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The Gift of Suffering part 3

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Philippians 1:29–30

Good morning. How’s everyone doing? We are in the book of Philippians. If you want to turn there to chapter 1. Philippians 1, starting in verse 29.

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

(Philippians 1:29–30)

Opening Prayer

Let’s pray. Father, we come before you now, and we say how awesome and majestic is your name. You truly are holy. You are the Holy One. And we say holy, holy, holy. Thank you, Father, that you’ve given us new life through your Son Jesus, that you are doing a work in us, that you promise that you who began a good work will bring it to completion at the day of Christ. We thank you that you are a merciful God that is doing a work not just in our lives but in the lives of our state, our nation, this world. God, we pray that your gospel would continue to go forth. We pray for our different missionaries, that you would bless them in their efforts as they endeavor to teach [audio unclear]

A Theology of Suffering

So, I think it’s good for us to get what I would call a theology of suffering. And so there’s different topics that we can get—what I would call a theology of the family. You can have a theology of God. You can have a theology of man. But each of those is like, what does the Bible say on that particular topic? And how can it, what does the Scripture speak completely and wholly to those things? And then how can we learn from it and understand? So when we’re talking about a theology of suffering, hey, what does the Bible say about suffering? What can we learn from it? How can we apply it to our lives, and how can we walk according to the Word in this specific area?

So we learned some things, actually some pretty powerful things, in these two verses here. And the first one is when he says in verse 29 again, this is a review if you’ve been here previously, but “it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” That word “granted” comes from [audio unclear] That’s been graced to us, but also suffering. Suffering. And so we saw last time that not only is belief a gift, God gives us the gift of believing. Even Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” So also we see the same idea here, that God has gifted us grace. But just as believing is a gift, so also is suffering a gift, and that’s something that our modern ears don’t like to hear. And we have so much medicine and technology, we do everything possible to try to alleviate suffering, which we should, but we try to do all sorts of different things to make life a little bit easier. Imagine if we didn’t have something like air conditioning, right? I love my air conditioning, and everyone—if we took a poll, all y’all have like your perfect temperature that you set your house to. And that’s probably one of the first things you learn when you’re married, is like the great debate over the thermostat, right, who’s going to get to choose that temperature. We’re still figuring it out in my family. But suffering is a gift, and it is not accidental, and it is not incidental.

Like I said last time, a lot of us just want to get to the point where we accept the inevitability of suffering, but it’s more than that. Afflictions are not merely inevitable, but rather they’re a manifestation of God’s kind and generous dealings with you. Things don’t randomly happen. God doesn’t give bad gifts to his children. And we saw in 1 Thessalonians, you can just listen to it, but he says in 1 Thessalonians:

Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.

(1 Thessalonians 3:1–4)

So we’re destined for this. New King James says “appointed.” Most versions, “destined.” This is part of Christianity: affliction and suffering. Even Jesus says real clearly in John 16, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” And just a side note here, notice what he says: in me you have peace. So if you have Jesus, brothers and sisters, what do you have? You’ve got peace, right? So you’re going to have tribulation, you’re going to have suffering, you’re going to have affliction, but if you have Jesus, then you have peace. So peace in the midst of suffering. It’s a guarantee we will have trials. Romans 8, it says this in verse 17: “And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided”—all right, so we’re heirs and we’re co-heirs with Christ, provided what? Here’s what it says—“provided we suffer with him.” Provided we suffer with him, in order—this is the good news—that we may also be glorified with him. All right, suffering: you’ve got to do the suffering if you want the glorifying. And we suffer in order that we may also be glorified with him. And then he goes on, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Listen, the way to the Savior is a path of suffering.

The Path of Suffering

Which makes sense, right? Because that’s the path that Jesus himself took. You want to follow after Jesus, guess what? You’re going to be on the same path, the path of suffering. This is the path of Jesus. It’s the same path that he took: before the glory was the suffering. So Paul links these ideas later in Philippians. We’ll look at him when we get there, but you can just listen. Philippians 3, he says, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.” And then notice what he says right after that: “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” I mean, really this is a sign of sanctification: knowing Christ, knowing the power of his resurrection, but also sharing his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. All of the different words that the Scripture uses—suffering, affliction, tribulation, trouble—there is like what we would call a semantic range. They overlap one another in their meanings quite a bit. The only word specifically dealing with troubles because of your Christian beliefs is that word persecution. But the rest can cover a variety of areas in our lives, including suffering due to being a Christian, but also due to us being normal citizens in a fallen world.

Suffering from a Fallen World

So what causes sufferings? Well, sometimes it’s simply the fact that we live in a fallen world. Look at Romans chapter 8. Right after verse 17, which I just read, he goes on in verse 18 and he says this:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

(Romans 8:18–23)

So creation is groaning. Listen, creation isn’t groaning because it’s having a great day. Okay, when do you groan? When you’re suffering, right? When you’re in pain. So creation, it says, is groaning. There is a brokenness to creation. Plantinga, eight years ago, wrote somewhat of a well-known book called Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be. And it was the idea that sin came into the world and has broken everything. And everything we see, it’s not the way it’s supposed to be. So there’s a brokenness to creation. But listen, God didn’t break it, right? Who broke it? Man. Man broke it. And because of that, we have a creation that is broken. It’s a broken creation. So there’s going to be earthquakes, there’s going to be tornadoes, there’s going to be tsunamis, there’s going to be hurricanes and more, and they will cause much suffering. We live in a fallen world. Now we see here the hope and the good news: creation itself will be redeemed, and there will be a new heavens and a new earth. [audio unclear]

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

(Luke 13:1–5)

So, I mean, they’re asking him, hey, these things happen. What did these people do to deserve it? And his response is, do you think they were worse? Were they more deserving of that than anyone else? Well, Jesus uses it as an opportunity to instruct, but also say, hey, like, yeah, bad things happen, and guess what? You need to repent. Sometimes suffering is used by God as a call for us to repentance. So yes, the tower falls over and collapses on people. Why? Because creation is broken. This causes suffering. But the point, at least here, for Jesus and us, is it serves as a wake-up call. A call to make sure you’re ready to meet your Maker. Towers fall and people die. You have wicked rulers who do wicked things to people. Are you ready to meet the Lord? Are you ready to be before him in his presence and account for your ways? So Jesus says, repent.

Suffering from Our Own Sinful Choices

So we have suffering from creation. We also have suffering from our own sinful choices. Anybody relate? We make stupid choices, right? [audio unclear] We’ll pick it up in verse 12. 1 Peter 4:

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings.

(1 Peter 4:12–13)

[audio unclear] We do suffer out of our own stupidity and sinful choices. We have self-inflicted suffering, I would call it. Things that are within our control, and we make bad choices, sinful choices, unwise decisions, and we reap the consequences. You reap what you sow. Right? God set his world up to be like that. There’s natural consequences. If you jump off a cliff that’s really high in the air, what’s going to happen? You’re going to fall, unless you’ve got a parachute. You’re going to fall and you’re going to get hurt, and maybe you’re going to die. God has a world set up. There’s natural consequences. So if you’re walking in sin, there’s going to be consequences to you. There’s going to be suffering. There’s going to be short-term and there’s going to be long-term consequences. Some of it will be disciplined directly from the Lord. Some of it’s going to be natural consequences. If there’s someone who’s poor with money, I mean, that’s going to put you in a hole. If you’re just spending your money, if you have a gambling problem, you’re just spending your money, you’re going to suffer the consequences of that. You might lose your car, you might lose your home, you might end up in a bad way. People who have used drugs, they’re going to experience the effects of the drugs, sometimes sadly, long after being off the drugs. Talk to different people who abused drugs when they were younger, God was gracious to save them, and they believe that they’re still paying the consequences, the natural consequences, for the abuse of the drugs for all those years before they got saved. The same is true, brothers and sisters, with porn use. You’re using porn—that is suffering. There’s going to be suffering. It spreads out to others, we’ll get to that. But you’re going to suffer from your sinful consequences. There’s consequences. Look at 1 Corinthians 11, we actually see an example of this in the Scripture, which is quite stark. This is talking about the Lord’s Supper at the end of 1 Corinthians 11. In verse 28, 1 Corinthians 11, it says:

Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

(1 Corinthians 11:28–30)

What do we see here? They were taking it wrongfully, and the discipline from the Lord with sickness, and for some even death. That’s consequences. That’s some serious consequences, right? I mean, can you see, you know, Brother Joe leaning over to his wife, and they’re like, well, this person died this week, and last week these people were sick, and he’s like, what’d you put in the communion bread, you know? I mean, no, there’s consequences. So sometimes the Lord deals directly with us.

Suffering from Others’ Sinful Choices

Then there’s suffering from others’ sinful choices. All right, the husband who unwisely spends the family’s money on himself, on his hobbies, so that his family isn’t provided for properly with food, with clothing. You have the wife who has an anger problem and spews her venom on the family over and over again—other people suffer under that. You can suffer under a bad mom, you can suffer under a bad dad, you can suffer under bad leadership in the civil realm, you can suffer under bad pastors at church, you can suffer because of their sinful choices. Even if you think of like a mom who drinks while she’s pregnant, the babies end up with fetal alcohol syndrome, right? They’re suffering from the choices of someone else. Someone gossiping and spreading lies about you. I mean, you might not have done anything wrong. You might not have done anything wrong, but there’s suffering because of someone else’s sinful choices. So sometimes we suffer from others’ sinful choices. Our children can cause suffering, right? Listen, one, don’t live under the umbrella of regret the rest of your life regarding the standing before God of your children if they’re not saved. If you had major shortcomings in raising your children and you realize it, what should you do? You repent. If you messed up greatly, you repent. If you know you failed them in certain ways, you repent. But then check this out. Be done with it. Be done with it. I mean, how many times do you have to repent of a sin before it’s repented of? Right? How many times? I mean, does the Scripture say you have to keep going over and over and back to the Lord again to repent of the same sin? No. So, I mean, if you repent once, and obviously it’s with the understanding you’re doing it with a sincere heart, you’re meaning it, obviously, but if you repent, then that sin is done and taken care of, and the Lord has dealt with it. It’s over. Now, I think sometimes, again, we’re back to, you know, there’s consequences of all sorts of things, including poor parenting. But if you’ve repented of it, don’t discipline yourself more than God himself disciplines you. Repent of the sin and move on. Quit groveling before the Lord. That’s not biblical. That’s not going to help anybody. It’s not going to help you. It’s not going to help your children. So, intercede for them. Repent, be cleansed, move on. What do you do with unsaved children? I saw this from a fellow pastor. One, pray without ceasing. Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. Right? You might go to your grave not seeing them get saved, but you don’t know what the Lord might do after. If they’re still alive, there’s hope. So pray without ceasing. Two, remember that God loves them even more than you do. He loves them more than you do. Three, don’t compromise your faith. Whatever their failures or shortcomings, whatever might be their sinful temptations or pleasures, you can’t compromise your faith. We’ve seen this happen too many times with people. They compromise their faith in order to bend it to match the sinful actions of their kids. Don’t do it. Don’t compromise your faith, but also don’t argue about it. They know where you’re at. Take those opportunities to talk, but don’t argue. And don’t burn a bridge. Give them a path back. They know where you’re at. Make sure they know that, be firm in your faith, don’t compromise, but don’t burn a bridge so they have a path back. And then finally, point to Jesus when possible. As opportunities arrive, graciously point them to Jesus. They’ve probably heard it a thousand times from you, but they need to hear it a thousand and one and a thousand and two. So point them graciously to Jesus.

Suffering from the Enemy

We also suffer from the enemy. Think of Job. What did Job do wrong? Nothing. So in the Scriptures we see demonic affliction, which is different than demonic possession. All right. So you can have a demonic affliction, or even oppression if you want to call it that. What do we see Satan doing? Well, we see him tempting us. We see him causing us to doubt. We see him accusing us. We see him deceiving us. If you give in to that, you’re going to have a lot of suffering. We see something interesting. I bet you’ve missed it before. In Revelation 2, I want you to see this. He’s talking to the church in Smyrna. It says:

And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: “The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

(Revelation 2:8–10)

Now, I mean, did Satan himself show up and carry them into the prison? No. But he used wicked and vile men to do it, right? Yes. But again, notice what it says. Who’s behind it? The enemy. Satan himself. So we can have suffering from the enemy. I think sometimes some branches of Christianity, I mean, honestly, I actually look pretty heavy in the New Testament and even the Old Testament for how much affliction was going on. And a lot of the affliction, while maybe Satan is indirectly in the background doing some of it like we would say here, there’s really not any direct, unless you’re talking about demonic possession. And of course Job in the Old Testament, we see it clearly. So it happens, but we don’t actually have a lot of examples in the Scriptures of him oppressing people directly, but it does happen. But I do think we need to be careful if we just start writing everything off. No, actually, if we’re honest, it’s because of our own sinful decisions or other people’s sinful decisions. Now maybe Satan has a role in that.

Suffering Is a Training Ground

So suffering from the enemy. Let me say this about suffering. Suffering is a training ground. It’s a training ground. It’s like a gym. It’s like, you know, a workout gym. I won’t ask how many people go to the gym, because probably not many hands would be raised. That’s all right. But it’s a spiritual training ground. Well, just listen to Psalm 119, verse 67: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” Isn’t that interesting? Before I was afflicted, I went astray. What did the Lord do with the affliction? Psalm 119, it’s just like short little verses after verses. We don’t know what the affliction was. We don’t know who it came from. We don’t know if it was from directly God himself, we don’t know if it was from Satan, we don’t know if it was from their own sinful decisions, but there’s affliction. “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” The Lord uses affliction to get us back on path. Listen, a couple of verses later, Psalm 119:71, it starts, “It is good for me that I was afflicted.” Why? “That I might learn your statutes.” Suffering is a training ground. The Lord wants to teach you in the midst of your affliction and your suffering. “It is good for me that I was afflicted.” Why? “That I might learn your statutes.” Look at 2 Corinthians 1, starting in verse 3. [audio unclear]

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

(2 Corinthians 1:3–9)

Comforted to Comfort Others

So, I mean, this whole passage is probably a sermon in itself. But we have affliction and we’re comforted, and the idea is then we’re taking that comfort and we’re ministering to others in their afflictions. And even there’s a gospel aspect here, because the idea is, look what it says: “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.” So there’s a gospel element and aspect to suffering. God is using that to redeem others. He’s using it for the gospel to go forth. So we have affliction, we’re comforted, we take the comfort and minister to others who are afflicted. God uses affliction to make us better ministers of his Word. He’ll take some tough situation you’ve gone through and put you in a position to help others that have gone through it. Sometimes they’re believers. Sometimes they’re unbelievers. There’s that gospel element. Think of Joseph in Egypt. I mean, that’s suffering at the hands of others, right? I mean, initially with his brothers, correct? I mean, you want to talk about betrayal. That’s betrayal. So he ends up in Egypt. But then, I mean, he experiences a couple other betrayals, right? So Potiphar’s wife, but really even Potiphar betrays him. He doesn’t really care to look into the situation to get to the truth of the matter. So there’s a betrayal by Potiphar’s wife, but really a betrayal by Potiphar. And then when he’s in the prison, right, he helps, I mean, he interprets the dream. He’s like, hey, remember me. There’s a betrayal of sorts there. This is Joseph, all the way towards the end, the very last chapter of Genesis. What does he say? Here’s what he says. He’s talking to his brothers. I mean, his brothers, it’s kind of interesting. They’re still freaking out, like at the end, like, oh, he’s going to do something bad to us. He’s still going to get us back. They don’t understand grace all the way. What does he say? “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” I mean, think about your suffering, your past suffering, your present suffering, maybe your future suffering. It is worth it if this is also like, as for you, the enemy meant it for evil, maybe wicked men meant it for evil, but God means it for good. Listen, this brought about the deliverance physically of people, but how much better if the deliverance of people spiritually? Salvation.

What do we learn about Jesus regarding suffering? Look at Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 9, Hebrews 2:

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

(Hebrews 2:9–10)

What do we see here? He was made perfect through—I mean, Jesus was perfect from the beginning, but what happens with the suffering? God uses it. He redeems the people for his own, the greatest suffering. But even a couple chapters later, we see something. Look at Hebrews 5, verse 7: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” I mean, listen, if Jesus learns obedience through suffering, how much more so will we, right? He learned obedience through suffering. Suffering is a training ground. It’s a training. We want to be sanctified. We want to become more like Christ. We want to imitate him. Well, the way to glory is the path of suffering.

Let’s look at Ephesians, one more verse on this subject, Ephesians 3. Here’s what Paul says—we’re just going to look at that verse in Ephesians. He’s talking right to the Ephesians. He says, “So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.” Now notice what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say “which is for your glory.” It says “which is your glory.” And you look at commentary after commentary after commentary, and it’s like they don’t even know what to do with this little end of this verse. They’re like, it probably really would be easier for us to explain it to you if it said it was for your glory. No, it says it is your glory. Paul’s suffering is your glory. All right, chew on that for a while, and do a little Bible study on your own and try to figure out what that means. It’s pretty deep. But don’t lose heart, he says, over what I’m suffering. The suffering is your glory. Not for your glory—that’s true too—but it is your glory. That’s not how we think about suffering. That’s how Paul thought about it. That’s how the Scriptures think about it.

What to Do When We Are Suffering

So what do we do when we are suffering? Well, here’s actions to take. One, go to the Father and pray. If it’s a training ground, then he’s trying to train you. So ask him, what are you trying to teach me? What am I supposed to learn here, Lord? You should also ask, is there sin in my life? Perhaps it’s discipline from the Lord. But two, as you’re in prayer, you need to humble yourself. You need to humble yourself. Suffering can very easily lead to anger against the Lord. It can make you angry. You can be frustrated. No, be humbled. Humble yourself. And then get in the Word. If you want a place to go, go to the Psalms. You’ll be in good company. I mean, over and over again, afflictions, troubles, you see David and the other psalmists. Look at Psalm 25, we’ll just look at a few. Here’s David writing Psalm 25, verse 16: “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.” David using it here as a call for repentance, a call to acknowledge his sin and get right with the Lord. I mean, if you want to pray, then pray the Psalms. I mean, it’s Scripture. These are biblical prayers that are being offered up. So if you aren’t sure what to pray, then pray this. Pray what’s being written. “Turn to me and be gracious to me, Lord. I am afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Bring me out. Deliver me from this suffering. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Lord, forgive me.”

Look at Psalm 31. Again, here we see David, Psalm 31. We’ll start in verse 6: “I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord.” I mean, so there’s this idea of trust. “I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.” Every affliction, every suffering, every trouble, every trial, the Lord will deliver you out of. Now, it might end up being a particular affliction or suffering might be delivered into his presence. That’s true. But he will always deliver you. He will always deliver you. And in his grace, a lot of the times he delivers us on this side of heaven and takes us through affliction after affliction after trouble after affliction after persecution after suffering, over and over and over again. And yes, one of those final times will be as we’re ushered into his presence. But we can pray this like David.

Look at Psalm 102. Psalm 102, does yours have a title for your psalm? Above verse 1 usually. All right, mine does. It says, “A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.” I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll mention it again. That’s actually part of the Scripture. In the Hebrew Bible, that’s verse 1. A lot of times, I mean, the title would be the first verse, and it’s a little unfortunate in our situation because we just think, oh, whoever wrote the ESV or the NIV, they came up with a nice little title for that psalm. No, that’s not true. Those titles that you see, even if you look right before it, Psalm 101, “A Psalm of David,” that’s not theologians trying to guess and figure out, oh, we think David wrote it. No, that’s the first verse in the Hebrew Bible, “A Psalm of David,” where he’s letting us know who wrote it. Psalm 102, “A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.” I mean, here’s your prayer for you, and you can read it. An entire psalm on that, a prayer of one afflicted. Here, look, the very first verse: “Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you! Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call.” I mean, you could pray through this whole psalm and make that be yours, and you should.

The Cross Was No Accident

Listen, the greatest injustice that resulted in the worst suffering ever was planned, prophesied, and carried out by God himself. And that’s the death of Jesus. It wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t plan B. Now, that was the covenant that the Father and the Son made before the beginning of time. The Father covenanted with the Son, that the Father would send the Son. The Son covenanted with the Father, that he would go and be a willing sacrifice. The Father said, I will accept the sacrifice. They covenanted. A sacrifice for who? Well, really for the Father. The sacrifice was for him, but it was for us. But the covenant was there before the beginning of time. So it’s not like it was a plan B. I was trying to usher in the earthly reign of Jesus 2,000 years ago and the Jews messed it up. No, this was the plan before the beginning of time. Look what he says, and just listen to Isaiah 53. You can read the whole chapter later. It’s all about Jesus. But here’s what it says in verse 10: “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.” It was the will of the Lord to crush Jesus. “He has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” It was God’s will to send Jesus, to have him be the perfect sacrifice for us, and yes, to crush him. That’s what the Scriptures say. We shouldn’t shy away from using the same words that the Scripture uses. What happened? God pours out his wrath, meant for every single one of you and me. We deserved the wrath of God. I mean, imagine, brothers and sisters, receiving the wrath of God. The horrible, horrible, horrible thought. To receive it even for a split second is a horrible thought. But for an eternity, even worse. And that’s what we deserved. We deserved it. We deserve the wrath of God because of our sins. It should be poured out upon us in fullness for all eternity. God sends Jesus and Jesus says, yes, I will go and I’ll pay the penalty. The penalty ultimately wasn’t being nailed to a cross. It was God’s wrath being poured out on Jesus. That was the biggest penalty, because the sins had to be paid for. Our sins had to be paid for. God had to punish sin in order for him to be just. Who does he punish? Well, he’s going to punish one of two people. He’s going to either punish Jesus in your stead, in your place, or you, apart from Christ, will receive the punishment. But he provides a way so you don’t have to receive the punishment. He provides a way. And how is it appropriated? How do you receive it? Well, through faith, that verse in Ephesians that I mentioned at the beginning. By grace, through faith. God in his grace sends his Son Jesus, so that by faith you can receive the gift of eternal life and the wrath is avoided. The wrath is avoided. So he provides a way for every single person, a way is provided. Every single person, a way is provided. So if you haven’t done that, like, trust him today, avoid the wrath and trust him. Be reconciled with the God of the heavens who created you in his image. Learn to mean what it says in the Scriptures. Come to see that he is your heavenly Father. Be adopted into his kingdom and get away from the kingdom of darkness. This is the way of life. Brothers and sisters, Jesus knew each one of you. He knew each one of you before the foundation of time, before the beginning of the world, he knew intimately each one of you. And he laid down his life for you [audio unclear] very deeply. So come to that Savior. Humble yourself. Trust in him. Put your trust in him and believe in him. Walk before him in humility. In your sufferings and afflictions, come to him. If we want to talk about where the enemy gets involved, he’ll try to turn you away from Jesus. He’ll try to convince you that the Son of God and the Father, that they mean these things for ill, that they don’t love you, that you’re going through this because God doesn’t care about you. Those are lies from the enemy. You’ve got to reject those and come to Jesus in the midst of your suffering, your trials, your afflictions. Come to him. He’s merciful and good. Do the afflictions come? Yeah, Psalms. We experience it personally. So come to him and know that relief is coming. Full and ultimate relief. 2 Thessalonians 1, I’ll just read the verse. It says, and “grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us,” talking about Jesus, “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.” We can’t confuse ages. The present age is an age of suffering. It’s an age of suffering.

Already and Not Yet

The age to come is the age of glorification. So you have this concept you see in the Scriptures of the already and the not yet. That’s where we’re living. We’re living in the already—think of our salvation. It’s finalized. It’s already, but we don’t have the fullness of it. It’s not yet. You think about the kingdom of God, right? Jesus comes, he’s like, the kingdom of God is among you. Well, that’s already, but there’s the not yet. The kingdom of God is still going to come in its fullness when Christ comes back. You have the idea of victory over sin and death, already. We have victory over sin and death, but we haven’t realized it fully. I mean, we still sin, we still mess up, we still grieve God, but there’s that already, not yet, even with victory over sin and death. We have the victory. There is no sting to death, but it’s not yet. Even the Holy Spirit, if you think about, like he’s the earnest deposit, Ephesians talks about, he’s the down payment of our salvation. So Ephesians talks about you were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, in him, sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. But then you have the not yet. Romans 8, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies.” Like that’s the not yet. It’s coming, but it’s not yet. So we’re in this age where it’s the present age, and you can’t confuse ages. People end up confusing the ages and they think that we should be living in the age of glorification when that’s not the age here yet. I mean, it’s coming. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus, but it’s not here yet. So you can get discouraged if you think, oh, the present age is supposed to be the future age. No, they’re two separate ages. And that’s where we get that idea of it’s not yet. Yeah, there’s going to be suffering right now. One day, no more. So relief will come, and we want to make sure that we’re walking with the Lord in such a way that we’re persevering, that we’re pressing on, that we’re not giving up. And how is that possible? Not in our own strength, but by the strength that Christ provides. Over and over again it talks about—you’ll see it attributed to God the Father giving us the strength, or God the Son giving us the strength, or God the Spirit giving us the strength. They continue and walk in his ways. We can’t do it on our own. We need the Spirit filling us that can continue to do that. But if you’re a believer, you have the Spirit, correct? I mean, he’s living inside you. You should be having the fruit of the Spirit. You get the Spirit, and then he produces the fruit, right? You get saved, and then he produces the works. You don’t do the works to get saved. You don’t have the fruit of the Spirit until you have the Spirit. But you have the fruit of the Spirit, and he’s going to be, he’s a very fruitful Spirit. And he’s going to produce that fruit in us, which means what? Which means that gambling stuff is going to be gone. The porn is going to be gone. The venom of the anger is going to be—I mean, he’s going to be doing a work in us. He’s producing his fruit, and all the weeds of the devil fade away, go away. And then there’s that R word again. Yeah, repent as we’re doing that. We have to repent of those things and cast them aside. Hebrews talks about anything that hinders, we cast aside. So we’re walking in his ways for his glory. Yes, the present age is an age of suffering, but he’s given us everything we need to walk in his ways in this life. He hasn’t left us alone. What does he say? Jesus is like, it’s good that I go away. We’d be like, I don’t know about that, but he’s like, it’s good that I go away because I need to send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to fill you, to walk with you, to be with you, to convict you. That’s a good thing that we have the Spirit. It’s a very good thing. And God is gracious to not just give us the Spirit, to fill us with the Spirit and produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Because of that, we can continue walking the narrow path. Brothers and sisters, it’s a narrow path. It’s a narrow path. And many, many sadly turn around. Many never get on the path, but many turn around. Many willfully take themselves off the path. But Jesus’ path is a narrow path. But if you’re with him, it’s a path you can stay on. It’s a path you can follow. It’s a path you can weather. Why? Because he’s right there by your side every single step of the way. So be on the path of Jesus. That’s the path of salvation. That’s the path that leads to life. That’s the path that leads to the age of glorification. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for your mercy and your goodness. We thank you for your Son Jesus. We thank you, Lord, that he took the wrath that was meant for us, that we deserved. We thank you that he paid the penalty, and that because of that, through faith in your Son Jesus, the penalty for us is abated. I pray, Lord, if there is anyone here today who does not know you, they would have heard clearly how the wrath can be abated for them, how you provided a way through your Son Jesus, and that’s the only way, and that you love them enough to send your Son Jesus for them. I pray you’d give them the gift of faith, Lord, to trust in you, to seek you in all things, to know you truly, that they would see that you are a good, good God, that you would adopt them into your kingdom, they would see you as their heavenly Father and fall down and worship you. We pray you do this for your glory. And for us, Lord, I pray, Lord, if there is anyone here dealing with any of the things that I’ve mentioned, of the self-inflicted wounds, so to speak, that during this worship song and even now they would repent, they would turn away from it, they would forsake it, that it would crush the idol.