1 Peter 1:6-9 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations:… I. THE CHRISTIAN'S TEMPTATIONS. 1. They are manifold in their nature. What a world of change and sorrow we live in t 2. They are difficult to bear; for they cause heaviness or depression of mind (Hebrews 10:32). If you are in heaviness bear it manfully, but do not show it openly. Speak of your troubles to your bosom friend, but do not talk of them to men of this world. Above all, tell them to Jesus. 3. They are temporary. The longest trials, and those which leave the deepest wounds, are but for a season. 4. They are necessary. "If need be." Oh, there is "a needs be" for every stroke, and though we do not now understand why this trial or the other falls upon us, yet we shall know hereafter. II. THE END AND AIM of these temptations must be carefully observed. "They are for the trial of our faith." 1. The value of faith cannot be overestimated. Gold perishes, but faith lives — lives in death, and far beyond it (1 Corinthians 13:13). 2. But it must be tried, and sometimes in a very severe furnace. It is proved, tested, or verified by trial, and the faith which cannot stand the ordeal is of little or no value (Job 23:10). There are many ways in which faith is tried. (1) It is tried by Divine commands. God gives His servants some difficult task to perform. True faith will surmount all difficulties. (2) Faith is often tried by doubts. (3) And faith is tried by fire — the fire of discipline, of persecution, of protracted bodily affliction. 3. The ultimate design of the trial is that it may "be found," nothing of it being lost, "unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (Thornley Smith.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: |
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