Good morning. I’d like to ask you to turn with me to the First Epistle of Peter. We’ll read some verses from 1 Peter, and maybe a few from 2 Peter.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead,
unto an incorruptible, and undefiled, and unfading inheritance, reserved in the heavens for you,
who are kept, guarded by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time;
wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, put to grief by various trials,
that the proving of your faith, much more precious than gold which perisheth though it be proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
whom having not seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Now, that’s the verse I want you to focus in on: 1 Peter 1:7, “That the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perisheth, though it be proved by fire.”
Knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers;
but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.
This is the verse I want you to take note of: “But by precious blood … the blood of Christ.”
Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation; if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious:
unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious,
ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Because it is contained in Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious:
and he that believeth on Him shall not be put to shame.”
For you therefore that believe is the preciousness.
Some of these verses were read this morning.
Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
seeing that His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us by His own glory and virtue;
whereby He hath granted unto us His precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature.
Let us pray.
Lord, we just believe Your Word is inspired, and we come to Your Word with a real sense of dependence: that You, by Your Holy Spirit, would open to us a real understanding of Your Word; that You would penetrate our circumstances, our thoughts, and our minds—everything that might hinder us from hearing today something that is from You.
That’s all we want, Lord. We’re not interested in hearing any man speak. We’re only interested in hearing the Lord Jesus speak by His Holy Spirit. We ask You to quicken us in both speaking and hearing, that at the end of it we may say, “The Lord has spoken,” and we are pleased. For we worship You in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, I’ve been drawn lately to this First Epistle of Peter. The burden that’s on my heart today comes from this single word: precious.
You may not think this is a very important word, but if you don’t understand the word in context, you’ll really miss something that is from the Holy Spirit. This word precious occurs more times in these two tiny letters than anywhere else in the whole of the New Testament.
As a matter of fact, this word precious occurs in these tiny little books almost more than in any other book in the Bible. If you look at 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles combined, that word may occur a couple more times. But there it speaks again and again of precious stones—of the priest and the tabernacle.
But the burden on my heart for us today comes from one of these instances where this word precious is used. It is, in fact, the first instance: 1 Peter 1:7. The burden the Lord has laid on my heart is the precious proving of our faith.
Now, if you’re going to understand the importance of that single word, and the importance of that word in relation to this epistle of 1 Peter, there is one thing you need to come to an understanding of first: the circumstances in which these dear believers who received this letter found themselves.
They say this book has been an incredible book of encouragement down through the years for those who found themselves in difficult circumstances and difficult trials. Brothers and sisters, these ones who received this letter were going through horrendous difficulties. They were going through unparalleled testing— incredible testing.
It says they were scattered. It says they were dispersed. It says they received all kinds of various trials and difficulties. It even goes on to say that they went through extreme suffering. Think of that.
These saints were going through terrific, terrific difficulties. You know, the word suffering is another one of those words. It occurs in 1 Peter more than in any other book—this little book—except perhaps Acts.
That should give us some sense of what the circumstances were in which these believers found themselves. That’s very important, because if you don’t see the circumstances of these believers, you’ll never appreciate this word precious. That’s the point.
It seems to me the whole message of 1 Peter is that, in the trial, in the difficulty, in the fight, in the proving—in what they went through—they were able to discover a preciousness of the Lord that was really something quite unique.
They were able to discover a preciousness of His provision that was extremely unique. They were able to discover a preciousness of His love which was incredible.
We’re accustomed here in the West to ease, not pressure. And I hope you’re not too depressed so far with the thought of this message. The point is this: we can discover something through pressure and through testing that we can discover no other way.
Do you know that? Have you experienced that? Have you experienced what the psalmist David said in Psalm 4:1, when he said:
Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.
Suppose God never put us to the test. Suppose He left us alone, or left us with only prosperity. Do you think we would ever grow in Christ?
You might be tempted to look at these ones who suffered such great hardships and think, “Boy, they’re pitiful. What poor saints.” But the record in this book is not their poverty, brothers and sisters. It is not their trials alone. It is the discovery that they discovered something incredibly precious in the pressure.
That’s the message in 1 Peter. Surely, it says in 1 Peter 1:7, they were tried as by fire. But in the middle of the fire, I believe they made a discovery that brought them to a greater place.
Now, I hope you understand the parallel, brothers and sisters. I think as we come to the end of the age, we might be like those in 1 Peter. You might find yourself in difficult circumstances. You might find yourself pressed beyond measure. Some of you already are.
You might find yourself in circumstances that are overwhelming, where you see no way out. And yet, if by the grace of God we can discover the preciousness of the Lord in the middle of those circumstances—if we can know what it means that the proving of our faith is much more precious than gold which perishes—then we’ve made a good discovery.
I wonder if we aren’t like ones who would like to always escape pressure. We think pressure is a terrible thing. I read a story about a fellow who found an emperor moth in its cocoon. He felt sorry for the poor old emperor moth and brought it home.
He saw this emperor moth squeezing and pressing, trying to fight through a little tiny opening in the cocoon. It was struggling and straining, and this man, in his great wisdom, decided he would give it a hand.
So he took some scissors. Follow the story. He took some scissors and cut the cocoon open. That poor moth just stumbled out, deformed, with little shriveled wings and a big fat body. It was unformed.
That moth never flew.
You see, it was God’s design for it to come through the pressure. It was God’s aim that this moth could not be formed otherwise. The struggle was necessary—that it would press through and go through the hours it took to come through that constricted way.
Then, by the grace of God and in the great creative ability of God, the fluids were forced from that body into the wings. That moth was formed in beauty, came out, and soared. Do you understand?
To me, that’s what’s going on in 1 Peter. Sometimes we think it would be right if we got out of pressure. Sometimes we think it would be good if we escaped our circumstances.
But I believe the simple message in 1 Peter is that those who go through and discover the preciousness of God in the middle of their circumstances soar like eagles.
This seems to me to be the whole message behind that simple word precious. You wouldn’t think, with your Western mind, that preciousness and difficulty in trial would be linked together, would you? You wouldn’t think suffering and preciousness would be joined together, would you?
But when you discover, just as that moth discovers, that in that great constricting pressure somehow God creates a beautiful thing, then you are able to fly and soar. That was the message of comfort to the oppressed in 1 Peter.
If you look at 1 Peter, you discover that God used this impetuous apostle Peter—not the one who was so impetuous that he smote off Malchus’s ear in the garden, but the one who had become so tender that, when he was with the Lord at the sea, the Lord said, “Feed My sheep.”
He gave a word to them which is a very encouraging word. Brothers and sisters, I think that if we come to understand that our pressures have meaning, our difficulties have a purpose, and our trials are for an end, it will change how we see them.
It isn’t that we are to go through this life never being tested. Can you imagine if we were never tested?
I spend my day designing materials and testing materials. We have these enormous volumes—sometimes I don’t think they’re good for much other than a paperweight—but these four enormous books from ASTM, the American Society for Testing and Materials.
In those books is detailed what every building material must go through: what the test must be, and not only what the test must be, but how long the test must be. If those materials pass those tests, then you can use them in the building process. If they don’t, they’re no use.
I hope you understand. It seems to me that’s what the Holy Spirit says in 1 Peter: “You are going through a great test. Do you understand it? But do you also understand that that test is necessary to prove that I am faithful, to prove that I can take you through, to prove that My grace is all-sufficient, and to prove to you that I am with you?”
This is the message in 1 Peter. May the Lord help us, brothers and sisters, to understand testing. Don’t think of it as a bad thing. The next time you go through a difficulty, don’t think of it as a curse.
Maybe we ought to look at it as an opportunity to discover more preciousness. If we do, a great discovery it will be. That’s why the word precious is in this book of suffering.
Well, what we’ll look at is the precious proving of our faith. There is a reason for testing. There is a purpose for testing. There is an aim in testing. If we don’t understand these things, we’ll never understand what we go through on this earth.
You will always look at it as just suffering. You will always look at circumstances, when they are against you, as wind in your face—an unreasonable circumstance. And you’ll never understand the preciousness of the testing.
It comes to mind to me that when you read these books carefully, you begin to understand that their circumstances were for a reason. Their circumstances had meaning. Their difficulties were not just difficulties. How depressing that would be. Their difficulties were with purpose.
So I think the first thing we understand when we come to the First Epistle of Peter, when it comes to the proving of our faith, is that there is a great design behind the proving. And if we discover the great design, we know the preciousness.
It says in verse 7, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice.” Now think of that. I don’t know about you, but when you read those words, does that appear to be a contradiction? It often appears to be a contradiction to me.
Here these folks are in terrific straits. Maybe I haven’t made it clear enough how difficult their straits were. They were about to go into the most severe oppression and persecution of any believers before or since.
In those difficulties, they rejoiced with joy. Can you imagine? That seems to me to be a contradiction. But when you read this word, there seems to me to be a message here: those who know the preciousness know how to rejoice in the trial.
Those who know the preciousness learn how to rejoice and go through. And I wonder, because I meditated about that. I thought, “Lord, is that true for me?”
Well, I don’t know about you, but I often discover that I’m a whiner. Are you a spiritual one? Most of us are spiritual whiners. Touch me—oh boy! Trials? Oh, hard! The first thing we say is, “Lord, we perish,” like in the boat. “Take it away, Lord,” first thing.
Not, “Lord, do You have something here for me? Is this the press that is to bring out the oil? Is this the press that is to turn that rough old carbon into a diamond? Is this the fire that is to transform this old refuse of ore into gold?”
Do we do that? I don’t know. I’ve discovered in praying about this word how unlike me that is. But yet, it seems to me that when you read 1 Peter, you discover that these ones knew something of the value of their testing. May the Lord help us.
It even says that you are in great heaviness. We don’t think of God’s blessing with heaviness, do we? As a matter of fact, there are some who say, “This heaviness—God couldn’t be with them.” Yet the Lord Himself was in the middle of those circumstances. That’s what we need to see.
May the Lord use all of our circumstances to prove our faith. Listen to this word: “The proving of your faith is more precious than gold that perishes.”
Give me a new attitude. I say, “Lord, don’t let me escape. Don’t let me pass from this difficulty without learning the lesson.”
If You do, there will be no gain. If You do, there will be no preciousness. If You let me escape only when I scream, how sorry I will be at the appearing of the Lord Jesus.
To me, that seems to be the thing the Lord has pricked my heart with. Do you know that there is a reason for your testing? Do you know that’s the reason you were left here? So that you would be refined in the Refiner’s fire and brought into a glorious apprehension of how precious the Lord Jesus really is.
Otherwise, when you were saved, He would have taken you right in. But in His wisdom He left you here. And, in His wisdom, He puts you through things that you may not choose, may not like, and may not even want, to bring you into a greater place in the Lord Jesus.
The proving of our faith is more precious. Now, it says in the Amplified Version, “infinitely precious.” Can you quantify infinity? I always hated when they gave us problems on infinity. I thought, “How worthless to us!” You know what I mean. Always take it to infinity.
But can you define infinity? The proving of our faith is infinitely precious to God. And if we endure, and if we discover Christ in the middle of our circumstances, it will become infinitely precious to us.
That’s what the psalmist meant: “In pressure, Thou hast enlarged me.” It seems it can be done in no other way, in no other fashion, but through some difficulty.
The Christian life, dear saint—I don’t know where this idea developed that the Christian life is all blessing. Thank God, it is a blessed life. But unless there is some difficulty, you’ll never come into the full inheritance. That, to me, seems to be the message.
Now, there is a reason for our testing. All of it is to prove our faith. F. B. Meyer, in his book Tried by Fire, a little explanation of 1 Peter, said that our trials and difficulties come from three sources. I’d like to add a fourth.
He said they are brought on us by others. Can you imagine? I think we yell the most at the others—human beings who are the source of our difficulties and trials.
It’s all right, maybe, if God does this. You know, He’s God after all. I mean, how do you complain? But if another person is used, well, that’s a whole different matter. Strike first, ask questions later.
Not only do they come by others; they also come through our own sins and mistakes. I don’t know if you can quantify it, but I believe that a great deal of our difficulties come of our own making. Would you agree with that?
I often quote the Pogo cartoon: “We have found the enemy, and it is us.” You’ll discover that most of your problems come from you. But somehow God uses that to bring us to a greater place.
Many of our trials come directly from God Himself. God Himself is at the heart of many things. He disciplines us as children. He uses many things to bring us into a larger place.
And I think we ought to add that many temptations come from the enemy. But you know something? When you read this book, the enemy is not mentioned all that often. Listen to me very carefully: God can use the enemy to bring us to a greater place.
Can you imagine that? Do you think when Judas came, maligning and angry and full of hatred, to betray the Lord with that crowd full of hatred, that God was not in that? Judas was inspired of the devil. It says in one of the Gospels that Satan entered into him. It was the enemy. Do you believe for a moment God did not use that?
What about Job? Think about Job. You realize that it was God who brought up Job to Satan. I think that’s so terrible. If I were Job, I would say, “God, why did You have to mention me?”
But He did that. Satan appeared before God, it says in Job 1, with the sons of God. God said, “What about My servant Job?” Job might have thought, “I wish You hadn’t said anything.” But God can use the enemy.
You remember Peter? Do you remember the story in Luke 22? It says, “Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to sift you.” Now, I would think the right thing to do, if I could counsel God with all my wisdom, would be to say, “You should have said no. God, just say no. Tell Satan, ‘Peter is Yours. Leave him alone.’”
Amazing. Jesus did not do that. He said, “But Peter, I prayed for you.” Thanks a lot. You understand? God can use even His enemy to bring us to a larger place in Christ Jesus.
Oh, I think we need to see the reason for our testing. It is to prove us. It is to bring us to a larger place.
There seems to me, when I read this book, that God in His mercy allows many things in the life of the Christian from which you would hope He would deliver you. You get the point. That’s a very humbling thing, because my theology—maybe it’s your theology—is, “Lord, deliver me.”
It seems to me that these dear ones He did not deliver right away, because in the middle of the pressure, in the middle of the testing, there was a reason. He wanted to prove the preciousness of their faith.
Brothers and sisters, may God bring us to that place where we can accept all that is of His hand graciously and say to the Lord, “Don’t let me go. Don’t give in to my cry. Take me there. Keep me there, until I discover the preciousness.”
I went to Stephen not that long ago, with the other brothers, over all that we’ve gone through these past few years. Those of you who know Stephen know he is a man of very few words. Sometimes some of us have too many words—present company included.
I said, “Brother Stephen, how can this be? What help can you give us?” And he said this simple word. It has never left me. He said, “This is a test. This is a test.”
And he said, in his select words, “Our prayer should be that we will pass the test.”
Oh God, every day, every day, that has been my prayer: “Take us through this test. May it end up for the precious proving of our faith, that is more precious than gold that perishes.” Then it will be of value.
It seems there is no other way. It seems God has to take us through to prove. I heard a story the other day about roses that make the sweetest perfume. They are found in the Balkan Mountains, and they can only be picked at midnight.
Do you understand? If you pick them during the day, they lose forty percent of their fragrance. Testing is for a reason.
The second thing that seems to come to me and strike me in this verse 7 is that we discover who the Refiner of the testing is. Brothers and sisters, aren’t you glad that it is not me? No offense—please don’t take offense—but I’m glad it isn’t you.
When David was brought before God for his discipline, he did not want to be put in the hands of man. He would rather be put in the hands of the living God.
Oh, thank God, the Refiner is none other than God Himself. Thank God, brothers and sisters, that the One who has the flame in His hand is none other than God Himself. What mercy that is.
I think the second thing we need to see is that the Refiner Himself is God. Oh, how beautiful that is. There is no one more merciful. He knows just when to turn the flame up, and just when you think you are about to be consumed, He knows just when to turn the flame down.
If it were left up to me, I would not know when to turn the flame up or when to turn the flame down. You would turn into a piece of charcoal. Thank God, the flame is in His hand. How merciful.
To me, that is the greatest of all comfort. That is a precious discovery: the Refiner is God Himself.
Do you know that when Daniel went into the fire—you know the story; I always say, “Do you know?” but you do know the story—when Daniel went into the fire, what did he discover? The fourth Man in the fire.
The Refiner was in the fire with them. Oh, what comfort that is. We are not alone in the fire. There is a fourth Man in the fire. It even goes on to say in that story that when they came out of the fire, their garments did not even smell of smoke. That’s good news.
Oh, how that ought to encourage us. I wonder if David, had he not gone through the valley of the shadow of death in Psalm 23, would have ever made the discovery:
For Thou art with me.
That’s a great discovery. That’s a precious discovery. When we discover that in the middle of our difficulties, in the middle of our circumstances, He is there—not only that He is there, but that the flame is in His hand, and He is the One doing the proving—what a great discovery. What peace that gives our hearts.
I remember when I took testing of construction materials class, we used to break things. Now, ladies, I’m warning you: men like to break things. You may have already figured that out. Kelly, I’m warning you before marriage so you’ll be prepared.
We would go into the lab, get steel rods, and put these things in the great jaws of this humongous testing machine. There was a huge dial that could put on all this force. We would pull those steel rods, and ductile failure is a beautiful thing.
We would pull those steel rods, and they would begin to neck like an hourglass. Then all of a sudden, they would break and fracture. We thought that was the neatest thing. “Boy, give me some more. Bring a little concrete.” Break it to fracture; dust flies everywhere. Oh, that was neat.
But He takes us through. There is a limit. Even in the testing of materials, there is a limit state. He knows what our limit is.
It says in 1 Corinthians 10:13—maybe I have the reference wrong—He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but with the temptation provide a way of escape.
He knows when to put the pressure on, and He knows when to take the pressure off. Left to me, you’d be a broken rod. But in the Refiner’s hand, He is very gentle with us. Do you get the point? To me, that’s the greatest encouragement.
Oh, what a loving Refiner we have. Isaiah 43—if you want to turn to it, I’ll just read you this verse. Isaiah 43:1-3. I think these are verses you know.
But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name, thou art Mine.
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior.
When you pass through the waters, they will not overflow you. When you go through the fire, it will not even burn you. Why? Because He is the Refiner. That’s good news.
Often we get the impression that God is cruel. “How could He put me through? How could He do that?”
I don’t know if any of you like these animal programs, but I don’t know how many of you know what it is like for giraffes to be born—since you’re not a giraffe. But it is a cruel birth, you think.
The first thing that happens is those little hooves and that nose come out. Then that giraffe is ejected and falls ten feet, flat on its back. A hard way to be born.
That giraffe is sort of in shock, in a heap. It shakes off the residue of birth, and you would think that mother, in her sweetness, would bend down with a giraffe kiss and say, “You sweet little giraffe.”
But the mother takes one of her four legs and knocks that giraffe over. Go figure. What possessed that mother giraffe to do such a thing?
She does it again, and she does it again, and she does it again. That poor little giraffe is saying, “Mom!” She keeps doing it until that giraffe gets up and is able to stand on its own.
That’s the proving of faith. Do you understand? Oh, that we would be able to know that God’s mercies sometimes seem to be cruel, but He is trying to do something. He is trying to strengthen and prove our faith by what He allows, and at just the right instant He will do His work.
For me, that’s good news.
Well, I hear clocks going off and all those aggravating things. Last point—just a few thoughts. What is the result of testing? Even the testing has an end.
If you turn back to our text verse, it says, “Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Brothers and sisters, it is good news that all testing has an end.
You’re not in this permanent crucible. All testing is measured by the hand of the merciful Refiner. All testing is for a purpose, and all testing has an end. You understand that? That’s very important.
Receiving the end of our faith: the salvation of our souls. Thank God that all testing has an end.
Brothers and sisters, this expression, salvation of the soul, is little understood in current Christianity. We always think of salvation as being born again. This goes way beyond being born again.
There is something that God does deep within us by the work of the Holy Spirit, so that in the end the character of the Lord Jesus comes out through us. That is what the refining process is. The salvation of the soul is a deep work.
As the Refiner Himself sits over the refining of the gold, waiting until all the dross is gone, He looks into that gold and sees the reflection of His face. That is the salvation of the soul. The end is that He will see Himself in you. That’s the reason. That’s the end.
It even says in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18:
For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;
while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen:
for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Notice that: our momentary and light affliction. Unless you see the preciousness, you’ll never think of it in that light. But it works for us a far surpassing measure of eternal glory.
Thank God there is an end, and thank God the end is Christ.
It says in verse 8:
Whom having not seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
The end of our faith, the end of the testing of our faith, might have the most simple of all explanations: to love Christ more.
I often sing that song, although I can’t sing. I sing this song:
More love to Thee, O Christ,
More love to Thee.
If all that we go through, dear saints, can in the end produce more love to Christ—if, in the end, He can see Himself in the reflection—then all was worthwhile, and the proving of our faith is precious.
That’s the message here. The proving of our faith is much more precious than gold that perishes. Have you discovered that the reason all we go through is not for destruction, but for proving, strengthening, equipping, and eternity?
Have you seen, in the middle of the proving, the great Refiner, with the flame in His hand? What a merciful Refiner. Do you see the end? Does it all result in more love to Christ?
This seems to be the message to me in 1 Peter. Oh, think of that hymn, “How Firm a Foundation.” I don’t know if you’ve meditated much on those verses, but it says:
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
The precious proving of our faith is more precious than gold.
Lord, we commit to You these few simple thoughts. How we do pray that Your Holy Spirit would teach us Your ways.
Many here are probably going through things that many do not even know. But thank God that Your mercy is in our circumstances; that You use our trials, manifold trials; that You use difficulties; that You can even use the enemy to bring us to a larger place in Christ Jesus.
Take these words that have been offered, and somehow teach us to lean on Jesus like we never have before. And in the end, our prayer is that You will see in us, as a corporate testimony and in each one individually, the perfect reflection of Your own face. Amen.