An Awesome Power Part 3
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Tonight, we are at part 3 of the thought of “An Awesome Power” - I’m glad to report tonight that we have been given an awesome power to help get us through life.
It’s been said that where God calls, He provides; a lot of missionaries use that, and I agree, but when called called you to salvation and separation from the world, He gives us everything we need to be able to live the life He desires. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it IS true!
In this series on “An Awesome Power” - we have already seen how it IS possible to rejoice in trials, and last week, in part 2, we looked at the purpose of refinement in trials, how that trials in our life are meant to make us better. Trials are God’s unique way of purging and purifying our lives so we can be more useful in His service.
Tonight, we are going to look at:
The Promise of Receiving In Trials
The Promise of Receiving In Trials
Now, I didn’t say the promise of receiving trials, I think we all know that’s a given tonight, but I said, the promise of receiving IN trials...
When trials hit us, we usually see it as God taking something from us, but the reality is, if we allow it, the trail will actually add much more to our lives!
Most people can give testimony to the fact that a trial in their lives made them better or more complete people, and certainly, with that better Christians.
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
We need to remember that God never does anything to us that will be hurtful or grievous.
In Romans 8:28, we find that God’s sovereignty and ability to manage every aspect of our lives is demonstrated in the fact that all things work together for good to them that love God, though we must face the sufferings of this present time (Romans 8:18). God is able to make even those sufferings work together for our good and His good.
Think about this, the loving hands of the Potter apply pressure just where it’s needed so we can be those vessels fit for the Master’s use.
When it comes to receiving in trials, I thought of a couple things I want to share with you tonight...
First of all, I believe we receive:
1-A Growing Love
1-A Growing Love
through the trials of life...
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Peter knew that though he had seen Jesus (both before and after the resurrection) most every Christian in the early church had not seen Jesus. Nevertheless, they loved Him. Jesus was no less real because they had not seen Him.
We can relate to these believers Peter is writing to can’t we?
We trust in Him now, even though we do not see Him. Jesus told Thomas, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed (John 20:29).”
Charles Swindoll wrote, “We ‘see’Christ most clearly in times of trial. When suffering comes, it dispels a lot of the fog that clouds our vision. Often, all that remains is the Savior and our trust in Him.”
Spurgeon wrote, “Indeed, it is the honor of faith to be tried. Shall any man say, ‘I have faith, but I have never had to believe under difficulties’? Who knows whether thou hast any faith? Shall a man say, ‘I have great faith in God, but I have never had to use it in anything more than the ordinary affairs of life, where I could probably have done without it as well as with it’? Is this to the honor and praise of thy faith? Dost thou think that such a faith as this will bring any great glory to God, or bring to thee any great reward? If so, thou art mightily mistaken.”
God’s purpose in testing is to display the enduring quality of our faith. If hardships never came, then we’d have no opportunity to display the faith we have in Christ!
Even though we have not seen Him, we love Him.
When I got saved, the introduction to Jesus Christ was but the beginning of an unending revelation of Himself to my waiting, wondering, and worshipping heart. The more one gets to know Him, the more He is loved and the better He is served.
Here’s the confusing thing to me...Churches are full of people who claim to love Jesus, but never do anything for Jesus.
To believe in Christ goes hand-in-hand with loving Him, loving Him goes hand-in-hand with serving Him...
The Bible says, “whom having not seen ye love. Though now ye see him not, yet believing,”
21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Sometimes we are frustrated that we don’t love the Lord as we should…I know I get that way...
We wonder why our commitment is so shallow and our motivations to serve so weak.
Perhaps it’s because we have resisted the trials that are designed to increase our love and worship.
When trials come, all we do is complain and question God when in reality, they were given to us that we might love Him more!
Second of all, we receive:
2-A Greater Longing
2-A Greater Longing
through the trials of life...
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Testing and trials are inevitable as long as we are on this side of the end of your faith. As long as we do not see the God we serve we must endure through trials and face them with faith and joy.
One day our faith will end. That is an interesting statement. Why will our faith end? The answer is we will be present with the Lord and see Him with our own eyes. Our salvation will finally be complete as we will have our new, glorified bodies.
We will receive the end of our faith. The word translated “receiving” means to get something that is promised. God’s promises do not fail. We may have to wait awhile for them, but they will be fulfilled.
Peter didn’t tell them that their genuine faith would deliver them from physical trials, hardships, pain, or suffering. Their genuine faith in Jesus will save their souls. Peter didn’t have in mind temporary deliverance. He had in mind eternal deliverance. They could rejoice in salvation full and free because it had been given to them by their faith in the resurrected Son of God.
Many people go through life without any faith in the Lord and hobble along without any hope at all.
They think all this, Jesus, the Bible, Heaven, they think it’s all a big joke. They claim that the grave ends it all and there is no God, no Heaven, and no Hell. They embrace the idea that they will be accountable and answerable to no one, especially God.
Yet, believing these ideas requires “faith.” Their faith is in “this” belief.
They mock the fact that we believe in Christ by faith, but they live by faith, too.
They are trusting in their own beliefs and philosophy. Their faith will end one day when they wake up in Hell after they die. Eternity will be a reality for them, but they will be in the wrong place.
On the other hand, believers are to be a people of faith and grasp on to the promises of God.
William Barclay wrote, “although they never knew Jesus on earth, they love Him; and, although they do not actually see Him, they believe. And that belief brings to them a glorious joy beyond words, for even here and now it makes them certain of the ultimate welfare of their souls.”
The trials give us a greater anticipation of eternity - the end of our faith.
When a loved one passes away, we often say, Heaven just got a little sweeter…When physical pain and emotional hurt grips us, we should rejoice that it is but for a season.
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Hallelujah! One of these days ya’ll! One of these days! I don’t know when it’ll be, but it’s not going to be much longer!
Conclusion
Conclusion
The final verse in the song “It Is Well With My Soul” says:
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend
Even so, it is well with my soul
Won’t that be a wonderful day?
The day we understand why everything happens the way it does – the day we fully grasp God’s plan and everything comes into focus. There is much the human mind cannot take hold of and process. However, there will be a day when everything comes into focus.
In the meantime, our trials should should give us a growing love and a greater longing for our Lord.