Gospel-Centered Paradox

genuinely glad that you're here with us this morning. Um, here at the district, again, as I mentioned earlier, we are a community that treasures Jesus and helps others follow him. That's what we do. And there's a simple way in which we do that every single week. We open God's word to learn and we open our lives to love. That's the way that we treasure Jesus and that's the way that we help others him.

Which means that in order to be a part of this church, you cannot be a spectator Christian because it involves participation. It involves us growing in our knowledge and love for the Lord Jesus, closeness to him and conformity to him while at the same time having a purpose and a mission engaging in the purposes of God in how we go about taking what we treasure and share it with others. And so we participate in both of those things. Opening God's word to be able to learn from him, but also opening our lives to be able to love others. And so what I want to do to kind of engage us into the message today, uh we're walking through first Peter, book uh book of the Bible written by Peter, two elect exiles, um the Christians who were dispersed throughout the Roman Empire at the time. And as he's writing this, what he's about to shift to in our text is for these elect exiles, a lot of trials that they're going to be walking through.

A lot of trials. And so into today, I want to first share with you a story from 17th century England. I want to take you to a cold, damp prison cell in the Bedford jail. There's a man by the name John Bunan. And many of you might not know John Bunan. This is not the guy who cut down trees with an axe.

That's Paul Bunan. Um, this John Bunan was a humble tinker. He was a passionate preacher. Uh, but he had been locked up for over a decade, 12 years to be exact, for the crime of preaching the gospel without a government license. The authorities told him repeatedly, "Promise to stop preaching and you're free." But Bunan refused.

He said he would stay in prison until moss grew on his eyelids before he would cease obeying God's call. Now, that's not the point of the story. He was actually during this time separated from his wife and children, one of whom was blind. John facing hardship, uncertainty, the constant threat of possible execution. Bunan could have despared. But instead, in that very prison cell, he began to write one of the most beloved Christian books in history, The Pilgrim's Progress.

It's the story of a man named Christian who flees the city of destruction, banished by sin, burdened by sin, facing trials, temptations, lions, giants, and valleys of shadows. Yet pressing on toward the celestial city, sustained by grace with joy breaking through even places. It's a written as a Christian allegory. The story comes from a place of experience for Bunan. Bunan didn't write this masterpiece despite his suffering. Suffering itself became took root and bore astonishing fruit.

In other words, his imprisonment refined his faith like golden fire. And out of that furnace came words that have pointed Christians, countless souls to Christ for over 300 years now. This is exactly the kind of defiant gospel- centered joy the apostle Peter describes in letter we're opening today. And so turn with me to first Peter be looking at verse in chapter 1 verses 6-9. Again, Peter's writing to these scattered believers who are facing their own fiery trials. It's important us to be able to see what they're walking through because I just believe for us as Christians in our society.

It's not that things are going to get easier. I think things are going to more difficult for us. So today we're going to be unpacking uh I don't always use alliteration and giving points, but I've got four Ps for you today for those who like to write them down. uh but they're gospel- centered in their nature, but they're going to be praise, paradox, purification, and perseverance. And we'll see how the same living hope that sustained Peter and the exiled Christians 2,000 years ago, the same hope that sustained Bunan in his den of imprisonment 400 years ago, can sustain us in ours today. So, starting in verse six, we'll read it together.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while. If necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuiness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes through, though it tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressable and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Let's pray for this one more time before we jump into it. Father, we just ask you this morning that as we open up your word to learn from you, that your Holy Spirit would guide us in understanding the truth and that it wouldn't just be intellectual ascent for us, but that it would actually get down to the root of our hearts.

That it would change and transform us, that it would conform us to the image of your son, Jesus, that we would walk out of here changed from one degree of glory to the next. to become like Jesus so that we are abiding in you more and also looking for opportunities to bring this good news to those who are lost without it. And so, Father, help us this morning. Help us see in this passage the work that you are doing behind the scenes in the midst of all of the difficulties that we face in our life. that there are 10,000 things you are working out that we may never see. But we know, Lord, we can trust in the sovereignty of a God who is present, who is all knowing and all powerful and who is with us and who is completing what he has begun in us.

And so, Father, we ask that you help us in this place and that you fill us with your spirit. It's in your name that we pray. Amen. Amen. All right. As we see here, verse six, looking at it, he says, "In this, you rejoice."

Now, he's not saying in this in the sense of what he's about to talk about. He's actually more referencing what he's already talked about. In we rejoice, which is why I did add it into last week's message when we were looking at verses 3 through 5 because he he essentially sandwiched um bless God. And then also in this you rejoice. So everything that he talked about last week is what he's referencing in this rejoicing. However, the reason why I want to point that out is because in this you rejoice is a present tense um a present tense action.

So this isn't a hey now that you know that he has according to his mercy caused you to be born again to a living hope and to an inheritance. Now that you've rejoiced in that, let's now move on. No, no. is saying in this you rejoice you continue rejoicing even as we move into now that you have faced trials or continue to face trials. So the rejoicing is a constant reality for those who are understanding what God is doing and the fact that he has as we have seen last week the fact that according to his great mercy which means even though you are a sinner even though you are deserving of punishment death and eternal hell according to he's moved toward you despite you. And then it goes on to say that he's caused you to be born again.

He's caused you to come into this relationship with God. So again, as we start to look at this and as the picture frames out for us, we're able to see all of the work God is doing despite us. And what that allows us to be able to do is then burst forth with joy and rejoicing at the work of God despite us. And the fact that we didn't bring anything to the table, the fact that we didn't come to God and say, "Well, hold on, hold on. Like, like this is this is how much money I have. This is how much success I have.

This is how awesome I am. This is how many good deeds I've accomplished." No, no, no. Instead, we come to the table and we say, "Thank you, Lord. Bless God who is the father and lord of our lead our the father of Jesus Christ who has done all of these wonderful things for us in this we rejoice and we need to hold on to that for the fact that we are going to face many trials so that when we're walking through the valley of the shadow of death when we're walking through despair when we're walking walking through anxieties and stress and worry. When we're walking through those things, we can point back to and hold on to what God's already reconciled and already restored and already redeemed within us.

He's already taken care of the worst part of us. And so, we need to hold on to that. And and that's why the first point is gospel- centered praise. We need to make sure that we are responding in a constant praise to the Lord for what he is accomplishing and what he is working and what he is doing in our lives and it's got to remain gospel centered because if we get to a place where we say Lord because you aren't doing something in my life I'm dealing with a difficult coworker and you haven't solved the problem yet therefore I'm not going to praise you today. We got to remember that it's got to remain gospel- centered in the work that he's already accomplished in the fact that you were a sinner on your way to hell. And God stepped in and said, "No, instead I'm going to transfer you from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the beloved son.

I'm going to cause you to be born again. I'm going to give you my Holy Spirit. I'm going to impute to you." you. That's just a fancy word of saying, I'm going to give to you the righteousness that Jesus earned on your behalf, and I'm going to take from you your sin and impute it to Jesus on your behalf. So we got to we got to make sure that our praise and our rejoicing and our worship is anchored in the gospel message first instead of anchoring our praise and worship of God whether or not we had a great week.

Because unfortunately I think a lot of times we come in on Sunday and we say I just don't have I just don't have anything to praise God for this week because we ran out of money. My car broke down. My kids were rebellious. Whatever it is, we come in and we say, "I I just don't have anything to be happy about this week. I don't have anything to praise God about this week. I'm not I'm actually coming to make some requests because he didn't answer me."

We've got to make sure that it's always anchored in what he's already accomplished for us. And remember that he said to us is that I've caused you to be born again to a living hope. So we need to hold on to that. That's present for us, but also to an inheritance that will come later. So often times when we pray for God, hey God, will you take care of my finances? God, will you take care of my retirement?

God, will you take care of and fill in the and oftenimes God says yes, absolutely. Well, can I have it now? No. Like, I I've marked a day for you to receive it. You'll receive it. It's okay if you don't have it now.

When we say we want it now, we start to sound like Esau who sells his birthright for a bowl of soup. We start to sound like the prodigal son who comes to his father and says, "Give me my inheritance now." Which in their day basically means, "You're dead to me. and I just want your stuff. And so when our prayers or our praise is dictated based on what God gives us rather than what he's already worked out for us, we're essentially saying, "We don't want you. We just want your stuff."

So praise make sure that it's always anchored in the gospel first before we ever move on to anything else. Peter actually informs the followers of Jesus that hard days are coming for them and that's why they need to stay anchored in the gospel message. But something else that he does as we move on to the second thing and this is gospel centered paradox is he says that hard days actually for you are going to be normal and they're going to be necessary. Normal and necessary. Look at the text. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

So notice two important phrases. For a little while, meaning trials are going to be temporary. And if necessary, trials are purposeful. They are purposeful. This is echoed by Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 when he says this. So we do not lose heart.

I mean that's one of the main reasons why Peter's even writing this letter to the exiles and the dispersed. He he does not want them to lose heart. Paul's saying the same thing. So we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away. That sounds like a trial. That also sounds like someone who's you know over 30 years old.

Our inner self is being renewed day by day. Remember that living hope language for this light momentary affliction. It's doing something. It's preparing us or for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. So Paul's saying the same thing. This life that we are going to live now before we get to glory, before we get to heaven, this life for the believer is going to be a momentary affliction.

And as Peter is saying to the elect exiles, for a little while, guys, for a little while, because when you're when you've got eternity in view, 80 years is nothing. That's a little while later. I think it's James. Don't you can correct me later, but he refers to our life as just a vapor. I mean, you go outside right now and just breathe. That's what our life is like, a vapor.

Though there is no promise or guarantee that your life will get materialistically better, there is an an increasing state of rejoicing and gratitude tying to the living hope a few verses earlier that we saw. And so here's the paradox for us as believers. We are rejoicing and grieving simultaneously. We are rejoicing and grieving simultaneously. Peter refuses to choose between them. He says both are true.

In this you rejoice. You continue to rejoice even though you are grieved by various trials that are coming. This is not hypocrisy. This is just Christianity. Here's where we feel the tension in this. I want to give you an example of it.

I think what we often times want or believe the lie in is that we want Psalm 23 without Psalm 22. We went Psalm 23 without Psalm 22. Here's what I mean by that. Psalm 23 1-3. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

Could you imagine a day in which you don't have you don't want for anything? Because you are so supplied with everything. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness all for his name's sake.

I mean, that's what we all want. That's that's a vacation. The same author David one chapter before. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night I find no rest.

We want Psalm 23 without the reality of Psalm 22. But sometimes we have to go through Psalm 22 to get to Psalm 23. This week I was listening to a podcast, the Shawn Ryan Show. Um, it's what I love that's happening right now in our culture is that there are there are people who historically have been either atheist or anti-Christian uh, and pretty vocal about it or have just lived just hard lives, but there is an awakening. There's a coming to Christ. There's a shift that you're seeing.

And Sean Ryan is one of these guys that's been a Christian for just a few years now. And so it he's very um as I just like he's very newborn as a Christian and so very messy as a Christian. And so if you listen to his show I mean it cuss words will fly it just it happens but at the same time you can tell that there is a difference that there is a shift that there is a growing in the gospel. All right. Uh but when when when someone who's not been a Christian for a long time and who has had a hard life and they come to know Christ, don't expect them to know all the Christianes right out of the gate. Don't expect that to just be like everything's turned off in the moment, but you can start to see the light bulb.

You can start to see the shift in in how they talk and also who they invite to come on their show. And so this show is is a new newer podcast over the last couple years, but it's also starting to grow a lot of um popularity. And so he had Wes Huff come on his show just in the last couple of weeks. And for those who don't know Wes Huff, he's a a a Canadian apologist who has gone on the Joe Rogan podcast. He's gone on um several other podcasts that are kind of mainstream. and he is doing a phenomenal job when it comes to just modern-day apologetics, helping people defend the faith, helping and and and and he's anchored in literally his job is in ancient texts.

And so he just is studying ancient papyrie and and and all of that stuff. So, he's a nerd who's also popular in um uh modern day apologetics and and and it's I think part of it is because the way in which he answers questions and the way in which people debate with him, he's so maybe it's just his Canadian politeness, but he's so endearing and winsome to where it's like I I got to be wrong just because you're just so right in the way that you say it. Um, but he went on this podcast and Sean Shawn Ryan asked Wes Huff a phenomenal question and I think it's a question that we ask a lot of times whether we realize it or not. But here's what Shawn Ryan asked Wes Huff and I'll quote it. I pray for God to remove the things in my life that cause anxiety, worry, and stress, but it feels like he doesn't. What do we do with that?

And so, I mean, this is a new believer who who who who's probably to a degree heard that like I mean, when you come to know Jesus, it fixes everything in your life. I mean, how many times have we heard that? Follow Christ, your life gets better, infinitely better. Everything's better. But I think we always attach that to a material physical instead of an eternal spiritual. And it's an honest question.

It's a good question. But I then started thinking, what's the real question Sean is asking? Like, why does God still allow sin to affect our lives? Why doesn't he just remove it? Why doesn't he just make our lives easy, stressfree, painless? In other words, why doesn't God just remove sin and trials?

Couple of things for you here on this. Number one, it's producing something in us. It's producing something in us. James, brother of Jesus, puts it this way. Chapter 1:es 2-4. Count it all joy.

Count it all joy. Again, going back to that, in this you rejoice. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, which is another way of saying patient continuence or endurance. and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing. So in other words, you can't spiritually mature without trials.

It's just impossible. There's no there's no track that I've seen in the Bible, there's no class that you can take that makes you like Jesus without also experiencing the suffering of Jesus. So the continued existence of trials, stress, and worry are tests that produce maturity in us. It it it's a workout for our Christian maturity. No one loves to go to the gym and do that first workout because you know you're going to be sore for a few days. It's a trial in order to produce good results.

The same thing is happening for us. Our souls might be sore, but it's producing something good. The second thing I want you to see here, and this one's maybe uh maybe more of an application for us as well. It's patience for those around us. Acts 17:es 30 through31 puts it this way. The times of ignorance God overlooked.

But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. You're like all right, how does that connect to its patience for those around us? This overlooking of times of ignorance is the reason why when Adam and Eve sinned, they didn't die right there in the moment, put into hell, eternal punishment. There was a patience on God. Now, they did usher in death.

And so there's some phrasing that we use um in theology historically. Already not yet is a phrase that we use. When Adam and Eve sin, they are already dead. Not yet. Already dead, but not yet. Their lives are now heading towards that direction.

when we are born as sinners because everyone's born in sin. We are already dead but not yet because you get to live this life, right? Although you are heading towards that trajectory. Therefore, in God's patience and forbearance, though they are already and not yet dead, God is working out a salvation that will make them already alive and yet not let not yet alive. For those who are in Adam, we are already dead and we're progressing towards that eternal death. For those who are in Christ, we are already alive and progressing towards eternal life.

So, here's the thing. Here's the point that I'm making on this. If God were to get rid of all sin, evil, and trials, that might be your neighbor who disappears and goes to hell. That might be your family member who you don't look forward to going to Thanksgiving in because they give you stress and worry. If God were if we were to ask the prayer or if he were to answer the prayer, God, would you just remove all the stress, worry in my life? Have you ever heard the one about the wife who prays for the stress and worry of her life to go away and then her husband disappears?

Like what are we actually asking? If God were to get rid of the trials and sin in our lives, that means also that he is no longer going to be patient with those who are sinful and then have an opportunity to come to know Jesus. So the second reason that God doesn't answer that prayer that way is because it's patience for those around us. It's patience for those around us. If we're honest, a lot of the stress and worry and anxiety that we feel every single week is likely tied to somebody who caused it, right? And we want them to know and treasure Jesus.

And so we don't need for God to we don't need for him to to remove them. We need to shift the prayer for God to remove the sin that's in their life by going back to what we talked about last week. God, would you have mercy on them? Cause them to be born again to a living hope to an inheritance that is unfading. God, would you reveal yourself to them? Would you show them?

We're going to preach the gospel to them. We want to share this good news with with them. We want to show them all that Jesus Jesus has accomplished in his perfect life, his sacrificial death, and his resurrection that guaranteed that the wrath towards sin was paid for and he resurrects to a new life. And we can all have that as well. Would they put faith in him? Would they trust in him?

God, would you help do this work? And so maybe maybe trials that we experience in our life, yes, they are shaping us and allowing us to grow and mature in our faith, but also maybe they're triggers for us to see the reality that sin is still running rampant. And we need to step into those places rather than avoid them. We need to step into those places and say, "What's causing this? And where can we enter in with the gospel? Where can we pray for this person who's stressing me out?

How can we engage them with good news? How can we bring God into this narrative, this story, this situation? Again, Christianity does not simply tolerate pain and trials. We seek to redeem them by leading those who caused them to Christ, to Jesus. So for the Christian, we understand these two realities. Sorrow because glory has not yet come.

But we also understand joy because glory is coming. It's our destination. This is the gospel paradox. Sorrowful yet rejoicing. Joy without denial. Now, let's take it a little step further, especially on that first point that it's producing something in us.

I want you to see this. This is the third one, gospel- centered purification. Look back at our text at the end of verse six. You have been grieved by various trials. Verse seven, so that all right, so make sure he he's connecting thoughts here. You are grieved by various trials that again encouraging you these aren't going to last forever but they are necessary.

These trials are purposeful so that the tested genuiness of your faith which is more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire. We'll come back to that. so that the tested genuiness of your faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter now explains the purpose of trials. He compares faith to gold that is refined by fire. Gold is valuable, but it is still perishable.

And so he's drawing a a difference here. Faith, however, is more precious because it leads to eternal glory. Fire does not destroy gold, but it actually reveals or brings to the surface the impurities so that it refineses the gold to make it more valuable, that it eventually gets to a point to where it is of its greatest value. The same thing is with trials. Trials are like God putting the fire on you and it pulls out all of the impurities and brings them out of you so that you are actually becoming in the image of Christ who he has ultimately always intended you to be. Because we got to remember we were all created by God with a very specific design, a purpose with the image of God born on us.

Sin does not allow that image to come forth and be seen. And so what he's doing with trials is he's bringing fire on our lives in order to remove the sin in our lives so that the ultimate value of his image could be born. So that when we are going out into the world, we are salt and we are light. We're able to image to others the beauty and glory of God and what it looks like to live a life that is following him and trusting in him and everyone else sees that. Hold on a second, but life is still hard for you. Yeah, but I'm rejoicing.

I'm full of joy. Like life can't mess with me because I have all that I need in Jesus. It starts to shift so that this weary world that we live in all of a sudden now is looking at people who are living with hope and they're able to say, "I want some of that." What What do you have? What? How come all of the junk and mess that you're walking through, how come you're able to get to this place where you're even to a degree thanking God for the trials that have come upon you?

And I think that's why James tells us to count them as joy when we face various trials. When was the last time you prayed, "Thank you, God, for my difficult coworker." Like, thank you God for the fact that my car broke down. Thank you, God, for the fact that we don't have enough means at the end of the month. Actually heard Kelsey, she stepped out, so this is great. Uh, no, this week she was in a conversation and and as many of you know, she was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago.

We've walked through that journey together as a church. And this last week, I heard her in a conversation. She was telling the person um that she was thankful for her cancer. And I hadn't heard her say that before. Um I think it takes a lot of refining fire to get to a place where you can say that, where you can say that. It takes a lot of suffering to get to a place where you can do that.

God is not wasting your suffering. He's not wasting it. And so you shouldn't either. You shouldn't either. He's refining his saints. And that's the goal.

It's not merely just endurance. It's glorification at the end. It's glorification. Peter says, "This faith will result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Now, John Piper, when he's kind of pulling this apart, he says that this is actually one of the only instances where he refers to the praise, glory, and honor that it isn't ascribed to Jesus, although it is, but it's actually ascribed to the faith that has been produced through the person. So this is a type of faith that as it's refined by fire and obtains the salvation when it is looked upon and I think this is one of the reasons why the angels are so um enamored by the saints because they're looking at them as something that is worthy of praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And it's because ultimately he has glorified us to the place where he is also glorified. Now that doesn't mean that we get there and we're like, "All right, well, you know, get off your throne. Let me get up there and jump on it." He's not saying that. But what he is saying is that I've invited you and I have progressed you and I have glorified you to such a degree that you are now worthy. You are now worthy of receiving my inheritance and co-raigning with me the new heavens and the new earth.

If you're like that sounds heretical, just read Romans 8. All right? It talks about it there. And that brings us to perseverance. Perseverance. When you hear and you see all of those things played out and what God is working in us, it produces in us the ability to say, "I can I can go another round.

I can go another round. I can keep going. I can keep fighting." Look at this in verse eight. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him, and you rejoice with joy that is inexpressable and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

This may be the most tender part of the passage. Peter is commending believers for something he himself did not experience in the same way. Peter saw Jesus. He touched him. He knows the sound of his voice. He watched him walk on water, calm storms, raise the dead, transfigure in glory, defeat demons.

Peter stood at the empty tomb. Peter ate breakfast with the resurrected Christ. And yet he writes to people who have never seen Jesus. And he says to them, "You love him just as much as I do. You believe in him just as much as I do. You rejoice as him just as much as the rest of us do.

Only faith can produce this type of blind allegiance. Only faith can produce that in you. And Peter's commending them for that. Hebrews 11:1 I believe says this faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. Only faith allows us to be so convicted of something we've never touched or have never heard the like literal audible words of Jesus. This week I'm trying to help train our kids in understanding that point because one of them says, "I keep praying and he just never speaks back to me."

I said, "Open the word." That's how he speaks to you, buddy. Open the word. If I were to write a letter and send it with you to to school and you open it up and you read it while you're at lunch, you might not hear my voice, but it is still my words and you know that it is me who has written it to you. That's what the word of God is for us. That's what the word of God is for us.

This is the unique calling of every generation of believers before and after the apostles. We live by faith, not by sight. We love a savior we have never physically seen. We rejoice in a king we have not yet met face to face. And yet Peter says they are already obtaining the outcome of their faith. the salvation of their souls.

That's present tense. That that's that already not yet. We need to remember in Adam already dead not yet dead. In Christ already alive, not yet fully alive. But that day is coming. And that's why this is perseverance.

We're in that light momentary affliction that requires perseverance because there will be a day when the words that we read, we will look up and we will behold the word of God and we will hear his voice and no longer need to read the words. And we that is worthy of persevering here and now when we cannot see when we cannot see. So the pattern becomes as we saw last week. You're a sinner according to his great mercy. He's caused you to be born again to a living hope and to an inheritance that is one day coming. And he's saying with that in mind, in that we rejoice though now for a little while trials, refining of your faith.

So that it is actually spiritually maturing you to an inexpressable joy. An inexpressable joy. So once again, you're going to see this. This is just common to Peter is he sandwiches everything in this. You rejoice that leads to inexpressable joy. Rejoicing and joy is always going to come when we are holding fast to Jesus and persevering through whatever trials we might face.

One of the clearest pictures of gospel center perseverance comes from the life of a guy named John G. Patton. If you've never heard of him, he was a missionary to the New Hes in the South Pacific. Um, this was an area known in its day for violence and cannibalism. So, you know, hey, by 2030 we want to send out 31 people on missions overseas. Who's signing up for the cannibalistic tribe?

I want to share the gospel with you. Please don't eat me. Shortly after arriving on the island, Patton's world collapsed. And and I want you to see this because again, I think oftenimes we think of those sent out to on missions are those who become these worldclass Christians who are ready to go. um maybe later in life they've already built their life. They've already raised all the kids.

They've already sent them all out. That's not usually the case. This man went with a small family, young family, infant. Even within the first months, his wife dies of an illness. His infant son died soon after. He buried them both with his own hands because he had no other people there on the island with him other than the tribes.

He was left utterly alone, surrounded by people who wanted to kill him. One night, hostile tribesmen hunted him through the jungle. Patton fled and climbed into a tree, hiding among the branches while men stood below with weapons, waiting for him to come down. So, not your typical Tuesday trial, right? Like it puts our trials into a little bit of perspective. I mean, just imagine for this man the fear, the grief, the loneliness, no fellow Christians, no church to come to on a Sunday morning, no comfort, no visible evidence, no group chat that he could say, "Hey, someone create a meal plan for us.

No visible evidence that his mission was succeeding." I mean, I'd seriously question why God sent me to a place that would take my family and threaten my life. From that tree, Patton later wrote, "I felt my God's presence, my Savior's presence so clearly that I could not doubt that he was with me. If it be to glorify my God, I will not grudge to spend many nights alone in such a tree." How do you write that unless it's not the spirit of God sustaining you in that moment? He could not see Christ.

He could not see results. He could not see safety, but he believed. He believed. And that's exactly what Peter's describing when he writes to us. You've not seen him. Yet you love him.

You do not now see him, but you believe in him. and you rejoice with joy that is inexpressable and filled with glory regardless of the various trials that you are experiencing right now. Patton stayed on the island. He came down from the tree. He continued to preach. He persevered.

And years later, the very people who once hunted him were baptized as brothers and sisters of Christ. I mean, entire villages were transformed. What looked like failure in the moment became fruit for generations to come. Church, gospel- centered perseverance is not trusting what you can see. It's trusting the savior you cannot. It's trusting him every single day.

Peter calls us to gospel- centered living. praise in hope, paradox in suffering, purification in trials, perseverance in faith, and it's all centered on Jesus, who himself has experienced every single one of those things as well. We do not have a high priest who is not sympathetic and understanding what we walk through, who has been tempted in every way as we have, who's walked through his own trials more than us. I mean, when was the last time any of you sweat blood over the stress that you're experiencing? Yet Jesus did. And so, it's a great reminder as we come to the Lord's table to remember this.

This supper that we experience every week, it proclaims the gospel that makes all of this possible for us. It puts it into perspective for us that as we come to this table, Christ's body broken in his bloodshed for our sins, securing our inheritance, guarding our faith through trials, refining us for glory. If you're a believer in Christ, then we invite you to come and partake of this meal. And let this meal, let it strengthen what it symbolizes, what it reflects, let it strengthen you for whatever trials you face ahead. Rejoicing in the one who persevered to the cross for you, to cause you to be born again to a living hope. Though Jesus suffered on Friday, Sunday was coming.

In that exact same way, he's also embodying the text. Though for a little while, you're going to face suffering and various trials. I could just I mean as we are walking through these 40 days leading up to Easter I mean that's what he was walking through. He know I'm entering in to trials. I'm entering into suffering. And it and it gets to a point to where Jesus is even honest with God.

And and it's hard for theologians to even work this out because he is God. He knows everything. He knows what he's doing. He knows what he's accomplishing. But at the same time, he's still 100% a man. And at a moment, he even asked God, "Would you, if there's any other way possible, would you let this cup pass from me?"

Jesus is honest with how difficult the suffering and trials are. It wasn't easy for him to endure and persevere the cross and to be tortured for our sake. But sorrowful yet rejoicing. Jesus also says or Peter or Paul later says of him for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross sorrowful yet rejoicing because he knew if I walk through this I know what it's going to accomplish for them. And so just think about that when we partake of this, what Jesus went through in order to resurrect us, to cause us to be born again to a living hope, to a living faith. And as we then engage trials outside of this church, even the ones inside the church, as we engage trials of various kinds, let us just remember for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.

May we endure the trials of those around us for the sake of them. that hopefully the gospel message will come to them and that they will be redeemed and restored and reconciled. That for them Sunday would be just as true as it is for you as it is for you. Let's go ahead and stand. If you love the Lord, you're a believer, I invite you to come down, grab the elements, bring them back to your seats, and at the end of the song, we will partake together.