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. FAITH IS MUCH MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD. 1. Gold is of an earthly, but faith of a heavenly origin. 2. Faith has its object, as well as its origin, in God; whereas gold, unless placed in the hands of him who has the new nature, tends to the place whence it came, and is often also in the child of God the means of dragging hint too much to earth. 3. Faith always enriches the possessor, but gold often impoverishes. II. THIS FAITH MUST BE TRIED, AND THAT WITH FIRE. 1. The world is a great trial to faith. 2. Satan is always attempting to try and to overstep the faith of God's people. III. WHAT IS THE GREAT END AND PURPOSE FOR WHICH FAITH IS SO TRIED? It is that it may be proved to be faith, just as the gold is tried in the fire. (J. H. Evans, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: |