Turn with me if you would back
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We were just here in 2 Corinthians
4 looking at the very verses that we're going to look at tonight. We were just here on January
the 11th, four Wednesday nights ago. And I said the same thing then
that I'm gonna say tonight. The same thing. I don't really
remember exactly what I said in that message. I didn't go
back and listen to it. But it doesn't really matter. We have
to be here again because this is the message for the evening.
This is the message for the evening. I'm consumed with this. This
has just really been impressed on me, and I'm so thankful it
has because this has blessed me in an eye-opening, very, very
comforting way, a very eye-opening and comforting way Even though
I'm going to say basically the exact same thing that I said
a month ago, I believe my eyes are more open
to it now than they were then. I know they are. I know my eyes. I still believe what I said.
I remember a little bit about what I said. And I'm going to say the same
thing. But my eyes are more open to it now than they were then.
And I believe this is the message of the hour. I pray the Lord
will bless it. Look with me, if you would, at verse 15. 2
Corinthians 4, verse 15. It says, for all things are for
your sakes. that the abundant grace might,
through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not,
but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which
are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. Paul said, all things are for
your sakes. All things are for your sakes. And all things means, if you
want to get to the heart of the definition of that, all things
means all things. That's what it means. All things,
all things are for your sake. But the context of what he's
talking about right here is troubles and trials. That's the context
of this chapter. Verse 17, he said, our light
affliction. He's talking about affliction.
He's talking about affliction. Look at verse eight, he said.
And see in this More clearly, this
just really. Really stands out to me. Verse
80 said we are troubled on every side. Everywhere we turn everywhere
we go, we go this way, we go that way. We are troubled on
every side. He said we are perplexed. And after I after I tell you
this tonight, I hope you can go back and. Apply these verses
to this. We're perplexed. Verse 9, he said, we are persecuted. And he said, we're cast down.
Affliction upon affliction. That's what it is. That's what
The life we live is affliction upon affliction upon affliction. You try to get away from it and
there it is. Affliction upon affliction. But
for verse 15, he said, it's all for our sake. It's all for our
sake. Verse 17, he said, it's all working
for us. an exceeding and eternal weight
of glory, it worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. That's the same thing that Paul
told the Romans when he said, all things work together for
good. I've been telling you now for
10 years, every time I read that, that's a light bulb moment to
me. And it really is all things work together for good to them
that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose.
All things do. All things do. Now, let me tell you why we're
back in this same chapter, reading the same verses, looking at this
same subject again. After our fellowship lunch on
Sunday, I was talking with two brothers there in the basement,
and one of them brought up a video he had seen. And he's smiling
at me right now. But he brought up a video he
had seen. And as it turned out, both of
these brothers had seen that video. I have still not seen
it, but they were telling me about it. Apparently it's a video
of a shepherd who is watching over his sheep. All of his sheep
are out there somewhere. And he has a sheepdog there with
him. Okay, a shepherd has a sheepdog. And the way I understand it,
the point of the video is to highlight the skill and the ability
of the sheepdog. Am I right? Is that the point
of it? So the shepherd gave the command
and as soon as the command was given, that sheepdog took off
and started rounding up the sheep. That dog went to work. You know,
that's the work of a sheepdog. He's waiting for the command
to do his job. And he, you know, he's running
fast, he's barking, he's chasing these sheep and The sheep will
start running this way and then he'd go around them and he'd
bark at them and then they'd turn and run the other way. He corralled and then he'd corral
and corral until they were all finally in the pen or wherever
it is they were supposed to be. And then the sheepdog's work
was done. And that's it. Well, this brother who told me
the story, he said, As he was watching that, this thought and
this illustration went through his mind. He said, that is exactly what
our trials and our afflictions and our distresses do to us. That's exactly what they do to
us. All of these, as we are troubled
on every side and perplexed, this is exactly what these things
do to us. Now, enter into this with me.
I can't remember that message a month ago, but it was something
similar to this. But I enter into it so much more
now, so much more. Just enter into this with me. They are all sent of God. They are all sent of God. Capital A, capital L, capital
L. All sent. It's not just that
God has the control over them and God will. They are all sent
of God. Just like that sheep dog was
sent by that shepherd. The command was given and that
dog went to work. They are all sent of God. And just like those sheep were
afraid of that sheep dog. Now, here's what I entered into.
Put yourself in the shoes of those sheep, one of those sheep
in that video. Really look at this from the
point of view of those sheep. Those sheep were afraid of that
sheep dog. That's why the sheep took off
running. When he came, they all took off running. They were afraid. That dog was barking at him,
chasing him, showing his teeth at him. Every time he showed up, they
turned and went the other way. Every time. That means they were
scared of that dog. But that fear and that stress
and that agitation was of the shepherd. It was of the shepherd. That started with the shepherd. That was the will and the desire
of the shepherd for those sheep. That startling distress came
from the command of the shepherd. for the purposed good of the
sheep. That bark, that intimidation,
that was all to drive the sheep into the safety of the sheepfold. That was the purpose of it. And
this brother said to me that he realized that's what our trials
and our afflictions and our distresses are doing to us. All of those
things are of the Lord. And he uses those very things
to drive us to him. You know, something will something
will come up this way and it'll start barking at us and it drives
us to him. Something will come up this way
and it drives us to him. We're afraid of it. You know,
we could say, well, we ought to just have strong faith and
be afraid of nothing. Well, that just ain't the case
for us. We're afraid of it. And when we see that, we want
to run away from it. These trials and these sufferings
that come in the form of health concerns. Family concerns. Physical concerns, spiritual
concerns. Sometimes they show their teeth
at us. Growl at us, and it scares us,
it scares us, and it makes us want to run. And Paul said, you
just remember all of those things by design are driving us to Christ. They're all driving us to the
Lord Jesus Christ. All of those things belong to
the shepherd. Consider each one a sheepdog.
They all belong to the shepherd and they're just doing the bidding
of his command for our good and for the purpose of driving us
to him. Verse 15 says, for all things are for your sakes. That the abundant grace and that's
what these things are that trouble us so much and that scare us
and that disrupt our comfort and throw us into a tailspin.
It's all the abundant grace of Christ to us, and it's all because
of the abundant grace of Christ to us. Turn with me, if you would,
over to Romans chapter five. Those things are all abundant
grace, and it's all because of the abundant grace, and that's
what Romans 5 tells us right here. Here's the reason for it
all. Verse 3 says, not only so, but
we glory in tribulations also. That's an amazing statement,
isn't it? We glory in tribulations also. We glory in Many things, well,
Paul said tribulations is one of them. Knowing that tribulation
worketh patience. You go through something and
it tears us all to pieces and then you have a minute, the Lord
will give you a minute and then he'll send you something else
and it tears you all to pieces. And then you have a minute. Like
that dear brother said to me that time he wrote me a letter
and he said we my wife and I are enjoying the lull between the
trials. You know, he'll give you a minute
and then. Something else will come. And each time these things
come, we start to learn more and more. We're not going to
make it through this life without trial upon trial upon trial.
We're just not going to. We want to. We hope we do. I hope no trial comes to me.
It's not it's not meant to be for God's people. In the world,
you shall have tribulation, be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world. But it says in verse three, tribulations
work patience, the more they come, the more we realize the
Lord has carried me through every trial that he has brought to
me so far. His grace has been sufficient
every time. He will carry me through this
one. Tribulation worketh patience, verse four says, and patience
works experience. The more that we go through these
things, the more experience we. We get with this at verse four,
goes on to say experience works hope. These things bring an expected
anticipation. And hope maketh not ashamed because
the love of God is a shed abroad in our hearts. He is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Verse
six says, for all that so we glory in tribulations and everything
it does because here's the reason. Verse six, when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I'm gonna read my notes. I had
a little bit of a hard time making this plain. I'm on page five
and I had to do a 5A and a 5B and then I'm gonna turn back
in a minute and pick up at five where I was. But here's the point. I'm gonna tell you what I have
here, but here's the point. These things come to us because we
are his sheep. Here's the point. It's because
of everything he endured to make us to be his sheep, this
abundant grace to us that we're so afraid of and we're so scared
of. Lord, don't don't do anything
to corral us closer to you. Don't do anything to jolt us. And, you know, we just want to
stay in our prone to wander comfort zone and just wander and wander,
wander. But these things come to us, that abundant grace comes
to us because of the abundant grace that has been given to
us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That the abundant
gift, grace is gift, that God the Father gave to us in Christ.
You just think about the horror, the terror, the persecution,
the distress, the trial, the affliction, the teeth showing,
The biting that our Lord endured, he was bitten by sin, he was
bitten by wrath, he was bitten by death. Oh, the abundant grace of God
that caused Christ to die for his sheep, his eternal weight
of affliction. was unto death, so that our light
affliction might be unto glory and unto life. And because of
that, verse 9 says, much more than being now justified by His
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Saved from
wrath through Him. Look at verse 1. It says, therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. through
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. By whom, because of the Lord
Jesus Christ and everything he endured, we have access by faith
into this grace, this abundant Grace, that's what we stand on.
That's what we're rejoicing in. That's what we're hoping in.
Because of the abundant grace. That caused Christ to lay his
life down for us and to redeem us in his blood and to purchase
us to himself. Because he made us to be his
sheep. For that reason, we can say everything
we're saying tonight. For that reason, all of this
holds true. He said in John 6, John 10, John
17, he said, every sheep that I have, every sheep my father
gave to me, every sheep I've purchased with my own blood,
they're all gonna come to me. And he said, I have some which
are not yet in the fold, and I'm gonna bring them. I'm going
to call them to myself, I'm going to make them willing to come
to me in the day of my power because he said that that's how
it's going to be. We're going to be brought. And
he uses his arresting means he uses this right here, he uses
the preaching of the gospel to call his sheep. He calls them
to a knowledge of who he is and what his truth is and what his
salvation is, this is an arresting. This is a disrupting the gospel
when it gets a hold of a sinner. This is a awakening, disrupting
call to a right mind of who the shepherd is and the fact that
we belong to him. He owns us, we're his sheep. Made spotless in his blood, made
it acceptable to enter into his fold, we belong to him. And then
with that quickening of the gospel, as his purchased called sheep
just do continue on their way. You know how sheep are. Prone
to wander off, prone to be in their little lost state. With that quickening of knowing
that we belong to him, the abundant grace of our Lord and our shepherd
continually sends the sheep dog. sends his sheepdog after us and
he draws us back in, he reminds us where we need to be. And that sheepdog is every providential
thing in this life that causes us to run to him. It is everything
that causes us to run to him. The trials don't save us, Christ
saved us. The spirit quickened us and called
us. The trials keep us running back
to him. That's what the trials do. They
just keep us running back to him. And even though these things
can be scary and stressful and they can disrupt all of our wandering
off comfort, all of these things are abundant grace. I'm going
to ask each one of you to remind me of that when it's my turn.
And I mean that, I say it, I believe it. I know it and I believe it. But it's still scary, difficult,
trials are difficult. It's all abundant grace. It's
not poor pitiful me, it's abundant grace. It's not a horrible circumstance,
it's abundant grace. And even though it's hard for
us to see that and realize that, that's what it is, it's so. Go
with me back to 2 Corinthians 4. Verse 15 says, for all things
are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving
of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint
not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is
renewed day by day. Understanding this doesn't make
the trial easier. Understanding what we're talking
about tonight, it does not make the trial easier, it just makes
the trial understandable. Our outward man is perishing,
perishing, perishing, but the inward man is renewed day by
day. The inward man is Christ in us,
that outward man is so perplexed, something comes and just like
these sheep, the first instinct is we run over here and boom,
and then we run over there and boom. The outward man is distressed
and perplexed and all these things, that inward man, Christ, he knows
exactly what's going on. He's renewed day by day. And he said in verse 17, our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, and that's all
it was for those sheep, that sheepdog ran them just for a
moment, just for a little moment. Our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
way of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. where the
things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. If we can only remember that
these physical things are about to give way to eternal things.
These physical things are driving us to our eternal things. If
the Lord would give us the ability to remember that, maybe when
these things show their teeth at us and they bark at us, we'll be more willing to just
run to the fold, run to the shepherd. I do remember saying a month
ago that afflictions are only light when
we're not the one going through them. And that really is true. That
really is so true. These things are so heavy and
so weighty. But maybe when they come, the
Lord will help us and just cause us to run to the sheepfold, run
to the shepherd. It won't last as long if we'll
just run to the shepherd. I believe that's where patience
and experience and all those things come in. When you first
start out, you're just running everywhere and then you start
to learn. If I'll just run to the shepherd, this won't last
as long. And you know, physically speaking,
we're gonna run everywhere. As long as we're on this earth,
we're gonna run everywhere. Something comes up, we're gonna
run to, and we're gonna do that. But what I'm talking about is
spiritually, in the heart. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm not saying if you don't, you know, don't run to every
doctor you need to run to. I'm not saying any of that. I'm talking
about in the heart, in the soul, in the spirit. Just run to Christ. Just run to the sheepfold. The
safety of the shepherd. Lord, let us run to you. That's
the prayer. That's the request. Lord, let
us run to you. Let us see that all these things
are your servants. If you could just let us see
that all of these things are your servants. Lovingly driving us to you until
we all end up safe. in the fold. One day soon, one
day so soon, this silver cord will break and we at last no
more shall see and oh the joy when we awake in the palace of
the king. We're gonna be in the sheepfold
and all these things are over and we're gonna look back on
every single thing that happened in our life and we're gonna say,
that was so wise. That drove us right to the sheepfold.
So glad. Amen. All right, let's all stand
together.