Let's turn in our Bibles to 2
Corinthians 4. I want to just read two verses
here to get us started. 2 Corinthians 4.17 says, For
our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Then go to chapter
5 and look at verse 5. Now He that hath wrought us for
the selfsame thing is God. You notice there in verse 17
He says these light afflictions are working for us. In verse
5 he says, God is working us for. Now scripture says man is
born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. But for the believer
in all our affliction, God has sent it for a purpose and that
purpose is to work trouble for us in order to work us for glory. The trouble is working for us
to work us for glory. And that's our subject, working
for us to work us for. God works affliction for His
people in order to work His people for eternal glory, to prepare
us for eternal glory. A couple of weeks ago, Art led
us in a hymn. And the words are these, swift
to its close, ebbs out life's little day, its joys grow dim,
its glories fade away. Change and decay in all around
I see, O thou that changest not, abide with me. And by these afflictions,
God makes the glories of this world fade for the believer. And at the same time, He makes
us turn our eyes from things below to Christ who is our life
eternal in glory. And that's the purpose. So first
of all, brethren, whenever you suffer affliction, always try
to remember that God is working this affliction for us. He says there in verse 17, Our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Now, look at
chapter 11. In case anybody thinks that Paul
is making light of your affliction by calling it light affliction.
Understand that he includes himself there. He says, I were like affliction. And Paul was a man who knew what
affliction was. Look here in chapter 11 verse
24. It says, Of the Jews five times
received I forty stripes save one. They whipped him with a
whip on five different occasions and gave him thirty-nine lashes.
He says, thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned,
three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I've been in
the deep. In journeyings often, in perils
of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false
brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger
and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and neckiness, besides
those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily,
the care of all the churches." So he knew what affliction was.
And he says, but it's light affliction. How can you say that our affliction
is light? Well, our affliction is light
compared to what we deserve. That's for certain. Part of the
problem in us not bowing to and not liking to be afflicted is
that we feel like we deserve better. That's the self-righteous
thought of the flesh in me and you. We feel like we deserve
better. But He's not dealt with us after our sins, nor has He
rewarded us according to our iniquities. His suffering is
nothing like what we deserve. And then it's light compared
to others. You and I can look there at what
Paul suffered and say, well, my affliction is light compared
to his. And the Scripture tells us when we're afflicted to look
to that great cloud of witnesses of the old believers that are
recorded in Scripture. It says in Hebrews 11.35 that
they were tortured not accepting deliverance. You think about
that. Given the opportunity to just
renounce Christ. That's all you've got to do.
And we won't inflict this torture upon you. And they wouldn't do
it. It says others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings,
of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sewn
asunder. They were tempted. They were
slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of
whom the world was not worthy. Now, our affliction is like compared
to what some saints have suffered in different generations. And
then our affliction is like when you compare to what our substitutes
suffered on our behalf. And this is where we ought to
always go when we suffer affliction, is go to the cross. The Scripture
says, His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form
more than the sons of men. We haven't began to imagine just
how gruesome it was for our Redeemer. He says, ìBehold and see if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.î
And the Scripture tells us, when weíre afflicted, look to Christ.
Listen, ìConsider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.
Consider him, youíve not yet resisted unto blood striving
against sin.î I believe that refers to what Christ was doing
in the garden. We'll see that in the next hour.
In the garden of Gethsemane, the Lord began to make him sin.
And the reason he was sweating great drops of blood is he was
striving against sin. The affliction Christ endured
on the cross was not light. And it was not for a moment.
But it worked for us an exceeding eternal weight of glory. Because the Scripture says, by
His stripes we are healed. So go to the cross when you suffer
affliction and realize, my affliction is light compared to what my
Redeemer suffered on my behalf. But the chief point here of our
text is that our light affliction, our affliction is light when
compared with what these afflictions are working for us. He says there
in verse 17, Our light affliction worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight. What is it? Glory. He's working
us for glory. He's working for us, preparing
us for glory. The affliction, He works for
us. You remember when He made you
see that you were nothing but sin? That was affliction, wasn't
it? But it was light, and it was
for a moment, but it worked a far more exceeding eternal weight
of glory, didn't it? Because now, Scripture says,
those that believe on Christ, now there is no condemnation
to them which believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. No condemnation. So that's a... See, just in our
conversion, He worked an affliction in us. He made us see we're nothing
but sin and we were afflicted. We found ourselves guilty before
God. But through that affliction,
He brought us to faith in Christ and now there's no condemnation.
You see the glory He worked for us in that? And so now what He's
showing us, turn to Romans 8. He's showing us now that by the
grace of God as we suffer, Christ is seeing to it that in this
world His name is glorified in us. That's what Christ is doing. He's making sure His name is
glorified in us so that in the next world we shall be glorified
in Him. Now look here in Romans 8,16. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then
heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Now watch
this. If so be that we suffer with
Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest
expectation of the creature, the whole creation, waiteth for
the manifestation of the sons of God. And that's what he's
talking about. Christ is one day going to manifest
who all really He is. Go to 2 Thessalonians 1. And look here now, in this life,
how's Christ glorifying His name in us? He's doing it by, one,
using us to preach the gospel, and through us, He's calling
out dead sinners, making them alive, giving them faith. So
He's glorifying His name through us. And another way He's doing
it is in all our affliction, He's sustaining us by His all-sufficient
grace. And that's glorifying His name.
But there's coming a day when He's going to return and He's
going to glorify His people with His own glory. Right now, we're
glorifying Him. He's working for us to make us
glorify Him through the preaching of the gospel, saving sinners,
and through sustaining us in all our affliction. But one day,
He's coming back and He's going to glorify us. with His glory. He is going to manifest who really
He is. Look here, 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 3, We are bound to thank
God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your
faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you
all toward each other aboundeth. so that we ourselves glory in
you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all
your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is a manifest
token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted
worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer, seeing
it as a righteous thing with God, to do these two things,
to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to
you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels. That's what
He's going to do. He's going to reward those who
have persecuted His people, and at the same time He's going to
give us rest in Him. He's going to come, verse 8,
in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and
that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And they shall
be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of His power. And look, there's
the second thing, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints
and to be admired in all them that believe because our testimony
among you, our gospel was believed in that day. Wherefore also we
pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of
this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness
and the work of faith with power that the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ may be glorified in you and ye in Him according to the
grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we don't suffer
like the Old Testament saints suffer. The Scripture says there's
coming a day when we shall, when His church shall suffer like
they did in the past. You see in Scripture always how
God repeats history over and over. And He says there's a day
coming when His saints will suffer like they did in the past. But
right now we don't. But in this little suffering
we do endure, God's counting us worthy of this calling. That's
what He means by that. I pray you be counted worthy
of this calling by God making you to suffer as Christ suffered
for His sake, that God might be glorified in you manifesting
He's the one keeping you and working grace in your heart.
There's two things that God does when He's working this affliction.
The psalmist said, Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel. That's
what God's doing. He's guiding us with His counsel.
And afterward receive me to glory. He's guiding us with His counsel
right now through all these afflictions and He's preparing us to afterward
behold His glory. J.C. Philpott said this, He means
to conform you to the image of His Son in glory. Therefore,
He now conforms you to the image of His Son in suffering. And
that's true. That's what God does with all
His people. He has no Son that does not suffer. None. So now, next I want you
to understand that because He's doing this because through the
affliction He's turning us from the temporary to the eternal.
Now look at chapter 4 verse 18. It says, While we look not at
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. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Now how do we see eternal things? How do we see invisible things? We see through faith. Faith believes God. Listen, He
says there in verse 7, We want by faith, not by sight. That's
how we see eternal invisible things. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. You just think about that. When
you believe When you believe something, even if it's just
something temporal, when you believe it's so, you don't have
to see it to believe it. Believing it is so is the substance
of it. It's the evidence, even though
you don't see it. And that's true of God. When
you believe God, you have the substance, you have the evidence.
You know Him. You know Him. And so by faith,
we see these things and we know. We know. We know that if our
earthly house, if this flesh is destroyed and dissolved, we
have a building of God. We have a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. We have a house Christ built
for us. And we're going to be clothed with it. Job said he
knew this. He saw this by faith. Way back
there, Job is the oldest book in the Bible. And Job said, I
know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I
shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold and not another,
though my reins be consumed within me. That's what faith knows. I know that by faith. And likewise
by faith we know that now we are the sons of God and it does
not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when He shall
appear we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. We
know this by faith. See these are eternal invisible
things that can only be known by faith. And by God giving us
faith we know We know. So brethren, the way we endure
affliction, you know how we endure affliction? By faith looking
to Christ. Remember what Scripture says
about Moses? By faith Moses forsook Egypt,
not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing
Him who is invisible. Moses endured by faith, seeing
Christ. So, the last thing I want you
to see is the more God works this for us, the more God works
us for that eternal glory. He says there, that these afflictions,
God's making us behold more and more that Christ really is our
life, and our life's not in this world. He says in verse 2, In
this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house,
which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed,
we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan, being burdened. Not for that we should be unclothed,
but clothed upon. That mortality might be swallowed
up of life. Look at verse 6. Therefore, we
are always confident, we are always confident, knowing that
whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the
Lord. Verse 8, we are confident, I say, willing rather to be absent
from the body and to be present with the Lord. This is what God
is working through these sufferings. In this we groan, in these sufferings
as we groan. It's not that we merely desire
to be free from the burden of sin and from the suffering. He
said, it's not that we want to be naked. We don't want to just
put off this body. That's not it. It's not that. But in the fiery trial of faith,
when the fire is hot and the trial is severe, we groan, we
struggle, we sorrow. But we do it believing against
unbelief. We do it hoping against hope.
We do so looking to the Lord, though everything in nature would
try to turn you from looking to Him. That's the groaning we're
talking about here. Under the burden. Under the burden. Looking to Him, though you have
every reason naturally not to look to Him. One old preacher
said this, a sanctified person is like a silver bell. The harder
he's smitten, the better he sounds. Because he's given God all the
glory. Gives Christ all the glory. Thomas Brooks said, God's house
of correction is his school of instruction. That's where we
learn is through affliction, being corrected, that's the school
of instruction. And Samuel Rutherford said, when
I'm in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord's choicest
wines. And the choice wine is Christ. The choice wine is desiring more
and more to be present with the Lord. Now, as young believers,
we do not desire to be present with the Lord as we will the
more God works this for us. You know, young believers sometimes
talk about, oh, I wish I could just depart and be with the Lord.
That's easy to say. But if it came down to it, you
found out you had cancer or something like that, it would be a different
story. You find out you are not really ready to go. But the more
God works this, the more you truly are ready. I talked to
my grandmother who is around 90 years old and I asked her,
what's it like being 90 years old? And she said, I don't make
any long range plans because I expect anytime the Lord is
going to take me home. That's her expectation. So she
don't make long range plans. She said, I don't plan something
for next week or the next week. Not even that far off. Because
I expect the Lord is going to take me home in a minute. Now,
47 years old, with a beautiful wife and two teenage children
and a church to minister to, I can't say that like she can
say that. I'm being honest, I can't say that that I'm ready to go
and be with the Lord just yet. I have a work to do by God's
grace. Remember Paul said, I'm in a
strait between two. To depart and be with the Lord
would be far better. But it's needful that I stay
here and minister to you. But as you experience these afflictions,
the Lord is teaching us, I'm going to grow you more and more
to truly desire to be present with the Lord as He weans us
from this earth, from the things in it. makes those glories fade. And He's doing that, He's working
these afflictions for us to work us for that very eternal glory. He said there, In verse 17, that
these things work for us are far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. And in verse 5, He says, He that
wrought us for the self is the same thing as God, who has also
given us the earnest of the spirit. Remember the Lord prayed in John
17, He prayed to the Father. And He said, Father, I will that
those that Thou has given Me be with Me where I am, that they
may behold My glory, which Thou has given Me. because you love
me from before the foundation of the world. He prayed, I want
them to behold my glory. And that's the glory we're talking
about here. Remember on the Mount of Transfiguration when Peter
beheld his glory just shining with the brilliance of the sun?
We're talking about one day coming into God's presence and beholding
all the glory of the triune God in Christ the Lord, beholding
the glory of God in His glorified human nature as a man, as the
God-man. That's what we're talking about
beholding. We're talking about this unutterable glory with God
the Father that we'll behold in Christ. That's reserved for
us. That's reserved for His people
who suffer with Him right now. And God's not just promised us
that, He's given us an earnest by giving us the Holy Spirit.
Years ago, I stopped at a station and I got some gasoline and after
I filled up the tank, I realized that I didn't have any cash on
me. And back then, I didn't have a credit card. And so there was
an ATM across the street and I wanted to go over there and
get some money out. So what I did was I left my driver's license
at the station so they would know I was coming back. And an
earnest is to remind you somebody's coming back. They're coming back
to give you what they said they'd give you. And the Lord has given
us the earnest of the Spirit to guarantee us that He shall
return and that we shall behold this glory He is talking about.
Listen, He says, God has sealed us, has preserved us. He sealed us like a jar of fresh
vegetables. Like you seal them in a jar and
they pop and they are sealed. He's preserved us. He's sealed
us by the Holy Spirit and that Holy Spirit is given as an earnest
in our hearts. The earnest in our hearts, which
is the earnest of our inheritance, He said, until the redemption
of the purchased possession, until the praise of His glory.
He's purchased us and He's coming back to get what belongs to Him.
And He's going to take us to have our eternal inheritance. And He's given us the Spirit
of God now as that earnest. Now what does that mean? Well,
when we hear the gospel preached, we get little glimpses of Christ
because the Spirit gives us these little glimpses of the Lord Jesus
now. And we behold that glory now. We behold the glory of His
perfect obedience worked out for us. And we behold the glory
of His righteousness whereby we are made the righteousness
of God in Him. We behold the glory of Him who has thoroughly,
totally purged our sin and given us forgiveness with God. We behold
this glory now. We behold the glory of Him seated
on His throne right now, working everything in this life and bringing
us through these trials and these sufferings so that we see Him
more. We behold glimpses of this glory
of our Lord. And as we behold that, behold
Him, it guarantees us. We're going to behold Him. fully
one day in glory. And that's what we're talking
about here. And that gives us meaning to everything that a
child of God suffers in this world. You see, the world doesn't
know anything about it. The world suffers too. But it's
meaningless to the world. But to you and I who believe,
all this gives meaning to our suffering. Now, to anybody that
hasn't believed, I say to you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You say, well, how do you tell people to do that when they can't
do it? I'm just commanded to tell you to believe on the Lord.
The Lord said, I'll enter the valley of dry bones and my spirit
will enter into them and I'll give them life and I'll make
them stand up and I'll make them do what you commanded them to
do. So I say, believe on Christ. and behold with us these invisible
things, and endure with us through faith, looking to Christ only. I tell you, life is made better
that way, isn't it? Now that you've seen the Lord,
can you imagine going through these afflictions without Him? Can you imagine going through
life without knowing the Lord now that you know Him? I pray
for the Unbeliever, that you might experience this and know
it gives life and all new meaning, even your suffering. And believer,
as we suffer, know this now, the more our outward man perishes
and the more he is renewing that inward man, he is bringing you
and me to say this with the psalmist, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth.
that God is the strength of my heart and He's my portion forever.
That's why He makes us fail in the flesh, is to show us He's
our portion, our strength and our portion forever. So Paul
said, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above. Seek those things where Christ sits at God's right
hand. Because you are dead. You died when Christ died and
your life is not in this world. It's not in this world. It's
just as though it is. It's not. Your life's in Christ at God's
right hand. And when Christ who is our life
shall return, then shall you appear with Him in this exceeding
great weight of glory that He's talking about. So look to Him
only and know this, Peter said, the God of all grace, who's called
us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you
suffer a while, He shall make you perfect establish you, strengthen
you, and settle you. How is He going to do that? When
is He going to do that? When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you appear with Him in glory. So, remember that now when we
come into affliction. God is working for us to work
us for that eternal glory. Alright, let's stand together
and be dismissed. Father, we thank You for Your
Word to teach us why it is we suffer. We thank You for overruling
the suffering, for giving it to us and bringing us through
it by Your grace. Lord, we pray now that You would
indeed turn us to Christ and away from this world. Make us
to grow a little more and a little more in love with Him. Make us
grow more and more to see that He is all. and make us see more
and more that in us dwells nothing good in our flesh. Make us to
grow up by making us to grow down in this flesh. Lord, forgive
us our sins looking at this world and acting like our life is in
this world. We thank You that we have that free, full forgiveness
in Christ and we ask You, Lord, Be faithful and just by the blood
of Christ to continue to forgive us our sin. We ask all this in
Christ's name. Amen.