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00:00 Lord, we ask that you be with us. Help us understand these difficult words and
00:06 more importantly, these difficult words translate into a transformation on our character and our souls. We ask for
00:13 Jesus' sake. Amen. Uh this thing doesn't work. All right.
00:19 So, um talk about Romans, the second half of Romans is a magnificent chapter.
00:27 Um, and today we're going to talk about the
00:32 sword. The sword is a very difficult word to talk about. When I first became a
00:38 Christian, you know what the sword is? Suffering. All right? It's not anything
00:44 else but suffering. When I first became a Christian as as a teenager, I was attracted to Christianity because
00:50 they always have makan, you know, at at the school CF and they had fun. and they went for picnics. Nobody else in school
00:57 went for these sort of things. So they attract us kids and we went and and then later on I came to relationship with
01:03 Jesus Christ. And every time I read passages that have to do with the sword, I sort of avoid because you know Bible
01:10 got many kinds of verses, right? You can always avoid the S ones and and take the good ones. Um and and when you preach
01:16 about suffering it's and you look at the crowd there some of you will be nodding your heads and going through a difficult
01:22 time and some of you it just goes past you a blank one you like me because you
01:28 don't want to talk about the suffering you don't want to get into suffering you want to run away from it life is the pursuit of happiness
01:34 right and today if you look at the Bible verses that we're going to present very
01:39 very difficult it's it it's got to be counter to what many churches teach nowadays. But unfortunately, it's not me
01:46 who's preaching the word. Unfortunately, it's the Holy Spirit through his word. So, let's look in his word. By way of
01:52 introduction, problem is a lot of churches today emphasize only the good things. We're
01:57 destined to rain. Everything is going to be rosy. We never hardly talk about uh
02:03 suffering. Um and and if you actually encountered difficult situations, these are miners
02:10 in Chile who were trapped in a mine for 69 days. Some of them came out their
02:15 faith was strengthened. But when the psychologist went and talked to them, onethird of the miners lost their faith
02:21 in God. And the reason why they lost their faith in God is that God has to be a practical God. Because we got all the
02:27 other pastors like this telling you, you know, you're destined to reign, life will be good because you're a Christian.
02:33 More or less God is obligated to give you good stuff in church. Some of us go
02:38 to church on Sunday because if you don't something will happen during the week. It's kind of superstitious, isn't it? So
02:44 you go to religion because you get something out of it. And if you wind up in a mind stuck for 69 days, barely
02:50 alive and you drag you out. Hey, God has failed in his bargain, isn't it? I mean,
02:55 we got to get something out of religion, isn't it? And if you look at the the one of the worst uh uh um examples of this
03:02 was is basically during the holocaust during the holocaust in Germany
03:07 writings of Eli Whisel and he shared this that when he lived in the town of
03:12 Signet and in Signet they had rumors that the Nazis were coming in a German town are coming and they're going to
03:18 persecute Jews. They didn't believe it. You know why? The rabbis told them that we're the people of God. We're the
03:25 favorite people of God. God will not let anything bad happen to us because he is our God is Jehovah Gyra for all of two
03:32 thou thousands of years of Israeli history. He has always protected us. Sometimes in bad but you know exile but
03:38 more or less he's been good to us. Then they started cursing Jews, throwing them
03:43 out of jobs, throwing them out of apartments. He still believed in God.
03:48 And then they parted putting them into railroad carts sending them to book and
03:54 wild sending them to switch still believed in God and in our switch many
03:60 of the young people had knives and they said to the older ones we can't die like
04:06 this we need to fight don't we go down fighting we don't want to die like dead
04:12 sheep and the rabbi said no you trust in God maybe we go through a difficult time
04:17 Because God was trying to teach us a lesson, but it'll be good. So the young people laid down their arms
04:25 and they burned them one after another, one after another, hundreds and hundreds
04:31 and thousands of people. And they still sat there and say, "God will redeem us. We are God's people."
04:38 Until it broke. A group of rabbis in a concentration camp set up a court. A few
04:45 rabbis sat together. You know who was indicted as a criminal?
04:50 God at a court. And they found God guilty because every
04:58 step God had failed his people and God was not to be trusted. What's the use of
05:03 a God if he doesn't help you and you got to suffer in this life? It's very important thing to understand
05:09 because many of you might go through the same thing when you're praying, you're asking God and they give you all sorts
05:14 of excuses and your life doesn't change, the lawsuit doesn't go away, the disease is still there, it's unremitting pain,
05:22 and you you you basically put God in a doubt. What good is God if my life doesn't get better? And Eli Whistle then
05:29 writes, let me read to you, blessed be God's name. Why would I bless
05:36 him? Every fiber in me rebelled because he caused thousands of children to burn in his mass graves. Because he kept six
05:43 crematoriums working day and night, including the Sabbath, the holy days. Because in his great might, he has
05:49 created Alswitch, Burkandau, Buuna, and so many other factories of death. How can I say to him, "Blessed be thou,
05:55 Almighty, master of the universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night to watch us as
06:00 our fathers and mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces. Praise be the high holy name for having chosen us to
06:05 be slaughtered on dyed altar. This is a Jew
06:11 totally facing the horrors. I don't think any of us will understand because we have not been through the horrors
06:17 that they have been through. There was a cistersian monk who spent
06:24 his whole life is abbert in silence and in meditation. And then somebody asked
06:30 him, you know what? If there's no God and he said, it doesn't matter if there's no God. Holiness, silence,
06:37 sacrifice are beautiful in themselves. Even without the promise of reward, I will still have used my life. Well, kind
06:43 of funny, isn't that? If there's no God, there's no reality beyond this life. You know what Paul says? If in Christ we
06:49 have hope in this life only, we of all people must be most to be pied. The message says if we if all we get out of
06:56 Christ is a little inspiration a few short years we are all a pretty sorry lot. So you you can't you can't evaluate
07:03 Christianity the faith based on what happens just here. The question today is
07:08 is suffering optional for a Christian and if is or isn't how do we overcome
07:14 our suffering? This is exactly what the Bible talks about. If you go back to 17 you find an uncomfortable truth in 17.
07:21 17 says, "If we're children, then we're hes. We're going to inherit all that God
07:27 has for us and planned for us as of God, fellow with Christ." Fantastic, isn't
07:35 it? But there is a clause. There's an inescapable clause. And it says,
07:41 "Provided we suffer, provided," this is a condition. It's a necessary condition
07:48 that must be met. You don't get out of this
07:53 in order two things we provided we suffer in order that we may be glorified
07:59 with him. So which means Christianity is a path through which there is pain and
08:04 if you're going path there's no pain then I'm wondering whether you're in the right path or the wrong path. Here we
08:10 have this a scheme which Dr. Tan put out last week, justification,
08:15 sanctification, being made holy. And right in the middle through this path, an inescapable path, no detour before
08:24 glorification and perfection, you got suffering. This when I was growing up,
08:29 this was my hero. I looked at him and you know this characteristic wipe of his nose, you
08:36 know, and this f strange sounds, ba something. And me and my brother, you know, we go
08:42 all over the, you know, rooms, you know, all the time kicking each other. And you know, I really admire the guy. If you
08:48 watch, tell me watch him before, you know. Yeah. Right. Some of you are like me. You sort of the westerners won't
08:54 understand. But we aspired to him. So I actually joined the karate club
09:03 because I wanted to be like this guy. Didn't quite turn out that way.
09:08 And the reason why it didn't turn out that way is that when they got you to the karate club, they make you put this
09:14 horse stance with the toes pointed out or something like that. Hey, see hours and hours and
09:20 a horse dance as if you're going to give a big job or what? And wonder why am I doing this? It is painful. I'm on a
09:26 horse dance all the time. I don't learn, you know, flying kicks and all that stuff. I don't learn that. I just on the horse dance. The next stage I got
09:33 further up. They they made you do push-ups or sit-ups, you know, hundreds and hundreds. And then the master come and step on your stomach. And after that
09:41 he comes and uses a punching bang. Bang bang bang bang bang. And I'm suffering and I'm nowhere near where he is. Well,
09:48 but the flying kick, the one inch punch and all that. And after a while, I gave up and look at me today.
09:57 You see, in order to get to where you want to be, there's a path to undergo.
10:02 If you want to be Bruce Lee, you got to go and do all the stuff that Bruce Lee this is the finished product, you know,
10:08 and and if you you we are like salmon, you know. I mean, Christian life is
10:13 exactly a salmon because you're swimming against the tide. The whole world is going to please themsel, please their
10:19 flesh. You're going against the flesh. You're swimming against the tide. And you find that you're swim if you swim
10:25 against tide is kind of difficult, kind of tiring. everybody else is going in that direction and you only you only got
10:32 going this way. It is frightening. In fact, a lot of dangers, you know, if if
10:37 you're a salmon, you're flying up there, everybody knows you're flying up there. They open their mouth, they they take you take you out in it. So, why do we
10:43 actually have to suffer? Is God masochistic? Does he make us suffer
10:49 for no reason? There's a reason why we suffer. We suffer because you renounce self. You see, the mind set on the flesh
10:57 is death. The mind set on the spirit is life. Now when you set your mind, set
11:04 your attitude, set your posture, set your life towards fulfilling the desires of the Holy Spirit in your life, then
11:12 your your your pride must go off. Your arrogance must go off. Your your
11:18 your your your selfesteem where you rest all that you have done,
11:23 all that you've accomplished, all that must be torn down. And if I tear all that down, it's going to be painful,
11:30 isn't it? And if you live and every time you come, how many of us actually go at
11:35 night when you do your quiet time, what are you praying about? You're just praying about the stuff of my job security, my children's happiness, or
11:42 you praying about the stuff in your life that is still focusing on the flesh,
11:49 the arrogance, the selfishness, the lack of desire to serve God. Are you
11:54 struggling with that or that part is off at the corner? Why? Because we simply
11:60 don't preach about such things. We only preach about the good stuff and because of that we've poisoned the whole
12:06 generation who come to church who are unwilling to suffer. You ask them to come for extra prayer. Maybe who bothers no time traffic. My traffic jam is the
12:13 greatest torture in my life. I shall not get into traffic jam. It's worse than me hanging on the cross.
12:21 Right? It's a fact. You ask them I I draw nice boundaries along my life and
12:26 nobody crosses those boundaries simply because I'm not prepared to suffer because when I came to Christianity is
12:33 because of a lot of makan friends and all that wrong. You don't see verses like that. The verses tell us we need to
12:39 suffer. We need to mortify the self destroy the self that displeases God. We
12:45 need to survive in the world. When you do that and you practice integrity, if
12:50 you're an architect, you're a contractor, you're a doctor, you're going to lose money. How you going to survive? You're going to suffer
12:56 financially. You're going to suffer in terms of your business. You're going to suffer because you prioritize God's God's kingdom. You're going to be
13:02 fighting the traffic jam to the life group when you should be at home watching TV.
13:08 What about the 115 tions you go to? Maybe you're to cut off one or two in order to prioritize the kingdom. That's
13:13 suffering. We suffer also because you're persecuted. We suffer also because simply because we live in a fallen world
13:20 where even if you don't decide to suffer for Christ suffering will find you anyway. If you live old enough you will
13:26 suffer. And so therefore suffering is our path to glory. Now this
13:32 is Paul from another passage in Philippians. This is very very crucial to our understanding of suffering. That
13:38 I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings becoming like him in his
13:43 death. that am I that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. You see Paul puts it like
13:51 this. I've got two sides of the coin. When you accept Jesus Christ, you take this Jesus coin. On one side, you know
13:59 him and experience his power. Everybody wants to know him, experience his power, speak in tongues, have healing and
14:04 miracles. You know, they have a big concert. I remember the big healing service in town, you know, uh um Philip
14:10 Montosa, I think from from Indonesia. guy who's healed many people book jal
14:16 and a couple I think is that yesterday or a couple of days ago everybody goes why don't we have one on suffering
14:23 guess how many will come nobody will come because you've been fed a lie on
14:29 one side if you want to know him experience his power it's not being raised from the dead or having your your
14:34 your illnesses healed you look on the other side suffering his suffering and his death you see you can't have one
14:40 without the other how can we have a Christianity have one without the other. If you have a one without the other, you just destroy the essence of your faith
14:48 because you have a artificial counterfeit faith. It's all a lie. It's
14:55 very clear in scripture that I may know him and experience his power only by sharing his suffering, being conformed
15:02 to his death. It is inescapable. So if you want to know Jesus
15:07 then you need to be able to be willing to suffer in terms of renouncing yourself focus focusing on the spirit
15:14 and not on the flesh. So here we have suffering and what the suffering do
15:19 suffering transforms your body so that ultimately one day you will be perfect
15:26 in the face of God. You you can't have a situation where you don't suffer, you don't you don't mortify the flesh and
15:33 doing as you like and suddenly when Jesus come, boom, you're all changed. Wonderful, isn't it? It doesn't happen
15:39 that way. It is a process which is finally kept when Jesus Christ comes again. That I may know him
15:47 is our desire. And that's why Jesus said the gate is narrow, the way is hard that
15:52 leads to life. And those who find it are few. Actually the very very few very very few in the end are going to be
15:59 glorified because very very few have an authentic faith. An authentic faith is
16:05 characterized by willingness to suffer for our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the authentic faith. That's why when you
16:11 have s persecution come in the country lots of Christians will disappear anyway. A remnant will be left behind
16:19 and that remnant will grow and grow in the face of suffering. That's the true variety. That's the normal variety.
16:26 Christianity, the garden variety that grows under prosperity is actually fake.
16:35 I watched a show called Fear Factor some time ago and I had a very interesting episode where a husband and wife were on
16:43 Fear Factor. Husband's very strong man. He used to stand on top of a tall tower
16:48 and he tied and he held a big bungee jumping rope and the end of the bungee
16:54 jumping rope was his wife. Don't do this at home.
17:00 And then the wife jumps off from 30 ft
17:06 top right up to the very end. He pulls and she's saved. In a in a sense, our
17:12 relationship with God is like that. God stands at the top of the tall building. He holds the cord that holds our feet.
17:20 We suffer. We jump. Now, if you jump short distance like this, you don't experience much of God's power. You
17:26 know, you jump 30 ft, he pull you out, can no problem. If you jump much higher,
17:33 you experience more of God's power. That I may know him and experience his power.
17:39 You pray to experience God and his power. then you better jump a little bit further, isn't it? You see what I mean?
17:45 So, it's it there is a correlation. The the the extent to which we are want to
17:52 or are willing to suffer for him is the extent to which we will want to be
17:58 saved. This is our hero. The worst thing is this our hero.
18:04 If this is our hero, my goodness, we're in the wrong business if we think it's all about prosperity.
18:11 Because we can't not be not like him. If he suffered, we must suffer. So is
18:17 suffering optional? I think the answer is not because it's the only way you're going to reach glorification.
18:23 How do we overcome our suffering? Ah, that's the bad bit. The bad news is pass, right? Okay, you can sigh,
18:29 believe, okay, this is difficult part. I I you know, don't leave now. If you
18:34 leave, then you miss out. Okay, Paul gives you a whole bunch of things to to cope with the suffering. First of all,
18:41 you need to regain the biblical concept perspective on the true nature of suffer. When you you get an injury, you
18:47 you you you stub your toe, you bang your nail on your on your feet, you scream in
18:52 pain, right? And the problem is when we scream in pain, we always focus, oh, my toe, my toe. You walk, hi, Mr. Tan is my
18:59 toe. Hi, Subash is my toe. Everywhere you go is my toe. Have you met people like that in the congregation?
19:05 always their problem. you talk to them that's why sometime you want to walk away you know you know uh let me give
19:12 you an example Victoria Azaranka was knocked out of Wimbledon halfway she
19:18 fell you always blame the court that's a good one to blame the 10 of them who blame the court but despite intense pain
19:26 of the injury sustained on falling Victoria as a ranker finished the job
19:32 she knocked off the the other tennis player she could do that if you look at history sporting all these people have
19:39 done that vic this is a 2008 Tiger Woods
19:44 rack knee finished and won the US Open hobbling around in great pain. Um Chris
19:53 Sims fought through a whole match American football with a ruptured spleen.
20:01 Bert Troutman 1956 football match 15 minutes before the end broke his neck.
20:09 He stayed in as a goalkeeper. Two magnificent saves and the team won. You
20:16 see why are these eight people able to do that? Because they are able to focus away from the pain. You see when you
20:23 have the pain you don't say oh my toe everywhere you go it's my toe my toe my toe. Whole life becomes your toe right?
20:30 So, so we need to take a page from people like and Paul says this very clear for I consider the sufferings of
20:36 this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that's to be revealed to us. He says your toe on one
20:41 side and the glory on the other side. You look at two which one looks better? Your toe doesn't look quite good. So you
20:48 focus on the glory that is to be revealed to us. That is how you you get
20:53 through. We focus on being heirs. Tim Keller gives you this this example.
20:60 Imagine two men are sent into the room and in that particular room they get to
21:06 do the most tedious task. They carry the books from one end and put on another
21:11 end and after that they carry the same books to the other end to put the other end. Right? Whole day you do that. Next
21:17 day you come carry the same number of books and you do this day in and day out. And one of them you say you get $3
21:26 a month and the other one you said you get 100
21:31 million a year now you what do you think the both men will do the same job right carry books
21:38 here to there one will be whistling you know love very good you know what shall
21:43 I do with my 100 million he's not going to say oh the books carry from here put
21:48 there here you know what he'll be doing this is 1 million This is 2 million. This is 3 million.
21:56 Right? The other fella, same job, right? This is 0.00 cents
22:03 and this is 0.0000 cents.
22:09 Totally different. They both do the same job. But why? The perspective is different. Why? Because there's a hope
22:14 of glory. And the same for us. The most powerful motivation we're going to get
22:19 is that the fact that we are going to be glorified with our Lord Jesus Christ.
22:25 This is Charles Darin. You want to give you a secret why he he he railed against God.
22:31 He's thought God like Eli Whistle thought God was cruel. There's this
22:37 ikinomidia wasps which I cannot pronounce. And this was a very nasty wasp. What it does is
22:45 that it prays on caterpillars and wormlike creatures and it stings them.
22:50 When it stings them, it deposits eggs inside and the eggs will be inside
22:57 inoculated into the body of the caterpillar. Caterpillar I had a bit of pain. It's all right. I'm going to carry on my life. As he carries on his life,
23:03 the the lava grow inside the worm and slowly eat bits and bits of bits and
23:10 bits of it until they multiply multiply. And the fellow is wondering why I got tummy ache, tummy egg, tummy egg. One
23:15 day all the lava burst out and this poor caterpillar dies and and tin says how
23:23 can I live in a world where I believe there's a god of love and he does this.
23:28 This is god's design you know and so because god is such a cruel horrible god
23:33 he could not accept that there is a god and he came up with this doctrine or theory of evolution. Now the second
23:40 thing we need to gain perspective is that the reason why we suffer it is because God's decreed due to our sin. If
23:48 you look here it says for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
23:54 For the creation was subject to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it. You see now what do you
24:02 mean by creation subject to futility? Four points here. One, creation loses
24:09 its purpose. You see, creation was done for man to rule over to glorify God.
24:17 When man when creation serves man, providing food, providing the kingdom
24:23 over which he rules, then he glorifies God. And and the man lives, he eats the fruit, he becomes healthy, he lives
24:30 forever. We hunky dory. That's what Eden was about. When you have a situation where you offer your fruit to a man to
24:36 eat and the man eats and he dies, then what is creation for? Creation is
24:42 for one man who live 70 years and he going to die. So therefore, it loses its purpose. It's like soldiers sacrificing
24:49 for themselves for war that will be lost. Then there will be a counterpurpose. Instead of creation
24:54 helping man, then God cursed creation and said to creation, you will form
25:00 thorns and thistles. When you earn a living, it will be very very difficult. So now if you plow the land, plow the
25:06 field, it will be very very difficult. And we all experience it. When you get crop failure, when you got terrible
25:14 climate is counter to the purpose. When you look at creation, you see the wasp,
25:21 we see death and decay. What do you see? You reminds you that this is caused by
25:27 our sin. So that is a reason why there is death and decay.
25:34 Thirdly, it is a sign of impending renewal in hope that creation itself
25:39 will be set free from our bondage to corruption to obtain freedom for which you know that the whole creation has
25:45 been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. You see great pain
25:51 anticipates great joy. How many of you are mothers here? Ah, all the men cannot understand.
26:00 Great pain anticipates great. Unless you're an Indian, you're a Nazca Indian,
26:06 you will understand this. You know when Nasca Indians when they give birth, this is the woman at the bottom popping out
26:12 three babies and she's holding two cords with her hands and they're tied to his
26:18 testicles. So every time she screams
26:25 ah she pulls
26:30 and the man understands the pain.
26:39 So when he looks at his son when he comes out both of them say we bore you in great
26:46 pain isn't it? We share the pain and but but when you look at the pain when you
26:51 remember the pain the pain is a sign of impending joy isn't it but you ask the
26:58 man when his testicles being pulled was it fun it wasn't fun wasn't fun at all you know but it was just being put and
27:04 no anesthetic too for the women this is my house
27:09 now it's become the dumb sight of all the cats in the neighborhood they all
27:15 come to my house and they poo there because they see sand. The sand automatically they bear up and it stinks
27:22 and it's terrible. If you go in my house inside the walls are broken down and I live in perfect squalor
27:30 and it's suffering. Every day is suffering. I don't get a meal. I don't get a hot meal because hard to cook and all the dust. But this is my suffering.
27:38 But the suffering is in anticipation of a greater joy. If you look, I'm going to have a new porch, you know,
27:46 right? I'm going to have a new porch. It's going to look great. I can drive two cars there because my son's going to join me back in Malaysia. I'm going to
27:53 very grateful because he's going to come. I got to build a new porch. Um, and then my hall is going to be a
28:00 bit bigger so he can do some break dancing there. You see, I mean, the the pain that you
28:06 go through is actually a sign that something's happening.
28:13 Something's happening in your life. You're going to suffer against pain, against your flesh. You're going to feel
28:18 the pain. But that pain is good. You know why? It means you're alive and God is moving something in your life and you
28:24 going to change. It's like kids growing up growing pain, isn't it? If you've got no pain, you're dying.
28:31 You're probably on the road to hell. That's the problem. So Paul is saying
28:36 pain is a sign of renewal that's going to come. Pain is also a reflection of
28:42 our inner yearning for the final redemption. Not only creation, we ourselves who are the first hand of the
28:47 first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we await eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our
28:54 bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope is not that is seen is no hope.
29:00 For who hopes what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. You see folks,
29:06 salvation isn't complete. Salvation is given to us in hope if we
29:12 are saved but we will be saved as well. So therefore there is an element of uncertainty that element of you cannot
29:19 see and because of that we we yearn we've got the taste of the first fruit
29:24 of the spirit and when you look at what is happening in the world we yearn and it causes the pain when I was young my
29:30 my children I took them in conferences and we went to conferences in overseas country it would be in a five-star hotel
29:38 they get kind of used to a fivestar hotel right then they go church cam
29:44 golden sense Then they walk in and says, "Hey P, what are we doing here? Are we walking out?"
29:51 Because they had taste and they see the difference between the you know the the facilities. We who have a taste of what
29:59 it is true goodness and beauty and power of Holy Spirit inside our lives and we look at the ugliness in the world the
30:05 the the suffering is actually accentuated isn't it? All right. That's also part of the cause of our suffering.
30:14 rely on prayer because the holy spirit intercedes for us. Now this is very important. Not only we change our perspective to be more biblical, we also
30:21 need to rely on prayer. Now let's look likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know what to pray
30:28 for as we ought but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. He who searches the
30:34 hearts know what is in the mind of spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
30:39 What do we have here? we have here firstly it is not speaking in tonesues because if he's speaking in tonesues how
30:45 can it be all Christians grown isn't it it's about all so and only some will
30:52 have the gift not all so therefore it cannot be uh speaking in tongues and also the these words are inexpressable
30:58 they're not words they're not languages they're just groanings second thing thing of all it's us groaning not the
31:04 Holy Spirit have you ever seen the Holy Spirit groan like a the ghost are here
31:10 groan That's not what it's supposed to be. You know, have a seminar. Let's all listen to the Holy Spirit groan. It's
31:15 not the Holy Spirit groaning. It's creation that groans and it is us that
31:20 groans because of the pain. Second of all, the Holy Spirit picks up where we're unable to express providing
31:27 precise intercession. When I was young, this is confession time. My first love was a Hong Kong girl
31:35 whom I met. My wife is not here, so it's all right. in in in Sydney
31:42 and I was like barely in what 19 years old and and for me the the girl Paty was
31:48 like the love of my life and the end of the world at the beginning of the world the sun rises and ends with her. I would
31:55 walk what 3 4 kilometers across to her place to say hello even though I don't know Cantonese at all. You know, Hong
32:02 Kong people, they all think we're malitai. We we're all Malays. So, she thought I was Malay.
32:07 And it was a very difficult relationship. And and breakup time was coming, you know, and and I got on my
32:14 knees and I'm praying, "Oh, dear Lord, please save this relationship. I need to
32:20 be with her." Don't laugh. Don't laugh.
32:26 Many of you have been there. You sit there, you make don't know.
32:33 Yeah. A and and do you know what? When I was there and I was groaning, it was
32:39 tears as well. There's a part of me that's groaning, you know, just just the
32:44 pain is too great. You know, right at that time and I'm saying, "Oh, get me the girl. Get me Py." And the Holy
32:51 Spirit says, "No, not her." So, you're praying, "Oh, Lord,
32:56 please pass. No, not her. Oh, Lord, please pass. Oh, not her. You see,
33:02 imagine not having this is worse than having a wife. You know, she say opposite to what you want. But that's
33:08 the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows that years from now, I'll marry somebody else and somebody else will be more
33:14 suited. I don't have to migrate to Hong Kong. You see, the Holy Spirit knew all that. And as I came down on my knees in
33:22 prayer, he translated, "Oh, please Psy to no Py." And that's what God does. So
33:29 when you pray, isn't that wonderful? When you don't even have the words and you don't even have the foresight and
33:35 you don't have the knowledge to plan for the future, the Holy Spirit will intercede with precise intercession. And
33:42 then the thing is that God is totally involved in prayer. See, when you pray to God the Father, the Holy Spirit tells
33:48 you what to pray in your heart, whether silently or against what you say orally. And you know who intercedes first
33:54 upstairs? Jesus. So Jesus intercedes. Father hears, holy spirit prays. That
34:00 means the godhead is totally involved in prayer.
34:06 So why do we have this situation? We have this situation because God wants
34:12 our dependency. He wants us to learn that depending on him glorifies him.
34:20 When we come to a stage of our life where suffering drives us to the knees and we can do nothing else except scream
34:28 and groan in front of God and trust him and him alone. That glorifies him
34:33 because that's the true situation what we should be in. Last the thirdly rest on the fact that
34:40 God's purposes on in us will be accomplished no matter what. Our bad
34:45 things will be turned to good. And you read this very famous passage. It says,
34:51 "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to
34:57 his purpose." Which means even bad things. So your bad things will be turned to
35:02 good. Imagine if you were transported 2,000 years ago and you sat at the cross
35:10 and you looked up. Here you have a man in the prime of his life, 33 years of
35:16 age, very powerful, healed many people, touched many people's lives,
35:24 the greatest person who ever lived, impaled upon the cross, died.
35:32 What would you think? What a waste. I can't understand it.
35:37 What kind of God is it? He abandoned his own son. His own son said Eli Eli
35:43 Sabatani my God my God why have you abandoned me see God abandoned his own son if you sat at the feet of the cross
35:50 you say it's all finished God even abandoned him
35:55 and you know when we are suffering when we don't have perspective of the you know what happened to Jesus he rose
36:01 again but when you're this side of the cross you don't understand and many times we're now suffering we're on this
36:06 side you don't have full information and yet we're so arrogant to say this is the
36:11 kind of God that abandoned his own son. What kind of God is that? And you begin to judge God like Eli Whistle did. He
36:19 judged God because he couldn't see into the future. But the Bible lets us have a glimpse into the future. Bible tells us,
36:26 we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.
36:32 So whatever it is, when you're a Christian, bad things will be turned to
36:38 good. Isn't that wonderful? Bad things will be turned to good. Now often we we we
36:44 struggle and there are two things of which we struggle when we pray when you get suffering. On one hand we we
36:51 struggle with circumstances. On the other hand, we struggle with character. You know which side God favors?
36:58 God favors this side. You see, when you pray for something, you pray about your job security, your child's disability,
37:04 your painful joints, your injustice at work, your politics. People are persecuting you. You got no money, your your farm is failing and the pigs are
37:11 coming to eat all your all your your barang barang, right? I see Andrew, that's why I'm saying that. And then
37:17 probably Andrew is getting on his knees. Oh Lord, get the pigs away from my farm. You know, the Lord tells him build a
37:22 fence. But the trouble is if Andrew wakes up every day and he and he's struggling
37:28 with God with that, God is not interested, you know, Andrew.
37:34 God is interested in your faith, your endurance, your integrity and character.
37:39 That's why he allow bad things to happen in your life. So that when you pray, the
37:45 Holy Spirit is going to pray about endurance, faith, integrity, and kindness while you are going to pray about your pigs and your your farm and
37:51 your crops and your jobs and your and your health. You see, I mean, that's why we suffer
37:57 because we're focusing on basically the wrong things. And God's going to say, "Look, no matter what you're going to pray about, I'm going to work out your
38:04 character, your endurance, your integrity, your love, and your kindness." His purposes cannot be
38:11 thwarted. He says, "For those whom he forneew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn
38:17 among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. Those who uh
38:23 uh whom he justified, he also uh glorified. Glorified." Right? Now if I do it very simple here
38:30 uh this is some I prefer pictures. He knew he predestined you to be like
38:36 Jesus. He called you. He justified you and then you're standing here. You are here. And next one is glorification.
38:44 This is God's master plan. So when suffering comes don't feel as if hey the
38:50 plan stood up already. If you come and watch me operating one day, and some of you do, uh, your students, at some stage
38:58 during the surgery, it looks like a dog's dinner inside, blood everywhere, organs everywhere, and you're, my
39:04 goodness, this looks like my house renovation. And that's why we never let relatives
39:10 come in because you're doing that, it's bleeding, okay, they want to come in and scrub up and they want to help me out
39:15 too, you know. But but you find at the end, at the end, it works out, isn't it?
39:20 better you stay in the waiting room right and doctor say it's going to be fine and come out with a smile it's
39:25 going to be fine finish if you're inside watching it it's very very disastrous
39:30 and painful so we never let relatives come in so if you look at our salvation it's like a mosaic you look far away
39:38 it's one angel you go close it's one tile one tile different colors and it looks like it and salvation is like that
39:44 it's broken up in little parts but if you look at it it's one big face we are saved we have been saved, we are being
39:51 saved, we shall be saved. It all comes into one rubric if you stand far enough. And that's why we have the pain because
39:57 we're in between. Lastly, be reassured that nothing can ever separate us from the love of Christ. This is the one that
40:04 is the most beautiful part of scripture. Our good things will never be lost. What
40:12 then shall we say? If God is for us, who can be against it? It is God who is with
40:19 us. We've got the Sessions Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the federal court, and all of them going to
40:25 decide whether we can use the word Allah for God. You know, there's one more court much higher. And no matter what
40:33 that court says, this court by the Lord will decide. They they can decide in the
40:39 US Supreme Court that it's okay to have marriage between man and a man and woman and woman but doesn't matter because the
40:45 Supreme Court is the court in heaven. God will overrule who shall bring any charge against God's elect. It is God
40:51 who's justified who is going to condemn. You are a people set up free. No matter what non-Christians say or what kind of
40:57 witness this fellow condemn him and condemn you, you are acquitted by our Lord Jesus Christ. No one can condemn
41:04 you. He's already given his best. He who did not spare his own son gave him up for us all. How will he not also give
41:11 him graciously all things? All things. I have a nurse recently, a pretty young
41:16 nurse who is in the late 20s and she was flashing this uh uh engagement ring to
41:23 all her friends. She just got engaged. She's from the Glad Tidings church. One cararat ring. You know, you know how
41:30 much a one karat ring costs? Some of you men know. Painful nods.
41:36 This is more like 35,000 ringgit, you know, although you can say about different grades. Uh, and why is she so
41:41 pleased? Because the 1 karat ring for her is evidence that this guy must have
41:46 sold his house, all sold, his car, sold everything. Either very stupid or very rich. Which
41:56 would you prefer, ladies? Very stupid or very rich. All right. So, so whatever it
42:01 is, what it is, the love was measured in what was given. You know,
42:07 when you reach 40, I see a lot of these patients uh uh who come to the hospital. They reach 40 have a kind of children,
42:14 you know, the tummy becomes a little bit lax or fat. Gravity takes effect in all
42:20 parts of the body. They're like sagging. So, you got to go and see plastic surgeon. So, plastic surgeon put on
42:26 anti-gravity kind of uh surgery. lift up the parts that are sagging, suck out the
42:32 parts that are bulging and make you much toner, you know. So, um, and it's it's
42:38 true because as you get older, you want to look more attractive to your husband because you feel that if you're not
42:43 attracted to your husband, find somebody else. China doll, different version number two.
42:49 And this is Steve Merin, plastic surgeon in Sydney. He says, "Most women don't want to look better. Don't want to look
42:54 better than did before they were pregnant. They just want to feel comfortable and look good for their
42:60 husbands. Why do they want to look good for their husbands? So that the husband will not run away because the husband's
43:06 love to them is dependent on their looks. But imagine if your husband
43:12 married you when you look like this first day marry you look like this 105
43:18 years old and every day you become more beautiful.
43:23 You see, that's exactly what Jesus Christ did, isn't it? He married us while we were yet sinners, enemies. You
43:33 look at you now compared to what you were 5 years ago. You're horrible creature.
43:39 Cannot describe you. You lie. You cheat. You You spit on the floor, you know.
43:48 And God loved you. Don't you think uh that he will save you
43:54 into right up to the very end? That's a beautiful truth. You never think about that, right? When God took you, you were
44:01 at your worst and now you're looking a little bit better and he not he's not going to run away. And so Jesus
44:08 intercedes for us. Who is there to condemn Christ? Jesus is the one who died and more than that who was raised
44:14 who standing at the right hand of God who is indeed interceding for us. And yet the last one, let me end. The best
44:22 is yet to come. Let me read. For who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or
44:29 persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword is written for our sake
44:35 we're being killed all day. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. You
44:40 sit in the Holocaust in Germany. We are sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
44:46 through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor
44:52 things to come, nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us
44:58 from the love of God in Christ Jesus our God.
45:04 You can't get better than that. I cannot illustrate that because those words are so stirring. There was a song that we're
45:09 going to sing using those words. We were not quite able to do that. So the three things I need us to remember today that
45:15 we need to live by the spirit and serve him even though it will cause suffering.
45:22 We need to persevere in patience and hope and conduct our lives in triumphant
45:27 confidence because nothing nothing can separate us from the love of
45:32 Christ. So I pray that you go home and you meditate. We are a people
45:39 of the cross. We need to allow the cross to come into
45:44 our lives because it is only through suffering, only through sacrifice that
45:51 we are able to reach transformation of our characters so that we will glorify
45:58 God. If you're sitting there and you're thinking, I'm drawing all these lines and boundaries beyond which Jesus cannot
46:04 come, then this morning you need to take those barriers and those boundaries and
46:10 you need to tear them down. You need to get on your knees and you need to pray.
46:15 And prayer will cause such anguish because you're so far from reality because you're running away from from
46:21 from suffering. And that's a lie. That's a lie. We need
46:27 to be focused to say those words of Paul that I might know him that I might know
46:34 the power of his resurrection and that can only be achieved one way.
46:41 Let us pray. Lord, we thank you so much
46:48 for dying the cross. You're not a God who tells us to do what you did not do.
46:55 You walked on this world and you showed us
47:01 how to live our lives for a greater cause and how to die
47:08 to sacrifice your life. And we pray for all of us in this church. We're not a church about prosperity. We're not a
47:15 church. Pray Lord that we're not a church for comfort. We're a church that's willing to dig deeper into our
47:21 pockets, to dig deeper into our lives to do whatever it takes because the world
47:26 is on fire. There's so many people who do not know you and no matter what it takes. Lord, grant that we have your
47:33 spirit to help us reach out to this community no matter what they say
47:38 so that your name will be glorified. And father, we look forward to the one thing that's so important.
47:44 That through your son Jesus Christ, one day we will rise. We'll rise above our
47:52 death. We'll rise above our pain. We'll rise above our circumstances. We will
47:58 rise to glorify your name. For we ask this for Jesus sake.
