The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:05 All right. Um, let's get to the word of God. And, um, before we do, um, let me start with
00:10 a word of prayer. Father, we just thank you for today.
00:18 We thank you for your word. Father, right now, we ask that we may put ourselves under your word. That your
00:25 word may speak to our hearts. May it convict our hearts. May it
00:32 transform our minds, may it change our lives.
00:38 Father, I ask for your grace to speak your word clearly, honestly, truthfully.
00:43 Father, I pray for all of us to hear your word. And I pray the name of Jesus.
00:50 Amen. Um today's subject is adversity and how
00:56 to deal with adversity. Um if you guys um know this text, I mean we just read
01:02 through it. It's a whole bunch of proverbs put together, lumped together
01:08 and some pros. And what we're going to try to do today is is not to examine every single proverb on its own. And I
01:15 think there is much meaning in it to do that that every proverb itself has has much meaning to. But what we're trying
01:20 to do today is we're going to try to to look at um it as a as a combination as a
01:27 um as one piece to see what is the the meaning the the the most common meaning that we can extract from this
01:32 combination of proverbs. What did the author intend to share with us? What wisdom was he trying to impart to us by
01:40 lumping these proverbs together? and then adding some wisdoms and pros to
01:46 it as well. So, how to handle adversity is ultimately what he's trying to share
01:52 with us. And here are four points that we want to look through together today. Know that God is in control. And we'll
01:59 look at that from verse 74 and 610 to 12. Know that suffering is real looking
02:05 at 71-7. Know that suffering has purpose looking at 78-2.
02:11 I know that suffering will end. Looking at 7-13. Now, if you look at the verses,
02:16 you might have no idea how I came up with these topics by looking at these verses. But I'll I'll explain and I'll
02:22 I'll I'll get to that. Let us start off with the first one. God is in control.
02:27 When dealing with adversity, let us know that God is in control. Here in verse uh
02:35 in chapter 7:14, the author writes this, "In the day of prosperity, be joyful."
02:40 So when you have a good day, enjoy it. Be joyful. And in the day of adversity,
02:46 consider God has made the one as well as the other. Now, he didn't say in a day
02:52 of adversity, be sorrowful. No, he says when you're facing adversity, know this. God has created
03:02 both your bad days and your good days.
03:07 What he's ultimately saying here is that we should know, we should accept that God is in control of every day. Whether
03:16 the day is good, whether the day is bad, whether we having troubles, whether we're having joy, and especially in
03:23 troubles, be reminded of the fact that God is in control. Now it would be
03:29 something that we would have to really contextualize and see what does the author really mean if this wouldn't be
03:35 so clear all over scripture. You see this is not the only place in scripture
03:40 where God through his authors has told us that he is in control of both good
03:47 and evil. And I've compiled a whole bunch of scriptures from Old Testament and New
03:54 Testament for us just to have a quick glance at to show that this is the message of God. He said here in
04:01 Lamentations 3, "Is it not from the mouth of the most high that both good and bad come?" How about Job 2:10,
04:09 "Shall we receive good from God? Shall we not receive evil?" Amos, thus
04:14 disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it. Ephesians 1, he who works
04:20 all things good and bad in accordance with the council of his will.
04:26 Has the potter not the right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vess of honorable use and another for
04:31 dishonorable use? Does God not have the right to create something good and something bad?
04:37 There is no God besides me. It is I who put to death and give life. I have
04:42 wounded and it is I who heal. And there is no one who can deliver me uh deliver from my hand. Deuteronomy 32. The Lord
04:50 kills and brings to life. He brings down to shol and he raises up. The Lord makes
04:56 poor and makes rich. He brings low and he exalts.
05:03 Can you see that? All over scripture from Old Testament to New Testament,
05:09 God is telling us that he is in control. He controls the good. He controls the
05:17 bad. Now many of you might say, "But when God created this world, he created it good." And that's absolutely right.
05:23 We read that in Genesis 1. But he says, "And then the reason that we have all this bad is because of the fall because
05:29 humans, you know, they they sinned and therefore we have evil." And that is correct too. But one thing you must read
05:36 when you read in Genesis 3, the consequence of human sin was judgment.
05:43 Calamities and enmity did not suddenly proof appear. God put enmity between man and woman.
05:51 God created pain and childbirth. It was his judgment. God was in control of
05:57 that. It's not something that mysteriously happened. Now he is a judge and he has every right
06:03 to do so. But he was in control of that.
06:08 Now we have many reasons why we start arguing with this and and many of us have a problem immediately go into the problem like how can a good God create
06:16 such evil and bad things. I think that's the the number one question that will come into our hearts and and the author
06:23 addresses that right in the front right before this passage that we looked at. Um he says this in verses 6 in chapter 6
06:31 10 to 12 he says who has come to be um whatever has come has already been named
06:37 and is known and it is known what man is and that he is not able to dispute with
06:42 one stronger than he. He's saying hey God has created everything. He has created the heavens and he has put the
06:48 stars in the heavens. He knows them all by name. He has named everything. He knows you before you're even born. Everything has predestined before the
06:54 creation of the world. Who are you to argue with him? Now the reason they're
07:02 saying here why we should not argue with him is this. The more words, the more vanity. What advantage what advantages
07:08 to men? And the more we try to argue, the more we show our pride and for who knows what is good for man while he
07:15 lives a few days of his vain life. What is man from his temporary viewpoint
07:22 from this short experience that we have here to tell what is good and bad to
07:28 argue with God because ultimately when we argue with God saying how God how could you create so much evil and
07:34 calamities and claim to be good and omnipotent and omnipresent and all knowing and all powerful.
07:42 When we argue with that ultimately what are we saying? We're saying God, if I would be God, I
07:50 would know how to do it better. And that's why he calls it vanity. It's
07:57 pride. If we say that, we're saying, God, you're not a good God. And if I would be in control, I would have better
08:03 solutions. And the answer of the author here is this. Who are you? You're nothing but a shadow. In the language of
08:10 James, life is nothing but a mist. It's nothing but vapor. We're here for a short time, then we go from the
08:16 viewpoint that we have, how do we really know how things will play out? How do we
08:22 really know what is good and what is bad? Let me try to illustrate that with a
08:28 story which Ravi Zachcharias tells. And he says this, there was a man who had a
08:34 horse and one day his his horse ran away and his neighbor came over and said, "Oh, what bad fortune.
08:41 your horse ran away. By the next day, the horse came back and he brought 10 more wild horses with him
08:47 and the neighbor came over again and says, "Oh, it was good fortune. If your horse wouldn't have run away, then the
08:52 10 wild horses wouldn't have come. So, it's good fortune." And the next day, the the son trying to
08:58 tame one of the wild horses fell down and broke his leg and the neighbor came over again. Oh, it's actually bad fortune because if your horse wouldn't
09:05 have run away, then the wild horses wouldn't have come and your son wouldn't have tried to tame him and then he wouldn't have broken his leg. bad
09:10 fortune. But then the next day, a bunch of thugs came to town trying to find every abled
09:16 young boy and and and forced them to be part of their group. And when they came to the house, he saw that the boy's leg
09:22 was broke and they passed over to the next house. The neighbor came over again. Actually, it's great fortune. If the horse wouldn't have run away, the
09:28 wild horses wouldn't have come. Your son wouldn't have tried to tame him. He wouldn't have broken his leg and now he would be a thug.
09:34 You see, in this story, we quickly illustrate one thing. We have no idea
09:40 what is ultimately good and what is ultimately bad. We don't have that vantage point. We don't have that
09:46 knowledge. We don't have internal foresight. It is vanity for us to believe that we
09:52 truly know what is good and what is bad. The creator of all things has put things
09:58 into place. He's good always and he has a plan. And
10:04 yes, he is in control over even the good and even the bad. Now, why is this
10:12 author telling us it's good for us to remember that in the mid of adversity? I mean, what what's good for me to think,
10:18 oh, God's control even over those bad days? What what kind of comfort does it provide to me? Well, one thing, consider
10:27 the other option. Consider God is not in control.
10:33 You know what that would mean? It would mean that your pain, your adversity, your suffering is merely a
10:40 sign of evil winning. It's merely a sign of God not being able
10:47 to protect his children. It would mean that your suffering, your
10:53 pain, your calamities is absolutely meaningless for it's just a sign of Satan's success.
11:04 Where's the hope in that? But if God is in control of all our
11:09 calamities, of all adversities, of all our suffering, it makes it means this
11:14 that all our suffering has purpose and has meaning
11:21 because God ordained it. Now we think, how can God ordain evil things? What is
11:27 the most evil thing that ever happened on this earth? man crucifying God on a cross
11:34 and that surely was ordained by God. You see, knowing that God is control
11:42 helps us know that suffering has purpose.
11:47 So do this in adversity. Know that God is in control. Let's look at the the second thing that we learn from this
11:53 passage. Suffering is real. Now I don't have to tell you this. I mean everybody
11:59 knows suffering is real. We we all have experienced suffering in our lives. It's it's not something you get oh suffering
12:04 is real. It's a profound statement because we all have have different kind of sufferings of we have experienced it
12:10 in different ways. We have physical suffering we get sick. We get hurt. We
12:15 have intellectual stuff suffering. We deal with stupid people in our office
12:21 or we have difficult mathematical exams to do. Um there's different kind of intellectual suffering. uh we have
12:28 emotional suffering right people hurt us we are disappointed we are hurt and
12:34 usually that comes from relational suffering because there's something wrong with our loved ones or our friends
12:39 there's something problem there and we have spiritual suffering know we we don't understand why God has has put us
12:44 in the situation and we pray and and nothing is happening seems like God's not answering we have spiritual suffering so we have all different kinds
12:52 of suffering and yes they are real and they're real to us so what is the author here really trying to say and we come
12:58 into this this this proverbs and we're trying to look at these provers and trying to see a general meaning here and
13:04 he's telling us that something is better than the other thing. Now he we have heard throughout
13:10 Ecclesiastes here that that there's day and time for different things. There's seasons for different things. But here
13:17 he's telling us which of those times are better than the other times.
13:23 So what is better? Well, he's saying this, death is better than birth. Going
13:29 to the house of mourning is better than going to the house of feasting. Sorrow is better than laughter. Sadness is
13:35 better than um sadness, sadness is good, then it's better to be in the house of the morning. And it's better to have the
13:40 rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. He's saying it's better for us to
13:47 immerse ourselves in the realities of the brokenness of this world than to try
13:55 to escape it. Because when we know that God has ordained suffering and adversity, we
14:01 should know that it has purpose. And when it has purpose, we have two options. We can either embrace it or we
14:06 can try to escape. And escape mode is a natural mode that we go into. I mean, how many of you guys
14:13 have heard this? You know, when you when you somebody broke up with you or or you have a heart pain or you lost your job
14:19 or something, somebody say, "Hey, buddy, let's go down to the bar." Nothing two beers can't take care of. We try to numb
14:25 the pain. Or when somebody's next to us and and they're crying, we we tell a joke
14:31 because we feel uncomfortable with their sadness and we try to make away that sadness and sorrow. We try to escape.
14:38 And there's different forms of escape. You got trouble at home, you escape to work.
14:43 You have trouble at work. You escape to the bar. Trouble at the bar. I don't know.
14:50 You're in real trouble. Right. Maybe you escape to fist fights.
14:55 I don't know. Yeah. Self-pity.
15:00 We do anything to avoid the reality of the brokenness. And this author is telling us, "No, no, no.
15:09 Submerse yourself in it. understand that we live in a broken
15:15 world. It's the reality of the world. And it's good for us to be reminded that we live in a broken world because when
15:20 we realize that we live in a a broken world, we realize this world is not the way it's supposed to be.
15:27 It's supposed to be different. Look at this city.
15:34 Single moms working two or three jobs trying to find ends meet for their children.
15:42 Refugees coming to this country looking for hope, finding slave-like work.
15:48 Employers overworking their staff.
15:53 Employees always at work missing out on family time.
16:00 People enslaving themselves to sex trait.
16:06 We live in a broken city. It's all around us.
16:12 students trying so hard to get A's that they rather jump off a building than face their parents.
16:21 We live in a broken world. We live in a broken city. And and this it's easy for us to go down to the bar and have two
16:27 beers and try not to deal with it. But the author is saying deal with it.
16:36 Realize the reality that we are living in. Because when we realize that we live in a broken world, we realize that we
16:41 ourselves are broken. Because the brokenness of this world comes from our inner brokenness.
16:49 All of us have contributed to this world in our own broken ways.
16:54 And when we realize that we are broken and this world is broken, it shows us one thing. It shows us and it points to
17:01 the fact that we need a savior. We need somebody beyond ourselves
17:08 to help us out of this situation. So if you're here and your heart is
17:14 aching and your heart is is throbbing and you're in pain and you're in suffering, you're on the right track.
17:21 When we look at this world and you look at ourselves, we are supposed to cry. Our hearts are supposed to be breaking.
17:29 If you're here and your heart is not breaking, that's when we in trouble.
17:36 When you are ignoring the realities of this broken world.
17:42 This is a a little girl who who suffers from a a condition. It's called SEIPA.
17:50 She feels no pain. Now, at first glance, like, wow, that's great. No back pain, no back aches,
17:57 right? But her life is really hard.
18:03 As a baby, she she kept on putting her finger in her eye until she almost got half blind and she did not know that she
18:08 was hurting herself. as she's walking every day, she has to
18:14 go and check her body because she might have stepped into a nail and she would not know and she might bleed out.
18:23 When she has abdominal pains, appendicitis, she would not know. She doesn't feel the pain. She could be walking and she could just drop dead
18:30 because there's nothing in her that was pointing her to the brokenness of her body.
18:37 Nothing was pointing it to her. When she's standing somewhere at a party and a balloon pops, she wouldn't know
18:43 whether there was a balloon that popped or whether she got shot.
18:49 She would not know that she needs to rush to the hospital. She would not know that she needs to get saved.
18:55 Her mom goes to bed every night praying, "Oh
19:00 Lord, let my daughter feel pain.
19:07 Let my daughter suffer." You see, the reality of suffering is so
19:14 important. It shows us that we are broken and it points us to the fact that we need a
19:21 savior. So, immerse yourself in the suffering. Embrace your suffering and your pain. It is doing something for
19:28 you. Which brings us to the next point.
19:34 Suffering has purpose.
19:39 Tim Keller wrote this. Christianity teaches us that contra fatalism suffering is overwhelming. Contra
19:45 Buddhism suffering is real. Contra karma suffering is often unfair. But contra secularism suffering is meaningful.
19:52 There's a purpose to it and if faced rightly, it can drive us like a nail deep into the love of God and into more
19:59 stability and spiritual power than you can imagine.
20:05 Again, here the author is continuing with the betters and we're going to again look at this segment as a whole.
20:11 We're trying to see what is the essence that he's trying to show us with adversity here. And there's a couple of words that pop out. Patient in spirit,
20:19 be not quick. wisdom. So he's connecting adversity and things
20:26 are better that that things that produce wisdom, things that make you patient.
20:32 And this theme of adversity and patience and wisdom goes again throughout scripture.
20:39 Throughout scripture, we have dealt with them very often here in FBC as we went through James. We went in James. In
20:47 James one, we dealt with it. In James 5, we dealt with it. dealt with it.
20:53 Job, Daniel.
20:58 But let me just point you guys some to some specific scriptures. James 1:2-4,
21:03 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of
21:09 your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
21:14 lacking in anything. Suffering and adversity has purpose. It is creating in you perseverance so that eventually
21:21 you'll be a person that lacks nothing.
21:27 Another passage is Romans 5 3-4. Suffering produces endurance which produces character which produces hope.
21:38 Suffering produces character. And we know that in our own lives, the
21:44 greatest hardships in our lives has shaped us to be a better person.
21:51 The overcoming of the difficulties in our lives has really shaped who we are today. To have more wisdom so we can
21:58 advise other people. To have more patience, to have more knowledge, more endurance.
22:05 Suffering creates character. It produces hope.
22:13 Now it creates character but it does one more thing and I would like to argue is that it helps us express things.
22:22 It creates the greatest expression of love, faith and hope.
22:29 Without suffering we could not experience the greatest expression of
22:35 love, faith and hope.
22:40 Let's start with love. Romeo and Juliet.
22:47 One of the greatest love stories ever written. What is it about? Two people willing to suffer and die for
22:55 one another. Is it not? And we all our hearts are
23:00 touched where you know that story. Oh, they love each other so much because they're willing to die for one another.
23:07 But it's not just in in in the in the theaters that this this thought is coming through or in poetry. No, even in
23:13 in popular culture. Bob Marley once said, "The truth is everyone is going to
23:19 hurt you. You just got to find the one worth suffering for." Even Marley
23:24 figured it out. And what he's trying to say here is this. We are willing to do a lot for a
23:31 lot of people, but we are only willing to suffer for a few.
23:37 The people that we are really willing to suffer for are the people that we truly
23:42 love in our lives. Let me ask parents, who are the people that you're willing to suffer for?
23:48 You're willing to suffer for your children. Work real hard, take extra jobs
23:56 because you love them. We won't suffer for anybody. No, we only
24:01 suffer for the people we truly love. So the greatest expression of love that we could possibly give to somebody says,
24:07 "I'm willing to suffer for you." If somebody says that to you, you know
24:12 that person loves you. Now, what is the pinnacle of the human experience of us
24:18 experience somebody who's willing to suffer for us? It's Christ on the cross. See, scripture
24:26 says, "But God shows his love for us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ
24:31 died for us." The pinnacle of experience of love in
24:40 earth ever was the fact that Jesus was willing to suffer and die for us. If it
24:47 wouldn't be for suffering, we could have never experienced the greatest expression of love.
24:55 How about the next one? Faith.
25:01 It's easy to have faith in our life when everything is going right. When I mean by faith, I don't mean like the belief,
25:06 but I mean the expression of faith. That means faithful living. It's easy to to to have faith and
25:14 believe that God is good and and trust him and everything is going well. But when adversity hits,
25:21 it gets rough. The text says this. He says, "When oppression comes, it drives
25:26 us to madness and our hearts are easily fooled and easily bribed. We quickly want to
25:33 escape." Oh, when adversity hits, that's when our
25:39 true faith is shown. Again, there's there's text all over the scripture that that over the Bible that says this. For
25:44 example, in one Peter says, "In this rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by
25:50 various trials, so that the tested that the tested genuiness of your faith, more
25:56 precious than gold that perishes through it is tested by fire, may be found to
26:01 result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It says that your genuine faith is proven when
26:09 it has been tested through trials." meaning that trials is a great
26:14 expression of genuine faith and it is a trialested faith that ultimately brings
26:21 the most glory to God.
26:27 If you know the the heroes of the Old Testament, especially in in Hebrews 11,
26:33 we we see those area of of Hebrew of of all these these heroes, they are all
26:38 overcomers of great adversity. Now, I don't have time to to go through each
26:43 one of their stories, but let me just name a few. Noah overcoming a great flood.
26:52 Moses in exile, Pharaoh
26:59 being persecuted, wilderness parting the Red Sea,
27:05 overcomer of great adversity.
27:10 Daniel you see and they are all listed in which
27:17 part in the Bible? The hallmark of faith
27:23 where people are being tested for great faith. Great adversities show our great
27:28 faith. Now let me just focus on one particular person which I think is the greatest
27:34 expression of living faith that ever exists on earth. Of course it's Christ. And here again in Peter we read this
27:39 servants be subject to your masters with all respect not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. And I
27:47 think many of us have unjust masters in our lives especially if you're an accountant. Um
27:54 for this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what
28:01 credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when
28:07 you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been
28:14 called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you
28:20 might follow in his steps. The greatest example of suffering and faithful
28:25 suffering is Christ. The best expression of s of faith is that we are willing to
28:31 have faith and able to have faith in the midst of suffering. The greatest experience we ever witness on earth is
28:37 Christ's suffering. And he even showed us in this text how in the midst of suffering his faith he never committed
28:43 sin. Neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he
28:48 did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He continued having faith for
28:56 him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on a tree that we
29:01 might die to sin and live to righteousness. Can you see that suffering is the greatest expression of
29:08 faith best exemplified by the life of Jesus Christ.
29:16 Last one, hope. Love this slide. Hope. Hold on. Pain
29:22 ends. And again just like faith
29:27 if everything is going rosy in our life well actually if everything is going rosy in our life we do not need hope
29:34 only exists because there's brokenness and because there's suffering because there's calamity. We could never express
29:41 hope if there wouldn't be suffering. Because hope is trusting and believing that a time will come where things will
29:48 be better. Without calamities we could not express hope.
29:54 But to really understand how how suffering can produce hope because the
29:59 text that we talked about earlier on already shows that suffering produces endurance produce endurance produces character and character produces hope.
30:06 But how it produces hope we have to understand a different combination which is how suffering produces glory.
30:14 Now it seems like a a very countercultural thought how suffering produces glory but actually it's
30:20 something very very common in our everyday lives. How many of you guys go to the gym?
30:26 You tear your muscles to have glorious muscles, right? Suffering produces glory.
30:32 I mean, it's it's not a far-fetched concept. How many of you guys go waxing? Wax your
30:38 hair off. Glorious skin, right? Suffering produces glory.
30:46 People spend hours doing their hair. Okay. Some people might enjoy it. Might not be suffering.
30:52 Yeah, I used to get dreadlocks done for seven hours. That was suffering.
30:58 I felt glorious afterwards. No, suffering produces glory. It's something that we are very common and
31:03 very used to in this world. And scripture backs that up not just in temporary values, but in eternal values.
31:11 You see here, and this is probably my favorite scripture. Anybody who knows me, I have much joy talking about the scripture. It says, "Therefore, we do
31:17 not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, outwardly we are having suffering. Our bodies are wasting away.
31:22 We are having calamities. Inwardly, we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are
31:28 achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
31:35 These momentary afflictions are producing, creating, making, forming for
31:40 us an eternal weight of glory. In comparison of the glory that they are
31:46 producing for us, our sufferings are momentary and they are light. According
31:51 to the weight of glory that we will experience, they will seem light.
31:59 Suffering is producing glory.
32:07 In Romans 8:16, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children and
32:13 heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him
32:19 in order that we may also be glorified with him. That our suffering, our
32:25 adversities, our dealing with it is producing for us a deliverance into glory.
32:34 Our suffering has meaning. Our suffering has purpose. It creates character.
32:41 It helps us become patient and wise. It helps us express love,
32:47 faith, and hope. And Romans 5 is a scripture I mentioned
32:53 twice already, and I want to mention it just in it fullness because to show how suffering encompasses faith, hope, and
32:59 love. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
33:06 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into uh this grace in which we
33:12 stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering
33:19 produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been
33:26 poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. My
33:32 question to you is how has the Holy Spirit been given to us?
33:38 It's because when Christ died, he didn't stay dead. It's because he rose again.
33:45 When he rose again, he ascended into heaven so the Holy Spirit could come to us. Well, then helps us to express
33:52 faith, hope, and love. But can you see that is the fact that we have hope
33:58 because Jesus didn't stay dead. No, he rose again
34:03 guaranteeing showing to us that that glory will be produced for us
34:08 making it evidence for us that there is glory to come that he has overcome death
34:14 and sin and brokenness. So the greatest experience of hope is
34:21 through suffering or the greatest expression of hope is through suffering and the one thing that witness to it
34:27 here on earth is the resurrection of Jesus. Can you see how suffering points to the life to the death and the
34:33 resurrection to Jesus?
34:38 See suffering is the greatest expression of love, faith and hope. It points us to the death, life and resurrection of
34:45 Jesus which ultimately makes us experience grace, presence and glory.
34:54 It saves, it renews, it delivers, it justifies, it sanctifies, it
35:00 glorifies. His love is the cause, our faith,
35:06 our response. And when our sufferings and his sufferings meet,
35:13 the result is glory.
35:18 You see, suffering is the agent of the gospel.
35:24 Suffering produces stuff. Suffering has purpose. Suffering has meaning. It creates
35:30 character. It expresses hope, faith, and love. And it points us to the gospel.
35:41 You might still be sitting here and asking this question. But why Lord me?
35:48 After all these explanations, you might still have the question and I'm there's only one answer. Sometimes your suffering is not about you.
35:57 Sometimes your suffering is for others. In 2 Corinthians we read, "For as we
36:03 share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too. If we are afflicted, it is
36:10 for your comfort and salvation. And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you
36:15 patiently endure the same suffering that we suffer." See when we experience
36:21 brokenness, when we saturate ourselves in that that sadness and brokenness that we have and then we finally find comfort
36:28 in Christ Jesus, we are able to go to other people who
36:34 suffer in brokenness and tell them that there's comfort in Jesus.
36:43 Sometimes our suffering is not about us. Sometimes our suffering is for others.
36:51 So again, when dealing with adversity, let us acknowledge that God is in control, that he has made all things,
36:58 the good days and the bad days, that suffering is a reality, a reality that we must immerse ourselves with and
37:04 not escape, but deal with it. For it shows us that we are broken. But it just doesn't leave us broken. No, it changes
37:10 us. It changes us. It gives us character, wisdom, knowledge, endurance, patience. It helps us express faith,
37:16 hope, love. It produces glory. It helps us comfort others.
37:23 It has purpose. And lastly, suffering will end.
37:30 The author in this passage asks the question, consider the works of God. Who
37:35 can make straight what he has made crooked? He as a question, who can make straight
37:41 what God has made crooked? But in scripture, we have the answer to that.
37:48 See, in scripture in Proverbs, it says, "In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight."
37:56 You see, God does not Jesus did not just rise from the dead. He not just incend heaven. He will return.
38:03 And he will usher in a new heavens and a new earth. All brokenness will cease to
38:09 exist. There'll be newness. There'll be renewing. Everything which is broken, everything
38:15 which is crooked will be made straight. Every last tear
38:21 will be wiped. This is the promise of God. A son of man will come on his throne
38:29 rising and reign as a king and he will make everything straight
38:35 again. But as you're sitting here, it is a hopeful thought.
38:43 But the reality is this that many of us still here are dealing with suffering
38:49 right now, right here at this moment. And for some of us, it seems it's never
38:56 going to end. It seems like an eternity.
39:02 And when we look at the great overcomers of faith, they all had testimonies in their lifetimes. We we read about them
39:07 in scripture and they give us much hope. But in Hebrews 11,
39:13 it does not just talk about people who overcame. No, it talks about the other people too.
39:18 People who did not overcome in their lifetime. You see, some of us will not overcome
39:24 our suffering in our lifetime. That is the reality of the brokenness of
39:30 the world that we live in. Some of us will have to continue
39:35 enduring. You see in Hebrews it says this, "Women received back their dead only by
39:41 resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life.
39:47 Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonments. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were
39:54 killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated,
40:00 of whom the world was not worthy. wandering about in deserts and mountains
40:06 and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these though commended through their
40:12 faith, even though they had the great expression of faith in the midst of their adversities,
40:18 did not receive what was promised. They did not receive what was promised.
40:25 See, but it doesn't end there. Since God had provided something better
40:31 for us, God is somewhere producing glory for us.
40:38 He's preparing a better place for us. You see, all of us one day will give testimony. Some of our lives
40:45 testimonies. The world is not worthy of it. But there's a place that is worthy of
40:50 our testimonies. Heaven, we'll be sitting on a banquet feast. And
40:57 as we're sitting there, we'll be telling each other the stories of our hope, our faith, and our love in the midst of
41:02 adversity. Stories that the word the world was not worthy of, but heavens is.
41:07 And they will produce glory to God. Oh, what glory they will produce.
41:17 So hold on. Pain ends
41:24 and it will bring great glory. to God.
41:30 I would I'd like to end today with telling a story and reading a hymn.
41:37 It was written by Annie Johnson Flynn and she's somebody who dealt with great
41:44 suffering and adversities and pains in her life. She's somebody who was orphaned and then
41:51 she was adopted. Then they found out that she had rheumatoid arthritis that left it all
41:57 twisted inside her body. She couldn't move her her hands, her body. Then they found out that she had abdominal cancer.
42:04 She had cancer growing inside of her. Eventually she grew half blind.
42:10 And by the time that she wrote this hymn, she was covered with boils from top to bottom. Pillows, eight pillows
42:16 just just next to her just to give her some comfort.
42:21 So, here's this lady, half blind with cancer, who can't move because of arthritis, covered in boils.
42:29 Listen to what she wrote. He giveth more grace
42:35 when the burdens grow. He sendeth more strength when the labors
42:41 increase. To added affliction, he added his mercy.
42:47 To multiply trials, he multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of
42:53 endurance, when our strength has failed here, the day is half done. When we reach the end of our hoarded
43:00 resources, our father's full giving is only begun.
43:06 Fear not that thy need shall exceed his provision. Our God ever yearns his resources to share.
43:13 Lean hard on the arm everlasting availing. The Father both thee and thy load will bear. His love has no limits.
43:23 His grace has no measure. His power no boundary known unto men.
43:30 For out of his infinite riches in Jesus, he giveth.
43:37 He giveth. He giveth again.
43:42 Let us pray.
43:52 Father Lord, when we are dealing with adversities, with suffering
43:58 and pains in our lives, help us remember that you are in control.
44:05 You are sovereign. You are the author of both the good days and the bad days.
44:11 Let us not try to escape the realities of the brokenness of this world. No, let us embrace them.
44:17 Let our hearts cry out for the city, for this country,
44:22 for our neighbors. Let us realize that our hearts itself are broken for. It shows us that we need
44:28 a savior. Let us rest in the fact that Lord, that
44:33 our suffering has purpose and meaning. It creates change in us. It creates character, endurance, hope, wisdom,
44:40 patience. It helps us express our love, our hope, and our faith.
44:47 It produces glory. It helps us comfort others.
44:53 And let us rest, oh Lord, that our suffering will end.
44:58 By your strength, we are able to hold on. By the guarantee of the blood of your
45:04 son, by his resurrection and his return,
45:09 we know suffering ends.
45:15 So Lord, we confess that our grace, that your grace is sufficient for us, that
45:20 your power is made perfect in our weakness. We will boast the more gladly of our
45:26 weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon us. For the sake of
45:32 Christ, then we are contented with weakness, insults, hardships, and persecutions,
45:38 and calamities. For when we are weak, we are strong.
45:47 For this I pray. Amen.
