2 Corinthians says this. I'm going to read a lengthy passage here.

It says, "For we know that if the tent, that is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.

For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us a spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk in faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim, our ambition, to please Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." What am I talking about here?

In connection with this idea of wanting to be used and being blessed when we are used, there is this idea of if it is our ambition to be pleasing to our Master, He says, "And then later on you are going to be examined for that. We are going to receive reward for that." The doctrine of the Christian reward, the heavenly reward, is that in our works, in our striving, in our labor, it is not for nothing.

But rather we are going to actually give an account for the things, and God and Christ on that bama seat, judgment seat of Christ, is going to actually reward you for the things that you do. And so we make it then our ambition to be used by the Lord, and it is to our blessing that we be used much.

Number three, we are blessed because of God's favor and presence. We are blessed because of God's favor and presence. So here we are not talking about a blessing where like, "Hey, if you go through suffering, then you are going to have battle scars to show for it." Or yes, is suffering going to produce in you greater perseverance?

Is suffering going to produce in you maybe a greater confidence, "Hey, I went through that, I can go through more." Could be. And as a matter of fact, other passages do teach us that suffering produces a level of endurance where without the suffering, without the hardship, maybe you would have never experienced.

However, in this passage, He is not emphasizing that. He is not emphasizing, "Hey, you're blessed because there's self-improvement. There's a leveling up of who you are." Rather, here and now, He's talking about, "You are blessed because you experience a kind of grace and presence of God like none other.

You experience subjectively," and this is very important, okay? We can experience some things to a certain degree, okay? We can feel the warmth of God because you're sitting here and then pastor preaches to you, "God is so loving," and He sees you precious and then you're just like, "Yeah, that feels good." But there is a kind of subjective, "I experience the comforting words of God when I need it most, when I'm most desperate, He finds me," kind of subjective experience with God that you need to know, that you need to know on a deeper level.

And then, Apostle Peter is saying, "That knowledge and depth of God's presence, when you experience it in the midst of your suffering, you are blessed." Do you remember Apostle Paul saying, there's a passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, where he says, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" And so, Apostle Paul says, "Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ when I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong." That statement, "When I am weak, then I am strong," I believe Apostle Paul says experientially, personal subjective experience.

Why? Apostle Paul had to plead with God three times, maybe even more, "God, can you please take this away? God, can you please take this away? Can you please take this away?" And through that hardship and pain, God taught him, "But my strength is perfected even when you are weak, maybe especially when you are weak." That's not something he heard because he saw it on the wall and was like, "Oh yeah, I remember that line.

God's strength is perfected when I'm weak." And so, he just cited it. I believe he experienced the comforts of God and that's why the whole book of 2 Corinthians, Apostle Paul can lavishly pour out the comforts of God. Why? Because he says in chapter 1, "I can comfort you because I receive the comfort of the Father." That's pretty amazing stuff.

So he's saying you are blessed because of this presence of God that you experience when you endure suffering. So this kind of perspective, we obviously don't learn overnight. We have to commit ourselves to spiritually interpret the world this way. And can I challenge you? There are sometimes loyalties we have to this world where in our thinking, we have trusted and given our confidence to the principles of this world.

I'm going back to the idea of when we expect that when I try hard, we're going to receive these results. When I'm kind and nice to people, I will have friends. When I show my love and make vulnerable, then I will have that reciprocated to me. When I X, Y, and Z and all this kind of stuff, the promises of the world, the normal functions that everybody operates by, do not give your allegiance to that stuff.

Right? But John did this and but, but, but, you know? We always have this kind of like subtle allegiances to the way the world thinks. You have to have a commitment. I will interpret. I will begin interpreting my life, this world, my God, all my experiences, and the people around me through this lens.

I'm actually blessed when I'm proclaiming the name of Christ, I'm in His will, and I'm suffering. And I'm going through hardship. I am blessed. Right? That takes a profound amount of effort, spiritual faith for us to interpret the world that way. Okay? So the challenge to us is keep on rejoicing, keep on rejoicing, and have this perspective.

You are blessed. Amen? Any questions about that so far before we jump into the last section? Any questions? Okay. All right. Next section. Verse 15 through 16. Apostle Peter says, "Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer or thief or evildoer or a troublesome meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name." Okay?

And I'm just going to make a couple statements here about this. The passage is clear. Not all suffering is the same. Let's be discerning here. Right? Let's be discerning about our life experiences. Not all suffering is one and the same. Sometimes we suffer just because of our silly mistakes.

Sometimes we suffer because of our own sins. And his challenge to us simply is do not suffer in a way that you shame God. Right? Don't suffer in ways that you just shame yourself and God. Okay? But that part's clear. But I just want to bring back this idea too.

Don't be surprised when you suffer for foolish things. Don't be surprised when you suffer for foolish things. And I'm just making an admonition here. You know what's worse than doing dumb things? Being surprised about it. Right? When all of a sudden you're like, "Oh, I didn't know that was going to happen." You know?

Like, for example, sometimes guys say really silly things. Sometimes as they're saying silly things, they hurt people. And so they say and do whatever they want. They think it's funny and they start making fun of people. And some girl's all mad and they're like, "What'd you say? No, no, no, no." And then all of a sudden the guy goes, "What?

You mad?" You know? You look extra dumb when you do dumb things and then you suffer the consequences of your dumb things and you're all surprised by it. Right? But the reason why I bring that up is because we tend to do that sometimes. You know? We tend to strive after worldly things and then when we get jaded by it, when we're disappointed by it, we're like, "What gives?" You know?

Sometimes we actually sin by way of greed, by way of lust, by way of wanting things we shouldn't have been wanting. And when it backfires on us, all of a sudden we're all shocked. "Why is this happening to me?" Right? And then it convicts us because, yeah, what in the world were we thinking?

But what's more, earlier we talked about not being shocked. You know? Let's not do that. You know? Let's not be shocked by what we do not to do. That would be even worse. Okay? Verse 17. It says, "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?" All right? And for homework, I ask you this question.

Verse 17 and 18, excuse me. Verse 17 and 18, Apostle Peter uses a means of asking questions to make a point. My question, what's that point? And for this one, yes, audience participation, please. What is the point that Apostle Peter is making via his questions? Anyone want to take a shot?

I know it's tough. It's a big group. If you raise your hand and you say something silly, everyone might laugh. Just take a shot, you know. We're just trying to make observations and then trying to, you know, kind of take an insight into how Apostle Peter is making a point here.

And it's not just one specific point he's making. He's making a couple. So just let's take a shot and think about it. And don't make me call on you, okay? So what point do you think Apostle Peter is making via his two questions? Okay. Excellent. Okay. So he said, have this godly sense of reverence and fear, and then you should be appreciating the salvation that you have.

Okay. So as you take a look at that, definitely when he says it's time for judgment to begin with the household of God, there is an aspect of, yes, you should be anticipating with reverent fear, God is going to purge the house. Is he not? God is going to examine the house.

And we should be with a reverent fear than going through that examination with a healthy fear of God. And what's more? There's a passage in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 32 that specifically spells that out. Okay? It just spells that out. He says this, "Let a person examine himself, and so eat of the bread and the drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judge ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world." Okay?

So there's this element here of this exhortation to you. You know, even in this time of suffering, you should still have this reverent fear of God because God is going to judge us, and it says he's going to judge the house first. And this judgment is not a condemnation.

And so just like Dean was saying, we shouldn't fear like, "Oh my gosh, we're going to be condemned like the rest." Rather he says, "You're not, you know, you need to judge yourself and examine yourself so that you're not condemned with the rest." Right? And rather you have this appreciation for the salvation you have in which God has afforded for you.

But I think there's even a point to this that he's making when he contrasts between the people of the house and in others. Right? So by way of asking the question, he is highlighting a contrast here, is he not? He's saying, "If it begins with us, the question is, what about them?" Right?

So what do you think is the point of those two questions? The first question he's asking, and then verse 18, he uses a quote from the Old Testament to ask the same thing. Excellent. Okay? That is the central point here. Basically, if you want to summarize it in kind of just real frank terms, this is so much better than hell.

Right? Like the people are suffering and perhaps they're just thinking like, "We can't do this." You know? And there is this incredibly frank and candid and just direct statement through this question. Think about this, okay? What you are going through, you are going through a judgment. Yes, you're going through a discipline.

But think what will be of those who disobey. Meaning, think what will be of those who reject. Think what will be of those who fail this test. What would it mean for these individuals to fail the test? They start saying, "Yes, we're Christian." And then they get persecuted. "No, we're not.

No, we're not." For them to fail the test would be to deny the name of Christ. For them to fail the test would be to say, "I'm not a Christian." Because all they would have to do is to say, "I'm one of you guys. I'm not an enemy to you.

I'm not weird like them." And that's all they would have to say. It would be like the Jewish people where Jesus said, "And many of them believe but were not willing to profess His name because of the fear of the Pharisees." That's what they would have to do to protect themselves.

And if they did, Apostle Peter is both giving an encouragement and a warning. What you're experiencing is so much better than what awaits those who reject the name of Christ. What you're experiencing, yes, it's so difficult and painful. But think about the other option. If you're even tempted with, "That might be a way of escape," think about those who would deny the name of Christ.

If Christians have to go through this, if Christians, the household of God is going to be judged first, it's going to be so much worse. So much worse for those who would deny the name of the Lord. And so he says, "Therefore, those who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right." In giving them that admonition, think about the two options here.

He says, "So you entrust your soul to God." Entrust your soul to God. The word there for entrust, it's a very vivid term because he uses a banking term, like the bank, an institution that holds your money, as a way of which you are putting your money away in a security box.

You know how banks have those safe deposit boxes where it's locked up in a vault and you see those movies where people have to go in with a guy from the bank, the banker guy, and you have to go in with two keys and open it up. He's saying essentially in that vivid form, "Entrust your soul to God." And I want to read an interesting passage that joins together the previous section, verse 17 and 18.

Think about those, those individuals who are persecuting you or those who are denying the name of Christ and this idea with trusting yourself over to God. By going in your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 5 through 9. Okay? 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 5 through 9. And in this passage, the people that Apostle Paul is talking to is also suffering, but he encourages them who are suffering with these words.

This is what Apostle Paul says. He says, "Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness in faith in all your persecutions and all your afflictions that you are enduring. This is evident of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering." So same themes, right?

Worthy of the kingdom of God, you're experiencing these persecutions and you're enduring, right? He says, "Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might." So from that passage, I want to challenge you.

You too need to trust God. You need to trust God that he will take care of you, first blank, God will take care of you, but also God will take care of them. When Apostle Peter in that passage is asking the question, "Well, you've gone through this and you're going to go through judgment, but what do you think is going to happen to them?

The people who do not obey the gospel, the enemies of Christ, those who reject and deny the name of the Savior, what do you think is going to happen to them?" He's not, you're not just supposed to be like, "Well, I don't know. What is going to happen to them?" You're supposed to think God's going to take care of them, right?

Who's going to have vengeance? Who's going to make it right? Who's going to enact justice? It's going to be God. You see, for us, we're so calculating. We're so fast to calculate. It just happens intuitively, right? There have been so many times when I've counseled certain people, whether it's counseling people to, you know, as a mediator between two people in conflict, and I'll say, "Man, I think you really have to forgive them." And they'll say, "Oh, I can't." "Why can't you?" "Because they're going to do it again." Right?

Someone might say, "Oh, you know, you need to reconcile with that person and you need to say certain things to them." It's like, "Why? I can't." "Why can't you?" "Because they're going to get away with it." The question is, are they though? Are they really going to get away with it?

These are the moments you actually start practicing your trust in God, right? Your spiritual trust. I feel like I can't because in my intuition, when I do this, the end result is going to be they're going to get away. They're going to have the upper hand. They're going to keep doing it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

And I'm going to always lose. I'm going to always suffer. Da-da-da-da-da. Because you're always calculating the action and the end result. Here and now, the challenge is you need to trust God with all the results. Should God call you to patient endurance, then you do it trusting the results.

Should God call you to keep speaking with boldness the gospel of Christ, you do it entrusting Him with the results. Because God is encouraging you through Apostle Peter that you're supposed to not only entrust God with the results, you're supposed to trust God with your soul, right? How are we going to entrust, bank, literally bank our soul in God when we can't even entrust God with what that guy's going to do?

We can't trust God with the results of how I'm going to look when I say this. But Apostle Peter is challenging us. Trust to God your entire soul, everything about you. Amen? Let's take a moment to pray. Father Lord, we want to thank you again for your grace. You remind us, Lord, that you are absolutely sovereign even when there seems to be a storm about us.

Even when we are at our wits end, when we can't make sense of things, we realize, Father God, that you are absolutely in control. Help us fight by faith to both remember and to consider these things, Lord, so that, Father, we would experience the kind of peace and comfort that Apostle Peter is talking about, the kind of blessedness that Apostle Peter describes.

And Lord, I again pray that if anybody in this room is suffering, is going through hardship, would you encourage them by reminding them, Lord, that by your sovereign hand that you will guide them, guard them, and Lord, you will use it all to your glory. And Father, every experience that we have, we can redeem for your praise and for your honor.

Lord, we want to thank you again, Saint Christ, and we pray.