1 Peter 1:3 – 12 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 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith–the salvation of your souls. Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven–things which angels desire to look into.

Peter tells us “According to the Father’s abundant mercy He has begotten, born anew, us again to a living hope!” What beauty, what free love, what amazing love. We don’t deserve it, we did nothing to earn it, yet it is true as Paul testifies of God’s free, bountiful love for us in Ephesians 2:8-9.

I want to make sure we all understand hope in the Bible is not used in the way we use hope today. It’s not a hope that we may be born anew, it is an assurance that we have been. In Greek, the word hope is Elpis which is a joyful confident expectation. Paul writes of Abraham in Romans 4:18 “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken…” Abraham was assured, confident, and waiting for the promises of God to come about in his life. He didn’t just think they might happen or hope as we often do that God’s promises are true, he was assured that they were true and confident they would take place.

We are born anew to an “inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away.” Does that make your heart sing? Do you like David in Psalm 63 “thirst” after this God? David says, “our Father’s lovingkindness is better than life” and it’s true!

There are those who say, “but wait a minute, my life is difficult, I am being afflicted and it is hard!” and that is true also. Some have lost their sense of God they are like the Israelites in the wilderness. Why did the Israelites fall in the wilderness and fail to enter into God’s rest? The writer of Hebrews tells us it was because of their unbelief Hebrews 3:12 – 4:7. The question then becomes are you resting in God’s promises? Are you making good use of your trials?

Trials no matter how long they last, this side of glory are temporary and they are necessary according to the Word of God Hebrews 12:6; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. They are not without purpose. Trials are the process by which God sanctifies His children. They can be and are often very difficult. Some are dark and scary especially when we think that God has left us.

Peter talks about “if need be” trials in 1 Peter. The purpose stated here in our verses is that we experience the “if need be” trial in order to prove the genuineness of our faith. These are afflictions sent by God for His own divine purpose for our well-being. They are ordained trials for our sanctification, filtered through the loving hands of God, and as we know God is never unjust.  He tells us that our faith is more valuable than gold. How much gold is our soul worth? Our faith is so valuable that God wants to refine it. The crucible of suffering and afflictions is His method of refining our faith.  Peter says, at the final consummation of the Kingdom of Christ that this faith will be the occasion for praise, honor, and for glory. We must understand that God values our faith more than our comfort. When we rest in Christ and place our faith in Him, especially in the most difficult circumstances we will be led to “rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory in this Christ whom we have not seen but yet we love.”

It’s not just about a future hope, as glorious as that day will be. We can enter now into communion with our Triune God and rest in Him in whatever circumstances, no matter how dark or how scary, they are. When David finds himself in the wilderness of Judah hiding from Saul in Psalm 63, he immediately stirs himself up to take hold of God. He does this with a living hope and active faith. “O God, thou art my God!” Matthew Henry says, “The best and dearest of God’s saints and servants may sometimes have their lot cast in a wilderness which speaks them lonely and solitary, desolate and afflicted, wanting, wandering, and unsettled and quite at a loss what to do with themselves. All the straits and difficulties of a wilderness must not put us out of tune for sacred songs; but even then it is our duty and interest to keep up a cheerful communion with God.”

I want to share with you the life of Ann Hasseltine Judson. If you’ve never read the story of the life of Adoniram and Ann Judson, I would recommend you take the time to do so.

Ann Hasseltine was born into a Congregational household in Bradford, Massachusetts December 22, 1789. She was converted around the age of sixteen at which time God put her on His path of service and it was more than difficult but as you read about her life, she will testify of the necessity of the difficulties she faced.

She met her husband to be when she was twenty-one. Her church hosted four young men who were offering themselves to foreign missionary service, one of which was Adoniram Judson and Ann captivated him, he was taken in, especially by her obvious love for God. Within a month he was asking her father for the opportunity to court his daughter. The following is the letter he wrote her father, his proposal of marriage.

“I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure for a heathen land and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean and to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India and to every kind of want and distress and to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all of this for the sake of Him Who left His heavenly home and died for her, for the sake of perishing immortal souls, for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this in the hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise that shall redound to her Savior from the heathen saved from eternal woe and despair through her means?”

On February 5, 1812, they were married and shortly thereafter set sail for Calcutta India. However, in God’s providence, they ended up as missionaries in Burma. Just a side note most all our employees are Christian refugees from Burma.

I am sharing this story with you because Adoniram and Ann Judson’s life was filled with many difficult trials. The one I want to share was an “if need be” trial.

Ann gave birth to their second child following a very serious illness in 1814. Shortly after their son’s birth on September 11, 1815, Ann wrote the following letter to her parents.

“Little did I think when I wrote you last that my next letter would be filled with the melancholy subject on which I must now write. Death, regardless of our lonely situation, has entered our dwelling [again] and made one of the happiest families wretched. Our little Roger Williams, our only little darling boy, was three days ago laid in the silent grave. Eight months we enjoyed the precious little gift, in which time he had so completely entwined himself around his parents’ hearts, that his existence seemed necessary to their own. But God has taught us by afflictions what we would not learn by mercies—that our hearts are His exclusive property, and whatever rival intrudes, He will tear it away…We do not feel a disposition to murmur, or to inquire of our Sovereign why He has done this…Oh, may it not be in vain that He has done this.”

Adoniram was arrested in 1824 and charged with spying and he was thrown in “Death Prison”. He remained in prison until November 1825. Ann was expecting another child when Adoniram was jailed. It was more than difficult, she lived in filth with not one item of convenience. She scrounged food for herself, her little daughter Maria, and Adoniram. They were all near death. Over time Adoniram was moved and was out of touch with Ann and Maria. He was eventually released, however, the war between Burma and England had taken its toll on their ministry. While in Amhurst serving in peace negotiations he received the following letter.

“My dear Sir, to one who has suffered so much and with such exemplary fortitude, there needs but a little preface to tell a tale of distress. It were cruel indeed to torture you with doubt and suspense. To sum up the unhappy tidings in a few words—Mrs. Judson is no more.”

As he learned the details of Ann’s death, he wrote the following letter to Ann’s parents.

“It seems that her head was much affected during her last days, and she said but little. She sometimes complained thus, “The teacher [her husband] is long in coming, and the new missionaries are long in coming; I must die alone and leave my little one; but as it is the will of God, I acquiesce in His will. I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid I shall not be able to bear the pains. Tell the teacher that the disease was violent, and I could not write; tell him how I suffered and died.” The last day or two, she lay almost senseless and motionless, on one side—her head reclining on her arm—her eyes closed—and at 8 in the evening, with one exclamation of distress in the Burman language, she ceased to breathe…! Oh with what meekness, patience, magnanimity, and Christian fortitude she bore those sufferings!…Much she saw and suffered of the evil of this evil world; and eminently was she qualified to relish and enjoy the pure and holy rest into which she has entered…True, she has been torn from her husband’s bleeding heart, and from her darling babe; but infinite wisdom and love have presided, as ever, in this most afflicting dispensation. Faith decides that it is all right; and the decision of faith, eternity will soon confirm.”

Six months after Ann’s death Maria joined her mother in death at the age of two years and three months, herself knowing little but bodily suffering. Once again, Adoniram penned a letter to their families in America:

“Death mocks at us, and tramples our dearest hopes and our lives in the dust. Dreadful tyrant, offspring and ally of sin. But go on now, and do thy worst. Thy time will come. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Yes, awful power, thou shalt devour thyself and die. And then my angelic Ann, and my meek, blue-eyed Roger, and my tenderhearted, affectionate, darling Maria, and my venerable father, you, my dear sisters that still remain, our still surviving parents, and myself, though all unworthy, shall be rescued from the power of death and the grave. And when the crown of life is set on our heads, and we know assuredly that we shall die no more, we shall make heaven’s arches ring with songs of praise to Him, Who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood… A few more falling suns and you will hear of my death, or I of yours. Till then, believe me [to be] your most affectionate brother. And when we meet in heaven—when all have arrived, and we find all safe, forever safe, and our Savior ever safe and glorious, and in Him all His beloved—oh shall we not be happy, and ever praise Him Who has endured the cross to wear and confer such a crown!”

You can read the story of Adoniram and Ann Judson in the book The Life of Adoniram Judson to the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson. Boston: Little, Brown, 1956.

In conclusion, the following characteristics are noted in the Chapel Library publication, Ann Judson a Life of Self Denial “Her writings set an example of deep piety and commitment to Christ. Her awareness of her own sin, her strong understanding of the sovereignty and providence of God, her understanding of the necessity of a God-centered religion and not a man-centered one, her complete dependence on the Word of God, and her faith that overcame every discouragement—these are the characteristics of Ann Judson.”

One writer summarizes her life as follows: “She was a woman who loved intensely, loved her husband, loved her children, loved the people of Burma, but above all, she loved her God.”

I can’t leave without pointing out that these miraculous works, that God does in our lives, in and through His providences, are so beautiful and spectacular that they are the very “things which angels desire to look into.”

I know you would say with me, Ann Judson was most certainly “born again to a living hope yet grieved by various trials.” Will you commit to living the rest of the days of your life upon Christ alone, in communion with the Triune God, resting in a living hope as an overcomer bearing the trials and tribulations that will most assuredly prove your faith? Will you learn in your trials to say as Adoniram said, “faith decides that it is all right; and the decision of faith, eternity will soon confirm?”  I hope your answer is a resounding yes, by the grace of God, I will!