1Peter 1:6-13
How to Suffer
Peter continued his letter to the scattered saints. I have already
mentioned that Peter wrote to comfort these saints. They were going
through some very difficult times. Nero, the emperor of Rome, was
hunting, arresting, and brutally killing Christians. Although it was
not my outline, back in \\#1-5\\, Peter spoke of the saints, the
Savior, and salvation. Now in these verses, he adds another "s" to
our list, suffering.
These Christians were literally being killed for Jesus. Peter himself
would die a cruel martyr’s death for our Lord. Perhaps you have
wondered how you would fair in such circumstance. Perhaps you have
wondered what it is like to live in such a world. Tonight, let’s
notice a little something about what is like to suffer for Christ.
I. \\#6\\ They were heavy.
1Peter 1:6 …in heaviness through manifold
temptations.
A. Three conditions are mentioned in this phrase to help us
understand what the saints were experiencing.
1. They were being tempted.
a. Two things to remember concerning temptation.
(1) Temptation means something or someone was
pulling them away from God.
(2) Temptation yield to is sin.
b. I would imagine that it was the persecution they
were going through.
c. Nero’s persecutions were the first empire-wide
persecutions Christians faced and they were very
vicious.
d. A historian, Tacitus, who lived during that time
wrote of the persecutions.
In their very deaths they were made the subjects of sport: for
they were covered with the hides of wild beasts, and worried
to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and
when the day waned, burned to serve for the evening lights.
Nero offered his own garden players for the spectacle, and
exhibited a Circensian game, indiscriminately mingling with the
common people in the dress of a charioteer, or else standing in
his chariot. For this cause a feeling of compassion arose
towards the sufferers, though guilty and deserving of exemplary
capital punishment, because they seemed not to be cut off for
the public good, but were victims of the ferocity of one man."
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/christians.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus
e. Consider the seriousness of the word Peter used here,
temptation.
(1) It does not matter that these believers were
being abused, imprisoned, and killed.
(2) Temptation was attempting to pull them away from
Jesus.
(3) Temptation yield to is sin.
(4) If quitting Christ to save your life is wrong,
then quitting Christ for anything is wrong.
2. Their temptations were "manifold."
a. That means as the believers were being persecuted, the
pull to quit on Jesus came many times and in many
different ways.
b. Well of course it would!
(1) How many reasons can you think of to live?
(2) How many justifications can you think of to deny
Jesus in order to live?
(3) How many people can you think of that would
rather you live than die?
(4) Literally, every thought that a person has at a
time like this would be another temptation to
quit on Jesus.
(5) Then you add to that the cruel methods of
execution: the cross, the lions, being burnt
alive. Would these not also tempt us to deny
Jesus?
(6) Then add the fact that after you are killed, they
are probably going to kill your family.
(7) While I have no idea what I would do if my life
were threatened, I have never even been able to
consider what I would I would do if the lives of
others were involved.
c. The many and different temptations upon these
Christians was beyond measure!
3. Because of all of this, they were heavy.
a. That means their spirit was heavy. They were
discouraged.
b. They were depressed.
B. These Christians were not super Christians.
1. How do I know? Because there is no such thing.
2. They were men and women just like us. They felt hurt,
fear, and loss just like us.
3. They were discouraged and tempted to quit on Jesus.
4. That is who Peter was writing, but there is more.
II. \\#6\\ They were greatly rejoicing.
1Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice….
A. You might be thinking, "This is not right."
1. We don’t typically consider joy and heaviness as going
together. Or joy and suffering. Or joy and death.
2. Was Peter delusional?
a. No.
b. Peter was writing under the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost.
3. Was Peter exaggerating?
a. I don’t think so. If the Christians did not want to
be persecuted, all they had to do was deny their
relationship with Jesus. The fact that they were
being persecuted, indicates they were willingly
following Jesus despite the persecution.
b. If they were doing that, I don’t doubt that they were
also rejoicing while being persecuted.
B. Why would suffering, dying Christians rejoice in persecution?
Peter tells us.
1. \\#5, 10-12\\ Because of the salvation they had.
a. \\#6\\ "Wherein" - Wherein is like "therefore." Both
connect what is being said to what has been said.
b. What had been said in \\#5\\? That is where Peter was
talking about salvation.
c. Their salvation was giving them the power to rejoice
even while being hunted, arrested, beaten, and killed
for Jesus.
d. \\#10-11\\ This is the salvation that the Old
Testament prophets looked to find.
(1) They wanted what you have I have.
(2) They wanted a salvation where God lived inside of
them.
(3) They wanted a salvation that could encourage them
when they were discouraged, lift them when they
were down, give them hope when they had none,
and help them to face death with courage and
conviction.
(4) \\#12\\ Yet they found out that they were going to
get that kind of salvation. It was reserved for
us!
e. That is some salvation!
(1) Is it the salvation that we have?
(2) Can we endure some problems because has saved us?
(3) sickness, loneness, disappointment, death?
(4) If we cannot, it is not the fault of the
salvation.
(5) Our salvation has been tested under the most
severe conditions and proven both worthy and
capable of sustaining the believer in all
situations.
2. \\#7-9\\ Because of the faith they had.
1Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being
much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire,
a. The more fire that is applied to Christian, the more
precious his faith becomes.
b. The Christian faith is just a bunch of untested words
until you walk into the fire.
c. We need the fire to show us our faith! Without the
fire, somethings about our faith will not be seen.
(1) We won’t see how strong our faith is without the
fire. We would have never known the strong
Christian faith of Joseph, Daniel, Isaiah,
Peter, or Paul had it not been for the fire they
walked through.
(2) Others won’t see how strong our Jesus is without
our faith and fire.
(a) God is able to deliver us.
(b) But God is also worth everything if He does
not deliver us.
(3) But perhaps most importantly, we would never
know how much we loved Jesus without the fire.
1Peter 1:8 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:
III. \\#13\\ They were challenged.
1Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your
mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought unto you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ;
A. This was Peter’s challenge to the saints.
B. To gird up the loins means to take your robe and tuck it
into your waistband.
1. The bottom of a tied robe would restrict movement, a very
bad thing if one was fighting for his life or in a hurry.
2. Girding up your loins was what you did when you get
serious about doing something.
3. So Peter was telling the saints, "Get serious about
suffering for Jesus."
C. But implied in that challenge was the command, "—and do it."
"Get suffering about standing—and stand!"
D. The sad reality is that Peter knew nothing that he or anyone
else could do—short of denying Christ—was going to stop the
persecutions.
1. It was in God’s hands.
2. Life and death always is.
3. Peter was praying for the people and encouraging them to
stand for Jesus no matter what it cost.
How were they to do this? They would have some fear and heaviness;
but they would also have joy as they exercised their faith and
rested in their salvation. They stood and are models to us of how
we ought to stand. May God make it so.
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