Why Does God Allow Trials and Suffering?

The Rome congregation is not a very large congregation, as we know, and yet we are a, even though we're a small group, I believe we're a close group, we know one another. We've had, over the past few years, a number of trials, a number of tests in our local congregation. Just look at our congregation and answer a few simple questions. How many of us are looking for work or have been out of work? You know, you get to the point where you stop looking for work, you know, after a period of time, but you know, how many of us really are out of work or underemployed? How many have some severe health problems and struggle with health? Well, we can just look around the room. I mean, if I were to stop right now and we start in the front row and we just go back and forth, we would hear of a lot of difficulties and struggles that we have. How many of us struggle financially and find that it's very difficult to make ends meet or we're barely getting by? And as a result, do we struggle sometimes spiritually, being able to trust God, being able to rely upon God, or do we begin to wonder why? How many die of sickness? Not just here, but you know, we're reading all the time in the announcements that we receive about people in the church. We're asked to pray for, and you find that a number of them over a period of time do die. What about somebody who dies prematurely? You know, when we're not that old and we die, we wonder, well, you know, why didn't God heal that individual? Or why does God allow sometimes people to suffer over an extended period of time? As I explained this past week, Linda Young died, Charles Shannon died, and you know, back in 2009, Myra, or Myrna, I should say, Walden died. We've had a number of people over the years who have died in God's church, and we're always very encouraged because they die in the faith. They die obedient to God. I don't know how many of you, but the many times I've gone to talk to somebody who is sick, has some type of a terminal disease, and you go there to encourage them, and you walk away as the one who is encouraged. You marvel at their faith. You marvel at their tenacity. You marvel at their willingness to continue forward. And yet there are times that we ask the question, why? We're the children of God. We're the ones that God has picked out. We are His sons and His daughters. Why do we go through all of these type of struggles? Why do we have, and why are we faced with these type of things? What kind of an impact, when you have these type of troubles, does it have on family, on friends, on those who love? When you look at history, you will see that the human race and human beings have suffered a great deal. Not only those in God's church, but just the human race as a whole. How many people have died in wars? How many have been maimed? How many have been crippled because of warfare? Think of the misery and the suffering that this has produced. Look at what happened in the Second World War, First World War. The Confederate War. I've been reading a number of books here recently dealing with the war back in 1860 through 1865. We had over 600,000 people killed in that war, more than any other war ever since. It was a war where the population of this country was very decimated, especially in the South. We find that wars are fought all the time and down through history.

We talk about how many have died in Iraq, how many of our soldiers have died in Afghanistan. You go back and you read in the Old Testament, sometimes you'll see battles where in one day, 75,000 people, 100,000 people died. Our minds can't wrap around that. So many people dying in hand-to-hand combat in wars, but that's been the way history has been. We hear of accidents going on all the time. You find that there are drunk drivers and drivers who are on drugs, and many of them are responsible for killing tens of thousands of people every year.

Then just look at the economic plight that many people live in. Many people live in wretched conditions, going without proper food, proper water, proper shelter. One of the things that we've been trying to do for many of the members in Africa is to help them drill wells. You would be amazed at what happens when a member, or when we are someone like LifeNet, sponsors the digging of a deep well in an African community, two or three hundred feet deep, where they have fresh water all the time. It totally changes the health of that area, and we've been trying to help many of them. For us, we turn this spigot on, we assume that our water is okay, even though we know it's not, and it's much more decent than what the average person in the world has. And yet, we don't think of the fact that millions, literally millions of people struggle just to have decent water, and they don't have decent water. What about millions today being out of work, foreclosures of homes, huge debts? Now, you could go on and on. Why do so many people seem to go through a lot of trials and tests? Have you ever noticed that some people seem to have a lot of problems, others only have a few? And you ask yourself the question, is that fair? Well, you know, maybe you consider yourself as one of those who has and has gone through a lot of trials and a lot of tests. And I don't think I'm vocalizing something that hasn't crossed every one of our minds at one time or another. Not that you sit there morbidly thinking about some of those things, but when you look at us as individual Christians, and I'm talking about us here, our local congregation here in Rome, you see that we go through the same trials, same problems that people around us go through. We have health problems. They have health problems. Christians are not immune to financial difficulties, loss of job, family problems, and difficulties. We are exposed to the whole gamut, the whole spectrum of difficulties that the human race is exposed to. Why?

Are there lessons that we learn that others do not learn by going through many of these things? Why do we go through these problems? What are we supposed to learn from them? Is God truly with us? Is life always fair when you look at it? Well, we want to address some of these situations today and take a look at what does God have to say. Let's acknowledge one thing to begin with. We don't always know the reason why we go through a certain trial or test, do we? How many times have you gone through a test and a trial, maybe you're still in one, and you ask yourself, why? What am I supposed to learn from this? We may not know until later, but God always knows. And that's one thing that we need to realize. There is a God. He is alive. He is alive. And there's nothing that occurs in our life as a Christian that God is not very much aware of and that He allows. I'm not saying that He causes it. God doesn't cause all the problems and trials we have. Many times they are our own making. Many times they can be of other people's making. They can be from Satan. But we know that God may allow it. He always knows. There are specific lessons that God is trying to get across to us, to help us to learn. And God ultimately knows what each one of us needs for our character development. We may think we know. We may think, well, I need more patience. I need more love. And I'm sure we all need more of all of those. But God Almighty not only sees that, but He sees the whole picture. He's able to see the whole panorama. And He's able to see exactly what we need for our character development. Now occasionally, as we go through a trial or a test, God will reveal to us, as His servants, as His children, why we're going through it. Let's turn over here to 2 Corinthians 12. And verse 7. 2 Corinthians 12. And you'll notice that apparently God realized that the Apostle Paul needed to go through a certain trial and a test. Now Paul, as we all understand, was a vibrant, dynamic servant of God. God used him to raise up many churches, preach the gospel to the world.

God used him to go to the Gentiles. And yet, let's notice that God also recognized that there was a potential for a problem that He had, and that apparently there was one. In verse 7, Paul says, lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations. So God had given to him a number of visions, revelations for him to have. And just like anyone, Paul could have become very vain over that. He could have had a problem with pride and vanity, thinking, well, I'm pretty special. Look at everything that God has revealed to me. So he says, lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations. A thorn in the flesh was given to me. A messenger of Satan to buffet me. Lest I be exalted above measure.

Now, concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. Now, we don't know what the thorn in the flesh was. Some have thought maybe it's a health problem. Some have thought maybe it was the fact that he had poor eyesight. He had been stoned to death, if you remember, and I'm sure that that had affected his eyes.

But I want you to notice Paul was like the rest of us. He could have had a problem with being humble. And one of the things that we all lack as human beings is humility. So he asked God three times, please take this from me. And God said, here's God's answer. In this case, God spoke to him or gave him a vision. Somehow he revealed this. He said, My grace is sufficient for you. For my strength, God said, is made perfect in weakness. In other words, in our weakness, God's strength is made perfect. Paul said, With that understanding, with that revelation from God, therefore, most gladly, I would rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecution, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. So when Paul was weak physically, then he knew he could be strong. Why? Well, because he had to rely upon God. That's why. You find that God allowed this trial to come upon him, number one, to keep him humble. He realized that he could not overcome it on his own. That he needed God's help, so he turned to God for help and understanding. Many times we do the same thing, do we not? When we are under a trial, we ask God to remove it. When you're sick and you're asking God to heal you, what are you asking? You're asking God to remove the trial. You're asking Him to heal you, so that you're not going through this anymore. You're out of work. You ask God to provide a job. What are you asking? You're asking God to change the circumstances. If you're hungry and you're going without, the Apostle Paul said he knew how to be a beast. He knew how to abound. He knew how to go without. There were times that he was naked. There were times when he was fully clothed and dressed very well. So he went through the whole gamut.

God's strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. Why? Because when we're weak, it makes us turn to God and rely upon God. Look to God. When we look to ourselves, we look to our own abilities, our own talents, our own skills. We think that we can resolve and solve everything. All we're doing is relying upon our physical talents and abilities. That only takes us so far. It's the power of God, the might of God, the strength of God that gives us the strength to move forward, to really overcome, and to be able to endure to the end. And quite frankly, brethren, we need to realize that we haven't even been confronted yet with some of the trials that we're going to be faced with at the end time. The Bible talks about a coming time, a tribulation, a time without parallel in the annals of human history. That times are going to get so tough. And if you and I are going to endure to the end, remain faithful to the end, succeed, we're going to have to do it under the power of God by His strength. And so God wants us to learn to trust Him now, to rely upon Him now. And when things really get tough, then God will be with us. Let's go over here to the book of Job, Job chapter 1, verse 8.

I want you to notice in Job chapter 1, verse 8, that God brought Job up to Satan the devil. The Lord said to Satan in verse 8, Job 1, Have you considered my servant Job, that there's none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God, shuns evil? Hopefully God could say that about us likewise. And notice Satan's retort. This is how he always tries to paint God's people. This is what he thinks of you. Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him, around his household, around all that he has on every side? Have you not blessed the works of his hands, his possessions, have increased in the land? Now stretch out your hand, touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face. So you find that Satan says the only reason he's obeying you is because you are blessing him. You remove that, you give him a trial, you take some of these things away from him, he'll curse you. So, brethren, if we lose our job, do we curse God? If we have trouble meeting our payments, do we curse God? Do we lose faith when we go through a trial, or do we continue to rely upon God? You see, God does hedge his servants about, does he not? He does bless us, he does protect us, and he protects our families. But this doesn't mean that we don't have problems, that we won't have difficulties. God has not placed us in a vacuum. When you're baptized, receive God's Spirit. God doesn't pick you up out of the world, and all at once place you in a vacuum or a bubble, and put 10,000 angels about you so that no problem can come your way. You don't grow that way. You and I grow when we're faced with difficulties, and we have to overcome, and we have to rely upon God to help us to overcome. In Job 42, you find that God was working in Job's life to produce something that Job did not understand to begin with. Job's constant reply to God is, look, tell me where I'm doing something wrong. This is what he kept telling his three friends. They kept telling him, well, you've got to be doing something wrong. No one ever suffers unless they're disobey. So therefore, you must be disobey. Job kept saying, I'm not doing that. I take care of the poor. I take care of the needy. I look after the things that I need to. I pray to God, and they were falsely accusing him. God knew Job had a problem, and he had to deal with him on another level. In verse 1 here, Job 42, Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do everything, and no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. You ask, and who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I buttered what I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak. You said, I will question you, and you shall answer me. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I abhor myself in repent, in dust, and in ashes. You find that Job had to come to realize that God was working out a great purpose in his life. He had to come to see how great God was. He sort of became impressed with himself and his accomplishments and what he had done. He had a greater opinion of himself and a lesser opinion of God, and so that had to be turned around, where he came to have a greater opinion of God and to realize who God truly was.

I think there are three valuable lessons from these two scriptures, these two examples that we learn. Number one is that we can be spiritually strong when we rely upon God. It is our reliance and trust in God. God gives us the strength to endure trials and tests. Number two, we need to always keep our eyes on God, focus on him, not on ourselves, not on what we can do. Number three, God will always do what is best for us. Was God doing what was best for Job? Yes, in the long run. God is looking at the end result. God always looks at the end result, at the ultimate outcome, what is best for us. Now, with that in mind, let's notice here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13. Another very interesting scripture. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13.

Well, we could back up to verse 12.

Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

No temptation or no trial has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted or trialed, tried beyond what you're able. But with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Now, this to me is a very comforting, very encouraging scripture.

The word temptation here can mean either an enticement to sin, which is what temptation is, or a testing or proving. The word is translated both ways. Satan tries to tempt us to sin. He will put something in front of us. It could be a sexual temptation. It could be pornography. It could be over-drinking, overeating, whatever the temptation might be to sin. God will test our character to see how strong our mettle is, to see what we're made out of. Now, in James 1, we find that God never tempts us, and neither is he tempted with evil. So God is not the one who tempts. God will try us. The word here in the Greek is parasmos. The word parasmos means a trial or proving, a trial of man's fidelity, integrity, virtue, and constancy. That's what God does. He will try to see if we're faithful. He will try us to see if we're strong. It also can be used as an enticement to sin, a temptation, whether arising from the desire, in other words, from within, or from outward circumstances. This is what Satan does. Satan is called the tempter. He tempts human beings. So God will test us. Satan tempts us. Now, notice what this says. No temptation or no trial or no testing has overtaken you, except such as is common to man. King James Version says, common to all men. The trials of Christians are but common trials that all human beings go through. Others have the same burdens. They have the same trials. They have the same type of tests. But most people go through difficulties without learning the major lessons that God wants them to learn. The average person in the world is going through a health problem, financial problem, whatever. What do they say? Well, bad luck. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They're always talking about things, but they never stop and ask themselves, is there something I should be learning from this? What does God want me to learn? We realize anytime we go through something that we are to learn. But notice what it says, but God is faithful. So even though there are trials that are common for all of us, God is faithful. In other words, God is true. We can rely upon what God says. This is one of the great truisms of the Bible. There are things that you can rely upon. You can trust in. One of them is, God is faithful. You can rely on Him. In what way? Notice, He's faithful because He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. God is wise as well as faithful. God knows what we can bear or endure and what we cannot endure. So He will not try us above what we can endure. Our trials will be proportionate to our strength. Our strength will be supplied in proportion to the test or the trial that we go through.

If we reject God, if we reject His Spirit, if we reject Him in His way, then almost any trial can overthrow us. But as long as we're trusting God, God will take care of us and we will not be overwhelmed by the trial that we go through. We can rely upon Him. Notice, it says, but with the temptation or with the trial, we'll also make the way of escape. So God will give us the means to come out of the problem successfully. But it might be a matter of enduring the problem because notice that you may be able to bear it. He doesn't say that He takes it away in all cases, but can we bear it? Can we endure it? Can we go through it? So God doesn't say that He will always take it away.

God is faithful. No trial, no test, no problem. Nullifies His compassion, His faithfulness, His commitment to us.

So often, when something happens, people begin to doubt God's love or begin to doubt His compassion, His faithfulness. Well, let's notice in Hebrews 13 and verse 5. Hebrews 13 and verse 5, what God promises to us. We've read this Scripture many times, but we read here, Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. And as I've mentioned before, in the Greek, this is expressed as a double negative and a triple negative.

I will not, I will not leave you, I will not, I will not, I will not forsake you. And the double, triple negative just adds strength, emphasis to what the Scripture is saying. So, as a result of this, we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me. We don't have to fear other human beings. They may kill us, but if God is our helper, we know that He will resurrect us.

In Matthew 28, verse 19, Jesus Christ, as He was ascending into heaven, gave this encouragement to His disciples. And it's the same encouragement to us today. Matthew 28, verse 19, Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

We live in the end of the age. We are living in the end times. And Christ said, I will be with you always, even down to this time. So He has not forsaken His Church. He's with us. So how do we know that God will be faithful, committed to us, that He will always do the best for us, that His compassion will never fail? Well, there's a very interesting Scripture back in Hebrews again, Hebrews 6 this time, beginning in verse 13.

Hebrews 6 and verse 13. I want you to notice, For when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself. So God made the promise to Abraham about the blessings that were going to come. And God said to you, on my word, I will do this, saying, Surely blessing, I will bless you, and multiply, and I will multiply you. And so after He had patiently endured and obtained the promise, for men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them, and into all disputes. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise, the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath.

So we know that what God promised to Abraham, race and grace, will happen, has happened, is happening. You and I are the recipients of the blessings of race, that God would establish Abraham and Manasseh as a great nation and a company of nations. And the blessing that we have coming from grace, that God would call us, we would be His children, and that we could become part of His family. But notice going on here in verse 18, that by two immutable things in which it's impossible for God to lie, that's one immutable thing, God cannot lie.

It's part of His nature to tell the truth, that we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge, to lay hold of the hope set before us. So there is a hope set before us. This hope, which we have as an anchor of the soul, is something that anchors us, both sure and steadfast, which enters the presence behind the veil. So you find, because there was no higher power, God swore by Himself. So it's impossible for God to lie. So what are the two things that we can rely upon?

Well, number one, His Word, He cannot lie. If He says it, it will happen. And number two, His oath. So God gives His Word, He gives His oath. His very nature makes it impossible for Him to lie, and He will do it. And so if God says, I am with you always, He will be with us always. If God says, I will not leave you nor forsake you, He will not leave us or forsake us.

If God says, I will be with you always, I am faithful, I won't allow something to come on you that's too great for you to endure, He will do it because of His very nature. In chapter 10, in chapter 10 of the book of Hebrews, beginning here in verse 19, we find that God is likewise faithful. I'm not sure that that's the scripture that I wanted to write down here. Let me look over here.

Well, let's just go on. We find that God is faithful in spite of man, man's actions, man's sins. It doesn't matter what man does. You see, too often people think because human beings do certain things that somehow that nullifies God. If God has made a promise, it will come to pass, and God will fulfill it. Back in Isaiah 55, we find a very interesting scripture about God's Word beginning in verse 10.

Isaiah 55, verse 10, For as the rain comes down in the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth bud that it may give sea to the sore, and bread to the eater, so shall my word that goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me void, just like water falling on the earth that nourishes the vegetation that fills the streams. So, God's Word, once it goes out from his mouth, once he is said, once he is sworn, once he is given his promise, it will not return to him void, but it shall accomplish what I please, it shall prosper in the things for which I sent it. If God says it, God promises it, it will come to pass. That's the absolute promise that God gives. In 2 Timothy, chapter 2, beginning here in verse 11, Notice what God says. This is a faithful saying that if we died with him, we shall also live with him. So, in baptism, we died, we rise, we live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. So, if we endure to the end, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. That's verse 13, 2 Timothy 2, and verse 13. So, God will not deny himself. He will be faithful, no matter what we do. We must believe in knowing our hearts of hearts that God will always do what is best for us, that he will always do what is right. Hebrews 12, verse 7 tells us again that there is a reason why God allows us to go through the difficulties and the problems that we go through. Verse 7, if you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? So, God will chasten all of us. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we've had human fathers who corrected them, and so on. But notice verse 10. For they indeed, for a few days chasten us, has seen best to them, but he for our prophet. God always chastens or corrects us for our good, for our prophet, that we may be partakers of his holiness. So, God wants us to partake of his holiness. And verse 11, Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who've been trained by it.

Sometimes we correct our children to train them in the right way, so that they will know the right way. Train up a child in the way that he should go, as the book of Proverbs says. So, God trains us up. God is proving us. He must know before we get into his kingdom that we will remain faithful. And yet, when you look around today in society, your heart really goes out to people, because many people today have no hope. They don't have the hope that we have. They don't have the faith, the confidence, the trust. Life overwhelms them. It's sort of like, you know, here the last week or so, the dam. There was a dam broke and flooded.

I forget exactly where that was, but flooded, you know, a town. You know, people lost their lives as a result of that. Can you imagine a dam like Hoover Dam or one of the TVA dams breaking, and the damage with all the water bottled up behind those things would cost? Well, this is the way so many people face life. It's like a huge wall of water just overwhelms them, one difficulty after another. Man tries to solve these problems, but he cannot. There's a reason for that, because man's problems are spiritual in nature, and human solutions don't work. They may work a little while, but they don't resolve the fundamental problems. How many people living in the third world or fourth world countries have lost hope? People die, and they lose hope. People see loved ones, you know, in a casket, and they lose hope. You know, they don't know what's going to happen to them. Ezekiel 37 in verse 11 summarizes this. I want you to notice Ezekiel chapter 37, verse 11. This is something you hear, and you read a lot of time on the last great day, but I want you to notice in context here, that it certainly applies to what we've been talking about. Talking about the peoples of Israel, this is the valley of dry bones, and the old spiritual about them bones, them bones, them dry bones, and where the bones come together, sinew, flesh, and so on. In verse 11, he said to me, Son of Man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Pictures of resurrection of the whole house of Israel, a physical resurrection, not a spiritual. They indeed say our bones are dry, our hope is lost. There is no hope for us, they say, and we ourselves are cut off. In other words, figuratively speaking here. I think this summarizes the approach so many have had over the centuries. No hope, despair, despondency, discouragement, and they have no hope.

Ephesians chapter 2, the apostle Paul, echoed this. Notice he describes the church here in Ephesus before their conversion. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11. It says, Therefore, remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcised by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants, a promise having no hope.

See, as Gentiles they had no hope without God in the world, but now in Christ you who once were afar off had been made near by the blood of Christ. So through Christ's sacrifice they had been brought near. So you find that the unconverted in the world too often have no hope. They don't know where to go. They try to work things out, but they just don't seem to come up with the answers. God has not left us without hope. We of all people have hope. Let's notice turn over here to Titus chapter 1 in verse 1, book of Titus chapter 1 in verse 1. We read here in the first couple of verses, Paul abons servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect and acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness in hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promise before time began. So notice again the emphasis. God cannot lie and even before time, even before the physical creation was made, God had promised to give us eternal life and He will give us that. That's a hope. That's an anchor that you and I can hold on to. The apostle Paul even clarified this further over in Acts 23 in verse 6. Acts chapter 23 in verse 6 and defending himself.

In verse 6 here before the council you notice when Paul perceived that one part was Sadducees, the other Pharisees he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am being judged. So you see the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. So he said, this is my hope. Brethren, we have the understanding that death does not end all. The trials and tests are for a purpose. They help us to develop godly character, godly strength. We learn to trust God and God gives us hope, the hope of the resurrection. Let's notice in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 in verse 13. Paul wrote to the church here in Thessalonica.

They had expected Christ to come back in their day, and yet they had lived long enough that they began to see Christians die. And so they were asking about this. Paul said, I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep or those who have died. Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

So he shows that there may be those in the world who have no hope, who do not understand about the resurrection, and we should not be like them. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus.

So they are resurrected first. Therefore comfort one another with these words. So brethren, we are to comfort each other, and we do have the hope of the resurrection. And this is one thing, as you know, whenever we do have a funeral. We talk about the resurrection. We talk about the future. We talk about the life that God has promised. That God has promised to resurrect every human being who has ever lived. And the hope of all humanity is the resurrection. So our great loving God has not left us without hope. He's revealed to us that there's a purpose for this physical life that you and I live. It doesn't always go like we hope. Our lives don't always happen exactly, and things don't always occur the way we hope. And as the Bible says, as far as the world is concerned, that it's not entered into their hearts what God has planned and prepared for them. But God gives us hope. He gives us the hope, the resurrection. Let's read one final scripture over here in 1 Peter 1. Chapter 1. 1 Peter 1, verse 3.

We find that we have a living hope. It's not a dead hope. It is something alive that's vibrant, exciting. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope. So notice when we receive the Holy Spirit, what is that Spirit? It is a down payment on the spiritual body that we're going to receive. Every one of us here today who have God's Spirit dwelling within us, that is the down payment. That's the earnest on the spiritual body that God will give to us. The very fact that we have God's Spirit dwelling within us is an indication that God will carry through with what He says He will do in the future. So we have a living hope, and that is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Christ was resurrected. Therefore, it is possible for human beings to be resurrected. And so because of His resurrection, we see that it will occur.

And notice, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. It doesn't say we go to heaven, but that incorruptible inheritance is there. Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. So again, when you die, you don't go to heaven or to hell. You go to the grave. You await the resurrection. And when Jesus Christ returns, there will be the resurrection of the dead in Christ to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while. Notice not for a long period of time, but for a little while, if need be. And it's not always needful. It's not always necessary. You've been grieved by various trials. So you and I are grieved. Again, the word is parosmos. So we can be troubled. We can be grieved. We can be distressed by the trials we go through. Now, why does God allow this? Well, verse 7, that the genuineness of your faith. God must know that our faith, our trust, is genuine. It's a real article. It's something He can depend upon. Being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory by the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see Him yet believe, and you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. Notice verse 9, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. So, brethren, that's what we're looking forward to, a living hope, which points to the fact that the end of our faith, the fact that we have faith, that faith is proven to be genuine, that the end of that faith, the end of that trust, is the salvation of our soul, eternal life in God's kingdom, and that will be given to us through the resurrection. So, truly, the resurrection is the hope of us all.