The Joy Of Our Salvation - Part 1

So let's go on. Even in the main service and this service, I like... McCauley just does an outstanding job. The Lord has blessed him with just being able to kind of outline, if you will, great material too. So I'm going to use him quite a bit today. So he has this section 1-12 in 1 Peter 1 called God's Plan of Salvation.

So the first part, which we've gotten through, Bob did the first lesson, Andrew did the second. We talked about the greeting of the letter and some history to that. And then we talked about salvation as a matter of divine provision. Basically the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then last week Andrew did, he covered three through five talking about the results of salvation.

And we'll review that a little bit. Because that kind of leads right in. Because Paul, not Paul, Peter is going to say based upon those results of salvation, you're ready to understand why you may have trials and suffering in this life. So that section, called the believer present life, we're going to look at the character of all tests, verse 6, the purpose, then the attitude, proper attitude, and then the ultimate end of test. Alright, so let's look at the verse here, and then following this, I think Bob is teaching after this, the greatness of our salvation in 10-12. Okay, could someone read these 3-7? And you always get extra points when you read. Okay, that's fine.

We want to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who according to his great mercy is caused to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Great, thank you. Alright, so that's pretty cool. The three through five, let's just look at some of these wonderful things that are stated here.

First of all, it says that, you know, blessed be the God and Father, who according to his great mercy has caused us, first of all, to be born again. And that happened through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then he goes on in verse 4, and Andrew spent a long time on this, to obtain an inheritance. This inheritance we have has all these characteristics. It's imperishable. It's undefiled. It will not fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you. And then also, if that wasn't enough, who are protected by the power of God through a faith for salvation made ready to be revealed in the last time.

So what's going to happen here, Peter is going to, as he starts off verse 6, he's going to say this first little up to the comma, in this you greatly rejoice. And so we're going to see that he's going to focus back on what was said before, three through five. And then he's going to kind of transition into, even though for a little while, if necessary, you've been distressed by various trials. And then down in seven, he says, so that, When you see a that or a so that, it usually is indicating the purpose of what's gone before is going to be expressed.

And he's going to talk about the purposes of this proof of your faith and how precious it is to God. And what's amazing is that as I've gone through this, you get down to the end, I'm actually jumping way ahead to almost the last chart, but this is the only place that I could find in scripture where it says, Your faith may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor. Those three things are not used except in this verse. So the result of the testing of your faith may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Pretty amazing. Your faith is a commodity of heaven, if you will.

That's how we interact with God. That's how we come to know Him, right? That's how we walk day by day? Man deals with money, right? Money drives everything. Everything that's valued on money. But God deals totally upon man's faith and our relation to that.

Great honor and glory is brought to him when your faith is proven to be genuine, real. So it's pretty cool stuff here. And also I think it's going to hopefully show us that when we do have trials, We say, well, this is how God's going to approve me. He wants to approve you. He desires to approve your faith. He desires to commend your faith, if you will.

Okay, so let's start here. In this you greatly rejoice, so I got way ahead here, basically in the light of this, and so I said, what's this referring to? It's referring to what's gone before, the blessings of salvation that were described there, all those wonderful blessings reserved in heaven for you. So this greatly rejoice is the idea to exalt, to leap for joy, The show was enjoyed by leaping and skipping.

It just goes on. You're really pumped up. You're really excited about this. And who wouldn't be? It's funny. I'm in the same boat. We get so accustomed to reading all these wonderful truths about what we have. It just becomes commonplace and it really shouldn't be. And the reason he wants to tell us to greatly rejoice is because what's going to follow here? He's going to talk about some tough things.

So this is a verse from the Old Testament. You guys are familiar with something called the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. So that phrase, sing for joy, is our same word, greatly rejoice. So what the people have done is that's an aid to try to You know understand the vocabulary of scripture you go back and you say well, how did the Greeks translate the Old Testament? Well, they use the word that we're using greatly rejoice So it says we and so it kind of brings out the definition, too We will sing with we will sing for joy for our victory and in the name of our God We will set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. I Want to also look a little bit could someone read?

Let's see, read Matthew 5.12 first. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Okay, so that rejoice and be glad is our word here, you greatly rejoice.

And then the other one, which we'll be covering later in this series, in 1 Peter 4.13 says, But to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing.

Sufferings have a purpose. Trials have a purpose. And God wants us to realize that He has a purpose in that. And in essence, we can rejoice that He is fulfilling His purpose. So we stabs it here, you are to be constantly rejoicing with a joy that expresses itself in a triumphant exuberance. Pretty cool stuff here. So what I did here, the next four charts, I chopped up the remainder of the verse and we're going to talk about things that about the various aspects of trials basically, the characteristics of trials you might say.

So first of all, it says even though for a little while, and literally it says for a little while now, so you greatly rejoice, But as you're rejoicing for a little while, and it's interesting, God's view of time and our view of time are quite a bit different, right?

What's your opinion of a little while? How would you use a little while today? If I told you, I'll be back in a little while, what would you expect? How soon would you expect me to come back? OK, that's good. OK, well, let's see what a little while means here. Quite a bit different. Quite a bit different. Thank you. That's excellent. Excellent. OK. OK, so it's basically, for a little while, it's a single word in the Greek.

A little, small, it can be of an amount, amount of money, possibly, a number, or time. So here's in way down toward December here, or maybe whenever it is. We have to cover 2 Peter 2. So it's used again, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. So here's a little while.

If I thought that was the case, people would have no problem with trial. He said, well, 10 minute trial? I guess I could handle that, right? But we're going to see. All right. Yes, go ahead. Illustration with the pen. Oh, yeah, that's good. That's right. That's a little while.

So the duration of trials. for a little while by God's standard of time so someone could read 2nd Corinthians 4.17 and this verse doesn't exactly tell us a little while but it gives us another synonym if you will for a little while 2nd Corinthians 4.17 I'm looking at it. Okay. For a light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding internal weight of glory. Good. Okay. Perfect. Okay. Actually, mine has for a momentary light affliction. So, another word, a synonym is used, momentary. So, all these things are used about a little while.

But if you think about what God is doing. He just went through all these wonderful descriptions about what you have for eternity with Him. So now He comes down and says for a little while. He doesn't really define a little while explicitly, but by implication it seems that it's for the length of whatever time He desires that this trial or test is needed for you. And it could be a short time, to years, to maybe your whole lifetime. But the point is, you've looked at eternal things, you're counting upon the eternal reality of who you are in Christ and what you have. So in comparison to that, it's only a little while.

So anyway, go ahead. Kind of a little while is however long it takes you to learn what he's trying to teach you. Right, right. And you know, we say it all the time, and I say that, But, you know, I think it sounds like, you know, it sounds like a teacher and a student kind of deal. And it may somewhat is.

But I think it's if we look at it like it's not so much to learn. I think it's more to be settled about to settle down, to not be agitated by it, because trials, you know, they drag on for a long time and you can be agitated. And it just comes up again and you're agitated. God doesn't want you to be agitated about that. He wants you to say, OK, if that's the plan, and you're the creator, then it's OK. And I'd like to accept His promise.

Right. And so the lesson's like, yeah, OK, I got that lesson learned. Now I go on to the next one. And there are those possible situations. But I like to think of it just, I think in our own lives. He wants us to settle down about what He's brought into our lives. There was something on the other hand here someplace, I don't know.

All right, okay. All right, so let's go on here. So that's the first one for a little while. Now, if necessary, this is kind of a cool one. So the question, if necessary, all right? And it's actually just, and actually the inner linear kind of adds in a verb in there, if it is necessary. And the best I can tell, I went back to my notes. The if is assumed to be true. And it fits pretty well with this. And actually, the rest of it, if necessary, also kind of confirms that. Meaning necessary, proper, inevitable, from the circumstances, the nature of the case.

So what's interesting is this word, D-E-I, is used here in John 3, 7, when Christ is talking to Is this Nicodemus? He says, do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. And that's an absolute right. He says you must be born again. So with that other usage, that's pretty strong. If necessary, and it is necessary, is what he's being said, Macaulay renders it Every test is necessary for our growth and God's glory. So you might say, well, Lord, couldn't you have grown me a different way? Couldn't we have bypassed that one?

One was a little while. Two is if necessary. Three is you have been distressed. And this is kind of a neat one here. Sometimes you kind of go with, I'm supposed to be joyous, I'm supposed to just be happy, happy, happy, happy, and this trial is so wonderful, and it's not. It's not wonderful, it's terrible. Well this verse says, this is really cool, it says, you have been distressed.

And it means, it's in the passive voice, you're being acted upon by trial, to be grieved, to be made sorry, to be made sorrowful. So trials, I don't have to tell anybody here, you are made sorrowful by many trials. To the point of, Lord, I can't take this anymore. It's a grieving process. Many, many trials are. I couldn't find exactly a verse that said that, so I found verses that indicated grieving.

And this is with Peter here in John 21 and 17 it says, He said to him a third time, this is an interchange with the Lord, Simon son of John, do you love me? And he said it two times before, Peter was grieved, this word to be made sorrowful, because he said to him a third time, do you love me? What do I have here?

And Macaulay kind of picks up, it's a participle and it's Aris passive. He kind of picks up, it's not a present, so it's points in time possibly. Aris implies that grief is transitory, not permanent. And you would hope that would be the case. Yes, the trial does produce grief, but as you settle down in the trial, as you come to realize God's purpose in the trial, you settle down and you aren't in grief. But it's interesting that this is one of the parameters of trials, that you have been distraught or you've been made to grieve, made to be sorrowful. I don't think we point that out as much when we teach on trials and suffering. This is good for me because I had not realized this. Tom, go ahead.

One thing you might notice in Greek is that there are different words for love used in that set of verses. In English it's just plain love, love, love. Not like that. I agree. Even when Paul came to that point of saying, O wretched man that I am, there was a bit of grief in that. The same word we use of the Lord in the garden. I have to double check that. You can do a search in that word. I think it was. in connection with it. I better be careful before I get too sorrowful. But anyway, it's to be made sorrowful. And I have another one of that. Let's see, I wrote down. Yeah, okay, let's look at the Last Supper. Matthew 26. And could someone read 20 to 22?

When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve. And while they were eating, he said, I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me. They were very sad and began to say to him, one after the other, surely not I, Lord. You're fine, you read it. Just read 22 again. They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, Surely not I, Lord?

Okay, well actually in my translation that word is translated as grieved. And it's our word here. So, deeply, actually see Alex, in the New American Standard it says deeply grieved. And you can see that they were grieved by the fact that the Lord would think that they were the one that would betray them. Okay, alright, so this is the third one. The fourth one is, by various trials. So various is this word from many-colored, or I think someone said polka dot, meaning various, diverse, manifold.

And here it's used in Hebrews 13.9. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teaching. We also see it, actually there's a couple, you might want to mark up your handout.

410 is not right, and it should be James chapter 1 verse 2, but let's read 1 and 2. Can someone read James chapter 1, 1 and 2? Yeah, it's 1 and 2. James, a bondservant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are his servants of God.

Please, consider it all joy in my presence. when you encounter various trials. So these two words are used together, and various is used in that passage as well in 1.2. So Macaulay has it, we may expect all kinds of tests, any pressure known to humanity may occur in the life of a believer. I think we would agree with that. So let's go on to, and the second part is the word trials.

You know, our brother Hal did a great job in this area. He worked on trials and sufferings for many, many years. There are two words that he kind of pointed out in his teaching many times. Parasmas is one of the words, and documas is the other word. So parasmas, and what was neat about this time, parasmas is one we often think about as the temptation to sin, but it can be used in a good sense.

I think this is one of the cases where it is. So the word for trials here is parosmos. It can be used in a good sense or a bad sense, put into a test, or a temptation to sin, or other possibilities. So actually, I was trying to find, and looking through and studying, I found, well wait a minute, Vine kind of went through and he kind of clumped these group of verses, including our verse, as he saw this trial as divinely permitted. We've gone through the fact that it's for a little while, it's a necessity, and you've been grieved or distressed. And this trial, so he has these other ones linked in here. So let's look at some of those.

And actually these two are two verses here actually. Luke 22-28, you are those who have stood by me in my trials. I believe, it's the Lord speaking, I hope. Yeah, okay, yes it is. Okay, well what's interesting I thought here is that certainly, would you see, so that trials is our word here, so we're trying to kind of validate the fact that the trials he's talking about are not, the two possibilities are, in most of the usages, either as a putting to the test, so the Lord wasn't, put to the test of sin, he was put to the test to prove who he was. So I thought that was kind of a cool one.

Then James, we just read it, consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. And then Peter, we'll see later on. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fire or ordeals among you which come upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you. So this collection of verses, when Perasmus is used, seem to be pointing to being put to the test.

And God never puts us to the test with no purpose in mind. He always has a purpose. He is a purposeful God. He doesn't do things just willy-nilly. You have a little bit of this, you have a little bit of that. It's not the way He acts. Yeah, go ahead. The things in the faith series that have brought out pretty clearly was that the testings that are in James are using these two words. Exactly, exactly. And the one that stands out in my memory is that God never parazzos us. He never tests us to fail. He always tests us to prove what is true. To reveal what is really real.

Isn't that neat? It is. It is. I love the James series. This, in my mind, validates just what you said, because here's the usage of prosmas, which is the same, it's the Lord, we're talking about how he's putting believers being distressed by various trials, and it's for a purpose. So that's totally cool, that's great.

I wasn't here at the beginning of the day. Did you preface this? Is it like these are participles that you're listing? Is that what you're saying? No, I actually didn't get into it too much. I just started back at the beginning. Sorry, I just was wondering about the fourth there. Well, actually, I said I was going to break down I had looked at some people and they had broken down this verse into these segments. They weren't necessarily... I understand. I wasn't quite that...

Anyway, so basically I had the four sections are, a little while, even now for a little while, that was one section, if necessary is a section, and that's where, and you were here for that, and then distressed, and this is the fourth one, various trials.

So now we're going to transition to verse 7. So what's going to happen is, he's going to point back to verse 7 and move forward, basically. He says, So that, Hinnah, with a purpose that, and this is one of the things you kind of keep your eye open for. Hinnah in the original language, you look for that because a purpose is to follow that, which is pretty cool. Like a little road sign. Purpose ahead? Purpose ahead?

What follows is the reason for you being grieved by these trials. So what's cool is, he tells you this is his plan, and he says, now here's the purpose for that. And it's a wonderful purpose. He wants the proof of your faith. So what's interesting here is we kind of transition to the... So it's the idea of a test, a proof. I think it's related to DocuMas. I think it is. Did I say that? Yeah, it is.

It's a test, a proof. And in 1.7, Vine translates it, which is approved as genuine in your faith. So he wants to prove our faith. He wants us to have an approved faith, if you will. And it's related The verb form is Documadso, a test or a trial with a view to approval. This is what Roy was talking about. God wants to approve our faith.

Is that for him or for us? Both. It's for him and for us. I don't know. It's good. Well, he's the one that has created the test, right? And he wants us to pass it. One thing that James points out very clearly is that he never paradozes us. He will not do that. No. Well, actually, there's a verse we need to read. It's in James. It basically says that. I'll find it here in a second. We'll get to it here in a second. It's quite a contrast, isn't it? It is. Yeah, we'll get to it shortly. So I kind of saw this as God desire, God will test your faith with a desire to approve it. He wants us to have approved faith. He wants us to be successful.

He doesn't bring a trial. He can't. He can't say, I'm going to put you in the corner and I want you to get in the corner here and I want you to sin. He never does that. We may think, well it seems like Lord you put me in this corner and I can't get out. But that's never his intent.

He wants you to be successful. He wants to approve your faith. So his desire and the proof is to approve you. And then what's cool about that approved faith is the commodity of heaven because it's going to be to the praise and glory and honor of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

That's going to be the thing. I have a little test at the end. A verbal test. I got it from a colleague. It's pretty cool. You tell me which of the three is correct. I gave it to Bonnie already. She passed easy. Flying colors. It's an easy test. How many attractions? Okay. Alright. I'm losing myself here. Yeah, you did. It's okay. It's just fine. It's just fine. Okay. Alright.

So, he wants to approve your faith. That's cool. Then he says, you know, your faith, your approved faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable. So he starts comparing this approved faith being more precious, your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable. More precious is this idea of great price, value, great value. I was trying to think.

And actually, let's see, how are we doing on time? Can someone just read John 12, 3? And this is, This verse is so beautiful. This is anointing of Jesus' feet, but it's just a beautiful verse. It kind of brings out the preciousness of Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and laid the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of her perfume.

Well, the word I'm looking for, which may seem kind of strange, that kind of went that way, it's very costly. That was a very costly, you know, she was kind of rebuked by the Pharisees. You wasted that perfume on, what did you do with his feet? You know, it's like, you can't do that. But that was something of a very precious commodity, a very valuable commodity.

So that's how precious our faith is. Your faith is more valuable to God because it is eternal in its nature, not like gold which will pass away. So think about this. Our faith that we exercise in our Christian life, as it's approved by God, is a valuable commodity. If you don't think anything else from this class today, Your faith is a valuable commodity to God.

We get our thinking turned around because we think, well, I'm just making it through here, Lord. My faith is just getting me through. Just making it. Well, no. No, no, no. The fact that you trust him and you believe what he says, maybe you don't do well in the trial. I recall you saying, maybe you do terrible in the trial. Maybe you have ups and downs, back and forth. But at the end of the day, you say, okay Lord, I'm going to trust you. You're up and all over the map. Maybe it was awful. You made right turns, left turns, all of it.

But at the end of the day, you say, okay Lord, I believe that you know what you're doing. This kind of reminds me of a time when I was a little bit new to chemistry after graduating and starting out after my time in service and here we go back to chemistry again after playing military. Finding out there's a lot more to chemistry than just what you took in college. It was almost a jaw-dropper. Well, I'll have to look back and say, by the grace of God, He put my memory back together. That's great, that's great. Okay, cool. Alright, and then, oh yeah, this is cool. So, think about this. How do we please God? We know this verse, we memorize this verse, right? And without faith it's impossible to please Him.

For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and He is the and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him." Well, this has a new meaning in the light of this. That's the commodity of heaven. Faith is what he's interested in. Our faith, our approved faith. It's just really neat.

Okay, let's keep going. And he says, okay, even though, and actually even though really isn't, it better is, yet being tested by fire, And then here we have our other word. This is the other word that Al spoke. So we have parosmos, which he pointed out is used in a good sense. And here's documos. And documos is always used to approve, to test, to approve, with expectation of approving. And so it seems like the idea of fire in here kind of comes up. And I actually have a little thing I think I put down someplace.

So, it says in 1 Peter 4.12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeals among you, which come upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. I got to pass the test.

And then, one thing, could someone read in James, this is the verse I wanted to read earlier, James 1.13, and it just kind of reinforces God's who God is and that he is not going to do, he is going to act in accordance with who he is.

James 1.13 But no one say, when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. Right. And that is kind of what we are heading here. He's not giving us these tests to tempt us to do bad. He's giving us to approve us. And He wants your faith to pass the test.

Okay. May be found. This actually is the main verb of this whole thing, which is hard to see. To be found out, to be discovered. And this is the passage where Pilate talks about, I find in him no guilt. I just did that. That's the same word. Let me see. Trials due to faith, what the fire does to gold. What happens when you put gold in the fire? Yeah, Tom, our chemist here would know that. Roasts off all the impurities until you get straight gold instead of something intermingled.

OK. All right. OK. All right. So. So Constable has it here. And that's our trials are the trials of the fire of the refining process. They purify it and show it to be what it really is. And I think James 3 is to prove faith. Let's see what's 3. Talking about endurance, anyway. OK, how are we doing here? Oh, almost test time. OK. I'm going to carry the weight with this a little bit. What do I have here? OK. So this is winding down here. OK.

So the last part, so all what he's talked about, so that the proof of your faith, the testing of your faith, is more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

I pointed out that I did a little search, and I assume it was correct. This is the only verse where you have the combination of praise, glory, and honor. Those three words describing something that man can do They can bring praise, glory, and honor. This is the only attribute it seems like it's talked about. And then Macaulay has it, this tested permanent faith, that's what he's calling tested, is important because a day is coming, the revelation of Jesus Christ, when that faith will bring praise, glory, and honor to Jesus Christ.

OK. All right. Alright, so here's my little thought. This wasn't mine, I was just studying it here. I was trying to understand and kind of come to, you know, we talk about rewards in the Christian life and what's of value to God in the Christian life. So here are three possibilities. And they all bring great glory and honor to God. They all do. So the question is, what appears based upon which of these would you say is the most valuable? And they're all valuable.

Bring a soul to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, that's one possibility. Doing a good work which God has prepared beforehand, which actually has faith in it. Or the third one is what we just studied. Your faith being tested and being found to result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ returns. Those are the three possibilities. I've already built the case so strongly I won't give you any other options.

So I thought that was kind of interesting. I'm not sure I've thought through all these a lot, but certainly it says that when a soul comes to the Lord, Heaven rejoices. I mean, that's certainly amazing. Doing the works that God has prepared beforehand, He rewards you for that. But boy, this aspect of your faith, bringing praise, glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ is pretty, I think pretty profound.

So, anyway, more thoughts, questions? Usually I just want the trial to end. I know, I understand, I agree with you. And that's what, you know, I understand, okay. Is this revelation of Christ, is that the Well, that's a good question. I didn't study that a lot at the revelation. It seems like that would... The rapture is certainly at the revelation.

That's when believers are going to see him, right? There's a note in here. 1 Thessalonians 2, 19. For who is our hope, our joy, our crown of exaltation? That sounds kind of like that. Glory and honor. Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? So that kind of fits somewhat with that. We've got to keep in mind that Peter is writing as an apostle with a Jewish context. And his anticipation is for Christ to be revealed in glory.

The rapture, we only really learn about that from Paul. Exactly. That's why I didn't... There was some discussion about this, and some people said, well, the believers here, they'll do this, and I don't know. Since Peter is writing it, you've got to think about that. And he was writing to Jews about trials that would come, knowing Daniel, in the 70th week of Daniel, and knowing that it's going to end with the revelation of Christ. That was his context of Scripture. Peter was a fisherman who was taught these things. They learned these by heart. They memorized them. They did.

So next week we're just going to kind of carry on here. Let me just read them. So next week we're going to cover the next two verses. So if you turn to 1 Peter. You can just look at the cover of the next two verses which carry on what we just started here. And so verse 8 starts off, And though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but believe him, you greatly rejoice, with joy inexpressible and full of glory. obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. So we'll be covering those two next week. Go ahead.

Another thought is, I'm thinking kind of in engineering terms. We saw this, which I thought was really interesting, to test concrete. You would take a cylinder and you would bring pressure on it. You would crush it. Right. What you're doing is you're measuring how strong that concrete is. You come up with a number. Right. So you're testing it to show what its strength is. And you're applying pressure, right? Yes. That's good. It's kind of how can you prove one's test. If we had a life of leisure, we'd say we have great faith and we're all rich and we try to keep carving the line. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I agree with you. Just to approval, so that you can approve what that kind of thing is. But that's material. What we're dealing with is an infinity of God himself. And when we trust Him, that test will never fail. Exactly. It will be proven trustworthy. It's worthy of whatever weight you want to put on God, He can handle it. Exactly.

What's amazing to me, it's almost like your faith is so precious, and I don't know, maybe this is the wrong picture, but I kind of envision God storing those up in heaven. There's Roy's faith. There's Manny's faith and so on, in this room. And he's storing those up. And it's just like, wow, here they are. It's just kind of mind boggling. That's a commodity of heaven. I got stuck in my mind here. Your faith is a commodity of heaven. And it glorifies him. Or with him. And a lot of this that we discuss here will be made so simple and plain. Exactly.

You think we'll be having. Bible classes in heaven? Some people, I've heard J. Bernard McGee says that we have Bible classes in heaven, I don't know. I think God's going to reveal His glory forever. And we're going to be learning more. And going, wow, wow, wow. Yeah. Okay. Alright, well, then we'll stop a little bit earlier here then. Alright.

Dear Father, we thank you for our time today, Lord. We thank you for the blessings we have, Father. We just thank you for your marvelous grace. Thank you for helping us to be at peace and at rest about the trials that you bring into our lives, Lord. And we know that you're a purposeful God and you love us. And thank you that they do bring great glory and honor to you as we trust you. In Christ's name, amen.