Take your Bibles and turn back
with me to Romans 8. Romans 8. Begin our reading again in verse
14. I'm going to title this message, Suffering Sons. Suffering Sons. And that's going to be the two
points of the message. First of all, sons who are the sons of God. And what are the benefits of
being a son? There are great benefits. And secondly, suffering
sons. Because we're going to see that
what God has promised His sons often, in the experience, seems
to contradict. And that's just all it is. It's
a seeming contradiction. It is no contradiction. And Paul
will explain this. First of all, who are the sons?
First of all, I want you to understand this, that not everyone are sons
of God. Not everyone are sons of God. Now all men are created by God,
but not all men are sons. Our Lord Jesus in John chapter
8 clearly testifies to this. He tells those Jews who professed
in verse 30 of chapter 8 to believe on Him. They professed to believe
Him. And yet, He says of them, because
they would not believe on Him alone, they also trusted in their
connection with Abraham. They said, we're not sons of
fornication, we're children of Abraham. And he said, no, if
you were Abraham's seed, you would believe me. But because you believe me and
you believe in your connection to Abraham, you are of your father,
the devil. Now, got that. Notice their genealogy. They were sons not of God, but
of Satan. Now consider that. In just a
few verses before, they believed on Him. The Scriptures are plain.
He said, and they believed Him. They believed on Him. And yet,
just a few minutes later, He says, you're not My children,
you're the children of the devil. Now why? Because of this, they
mixed their genealogy, their connection with Abraham, with
Him. They said, well, we believe you,
but we also believe in Because we're Jews, we're going to be
saved. And so all who trust in Christ
plus something. Listen to me. You are not the
sons of God. If you trust Christ plus your
works, plus your ceremonies, religious obedience, you are
not the sons of God. You put anything to the sacrifice
and righteousness of Christ, you defile it. Over in Exodus
20, after the law was given, the Lord told Moses, He said,
if you make an altar of earth, you take some stones and you
put them together to build an altar. The day you put a hammer
to it, you defile it. Now why would He do that? Because that's a picture. Christ
is the altar, isn't He? Every altar in the Old Testament
is a picture of Christ. You put your work to Christ,
you defile it. You defile it. Remember Uzzah? The priest that put his hand
to the ark? That ark was on the cart and
it stumbled. The ark stumbled and the cart
was about to fall. He put his hand to steady it.
And what did God do? God killed him because he put
his hand to it. This is what God says. You put
your hand to the work of Christ, you are not my children. Believer in Christ alone, you
who believe in Christ alone, I pray that God the Holy Spirit
would reveal to us again why Christ came. Why He came. He came as a willing surety,
a willing sacrifice, a willing offering, a willing Redeemer. That's why He came into the world. And this blessed Redeemer, consider
this, He took the whole weight of our sin, guilt, and shame
upon Himself. He willingly did this. He took
the whole debt. Joy to the world. Why? The Savior's
come because He took the whole debt. Isn't that joy? Isn't that
joy? That He took the whole debt,
left nothing for us to take? We who had nothing to pay. We
had nothing to pay. There's no righteousness in us. There's nothing we could offer
God. Christ came and He paid the whole debt. I like that picture of the surety,
don't you? When Judah was surety for Benjamin. Remember what he said to Jacob? He said this, I will be surety
for him. If I bring him not again to thee,
let me bear the blame. That's what a surety does. He
takes the whole responsibility. When Christ came for His children,
He took the whole thing. The whole weight of our salvation
rested upon the shoulders and work of Jesus alone. A burden lifted, isn't it? Behold Jesus, the justifier of
all His children. And His children desire to worship
upon an altar made by God, Christ is the altar. Christ is
the sacrifice and Christ is the high priest. He's everything.
He's everything. And by His one offering, this
is the hope of His children. By His one offering, His one
offering, He hath perfected forever them that are His children. Them
that are sanctified by God. He has perfected forever all
His children. But the children of the devil
are those who go about to establish their own righteousness. They
pollute and despise the offering of Christ. Listen, you put anything
to Christ, it's because you don't believe it's another. Isn't that
right? You believe Christ did most of
it. But if you believe you have to
put one thing to it, listen, you are spitting on the offering
of Christ and you are not His child. With the children of God, listen,
we have no righteousness of our own. We have no righteousness of our
own. God has by His free grace made Christ to be all our wisdom. Righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Now, is He all your wisdom? How
do you know God? How do you believe on Christ? Is that you or Him? It's Him. What about your righteousness?
You got anything to add to that? No, that's Him. What about your
sanctification? You got anything to add to that?
No, that's Him. What about your redemption? You
got anything to add to that? No, that's Him. Therefore, all
who are led by the Spirit of God, Paul said. How do you know
all that? Man, how do you see Him as all
that? That's just being led by the
Spirit of God. That's the Spirit of God's work.
It's to point us to Christ. You who are born again, you're
born again of the Spirit. And look what He says, you are
led by the Spirit of God. Where does He lead you? He leads
you to Christ. Isn't that where He leads you? And look what He says, you have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received
the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. All who are led to the Spirit
are going to come to Christ. And listen, you that have come
to Christ, you will not be moved from Christ. This is good news. Because I feel everything trying
to pull me in the opposite direction. Everything without and everything
within is pulling me in the opposite way. But here's my hope. If we're led by the Spirit, you
shall never be led again to bondage. You're not going to be led there.
The Spirit don't lead you there. Anybody trying to put you back
under the law, I want you to understand this, that's not the
Spirit of God leading you. The Spirit of God won't lead
you to a spirit of bondage. He won't ever put you back under there. We are moved to this.
We are never going to be moved from Christ. Never going to be
moved to Christ. What are we moved to? We're gonna
be moved to cry, Abba, Father. That's what we're gonna move
to. We're gonna cry to God, always to God, through Christ. You are
sons of God. That's what it says. You are
led by the Spirit to Christ. What are you? You are the sons
of God. Nothing gonna change that. That's astounding, isn't
it? Ain't nothing gonna change that.
You are the sons of God. You are the sons of God. You
are sons because you are sons by grace, aren't you? You're
not sons by merit. You're sons by grace. Through
the Spirit of God it has revealed to us these things. Jesus said,
the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abides forever. Listen to what He said. And if
the Son shall make you free, You shall be free indeed. You shall be free. If the Son
makes you free. Now listen, what does that mean?
That means this. We were in bondage. You that are sons, you know this.
You were in bondage. You were in bondage to sin. You
were in bondage to the law. Paul says in Romans chapter 7
that we were married to the law. The law was our husband. And
it can only condemn us. That's all the law could do.
It could never forgive. It could never help us to be
better. It can only condemn us. And we
were married to that. We were in bondage to it. But
here's the joy. There is a Son. There is a Son
of God. And He said, the Son abided forever
in the house. And He said, if this Son makes
you free. Free from what? Free from the guilt of sin. Did the Son make you free? You
are free from the guilt of sin. If you're a son, you're free
from sin's guilt. That's what He's been telling
us all the way through this, isn't it? We've been dealing
with this book for a while now. And He said you're dead to sin.
What does that mean? I'm dead to the guilt of sin,
to the condemnation of sin. Why? Because I'm dead to the
law. Law said I had to die. And you know what? I did die.
I died in a substitute. When Christ died, I died. I'm
dead to the law. What does the law have to say
to a dead man? Nothing. Nothing. Can't say anything
to him. He's dead. Can't say anything
to you, sons of God. You're dead. Why? The Son has
made you free. And you are free. You are free. He said, I'm not going to bring
you back to the bondage of fear. Not going to bring you back to
oppression. I'm gonna bring you to a different
spirit, a spirit, what, of adoption. Adoption. Whereby you cry, Abba,
Father. Now how do you do that? How do
you deliver you from the bondage of the law and sin? How do you do that? By fulfilling
it. Not by skirting it. Not by going
around it. That's how men want to go around.
You got a man, he wants to find a legal loophole. Right? You
see a man, he's committed a crime. What does he hire a lawyer for?
Hires a lawyer to find a loophole. He's guilty, but he wants a loophole. No loophole in the law of God.
Only way to God is through the law. If you go try to go through the
law, you'll die. But you see, I went through the
law in a substitute. When Jesus Christ honored that
law, I honored it in Him. The Son came, and He came honoring
the law of God in obedience and sacrifice. He satisfied the law. Remember what He said? He said,
I came not to destroy the law, but what? Fulfill it. And he said, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
let no one enter the kingdom of heaven. What is he saying?
He said, your righteousness is worthless, but my righteousness. That's the only way you're going
to enter in, is you have my righteousness. He came to magnify the law. I think it's Isaiah 42. He said,
this servant, this son. In Isaiah 42, behold, my servant. Who is that? That's Christ. And
Isaiah 42, let's see, when I write down, verse 21, it says this,
He shall magnify the law. Nobody wants to magnify the law.
Everybody wants to see the law at a distance, right? You don't
want to magnify it. You don't want to really know
what it says. They want to pick out this one
and this one and say, well, maybe I can possibly obey this one.
Maybe I can obey this one. So they don't want the whole
thing. Give me just ten commandments. Don't give me 613, because I
can't handle ten. Much less 613. But know what Christ did? He
magnified the law. He showed you exactly what the
law is. You know what He did? And He
made it honorable. He magnified it and then made it honorable.
He obeyed it. And because of this, what does
the heart of the child say? What do we cry? Do we cry for
law? Or do we cry, Daddy? That's what
that word means. You know that word, Abba, it's
the only person to say that to a real son. In the house of a
rich man, he had many slaves. He had many concubines, and some
of these kings had sons by these slave women. They couldn't use
that word. Only his true heirs could use
that word. That's what he's saying. When
God made you a son, He made you a son to cry, Daddy, Father. You know what you cry? You cry, Father, help. Father,
help. Father, have mercy. Father, have
grace. Father, have compassion. That's the heart of a son. We
don't cry merit, we cry grace. And then we don't pursue merit. You know what my son? He does
not pursue merit to be my son. He's my son. So we don't come to our Father
with merit. We come to our Father with Christ. The Son hath made
me free. Therefore what? I am free. I
am free. And so faith alone in Christ
is then the witness that we are the sons of God. We completely
trust Him alone. And notice what follows if you
are a son. Is that you? You're resting on
Him alone? You're a son. You cry to Him? Father, you're a son. Now then,
here's the conclusion. Look at this. He says in verse
17, and if children, then what? What are you? Heirs. Heirs. If you are son, then you
are heirs. Those who believe on Christ alone
are not sons by works. We have no right to any of the
promises of God based on our marriage. Now listen, if you're
basing your... I want you to get this. It's
very important. If you are basing your sonship on what you've done,
you're not a son. You're not a son. Stop deceiving
yourself. You have no right to the promises
of God. Go to Galatians chapter 4. Look
what happens to servant sons. Slave sons. That's what His creation
is by nature. Look at Galatians chapter 4. In Galatians chapter 4, In verse 21-31 here, he deals
with this two women, Hagar and Sarah. Remember that? Hagar was
a servant who had a son by Abraham. His name was Ishmael. Now, this
was done for a very particular reason. It was done to get a
type, a picture. Hagar, he says earlier in this
chapter that Hagar represents the law. Her and her son represent
sons of bondage. You know what God said about
that? He said this, the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir
with the son of the free woman. The sons of bondage. He says in verse 21, Tell me
you desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For
as it is written, Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman,
the other by the free woman. But he who is of the bondwoman
is born after the flesh, and he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory?
For these are two covenants, one of Mount Sinai, which gendereth
unto bondage, and Hagar, which is Hagar. And this Hagar is Mount
Sinai of Arabia, which answered to Jerusalem, which now is, and
is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all. And as it is written,
Rejoice thou that bearest not, and break forth and cry thou
that travailest not. For the desolate have many more
children than she which hath a husband. Now we brethren, as
Isaac was, are children of promise. But as then he that was born
after the flesh was persecuted of him that was born after the
spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the
scripture, cast out the bondwoman and her son. See what's going
to happen to all who gender to the law? You say, well, I believe
in Christ. But I think that you've got to
go back under the law to sanctify yourself. You're a son of the
bondwoman. Gendereth fear. That's it. It's all it can do. It can't
help you. And if you think it can help
you, it's because you're blind and you can't see. You that see,
you understand. Law can't help me. It genders
to bondage. But we are not of them. Why? We're sons. Look back in chapter
4, verse 6. This is why He's saying that.
He said, look at that in verse 6, "...because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou
art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ." Now consider this, you that are sons. You
that are sons, consider this. You now know you're sons because
you were already sons. You get that? He says you are
the sons of God, therefore what? He sent His Spirit to you. Now
why did He send His Spirit to you? Well, because you were already
sons. Now you didn't know it. You were in bondage. You didn't
know you were sons. But God sent forth His Spirit
into your heart, crying, Abba, Father, because you were sons.
We were the sons of God before we knew it, but now that we have
the Spirit of God in the quickening power of His grace, we know that
we are sons. And if sons, then what? We are
heirs. Just as sure as you're a son,
you're an heir. And just as you being a son cannot
be taken from you, neither can your inheritance ever be taken
from you. That's not true earthly things,
is it? We're not sure of any inheritance here. You've seen that before, how
men take inheritances, right? Father leaves something to his
son, he dies, he leaves something to his children, and then what?
Somebody swoops in with a nice fancy lawyer and they take everything.
That can't happen here. Because you are sons, you are
heirs. You are heirs. I want you to
know this. This is not a point of pride
or presumption. You may boldly say this, I am
a son of God. You that believe on Christ, you
are sons. Now I can say that because God said that. That's
it. I can't tell you any other reason.
You won't be able to look at me and see a son of God. You won't be
able to follow me around. You won't be able to mark down
all my deeds and figure out, oh, look at him, he must be a
son. No, you won't see that. I'm a son of God because God
tells me so. Because the Spirit of God bears
witness with my spirit that I am a son of God. And it's not presumption. It's not pride. We are the sons
of God and we are heirs, listen, of God. I like this. This word
of could be translated two ways. It could be translated by. I'm an heir by God. And it could be translated of.
I think both are great. First of all, I'm an heir by
God. I'm an heir because God made
me one. What can you do about it? What could I have done about
it? Nothing. Did I deserve it? No. Did I earn
it? No. Could I marry it? No. Can I keep
it? No. It's by God. You're an heir by
God. God made you one. Therefore you
are what? An heir. God said you were. God said he's
an heir. So what does that make you? Makes
you an heir. Because God made you one. How?
Through Christ. That's how he made it. And second
of all, we are heirs of God. Now this is great too. What does
that mean? That means God is my inheritance. I inherit God himself. Remember what he told Abraham? I am thy exceeding great reward. You're an heir of me. Now, if
we have God, what do we have? We have everything. We have everything. Believer in Christ, being a son
of God, see that all that God is and all that God has is now
yours. Listen to what he says. Now I
want you to get this deep theological meaning of this. All things are
yours. Now what does that mean? That means this. All things are
yours. That's what it means. It's just
as simple as that. All things, Paul said this, all
things are for your sakes. You got that? All things are
for your sakes. The world spins so that God might
show his goodness to you. That's it. It gets no, it's deep. I don't understand every part
of that. I don't understand how that works. But I don't have
to understand how it works. I've got a car out there and
I really don't understand how that thing works. You know, I turn the key and
it cuts on and I drive and it steers like it's supposed to.
I don't understand how everything works in that car. I don't have
to. I don't have to understand everything that God is doing
in Providence. But I know this, He said it, all things are yours.
Why? Because I'm yours. Now get this, I'm His. Now I understand that. I belong
to Him. He did everything. He saved me.
I understand that. But this one is really neat.
He belongs to me. I wouldn't say it if God didn't
say it. Heirs of God. And join heirs
with Jesus Christ. Because you are sons. This is
your inheritance. Listen to these words. All of
God's love is yours. All of God's mercy is yours. All of His grace, all of His
power, all of His kingdom, all of His
goodness, all of His righteousness are yours through Jesus Christ our Lord. When a tree blossoms and it bears
so much fruit that it just can't even hold it, does the branch
get any glory? No. The fruit comes from the
tree. It comes from the root. Where does all your fruit come
from? It comes from Christ. Outside of
Him, I don't have anything. In Him, I have everything. In
Him, I have everything. Now, because you are the sons
of God, this is the conclusion of that, nothing's going to separate
you from Him. That's what Paul's going to get to in the very last
part of this. Who shall separate me from the love of God that's
in Christ? If I'm a son, and I'm an heir, and God made me
one through Christ, then who in the world is going to separate
me from my Father? Who? Name it. He said, nothing. Nothing. That's the first point. Now then,
listen to this. Does your experience match that? Do you walk around with a big
smile on your face saying, boy, I'm a child of God, I'm an heir
of all things? Oh, it's so great. Everything's so wonderful. The seas part for me. The mountains
remove themselves. My obstacles are nothing. I float over them. I walk on
water. Everything's well. Is that your
experience? No. The experience of the believer seems to contradict the truth
that we have all God's love, all God's grace, all God's mercy,
and all God's favor. Often it appears we have none
of His love, none of His grace, none of His strength. If you're a believer in Jesus
Christ and you've not suffered yet, just wait. Why? Because this is the law
of every one of God's children. I'm going to read you 1 Peter,
what he tells us to the elect. He says to those elect saints, he says in verse 7, he says,
the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold
that perishes, though it be tried with fire. shall be found in the praise
of the glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. In chapter 4
and verse 12, he says this, Beloved, think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial which shall try you as though some strange thing
happened. What is the first thing you think when a trial comes
your way? You think this, man, that's strange. Why would God do such a thing
to me? He said, don't think that way.
It's not strange. It's not an anomaly. This is
the lot of every son of God. And so during these times of
pain, when our hearts cry out, I have a father. If we are sons
and heirs of God, of His grace and mercy. Why do we suffer? Why do the
heirs of God suffer? One believer penned this. He said, Lord, if indeed I am
thine, if thou art my son and my song, why do I labor in pine
and why are my winters so long? He said that because this is
the lot of every son in this world. God promises to His sons, listen
to this, this is the covenant, this is what He promised us.
He said, and I will make an everlasting covenant with thee, that I will
not turn away from them to do them good. But I will put my
fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me. Yea,
I will rejoice over them to do them good. I will plant them
in the land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole
soul. You, child of God, in your suffering,
is that true? Is that true? God said, I will never turn away
from you to do you good. And yet what you experience don't
seem too good. Child of God, let us be well
persuaded that our condition as sons, that we may pass through
these difficulties in cheerful service, that we may be able
to rejoice even in the darkest of times, To see this, that our
sonship does not depend upon our circumstance. Your sonship
does not depend on your circumstance. You've got to hold on to that
one. Because that's the first thing you think. When my circumstance
turns south, when everything goes wrong, that's the first
inclination, am I His or am I not? Rebecca cried that when she was
struggling with the children in her womb. She said, why am
I the... If you promise that the Christ
should come from this womb, that this should be the Lion of the
Christ, then why do I suffer? Why am I thus? Child of God, I want you to see
that all the suffering and affliction, though grievous and painful as
it be, It only seems contradictory to our inheritance, which we have by faith in the
Word of God. But it is never meant for your
destruction, only for your good. Look back at your text at verse
17. Notice what he says. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God, join heirs with Christ. Yay! Then what? If so
be we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Listen, we did suffer with Him
as our substitute, but I promise you this, if you are in union
with Him now, you will suffer the same as He did. You will
suffer the same as He did. And so then, if our brother Christ,
who suffered in the flesh, He did not escape suffering,
how then do you expect to? The answer is clear, we will
not escape affliction. Matter of fact, He said this,
in this world you shall have what? What did He promise you?
You sons of God, what did He promise you? You shall have tribulation. What is your cheer? He has overcome. That's my cheer. I won't find
any cheer here. I won't find any joy here. The joy is that He's overcome
this. And so what does Paul say then? Look at verse 18. He says,
"...for reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us." What is he saying? Reckon. Impute. That means charge
it to be so because it is so. The sufferings of this life are
not worthy to be compared with the glory. Why? Because they're
not They're small and they're short. They're only for a season. They're
only for a time. And soon they're going to be
done away with forever. So when you put them in comparison to
eternity, you find out that your suffering is only for a short
time. Our times of affliction, though
they be our whole life, in light of eternity, when compared to
the promises of God, are as nothing. Pretty soon, we're going to be
forgotten. You got that? Nobody's going to even know you
were here. Somebody might read a letter
you wrote. I've got sermons out there. Surely, maybe somebody
will read a sermon. They won't know me. They won't know you. Pretty soon, we'll all be forgotten
here. Nobody will know us. We even existed. What does that
matter to you if you're a son of God? It doesn't, does it? It doesn't matter at all. Why? Because of the glory which shall
be revealed in us. Yes, we do hurt and we do suffer.
And I want you to know this, faith never removes pain. You
think that it would. You think that if we would just
believe God enough that the pain would subside. No. He never promises
that. He promises that through faith
we may endure it. but it will never be lessened
because we believe. But looking to the promises of
God, we shall not despair." And he talks about the creation here,
and I'm not going to go through that, but he's telling you this.
Don't you see this creation groans? I mean, earthquakes and floods
and that horrible thing in North Carolina, that big hurricane
came through there and just destroyed everything. You know what that
tells me? This creation is cursed. It's
cursed, isn't it? You that have done any planting
at all, any gardening at all, you find out the thorns come
up faster than the fruit. And they come up easier, don't
they? Why? Because the world groans under
this. It didn't do anything. And yet
because of man, it suffers. What is the whole creation waiting
for? It's waiting to be delivered. One day it's going to be delivered.
This whole creation is going to be delivered. And look at verse 23, and not
only does the creation... Creation is not the only thing
waiting for this. Not only so, but we ourselves also, being
the first fruit of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within
ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit, the redemption of the
body. What are we waiting for? We're waiting for the fulfillment
of this thing, aren't we? We're waiting to see all of the
promises fulfilled. I've not seen all the promises
fulfilled yet. I've only got a down payment. I got the Spirit
of God in me, and He testifies of me that I am a son of God,
causes me to believe the Word. I grow in the grace and knowledge
of Jesus Christ. But man, if I grow to the fullest
extent I can, I still ain't even going to touch what I'm going
to be. So what does that give me? It
gives me hope. And He said, look, if hope is
seen, then it's not hope, is it? Why are you going to wait
for something you already have? I don't have everything yet.
I'm promised everything, but I just don't have it yet. So
what do we do? We wait. We wait how? We wait suffering. We wait in
faith, trusting, and believing. And look what he says here. 28. We that are sons of God, heirs
of God, we know something. What do we know? I know God's
true. Don't you? I know God's promises
are true. I say this, let God be true and
every man a liar including this one. Including what goes on up here.
I say he's a liar. Take God's side against myself. God's true even in the teeth
of my despair and pain. God's promises are true. And
I'm just going to wait because He's going to give them to me.
They're mine. He gave them to me through Christ
and He ain't going to take them away. They're mine. And we wait
for them. And we know something, that all
things work together for good to them that love God. to them
who are the called according to its purpose. All things, I
like this, you better get this, work together, not individually. We experience pain, and sickness,
and sorrow, and grief. These things we say, and because
it's true, are evil. These are bad things. Is there
not evil in the city? And hath not the Lord done it?
What is he talking about? Providences. Dark providences.
Is it not the hand of the Lord that brought these things? Yes.
And they are dark. They are painful. We don't say
they're good. What does God promise? He says, I'm going to take that
evil thing and I'm going to work it together with this other thing.
And good is going to come out of it. That's what He promises you.
They're going to work together for your good. Listen to me.
Your good. And they work together for the
good of all God's people, but specifically for the good of
them that love God and are called according to His purpose. Only
His children. That text is only for His children.
It's not for anybody else. That is not true of the lost.
All things do not work together for the good of the lost. They
work for their destruction. What does God promise you, children?
He says, all your suffering are going to work together for your
good. All things are of God, and all
things work together for our good. I'm going to give you that
illustration of Joseph. What a good illustration that
is, Joseph. Do you think it was good that his brothers sold him
into slavery? Was it good when he was a slave
in Potiphar's house and did all that was well in Potiphar's house
and his wife lied about him and sent him to prison? Was that
good? Was it good when he told the dreams and then the butler
forgot about him and left him in prison? Was it good? What was God doing? working together for good. That's what he told
his brothers, wasn't it? You meant it for evil. God meant it for good to save
much people alive. What God's doing is no secret
to you who are His sons. What God is doing is no secret.
He is moving all things to call His elect. even your suffering. And what will God do? He will
work it together for your good. Why? You are His sons. Chosen sons. Redeemed sons. Purchased sons. Free indeed. Made free by the
Son of God. Heirs of God, join heirs with
Christ. All things are yours. All God's
love, all God's mercy, all God's providence is for you. And these seeming contradictions
reckon it to be so, because it is. They're just light afflictions.
Not worthy to be compared with what God has promised to sons. And all these things are going
to work together for your good. Now, I can't tell you how. Again,
I don't have to know how. Do you? You have to know how
this is going to work out for your good. You have to know. But you do know something, right?
That all things will work together for your good. You know that. You know that. I'll tell you this, the safest
place for a son is at the feet of Christ, isn't it? Isn't that
the most precious place that you find? In the teeth of our
pain? I often wonder how John felt when
he leaned on his breast. I'll know that someday, I'll
know what that really feels like. Until then, we just wait for
it with confidence, because we are sons. We are heirs. Spirit of God, testify that in
you. What's his testimony? Do you believe on Christ? Again, be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Father, please dismiss
us with Your mercies and kindness. I beg You to pour out Your Spirit
on the sons that you would be gracious in
our afflictions and heal us, strengthen us. And I know this,
the Spirit himself intercedes for us. I pray that you would bless these
people. There be any who are still in
bondage, that you would, by grace, free them. Give them faith in
Christ alone. I ask this in Jesus' name and
for his sake. Amen.