Dealing with trials

We'll turn, please, in our Bibles to 1 Peter, chapter 1, please. Once again, we would welcome everyone in the Lord's name. Thank you for coming.

Pleasure to be back with the saints here in Waukesha. Those that don't know me, my name is Scott McLeod from Prince Edward Island, Canada, traveling with Marie McCandless. 1 Peter, chapter 1, and we'll read at verse number 6, please.

1 Peter, chapter 1, and verse number 6. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than a gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. I want to read those two verses again. Pay close attention to them.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than a gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now, just a few comments on these verses before we go to chapter 3. It's awfully hard to rejoice in the midst of trial. It's very hard.

It's not natural to do that. Very interesting that if you were just to look at the way this verse is structured, if I was to offer you in one hand a nice big block of gold, and the other hand there was the trial of your faith, I mean, I know which one we would pick. Let's be honest.

I'd pick the block of gold. I'm being honest. If I did pick the trial of my faith, it would be just so I look good in front of you.

It's just in my heart. But why then does the word of God say, wherein ye greatly rejoice? What is it about the trial of faith that is so, it's actually rejoicing to God? Now, I want you to turn to chapter 3. It's interesting just the theme that is taken up by different writers. And it's interesting the Old Testament quotes that are taken by different writers.

And once again, he's developing this. Look at chapter 3, 1 Peter 3, and look at verse 13. Now, look at this.

It says this, 1 Peter 3, verse 13. And who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good? But, and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye. And, now here's the Old Testament quote I want to zero in on.

Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. So, it's that Old Testament quote, the end of verse 14. Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.

Now, that word sanctify simply means to set aside. So, really, if you were to look at the background of the first epistle to Peter, you're going to realize that Nero was on the throne. And, of course, it was a very common thing.

He was a wicked man, and he was persecuting a lot of Christians. And back then, it was a very common custom for a certain day in the calendar year where everybody would have to come by the little altar of incense, and they'd have to take a little pinch of incense, and they would have to throw it on the fire, and they would have to acknowledge that Caesar, Nero, is the God and Savior of mankind. So, you put your mind, you put yourself in that situation.

What would you do? Your turn is coming, and you're seeing many people in front of you. Maybe you're even there, and you witness some people that professed Christianity. Maybe they've just caved into the fear.

They've caved into the circumstances, and they've taken the pinch of incense, and they've put it on the altar, and they're okay to go. Then comes your turn. You believe in God.

You do not believe that Nero is the Savior. He's not the God of humanity. Now, it's easy for us to sit here and go, Oh, yeah, I know what I do.

You do? I find it... That's the pride of the heart. I had a little health issue last year, and I thought I knew what I would do, and I discovered how quick I was just crumbled to the ground because circumstances, they just overcame me. Very, very weak without God.

I think one of the reasons, there's many reasons why God allows our faith to be tried in different temptations, because not only in the trial do we get a look at ourself, but thank God we get a sight of him. And I believe if that is the result of every trial, I believe we're bringing glory to God. You and I don't like to see what's in our heart.

We don't. That's why a lot of people, when they go up on the platform, they don't minister on the flesh, the wicked heart of man. My father said that to me many times because we naturally, we just want to get away from it.

We don't like our weaknesses and our shortcomings being laid out in front of us. We don't. That's why the Word of God just reads us so, so easily.

But if you want to get a sight of your God, the greatness of your God in the midst of a trial, you allow the Spirit of God to break you, if I can say it that way, to show you what's in your heart, and you pray earnestly for a sight of your God. Now, back to this quotation again. Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.

Do you know who that was said to? I thought it was said to the nation of Israel, but it was actually said to a prophet by the name of Isaiah. Now, let's go back and let's read it. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter 7. And it's very interesting when you look at the circumstances that Isaiah found himself in, and you parallel that with what the believers in 1 Peter found themselves in, you're going to see the similarity.

And I trust that it'll be an encouragement to you as it has been to me. Now, I'm just going to take a couple of brief minutes to read a little tiny bit of the history that's happening here, and then I'll try to put all the pieces together for you. Isaiah chapter 7, and look at verse number 1. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentation, the Old Testament, Isaiah 7 and verse 1. Here's what it says.

And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz... Ahaz is the 12th king of Judah, the son of Jothen, the son of Uzziah, the king of Judah, that Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Ramaliah. Now, Pekah, he's the king of the ten northern tribes, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim.

That's the ten tribes in the north. And his heart, that is Judah, his heart was moved, and the heart of his people as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Now, in verse 3, the Lord calls Isaiah, and the Lord said unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz.

So God wants to try to encourage this king, Ahaz, even though he's a wicked man. Now, let your eye come over. There's a whole number of things that happen there, but I want to speed ahead to chapter 8. Something very significant happens in chapter 8. Notice this.

Look at chapter 8, verse 1. Moreover, the Lord said unto me. You don't get that in chapter 7. Chapter 7, God is going to use Isaiah to the nation as a spokesman for him. Now it seems to be something very personal between God and Isaiah.

Verse 1. Moreover, the Lord said unto me. Look at verse number, the middle of verse 3. Then said the Lord to me. Look at verse 5. The Lord spake also unto me.

Look at verse 11. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me. All right, now just drop back again.

I want to pick up a little bit what he says to Isaiah. Verse 5. The Lord spake also unto me again, saying, For as much as this people, and I'll explain this in a minute, that's the 10 tribes to the north, Israel, refuses the waters of Shalom, that is the Pool of Shalom in John, that go softly and rejoice in Rezin and Ramaliah's son. Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river.

That's a picture of the mighty Assyrians, strong in many, even the king of Assyria, in all his glory. And he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks, and he shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over.

He shall reach even to the neck and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of the land, O Emmanuel. Then you come down to verse number 12. Here's what God says to Isaiah.

Say ye not a confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy. Neither fear their fear nor be afraid. Here's the quote.

Sanctify the Lord God of hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread. Look at the outcome, verse 14. And he shall be a sanctuary but a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to bolt the house of Israel.

Now, that's all we're going to read, but trust the Lord will give help. Very, very interesting. God is going to deal with this wicked king Ahaz.

He was very, very wicked. But in the same time, while God is going to deal with Ahaz and the house of Judah, he's going to also deal with Isaiah. Always remember that our faith is constantly being tested, always.

And God does that for a purpose that we might put more faith in him. Now, let me give you the background here. I think everyone knows that there's 12 tribes in the nation of Israel.

They were united under David. They were united under Solomon. After Solomon died, the two sons of Solomon, one of many, they went and they divided the kingdom.

There was two in the south, known as Judah. Then there were ten in the north, known as Israel or Ephraim because Ephraim was the dominant tribe. So here you have a divided nation and they had all their different kings and so on and so forth.

Now, around Israel, there would have been Egypt to the south. They were a world power, but now they're starting to wane in power. And who took them out was the mighty nation of the Assyrians, okay? They're massive.

They're the world power stretching across the world. Then there's this little tiny nation that's trying to get out from underneath the Assyrians. And they're from the Assyrians.

They're called Syria. So what Syria decides to do is they try to make a league with the ten nations, the ten tribes of Israel to the north. And they say among themselves, listen, the big world power, the Assyrians, you know, if we come together, we can defeat them and break their yoke and break their bondage and everything else.

God wants our trust 100%. Now, you all know that the ten tribes in the north, they were carried first into captivity. They were far more wicked than the tribes to the south.

Always remember that God will discipline us because of our lack of faith. Not only us, but it'll come into our family as well. But that's another side issue.

So you know what happens? The ten tribes to the north in Syria, they also try to convince the two tribes to the south, Judah, come and join us. And we can together defeat the Assyrians and we can be the world power. This is where God comes in and he sends Isaiah the prophet down to Ahaz who's on the throne in Judah.

And really the prophet is saying, God is saying through the prophet, do not fear this confederacy that's against you. You might say, what was the confederacy? Well, when the ten tribes to the north in Syria tried to talk to Judah and get them, Judah said, no, no, we don't want to join you. Because Judah, Ahaz was friendly with the Assyrians.

Okay? So what happened? The ten tribes to the north in Syria, they said this, you know what we're going to do? We're going to roll down into Judah and we're going to remove you from the throne, Ahaz. And we're going to put one of our men on the throne in Judah who is friendly to us and then he'll convince the other two tribes to join and there we'll be set. Now that's what God meant when he said to Ahaz, don't you fear the confederacy.

Did you realize what the confederacy did prior to this? The confederacy marched in and in one day they killed 120,000 fighting men. That's a pretty big blow to two little tribes in the south. And then in that same day they took captive 200,000 men, women and children and carried them up into the north.

Another devastating blow to the two little tribes in the south. Can you see how the situation, the circumstances are just growing darker and darker and darker. Meanwhile, here's this prophet Isaiah speaking for God saying to Ahaz, do not fear the confederacy.

Don't let their fear replace the fear that is in your heart of God. That would be hard, wouldn't it? Just bring it down to your own situation. Are you not faced sometimes with circumstances that just seem... there's no way around this.

There's no light at the end of the tunnel. We get thinking like that when we forget about God. That's what happens.

I've experienced that. So what happens next to this King Ahaz? God, once again, you'll find this from Kings and Chronicles. Not only did God in 2nd Kings stir up this confederacy to bring it against Ahaz for his sin and try to encourage faith in his heart.

Do what else God did. God stirred up the Edomites and the Philistines. And they did a little bit of an invasion into Judah.

And they took a number of cities from them. So the thing is getting darker and darker and darker and darker. Finally this man, you know where he goes for help? He goes to the Assyrians.

Doesn't want to trust in God. He goes to the Assyrians. Now God comes in and then God starts to talk directly to Isaiah.

And he gives Isaiah this tremendous picture. He says, Isaiah, listen. These people in the south, the two tribes, they have refused the bubbling springs down in Jerusalem.

They come up out of the ground, an unseen source of nourishment, and they flow into the city of Jerusalem and they supply life to the city. Do you know what God is telling them? That's a picture of me. I am that under the ground.

I'm that unseen source that quietly, gently bubbles up and provides nourishment. Then he says, you know those tribes that have refused me? He said, you know what they're going to taste? Not the bubbling spring. They're going to taste the river.

The Assyrians. She's going to come in with a mighty torrent. She's going to overflow her banks.

No gentleness about it. And it's just going to wipe the whole thing out. You see, here's what God was doing to Isaiah.

This confederacy that everybody's talking about. It was the talk of the town. It was the talk of the coffee shop.

It was the email topic, the phone topic, the message topic. Everybody was going, have you heard about the confederacy? No word about God. Have you heard about the confederacy? Do you know what God warned Isaiah? He said, don't you even let the words come across your mouth.

Don't you be walking around saying, oh, have you heard about the confederacy? Have you seen what they did? He said, don't even say it, Isaiah. He says, you keep putting your faith in me. Just like that gentle spring.

You just rest in me. Do you know what Isaiah was going to witness? This must have been difficult. I don't know what effect it has on you when fellow Christians fall into sin or get discouraged or leave the assembly.

It hurts, doesn't it? Do you know what Isaiah was going to witness? Not only would he witness the king of Judah turn against God, not only the king of Israel to the north turn against God, he would witness the ten tribes being captive, wiped out by the Assyrians within six years, nine years. He would witness that. Can you imagine? Here you are a prophet for God to the nation of Israel, the twelve tribes, and in your lifetime you're going to witness, you talk about a falling away, he's going to witness those ten tribes swept into captivity.

He's watching as the two tribes in the south, because of their sin, the Edomites are invading, the Philistines are invading. Constantly, there's just nothing but discouragement all around him. How would you react? Do you know what God says to him? Isaiah says, the Lord spoke to me, don't fear the confederacy, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.

What does that mean? You see, that heart of mine, I'm thinking of the physical organ now, but you understand what I mean, it's only so big. The heart really is a representation of all of my affections and all the very center of my being. God is saying to him, I want all of my fear, Isaiah, to be in there.

I don't want anything from the exterior to push into that little heart. I don't want even a little corner, I don't want a little speck of fear this way to replace fear this way. God says, I want all of your heart.

You know, it's amazing when you look at Isaiah, the different kings that he ministered to, and all the different prophecies that God will give this man. Isaiah will witness tremendously devastating things. But you know what I love about Isaiah? He just remained true to his God.

He was able, with God's encouragement, to see beyond this. This. You know, that's why I think it's very interesting that he says that about five or six times, the Lord said unto me.

Me. Me. Am I speaking to someone here today? I mean, we have heard of the Anderson family, and it must be tremendous and all those related.

Do you know the only thing that will get you through that trial? Prayers of the saints are wonderful. The comfort of other believers are wonderful. Cards from other believers are wonderful.

But do you know the ultimate is just getting a word from your God? Just your God. And the reports might come in so negative, and this might come in so negative, and our God is living, this Bible is alive, and I can come to my God with any question. Anything.

And I can ask God for a direct, give me a verse for this situation, God. And if I'm speaking to someone, and you've done that, and you've got a verse, and it's positive, it tells you that life is going to come, you just keep hanging on to it. But I'll tell you what's going to happen.

You will be tested. The flesh will do it. The world will do it.

The devil will do it. And you've got to keep going back to the word of God. That gentle, bubbling spring that just nourishes.

Nothing like a word from God, is there? You think of the situation here with Isaiah. It must have been terrible. You know, listen, I hope no one here thinks that so-called preachers are immune from problems.

Every one of us feel like quitting by times. We all get down. We all get discouraged.

We all need a pat on the back. We all need, you know, we're all hanging by a shoestring. But you know what? I find it to be just delightful when my God talks to me.

Commit that verse to memory and just keep that thing like an Amerigo around going around in your head. And when the darkness arises, keep quoting the verse. When the doubts arise, keep quoting the verse.

Just keep hammering it with the verse. The verse, the verse, the verse. So important.

But you know yourself, we don't feel like reading often when we get down, do we? That's just what the devil knows. This is normally the first thing that suffers. And then right after it comes prayer.

Don't feel like praying. Because God has abandoned me! No, He hasn't. The gentle spring is still there.

And you know the thing, what they feared. Do you know what God would do within how many generations? The Assyrians would be taken out by the Babylonians. All of their enemies, God would eventually remove.

So always remember, dear child of God, whatever is at this level, it's only for a certain period of time. But our God is eternal.