Fiery Trials

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached (oneidezō to defame, criticize, scold, insult:, (suffer) accusation, despise, reprimand) for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

1Pe 1:5 Who are kept (froo-reh'-o to be a watcher in advance, to mount guard as a sentinel, (post spies at gates); to hem in, protect: - keep (with a garrison) by the power ( dunamis ability ) of God through faith unto salvation (so-tay-ree'-ah; rescue or safety deliver, health, salvation)ready to be revealed in the last time.

1Pe 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, (ol-ee'-gos

small (in extent, degree, number, duration or value); briefly, a while) if need be, ye are in heaviness (lupeō to distress; sadness, grief, sorrow, make sorry) through manifold (multiple) temptations:(pi-ras-mos' a putting to proof, experience of evil, discipline, provocation, adversity)

1Pe 1:7 That the trial (trying, testing) of your faith, (pistis constancy, loyalty, belief, reliance) being much more precious (tim'-ee-os

valuable, costly, honored, esteemed)than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

1Co 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

True faith is, in every case, the operation of the Spirit of God. Its nature is purifying, elevating, heavenly. It is the

eye of the renewed soul, the hand of the regenerated mind, the mouth of the newborn spirit. It is the evidence of spiritual life.

To him that believes it is said, “All things are yours.” Faith is the assurance of sonship, the pledge of inheritance, the grasp of boundless

possession, the perception of the invisible. Within your faith there lies Glory, even as the oak sleeps within the acorn. Time would fail me to tell of the powers, the privileges, the possessions and the prospects of faith. He that has it is blessed. For he pleases God, he is justified before the throne of holiness, he has full access to the Throne of Grace and he has the preparation for reigning with Christ forever.

You cannot gather the fragrant rose without its rough companion the thorn. You cannot possess the faith without experiencing the trial. And if God gives you great faith, you must expect great trials. For, in proportion as your faith shall grow, you will have to do more and endure more. Little boats may keep close to shore, as becomes little boats. But if God makes you a great vessel and loads you with a rich freight, He means that you should know what great billows are and should feel their fury till you see “His wonders in the deep.”

He that has tested God and whom God has tested, is the man that shall have it said of him, “Well done, you good and faithful servant.” Had Abraham stopped in Ur of the Chaldees with his friends and rested there and enjoyed himself, where had been his faith?

He had God’s command to leave his country to go to a land which he had never seen, to sojourn there with God as a stranger, dwelling in tents. And in his obedience to that call his faith began to be illustrious. Where

had been the glory of his faith, if it had not been called to brave and self-denying deeds?

Would he ever have risen to that supreme height, to be “the Father of the faithful,” if he had not grown old and his body dead and yet he had believed that God would give him seed of his aged wife Sarah, according to the promise? It was trying of faith that made him feel that nothing was impossible to God. If Isaac had been born to him in the days of his strength, where had been his faith?

And when it came to that severer test, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and offer him for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you of.” When he rose up early and gathered the wood and took his son and went three days’ journey, setting his face like a flint to obey the Command of God—when at last he drew the knife, in faithful obedience to the Divine Command—then was his faith confessed, commended and crowned.